Keltor reviewed the datapad given to him by Captain Fisk; over the past five days, their numbers had dwindled drastically. Over a quarter of the Battalion had died, and over half were injured. Out of the 576 troopers they had started out with over a week ago, only around 70 were still standing on their own. And even out of those 70, Fisk said that only 18 of them weren't injured at all. Fisk himself was injured. His right arm was cradled in a sling; Keltor once again thought that coming here was a huge mistake.
Keltor rubbed his stinging eyes; he'd only slept a couple hours the past two days, the hard duracrete ground and his aching shoulder weren't making it any easier. He yawned, "Thank you, Captain; make sure you get some rest."
Fisk nodded, "I'll try, sir."
Keltor set the data pad down on a crate and leaned back against the wall; he could barely keep his eyes open. Moments later, he was shaken awake by a trooper, "Sir, Captain Grade needs to see you."
Keltor rubbed his eyes, stood up, and groggily said, "Lead the way." He followed the Trooper down the tunnel, hopped aboard a fighter tank, and sped off. The tank's gentle rocking lulled him back to sleep, but he was startled awake when the tank suddenly stopped.
They'd left a single squad at this end of the tunnel, and even though it was blocked off with hundreds of tons of rubble, Captain Fisk felt it was necessary to keep a guard posted. Keltor slid off the tank, and Captain Grade saluted him, "Commander."
Keltor saluted back, albeit his was not as crisp or spectacular as Grade's, "What's the situation, Captain?"
"The Sepies have started digging out the rubble. I sent a man out through a service tunnel. He spotted at least a division-sized force, complete with heavy excavation equipment." As the Captain spoke, Keltor felt a chilling sensation creep up his spine.
He noticed the subtle sounds of scraping coming from the end of the tunnel as the separatist machines dug away chunks of material. He'd hoped that by collapsing the tunnel, they could halt any hopes of a Separatist advance. But there they were, digging through the rubble, trying to get at them.
"How long do you expect it'll take for them to clear enough rubble away to get droids through?" asked Keltor, worry weighing down his words.
Captain Grade replied, "Approximately ten to fifteen hours, sir."
Keltor almost swore; the 337th and 212th were still almost three more days out from reaching them. "Keep monitoring them; I want hourly reports."
Grade nodded, "Yes, sir!"
Keltor turned, hopped onto the tank, and sped back to the makeshift command center. This time he didn't sleep; he couldn't, not with the news he just got.
Once he arrived, he quickly walked to the holotable where Master Rhan was slumped over; she was quietly snoring, a datapad still clutched in her hand. Captain Terror had his feet propped up on the holotable, scrolling through his own datapad. When he noticed Keltor walk into the tent, he hurriedly got to his feet and saluted, "Commander."
"Huh?" Master Rhan was startled awake by Terror and looked up sleepily. "Oh, it's just you, Kel; I thought you were a trooper coming to bring bad news."
Keltor shifted from one foot to the other, "Unfortunately, I do have bad news, Master. The droids have started digging out the rubble."
Master Rhan blinked, her expression not changing, then sighed and muttered, "Force kriffing, damn it." Then she lost her composure for a moment and pounded her fist against the holotable. Captain Terror and Keltor jumped slightly.
Master Rhan leaned against the holotable, and she said, "Keep me informed; I'll contact Master Kenobi and see if they can't get here faster."
The sounds of digging grew louder with every passing hour; Troopers nervously checked, double-checked, and triple-checked their equipment. One Trooper was muttering to himself in Mandalorian, another was reading from a datapad. Captain Fisk kept his gaze fixed on the rubble covering the entrance, watching for any signs of movement or an opening. A medic rifled through his pack and went around to every Trooper, giving them a vile with a blue substance. When he came to Keltor, he offered the vial to him. As Keltor took it, the medic explained, "It's a stim, should keep you alert and awake for the next few hours."
Keltor held the vial; on one end was a plunger, the other a small needle. He saw one Trooper put the needle in his neck and push the plunger down. Copying what the Trooper did and ignoring the pinch from the needle, he pushed the plunger down, injecting the stim.
A few moments later, he was jittery and glancing around the area at all the other troopers. A few others were starting to liven up, waking up and moving around. A few began to whisper to each other, and Keltor wondered what was in that stim.
There was a huge *crrrraaassh* as a large boulder was pulled back, and Keltor blinked as sunlight filled the tunnel. It'd been a couple days since he'd actually seen daylight; then he realized something, he could see sunlight, which meant the Separatists were through.
The troopers rushed behind cover and trained their rifles on the opening, a few moments passed, but no droids tried going through, then there was a heavy crash as another boulder, "We need to stop them from opening that wider, Potshot, you're up!"
A trooper vaulted over his cover and ran towards the opening; Potshot scrambled up the rubble, peered over the top, ducked down, and peered over the top again. He must have seen something because he readied his rifle, aimed, and fired a single shot. He ducked to avoid returning fire and scrambled back down the rubble pile and back into cover. Fisk looked at Potshot expectantly and asked, "Well? Did you get it?"
Potshot nodded, "Yes sir, got the power supply for that digger."
The men cheered, "Well done, Potshot!" yelled one Trooper.
Their cheering ceased when they heard the thunderous marching of battle droids. The troopers grew deathly silent as they aimed their rifles at the hole; Keltor gripped his lightsaber, the defining sound of tens of thousands of droids echoed around them in the tunnel. Then, the first droids clambered over the edge, before they could even aim their weapons, the clones had pumped them full of blaster fire. The droids toppled back, then the next droid forced its way through, only to be gunned down by the clones.
Several minutes passed, and the droids continued their suicidal assault, "MAKE EVERY SHOT COUNT!" Even over comms, Fisk had to yell to make himself heard.
As the droids kept up the advance, one Trooper had to stop firing, the barrel of his rifle glowing brightly in the dim light. The Trooper threw it away and retrieved another one, then continued firing. Another trooper cursed as their rifle burnt their hand, and they were forced to throw theirs away and get a new one. Fisk said, "Kriff, if they keep this up, we'll run out of blasters."
Mercifully the droids stopped their advance, "Cease fire, cease fire!" ordered Fisk.
They waited for half an hour without a sound coming from the droids outside. The troopers replaced power packs and kept their rifles trained on the opening.
A faint glimmer of hope rose in Keltor's chest; if they kept this up, they might actually hold off the droids. Then that hope was extinguished by an indescribably cold feeling. His breath hitched as the feeling washed over him in a tidal wave. So much anger, fear, and sadness; it consuming him, drowning him in its icy abyss.
He couldn't catch his breath; he felt panic take hold of his mind, his brain urged him to run, to hide, but his body, paralyzed with fear, refused to move. Never before had he felt this, and he had no idea what it meant. All he knew was that they were all in grave danger.
He managed to say, "Can you feel that?"
Fisk looked over to him, "Sir?"
"That…..unending cold, can you feel it?" asked Keltor.
Fisk shook his head, "No, sir. I, I can't feel that." He could just make out the confusion radiating off Fisk and the other clones, but the encroaching darkness quickly consumed it.
Then a figure stepped into the hole; he could just make out a bald woman; the troopers trained their rifles on the figure but hesitated.
She leaped down from the rubble, her hands gripping something cylindrical.
Keltor could tell the woman was the source of the immense cold, "You all fought valiantly. But now," the woman ignited two lightsabers, their red hue illuminating the insane smile on her face, "you die."
The troopers froze in fear, all except Captain Fisk, who shouted, "SHOOT HER!"
The troopers, running on autopilot, followed the order without question, leveled their blasters at the woman, and unleashed all their firepower upon her.
Keltor just managed to follow the woman's path as she weaved her way through the crisscross of blaster fire, and he just managed to ignite and raise his own lightsaber to block hers from decapitating him.
"CHECK FIRE CHECK FIRE!" yelled Fisk, causing the clones to stop shooting.
The woman pushed against his blade, causing him to stumble back; he felt a cold tendril worm it's way into his mind. He started seeing visions of his death flash before his eyes, each more gruesome and terrifying than the last.
Keltor took a step back, the woman cackling like a maniac as she slashed at him with her sabers. He took another step, then another, blocking strike after strike after strike. He could barely keep up with her movements, fear took hold of him, and he was on the verge of despair.
The woman laughed with glee, "Yes! Surrender to fear!"
Her blade grazed his arm, as he barely managed to avoid getting stabbed in the stomach. "Ahhh!"
He backed up quickly, holding his saber in front of him; the woman grinned and laughed. "What a pitiful excuse for a Jedi you are. Although I guess I shouldn't be too surprised."
Keltor grit his teeth, and he remembered something Master Ta told him, "In battle, often the clearest minds prevail."
He focused on his ragged breathing, managing to get it under control, the woman sensing what he was doing charged forward, her blade hurtling towards him. He stepped to the side, avoiding her thrust, and swung his saber down at her. She easily blocked the strike and retaliated with one of her own.
He batted her strike away and dodged a follow-up from her other blade. His steady breathing helped him focus, his mind slowly emptied, and he felt the warmth of the force fight off the cold. Power surged through him as he parried and dodged her strikes.
As the force flowed through him, time seemed to slow, and he could almost see what the woman's next move was, just in time to ward off the blow or redirect her blade. And while he was no master in lightsaber combat, he could see how unrefined her technique was. Still, it was enough to keep him on the defensive without creating an opening for him to exploit.
He felt the force guide his lightsaber, blocking each strike she made; the woman's frustration started to bubble up inside her, her anger being eaten away by fear.
"AHHHHHH!" she yelled out as she struck his saber, again and again, trying to dislodge it from his iron grip. But he would not yield to her; he would not surrender to his fear or his despair.
The force whispered to him, telling him to pull back, and as he did, Master Rhan suddenly appeared next to him, her lightsaber poised to strike.
The bald woman paused, gazing back and forth between the two Jedi, "Finally, a real opponent."
Master Rhan said nothing as she dashed forward, her lightsaber dancing between the bald woman's twin red blades. The bald woman stumbled back, barely managing to block Master Rhan's strikes.
Master Rhan's strikes came fast and hard; Keltor followed close behind but couldn't see a way to enter and help his Master. Eventually, the bald woman was pushed back to the rubble-filled entrance of the tunnel. She managed to disengage from Master Rhan and fled through the opening. The Clones fired as she escaped.
Master Rhan extinguished her saber and said, "Damn it, she got away." Keltor extinguished his own saber and felt the force slowly drain from him. Suddenly his head felt fuzzy, and his knees felt weak. Fortunately, a nearby trooper noticed and caught him before he fell. "Commander!"
Master Rhan turned at the yell and rushed forward, "Keltor?!"
The Trooper slowly set him on the ground, and he managed to suck in a breath; the fear returned; he'd almost died; if Master Rhan hadn't shown up when she did, that bald woman would have killed him. There was no doubt in his mind of that.
He felt tears trickle down his cheeks, "So-sorry. I'm just..."
Master Rhan set a hand on his shoulder, "You did well Keltor."
"Yeah, Commander, if you weren't here, I don't think any of us could have even held her off." Captain Fisk had kneeled next to him.
He heard troopers firing blasters and noticed that droids had resumed their assault after the bald woman appeared. More Troopers had arrived with more rifles, and a couple of field engineers were rigging up another explosive.
Master Rhan noticed the burn on his arm and called for the medic. When the medic took a look at it, he said, "Not too bad, probably hurts, though."
Keltor felt like 'hurts' wasn't a strong enough word to describe how painful being cut by a lightsaber is. "Think more like excruciating pain," muttered Keltor as he winced when the medic sprayed it with antiseptic.
The medic chuckled, "Probably. Unfortunately, this is gonna have to heal the old-fashioned way." The medic placed a cold pack, then loosely wrapped a strip of cloth around it to keep the cold pack in place. "Take that pack off in about thirty minutes, then rewrap the cloth, but don't wrap it tight, just loosely."
Keltor nodded to the medic, "Thank you."
The medic nodded, "Any time, sir."
The medic started to pack up his kit, then keltor stopped him and asked, "sorry, but what's your name?"
The Trooper froze, a bit startled by his question, then replied, "It's Bones, sir."
Keltor nodded, and Bones made his way to the Trooper who burned his hand earlier.
A Clone Commander leading several dozen men approached the tunnel; all around the entrance of the tunnel were dozens of destroyed AATs and tens of thousands of droids of every make and model so far produced.
"Kriff, how many droids did the 202nd destroy?" asked one Trooper in amazement. The troopers had to watch their footing as they walked a field of destroyed or dismembered droids. It was clear to them that the Battalion assigned here had fought hard to hold their position as long as possible. As they approached the first line of defense, they saw dozens of troopers lying dead, either draped over the makeshift wall they erected or lying face down, heading away from the wall. One Trooper, a Captain, lay under a headless commando droid, its Vibro sword buried in his chest.
Another trooper was draped across an E-Web, his finger still resting on the trigger, with almost a dozen black spots on his chest plate where he was shot. They had assumed that's what killed the man, but on closer examination, there was a single shot to the head. The barrel of the E-Web was warped and misshapen; they suspected that the Trooper manning it had continued firing even after it had started to melt down. A trooper hovered a hand over the barrel and commented, "Still warm."
They passed the first line of defense and headed deeper into the tunnel; each Trooper was silent as they headed in, their blasters raised as they checked for any droids.
Even inside the tunnel, thousands of destroyed battle droids with a few clones strewn about; one was resting against the still-smoking ruins of an AT-TE. As they ventured deeper into the tunnel, they heard blaster fire. "Some of them might still be alive! Move out!"
The troopers picked up the pace; if there was a chance they could save them, they'd move heaven and earth to save their brothers.
They ignored any dead troopers they found, and eventually, they ran into a group of droids marching down the tunnel.
"Open fire!" ordered the Commander, and the Troopers poured blaster fire into the backs of the droids. The first couple of rows fell before the droids realized that more Clones had appeared. It was a hard fight, but they managed to destroy the group of droids and pushed forward. They found another defensive line; fewer troopers were dead, which might have been a good or bad sign; they'd find out when they reached the survivors.
They rushed down the tunnel, their limbs ached, and their lungs burned, but they ignored the pain and pushed on. The sounds of fighting were growing louder, and they even heard some of their brothers yelling. Soon enough, they found the main force of battle droids, a mix of B1s, B2s, and destroyer droids. The troopers ran forward and engaged the droids; half of them about-faced and started shooting at them. The defenders must have realized that help had finally arrived because a cheer went up, invigorated by their potential rescue, they fought harder. Both sides eventually whittled the droid force down to a dozen droids, which were quickly dispatched.
The Commanders on both sides called "cease fire!" And a few survivors stood up from what cover they found. It looked like it had been a makeshift headquarters for the Battalion but was quickly turned into a defensive line.
The Commander stepped forward, "I'm Commander Spitfire with the 337th Attack Battalion."
A Jedi stepped out from the defensive line and said with a welcoming tone, "I'm glad to meet your acquaintance, Commander Spitfire. I am General Bola Rhan; welcome to the headquarters of the 202nd Special Operations Battalion."
Keltor hobbled forward next to Master Rhan. Captain Fisk, Terror, and Fixx, with the remainder of the Battalion, limped behind them. They were a sorry sight to behold. Almost every member of the Battalion was wounded in some way. But they were alive.
Clones from the 337th were dragging away droids and carelessly throwing them into a pile, but they carefully picked up their fallen brothers and placed them in neat rows.
Master Kenobi and his clone commander walked up to them, "Knight Rhan, Padawan Keltor, it is good to see you alive."
"Likewise, Master Kenobi," replied Master Rhan as she bowed to Master Kenobi. Keltor followed her lead.
Master Kenobi surveyed the rest of the Battalion, then said loud enough for everyone to hear, "You should be proud of what you accomplished here. Thanks to your tenacity and fighting ability, we were able to defeat a majority of the droid forces still on Christophsis. I'll personally put in a recommendation that the entire Battalion receives an accommodation; I believe Hero of the Republic should suffice?"
He knew that receiving the Hero of the Republic should be a tremendous achievement and that he should be happy about it. But he wasn't. He could tell that the rest of the Battalion didn't care about the award. All they wanted was a shower, a warm meal, and to take a long bath in a bacta tank.
"Thank you, Master Kenobi," Master Rhan bowed to Kenobi again, Keltor following suit.
Master Kenobi's commander stepped forward, "Good work out there; I look forward to working with the 202nd again sometime. Now I know what you're all thinking of; I'm thinking of it too. But I think you lot deserve it; the 337th will be taking over your positions. Head back to your fleet, get some rest, some hot food, and heal up. This war is far from over. Dismissed!"
In unison, the 202nd Battalion said, "Sir, yes, sir!"
But before Keltor or Master Rhan could leave, Commander Cody caught them, "A moment, General Rhan. I know you two have been rather busy over the last week, but there is a matter of paperwork. Please have a complete list of casualties the 202nd Battalion suffered, any damaged or destroyed equipment, approximately how much ammo was used, how many rations were consumed, how much fuel was used, and the amount of medical supplies that were used, sent to me as soon as possible. Along with a complete detailed description of events and tactics used."
Master Rhan and Keltor stood silent; neither looked forward to sifting through the massive amount of information, most of which they probably didn't have. They'd have to fudge a few numbers and give rough estimates to cover everything Commander Cody requested.
Cody wasn't finished, "Also, General Rhan, you and Commander Keltor are being resigned to the 337th-"
Master Rhan cut off Cody, "If it's all the same to you, Commander, I'd prefer to stay with my Battalion."
Commander Cody seemed taken aback and glanced at Master Kenobi. Kenobi smiled slightly and nodded, "I think they've more than earned a rest as well. Like I always tell Anakin, look after your troops, and they'll look after you."
Content, Commander Cody turned back to Master Rhan and Keltor, "Very well, have a good rest General." He saluted them, and they saluted back. Then after bowing to Master Kenobi, they followed their men to the three juggernaut tanks waiting to take them to the Republic base in the capital.
The surviving members of the 202nd fit comfortably into one. As Keltor strapped into his seat, he gazed around the compartment; of the roughly 570 men they had come to Christophsis with, approximately 50 remained. As the juggernaut started its engine and made for the capital, one by one, the Battalion fell asleep; their week-long mission behind enemy lines finally caught up to them, and even Master Rhan and Keltor were fast asleep.
While the battle for the tunnel would fade from memory, the brothers they left behind there would never be forgotten. Later, the Christophsians would rename the tunnel to "Cannonade Pass" in honor of a clone trooper who was said to have held his ground, even while grievously injured, and bought time for his brothers to retreat.
Even though the battle of Christophses would become nothing more than a footnote in a much larger war, it would forever alter the destiny of one young Jedi Padawan.
Alright, and that's a wrap for this chapter, I'd been wondering how and which sith characters from the clone wars to introduce. I thought Dooku would straight up kill Keltor one on one, he could probably hold off Ventrence for a bit until help arrived. And at this moment, Ventrence would be looking for a way to get back into the good graces of Dooku, due to the loss of Rotta (yes, if you've been wondering, this takes place during the clone wars movie) I'm bending cannon a little bit, because at this point the war's been going on for a couple months. But I decided to speed things up a little bit.
As for the idea of having the 202nd being trapped behind enemy lines for about a week or so, I actually took inspiration from a real historical event for that. During world war 1 the US 77th Division 308th Infantry Regiment was cut off in the Argonne forest by the German Army. Over the next six days they tied up the German army long enough for the rest of the 77th Division to rescue them.
During this time the 308th Infantry Regiment was bombarded by their own artillery, ran low on food and ammunition, and the only water source was a small stream they had to crawl too, which was unfortunately under the watchful eyes of the Germans. Communications was a huge issue and air support was non-existent. Of the 554 men of the 308th only around 250 survived the battle.
When Brigadier General Edmund Wittenmyer, commander of the 77th Division arrived to inspect the 308th Infantry Regiment, he reportedly put all the men of the 308th up for accommodations, and offered Major Charles W. Whittlesey and his officers a ride back to headquarters in his staff car. In response Major Whittlesey declined the offer saying that he'd rather stay with his men. Sadly, Major Whittlesey committed suicied in 1921, he was only 37 at the time.
The 308th Infantry Regiment was disbanded just after the battle and was given the nickname, The Lost Battalion. If you're interested in learning more about them, there's a movie made about them titled, "The Lost Battalion." You can watch it for free on YouTube, at least here in the US you are.
Anyways,
I do not own Star Wars. Any events or people in this story that mirror real life or other stories are completely coincidental. Although a few events will be inspired by things that actually happened. I'll mention the ones that I consciously chose.
Now, onto the fun facts.
The 337th Attack Battalion, is potentially, a canon battalion (it's very confusing which battalions are canon, and which ones are fan made, I have a feeling that this one might have been fan made), Led by Jedi General Jaden (not to be confused with Jaden Korr, a disciple of Luke Skywalker) and Battalion Commander CC-45/096 "Spitfire"
Not much is known about the 337th, but they seem to be composed primarily of ARF and ARC troopers, and they apparently took part in the Battle of Mygeeto. So I thought I might add a bit to their lore and have them take part in Christophsis as well.