The Front Lines:
Preparing For Battle
CT-325, or Xan as his squad called him, ran across the floor of the landing pad on Kamino, the rain that was pattering on his helmet annoying the hell out of him. He was glad when he reached the other side and the door that led to the interior of Tropica city, and to the quarters of Commander Cody. Some of the clones in the hallway watched him enter the code for the door that led into the Commander's quarters. When the door finally opened, he stepped inside, thankful to take off his helmet. He looked like any other clone; black hair, white skin, and a hard look. But with one difference, there was a scar, and an unusual scar at that. The scar started right cheek, and worked its way up across his right eye, and finished at the top of his eyebrow. This was because his first squad-mate, CT-310, or Scorp, saved his life. They were in the training room, a few days ago. Xan was in the training room with Scorp and together they were sniping far off targets with the supplied issue of DC-15 Sniper Rifles. One clone thought that he could shoot one of the targets while standing behind Xan. Big mistake. Scorp saw what was going to happen and, thanks to his reflexes, pushed Xan forward just as the Clone fired. Xan, being a right hander, pitched forward, the top of his head facing the target. He was moving his head up to the when the high speed bullet inside the coating of plasma zoomed up the right side of his face, creating the scar that was now there. He had requested that Scorp be in his squad when he got one, and they had been best friends ever since. Cody walked out of the small armoury that he had in his quarters and asked Xan what was wrong. Xan saluted.
"Corporal 325, reporting as ordered, sir!"
Cody nodded, his helmet bouncing slightly. The only reason Xan could tell that it was him was because of the armour colour coding. Cody asked, "Do you know why you're here?"
Xan nodded slightly, and then replaced his helmet.
"We're going to war."
Once again on the landing pad, the rain was starting to become annoying. Xan looked around nervously as he waited for his squad. There, he thought. Finally. Scorp came running towards him. When he got there he saluted.
"CT-310, reporting in, sir!"
"Where's 311?" Xan shouted above the noise of the Republic Assault ships and LAAT's overhead. "Don't know sir!" Scorp shouted back.311 was the second squad-mate. Xan had chosen him because he bet 10 Republic credits that he could beat 311 in a race. Not hard to see who lost! A LAAT landed behind them and the doors opened. "Come on!" the pilot shouted over their comm frequency. Xan told Scorp to get on. Scorp ran on board the LAAT and talked to the pilot about where they were landing. There he is, thought Xan as he ran over to CT-311, or Jay, as they had come to know him. "Come on!" shouted Xan as he led him back to the LAAT. Jay quickly followed him, his fast moving legs propelling him across the pad to the LAAT faster than Xan. When Xan jumped aboard, he yelled to the pilot, "Go!" The door's shut and they all sat down. Scorp looked at him and spoke, "How's that scar healing up sir?" Xan replied, "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here to talk about it. Does that answer your question?" Scorp grinned inside his helmet as Jay asked him, "Where are we being dropped?" Scorp shrugged. "Anywhere. As long as I get to bash up some droids," he flexed his muscles and laughed. With the best eyesight, reflexes and strongest biceps, Scorp was the strong one of the trio. Jay was really, really fast, and Xan was an excellent sniper. The pilot of the LAAT called out to them, "We're going to be on the Accumulator soon!" Xan called back, "Roger that!" The 3 of them sat and reviewed the terrain that they going to be dropped off in. The holo-transmitter that Jay threw on the ground displayed the area with a 50 km radius, using their Accumulator's landing zone as the beginning. "This is our LZ." Said Scorp, setting a square at a spot 2 clicks out to the North-West of the drop zone. "Looks pretty barren," said Jay, doubtfully. "And there'll be no cover," added Xan.
"Exactly." Said Scorp. "We've been asked by Commander Cody to set up a trench in that vicinity. This," he said outlining another point about half a click to the North, North-West, and North-East. "Is where our enemies will be coming from. A few of them will be coming from behind as well, depending on the cleanup that our guys do. And this," he said placing a blip about a click behind them. "Is where our ground reinforcements will be." Xan nodded.
"Any air support?"
"2 LAAT's will be covering us from the air for a bit, but will pull out when the trench is set."
"Any cover?" asked Jay.
"Yes." Replied Scorp, outlining a trail, leading from the Accumulator's LZ, to the point where their trench would be, and beyond. "We'll have 2 AT-TE's with us, but when they get past, we're on our own."
"Got a plan?" asked Xan.
"Yes. My plan is that we move from the Accumulator, under the protection of the AT-TE's, and then, once we reach our destination, we start."
Xan shook his head. "No, that won't work. When we get there, there'll be too many droids to deal with."
"Maybe," Jay pondered the thought for a moment, and then continued.
"Maybe two of us could go in on the LAAT to set up under the cover of the LAAT's, and the other go with the AT-TE's."
Both Xan and Scorp smiled inside their helmets. The rookie was going quite well so far…