First Blood

The advancing CIS forces had everything that the Republic hoped that they wouldn't; Hailfire tanks, Spider droids, Spider walkers, etc. Xan ran into the communications tent and hit the FLEETCOMM button on the display, calling for evac. "Mayday, mayday! This is Corporal Xan, requesting immediate backup! We have wounded! I repeat! we have wounded that need evac, ASAP!" He walked back out, having received no reply, and looked at the AT-TE's. They had only gained half a click. Wait... Something wasn't right. If the AT-TE's are half a click away, then where are the CIS forces? He was blown off of his feet when a Spider walker's laser hit the patch of ground 3m away from him. He landed at the trench and shouted over the comm, "Jay! Scorp! We're under attack! Get over to the trench, now!" He got up and rolled into the trench as lasers scalded the spot where he was less than a second ago. He grabbed onto his sniper and looked through the scope.

"Holy shit." The CIS strike group was a mere 100m away! He looked behind him as 842 and the other clone, 848, ran past him and rolled behind the bunkers. Scorp and Jay joined him in the trench and raised their DC-15's, firing. After a few shots were taken by the nearest Hailfire. Scorp yelled, "Jay! You need to take it out with your rocket launcher!"

"Oh, right! Give me some cover!"

Jay climbed up and over the trench and sprinted toward the weapons tent where they stored all of their explosive arms. Scorp followed him, taking out a Super battle droids with a few shots to the head. When they got inside, Xan grabbed his sniper rifle and followed them. Once he was outside the door, he raised it to his helmet once more, and picked off any droid that even thought of coming near him. With three shots, he had taken out three enemies, all to their heads. He switched guns, removing the scope from the top of the gun barrel, to the bottom, where he placed his hand, and placed other things in different spots, to form his blaster rifle. He aimed at a nearby battle droid and shot at it, 4 lasers in quick succession. The lasers hit the droid square in the chest plate. Oil spurted out of it like a fountain while the droid collapsed to the ground. When that droid was down, he lobbed a thermal detonator at the nearest Droideka that was rolling toward the bunkers that the clones were reloading behind. The Droideka stopped to unfold, and exploded as the thermal detonator took its toll. He twisted round to face more incoming droids. He fired at a group of ten, taking 3 down before he had to reload. He threw the empty clip to the ground and slapped in a fresh one. He then dropped his gun and drew his blaster pistol, confident that he could provide a bit more cover. He raised the pistol at the group of droids and pulled the trigg-.

Ftzz! A blaster's laser smashed into the barrel of the pistol, causing the front to melt just as Xan's blaster fired. Xan's laser hit the melted end of his pistol and drew so much heat that it exploded in his hands from the pressure. His armour's temperature system cooled down his armour as he thought; what the hell are they doing in there?

"Scorp! Jay! What's taking so long!" he yelled over the comm. He was about to make a dive for his blaster, which was a few metres away, when a Hailfire laser struck the ground in front of him He attempted to run for the gun again, but reeled backwards when a long red beam emitted from a Spider walker and made a long, deep cut in the ground in front of him.. The Hailfire tank and the Spider walker started coming towards him at tremendous speeds. He was trapped, and he knew it. As the Hailfire was about to hit Xan, and the Spider walker about to lay him to waste, Scorp and Jay bolted out of the tent; Jay carrying his rocket launcher, and Scorp carrying his Detpacks. "Xan!" Scorp yelled.

"Cover me!"

Jay fired at the Hailfire tank, the rocket gliding across the space between them, and it slammed into the centre, causing it to explode, with the wheels flying out to the sides, and the centre to just melt completely. With a clear line to his blaster rifle, Xan ran to it and picked it up, just in time to save Scorp from a Super battle droid by blasting off its firing arm. The droid waddled around uselessly as he ran with Scorp, Jay switching to his blaster rifle and covering the ammunitions tent. Scorp got to the Spider walker, pulled his climbing gear from his backpack, and threw it upwards. The rope looped around a leg attachment on the walker and fastened. Scorp clipped the rope to his belt and reeled himself up while Xan took out numerous enemies on the ground. When Scorp was level with the leg attachment, he pulled out a Detpack, activated the magnetic system with the touch of a button, and placed it on the joint. He quickly reeled down the rope, and unclipped it as his feet landed hard on the dusty ground. "Xan!" he yelled. "Hit the button!"

"The what?"

"The button!"

"Oh."

Xan and Scorp ran for cover. On their way, they passed the bunker. The two clones were lying in a pool of blood, one of them still alive. Scorp and Xan were going to help him when he managed to cough out two words.

"L-eave m-me."

Scorp and Xan looked at him, but reconsidered and then ran to the trench. When they got there, they jumped inside and pulled out their blaster rifles. "Jay!" yelled Xan over the comm. "Yeah?"

"Get over to the bunker!"

"Wh-"

"Just do it!"

"Yes sir, Jay out."

"Get ready, Scorp." said Xan, raising his rifle. They saw Jay round the corner of the ammo tent, running hard and fast. "There!"

Xan twirled to face the spot to witch Scorp was pointing. He took aim and pulled the trigger, sending a stream of 6 blue, super heated lasers at the battle droid. One of the lasers hit it in the chest. Its chest exploded in a small ball of flame and oil. 3 lasers hit it in the head, completely melting it. And the last 2 lasers hit it in both of its legs, one for each laser. The droid, which was now a smouldering pile of heat, crumbled to the ground. Jay dived into the trench. "Okay." Said Xan.

"3…2…1…-"

"Stop!" yelled Scorp.

"What!"

"It fell off!" he shouted.

"What!" shouted a frustrated Jay.

It was true. The Detpack had fallen clean off the Spider walker. It raised its cannon and fired at the trench. They all ducked down as the trench practically exploded. The CIS forces were closing in all around them. When the dust cloud cleared, they got up again and stared at the droid. They all saw it at once.

"Oh no." said Jay.

"My god." Breathed Xan.

"Don't do it!" Scorp shouted to the clone that was limping toward the walker, Detpack in hand. Scorp tried to get up and stop him, but Xan and Jay held him back. They all stared as the clone placed the Detpack on the leg and held it there. He was about to take away his arm when,

Fttzzz!

"AAARRRGGGHHH!" the trooper screamed as the Spider walker's red hot beam sliced through his arm extremely cleanly. He looked at where his arm used to be, and would have gone into shock, had he not been a clone. He looked back at the Detpack and tried to pry it from his former arm's hand, but it was no use. His hand had it in a death grip. He stared up at the walker's leg joint, and then stared back at the three, who were just standing in the trench. He grabbed his climbing rope and swung it up over the joint, like Scorp had done before.

"No!" Scorp tried to get away from his friends' grips. But it was no use.

"Tell him to stop!"

"We can't." Jay said.

The clone latched the rope onto his belt, grabbed his dead arm with his only arm, and pressed the button, with his only free finger (his pinkie,) to make himself go up. He slowly started to go up. When he reached the end, he struggled trying to get off. All this time, Xan, Jay and Scorp were ducking inside the trench to escape the deadly lasers that the Spider walker was firing. When the clone managed to get himself off the rope, he jammed the arm into the leg joint and held it there to make sure that it wouldn't fall. The three heard a voice over the comm. It was the clone.

"325; hit the button."

"But you'll be killed!" Scorp shouted in protest.

The clone didn't respond. "Do it." Said Jay understanding and quiet, wishing that they didn't have to waste a good soldier's life. Xan nodded slowly, raised the remote detonator trigger, and pushed it. The explosion sent a shockwave through the ground. The clone trooper was visible for less than a second as he was consumed by flames and flung from the walker. His body flew like a rag doll as the leg joint exploded, causing the leg to fall down to the ground. With a leg gone, the walker just collapsed, and hit the ground. Hard. The centre ball of the walker exploded in a brilliant ball of red flame, flinging bits of debris everywhere. The two legs were flung away like three javelin's As it was raining red hot, burning pieces of metal, the AT-TE's arrived with the reinforcements, blasting all the CIS forces in the area. Another Spider walker that dare oppose the AT-TE's got blasted to a black, smouldering scrap pile. "Sir!" a pilot jumped out of one of the AT-TE's and saluted Xan. Xan saluted back. "What's your name?"

"Private Blay, sir. Number 363." Xan nodded. "Alright, Blay. Create a perimeter with the AT-TE's, then report back to me."

"Yes, sir!" Xan turned as Blay ran off to his AT-TE.

Xan turned, saw a LAAT land, and watched as Hawkins jumped out. The AT-TE's moved off and kept on blasting the opposing droids with their green pulse lasers. "Sir!" Hawkins ran up to Xan and saluted. "I have orders to air-lift you out of here."

Xan nodded and looked behind him. The AT-TE's were just finishing the 'clean-up' of the area. Xan looked back and said, "Right. Get the ship ready for take off." Hawkins saluted and ran off to his ship. Xan talked over the private comm link. "All right Bravo, we're moving out."

Scorp and Jay quickly ran off to the ship. Xan followed them, and when he jumped on, the LAAT lifted off. The LAAT flew fast and low over the dusty and orange terrain. They past a number of tall and jagged spires, the rocks that formed them taking the same colour as the sand on the ground. Xan looked out at their front lines; a group of SPHA-T's (Self Propelled Heavy Artillery-Turbo laser's) bringing down a rising core-ship, the lasers tearing straight through the heavy armour plating. When the core ships engines failed, it slowly fell down to the ground, gaining speed as it went. When it did hit the ground, an enormous cloud of dust spouted up, blocking Xan's view. It was when the LAAT broke through the cloud of dust, that Xan noticed that he, Scorp and Jay were riding the LAAT with an extra clone, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala. Hawkins piloted the LAAT past a rather large cliff, when they saw a swoop bike drop down the cliff, followed closely by two Geonosion fighters. Xan walked into the pilot's area, looked over Hawkins shoulder and asked, "Who's that?"

"It's Dooku." Said Anakin in disgust.
"Shoot him down!"

Hawkins checked the displayand then said to Anakin, "We're out of rockets, sir!"

"Then follow him."

"We're going to need some help!" protested Padme.

Xan walked back into the hold, when he was suddenly thrown into the wall. Scorp met the same fate, but Jay was holding onto the bars on the roof. Xan and Scorp stood up, and Scorp asked over their private comm channel, "What was that?"

"Damn it!" said Hawkins as he struggled with the controls, skimming the LAAT over a small sand dune.

"Two Geonosion fighters, on our tail!"

"Great," muttered Jay. At the top of the dune, one of the lasers found its mark, and hit the LAAT in the left wing joint. The LAAT pitched forward, and 2 people fell out: Padme Amidala, and Jay. "Arrrgggghhhh!" Padme's screams became less and less loud as she fell, hit the top of the sand dune, and rolled down to the bottom, unconscious. Jay hit the top and stayed there, unmoving. His gun fell from his hand and landed beside his limp body. "Put the ship down!" yelled Anakin in frustration. Scorp and Xan partly wanted to land as well, but they knew that they couldn't. The LAAT kept on going as Xan asked Scorp, "What are our coordinates?"

Scorp hit a few buttons on his armour's wrist pad, and replied,

"Sector Gamma, 3 by 14, North North-West from the forward command centre."

"Good. Call for a LAAT for Jay."

"I'm way ahead of you."

This last comment was said over the speakers of the armour, and Obi-Wan looked at them strangely. Xan and Scorp stood to attention until Obi-Wan looked away again.

"Idiot."

Jay groaned and sat up. Padme was still lying down below him. He stood up and retrieved his weapon. He raised it to his helmet and looked around the area. He was still a bit dizzy, but he managed to stop a droid from reaching him with a few well-placed shots to the head. A clone ran toward him just as Padme woke up and asked, "Are you two alright?"

"Yes." Padme answered for the both of them.

"We'd better get back to the forward commander centre."

"No." This answer came from Jay. Padme and the other clone looked at him.

"Count Dooku is being persued by a LAAT with two Jedi, and four soldiers. I saw them heading for a spire when we fell off. Maybe that's where they went."

The clone nodded and said,

"Master Yoda's on his way. So we'll just have to wait until he gets here."