Day 287 - Clone Wars - Bestine Orbit

Mace Windu stood firm at the bridge of the RAC Harvester, watching the slaughter of fighters and ships before him. Republic Venator-class Attack Cruisers and Trade Federation Cruisers shot at one another, Victory-class Republic Star Destroyers were pounding Trade Federation Battleships and Commerce Guild Frigates, ARC-170's and Vulture Droids dogfighted across the entire battlefield, Tri-Fighters harassed Gunships that were bringing in commando teams from the ground, Strike Bombers were making strafing runs on the Republic ships. There was so much debris in the area that some ships had to vape the debris to get to their targets. While this happened, Clone Troopers and Battle Droids duked it out on the surface of Bestine. Reports of the battle kept coming in from the ground, and they weren't good. Republic forces had been holding the planet Bestine for almost a month of heavy fighting, slugging it out with the Separatist Droid Armies. The 547th, 231st, 182nd, and 501st Legions held their ground well, but they were going to be wiped out soon if they stayed on that planet. Windu sighed and crossed his arms. 'This war is not going well' he thought. Even with the destruction of the Dark Reaper and a few victories around the galaxy, the Confederacy of Independent Systems were pushing the Republic to the Inner Rim, threatening the Core Worlds. The Jedi had been in the forefront of the fighting ever since the first battle at Geonosis. Two-hundred and twelve Jedi died that day.

Two-hundred and twelve dead Jedi in a day. How many more would die by the end of this war?

Mace sighed and crossed his arms. 'This war is not going very well indeed'. After watching the space battle continue for a few minutes, he turned around and keyed the hologram transciever. An image of a Clone Commander, his white armor marked with mud and scorch marks, appeared. He held a DC-15 Blaster Rifle in his left hand, and used his free hand to remove his helmet, revealing an almost perfect match of Jango Fett, the legendary Mandalorian Bounty Hunter. "General Windu, what are your orders?". Mace looked back at the viewport, witnessing a pair of ARC-170's get blown to bits by a trio of Droid Tri-Fighters. "Commander Kal, order your troops to withdraw to the evacuation point. Load them up on The Assault Ships. We're leaving". Commander Kal obviously looked disappointed, but he obeyed his orders. He was programmed to do so. "Yes sir". With that, the hologram faded out.

Windu took one last look at the battle above Bestine's orbit, shook his head, and left the Bridge.

"All right lads! Fall back to the EV Point! Lets move it!".

For A-43 'Forry', that was the last thing he ever wanted to hear ever since he got onto this planet. Taking cover alongside a platoon of Clone Troopers in a dirt trench, Forry cursed the overwhelming fire that hissed over his head, denying a chance to return fire. If only he had a platoon of AT-TE's. Better yet, the new AT-AT walkers. He heard alot of them and their combat performance at Jabiim, and was very impressed. Their armor was very thick and literally blaster proof. Even a Geonoisian Sonic Turret couldn't penetrate it. Forry shook his head, 'Now is not the time to day-dream trooper, you have Droids to kill', and that was something Forry lived for. There was nothing more he loved than combat. He enjoyed having blaster bolts whiz past him, the recoil of a DC-15, the whump sound of an explosive going off, and the sound of blaster fire. Whenever combat happened, Forry was there. He checked his DC-15 Blaster Rifle, making sure it was in good condition. The blaster gas was at 70 percent capacity, 'Good enough' thought Forry. He had a full complement of seven blaster clips along with it. 'Enough for a division of Droids' he thought. He laid his back against the dirt mound of the trench, peeked up, and counted the number of Battle Droids approaching him.

There was at least a hundred of them

Ninety of the Droids were standard B-1 Battle Droids. Flimsy, weak, and easy to kill. The remaining ten were B-2 versions, Super Battle Droids. Heavily armored and had powerful blasters and wrist rockets. 'Nothing an ARC Trooper can't handle' thought Forry. He waited until those Droids got whithin 200 meters of his position, and primed two detonators. One an EMP detonator, to distrupt the Droids neural networks, and a Thermal detonator, to create more damage. 'Adding fire to the lightning' Forry told himself. He activated the EMP det and lobbed it over the trench. A faint blue light flashed, followed by the vocal Aie-Aie-Aie-Aie of Battle Droids. Forry then lobbed the Thermal det, and heard the whump of the explosion, followed by hot, searing pieces of Battle Droid parts falling from the sky. Forry readied his DC-15, turned the saftey to 'off', and fired. His 'Deece' fired Ion bolts at a rapid rate, felling Droids with deadly presicion. He emptied a clip into a marching file of Thirty Battle Droids, turning them into a pile of junk. He slapped in a fresh clip and got out of the trench, firing as he went. Taking a slow pace, and holding his DC-15 at his hip, he continued his work. Blaster bolts sizzled past him, but he didn't notice, since he was too busy putting his blaster bolts into Droids.

Soon enough, he came across the first of the ten Super Battle Droids he counted. Forry quickened his pace, rushing the SBD head-on. The SBD didn't have a chance to fire, as Forry got into touching distance with the SBD. Taking a crouching position, Forry stuck his 'Deece's barrel into the lower abdomen of the Droid, and squeezed the trigger. Twelve shots later, the SBD had a smoking hole in its lower abdominal area. He pushed the smoking hulk into another oncoming SBD, forcing it to fall down on its back. Forry planted a single shot into the SBD, making sure it would stay down. Forry threw two more Thermal dets at a pair of oncoming SBD's, and rolled to his right. The twin explosions sent the Droids flying high, and landing onto another SBD, taking it out. 'Halfway there' .

He unslung his PLX-1 Missle Launcher from his kit, loaded a projectile, and looked for a target. The remaining five Super Battle Droids were lined up in a typical infantry formation, wrist blasters at the ready. Forry aimed, and launched the missile. It glided in a straight line in a yellow glow before hitting one of the Droids in the upper abodmen, and blossoming into fire. Droid parts flew into the air, creating red-hot shrapnel. 'Ah the joys of blowing up shit' he thought.

He headed back to the trench and saw that the Troopers there were staring at him. Forry was used to it. He did these kinds of things before and got the same reaction everytime. "Sir" asked a Clone Trooper, "Are you that good or were you in the zone?". Forry chuckled, and said something one of his commando buddies told him. "Trooper, I LIVE in the zone". With that, Forry left, and headed for the EV point, where Three Assault Ships were waiting. 'Another day's work' he thought, as he boarded the RAS Neim.

Mace was in his Quarters, witnessing the Assault Ships come out of Bestine's atmosphere on a Hologram. Three Acclamator-class Assault Ships carried the rest of the legions out of the planet, and headed for the fleet. Windu went through the casualty list and scratched his chin at the reports. 547th suffered 56 percent , 182nd had 65 percent, 501st had the least, having 34 percent. (Mace wasn't surprised about that. The 501st was an Elite Shock Troop legion. They knew how to fight.) The 231st suffered the most, having almost 88 percent casualties. Mace closed the list, and went back to the Harvester's roster. The Attack Cruiser had 178 V-Wing Bombers, 188 ARC-170's, 132 V-19 Torrent Fighters, 23 Jedi Eta-2 Actis Interceptors, 36 LAAT/i gunships, and 24 AT-TE walkers. The whole ship shuddered as its Eight Heavy Turbolaser turrets fired at once, along with the faint thwump-bang of the Cruiser's Four heavy Proton Torpedo tubes go into action. Mace looked back to the Hologram, and decided it was time to go.

Windu keyed his comm, and told every ship to prepare for Hyperspace. They were heading for Thyferra, the galaxy's largest Bacta producer. If Thyferra fell, the Republic would fall. That was why they needed to hold Bestine, so that they could keep the Separatists out of Thyferrian orbit. But that was no use, and Mace's fleet had to retreat to Thyferra, or risk heavier casualties. As the Republic fleet prepared for hyperspace, Mace sat back in his chair, wondering. 'Can Thyferra be held?' 'There would be reinforcments, yes, but the Separatists knew how important Thyferra was, and they will sacrifice every Baktoid Battle Droid to get it.

Mace wasn't going to let that happened.

Reminding himself to contact Master Yoda when they reached Thyferra, Mace went into meditation. He felt the stars accelerate, and the Republic Fleet was gone, leaving the CIS a victory, and one more step closer to the lifeblood of the Republic...

For those who liked the old Destiny Of The Fallen, I'm sorry but this one will be much better. Please Review