Chapter Two, Battle: Outpost
" Detonator's set General," Commander Atiniir said never turning towards Aden as he set his mind and the bomb for the situation ahead. Switching a dial it keyed in for thirty seconds. " I advise we run for it."
" Good idea. Move men!"
It took less then five minutes for Aden Colossus to close the distance between his previous location at the destroyed AT-AT and his new one upon the walls of the outpost. There were few droids at this paticular outpost but they made up for it with heavy artillery. Huge turbolaser bolts sindged by the small unit only around a dozen came close. None of the clones were hurt but one did have some burn marks on his armor from a near hit.
This paticular outpost was a native building that was converted into a forward assault base. Its walls were made of thick dark tan stone and almost the entire populace of this place had been removed permittley. The only ones the remained were ones that had to run the sand equipment so this paticular village was not buried alive. Inside the main wall were smaller stone buildings ranging from ten meters to twenty meters and at the heart on the native village was a metal building newly constructed for the commander of this outpost.
General Colossus and his troops ran with all there might towards a large sand dune about a hundred feet in front of them. Using all the energy they could muster the unit flung themseves over the dune once they reached the top. One by one they rolled down the sand hill looking like the beginning of an avalanche. Suddenly the top of the hill exploded casting thousands of pounds of sand upon the clones and Jedi. Three clones along with Commander Atiniir were close enough to Aden that he used a powerful force push to send most of the sand away. As for the other three clones they didn't make it. The pressure and weight of the sand was to much for there armor. It was like an instant pancake maker.
As for the living, getting out of the sand was harder then getting in. Still with at least a hundred pounds of sand on top of them the clones and jedi worked there way out slowly but surely. It looked like the living dead having hands, and feet, then body's then everything coming out from the ground. This was not something the group of jedi considered in the planning.
"Strength?"
Aden called into the comlink to the other groups. The last explosion from a different direction hit as they were just coming out from the sand. Lilly was first to answer.
"Wow! That was a ride! We lost one troop in the explosion. Poor fellow."
" I lost three."
The young jedi said sadly into the comm. It made Aden feel worse that Lilly of all people saved more of her group then himself . He should be happy for her not mad at her. What was he thinking? Shaking his head for both to get rid of the thought and the sand Colossus called his saber that was resting nicely on the top of the sand to his hand. Getting to his feet as fast as he could Aden spoke outloud towards his clone soldiers.
"Our unit is to take out the main turbolaser turret. Follow Commander Atiniir to the location! I will be right behind you!"
Without a single word all the clone soldiers turned on there heel and ran towards the place where there should be a hole in the stone wall. Listening to the comlink again it was Phoenix who spoke next.
" Our unit is down two men and another critically wounded. I doubt he will last much longer..."
Master Elleve never liked death. Not even if it was an insect. When she was young her Master took her on a mission on Nar Shaddaa. They had to stop an illegal gladiator ring, and most of the participates did not go willingly. She had to watch a helpless young women be killed by a Sand Panther. From then on she was afraid of death. Soon they stopped the ring but Fee never forgot the young woman.
"Zaras?"
" No casualties. Our unit is in and the anti-air turret is in sight."
" Good take it out, Fee you get that communications relay destroyed. Lilly your unit is to take out any battle droids."
" Got it."
Fee said silencing her comm.
" Ok."
Lilly said with a heavy sigh. Of course she made it obvious that she was not happy with the placements. Putting his own comlink away Master Colossus drew his saber and followed the now small dots of his clone troopers in the far off distance. Running through the very large hole in the wall Aden was flung upon a battle already in progress. Lilly's unit was attacking some Super Battle Droids and they were greatly outnumbered.
Lilly was like a well wired machine. In one hand she held her yellow/white lightsaber and in the other she held a wrench. The red Twi'lek was like a Teek moving from one battle droid to the next very quickly. Doing a kick-flip off a destroyed Super Lilly jumped off the head of another while slashing her saber into its core. They were constantly shooting at her but not a single hit came near. The jedi knight landed on the ground then jumped on the back of a Super using her wrench to open up the droids outer casing. Snipping a few wires here and there she finally found what she was lookings for. The targeting tracer. She locked on to the other Supers and then let go of the droid and watched as it destroyed its fellow machines. Evenually the rest caught on and destroyed it but not before Lilly finished them off. As the one of the last ones fell Lilly gave a quick gasp and yelled.
" Aden behind you!"
The Twi'lek said with big eyes. Using the force to jump away without even thinking Aden landed just inches away from a large stone brick that fell from one of the tall buildings. The wind along with a few stray bolts must have knocked it lose. Sadly, it killed the other three troops that were with Aden. Now it was only Atiniir and Master Colossus as a group. Rolling out of the way of fire of the few droids that were left Aden hit behind a small stone building with Atiniir who was next to him in the collapse.
" Looks like its just you and me left."
The human jedi said looking at the clone trooper. He never actually seen Atiniir's face behind the helmet but he knew that he was looking at Aden as well. This was not good. Already there mission had a 48 chance of failing and it only just began! It seemed like Lilly was going to have to form her group up with Aden's to finish there mission of destroying the main turbolaser turret.
Then the last droid it the sand and Aden made a full out sprint towards the Twi'lek. He was full of sand but now was not the time to worry about that they had a mission to complete. Lilly merely smiled and then bend over to look at the insides of a Super. Grabbing Lilly by her arm Aden continued to run as Lilly was trying not to fall down.
" Hey whats the big idea! I was just getting to the behavior core!"
" There is no time your unit needs to join with my unit in order to complete the mission."
With a grumble Lilly started to run on her own with Aden while putting away her wrench and holding her saber ready. Lilly's tool belt was full of almost every quick repair tool you could think of. She never wore regular jedi robes but either a quick mechanic jumpsuit or something "native" to the females of her kind.
The turret was near but they had to still pick up time. Zaras and Fee were probably almost done by now and Aden had not even started. Calling on the force to quicken his pace Aden reached the turret before even Lilly got there. They needed to disable the turbolaser without destroying it so when they took over the outpost they could fix it and use it against the CIS.
This turret was humongous. It had to be close to ten meters tall and it was also a building for housing droids. The door to the turret /building was at least a few hundred meters away and the nearest window was about eight meters off the ground. It looked impossible but not for a Jedi. Getting in a squat position Aden positioned his hands like a foothold.
" Lilly you ready?"
The red Twi'lek looked up at the window then back down at Aden then back up to the window and down again. She was silent for a moment then a big smile crept up her face. Backing up a few steps the small jedi knight ran full speed towards Aden calling upon the force like what Master Colossus did prior. Jumping at the last second Aden caught her foot and used all his strength and a bit of the force to throw her up to the window.
Just as she was about to drive into the window her saber was ignited and then she was gone. You could hear heavy blaster fire in her wake and see flashes of light in the window but nothing more. The rest of the unit watched the streets looking for more droids but nothing came. Suddenly there was no sound but the heavy turbolaser firing up high. You could hear footsteps fading off into the distance and near where the door was a few hundred meters away Lilly poked her head out. She spotted the group and waved.
"Lets move out!"
Commander Atiniir said calling the remaining six clones to head towards the door that the Twi'lek jedi was at. Aden followed last heading inside the turret. As Aden reached the door he sensed something and turned around but nothing was there. It seemed dark and mysterious but he couldn't pick it out of all the other chaos going on. I guess it would have to wait.
Inside the building/turret it was much more modern with metal and computers that was fused to the stone. Wires and other tools were to the left and there was a single stairway that headed towards the main part of the turbolaser turret to the far corner. There were battle droid parts all over the floor and there was blaster scorch marks on almost every wall. Lilly was over at a computer clicking away faster then Aden could watch. Her fingers were like lightning bolts you see them for like a second then they were somewhere else.
" I cant access the security code to unlock the main functions of this turret. I was able to cover our tracks of being here and monitor the others threw security cams but I cant shut down this turret!"
She said going back to her work. The Twi'lek looked frustrated and amazed at the same time. Lilly rarely found something electronic that stumped her. Aden walked over to Lilly's chair and put his hand on the back of it and leaned over.
" What about the progress of the others?"
Without turning away from the computer screen the red alien spoke.
" It seems Zaras disabled the targeting functions of the anti-air turret and Fee destroyed the communications relay permmittly."
Silently nodding Aden turned back towards the clones. He looked at each in turn then went over to Atiniir who was checking the window for company. Pressing his hand on his shoulder Colossus spoke.
" Take four of the troops up those stairs and find out whats up there. There might be droids so be prepared. I will watch this area with the other two troops."
Nodding Atiniir lightly jogged towards the stair well. Four clone troopers followed on his trail. Soon the last clone was out of sight.
"Sithspawn! The Seps. found me! They froze this computer terminal! Looks like we will have to do things the old fashion way. Disable it threw force."
Lilly said with a smile. You could tell she was mad that she failed at the one good things she was skilled at but it was deep down buried under other emotions and feelings. The human jedi looked left to right to find a lever or something to shut it down but could find nothing.
" Uh, Lilly what do we do to disable it?"
It looked like Lilly was about to laugh her head off but she held it in. Sometimes she forgot that not all jedi knew as much about machines as herself.
" We need to head up those stairs and find the main power core and either find the off switch or cut the main power cords to stop the energy flow."
This made Aden stop in his tracks. His face made a surprised/I'm a bad boy look and his body was as still as a stone brick. He just sent Atiniir up there and there could still be some droids. Not good at all.
Suddenly blaster fire could be heard coming from the main turret upstairs. It seemed there was still some battle droids up there. Lilly's eyes grew like giant saucers and she dead sprinted towards the stairs but was pushed aside as the five clones retreated back down. Atiniir was last out and he was out of breath which was rare for a clone trooper.
" Power core...hit...don't have much time...need to run now...General."
Lilly was the first to react then the troops followed her lead running with all there might towards the exit. One by one they were filing out with Aden last as usual. A weird sound could be heard as Aden slammed the door shut behind him never braking stride. They had to be at least a hundred meters away from the turret then the bolts stopped firing. This made Master Colossus turn towards the now abandoned building. Then it hit.
Without even a warning the entire building exploded sending burning metal miles away. Luckily the entire team got away free. They completed there task but it still felt like a failure to both Lilly and Aden. Giving a heavy sigh Aden turned away from the now burning crater that was once a weapon and grabbed his comlink.
" Fee,Zaras situation."
" Anti-air turret disabled and ready for main force to move in."
" Communications are out ready when ever Aden."
"Alright, I will call the main force. Stay at your current positions and wait for the army. I will see you both back at camp."
With that Aden turned off his comlink and turned back towards Atiniir.
" Commander, call the 23rd Sun Corps. in and have them finish the job."
Atiniir nodded and started speaking to his fellow clones. Lilly ran over to Aden and put a hand on his shoulder. She knew what was making him feel so bad and it was part her fault as well.
" Hey we completed our mission!"
She said with a smile trying to cheer him up. It didn't work.
" Yeah...yeah we did."
With that Aden turned away from Lilly and walked the narrow streets of the outpost by himself trying to center himself. It still felt like he failed. It still felt wrong. Or was this not about the mission. Was this about that presence he felt earlier? No way to tell. He would have to meditate back at camp.
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Blasted jedi! Always destroying plans! Always messing with the wrong people at the wrong time! This is what really drove Katana to the dark side. This is what made her join with Dooku. Oh well. The main objective still was in view. Soon she would have revenge on the jedi. Soon she would have her place back on Courisant. Soon. Very Soon.
Silently shrinking her pressence in the force to little to nothing Katana took all the back roads towards an escape hanger where a speeder bike was held. She was not ready to take on these Jedi Knights but soon oh so very soon. She was told not to reveal herself yet. Dooku told her specifically not to. Oh but how she wished!
Finally reaching a solid stone wall Katana pushed in a brick with the force and out popped a keypad with some numbers. Easily keying them in a secret door opened revealing a new speeder bike. Hopping on Katana took one last look at the last settlement then hit the throttle sending her out into the open desert. The Clone Army would soon be there in full force and she needed to be away as quick as possible. Thinking for a moment Katana settled on the idea of heading towards San Hill's personal fortress a long ways away. This would be the perfect place to finish her plans. Then the jedi on Molavar would be no more...