Chapter 4: Battle of Kile II
The two Lucrehulk droid control ships hovered in space; two large mechanical blights against the heavenly natural beauty of the stars. The smaller freighters created a smog-like haze in the vacuum of space behind the control ships. The 8th Fleet had arrived at Kile II to set up an extensive senor array and mining facility.
On board the bridge of the Scrapyard Dr. Quartz delivered a MagnaGuard electrostaff to Katen. The female CIS officer activated the staff and twirled it around, getting a feel for the weight.
"What's with the new weapon? This one is different from your usual quarterstaffs Ashley," Zako said.
"This staff is the same model used by Grievous' MagnaGuards, capable of withstanding a Jedi's lightsaber," Dr. Quartz answered.
"I'll need it for killing Jedi," Katen stated in an overconfident tone.
As the others conversed, OOM-9 studied a report of the planet on a datapad. "Major Katen, your attractive human features may be useful in bringing a softer appearance to an army of droids, you will accompany me to the negotiations with the planet's leadership. And don't bring that weapon with you; we don't want to scare the locals. Commander EEK-176, you and Commander Zako will jointly oversee the construction of our primary military base."
"Understood, General," EEK-176's hologram answered.
Ashley Katen frowned, unhappy with her particular assignment. Major Katen's uncomfortableness caused Zako to involuntary smirk and the female officer shot him an angry glare.
OOM-9 did an about face and addressed his predecessor, who was patiently waiting behind him, "Commander OOM-8, I am leaving you in charge of the fleet while my top officers and I are on the planet's surface. Report in immediately if any Republic ships attack."
"Roger roger," OOM-9's predecessor answered.
The small local population was apathetic enough about which side to join since the start of the clone wars but became very friendly to the Separatist cause upon learning that a CIS mining facility would be a boon to the planet's economy. The majority of the planet's population was human, and the humans had the predicted over-representation in planetary government. With Katen's assistance, OOM-9 found it easy to negotiate an agreeable treaty that brought Kile II into the Separatist Alliance and the construction of military and mining facilities soon began. Between Mako Woundo and Kile II joining the Confederacy, OOM-9 was beginning to look like quite the competent diplomat despite having no formal programming or real experience in the field.
Peace and hopes of future prosperity was soon dashed as the Republic sent a small fleet to reclaim the planet upon learning of their treason. Five gray-colored Acclamator assault ships spilled out from hyperspace. From the bridge of the flagship, Universal Justice, Captain Disraeli ordered his fleet into attack formation.
OOM-8's hologram appeared before OOM-9. "Sir, five Republic capital ships have exited out from hyperspace, should I engage?"
"Negative Commander." OOM-9 ordered OOM-8 to have his fleet flee to the other side of the planet once the GAR arrived within attack range.
"Sir, why would you not engage them in space? What if they attack us with an orbital bombardment?" EEK-176 asked OOM-9.
"They have come to repossess the planet, not destroy it. Upon seeing our ships flee in space, they will assume their ground operations will go just as smoothly. And we will use that to our advantage."
EEK-176 thought such an assumption was dangerous to make. Things would go very badly very quickly if OOM-9 turned out to be wrong. But OOM-9's reasoning made sense, so EEK-176 did not press his own opinion on the matter.
"Sir, the enemy is retreating," a crewman informed Captain Disraeli. The non-clone captain turned to the collection of miniature holograms representing the other ships' captains. "How odd, they have two large control ships at their disposal and yet they're running without even putting up a fight," Disraeli observed.
"I've never seen any reports indicating that the battle droids are that cowardly," another captain added.
"Perhaps they are under the command of large organic crews that value their lives," Captain Jervous added.
"We must seize this opportunity and evict their ground forces before they return with reinforcements."
"Even if we do defeat their ground troops, how is that going to help when they show up in greater numbers?"
This was the time to act, not talk, Disraeli thought. "We will commence with the ground invasion. If the droid ships return in greater numbers, we will have to hold out with fortified defensive positions and call for our own reinforcements. Captain Jervous, your ship will remain in orbit for defense as the rest of us descend to the planet. We will land at separate locations on the surface to expedite the planets conquest."
The Republic was allowed to land on the planet without incident and started to send their ground forces out towards the nearest cities.
"This is the crucial stage in the battle. We must stealthily track their movements without giving away our position before they force the civilian leadership to divulge the location of our hidden main base," OOM-9 explained to his officers while the ground troops mobilized for deployment. While OOM-9's fleet was under funded, his army was not. The battle groups were composed of STAPs, STAP-2s, armored scout tanks, speeder platforms, GATs, AATs, AMLs, hailfire droids, tank droids, MTTs, Trade Federation troop carriers, and MUTs. The slower vehicles such as the homing spider droids were to be left behind as guardians for the primary military locations. OOM-9 and EEK-176 agreed that all battle groups should withhold utilizing aircraft to avoid giving away the Confederacy's strong presence on the planet.
"The crucial key to maintaining supremacy will be to destroy any scouts that uncover our mobile armies, that is why it is critical that all battle groups are escorted by AMLs to shoot down any enemy flyers, as we will not be utilizing our air capabilities yet," EEK-176 explained to the group leaders.
"We've all been assigned our battle groups, now move out," OOM-9 ended the meeting.
The locals were willing to secretly supply the droid army with the landing sites of the Republic ships. OOM-9's group went after an Accclamator that was northwest of the main CIS base and furthest away.
Zako and SSA-719 were assigned to destroy the closest Acclamator ship. While still a ways away from the main base, they were supposed to have the shortest travel time. However, the information regarding the location of the enemy ship proved to be somewhat unreliable.
"I don't see anything," Zako stated as he looked through his electrobinoculars from the top hatch of a beige-colored AAT.
"Perhaps the locals are feeding us false information," SSA-719 suggested from the hatch of his red-brown AAT.
"That may be true, they aren't exactly hardcore loyalists to the cause. But I have faith in their love of money, they should not betray us so easily, I doubt the Republic could offer Kile II a better economic opportunity than we have. Wait, I think I see something—"
"Ah, so there are clones here!" SSA-719 cut off his superior. Commander Zako lowered his electrobinoculars and saw a squad of clone troopers almost on top of his droid army.
"Alright, lets start with you clankers dropping your weapons and surrendering," the clone sergeant spoke as he pointed his blaster rifle at the battle droid army.
"Are you stupid? We clearly outnumber you, you drop your weapons!" SSA-719 shot back verbally, rather than with his tank.
"We're calling for reinforcements. You would do well to give up now."
"The Sarge is going to get us all killed," one of the clone troopers whispered to his squad mate. What the clone failed to understand was that his sergeant was trying to bide time by engaging the droids in conversation, their situation was hopeless if they were thrust into an immediate fight.
"That's it. Alright boys, let them have it!" SSA-719 commanded. A legion of battle droids opened fire on the numerically inferior clones. No battle occurred, what took place was a slaughter as the clones fell to a sea of red blaster fire from E-5 rifles. SSA-719's audio sensors could barely pick up the muffled clone death screams over the roar of the lasers. The droids kept firing without any thought of stopping, even when it looked as pools of red goop was all that remained of the highly trained clone fighting force.
"Cease fire!" SSA-719 finally ordered. The dust settled, revealing the mutilated corpses of the clone troopers.
"The ship is over there, we should advance immediately, in case their threat of giving away our position was real," Zako said as he pointed. As if to confirm Zako's prediction, an SPHA-T fired from long range into the droid army, destroying several tanks clustered together.
"What was that?" SSA-719 demanded.
"Enemy artillery, evasive maneuvers!" Zako yelled.
"How did they move their artillery into position so quickly?" SSA-719 asked as the various tanks, transports, and droids tried to get out of the way of the next shot.
"We have to attack now, all units charge!" Zako ordered.
Once the droid forces got moving they were much harder to hit and the SPHA-T opted to target the slower MTTs in order to secure a hit. The squad of clone scout walkers assigned to guard the SPHA-T moved to defend their larger ally from the advancing AATs and GATs. A trio of AT-RTs flanked the droids and started to engage Zako's tank. The tank's gunner managed to destroy one of the agile walkers but the remaining two damaged the AAT to the point that it ceased to function properly. Zako and the three pilot battle droids exited through the rear hatch of the tank. The two AT-RTs turned to fire on another AAT. Zako had his E-5 blaster and his pilot droids carried SE-14 pistols with them. The small group walked up to the AT-RTs, who were oblivious that they had exited the tank they had vanquished seconds before.
"Don't turn your back to me," Zako said as his group shot the exposed clone drivers in the back and they fell from the walkers.
The CIS vehicles destroyed the SPHA-T and its guardians and continued on towards the Acclamator, leaving Zako, the transports, and the infantry to bring up the rear.
"That's the second unit we let pass us by," 3B3-888 noted as the AT-RTs left his line of sight.
"Patience, Sergeant, the main force will become suspicious if they lose all their advance scouting units and we would lose our element of surprise," EEK-176 explained.
"If we allow too many to pass they could turn around and pose a significant threat when we do attack the main force," 3B3-888 said.
EEK-176 paused, deep in thought. "You are correct, we should hasten our confrontation before the clones…"
"Sir?" 3B3-888 was puzzled as to why his companion trailed off.
"Their aircraft, we haven't seen any of their aircraft," EEK-176 stated. "They are using only ground units, aircraft would be much faster at scouting and exploring yet we haven't seen anything in the sky. And we have not seen any of their recon speeder bikes. What are they planning?"
"Perhaps they are worried their gunships might run into anti-air emplacements."
"That might be correct, but it wouldn't explain why they aren't using their bikes, I've read the report on their 74-Z speeder bikes, this seems like an ideal assignment for that vehicle. Whatever they are planning we still need to press on."
Katen's yellow GAT made quick work of the clone personal walkers. With their natural enemies occupied, the droid infantry were able to walk right up to the Republic troop transports. The droids were about to plant explosive charges on the red painted transports when the carriers open their doors to allow the clone troops to engage the droid soldiers. The droids were caught off guard, and the clones were able to cut swaths through their ranks. The clone counterattack was so successful that the RTTs adjusted their position and began firing on the AATs. Finally, the power of the HAGs was able to silence the large, armored Republic transports. Katen aimed her tank and ran right through the mass of clone troopers, running a few over that failed to get out of the way in time. Ashley noticed that sparks were coming out of the tank's bottom hatch. A clone had latched himself to the bottom of the tank and was slicing in with a fusion cutter. The hatch lid fell off and the clone started to crawl in the tank. Katen stomped on his helmeted head and the clone fell back through the hole he had cut. Ashley turned back to the tank's view port in time to see her GAT smash into a four-legged scout walker. Katen dived for the hole she had kicked the clone down through as the walker turned its cannon and blasted the GAT.
Barely escaping in time, the Separatist officer wasted no time in shimming up the walker's stubby leg but found that the cannon was not operated by a gunner, as was the case with AT-TEs, but was apparently controlled by the pilot protected in the sealed cockpit.
"So much for a free cannon," Ashley muttered.
"Despite their ineffectiveness the droids are doing quite well," Disraeli commented to the other captain's holograms.
"We should not have underestimated them."
Twenty-four hours had passed since their ground invasion had begun. Mobile droid forces had harassed their supply lines, the civilian leadership was uncooperative and no Separatist bases of note had been discovered yet.
"Perhaps were should utilize out gunships," another captain suggested.
"No, not yet. The situation is not that hopeless and I still intend to attack their main base with a massed air assault. We just need to find it."
"The recon droids aren't finding anything. Perhaps if we used the speeders…"
"No we need those for the land assault."
"You're not giving us much to work with here, we're holding back too many units."
"Their guerrilla forces must be coming from somewhere. We need a squad to track them back to their main base," Disraeli said. One of the captain's holograms cut out. "Huh? What happened to Captain Nalbador?"
"Sir, we've lost all communications to the Champion's Fountain," a crewman answered.
"It must be a droid attack."
"They're getting bolder."
"The situation has changed, we cannot afford to hold back our air force any longer Disraeli."
"Agreed. I will send two squadrons of my gunship fighters to assist the Champion's Fountain."
"With all due respect Captain, that's not sufficient enough."
"I'm in command here, two squadrons will due fine. Besides, I doubt their ground forces have enough firepower to destroy an Acclamator."
"They're powerful enough that they cut communications with Nalbador."
"More likely a communications malfunction than a droid assault," Disraeli snapped confidently.
"If that is the case then why send the gunship fighters?"
"As insurance. It is prudent to prepare for the worst," Disraeli said with strain in his voice as he realized what he just said made no sense. If it were a droid attack powerful enough to threaten an Acclamator, then two fighter squadrons would not be enough. None of the other captains pressed the issue, as apparently all members of the conversation had grown tired of the heated conversation that had bordered on mutiny.
Gunship fighters, the direct predecessor of the LAAT/i, sporting a single laser cannon on it's nose with two missile launchers perched on it's top right behind the cockpit, a similarity with the more common and successful LAAT. The fighters were painted with the standard Republic red markings. The aircraft lacked shields or respectable armor but were far faster and more maneuverable than their LAAT relatives. The two squadrons cut through the empty sky toward their target destination.
OOM-9's forces completely encircled the Champion's Fountain. The hailfire droids blew up every Republic vehicle in sight. The HAGs and bio cannons bombarded the capitol ship while the GATs and AATs harassed the clone troopers. The battle was going so well OOM-9 didn't see any need to deploy his infantry.
"Tell the other captains that we are under attack," Captain Nalbador ordered.
"No good sir our communications array is damaged."
"What? How did that happen? Hail our troops in the cities and tell them to get back here."
"Sir, all external communication is not possible at this time."
"We're losing this fight, launch the Champion's Fountain."
"Sir, what about our troops on the ground? We can't just abandon them."
"They are doing what they were created to do, and as you said, we have no external communications, now I said get us out of here!"
"Yes sir," the clone subordinate grumbled, unenthusiastic about the idea of abandoning his brothers.
"The safety of this ship is the highest priority. Once we are in the air, we will launch all gunships to deal with the enemy below."
The injured Acclamator wheezed and heaved off of the ground with the CIS artillery still hammering away at it.
"Artillery, target and destroy the ship's engines. All units in sector 26 evacuate." OOM-9 did not want part of his army crushed when the massive ship came crumbling down.
The higher the ship went the more artillery units were able to clearly target its rear engines. A pair of bio cannons managed to simultaneously destroy the ship's two main engines at the same time. OOM-9's plan worked out and no droids were crushed when the Acclamator fell to its doom.
Two clone troopers; Splicer and Moonbeam, trekked back to their platoon to report the location of the droid battle group. The white-armored soldiers had been sent on reconnaissance and were denied the excitement of heavy combat they assumed others were facing. Though Moonbeam was unmistakably less disappointed about being assigned a supposedly boring task than Splicer was. When the two clones got back they reported to their commander.
"Sir, we've spotted a group of droids, but we better hurry, they're on the move."
"That's some fine reconnaissance you two," their commander said. "Alright boys, lets scrap some clankers!"
The clones hid along a ridge above the marching battle droids. The clone commander gave the order to fire, and the genetic copies complied, targeting the super battle droids first, considering them the greater threat. Once the supers were out of the way the numerous B1s became the next victims. The by-the-books battle was going well and the clones suffered no casualties until the dwarf spider droid bringing up the rear entered the battle. The spider droid noticed the commander issuing orders to his troops, took calculated aim, and killed the yellow marked clone with a single charged power shot. At the sight of their leader killed, the clones became more aggressive and started descending from the ridge, destroying battle droids as they went. The spider droid tried to track the multiple moving targets and adjusted its head to face a new target once it fired. The dwarf spider droid missed all its targets. Moonbeam fired up his DN bolt caster and hit a battle droid, and the charged shot chain-linking the electricity to three other droids, who all fell to pieces. In retribution, the dwarf spider droid shot Moonbeam square in the chest, and the clone fell head of heels in the dirt.
"No!" Splicer ran at the droid, firing his blaster, the droid's tough armor absorbing the punishment as if it were nothing. Splicer managed to get behind the droid and after firing a few shots into its back, decided to punch it. The clone succeeded only in hurting his hand. He then collected his wits, grabbed his thermal detonator, activated it, and shoved the explosive under the spider droid. Splicer dashed for cover and made it right before the spider droid exploded. Against improbable odds, the disembodied head of the spider droid fell down and hit a clone. His brothers rushed to the downed clone only to realize that he'd just been knocked unconsciousness.
"He may have a serious concussion."
"At least he's alive."
"Watch it Splicer! You could've gotten a man killed!"
"Give me a break Lieutenant. What were the odds that this would have happened?"
"Just be grateful I'm more forgiving than the Commander was," the lieutenant commented about their late senior officer.
"Great, two casualties and one of them had to be Moonbeam," Splicer grumbled to himself. He stood over the corpse of his fallen brother. The two had always been close. "You were always destined for something better." Moonbeam was less aggressive than his brothers and didn't like fighting. He was more interested in mineralogy than blowing droids apart. "I'll kill some clankers especially for you," Splicer promised the fallen clone.
The lieutenant called the other clones to rally around him, after receiving new orders.
"All right men listen up! New orders from the non-copies upstairs. We are to track a droid unit back to their main base."
"Would it have been so bloody difficult for them to call us before we massacred all the droids?" an anonymous clone complained.
"Hey! I've got an idea!" Splicer announced.
The CIS group noticed a large amount of destroyed battle droids arranged in a neat pile. An MTT pulled up alongside and released its PK droids to pick up the pieces. The heap of droid parts exploded, taking the worker droids with it and scorching the large brown transport. Clones hidden in the rocky outcroppings opened fire on the droids.
"It was a trap. They knew we repair or recycle fallen droids," KJZ-8267 said. KJZ-8267's troops were being destroyed in an eerily orderly manner. The droid leader ordered the STAPs to root out the clones hiding amongst the boulders. The repuslor craft only succeeded in getting themselves shot out of the sky.
"Where's my artillery?!" KJZ-8267 demanded. A HAG-M answered his call in a beeping binary droid language. The HAG-M was an old heavy artillery gun model used back during the invasion of Naboo. The brown colored repuslor craft was controlled by a droid brain and sported only a single cannon, unlike its more expensive successor, the HHAG-M, that had a double-barreled cannon. The siege unit began to systematically decimate the clone infantry.
The clones tried to answer the artillery with thermal detonators, but the explosives just impacted on the surface of the HAG-M's brown hued armor. The remains of the droid infantry prevented the clones from closing in and planting time bomb on the tank and the artillery in turn protected the battle droids. The clones were in a no win situation that was getting worse.
Splicer tried to reach his superiors on the comm but was greeted only by static. The trooper next to him took a shot in the chest from a stray blaster shot.
"Are you all right?"
"Blasted scrap piles' aim was never that good before," the other clone answered. "We can't do any more. We're done here, let's get you out of here."
Splicer and the other trooper abandoned the doomed fight and made their way towards a supply bunker in the distance. KJZ-8267 noticed the two clones leaving the area and rounded up a group to go after them.
Splicer dragged his wounded comrade into the small supply bunker and locked the door once inside. The clone flipped the light switch and looked around the one room bunker for medical supplies. To his dismay, Splicer found nothing useful. "Can't those Seps do anything right? They can't even keep their cabinets properly stocked." Splicer's wounded comrade let out a weak laugh.
KJZ-8267 and his battle group arrived at the supply bunker and KJZ-8267 promptly started to hack the door with his fusioncutter. A group of Republic speeder bikes showed up and started blasting the droids. After two passes the clones parked their bikes and fought the droids on foot. KJZ-8267 didn't have a weapon on him so he abandoned his door hacking and ran for his speeder platform. The droid lieutenant and the remains of his group sped off to safety. Splicer opened the door for his allies, "Medic! We've got a wounded man here!" Splicer saw an abandoned STAP and left his wounded friend with the others to follow the retreating droids.
Katen scanned the battlefield, looking for a Jedi. They lead their troops into battle personally, like on Geonosis, Katen thought to herself recalling the reports on the first battle of the Clone Wars. The human wondered why she hadn't spotted one yet. Then after extensive searching, she saw one, a Chagrian, cutting up super battle droids. Predicted that her officer's hat would be blown off in the ensuing battle, Katen gave it to a nearby battle droid to hold on to for her. She hopped up on her waiting tank droid and ordered it to charge the Jedi. The battle was heated and no clones bother to turn and fire on the approaching tank droid, knowing their firearms would not significantly damage it in time. The Jedi was preoccupied and didn't even notice the snail droid's fast and noisy advance. Guided by the Force, the Chagrian rolled and the automated tank missed running over the Jedi. As the tank went past, Katen leapt off her ride and speared the Jedi in the throat with her electrostaff. She kept the Jedi pinned on the ground; his green lightsaber had fallen from his hands. The wounded alien's eyes met Katen's for a moment, and then she viciously twisted the staff still lodged in his throat, killing him.
"That was too easy." She couldn't believe how simple it was, to kill a Jedi so quickly and effortlessly. The female officer realized the Jedi was unaware of her presence while she was riding the droid tank, the fight could have been more difficult but the incident proved to Katen that the Jedi were not invincible and could not see everything at once.
EEK-176 and 3B3-888 were enjoying a relatively easy battle. They eluded or eliminated all Republic forces that crossed their path and predicted the enemy ship was running low on reserve units. Their target Acclamator had parked too close to a city, allowing the droid army to hide within its confines and shell it with artillery from afar. The Republic, not wanting to cause civilian casualties, did not respond with heavy weapons but instead unleashed its infantry into the city. The locals were unwilling to assist the droids in the firefight, but were ultimately unneeded.
Hidden battle droid snipers, tank droids and droidekas proved to be more than a match for the clone forces. EEK-176 lead his various speeders on a strafing run against the few armored units the Republic let loose.
3B3-888 observed through his electrobinoculars as the bio cannons and HAGs finished off the Acclamator in an unusually uneventful by-the-books victory.
The gunship fighters began firing on OOM-9's sprawled army. The previously inactive AMLs roared to life and fired their anti-air missiles. The anti-air missile launchers were light brown, oval shaped repulsor tanks with a single launcher that stuck out at the rear of the vehicle connected by a hinge that made the missile launcher curve resembling the position similar to scorpion's tail that would be curved over the body.
The gunship fighters lost numerous units in the first pass as they were still in tight formation. Once they broke formation they proved to be a greater challenge. After a short battle the Republic flyers were knocked out of the sky but at great cost to the droid army. OOM-9 had lost all of his anti-air tanks except one and several other units to the annoying aircraft. Aggravated with the sudden loss of so many units so quickly OOM-9 decided to change tactics. The general ordered the full use of aircraft and for air transports to come pick up the remains of his army to quickly transport them back to the main base.
The enormous force of AT-TEs was slowly but methodically pushing back Commander Zako's army. Zako led the strategic retreat on foot rather than enter a vehicle, since the current survivability rate of his side's armor was extremely low. With the comlink he had on his person he tried to coordinate the clumsy and confused droid forces. Slowly and painfully the battle was pressed further away from the Acclamator, which SSA-719 attacked from the virtually unguarded rear with multiple platoon attack craft escorted by armored scout tanks. The scout tanks shot two clones charged with guarding the ship's open side ramps. The speedy transports ejected their battle droids and retreated to a safe distance.
"What idiot leaves only two guards for a ship this size?" SSA-719 said as he led the infantry charge up the ramps and into the capital ship. The invasion of the intruders had gone unnoticed by the crew of the ship as SSA-719's group was greeted by a handful of unprepared clones and Kaminoan worker droids that quickly fell victims to the battle droids' blasters. The hundreds of battle droids wrecked havoc in the ship, SSA-719 directed them to head for the engine room toward the rear of the vessel.
"What about the front? There must be many enemies to kill there," a B1 asked his superior during a recess in the fighting. The droids that spilled out of the Zalost system and from Eos were held to the finest quality standards in the Confederacy, and thus were prone to question their superiors from time to time in order to satisfy their hunger for knowledge.
"We're not going towards the front because that's where the tanks are stored," SSA-719 explained. For a short time he and his droids were mucking around in the hanger bays but pulled out toward the rear of the ship, where he predicted a turbolift would take them to the ship's command center. An elevator they had yet to find.
"Wouldn't they not have room to maneuver inside the ship?" the B1 continued to question as they made their way through the labyrinth of unguarded hallways.
"That may be correct, but we don't have the firepower to destroy heavy armor even if it was stationary."
"Roger roger," the droid agreed, apparently its independent train of thought had come to an end and he accepted the evidently flawless reasoning of his superior officer, who seemed content to commandeer the ship from its command bridge.
The scorched battlefront had grown quiet with the exception of the heavy footfalls of super battle droids and the occasional dwarf spider droid. Katen looked over at a command droid that was approaching her.
"Sir, General OOM-9 has ordered us to return to base." Katen raised an eyebrow upon being addressed as 'sir,' but didn't bring up the issue with the droid.
"Very well, we're done here anyway," Katen kicked a clone corpse in the head.
Splicer trailed behind the battle droid group, partly because he wanted to stay out of site and partly because his stolen STAP couldn't keep up with the faster speeder platforms the droids were riding. KJZ-8267 was unknowingly showing the clever clone the route leading straight towards the main CIS base.
SSA-719 couldn't find a route to the command bridge, but caught up to a battle group that had discovered the engine room of the ship. The group of B1s was busy at work bullying the astromech droids they found working and screwing around with service consoles. A B1 that had brought along a time bomb scavenged from a clone corpse affixed it to one of the tubes of the cooling tanks and set it to explode. After four seconds, the explosive device went off, rupturing the tanks and causing coolant to leak all over the floor. The slippery deck caused one of the battle droids to hydroplane and fall on his long face. SSA-719 looked at one of the engine monitoring stations and realized what was happening to the engine cooling tanks, "Everyone off the ship!" he turned and ran. Confused by their superior's newfound cowardice, the battle droids nonetheless obeyed their leader's order to flee.
Zako's retreating army had gone down an incline, which put the Republic on higher ground. The Acclamator's engines roared to life while it was still parked on the ground. The huge ship shot forward, broke it's landing gear, and dragged itself along the ground, running right over the army it had deployed. The sickening sounds of walkers and hundreds of clones being crushed under the vessel's great weight. It shot right over the heads of Zako and his droid army that had previously gone down the incline. The assault ship sped forward for a few more kilometers until it slammed into a mountain, the impact, the final catalyst in the engines going critical and blowing up, taking large portions of the ship with it.
Zako witnessed the miraculous event transpire, then ordered his troops back up the incline to search for SSA-719's group, which had gotten away in time and were now moving to reunite with Zako's band. Once SSA-719 was within earshot Zako stated, "wow, that worked well." After his declaration Zako was contacted by OOM-9, who ordered them to return to base.
Splicer veered off from following KJZ-8267 once he saw the Separatist base. The daring clone knew he had to alert the others, but his own comm was far out of range. He knew he should have retreated but decided to would be faster to use the communications systems at the Seps' own base. Splicer flew around until he saw what seemed like an auxiliary doorway into the base. It was guarded by only four security droids, which Splicer easily dispatched with the firepower his stolen STAP provided.
Splicer dismounted the STAP and grabbed an E-5 from one of the smoking battle droid shells, as he had dropped his own weapon when he first mounted the aerial platform. "You don't mind if I borrow this?" He asked the droid. "Too late, I'm taking it," and the clone sliced through the door's lock and entered.
Splicer soon came across what he thought to be a communications room. A single pilot battle droid was working at a keyboard while two OX9s were milling about. The worker droids squeaked in their droid language as they noticed the white armored intruder. Splicer shot the two defenseless droids and they fell to the floor in ruins. The pilot droid ran up to Splicer and grabbed at his weapon. As the two struggled over the gun, Splicer gave the droid a sharp punch to the face. The move left Splicer clutching the rifle with only one hand, and the force of the blow gave the droid the momentum to pull the blaster away from the clone. Splicer grabbed the droid and shoved him aside, pulled back and landed a kick that sent the battle droid sprawling into some crates in a corner.
Splicer grabbed the blaster and went to the console. He set the weapon down near him in case he needed it. He worked feverously at the buttons to open a channel to his allies, wishing desperately that he had someone to watch his back while he worked.
Splicer managed to get through. "I am transmitting from the main Separatist base, coordinates follow."
"Who is this? What's your operating number?" a stern voice identical to Splicer's replied.
"This is CT-102107, I need assistance immediately!"
A security battle droid walked in the room from a hallway.
"Hey!"
The droid's verbal surprise gave Splicer warning to grab his blaster and head for cover. Armed with only a SE-14 blaster pistol, the security battle droid fired on Splicer. Splicer popped out from his cover and was shot in the shoulder. The clone kept his wits about him and fired back at the droid, hitting him in the torso. The security droid didn't go down and instead returned fire, forcing Splicer to take cover again. The clone grabbed an arm of one of the destroyed OX9's and threw it to attract the droid's attention. The battle droid took the bait and shot at the moving object. With that split second distraction, Splicer fired at the battle droid again, this time putting three blaster bolts in his chest and dropped the droid for good.
Splicer got up to go back to the communications console again when the pilot droid he had previously knocked down had grabbed him from behind. The two entwined combatants grappled and found themselves at the foot of another door that opened up, revealing two security droids with E-5 blasters.
"Freeze," the droids leveled their rifles at the outnumbered clone.
Splicer shoved the pilot droid's head into the floor and grabbed the barrels of the E-5s and pointed them away from him. One of the security droids kicked Splicer in the shin allowing the other to break away and hit the clone with his gun.
Splicer dropped to one knee. "All right, I give up."
The pilot droid got up from the floor and a third security battle droid walked up behind the other two, carrying a pair of binders to take Splicer away. The crafty clone saw his chance to escape and shoved past the three maroon marked droids and ran down the hallway. The droid carrying binders blocked the way of the two armed guards as they turned to stop the runaway but didn't fire.
As soon as Splicer ran out of the hallway into a new room he was clocked by a B1 grapple droid that was waiting for him. The blow knocked off the clone's helmet and dislodged one of his teeth. GD-79 grabbed the clone by the throat and lifted him into the air. "Okay, I give up for real this time." Grapple battle droids were large, slate-gray machines based on the basic B1 design, but they attacked with powerful claws rather than with blasters. Grapple battle droids had been used in limited quantities during the invasion of Naboo but their powerful presence made little influence on the invasion's failed outcome. They were ideal for fighting Jedi but were also proficient at breaking the bones of clones.
Captain Disraeli was shown the coordinates Splicer had provided before he was captured. "Ah, very good. We can finally end this pointless struggle. Launch all fighters and gunships to those coordinates."
"All of them sir?"
"Did I stutter?"
"No sir. Launching the fighters and gunships."
The sum of the Acclamator's airborne reinforcements sped off to the Confederate base. The numbers choked the sky and were noticed by several droid patrols and civilians who alerted the Separatist military.
KJZ-8267 walked over to OOM-9, who was busy preparing for their anti-air defenses against the incoming wave of aircraft. "If you don't mind General, I could personally lead our squadrons against this threat," the pilot droid offered. "Very good Lieutenant."
The gunship fighters were met by combination of Scarabs and Vulture fighters. KJZ-8267 led the group from a Scarab fighter. The gunship fighters lacked the durability of the Scarabs and the maneuverability of the Vulture droids. The gunship fighter's single laser cannon out outmatched by the four blaster cannons both versions of the CIS starfighters' possessed. The average Republic fighter was painfully outmatched by the much older Trade Federation starfighters.
The LAAT gunships bypassed the starfighter dogfight to assault the main base. The command battle droid on station looked out through electrobinoculars. "Fire!" AA-B anti-air missile knight turrets targeted their quarry and attacked. The old Trade Federation missile knights were tall, brown automated turrets that fired homing anti-air missiles. The gunships instantaneously took on heavy causalities, their pilots not used to such unusually extreme anti-air defenses. The LAATs started landing in and around the base and releasing their clone contents.
All around the base, battle droid infantry clashed with the clone troopers, whom were attempting to break inside. Zako and SSA-719's army was returning to the mess of a fight from their own cluttered clash. SSA-719's tank droid ran over a cluster of clones that happened to be trying to access a vehicle service entrance. The LAAT that had deployed the troopers took off as SSA-719 and his battle droids attacked in vain with their blaster weapons. The gunship was doomed as it flew high enough, it attracted the attention of the missile knights and the turrets promptly shot it down. Riding a STAP-2, Commander Zako drove up to SSA-719. "I thought we just left this party," he said over the roar of laser fire. The exasperated human and his security droid partner entered the base.
Splicer's prison cell was powered by laser bars; far more expensive to maintain than a standard metal cell door but provided the guarantee that the captive would not try to escape. They could incinerate upon touch or give a mild electric shock depending on what power level it was set on. Despite Splicer's boredom he decided to not test it out on himself, resigning to the mystery of not knowing. The clone was rather bored so he decided to give his guards a hard time. "Hey when do I get to eat? I'm starving here. I'm bored. I need to use the refresher." Splicer complained to the guards with every grievance he could think of.
"Quiet."
Without warning a blue blaster bolt shot one of the security battle droids. The captive and remaining guard turned to the doorway to see clone troopers filing into the cellblock. The second guard fired his E-5 shotgun and a barrage of green lasers slammed into the lead clone intruder. The two clones behind the point clone fired on the remaining security droid and took him down. A clone hacked the cell lock and released Splicer while the others checked and discovered the blasted clone was still alive. Another clone gave Splicer the wounded clone's DC-15S blaster. Splicer felt a surge of confidence as he finally held a DC weapon in his gloved hands again. Two clone troopers helped the wounded soldier to his feet and helped him walk. The raiding party left the cellblock to get help for the downed clone.
KJZ-8267 shot down another enemy fighter. The small craft with red trim was his third kill that battle. OOM-9's strategy of conserving the aircraft had worked; the Separatists had plenty of fighters to deploy. The Republic seemed to have played the same game, but had less starfighters overall.
Below Major Katen's forces were finally reaching their destination of the home base. Ashley was riding on the outer tread cover of one of the NR-N99 Persuader tank droids. She gave the droid a soft pat. "Hurry, we need to get to the base, we've vulnerable out here," she told the large treaded droid. As if to reaffirm the urgency of her command, a starfighter crashed down close to their proximity.
Splicer and the other clones ran through various corridors. The newly freed clone had hoped his allies had remembered the route they came from. Sirens blared as droid troops moved to defend their facility. Two super battle droids blocked the path of the escaping clones. The hulking silver-blue colored droids deployed their right arms to firing mode and let leash a crimson barrage of blaster fire. The clones hid around the corners leading into the hall while the pair of B2s continued their attack. One of the Jango replica troopers noticed the droids were firing at head level, trying to go for headshots, so he took a prone position and peered around the corner and fired on the legs of one of the droids. He took out the droid's right leg and the super battle droid fell to the floor, only to orient himself with his left arm. The torso of a droid fired at ground level at the prone clone, but the latter's allies pulled him to safety before he was hit. "This isn't going very well."
"If we take too much longer some of their tweezer friends are liable to show up," a clone said, referring to B1s.
"Die Republic dogs!" the still standing super droid declared, attempting to disrupt any clone communication with standard insults.
"Time to take care of business the easy way," another clone said as he activated a thermal detonator and tossed it down the hallway towards the two mechanical enemies.
From inside the command center OOM-9 issued a stream of instructions. The battle in the air was in their favor, but the clone troops that the gunships deployed were wrecking havoc in the base. A group of clones was closing in on the control center's entrance. "Close the blast doors, I don't want any uninvited guests in my command center. I want droidekas up here at once."
Splicer and his rescuers finally made it out of the base. Although from the intensity of the firefighting outside Splicer thought they stood better chances indoors where enemy aircraft couldn't take potshots at them. The clone sergeant called for a ship, "we have a wounded man, we need evac now!" "Copy that," a voice replied from his wrist comlink.
A pair of destroyer droids rolled up from the route the clones took to leave the base. Splicer saw them and closed the door on them before the droids could roll outside to engage them. The best strategy for a clone or Jedi to deal with a droideka was to run from it, but Splicer was able to do one better and humiliate the droids. "The Colicoids must be stupid or something, that is the worst design ever, poor rollies don't have any hands, defeated by a door. Ha Ha Ha."
A Vulture droid dropped out of the sky and landed in walking mode as if to gain retribution for Splicer's injustice. The clones opened fire on the converted droid walker.
"Where's our ride?" the sergeant asked into his wrist comlink.
"Just give me a few more seconds," a reply came back.
In precisely four seconds since the pilot gave the answer, the LAAT/i landed right on top of the walking mode Vulture droid, crushing it. The Republic soldiers sprinted toward their ride to safety. The two clones helping the injured trooper walked slowly and brought up the rear. A thermal detonator battle droid that was hiding behind some supply crates decided to make his appearance. The gray battle droid aimed his mortar launch tube and murdered the cluster of three clones. Splicer saw the droid and fired, but it was too late, his allies had been killed. They were so close to making it out alive. The LAAT took off and fled from the battle. Splicer looked out at the planet below him and felt guilty, the clone squad had come specifically to rescue him but had lost three lives in the process. It didn't seem fair to Splicer, sacrificing three to save one, it would have been better had they never came for him. They had been so very close to making it. The loss of the trio of his brothers coupled with the fact that Moonbeam had been killed made this a very bad day in Splicer's book. Despite his sour mood, Splicer's rescue was the only victory as the mission to capture the Confederate base ended in failure.
Once everyone was back in the command center and the remains of the air assault were repelled, OOM-9 detailed his plans for the next phase of the mission. "Recon droids have spotted a large Republic force heading in this direction from the north, and a sentry post picked up a second detachment that is approaching from the south."
"Why would they come in from the south? They'd have to go through a maze of canyons," SSA-719 said.
"Such a route would be time consuming and dangerous for their walkers," EEK-176 added.
"Commander Zako, you and Major Katen are in charge of defending the base from the northern assault while the rest of us will lead a small force to destroy the southern attackers."
"Just the two of us General?" Katen asked, confused at the lopsided allocation of officers.
"Affirmative. You two are more than capable of repelling the Republic's march."
The droid leaders left their human contemporaries at the command center and went to round up their forces for the defense of the canyons. "Sir, do you believe it wise to leave Zako and Katen in charge of the main base?" EEK-176 asked OOM-9. "They need more experience commanding large amounts of troops in an actual battle. This is primarily for Commander Zako's benefit; as he is too emotionally attached to his troops and needs to learn that casualties are a part of war and that he cannot save everyone. But Major Katen also needs to learn that there are administrative responsibilities during battle and that she cannot always fight on the front lines. At any rate, the clones approaching from the southern canyons are a credible threat that we must answer."
"I believe you give our human friends too little credit," 3B3-888 said.
"I do believe in them but they must be given this stress test now, in the early stages of the war, so that I can accurately rate their abilities for future operations. All of our skirmishes with pirates and other factions during the past decade is nothing compared to the challenge of a professional army of the Republic that we now face," OOM-9 answered.
"Quit it." Ashley swatted at Karl as he rubbed his shaved head in a state of anxiousness.
"Oww, what did I do?"
"That's a horrible tell. You can't show weakness to the enemy."
"We're safe in the command center, the enemy is no where close to here."
"You can't show weakness to your troops either. Now stop being such a damn coward and show some backbone."
"I'm not removing my spine for you or anyone else."
"That was a terrible joke. Now I'm going to go inspect the frontline troops, so do try to be competent while I'm gone."
"Hey, I'm the competent one!"
"Ok, we better cut it out now, OOM-9 left us in charge."
"Yeah, yeah," Commander Karl Zako agreed, the two officers abandoning their playful banter to focus on the task at hand. Acting stupid every once in a while was fun, but the two knew there'd be trouble if they actually screwed up. They did have a lot of troops under their command that were depending on their leadership.
The Republic attack group invading the canyons composed primarily of AT-TEs and infantry forces. The six-legged walkers traveled in a single file convoy while eliminating small pockets of scouting battle droids.
Zako looked at the viewscreen and couldn't believe what he saw, hundreds of Republic speeders heading straight for the base. "They're rushing us!" He turned to a droid, "alert Major Katen!"
"Roger roger," the droid answered in the typical response as he started working at his communications console.
Ashley Katen received the message and removed her officer's hat and mounted her speeder platform. She revved the engines and led an enormous group of STAPs, STAP-2s, armored scout tanks, and speeder platforms out to meet the enemy GAR speeders.
The two massed speeder armies drove straight at each other, firing when they got within range. The STAPs flew higher to escape the incoming fire directed at them. A pair of OG-9 homing spider droids took potshots at the Republic speeders, but in the mass confusion of the biker battle, the spiders were just as likely to strike allies as they were enemies. Several of the GAR speeder bikes broke off from the main group and headed toward the CIS base.
The GAR battle group managed to squeeze two AT-TEs side by side through the narrow canyon. OOM-9's strike force went around through a secret tunnel and came out behind them. "Remember to focus your fire on the clone troopers and plant your time bombs on the center legs of the walkers. We need to be wary of the rear cannons," OOM-9 said. "You heard the General boys, watch out for the AT-TEs' butt cannons. We may be taking a lot of butt fire from those walkers," 3B3-888 joked. "Your attempt at humor is disgusting Sergeant," EEK-176 said. "Just trying to inspire the troops with some observational comedy. I'm not the one that designed the Republic's walkers with butt cannons," 3B3-888 shot back. "No doubt Major Katen is wearing off on you," EEK-176 replied. "I think you're mistaking anger with humor, the Major is more morbid than funny," KJZ-8267 corrected EEK-176. "Cut the chatter, we're moving out," OOM-9 said. The droids swiftly approached their targets. Upon reaching a close distance OOM-9 gave the silent hand gesture to fire on the clone troopers. Five clones dropped dead on the ground before the Jango copies even turned around. An action filled moment later and no clones were left standing. "Quickly, before the walkers release more infantry!" The battle droids planted the time bombs and retreated to a safe distance. The AT-TEs blew up, broken and useless.
"That was just their advance unit, we must hurry and push the battle further from this spot, scouts report that they are traveling single file but they were able to fit two walkers side-by-side in this pass," SSA-719 informed the others.
"We can't allow them to reach this point again," OOM-9 declared.
Once again, clone infantry had infiltrated the CIS base. The Republic forces had a loose understanding of the base's layout from the group that attacked before. Utilizing this knowledge, a small strike force headed straight for the control center. They swiftly eliminated any droids they came upon, preventing them from alerting others. The doors leading to the command center were wide open and the clone troopers decided to let themselves in. However, the area was not unguarded the clones soon discovered as security battle droids fired upon them.
Zako was taken by surprise by the interruption of the offenders right in his face. The Separatist officer ducked down and took cover behind his console. One of the clones was armed with a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon that turned the tide in the Republic's favor. Even the two B2s present fell to the powerful weapon. Zako entered a code and locked up the center's computer systems. With their information and command systems safely locked up, the CIS officer ordered his pilot battle droid staff to evacuate. Zako and his pilot droids ran out of a different doorway from where the clones had entered. The clones quickly defeated the remaining droid defenders and claimed the command center as their own.
"Sir, they've locked us out of the computer systems."
"Then hack into them, Corporal."
"That may take some time, sir."
"We have all the time in the world, we're not going anywhere and neither is this command center."
The AT-TE attacked the droids head on. A rock bridge overhead was laced with detonation packs waiting for EEK-176's command. The first tactical enforcer passed under the bridge safely, but when the second was directly underneath, EEK-176 activated the explosives, causing the rock formation to fall down and crush the walker. The first AT-TE was now trapped with the CIS and the other walkers were unable to help. Four dwarf spider droids eliminated the stranded all terrain tactical enforcer. The AT-TEs stuck on the other side expelled their clone contents, turned to face the walls of the canyon and started to scale them. KJZ-8267 stared in disbelief upon seeing the large walkers crawl up a nearly perfect vertical incline. The clone troopers used their ascension guns and also started to scale up the wall.
"Focus on the walkers, don't let them crawl out of the canyon!" OOM-9 ordered his troops. SSA-719 pointed his BAW E-60R rocket launcher and hit one of the walkers in the leg multiple times. The loss of one of its six legs caused the walker to fall to the canyon floor with a loud thud.
The clones' victory of capturing of the command center was short lived as an elite force of droids was deployed to take it back. The grapple battle droid GD-79 entered the control room first, followed by two flame battle droids. GD-79 reached out with his clawed hand and grabbed a clone's head and slammed it into the wall, breaking both helmet and skull. The flame droids shot fireballs from their wrist gauntlets that fried the clone defenders. The clone with the Z-6 rotary blaster cannon fired and struck GD-79 multiple times before the hulking robot grabbed the cannon and snapped it in two. The gray droid then grabbed the genetic copy by the head and hurled the clone as a makeshift projectile at a cluster of three other troopers. The power of the throw knocked the clones off their feet. Four droidekas rolled in and started moping up the leftovers. When the fighting ended, Commander Zako and his pilot droid staff returned, followed by a small cadre of OX9 worker droids. Zako stopped and turned to the worker droids, "get rid of this garbage," he motioned at the clone corpses. The OX9s beeped in acknowledgement and started dragged the dead bodies out of the control room.
OOM-9 motioned 3B3-888 to come over to receive instructions. "3B3-888, I want you to destroy the dam and flood the canyons."
"Roger roger," the battle droid sergeant took a group of droids and branched off to a separate canyon path that lead to a dam that kept a large lake from flooding the canyons. The rest of the droid forces pushed onward toward the still advancing GAR forces.
The main attack force was finally approaching the CIS base from the north. The Separatists had not yet finished the battle with the troublesome speeders and were ill prepared for a serious fight. Safe inside the massive military base, Zako ordered the dwarf spider droids and homing spider droids to advance and protect the bio cannons and HAGs that fired behind the advance armor.
The clone commander on the other side of the battlefield countered the Separatists' move, "have the AV-7 anti-vehicle cannons follow directly behind the AT-TEs."
The number of speeders on both sides began to grow thin, giving way to a plodding battle between the opposing forces heavy armor. Squads of clone troops advanced alongside their walkers while the CIS did not have their droid infantry formations prepared. The Republic's tactical walkers engaged the spider droids with great success, for two homing spider droids were destroyed for every one AT-TE. However the HAGs and bio cannons were able to outgun the clone artillery cannons. The numerous clone troopers and sparse dwarf spider droids seemed to cancel each other out on the battlefield.
3B3-888's group made it to the entrance of the dam; the droids noticed four abandoned 74-Z speeder bikes parked in front of the entrance. The point super battle droid reached the doorway and was blown up by a stealthy-hidden detpack. The droids looked around for any enemies but found none. 3B3-888 motioned for a B1 to take point and the team of droids marched into the massive structure. Once the last of the droids had marched inside, a clone trooper appeared from out behind a rocky outcropping near the dam's entrance and radioed to his three allies inside the dam that they had company. The clone had been ordered to guard the entrance and decided to hide when the droids approached. He was able to assassinate one of their soldiers without any harm to himself and entered the dam behind the droids, planning to shoot them in the back one by one.
A few of the walkers and clone troopers had managed to crawl up out of the canyon despite OOM-9's efforts. The droid general called in an air strike from an awaiting squad of E-STAP starbombers. OOM-9's droid army entered through a cave passageway to make their way round the rubble roadblock they had created. OOM-9 was still intent on bringing the fight to any remaining enemies before they got within range of the base.
All of the spider walkers had been pulverized and the AT-TEs started shooting at the artillery. The bio cannons retracted into ball mode and rolled in reverse to safety while the slower HAGs stood their ground and fought the walkers. The remains of the CIS starfighters were redeployed against the GAR ground attack. Their strafing runs proving ineffective against the armored walkers. The last vestiges of the clone infantry spaced out from each other so that the fighters could not kill them in a cluster.
The clone waited patiently and was rewarded when a dawdling B1 was momentarily separated from the others as the droid group rounded a corner. Rather than risk the noise that his blaster would cause the clone opted to sneak up behind the machine and swiftly snapped his elongated head off his skinny neck. The B1 had no clue and put up no fight as he was underhandedly killed.
3B3-888 sheathed his E-5 onto his backpack and accessed a terminal his point droid found. The aging computer provided the unprotected layout of the dam to 3B3-888. "There, that large collection of turbines, that is our target." The clone slinked behind them had not known that the droid squad had stopped and nearly sneaked right into the midst of them. They hadn't noticed his presence and the grateful clone slowly started to back away. "Hey where's 3B4-9872?" a B1 asked the group.
"I thought he was right behind me," another answered.
The battle droids turned as one to the rear and saw the clone trying to slink away. "Stop right there!" The clone answered the command with a blaster blot to the droid's face. Two other droids aimed their weapons, fired and missed the clone as he rounded the corner. "After him!" 3B3-888 yelled.
The lone clone ran as the squad of droids chased after him. He hoped his allies would get there soon. He dashed through a doorway and closed the door behind him, but the trooper was unable to find any sort of locking mechanism for the door. As the clone fumbled with the unfamiliar controls the door opened, revealing a B2. The clone let loose a flurry of blaster bolts and crippled the silver droid. A B1 behind the larger robot was knocked over as his larger brother fell backward onto him. The clone turned and ran again, with 3B3-888 leading the droid pack in pursuit of him.
Zako had finally managed to get descent-sized legions of infantry to charge at the remainder of the walkers when Katen entered the command center. "I thought you were out inspecting the troops?"
"There are no more troops to inspect," she snidely shot back. "What the hell have you been doing?"
"Repelling the enemy," Zako exasperatingly answered. Hailfire droids began to roll out, easily catching up with the charging battle droids on foot. The wheeled tanks overtook their smaller allies, firing off their deadly missiles. Streams of black smoke trailed after the blazing purple missiles as they spiraled around the battlefront. The majority of the missiles missed their intended targets and succeeded only in creating an impressive ground-level fireworks show. Only through the sheer quantity of missiles were the remaining walkers finally halted.
Red and blue lasers swung back and forth across the canyon. KJZ-8267 took cover and fired from behind a dwarf spider droid. The next wave of Republic troops took the form of AT-RTs, clone personal walkers, and the inevitable clone infantry. SSA-719 fired another purple-colored rocked that slammed into an all terrain recon transport. In the heart of the droid formation, EEK-176 and OOM-9 stood side-by-side, blasters firing on full automatic. "Their presence here is stronger than we thought," EEK-176 stated while simultaneously shooting his gun.
"3B3-888 should be close to completing his mission," OOM-9 replied.
"We can't hold out much longer, and there's always the possibility that he may fail," EEK-176 worried in a deep monotone voice that didn't match the urgency of the situation.
"The probability of him failing is too small to bother to calculate, only four speeder bikes were able to escape us."
3B3-888 and his slowly dwindling squad had lost track of the annoying clone trooper and changed their route to the massive turbine room. The droids were one floor beneath their target and approached the stairwell when they ran into a group of three clones descending the flight of stairs. 3B3-888 unclipped his only thermal detonator from his torso, a Merr-Sonn V-1 thermal detonator. The V-1 were less destructive than some of the more expensive models but were able to be magnetically attached to the torso pistons of battle droids, up to two on each side, allowing a single droid to carry up to four. The ease of carrying the explosives coupled with the inexpensiveness made the V-1 model a popular weapon for the droid army. 3B3-888 gave the explosive ball a little toss and it detonated right in the middle of the clone trio.
The band of droids continued on their way and reached the turbine room, where they were greeted by the stares of gawking dam engineers. The civilian workers ranged from humans to Zeltrons and Rodians. 3B3-888 could understand the human and humanoid facial expressions to a certain degree, due to his prolonged exposure to Commander Zako and Major Katen. The Rodians were another matter, but he assumed they shared the same mind-set as their fellow workers. Even though these civilians were under the protection of the Confederacy, 3B3-888 was going to enjoy watching their reaction to his next action. The sergeant motioned for the B1 carrying the time bombs to hand them over.
"The dam has been compromised, evacuation is recommended," 3B3-888 explained to the dam engineers as he set the time bombs on one of the active turbines. A mixture of confusion and horror painted the faces of the unfortunate engineers and a split-second later they were running in a panic. The droids turned to leave, knowing they would have just enough time to escape themselves.
The droids located an elevator and went to the roof of the dam. The battle droids walked across the surface of the roof, appearing as nothing more than tiny dots when compared against the enormity of the building. The Emerald Slicer approached from out of the clouds in the sky and landed. The remaining clone had taken the stairs and met the droids on the roof. The droids shot at the Jango replica, forcing him back into the doorway from which he came. 3B3-888 and his merry band of dam saboteurs boarded the Emerald Slicer and departed from the danger zone. Seeing his chance to be a nuisance one last time, the clone broke out into a run firing on the brown shuttle as it launched.
Once the shuttle was out of range, the clone lowered his rifle. His mind paused to think over why the droids decided to leave when they had him on the ropes. The soldier's thoughts were interrupted when the ground beneath him started to violently shake. "What the…"
EEK-176 heard a loud sound and turned to see a wall of water rushing towards him. "Maybe this wasn't such a good id—" the wall of water cut off the commander's statement as it careened into him and the others.
Commander Zako only half listened to the various droids giving him reports on the various stages of retreat the remains of the Republic was in. To the human officer it was unimportant; he didn't see what difference it would make on how well informed he was at this point. He was exhausted, being awake, traveling and fighting for over twenty-four hours. Zako was sure the hailfire droids would finish off the retreating clones, but he had ordered armored scout tanks to join in the route just to be sure they didn't miss any fleeing targets.
An equally tired-looking Ashley Katen slinked over to Karl. "Damn, the clone army was a lot tougher than on Koru Neimoidia."
"That's because the clones were the ones who were tired by the time we got to Koru Neimoidia, and we had the Neimoidians fighting with us," Zako explained.
"Sir, the Separatist ships that fled before are returning… in attack formation," a crewman informed Captain Jervous. "Prepare for battle and inform the others that we're under attack." "They're jamming our transmissions sir." "Then send a shuttle and inform them directly."
Scores of droid starfighters were thrown up from the hangers of the control ships. The abundant fighters destroyed the shuttle and prevented anything else from being launched. The two Lucrehulk-class droid control ships dwarfed the single Acclamator, the skirmish was so one-sided that OOM-8 deemed it safe enough for the smaller vessels such as the super freighters and missile frigates, to participate in the battle directly at close quarters.
"All power to the deflector shields!" Jervous ordered as warning sirens blared throughout the ship.
"Sir, we've lost our deflector shields!" a reply came back as if to slap the stressed captain in the face.
"Evasive maneuvers! Get us down to the planet's atmosphere!"
"We can't, smaller enemy vessels are blocking our way."
"We no longer have the durability to ram them out of the way sir," another crewman added.
"Sir, our engines are offline!"
"Sir, we have a hull breach on level one!"
"Launch all fighters and shuttles!"
"But sir! They don't stand a chance; they'll be shot out of the stars before they can put up any resistance!"
"They're the distraction while we get away in the escape pods! All hands evacuate the ship!" Jervous left his post and ran for the escape pods, followed closely by his crew. The ship's crew managed to eject while droid fighters slaughtered their teammates. Under the stress of the immense attack, the Acclamator broke to pieces.
OOM-8 was pleased with the results. Their overwhelming numbers had ensured a quick and decisive victory. "Recall the fighters and launch the pod hunters, I don't want any enemies to escape." OOM-8 ordered a droid to call his planet-side allies so he could inform them of his success.
After the roaring waters ceded, the battle droids merely stood up from wherever the current dragged them and started shooting clones as they lay on the soaked ground. Many of the hapless targets were already dead, from drowning or getting their precious necks or spines snapped from the force of the tidal wave. The dwarf spider droids were heavy enough that they just held their position as the water passed around them. The AT-TEs held the same advantage, but any surviving clone troopers were severely waterlogged.
"Sir, Captain Jervous isn't responding."
"Sir, the northern attack on the base has failed."
"Sir, the southern attack on the base has failed."
"Sir, we've lost patrols thirteen, fifteen, and sixteen. And the units in the cities are reporting armed uprising by the locality reinforced by battle droids."
Captain Disraeli was getting tired of the string of failures the clone naval officers were bringing him. The same constant voice droning at him from nearly every mouth on the ship, the steady stream of the title 'sir' when they should change it up once and a while and address him as 'Captain.'
"That's it. Prepare to launch Universal Justice, we're getting out of here."
"Sir, we cannot abandon our troops."
"Do not tell me what I can or cannot do clone," Disraeli snapped. His anger brought about by the frustration of the apparent lack of quality in his assigned troops. Disraeli had served in the Republic Navy long before the clone army was around and thought that the clones were poor replacements for hardworking, unique men and women. The clones may make good foot soldiers but he questioned their value as crewmembers of naval vessels. How he ended up assigned to a ship with an unusually high clone to natural ratio he didn't know. He had grown tired of seeing the same face and hearing the same voice over and over again and longed for the old days before the Clone Wars when most Navy assignments were about hunting small groups of pirates or transporting dignitaries.
"At the rate things are going there will be no one left to save, we must cut our losses and retreat to friendly space." Disraeli knew the clones didn't like his orders, but he was certain that they were genetically bred to follow them. They were at least good for that much.
The pod hunter neared Captain Jervous's escape pod. The non-clone captain opened up the comm and tried to hail the droids. "This is Captain Filn Jervous of the Republic Navy, I wish to surrender. I would be far more useful to the Confederacy alive than dead."
RKT-421 didn't respond to Jervous but informed OOM-8 of the situation. The Commander responded by telling RKT-421 to bring the escape pod back to the Magna Musai.
"Captain Jervous, this is RKT-421, you will be seized and are henceforth property of the Confederacy of Independent Systems," the rocket battle droid called Jervous.
"Understood."
The pod hunter grasped the escape pod with its metal claws and ferried it back to the droid control ship. Upon completing docking procedure in the hanger, the trio in the escape pod heard a voice from outside the pod. "Open up in there."
The two clone troopers held their weapons at the ready. "Holster your firearms you idiots! You two can't fight the entire droid army alone and if you provoke them then we'll all be killed!" Jervous yelled.
"But sir, do you really think the clankers will let us live?"
"We stand a better chance if you put down the blasted guns; we're no good to the Republic dead." The trio freely exited the pod with their hands up and was escorted to the holding cells.
Jervous couldn't tell but it had appeared to him that they were only in the cells for a few hours before he and the two clones were taken from their cells and escorted to a new location.
The Republic prisoners and their droid guards approached a door where EEK-176 awaited them. "Here we are, custodial room 138," the lead security droid stated.
"This is now torture room 1," EEK-176 corrected the droid.
"I wasn't aware of any such changes," the security battle droid explained.
"It is a recent modification, schematics and floor plans have not yet been updated."
"This can't be good," one of the clones whispered.
"This won't be good," the other clone corrected his brother.
The hapless prisoners were forced inside the room and locked in with EEK-176 and a few security droid guards. One of the clones was stripped of his body armor and was only covered by his black body glove. The armor-less clone was then chained to the wall. EEK-176 turned his elongated head to look at the other, still armored clone. EEK-176 walked up to the clone and punched him in the face. The impact of EEK-176's balled fist shattered the T-visor into several broken shards. The clone dropped to the floor, and EEK-176 knelt down to pick up some of the shards. The droid commander took the handful and shoved it into the eyes of the clone chained to the wall. A wailing cry of pain engulfed the makeshift torture room.
"This is barbaric and senseless! Aren't you even going to ask him any questions first?" Jervous said. EEK-176 ignored the captain at first, then thought better of it and answered him. "Do you really think these clones are going to give up any information? And what useful information would low level grunts have anyway? No Captain, this is a demonstration of what is in store for you if you do not divulge all your secrets."
"Don't tell them anything sir, we can take it," the armored clone said, still on the ground.
"Quiet you," EEK-176 kicked the clone in the head. The droid then grabbed the clone's hand and bent back one of his fingers, causing another cry of pain. EEK-176 turned his attention away from the clones and grabbed Jervous' hand.
"Stop! I'll tell you everything!" Jervous yelled at the top of his lungs. The captain was in no rush to get his fingers broken.
"Oh?" EEK-176 tilted his head to the side in an attempt to mimic a gesture of curiosity, since he himself was not capable of facial expressions.
Zako and Katen were extremely tired, having been constantly awake longer than humans should, but their morbid curiosity propelled them to inspect the new torture facility aboard the Magna Musai. Despite the clones shackled down, a security droid escorted the two fatigued officers. The bloody horror that greeted them provoked smiles on their faces. The pair started manically laughing.
"Ha ha! Serves you assholes right for opposing us!" Ashley proclaimed in a semi-serious, booming voice. "What's wrong? Your boss saved your pathetic lives did he not?" Ashley put her hand on Karl's shoulder to help to her balance. Karl was too weary to make a snide comment to the prisoners of war and only managed to continue his evil cackle. The two clone troopers ignored the teasing from the gray-uniformed officers.
After the two sadists had their fun, they left the torture chamber only to realize that their private living quarters were onboard the older Scrapyard and that they were currently on the newer Magna Musai.
Author's Note: The planet Kile II originally appeared in the videogame Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. It was a mostly barren planet with many canyons.
The speeder platform and HAG-M both first appeared in the videogame Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds.
The STAP-2 or heavy STAP first appeared in the videogame Star Wars: Battle for Naboo.