Chapter 12: The Heavy All Terrain Tactical Enforcer
The Jedi Weapon Master paced up and down the crowded bridge of an Acclamator assault ship. Obi-wan Jakoby was fed up with the hailstorm-ravaged world of Mako Woundo. "The Separatists can have this miserable planet for all I care."
"That may be a distinct possibility if any enemy reinforcements arrive," a Republic office stated. "The ships' shield generators are heavily strained with the constant bad weather."
"These hailstorms just won't stop," Jakoby said.
"Couldn't you use your magical Force powers to give us a day of clear weather?" the officer asked.
"It doesn't work like that. My powers could never affect anything of that magnitude." Jakoby was unsure if the officer was being sarcastic or genuinely curious, the tone of his voice didn't give away anything. He was surprised at how many Republic personnel were ignorant of the ways and abilities of the Jedi. The war had done much to inflate the perceived power of the Knights of the Jedi Order. Civilians were either elated or terrified depending on whether they belonged to the Galactic Republic or the Confederacy of Independent Systems. In reality the Jedi were much more strained and unprepared than was assumed by the galaxy's general populace. Whether that ignorance was a strength or weakness, Jakoby couldn't tell at this stage of the war. The fact that the Jedi Order had an army of clone troopers modeled after Jango Fett did bring some measure of comfort to Obi-wan Jakoby. If it weren't for the clones, a large portion of the Order would have died at Geonosis and the Separatists would have likely went straight to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple.
"That is why you fail," Ace remarked on Jakoby's belief that he couldn't control the weather as the clone commando strode onto the bridge. Despite being safe aboard the Acclamator, the clone was still encased in his commando armor.
"Why exactly do I fail?"
"You don't believe in yourself," Ace answered his general.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know all I had to do to succeed was believe in myself. Maybe if I believe hard enough we'll win the war tomorrow."
"That would be a feat. The galaxy would be in your debt were you to be so kind. If we keep having to bomb the Separatists to get them to rejoin the Republic we're going to need more artillery. But I'm only half joking sir. Why doesn't the Order just use a Jedi mind trick on the Separatist Council or the Separatist Senate and have them come back to the Republic that way?" Being bred for war, Ace was not an authority on democracy and saw no reason why forced coercion was not acceptable (the clones were forced to serve in the military whether they wanted to or not after all). Jakoby didn't really see the need for Ace to realize what was wrong with his question, as the clone was likely to die at some point in the fighting, and would not really need to know the finer points of what made the Galactic Republic what it was. The irony, of course, was that the whole war was to force countless numbers of people back into a democratic government that they no longer wanted to participate in.
"For one thing, we can't find them. For another, they have a Sith Lord to protect them. Though if Dooku dies I'm sure this war will end much more quickly." This was only an assumption, of course, but Jakoby found it wise to assume the worst possible scenario. It is possible that the Sith had truly gone extinct and that they were just chasing shadows. But that's not how he felt. They was something more behind everything, but the dark side of the Force was clouding too much.
"I see." Ace left it at that. The clone commando preferred to talk tactics to strategy and was quick to drop their current topic.
"While all this talk of ending the war is all well and good, we should focus on the here and now. I was thinking something more realistic than wishful thinking. I have an idea."
"And what is that?" the officer asked.
"Let's cut to the chase and invade the capital city of Roacha Nova," Obi-wan Jakoby decided.
"Disgusting name." Ace made a face of disdain, but no one saw it through his helmet.
"Well I didn't name it, everything about this planet sucks, the names of cities might as well suck too," Jakoby said.
"But sir, what if Roacha Nova is abandoned like Lovo Undomo was?" the Republic officer asked.
"The civilians of this planet have to be hiding somewhere," Jakoby said. "They might as well be hiding in their capital. If they were clever they wouldn't hide in an obvious place like their planet's political center, but I'm sure the Seppers aren't that imaginative. And if it is abandoned, then we'll cause another cave in, and we'll cave in each abandoned city we find until we flush them out. And we'll bring SPHA-Ts with us this time."
"We'd have to bring the heavy artillery with us irregardless, our walker count is low," the officer checked a datapad. "The repair shops are backlogged."
"Our low vehicle numbers will not be a problem. I have a solution for that. We're bringing the heavy AT-TE."
"Sir, are you sure its wise to risk losing such an expensive walker to these hailstorms?" the officer asked.
"We won't lose it. I am going to operate it personally."
"Why are we not using the underground tunnel system?"
"Because if the Seppers had any brains at all they would have rigged them with explosives and set them off if we try to move through them. I'll risk the hail rather than being buried alive," Jakoby explained. "Besides, we have no layout of where the tunnels will go. That reminds me, do we have any schematics for Roacha Nova in our databanks?"
"No sir," another officer answered. "This entire planet barely shows up on the galactic map."
"Then one must wonder why we've been sent to conquer it." Obi-wan Jakoby couldn't help but think that the entire Mako Woundo campaign was a huge mistake in strategy. His troops and ships would have been put to better use conquering more important Separatist worlds. "Get the ships moving towards the capital city, and try to land closer to the entrance this time so the walkers don't have to travel so far in the hail."
"We're trying our best, General. But as you are aware, there are no landing pads large enough to accommodate Acclamator assault ships on this planet. And the terrain has not been agreeable either."
The Acclamator assault ships landed close to the opening of Mako Woundo's capital city. Obi-wan Jakoby personally piloted the heavy AT-TE, and was the first one off the ship. Due to their astronomically high cost, heavy AT-TEs were extremely rare in the Grand Army of the Republic. Though they had the same body and armor plating as the standard tactical walker, the only difference was that the mass-driver cannon was replaced with a six-barreled rotary blaster cannon. The rapid-fire weapon demanded enormous energy requirements from advanced generators and was the reason the heavy walker was so expensive to produce.
A pair of thermal detonator battle droids launched mortars at the walkers as they approached. The droid grenadiers were at the edge of the entrance, protected from the hail, yet still able to fire on the advancing walkers.
"This is interesting," Jakoby said to his commandos, who were also in the heavy AT-TE. "Last time they drew us into the city before they attacked. They're attacking right at the entrance this time."
"Do you think we found them, General?"
"We'll see soon enough."
Once Obi-wan Jakoby thought he had a good shot at the droids, he took it. The blasts from the anti-personnel laser cannons missed. The assault scared off the droids however. The droid grenadiers hooked up their mortars onto their backs and retreated into the underground tunnel.
Being a Force-sensitive, Jakoby could feel the attitudes of the clones around him. The Jedi noted that Kicker was holding back on a sarcastic comment about his bad aim. "They have nowhere to run," Jakoby was equally annoyed with his poor shooting. Jakoby decided to add, "in my defense, those droids represented small targets."
"Yes sir," Tai said.
"Yeah yeah," Kicker wasn't buying the excuse. Kicker thought Jakoby relied too much on his lightsaber and could use more practice with real war weapons.
The GAR walkers began marching through the tunnel, just like before. The two droid grenadiers had outran them and no other Separatist forces barred their way to the city.
Once they reached the underground city, it was a completely different situation. Droids could be seen everywhere, along with panicking civilians. Obi-wan Jakoby gave control of the heavy AT-TE to a clone pilot and he exited the walker with his commandos. Jakoby Force jumped up on to the walker and took control of the rotary blaster cannon. The four clone commandos broke off from the walker and infiltrated the city on their own, leaving the more common clone troopers to provide an infantry escort for the walkers.
Jakoby's first targets were a trio of ground armored tanks that were heading straight at the walker. The rotary cannon ripped right through the lesser tanks' armor within a couple of seconds. Jakoby then turned the cannon on homing spider droids that stood to oppose him.
Dwarf spider droids were affixed to the earthen ceiling above the city, firing on the Republic without fear of retaliation. The strategy failed to surprise Jakoby, as the droids employed the same trick back in Lovo Undomo. "Don't shoot the spider droids on the ceiling," the Jedi general ordered his tanks. He couldn't risk the walkers' heavy firepower fracturing the ceiling and caving in a city full of civilians. However the clone troopers' firepower wouldn't be enough to knock out the dwarf spider droids, so the Republic forces were stuck with the spider droids shooting at them from the ceiling for the entire battle.
The heavy AT-TE stayed on the main street leading deep into the city. Other AT-TEs started to stray and took side streets. The lead walker didn't need the assistance anyway, it was more than a match for the droid army laid before it. Homing spider droids, armored assault tanks, NR-N99 tank droids and Corporate Alliance artillery all fell to pieces under the endless stream of laser fire provided by the heavy AT-TE's rotary cannon.
President Umberto did not like what the security camera footage was showing him. Despite the massive Republic invasion force, his army of droid protectors was falling to a single walker.
"How is this possible?" he demanded of the command battle droid at his side.
"Errr, I don't know," the command droid answered. It was not an answer Umberto wanted to here.
"Do something!"
"We're trying. None of our heavy vehicles seem to be a match for it. The clone troopers are stopping our infantry from getting too close to it. We tried setting up barricades in its path but the walker just blasts through them like it does everything else. Its that rotary cannon on top, it is not standard issue for an AT-TE walker, according to databank records. We're dealing with an deluxe variant."
"We're being torn apart. This is not what that droid OOM-9 promised me," Umberto growled. "I thought I told you to do something!"
"I'm working on it," the command droid said patiently.
"I'm not going to have my city fall to a single unit, that's just insulting. Look, they're not even using their heavy artillery, they think us beaten." Umberto was partially correct, while the SPHA-Ts were in the city, the artillery units didn't fire their primary weapons, instead using only their smaller anti-infantry cannons. While their size seemed imposing to the skittering civilians, the artillery walkers weren't actually contributing much to the actual battle against the droids.
"More likely they're worrying about harming the city's inhabitants," the command battle droid corrected the president.
"Then why did they bring them in the first place?" Umberto snarled. He did not like having his assessment challenged, even though he had no formal military experience himself.
"I'm not sure. Perhaps as a last result?"
"They won't need a last result, in another thirty minutes that walker is going to be trampling down my front door if you don't do something!"
"Calm yourself, Mr. President. I've sent hunter-seeker droids out to engage the walker."
"Those airborne destroyer droids? They won't stop it." Mako Woundo's president was not impressed with the appearance of the hunter-seekers. Compared to traditional aircraft, they were small, but that also allowed them to be deployed in an underground city such as Roacha Nova. Unlike the ground-based droidekas they resembled, the hunter-seekers lacks shields and sported only a single laser cannon on its' 'tail.'
The heavy AT-TE went down a shallow hill, to be harassed by battle droids and dwarf spider droids hiding in a nearby parking deck. The droids used the structure's support pillars and parked civilian speeders for cover. The walker's anti-infantry cannons were useless as they kept hitting empty speeders rather than battle droids. Jakoby found that his rotary cannon was doing no better at finding proper targets amongst all the resident transports. Obi-wan Jakoby then decided to stop aiming at droids and starting hammering away at the parking deck's support pillars.
While certainly very sturdy, the building was never meant to take the punishment it was receiving. Jakoby was gradually blasting away columns one by one; the droids continued to fire on the walker and started to inflict minor damage. Hunter-seekers hung in the air to further add to the walker's torment. The clone troopers escorting the heavy AT-TE started firing but were unable to bring the flyers down quickly. To make matters worse, another GAT had appeared from a side street, forcing Jakoby to swing the cannon around to take it out before going to work on the parking deck again.
The Jedi was fortunate that the hunter-seekers never bothered to target him. He was extremely vulnerable while in the gunner's seat, highly exposed without a comfortable amount of space to swing his lightsabers to deflect incoming fire if he needed to. But the hunter-seeker droids continued to either fire at the clone troopers or at the main body of the walker.
Finally Jakoby had knocked out enough support pillars. The parking deck came crashing down, squashing the droids inside it. Destroying the structure took much longer than Jakoby thought it would. All that time the walker had been battered by blaster fire but was still perfectly functional. The walker was orientating itself to turn left when two explosions rocked its' rear section. The attack was too strong to be coming from the few hunter-seekers that were left.
Jakoby swiveled the cannon around to see who his new attacker was. He could not get visual confirmation of the threat, nor did the Force provide him with any guidance. Then he saw two mortars falling his way. He leaped from out of the gunner's seat just before the explosives hit. It looked as if the falling bombs had broken the AT-TE's back. Jakoby knew what was going to come next. The Jedi used Force speed to get as much distance between him and the dying walker. A second later the heavy AT-TE exploded in a fiery ball larger than would be expected from its size. The blast had consumed the nearby clone infantry that were assigned to protect the heavy AT-TE.
Then Jakoby caught sight of who killed his prized walker. Two thermal detonator battle droids stood on the roof of a nearby building. "Remember us?" one of the gray-colored droids shouted at Jakoby.
"Your aim sucks!" the other battle droid grenadier yelled at the Jedi Weapon Master.
"You two tweezers are dead, you hear me!" Jakoby was furious at having lost the expensive vehicle to a pair of battle droids. "I'll scrap you with my bare hands!"
The two droids answered Jakoby's threat by launching mortars at him. Battle droids, super battle droids, and dwarf spider droids started to emerge from the direction of the two droid grenadiers so instead of rushing towards his tormentors the Jedi found himself beating a hasty retreat.
Jakoby was about to circle around the long way to get at the grenadier droids when he realized he bumped into his clone commando squad.
"How's it going, General?" Tai asked.
"The heavy AT-TE's been destroyed," Obi-wan Jakoby answered grimly.
"That well, huh?" Kicker said.
"It is going well, yes," Jakoby changed his mood, knowing anger led to the dark side. "I destroyed half the droid forces with that one walker alone, it couldn't last forever. I'm sure who's ever in charge of these Seppers is wetting his pants right now."
"Or rejoicing that their primary opponent has been eliminated," Jack said.
"You could make anything sound depressing, you're the kind of clone that would say we lost the Battle of Geonosis because most of the core ships got away," Kicker said to Jack.
"Cut the chatter. Let's go show these Seppers that the heavy AT-TE was the least of their worries," Ace got the squad moving again. Jakoby went with his clone commandos, rather than continue his hunt for the two thermal detonator battle droids, revenge was not the Jedi way and Jakoby was sure those two droids would get what was coming to them anyhow.
A trio of droidekas rolled into view and deployed in front of the small group. Jakoby tried a Force push, but the attack merely impacted against the droidekas' shields. Ace and Kicker threw some EMP grenades to disrupt the shield emitters. After the electrical attack, the destroyer droids were easy prey for the clones' DC-17m rifles.
The group kept running down the street and noticed that the Separatists had been ripping it up. Instead of a smooth, clean, paved road it was bumpy, dusty and dirty. Jakoby thought that the Separatists were trying to make it difficult for the vehicles to traverse but soon knew the real reason behind it.
Tai tripped over something. A short beeping sound was heard and the ground exploded underneath the clone commando. An LR-57 combat droid fired through the dust. The laser blasts knocked the clone on his back, but his shields kept him alive.
Jakoby sliced the droid at the torso with his lightsabers. The droid's large upper body rolled away, tripping several other antennas. The CIS had torn up the road to plant the Retail droids as living mines, not to slow down the Republic walkers.
More LR-57 combat droids sprung up from the ground as if they were the living dead. Jack peppered them with blasts from his rifle, but the droids' armor was too thick. Jakoby's lightsabers were much more effective. The droids' reactions were too slow and Jakoby swept through most of them without a problem. Ace and Kicker were able to kill one with their DC-17m anti-armor attachments.
The group kept moving again and after a few squads of battle droids, they found a big, pompous looking building laid out before them.
"Ten credits says that thing's the capital building," Tai said.
"No one's gonna take you up on that bet," Kicker finally responded. There was simply no disputing that they had arrived at their intended target.
An AT-TE was approaching from a side street. "Ah, reinforcements," Jakoby was pleased at the progress the rest of his army was making. Then the walker suddenly exploded, surprising both the Jedi and the commandos. They looked over to where the walker was and noticed that particular side street was littered with land mines. They hadn't noticed the mines at first, and neither did the now-deceased pilot of the all terrain tactical enforcer.
"Typical tactic of Confederate cowards," Tai declared.
"You know you'd lay mines too, when given the chance," Jack said.
"Let's get moving," Ace ordered. No one impeded the commandos as they walked up the stairs and entered the building. But that was where the peace was broken.
Super battle droids lay in wait for any non-Confederate that dared to walk through the doors. The commandos struggled to find cover before their shields were completely depleted. Jakoby had his hands full defecting so many blaster bolts. He hadn't the time to redirect them back at the droids; all he could do was keep himself from getting shot up.
Jack tossed an EMP grenade the very moment that Kicker threw a flash-bang grenade. The combination attack momentarily stunned or disabled many of the droids, giving Ace and Tai the time to shoot the droids that weren't caught in the grenade assault.
With the skirmish over, Jakoby safely walked over to the front desk, though there was no receptionist to greet him. There was a B1 battle droid hiding behind the desk, and he popped up to shoot Jakoby when the Jedi got close. Jakoby deflected the shot and the battle droid was decapitated with his own attack.
So far, all of Jakoby's assumptions about the Confederates' plans had proven to be accurate so the Jedi checked the layout of the building at a console and proceeded to head directly to the president's office. "If he's hiding in his office then I don't know what we'll do. I don't think Palpatine would want a planet full of morons rejoining the Republic, he has his hands full with the ones we already have."
"Don't worry," Ace said. "I'm sure he evacuated when we breached the building, we'll probably have to chase him all across the planet."
Only two super battle droids stood guard at the doors of the president's office. Jakoby closed in on one of the droids while the clones blasted the other. Jakoby sliced off the droid's right arm, the appendage that housed the built-in wrist blaster. The B2 then tried to grab Jakoby with his left arm, but the Jedi lopped that one off as well. The Jedi knew the droid's reactions perfectly; B2s always went to grab him with their left arms once he destroyed their right arms. Jakoby then used Force push and sent the armless super battle droid crashing to the floor.
Jakoby then used the Force to open the doors. He and his clone commandos walked in to be met with the sight of a rather large office, larger than Jakoby thought it would be, and a single man sitting at a desk.
"Mr. President?" Obi-wan Jakoby asked in a mocking diplomatic manner.
"No! No! I'm just a janitor! Please don't shoot me! The President had me act as a decoy! I'm sorry! He gave me no choice, please don't shoot."
Jakoby could sense the man was speaking the truth. "Wow, there's a first. I wasn't expecting that," Jakoby laughed and motioned for his commandos to lower their weapons.
"I guess we'll have to chase the real one around the planet now," Kicker said.
"Oh, I don't know about that," Jakoby said with a confident voice. "I'm sure someone will nab him before he leaves the city."
"He's not a droid, sir. He can easily blend in with the civilians," Jack said.
"I'm having the city blockaded. No one's going anywhere without my say so. This mission is as good as over." Jakoby and the clones turned around when they heard something enter into the office behind them.
It was the super battle droid that had both its' arms cut off by Jakoby. The droid had somehow gotten himself up off the ground after being Force pushed, despite not having any arms.
"Well, look who's back," Jakoby smirked. The clones laughed at the sight of an armless droid that stood to oppose them. The super battle droid lumbered forward and kicked Tai in the shin. Tai fell to the ground, grabbing his leg in pain. The event made Kicker laugh even harder. The B2 went over and kicked Kicker in the crotch. The clone squealed in pain and crumpled to the floor.
"Stop that laughing!" Ace ordered, fighting back chuckles of his own.
Even Jakoby started to laugh. "My elite clone squad, defeated by an armless battle droid? I don't know if that's sad or funny!"
The droid went over to the laughing Jack. Jack immediately got serious and raised his rifle at the droid. Ace tackled the droid from behind and it fell onto Jack. Jack knocked the large droid off him and got to his feet.
"What was that for? I was paying attention!"
"Oops," Ace said.
Jakoby smiled. It was important to have fun once in a while or the war would consume them.
Author's Note: The heavy AT-TE first appeared in the expansion pack Clone Campaigns for Galactic Battlegrounds. Though in the game the heavy AT-TE did not have a rotary cannon, it was just a more powerful AT-TE. I switched out the mass-driver cannon for the rotary cannon in OOM-9's Revenge to give the heavy walker something unique and different from the standard AT-TE.
The hunter-seeker droid first appeared in the videogame Star Wars: Starfighter.
The thermal detonator battle droid first appeared in the videogame Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds.
The LR-57 combat droid appeared in Star Wars: The Clone Wars film and in the TV series.