"3, 2..."
Come on, just get to 1! I've got some droid blasting to do, Crusher thought impatiently.
"1"
He grinned as he barged into the main room. A serious flaw in droid factories, they automatically assumed that no one would be able to get in so the doors were weak, or that's what Plank told us.
What in the galaxy was up with that clone? One moment an unsure rookie, like Sly, told him, the next a super commander.
Viciously, he let loose a rapid flow of blaster bolts that incinerated any clankers in his sight.
"Awww, come on Crusher. Leave me some to destroy." Sly whined.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Mliss chuckling, "Don't worry, there's more. We are in a droid factory."
On cue, the doorway filled with droids. This time Sly got his pleasure kills.
"Hahaha!" He cackled.
"You take far to much pleasure in this Sly," Mliss scolded but her voice was laughing.
Mliss gestured to the doorway, "Plank and Sly, go through the centre of the building and take out any opposition. If there are living beings, bring them here. Crusher and Camo, go through the left-wing and do the same. Snipe and I will go through the right."
Crusher grinned, he'd taken a liking to their quiet, littlest brother.
Everyone nodded and departed.
...
Mliss smiled lightly as she held her twin lightsabers in her hands. After so much helpless waiting at Kamino, hunting battle droids was a happy walk in the park. Warning bells danced in her head from multiple points around the factory. Activating her comlink, she calmly spoke into it.
"Plank, Sly you should be approaching the control room, take out any droids and secure the area. Crusher, Camo, you should be reaching the reverse side of the machine, do as much damage as you can."
Mliss grinned as loud cheers met her ears. They really like demolition jobs, she remarked, pleased.
Turning to Snipe, Mliss pointed to the skylight on the roof.
"The alarm is undoubtedly out, so see if you can destroy the back up."
Snipe cocked his head to the side, "What will you be doing general?"
"Someones gonna have to destroy the droid storage area," Mliss said with a grin. After all, it was what she was trained to do.
Snipes helmet was blank as always but Mliss could sense his smile. Apparently, she wasn't exactly what Snipe thought she would be like.
Jumping up and swiftly scaling the wall, Snipe gave a sloppy salute as a farewell. Mliss ignited both of her lightsaber blades and eased into a fighting stance, alarm bells were ringing in her mind. Droids appeared around the next bend and the lightsabers hummed with deadly finality.
...
"Then 15 droids came upon me and began to fire so I picked up a grenade and shoved it through one of the droids neck." Crusher gestured wildly to illustrate."This I picked it up and threw it onto the machine...Then Boom!"
Mliss laughed at the pure exaggeration of it. They were sitting around a fire outside her ship because Mliss had decided that they were going to stay one more night to get rid of the remaining droids.
"Crusher." Camo said with a waggle of his finger, "You're forgetting the part where I saved your sorry behind."
"Psh."
"Well what actually happened was that when it exploded, I pulled Crusher behind a door just as where he was standing exploded with fire."
Crusher crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, "You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?"
Camo grinned fiercely, "Nope."
There was a moment of silence as they ate their meals before Snipe spoke.
"So what was the situation on Kamino?"
Mliss's face grew solemn," Someone placed a Virus in all the ration packets on Tipoca City."
...
"Someone placed a Virus in all the ration packets on Tipoca City."
Plank whipped around quickly. No. It couldn't be. Mliss continued,
"When I arrived, it was luckily very mild."
The dread that filled him eased. But then Mliss paused for a second. It was obviously much worse than she said. Everyone around the fire was silent. Though they knew that the danger had passed, they still knew it'd been a close call.
"The virus was a variant of a virus that was supposedly irradicated 6 centuries ago. It was designed to kill the youngest generation in a species. The first wave hit everyone mildly. The second almost killed all the young cadets."
Plank couldn't breathe. His mind was slowing and the world was spinning. No! He realised he was going into shock. Slowly, he looked up, but no one noticed his panic. Besides Mliss. Mliss had turned her head slightly so as not to alert the others. Her expression echoed her thoughts, Are you alright?
Plank didn't doubt that she knew the answer but he nodded, attempting to lower his heart rate. No, It couldn't be! But too much of a coincident.
"But you guys managed to pull through, so no one died," Mliss said, once again appearing cheerful.
Sly sighed in relief, "At least we can be thankful for that."
Plank didn't hear all of what was said. The shock was threatening to overwhelm him again. Picking up his plate, he kept his voice calm and unwavering as he asked.
"Would you mind if we got some rest. Sleeping in an abandoned barrack wasn't the comfiest place."
Directly facing him from across the fire, Mliss answered, though obviously still worried.
"Of course. I suggest all of you go get some rest."
All of them got up, but Plank almost ran to get in bed. Laying down, Plank sifted through all the facts. Then almost had a heart attack at the result.