Chapter 3: Mission Six: Sullust

"Come on! The lava's coming faster than we expected!" A fountain of magma jetted over Jiana, the ground shaking as the volcanic terrain of Sullust boiled and churned. It had been a few weeks since the mission on Tatooine, and Inferno Company had been sent to defend a Republic factory on Sullust from a droid invasion. With Smokey, Trigger, and Falcon left behind as the last lines of defense, utilizing the factory's many weapons systems, the rest of Inferno Company was spread thin, fighting hard against the waves of spider droids, tank droids, and crab droids. The clones' armor had been equipped with advanced filters to siphon out the toxic gasses filling the atmosphere, and Jiana and Uliia were wearing oxygen masks.

"Inferno Company, fall back!" Firing a final salvo of blasts at a crab droid, killing it, Rhino turned and ran to a granite outcropping, the rest of the clones arriving within moments. "New plan. The volcano's more active than we predicted, which is going to make fighting these droids a hell of a lot harder. But, the droids aren't immune to lava. We can trap them on the crust over the Vulnac lava lake and destroy the ground beneath them. Trigger, you hearing this?"

"Loud and clear, Major. I'll get the howitzers ready."

"How are we going to get the droids onto the lake and then escape?" Patches asked.

"What if we used jetpacks?" Quint offered. "They manufacture them here at the factory, I'm sure they won't mind if we borrow a few."

"That just leaves us the problem of what happens if the droids don't take the bait," Jiana said. "What if they turn our plan against us?"

"All they've got are crabs, spiders, and tanks. None of those are built to think," Noctus answered. "There's got to be someone out there directing them. I'll go take out their leader while you lead them onto the lake." And with that, he disappeared, not even waiting to see if they agreed with his plan.

"I swear, sometimes I think he doesn't know he's not in charge," Uliia groaned.

"Well, he's the same rank as me, but since he's a commando he takes precedence," Rhino explained. "Commandos are usually supposed to work in four-man squads, but since he trained with Shadow Troopers he's used to working solo." An explosion from within the droid lines brought their attention back to the fight as the droids looked around, confused. "Damn it Noctus… Alright, Inferno Company! Move out!" He rose from behind the rocks, firing at the droids as Inferno Company followed him, returning fire as the droid army chased them. "Falcon, get us those jetpacks!"

"I'll do you one better, Major." The scout, armor smeared with ash and soot for camouflage, pulled up behind the clones in a repulsorlift speeder. "Hop in!" Blaster bolts exploding all around them, Falcon hightailed the speeder across the molten ridge, droids quickly giving pursuit. There was a jolt as something struck the speeder, then a figure uncloaked itself in the middle of the front compartment, revealing a black-clad clone trooper.

"I'm fine, keep going!" Noctus yelled, wincing as the call shifted a bruised rib. "Took out a tactical droid and two commandos, so those spiders and tanks are useless now." Raising his blaster over his head, he fired a salvo without looking, striking a tank droid's photoreceptor and causing it to crash into a squad of crab droids. "Even more than usual."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, Noctus, cause those bastards are supposed to be really tough!" Quint chucked a grenade, blasting the treads off a tank droid and stranding it. "I don't get how you make this look easy!"

"That's because you make it hard." Noctus stood up, slipping a scope and barrel extension onto his blaster and taking aim. Placing the bullseye on his target, he fired, hitting a tank droid's fuel cell. The resulting explosion sent shrapnel flying everywhere, striking the fuel tanks of the droids around it, sparking a chain reaction that spread to the rest of the line, creating a wall of wreckage that trapped the droids on the lava lake. "Trigger, the second we get off the lake, you send those droids to Hell."

"Copy that, Noctus. Standing by." The speeder whirred over the crust, the heat rising as it neared the edge. Then, it was off the rock and over pure, bubbling magma; one wrong move, one bubble in the wrong place, and the speeder and everyone on it would melt into nothing. The rear repulsor sparked, fizzling out as it overheated, and the rear of the speeder began to tilt dangerously close to the magma.

"Falcon, if this thing can go any faster, I'd appreciate it!"

"Relax Patches, I got this!" Spying a floating chunk of rock, he aimed for it, ramping the speeder off the lake and into the air. It came crashing back down just ashore of the lava, just as the speeder finally died. It caught on the rough ground and flipped, sending the soldiers tumbling to the ground.

"Trigger! Now!" At Rhino's command, the clone sent a signal to the eight cannons he had rigged together. Firing a combined salvo at the droids, the cannons cut a deep chasm across the floating crust over the lake, breaking it free of the shore and sending it floating aimlessly towards the center of the lake. Smokey, airborne in a spare Y-wing bomber, swooped low overhead, dropping his payload directly onto the makeshift raft the droids were trapped on. A great fountain of magma arced into the air as the bombs detonated, shattering the rock beneath the droids and sending them to a fiery doom.

"Patches, get over here!" Speedy was sitting down, clutching at his arm. As the medic rushed to him, already pulling out his medical kit, he instantly spotted a thin blade-like shard of volcanic glass embedded in the crook of the clone's elbow.

"Yikes, that looks painful."

"Ya think! Help me out here, will you?"

Flipping through his pack, Patches quickly retrieved a morphine injector, a set of pliers, a bacta gel, and a wrap. Unclipping the clone's upper arm guard, he quickly injected the painkiller and held up the arm, careful not to move the elbow. Manipulating the skin around the wound, he gripped the glass with his pliers. "On three, okay? One-" Before Speedy could tense up, he yanked the shrapnel from the clone's arm, bringing a string of swears from the scout. After a quick inspection to make sure the glass hadn't damaged any tendons, he spread the bacta gel over the gash and wrapped it up. In total, he had him fixed in under twenty seconds.

"Damn, you really earned that rank didn't you, Commander Patches?" Jiana joked, helping Speedy to his feet. "We're lucky to have you with us. You get us back to fighting condition in no time."

"Just doing my job, sir." Giving a quick one-over of the rest of the team, he slipped his supplies onto his back and fastened the chest strap. "What next? It's not like Command to give us such a short mission."

"Next," Rhino said, "Is the hard part. Command wants us to take out the Separatist cruiser that brought them here. They specified sabotage."

"That means infiltration." They all knew what that would entail. "So we have to sneak aboard a Separatist cruiser, plant some bombs or something, then sneak out of there and blow it up without anyone seeing us?" Falcon twirled his rifle in his hand, annoyed. "Just have Noctus solo it again. That worked great over Raxus."

"Besides," Smokey added over the commlink, "Less people means less of a chance of detection; even better if they're invisible."

"Smokey, you and Trigger at the least will have to go with Noctus," Rhino said. "He's not a demolitions expert like you two. You guys will need to go and plant the charges on the reactor core."

"You'll need a weapon that's quieter than your blasters for a mission like this," Jiana said. "Uliia and I will accompany you."

"We're all going, except for Speedy."

"Patches, I'm not missing a vacation on a Separatist cruiser! You'll have to shoot me to stop me from coming!"

The medic's hand flew out, striking the clone on the elbow. Speedy grunted in pain, fingers trembling as a nicked nerve burned like fire. "Not with that wound. Get back to The Vorpent, and R-0B will fix the rest of your arm. Tell Remi to stay out of the cruiser's sight." On board The Vorpent, R3-M1 was a technological masterpiece. An upgraded R3-series astromech, he served as the ship's Admiral, piloting the ship and controlling its weapons and internal affairs. Some of the officers on board felt odd taking orders from what was basically a rolling trash bin, but since the droid technically outranked them they usually did what they were told. He had instant communications with the starfighters the clones and Jedi used, and could remotely pilot them if the main astromechs were damaged or destroyed.

Ten minutes later, ten starfighters lifted into the air, one peeling off from the group and speeding across the landscape. The remaining nine blasted through the atmosphere, streaking through the sky until they came within sight of the Separatist cruiser. Activating their cloaking devices, the fighters proceeded unnoticed through orbit until they were floating just above the cruiser. Uliia and Jiana slipped oxygen masks over their faces and concentrated, feeling the Force flow through them.

They had trained for weeks to do this, and as the clones opened their fighters and floated down to the ship, the Jedi followed, pressurizing their bodies with the Force. Landing softly outside a docking hatch, Rhino beckoned the others to him as he pulled a small shield generator out of his pack and stuck it to the side of the ship. Surrounding the hatch, it filled with air as the specialized device matched the interior environment of the ship. Rhino held a small computer up to the hatch controls, and there was a hiss as the door opened into a ventilation shaft.

"Perfect. Let's go." Dropping into the ship, Rhino felt a rush of adrenalin spike through his blood as he quickly pressed his arms and legs out to the side, halting himself just above the probe droid monitoring the ventilation pipes. Holding one fist above him, signaling for the clones to stop, he beckoned to Noctus with his spare hand.

The stealth expert reached into his pack and retrieved a small chip, which he passed to the ARC trooper. Steadily lowering himself, he slipped the chip into a data port on the droid. Its eye fizzed as it frantically beeped, then it fell silent, floating as it was before. Dropping down fully into the vent, he pushed the little droid and it slowly floated away, bumping into a few walls as it aimlessly wandered the vent system.

"False data chip," he said to Jiana, whose eyebrow was raised in a wordless demand for an explanation. "Whatever signals that droid was sending out, they won't see or hear anything but empty pipes." With that, Inferno Company minus one set out through the pipes, crawling through the cramped tunnels in dead silence for several minutes until they came across a vent leading into a room basked in a deep red glow. With a quick scan of the room, Noctus soundlessly slid the vent panel to the side and cloaked himself.

Jiana started to follow, but Quint held out a hand, stopping her. He gestured into the room, instructing her to watch. A probe droid suddenly floated into view, making Jiana's hand instinctively clench around her lightsaber, but she sighed as it bumped harmlessly into a pillar, receptor eye blank. Two more floated in, bumping into various things as the reason for their seeming drunkenness uncloaks himself, waving them in while signing a message with his spare hand. NOISE DETECTORS. CAN'T DISABLE. BE SILENT.

With a nod, Rhino and Falcon enter the reactor room, blasters trained just in case. Smokey and Trigger quietly rush over to the reactor, slipping mines out of their packs and sticking them around the fusion cores. As the two set their charges, the rest of the team was inspecting the room, making sure there would be nothing linking them to the sabotage. Just as the last charge was set, Noctus heard the tell-tale hiss of a door opening.

Quickly signaling to his squadmates, he vanished from sight, and the moment the last saboteur was hidden two MagnaGuards walked into the center of the room, electrostaffs buzzing. While the explosives were hidden enough to dissuade a quick search, they weren't hidden so well that they would hold up to a thorough examination.

The metallic footsteps of the droids sent sweat dripping down the faces of the hidden clones and Jedi, silently praying for the droids to leave. The MagnaGuards stopped just in front of the control panel Rhino and Trigger hid behind, glancing around the room. There was a quiet clank that seemed deafening in the silent reactor room.

The droids' heads instantly snapped to look at the ventilation grate that Noctus had just put back. Looking at each other and nodding, one of the MagnaGuards turned back to the door to leave, but the other headed straight for the vent. Ripping it from the base of the wall, the MagnaGuard crouched down and crawled into the vent, the glowing red light of its chest slowly fading into the darkness. Once the room was empty, the hidden saboteurs let out breaths they didn't know they were holding and quietly snuck out of their hiding spots.

"If there are MagnaGuards on this cruiser," Jiana said once all the clones were huddled up, "that means either General Grievous or Count Dooku are aboard."

"Since that one droid is in the vents, we gotta find another way out of this ship before it blows," Patches said. "We might run into whichever one it is."

"I say fuck stealth," Trigger interrupted, "Let's just make a run for it."

"Have you ever tried to run through a Separatist cruiser full of battle droids?" Rhino asked. "It's not as easy as you think it is, let alone if Grievous or Dooku is on board."

"Grievous is a tough bastard," Noctus growled. "If he's here, then there's a high chance we're going to die."

"Speak of the devil…" a grating voice behind them breathed, sending ice flooding through their veins, "…and he shall appear." Slowly turning around, their eyes shone as four lightsabers ignited, swirling like deadly helicopter blades. "Or rather… I will."

Igniting her lightsaber as Grievous approached them, Jiana took a defensive stance, subconscious willing her body not to shake in fear. The normally unflappable Zeltron felt a shiver run up her spine as Grievous eyed her lightsaber hungrily, and though hidden by his mask, she knew there was an evil grin behind those hollow yellow eyes. Uliia ignited her lightsabers and stood next to her Master, spinning them before pointing them at the Separatist General, shivering as a grating laugh croaked from the demolished throat of the former Kaleesh warlord.

"A Padawan, and one with TWO lightsabers?" he laughed. "This will be very enjoyable for me." He leapt forward, one lightsaber still whirling through the air to block the blaster bolts fired at him by the clones, and swung down with all his might. Jiana felt pain rocket down her wrist as his lightsaber came crashing down through her defenses, the force from the blow nearly breaking her wrist.

Beside her, Uliia was faring no better, arms shaking as she struggled to hold off his assault. Swinging in for another attack, the General ducked a hail of blaster bolts sent by the clones and thrust his four blades like spears, intending to skewer the Jedi. Uliia flipped over the sabers and swung down, managing to nick his shoulder. Grievous took a long, hard look at the sizzling cut as Jiana twirled away from his blades, then roared like a beast unlike anything Uliia had ever encountered, kicking her Master away and leaping towards the Padawan.

Swinging her sabers up at the General, she managed to intercept his chops with arcing blocks to the side, rolling under a kick as he snarled and spun to deflect Jiana's incoming blow. Quint threw a droid popper at the cyborg, causing the General to short out long enough for Uliia and Jiana to retreat to a safe distance.

Growling like a caged beast, Grievous launched himself at the clones, scattering them as his lightsabers hummed overhead. The cyborg felt three expertly placed bolts slam into his back, and he whirled around, swinging his lightsabers into the empty space. Noctus uncloaked himself, the sight of the clone bringing a sneer to the General's hidden face.

"Ah, the clone who likes to play hide-and-seek! I could have sworn I killed you on Saleucami, when you dared to attack me head-on," he taunted.

Noctus lifted his helmet off his head, the angry red scar bisecting his face catching Grievous' eye. "You'll never get the chance again, Grievous. We're going to kill you."

"And I thought the Jedi wanted me alive."

Noctus narrowed his eyes, matching the General's glare. "I don't."

Slipping his helmet back on, Noctus vanished, a hail of bolts rushing the cyborg as he swung his lightsabers, nearly striking the invisible commando. Whirling around to block a clone attack, he flung a lightsaber above his head to deflect Uliia's assault and knock the Padawan into her Master.

Grievous ran out of the room, following Noctus' footsteps as Falcon fired a bolt directly into the General's shoulder socket. His upper left arm fell off in a shower of sparks, and Grievous roared as he kicked the door at the clones, knocking them down. As Rhino sat up, pistols ready, he heard the metallic footsteps rapidly disappearing down the hallway as Grievous chased after Noctus.

"Rhino, we need to get out of here before the ship blows!" Smokey yelled, grunting as he popped a dislocated finger back into place. "Let Noctus handle this!"

"It's too dangerous for one clone to take on General Grievous!" Jiana countered. "We need to get off the ship with him!"

"General Razhuli," Trigger said as he reloaded his blaster, "with all due respect, Noctus is the best soldier here, hands down. He's already encountered him once and survived. We need to evacuate now, before we all go down with this ship."

"Master," Uliia pleaded, "he can handle this. Let's go." Without even waiting for a response, the Padawan rushed into the hallway, Quint and Patches right behind her. Sighing and shaking her head, Jiana motioned for the rest of the clones to move out before falling in behind them.

"Remi," she called to her commlink, "send our fighters to the main hangar bay. Tell them to stay cloaked until we arrive."

Noctus was tossing electromines as he ran, turning the hallways into a labyrinth of electricity. The spiderlike General pursuing him crawled along the walls, dodging the deadly electrical traps set by the clone. Rounding a corner, Grievous found himself in an atrium, the corners cloaked in darkness. There was a shower of sparks as the control panel exploded, sealing the blast door and trapping Grievous in the room.

"You are a fool, clone," he sneered, igniting two lightsabers and squinting into the darkness. "Trapping yourself in a room with me."

"No," Noctus' voice rang from behind the cyborg. Turning, Grievous swung his sabers down directly into Noctus' helmet, intending to cut the clone in two. The sabers bounced off of his beskar helmet in a shower of sparks, the green and blue light clashing against his pitch-black armor.

"You're trapped in here with me."

The cyborg flung one of his lightsabers at the clone and rushed him. He ducked under the lightsaber, but took a devastating kick to the chest, sending him sprawling across the room. He pushed himself up, but a clawed foot clenched around his chest, and Grievous jumped in the air, spinning his leg above his head as he slammed the clone down to the unforgiving ground. The commando landed in a sitting position, and all the force of the slam and the cyborg's foot pressing down on him acted as a sledgehammer through his spine.

Noctus felt liquid fire shoot through his spine and leak into his torso, the crushed nerves screaming in agony as they wrenched a strangled grunt out of his chest. He was flung across the room and landed in a heap, limbs shaking as a cold sweat broke out across his body as he panted, every breath sending white-hot nails through his nerves.

Grievous stomped over to his body, laughing. Clenching one leg in his arm, he swung the clone into a pillar, grinning as he heard the satisfying crunch of ribs shattering. He swung him again and again, beating the clone against every surface of the room. Finally, he grabbed the clone's wrists in his one left arm and his ankles in the other two and, lifting the clone above his head, began to pull, intent on tearing Noctus in two.

His eyes stung as the pressure on his spine multiplied, sending rivulets of white-hot pain through his body. He struggled against the cyborg's grip, but each little movement sent his heartrate skyrocketing as his spine screamed in protest. There was an immense pressure down his back, and he yelled in pain as-

CRUNCH

There was a loud popping sound through Noctus' back and the pain instantly vanished, a massive rush of adrenaline taking its place. In an instant, Noctus strained his core, tucking his knees to his chest as his vibrogauntlet activated, slicing through Grievous' one remaining left hand.

The Separatist general roared as it clattered to the floor, sparks and hydraulic fluid spouting from his stump as he flung the clone to the ground. Noctus grabbed his rifle from where it lay on the floor and stumbled for the window, Grievous right behind him. Taking one last glance over his shoulder, he fired upon the window.

He was sucked out into space as the air evacuated the room, Grievous' arm locked around a pillar. Growling, the cyborg dug his clawed feet into the floor and pulled a commlink from his waist.

"Raise the deflector shields! We've been breached!"

There was a purple glow outside as the shields activated, Noctus slipping out at the last moment. The air pressure slowly equalized inside the room, and Grievous snarled as he took his two remaining lightsabers and shoved them through the blast doors, slowly cutting them open. As he stomped into the hallway, there was a rush of air and the ship lurched, a deafening explosion echoing through the corridor. His commlink chirped.

"General," a tactical droid said, "I believe the intruders blew up the hyperdrive reactor. The ship is listing, and the reactor core is becoming unstable at a rapid pace. I calculate there is a 92.693% chance that it will detonate within the next three minutes."

With an enraged growl, Grievous took off down the hallways, bursting into the rear hangar bay where his starfighter sat waiting. Crawling inside, he smashed his left stump into the launch button and the ship blasted out of the hangar, disappearing into hyperspace.

"General! We have to go!" Smokey yelled over the commlink.

"Not without Noctus!"

"General," Rhino said, "he may be a commando, but in the end, he's still a clone. We're meant to be expendable. Jedi aren't. We need to move, now."

Jiana sighed, and closed the hatch to her starfighter as they lifted off and flew out of the hangar, one empty fighter following behind. She turned to look at the flaming cruiser behind her, and-

"I ain't that expendable, Patches."

Noctus was floating in space outside of the cruiser, drifting aimlessly into the cosmos.

"Noctus! Remi, send his fighter over to him."

The droid chirped, and the empty fighter broke away from formation as Inferno Company circled back around for their comrade.

"Our suits are pressurized, General," Noctus explained as his starfighter pulled up beside him. "We clones can survive in space for a short time."

"It's so if we get thrown from a ship, we can survive until a rescue ship can pick us up," Falcon clarified. "We're only limited by how much oxygen our rebreathers can recover before they get saturated."

Jiana sighed, slumping back in her fighter. "That's a relief. I thought we lost you back there when you decided to go play tag with General Grievous."

"It wasn't a very good idea, I admit." Noctus winced as he sat in his seat, the position putting pressure on his spine. "He damn near tore me in half."

"Noctus, I'm going to have to put you on medical rest for a few days, buddy." Patches was looking at the vital scanner in Noctus' ship. "Sensor's telling me you got a concussed spinal cord all the way down your back and torn muscles all around your midsection. You're not moving anywhere until I say so."

In the medical bay, Noctus hovered just above a bed as R-0B tightened the last bolt on his new back brace.

"You'll need to wear this for at least four days," the droid said as the clone slowly settled back down. "And that only deals with your spinal damage. The torn muscles will take at least a week and a half to fully recover. I am going to inform Patches to recommend you take at least two weeks of bed rest."

The clone grumbled as the droid went back to his recharging station and plugged in, powering down. The Jedi Knight standing at the foot of his bed tapped her foot in annoyance, glaring at the clone.

"Can I help you, General?"

"Not like that you can't. Why the hell would you think it was alright to take on General Grievous ALONE?!"

"It's my duty as a clone to do everything I can to fight the Separatists. If that means fighting the droid army's general so that my squad can escape, then that's what I'm going to do."

Jiana sighed, turning to leave, but paused at the doorway. "I've never lost a single clone that's been assigned to me, Noctus. Don't be the first."

Author's note:

I think I'm going to do more time skips like this one. I just don't have enough time or patience to write out every single mission these guys will complete in the months left in the Clone Wars, and I know you will get bored really fast if I do that. So I'm going to write the most important and influential missions Inferno Company will partake in, which should be around seven to ten chapters total. After that... well, you know what happens ;)