Chapter 7: Mission 14: Ryloth (Pt. II)

"May the Force be with you, Uliia."

As the lone bomber soared to the battle station, the five remaining fighters broke away, arcing around to make another attack run on the Virulent. The droid spun as it passed between the fighters, its long wings narrowly missing Jiana as it swooped around to continue the chase. "Trigger, Rhino, you two need to get behind the droid. Be ready with ion shots to disable any mines it might drop. Quint, Falcon, you two are on me. Split power evenly between engines and rear shields. We need to keep it away from that station while Uliia and Noctus destroy it."

"Copy that, General." Rhino and Trigger throttled back to near zero, rolling to each side as the droid shot between them. They powered back up, tailing the droid as it chased the other three. "Trigger, set full weapons power to the ion cannons. Prime a proton torpedo as well. We'll break its shields with ion blasts, then take out the shield generator with the torpedoes."

"I'm on it, Rhino." Trigger flipped switches on his control lever, a high-pitched whine filling the cabin as the ion cannons charged up. "Ready on your signal."

"General, we're ready!" Rhino called. Jiana rolled beneath a salvo from the droid's cannons, shield's flickering.

"Now!"

The two clones opened fire, ion bolts slamming into the droid's shields. They flickered for a moment but held sturdy. The tail cannon swiveled to point at Trigger, who quickly moved his shields to the front as the cannon fired, rocking his interceptor. "Rhino, we have to get rid of that thing's rear cannon or we'll be too dead to help the general!"

"I know!" the ARC yelled. "Ray shields are really hard to break through!"

Falcon pulled up beside Jiana, weaving away from a cannon shot. "General, if I pull off to the side I can open my cockpit and shoot at it with my rifle. It'll be strong enough to break the droid's shields, and it'll give Rhino and Trigger the chance to hit its generator."

"You'll be too exposed! I'm not losing another soldier to this droid!" Jiana snapped.

"If you got a better idea, then be my damn guest General!"

Jiana growled; she knew the sniper was right. "Fine. Get to a safe distance before you take the shot. Full shields."

Falcon nodded, peeling off from the group. He flew about a kilometer away before he brought his fighter to a halt, sending full power to the shields as he depressurized the cabin, grabbing his rifle from its storage behind him and opening the cockpit hatch. He shivered as the cold embrace of the vacuum poked at his bodysuit, trying desperately to get into his armor and choke the life from him. He raised the rifle to his shoulder, tilting his head to the right to center the scope over his eye. Bracing his legs against the seat, he flipped the safety off, feeling an electric buzz begin to resonate from within the rifle's body. He brought the droid into his sight, zooming in on it as it dipped and weaved around Trigger and Rhino's blasts, hot on the heels of Jiana and Quint. Taking a deep breath, he forced his body to ignore the biting cold, to focus only on the droid, and his finger tightened around the trigger.

The gun jolted back almost half a meter, the recoil nearly throwing Falcon out of the cockpit. The supercharged bolt raced through the abyss, spiraling slightly as it slammed into the droid's shields. The outer plasma exploded on contact, slamming through the shields while the higher-energy core of the shot continued through and piercing the fighter's hull, blasting clean through the durasteel and all the way out the other side of the droid. The droid faltered in its flight, sparks flying from the gaping hole in its targeting array.

Just as the shot hit the droid, the station behind them exploded, a brilliant flash of blue, orange, every color of flame. The droid narrowly avoided the shockwave, its bottom and left-side cannons being sheared off by the blast. Jiana and Quint barely managed to dodge the debris, the former losing an S-foil to the shockwave. Falcon barely managed to get seated in his fighter and blast off as the explosion reached him, nearly tearing his left wing off. "Looks like they did it!"

Jiana wasn't focused on the explosion; she was watching the damaged bomber plummeting to the surface. "We need to- gah!"

The droid shot past her, narrowly avoiding a collision as it shot towards the bomber. "General!" Rhino called.

"I see it! We need to kill that droid now!"

She instantly dove after the Virulent, the four clones right on her tail. By the time they began to enter the atmosphere, the Y-wing had disappeared below the clouds. The droid began firing its tail cannon randomly, in a last-ditch effort to survive. "Quint! You got this one!"

"On it, General!" Grabbing his shotgun, the paratrooper popped his hatch open, instantly getting sucked out into the atmosphere as his fighter spiraled out of control, eventually breaking up and exploding. His rocket pack ignited, launching him closer to the droid. He spun under a cannon blast, finally managing to grab one of the droid's wings. He pulled himself across the droid's hull, climbing on top of the bulge of its main processor. He slammed his bayonet down into the hull and pulled the trigger, his shotgun decimating the droid's control circuits as he leapt off the dead droid's hull, rockets firing and pushing him into the air.

The Virulent spiraled towards the ground, now a piece of dead metal. It slammed into the ground a few kilometers away, exploding in a massive fireball. "Great work Quint!" Jiana said, watching the smoke leap into the sky. "Rhino, check the scanners. See if you can locate Uliia and Noctus."

"I don't think I'll need the scanners, General." The ARC was staring at a thin wisp of smoke rising from the Tann Province, a scorch mark visible even from their height. "I think that's them."

Jiana felt her stomach drop as she saw the crash site. "G-get down there. Maybe they're still alive."

The four remaining fighters made it down to the surface, landing just outside of a large manor. Quint fired his rockets, landing beside the craft as Jiana took off into the city, the others just behind her. Rounding a corner, she screeched to a halt as she saw the smoldering remains of the bomber, a young girl poking at a damaged astromech. She glanced up at the Jedi and clones, then back down to the astromech, pulling it upright and fiddling with something inside its shell.

Jiana knelt down beside the girl. "Hi there. Who are you?"

The girl didn't look up, frowning at something in the droid. "Hera."

Jiana looked up at the wreckage. "Do you know what happened here?"

"No clue," the girl responded, pulling a clump of melted wires from the astromech. "It came down from the sky and landed in my home's courtyard."

"Do you know where the pilot is?" Jiana asked, feeling an icy sensation begin to creep up in her gut.

"Nope." Hera finally looked up, shrugging. "It was empty when it landed. Its viewscreen was gone, and the turret was shattered. Whoever was in it was probably sucked out." She turned back to the droid but paused for a moment. "I'm sorry."

Jiana sighed, standing up. "I know Uliia. She's alive. Thank you, Hera."

Hera shrugged. "Not much I can do for you."

"General, I got something on the scanners." Falcon held out a portable hologram, showing a red dot blinking at a position nearly a dozen kilometers away. "This is the last place Noctus' transmitter was active."

Hera glanced up at the map, her eyes widening slightly. "Oh, that's not good for them."

Jiana glanced down at her. "Why? Why is it not good?"

"Because a Separatist ship landed there a few minutes ago."

The battle droid sighed, checking the cameras again. They had just finished setting up the outpost, and now he was stuck working security? That wasn't a job for a battle droid! He was meant to be out there fighting clones, not watching cameras all day!

He wisely kept his complaints to himself. He knew what happened to droids like him when they complained. He grumbled, flipping through the different camera feeds. The first few were empty, just like the last eight times he had checked them, but he paused when he reached the one facing out the main entrance. "Uh, sir? You might want to look at this."

The super tactical droid in charge leaned over, glancing at the screen. "One of the locals? What is she dragging?"

The battle droid zoomed in on the video. "No sir, I think that's one of the Jedi. It looks like she's carrying a clone. They both appear to be injured."

The super tactical droid rubbed its chin. "Curious. Assemble a squad. I will intercept them personally."

Uliia stopped as the outpost doors opened, the super tactical droid framed by a squad of commando droids and super battle droids. She slowly raised her hands, sighing. The tactical droid glanced between her and Noctus. "I am Khalid, commander of this outpost. State your business here."

"I am Jedi Padawan Uliia Nodulu, Inferno Company. I am here to surrender myself in exchange for medical assistance for my friend," she said, gesturing to Noctus. Khalid tilted his head slightly.

"I find no strategical logic behind your decision. I run millions of simulations each day to account for every possible aspect of a given scenario; not once have I ever devised a situation such as this. All my calculations are telling me there is a 99.831% chance that this is a trap. However…" He glanced down at Uliia's splinted ankle and the dark purple burn on her cheek, then to the unconscious clone on the sled, armor still smoking. "I can see you are in no condition to fight us. Surrender your weapons to us, and we will escort you to a medical droid." Uliia reached to her belt, holding out her lightsabers to the super battle droid that took them from her. One of the super battle droids took the handle to Noctus' sled, dragging it into the outpost as the commando droids circled behind Uliia, pushing her forwards.

She was led through the outpost to a building in the back corner, a medical cross prominently displayed on the side. "Normally this medical center is reserved for our organic commanders, but as Captain Tuuk is no longer alive I shall allow you to use it for the time being," Khalid said. "T-6B will tend to you and your trooper's injuries, though I would not hold out hope for the clone. He seems to be in very bad shape."

"I know," Uliia sighed. "I hope your medic can save him."

The door hissed open as the super battle droid dragged the unconscious clone into the medbay, Uliia following behind. Khalid and the super battle droid left, locking the door behind them as the medical droid walked out from behind a computer array. "I am T-6B. I have already been informed of your arrival by Commander Khalid." The droid gave the two a quick glance. "I will tend to his injuries first. Yours appear to be much less severe," she said to Uliia. "There is a shower in the back. Feel free to use it while I examine the clone."

Uliia stepped aside as the droid knelt down beside Noctus, moving to remove the clone's helmet. "Wait!" The droid froze, turning to look at the nervous Twi'lek. "He hurt his head pretty badly. I already tried to take his helmet off. He started bleeding really badly."

T-6B turned back to Noctus, extending a scanner from her wrist and running it along Noctus' helmet. "Yes, I can see that. That is quite the severe wound. It will require immediate surgery. I will need you to help move him onto the table for me." Uliia nodded, extending her hands. Noctus slowly lifted into the air, floating to the surgical bench before being gently set down. Uliia turned to leave, shuddering at the dark stain left on the rock sled. She limped to the shower, leaving a trail of dirty, soot-covered clothing as she slumped into the stall, reaching one tired hand up to turn the water on. She yelped at the ice-cold temperature, then sighed as it rapidly warmed up. She lay on the ground, the day's events swimming through her head. She didn't even try to halt the tears as she sobbed, overwhelmed with pain, sadness, and fear.

CONTENT WARNING:

This section contains graphic descriptions of

severe burns and other injuries. If you

are squeamish or would otherwise prefer not

to read this part, please skip ahead to the next

bolded AN.

T-6B slid a scalpel down Noctus' bodysuit, cutting the singed and torn garment from the clone. She moved to peel the suit off his skin but paused as she noticed an odd, impossible movement from his left arm. The droid leaned in closer, spotting a large tear running all the way around the sleeve, with shriveled and charred skin beneath. She carefully sliced through the sleeve, noticing an abnormal amount of leakage, and slowly peeled it away.

Half of his skin came with it, the rest sloughing off in a sickening sludge of pus, charred muscle, and fragments of singed, blackened bone. T-6B immediately rushed to cauterize the wound, but no blood spilled from Noctus' arm; likely, the stain on the rock sled he'd been dragged on came from the gut-wrenching injury and it was all bled out, the flames of reentry charring the arteries beneath his skin and cutting off blood flow to the limb. T-6B examined his shoulder, where charred, shriveled flesh gave way to heat-splintered bone. There was no way to save the limb; from the shoulder down, it was already dead.

Sighing, the droid activated her saw, slicing through the fragile, brittle bone and what tissue remained. With the dead limb out of the way, T-6B turned to a tool bench, grabbing parts from various drawers and assembling the universal limb adapter with blinding speed. Turning her attention back to Noctus, the droid began slicing a circle around the clone's shoulder joint, cauterizing the arteries as she went. With the skin and remaining muscle out of the way, she cut the few ligaments holding the upper part of Noctus' humerus into its socket and removed the dead bone. She reached out with her microscalpel, aligning the severed nerves into the proper positions to accept the cybernetic adapter and allow full control over the (eventual) new limb. She drilled into the joint socket, fitting the adapter into place and making sure the nerves were aligned correctly before tightening the adapter's bolts.

"Now that the arm is taken care of…" T-6B murmured, moving around the bench, extending her saw once again, intent on cutting the commando's helmet off. A shower of sparks stopped the droid, a thin, glowing line quickly fading from the metal. "Beskar… interesting." She swapped the saw for his cauterizer, slowly tracing a line around the clone's helmet. She sprayed a blisteringly cold burst of compressed air over the glowing hot metal, and a loud crack echoed through the operating room as the metal rapidly contracted, tearing along the seam. T-6B moved quickly, stemming the bleeding as she cut a curved line along the clone's right temple, peeling the skin back to reveal a mess of shattered bone held together only by a thin film of loose tissue. Cutting through it, the droid pulled the various shards of bone out, piecing them together on the bench with precision sutures. She moved to replace the section of skull but paused as she noticed bleeding coming from deeper within the clone's brain. She set to work stabilizing the wounds, examining Noctus' brain tissue, then paused in confusion, pulling out a small computer chip from within the clone's head. "Fascinating…"

END OF GRAPHIC CONTENT

When Uliia was finally done sobbing, she turned off the water and exhaustedly pushed the door open. She found a towel waiting for her, and quickly dried off, hissing as the rough cloth dragged over the burn on her cheek. She wrapped the towel around her body and walked back into the medbay, seeing Noctus lying on the bench, the right side of his head covered in stitches and a sheet covering the rest of his body. "We were lucky to get him here in time," T-6B said. "He suffered a severely broken skull."

Uliia winced, gently rubbing the uninjured side of his head. "Will he be alright?"

"He appears to have suffered some brain damage from the injury." The droid was quick to explain upon hearing Uliia's horrified gasp. "There was damage to both the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. It will not affect him much, but it will likely slow his aging and metabolism. As a clone with acceleration in both, this will likely cause him to age similarly to a normal human." Uliia sighed in relief while T-6B continued. "There was something else, as well. I discovered a sort of bioorganic chip located in the portion of his brain that controls emotions. I suspect it was implanted there by the Kaminoan engineers to regulate his emotions and make him more susceptible to obeying orders. It appeared to have been damaged, so I took the liberty of removing it. You might notice some slight behavioral issues once he wakes up."

"That's okay," Uliia sighed. "Must have been damaged for a long time, 'cause he's never been like the other clones. What about his burns?"

"That is another issue." T-6B carefully lifted the sheet off of Noctus, revealing a patchwork of blistered, bright red burns and chunks of blackened, charred flesh all across his torso and remaining arm. "The severity of these burns, coupled with the brain damage, will take months to heal in a bacta tank."

Uliia froze. "Months? He'll be unconscious for months?"

"That is the best-case scenario." T-6B began cutting bits of dead flesh from Noctus' burns as she talked. "These burns are very severe, and many reached the bone beneath. His left arm was lost entirely due to the burns, and because his helmet heated up so much, he has swelling within his skull. I alleviated much of it during the surgery, and am continuing to do so, but a full recovery could take over a year. Once healed, he will have to undergo heavy physical therapy to help him regain muscular control, and he could have respiratory issues as well. Many of the muscles in his upper body have been severely burned, and I calculate that he has sustained moderate nerve damage to approximately 32% of his body, and severe nerve damage to 8% of his body." She looked up from her task, fixing her gaze on Uliia's horrified face. "It will take him years to recover to the state he was in prior to the injuries."

Uliia stumbled slightly, bringing a trembling hand to her mouth. "Ryma gesu'tuno ozanta yissa," she whispered. "Mother give you good health."

"There is more." Uliia looked up at T-6B in utter loss.

"More? What more is there?"

"During my neural scan, I detected an immense amount of mental suffering in this clone." The droid looked to a datapad on the wall. "I suspect it is unrelated to the injuries he has sustained."

"Yes," Uliia sighed, frowning. "He was here during the Battle of Ryloth. He… experienced something horrible, something he refuses to talk about."

"Hmm," T-6B muttered, rubbing her chin. "You are a Jedi, correct? Could you not probe his mind to discover what exactly is causing him this stress? Forgive me if my assumption is incorrect, I possess only basic knowledge of this 'Force' you Jedi wield."

Uliia paused for a moment. "I- I don't know, my Master would probably know how to… I'm just a Padawan. I'm not strong enough to do anything like that."

"Perhaps," T-6B said. She reached below the surgical bench, pulling out a secondary work surface and patting it. "I need to examine your injuries now. Please, remove your towel and lay on your back."

Uliia did so, shivering slightly against the cold metal. Normally she would have resisted, as past experiences had led to a crippling fear of people touching her body. But for some reason, she wasn't uncomfortable with the droid examining her bare body; she had no ulterior motives, she was just doing her job. It helped that the droid had a female programming. Regardless, she did flinch as T-6B tapped the scar above her heart.

"This appears to be a blaster wound," T-6B said. "I am surprised that you survived such an injury."

"It was a droid," Uliia responded. "I got hit while saving Noctus' life a few months ago."

"Fascinating. Your medic did a wonderful job healing you." T-6B sprayed a cold bacta mist over her burned cheek, gently taping a gauze patch over it. "This should heal in a day or so. You are lucky the burn was merely superficial." She moved down her body, giving her a once-over as she reached Uliia's ankle, scanning the joint. "This does appear to have been dislocated recently. You did the correct thing in resetting it. However, the ligaments are strained and damaged; I recommend you avoid putting pressure on it for a few days."

"That's fine," Uliia sighed. "Maybe I can figure out what's bothering Noctus while I rest." She leaned over to stroke the clone's face, but paused, shivering. "Could you bring me something to wear? It's chilly in here."

"Of course." T-6B left the room for a moment, then came back, a bundle of cloth in her arms. Uliia raised an eyebrow at the wide assortment of clothes laid before her.

"I'm not going to ask where these came from."

"That's probably for the better."

Uliia sifted through the pile, holding up a skirt with disdain. "You don't have any pants I could wear?"

"My apologies," T-6B said. "I was under the impression that females typically wore such garments."

"I prefer not to flash everybody when I'm fighting," Uliia responded. "Do you have any clothing for guys?"

"I do not believe there is any that would fit you," T-6B said, walking back to the storage locker. "The only male clothing in your size are a few sets of underwear and a shirt."

"That's fine." Uliia glanced at a set of pink lace panties and matching bra, eyebrow raised. "Better than those. Do you have anything besides this thing?" she asked, holding up the bra. "Something that covers up more, maybe with more compression?" She glanced at the tag, wincing slightly. "Something a bit smaller?"

T-6B turned from the locker, carrying more clothes. "That is a training bra, Miss Uliia. We have nothing smaller than that." Uliia groaned, rubbing her forehead. T-6B cocked her head to the side. "I assume that is simply a preference of yours, and not a necessity."

Uliia's jaw dropped as she looked up at the droid. "Did- did you just… what?"

"That was a joke." T-6B set the shirt and a few pairs of boxers beside Uliia. "It was meant to put you at ease."

Uliia stared at the droid, then chuckled, a small grin on her face. "That's the first time I've ever laughed at someone making fun of me," she said. "And I don't need to wear one, I just like the extra bit of security." She picked up the shirt, frowning as she felt the rough fabric. "And they're usually softer on my skin." She sighed, throwing on one of the boxers and the shirt before turning back to the pile of clothing. "I'll just find a longer skirt. It'll be like my old Jedi robes before I got rid of them."

"Why would you do that?" T-6B asked, inserting an IV into Noctus' arm. "If you prefer more privacy from your clothing, I would imagine robes cover more than a halter top and compression shorts."

"Yes, but they weigh me down and restrict my movement." Uliia pulled the skirt on, frowning at how loose the waist was before retrieving her belt and boots from the locker where T-6B had stored them. "I'm more suited for athletic combat than standing still and deflecting blaster shots. The faster I can move, the better I can fight."

"I see." T-6B moved down Noctus' body, fastening a harness around his waist. "This will keep him suspended in the bacta tank. I will need you to help lift him into position."

"I count fifty battle droids patrolling the walls, General." Falcon lowered his macrobinoculars, glancing to the Jedi behind him. "Twenty supers, nine destroyers, and a squad of commando droids. Three tanks as well."

Jiana didn't respond immediately, rubbing her temples as she looked at the trail leading to the outpost, the occasional trickle of blood giving the rocky surface a rusted appearance. "Why would she be so stupid?" she muttered. "Rhino, did you figure out who's blood that is?"

The ARC flipped his scanner down over his visor, running the beam over a particularly large stain. "It's Noctus'. From the spray pattern here, it looks like it came from beneath his helmet, maybe his neck. He wouldn't have lasted long with an injury like that."

"Which is probably why the Commander dragged him to that outpost," Trigger added, blaster aimed at the Separatist base. "She probably froze up on seeing Noctus bleeding and all. I don't know how she managed to drag him over a kilometer."

Quint knelt beside a bush, picking up the chewed branch and examining it before turning his attention to the bush and its broken twigs. "She was injured too. Something pulled hard on this bush. I'd say these rocks here are positioned just right for her to fit her ankle in between. Must have been a leg injury."

"Probably dislocated," Falcon piped in. "No way she could have carried Noctus that far on a broken ankle."

Jiana shuddered at the thought of her Padawan lying on the ground, clutching a broken leg in agony. "Just drop it. It doesn't matter what happened here. What matters is that she's probably being held prisoner in there."

"If they're still alive," Trigger muttered. Jiana flashed him a furious look, and he held up his hands in defense. "Hey, you heard what Rhino said. Noctus could easily have bled out on the way, and there's no telling if the droids actually agreed to help them, let alone if there was anything they could even do."

The squad was silent for a minute, the air heavy. Finally Rhino spoke up. "Our orders, General?"

Jiana's eyes narrowed, her grip tightening around her lightsaber. "We're going to destroy that outpost. We're going to kill every droid in there. And we're going to save my Padawan."

Rhino paused, seeing the fire in his General's eyes. "With all due respect General, isn't revenge frowned upon by the Jedi Order?"

"Do I look like I care about the Order right now, Major?" Jiana snapped. A yellow sheen flashed across her eyes momentarily, rapidly fading back to their usual magenta. "This discussion is over, Rhino. Let's go."

Rhino's holocomm chirped to life, the ARCs hand automatically dropping to his belt to retrieve it. He glanced at the ID code and frowned, removing his helmet. "It's from the Chancellor's office. Why would Chancellor Palpatine be contacting us?"

Jiana frowned as well, an unnerved feeling rising in the back of her mind. "Put him through. Maybe it's good news about the war."

Rhino activated the holo, and Jiana felt a deep cold wash over her body as a hooded figure appeared in Rhino's hand.

"Major Rhino of Inferno Company, the time has come." Yellow, bloodshot eyes flickered from the clone to Jiana beside him, pure hatred in his voice.

"Execute Order 66."

Authors note: Well, we all knew it was coming. I'm beginning work on the next chapter now, and it's tearing me to bits. Maybe it's because I was the one to create these characters, but writing about them dying hurts. Speedy, Patches, Smokey... all good men that died too soon. And Noctus. Poor, poor Noctus. I promise you what happened to him was important. Maybe not now, but down the line.

Related note, I'm drafting concepts for a potential sequel, set during the time of the Empire. It's gonna have almost 20 new, original characters, plus some of the characters we all know and love. But I haven't been getting much response on this story, so it's tough for me to get the motivation to create another story, let alone finish this one. So please, let me know what you think. I don't like asking, but it makes me think nobody cares about any of my writings.