AN: And here is the end of the Battle of Ryloth. Its first end was, well, I won't go into it but it was pretty dumb. I got a bit to into the Star Wars side of the theme trade and made it pretty action movie esque, even including among other things collapsing one of those giant pillars near Lessu to serve as a bridge. It really was pretty dumb, and I realized it was pretty dumb in the review stage so I rewrote it several times and this was eventually what I settled on. A lot of stuff is happening in Warhammer right now, with the Psychic awakening and massively important plot elements in Cawl's new book, so my overall plot has been disrupted a bit by things I could not have predicted (like the Eldar civil war, every year they get stupider). Luckily this Arc is the intro arc so it doesn't get affected that much. I am kind of worried about committing to a plot at this point given how much has been changing, but that's something I'll deal with later I guess. Now, onto the reviews.
Solarblaster: on the cathedral thing, you are correct, but I couldn't think of another word. The closest was temple, but the Jedi temple is rather plain looking and utilitarian on the outside compared to an Imperial ship. And yep, that was a Grav Shell. I mentioned them in chapter two and have always had a fondness for them since I read Cadian Blood.
Terrence: Yeah, I'm going to need to get creative with the GARs numbers. Even combining multiple sources, there were at best 8 million clones by the end of the war. That's infinitesimally small when it comes to an army at the galactic scale. That's less than half what was at Amarah for example, it would barely count as a hive militia! Even if I get creative and use the "by units they actually meant armies" argument and use legions for each clone soldier, you only get around 77 billion clones. That's…not good. I have some ideas, but right now the republic is firmly in the category of "hilariously outnumbered by everyone". Using cannon numbers, this actually includes the T'au given billions of firewarriorsmillions of clones. So yeah I'm going to fudge numbers more than a bit.
PotatoGod69: Oh yeah I forgot about those guys. Well, once we get to Ki-Adi-Mundi's chapter we'll see how that goes.
FORGEMaster: With the Cicatrix the GK are quite busy. As to whose first? Deathwatch is a possibility, but I haven't placed when their chapter is. I'm not actually sure yet.
Code Viper: Yeah, the interacting doctrines is a fun part of crossovers. The fighter spam and the gun heavy tactics of the IN and GAR are quite different and evolved under different pressures, leading to different outcomes. Both are not really prepared for how utterly different the other side fights. The imperium is still in carriers are icky land and the Republic thinks a ship without fighters is a dead one. BFG2 is a pretty great game and has great characters. Defiantly did not do the Ynnari any PR favors though.
Trickster3696: Shovels are the best melee weapon
DeadRich18: The priests and missionaries of 40k, despite the memes about them, are usually pretty good at their jobs of converting people to the cause of the GLORIOUS GOD EMPEROR (Roboute slamming his head onto his desk can be heard in the background). But yeah, once the imperium realizes this is not in fact the Tau 2.0 the usual factions will be making their attempts and power plays. Roboute, for all his flaws, does truly believe in the human spirit and wants the species to prosper, so him talking to a more pacifistic individual (for the given definition of the term anyway) should be interesting. The space sharks are probably one of the more hardcore astartes chapters, which given who we are talking about is saying things. Its kind of hard to write a compelling "and then everyone died" chapter though…Well, books were written about them and the Flesh Tearers so how hard can it be? They are now a candidate.
ManwithaPlan113: The kriegers are indeed quite hardcore. FW choose them as their mascot regiment to shove in most of their books for a reason. Fanaticism is an interesting topic, and while it comes up in this chapter will be talked about a bit more down the road given how integral it is to the setting.
AReader: I rather like the 40k method of just giving up and shoving things into weight classes. Though that does bring up the issue of the 30+km furious abyss, occasionally planet sized hive ships, and normal 8km retribution class all being "battleships".
Now that all reviews have been covered, onto the Story!
Lessu, 7 Days Post Convergence
CT-7567, more commonly known as Rex to his brothers and friends, was not having a particularly good day. This was not uncommon for someone fighting a war, but as that was all he had ever known it took quite a bit to single a day out from the rest of their blood-soaked number as "not good". He had suspicions that this would be the case he heard they were dropping into a contested landing zone without air support, but the reality had been far worse.
They had cover now. The issue was that cover was the burning wreck of their LAAT. His squad was huddled behind the crashed vehicle as streams of red poured around them, watching as his comrades tried to find somewhere safe to land. There was nowhere safe though, and most that landed hit the ground as a corpse. The gunships were staffing and trying to take as much fire off the Troopers as they could but…
As he tried to take in the situation, another LAAT fell screaming from the skies not even ten meters away, wreathed in flame. The reason for it was the reason he was pinned here. He peeked his head around the edge of his cover and saw nothing but rubble and armor. The massive smoke clouds deployed by the enemy vehicles weren't helping either, but the downdraft of LAAT's on their attack runs blew the smoke around enough for him to get a decent view.
The enemy had demolished the city entirely, with not a single building still standing. Some of the tan robed enemy troopers were crouching in craters with rudimentary rubble barricades for cover, but most were crouching behind the many, many tanks the enemy had brought with them. A good portion of them behind the source of their problems, the massive center tank that made most buildings look small.
It sat in the middle of the massive line of tanks, spewing death from seven weapons ports. Four of them, three high caliber explosive guns and a fourth pintle mounted slug thrower, were firing at anyone unfortunate enough to lack cover. Its two laser cannons were aimed upwards, picking off the incoming troop transports and making landing even more difficult. The main problem though was its massive main gun.
Every so often a LAAT would wander to close and a sound not unlike metal disks being rapidly ground together would issue from he turret as it spewed a stream of light briefly, destroying whatever the gun was pointed at. It had taken three bursts for Rex to realize the turret was actually a much-upgraded version of the other explosive slugthrowers rather than a powerful direct energy weapon. The gun rarely fired, and instead tended to hover over a gaping hole in the cliff face behind him, waiting for its occupants to emerge.
The hole was surrounded by clone troopers in heavily battle-scarred armor, some with brown markings still showing beneath the blaster burns. The crouched behind rubble and in craters, taking what little cover they could, but mostly they crouched in a thick layer of gore. When they and the Twileks they had been guarding had burst from the tunnel the massive tank's main gun had opened up and tore them to shreds. Now the few scattered survivors were desperately trying to find a way to breakout while the main body of the clones and refugees stayed in the tunnel, where the sounds of combat got ever louder.
Rex ducked instinctively as a LAAT spun out towards the tank line just overhead, its body engulfed in flames. The gunships crashed into one of the smaller tanks, smashing it and the gunship apart. Amazingly, the tan soldiers using the tank for cover continued to fire, some taking the time to douse themselves by dropping and rolling before returning to fire while others simply took the opportunity to hurl what grenades they had before the flames set them off. The sight was utterly chilling to Rex. He had heard of fanaticism before of course, and amongst the CIS encountered more than a few truly and fervently dedicated to their cause, but only now did he truly understand what the world Zealot meant, its is was something he would remember to his dying days. He couldn't understand what could drive men to act like that, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.
It seemed that the crash had given general Skywalker an idea though. The Jedi was not far from where rex was, behind the next piece of rubble to the left, but even from here he could see that look on the Jedi's face. The look that said, "I'm going to do something stupid and you can't stop me because I'm the general" and always meant something interesting was about to happen. The Jedi turned to him, a grim smile on his face. "Rex and… Keeli was it?" The lone captain amongst the brown clad clones gave a "Yes sir!" in reply. "Right, Rex and Keeli, I have an idea to get us out of here. Tell everyone to get ready to run alright?" Oh, this was sounding like it was going to go great. Rex threw up a salute to match Keeli's as the both of them chorused "Yes sir!"
Skywalker spoke something in hushed tones into his wrist comm Rex could see another LAAT wing swing around, and a suspicion was born in his head. "Sir, if those get close that tank will-"he began, but was cut off by the general "Relax Rex they aren't coming over here." If not here, then where were they-
With a roar the two pairs of missiles streaked from each of the gunships, hammering into the bridge connecting the city. The sturdy mass of metal rocked and much of it caught flame, but the newly built bridge remained standing. There was a collective pause in the tanks assault, a stutter to silence as the turrets turned to track the fleeing gunships, and then the sound of treads. A minute passed, the clones staying still as they waited for whatever plan the Anakin had to come to fruition, before at his "Now!" they as one jumped from behind cover and ran forwards as instructed.
What they found was billow smoke and empty positions where the tanks and tan soldiers had been. Rex blinked, scanning the area as he kneeled in a firing position. "General Skywalker, sir…" he began, not moving his head due to fears of his enemy reappearing "where did they all go?" The Jedi smirked and gestured overhead at the barely visible flashes of light filling the skies. "They are on a time limit, just like us." He explained. "They need to leave before our fleet wins the orbital battle, so when the bridge was threatened and their retreat in danger of cutoff, they fled."
Rex had some doubts about this being the case. He had seen that terrible fire of fanaticism burning in their eyes, their thought almost laid bare. He sincerely doubted these were the kinds of people that would fear for their lives being lost in such a trap, but he couldn't deny that they were gone. Behind him he could hear some shouting and blaster fire, so the enemy were closing in from behind to. They had no choice he could see but to take the opportunity as it was and run for it.
oOo
The streets were a mess, which was not making the evacuation any easier. On the bright side, the tanks moving had allowed reinforcements to land easily, and now the battered column of brown marked troops was mixed with those in blue and had a spattering of AT-TE's tagging along for support. Up ahead Rex could see a dozen AT-RTs searching for signs of ambush or traps. There had been a few mines, but after those were cleared nothing. It seemed like General Skywalker had been right, the tanks had cleared out in a hurry.
Suddenly, he heard a cry and a thud behind him. He turned, but already knew what he would see. Another Twilek had fallen to the ground, groaning, finally overcome by days of stress, her injuries, and her age. Rex had very little experience with how to deal with such things, or even with civilians in general. He couldn't so much as guess how old she was, besides very, but he could guess they wouldn't be able to handle the clone method of dealing with such exhaustion.
All around him scores of brown armored clones were leaning on blue ones, hobbling along despite injury and being at their energy's end. One to his right had an arm blow off by the laser weapons of the tan troopers pursuing them, while another to his right had a wad of bandages wrapped around a missing eye, but still they persevered and moved on regardless. It was a sight that filled his heart with pride in his brothers. Even after all they suffered through, the clone troopers continued on unbowed.
The civilians on the other hand weren't taking it so well. It wasn't something he could really understand, given his entire life had been dedicated to warfare and learning about it. He understood, mentally, that there were people that neither wanted any part of defending their homes nor were they capable of it, but it was more of something he had been taught than something he had ever truly come to terms with. He simply couldn't get into the mindset of someone like that old women, who glanced around fearfully as she was gently pulled up by a nearby clone trooper.
What did they do with their lives? Where was their purpose? He had been born, raised, and trained knowing exactly why. To defend the republic. It was something he had never questioned and the regiment of training, fighting and winning made it feel like his life had meaning, a greater purpose. He didn't know what he would do with himself if there wasn't this war to fight and couldn't understand how someone would live without such a thing to guide them, or would even want to for that matter. Didn't the woman get angry when their family was attacked, when her fellow Twilek had been killed like he would if his brothers were? Why didn't she fight back?
This concept of "civilian", it was something drilled into him at an early age as something that must be protected, but until now he couldn't truly grasp the concept. He and that Twilek lived in entirely different worlds, and he didn't think no matter how many years he lived he would ever understand her. Now General Skywalker, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly what to do.
The Jedi had allowed for the more tired and injured and weak refugees to ride in or on the AT-TEs. This was rather limiting in combat, which luckily they had not encountered since the disengagement earlier, but the Jedi had cited morale as an overriding factor that should allow it. It seemed he had been right, and the mood had brightened among the Twileks once they were allowed to start riding. The kids especially loved it, even though there wasn't enough room for them all. Seeing them smile did make Rex feel better about the situation, so perhaps when this was all over, he would try and talk to the Jedi about it. He certainly seemed to have some insights into the matter.
As they closed in on the front gate, or rather the rubble that had once been the front gate and wall, Rex could see the Jedi general get increasingly tense, just as Rex himself got increasingly worried. There were no ambushed, no more traps, and the gunships strafing the retreating army reported they had almost finished packing up their tanks into massive dropships, some of which had already departed for orbit. In the hour-long slog since their initial drop and skirmish there had been nothing. What exactly was the enemy up to?
When they finally got within sight of the bridge, he had his answer. Most of the horizon was taken up by the massive troop transports dedicated to evacuating the tanks, but the bridge, and what was on it, was clearly visible nonetheless. Rex instinctively ducked as the hissing of a tank shell preempted its nearby impact, but the vehicle itself was nowhere in sight. By altering the settings of his visor, he could see the vehicle, several kilometers off near the dropships.
It and several others were taking inaccurate potshots at the survivors as they waited to be loaded, and the reason for a lack of a concerted response was the same reason none of them were attempting to cross the bridge and escape the ever-encroaching army at their backs. The thing he had immediately spotted was a minefield. The bridge was absolutely coated with the things, explaining the lack of any earlier. Many looked professional, some looked thrown together, and some he doubted even worked.
This was a huge problem. While they had managed to land some tanks, all of which were already taking up rearguard positions and ushering out and off their passengers, very few had made it through the combined AA fields of the warships, ground batteries, and tanks. The armor clad clone troopers were vastly outnumbered by the battered convoy of refugees, even as the few remaining LAATs offloaded their remaining cargo in preparation for what is to come.
The crowd caught on to the halt in the convoy and the actions of the tanks, and increasingly loud worried chattering had broken out across the mass of Twilek. They didn't know what was going on, but it was clear even from Rex's rudimentary knowledge of civilians at the rate things were going they would panic soon, and then things would get ugly. General Skywalker quickly strode over and, voice low, started talking to Rex and the nearby Keeli.
"Do you think it would be safe for me to lift the mines?" He asked, glancing furtively around. The crowd, which he was watching, was growing more restless by the second, so whatever they did they had to do it quick. Rex couldn't tell if the General's suggestion had any merit at this distance, but Keeli on the other hand seemed to have an idea of the situation. "No sir" the clone started, glancing a bit more closely at the devices as he did so. "Actually hold on a second, can you-"without needing to finish, one of the AT-RT pilots walked over and handed him the macrobinoculars he was using. "Thanks." Keeli leaned in a bit more before sighting. "Definitely not, the things are bolted on. I've seen my fair share of these kinds of traps over the last few days and trying to move them without working on them first will definitely set them off."
Anakin's face pinched, frustration plainly visible. "We don't have much time. How fast do you think they can be disarmed?" Keeli seemed surprised by the question, and a sinking feeling began to form in Rex's gut. "Sir, what makes you think they even CAN be disarmed? From my experience with these monsters they usually don't hesitate to leave that option in, and with how haphazard some of the devices are that may not even have been a possibility if they had wanted to."
The Jedi scoffed. "They are humans Keeli, not droids. They would never sacrifice so many of their own troops like this, especially since we spotted a high-ranking officer with the ones behind us. They would be trapped if they damaged the bridge to much and could never evacuate in time." Keeli seemed to consider this, glancing at Rex as he did so. A silent conversation passed between them in that brief moment. Neither was so certain, having seen the same light of fanaticism in their enemy's eyes, but there was no other way out for the Twilek's. "I'll get on it immediately, sir." Keeli eventually replied.
As Keeli jogged over to the bridge, a few handpicked clones following him Rex turned and began to head towards the AT-TEs. There were six of them, and while they would provide some cover, they wouldn't provide nearly enough for all the clones, and certainly couldn't protect the mass of civilians from the upcoming skirmish.. Luckily General Skywalker seemed to have realized this and began floating over piles of rubble to give the 501st and Keeli's battered survivors what cover he could. The dozen AT-RTs had begun to spread out as far from the main mass of infantry and Twilek's to lower the effect said mass had on their mobility, something that was alleviated a bit once the refugees finished streaming out of the entrance and into the area near the bridge as fast as they could.
As the rubble barricade reached chest height their tan pursuers at last arrived. The first sight he had of them was a single red beam nearly taking the General's head off. The first trooper had sprinted ahead of the rest, sighted, and fired faster than any of them could react, and seconds later the rest of his friends began to follow. Even as the clones around him began to return fire a tide of tan uniforms began flowing around the wall blocking the ramp they had descended just minutes earlier.
The enemy had no cover from their blasters, but they didn't seem to care. The first few squads were cut down easily enough but the combined fire of the infantry and the tanks, but their enemy wasn't stupid. There was a stutter in the flow of troops, likely the enemy reorganizing behind said walls, and then the flow resumed. This time though, the front runners were screening a group with missile launchers.
The launchers made it to various rubble piles and knelt before the clones could realize what happening. The first rocket went wide, but the next three impacted the central AT-TE, sending it crashing to the ground in a cloud of smoke, crushing several clones to slow to move beneath it. By that point the flow of troopers had stopped, and it was easy to see why. The stutter had allowed troops lagging behind to catch up, including the ones carrying heavy weapons.
The first sign Rex had of what was to come was an eerie whistling sound before a something slammed down in front of the clone lines, causing an that explosion sent clouds of loose soil into the air. After the second impact, Rex recognized the mortar for what it was instantly. More began to add their shots from behind the wall and soon a heavy rain of munitions was impacting the dug in clone troopers. Their rudimentary barricades were useless against indirect fire weapons and soon the mortar teams found their marks.
A heeling like a hammerblow impacted Rex and suddenly the world was a whirl of colors and sights before his back hit something hard. His head felt like a rancor had stepped on it, and it took him a few moments to realize what must have happened. A mortar round had impacted near him and thrown him into one of the AT-TE's legs. As he used it as a brace to stand back up, he saw his brothers scattering. They were trying to spread out and fall back to the bridge, likely on the orders of General Skywalker, but in so doing had lifted the suppressive fire on the rocket troopers hiding in the rubble and those waiting behind the wall of the ramp.
A second AT-TE went down in flames, picked off by the rocket troopers who had hopped in and out of cover in a very practiced looking motion. While the return fire continued from the retreating clone troops it was sporadic and interrupted by the constant hail of mortar shells. Only the AR-RTs and AT-TEs could keep up reliable counterfire as they to moved towards the bridge, and so the enemy targeted them.
As Rex began to limp towards his unit, slowly gaining steam and regaining proper use of his leg the AT-TE he had been leaning on exploded, knocking him back over. As he rolled back to his feet he could see the tan troops once more flowing forwards, this time with a couple heavy weapons systems set up to cover them. Massive plumes of dirt erupted in their ranks, limbs and bodies flying as the mass drivers of the tanks impacted the tan troopers yet still they came on. Most would dash into craters and into piles of rubble while others moved on searching for other cover before returning fire but in all cases they advanced and attacked regardless of the blasterfire coming their way.
Some of the heavy weapons were the explosive slugthrowers he had seen on the tanks from earlier. Their portable form they had large physical shields blocking incoming fire and were tripod mounted. Other weapons mounts were similar to the one that had just taken out the AT-TE and resembled massively upscaled versions of the tan trooper's blasters on even larger tripods than the slugthrowers. Both were trying to focus down the AT-RTs and AT-TE's and getting hammered for their troubles, giving Rex the time to regroup with his comrades.
As his legs shook off enough of their damage to enter a jog he saw General Skywalker try to flag him down. The Jedi was standing next to Keeli and was barely visible through the mass of Twileks. They had began forming up around the bridge as the enemy got ever closer in a disorganized crowd, making it a great deal of trouble to reach them. Shouldering and lightly sidestepping through the mass of bodies he saw Keeli and a squad of tense clone troopers kneeling next to the General. There was about 5 meters between the bridge and the mass of Twilek, likely due to what was occurring on it.
Keeli and his troopers were several meters down the bridge now, with several squads carefully carrying dismantled explosives to the edge of the cliff and tossing them off. The tense face of the Jedi and the posture of the clones only mirrored what was already obvious to all involved; they weren't disarming the explosives nearly fast enough. At this rate the army would be upon them long before the bridge was cleared for use, though he wondered why the tan soldiers had yet to blow it.
The thought stuck with him. It would have been much more efficient to blow it and leave, ensuring escape was impossible. Its not like the enemy was incompetent despite their obviously twisted mindset, so why then did they leave the bridge in place? The only ones who were even left to benefit were the GAR, who were the enemy of the tan troopers, and the troops behind him.
The thought froze him in place. The only thing they could still try to do was shorten the battle to ensure the voidwar didn't progress to the point reinforcements could stop the ones still on the ground. The troops behind him had seen previously present Jedi General, and the ones in who had departed already seen General Skywalker. A decapitation strike would disorganize their forces and allow for a quicker fight, and even the Jedi had thought it was possible to use his powers to help with the explosives.
General Skywalker was saying something to him, but the world had become numb and he couldn't hear it. Rex spun around and desperately scanned the enemy positions. He saw not one, but three separate individuals at the back of the incoming enemy ranks holding devices that looked similar to a macrobinocular. They had been waiting for confirmation on the Jedi's position, just as he had come to suspect.
"EVERYONE MOVE, IT'S A TRAP!" There was a moment of confusion on the Jedi's face even as he and everyone else threw themselves away from the explosives. His eyes caught something over Rex's shoulder and widened in realization before everything turned to fire.
Rex had enough distance between him and the explosives that he was only nocked back slightly, but as he felt the ground give way beneath his feet he knew that it was a death sentence regardless. There had been enough explosives to destroy the bridge several times over, so now he, his brothers and its pieces were hurtling towards the floor in the aftermath of the explosion. Casting his eyes about he spotted the Jedi several feet above him, seemingly unconscious and with a meter long piece of jagged metal stuck through his gut.
Rex looked down, causing his body to start slowly spinning as he did so. The bottom of the canyon was far off still, but unless they did something soon they would be in big trouble. He could probably save himself given how close some of those outcropps looked, but the other clones didn't look to be in any shape to save themselves. Some where just scorched, others had large shrapnel wounds similar to general Skywalker, and some had been unfortunate enough to be ignited by the explosion. What they needed was a miracle, and the Jedi was pretty good at making those.
"General Skywalker, WAKE UP!" the Jedi seemed to stir, but didn't move. "GENERAL SKYWALKER!" Rex glanced down again, noting with increasing panic that the floor was looking awfully close at this point. He glanced back up, mind running through what else he could possibly do before Keeli took the initiative and threw one of his pistols hard enough that when it slammed into the Jedi's head he too started spinning. As the General blinked awake Rex came to the conclusion that sometimes the simplest solutions were the best.
The Jedi quickly glanced around and then down, eyes widening as he threw out both hands. He, the clones, and the rubble came to a sudden halt less than a meter above the canyon floor. They hung, suspended for a moment before hitting the floor as the Jedi lost concentration. Rex managed to land on his feet and quickly ran over to check on the General.
He was clutching at the piece of shrapnel lodged in his midsection and just as Rex arrived managed to yank it out. The Jedi tried to rise to his feet, swaying as he did so before starting to fall back over. Rex managed to catch him before he hit the ground and began easing him into a sitting position. "We need to-" Rex cut the jedi off immediately. "We can't do anything from here sir. Look around." He said, gesturing to the wounded clones around him. One was jogging over with some bacta and a synth skin dispenser he noted, while he saw Keeli some feet away shifting through some rubble, likely looking for his other gun. "The battle is over for us sir, one way or another.
Rex could see a flash of pain go through the Jedi's eyes as he said that, and the stubborn fool actually tried to get up again before falling back, wincing. "Sir" Rex began, "if you can't even notice that you are partially on fire" he said, before reaching out and extinguishing part of the Jedi's hair "then you are in no condition to fight. Get some rest and leave everything to the others."
The Jedi visibly drooped, struggling to say something before finally slumping back to let the clone with the medical supplies to begin working on him. He could hear the crunch of boots behind him and turned to see the other clone captain looming over his shoulder. "That was some fine work with the pistol" Rex opened. "Probably saved the lot of us with it."
The clone captain let out a bark of laughter before replying. "This gun had saved my life at least a hundred times at this point, so its only fitting it would do so even now. Definitely never letting this thing out of my sight again." Keeli said, hefting the gun proudly like one would a trophy. "I'm almost certain its lucky." There was a silence for a few seconds, one that Keeli eventually decided to breach after sitting down on a large piece of metal that had at one point made up the bridge. "So then, what now?"
Rex considered the question, before looking back up. There was no way they were getting out of here before it was finished, one way or another. "For now, we get some rest. The battle is over for us." Keeli seemed to consider that before giving a short laugh and pulling off his helmet. "You know, its only been a couple days, but it feels like its been so very long we've been fighting these guys. I…I'm so tired after it, and we're probably going to have to do it again aren't we?"
As he said this Rex walked over to him and sat down on a nearby rock. "I definitely wouldn't mind some leave after this." He began. "I don't think I ever properly introduced myself. My designation is CT-7567, captain of the 501st clone legion, but everyone calls me Rex." He said, sticking out his hand. "Keeli stared at it for a couple seconds before giving a wistful smile grasping it with his own. "I'm Keeli, from…well it doesn't matter anymore after today. We'll probably get folded into your unit with our losses."
Rex shook the hand, probably a bit harder than he needed too. "Then in that case its good to have you aboard. Might want to start coming up with excuses for why you threw a pistol at your soon to be superior officer though." Keeli blinked and let out a laugh, a genuine smile asserting itself on his face. "He seems like the sort exciting things happen to, though hopefully not for a while." Rex mirrored his grin, glad to see his plan to improve everyone's spirits beginning to work. He glanced around and saw the other brown armored clones beginning to lean in. "Oh, you have no idea!" He began, shaking his head as he saw his brothers begin to lean in. "Once we went to this place called Christophsis, and…"
The battle for Ryloth would rage for several hours yet. The Imperium, having trapped and destroyed that last pocket of resistance on the planet, would be forced to make a quick retreat soon after and fail to evacuate many of the troopers who had cut themselves off in time. Those troops would fight a brutal yet inevitably short campaign against the troops landed by the Acclamators before being killed to the last. Even as this was going on a search began for survivors, scouring the planet in all manner of vehicles to see if any yet lived. Exactly thirty minutes after the fighting stopped an LAAT gunship would enter the canyon under the guidance of a Togruta Padawan in search of a missing General. They would find that Jedi slumped over a piece of rubble surrounded by a circle of laughing clones.
Ryloth Chapter-End
So that's Ryloth. I'll type up a short Battle Report soon and upload it as I intend to after all full chapters. It will be an Omniscient narrator type and go into the details of the campaign. After that will be the second full chapter, this time revolving around Orks. They, as always, are the best to write.