Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
Guest: Yes, they will continue to try and capture vessels as much as they can. Although, by the time of the Galactic Civil War, they'll have their own domestically built ships, so they won't need Lucrehulks to fight the Empire. Operation Durge's Lance took place in 21 BBY, and the Umbaran campaign took place in 20 BBY, so there won't be any chapters on that operation. I'm not sure what you meant by camas, so I can't answer that
Chapter 41- The General
Blaster bolts rain down around the clones and Canadians, who scramble for cover as they fire back at the Umbarans, as well as some Umbaran starfighters coming in for attack runs.
Clones fire viciously at a starfighter as it hovers in mid-air, not moving. Then, three Canadians with M203 grenade launchers attached to their C7 assault rifles fire at the fighter, successfully destroying the craft.
Rommel and several Canadian troops are hunkered down, firing away at the Umbarans. Rommel sees some Umbarans trying to hide in a small thicket. "Blast 'em!" he orders, pointing towards them. One of the Canadians fires grenade, which consumes the thicket and kills the Umbarans.
Glancing around, Rommel sees Krell standing across a small clearing, with a hologram of who appears to be Obi Wan coming out of a holo communicator in his hand. Wanting to keep updated, Rommel jumps up and hurries over to where Krell is standing.
As he nears Krell, the hologram cuts off. Krell looks up at Rommel as the German approaches and says, "Colonel Rommel, there is an airbase to the west that General Kenobi wants us to take. You and Captain Rex map those coordinate and prepare all troops to move out immediately!"
"Yes, sir!" Rommel and Rex both say before hurrying off to marshall their forces.
It takes some time, but the clones and Canadians are able to get out of the firefight and begin making their way towards the airbase. They're now down to about 1,000 clones and a little over 900 Canadians.
Reaching the entrance to a gorge, Krell, Rex, and Rommel make their way to a higher spot so they can get a better look up ahead. Rex, using some binoculars, looks across the gorge towards the airbase.
"There's a base there, alright. And it's heavily guarded. At least three tank divisions, plus guns," Rex says.
"I hope by tank division, you mean something different than what it means on Earth, or we're screwed," Rommel says.
After a moment, Krell says, "We'll advance along the central gorge, and engage their forces in a full forward assault."
Rommel turns to Krell, looking at him as if Krell's gone mad. Rex, still examining the terrain, says, "The gorge is narrow, sir. We'll only be able to move our platoons in single squads. Perhaps a closer recon will tell us if there's a more secure route."
"Obi Wan and the other battalions are holding off the enemy right now while they wait for us to take out this base. We don't have time to look for a more secure route," Krell responds.
"But we do have time to call for air support," Rommel says before lifting his commlink.
"This is Colonel Rommel. We're preparing to attack the Umbaran airbase, and it's heavily guarded. Requesting an airstrike on the defenses," Rommel says.
A hologram of Admiral Yularen comes up. "We hear you, Colonel Rommel. Our forces are currently engaged helping General Kenobi, as well as Colonel Mofaz. We will attempt to get some fighters down there to help you as soon as possible, but I cannot guarantee anything," Yularen responds. The transmission is then cut off.
"There will be no air support coming anytime soon, Colonel, and we don't have time to wait for them to arrive. Captain Rex, you and half of your clones will advance down the gorge and secure the path to the airbase. The rest of your clones and the Terrans will hold this end of the gorge to keep the Umbarans from hitting us in the rear," Krell orders.
Rommel narrows his eyes. "With all due respect General, I request at least one platoon of my men accompany the clones," Rommel says firmly.
Krell looks at Rommel, then says, "Very well, Colonel. One platoon."
Rex goes to gather the clones that will make the attack, informing them of their mission. Rommel pulls one platoon of Canadian troops aside and informs them that they will accompany the clones.
As he's talking to them, one of the Canadian troops says, "Colonel, I don't feel good about this. General Krell didn't seem to eager to have us participate in this. He seemed reluctant to allow any of us join the clones."
"I understand. And after this, I'm going to be having a word with the Jedi Council about General Krell and whether he should be allowed to continue commanding clones. But, for now, Krell is in command. Trust me, I want nothing more than to leave Krell behind and carry out our own attack. But, I don't want to leave the clones to his mercy," Rommel says.
"Still, there's something not right about him," one of the other Canadians says.
"I know. But if we stay with Krell and the clones, maybe we can figure out just what that is. In any case, that's a mystery we can solve after we conquer this airbase," Rommel says.
Rommel glances over at the clones, seeing they're getting ready to move out. "Alright, men. Move out," he orders. All 50 Canadian troops salute, then move to follow the clones into the gorge.
The clones and Canadians soon begin their march down the gorge. As they go, they see some of the strange flying creatures they had seen earlier flying overhead.
"They look spooked," Echo says.
Suddenly, the ground begins to shake. Every clone and Canadian troop stops where they are, looking around. "What the…?" one of the Canadians says.
Suddenly, a massive machine that looks like a millipede of sorts bursts out of the ground.
"Oh, s***!" one of the Canadians says.
The machine lets out some cry, then comes down on some clones as it begins to fire blaster cannons all over its body.
"Blast it!" Rex shouts. Clones and Canadians alike open fire with their blasters and assault rifles, but the Umbaran tank shrugs it all off, even fire from AT-RTs. It then begins to scuttle over the ground, firing its laser cannons all the while.
Then, several more of the tanks burst out of the ground and begin firing their laser cannons at the clones and Canadians.
"It's head is ray shielded! We need rocket launchers!" Hardcase yells.
"No problem!" one of the Canadians says. Thirty of the Canadians in the platoon have M203 grenade launchers attached to their assault rifles. Each man loads a grenade and snaps the launcher into position.
Then, at a signal from the platoon leader, they all jump into view of the tanks, aim their weapons, and fire. Each tank is hit by six grenades. The grenades tear open the front of the tanks, and one by one, the tanks explode along their lengths.
The clones just kind of stand there for a moment, then cheer. "Well, that was easy," Hardcase says.
"Don't jinx it," a Canadian soldier says.
"Let's move on!" Rex says.
The clones and Rex regroup, then continue their march down the gorge towards the airbase. Now a number of Canadians are leading, with grenades loaded into their grenade launchers.
As they continue down the gorge, Rex stops for a moment to take another look through his binoculars. As he scans the terrain up ahead, he suddenly sees two massive, six legged crab like tanks with a massive cannon on their backs walking towards them.
"Oh, no," Rex says. He then turns and shouts, "Fall back!"
The tanks fire their main cannons, taking out a number of clones as the troops fall back.
Then, they hear hear something. Glancing up, the clones and Canadians are relieved to see a pair of SF-15s diving to the attack.
The two fighters separate, each one targeting a single tank. Each one locks up a tank and ripple fires each of their six SGM-65 Maverick missiles. These missiles, slightly larger than normal Mavericks, and designed to take out shielded targets, streak down towards the tanks. The missiles find their targets, smashing into the tanks at Mach 1, their combined warheads pounding the tanks and ripping them apart.
The clones and Canadians cheer as the Space Eagles pull out of their dives. Then, the Canadians hear over their comms, "All Terran troops, this is Rapier 1. We just destroyed two tanks, but I've spotted two more coming up behind them. They're going to be in range soon, and we're out of missiles. There won't be any more fighters to help you soon enough."
The Canadians deflate. One of them heads to Rex and says, "The lead pilot just said he saw two more tanks approaching."
Rex sighs, then contacts Krell. As the hologram comes up, Rex says, "General, we have two more tanks incoming. We'll be overpowered. We need reinforcements."
"The rest of our forces are holding the entrance to the gorge so you can break through to the airbase," Krell responds.
"Excuse my rudeness, but screw that, General. I'm taking men into the gorge," Rommel says firmly. He then turns to his troops and says, "5 platoons with me!" Before Krell can protest, Rommel charges into the gorge, with 5 platoons of Canadian troops following him.
As Rommel charges into the gorge, he raises his commlink and says, "Rex, this is Rommel. I'm coming with 5 platoons to reinforce you, but I doubt that's gonna be enough to destroy the tanks. But, I've got an idea. Send some men to capture some starfighters from the Umbaran airbase and use them on the tanks."
"That's a good idea, Colonel. I'll send Fives and Hardcase," Rex says, quickly turning to the two clones and giving them their orders.
Fives and Hardcase sneak off while the rest of the clones dig in, waiting for the tanks to arrive. It doesn't take long before Rommel and his troops arrive on the scene.
"Alright, men! Let's do this!" Rommel shouts.
Within a minute, the tanks appear, and begin firing their weapons. Some of the blasts don't even touch anybody, thanks to how well the clone and Canadians are dug in. Other succeed in killing some of the clones and Canadians.
The clones and Canadians open fire with all their weapons, including rocket and grenade launchers. However, the weapons fail to so much as put a few scratches on the tanks.
For a number of tense minutes, the clones and Canadians desperately hold off the tanks. Then, right as Rommel is about to try and charge the tanks and attack them with his lightsaber, two Umbaran starfighters finally appear overhead.
Fives and Hardcase laugh joyfully as they fire their weapons down on the tanks. It takes several volleys of fire, but the tanks finally succumb to the fierce fire.
Clones and Canadians begin cheering as Fives and Hardcase begin returning the starfighters to the airbase.
Meanwhile, at the entrance to the gorge, Krell is watching what happened. "Impressive," he mutters. Then, turning to Sergeant Appo, he says, "The defenses are down! All units, attack the air base!"
"Move out!" Appo relays to the men, and the rest of the clones and Canadians begin making their way into the gorge.
Joining with the advance force, they press their attack against the airbase. Within minutes, the remaining Umbarans at the base are either captured or imprisoned.
Rommel and Rex walk up to a group of clones. Rommel smiles and says, "Well done, Fives and Hardcase. Despite your clear lack of experience and little control over the fighters, you did a good job."
"Thank you, Colonel," Fives says.
Right then, Krell walks up. "Captain, status report. What is our situation?" he asks.
"General, we have taken the base and cut off enemy supply lines to the capital," Rex responds.
"Luck has smiled on you today, Captain. Consider yourself fortunate," Krell says.
"It wasn't all luck, sir. A lot of men died to take this base," Rex says.
"The price for such victory. Perhaps someday you'll realize this," Krell says.
Rommel narrows his eyes at Krell, wanting badly to give Krell a piece of his mind. But before he can, Krell says, "Dismissed," and walks away.
"He's the one that will never understand," Fives says to Rex.
"Fives is right, Captain Rex. When a commander shows such lack of respect for their men, they no longer deserve the title of commander," Rommel says.
Everyone stares after Krell, wondering what the rest of the campaign will hold.
And, I'll end there. I hope you liked this one.
So, with the intervention of the SF-15s and the time they had to prepare for more tanks, I figured this chapter wouldn't need to be as long. I hope you don't mind that this was a shorter chapter. The next two will be longer than this one.
Next chapter will be up soon. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned.