Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Hope you like this one.
CT7567Rules: The SF-15 has two laser cannons under each wingtip. It still carries it's 20mm cannon though.
Guest DCDGojira: At this point, the only members of the Terran Jedi Order are still just kids. I may show a chapter showing them being trained, but I won't say a definite yes. Also, I will be doing a third story in this series which will feature the conflict with the First Order.
Chapter 42- Plan of Dissent
Rommel walks beside Krell as the general inspects the captured Umbaran airbase. Several clones follow them.
"The insurgents have stepped up their attack, sir," Dogma reports.
"They want their base back. We cannot let our guard down for a moment. Have all Umbaran security reconfigured and locked down. Interrogate the prisoners if you have to. But I want this base under our complete control, and I don't want excuses," Krell says firmly.
Right then, Rex walks up. "Sir, there a transmission from General Kenobi," he reports.
"I'll take it in the tower," Krell says, and he and Rommel heard for the tower.
Riding a lift up to the observatory at the top of the tower, Krell and Rommel emerge into the room. As they do, the Umbaran holoprojector projects an image of Obi Wan in front of them.
"General Kenobi, do you read me?" Krell asks as the hologram takes shape.
"Congratulations on your capture of the Umbaran airbase, General. It's refreshing to have good news," Obi Wan says.
"There will be time for celebration when we've taken that capital," Krell says.
"Yes, well, I'm afraid that's going to be more difficult than anticipated. Their attacks have increased, and their long range missiles are forcing us to retreat from our positions," Obi Wan responds.
"Seriously? I thought cutting off their arms shipments was the entire reason for taking this airbase," Rommel says.
"It seems they're receiving new arms shipments directly from a supply ship orbiting…" Obi Wan, but his voice suddenly cuts out and the hologram falters.
"General Kenobi?" Krell asks.
In a garbled voice, Obi Wan says, "Having difficult transmit…They must be jamming our signals."
"Are we unable to destroy the supply ship?" Rommel asks.
"We're trying, but with little success. Some of your Terran fighters have gotten very close, but their fleet outnumbers ours and the extra ships we were promised have not yet arrived," Obi Wan responds.
"We'll just have to take that capital regardless of the missiles. My forces will meet you at the rendezvous coordinates," Krell says.
Rommel looks at Krell aghast. Obi Wan seems similarly troubled as he says, "We cannot expect…" But the transmission cuts off again, and this time the hologram fades.
"I'm trying to get him back, sir!" one of the clones in the room says.
"Don't bother. They're jamming our transmissions. We are on our own," Krell says.
"General, you can't be serious as to propose we march right into the path of those missiles?" Rommel asks.
"I am serious, Colonel. If our fleet is unable to destroy that supply ship, we have no other choice," Krell says.
"That will mean certain death for most if not all our men!" Rommel protests.
"There is no guarantee of that, Colonel. I want your men ready to move out along with the clones in 12 hours," Krell responds.
Rommel narrows his eyes, having had enough of Krell. "No," he says.
Krell glares at Rommel. "No?" he questions dangerously.
"If you want to march into death, that's fine. I'll send a few men to accompany the clones, but I'm not going to put my men at risk for your suicide mission. I know I can't force you to stop, but I won't be a part of it. My men will remain on guard the airbase, but they will not be going anywhere out of this base unless the threat of the missiles has been reduced or neutralized," Rommel says firmly.
Krell and Rommel continue to glare at each other before Krell says angrily, "Fine." He then stomps off angrily, leaving Rommel glaring after him.
Rommel soon heads down the tower and walks over to one of the hangars, where a number of clones are gathered. As he does, he sees a number of explosions near the border of the base.
One of the two Canadian troops groans a bit and says, "This a turning into a second Vietnam War."
"I have to agree with you there," Rommel says.
Rommel and his two companions walk into the hangar. As he does, he hears Rex say, "I don't agree with him either, but I don't have a better plan."
"Well, what about using these starfighters to destroy the supply ship?" Echo asks.
"Not a bad idea, Echo," Rommel says as he walks in, all the clones turning towards him.
"The Umbarans have the supply ship well defended. However, if we use their own starfighters, we can masquerade as Umbarans and sneak right part their defenses. The question is…have you cracked the codes?"
"Yes, Colonel," Fives says.
"Excellent. If we this plan works, we'll cut off arms to the capital," Rommel says. He then looks at Rex and says, "Come with me, Rex. Let's go propose this to General Krell."
Rex nods and follows Rommel. They heard towards the tower and take the lift up to the command center.
As the two emerge from the lift, Rex looks over at Krell, who is examining a map being projected by the holoprojector. "General Krell. With all due respect, might I suggest another option to secure the capital?"
"What would that be, captain?" asks Krell, not looking away from the map.
"My men have cracked the Umbaran codes. If we use the starfighters, we can sneak past their defenses and destroy the supply ship, cutting off arms to the capital," Rex explains.
"And who do you propose would fly these starfighters? Are your troops now pilots?" Krell asks.
"As a matter of fact, General, I do know for a fact that two of the Canadian troops under my command have some level of flight training. I'm sure, with a little bit of time, they can figure out how to fly those things," Rommel says.
"I need your men to protect this airbase if you still refuse to participate in my attack. If the Umbarans retake this space, it will make things far more difficult," Krell says to Rommel. Then, he turns to Rex and says, "I'm afraid I can't afford to waste any clones on frivolous adventures. We need everyone to take the capital."
Rommel narrows his eyes. He then says, "Come on, Captain." He and Rex then turn and walk back out of the tower.
(Some time later)
Rommel slashes with his lightsaber, then pretends to parry a blow. Knowing that he wasn't going to really have anything to do for a while, he decided to take some time for lightsaber training.
As he continues to practice, he suddenly hears a loud explosion. Turning around, he sees smoke rising from a new hole in the door of one of the hangars.
Rommel smirks a bit as he deactivates his lightsaber. "Well, you guys are in for it now. Krell isn't gonna be happy," he says as he marches over to the hangar.
As he enters the hangar, he sees Krell is already there, arguing with Hardcase and Fives. Echo, Tup, and a couple of other clones, as well as a few Canadian troops. As Rommel walks in, Krell turns to Rex and says, "These Umbaran fighters are not fit for flight. I want these fighters locked down." Krell then storms out of the hangar.
Rommel smirks a little bit as he walks up to them. "Well, that didn't go well. Who blew up the door?" he asks.
"Hardcase," Echo says with a smirk.
"Well, he's clearly out for flying. I'd suggest Fives and Echo and one of my men fly the fighters," Rommel says.
Everyone looks at Rommel. "Wait. You're in favor of this?" Echo asks.
"Hell yes. Krell's being a straight idiot right now. So you bet I approve of this," Rommel says.
Fives and Echo smile, then Fives says, "I'm gonna go talk to Rex. Colonel, if you could pick one of your men to fly this mission, we'll head out once me and Echo get back." He and Echo then head out of the hangar.
Rommel walks over to one of the Canadians in the hangar, a young 1st Lieutenant named Travis Doyle. "Lieutenant Doyle, do you feel up for this?"
Doyle nods once. "If this will help us conquer this planet, you bet I'm up for it," he says confidently.
"Alright. We'll wait for Fives and Echo to get back, and they'll show you what they've learned about how to control these things," Rommel says.
Fives and Echo return after a little while, and they start showing Lieutenant Doyle what the basic controls are for the starfighters.
About 20 minutes later, Fives, Echo, and Doyle sneak their way over to three starfighters and climb into the cockpit spheres. Doyle takes a moment to familiarize himself with the layout, then lifts the fighter off the ground as Fives and Echo do the same.
As Rommel and Rex are talking, a clone next to them points and says, "Look, sirs!"
Rommel and Rex turn to see the three fighters lifting up and flying off into the sky. Rex and Rommel both smirk a bit.
As the three fighters climb into the sky, Doyle says over their comms, "Well. This is a little trickier to control than I imagined. I really hope we're not gonna regret doing this."
"Well, it's a better idea than Krell's plan," Fives says.
"You know, I'm mostly just doing this because I don't like him," Echo says.
"That's reason enough," Fives responds.
"Can't argue with you there. General Krell is quite dislikable," Doyle says.
The three form up and continue up into the atmosphere. Then, they break through cloud cover, and Fives yells, "Whoa! What the-?!"
Above them, a number of Separatist ships and a hail of laser fire fills the skies. Republic Y-Wings and Z-95s and Terran SF-15s and Su-36s weave among the ships, trying to weaken the Separatist fleet protecting the supply ship.
"Try to fly steady. We're going!" Fives orders.
The three rearrange into one line, flying between some of the Separatist ships. As they do, they see a pair of Umbaran starfighters pursuing an Su-36 up ahead. As the Umbaran fighters fire, the Su-36 pilot pulls a Cobra maneuver, and the Umbaran fighters fly right past him. The Su-36 then fires two missiles, destroying the Umbaran fighters.
Echo whistles in his cockpit and says, "D***, those Flankers are good!"
"Don't get an itchy trigger finger. We have to blend in!" Doyle says just in case.
As they fly past a dreadnought, a formation of 4 Umbaran starfighters pull in behind them. For several tense moments, the two clones and the Canadian hold their breath. Then, the fighters bank away with two Su-36s in hot pursuit.
"Looks like they think we're Umbaran, all right," Echo says.
"There's the supply ship! Follow me!" Fives says as the supply ship appears above them.
"Let's do this, guys!" Doyle says as he and Echo follow Fives up to the ship.
Down on the ground, Rex and Rommel are doing an inventory of captured weapons when Krell walks up behind them. "Captain. My flight officer reports the launch of three starfighters. I thought I ordered those ships locked down," Krell says.
"Sorry for the confusion, sir. I authorized the recon of the delta in preparation for your attack on the capital. Colonel Rommel had one of his men fly as well so that someone with some flight experience was on the mission," Rex explains calmly.
"You took it under your own authority to launch such a reconnaissance?" Krell demands.
"Oh, yes, sir. I am sure the report will make your strategy more effective," Rex says calmly.
"I want that report as soon as they are back," Krell says angrily before turning and storming off.
Rex and Rommel watch him walk away. Then, they see Dogma and Tup walking across the tarmac in the direction of the tower, where Krell is now entering.
"I've got it," Rex says as he walks forward to deal with them. Rommel meanwhile looks up at the sky and says, "You better pull this off, men. Or we're in trouble."
As this is happening, Fives, Echo, and Doyle fly up to the supply ship and fly inside. As they fly through the hangars towards the site of the main reactor, they fly over some B1 droids who are moving some cargo. Fives' unintentionally hits one of the droids with his fighter. Echo and Doyle then fly past, and the droids sees Echo in his fighter and send out a warning.
As they continue to fly through the hangar, they see blast doors closing up ahead. "Oh, come on. You couldn't have just made it easy for us?" Doyle asks before shooting an Umbaran missile at the doors, blasting a hole in it large enough for the fighters to fly through.
As they continue to fly, Fives locks in on the reactor up ahead. "Reactor core locked. Prepare missiles," he calls to the other two.
Just moments later, the reactor comes into view up ahead. "Fire missiles!" Fives orders, and each of the three fires a missile towards the reactor. But, right before the missiles can hit the reactor, a ray shield comes up and blocks them.
"Ray shields! Hit the deck!" Fives says. All three of them quickly reverse and stop their fighters in mid air, and they quickly begin firing their laser cannons at approaching battle droids.
"This may have been a bad idea after all," Fives says.
"Not yet, it's not. Cover me!" Doyle shouts as he deactivates the shields around his cockpit and dashes for the door leading into the reactor room.
"Doyle!" Echo calls after him, but Doyle is already through the door.
Hurrying up to the reactor, Doyle removes the four grenades he has on him. He pulls the pins and sets them against one of the columns surrounding him. He then dashes back out of the reactor room.
Racing towards his fighter, Doyle shouts, "We got about ten seconds before my grenades go off! Fly!"
Fives and Echo take off back the way they came in. Doyle hops into his fighter, powers it up, and takes off after them.
As they streak down the hangar, the four grenades go off, setting off a chain reaction that destroys the main reactor. A massive explosion begins to follow the hangar, just behind the fighters.
"Come on! Come on!" Fives says as he tries to keep ahead of the flames.
After what feels like an hour, they finally make it out of the hangar right before explosions begin tearing apart the supply ship. Doyle cheers as he, Fives, and Echo head back down towards the surface.
Back at the airbase, Rex and Rommel, accompanied by Tup, look up as they hear a rumble. Looking up at the sky, they see light from the explosion filtering through the clouds. Then, the three starfighters descend through the clouds and continue diving down towards the base.
"They did it!" Tup says excitedly as he walks over to the spot where the fighters are in the process of landing.
"You did it!" Rommel says with a grin.
"Yes. Thank goodness Lieutenant Doyle brought some grenades with him," Fives says.
Right then, they hear something. Turning around, they see three clones approaching.
"General Krell would like to see them in the tower," the lead clone says.
Rommel narrows his eyes. "He can see Fives and Echo. But Lieutenant Doyle is staying here," he says.
The clones don't respond but just wait. Fives and Echo shrug and follow the clones into the tower, with Rex following them.
Rommel waits on the airbase for them to return. About ten minutes later, Rex emerges from the tower.
"What's going on, Rex?" Rommel asks.
"General Krell has had Fives and Echo thrown in the brig, and they're to be court-martialled. He's also asked that Lieutenant Doyle be confined in the brig for defying his order," Rex says.
Rommel narrows his eyes. "Not gonna happen. Lieutenant Doyle will remain by my side and under my supervision, but he's not going in the brig. In any case, Krell and the Republic don't have the authority to court-martial Lieutenant Doyle anyways," Rommel says.
Rex just nods before heading back into the tower. Rommel glares up at the top of the tower. His patience with Krell is dwindling by the second, and it's not gonna be long before it disappears completely.
And, I'll end right there. I hope you liked this chapter.
So, obviously, I had Hardcase survive. So, he'll continue to show up.
Obviously, Rommel and Krell are getting increasingly at odds with each other. And I think you can guess that it's going to come to a head next chapter.
Next chapter may not be up until Sunday, but I'll try and get it up tomorrow if I can. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned.