The First Contact War
Chapter 26
The Land of Sun and Sand
"You will never had lived till you've almost died for it for those who fight for it. Life has a flavor that the protected will never know. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for I am the evilest son of a bitch in the valley." U.S. Zippo lighter inscription, Vietnam.
2623 June 12th Earth Standard Calendar, LT. Luke Sparrow, Taskforce 242 on Ruusan.
"Come on and take your mind off things," Tracinya said as she stood up and walked out of the tent, "Enjoy the endless sun." With his desert tan under shirt, trousers and boots on, Luke put on his Multicam Arid shirt and left it unbuttoned at the top as he then placed his armour and webbing over the top. He had found it to be boring without any action happening, he wondered how the clones or Tracinya could wear a full set of armour in this heat, maybe they had a cooling system or something. Tarkin had survived the attack on Coruscant but was still recovering. Torak had remained behind to help with his recovery. In the meantime, their handler had sent him and Tracinya to assist the three hundred and twenty-seventh Star Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic under the command of Jedi General Aalya Secura.
After that, he slung his scoped M60-AR rifle onto his back and with his helmet on slung under his arm, he went outside and walked along with Tracinya as they casually moved their way down the Republic camp surrounding us.
"Well, how's that for relief, Luke," Tracinya asked jokingly, "Sand and more kriffing sand for us to see." Indeed, there was nothing but sand and palm trees around. There was a small refreshing oasis to the right of them, but still, a sea of sand surrounded them. Here was where the clones made their position, forming a strong defensive line at the front, aiming towards the desert leading to Kasota, which in battle, would be defended by rifle and machine gun armed infantry, a couple of emplaced machine gun nests, and even a few AT-TE tanks to support the infantry from behind.
Behind the Republic line, was another line of positions, but then followed by the Republic camp, where soldiers were busy moving and maintaining weapons, supplies, ammunition and equipment around the camp to prepare for any assault, while other soldiers ate their lunch, drank some cool as ice water under the hot sun and conversed. Tracinya and Luke walked through the camp over towards the Republic front defensive line.
"So has your Aliit sent you any messages?" Tracinya asked.
"No," Luke said, "... I don't have a Aliit other than my brothers in arms. Well I did…but let's just say I haven't had a family since I was five."
"Oh... really… why?"
"I'd rather not talk about it."
"Okay then?"
"What about you?" Luke said, "Meg gar aliit sa. Ori'vod? Buir? ba'vodu?"
"Yes, my father is Jestar Vizsla. He is a respected warrior in our clan, he taught me everything from Mando'ad values, the Resol'nare what it means to be a ori'ramikad and how to fight. My mother, Lexie Tamohara-Vizsla, is a kind woman who taught me the importance of life and all living things. I don't have any siblings but I have a close friend in clan Wren. She's called Mesh'la Wren, we got into all kinds of mischief when we were younger."
"It must have been nice to have a loving family and friends growing up." Luke said wistfully.
However, as they walked down the pathway, soon we heard a man, the commanding officer, Captain Vaartje, as he readied his DC-15 rifle and shouted, "Clankers are assaulting our positions! Men, get into your defences now!" ...And immediately, all the clones in the camp began grabbing grabbing their rifles and manning machine guns and rushed over to their positions.
"Shit, the fucking clankers are coming here." Luke said as he readied his M60-AR, and then ran over and got in position in the defensive line with Tracinya and the others, with him aiming his rifle at the desert before him and Tracinya aiming her Westar 35 carbine. The defensive lines were filled a great line with clone infantry soldiers, all aiming their rifles at the desert where the droids would come from. They mostly had the standard issue DC-15 rifles or DC-15s blaster carbine.
As Luke was with the great defensive line of clone infantry, all aiming their rifles at the desert, behind them were a couple of E-Web heavy repeating blaster emplacements ready to give covering fire while there were a few other positions around just behind the defensive line that had soldiers that would give covering fire from snipers... And behind them, were a couple of emplaced AT-TE tanks, ready to give support fire or smash AAT tanks with concentrated fire.
...Yes, they were all ready for combat, strong and determined as Separatist artillery shells rained down around the camp, splashing into the sea of desert before the front line and sprinkling glistening grains of sand down on a few of the nearby clones as if they were being salted... The barrage looked intense, but had really only caused very little damage to the camp and the clones stayed ready... And after a few moments, large amounts of droid infantry swarmed across the desert, heading towards the Republic lines with blasters in hand.
"Kriff," a clone said, "Clankers!"
"Open Fire!" Vaartje shouted.
The line of clones all fired immense volley gunfire that cut numerous battle droids down while machine guns blazed incredible support, while Luke fired his assault rifle shots that nailed multiple enemies. Usual rifle fire just riddled enemy droids with plasma and ripped through metal, and most enemies died this way... But those who fell victim to stronger machine gun fire and explosives had a more violent demise, with powerful weapon fire ripping apart metal and tearing limbs off enemies. The clones all kept fighting and firing shots that hit multiple enemies, furiously defending the trench from assaults.
"Die, you fucking dirty machines!" a clone shouted.
Fighting viciously and hard, the clones were all firing their rifles and machine guns, firing hails of intense gunfire at the separatist forces and shooting numerous soldiers. Luke fired and shot seven enemies with burst fire, but the clankers kept converging on them in the desert. As Luke kept firing the M60-AR at the approaching forces, some blaster bolts came and struck the sand near him, as another large infantry force was making their way to our lines from the right side. "Shit... fucking shit!" Luke shouted and turned to fire at the newcomers, shooting multiple droids to pieces.
"Medic!" a clone shouted over the gunfire. More droids swarmed across the desert towards the defensive lines as AAT tanks rolled in from behind, firing shells down on the AT-TEs, one shot hit a walker in the cabin while another penetrated another walker that went up in a fireball, the other walkers fired back and destroyed a few of the AATs while blaster fire shredded infantry.
"Kriff," Tracinya shouted, "More clankers! I'll kill those clankers!"
Tracinya fired off some more furious shots at some super battle droids and gunned a couple more down. The vicious battle raged ever intensely, and while a few more friendly soldiers were gunned down, the weight of fire never let up. As a couple more clones got shot by enemy gunfire, Luke fired and knocked a head off a B1 droid. A few more clones got shot, some got back up, their armour doing its job.
"Shit!" a captain Vaartje said, "Hold the line!"
Tracinya and Luke kept blazing some suppressive fire at droids. Due to the intense fire the assault started to falter.
"That's it," Vaartje yelled, "Keep fighting, men! Push the them back!"
"Hah, they're falling back!"
"That's right you cowards," Tracinya shouted, "Run!"
Luke and Tracinya walked over to Vaartje as he stood up from the MG nest. Luke stood next the officer as he started speaking his next move, "We're not done yet, men... There's still the supply camp in the desert up ahead. We can use it to launch our assault on Khirsijine... Or else the sepi's will come back for this line."
"They can try." Luke said.
"Sparrow," Vaartje continued, "You and Vizsla help lead the men across the desert towards the camp. Walkers will provide support."
"Is the presence of clankers there heavy, Captain?" Tracinya asked.
"Heavy enough," the Captain replied,
"Shit... Well," Luke said, "Let's get moving, Tracinya." Luke reached down to his belt and pulled out his bayonet. The M8 OKC-3S bayonet was based off the vibroblade technology. It was about twelve inches long, seven of which made up the blade itself. Luke pitied anything that found its way on the receiving end of the blade.
Immediately, Tracinya, Luke, and most of the clones jumped out of the trenches and charged forth through the desert before them, while some remained to guard the defensive line and Captain Vaartje embarked on one of the tanks and he lead a few other walkers behind them. Once they had crossed over a dune, they found themselves overlooking a desert sea of tan sand with several dispersed palm trees, and a great numerous amount of infantry scattered around with several enemy rifle and machine gun positions and even a few tanks in support.
"Shit, speed is going to be key here," a Luke said, "Let's get the bastards!"
"Charge in!" Luke shouted, and immediately, he, Tracinya and the clones charged onto the desert sand, firing hails of rifle fire at droid forces in the sandy sea. A vicious battle erupted immediately in the sea of sand as the numerous dispersed clones fired at the droids, gunning multiple enemies down in fierce fighting as Luke fired his M60 and shot two B1s. It was complete chaos, as dispersed friendly and enemy soldiers were blazing immense fire at one another, and casualties on both side started amounting. But they kept advancing and firing more rifle fire.
Luke unleashed a burst of fire, striking down three clankers. Tracinya aimed and gunned a couple other enemies as well. Several clones took cover by scattered trees and kept firing their rifles at the droids, and as a few more clones were gunned down.
As the infantry kept firing at one another, the walkers opened fire, destroying a few AAT tanks, though returning shells took out a couple walkers. As Tracinya took out a couple other enemies with her carbine, Luke fired his assault rifle and another droid went down. After clearing away the infantry in the sand and trees, they came to another challenge, enemy defensive nests filled with machine guns and many riflemen as well.
"Shit, riflemen in the nests!"
"Fucking machine guns!" Luke said, "Use the trees for cover! Clear those bastards out!"
Luke held cover behind a tree and then surveyed the situation, managing to count five enemy defensive nests, each with a machine gun and a platoon of enemy soldiers armed with rifles... While he still fired some more shots and gunned two more enemies down, he looked further in the distance, seeing a few AAT tanks as well.
"Force," Tracinya said, "They have more tanks!"
"Let the Walkers deal with those," Luke said, "Concentrate on the nests!"
Luke noticed three droids in an isolated position just to their left flank. Pushing of the ground, he ran as fast as he could. One droid turned to fire at him but Luke was faster. The shot hit centre mass and the droid fell. The B1 unit next to it turned but Luke smashed it with the butt of his rifle before firing two more shots into its downed from. He spun round and speared the spearing the B1, his bayonet cleanly entering. He ducked to avoid some enemy fire before returning to where he had been previously.
Holding their cover behind the trees, Luke and Tracinya fired some more at enemy trenches. Luke paused to reload while Tracinya fired at the machine gun nests. The clones were still struggling with the machine guns as they kept battling the enemy infantry. As immense gunfire blazed and soared all over the open sand. From behind tree cover, Luke fired some more at two of the nests, pinning the gunners down with some shots until the return fire had him back behind the tree.
"Only a few more machine gun nests, Sparrow," Tracinya said, "Let's finish these fuckers!"
The other gunner kept blazing rapid bullets that splashed through the sand and splintered the trees... And one friendly had the unfortunate fate to get caught in the way... And have a wave machine gun fire shred through his throat.
"Shit," Tracinya shouted, "I'm pinned!"
The enemy machine gun kept blazing rounds at Tracinya's position, and so Luke fired some more rifle fire at the enemy gunner threatening Tracinya. Aiming at the gunner he released three rounds at it and nailed the gunner with a few precise rounds... Only two more nests remained.
As he kept fighting, a droid threw a grenade towards him. He quickly picked up the grenade and threw it back at towards the droids, it exploded in mid-flight and peppered the surrounding area with shrapnel.
While the two remaining nests kept up their defence, Luke rushed over to Tracinya's position. After reloading they were mostly concentrating their fire on the machine gun nests and enemy soldiers near them. The remaining two machine guns kept the assaulting forces pinned behind cover, unable to advance. The AT-TEs were still fighting against opposing AAT tanks, blasting a couple down to pieces, so it was mostly up to the infantry to take care of the nests.
Luke saw a crate that provided decent cover from enemy fire that was close to the MG nest. Seeing that both nests were not focused on him, he checked he had some grenades. Seeing he had two fragmentation grenades, he got ready.
"Tracinya cover me." He said before made a twenty-yard dash to the crate. Tracinya and the surrounding clones provided suppressive fire keeping the droids down. Luke slide behind the crate, his back colliding with the crate with a thunk. Taking a grenade from his webbing, he pulled the pin and held onto the grenade for two seconds. He then stood up and threw the grenade, it sailed through the air and landed in the middle of the machine gun nest. He ducked behind cover once again as some droids started to fire at his exposed form. The sound of a detonation and the silence of a machine gun meant that his toss had succeeded.
The last gunner was firing its machine gun frantically now, as it realized it was the last remaining machine gun nest. It blazed a great flurry of blinding fire to hold off the attack... But this would ultimately not help it, as Luke held his cover and Tracinya took aim and shot down the gunner and another soldier near him... The enemy machine gun nests were eliminated.
"The nests are eliminated," Captain Vaartje said as from his AT-TE tank, "Now destroy the remaining defences and seize that camp!"
Tracinya and Luke fired some more and gunned a few more enemies down as other clones kept firing their rifles and hitting multiple droids down in the vicious battle. Luke charged at a droid and struck it down with a couple sharp swings with the stock of his gun... and then Tracinya and Luke ran rapidly across the desert alongside the rest of the clones... And they crossed over a dune they could see the enemy camp just before them... Along with two enemy defensive lines filled mostly with B1 droids.
"They're mostly just riflemen," Tracinya said to clones around them, "Move up and take them out!"
Luke and Tracinya moved up with the other clones to engage the trench line while the AT-TEs kept up their confrontation against the AATs. A nearby AAT blew apart into pieces from a shell, and as they got closer to the enemy trench, the droid line all blazed their rifles and cut down a few friendlies. However, amidst the blazing hot fire and the raging withering blaster bolts, they pressed on, and once getting close enough, they took cover behind some trees and other barricades while some others crouched down into prone.
Once behind his new position of two trees, Luke opened fire on the trench. However, the trenches three machine gun nests were quickly pinning down the attackers again. But unlike last time the AT-TEs were not occupied with AATs so were able to neutralize the positions.
"Move up," Vaartje ordered, "Take that trench line!"
Immediately, Luke, the Tracinya and the clones entered into the former separatist trench, facing a second defensive line filled with B1 droids and two more machine guns before them. As the clones formed a line of infantry in the trench to face the separatist opponents. Luke peaked over the top of the trench and fired at the droids. Luke reached down do his belt and grabbed a HE grenade loaded it into his underslung grenade launcher. Making sure the elevation was right, he pulled the trigger and the grenade sailed towards the enemy line. It landed just in front the enemy trench. Loading a second grenade, he fired again. This time the grenade landed and exploded in the enemy position and took out a half a dozen droids. The remainder in the trench were taken out by mortar fire from the FOB, probably called in by the captain. This caused the surviving forces to pull back.
"Luke, try move into the camp!" Tracinya said.
Immediately, Luke went with some clones as they charged in towards the camp, running over the trench lines as we charged forwards. A couple clones blasted a few droids with their rifles as they hoped over the trench and took cover behind different buildings, tents and caches at the entrance of the camp. A machine gun position opened up and blazed some rounds while they took cover. However, as Luke fired at the enemy gunner, a clone flame trooper moved up quickly, yet cautiously to their position... And once he was in range, the clone aimed his flamethrower stick and blazed a menacing spray of fire into the enemy position, clearing it out as well as incinerating the few droids in the position as well, setting them ablaze. While the flames may not have done a lot to the exterior other than turn it black, it would seriously damage internal systems and force the droid to shut down.
As the flame trooper moved on to incinerate other entrenched enemies with fire, most that remained of the separatist garrison was just infantry and a few vehicles. Luke shot a couple others as Tracinya charged and knocked a B1 down with her Westar 35 carbine, before they then went further into the camp. As they were clearing out the camp, a MTT transport started to disembark reenforcements.
"Shit, more clankers!" Luke called out, "In the MTT and tents!"
"Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade!" Tracinya yelled.
From their positions behind tents and caches in the camp, Luke kept fighting enemies in the camp, clearing them from the tents with concentrated rifle fire as Tracinya gunned a few others down with her carbine. The clones kept firing rifle fire that shot more droids, though a couple other friendlies were cut down as well by enemy gunfire. As Luke shot a few more down, the clones had diminished the enemy presence, gunning down most remaining soldiers in the tents and supply buildings. The battle was close to being won.
After the clones shot down several more droids, an enemy tank appeared over a nearby dune, aiming towards the camp... But Vaartje's AT-TE took out the enemy tank with a well-placed shell. Afterwards, any remaining enemy presence gave up, with the several droids still alive lowering their guns and raising their hands up while clones aimed at them to keep them in order.
While the clones rounded up prisoners to take back to camp and other friendlies started moving supplies around from the camp, Vaartje exited his AT-TE and walked over to Luke and Tracinya, "Well done," Vaartje said proudly, "The camp is ours... Sparrow, Vizsla, good work."
Vaartje walked off smiling with pride. Luke went to the edge of the camp and stood on a dune as he looked across the sea of sand to find himself staring right at the town of Khirsijine in the distance... their next mission.
Tracinya walked up next to him and spoke, "Looks like the last of the clankers here Luke… Hmph... Maybe after this, we could go home."
"...Not likely, Tracinya." Luke replied, as he continued to look at the village of Khirsijine under the blazing hot sun. The plan was half of the three hundred and twenty seventh would drive on Khirsijine as a diversion while General Aayla Secura and her half assaulting the capital.
Being immersed in the scorching heat and surrounded by endless sand does get to be a bit tiring, especially when one was wearing heavy metal armour... But with a full amount of supplies from taking that camp and a fresh supply of water, that didn't stop them from driving forth towards Khirsijine, which was just a short distance away now... And they even had a bit of enthusiasm to take the town... It was rather odd to have this excitement. Luke and especially the three hundred and twenty seventh had been very hardened by war, and after some time, they started to feel that the war wasn't winnable... Still, they just seemed to be eager to gain one more victory for the division here before operations ended... Yes, it was nice to have a morale boost.
As Luke climbed aboard an AT-TE, the Captain himself stood out from the hatch of the tank and turned to me, "Sparrow, Separatist presence in the town is heavy. We need to clear away the perimeter defences and eliminate resistance in the buildings, as well as in the streets and bazaars. Destroy any machine gun positions and secure supply caches as we make our way to the town centre and hold it from any counterattacks... And be careful."
"I will, Captain," Luke replied, "Is that all?"
"Well... Not yet," Vaartje said, a bit wary now, which made him uncomfortable, "I received a message that I'll be meeting a contact there... Says there's something important there for him to get."
"...What contact?" Tracinya said with suspicion, "What do they want?"
"They didn't say," Vaartje replied, and that made me even more suspicious, "Just focus on your primary objectives... I'll handle that."
"Sure, Captain." Tracinya said, a bit annoyed by her own concern and suspicion of the contact.
"Everyone, move out," Vaartje ordered, and his AT-TE started rolling forwards with Luke and Tracinya sitting on top, two other AT-TEs and the surviving hundred and fifty or so clones, they ventured across the desert to Khirsijine.
Once they neared the outskirts of Khirsijine, enemy machine gun fire started to land around them, and Vaartje, who stood on the lead walker, shouted an order, "Get behind the tanks, use them for cover!"
Immediately, those on the ground followed his order following behind the tanks while Vaartje manned the accelerator cannon and fired at the enemy machine guns, blowing them apart. Being on the back of the tank, Luke pulled out his rifle. Resting it on the surface on the stationary vehicle, he zeroed in on a droid manning a machine gun on the west side of the town. Steading his breathing, he placed his finger gently over the trigger. His rifle cracked as the plasma bullet left the chamber and flew towards its target. The shot hit the droid in the chest and the gun fell silent. The AT-TEs took out a couple of the machine guns in the buildings with well placed shots, and once they got close enough, the tanks stopped, and after Luke jumped down from the tank and brandished his M60-AR, the men started to assault the town themselves with the AT-TEs in support.
Once emerging from the cover of the tanks, one of the AT-TEs was hit and set ablaze by a rocket, forcing the remaining armour to stay put... And immediately, great amounts of separatist droids emerged from the buildings and in the streets at the edge of the town firing at the assaulting republic forces.
"Shit," Luke said, "Get to cover!"
Immediately, a vicious battle ensued, as after taking positions at the edge of town, the clones were engaging droids in the streets and buildings. Luke took cover behind a low stone wall on the western side of the town. He peaked round the corner but quickly was forced to duck behind as blaster fire opened up on his position. Popping up he unleashed a burst at the droids. Ducking down to reload, he counted about a dozen droids. Four on the street, six in some surrounding buildings and two on the roofs. Loading another HE grenade into his grenade launcher he popped up again and fired at the one of the buildings that the droids were using. The grenade took out the second and third floor. Aiming round the corner he fired at the droids at the street, he hit two of them and had to take cover. He tried to move from cover but was unable too due to the enemy fire.
"This is lieutenant Sparrow, I'm pinned down on the west side. I've got two on the roof and street and three in the shop on the left side of the street."
"I read you Sparrow." Tracinya's voice came in over the radio. It wasn't even a minute later when Luke heard Tracinya's arrival. A grenade detonated in the shop and she leapt down onto the street and blasted the two droids still there. Luke was then able to take out the two droids on the roof.
"Try not to make this a reoccurring thing." Tracinya said to him as he walked over.
"I won't." Luke said, he hadn't even walked three paces before he turned a fired at a droid getting up from the rouble of the shop.
"missed a spot."
"Shut up."
"Drive into the town, men," Captain Vaartje ordered, a little enthusiastically, "The Walkers will give support."
Luke and Tracinya linked up with some clones and went forth down the main street into the village, escorting the two remaining AT-TE walkers. Still, as they entered they encountered more resistance in the streets and buildings. In response, the they scattered to any available cover on the sides of street.
"Sparrow," Captain Vaartje radioed from his tank, "Scout report says the droids are holed up in six different buildings! I need you to clear them out!"
"First building, Tracinya," Luke stated, "Clear it out!"
Several droids appeared in the windows of the building, with a few others appearing one the street just outside the building. Tracinya suppressed some enemies on the top windows as Luke fired at the ones on the street. Whilst Luke and Tracinya kept the droids pinned a squad of five clones stacked up by the door. Luke spotted a droid about to throw a thermal detonator at the clones outside, pivoting quickly he blindly fired at the droid in the hope of stopping it. The plasma struck the droid as it threw the grenade causing it to land in the middle of the street and explode.
"This one's clear," the clone from inside the first building said, "Move up to the next!"
"Move carefully," a clone said, "They could have something else in the next one."
They moved further down the street towards their next target building, engaging some more droids along the way. They came to the second building... Which was indeed answering truthfully to that clone's prediction, as a machine gun opened up in one of the top windows, with several B1's from other windows in support.
A few clones were cut down by the machine gun fire, but the rest of them took cover by positions in the street and fired back. Luke noticed a single clone who had been shot by the machine gun was still moving on the floor. Grabbing a smoke grenade, he flung it over to the base of the building. The white phosphorus smoke quickly covered the area in a matter of seconds. The blaster fire from the droids became confused as they were unable to see through the smoke. Luke got up and ran to the downed clone. Seeing no strap on the back of the clone's armour he slung the man over his shoulders in a fireman's lift and carried the clone back behind cover.
"Medic! We need a Medic over here!" Luke called out. A clone medic ran over to where Luke and the wounded clone were. Seeing as the clone was being taken care of he turned back to the second building. The machine gun cut down two more friendlies. Luke aimed at the gunner and held down the trigger, his rifle spewing round after round at the gunner. This allowed Tracinya to move up, and get herself right next to the building's wall, under the gunner. Tracinya primed a primed a droid popper and threw it into the gunner's window, the grenade short circuiting the droids. Seven clones then entered the building to clear it out.
"Second building's being taken," Tracinya said, "Let's get the next one!"
Making their way into a local Bazaar, filled with stands presenting food, trivial supplies, other goods... filled with droids. Their third objective was on the other side.
"Clear it all out!" Luke shouted.
Moving into the marketplace meant we had to continue on without Captains Vaartje's two walkers, which continued down the road... But still, they kept fighting in the market place. Two clones using rotary cannons came up to support them. The droids were cut down rapidly as they had not been expecting them to get so far so quickly and were unprepared for the attack. The droids quickly fell back out of the bazaar unable to prevent them from taking it.
"Get to the third building!" Captain Vaartje ordered.
Exiting the bazaar, Tracinya and Lue moved down the street with two dozen clones, coming up onto a street they were engaged by the droids in the third building. Once again, the routine repeated, they once again scattered to each side of the street.
"Spider, Haymaker! We're going to lay down covering fire. I want you two to run to the base of the building and throw droid poppers into the building."
"Yes sir!"
"Suppressive Fire!" Luke ordered as he Tracinya and the clones came out of cover and pour blaster fire into the building. Spider and Haymaker ran to the building dodging a few blaster bolts. Luke went back behind the pillar he stood behind to reload. While he was reloading Spider and Haymaker had primed and thrown the grenades into the building.
"Third building's neutralized," Haymaker said.
"Good work, let's move."
Moving past the building, they came to a street that looked rather torn, littered with different crates and barrels with buildings lining each side. Moving down the street to the next building, a machine gun opened up on the building's roof, forcing them into cover as three droids appeared in the windows.
"Fuck," Luke said in frustration, "this is getting repetitive."
"Fucking damn it, Vaartje, where are you?!" Tracinya cursed, frustrated at the lack of the tanks' presence since they diverted into the marketplace. It also appeared she had started to pick up on Luke's swearing.
Looking down to his webbing, he saw he had five 40mm grenades left for his underslung grenade launcher. Loading one he stepped out from behind his cover fired it at the machine gun position. The grenade flew in through the window and hit the rooms back wall. The force of the explosion killing the operator, dust and debris came out of the window in a cloud of dust and smoke. Loading a second grenade he aimed at the tow droids in the next floor above, while Tracinya and the others targeted the droids on the ground floor and roof. With the machine gun gone the remaining droids were quickly dealt with.
With the fourth building taken, they started moving up and securing positions on the streets, and as the lead AT-TE kept mopping up any resistance. Luke and Tracinya went over towards the AT-TE that had captain Vaartje.
"Sparrow, Vizsla," Vaartje greeted, popping his head out from the hatch, "How have you been doing here, run into much trouble?"
"No, but the clankers sure did," Tracinya responded rather mischievously, "Where have you been, Captain?"
"We got caught up by some defensive positions in the towers to the North side of this town," Vaartje replied, "As well as some AATs."
"They have tanks here in the city?" Luke asked.
"Yes, but we should have cleared them out already," Vaartje said, "...Should just be infantry and positions in the buildings from now on."
"Anything important from these buildings, sir?"
"Just two more buildings left, eh. The next one is... Well, where we'll meet our contact... He'll help us take the sixth building, the largest and toughest one situated on the edge of the city... There's something important there for him... So important that there may be commandos droids guarding it."
"...Kriff," Tracinya exclaimed, "...Well, no reason to keep him or them waiting. Let's go."
Immediately, they moved on down the street alongside the clones, with the two AT-TEs coming up from behind. They entered a long street and Luke was immediately on edge. He saw plenty of good spots for an ambush. The buildings were about three stories tall on each side with plenty of cover along the street that one could hide behind. They had made it about halfway down the street when a seemingly inconspicuous piece of rubble detonated underneath the second AT-TE blowing its front two left legs off and toppling on its side killing the pilot and wounding the gunner and several troopers around the walker. Luckily no ambush came and it was just the IED. About a dozen clones went to go help the wounded and Tracinya was about to go help as well but he grabbed her arm.
"What are you doing we need to go hel-" it was at that moment the second IED that Luke was expecting detonated killing the wounded clones and most of the ones that went to help.
"That was why."
"How did you know though and why didn't you warn them." Tracinya said, anger creeping into voice.
"I didn't know for sure so. As for how I guessed, it's a common tactic insurgencies use and it's also something I would have done in a similar situation."
"But why? There's no honour in it. It's disgraceful."
"I'm not saying it is honourable, it's combat pragmatic. The droids at this point are unable to beat us, however they can stop us by making the casualties so high we can't advance any further. That's why. Or they want kill as many as they can. Besides, honour shouldn't be a major part of how you wage war. You should be pragmatic. War is hell and should be treated as such, you should do whatever it takes to win."
"That doesn't mean you should resort to this." Tracinya said before walking away.
"Captain, be careful now," Luke said, "I suggest supporting us from the side, so we don't lose the last of our armour."
"I'll consider it, Sparrow." Vaartje replied. Finally they came onto a street heading right for the fifth target building.
"There it is," Luke said as he readied his rifle, inserting a fresh magazine. Approaching the building it appeared deserted. Entering inside the structure and clearing out the rooms, they took position at the backside of the fifth building.
"clankers incoming, and they brought tanks!" a clone said over the radio.
"Hold them off," Vaartje responded, "There shouldn't be much opposition here!"
Luke peered out the window and counted three dozen droids. It was a rather weak attack, but an attack nonetheless, raising his rifle he opened fire. Tracinya had found a machine gun upstairs was was ruthlessly cutting down the droids. But as they were mowing down the droids, an AAT appeared coming towards them. The tank came in and fired a shell, taking out a portion of the top of the building.
"Fuck!" Luke shouted in alarm, "That tank gets any closer, we're done for!" But, just as soon as he said it, we saw the remaning AT-TE come in off the side of the building and fired a shell. The shot hit the AAT's rear, the resulting explosion lifted off the turret that landed a few feet away from the burning shell of the tank.
"That should be it," Vaartje said as he climbed out of his tank, "We need to get moving."
"Hey, weren't we supposed to meet that contact here?" Tracinya asked appearing from upstairs, her armoured covered in dust from the tank shot.
But right when she said that, suddenly, an enemy shell struck the side of the building, and the perpetrators rolled into view, revealing themselves to be two more AAT tanks.
"Shit!" Luke shouted, "get to cover!"
The AT-TE quickly took out the first AAT before it could fire again. But the other AAT still lingered, and it fired a shell at the building Luke was using for cover, before starting to aim its barrel at the AT-TE. Luke was very worried now, as it could very well destroy the last of their armoured support, and if that happened, they would be done for as well. But that's right when our luck showed up in the form of a mysterious ally. Two soldiers came out from a distant alleyway, aimed a SMAW at the AAT's back and fired a rocket, striking the tank hard and eliminating it from the battlefield.
Once the fighting was over, as the AT-TE moved its main gun to inspect the area, Luke and Vaartje, where more of those soldiers from that alleyway started coming over towards them... But as they got closer and Luke got a better view of them, his relief changed to despair... Like him, they wore desert camoflague uniforms and helmets, with a few wearing soft tropical caps, but these men were very different. While they appeared to be O.A.G. military their insignia gave them away. A black and white pyramid with three black and white circles surrounding it with another black circle in the centre. And clear plastered on the outer black circe read Office of Naval Intelligence. While that in itself wasn't all that bad, it was what was on their shirts collars that worried him. The three black stripes that represented ONI section III. They were armed with the M7 carbines, a shorter version of M60.
"Oh shit," Luke said as he also noticed the affiliation of the men.
"What? What's so bad about them?" Tracinya asked coming up next to him.
"What are the spooks doing here?!" Luke said to her in aggravated curiosity.
Luke and Tracinya kept their short but firm distance away from the ONI oparatives. Despite he and them all being Orionians, he and the operatives kept a distance from each other, looking very stern and suspicious of the other... Tracinya and the nearby clones seemed to share his exact feelings. He saw the ONI officer, a Major, step out and walk over, looking very stoic and tense at everything. Luke saw Captain Vaartje begin to walk up to the officer, and he too, looked very wary about their presence here from his body language.
"Sir," Vaartje greeted half-heartedly, "...You have any trouble getting here?" The ONI officer didn't answer, and instead, he just brushed past him and looked over to inspect their remaining walker, and that's when Luke took the time to walk up to Vaartje and place his firm hand on his shoulder.
"You knew about this?" Luke said with obvious frustration, "What the Hell is the ONI doing here, Captain... They're not supposed to be here. They're your contact?"
"...They're here for something in that last building," the captain replied, "...They're a specialist division as you know."
"I'm sure they'd like to leave a name for themselves," Luke said stubbornly with tense wariness, "They'll be cruel here, just like anywhere else."
"I'll keep them under control, but these men are tough and the clankers guarding that last building have a hard defence... You'll be glad these guys are here right now." Vaartje responded to calm him with reassurance, "They're only here for that building, then they'll be on their way off of this dust ball."
Just then, the ONI officer walked over towards the two of them, and Vaartje spoke, "Sir, I'm Captain Vaartje, 327th Star Corps... I'm in command here."
"Well, now I am," the ONI officer spoke, almost interrupting Vaartje, "Captain, this AT-TE had better be suited to take that next building... I want to get that objective now, so I can get out of this heat."
"...Sparrow," Vaartje said to Luke as he spoke of the stern looking ONI officer, "...This is Major Karl Pershing... He'll be assisting us in our next objective... Major, this is Lieutenant Luke Sparrow and Sargent Tracinya Vizsla, the two taskforce 242 operatives. They'll be useful for taking the objective."
"They had better be." Pershing replied. Luke looked over the ONI officer named Pershing. He stood at six foot and had blond hair with strikingly deep blue eyes. He was a rather youthful, even handsome looking 35-year-old who had a rather strong, athletic, yet still slim looking build adorned in a tan ONI officer's uniform for his current situation, complete with section III markings and a peaked cap. He had a stern yet calm aura about him that seemed to be masking something even more sinister.
"Vanguard, I see you decided to re-join the Navy." Pershing said turning towards Luke, eyeing the navy insignia on his left shoulder pauldron.
"It's Luke Sparrow now. Sir" Luke replied narrowing his eyes, emphasising his name.
"I noticed that you changed your name. I'm referring to the name you were given. The one you used before you ran away to the Marines."
"I'm no longer part of that."
"For now. You can't run from your past or what you are forever. Sooner or later you'll rejoin Honour team." Pershing then walked back over towards his men as two JLTVs rolled up and Pershing's ONI operatives started loading onto them. Pershing himself boarded one of the armoured jeeps and mounted the machine gun at the front. Luke watched with disdain as they drove off, right when Vaartje and Tracinya walked up to him, "We need to keep moving," Vaartje said as he put a hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him, "The sooner they get their objective, the sooner they'll leave."
Immediately, Luke strongly doubted that, but he decided to stay silent this time and take his word for it. They and the ONI personnel proceeded down the street towards the sixth building.
"So, what was Pershing talking about when he mentioned Honour team and not being able to run from your past? And why did he call you Vanguard?" Asked Tracinya walking up next to him. He assumed she had a look of curiosity on her face underneath her helmet.
"Something that I've been trying to put behind me for the last five years." Luke said, the edge to his voice signalling he didn't want to talk about it. It frustrated him that Pershing had gotten a hold of his file, the one not covered in two layers of black ink.
"The bloody machines are entrenched in there," a nearby ONI soldier said, "Burn those cowards!"
Luke felt heat and light originating behind him, and he turned to see two ONI soldiers using roof mounted flame throwers from the JLTVs on the sixth building, setting the back of the building ablaze. The JLTVs were mounted with a M-9-8 flamethrower, it had a range of three hundred yards. Flamethrowers were a rarity in the O.A.D.F. due to the fact they were hardly needed in conventional warfare, plus the public relations due to the gruesome deaths inflicted. They tended to be mounted upon specially designed JLTVs, they received extra armour on the rear where two tanks filled with napalm were placed, they received the nickname 'Zippo Jeeps' after the lighter brand. Two burning B1 droids fell from a second storey window, their bodies melted by the heat produced from the napalm.
"Now..." Pershing said with a relishing smile, "Move in and burn the rest of them!"
Luke watched Pershing move into the sixth building, followed by a few of his subordinates. Luke watched them suspiciously, but as if she could sense his feelings right away, Tracinya quickly walked up and said, "Keep moving... We're almost done here."
Luke went into the building with Tracinya as Pershing moved in down a hall with some of his men, coldly gunning down a couple opposing droids down as if they were performing an execution. Then, a commando droid appeared, brandishing a vibroblade stabbing a ONI operative through the neck, the blade passing through the spine and out through the front coted in a layer of blood. The droid then moved on to the man standing next to the one that hadn't finished falling to the ground and pierced him through the gap under the arm and armour entering the man's left lung and piercing his heart. Pershing raised his pistol a fired a single shot at the commando's head.
"Commandos," Pershing said, "So they are here..." As though nothing had happened. Pershing turned in time to see Luke fire right at him. The blue plasma sailing towards him. Luke saw Pershing close his eyes together and grimace. Only to open them in surprise and look behind him when he heard the sound of a commando droid that had crept up behind him fall to the ground with a smoking chest as the plasma ate through the metal plating. Luke didn't bother to hide the smirk at the man's break of composure.
"Sir," an ONI soldier said, "This door should lead to it."
"Break it down," Pershing ordered regaining his composure, then turned to Sparrow, "Eliminate any resistance in the building, then hold it off from any counterattacks... My men and I will secure our objective... I know it's here somewhere."
The ONI soldiers then broke down the door and tossed a grenade inside the room. Once the blast went off, Pershing and his soldiers entered the room and disappeared from Luke's sight, which gave him some satisfaction that he didn't have to be around them anymore, at least, not for the remainder of the battle.
"Come on," Luke said, "Let's finish up here."
"Tracinya, Haymaker, you're with me," Luke said, then turned to several other clones behind them in the building, "The rest of you, clear these rooms and take positions. We'll be expecting a counterattack soon."
"Yes sir!" Following the orders, the clones went off to eliminate any resistance there might be.
"You know you abuse your marksmanship." Tracinya said to Luke good naturedly.
"I don't know what you're talking about, I just saw the dear Major about to be stabbed in the back, though it would be a fitting end to an ONI spook," Luke replied with a grin, "Stairs to the next floor are through here. Stack up."
Luke pressed himself against the wall next to the left side of the door with Tracinya next to him and Haymaker bringing up the rear. Luke reached for the panel to open the door. The moment the door opened Luke pivoted round the left side of the door and Tracinya was on his heels. Time slowed down for Luke. He saw five targets. Three on the left. Two on the Right. All commando droids. Raising his rifle, he aimed at the first one. Double tapping the trigger two shots struck the commando droid. One hit the upper left chest of the droid and the other on the neck. The second commando started to raise its blaster but Luke was faster and the droid fell to a three-round burst. He felt his armour shudder from being impacted by blaster fire from the third commando droid, however his rifle quickly finished the droid. Scanning the rest of the left side of the room, he saw no remaining threats.
"Clear left!"
"Clear right!" Tracinya called out having taken care of her two targets.
"Room clear! Move to the stairs."
They all rushed up the stairs and entered the second floor. Once entering the second floor, a commando was found right next to the entrance, but as it raised its rifle, Luke brandished the blade on his shoulder and charged to make a slash at it, stabbing the enemy before moving forward down the hall. As they came up onto a door, Tracinya kicked it down as Haymaker threw a droid popper inside, neutralising the droids inside. Peering down the corridor, Luke found that two more doors were remaining.
"Tracinya, take that door on the right," Luke ordered, "Haymaker, go with her."
"Right," Tracinya responded, "I'm on it."
Luke moved towards the door on the right as tracinya and Haymaker went straight down the hall towards the other one. Once Luke saw them go through the door, he turned and faced his target and kicked it down to enter the room. And that's right when he saw a commando. It immediately noticed him and tried to take aim with its blaster rifle.
"Shit!" Luke shouted as he rushed at the commando before it could take proper aim. He pushed his M60-AR against the blaster rifle, but it was swiped from his hands. Luke lunged forward and grabbed a hold of the droid's blaster and began to wrestle for control over it. In much vicious wrestling, Luke kept his grip firmly on the rifle as he struggled to get it out of the hands of the commando. But after much more struggling, the commando managed to get it out of his hands instead. Luke got back up and swiped at the gun with one hand, then he swiped at the rifle again with his left, grabbing hold of it. As he kept hold of the rifle, he hit the commando with his fist hard before he then punched it with his left, the droid staggered back because of the force behind the two hits. He then pulled out his knife and rushed it with it. The commando seized hold of Luke's wrists as he grabbed one of its arms with his free hand and then then struggled with one another over the knife. Luke swept his left leg at the droids causing its legs to be swept out from underneath it and fall the ground. The droid let go of his wrist and Luke used that moment to grab the droids head with his left hand. Placing a foot on the droid's chest just below the neck, he pulled his left arm back and attempted to pull the droids head off. Luke's arm shot up after a few seconds from the head coming loose from its socket.
Luke reclaimed and reloading his weapon and exited the room to the hall, where he regrouped with Tracinya and Haymaker. "You look pretty worn, Luke," Tracinya stated, "...You holding up?"
"I'm fine." He replied.
Suddenly, several clone troopers came towards them in the halls, with one speaking, "Rest of the building's clear Lieutenant."
"Good, everyone, take positions at the windows. Prepare for any counterattacks."
"Yes, sir." They all replied.
"Any attack should come at us from across the desert," Luke stated, "Be ready for anything."
"Yeah," Tracinya shouted enthusiastically, "we'll scrap 'em"
"Captain," Luke said with a hint of worry into his comm, "Did you see Pershing anywhere?"
"...No... I haven't." Vaartje replied.
Luke went back to scanning the horizon for the enemy. He spotted a large amount of B1 battle droids supported by some supers, with AAT tanks following in from behind.
"Here they come!" Luke shouted as he opened fire and was immediately followed by everyone else in the building. The droids were quickly learning that assaulting across open desert was a terrible idea. The desert was ideal for armoured warfare not infantry assaults. The building shook.
"The hell was that!" He heard over the noise of gunfire. He looked to the east and saw about twenty AAT tanks approaching. Shit, we don't have any AT weapons and we only have a single walker. We don't stand a chance, we've got to have some assets in the area. Reaching for his radio he ducked under the window.
"This Lieutenant Sparrow to any air assets in the area, we have an armoured assault of twenty AATs. We are in need of immediate support, does anyone copy."
"This is…1-1… We're…. just…" came in over the radio before Luke lost connection.
"Shit, their jamming us!" Luke said popping up and shooting tow B1s and a super. The building shook once again but this time the west side collapsed as the walls holding it up were blown apart. If we retreat into the town we could take the tanks out one by one, but we need to hold the building. We only have grenades but no actual anti-tank weapons, what do we do? Why do Republic troops not carry rocket launchers. The building shook once again. Luke saw a Tactical droid sitting atop one of the tanks, likely giving orders to the other tanks. Luke aimed at the droid. He squeezed out five shots before reloading. The plasma struck the droid in the chest and head. Its body falling disappearing into the tank. Luke smiled at his success. That grin was soon wiped of his face when the tank that the tactical droid turned its turret to room he was in. Turning towards the door he began to run. Oh shi-. He felt himself being lifted off the floor from the blast wave of the tank shot, debris flying into and around him. He felt pain as his body smacked into a wall, knocking the wind out from his lungs. He coughed and spluttered as he choked on the dust in the air as his ears were ringing.
"Luke are you okay!?" Tracinya asked bursting into the room kneeling at his side and helping him up.
"I just got launched into a wall and was shot at by a bloody tank and possibly have a concussion. I'm fan-fucking-tastic."
"Good to see your fine, now get up. Still plenty of droids, not going to kill themselves." She said as she blasted a one of the few remaining B1 droids. Looking up he saw that the front of the room was gone, revealing the desert outside. The droid infantry had mostly been dealt with but the twenty AAT tanks had stopped about a hundred metres outside the village and were firing at the buildings that the clones had occupied. Suddenly a blue shot smacked into the AAT on the far right sending it up in flames, before another smashed into the AAT next to it. The third and fourth AAT turned to engage but one was destroyed before it could fire and the fourth only managed a glancing shot on the AT-TE, the shot bouncing off into a nearby building. It did not however get a chance to try again as it went out with an explosion. Four down, sixteen to go, Luke thought. Four AATs turned to attack the walker. The walker got out one more shot before three shells slammed into the front of the walker. The tanks now turned back towards where Luke, Tracinya and the clones were hiding in cover.
"This is red 1-1, coming in hot." Three Y-wings flew in overhead and dropped proton torpedoes onto the tanks below.
"Ha! Keep it up, everyone!" a clone said enthusiastically, "We're driving the bastards off! We've got them on the run!"
Luke kept firing his rifle at the now retreating droids, gunning more down as the clones began to fire upon the retreating droids with renewed vigor.
"They're running away," a clone said, "The city is ours!"
"Come back any time, you bastards!" Tracinya called out, "We'll be waiting for you!"
2623 June 13th Earth Standard Calendar, LT. Luke Sparrow, Taskforce 242 on Ruusan.
Sparrow, Vizsla, I got an SIS woman on the comms requesting you two, get to the command walker." Captain Vaartje ordered. Luke and Tracinya stood up and walked over to the command AT-TE walker. Entering inside the clone comm officer activated the holo-projecter. The blue image of officer Sholn Jiye appeared.
"Ah, Lieutenant, Sargent. Good to see you are well."
"Thanks for your concern ma'am but why have you called us."
"Down to business I see. The planet Umbara has seceded from the Republic, already the 212th and 501st are being diverted to Umbara. You two will link up with the O.A.D.F. forces currently stopping on Mandalor before they leave for Umbara. You'll be working with the 3287th Airborne Division. Your shuttle will leave tomorrow at 0900. understood?"
"Yes ma'am." Luke and Tracinya responded.
"Good. Officer Jiye out."
O.A.G. new article, Why is the Republic so adamant about fighting the Separatists? If they wanted to secede, they should be allowed to, right?
I know it is said that it is all controlled by Count Dooku, but I felt the Confederacy's issues were legitimate, and they'd have seceded with or without Dooku's involvement. If they felt the Republic was corrupt, and systems wanted to leave it, then they should be allowed too. Forcing them to stay seems wrong. Republics are not the same as international treaties. International treaties are agreements among sovereigns. States that join a republic give up some of their sovereignty to do so.
I know, I know. You're asking, "But do they give up so much of their sovereignty that joining is a one-way street?" That is the sort of legal question that tends to be answered not with legal reasoning but with wars (e.g., the American Civil War). Is it morally wrong to compel a state that wants to leave your republic to stay, through military force? Well, plenty of people have thought so in our own history. Let me ask you this: why can't the Republic do morally wrong things? Why can't the Jedi be party to morally wrong acts?
If you pooh-pooh the fact that the pretense to the secession are about taxation and trade routes, as some are wont to do, then you're going to miss this. This is the so-called "Separatist Council."
Notice something about it? Who's represented there? The Trade Federation, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, the Corporate Alliance, the Techno Union, the Hyper-Communications Cartel, the Commerce Guild (also the Quarren Isolation League, but they aren't important for present purposes). Mega-corporations. Classic dystopian sci-fi mega-corporations, complete with world-class private militaries.
Now, why would mega-corporations be interested in supporting a secessionist movement?
First, pause for a moment and recognize that the Republic even has mega-corporations. Mega-corporations with the military power to conquer entire planets. Mega-corporations so powerful that they can defy the Galactic Senate. Mega-corporations with their own senators. You remember this guy, right? Lott Dod, senator of the Trade Federation. You remember what he was objecting to? As Senator Palpatine put it, "We have become caught in a dispute you're all well aware of, which began right here with the taxation of trade routes …". The Republic is pushing back against the power of the mega-corporations, and they don't like it. They really don't like it.
Like, just think about that. Imagine if Microsoft had objected to the government's antitrust suit against it back in the 1990s by taking over the entire state of Washington. And imagine if the feds' answer was to do nothing.
One might suspect, in that circumstance, that the American republic was slightly dysfunctional.
This is all about establishing that the Senate simply does not work. Even its staunchest supporters (like Padme Amidala) agree that it doesn't work; they simply think that it can be fixed from the inside. We see this theme repeated over and over again as well: a planet calls to the Republic for help, the Senate either can't or won't provide it; the desperate planet turns to the Separatists, who actually can provide the help necessary. The Republic eventually intercedes, the CIS gets all evil strongman, no-you-can't-change-sides about it, the CIS looks like the bad guy to the kids while the adults go, "Well, actually, you did pick sides in a war …"
We don't know exactly what economic impact the CIS systems seceding would have had on the Republic, but we can guess it wouldn't be pretty. Dooku apparently said on Geonosis that he is confident that "another ten thousand systems will rally to our cause." Another ten thousand. We don't know precisely how many systems the Republic has yet, but another ten thousand sounds like the CIS comprised a very significant chunk of the Republic, and a state whose commerce was already in thrall to mega-corporations probably doesn't have a lot of ability to absorb economic losses. Simply letting the CIS go probably would have meant phenomenal economic disruption to the Republic.
On top of that, the CIS gave the mega-corporations another state to deal with. If the Republic is the only game in town, there's a natural limit to just how much they can squeeze it. If the CIS succeeded, though, those mega-corporations could go "overseas," as it were. Now remember that these are corporations that the Republic is desperately tied up with, to the point that the Trade Federation can conquer an entire planet and the Republic's response is "Well, now, let's not be rash; we don't want to antagonize them …"
In other words, even if the Republic could afford to let the CIS systems go (which it probably couldn't, not really), it absolutely could not afford to let the mega-corporations that kept it afloat go overseas. We see that the mega-corporations are quite willing to take advantage of the war to squeeze the Republic, to the point that senators like Amidala and Bail Organa warn that they will literally bankrupt the federal government.
And so attempting to reconquer the worlds of the CIS makes hard economic sense. Underlying the story is a story of a society's failure to keep its government sufficiently independent of its corporations.
Translations
"Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade!"
"Don't mess with Mandalorians!"
"Meg gar aliit sa. Ori'vod? Buir? ba'vodu"
"what about your family. Father? Mother? Siblings?"
A/N: Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!