CHAPTER 6 Inferno
Azoth once again stood in front of the jedi council where Obi wan had just finished requesting to put him in charge of a unit.
"I know this wasn't a request from the council but I have completed a mission that should be enough to convince you of my skill." Azoth said
"That you have." Yoda said nodding
"And you have performed admirably at that." Windu added "That is why we are placing you under the command of one of our recon, special operations units in the outer rim."
"Sound to me you just want me out of the way." Azoth replied.
"And why would you believe that?" Ki-Adi-Mundi asked
"Because I have been in this position before higher's didn't like me so they put me on suicide missions and when that didn't work put me on the ships in the deepest parts of space." Azoth explained
"The case not that is." Yoda replied "Special skills you have, as seen from Obi-wans report. Information of separatist colonies and factories in the rim there are."
"Yes and we need them destroyed." Obi-wan said "You certianly didn't lie about your skills before so we are believing you when you say you are good at black ops. So we need to confirm these places exist before we hit them so we don't waste time on wild goose chases."
"Very well, where and to whom am I reporting?" Azoth asked
"Master Kira Yugan." Yoda replied "Take the place of her fallen clone commander you will. In the Dagobah system find her you will."
"So second in command then?" Azoth replied
"Yes." Windu replied "We have already informed her you will be coming, and here is your clearance so she won't shoot you down." He said handing him a data pad.
"Alright then I will head out." Azoth replied with a salute and turned around and headed out the door putting on his helmet as he walked away.
Azoth walked up the ramp of his ship and everything began to start up as he sat down in the pilots chair and Durzo appeared on his dash.
"Well let's take this bird up." Azoth said as he took off out of the atmosphere. "We all set on our route?"
"A-firm." Durzo replied as his windshield turned white and they were in hyperspace.
After a few hours they reached the Dagobah system and came out of hyper space.
"Damn is that system faster than slip space?" Durzo asked "Cause it seems we are getting places much faster.
"Yes however with this hyper drive we must travel on cleared routes to where we must go, whereas slip space we rip a whole in space and travel through that so we can go in a straight line. Also the area of colonized galaxy is smaller than ours. We are more spread out in ours where here their worlds are more condensed." Durzo replied
"Alright thanks for clearing that up." Azoth replied as he saw three Republic cruisers ahead of him and his radio began to squawk at him.
"Unknown vessel identify yourself." Came the voice of a clone
"Call sign Night Angel here on orders from the council to report to jedi master Kira Yugan, sending over credentials now." Azoth said as he transferred his information.
"Credentials confirmed please dock in hanger bay twenty-three, of the command ship." The radio replied
"Roger that." Azoth replied as he steered his ship toward the command ship and landed in the hanger bay. He set down and walked down the to see a woman with pink skin and hair, wearing jedi robes. 'Great another xeno.' He thought as he walked down the ramp.
"You must be Azoth." She said holding out her hand.
"Call me Night Angel." Azoth said as he shook her hand
"Call me Master or General Yugan" Kira replied "I have read the report from Master Kenobi about Mandalor and from when you saved him. So I hope you will be of some use on this operation we are about to start."
"Alright fine get right into it then." Azoth sighed "What is the op?"
"We believe there is a separatist research facility on Mustafa and I was able to get the mission." Kira said. "you will take a detachment and show me what you are able to do.
"So you are handing over the reins of your men to someone you just met, and they have never even heard of just to test me?" Azoth asked getting her to look over at him coldly "Surprised any of these men follow you at all." He sighed at this she began to get angry and got into his face, pointing her finger into his face.
"I trust my men to get out alive, not you." Kira said as she turned and walked away then turned to one of her men "If he gets into deep leave him to die that is an order."
"Yes ma'am" the clone replied
"Not the first-time command has left me to die." Azoth said as he followed her "Now I need that intel." After a short walk they entered the command room.
"Here is the intel we have." Kira said as a holo-map appeared of a factory in a cliff face surrounded by flowing lava
"Alright." Azoth said widening the view of the map. "Seems pretty well hunkered down in a lake of lava."
"The lava cools enough overnight so we can walk over it." One of the clone troopers replied
"Can't be very thick of a shell." Azoth replied
"It is enough to get across as long as we are careful." The trooper said
"Alright gather a squad and get as much explosives as you can carry." Azoth said
"Yes sir, I will get my men ready and meet you at your ship." The squad leader said as he turned and left.
"I said a detachment, not just a squad." Kira said agitated
"You wanted to test me and see how I work this is how I work." Azoth said "when we cross that lake the more of us the larger the chance of one of us falling through. If we did a head-on attack they will hit us just as hard as we hit them and causalities will be high. With a surgical strike team, we have a chance of not being detected and they won't know what hit them. If we fail, do it your way full head on attack or hell orbital bombardment I don't care."
"I will give you one day to complete the mission if you have not finished your operation by then I will attack myself." Kira said as she walked away
"Fine not the first time I have had a dead line where if I didn't get out in time I would be blasted to oblivion." Azoth said to himself as he looked over the plans. "just have a drop ship ready for extraction when I call for it." He called out to her as she walked away
"That is if you are alive long enough to call for it." Kira called back
Azoth and the team of troopers landed on the lava planet and slowly made their way to the lava lake where they watched the facility till night fall. They waited an hour after nightfall when they saw that the lake had hardened over.
"Alright let's move." Azoth replied as he got up and they spread out and began to cross. They were about half way across when his foot gave way and he quickly picked it up before it went through. That was when he saw cracks in it starting to spider web across the area of the lake they were on. "Shit move!" he called out to his men as they all began to run.
"Shit Durzo focuse my shields to my legs." Azoth said to the AI.
"Already ahead of you." Durzo replied "I did it as soon as you stepped onto the lake."
"Good" Azoth said as he looked around while running to see the rest of the squad flanking him. He didn't look down to see the lake giving way. Once he made close enough to the shore he jumped and saw the rest of the squad on the beach with him. "We lose anyone?"
"9876 and 2357." The squad leader replied.
"Damn't" Azoth spat to himself
"This is your fault, if we had gone with Master Yugan's plan they would still be alive." One of the other troopers said walking up to him.
"Maybe, maybe not but there would be a lot more dead then just them if we did it that way." Azoth said grabbing the trooper by the collar and slamming him up against a boulder. "There is a time and place for brute force attacks and a time for small precis ones that are high risk for us but a chance to prevent larger amounts of bloodshed. This is my specialty now let us stop wasting time and not let their deaths be in vain so we can prevent the rest of your brothers from dying." He spat as he dropped the trooper and moved out.
"Damn merc." The trooper spat as he stood back up, and followed him.
They worked their way up the back side of the volcano till they found a small door.
"Here we are." Azoth said as he went to the control panel.
"Here." A trooper said as he walked up to the door with breaching charge.
"No that will give us away." Azoth said as he put his hand to the control panel and pulled it revealing wires. "You got it?" he asked Durzo as the door slide open.
"Alright let's move." The squad leader said as they moved in quietly they soon came across a security room. Azoth knocked and waited till it opened revealing a battle droid at the door.
"I didn't think change over was for an hour." The droid said as he saw the squad of clones and was quickly blasted along with the other one in the room.
"Alright I need blue prints and the best places to set these explosives." Azoth said as the troopers jumped on the security station and he placed his hand on it letting Durzo download everything and began typing on one of the computers as the blueprints came up.
"Here, this is not a dead volcano but a dormant one." The squad leader said "They are using the geothermal vents to power this place. If we detonate them the volcano will erupt destroying this entire facility."
"Good." Azoth said as he looked at a monitor "Two men stay here and get in contact with Yugan about our extraction, and one watch our progress and tell us if we are walking up on any enemy." He said then turned toward the squad leader. "You take four men to hit those generators, I'll take three to make sure this project HK is destroyed."
"Yes sir." The squad leader said as he two three of the troopers and headed out.
Azoth moved out with the three men who had come with him and slowly made their way to the secret project. They soon came to a heavy door, and Azoth went to the control panel and had Durzo hack it. Soon the door slid open and they moved in. They saw a group of battle droids walking around and quickly blasted them before they could call for help.
"Move." Azoth commanded as they cleared the rest of the room and entered the control room where a Neimoidian scientist stood up holding up its hands.
"I surrender." It said.
"What is this project?" Azoth demanded moving up to him
"Project HK?" the scientist asked.
"No the care bears one." Azoth replied sarcasticly but just got a confused look, and he just shook his head seeing it was lost on the alien. "Yes the HK project"
"They will kill me if I tell you." The scientist replied
"Bitch I'll fucking kill you." Azoth said digging his blaster under his chin.
"Ok ok." The scientist said and began blubbering nonsense
"This is taking too long." Azoth said as he went to the counsel himself and began typing and Durzo hacked the system.
"Seems they found an ancient assassination droid and have been trying to copy it and make it into an army." Durzo explained.
"Alright." Azoth said looking at his troopers "place charges on each one of those droids out there."
"Yes sir." The troopers said as they ran out and began to do their task.
"And they seem to have that door back there heavily locked down and it will take me a while to open it." Durzo explained.
"I think I got this." He said to the AI as he turned toward the scientist "I'm guessing you are the head scientist at least I hope so."
"Oh yes." The scientist said "I am the head scientist here."
"Good now open that door." Azoth said pointing to the door in the back that said 'restricted personnel'
"Oh I…" the scientist began to protest but saw he was looking down a blaster "yes right away." He said leading Azoth to the door. Once it opened Azoth moved in with the scientist and he looked around and heard a robotic voice.
"Sarcastic question: so back again to tear out more of me?" the robotic voice asked and Azoth looked over to see a reddish brown android. "Confusion: you are not my jailer. Question: will you release me from these bonds?"
"Depends what's in it for me?" Azoth asked
"Proposition: If you release me and allow me vengeance on the meat bag who tortured and copied me, I will be forever in your service and call you master." The droid replied
"You mean this guy?" Azoth asked grabbing the scientist and pulling him into sight of the droid
"Answer: yes that is him." The Droid replied and Azoth walked over and released the restraints holding the droid letting him walk way "Gratitude: thank you master." He says walking over to the table and grabbing a blaster.
"What you can't do this." The scientist said "I surrendered."
"I see him going for a blaster." Azoth shrugged looking over at the droid.
"Admiration: thank you master. Request: may I make it long and painful" the droid asked
"This place will be exploding soon." Azoth replied
"Understanding: we are on a strict timeline I will make it quick." The droid said as he shot the scientist.
"What is your name?" Azoth asked as he put his hand on the droids shoulder.
"Introduction: I am an assassination droid designation HK 47" HK 47 replied
"Alright I'm Kyler Azoth call sign Night Angel" Azoth replied
"Registering: Kyler Azoth new master also known as Night Angel." HK replied just then the troopers burst in blasters up.
"Stand down!" Azoth called before anyone could fire.
"Sir we heard a blaster." The trooper replied looking to see the feet of the scientist sticking out from behind a table.
"Bastard tried to pull a blaster on me, and my new friend covered me." Azoth replied pointing a thumb at HK.
"Question: master shall I blast these meatbags as well?" HK asked as the troopers gripped their blasters tightly.
"No these men are under my command." Azoth replied
"Confirmation: very well master." HK replied lowering his blaster getting the troopers to lower their blasters as well.
Just then Azoth's radio went off. "Sir we have reached general Yugan, she says extraction in 5 minutes."
"Roger that tell her to land on the upper platforms and then make your way up there yourselves." Azoth commanded
"Yes sir." The trooper replied
"Sergeant you have those bombs set?" Azoth asked
"A-firm" the sergeant replied
"Good, once you get on the lift and half way up set them off." Azoth replied "We need to be out of here before this whole thing goes off under us."
"Yes sir." The sergeant replied
"Alright let's move." Azoth commanded as they began to move out the door and headed to the lift
As the doors opened they found the two troopers who had been at the security station, already engaged with enemy droids. Azoth and his team took cover as they felt a rumble under them.
"well there goes the generators." Azoth called "hit the project." He said as one of the clones nodded and hit his detonator and they felt another rumble.
Just then they saw the drop ships coming in, Azoth stood up and pushed forward "alright let's give those birds a clear landing pad!" he yelled as the troopers pushed forward and cleared the way. The dropships landed on pads and the side panels opened revealing another team of troopers who opened up on the droids coming to reinforce the ones that had been destroyed.
"Ah one hell of a mess you have gotten yourself into." Came Kira's voice as Azoth looked up to see her blocking blaster bolts with her double-bladed lightsaber, and his team jumped onto the dropship.
"Still waiting on four more." Azoth called back as the lift doors opened revealing the team that went after the generators. "move your asses!" Azoth yelled as they felt the base shake and saw some lava spit out of the top of the volcano. The team ran full speed toward them when one was hit and fell.
"Leave him we have to move, that thing is going to blow." yelled Kira
"God damn't, cover fire!" Azoth shouted as he rushed out toward the downed clone under heavy fire. He quickly grabbed the clone and threw him over his shoulder and rushed back barely making it back to the dropship as it was taking off. Azoth laid the wounded clone on the floor as a medic began to examine him.
"Sir you saved me." the clone said getting Azoth to look at him to see it was the one that gave him a hard time after the lake crossing.
"I have never abandoned my men, and I don't intend to now." Azoth said
"I misjudged you." The trooper said groggily as the pain killers kicked in.
"Confusion: why would you risk your life for that meat bag?" HK asked
"let me put this in terms you would understand, I am a marine I kill the enemies in front of me without hesitation and protect the men next to me just as fiercely, so you could say it is against my programing to abandon them."
"Understanding: No one can go against their programing." HK replied
"Yeah and mine is loyalty to my men." Azoth replied
"Well a little over the top don't you think?" Kira asked looking down at the erupting volcano that used to be the secret base.
"Well I do like to go out with a bang." Azoth replied with a chuckle
"Entertained: that is funny master" HK replied
"And who is this?" Kira asked looking over at HK.
"General this is HK 47 the separatist secret project, he is an assassination droid. They were trying to build an army of them." Azoth explained.
"Assassination droids have been illegal since the days of the old republic." Kira said "he will have to be decommissioned, and melted down."
"Request: master I would greatly like to blast this meat bag." HK requested
"You won't blast her and she won't melt you down." Azoth said "Because he follows my orders and only my orders, he will fight by my side no matter what you or even the council says." He says stepping up to her.
"Very well but if he at all crosses the line I will have him melted down and you executed for war crimes." Kira said looking at the troopers that had gone down with begin to back him up over her.
"Very well." Azoth replied as he went back and stood next to HK and held on to the overhead grips
"Gratitude: thank you master. I believe I will enjoying being under your command." HK said
"Like I said I look out for my men." Azoth said "even if they are aren't flesh and blood."
END CHAPTER 6
A/N alright had to bring HK 47 he is one of if not my favorite robots in star wars or any verse I can think of right off the top of my head, bender from futurama is the only one I can think of that comes close. But I am sorry if I really screwed up the way he talks I watched a best of video on youtube of him and saw that is how he talks. Please read and review let me know what you thought.
