(From CC-1628 "Leo"'s perspective)
Geonosis, 22 BBY
Chaos, that's all there was. Blood, screaming, and chaos. None of the other clones in the 71st Battalion knew what to do. 10 years of training, amounted to nothing. Even our Jedi General, Nonn Miorr, was unsure of what to do. General Miorr was a young Jedi, who seemed to be newly knighted (at least based off of the research that was required from the Alpha-17 program). Miorr was a young male wearing tan robes, wielding a green lightsaber, with a petrified look on his face. by the time we had reached the objective point assigned by Jedi Generals Yoda and Windu, we had lost about a third of our men. Miorr tried to lead by example, leading the line against the droids, but when your General goes to cower behind rocks whenever he faces the slightest bit of resistance from droids or Geonosians, it doesn't exactly insert confidence into your men. The most I could do was try to pick up the slack by taking out some of the droids with thermal detonators. One of our men, CT-2060, was trying to save as many of our men as possible, one of which got a nasty scar from a nearby explosion that took out the rest of his squadron. Even with his wounds, he kept on fighting. Retreating was not an option, and neither was surrender. Not only were B1 battle droids advancing on our position, but one of our troops spotted droidekas rolling in behind us. We had no rockets had had barely any detonators left. We were left between a rock and another rock. I decided to hold off the battle droids, while General Miorr would take out the droidekas. He had no clue how to take them out. He tried deflecting blaster bolts being shot by fthe droidekas back at them, but it wasn't effective due to the shields those rollies had. I wasn't focused on that though. All i cared about was taking out the B1's. That was my job, the General had his. with help from CT-4131, the clone who received the scar from the explosion, the B1's eventually retreated. we then noticed Miorr's troubles. there were at least 5 rollies lined up side by side on the narrow opening behind us. I took the final detonator and threw it at the rollies. Two of them blew up, and one more lost its shields. General Miorr was finally able to take out the final two droidekas. And breathe. There were no droids jumping out at every second. We had some time to tend to our wounded, and strategize on our next step. "Sir, what now? Have there been any transmitions from the Republic base?". The General went to check his comm link, only to realize that it had been damaged during the battle. Since the Generals we were assigned to a specific comm link for orders, we were on our own. "I guess we just stay where we are, there's not much else we can do", said Miorr, with a twinge of insecurity in his voice.
Several hours passed, and the scorching sun had started to get to some of the men. We were never used to this, especially with Kamino being such a rainy planet. Most of the troops simply sat around, unsure of what to do, many of them discussing what the next plan of action should be. CT-2060 pulled me aside, saying "the men are concerned, sir. They don't believe in this General, especially when our brothers are most likely advancing on important positions. Also, I don't think it's a good idea to wait for the Seps to come after us". "That's a fair concern, I'll ask the General. If I'm being honest, I don't believe in this guy either". "Good luck", said CT-2060 as he walked away. I walked up to the General, and explained the troops' concerns. "The men believe that we should form some sort of plan of progression, especially with our brothers most likely being assigned to important objectives. Alos, we don't want to wait for the droids to find us while we're vulnerable". Miorr looked confused, unsure of what to do, repsonding with "I'll think on it, tell the men to sit tight for now". The men didn't take the news well. Another hour passed, and yet nothing happened.
I went to go talk to the General and ask what he came up with, only for a shot to ring throughout the air. Next thing you knew, the General was on the ground, with a hole in his chest smoldering from what looked like a blaster bolt. We didn't have time to check the General's injuries, as the next thing you know, there was almost a full battalion of B2 battle droids heading in our direction. Cue panic. Blaster fire everywhere, shouting and detonators surrounding the air. "SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SIT ON YOUR ASS WAITING FOR THE ENEMY TO FIND YOU?", shouted CT-2060, to which I responded "REGARDLESS OF WHAT HAPPENED, WE HAVE TO GET THROUGH THIS BATTLE NO MATTER WHAT!". "GET THROUGH THIS BATTLE? DO YOU SEE HOW MANY OF THEM THERE ARE?", responded CT-2060. despite our best efforts, it was obvious we were outnumbered. It was only a matter of time before we would get overwhelmed.
Out of the blue, a miracle. Twin blue lightsabers started swinging in a bright frenzy, cutting down droid after droid after droid. In all my research, I never saw a Jedi with such proficiency with a lightsaber. It was the morale boost I needed. Instinctively I shouted to the rest of my troops to move forward. It seemed as if the morale boost got to the other troops as well. The battle ended quickly, as the Jedi took down at least half of the B2 battle droids, with the rest of the battalion being taken out by what remained of our forces. Once the skirmish subsided. The Jedi approached me, asking of the fate of our General. "He was killed by incoming blaster fire from the ambush". "I see, well, it looks like I will be your Jedi General on this rock. follow me. Oh, and the name is Jaren Arkanus." The Jedi trekked up the hill to survey the battlefield and the battle ensuing below us. Turns out that we managed to get behind enemy lines, with the Separatist forces being occupied.
"Commander, what is your name?", asked Arkanus. "My name? Alpha-17 called me Leo on Kamino". "Leo, I like that, it's simple, but it says a lot", said Arkanus. It was a big compliment, seeing as only Alpha-17 and other fellow commanders were the only ones who referred to me as Leo. "What is left of your battalion?". "About a third of it is left". Arkanus looked out onto the battlefield, then gave an order "get your men here, I want to have a word with them". "Will do sir". I quickly gained an admiration for General Arkanus, not only because he was decisive, and a great military mind, but also because he referred to me by my name instead of a number. Soon enough all of the troops who could fight gathered around. General Arkanus turned to the battlefield, then the troops, and said "tell me, did the lives of your fallen brothers hold any worth?". At first this confused the clones, but they answered yes to the question quite strongly. "Do you believe their sacrifice was in vain!?". "NO!", shouted the troops. I could see where he was getting at. "THEN LETS WIN THIS BATTLE FOR THEM!". It could have been a battalion, half a battalion, or a just a squad of clones, and we still would have won the battle. It was short and sweet, especially with the enemy already occupied. Even with our increased vigor, General Arkanus did a lot of the heavy lifting, paving a way for the rest of our battalion to take out the rest of the droids.
When the dust settled, the day was won. There were celebrations, but more out of relief than out of happiness. Our living hell was over, for now. "Well sir, it was an honour to serve alongside you, maybe we'll see each other again". I was secretly hoping that Arkanus would stay as our General, and so was the rest of our men. Luckily enough, he had the same feeling, as shortly after he approached Generals Windu and Yoda, and then came back to me saying "we'll certainly see each other again, especially since I've been assigned to your battalion." I was shocked, as well as estatic to serve under such a powerful and great Jedi Master. I saluted him, and one by one, the rest of the 71st Battalion saluted him too. "Welcome to the 71st Battalion, General." "It's an honour", replied Arkanus, before he walked back to Gneral Windu and Yoda, while we marched on to the assault craft. The war would rage on, but with a General like what we had, we could sure bet that we would survive, and win.