"The Republic Commandos are the best. I'm honored to have taught and led these incredible soldiers. They're easier to work with than most Mando'ade I've encountered. I am sure you will realize the benefit of both their genes and their training."
Sergeant Rav Bralor, Cuy'val Dar, in a transmission to Master Arligan Zey
0700 Hours, Battle of Geonosis, Month 5, Day 22, 22 BBY, remote canyon 2 km South of front linesThunder. And lightning. Or was it the booming and flashes of explosions? Ka'rta certainly couldn't tell, taking the sounds and flickering light to be the weather on his homeworld. He was abruptly woken by his sergeant, now that they were in the field, Ajax. Sergeant Bralor was still on Kamino. They had been deployed so rapidly, none of them had had the chance to say a proper goodbye. It tended to leave a gap.
It wasn't the thunder and lightning of Kamino Ka'rta had been hearing all this time. He'd fallen asleep to the sound of explosions and blaster fire on Geonosis.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," came the familiar, smooth sound of Ajax's voice.
"Were we fighting?" Ka'rta said weakly. "Did I get shot?"
"Yeah, you were hit. We got evacced from the battle zone and you were still incapped. Buckler gave you a quick dose of bacta, and you slept pretty soundly."
"Good to know. Thanks, eight." Ka'rta blinked his eyes, activating his HUD. A flurry of data came rushing at him, in all shapes and colors. A quick glance off to the side, and he could hear the sounds of battle chatter through the audio system he'd just activated. He wanted to find out what was going on on the frontline two klicks out. Through the static, he could begin to make out the chatter. He knocked on his bucket a couple of times, and just like that, the static was gone.
"...point five two, headed your way."
That's not a CT's voice, Ka'rta found himself thinking. Sounds like an Alpha ARC.
"Copy that, Commander. Two tin cans, mark five two."
Commander. That explains a lot.
The unforgettable sound of Geonosian wingbeats came through the comlink. Ka'rta instinctively ducked.
"Did I forget to mention the bugs?" The voice of the commander.
"Yes, sir," the trooper replied. "You didn't tell us there were bugs around here."
Ka'rta slowly began to get up from his instinctive duck.
"Listening in on the battle?" inquired Ca'ad. He looked quite relaxed, sitting there in his matte black night ops armor. Ka'rta tuned his audio systems back to the squad channel. The nice thing about the specialized Katarn helmetwas that nobody could tell what was going on in your bucket unless you had the comlink on, or you didn't hide your body language. You could be having a heated argument underneath those helmets, and nobody outside would know the difference.
"Yeah. Remind me not to do that so soon after sleeping. Especially after the flashbacks I keep having. You remember some of those sims, don't you?"
"Don't listen to battle chatter this early," Ca'ad responded, reaching out to Ka'rta with a joke, something to lift his spirits.
"Yeah, thanks. Big help now," Ka'rta said, rolling his eyes, obviously responsive to Ca'ad's little attempt at humor.
Buckler looked up from calibrating his explosive DC-17m anti-armor attachment. "Look who finally decided to join us for caf. Now I get to be a little louder, nobody left to wake up."
"Don't waste our ordinance, Buck. You know I'll have a fit when we don't have enough for a door breach," replied Ajax. "Waking Ka'rta up wasn't the only reason I said 'no.' That's still my answer."
"Fine," grumbled Buckler. "Just as long as I handle the ordinance next mission."
Ca'ad looked up. "Looks like that next mission starts a little sooner than we thought."
Phi Squad turned their heads in perfect unison to look for an incoming LAAT/i. The distinctive profile of the clone dropship, basically a trapezoid with slightly A-shaped wings, was incredibly hard to miss.
Why does he always see things before the rest of us? Must be why he's the sniper, thought Ka'rta. Then his HUD locked onto an incoming vessel. He looked at his squad's POV icons. They saw it, too.
"Well, looks like somebody thought we did a good job with that shield generator yesterday. Too bad we couldn't have helped Delta retrieve those Sep launch codes," commented Ca'ad.
"Yeah. I would've liked a shot at that coreship console," commented Buckler. "But the sound that shield generator made when it went up in smoke was more than satisfying."
"Stow it, both of you. And get your shebse on that transport when it lands. I don't want any chatter while we're getting briefed," commanded Ajax as the familiar, relieving sound of gunship engines blasted over them.
The gunship landed and its doors slid open to reveal a shiny white-armored, figure, white armor trimmed with blue. "Phi Squad, you're getting put back on the front line. I'll brief you on the way," the clone lieutenant's voice said.
"You heard the man, boys, shift it!" ordered Ajax. "Come on, get in that larty now!" Armor plates cracked against one another as Phi Squad filed into the transport.
The lieutenant began his briefing promptly. "For this mission, you'll be joined by a potentially familiar face from Kamino; N-11 'Ordo.' If you ever worked with Kal Skirata, you'll know Ordo. He's already on the ground waiting for you."
Ka'rta interjected, "I know Ordo. He's one of the Nulls. Skirata's 'instant death on legs.'" He opened his mouth to speak again.
Ajax glared coldly. "Let the good lieutenant finish telling us about our mission and I might just let you off this time. Next time, just save the comments for after the briefing.
"Sorry, boss-man."
"Thank you, sergeant," resumed the lieutenant. "Now, then, where was I? Right. Your mission is to recover data from a Sep bunker we captured about 15 klicks out. It's coded for self-destruct, so be careful. The second part of your mission will be to find and arrest Nemoidian general Manri Shaelon. Whatever happens, we want him back alive." The lieutenant paused to let the urgency of the command sink in. "I'll provide you with intel and objectives," he resumed. "We'll keep in touch via comlink. Good luck, and have fun down there."
"Oh, I will. Slicing and takedown? Always fun," commented Buckler. Ajax looked over at him. Even through his helmet, the squad could see his trademark "shut up and get to work" death glare. Buckler fell silent.
The LAAT/i landed with a dull thump and the doors parted. Outside stood a formidable-looking ARC captain. A clone could tell he was an ARC from the sharply cut pauldron and neat kama.
"I'm Captain N-11," the captain announced. "Call me Ordo. You lot are going to be taking orders from me, not from that stuffy, reg lieutenant. The only thing he's good for is relaying orders from HQ. But out here, you follow my lead. Got it?"
The four commandos nodded an affirmative in incredible synchronization.
"Good. I like a unit who understands its place. And the men in that unit. Let's move!" the Null ARC commanded. Phi Squad moved as a single body to follow Ordo.
"I never got the chance to thank you about that time Mereel shoved my head down the 'freshers back on Kamino. Thanks for coming to my aid," said Ka'rta to break the silence.
"I'm beginning to see why he did that. Maybe he did it to teach you about what happens to annoying shabla smart-asses like you."
If you thought Alpha-batch ARCs were tough, you were really in for a surprise from the Nulls. Dubbed "uncommandable" by the Kaminoans when they were just four, they could kill you before you realized you were dead, or show you what fierce loyalty meant. Right now, Ordo was walking the fine line between the two extremes, and not doing a very convincing job of it. The thought of killing a brother was inconceivable for Ordo. He hoped Ka'rta would decide to shut up. The squad medic did just that.
An explosion boomed in the distance. Ajax's distinctive purple-striped helmet swiveled toward the sound. "I think they're having some fun out there at the frontline." He frowned. "A little too much fun."
Buckler tried to stifle a laugh and failed. "I wish I was out there with them. That blast sounded like a lot of fun."
Ca'ad spoke up. "Yeah, I gotta admit, vibroblading droids would be a lot more fun than this."
Ka'rta maintained his silence. Ordo spoke instead, a little tension obvious in his voice. "Focus, Phi. An ARC is trained to work alone, and I'd much rather do that than listen to you lot grumbling. Either shut up or go join them."
"Getting a little pissy there, eh Ordo?" Ka'rta commented. "We're just spouting some bravado. Nothing to lose your temper at."
Ordo body-slammed him to the ground and ejected a vibroblade from his gauntlet. "You shut it now and I might just let that comment slide. Otherwise, you'll find out what a droid feels when you shove a blade in its neck. Understand?"
Ka'rta nodded feebly. "Got it, sir."
Ordo got up off him and offered his arm. Ka'rta took it.
"Eighty, try to remember what Sergeant Bralor told us about wisecracking on the battlefield and when to stow it," directed Ajax. "In fact, try to remember everything she told us about people skills."
Ca'ad snickered. "While you're at it, remember what she said about shooting straight."
A green and yellow knuckle plate collided with Ca'ad's visor. Buckler was angry. "Lay off him, six. We all make mistakes on occasion. Especially when none of us got enough sleep. And I know for a fact that Ka'rta was the only one who got so much as a wink last night, much less forty."
Ca'ad took up a fighting stance, preparing to retaliate. "So you want me to grab a stress ball or something? We're not exactly watching holovids in the barracks here. This is war. We can't afford to lose time calming down. Like Bralor always told us, we're more effective fighters when we're on edge."
"She also told us to save the fighting for the droids." Ajax now. "So, break it up. Shake hands. Now. And make sure you mean it"
The two shook hands. "Sorry about that, eighty. Buckler's right, none of us got enough sleep. Still vode?"
"Vode an," replied Ka'rta and Buckler in one voice. Yet again, they were "brothers all."
Ordo turned. "All the touchy-feely stuff over yet? We've got a job to do, if you haven't noticed."
Ajax spoke for the squad. "Yes, sir. And we're ready to do whatever HQ needs. Right?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" the other three shouted.
"Good. We're almost there. Oh, check your helmet seals," Ordo added. "We encountered a little gas problem earlier trying to slice the data. When we checked for other traps, there was, among other things, an IED, an auto-turret system, and a droid dispenser in the back. That's why we called in the commandos. Better slicers, tougher armor, and better training."
"I just love a good data slice," added Buckler.
For the rest of the walk, Phi Squad shuffled along behind the Null ARC captain in silence.
1000 hours, Day Two of the Battle of Geonosis, Republic-controlled bunker"It looks like it's been deserted for some time," Ka'rta commented.
Ordo checked his chrono. "Last time somebody was here was five hours ago. Oh, I might have forgotten to mention that system reset is set for twenty-four hundred tonight. So get cracking."
Buckler walked over to the console through a mess of fallen pipes and loose wires hanging from the ceiling. "This place sure is a mess." He sat down and started typing.
"Ordo mentioned an IED. Let's disarm it before Buckler triggers it," Ajax directed.
"Hold on a minute. Let me make a backup of this computer before we try anything."
"Already tried. That's what triggered the system reset. I'm sure if you try again, all the data will be wiped," cautioned Ordo.
"Did the last person to hack this console get past the security authorization?" Buckler leaned back in his chair.
"How did you do that? Seriously, that's impressive," responded Ca'ad.
"The captain said I was on a timetable, so I got out my bag of quick fixes. Downloading the data now." Buckler gloated, holding up his datapad.
"Good work, thirty-three. I like someone who can complete a mission quickly and without questions." Ordo glared at Ka'rta. "But we're not done yet. Remember your next objective?"
Ajax joined in. "Yeah, that Neimie general Manri Shaelon, right?"
"That's him," Ordo confirmed.
Everything was going smoothly for Phi Squad. In less than a blink of an eye, that changed. The alarm had been triggered.
"Status report," demanded Ordo.
"I don't know what went wrong, sir. I must have tripped the firewall. And according to this display, it's going to make a big 'boom' if I can't enter the password in thirty seconds." Buckler gulped. "I didn't think to reset it. I got into the system, so why would I need the password? Stang, we're in for it now. This is the one kind of explosion I don't like."
Ka'rta went over to the maintenance panel on the console. Sure enough, there was a bomb. He started to defuse it. "Fierfek. I can't remember which wire it's supposed to be. Red-red-green or red-green-red?"
"Wait a minute, don't you always say that?" Buckler questioned.
"Not always. Also, shut up. I need to think. What's the blast rating on this body bucket?" Ka'rta searched for the rating on his HUD. "Got it. Rated to withstand a three-kiloton boom. Alright." He exhaled deeply.
"Fifteen seconds."
"This isn't one of the types of explosives they trained us to disarm," he concluded after going back through his explosive ordnance disposal training. I'll have to guess. Risky, but the risk is worth it if I can pull this off. "Get out of here, all of you! I'm guessing from here on, so anything goes. The armor can withstand the blast, but the shrapnel will kill you. Get out! Now!" he yelled.
The squad filed out, ready to hit the deck in an instant.
Ka'rta cut the first wire, exhaling in relief when nothing exploded. The wire he cut next, however, was the wrong one. The explosion sent him flying onto his back. He got lucky. The shrapnel either missed him completely or glanced unconvincingly off his armor. Moments later, he began to hear faint voices.
"Eighty, you still with us? Ka'rta?"
"Vod, can you hear us?... Are you alive?"
"He must be underneath that rubble. Clear a path." That must have been Ordo.
A green and yellow helmet appeared over him. "Fierfek, he must be hurt," Buckler announced. "Bad. There's cracks in his visor, but I think the armor held up. Get a gunship in here now. He needs a doctor, ASAP."
"This is N-11 requesting an immediate evac on RC-5280. Repeat, N-11 requesting evac on RC-5280." Ordo had two fingers pressed to the side of his helmet. "Sergeant, get your squad out to the RV for the next objective. The three of you will have to do the second half by yourselves. Get that Niemie hut'uun - traitor - back to HQ for me, copy?"
"Yes, sir. We'll take him in," Ajax said. "For Ka'rta. For the Republic."
Buckler took a moment more next to Ka'rta as the roar of LAAT/i engines came closer. "You'll be okay, vod'ika." It's all right, little brother. "I promise. We'll all be back to see you."
The gunship landed and two clones with red medical insignia on their shoulders hoisted Ka'rta onto a stretcher and hauled him into the gunship. Ordo signaled the pilot. The doors slid closed, and the transport headed for the RAS Prosecutor, the Republic Commando temporary base of operations.
0730 hours, one day After the Battle of Geonosis, Republic Assault Ship Prosecutor, in orbit of Geonosis
Ajax paced nervously in the corridor outside Buckler's hospital bed. He had been injured during the extraction of General Shaelon. Ca'ad sat next to the door on a bench.
"You're going to wear a hole in the deck plating, you know," the sniper remarked. "It isn't going to get either one of them out of the hospital any sooner."
"I know," Ajax replied, "but at least it helps me pass the time."
Ca'ad shrugged the comment off, resuming his blank stare into the distance.
A few moments later, a medical droid walked out of the room.
"RC-8233 has successfully healed," the droid reported. "You may see him now."
Ajax rushed into the room, eager to see his brother again. Ca'ad followed him closely.
Buckler was busy strapping his armor plates back on, unaware of how much time he'd spent in the bacta tank. It had been a full rotation.
"Hey, boss," the slicer said upon looking up to see his sergeant. "How's Ka'rta?"
Ajax's smile faded. "He's still in a coma, I'm afraid. The doctors say he isn't responding to stimulants. It could be days or even years before he wakes up."
A tear started down Buckler's cheek. "Why him? Why not one of us?"
"Why'd it happen in the first place?" Ajax retorted. "I made a mistake not ordering him to get out of there and follow us. That bomb should have gone off without any of us inside."
"He'll be okay," Ca'ad comforted the two. "Our doctors can fix him up."
"I sure hope so," said Buckler. "I'm not sure how we'd possibly get along without him."
"I know," replied Ajax. "I guess all we can do until he gets better is to wait for new orders."
"Or news from the doctor," Buckler supposed, strapping on his forearm plates and holding his helmet as if he was going to pull it on. "Whichever comes first. Want to head down to the mess in the meantime? A day in the bacta doesn't help the appetite any."
"Sure," Ajax replied. "Maybe we can play a few hands of Sabacc, too."
Buckler grinned. "Why not? Ca'ad?"
The sniper grinned as well. "I'm in."
The three spent three more days waiting before the news came from the doctors. Ka'rta was out of the coma, and was sleeping. Ajax led the other two into the room, and they sat at the foot of his bed, waiting for their comrade to wake. In less than an hour, he did.
Ka'rta's eyes opened suddenly and he sat bolt upright. He screwed up his face at the feeling of tense muscles and a crick in his neck. It felt like his back popped, too. Lying in a bed for four days seemed to make everything stiff and sore.
He looked around, seeing the familiar colors of his squad's armor in a circle around him. There wasn't a single helmet on any of Phi Squad's heads. Not even Ca'ad's. Ka'rta could see all his brothers' scars. Buckler's was especially obvious, a large gash across his forehead.
This was a strictly man-to-man moment, no buckets to get in the way. "Hey. Nice to see you up, Eight-oh." Buckler had broken the silence. "We were worried there a minute." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "You slipped into a coma there for a few days. The doctors said that they almost couldn't get you out of it. You took quite a shock when that bomb went off. I think even Ordo likes you after that stunt. Just... never try to play the hero. Ever again."
"I thought our job was to play the heroes," smiled Ka'rta weakly. "After all, we're the best, right?"
"What Buckler means to say is that you should never need to sacrifice yourself for us like that again," Ajax said. "And you don't need to do that. We'd all be fine if I had just ordered you to get out of there. Why did I let you do that?"
"It was what I needed to do, sarge. If there was a way to save that data, I would have found it. The mission always comes first, right?" Ka'rta paused a moment. "Speaking of the mission, how did the second half of our deployment go?"
Ajax started to tell the story. "Well, we took the bastard in. Do you want to hear the really long version of the story?"
"We've got plenty of time. Tell me everything."
"I'll start with the last thing you remember. The explosion. The three of us were outside. The bomb went off, and we hit the deck. Ordo called in an evac, and we started checking to see if you were alive under all that rubble…
Four days earlier, just after the bunker explosionAjax was beyond worry. He was in panic.
"Eighty, you still with us? Ka'rta?" he asked the pile of rubble.
"It's always the medic that goes down first," observed Ca'ad.
"Vod, can you hear us?... Are you alive?" Buckler was also panicky. Ajax brought him into a private com channel.
"Buck, I need you with me. We haven't got time to waste. That tone of panic I heard has to go away. At the least, your concern can't interfere with your performance. Udesii, vod'ika." Relax, little brother.
"Yes, sir. I'll calm down."
Ordo went into emergency mode. "He must be underneath that rubble. Clear a path."
Ca'ad and Buckler started to lift away the rubble. Ajax soon joined them.
"Got him over here." Buckler bent down to lift a block of permacrete off Ka'rta's legs. "Fierfek, he must be hurt. Bad. There's cracks in his visor, but I think his armor held up. He'll have major bruising, potential concussion. Ordo, get a gunship in here now. He needs a doctor, ASAP."
"This is N-11 requesting an immediate evac on RC five-two-eight-zero. Repeat, N-11 requesting evac on RC-5280."
"... I had to get the squad in gear after that, so that we could get on the road and get that general in cuffs and back to HQ. Buckler was really worried about you. I had to keep telling him that you were in the capable hands of the medics, and that you'd be fine."
"I'm definitely fine, and we're all here now," Ka'rta stated. "Gotta give credit to those Kaminoan armorsmiths. They know how to make a fine piece of kit."
"You just wait till the part where we all get sniped. None of us would still be alive if not for this tough Katarn armor. Those snipers sure were surprised when they didn't kill us. Anyhow, we watched your gunship depart, then set out for the RV…
"Fierfek, I can't believe that just happened. Ka'rta doesn't need to play the hero. He's got nothing to prove to us. Today is a good day for anybody else to die. Just not him!" Buckler was quite emotional, nearly sure he was about to lose a pod brother.
"He'll be okay. I promise. This armor is tougher than a Nikto is to crack. And our doctors know how to treat clones. He'll be alright," Ajax comforted. "Worry more about taking in the good Separatist general."
"Yes, sir. The mission comes first," Buckler affirmed, shutting off his feelings like years of practice had taught him to do.
"Good man."
A blue-hued hologram flickered to life in Ajax's glove. "Phi Squad, are you there?" It was the lieutenant from before. "I heard about eight-zero. Do you need an evac, or can you take General Shaelon without him?"
Ajax responded without hesitating. "We were trained to be the toughest Mando'ade on the battlefield. We fight first, feel later." They were Mandalorians, like Jango Fett, their "father." The best of the best. Warriors that had seen more wars than history cared to record.
"Excellent. Continue to your rendezvous point and Captain Ordo will meet you again. From there, you will set up an observation nest. Shaelon's transport is scheduled to pass that location at 1430 hours. You should see it coming from the west. Use minimal-damage weapons- EC and stun grenades only. Understood?"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
The hologram fizzled back out.
"You heard the man. Phi Squad, move out! Now!"
The three-man squad started jogging. Ordo's voice came into their helmet comms.
"Phi, what's your ETA?"
Ajax answered. "We're still about five klicks away from the RV. I estimate we can get there at…" he checked his chrono. It told him it was 1200 hours. "...1220 hours. That'll give us two more hours to set up for a traffic stop. Unless the target's early."
"Understood. See you in twenty minutes."
"You got that right, sir. Come on, squad, double time! Move it!"
15 minutes later, at the RV pointThe three commandos were out of breath. Carrying a thirty-kilo pack while running was no easy feat. However, they'd trained through worse. Crawling through nerf guts just to start survival training with little food and no sleep was far worse than having to run with all the extra weight of a survival pack. They were elite soldiers, and even more than that, Mandalorians. They could and would do anything to win.
Ordo lay prone at the top of a nearby cliff face. "Congratulations, vode. You're tougher than I expected."
Ajax was breathing very heavily. "Trained to be the best and toughest, sir," he panted.
"More like bred. Do you know how much the Kaminoans changed your genes? Too much. They took away our freedom. They made us super-obedient. They stripped us of our humanity."
Ca'ad laughed. "You should be a poet, Captain."
"Very funny," Ordo said sarcastically.
"I'm serious. You should write poetry. All that stuff about humanity, very poetic. We're clones. Never once were we human. Not to them."
"You don't know just how little value they put in our lives. You didn't have a termination sentence when you were four." He paused, but only for a moment, to let the gravity of that remark sink in. "I want you up here in sniper positions. And get ready to take down an AAT."
"I brought just the tool," said Buckler excitedly. "This anti-repulsorlift field generator should interfere with anything up to MTT size. AATs and speeder bikes are useless against this."
"Excellent. I like a man who prepares. Let's get to work. Set that tool up next to the road. Make sure it gets camouflaged. Oh-eight, prep yourself and thirty-three for interdiction ops. We're going to take down that transport and bring in Shaelon."
"...we all set up, then waited. The convoy was right on time."
"Hurrah for good intel, right?" Ka'rta seemed excited for the next part of the story.
"Keep your helmeton, ner vod. I'm getting to the real exciting part. The convoy arrived right on schedule, and we had more than enough time to prepare…
"I got three contacts, mark three two seven." Ca'ad really loved his sniper scope. "Coming your way at…" he did some calculations. "...eighty kph. Buckler, your traffic stop prepped?"
"Just waiting for the signal from the point," was Buckler's response. "Boss?"
"Wait…" was Ajax's cool reply.
"Wait…"
"Ten…"
"Nine…"
"Eight…"
"Seven…" Buckler prepped his finger over the button.
"Six…"
"Five…" Ca'ad joined Ajax in the countdown and trained his rifle on the AAT's forward hatch.
"Four…" Ordo prepared an EC grenade in his fist.
"Three…" Buckler brought his finger closer to the button.
"Two…" Ajax rolled over in his cover in order to see the convoy better.
"One…" they all began executing their respective responses.
"Mark!" all four yelled in unison. Buckler's little surprise came first, then Ordo threw his grenade. That took out the droids on speeder bikes. After the hatch opened, Ca'ad shot at the droid that came out.
"Boom! Headshot! I love this job!"
Next was Ajax and Buckler together. They stormed the tank, Deeces trained on the rear hatch. It opened, and they shot. Ajax signaled for Buckler to take the main turret. He yelled down to Ajax. "Nothing, sir! Not a trace of any wets. Shaelon was never here."
"What? Stang, that's not supposed to happen. Intel got the mode of transport wrong."
Ordo interjected. "The General must be in a shuttle bound for Raxus. Or he's not leaving."
"... so by then we knew that we had very little chance of arresting General Shaelon."
"So we had bad intel. Happened all the time in training. But I thought you said we took him in," Ka'rta observed.
"We did. And only because Ca'ad can hit a Sheathipede engine from two klicks…
An arrow flickered in the upper left corner of Ca'ad's HUD.
"Sarge, I've got something. Mark two five four."
"Copy that, six. Looks like a Sheathipede. Might be our general. Take it out of the sky."
"With extreme pleasure, sir."
His HUD told him when the target was at a two thousand meter range. He took the shot.
"That's a hit, boss."
"Excellent. Let's go grab the spoils of our work."
The three-man squad and their ARC captain headed toward the spiral of smoke.
"I really wish Ka'rta could have seen that," said Buckler in awe. "That was awesome, six!"
"Cut the chatter, boys. Target's in view." That was Ordo talking. "Weapons ready. They'll have prepared a defense, especially if a general is on that shuttle."
Ordo was right. They had prepared a defense.
"Fierfek. I didn't think that many droids could fit in one of those tiny shuttles," noted Buckler.
"You charged your ammo cells, right?" Ajax wondered.
"Always do, sarge."
"Then we've got nothing to worry about."
"And I brought flash-bangs and high-strength binders."
"Good man."
The team checked the power levels on their blasters, reloading if necessary..
"On my mark. Three… two… one… mark!"
All four sprang out from their cover positions and opened fire.
"Have some of this, you rusted scrap of metal!"
"Kraffing tinnies!"
Buckler threw a grenade. The explosion knocked back the front line of droids. Just behind them, an advanced dwarf spider droid turned to fire.
"Set up anti-armor, over there!"
Buckler responded by moving to the indicated cover position and putting on his grenade launcher attachment. "Enemies go 'boom,' sir?"
He fired. The droid turned towards him. He took another shot. Ajax threw a grenade, then made a hand signal for Ca'ad to take cover to his left. The sniper moved and prepped his AA attachment. He fired. Again, the droid's weak spot, the eye, turned to face its assailant. Its eye sustained a direct hit.
"I hope they never program these things to be any more intelligent."
Ajax gave the command to focus fire and pulled out his anti-armor, too. The spider droid fired four missiles, one at each clone.
"Everybody, get down!" Ordo yelled. The squad obeyed.
"Hey, clanky, over here!" taunted Ca'ad. The grey-armored droid turned. Ca'ad's HUD told him that one more shot to the eye would destroy the droid. He took it.
"Bogey down, captain. We did it!"
"Job's not over yet, kid."
"Secure that shuttle, Phi!" Ajax commanded.
The squad moved to cover the door. Ca'ad made a hand gesture. Buckler placed a charge on the rear hatch of the shuttle. It blew, and Ajax tossed in a flash-bang. The squad rushed the door, and every droid form they could see was promptly downed. It was, in Ajax's words, a textbook op. The Nemoidian general lay stunned in the middle of the floor. Buckler took his binders out of his belt, and shoved them on Shaelon's wrists.
"... so that's how we took the man in."
"That can't be the end. Didn't you say earlier that you got sniped?" interrupted Ka'rta.
"I did," Ajax restarted. "And I never said that I was at the end of the story, did I?"
"No, sarge. Well, not directly."
"Well, then, I'll continue?"
Ka'rta nodded an affirmative.
"We got the good General in binders, and we had Ordo call for a gunship. Everybody thought that would be the end of the mission…
"Well, we made a clean run of that one, didn't we?" Buckler said, starting the conversation with a little bravado.
"We've got a larty on the way, and I keep expecting Bralor to yell 'endex,'" observed Ajax. This was their first real mission. Everything before was in training, where their beloved training sergeant would say when the "end of the exercise," or "endex," came.
"I don't think it's endex yet, vode. Look at that reflection," noted Ca'ad. "That looks like a pair of electrobinoculars to me. Could be a spotter."
"And where there's a spotter, there's a sniper," observed Buckler.
"Cover positions, everyone! Get down! Sniper!" Ordo raised his left gauntlet towards his helmet. "This is Ordo, with Phi Squad, reporting sniper attack at coordinates oh-seven mark three-eight. Repeat, sniper at oh-seven point three-eight."
A voice issued from his comlink. "N-11, do you have any more casualties?"
"Negative, General. We have the objective in our custody and are waiting for a pickup."
"Can you hold out until that gunship arrives in twenty minutes?"
"Unless that sniper can find a position where he's got a visual on us, yes."
"Prep for anti-sniper ops. Whatever you do, do not let that sniper get his crosshairs on your prisoner. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." Ordo's comlink was deactivated. "You heard him. Get the prisoner to a secure location."
"On it, sir," said Ca'ad, trying to wrangle the Nemoidian to the floor. He succeeded in pinning the Separatist general, and used his binders to lock the prisoner to a low pipe. "He shouldn't be getting up until we let him."
Ajax saw a major flaw in their protection of the prisoner. "Establish a perimeter around that prisoner. HQ really wants him back."
The team created a barrier between the general and any enemy forces that were attempting to make sure he never talked. Another shot from the sniper nest. This one hit Buckler square in the chest. "That hurt a bit. Armor integrity's down to about half. Six, can you get a fix on that sniper droid?"
Ca'ad switched to his sniper rifle attachment. "I think so. Just give me a minute… There. Got him." Ca'ad took his shot. The droid rolled over before Ca'ad's shot hit it. "Stang. It moved. Damn tinnies." He went for another shot, making sure the sniper droid wouldn't be focused on him. "Buck, I need you to make a distraction so I'm not in his crosshairs."
Buckler raised his sniper rifle. He took a shot, missing. "You're a better sniper than me, ner vod. And that droid is ready to finish me."
"Hang in there. Almost got my shot." Ca'ad's targeting reticule flashed red. He took the shot.
Buckler yelled out.
"What was that about? Buck?"
"That droid got one last shot off. It hit Buckler right in the chest. He's incapped. See anything else on that ridge?" Ajax wondered.
"Ridge is clean, boss."
Ajax walked over to Buckler's form on the ground. He knelt next to his brother and pulled out his bacta spray. "Ner vod, you're going to be okay."
Buckler simply moaned in response. There must have been another droid up there. It took a shot, taking Ajax down.
"... That's where my part of the story stops. Ca'ad can tell you what happened next. And the way he tells it is better than I ever could."
"Really? Do tell, Ca'ad," Ka'rta prompted.
Ca'ad stepped in front of Ajax. "Right. Ajax went down, and I had no idea what was supposed to happen now. Suffice it to say it's a really good thing Command assigned Ordo to us for this...
Ca'ad was quite frantic by then. "Leader down! Repeat, leader is down!"
"Take cover, ner vod. And get the prisoner out of sight."
Shaelon snorted. "Those snipers will kill us all in the glory of the Separatist Alliance!"
"Would you find a way to shut him up, seventy-six?"
"It would be my pleasure, sir." Ca'ad shuffled some items around and pulled a handkerchief from his survival pack. He tied it around the Separatist general's mouth as a gag. The Neimoidian offered no resistance.
Meanwhile, Ordo was beginning medical treatment on the two wounded commandos, with a single medkit and its bacta spray. Luckily, the most serious injuries either man had sustained were a concussion and a broken rib. Ordo knew that from his glove's tally scanner and the advanced biotechnology of Katarn armor. "Lie still," he instructed a struggling Ajax, who had the concussion. "You'll be all right. Just lie still and I'll give you an analgesic for the pain." Ordo put two fingers into the collar of Ajax's bodysuit and pulled it down so he could inject the medicine intravenously. Ajax stopped struggling and laid there, obviously soothed and content.
Ordo moved to Buckler. He started to prepare for transport, grabbing two loose sections of pipe and the wool blanket from the commando's survival pack. He took the blanket and folded it in thirds. Then he put the sections of pipe at each of the two folds, proceeding to roll Buckler onto the makeshift stretcher.
"Phi Squad, what's your status? I'm above the landing zone now," said a gunship pilot. His occupation was obvious from the engine noise in the background and his flash-learned CT accent.
"We can't hear your engine noise," observed Ordo, a bit concerned.
"That's odd. I'm right above you. I'm even detecting the crashed Sep shuttle. Let me come a bit closer to the ground."
"Right. We should hear you if you get closer. See if you can land."
"Copy that, sir!"
The gunship began its descent. But something was wrong. None of the squad saw or heard anything. The pilot wasn't there. He was really flying above a plateau many kilometers away, where the ground was a hundred meters higher than at the crashed shuttle. Descent was not a good idea at that time.
"That's a negative on engine noise, pilot. Your instruments okay?"
The only response Ordo got was the sound of an explosion.
"Phi, your transport should be arriving promptly," came the non-clone voice of an officer in the RAS Prosecutor.
"We made contact with the pilot," Ordo explained. "But there's no gunship. I heard an explosion through the com. Someone must have tampered with his instruments. We're pinned down here with two casualties. Can you get us a transport or do we slot the prisoner?"
"Negative, negativeon killing the prisoner. Do the best you can. We'll work out a way to get help down to you. Even if it means bringing in paratroopers."
"Understood, sir. We'll stay here." There was a faint crackle in Ca'ad's helmet audio as HQ terminated the link. Ordo shifted into command mode. "Make sure to keep yourself alive. I can't do this alone." He moved towards Ajax's form. From the commando's belt, he took a defibrillator-looking device, field bacta, and held it up to Ajax's chest. It beeped several times, and Ajax breathed a deep breath before rising, albeit slowly.
"The sniper-what can we do? Is it still up there?" wondered Ajax.
"It's still there. And we'll be waiting awhile for a pickup. The first gunship they sent crashed. Probably instrument failure. Or sabotage."
"And Buckler? Is he okay?"
Ca'ad responded. "Fractured rib. He could probably fight, but let's not risk any internal injuries we don't need to."
"Right. Where can we get a good shot on that sniper?"
"If you lie prone and make an easy target for him…
Ajax interrupted Ca'ad. "It did not happen like that. You never gave me orders, and I never stood there looking like something to shoot at."
"Fine. You tell it."
With pleasure, Ajax resumed his side of events. "We were discussing the best way to take out that sniper droid, and finally settled on a plan…
"I'll go out in front, and you set up in cover here." Ajax pointed to a position. He switched to his sniper attachment, changing weapon types as swiftly and easily as he changed clips. "If I can't hit that droid, kill it for me."
"Got it, sir," confirmed Ca'ad.
Ajax took a deep breath, centering himself to run for it. He turned out into the open and raised his rifle, still moving towards cover. He found a crate for cover and aimed. He quickly found the droid in his scope, and muttered under his breath. "Hello, you're dead." He took the shot…
"...and I made the kill."
"Uh-uh. I made that kill, Sarge, and you know that full well," retorted Ca'ad.
"Artistic license. Hey, what goes around comes around. You know karma's a nasty chakaar, don't you?"
"Well, yeah, but eighty wants the accurate version of events."
Ka'rta looked amused. "If you boys don't behave, I can have the doctors drag you both out of here. So I can rest up."
"Okay, okay. I'll finish up quick," resumed Ajax. "Ca'ad made his shot. Right after that, we heard the distinct sound that meant the gunship crash was an isolated incident…
"Is that a larty I hear?" asked Ajax.
"I think so," replied Ca'ad.
Ordo tapped a button on his gauntlet. "N-11 to unidentified LAAT. Please tell me you're here to pick us up."
The pilot laughed. "I heard about what happened to the last poor soul who tried to come down for you. HQ sent a team to investigate the malfunction." He paused, for just a moment. "Anyway, we're here now. You say you had wounded?"
"Got one man inside the shuttle with a fractured rib, and a walking concussed man."
"We've got room."
The gunship landed. A pair of CTs with battle-scarred armor and Aurebesh saying "MP" on their shoulder plates walked out to retrieve the prisoner. Shaelon spat at Ordo's feet as he walked by. Ajax and Ca'ad proceeded to the gunship, the two holding Buckler on his makeshift stretcher. They set the stretcher on the floor of the gunship, and the doors slid shut.
"... the gunship took off, and we all made it back here to the Prosecutor. Then we waited for Buck to come out of the bacta tank, and then for you to wake up."
"Another successful mission. Glad they trained us to be the best despite anything."
"Ka'rta, you could say that again. But don't. I already have a concussion to recover from. Don't give me a headache, too."
Ka'rta laughed. "And I got blown up. See you later, then. After we've all rested up a bit."
"See you in the morning, ner vod."