Chapter 3: Beginning of the End
Third Person
Within 30 minutes of combat, commander Rommel managed to take on the heavily defended city of Nabat. However, the cost of victory was high. During the city assault, the 10,000 battle droids that participated has been reduced by half its strength, 35 AAT tanks have been knocked out by the heavy fighting near the Anti Aircraft platform, 2 MTT's have been destroyed, and 1 PAC carrier was destroyed. What's worse is how Emir Wat Tambor has taken the remaining of Rommel's fighters and bombers to the other commanders around the planet. Emir Wat Tambor went as far as to stealing the commander's ship. Apparently, Kala'din, Leb'reen, and Sal'kaasa proved to be a challenge to the other commanders.
Near the former Anti Aircraft platform, Rommel and Roger the battle droid are checking their holo map to find a way to take the capital city of Nabat.
Roger's POV
"Sir, remind me again why I'm with you?" I asked my commander because I find it defies everything in my programming as a battle droid. My commander response irritably "For the fifth time Roger, I need you here to help make plans for the city assault so you can transfer the information to the others who will go in the assault." I respond back "But sir, I don't know how a repainted Republic gunship and a bunch of commando droids are going to take the city". The commander looks into the sky, with his hands cupping his face. I sensed his stress and I also sense a small sound of annoyance. I processed he is upset with me. He looks back at me saying "Okay, here is the plan, you and a small detachment of super battle droids and commando droids will go behind enemy lines using the cliffs as cover. Then the gunship will land come behind the city where you and the rest of the detachment will find any military weapons, ammunition, and Republic military plans and destroy them while I create a diversion. Once you destroy all or most of your objectives, return to the gunship immediately and come back to the base. By the way, if you see any jedi, do not engage, understand" I ask my commander the diversion plan to process the plan even further." My commander responded "Now that my metallic friend, is a secret. Just remember, return back to base and hold position." I respond back "Roger, Roger". "Excellent, now report back to your team and tell them that the attack begins at 1830 hours."
I rushed over to the small detachment of droids. I optical sensors pick up 8 commando droids, with an additional 10 super battle droids. I began transferring the commander's' orders to their central processing unit. 50% of the time, the super battle droids interrupted the transfer with constant questions. As I began to make my way to a gonk droid to resupply, I tripped and fell on the fuel line to the commander's tank. I looked around to see if anyone had spotted. After a while, I left out a sigh. "Hello, Roger, what are you doing behind my tank when it's refueling?" I slowly turned around and my optical sensors picked up my commander, grinning evilly and my CPU processed how angry my commander is. I sensed my best course of action is to tell him and hope for the best. "Ah sir, I was just aaaah" he responded back "Roger,tell, me, NOW" oh no, I am so going to be dismantled "sir, I tripped over the fuel line and" he interrupted me, rolling his eyes "obviously, just get the maintenance droids and get back to work.
Rommel's POV
Sigh, I swear, this plan would work much better with actual organic beings rather than these droids. The droids are great in certain areas. They are easily expendable, nobody is going to miss them, they don't require a large supply depot to keep them active, and I can easily call up more droids in smaller transports as well. While Roger and the strike force hits the capital city, I plan to march through 322 kilometers behind enemy lines and capture Lessu in 24 hours.
I won't report any of this to Emir Wat Tambor because of his incompetence. Honestly, how can that man lose an entire squadron within the first day of invasion.
In order for my plan to work, I would need lightning fast strikes and reconnaissance from the STAPs to attack their most heavily defended base. Once the Republic hears about the destruction of one of their bases, they would send in reinforcements from Lessu, while I would of already vacated the area and I would strike deeper into enemy territory and launch an attack on Lessu itself destroying it's already weakened defenses and with hope, I can force the surrender of the Twi'lek forces, leaving only the Republic stragglers for the Confederacy to take on. However, this is only with luck because the Confederacy's battle droids are notoriously...challenging to get great results from.
Anyways, I walked over to my tank to rearm the double barrel repeating blaster and refill the ammo for my cannon's main gun. Meanwhile, the maintenance droids are refueling my tank, however a little comically because of the way the droids are arguing who is in charge of the other. After another thirty minutes of waiting for the rest of my division to rearm and refuel I called for an immediate forward march at full speed.
Many hours have past as my tank is continuing to hover through the rocky terrain. Sometimes I see some yellow fields but it is just small in size to actually notice. What's worse is the blasted heat. I heard of the extreme weather Ryloth has but never would I expected such weather. I eventually had to open the commander' snatch in my tank and let the small breeze blow through my sweaty clothes. Eventually, I ordered the division to stop the advance. I ordered three STAPs, one for myself, two for the other reconnaissance droids. As soon as I mounted myself on the STAP, I flew forward with the other droids catching up. The thought of the intense heat was finally washed away as soon as I felt a cool breeze flew threw me as a cold wind on a humid room. It felt excruciating. As I continued to fly, I noticed something shining in the distance just North of me. I ordered the recon team to stop and dismount. I rushed over and immediately fell to the ground. I noticed I was on a hill, which is could use to my advantage. I took my macrobinoculars out and saw through the cushioned eye cups. As I expected, the shiny object was none other than a gunships' glass.
I zoomed out with my macrobinoculars and I saw a small Republic base surrounded by a very hilly countryside. The base has a few barracks erected and an electro fence surrounding the base. There are a few trenches being built just outside the fence. I zoomed in again, to get a closer look of the base. I saw one building away from the barracks. It was a bigger building built in a T-shape. I assume that was the command centre. I start looking around more, yet I don't see a shield generator. This is interesting because I was taught that all Republic bases have at least one shield generator to protect a base. Do the Republic have a small shield generator? Is it even possible? No matter I would have to assume they keep it in the command centre. Hopefully, the command centre keeps all its communications there or else I might have to jam their transmissions and if they know communications are jammed, then they know an attack will come. I would have to time my assault to perfection in order to catch them off guard.
I zoomed out a bit to see the base at full. Suddenly, I hear the sound of more gunships coming in landing. I zoomed in to see it land at the small landing platform for the gunships. The doors opened and I see clones unloading. Reinforcements...that might complicate things. As I looked more, I see the clones setting up more defences. At the moment, they just arrived and they are still unloading all the equipment. I can't allow them to fortify even further. The time to attack is now.
I got up from the grass and raced off to the STAP and rushed off with the rest of the droids. After a few tense minutes, I made it back to my tank and I hopped in and ordered the division to charge behind me. I stopped just behind the hill where I first observed the camp. I ordered the MTT's to surround the base and jam coms and unload all troops once I ordered the tanks to attack. I placed 15 AAT's to the south and ordered them to charge once they hear the first shots of gunfire. I placed another 20 AAT's to the East to charge in and destroy the gunships once they hear the first shot. I had the rest of the 15 tanks with me to the West and North to charge in once I fired my shot.
The plan was put in place and I got in the commander's seat. I ordered the tank to move forward only exposing my cockpit. I looked into the targeting screen. I kept looking through the red screen, slowly looking over the hill until I saw the command centre. I aimed carefully and I slowly squeezed the trigger. Boom. I felt and heard a earth shattering explosion as the shot left the barrel of the main gun. I looked into the targeting screen again and saw a massive gaping and burning hole in the command centre. I ordered all tanks to rush in and attack. I opened my canopy to better observe the attack. The hover tanks were charging forward. Some were stopping to shoot before continuing. The Republic clones were completely caught off guard as I saw them rushing to man the defenses. I ordered the infantry to move forward to help the clean up. I manned the double barrel repeating blaster and started shooting at any runners. I spared a glance at the side to see the tanks I ordered to destroy the gunships were having some success.
Some of the gunships were starting to take off, so I aimed my blaster at them and fired a burst of hot lasers in an attempt to take them down. I tried but to no success did I take down the gunship. Those clones are going to be able to live another day.
CT-2236/Shiny's POV
The general told us to help fortify the Republic air base in order to help support the defenses of Kala'din, Leb'reen, and Sal'kaasa. It was only an 30 minutes or so when we discovered that Nabat has fallen. The massive defences and fortifications we put in it was all swept away. The Twi'leks were very agitated by the loss of Nabat. General Di ordered us to help support the defenses of the air base. We brought the new lines of droid poppers and mounted turrets. We expected the enemy to arrive in 3 standard days.
"Alright you shinies, we are approaching the drop zone! I expect all of you to set up the defences in siege formation." That was the lieutenant Fold. From what I got from the other veterans, he is a real strict taskmaster and will accept nothing more than perfection. He is a human male, about 1.8 meters high. He wears a Republic officers cap and wears his grey officers uniform. He is armed with a blaster pistol. From what the rumors said, he volunteered into the army when he was 18 and served with Admiral Yuleran. From what I learnt from another vet was he ordered the new shinies to drill until dawn in order to "help" them get stronger.
The gunship's door opened and we saw a bright orange light almost blinding us and the landing zone was a smoothed out rock formation. We started carrying and unloading boxes of the new droid poppers while the others rush in to set up the mounted turrets. We were in the process in giving all the frontline troops the droid poppers and a couple of our sappers were trying to build the turret until we heard an explosion. We turned our heads and saw the command centre in flames. We looked back and we saw Separatist tanks rushing towards our position. Some of the troops started to throw the droid poppers. Many of the throws fell short. However, one of our brothers rushed the flank of one the tanks and dropped a droid popper in the commanders cockpit and sat on the hatch. We heard a large pop as the tank starts sparking and fell to the ground. He was just about to run back to the trenches but was shot. We turned our heads to the right flank and saw a column of regular battle droids followed with the supers. We used our DC-17 rifle to hold off the advance. However, the lieutenant decided to order a retreat to the gunships.
We all turned tail and ran for the gunships. To our surprise, some were destroyed. However, all troops started to get on the gunships and were taking off. I got on one with the lieutenant and I saw the carnage. Left and right, our gunships were being taken down. Suddenly, I hear a burst of lasers hitting the shield doors. I looked and saw a man with a dark green commander's hat shooting from a AAT tank with a double barrel repeating blaster.
Luckily, we escaped before any more tanks could take potshots on us. I looked down on the battlefield to see all the droids packing themselves up in the MTT and the AAT tanks organizing a base of some kind. Whoever the man was with the dark green commander's hat, I think he was the one to breach our defences at Nabat and if he continues to advance, he will take Ryloth before we have a to set up a proper defence. I looked to my right and saw the lieutenant, who is looking worse than before, take a holograph of him and said "private, this may as well be the beginning of the end because if this commander is controlling the droid army, Ryloth is doomed." I looked back and saw the commander stand on top of the AAT canopy and looked at us with his macrobinoculars smiling. I shiver to think about what might happen next. "Private, get back in here, I don't want to lose you to." I turned back and saw the lieutenant, tired and battle weary, so I followed his orders and sat down in the gunship looking out at the sunset.
Third Person
Commander Rommel has just taken the Republic Air Base 322 kilometres behind enemy lines within two hours of taking Nabat. The Republic gunship that escaped is heading towards the capital city of Lessu to warn the Twi'lek high command and jedi general Di that a new commander has taken control of a droid army and is preparing defences. However, a droid strike force is approaching the city, using the canyons around the city to cover their approach.
Roger's POV
As our Task Force consisting of 8 commando droids and 10 super battle droids approached our drop zone, the group started checking weapons and equipment in order to begin the assault. On the ships coms, a droid commando, disguised as a clone, said "we are approaching the target, estimated time of arrival, 30 seconds." The other commando droids started to bend their body to jump out while the super battle droids raised their forearms to show they are prepared for the assault. I copied the commando droids example of bending over, instead I have my blaster pointed towards me and I was going to charge in. I counted down to our arrival 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The blast doors open up and two surprised clones saw us. Before I can even shoot my blaster, the commando droids leaped over me and sliced the two clones. One looked at me and said "do not use your blaster, it would give us unwanted attention." I replied back "Roger, Roger." The commando droid nodded back and I rushed over to the blast doors of the city. I went over to the side preparing to go in while one of the commando droids hacked into the blast door system. The doors opened and the jumped in. They do multiple somersaults before signaling me and 3 Super Battle Droids to move in. The rest of the Super Battle Droids are cleaning up the guards and patrolling the area.
The group kept moving through the corridors, looking cautiously. We had a few close calls with guards. I would always go too far into the corners or I would say something to loud. Some commando droids separated from the rest of us, I assumed they were going to destroy any Republic plans. As we finally made our way to the main courtyard, we saw that it was being used as a major military installation. The base contained multiple Republic AT-TE walkers and their smaller, more agile scout walkers. We also saw a few clone patrols however, it was nothing the commando droids can handle. They ordered us to find ammunition or fuel and place it around the courtyard and the walkers. We searched the courtyard carefully and quietly. We came across a door and I said " sir, I believe the door behind me contains the Republic's ammunition and fuel stores." The commando droid hacked these blast doors and it opened. As I predicted, we saw many black metal boxes containing blaster and cannon ammunition and large barrel like cylinders coloured red.
We started placing the fuel around the vehicles while the Super Battle Droids move the ammunition and placed it underneath the walkers. The commando droids placed thermal detonators on each fuel canister and prepared the timers. We only had 60 seconds to leave the city. We rushed through the corridors. At first, it went well until we were spotted by a Twi'lek patrol. The city's alarms went off. We sprinted towards the captured gunship. The other commando droids that split up from us returned, sprinting as well. The pilots already had the gunship already prepped for travel. Apparently, they took it one step further to refuel it as well. I was surprised because I wouldn't have thought that far ahead. We all went inside the gunship as clone and Twi'lek troops started firing on us. We all shot back, while the pilot flys us out of the city. As we were leaving a huge, bright explosion erupted in the courtyard. We briefly flew over the courtyard to see the damage. I saw the carnage that followed as Republic and Twi'lek ground control tried to put out the fire and utterly destroyed machines of war. I was going to see more until the blast doors closed on us and the gunship was going faster away from the city.
The mission was complete and we are told to return back to the base at Nabat to hold the position.
Lieutenant Fold's POV
Heading back to base when we saw a completely black gunship flying towards the enemy. I assumed it was a special operations unit so I didn't say anything. When we approached the base at the capital, we saw a horrifying sight. The entire installation at the courtyard was in smokes. We landed on a platform only to be greeted by Twi'leks and clones aiming blaster on us. They ordered the clones to take off their helmets. The clones took off their helmets and to our relief, they didn't shoot us. I asked "What happened? Last time I was here, everything was just fine." The sergeant replied back "Apparently, the Separatists managed to deploy a small strike team to attack our heavy walkers and ammunition." We only managed to put out the fires a few minutes ago." I asked again "What is the general going to do now?" He took off his helmet, and sadly said "the Twi'lek's want us out of the city in fear of another attack. The general ordered us to pack up and move what ever equipment left to a canyon." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, so I first ordered the remaining clones to pack up their equipment, then went through the corridors to find the general. I saw the Kajain'sa'Nikto jedi general was standing with his back towards me. His arms were crossed behind his back. I went up to him and saluted "Sir". He looked back at me "Ah yes Lieutenant, I hope you have better new at the front than here because as you can see, the installation has been hit hard. I replied back "Unfortunately not sir, when the clones and I were unloading and upgrading the current defences, the droids attacked. We were getting overrunned so I ordered a retreat."
The general looked back grimly. I decided to ask him "sir, I am wondering why you are asking the troops to leave Lessu." The general replied back "the reason is that I do not want to endanger any more civilians and this is the only way I can protect them. I protested "sir, if we don't stay, then the city will most likely surrender because there is so little they can do offensively and defensively." He replied back sadly "I know lieutenant, I know but there is nothing we can do. The Twi'leks told us to leave, and I must respect their decision." I saluted back grimly and gulped. The beginning of the end of Republic presences in Ryloth has started. Then I remembered something. "Sir, before we were overrunned, I managed to take a holograph of the commander in charge of the attack." I brought out my holo pad and showed the general the man wearing a commander's hat looking through his macrobinoculars. I zoomed in on the image and showed the general about 1.75 meters high. He is wearing a long sleeved officer's uniform, with officer's pants and boots that reach to his knees. His face has a sharp nose and sharp face. What really stood out about him was his left cheek. His left cheek was severely scarred. The general looked at the holograph again and said "lieutenant, if you allow me to borrow that, I would like to show the Jedi Council this new development."