Chapter 17

ARC Moments

"Force Fireball, Blaze, and Ignite... Those are the ways to set things ablaze with the dark side of the force. Channel your hatred, sending it all to your fiery spirit, and then let it out on everything that stands in your path... Fireball as a simple shot of fire at a single target, Blaze for a medium sized area, enough to take out the area of a squad close enough to each other, and Ignite to burn nearly everything in your site. Bring your protection, you'll make death certain, apprentice."

-Darth Blazde

Author's Note: Hey guys, Rosie (Your CO-Author!) here! I just wanted to say, before you read this Chapter please check out XxSASxreaperxX's story called 77th ARC's. This chapter is supposed to not only continue Elite Corps among Squads, but his story as well as of after his Chapter 12, so it would make sense to read what has happened beforehand before reading this Chapter. You don't have to, but I HIGHLY suggest it. Its a good story when you know what's happening!

The Republic cruisers zoomed closer to Vjun, and the view of the planet became clearer every second they moved closer. It nearly looked like Vjun was a gas giant, like Bespin, however on closer look someone could see that Vjun had a lot of yellowish clouds.

From one of the Republic cruisers, an escape pod is launched out. It wasn't from any kind of danger, however it was for a mission.

Kicker, Rose, Predator, and Jinx sat inside of the escape pod. Each of them were equipped with their respected 77th ARC Unit armor and gear, including DC-17 hand blasters for them all, and a DC-15x for Rose.

"About time we get the good stuff for once," Predator nearly mumbled on purpose.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. We've been stuck on Coruscant for a while... we have been to other places on occasion, but they aren't exactly the enjoyable missions," Jinx replied in agreement. They all felt the same way deep down. Vjun was their chance to shine and do something good and exciting.

"Hey guys, look! We're in the atmosphere!" Rose stared out the window of the escape pod, "We will be landing soon, so get ready."

"Let's just hope we land where we want to instead of a bunch of acid..." Predator spoke, "We tend to get into trouble like that a lot."

Then the escape pod went silent. The four of them looked out of the escape pod's window to see where they were headed, or what they can see, anyways. The clouds were above them now, and the yellow sky was in view. "...I have a feeling we aren't headed to the right palace.." Jinx spoke, his voice accenting.

"...The pod feels like it stopped moving, but we haven't crashed..." Rose noticed.

Kicker looked around the escape pod, then he popped the window from the escape pod. "Woah! What are you doing, Kicker?!" Predator said, stunned from the act.

"...I think we're being moved by the force," Kicker kept looking around. Rose joined him, as well as Predator. Jinx stayed in the pod.

"Either the Sith want us to get to where we need to go," Rose spoke, seeing they are now moving towards their destination, "Or Galen is helping us from that far away."

The three of them looked up at one of the cruisers, which they think they dropped from, where Galen would be.

"Remind me to thank him when we get back," Kicker joked. The escape pod finally was set down on a landing zone, currently with just a droid drop ship on it. Predator, seconds later followed by Jinx, ran up to check it out.

"Looks empty," Jinx said to Predator, just catching up with him.

"I agree, we shouldn't need to worry about this."

The two of them walked back to Kicker and Rose, both dropping down from the top of the escape pod.

"77th ARC Unit, on me. And let's try to stay quiet," Kicker ordered. They all marched with their weapons ready, and went up two sets of stairs in two pairs to cover each other and cover more ground. Both pairs found nothing and met each other at the top.

"Wonder when we can get a hold of one of those blasted Sith..." Predator whispered.

"Don't start wondering this early, we still need to see if they are even here, first," Kicker whispered back. The 77th walked up to the door that was at the top of the stairs. It stood tall and sturdy, and showed no signs of being able to just walk by it. "Alright, let's do a breach maneuver. You know your positions... No explosives."

All of them got into position. Jinx got to the control panel to slice the door open, with Predator right behind him. Kicker and Rose stood on the opposite side of the door, blasters ready, aiming at the door. "Stay like statues for a few more seconds..." Jinx muttered.

The doors flung open, and Jinx went crouched down to cover himself. Behind the door stood a tall droid. The droid was all red. It as well had red photorecptors, glaring straight at the ARC troopers.

"Hey, look, another droid guys. And it's alone," Jinx laughed, stood up and walked up to the droid, who remained motionless. "Looks broken... probably has been all its life!"

"Jinx, this isn't a good idea.." Predator said.

"Jinx, get back now! It's still a droid and it could activate any sec-"

Kicker was cut off as the droid pulled out two lightsabers, and sliced off Jinx's arms and kicked him down. Jinx screamed him pain as he fell over. The light from the lightsabers glowed against the droid's face, and it looked back up from now armless Jinx.

"Ah crap... Jinx! I told you it was risky, man!" Predator spoke, trying to hold back tears, however it was obvious he was in grief.

"It's an EG-5 Jedi Hunter droid! Aim away from those lightsabers! Rose, get to Jinx!" Kicker ordered. His sadness was less obvious compared to Predator's. They and Rose knew for a fact this may be the last moment they have with Jinx.

"General Galen, I'd like to give a report," a republic agent said with high charisma. A republic agent had approached Galen this time instead of one of the navy officers aboard cruiser. It most of been something important if the agent was there instead.

"What is it, Operative Fawkren?" Galen turned towards James Fawkren, standing at attention to Galen. James stood tall, yet agile in front of Galen. He didn't seem to follow orders as well as most agents, however if one where to known his background it wasn't a surprise. James wore a black trench coat, which has a yellow line going down the right sleeve, and black boots. His hair was black and long, barely reaching his shoulders.

"Well, it's a bit about Fire team A of the 77th, then just general mishaps I have been told to pass down," James began, "We have lost contact with one member of the 77th. We believe him to be dead or missing. The remaining three aren't picking up, possibly either dead or missing as well. They can confirm that the 77th nicknamed Jinx is gone."

"That's not good, Jinx was a good man, and it looks like they'll need a replacement... I feel terrible for their loss. If they are all gone I will tell Captain Tombstone of the tragedy instead and tell him Fire team B will be going in to take their place," Galen replied, surprisingly calm considering what he is saying. He was a wise Jedi, and he followed the Jedi code well.

"And then there's the OTHER news, I think you might enjoy it better," James proclaimed.

"Good, let's hear it," Galen responded to him.

"The 101st Airborne Company and 84th Assassin Elite Squad are awaiting orders to drop down to the towers. 17th Doom Legion are as well and awaiting orders on where to set up the explosives. 143rd Security Division is setting up a base of operations for us and the 44th Elite Recon Battalion is returning to that base," James spoke a mouthful. There was probably more information, but for now Galen had to use his tactician skills.

"Alright, good," Galen and James started walking to a holoprojector in the middle of the room adjacent to the part of the bridge they were already in. After stepping by multiple windows, the two of them stood in front of the holoprojector, and James turned it on for Galen and switched it to the proper settings.

"I wanna see this, I heard you were a good tactician," James charmingly told Galen.

"Thank you, however I do not wish for any praise," Galen told James, and he looked at the map of the battleground.

"Suit yourself," James said, and impersonated someone taring apart a note book full of things to say.

Galen took a look at the holoprojector before them. There were two towers, and they were surrounded by multiple towers. Then to the west there were three lone towers where the 143rd are setting up operations, and then the current position of the 44th Elite Recon Battalion, 17th Doom Legion, and 101st Airborne Company. The 44th were in one of the towers, the 17th were on the ground, and the 101st were in a cruiser, waiting to launch.

"Hmm, interesting layout... It's the 44th's position that isn't good," Galen muttered to himself, however James still heard what he said.

"Yeah, I see nothing you can do with this," James said, "And for all we know, the rest of the towers have droids ready to shoot at us," he then added.

"I know what to do now, thank you Operative Fawkren," Galen told him.

"I don't even know what I suggested..." James confusingly muttered to himself, and rubbed the back of his head as if that would help him figure it out. "Oh, I think I get it now."

"Battalion Commander Gunner," Galen got on to a comlink, "Are your men almost ready to depart in your LAAT/i?"

Static came from the comlink, then some usual comlink frequency noises, and then Gunner's voice aired, "We're almost ready to move, sir. Just two more LAATs to fill."

"Fill then faster, Commander. We're going to blow them up," Galen spoke into the comlink.

"Copy that, sir. We're about to take off now," Gunner informed. On the map it showed LAATs marked with 44th flying away from one of the towers, then two crashing down.

"I knew it, they do have artillery," Galen muttered, "Gunner, tell your pilots to fly faster to not get hit."

"On it, sir," Gunner replied. Soon the LAATs disappeared when they arrived at the three towers to the west.

"Oh, but of course. One like me would never realize what you are really planning," James said to himself, both joking and serious.

"Senior Commander Breacher, do you copy?" Galen spoke into the comlink again, this time to someone else.

"I copy you, General. Ready for us to deploy the bombs?" the Senior Commander, who they called Breacher, responded.

"Yes, I am setting which tower you should blow up. Keep the explosives to one side and make sure we get an effect from this," Galen spoke.

"On it, General. One domino effect coming right up!" Breacher responded. It was hard to hear, but you could read Breacher was shouting orders to his men, then they heard one thing well, "Steel, Phantom, lead them over to that tower! Alright General, we're moving out."

"Good work, Commander. I will alert Captain Shade," Galen spoke. The two ended the call.

"So we blow up the tower, boom boom, and it crashes down everything? Sounds good and nothing bad can happen from this at all!" James exclaimed.

"101st, dive in when the towers finish falling."

Rose dragged Jinx to cover and lied him against the wall. She carefully took his helmet off for him to breath better, and in return Jinx coughed hard into his fist. He was hardly breathing as it was.

"Rose... my arms... are off..." Jinx kept muttering. Blaster fire and two lightsabers were heard in the background. It was still complicated to hear him even with barely anyone shooting.

"You will be fine Jinx..." She was about to put her hand down on his hand to calm him down, then she had remembered why she had him over there in the first place.

"ROSE, LOOK OUT!" Predator shouted over their cover. Rose's head shot in the direction of the voice and turned to see the EG-5 Jedi Hunter droid charging at them. She tried to pick up Jinx, however she was too surprised from the attack she didn't put her all into it at first, then she pulled him over her shoulders, but it was too late. The EG-5 droid sliced at Jinx's head, and Jinx was dead and Rose tripped over on to the ground.

"You aren't taking her too, you bunch of scrap metal!" Predator shouted, and he jumped onto the back of the droid. The EG-5 Jedi Hunter droid kept spinning its arms and body to get Predator off, but then Predator set a thermal detonator to its head, rolled off, and blew it up.

Kicker ran to Rose first and was followed by Predator. "Rose, are you alright?!" Kicker asked. She seemed to be fine but he wanted to make sure. Predator sat down next to her as Kicker pulled her up. They rose at the same time.

"I'm fine... but Jinx is dead..." She sadly muttered. She then began to walk on her own feat without aid from either of the two.

"We're down one squad member then..." Kicker sighed. They had lost one member before, but it seemed the sadness was just was bad, if not worse then before. "We should get moving, but first, a proper way to remember Jinx..." Kicker said. He walked over to Jinx and picked up his helmet, and grabbed a nearby pipe loose from the ground.

"Here's a good spot..." Predator said, and walked over to their escape pod. On top of it, Kicker smashed the pipe into it and made sure it would stay there. He then handed the helmet to Rose.

"Here Rose, you do it. You tried saving him, I think it would be for the best if you do it," Kicker told her.

Rose looked at Jinx's helmet, then back at them, "Alright, I will..." she told them. They watched as she put Jinx's helmet on the pipe. As soon as she did, they saluted to it. Rose followed their salute seconds later, then followed them to the exact second when they when at ease.

"Thank you, Jinx..." Predator was almost crying now. They all stood their, silent, for about a minute. Then Kicker's comlink went off.

"Kicker, this is Galen, I am sorry for your loss but you need to move quick. The 17th blew up the towers to take out their defenses, but now they are going to crash into the tower you're in," Galen warned them over the comlink. He then signed off the comlink before Kicker could respond.

"Let's move, we still have a job to do," Kicker told them.

"Why isn't the 927th Night Flame Division doing this? They are the assassins," Predator asked.

"So are we," Rose answered. The 77th went back to their job and ran through the door they had opened earlier.

They took a right, a left, then straight ahead was when they stopped at a door.

"This is it. Predator, slice the door's control panel. We need to breach it. Give me a thermal as well," Kicker ordered.

"On it, Kicker," Predator said, and tossed him a thermal detonator. Rose and Kicker went to the left of the wall while Predator was on the right, slicing the control panel. They waited for seconds, then the door swung open.

A flash went up just when the door opened. Kicker afterwards, presuming it wasn't important, rolled a thermal detonator and blew up the room. There, two screams were heard. They walked in and saw they had already killed two Sith. The Sith they killed were spread out in pieces. Blood was everywhere between limbs and blood dripped from the ceiling as well as parts of limbs fell.

"Two down, now we need a prisoner," Predator said.

"Wasn't there some sort of flash earlier? I think one escaped," Rose pointed out.

"After him then!" Kicker shouted. They looked up and saw a window was opened. They all grappled up there in sync and climbed out the window.

"Anne, I'm glad you have arrived!" the Sith yelled, running to her. Anne had long black hair and wore a visor on her face. She was emotionless on her face, like almost usual, and wore a grey robe and clothing.

"Hello, Kaa'tana, what are you running from?" Anne calmly asked her. For a Sith, she was unusually calm. They both where. Kaa'tana wore a black robe and had her hood up. One could see her black hair from under her hood as well. She had a breathing mask and cybernetics in her lungs so she could breathe.

"Those ARC troopers our master warned us of are here... the others are dead, however. If they are as dangerous as he said, we should go," Kaa'tana said, nearly forgetting Anne was a Darth herself, like their master, Blazde.

"Stop and put your hands up!" a voice was heard from across the bridge Kaa'tana had ran across.

"Stand back, Kaa'tana, I will handle this," Anne spoke, still calm. She stared at the bridge and aimed her hand at it. The bridge was set on fire and it snapped in half. The three figures chasing them fell off of it. "Now, come with me, Kaa'tana. Our master requests us elsewhere. Phalanx will be fine, so he said."

"Alright, let's go then," Kaa'tana responded. The two walked towards Anne's ship, which could fit two people inside.

"Well... Our situation has been going by really fast," Predator commented. They were hanging on to parts of a bridge. Kicker was higher up than Predator, and Rose had grabbed Kicker's leg instead of the bridge.

"Yeah, that was a lot that had happened in three minutes, but I think we should worry about not dying first," Rose commented.

"There goes their ship. Mission failure for not capturing a prisoner, it seems," Kicker spoke.

Then, as Galen predicted, the tower smashed into the tower they were in, and the bridge snapped off completely.

"AH SH-" Predator exclaimed, but the rest was drowned out. They were now falling.

"Call in a LAAT, we can't hit the ground!" Kicker yelled.

"Don't worry, I bet the 17th will catch us!" Predator joked. Rose is remaining silent as she was trying to call a LAAT on Kicker's orders, when suddenly one had came already. A LAAT flew by and Rose, Kicker and Predator fell into it, knocking two of the clone troopers over when they fell in.

"Ow, watch i- sirs! ...And ma'am!" one of the clone troopers said. He saluted to them.

"Is this our rescue then?" Rose said.

"Yes it is, ma'am. We're heading back to the cruiser on General Galen's request. However, we picked up an escape pod while we where there. We didn't check it out yet, but I think I heard something inside," the trooper informed.

"Thank you for letting us know, we'll examine it back on the cruiser," Kicker told him.

"Alright sir. Pilot, back to the cruiser!"

After a while, Kicker, Predator and Rose were on the cruiser with the escape pod. Predator snapped the hatch open and peeked inside. There was a 501st clone trooper inside, laying motionless.

"What is a 501st doing out here?" Predator said.

"It doesn't matter right now, help him out," Rose almost ordered him. Predator pulled the clone trooper out and lied him against the escape pod.

Suddenly, he started breathing as if he was awake. His head turned as he looked at the three armored figured in red, black, and white.

"What's your name?" Kicker asked him.

"...Claw... Gah my head..." Claw muttered. He held his head.

"What the heck happened to you?" Kicker questioned him.

"I was with... my squad... we were... attacked... I am... the only survivor," gasped Claw, "too many of them, killed everyone before they even got into the room with the escape pods..."

"It's alright now... Rose, Predator, help him to the medical bay, Galen will speak to him there," Kicker spoke.

"Alright, Kicker. Come on, Claw," Rose said. The two of them helped Claw up and walked him to the medical bay.

Author's Note: Hey guys, still Rosie here. From here, the main plot of this part of the story will be continued by XxSASxreaperxX in his 77th ARC's story. So, if you want to see more from the 77th as a squad, check that out! If you want the next part of 77th chronologically, Chapter 13.