The Story of forgotten Jedi Owen Sun
Chapter 34: Battle of Castell Pt. II
Tearing through the atmosphere in his ARC-170 Owen led the way as red squadron had nearly arrived at Castell City, thinking the space battle had consumed all of the Republics resources the Commerce Guild had no clue that their lush city was about to be invaded. Breaking through the last bit of cloud cover Owen was astonished and mesmerized by the immense city below. Castell's sun gleamed brightly off the entire city making it look almost golden, it was truly a sight to behold as Owen contemplated what they were about to do. "It's a shame it has to be destroyed" thought Owen.
Watching the sun beam off the buildings it reminded him of what few memories he still had of his homeworld 'Solar'. "This seems so familiar" he thought.
"Sir, do you wish for us to engage now?" interrupted the clone pilot.
Shaking off the comparison and refocusing himself Owen quickly responded. "Not yet pilot, I'm still scouting the city, you hang back with the rest and I'll let you know"
Completing his scan Owen took his ship back up high and looked over the readings of the city's layout. "Master Fisto was right, their defenses aren't as bad as I'd thought they'd be" he thought.
BOOM!
A sudden blast interrupted Owens thoughts as a round from one of the heavy gun emplacements had exploded right next to his wing. "Blast, they must have spotted me" said Owen to himself.
"Okay red squadron I'm sending you the city's targets, you know what to do" said Owen over the comm.
Diving their fighters towards the seemingly golden city red squadron followed their Jedi General in.
Making his first pass over one of the gun emplacements Owen fired two proton torpedoes into it, the rest of red squadron followed in turn but still the heavily armored gun hadn't been destroyed. "This could take some time red squadron, be patient and keep nailing it with your fighter's heavy weapons" relayed Owen.
Coming back around all of red squadron including Owen concentrated their strikes and rained heavy fire onto the gun emplacement finally destroying the huge weapon.
Suddenly rising out of the city the rest of the heavy gun emplacements became visible. "Oh great" thought Owen glaring at their massive barrels.
In a deafening blast the heavy gun emplacements opened up destroying four fighters with a single round from their heavy barrels. "Fighters, break formation!" ordered Owen.
As they broke formation another three fighters were obliterated by the continued fire of the gun emplacements, Owen glanced at his radar. "Take the second gun on the left it's the least defended, make sure to strike it on different angles" ordered Owen.
Through the maze of heavy fire red squadron came in from all angles and eventually the gun emplacement was destroyed, bringing his ship back around Owen surveyed his radar once again. "Alright, now the third gun on the right" relayed Owen.
One of the clone pilots got a little over anxious and plunged toward the wrong gun. "No, that's the wrong gun, pull out of there!" shouted Owen into his headpiece.
It was too late the clone pilot's fighter was bombarded by heavy fire and was completely destroyed, Owen furrowed his blond eyebrows in disgust. "The gun atop the tallest building red squadron…follow my orders to the letter or you'll end up just like that" he cautioned.
Enveloping all their fire onto the single gun emplacement red squadron quickly made their pass and got out of there fearing the continued fire of the other heavy gun emplacements below, Owen followed up behind them finishing off the emplacement with three well placed torpedoes to its center, the gun emplacement slowly exploded and fell from the tall building and into the city below.
Expectedly the heavy turrets began to open fire reinforcing the gun emplacements, dipping and turning his fighter Owen received a few shots from the rapidly activated turret, his deflector shields took the brunt of it however. In a flurry of unexpected fire eight Republic fighters were shot out of the sky by the fast moving heavy turrets, Owen quickly got himself out of there. "We'll have to take them out" stated Owen over the comm.
"But Sir we don't have enough fighters for this and what about the gun emplacements?" questioned a clone pilot.
"Were going to have to take our chances, until your Captain gets back from the space battle with the rest of the fighter fleet we'll have to hold out" replied Owen over the comm. to all his pilots.
"Too bad we don't have any v-wings" commented the clone pilot.
"Yeah, we could use their firepower" replied another clone pilot.
"Cut the chatter we have a job to do, remember if we don't destroy their defenses in time we'll be overwhelmed and done for" interrupted Owen.
While flying high above the city away from the murderous fire red squadron needed a new plan. "So what's the plan General?" asked a clone pilot.
"Half the squadron will engage head on…" Owen was suddenly interrupted.
"Head on, forgive me General but that's suicide" interrupted the clone pilot.
"You didn't let me finish pilot, while you engage head on I'll take the other half of red squadron and hit them from the rear, while we do this it should confuse them giving you enough time to wipe them out on your flyby" relayed Owen.
"Sounds good…I guess" replied a clone pilot.
"Those guns and turrets are nestled in tightly down there, make sure you don't crash into anything or one another, and the turrets are thinly armored a single blast with your fighters heavy weapons should destroy it" relayed Owen.
"Questions?" asked Owen.
There was silence over the comm.
"Good, let's get it done" ordered Owen breaking off from half the squadron.
The city's heavy turret and gun emplacements opened up again as red squadron reengaged, with the other half of the squadron with him Owen sweep in from behind. "Alright red squadron, let em have it" ordered Owen.
Fire consumed the area below as Owen along with red squadron threw everything they had at the turrets and gun emplacements, as the heavy debris settled every turret protecting the emplacements had been destroyed and only three gun emplacements were left standing. Being in close quarters swooping in between the tight buildings the remaining heavy gun emplacements had the advantage as they rained heavy fire into Owens half of red squadron knocking each one out of the air one by one. "Red squadron we could use some help!" pleaded Owen as he dodged the heavy fire and explosions around him.
With the ARC-170's leading the way the other half of red squadron launched several torpedoes into the three remaining gun emplacements. As the emplacements were destroyed one of the guns got off one last round sending it directly into one of the few fighters still left in Owens half of red squadron, the shot hit home and the clone pilot struggled frantically to keep his fighter steady as it whizzed throughout the tight corridors of the city with a long smoke trail behind it. "I can't keep her steady!" pleaded the clone pilot.
"Pilot eject!" screamed Owen into the comm.
"Ahhh…I can't…ughhh" cried the clone pilot nearly breaking his arms trying to keep his fighter steady.
"Pilot pull out of there your going to crash into one of your own fighters!" cried Owen.
Putting his hands in front of his face the clone pilot cried out in horror as he collided into the other fighter obliterating them both, Owen climbed out of the narrow corridors of Castell City with his fighter and rejoined what was left of red squadron. "You alright Sir?" asked the clone pilot as Owen rejoined the squadron.
"Yes pilot I'm fine, but I can't say as much for them" replied Owen with emotion in his tone.
Owen didn't want this, he was a skilled General no doubt and knew how to lead but deep down inside him he hated seeing anyone die, including clones. All he wanted to do was teach but the demands of war needed him, to Owen it wasn't a matter of choice anymore it was a matter of necessity, the Republic and Jedi needed him so he was here. "General, you okay?" questioned a clone pilot hearing nothing but silence over the comm.
Reasserting himself in the moment Owen responded. "Have all the heavy turret and gun emplacements been destroyed?" he asked.
"In this part of the city Sir, but according to the scans we've just destroyed their main line of defense" replied the clone pilot.
Owen then opened a channel. "Captain, how are you fairing in orbit?" he asked.
"Pretty well General, Commander Appo and his men are about to break their way onto the bridge of the Commerce Guild capital ship but the Separatists are putting up quite a bit of resistance" informed the clone pilot Captain.
"What remains of the CIS fighter fleet is being mopped up by our own fighters now" added the clone Captain.
"How's it going on your end?" asked the clone Captain.
"We've destroyed over half of their heavy turrets and gun emplacements, were sticking to the plan and going to try and find those generators and destroy them next" relayed Owen.
"Their defenses weren't as bad as I'd thought they'd be" added Owen.
"Sounds great Sir, we'll be along shortly to join you" replied the clone pilot Captain.
"Alright, General Owen Sun out" he stated flicking off the comm.
Owen and the six pilots he had left in red squadron headed for the high concentration of energy on the west side of the city, it was the best lead Owen had at finding the generators.
Meanwhile on the west side of Castell City.
A standard module CIS battle droid surveyed the smoking ruins in the distance through the optic binoculars from red squadron's first strike earlier, the Sergeant battle droid then approached from behind. "Status?" asked the mechanical voice of the droid Sergeant.
"Hostiles have attacked the city's main line of defense" replied the battle droid.
"Broken through from the space battle?" questioned the battle droid.
"Yes, Republic fighters" replied the Sergeant battle droid.
"Do you wish to see for yourself?" offered the battle droid.
"Roger, roger" replied the Sergeant battle droid taking the optics.
While peering through the optics the two droids talked atop the droid outpost. "Should we report back to command?" questioned the battle droid.
"No, we have our orders, protect the generators from being des…" the Sergeant battle droid stopped in mid speech.
"Wait…I see something" stated the Sergeant battle droid peering through the optics.
The Sergeant battle droid quickly zoomed in on the approaching figures. "Hostiles…get word back to command that enemy fighters are attacking the factory genera…" the Sergeant and the other battle droid were engulfed in plasma as red squadron had opened up with their laser cannons destroying the droid outpost.
"According to scans there appears to be eight generators all heavily defended by more gun emplacements" reported the clone pilot.
"We'll split off into two groups, that should make it harder for those heavy gun emplacements to shoot us down" replied Owen.
As they approached the first generator the gun emplacement protecting it opened fire. "Okay, break off!" shouted Owen turning his fighter as the round from the emplacement flew passed him.
With just six fighters left in red squadron they would do this three to a team. "Their Captain better get here soon" thought Owen.
Dipping and turning his fighter every which way Owen let loose four torpedoes on his flyby destroying the first generator, on the way out his ARC-170 took a light hit from the aftershock of a gun emplacement round. "Ughh, that's one" stated Owen over the comm. to red squadron shaking off the slight hit.
"Make that two General" replied the clone pilot in the other group.
"Don't get too close, remember one shot from those things and your fighters history" cautioned Owen.
Approaching a more heavily defended generator instead of coming in head on Owen flew right by it and unleashed his aft laser cannons on the generator catching the gun emplacements protecting it off guard believing him not a threat. The frantic fire was enough to destroy the generator and bypass the emplacements all together, three down five to go.
Just as Owen prepared for another hit and run strike one of the foolish pilots in his group of red squadron broke formation and attacked a heavily defended generator all by himself. "Pilot what are you doing!" cried Owen into his headpiece.
"Attacking this generator Sir" replied the clone pilot.
"You're breaking formation, get back here now!" yelled Owen in fear of the clone pilot's life.
But just as the clone pilot turned his fighter he was already caught in a pocket of gun emplacements as the heavy weapons fired on his Republic starfighter blowing it into three pieces, Owen watched as the remains of the fighter fell into Castell City. "Stupid" he said to himself obviously referring to the pilots hazardous actions.
With just one fighter left under his command Owen and the other clone pilot manning an ARC-170 streamlined towards the next generator. The four gun emplacements protecting the generator unloaded on them turning the sky to smoke and fire. "Evasive action!" ordered Owen as he spiraled through the fire.
The clone pilot followed in turn as they got past the gun emplacements and launched their proton torpedoes into the well hidden generator destroying it. With all generators now down in the area Owen needed a status report from the other group in red squadron. "Red squadron second group what's your status?" asked Owen.
"Still only one generator Sir, the gun emplacements aren't making this easy and those generators are tucked in well down there" informed the clone pilot.
"We've destroyed all generators in our sector, were on our way to give you a hand" replied Owen.
"That would be much appreciated General, were down to two fighters over here" stated the clone pilot.
"Just sit tight, were on our way" assured Owen.
Meanwhile on the other side of the city.
One of president Shu Mai's aids came into the golden plated throne room of the Commerce Guild presidents building to give her an update on the battle, bowing his head submissively he greeted president Shu Mai. "Your majesty"
"Ah, you have news for me, have those enemy fighters been dealt with?" questioned Shu Mai.
"N…no your majesty, they have not" answered the Gossam president aid.
"What?" questioned President Shu Mai sternly.
"They have destroyed our main line of defense for the city, both the gun emplacements and the turrets have been destroyed, and as we speak they are assaulting the droid factory generators" informed the Gossam president aid.
The frustrated Commerce Guild President leaned back in her throne room chair. "This displeases me" she stated.
"What about the space battle, have our Commerce Guild capital ships wiped them out yet?" she wondered.
The president aid struggled to tell her the truth. "Um…m well that's one of the things I wanted to tell you your majesty, you see we seem to have underestimated the Republics resolve…the…y were quite clever and managed to destroy one of the Commerce Guild capital ships" he informed.
"What about the other one?" asked Shu Mai with a new sense of desperation in her voice.
"Well…it's…ah" suddenly the Gossam president aid was interrupted by a massive shockwave that shook the entire city.
"What was that?" asked the Shu Mai gathering herself from the sudden shockwave.
One of the other president aids brought up on the massive screen the space battle in orbit.
President Shu Mai could hardly believe her eyes, the Commerce Guild capital ship had been destroyed. "Impossible!" she stated as if her eyes had betrayed her watching the burning chunks of debris from the capital ship loom in orbit.
"They will pay for this!" threatened Shu Mai.
"Put what's left of our defenses on maximum alert and deploy all of our CIS forces" ordered Shu Mai.
"And get what's left of our fighter fleet in the air to destroy those Republic fighters attacking the factory generators" demanded Shu Mai.
"Of course your majesty right away" obeyed the Gossam president aid.
"The Republic haven't won this day yet…" stated President Shu Mai.
Back to the fighting in the city.
Owen Sun looked up in his cockpit glaring at what was left of the Commerce Guild capital ship through the blue skies of Castell. "Looks like we got em now Sir" stated a clone pilot interrupting Owens stare into space.
Suddenly out of seemingly nowhere the clone pilot who made the comments fighter erupted in flames as it was bombarded by laser fire from above, hearing the loud wail of sound Owen looked up seeing a mass of Separatists fighters. "Enemy fighters!" cried Owen warning what was left of red squadron.
With the Belbullab-22's leading the way the CIS fighter group consisting of 30 Separatists fighters tracked and shot down the two other remaining fighters in red squadron. Owen was once again all alone having to fend for himself against tremendous odds, twisting and turning his ARC-170 to avoid the heavy concentration of fire Owen used his cunning and amazing piloting skills to outwit the enemy fighter group. Using his aft laser cannons, tricking CIS fighters to crash into one another, causing crossfire's that turned their weapons against each other, Owen was a master in the sky's above Castell City.
But even a Jedi Knight couldn't hold out against such odds for long, Owen knew he was on borrowed time as he maneuvered throughout the city trying to lose the CIS fighter group. Owen then had an idea, watching the heavy gun emplacements below continue their fire he believed he could use their heavy fire to his advantage. Swooping dangerously low Owen lured the fire of the massive gun emplacement rounds, as the enemy fighter group came back around coming straight for him Owen hit his thrusters all the way down surprising the fast moving enemy fighters. With Owens sudden departure the gun emplacements couldn't stop their fire in time and obliterated their own CIS fighters.
Rocketing just a few feet off the city's surface Owen knew there would be more, with the CIS fighter group confused as to Owens location he took his fighter back up into the air and went after another generator. Getting clipped a few times by the outer blast of the heavy gun emplacement fire Owen spotted another generator on his radar, it wouldn't be easy to get at as it was tucked in deep in between several tall buildings. Having another idea Owen launched two torpedoes a piece into the top half's of the tall buildings, the top half's of the buildings broke off and fell onto the generator below burying it in rubble thereby deactivating it. "Five down three to go" thought Owen.
The tall buildings destruction got the CIS fighter group back on Owens trail as they chased him throughout Castell City. Owen knew he was in a perilous state as two shots rang home making their way through the deflector shields, the laser fire had deactivated his weapons rendering his fighter useless to attack with. "Oh great, this is all I need" he thought sarcastically.
But just as the enemy fighter group closed in for the kill what remained of the Republic fighter fleet arrived through the atmosphere blowing the pursuing CIS fighters to pieces. The clone pilot Captain then flew right by Owens fighter. "It seems coming to my rescue is becoming a bad habit for you Captain" stated Owen opening up a channel over the comm.
"Just glad we got here in time General" replied the clone Captain.
"Let's take out the rest of those generators Captain" stated Owen.
"Right, we'll give you some cover" replied the clone Captain.
Firing mercilessly into the gun emplacements below the 501st pilots turned the once formidable defense into nothing as Owen blew up yet another generator in the flyby. "I'll leave the rest to you" stated Owen over the comm.
With the clone pilot Captain in the lead the Republic fighter fleet swooped in and destroyed the final two defenseless generators. The entire area was a mess of smoking ruins, blown out buildings, and wide craters as the back of the formidable CIS force had been broken.
Down below underneath the planet the droid factories stopped churning out droids as the city wide factories lost power and went offline.
Owen quickly opened up a channel to the entire Republic fighter fleet. "Alright pilots we've done well so far, let's not let it go to our heads, we still have a ground battle to fight"
Although modest of their achievement in reality Owen and the 501st had done the impossible.
"Captain" said Owen.
"Yes General" answered the clone pilot Captain.
"Get Commander Appo and his men down here as soon as possible" ordered Owen.
"I and the fighter fleet will clear a landing zone inside the city" informed Owen.
"Get moving" ordered Owen.
"Yes Sir" replied the clone pilot Captain.
Getting a fair distance away from the Commerce Guild capital building Owen ordered the Republic fighter fleet to clear a landing zone for the ground forces, and in just minutes in a hail of fire an entire portion of Castell City had been evaporated. "Landing zone clear, bring them in" ordered Owen.
Gunship after gunship entered the atmosphere landing in the flattened out portion of Castell City, in the distance it was certainly a sight for the Separatists as they watched the Republic ground forces pour through the sky and into the city. The mass of clone troopers climbed out of the gunships as the LAAT's dropped off several TX-130 fighter tanks and four massive AT-TE walkers, Commander Appo quickly took control. "Tank group you'll cover our advance, and I want those walkers mounted and ready to fight in five minutes" relayed Appo organizing everything.
The Commerce Guild homeworlds fate and the ultimate outcome of the treacherous battle would now depend on Commander Appo and his men in the ground fighting. "Alright men let's move it out" stated Appo motioning his blaster rifle towards the Commerce Guild capital building.
Meanwhile in the city square ahead of the advancing 501st.
Thousands of droid feet trampled the ground as they got into position to ambush the clone army, assassin droids littered the area in balconies above the square, hidden alcoves in buildings, and on the raised platform across the square, several turrets manned by standard battle droids would also help in the squares defense. Assault droids with their rocket launchers also scattered the area in specific strategic locations for when the Republic came through with their tanks, an entire droid platoon with some super battle tanks also waited in the rear to reinforce them, Owen and the 501st pilot's had destroyed the generators crippling their armies but the Commerce Guild had more than enough active droids to defend the city.
The square would soon become a haven for death and destruction as it was the only way through to the Commerce Guild headquarters and presidents buildings, it was here where thousands of clone troopers would soon lose their lives. "Get into position" ordered the Sergeant battle droid.
"Roger, roger" replied the assassin droid prepping the ambush.
Back to the 501st location.
The square was still a quarter mile away and Appo had to get his men there in one piece, that was where the real ground battle would take place and the victor would decide the battle. Advancing forward Appo spotted a large factory building of some sort, giving the order for all ground forces to stop Appo turned to one of his clone scouts. "Go check it out" he commanded.
The scout quickly ran forward observing nothing unusually, not wanting to take a chance however the clone scout released his probe droid. Guiding it to the door with his control stick the probe droid seemed to find nothing as the scout observed from the screen next to the control stick. Reclaiming the probe droid the clone scout advanced forward to the building sized doors of the factory, suddenly however a loud rumble was heard from inside, the sound had stretched all the way back to Commander Appo as he looked on through the optics. "What was that?" asked Appo speaking into his wrist communicator.
"I'm not sure Sir" replied the clone scout.
"Be careful trooper" cautioned Appo.
The clone scout slowly walked towards the massive doors as the sound got louder and louder, like metal scraping together. Suddenly the doors parted and out stepped an unbelievably massive spider droid that dwarfed the standard model, the clone scout stood there in shock as the spider droids huge beam cannon pointed straight at him. As the clone scout raised his blaster the massive laser vaporized him into nothing, Appo immediately moved his men back to cover. "Tank group, get up here now!" shouted Commander Appo into his wrist communicator.
As the first wave of fighter tanks made their way forward four more massive spider droids came through the factory doors. "Commander look, three more of them!" pointed out the clone trooper taking cover next to Appo.
"Tank group you have a green light to engage" relayed Commander Appo.
The tank group let loose on the unusually large spider droids, as the dust settled from the barrage unbelievably the spider droids emerged from the smoke virtually unharmed. "Minimal damage Sir" reported the clone tank trooper.
"Impossible, we hit it with everything we got" replied the clone tank Lieutenant.
The spider droid in front wasted little time and answered right back almost melting the first tank with its beam cannon, the next three behind it ripped into the tank group tearing the tanks to pieces. "Lieutenant, pull your tanks out of there!" ordered Appo surveying the destruction.
The last three fighter tanks in the first wave attempted to pull out but were destroyed evacuating the area, Commander Appo quickly got on the comm. to the fighter fleet. "Commander Appo calling for assistance, does anyone read?" he relayed.
There was static over the comm. until. "Go ahead Commander" answered Owen Sun.
The Republic fighter fleet were still in a heated battle with what was left of the deployed CIS fighter fleet.
"General Sun we've run into some trouble, four massive spider droids are advancing on our position" informed Appo.
"This seems minor Commander, can't you destroy them with your fighter tanks or your heavy clone troopers?" wondered Owen.
"No, these spider droids are of a different design, I've never seen any so big" explained Commander Appo.
"If you doubt me just take a look out your cockpit window" added Appo.
Owen peered from left to right until finally noticing the massive black spider droids moving slowly through the golden city below. "Unbelievable" he stated under his breath.
"I guess we should expect nothing less from the creators of the spider droid General" chimed in the clone pilot Captain on the comm.
"Okay Commander get yourselves to cover, were coming in" informed Owen breaking off from the fighter fleet.
With all problems fixed and his weapons back online Owen led the first eight pilots in firing their heavy weapons, the second spider droid on the left burst into flames while the others were unharmed, however on the flyby Owen lost two pilots as the remaining spider droids nailed them with their beam cannons.
"Your turn Captain" informed Owen.
Coming in for his run the clone pilot Captain led eight pilots of his own wiping out a second spider droid, dodging the spider droids massive laser on the way out the clone pilot Captain and Owen met back up joining their fighters together. The 14 fighters sweep in destroying two more of the unique spider droids, a few v-wings came back around again dropping their heavy payload blowing up the final spider droid along with a sizable chunk of the area around it. "Nice work clones, now let's get back to the fighter fleet" ordered Owen.
"Your on your own down there Commander, let us know if you need anymore help" relayed Owen traveling back to the fighting across the city.
Appo quickly waved his ground forces forward. "Let's go men…and get those walkers moving"
While advancing Commander Appo ran into scattered resistance from small droid units throughout the city but for the most part didn't encounter much. Appo stopped conferring with his virtual map of Castell City. "Were close, the squares should be just up ahead beyond these buildings" pointed Appo on the map.
"Well we better get movi…" Appo suddenly held up his hand cutting the clone Captain off.
"Wait…did you hear something?" asked Appo.
"What?" questioned the clone Captain.
"Shhhh…there it is again" said Appo quietly.
"Sounds like…blaster fire" hesitated Appo.
"Are you sure Sir?" questioned the clone Captain.
"Hand me that datapad" said Appo.
Looking it over Appo spotted small energy readings nearby. "We should check it out" he stated.
"But Sir our mission is to get to the Commerce Guild structures, this is in the wrong direction" questioned the clone Captain.
Appo pondered on what to do for a moment then issued his orders. "I'll take a small unit and see what's going on, you lead the ground force to these coordinates" indicated Appo on the map.
"Just outside the square" stated the clone Captain.
"Exactly" replied Commander Appo.
Appo quickly rallied a small unit of his finest troops together. "We'll meet you there Commander" stated the clone Captain.
"One thing Lieutenant, if we don't make it back in time go ahead with the assault yourself" informed Appo.
"Sir?" questioned the clone Captain.
"You heard me" stated Commander Appo.
"A…alright Sir if that's what you want" replied an unsure clone Captain.
Appo then grabbed his blaster rifle clicking it's ammo into place. "Alright men, let's saddle up"
As they moved out Commander Appo turned around one last time. "Remember what I said Captain"
The clone Captain nodded to confirm as he watched Appo and the clone troops disappear around a corner.
As they traveled through the city following the energy readings the blaster fire got louder and louder and carbon scoring in the area seemed more frequent, finally coming to a corner they had arrived. Commander Appo quickly pulled out his optics and as he peered through them he could hardly believe his eyes. "What is it Sir?" asked a clone trooper in the squad.
"Clone troopers" stated Appo.
"What, where did they come from?" asked the clone trooper.
"I don't know…how could they of gotten here?" pondered Appo.
Zooming in on their armor Appo spotted the 501st emblem on them. "Their 501st" he stated.
"Their part of the Legion, how is that possible?" questioned the clone trooper.
Spotting several smoking craters with escape pods in them Appo then knew how. "That's how" he stated handing the optic binoculars to the clone trooper.
Each clone trooper in the squad got a good look. "Well, we better give them a hand" stated Appo.
"Yes Sir" replied the entire squad.
Sneaking in closer Appo noticed that the small group of troopers were pinned down getting hammered with heavy blaster fire, as Commander Appo watched the deadly fire being rained on the clone troops he observed the area trying to get an idea of how to attack, but as another member of the 501st became victim of the heavy fire Appo threw any strategic plans he had out the window. "Attack!" he yelled.
Coming in from behind the attacking droids Appo and his squad made short work of the first five battle droids, almost immediately the group of super battle droids turned their attention to Appo and his squad opening fire on them. As they exchanged blaster fire back and forth Appo and his squad took cover behind what was left of a buildings wall, Appo stopped with his back to the wall and reloaded his weapon as one of his troopers took a blaster shot right in the head. "Blasted droids" cursed Commander Appo.
Getting out a thermal detonator Appo whipped it over the wall towards the super battle droids position, it instantly blew the bulky droids apart. As the firing stopped Appo and his squad came out from cover and into the open, turning his head suddenly Commander Appo heard loud rumblings coming towards them, from around the corner came two droidekas rolling in. "Take cover!" cried Appo.
Appo's squad did just that getting back behind cover but he himself opened fire and destroyed the first droideka as it rose up, he quickly rolled out of the way as the other droidekas shield emitter activated. Appo took a hit in the arm as he got behind a destroyed pillar for cover. "Ahhhh" he moaned in pain as the plasma had burnt through his armor.
As the droideka slowly walked toward a wounded Commander Appo surprisingly from the small group of stranded clone troopers a rocket came flying from their position incinerating the droideka. Appo and his men once again got out from behind cover and into the open. "You alright Sir?" asked a clone trooper in the squad.
"I'll live" replied Appo as his pain was suddenly interrupted.
"501st, were coming out!" informed a clone in the small group of troopers.
The beleaguered troops came out from behind their cover looking like they had fought off an entire droid army. "Commander Appo" stated the Sergeant clone trooper noticing his Commanders armor and stripes.
Appo nodded in response. "You guys alright?" he asked.
"Banged up, but we'll live" responded the clone Sergeant.
"I take it you guys escaped from the destroyed capital ship in time" implied Appo.
"Yeah, barely made it here in one piece with their fighters shooting most of the pods down" replied the clone Sergeant.
"Are there any others?" questioned Commander Appo.
"There was until we came under fire from those droid patrols, they've been chasing us for hours, most of us didn't make it" informed the clone Sergeant.
"Just nine of us left now, and it won't be long until more droid patrols come looking for us" added the clone Sergeant.
"Not anymore, your coming with us to take the city square" replied Appo.
"So it's true then what we saw in space, their fleet has been destroyed and we've invaded the city" implied the clone Sergeant.
"Yes, come now we must get mov…" Commander Appo stopped in mid speech as a clone trooper standing right next to him had been shot dead.
Rolling to cover Appo heart raced as he knew the assassin droid had just missed him and hit the clone trooper getting in the way beside him, he knew their programming, go for the highest ranking officer first. The clone Sergeant got behind cover with him. "Make that eight" he said referring to how many troops he had left now.
"It's a droid assassin, probably alone, they tend not to travel in packs" replied Appo.
"We'll have to draw his fire then have our own sharpshooter take him out" said the clone Sergeant referring to the clone sharpshooter in his outfit.
"Sounds good, let me know when your ready" replied Appo.
The clone Sergeant relayed his orders to what was left of his outfit, including the clone sharpshooter.
"NOW!" cried the clone Sergeant.
The single brave clone trooper made a run for it drawing the assassin droids fire, raising his high powered sniper rifle over cover the clone sharpshooter quickly zoomed in and had his shot, in a sudden thud the single shot connected and the droid fell off the balcony up high shattering on the ground below. "Nice work, we better get going now" stated Appo as the clones rejoined with one another.
"Wait Commander, we must do something else first, while we were fighting our way through the city we discovered a hidden underground bunker, before we could destroy it we were overrun and had to pull back" informed the clone Sergeant.
"It has no importance now, we must stick to the plan" stated Appo.
"But it does Sir, there could be hundreds even thousands of droids in there waiting to be deployed, you said we have to take the square well where it's positioned we could be flanked and if we don't destroy it now the Commerce Guild could deploy them at a crucial moment in the battle" explained the clone Sergeant.
"It could save hundreds of our men Sir, maybe more" he added.
Commander Appo took a long time evaluating the threat, even if they did take the square what if these droids are deployed afterwards to flank them from behind, or in the battle itself they could easily surround the 501st obliterating them. The possible critical problem could be averted here and now, Appo had made his choice. "Alright, we'll do it but we have to be quick, if we don't get back in time they'll attack without us" he informed.
"Lead the way Sergeant" ordered Appo.
Meanwhile close to the square the clone Captain prepares the 501st for the attack.
The clone Lieutenants arrived giving their final report on the clone forces. "All forces are ready Sir" informed the highest ranked Lieutenant.
"Thank you Lieutenant but were still waiting on Commander Appo" replied the new temporary Commander of all 501st forces.
"Forgive me Sir but the men are getting restless…we can't wait on Commander Appo for too long, it's only a matter of time until they spot us here" stated the blue striped clone Lieutenant.
"I know Lieutenant…we'll give Commander Appo some more time, at the very least we owe him that much" replied the clone Captain.
"Yes Sir" saluted the clone Lieutenant.
The clone Captain continued to eye his timer. "Come on Commander, I'm not ready to lead these men…but I can't wait forever…" he thought becoming increasingly more nervous by the second.
Back to Commander Appo's position a few clicks away.
After traversing through the city for several minutes they had arrived at the droid bunker, noticing the manned turret protecting it in the distance Appo quickly got them all behind cover. "There it is Sir" pointed out the clone Sergeant.
"Yeah, I see it, too bad that turrets in our way" replied Commander Appo.
Surveying the immediate area through the optics Appo quickly devised a plan. "This is what were going to do…Sergeant you and your outfit will flank around these buildings through that back alley until you're behind that turret" he started out.
Appo then turned to the only clone sharpshooter they had. "You're going to get up high on that building across from the bunker so you'll have a good shot at that droid manning the turret" he relayed.
"Once the sharpshooter takes out the droid you'll hit them with all the thermal detonators you got, that should destroy the turret and the droids guarding the bunker, we'll then run down the street and attempt to hook back up together, the clone sharpshooter will provide cover" continued Appo.
"We'll have to find a way to seal that door shut once we get control of the area…do we have any rounds left for the rocket launcher?" asked Appo.
"No, we used the last one to destroy that droideka" informed the clone Sergeant.
Commander Appo then turned to the clone engineer. "Do you have any charges left?" he asked.
"Yes Commander, enough to surely destroy that entranceway into the bunker" replied the clone engineer.
"That's what we'll do then, the blast should keep them buried trapping them all underground" finished Appo.
"What about the door Commander?" questioned the clone Sergeant.
"We'll find a way to get it down, I'll blast the controls if I have to" replied Appo.
Appo took one last look around the corner. "Alright let's do it…go" he ordered as the Sergeant and his men took off down the alleyway.
Waiting for the right moment Appo motioned his hand for the clone sharpshooter to get in position, he did just that ascending to the small building top. "We're in position Sir" reported the clone Sergeant.
"Wait for the shot Sergeant" replied Appo.
"When you get a clear shot, take it" ordered Appo to the clone sharpshooter.
The clone sharpshooter slowly creep in on his belly and lined up his shot through his sniper rifles scope, with the end of his rifle jutting out from the small building one of the battle droids down below spotted this irregularity. "Up there…fire" spotted the battle droid.
The clone Sharpshooter quickly took his shot knocking out the droid on the turret, then from the right behind the droids several red thermal detonators came flying towards them and in a blinding flash of light the turret along with all the droids had been destroyed. "Nice work clones, now move in" ordered Appo.
As they rejoined with one another Appo quickly gave his orders. "Engineer, get explosives on that bunker"
As the clone engineer went to work on the bunker Commander Appo blasted the controls to the bunkers entranceway sealing the large door. "Make it quick clone, we don't have much time" cautioned Appo.
"Almost there Sir" replied the clone engineer going as fast as he could.
Suddenly the bunkers entranceway slid open revealing a whole company of droids, they wasted little time opening up on Appo and the clone troopers. As the merciless blaster fire swung back and forth a few clones became casualties but the fierce resolve of Appo's men held the much larger force back. Catching them off guard a thermal detonator flew out from the dark bunker below and right to the feet of the clone Sergeant. "Live detonator!" cried Appo trying to warn them.
The explosive blast of the thermal detonator engulfed the clone Sergeant blowing him back into a building wall. As two droidekas became visible rising up and activating their shields Appo became increasingly impatient. "Let's go engineer" he pleaded.
"Got it Sir" replied the clone engineer.
Appo quickly pulled the troopers out and gave the order for the engineer to detonate, in a loud eruption the three charges exploded caving in the droid bunker. As the dust and debris from the blast settled Appo sighed in relief that they were still alive. "That outta hold them Sir" stated the clone engineer.
"Good work everyone" replied Commander Appo ready to move out again.
But then Appo remembered what happened to the clone Sergeant, running over he spotted the Sergeants body. Turning his body over Appo cringed at the result, half of the Sergeants armor and helmet was unaffected but the other half was charred and black melting away his armor and helmet. As one of the clone troopers in the Sergeants outfit saw the charred flesh on what was left of him he felt saddened for his loss. "If it wasn't for him we surely would have died" stated the clone trooper.
All of the troopers now gathered around the body. "He would of wanted us to move on, we'll avenge his death on the battlefield" stated Appo.
"Let's move it out" issued Commander Appo as they left the clone Sergeants body behind.
Meanwhile back close to the square the 501st forces grow more impatient.
"It's time Captain, you must make a decision" stated the clone Lieutenant.
"I've delayed too long, I must do this now" the clone Captain thought.
"Alright, give the orders to all 501st forces, we will wait no longer, were going to take the square now" issued the clone Captain.
"Yes Sir" saluted the clone Lieutenant eagerly anticipating this moment.
High above in their fighters the Republic fighter fleet eyed the gathering 501st ground forces down below. "Looks like their starting the assault General" relayed the clone pilot Captain.
Owen was taken aback by this as he couldn't feel Commander Appo amongst his men.
Back to Commander Appo's location.
While Appo and his clone unit traversed back through the city to the 501st ground forces the clone Captain attempted to try and contact him but as Appo activated his wrist communicator revealing the small holovid there was nothing but static. "Co…(static)…mmander Appo…(static)…I have no…(static)…choice but to…(static)…go ahead…(static)…with the assault…(static)…on the…(static)…square" informed the clone Captain via the struggling holovid.
The holovid then faded out as the signal had been lost. "Must be out of range" said Appo.
"Sounds like their beginning the attack Sir" implied a clone trooper.
"Right, we better get ba…" Appo stopped in mid speech.
"Oh great" he stated.
"What is it Sir?" asked the clone trooper.
Appo pulled out the optics. "Heavy gun emplacement" motioned Appo.
"We could go around it Sir" suggested a clone trooper.
"No we can't" replied Appo.
"Why not Sir?" questioned the clone trooper.
"Because they've already spotted us" informed Appo noticing the gun emplacement start to turn towards them.
"Get down!" cried Appo jumping towards his men to try and protect them.
BOOM! the massive gun emplacement round blew a sizable chunk out of the area.
As the ringing in his ears stopped and the debris settled Commander Appo crawled back over to his squad. "(Cough), (cough)" coughed Appo as dust lingered in the air.
"What now Sir?" asked the clone sharpshooter.
Not responding Appo flipped open his wrist communicator, as sparks flew from it he knew it was shot. "Blast it" cursed Appo.
"We'll have to take it out ourselves" he stated.
"But Sir…" Appo cut him off.
"Don't argue with me trooper just grab your weapon and follow me" interrupted Appo.
Commander Appo then rose up and charged through the open area towards the heavy gun emplacement, the rounds from the gun kept firing as they advanced ignoring the annihilation of the entire area. Getting within shooting range the fearless troopers of the 501st opened fire as they continued to run towards the gun, Appo blasted three battle droids off the gun emplacement and the clone sharpshooter took care of the rest. Stopping Appo tossed a thermal detonator towards the gun destroying two super battle droids under cover. "Place a charge here clone" instructed Appo to the clone engineer.
The gun emplacement tried maneuvering to shoot them but Appo and his squad were too close to the gun for it to fire. As the clone engineer finished with his charge Commander Appo pulled his squad out and detonated the charge from a safe distance destroying the heavy gun emplacement. "Okay, let's go" signaled Appo as they ran past the burning gun emplacement.
Meanwhile back in the city square.
Nerves were shot, hearts were pounding, and fingers trembled as the 501st prepared for battle, the reputation of the fiercest, most determined clone troopers was on the line. The Grand Army of the Republic had sent their best and now they needed the best for the taking of the square would determine just who would win the Battle of Castell, the 501st would either seize the planet or be destroyed, there was no middle ground, and they knew that a victory here could very well shift the Clone Wars in the Galactic Republics favor.
The clone Captain had assembled all their forces so they would do this in waves, the troopers on the ground, then the armor would move in to support them. The eyes of thousands of 501st troops looked on at the clone Captain atop a fighter tank, statistically he knew that one out of every three troopers would die here today. The clone Captain simply nodded than with a wave of his hand gave the order to advance.
As the clone scouts ahead of the ground force spotted the large fountain in the center of the square they knew they had arrived. Using strictly hand signals the clone scouts moved up from cover to cover, they were shocked to see no droid activity in the square at all but they knew they were out there, waiting for them. It looked clear so the scouts gave the signal to start moving troops up, as hundreds of clone troopers entered the square it was eerily calm.
All across the square the hidden assassin droids waited for the right moment knowing that the first shot would trigger the battle. The leading clone trooper was given the signal by his sergeant to advance and as he stepped over a precise area the fight for the city square had begun.
Instantly 16 clone troopers were dropped by the well hidden assassin droids, then the squares manned turrets opened fire tearing into the surprised first wave of troops. The few that were still alive dove behind what very little cover there was in the wide open square, the clone Captain then gave the order for the second wave to move in. But in just minutes the murderous fire from the perfectly positioned turrets had claimed almost every trooper in the second wave, and what the turrets didn't kill the assassin droids did. As the third, fourth, and fifth waves were dealt with clone bodies began to pile up in the square, what few troopers remained from each wave formulated a minor resistance behind cover, but with perfect shots on every angle the assassin droids made short work of most of them. With the turrets pinning them down behind cover there was little choice but to order the rest in, the clone Sergeant pointed his blaster rifle towards the square. "Attack!" he yelled.
Fearlessly the rest of the 501st charged the square, from above in his ARC-170 Owen over a large stretch could see a mass of white armored clone troopers enter the square. But for the assassin droids and turrets above it was like sending Banthas to the slaughter, the turrets red laser fire cut through the troops like they weren't even there. Hundreds upon hundreds of troopers became casualties in just minutes but they did make a little progress as the turrets and assassin droids couldn't kill them all, a small group had gotten farther than any ahead of the more deadlier areas of fire in the square, but they were soon pinned down by fire from above. Watching the slaughter through the optics in the distance the clone Captain had to reinforce them now before his forces were critically diminished. "Okay tank group, move on in" he motioned.
From the safety of a large building above the square the droid Commander noticed the advancing enemy fighter tank's, lowering the optics from his red droid eyes he turned to give the order. "Activate the mines" he commanded.
"Roger, roger" replied the obedient battle droid.
As the fighter tank group came into the square suddenly the anti-tank mines activated destroying the advancing fighter tanks. "Blasted Separatists" cured the clone Captain.
Things were going from bad to worse as the highest ranked clone Lieutenant reported on their progress. "Sir we've made little to no progress, the square is too heavily defended we just can't break through" he informed.
"How many troops do we have left?" asked the clone Captain.
"Just over a hundred, we can't seem to locate the assassin droids and the turrets are too heavily fortified" answered the clone Lieutenant.
"Most of our squads are pinned down behind cover, if they even attempt to move they'll be killed, we need to be reinforced" added the clone Lieutenant.
"No, I won't send any more of our troopers to their death, I will inform General Sun that the city square cannot be taken" replied the clone Captain.
"Sir?" questioned the clone Lieutenant.
"This battle cannot be won, I am ordering a retreat" stated the clone Captain.
Suddenly approaching from behind. "Cancel that order Captain"
Commander Appo had finally made it back with his clone unit and a few extras. Co…Commander" said the clone Captain in shock.
"When you didn't respond I thought the worst had happened" stated the clone Captain.
"We got a little…tied up" replied Appo.
Grabbing the optic binoculars Appo couldn't believe what he saw. "My God Captain, what happened?" he said surveying the thousands of clone corpses in the square.
"I attacked just like we had planned but I guess I underestimated their defenses" replied the clone Captain.
"Well didn't you restrategize the attack and try a different approach?" asked Appo.
"Uh…well no Sir, I didn't" replied the clone Captain.
Commander Appo looked upset in his response. "Now you want to order a retreat" he stated pointing out another major mistake.
"Well yes, Commander we could reinforce ourselves and try it again" replied the clone Captain.
"Have you seen the square Captain, the troops are pinned down…now how do you plan on pulling them out safely?" questioned Appo.
"I uh…well…" Appo cut him off.
"Retreating is not an option, win or lose we fight to the end" interrupted Appo.
"O…f course Sir, what was I thinking" replied the belittled clone Captain.
"So what now Sir?" asked the clone Captain in a jittery voice.
Eyeing the square Appo tried coming up with something but couldn't. "We are just soldiers Captain, there's only one thing that can lead us to victory now" he stated.
"Come on" Appo motioned as he headed for the square.
The battle for the city square continued to rage as Commander Appo made his way through the absolute hell that was the city square, clones were being shot down left and right as Appo lead a small group behind him to cover where the majority of clone troopers were. "Commander Appo Sir" stated the surprised green striped clone Sergeant.
"Where's your radio man Sergeant?" asked Appo.
"He's further up in the square, there's no way to reach him" replied the clone Sergeant.
Glancing above cover Appo saw that he wasn't kidding as very few squads had made it past here, the assassin droids had the area fixed on. "Captain, get another tank group up here" ordered Appo.
As the final tank group entered the square several assault droids became visible from the raised platform across the square with their heavy duty rocket launchers, as the rockets flew at the surprised fighter tanks they tried to take evasive action but a majority of the tank group was destroyed. The few tanks that made it provided cover for Commander Appo and the pinned down clone troopers at the behest of their Commander. As they made their way to another squad of pinned down troopers Appo had found the Sergeants radio man. "Get me through to General Sun" ordered Commander Appo over the deafening sounds of battle.
The clone radio man quickly went to work trying to get a hold of their Jedi General, suddenly the clone tank trooper that helped them across the square rose out of his TX-130 fighter tank. "Commander we have to take cover, we're in the open here" informed the clone tank trooper referring to what was left of the tank group.
Suddenly a large blast blew them back as the clone trooper and the tank group had been destroyed, rising back up shaking off the cobwebs Appo noticed that an entire droid regiment had entered the square and behind them several super battle tanks moved in. "Commander, what do we do now?" asked a clone trooper.
"We fight" stated Commander Appo with conviction.
The advancing droid regiment soon came across Appo and the group of about 60 clone troopers, protected behind cover Appo quickly gave the order as the entire group rose up surprising the droids and opened fire. The chaotic fire swung back and forth with clones and droids dropping like fly's, even with their unbreakable will to fight Appo knew the 501st couldn't hold out much longer, they needed their Jedi General to win this fight, Appo then shuddered as he spotted their super battle tanks move up. "Get down!" screamed Appo.
The battle tanks lit the area up not even caring if they destroyed their own droid forces, despite this Appo and what was left of the clone group were protected by the large stone slab of cover. Clone troopers continued to drop as they were slowly being surrounded, but finally Appo got some good news. "Sir, General Sun standing by" stated the clone radio man handing him the communicator to speak into.
"General Sun are you there?" asked Appo ducked down behind cover.
"Go ahead Commander" replied Owen.
"Sir we are in desperate need of your help, our ground forces have been decimated and we are now slowly being wiped out" informed Appo.
"Yes, I can see several battle tanks and a number of droids converging on your position" replied Owen glancing at his radar.
"Can you strike them from the air with the fighter fleet?" asked Appo.
"I wish I could Commander but it's too tight for us down there, we could risk killing all of you" answered Owen.
"General…(static)…I don't know…(static)…how long…(static)…we can…(static)……you must get…(static)…" the radio was fried as Appo pleaded to his general for aid.
"If you can here this Commander…I 'm on my way" informed Owen.
Shooting down a few more enemy fighters on his way out Owen informed the clone pilot Captain of his responsibilities in the air.
Looking into the air Appo was relieved as he saw Owens fighter flyby, he was on his way but with the unstoppable droid army advancing on their position how much time did Commander Appo and his men have…