The first part of the route was clear, thankfully. But the troopers were beginning to question the Basilisks sanity.
"The General's plan is reckless!" Fives says.
"I want to say that the General knows what he is doing, but after what Vex said to me, this doesn't feel right." Dogma says.
"That is precisely why I spoke with you about situations like this. Krell has reputation of victories, but also he has the most amount of casualties than any other battalion." I say. "Rex, I know you feel the same, but I understand why you have no choice but to obey the orders given." With that, we continue in silence. Not long later, an explosion takes out some of our men, "Hold where you are!" I call hurriedly, "The whole place must be trapped, Fives, sweep them. Everyone else, walk only where he walks." I order. As we begin to move onward, we hear the whine of an energy blast. As the men get into a defensive position, we become surrounded.
"They have us completely surrounded!" Tup calls out.
"Hold your positions!" Rex called back, while I deflected what I could.
"HAHAHAH TAKE A PIECE OF THAT!" Hardcase shouts, mowing down the hostile forces.
"Hardcase, normally I would say calm yourself, but considering I can't do much to protect everyone, shoot to your hearts content." I approve of his bloodlust. And I was saying the truth, in such a tight space, I had to be careful to not injure my own forces, which made my deflecting limited.
"There is too many of them, and that cannon is making it harder by the second, everyone fall back, I will take Krell's punishment." I call to the men, beginning our retreat. While we retreat, the Umbarans become arrogant and try to follow us, leaving them out in the open as well, and before we know it, Krell sends in back up.
"That's it, give them everything we've got." Rex says encouragingly. In no time at all, they retreat.
"HAHAHA WHERE YA GOING? COME BACK HERE!" Hardcase laughs manically.
"Ease it down Hardcase; we have our small victory, let it go." I say to the hyperactive trooper. Krell walks up to us.
"CT-7567, do you have a malfunction in your design?" Krell asks Rex.
"No he doesn't I gave the order to retreat. If I didn't, you would have no clones, and you would die with no one to protect you." I retort. "If you have an issue, take it up with Skywalker, as I am sure he would have your head for trying to have his battalion commit suicidal attacks."
"My apologies then, CT-7567." Krell spits out, but Fives couldn't keep his mouth shut.
"General, Vex and Rex both just saved this platoon, surely you won't fail to see that!" The ARC Trooper bites.
"ARC-5555, stand down." Krell says coldly, igniting one blade of his green lightsaber, only for it to suddenly splutter and die, as the hilt begins to deform and collapse on itself.
"Raise your lightsaber on any of these troops again, and that will be your entire corpse being crushed. I have a duty to protect these men, just as you have the duty to win battles. Rex is the same, now, am I understood?" I ask Krell.
"I understand entirely." Krell replies, a hint of respect in his voice. But as he walks off, we lose a walker to a cannon.
"INCOMING!" A trooper calls out. The Umbarans were back.
"They must have regrouped for a counter-attack." Fives says.
"EVERYONE, WE MUST HOLD THIS POSITION!" Rex calls out. Eventually, we are able to push forward by a small margin, but then an Umbaran Fighter attacked, its missiles the same as what the cannons shoot. The two balls of plasma detonated on impact, killing several of the men. After its quick bombing run, it heads back out to the atmosphere.
"We have to move before that fighter comes back!" I say to Rex.
"Rex, REX! Over here!" Kix calls out for cover fire while he gets an injured brother to safety.
"Jesse, take the left flank, Dogma, take the right." He calls to his men.
"You're gonna be alright buddy, this will ease the pain." Kix says to the wounded trooper, giving him an injection to ease his pain. Both Krell and I receive a message from Obi-Wan.
"The Capital City is too fortified; we need your battalion to help us take it!" Obi-Wan urges.
"Sorry, but we currently have our own problems dealing with these bastards!" I say.
"The resistance of the Umbarans is greater that we anticipated, we are currently holding our position from enemy attacks." Krell clarifies.
"We have gathered intel of an air-base to the West, it is resupplying the Capitol Defences…" Troopers calling out a waring cut off Obi-Wan. "If you could capture that Air-Base, it would sever its supply lines, allowing the rest of our forces to move in." He finishes.
"We will take that Air-Base as fast as possible, just don't die on us Kenobi, besides, Anakin would kill me if you did." I smirk at the Jedi, before the transmission is cut. "Rex, get those coordinates mapped, we need to get to that Air-Base immediately." I say.
"On it." He replies, and gathers the men. Once we are able to escape enemy forces, we head to our new target. Upon reaching visual, Rex takes out Macro binoculars to scout the defences. "It's heavily defended, at least three tank divisions and cannons." He says.
"We will advance along the central gorge, and engage their forces in a full forward assault." Krell states.
"The gorge is narrow sir, we will only be able to move our platoons in single squads. Perhaps a closer recon will tell us if there is a more secure route." Rex suggests.
"Obi-Wan and the other battalions are holding off the enemy right now while they wait for us to take out this Air-Base. We don't have time to look for a more secure route." He states, walking off to prevent any further discussion.
"Yes sir." Rex says, but then looks to me for help.
"Send two men to scout the base, and to see if they can steal two fighters to support us. Make sure Krell doesn't know, I'll take the blame again." I say, walking off. Once Rex briefs the men, and secretly tasks Fives and Hardcase to do what I suggested, we begin our march. Its not long before we all fell the ground shake.
"What was that?" Dogma asks.
Shit, EVERYONE TAKE COVER!" I yell to everyone, but I say it too late, as a Centipede* emerged from under the ground, emitting a screech that warned of destruction. Multiple troops are decimated by its rotating turrets, while a few unlucky men were trampled on till their last breath.
"BLAST THAT THING!" Rex calls out, only for the shots fired to bounce of its ray shields.
"THE HEAD IS RAY-SHIELDED, BRING IN THE ROCKET LAUNCHERS!" Fives calls out. Once the Rocket Launchers arrived, half of them were immediately shot down, thus having the Launchers passed on to different men. One trooper, who was with Rex, managed to get a clear hit at one of the Centipede's, hitting it in the head, causing a chain reaction that destroyed the whole thing. As the remaining Centipedes advanced, Rex ordered the men to take cover, and place thermal detonators along a pass that they would lure them to. The plan worked excellently, destroying the remaining hostiles. As we moved forward, we finished off any survivors from the explosion, mercilessly. Before long, we hear thumping on the ground ahead of us. Rex looks through his Micro Binoculars, only to see what was an equivalent to their tank, but in Umbaran Style. The mounted cannon aimed at their group fired.
"We've got a problem." Rex says.
"EVERYONE MOVE!" I call out as well, as a ball of plasma lands near us. Rex suddenly gets contacted by Krell, ordering him to not fall back. "I hope both Fives and Hardcase are almost ready with fighters." I say. Suddenly, the cannon on the tank begins firing energised plasma, which disintegrated the troops it landed near. Thankfully, because I had gotten Rex to send Fives ad Hardcase earlier than in the normal timeline, we weren't holding out for long, as they destroyed the tanks with ease. After they did that, Krell ordered the rest of the men to attack the Air-Base and take it under their control. We captured a few Umbarans and placed them in their own prison for interrogation. While Rex was congratulating Fives and Hardcase for their bravery, Krell interrupted them and coldly congratulated Rex, and his word made his and my blood boil with anger.
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N – There was going to be more in this chapter, but I decided to end it here to stay under the radar in school, considering that the staff don't like the fact I am writing fanfiction during my free time, because apparently, I am not allowed to watch videos to help with the scenes. With the Holidays coming up, my writing will slow due to plans. I will update when I can, but don't expect more than one update in the two or three weeks. For now, Nut Out.