CT-1552 – Assassin Facility
Dreamer was trained for long bouts of combat, but the last fight had managed to suck all of the energy out of him, and he hadn't even been the one carrying the whole battle.
By now, the two babies who had been relegated to his arms were quiet but heavy in his grasp. Neria was keeping the whole lot silent as they quietly moved them up the stairs.
He could distantly hear the sound of battle-droids engaging someone with a lightsaber, and he also heard their blaster fire being returned.
The clone shifted the children in his arms, going for his blaster.
"Don't," Neria told him, holding out a forestalling hand. "I've got this."
As they made their way up the flight of stairs, he saw droids packing the exit, standard battle droids just waiting for the chance to rush up into the room above. A full score of them, by Dreamer's count, and he wasn't sure exactly how the padawan planned to take them all.
But when she suddenly stopped moving, eyes closing and hands coming up, he realized she wasn't intending to.
The wave of power she produced was something that even he could feel, a quiet rumbling that split the air. The babies started to cry, no longer beneficiaries of her attention and disturbed by the shift in power. A pair of droids in the back turned, pausing at the sight behind them.
"Um..." one of them said, turning to a painted droid up front. "Um, Sergeant?"
It was too late. Neria unleashed the power all at once, sending the majority of the droids right through the entrance and sprawling to the ground ahead. The clones cried out in victory as they started dispatching the fallen droids.
Neria herself pulled her lightsaber from its belt and took the heads off a trio of battle droids still trying to struggle to their feet, then marched forward into the chamber. Dreamer was close behind, pulling the cart up with him.
Everyone still seemed to be in good condition. The clones seemed tired, and General Durel was sweating through his robes, but they were otherwise unharmed. Kurik was up at the front of the room, hunched over the consoles at the window with Corporal Gebb-Ti.
"Padawan!"
"Master Durel!"
Dreamer was equally relieved as the padawan to see the Jedi Knight ahead. The presence of both made him feel safe, like he had finally shut the enemy out of the gates of some impenetrable castle. Between him and his padawan, that Rodian wouldn't have a chance.
"You've caused a lot of damage, I must say," the knight said, a small turn at the corner of his lips. "I expected nothing less."
"Did you find any other children, General?" Dreamer asked.
"No," Durel told them. "But I have the figures." He nodded to the babies on the cart and in the clone trooper's hands. "Those plus the two Neria incapacitated earlier match my counts. Now we're just waiting for Kurik to lock down the damage before we go."
"Do we have an exit strategy?"
"I have our starship captain on his way," the Jedi Knight told him. "For now, I just want to make sure that the Separatists cannot undo the damage we've already done." His eyes traveled over Dreamer, noticeably lingering on a scuff of his armor where a blaster bolt had grazed him. "Are you alright, Dreamer?"
"Well enough, sir. Just something a burn to add to the medical list once we make it back home."
"Thanks for protecting my student."
"She protected herself well enough. I was just carrying the babies and shooting all the clankers."
"Droids she didn't have to put up with," the Jedi pointed out as Neria departed to help the clones hold their position. "You did well, Sergeant, learn to accept some credit."
"As you say, General." He looked past him, to where their pilot was hunched over a console. "How did the kid do?"
"Well enough." He shrugged. "Unlike my padawan, I was just dealing with battle droids—if far more than I anticipated. I didn't particularly need the assistance, but he held up. I might be thinking about including him in the order, if I get a better feel for his abilities."
"Would they take him?"
"An exception would have to be made, I'm certain, but I also know that the council has been quietly talking about bolstering the ranks. We've been hemorrhaging Jedi to this war, and they're increasingly lax on standards. Why do you think they're considering Neria for knighthood?"
"Sir?" Dreamer asked, a little surprised by the unsubtle slight. "She fights well."
"She does, but many padawan years ago would've won that fight with the instructor. Then there's her lack of knowledge when it comes to practical application of the Force..."
"Surely you must think there some redeeming quality in her, General."
"Make no mistake, she's come quite far in such a short amount of time, but the padawans before the Clone Wars were able to content with full-fledged Sith."
"It seems unfair to hold her to the same standard as General Kenobi, sir."
"I with to hold her to the same standard as he was when he was a padawan, Dreamer. We all started somewhere." He shook his head. "It's immaterial. If she's granted knighthood, we will still travel together. She can continue her learning until she's where she needs to be."
"At least she'll have a good teacher, General."
Something mischievous gleamed in the Zabrak's clever eyes. "Yes," he said. "Well, I suppose there are worse places she could be. And make no mistake, she has boundless potential that more conventional Jedi lack the willingness to engage with."
"Mmm." Dreamer hummed his agreement as only a way to end the conversation, his headache coming back now that they were relatively safe and the adrenaline was beginning to wear off.
General Durel looked concerned, and his lips parted to voice his concern until Kurik called out to them.
"We're ready!" he said. "Nothing short of an army of engineers can stop this place from going up!"
Just in time, too, as the sounds of blaster fire down the stairwell became increasingly pronounced and frequent. Everyone looked to the door with concern as it opened, Tank and the rest of the soldiers backing through. Corporal Gebb-Ti was last, the Bothan blowing out the panel to buy them an extra minute.
"Clankers, sir," Tank reported. "A whole army of them, too. The fleet must've sent down reinforcements."
"Great," the Jedi Knight answered caustically before turning to the other side of the room. "Well, the door over there is our way to the top. Follow me."
There was some difficulty with the children, but they were able to disperse them amongst the clones, letting everyone carry them up to the rooftop of the tower.
The battle still raged on outside the shield, both fleets soundlessly warring as if the invasion of the facility was of no concern to them. Dreamer was thankful that the Republic fleet had stalled as long as it had, but they were likely growing tired of the maneuvers the same as the infiltration group was becoming exhausted of battle.
They were interrupted from their exit by droids, the battle droids joined by their broad-shouldered advanced brethren. They opened fire on the clones immediately, who managed to get down and leave the children with the Jedi, the safest place they could be in a full three-kilometer radius.
Dreamer was no different. Once the babies were protected, he was with the rest of his brothers, firing away at the mass of steel and blasters.
His only luck was that neither the battle droids nor their advanced cousins were particularly smart. They took no cover, relying on pinpoint accuracy to carry the day. It was an advantage the clones exploited, and indeed, one they often exploited through all the campaigns.
Dreamer switched targets to an advanced battle droid, drilling a trio of holes in the mechanical soldiers. He glanced up from his position when a battle droid trying to level its weapon at him was dispatched, finding Corporal Gebb-Ti behind him. The Bothan gave the clone one of his affirming nods before opening fire on a nearby battle droid getting too close to his position.
The clone trooper opened up on a trio of droids nearing Tank and his unit, not quite managing to catch all three but distracting the last one long enough for the clones to take care of it.
"Dreamer!" Tank shouted, pointing to a environmental unit nearby. "You and Fury set up a position over there!"
He did just that, the young clone joining at his back as they ran through a field of fire, taking up a position on the droids' flanks as they emerged from below. They carried on firing there, helping to slow the numbers leaking onto the roof.
Just as he was about to curse their smuggler captain, thinking he abandoned them to make good his escape, a voice rang in over his transmitter.
"Someone need a pickup!?"
The Jack of Trades suddenly descended from above, the bulky smuggling vessel maneuvering between a pair of antennae in order to descend low over their platform. Dreamer heard the engines slow as the jets under the vessel ignited, setting the vehicle to hover.
When the hatch descended, their Devaronian starship captain emerged from the back, standing above the battlefield with a heavy blaster the like of which Dreamer had never seen before.
With a powerful cry, it loosed a bolt that caught the torso of one of the battle droids, practically vaporizing everything beneath the neck. He leaned away as one of the droids fired at him, then took a shot at one of the super battle droids that dropped the tin can to the ground.
Dreamer wanted that weapon.
"Come on!" Master Durel shouted, waving them forward.
The clones gave cover as the Jedi, Kurik, and Corporal Gebb-Ti moved for the ramp, the children dispersed between the four of them. They were quick to get up, assisted by Dilt with one hand as his other utilized the pistol.
The clones were in good form now that the end of the operation was in sight. Three of them helped dispatch the droids already at the top while Dreamer and Fury alternated fire to suppress the droids trying to emerge from the doorway.
Eventually, the Jedi were aboard the vessel, then it was the clones turn.
"Dreamer!" Tank shouted over the din. "Dreamer, we alternate!"
He got the point well enough. A fighting retreat.
One group would fall back while the other suppressed the droids, settle in, then cover for the other unit. All the while, Dilt and Kurik kept up the fire from above, the two not quite as accurate as the clones but still managing enough damage and suppression that it eased the clones' burden.
They made it to the ramp, and Kurik bolted for the other door, trying to get to the cockpit as quickly as possible. The droids spilled out over the roof, but the combination of constant blaster fire and the deflection from the Jedi served to make a near-impenetrable position as the ramp closed.
Then the door shut, and Dreamer felt the vessel rock under them.
Most the clones rushed away to secure the children, but Dreamer was left without a task, instead joining the group in the cockpit.
The Miralukan pilot was already settled into his seat, punching controls and angling them toward the shield. Already, Dreamer could see that part of the force field was collapsing, a result of the reactor meltdowns in the academy. The rushing current of atmosphere being consumed by the voracious void pulled them into it, creating a strange glide that pushed them through one of the holes and back outside.
"Alright," Kurik said. "Time to go home."
"This is the Jack of Trades," Dilt reported over their comms unit. "We've got our cargo, and this fortress is ready to blow. We all better start getting out of here."
Indeed, as he spoke, small pockets of resistance began to link up, slowly traveling over to one another and conglomerating until only a handful of large groups remained to fight back the Separatist fleet.
And through it all, they were easily able to slip through established battle lines. As Kurik started up the hyperdrive sequence, Dreamer already saw Republic ships slipping into hyperspace, suddenly disappearing from the inky void.
Then, with a victorious cry and streams of light past the cockpit, the ship launched itself to safety.