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Being shown around the hangar bay of a space faring warship was a lot more entertaining and educational for Jake, than standing around aimlessly on the Bridge watching sailors press buttons and monitoring scanners. The last time he was down here he was wrecking havoc but now he was given a more detailed sweep of the place by the clone soldiers Hardcase and Splicer.
When he was dropped off with the Jedi at the space docks for military ships it was the first time he actually saw the design of their spaceships. The star cruiser, or as Ahsoka had called it a Venator class star destroyer was over a mile long and shaped like a blunt arrow slightly squashed near the aft for the hangar bays on the sides. It had a single red stripe running in the middle all the way to the dual towers at the back, with two separate Bridges sitting at the top.
More impressive to the marine were the big guns sitting menacingly on both sides of the ship, like the main guns of the old battleships used in both World Wars. The hangar took up a lot of room of the star destroyer so Jake guessed it double as a carrier as well as a cruiser considering the amount of space fighters and combat vehicles lined up in neat rows.
"And this thing here is an All Terrain Tactical Enforcer or AT TE as we call it" Hardcase pointed to the next AFV standing next to a group of two legged machines he called All Terrain Recon Transports. The body work reminded him of the armadillos in South America, minus the head. It had three legs on each side and stood at his best estimate five metres in height and over 10 in length. It's main gun was sat at the top of the walking tank and four small guns were placed on the sides of the driving compartment at the front.
"What's it's top speed?"
"Sixty kilometres an hour" Splicer answered him next.
On par with a Challenger, Jake thought comparing it to the British Army's main battle tank. He walked over to the war machine for a closer examination, placing a hand on it's armoured hull. This AT TE tank appeared to be properly protected from small arms fire and anti tank rounds but he spotted it some design flaws that militaries on Earth would exploit.
The main gun didn't have any real protection for it's gunner so any a rocket or tank shell, even a well placed shot from a sniper would take out the user. Then there was the glass covered compartment for the driver which unless it was stronger than it looked, would easily stop the walker in it's tracks by conventional means. Except for a couple other small areas Jake found this was more than a match for anything in service back home.
"This is your main walking tank?"
"Yep, there are other variations but this is the more commonly used version" Wandering around the back of the AT-TE he found the two more long poled guns built into ball shaped turrets on it's hide.
"What does it fire?"
"The smaller ones are laser turrets for anti personnel use. The big one is a mass driver cannon. Packs one hell of a punch" The tattooed clone spoke with confidence and sounded like he was speaking from experience. He didn't know the techno knowledge on how such weapons work but he remembered hearing rumours of plans for fitting prototype railguns on naval warships some time in the near future.
"This thing sounds brilliant"
"What are the tanks like where you're from Jake?"
"They're pretty good. Fast, well armoured and armed and not something you're willing to go up against, unless you're looking for a good hiding" He replied vaguely at the MBTs capabilities "The United Kingdom creates some of the most powerful and well made tanks in the world, behind Germany and the United States. The Russians' MBTs aren't bad either" Jake finished inspecting the walker and rejoined the two clones.
"Don't you guys ever fight each other?"
"Used to, a long time ago. Now we get along with the odd exchange between our leaders" He shrugged his shoulders, knowing that recent events back home between the West and East before his unexpected transportation across the galaxy were in fact at an all time high, not seen since the days of the Cold War.
There was a sudden shift of activity around the rest of the hangar, everyone was converging toward one particular area.
"What's going on" He nodded to the gathering crowd of clone soldiers by a boxy shaped ship Hardcase explained it was one of Skywalker's.
"Looks like our briefing is about to begin" He followed the two clones over to the assembled white armoured troops, all of whom were forming a semicircle around two figures he recognised as Skywalker and Ahsoka. Next to the Togruta youngster was Captain Rex and there swiveling it's head back and forth was a white and blue robot, much like the other wheeled robots back at the Temple. Standing at the back of the crowd between Hardcase and another clone he waited for like the others for the briefing to begin.
"Alright men, as you are aware we are heading to Nubia. Reason being is we are to support Master Secura and the 327th in driving the Separatists completely out of the Nubus system" Skywalker stated to them all "R2" He said down to the little robot.
A blue hologram of a planet beamed out from a small projector sticking out of it's head, lighting it up a metre and half off the floor. Whilst Skywalker began pointing at two sets of dots on the floating image of the alien world, one yellow and one red, explaining the positioning of Republic forces and these Separatists, Jake put his hand into his left pocket and heard the crumpling noise of a wrapper.
He almost forgot he still had the hard gem sweets with him until they fell out of one of the loose flaps of one of his webbing pockets. Discreetly pulling the bag open without causing too much noise and attention he took one of the small, sugary mound shaped sweets and placed the same hand over his mouth like he was preventing a cough and pushed it in.
"...and once we've cleared the Seppies out of the capital, we'll be heading to a lab thirty kilometres south of the city" The Jedi pointed to another part of the planet highlighted by a yellow dot. The plan of attack sounded straight forward and simple. They were to land behind the bulk of the invading forces while the other Republic forces on the ground pressed them from the front, encircle and trap the enemy. Then again a trapped force would fight like hell to break the lock.
Jake reached down to get another hard gem and was about to place the sweet in his mouth using the same trick when he felt a nudge in his hip.
"Hey, what are you eating?" The Corporal rolled his eyes at the hushed tone of Hardcase who was still kept his eyes on his yammering superior.
"Nothing"
"Really?, so what's that you've been shoving in your gob?" Sighing through his nose he reached back down again in his sweet pocket and pulled the packet out, revealing the multicoloured hard gems to the clone.
"'Ere take one but don't chew it yet, you'll end up breaking your teeth" Hardcase put his hand in the bag but the loud rustling he was making only attracted more eyes.
"What you got there guys?" Splicer quizzed whispering with his hand over the side of his mouth but it didn't have any good effect now that half the row was staring down at him.
You absolute twat Hardcase, He mentally grumbled to himself "Take one and pass it on" Jake gave Splicer the bag. All the way down the line the marine saw the clone troops pull out one of the sweets then move down to the next one, somewhat of an amusing sight he had to admit.
Some of them made weird faces as they sucked on the sugar snack, obviously not used to the tastes that must of been alien to them. The muttering from along the back eventually got noticed from the front as Jake spotted Captain Rex looking at them, then someone on the far end must of dropped the bag because somebody said aloud what he assumed to be a swear word.
"Ah kriff"
"Troopers is there a problem?" Rex called out to the far left side of the back line, walking over to the culprit. Everyones eyes suddenly shifted over to the Captain and one clone trooper with one hand concealing the bag in a blatantly obvious fashion, causing Jake to pinch the bridge of his nose.
"Uh no sir, no problem"
"Then why are you hiding something behind your back Hex?" The clone officer stared into the eyes of the worried soldier, holding his hand out for him to hand it over. The marine watched the clone called Hex gingerly hand the sweet packet over, planting into the outstretched Captain's hand who scrutinised the black and white packaging. Considering the lettering was in English and not in the Aurebesh language of theirs that Ahsoka had told him about, it didn't take more than a few seconds for Rex to cast an accusing glance at him.
He then walked back over to Skywalker and gave the packet over to him.
"Corporal Matthews, care to explain what this is?"
"A packet of Maynard's hard gems, sir" Jake answered rubbing the back of his neck.
"Hard gems?" He quizzed with an arched brow.
"They're sweets, sir" The Jedi opened the packet and peered in for himself, taking out a green one and pointed the gems at him.
"This is-"
"Apple flavour"
"No Corporal!" The serious expressions the clones had taken twitched a little and even Ahsoka appeared to be suppressing a snigger "This is what you've interrupted an important briefing with. We're about to go into a serious situation involving taking a planet back from the forces of Count Dooku and your distracting the troopers with candy?"
"My sincerest apologies sir, I promise it won't happen again" Jake apologised sheepishly, even if he technically wasn't' the one at fault. Dropping the sweet to the floor the visible annoyed Skywalker continued with the rest of the briefing uninterrupted, the marine paying close attention and avoiding doing anything else that might further him up the Jedi's shit list. After ten more minutes the briefing ended with Skywalker dismissing them.
"We'll be arriving in the Nubus system in one hour, so get your stuff together and meet back in the hangar upon arrival" All the clones stood to attention then left going in different, leaving Jake to let out a huff with a laughing Hardcase next to him.
"Never thought I see the day General Skywalker give someone a dressing down"
"That was your bloody fault"
"Hey, I didn't say anything about sharing them out"
"No but you made more noise than an elephant running on firecrackers just picking one out. It was bound to get everyone else's attention" Jake folded his arms as he stared down at the human clone "Ah oh well, suppose you guys better get yourselves ready. Sounds like you've got a big battle ahead of you"
"Nothing we're not used to, aye Hardcase?" Splicer
"You said it Splicer. Just more clankers need clearing up"
"I still can't believe you guys are fighting robots" Another thing Ahsoka had informed about their war was the Separatist Alliance military, or the Confederacy of Independent Systems was another name they went by, used robots as foot soldiers. The marine summed up the situation of a galaxy wide war, battling against machines with beings capable of supernatural abilities sounded like a cracking idea for a blockbuster movie.
A Confederacy going against a Republic, where have I heard that before, He mused before Hardcase broke him away from his thoughts.
"Doesn't matter whether they're droids or flesh and bone, we bred to fight and defend the Republic"
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The journey to the Bridge was quiet a one, as Ahsoka could see her Master was bothered by the Earther's interruption as he informed the troopers of his plans.
"Come on Master, Jake didn't do anything too disruptive"
"The man holds rank and treated the briefing as a joke. He should know better"
"Are you mad because he didn't offer you one?"
"Real funny Snips" He said dryly as the turbolift door swung open "Since when did you start calling him by his first name"
"He may be a soldier Master but he's still a person" She caught glimpse of an approving smile on Anakin's face. They stepped out and walked over to the holo table where Admiral Yularen was in discussion with the holographic form of Aayla Secura.
"Master Secura how are you holding up?"
"Everything's quiet right now, however my scouts report a build up on the fronts. We're expecting them to launch their offensive anytime now"
"Don't worry Master, we'll be there shortly"
"It's much appreciated Ahsoka. Their fleet has been destroyed but there's still a great number of droids around the planet" The boom of an exploding shell rang through the speakers, the Twi'lek Jedi hologram started fluttering badly as she snapped her head around in the direction of the explosion "I must go"
"We should be there in under an hour Aayla" With a quick nod her line ended and the holo projection disappeared back into the table. Yet another world and yet another battle awaited for the Padawan and her Master, to rid the Separatist presence and put it safely back in Republic control.
Though she took some small pleasure in fighting the clankers and freeing planets from the evil clutches of Count Dooku's puppet state, Ahsoka wandered when the endless cycle of war would end. When she was younger the teen would of hopped onto the nearest transport with Skyguy and the 501st to the next war zone without a second thought but now it seemed for every world liberated, another somewhere else gets occupied.
She turned to Anakin and was going to comment on the upcoming battle when she caught him eating the confiscated candy from Corporal Matthews.
"Really?" She folded her arms and raised an eye marking in bemusement. He only shrugged in response and bit down on the sweet, recoiling with a pained expression on his face.
"Ow!"
"They're called hard gems Master, I would of thought the clue in the name gave away your not supposed to chew them" She cracked a smile at him, feeling the urge to laugh all too tempting.
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The whole hangar was abuzz with life after the announcement through the ship's tannoy that they had dropped out of 'hyperspace', the faster than light travel mode Jake recalled the Jedi mentioned after his arrival at Coruscant. He was leaning against a tall pile of metallic crates, watching all the movement of clone soldiers, pilots and crew going about their tasks.
Around 200 white and blue clad troops were waiting by the line of dropships Hardcase had called LAAT/i, the AT-TE and AT-RT walkers stomping around the gathered clones. The small walking AFVs all climbed into the dropships first and lowered down into the back of the troop compartment, their drivers dismounting and stood waiting as the others started climbing aboard.
Pilots had climbed into the cockpits of their fighters named ARC-170s, doing pre flight checks. The space fighter had a bird like face and it's engines were attached close to the cockpit, Jake noted they looked a little like shrunk engines of a Boeing 747. It's cannons were pointing out at the bottom of it's wings that were split into three on both sides and didn't show any evident fuel pods, unless he thought they were built inside.
"Hey Matthews, aren't you gonna join us?" One of the helmeted clones shouted over to him, a red and white patch on his shoulder symbolising that he must of been a medic and one he had met on his previous stay aboard the space cruiser.
"Not my war mate. I'm just here as an observer"
"To see how real soldiers get it done huh?" Another clone taunted carry some type of minigun. Jake chuckled at the teasing remark and guessed it must of been Hardcase.
"Yeah, yeah whatever. Good luck out there and try not to get kill by a walking pile of scrap"
"Will do!"
"Corporal Matthews" The marine turned to the voice's' owner, the clone officer Rex walking over to him carrying his helmet in one hand and a handgun in the other.
"Captain. What can I do for you?"
"General Skywalker has given you permission to retain your sidearm" He held out the Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol. Jake took it out from his hand and unclipped the magazine from the feed, checking inside to see it had the full 17 capacity of 9mm rounds. Pleased they were trusting him to handle a firearm he pushed the clip back into the pistol then placed it into his holster.
"Thanks sir, I was feeling a bit vulnerable without some form of protection"
"I can relate. I must join the rest of my brothers and see about driving the clankers out from this system"
"Good luck sir" Jake saluted the Captain, getting one mirrored one back from the short haired cloned human.
"As you were Corporal" He left him and joined with the rest of the Republic troops, ordering a few aboard who were dawdling around the transports.
"Well we best get moving before Master Secura ends up getting overrun" Ahsoka said in hurry, passing by the stacked crates.
"Godspeed kid, take care of yourself out there"
"Thank you Corporal, try not to get into any trouble while we're away" Jake smirked at the alien girl as she climbed onto the dropships, giving her a more loose salute.
"All PERSONNEL PREPARE FOR DECOMPRESSION OF THE HANGAR BAY" Doing as the order over the tannoy says he moved away from the crates and went to leave the hangar until he saw the pit crews and engineers only move to where the space fighters were. Blue energy shields lit up behind him surrounding around the dropships that had now slid closed their compartment doors and hummed to life.
Jake went into the lift and pressed on the top button assuming it would take him to the cruiser's Bridge. It felt strange for him to see so many troops moving out without him amongst them, to be hyped heading out to their next objective with his fellow marines. When he reached the Bridge he found it to be just like the hangar in that all the sailors and naval officers going about their duties, monitoring the ship's systems and combat data.
Two officers stood by the front view windows gazing out to the planet taking up the whole view. It had green continents like Earth and oceans across the surface with it's colouring a tinted purple, thick clouds covering it's northern hemisphere. In front of the planet were two more of the same type of Venator class 'star destroyers' making up the total strength of five now they had arrived. Near by floating wrecks and debris of other ships littered the space around them, presumible the enemy fleet.
He stood next to the old bloke he remembered to be Admiral Yularen, wearing a grey uniform that was less decorative to naval officers in the Royal Navy. Standing next to him was another clone but instead of grey he wore a light blue uniform which again was bland and only had some bar across the right side of his chest.
"Permission to depart Admiral" Skywalker's voice came through the speakers.
"Permission granted General Skywalker. Good luck" Yularen said, his accent very accurate to that of a upper class naval officer from the South East of England. The red strip in the middle of the ship opened up splitting in two, exposing the hangar to the vacuum of space. A flight of ARC-170s flew out first expanding the wings out more slightly, followed by the LAAT/i dropships carrying their troop and tank cargo to the planet below.
The warrior spirit in him felt gutted to have missed an opportunity to witness an alien battle, to see how these two governments combated one another but the repercussions of such a thing outweighed his curiosity. Though there was a very slim chance these Separatists would know of his presence as Kenobi had assured him, fighting alongside the Republic could indicate his world's cooperation and could find itself in a extremely serious situation.
A war with his fellow man could be dealt with like many throughout human history. A conflict with an extraterrestrial government with a vast robotic army and ships that can blockade an entire planet from space, lead by some evil version of the Jedi...not so much.