Warning: Chapter contains cussing and references to cuss words. I'm not referring to star wars curse words. Marines you know, it had to happen eventually. : )
A/N: Enjoy the chapter, at over 8,600 words it's a good one!
"The future has many paths – choose wisely" – Morals
NBC National Broadcast Regular Programming 3:00 pm EST May 25th:
'Like sand through an hour-glass so are the days of our liv... Beeeeeep... 5...4...3...2...1...'
"Hello, I am NBC correspondent Timothy Riles reporting from our New York City headquarters. We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to breaking news coming out of Washington D.C.. Just a few minutes ago at 2:53 Eastern Standard Time the United States military ordered a mandatory evacuation of the entire D.C. metropolitan area. For our viewers in D.C who are watching this, we've been asked to tell you to wait for army transports to be evacuated in. I repeat, the Military does not want citizens evacuating by themselves. Depending on where you live, you may be asked to go to the nearest Washington Metro Station for evacuation. Residents who are not directly in the city but in the greater D.C. Maryland and Virginia areas are advised to take shelter in their basements or find a place low to the ground to find shelter in.
For the rest of our viewers, I have just been told that we have gotten word that the FAA has taken the unprecedented step of grounding all commercial and passenger flights across the country. All Domestic and International flights have been grounded and or canceled. We will have more on this later.
We have received no statement from the government yet as to the reason for these urgent evacuations. We suspect it may have something to do with the emergency meeting the President had earlier this morning with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and UN. For more we are joined now by our Capital Hill correspondent Kelly Wolf. Kelly, could you describe to folks at home what exactly is happening down there?"
"Yes, thank you Timothy. As you can see we are actually reporting from the south lawn of the White House near the Rose Garden. We were moved here from the Capital Building by the army. First though, we have just received word that the President will in fact be making an emergency address to the nation shortly. We will bring that to you as soon as we can."
"That's good to know Kelly, but how serious would you say this situation is?"
"Well Tim, it was on our way here that we saw how massive of an evacuation this actually is. We passed hundreds if not thousands of buses and army transports being loaded with people; some were leaving the city already. We saw patrols of soldiers and Washington Police going through the streets checking each house and apartment for people who aren't obeying the evacuation order..."
"Is it just the army Kelly or are there other branches helping with the evacuation as well?"
"Actually we've seen both the National Guard and the regular Army helping with evacuations. As I mentioned the local police are helping as well. What's interesting Tim is before we left the Capital Building when the evacuation order first came through, several Chinook Helicopters landed just outside. Out of them appeared several dozen soldiers, but what was strange was they were wearing black armor, I've never seen anything quite like it. Whoever they were, they weren't regular army. The last we saw of them, they were rushing into the Capital Building presumably to evacuate congress."
"Have you seen or has there been any indications that the army is sending in weapons?"
"Actually one of our crew members reported seeing military tanks driving down 15th Street as we were turning into the White House from Pennsylvania Ave.. So it looks like they are. All of the soldiers were carrying assault rifles as well. Also, it's worth mentioning that the Washington Monument grounds and the Ellipse have both become evacuation zones. Since we arrived here, we've been watching a constant stream of Chinook Helicopters come and go evacu... "
Suddenly an ear-piercingly loud rumble and screeching could be heard causing the reporter to duck momentarily. The sound was so loud that the TV cameras audio buffers kicked in, dampening the sound.
"Kelly, what was that?"
After regaining her composure somewhat the young correspondent continued, "Sorry Tim, that was two Air Force Interceptors making another flyby. The Jets have made flyby's every few minutes since the evacuations started."
"Kelly, have you received any word from the army or the White House as to the reason for the evacuation? Or do you think that will be covered in the Presidents address?"
"No Tim, there hasn't been. But as you can see whatever the threat is it is quite serious. When I asked the soldiers about it they simply stated there was an imminent threat and that we were being taken to the White House for our own safety."
"Hmm, well we just received confirmation here that the President will be making her address to the nation at 3:10 EST. Did you notice by chance what was..."
"Just a sec, Tim," Kelly wasn't looking at the camera anymore; she'd been watching the two Jets that had flown overhead. Just as they'd disappeared into some clouds south of the city the sound of two explosions reverberated in the air and two corresponding orange glows emanated from the clouds, "Ralph, pan the camera south. Tim... Where the Jets just disappeared... there appears to be something coming out of the clouds to the south..."
"Kelly? Were those explosions that..."
"Oh my god!..." she stated with a horror-struck face. Luckily the camera wasn't on her anymore.
Panning south the camera showed the White House Fountain with the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial in the background. It was a beautiful afternoon in the capital; a slight breeze rustled the leaves of the nearby trees while the sun shined brightly against the backdrop of city monuments and ominous cumulus clouds looming behind.
Suddenly, coming out of the clouds, three massive H shaped ships appeared; around two of them a thick black smoke swirled about showing where the two ill-fated Jets had collided. Swarming around the three ships hundreds of smaller ones appeared as little black dots in the camera. Military air-raid sirens suddenly wailed from across the city and all hell broke loose. Multiple AA-Missile Defense Systems the army had snuck in during the evacuations let loose volleys of ground-to-air missiles at the three large ships. Coming out of Mach 2 over the Washington Monument, a squadron of twelve Interceptor Jetfighters quickly let loose their air-to-air missiles at the hundreds of smaller ships.
Unfortunately, the AA-Missiles did little if anything to stop the advance of the large transports as the deflector shielding did its job against the high-energy explosives. The Jetfighter squadron only managed to shoot down five of the enemy fighters before the fighters returned fire with red blaster bolts. The Interceptors didn't stand a chance against the smaller, faster and more maneuverable enemy fighters. Just as more squadrons arrived to help, the last Jet from the original squad lit up the sky in orange and red.
As all of this occurred, south of the city above the cumulus clouds, high cirrus clouds drifted slowly to the east revealing a dark colossal looking ship in the upper atmosphere which emanated an evil low humming with no clouds to dampen the sound. Whether they recognized any of the enemy ships or not, this was the view that over a hundred million Americans watched in horror through their television sets and mobile devices. Almost instantly; every TV channel, radio station and social media network both nationally and internationally were streaming live video updates from what was being dubbed simply as the Invasion of D.C..
Location: Quantico Station, Red Defense, Quantico Creek Command, 41 days ABG, Earth year 2035, May, 25th, 3:00 pm:
Sitting in his Humvee, Colonel Henry Gregson let out a long sigh. He was at Red Defense's northern barricade on I-95. He was in charge of all 25 miles of both Red and Orange defenses so naturally he was nervous. That was a tremendous amount of ground to cover, even with just over 6,500 Marines to do it with. He also hated loosing men and was afraid in this battle he would lose a lot of them. The last time his regiment was fully deployed, only a few weeks earlier in Tibet, he'd lost over a thousand Marines. The mission had been a success in the end but they all paid a heavy price. He'd written way too many causality notices for his liking. He preferred, as any sensible leader would, to write none.
That's why the latest information sent to him by Commander Atkinson put his mind at ease, at least somewhat. It was a list, a very detailed list of all the Separatists Droids (As the list called them) they would be facing. It only took the Colonel a few seconds of reading to realize the list was compiled by someone with first hand experience in fighting these droids. The list included detailed weaknesses of each type of droid. It also described common battle tactics used by the Separatists; overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers seemed to be the most commonly used tactic. In short, the list was a gold mine of vital battle info and Gregson only wished he had more time to read it over.
But that time was limited. He'd laughed when the Commander told him exactly who was invading; he thought Atkinson had gone insane, the Separatists? Hah! But now, well, I guess he's the one laughing now, Gregson thought while watching three massive C-9979's Transports approach from the northwest. He had just sent out the list to his Marines with quick instructions on what to read, what to look at and what to ignore for now. For instance, the list also showed with less detail Republic ships and soldiers, these were listed as friendlies on his HUD, while the Separatist would come up as targets. Evidently Commander Atkinson expected to be receiving help from above as well.
Right now though, the Colonel saw no help coming from space, anytime soon, instead a swarm of enemy fighters, identified by his list as Vulture Droids and Tri-fighters, started wrecking havoc on the nearby communities. Gregson watched as Quantico's Missile Defense System and the Interceptor Jetfighters fired multiple volleys at the oncoming Transports to little or no effect. But thankfully, two of the three massive C-9979's did land north of the base on the now deserted Interstate Highway. The last Transport however, flew directly overhead before disappearing out of sight to the south. Gregson didn't like this, not one bit. He considered Quantico to be heavily defended, so it didn't bode well if these Separatists had enough confidence to split up their forces.
"All command posts report in, the Droids have landed to the north and south. Our Jets will keep their small fighters occupied while we focus on stopping any droid from passing through our lines of defense."
"Possum Point Command calling in. We have one last evacuation train coming through heading south. Once they pass and we close down the tracks will be ready, sir."
"Good to hear Major."
"Quantico Creek Command, we're with you sir,"
Gregson gave his Second in Command, Captain O'Malin, an annoyed look. The Defense lines were split up into sections, each commanded by a Captain or Major. Quantico Creek Command covered the I-95 and Hwy 1 barricades and the line of defense along Quantico Creek. Both the Colonel and Captain were part of this main command, so there was no reason for calling into themselves. O'Malin who stood outside the Humvee near a sandbag wall, nodded his helmet smartly in reply to his superiors look before gazing back north to where the transports had landed.
"Prince William Forrest Command, all's quiet on the western front, sir, like it's been since we've gotten here."
"You've been waiting to say that all this time haven't you, Captain? Well, don't let the quiet get to you or your men, according to our list, the BX's or Commando Droids as they're called are described as being stealthy and quiet but very lethal. Unfortunately this list seems to be built on personnel experience so whoever wrote it hadn't experienced these droids yet, if they had and I wish they had, we would have a larger description of the droids tactics and weaknesses than what we've got."
"Clones, sir. The person who wrote this was probably a clone. I saw them in the hangar before we left with one of the special op's squads. They look like they do in the movies, sir, all white and armored, with the T shaped visors and everything. If you don't mind me asking sir, what's going on?"
"I... I wish I knew Tom. But thanks for that bit of info Captain. Looks like we have some new friends that might help us... Okay, Chopawamsic Creek Command (CCC), report in."
Only static greeted him on his Humvee's comm.
"Chopawamsic Creek Command come in, I repeat... er, Southern Command come in..."
Again, silence greeted him. But before he could try again, O'Malin interrupted.
"Sir, we have visuals on the droid forces. Our UAV's show about 34,000 B1's that have split into two groups of 17,000 on both the Interstate and Hwy 1. There about 600 larger droids that look to be the Super Battle Droids. There also appears to be around a hundred Droideka's? Is that how you say that? Oh, and they have four large tanks, AAT's as I believe they're called. The B1's are advancing in 5 large columns of 3,400 droids or an 8x425 column split between both sides of the Interstate. Each one of these columns has a smaller column of Super Battle Droids at the front consisting of 120 droids or an 8x15 column. The Droidek..."
Gregson had heard enough, he held up his hand and shook his head at the Marine who now stood beside his Humvee giving him this most detailed report. He had to admit though, it was going to be a numbers game, overwhelm the enemy by sheer numbers huh? Yeah, I'll give them that.
"Captain, enough already! Sometimes son there's such a thing as too much detail. You said they're in columns? Correct?"
"Uhh, yes, sir!"
"Well then, tell the boys at the controls of the Coldstinger's to have fun target practicing. In fact, the tabs on me for whoever gets rid of the most columns!"
Though Gregson couldn't see O'Malin's face behind the Marines helmet, he was sure the Marine was smiling.
"Yes, sir!"
Now, the Colonel thought, if only I could get through to the CCC.
Location: Inside the GARD Hangar, Quantico Station, 41 days ABG, Earth year 2035, May, 25th, 3:02 pm:
"Well, just got word that the Separatist transports have landed near the base. Looks like the fighting will be coming to us then," Connor stated looking at the rough barricade they were setting up in front of the ship. They were only worrying about the right side of the Hangar from the lifts, it was most easily accessible to the droids, should they break through. The left side looked barren and void without all the Jets and helicopters. The massive Hangar doors were shut tight on both sides, and only the right side had a smaller person-only door that was the only weakness in the entire building.
The barricade itself consisted mostly of sandbags, a few Jersey Barriers and the expensive scientific equipment that had been brought in to examine the alien spaceship. Now though, Connor thought its use as a wall would do more good than just sitting around and collecting dust.
As if reading his thoughts Julia, suddenly smiling, spoke up, "Hay, think of this as a science experiment Connor, like the ones you failed at back in high school. How many blaster bolts can a $150,000 radiation detector take before it's reduced to a smoldering scrap heap?"
The machine in question actually did a lot more than just checking for radiation.
"Umm... you two knew each other when you were younger?" Riot asked with some concern, he really hoped they weren't together.
"Yes, Riot, we're actually brother and sister," Connor stated coolly, it wasn't a well-known fact and he'd like to keep it that way.
"What! What about your last names, I'm not overly familiar with how people are named outside the GAR but shouldn't you two have the same last name?" Right'eye was surprised to say the least. But now that he looked at them, he did see the resemblance. Same black hair, blue eyes and they even shared similar lips.
Julia decided she was the best one to answer that, it was a touchy subject, "I was married, not too long ago. My husbands last name was Rush and while we're divorced now, I haven't changed my name back. He... he didn't like the fact that I had joined the Marines among other things."
They all went silent, Connor moved slightly closer to his sister to show support. Finally Riot decided to change subjects.
"Hay! What about your question Julia? I bet twenty blaster bolts at the most!" Riot chimed, then with a thoughtful look continued, "For best results we should probably place it directly in front of the small door."
"I agree, we should, and I'll bet it will be thirty," Right'eye joined in on the fun before helping Riot drag the heavy machine to the proper spot.
Connor shaking his head added, "The white coats aren't going to be pleased, but in war, some damage is inevitable. I bet it takes only fifteen!"
"You're all wrong, judging by Right'eye's earlier trigger happy moment, I think twenty-five at most. What are we wagering on?" Julia noticed Riot staring at her, again; he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. She liked him though, even if he wasn't very sure of himself. She returned the stare with a smile; he promptly blushed and looked away.
"Does it matter?" Connor asked.
"Yes!" the rest stated in unison.
"Umm, how' bout cleanup duty? Yes, as highest ranking officer, whoever wins doesn't have to do anything, but the one who's off by the farthest does the most work. Oh, and if that's me, I'm pulling rank," Connor smiled contentedly. Yep, being in-charge sure had its advantages.
But having rank also had its disadvantages as Connor was about to find out.
"So, you leave my supervision for a measly fifteen minutes and you're allowing bets to be made while you're supposed to be fortifying this area for an attack? Pathetic..."
Trevor along with Aaron, Tens and Jumps had arrived silently in the lift and had watched the group of soldiers make their bets. Trevor wasn't too happy.
"Uhh, sorry sir won't happen again! We were just finishing up anyways. Is there anything else you need us to do?"
Trevor looked at the make-shift barricade, more of a half circle surrounding the small door at a distance of forty feet but it would do.
"No and sorry, a little tense that's all, good work. Now it's a waiting game and hoping our fellow Marines defend the base. By the way Connor, that was probably the lamest wager I've heard ever, of all time. I mean clean up duty? What are we, kindergarteners? You couldn't have thought of alcohol or just plain old money? Pathetic... "
#
Tens smirked a little at the Marines, they were an interesting bunch. He and Jumps made their way over to their fellow brothers. Tens, to say the least had a lot on his mind.
"Well, how bad was your purgatory with Riot? I take it you won't make mistakes like that again?"
Tens sarcasm wasn't lost on Right'eye, he chuckled a little while Riot just scowled and walked away with Jumps to a nearby Jersey barrier to talk.
"I won't, not again, and it wasn't too bad, we had some interesting discussions. I'm... It's... er, I'm glad to see you back," Right'eye answered with perhaps a little too much hesitation, indicating to Tens that something was troubling his brother.
"It's... uhh, likewise ner vode. It looks like we have some time," Tens gestured to Jumps and Riot and the Marines who were all busy in conversation, "I need to talk to you about something."
Right'eye's heart jumped by the way Tens whispered the last part, What if he found out by himself? Fek! He didn't tell anyone, did he? Udesii Right'eye, this might not have anything to do with it.
"Sure, what's up?"
Tens gestured to the ship, "This is a conversation best left to our ears only, is that okay?"
Right'eye nodded and followed his brother onboard the ship while Jumps and Riot's discussion became a heated debate. Right'eye was sure about it now, he must know, that's what he wants to talk about, what else could be so pressing? Maybe I should tell him I know already. I mean, if I was a force-sensitive clone I know I'd be nervous as osik to tell anyone, even my closest brother.
Once onboard they sat next to each other at one of the cabins benches. Looking at his brother, Right'eye could see Tens was nervous; in his brown eyes he could see fear, an emotion his brother had only ever showed on Geonosis after their Larty crash landed. That was when the rest of their squad was killed. Yep, he definitely knows.
Looking down, Tens trying to hide his emotions smiled a little, "I guess I still owe you those ten credits. Sorry about that, I didn..."
Right'eye knew his brother well enough to know a delay tactic when he heard one, "Okay, what's going on, you can't seriously be dwelling on that? And yes, you still owe me those credits. But what's really bugging you?"
Tens sighed, why do I even try fooling him? I hope he can make more sense of this than me.
Okay that's it, Right'eye thought, annoyed Tens was looking down avoiding eye contact and more importantly avoiding the subject, I'm telling him that I know.
"Look Tens, I kno..." Right'eye started before being interrupted; Tens had made up his mind about telling him.
"Right'eye, what do you remember about Order 66?"
What!
Location: Quantico Station, Quantico Creek Command, 41 days ABG, Earth year 2035, May, 25th, 3:03 pm:
Colonel Gregson was worried, several minutes had passed since they'd started firing the Railguns on the droids and in that time, not a single word had come to him from the Chopawamsic Creek Command (CCC).
"Anyone, come in, Captain Damon, come in," he sighed, no response again. A deafening retort shook the ground as another supersonic projectile hurtled forward and took out an entire single-file column of droids. The droids were still advancing at a fast pace, and were almost in firing range of the barricade. The Railguns had probably taken out around 2,000 droids, but Gregson thought they might as well be trying to rid the world of the entire Mosquito population by using a fly swatter.
Clank-Clank-Clank-Clank-Clank...
"Get ready men, looks like where in for a good fire-fight. Remember, according to our data, aim for the joints and heads of the B1's. The head of the SBD's, if you could call it that, is weak and try throwing your grenades under the Droideka's shielding; that's about the only way we can rid ourselves of them. Wait for my signal to fire; I don't want us wasting ammo."
"Sir, what about the CCC? We haven't..."
Gregson growled slightly in annoyance before cutting O'Malin off, "I know Captain... Let's see," he looked around at the two hundred or so Marines that he had stationed at the roadblock, all were pointing their MARS Carbines down the road at the advancing droids, "Roy, C-16, get over here on the double!"
The two Marines looked at each other before running over to and saluting their commanding officers.
"I need you two to find out what happened to the CCC. Take that Humvee over there, make it fast, and report in as soon as you find out what happened. If we...," Gregson looked at the thousands of advancing battle droids, "If we don't make it here, get to Orange Defense and warn them. Got it?"
"Yes, sir!" Roy ran over to start-up the Humvee but unit C-16 stayed behind for a few seconds.
"Sir, why us?"
Gregson knew he might as well have said 'Why me?'. He knew the clones often felt themselves as being somewhat expendable or cannon fodder as some of their fellow Marines called them. Gregson disagreed with that sentiment wholeheartedly, he saw them as real men, and Roy who'd become close friends with the clone, felt the same way.
"Your worth a lot more to me son than what you might think, get this mission completed and stay alive, I know you will."
The clone, now standing a little taller, saluted him again before turning to his friend in the Humvee, both Marines then quickly drove south down the abandoned Interstate for the CCC.
"Captain, get the Abrams fired up, those droids are in range, let's see if we can do some damage."
O'Malin ran back behind the Humvee's and Railguns to where the tank operators should have been with the tanks, but he found to his horror their bodies on the asphalt instead. All of them had a still-smoldering blaster bolt hole in the head.
"Colonel! The tan..."
Gregson sighed, if it wasn't one thing it was another with O'Malin. Turning around the Colonel found to his dismay the body of his former captain lying beside one of the Railguns. Stunned, he started to issue a warning when a smooth rounded head and glowing eyes of a Commando Droid appeared in his vision. Unfortunately that was the last sight the 54-year-old Colonel would ever see.
Location: Hyperspace:
"See to it Major, that all of the hyperwave transceivers are placed correctly. The Chancellor would be very displeased if they didn't work properly, they are worth a considerable amount of credits."
"Yes, sir!" the clone officer answered, before exiting the Bridge of the Resistor a Venator-class Star Destroyer. She was one of four ships Captain Tarkin was in charge of. One of the ships was another Venator while the other two were Acclamator Class-I Assault ships. It was a large force but would be necessary for what the Chancellor had in mind.
All four ships had just jumped to Hyperspace from Coruscant. As soon as they entered Hyperspace that didn't have transceivers in it, they would start placing them into it. If they didn't do this, then they too would be out of contact with the rest of the Republic like the Resolute and Negotiator were.
Tarkin was only slightly worried, he had the larger force and he also had the Chancellors orders. It was only the small matter of carrying out the attack. Hopefully, the remaining Trade Federation Destroyer would still be in the system, it would complicate matters if there was no one to blame.
Location: Virginia Air Space Approaching Washington D.C., May, 25th, 3:04 pm:
"Okay chaps; let's give these bandits a run for their money, eh? How's you six, dash two?"
"Good for now! Snuggling up."
"Good, you're with me this time Rookie. Now listen up, all of you. Our jobs simple, distract the bandits to give the boys on the ground some advantage. If that means we go kamikaze on the bastards, so be it. We can't let them win. Am I clear?"
A chorus of thirteen pilots answered back. They were more than ready.
"Command, this is Echo Squadron. Sorry it took us so long; the Rockies were a bit troublesome. Are we clear to engage?"
"This is D.C. Air defense, you're clear for attack Echo Squadron. Not a moment to soon, the first waves have failed, I repeat first waves failed. The enemy fighters are now targeting the neighborhoods, you know what to do."
"Copy that, Squad Leader out."
"Okay playmates, let's party! Coming out of Mach 4 in three, two, one, throttle back!"
With that, approaching the Capital City from the west, all 14 Interceptors reduced speed to below Mach 1. Emerging from a cloud bank they could see a full-out dogfight raging in the distance. Hundreds of bandits, as the pilots called enemy aircraft, were flying about the airspace of Washington firing on buildings and Jets alike. It was hell, as best as one could describe it.
"Okay squad, lock targets and let loose, remember make sure you get their attention. My section follow me!"
The main group continued toward the distant city, locking targets and firing volleys of air-to-air missiles which most of the droids avoided. The Squad Leader and Rookie split from the squadron.
Diving down to the ground they skimmed along the Potomac to avoid detection while following the river's banks and curves into the city.
"Sir? Isn't that the Key Bridge ahead? Shouldn't we pull up!"
Laughter greeted the young pilot over the comm, "No, kid, those arches are just big enough for us. You take the right arch I'll take left. Center yourself and hit it. Go!"
With that, the two Jets which had flown wing-tip to wing-tip, veered at the last moment and shot under the bridge through their respective arches.
"Wahooo!" Squad Leader loved flying, maybe a bit too much for his companions liking.
"Sir, I've never been one for colorful flying!"
"Ah come on, I told you we'd make it! Now let's do some damage."
Both Jets screamed over Theodore Roosevelt Island and over the Kennedy Center into the heart of Washington. To both pilots disbelief, two massive ships had landed in the grounds of the Washington Monument and thousands of droids could be seen marching out. They could also see a third ship which landed south of their location at Reagan National Airport.
More importantly however, the Squad Leaders plan had worked! Not noticing the two Jets gliding along the river, around a hundred of the two hundred droid fighters had gone to intercept the rest of Echo Squadron.
"Okay lad, let's light'em up from behind! Pull up at the Monument!"
Both Jets, barely missing the tops of the giant transports, shot past the tall obelisk and started their vertical U-Turn. Pulling up on the yolks and climbing straight up in altitude they made a vertical loop flipping their Jets upside down and traveling back west the way they'd come. Leveling back out wing-tip to wing-tip, both pilots looked at each other. Giving a thumbs up, Squad Leader pointed towards the droids who were zeroing in on Echo Squad.
"I think it's time to give them a taste of Little Miss. We only have one, and you have it so don't mess up."
He was referring to a new air-to-air/ground missile recently developed by DARPA. Little Miss, as it was affectionately called by the pilots who'd had the privilege of testing it, was a multi-target missile. When fired, she released up to fifty individual mini-warheads. Each mini-warhead would then lock onto and hit its own target. What's more, they would communicate after being released from the main missile. Thus, no warhead would lock onto and hit the same target as another allowing for maximum spread and effectiveness.
"I'm ready to fire sir, waiting your orders."
"Throttle forward, I want us close," only when they were approaching Mach 1 did he give the order, "Okay Rookie, bombs away! Alpha Mike Foxtrots!"
With that the Rookie turned the safety off and pressed the trigger down releasing Little Miss. She was a sight to behold, speeding from the Jet at just over Mach 2, the missile calculated all enemy positions, plotting a course for each warhead she released her payload. Fifty little rockets flared brightly out of her sides and raced towards the unaware droids.
"Echo Squad, release flares and scatter!"
The Jets did just that. They all broke formation in seemingly random yet practiced trajectories while releasing their emergency flares. Before the droids could even follow or figure out what had happened to their targets, the missiles hit their mark.
All fifty targeted fighters went up in bright orange and red before falling down and exploding into the forests below. Since most of the droids had been flying in cluster formations, many of the remaining fifty droids were caught up in the explosions and destroyed as well. The few remaining stragglers were quickly finished off with regular air-to-air missiles and rotary canons (very large rotary machine guns).
"Ha ha ha! Bravo Zulu! I'd say that diminished their forces! Keep it up Rookie and you might be in my position someday. Well Squad, we still have around a hundred to go, let's get to work!"
With that, the first squadron of the day to not lose a single pilot raced back to their Capital City. Unbeknownst to them however, the Separatist Admiral had just ordered another hundred of his fighters to aid in the attack on the city. It would be a long day for Echo Squadron.
Location: Interstate 95, Just South of Quantico Creek Command, May, 25th, 3:04 pm:
Roy and C-16 hadn't even gone a klick down the Interstate before they came under attack. At this point the Interstate cut through some hills. From the road cuts Commando Droids fired down on the fast-moving armored vehicle while B1's who were making their way north on the Interstate started firing as well. Luckily, the Humvee's armor held out against the barrage of red blaster fire, which made sense since it was made to be practically bomb proof.
"Well, I guess this answers the question about what happened to the CCC. Watch out!" C-16 warned as four Droideka's rolled past, narrowly missing them. "That was close!"
The Droideka's did a quick U-turn before following close at their heels.
"Sixteen, call the Colonel and warn him of the oncoming droids."
C-16 set the Humvee's comm controls and called in on an open frequency, "Quantico Creek Command, come in. This is unit C-16, I repeat, come in."
Static was all that greeted him. "You have it on a general channel, right?" Roy asked while swerving to miss a column of B1's.
"Yes, everyone at command and the barricade should be able to hear us, why isn't anyone answering?"
A dark look passed over Roy's face quickly followed by a string of curses from both Marines. They both knew what had become of their comrades.
"We have to warn the others, take the next exit."
With renewed urgency Roy hit the accelerator.
"One more klick before the Fuller Road exit. Whoa! There's more droids ahead!" C-16 warned.
"Hay bud, I just remembered we have a mounted rotary Machine gun on the roof!"
C-16, putting his helmet on, didn't even hesitate. Quickly moving to the back of the Humvee, he slid the hatch open, brought up the protective armored plates to protect himself from enemy fire and hooked in the ammo belt. Looking down the road they both saw the spider droids, B1's and SBD's blocking their path. He let loose thousands of rounds, literally mowing down any resistance. The spent ammo casings fell to the ground making an odd musical compilation between the loud Machine gun and the casings hitting the asphalt behind them. It also helped that as it turns out, going 90 mph, B1's and SBD's more or less shatter when hit by an armored Humvee.
"Ha ha ha! Take that and that you piece of shit! Oh crap..." C-16 had just noticed the Droideka's following them. The rotary gun could only swivel 180 degrees in the front so he had to use a smaller single-barrel Machine gun mounted on the back of the Humvee to cover their rear. Unfortunately no matter how hard he tried, the Droideka's kept outmaneuvering his constant fire.
"Damn! They're fast little buggers aren't they!"
Looking back to the front, C-16 noticed a Commando Droid with what looked like a sniper rifle. Two well placed red bolts hit into the armor surrounding the hatch, confirming what the Marine thought. Missing its target the droid got up, pulled out its vibroblade and with frightening speed ran down the hill. C-16 quickly swiveled the front rotary Machine gun as far right as it would go and let loose thousands of rounds at the Droid. However with several quick bounds the Droid avoided the bullets and with one final leap, barely grabbed hold of the back of the fast-moving vehicle.
C-16 switched back to the smaller rear Machine gun and tried hitting the Droid. The Commando Droid, quickly righting itself, dodged the fire and slashed at the Marine with its blade. C-16 moved out-of-the-way just in time as the blade sliced cleanly through the Machine gun barrel.
Not good, that's a very sharp blade, better avoid it.
The Droid jumped up and was about to slice C-16's head off with a quick swing when the Marine put his right arm up to block the droids arm from swinging all the way to his head. The droid looking surprised, if droids could show emotion, looked down to where its arm and the Marine's arm had met. Looking back to the Marine it found itself looking into the barrel of a handgun.
Bang! No more Commando Droid, Hah! You aren't getting me that easily.
With such close proximity the bullet, which from a distance wouldn't have penetrated the armor, went clean through the droids head. C-16, trembling with both fear and excitement, leaned his back against the rotary Machine gun. Looking ahead, he could still see the very persistent Droideka's trying to catch up.
"How's it going up there?" A voice from inside the Humvee asked, blissfully unaware of all that had occurred.
"Fine! Everything's fine, I'm fine, your fine, the Droideka's are just fine! Umm, I think I'm done up here."
"Well fine, don't tell me then. I was just curious."
C-16 quickly unhooked the ammo belt, locked both guns and retreated into the safety of the speeding Humvee. Plopping down in the front passenger seat and taking off his helmet he let out a long sigh.
That was too close. Next time, Roy gets to go up.
"Are you sure everything's all right bud?"
"I'll tell you later... Umm, Roy, the exit's coming up; slow down it's a loop exit!"
"Don't worry, besides we have to outmaneuver those rolling trash heaps behind us somehow."
C-16 wasn't convinced, he'd driven this exit enough times going the normal speed limit to know you had to go slow.
"Roy!"
Roy laughed almost manically and actually accelerated, much to his companion's displeasure. Hitting the exit at close to 100 mph the Humvee tilted and almost flipped going around the loop before finally leveling back out on Fuller Road.
"I hate you," C-16 stated simply, gingerly letting go of the handgrip above the passenger side door.
"Oh come on, that was fun," Roy chuckled a little. Then he noticed the Droideka's were still following them.
"You gotta be kidding me."
"Roy, the Orange Defense Barricade's ahead, slow down, I mean it this time! We can't get past."
To their relief, the intersection of Fuller Road and Hwy 1 was still held by the Marines of Orange Defense. However, a fierce firefight was raging between the Marines and the B1's that had come up from the south. As they slowed down, a couple of Marines at the barricade quickly moved a Jersey barrier out-of-the-way so that they could pass. Just as they were approaching the intersection, one of the Coldstinger Railguns aimed its long barrel at them. Startled, Roy hit the gas and sped through the intersection, scrapping several B1's and startling several of the Marines.
"Aaahhhhh!" they both yelled as they drove through the barricade.
The Railgun fired, destroying the four Droideka's that had been about to stop and open fire on the slowing Humvee. Roy quickly brought the vehicle to an abrupt stop behind an Abrams Tank. Both Marines let out a long-held breath, then looking at each other they smiled and began laughing.
"I'll drive next time, for both our sakes," C-16 managed to spit out but continued to laugh.
After a few seconds when they'd calmed down some from all the excitement, Roy suddenly had an idea.
"Speed."
"What?"
"That's your name; you've been looking for one for a while now. You don't like speeding so the way I see it that's something that makes you unique, so why not? Plus I like the sound of it."
C-16 was speechless; his friend had just gone from laughter to giving him a name while being dead serious in a heartbeat.
"You're joking, right?"
"No, I've never been more serious in my life. What you don't like it? I mean, I guess it's up to you whether you keep it but I thoug..."
C-16 interrupted, "No Roy, it's just... it's great! That's my name now, Speed," Speed smiled, he couldn't describe at that moment how happy he was to have a friend like Roy.
Roy noticing his friends mood, laughed a little before becoming serious again, "Now don't you be getting sentimental on me, you hear, we got enough of that from the Colonel... Oh shit, the Colonel!"
That's when they both remembered why they were here. They still had a mission to complete.
Location: GARD Hangar inside the Consular Cruiser, 3:03 pm:
It didn't take long for Tens to explain to Right'eye all that had occurred after he'd left. Right'eye was surprised at first but seemed to become more contemplative as the explanation went on.
"So, now you see the problem I'm facing. Either she's right and the Chancellor is a sith or she's wrong but still somehow has vast amounts of knowledge about us. What should I do?" Tens asked while repeatedly banging his head softly against the ship's cabin wall as he stared up at one of the cabin lights.
Right'eye frowned in contemplation. This was indeed unexpected and troubling.
"Well ner vod, let's say for argument's sake that she's right. To be completely honest the more I think about it the more likely that seems to be," he looked to Tens who stopped his repetitious action long enough for a nod of agreement.
"Well then, you have two options. One, don't do anything. Doing nothing, if she's correct, runs the risk of having us carry out the order, ridding the galaxy of the Jedi and plunging said galaxy into darkness with a sith overlord. But, if she's wrong then we don't do anything bad in the future and that's that. Even then, the order still exists and after thinking about it I'm pretty sure that the Jedi don't know about it. If they did, well they just don't, it wouldn't exist if they did."
"What's option two? Telling the General?" Tens sighed, things always seemed to get complicated, nothing could ever be simple.
Right'eye smiled, "Yes, telling General Kenobi. This option is risky, well both are actually but... Anyways, first off you might find it hard to tell him. The security measure for the contingency order you accidentally discovered strictly forbids you to do so. However, assuming you can overcome that, like you did with not killing Lisa, then there's the chance the General might kill you."
Tens looked at his brother in surprise, "Kill me?"
Right'eye nodded gravely, "Think of it from his perspective, a clone just came to you and told you about a secret order that, if given, would destroy you and everything you hold dear. Would you not kill that clone to cover up the fact that you now know that information?"
Tens nodded; then the blood drained from his face, "Right'eye, if I told him, obviously they would kill the Chancellor, but would the Jedi kill all of us too? They would consider us a threat, especially if we were created for that sole purpose. I mean, why else would you have a contingency order like that?"
Right'eye chuckled a little, which seemed odd to Tens given the circumstances, "They wouldn't dare," he assured, then noticing his brothers confused look continued, "Why? Well, they need us, if the Chancellor is a sith than he obviously wants this war to kill off the Jedi. The longer it lasts the more Jedi will die until he sees it fit to issue Order 66 to finish off the war-weakened Jedi Order. If the Jedi kill him, then his apprentice, Count Dooku would have no reason to drag the war out anymore. Actually this makes perfect sense; it would explain why the droid foundries aren't producing at full capacity and why they make such osik products."
Right'eye was beaming with these new-found revelations while Tens was just becoming more depressed.
"So, what you're saying is we were created as a tool to rid the galaxy of the Jedi and that's all?" Right'eye nodded so Tens continued, "And the Chancellor, he's dragging the war out, he's playing both sides to get hat he wants... He's... He's the one who's actually killing my bothers!"
The realization struck Tens in the chest like a sack of Muja Fruit. He actually gasped for breath; everything he thought he knew was turned upside down.
"Well, I'm glad to see you've come to the same realization as I. Unfortunately this is all fitting together quite well. Besides, even if the Jedi did decide to kill all of us, what's worse; dying slowly over years of war from watching your brother's die or being killed all at once? I still don't think they would anyways; it's against their code or something like that. However airing on the side of caution if you tell the General, make him promise on death that no clones will die. Jedi are supposed to be warriors of honor and peace, if he truly stands for his code than he wouldn't betray that promise."
"I'm not sure I can do this Right'eye. We're supposed to be loyal to the Chancellor, he's our leader and we, we just follow orders not make decisions! What if she's wrong, what if this is just coincidence?"
Right'eye sighed before coming to a sudden realization; If the Chancellor is a sith then he could sense Tens. Tens would die if that order was given, fek!
"Tens, you're wrong. The Jedi say there's no such thing as coincidence, that our fate and future are always changing but that our decisions affect those changes. We are loyal to the Republic and the Republic only, not its leaders! This Chancellor, if he is a sith and that's seeming more probable, is against everything we've sworn to die fighting to protect! Even if he isn't, this order is real, and if it was ever given, I shudder to think of those consequences. If we follow that order then I'm afraid we are nothing more than flesh droids."
Tens sat staring at his brother; he had never seen Right'eye speak so passionately about anything like that before. But Tens saw deeper than that, he could see a newfound fear in his brother's eyes, it was something affecting him on a personal level.
"You're right; even if she's wrong it wouldn't hurt to tell the General, after all the order exists regardless. I'll make him promise on his life that no clones will be hurt. I'm just... It's just... Uhhgg! Part of me wants to scream out in anger that this could even be possible but then another says it's too horrible to be true!" After saying this Tens put his head in is hands in frustration, he needed a break.
Finally, they both sat, thinking over everything that had been said and what had been left unsaid. Unexpectedly, Tens put his left arm around his brother's shoulders. Grabbing Right'eye's right hand with his own he held it on his lap while Right'eye leaned his head against his brother's shoulder. Tens closed his eyes and leaned his head against his brothers. Even here, Tens covered his brother's right side. They both relaxed and for a short time forgot all the problems and worries in the universe. No words needed to be said. Sometimes it was just good to know that there was someone there for you; a brother who loved you and just as importantly, a brother who'd watch your back, till the very end.
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A/N: This was a great chapter to write! I think it came out great, but what do I know? Please tell me what you think by reviewing. If you didn't understand some of the pilots slang, send me a PM or add it into the review and I'll clarify. I thought most was pretty self-explanatory. I might update with a Character guide soon, I'm starting to get a lot. Maybe, will see.
Unfortunately I'm starting fall quarter for College and I'll be house sitting for some friends at the same time! Talk about busy; I'll probably be on a two-week update schedule from now on, however for the next chapter that might stretch to three weeks. Just a heads up. Left on kind of a cliff hanger, (Evil Smirk). Thanks again for reading, really do love all the reviews, even non-member review, though I can't really reply back to them. So please review, and as always, I do not own Star Wars...