Location: Near Washington D.C. Virginia Air Space, 42 ABG, May 25th, 3:32 pm;
Admiral Hugmar paced impatiently up and down the Separatist's Providence-Class Destroyer Bridge. The Defiant was a recent addition to the CIS Navy, with advanced weapons, and more importantly, advanced ray and particle shielding. The Admiral was very proud to be in such a prestigious position in the Separatist Alliance, that he, and not Neut Gunray, had been given helm on the ships maiden voyage.
"Communications Officer, 22-84, have you secured a link with Command unit 1187, yet?" the Admiral was a particularly irritated Neimoidian; he wanted this invasion over, the sooner the better. He hadn't expected such resistance from the native population of the new planet, they had weapons far stronger than he'd anticipated for an unknown backwater outer-rim system.
"Almost, sir," the B1 responded while boosting signal strength... Seemingly aware of the Admiral's ire rising.
The Republics arrival was mixed news for Admiral Hugmar. On one hand the Republic jamming his communications put a major damper on his ground operations, but on the other hand… well… both Republic Star Destroyers positioned on either side of the massive Separatist ship were bombarding the haran out of the hull with laser canons, proton torpedoes and countless smaller assault craft, but with little to no effect.
"Look at them," the Admiral swept his hands across the bridge; through the huge transparasteel windows a massive air battle was commencing between the Republic and Earth forces against the droid fighters. Every missile, bullet, or blaster bolt aimed at the Defiant simply disappeared meters from the ship in a shimmer of blue energy.
"They can't even touch us! Count Dooku was right when he said the ships shields were invincible! Corporal, how are they faring?"
"All energy levels at 100%, sir."
"Good, and what about the prisoners?"
"All prisoners are being transported to the ship now, sir."
"Good, good. How many units have we lost so far?"
"Sir?" the Droid paused looking up from its counsel, "We have just re-established contact with southern battle force..." then in a slightly less triumphant tone the B1 continued, "they are reporting substantial losses sir, more than three-quarters of the southern battle group have been destroyed."
"What? Get me Command Unit 1187, immediately!"
"Yes, sir!"
The Admiral swiftly turned to the bridges Holo-projector as the blue flickering image of the B1 Commander 1187 visualized in front of him. The droid was in an AAT, rattling out orders.
"Admiral, sir!" it answered in surprise, before quickly and wisely continuing on with a status report, "We have breached the Hangar! We've almost removed all the Republic and native ground forces from the area, once they're deactivated we will search for the Representatives."
The news surprised the Admiral, who'd been preparing to lecture the droid on loosing so many units.
"This is good to hear, though I am severely disappointed in your battle losses. The Republic has its forces en route Commander, make quick work of the remaining troops."
"Sir, we have cornered the last of the enemy fighters. We are searching the Consular Cruiser now. Our scanners indicate there are extensive subterranean tunnels underneath this building. Sir, what are your orders if we fail to locate the Senate Representatives?"
The Admiral frowned for a second, if there was one thing he hated more than clones, it was an intelligent droid.
"On second thought, Commander, take any remaining enemy forces you find prisoner, if we do not find the Representatives right away, then we may need to..." a sadistic smile crossed his mouth, "persuade them to tell us where they are."
"Roger, roger."
Location: Hangar, 3:34 pm;
Tens was in shock. The blasts destroying the Hangar entrance were coming in thick and fast from so many directions that he felt like a pack of sabacc cards which had been shuffled too many times. He took a minute to refocus. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of rifles being moved and clicked into place. He pulled his battle weary body up only to be looking down the barrel of a Separatist weapon.
"Hand's up, Republic Scum!"
The lack of intonation in the B1's voice sent a shiver down his spine. He had never been so close to one before and the temptation to blast it into the next system was overwhelming. He had to think quickly, but then his HUD began flashing, its 360 degree view stopping him cold.
Behind Tens, his brothers and Marines were in the same position. There were just too many tan metal soldiers. They were completely outnumbered, it would be suicide to resist.
Tens watched, as if in slow motion, as he released his trusty DC-15S and it hit the concreted floor with a dull clunk. He then switched to his helmets long-range commlink.
Down but defiantly not out, the trooper had one last card left to play.
"Commander Cody, what's your ETA?"
A crackling voice filled the trooper's helmet, "About two minutes, Droid AA guns held us up, shot a bird down… What is your status trooper?"
Tens patched through live feed from his HUD.
"You'll have to hold out, we're en-route."
"Yes, Sir."
Tens cut the transmission as more B1's filed into the Hangar. Picking his carbine off the floor and relieving him of his DC-17 hand blaster, the droids forced Tens around, cuffing his hands behind his back. Fortunately the clone's buckets were left on.
Looking to the others, Tens scowled. Julia and Aaron, whose helmets happened to be off, were pleading with the nearest B1 to allow them to continue working on Connor; the droids however didn't share their sentiment, forcing them to abandon the injured Marine on the ground. Meanwhile Trevor, Riot, Jumps and Right'eye were being cuffed as well.
Tens could feel his anger rising, 'two fekking minutes. Think di'kut, think.'
They were forcibly escorted past the destroyed Hangar door to an AAT which had parked its fat shebs next to the Consular Cruiser. Several columns of B1's, B2's and a few Droideka's stood guard next to it, while a B1 Commander Droid in the AAT conversed with a Holographic image.
'Great!' Tens thought rolling his eyes behind his bucket, 'should've listen to Right'eye and gone underground. Where's a Jedi when you need one?'
The droid Commander turned to the prisoners.
"Sir, these are the clone's I was talking about," it motioned to the prisoners with a wave of its mechanical digits, before turning back to the Holograph, "Maybe they know where the Representatives are?"
The droid turned the Holograph to the prisoners. The Marine's flinched at the sight before them. The clones however, having seen Neimoidian's before, remained rigid, while constantly streaming messages through to one another via their helmet comms.
"Ahh, now we are getting somewhere," the Neimoidian smiled clasping his bulbous fingers together greedily, "Tell me clones," his voice condescending, "where the Senate Representatives are and I might let you live."
Tens stepped forward, "And who in haran are you? Some Trade Federation excuse for a bantha's shebse?" His terse comment rewarding him with a flick to the back of his bucket from the B1 behind him.
Right'eye glanced over at his brother, watching. He knew by Tens' body language that his brother was getting pissed, but Right'eye also realized a delay tactic when he saw one.
"Easy there ner vod," Right'eye whispered through comms.
Pointing directly at Tens the alien continued, "If you were anything other than a few cells procured from a Mandalorian I might be insulted," the Neimoidian looked amused, "I am Admiral Gen Hugmar of the Trade Federation. Now, are you and your fellow petrie-dish brethren going to answer the question, or should I just start whittling away your sorry excuse for a company, starting with, let me see? How about her?"
Trevor watched with dread as Julia was pushed through the group and forced down to the ground, an unmistakable feminine cry escaping her mouth, surprising them all.
Tens was running out of options, "We are the ones you want sir, leave the human alone. It's our war, not their's."
"It became their's the minute they started firing on us."
'Yeah, but you invaded their fekking planet you hypocritical insect!' the silent thought crossing Tens mind as his anger at the situation only grew. He looked at the woman on her knees, head forward with both hands ties behind her back.
Julia swallowed hard, her mouth unnaturally dry as she stared down at the hard surface beneath her, 'so this is it?'
The droid immediately engaged its carbine. Right'eye looked to Tens. The trooper's helmet tilting slightly in question as to what his brother would do now.
Before Tens could answer, a red dot suddenly appeared in the center of the B1's forehead standing over Julia, ready to fire. The clone watched with fascination as the dot increased in brightness, smoking lightly.
The droid looked back and forth between its captives and comrades with obvious confusion about why it had suddenly become the center of attention. Even the Admiral noticed before the droid suddenly collapsed with a sad mechanical moan.
The other B1's stared down at their fallen comrade, before more of the deadly dots appeared on their foreheads. In quick succession, they too fell to the ground disabled.
"Kill them! Kill them all!" the holographic Admiral yelled frantically, realizing what was happening.
The B2's immediately broke formation rushing forward with arms outstretched preparing to fire.
The heads of the first three B2's suddenly exploded in bright flashes, sending them rolling and smoldering to the ground. The neat row of B2's behind began firing. Their new orders were simple, kill the prisoners, kill all the prisoners!
"Take cover you idiots!" someone yelled.
The clones together with Delta rushed to the barricade beside Connor's prone form. Julia immediately knelt beside her brother, incapable of doing anything for him at the moment other than using her body as a human shield due to her restraints.
Peaking over the wall, they watched in amazement as the rest of the B2's succumbed to sudden explosive deaths, either their heads removed or their chest plates littered with gaping holes.
"Could someone tell me what the fuck is going on? I've had just about enough of this bullshit!" Trevor was struggling against the shackles and the noise from the ensuing fire fight.
"Right'eye. What kind of weaponry could do that to B2 armor, and where's it coming from?" Tens was calm in the face of the chaos that was surrounding them.
"I'll get back to you when the answer presents itself."
The Commander droid quickly closed the hatch on the AAT, while the Droideka's powered up their shielding, turning imposingly to where the prisoners hid.
Then, to the amazement of all assembled, even the Droideka's shielding didn't stand a chance, failing in bright crackling explosions that lit up the entire Hangar.
"Anyone have a visual!"
"Got nothing, ammo is too fast to see!"
"There!" Trevor pointed to the ceiling of the hangar.
Using his HUD's filters to enhance the dark ceiling Tens saw what Trevor had seen.
On a small catwalk that ran down the entire length of the Hangar ceiling, one of the most heavily armored soldiers Tens had ever seen stood holding onto a massive gun. The weapon was mounted on the catwalk handrail with clamps, and could swivel in every direction. It reminded Tens of a much larger version of the Z-6 rotary canon.
"Trevor, he's not one of ours, so I'm presuming he's yours?"
Trevor held back a laugh, "Tens, I swear to God, this is the first time I've ever seen anything like this," then mostly to himself he continued, "It looks like a combination of a High Powered Laser Canon and Railgun..."
Looking from the unknown soldier down to the Hangar floor, the only thing left intact that Tens could see was the AAT and it was backing out of the Hangar slowly.
Suddenly, the Commander droid in the tank spotted the one man army, and without hesitation raised the barrel of the AAT and prepared to fire.
Tens, looking back up to the soldier, watched as he took a step back, clearly surprised the droids had finally spotted him. In one swift movement he effortlessly hoisted the heavy gun to his shoulder.
While that in itself was an impressive feat, what he did next left the group speechless. Running down the catwalk he suddenly flickered out of existence.
However, the droids in the AAT didn't seem to care if their prey had disappeared from view, firing the large canon regardless.
The resulting explosion wreaked havoc with the ceiling above them. Shrapnel scattered across the hangar while the catwalk fell, hitting the top of the Consular Cruiser and crumpling into several pieces, the resulting sound deafening to all present without helmet baffles to protect them.
"Fek!" Tens sensed the invisible soldier as he sprinted trying in vain to outrun the disintegrating catwalk collapsing underneath him.
He just wasn't that fast
Tens watched as a puff of debris rose next to the Consular Cruiser where the soldier had fallen.
He wanted to rush to his aid, but they were all still cuffed.
Grunting with frustration, he swiveled his shoulders around a couple of times before he finally felt the release.
"How in the..."
It was Right'eye, "Later, ner vod, I'll get everyone else, you get him."
Tens rushed forward, watching as the soldier's body materialized on the ground in front of him, his armor undulating from visible to invisible and then back again. He lay on his back, large weapon held to his chest. His helmet was similar to the Marines, but his opaque visor was backlit with red, which only added to his intimidating stature.
Tens reached a hand down to help the soldier up when he noticed it. A skinny piece of steel girder was sticking up through the soldier's lower chest armor.
"Aaron! Man down, man down!"
Stooping down next to the wounded soldier, Tens stated clearly, "Hang in there, we've got a medic coming."
The soldier's helmet tilted up slightly, as if assessing the clone.
'Aaron's never been good at triage...' he mumbled audibly to Tens, before grunting and replying sharply, "Get out of here! Go, leave me. I was made to die! I'm a lost cause..."
Tens visibly paused, absorbing the information. Chuckling a little, he stood to make room as Right'eye, Jumps, Riot, and Trevor joined him.
"You have no choice in the matter bud. Trev, where's Aaron?"
"He's with Connor along with Julia," Trevor replied absently as he knelt down next to the downed trooper.
Trevor gave the soldier a sideward glance, whistling when he noticed a small American Flag attached to the soldiers arm, "Oh Boy, your one of us then?" Trevor looked at the soldier's red visor, not getting a response he started working on the wound while continuing his conversation, he figured if the soldier was in shock then a bit of soft talking could help.
"Silent type, huh? Well, Sgt. Trevor Kelly at your service," Trevor paused trying to figure out how to unclasp the soldiers now visible lower chest plates, it was then he realized just how technologically advanced the soldiers suit was, "things must be bad if DARPA's R&D labcoats start sending out their top-secret experiments to save us. No offense though, as lab experiments go, you're a pretty damn impressive one. Have a name kid?"
The American soldier just continued to stare at Trevor, confirming the Marines belief that he was indeed in shock. The soldier silently reached down and helped the Marine unclasp his lower suit so Trevor could triage the wound, and figure out what to do with the piece of metal sticking grimly out of the soldiers waist.
It was then that Right'eye noticed the AAT, blaster barrel pointed directly at them.
"Hey Guy's?"
"Not now, Right'eye," Trevor said removing his right gauntlet with his teeth, he would need his hands to be as sensitive as possible when removing the foreign object, even a slight miscalculation could cause catastrophic internal bleeding.
Right'eye continued regardless, his tone alerting the other four clone troopers, "remember that AAT? Well, I think it's spotted us..."
The entire group turned to look at the droid tank.
"Fek!"
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the update, thanks for your patience and I am very, very sorry it took so long. I have a better understanding of where I want the story to go now so updates should occur sooner, but College has been a total pain in the shebs so I can't promise weekly updates, I'll try, but for sake of story quality I can't.
(Song prompt for this entire chapter is Lost Cause by Imagine Dragons.)
Also, a couple of chapters from now, I'll need some clone names, send me a PM or Review with any names you want to see appear in the story, and I'll try to include as many as I can.
Thanks, and please review...
-Sly