Story Note: It might be advisable to re-read some of the previous chapters... for continuity's sake. Also, pay close attention to some of the 'new' acronyms below, as they are important later in the story.
WARNING: Expletives below... content is not suitable for young children, meaning if you're a young child, GO NO FURTHER! Ahem... so with that said... the rest of you enjoy!
Location: Below the Pentagon, ISA facility, Main Military Operations Base, 3:35 pm:
"Mr. President, this way..."
James swiftly walked into the command center, deep below the Pentagon. Instantly, every man and women, regardless of uniform or rank, snapped to attention as their Commander-in-Chief entered the massive room.
But James wasn't paying attention, a ton of information filled his mind.
Too much...
The weight of being the acting President during an Alien invasion was taking its toll.
Lisa was at the forefront of his mind. It was his fault, he thought, for the physical condition she was now in. If only he'd agreed with the Marine. If only he had forced her to abandon the Oval Office for the Bunkers early on. If only he'd done something, something instead of writing that damn speech! Maybe then she wouldn't have been injured with a deep gash in her side, a broken leg, and a severe concussion. Not to mention the death of the young Marine and the entire fucking squad sent to evac them.
If only...
If only was in the past... he was in the present.
But he didn't want to be in charge, not this way. Being the Vice President had meant not having to make the hard calls. Well, so much for that notion...
Another individual making the hard calls, the UN Chairman Adrian Hüber, was somewhere far away from DC, in a bunker, commanding the UN forces with the UN General.
Frankly, James pitied the man. Directing the world's international forces was tough enough, never mind having to deal with the UN General.
With all this and much more weighing heavily on his mind, James turned to face the Five Star General standing patiently at attention.
"Mel, good to see you made it, it's been too long," James extended his hand, "I just wish it were under different circumstances."
The General smiled, though not enough to mask the worry in his eyes, "It has been too long Mr. President" he grabbed the outstretched hand and shook it hard, "and considering the circumstances maybe we can still share that drink you promised, though sooner rather than later would be preferable."
James smirked, remembering the last time he'd met with the man, at the bar during the White House Correspondents' Dinner. James remembered it had been a rather dull evening, which was surprising given the reputation of the dinner, but James did enjoy getting to know the General on a more personal level. Turns out General Mel Sanford was a pretty decent guy, with a big family, a loving wife, a tremendous amount of experience and a fierce love of is country.
As his Secret Service detail secured the room, James sat down heavily in the leather chair reserved for the Commander-in-Chief.
The Bunker they were now in was positioned above the Command Center, with a five foot thick blast-proof window separating him from the frenzy of activity below. It was the perfect place for overseeing and commanding the United States armed forces, with the added advantage of being safe from a Nuclear Holocaust.
Looking down at his desk, which was covered with official documents, the president started reading, his eyes scanning quickly over the words; 'Project SABER' 'commandoes' 'clone' 'MAIN' and 'Solus Protocol.'
These were sci-fi weapons and programs headed by numerous faceless government agencies all conglomerated into one far-reaching agency, the ISA.
"Top secret," he mumbled to himself; these were things he wasn't even supposed to be fully aware of, let alone the American people.
But then again, there was an alien invasion occurring. No one had seen that coming...
However it was the words 'APPROVED FOR ACTIVE DUTY' 'Execute MAIN' and 'ENACT PROTOCOL' stamped on the bottom of the papers that really got him pissed.
"General," his voice rising, "did Lisa give the authority to do this?"
General Sanford fumbled a little in place, detecting the President's ire. He wasn't allowed to know about what was on those papers, only who had delivered them to the President and why they had the authority to do so.
"No, sir, she did not."
James narrowed his eyes, looking at Mel with a look fitting of a tyrant.
Coughing slightly, the General continued, "I'm afraid, sir, in times of war or national emergency, the ISA, DoD, and DARPA are granted executive powers that are equal to or rise above your powers as President. Whatever their programs or weapons are, they have full constitutional oversight to use them. However, the order for the Solus Protocol, you and Lisa did agree to that."
James felt himself shaking in place, a cold sweat beading down his back.
In truth he wasn't sure if he liked the ISA anymore, or DARPA, or any of the other various agencies that had sprouted up over the past 30 years in the name of national security. All the while the American people were distracted by politics and entertainment, not realizing just how far the democracy they thought they knew had fallen. But James was above that, at least he knew he was, and so was Lisa. She was not a politician in heart, she was a citizen. She had never cared for any of this secrecy, these programs, but even she had agreed to them for the sake of keeping the peace.
Only now, James wasn't sure if he should be happy or sad that these programs had found a use, or that the agencies that wielded them had more power than the President they were directed by.
"I see," James finally said thoughtfully, "Lisa did enact the Solus Protocol, as per the plan with the Republic, but these other programs, are they active now? And if so, why the fuck do they need me to sign anything! Since it's obvious I have no real authority!"
The General nodded gravely, "I'm afraid sir the programs are active. By orders of the Secretary of Defense. As to signing them, we still live in a democracy sir," James noted the General's bitter and sarcastic tone, indicating he agreed with this stuff just about as much as he did, "but you are required by law to sign these papers, as directed by the Constitution, amended I might add by Congress and President Chandler a decade ago... the sons of bitches..."
The President smiled, but only slightly. Yes, he remembered why he liked the General so much, one of the few true patriots left. But James was more focused on what the General had said before, about the Secretary of Defense.
'That sneaky bastard!'
James had never had a good relationship with the man, in fact, in all honesty the retired war veteran intimidated him.
Shuffling through the papers, James eyes focused on one acronym in particular; MIND.
"What the fuck?"
He knew nothing about the about the Security Council headed by the Secretary of Defense, jointly composed of the ISA, the Department of Defense, and NORAD's East Coast Division or more simply known as the Military Intelligence Network Department. James had never been to Level 30, where MIND was located, but now he was thinking he should pay them a visit, with some soldiers.
They had gone too far this time. Using a national emergency to activate their precious programs was a mistake, one he was ready to call them out on.
Folding the papers up, James tucked them in his briefcase before turning to the General, "Mel, call down to Level 30, tell the Secretary of Defense that I WILL be meeting him shortly, and that he better have damn good answers for his actions."
"Sir!" the General saluted, "Is there anything else?"
"Yes, what's the status of the battle? More importantly, what about Tens, his brothers, and Trevor's Squad?"
"Sir, I'm afraid we have lost contact with Trevor and the clones in the Quantico Hangar. However, Commander Atkinson is reporting from the USS Carter. All remaining Marines have been evacuated. The Carter has all but destroyed the remaining droid forces onshore. Atkinson reports heavy loses and that the Hangar has been breached. We simply don't know the fate of the occupants. Luckily General Kenobi has almost reached the base with his forces."
James frowned, "Wait! Atkinson fired on our base?"
"Yes, sir. The droids followed the retreating Marines to the Potomac's shoreline, where the Carter made easy targets out of them."
James nodded his head, happy to hear the slightest bit of good news from the southern front, but he needed to know what was happening in the capital city above him, "Continue general."
"Sir, Commander Fulton reports he and the 501st captain have managed to push the droids further towards the center of the city, but they have met heavy resistance. I am currently re-directing soldiers from evacuation duties to help bolster their numbers but we'll need more men if we wish to free the city of the tin cans."
"If most of the droid forces have been destroyed down south, then send the 212th north when they finish up down there."
The general nodded, "That's precisely what Captain Rex has already requested, sir."
James smirked, it wasn't that surprising the clone captain had already thought of that, "what about the air battles? Are the Republics starfighter's and Star Destroyers proceeding with the plan?"
The general frowned, "No, sir. Admiral Yularen reported that the Separatist Destroyer is managing to stay put. I have unconfirmed reports that a group of captured Marines from Quantico are being sent to the ship. A dogfight is taking place around the large ships. General Skywalker reports heavy resistance, and more droid fighters than anyone had anticipated, especially after the amount we've already destroyed," he stopped and took a breath, "but we have more jet's arriving by the minute from around the globe."
"Once the Separatist leave, then what? Is Trident Base ready to enact the protocol?"
The General for once smiled, "Yes, sir! Trident has let slip two subs and are ready to carry out the mission."
James returned the smile, "Good, now tell the Secretary that I will see him shortly, and have someone keep me up to date on everything. I want to know if the clones survived!"
He turned away from the man standing in front of him, 'Lisa trusted them and I'll be dead before I let her down...'
Location: Quantico Airspace 3:36 pm;
"Commander, General, 30 seconds till we land."
The crackling pilot's voice resonated through the metal hull of the transport as the lighting turned red. General Kenobi bounced up and down as the 212th troopers readied their weapons. The sound of safety's being clicked off and power cells being placed in blasters filled the air.
"Alright Cody, as soon as we land, our top priority is to secure that Hangar. We'll finish securing the base later. Are we clear?"
The commander nodded his bucket, "Yes, sir. The clankers won't know what hit 'em!"
The Larty shook and vibrated as it touched down roughly.
Two seconds later, the durasteel blast doors opened and Obi-wan along with the men, rushed out. The rest of the Republic birds landed around the same area, spilling out their payloads of white and yellow clad troopers into the battlefield.
Obi-wan activated his lightsaber, the weapon humming to life as he faced the Hangar. Overhead the jetfighter escorts shot by, veering sharply over the battlefield to make their way to reinforce the Republic's air forces.
After watching the jets disappear with a rumble, the Jedi momentarily paused. Looking ahead towards the Hangar, he watched as the eastward wind wafted smoke across what had once been an airfield. Seeing no droids nearby and with most of the 212th troopers out of their transports, he signaled his men to advance.
"Cody, what happened here?" Obi-wan yelled while force jumping over a deep crater, "I didn't think the droids had this kind of fire power with them?"
Cody scowled silently behind his helmet as he and the men were forced to go around the obstacle.
"After the Marines evacuated they fired on their own base with a warship. If they hadn't done so, we'd be facing thousands of droids!" Cody yelled back, almost stumbling over the remnants of a Humvee as he and his men ran as fast as they could to keep up with their young general.
"Understood," it made sense to Obi-wan, especially when you had this kind of firepower, very little but smoldering pieces remained of what had been thousands of battle droids.
"General, SBD's ahead!"
The Jedi, still running, quickly force-pushed the group of droid survivors to the ground, catching them unawares.
Sprinting past the fallen mechanical soldiers, Obi-wan sliced the droids to pieces while a few of Cody's men fired blue plasma into the remaining.
Obi-wan wasn't going to waste a moment playing cleanup on the airstrip. Cody had informed him of the plight the men in the Hangar faced, and it was his intention to save those troopers lives, but every second wasted reduced the odds of survival.
As they neared the hangar, the damage to the airstrip became less and less until they were running over solid pavement, a material similar to duracrete, Obi-wan noted.
It was obvious that the Marines hadn't risked firing near the hangar, for fear of killing those inside.
Obi-wan also noticed that the Hangar itself had a massive hole blown into its side, and a full contingent of SBD's were guarding the entrance including two AAT's. One of the tanks was inside the Hangar while the other continued to guard the exterior.
Cody held a clenched fist up as Obi-wan slowed to a stop. They were a hundred meters away, and the droids appeared to be confused.
Of the hundred or so clankers, half of them suddenly went running into the Hangar through the ripped open wall, while the other half took notice of the new arrivals.
The AAT outside the Hangar swiveled its cannon at the 212th Troopers while the remaining SBD's dropped their arms down with a collective clank.
"Cody, we have no cover out here! Have your men focus on the SBD's. I'll destroy the tanks."
The commander nodded, "Attack!" he yelled immediately rushing forward, his men following as blue bolts sped onward to meet up with the advancing Super Battle Droids.
The droids wasted no time in returning fire.
Being completely exposed on an open tarmac Obi-wan rushed forward, pirouetting back and forth avoiding red blaster fire as he made his way to the first AAT.
'For once I wish Anakin were here, this is his kind of battle, not mine...'
As the troopers continued to engage the dwindling number of SBD's, Obi-wan found himself dodging the AAT's cannon fire, one shot after another, making their trademark poing as the rounds exited the barrel.
With only a few meters to go, he performed a grand jetè onto the top of the AAT. Using his lightsaber, he made quick work of the tank, slicing it down the middle. With another leap, Obi-wan landed 10 meters away from the tank, and a few seconds later it made a satisfactory explosion.
'And that my dear separatist friend's is why you never bring a tank to a lightsaber duel.'
Obi-wan smirked turning to see his Commander and the 212th finish off the last droid, it fell to the ground with a sad mechanical whirling.
"General! Wait, we have rockets! We can use them on that one, sir."
Obi-wan watched as two troopers with rocket launchers quickly and effortlessly set their weapons up.
"Why do I get the feeling you had those all along, Cody?"
The commander tilted his helmet slightly, "You never asked sir?"
Obi-wan folded his arms ready to reply when the characteristic sound of two rockets leaving their barrels reached his ears.
Turning quickly, he watched as the two projectiles impacted the AAT, blowing the Sep carrier to smithereens inside the Hangar.
"Good work Cody. Send your men to secure the base and make sure Yularen sends us the 442nd reinforcements... How many did we lose?"
"Only two, sir, Sev and Niff. No major injuries."
Obi-wan nodded turning to the smoke-filled entrance of the partially destroyed Hangar, "Let's see if anyone is left alive in there, and bring our medics, I have a feeling we're going to need them."
Cody saluted, turning to his men, he quickly divided them into squads of twenty, and sent them off to secure the large base, beginning the process of eliminating any remaining droid forces.
Location: Several miles above Virginia, the Resolute's Bridge, 3:40 pm;
Admiral Yularen stood, arms crossed, as he watched the air-battle progress. Both the Resolute and the Negotiator had successfully managed to surround the larger Separatist ship. But unfortunately, the Sep's weren't budging an inch.
'We must get them moving! They cannot hold out for much longer!"
As a large explosion occurred to the right of the Bridge, a sudden voice behind the Admiral interrupted his thoughts, "Admiral, Commander Cody is requesting the reinforcements."
The Admiral turned around, looking at the Resolute's Comm Officer, Dace.
"I was under the impression that Captain Rex is in need of them more than Commander Cody?"
The Clone officer nodded his head, as another explosion shook the entire ship, "Yes, sir, that is the case. But Commander Cody reports that Quantico is almost re-taken, thus he would like to combine his extra men with the reinforcements before heading north to help the Captain."
Admiral Yularen nodded his head in agreement, "Very well, send out the 442nd troopers."
"Yes, sir!" the officer saluted before rushing back to his work station.
Yularen returned back to his view of the Separatist destroyer, still hovering over a particularly bright cloud, as puffs of black and streams of blue and red streaked about its hull.
"Admiral, we have a C-9979 returning to the destroyer!" someone shouted as another loud explosion rocked the ship.
A squad of vulture droids swept by the viewport before being downed by the Resolute's Ion Canon's.
Yularen quickly rushed forward to the transparisteel and looked down towards the planet below.
Far below the dueling ships, barely a speck among the clouds, was the characteristic tan-colored H-shaped droid transport, quickly heading higher and higher in altitude towards the Separatist ship.
Looking across to the Negotiator, hovering menacingly on the other side of the Providence Class destroyer, Yularen turned around, "Focus our main particle canons on that transport, I want it destroyed! Order the Negotiator to do the same..."
"Sir, US General Sanford just reported in, they believe that transport is carrying captured Marines."
Yularen rolled his eyes, nothing could ever be simple, it would seem.
"Belay that order. Dace, get me Skywalker!"
Location: Quantico, GARD Hangar, 3:40 pm;
"Duck!" Tens yelled, and everyone instinctively dropped to the ground. Trevor and Tens both covered the wounded soldier, while they braced for the inevitable.
But the prospect of being blown to bits by an AAT didn't come, instead another loud explosion shook the place.
"Quack?" Riot looked up grinning as the others looked at the now smoldering AAT.
"Riot, shut it," Right'eye chided getting up with the others.
Tens turned and smiled, they both knew what this meant; the reinforcements had arrived.
"Aaron, Julia, you guys alright?" Trevor looked over to where the Marines had been, helping Connor.
They too had dropped to cover, protecting the injured Marine, "Yeah, we're all good Sarge. Connor needs evac immediately, I can't stabilize him."
Trevor nodded gravely and looked down at the other injured soldier, the American soldier. He needed extraction too, but Trevor needed to get the metal girder out of him first, and stabilize the wound with some medical cloth.
"Alright buddy, I'm going to remove this thing, it's going to hurt like hell, but it needs to come out. Tens, get over here, I might need some help."
Tens turned around and looked back to the Marine Sergeant, "Hold on Trev, Commander Cody just comm'd me, we've got two medics incoming, have them take care of the soldier. They'll also help Connor."
Trevor nodded and knelt beside the soldier, if only to offer companionship while they waited.
For some reason, Trevor didn't want to go near his critically injured squadmate; Connor. Even though he knew he should be there, with Julia, he was afraid, terrified to the bone that he would lose Connor like he had the rest of his Fireteam in Tibet. He just couldn't face that again, so he chose to stay away. By removing himself from seeing what he didn't want to see, things just may take a turn for the better.
"You know I never did get that name?" Trevor asked the soldier, distracting himself from his thoughts, "I presume you have one?"
The soldier nodded his head, still staring through his red visor at Trevor. It was unnerving for the Marine, the anonymity of the man under the red slit just staring up at him sending every hair on his neck on end.
Looking up, Trevor suddenly heard shouts as the Republic reinforcements made their way into the Hangar, led by a partially armor-clad man; he watched as Tens and his brother's immediately moved up to greet their superiors, saluting and hastily explaining the situation.
Abruptly Trevor's attention was diverted back to the soldier as he lifted his arm and undid his helmet.
Lifting it off, Trevor's eyes widened in disbelief as a familiar face greeted him, "Clone Corporal Tye C-42 at your service..."
What?
Trevor immediately went into shock. A ghost of his former Fireteam, his best friend until that fateful day in Tibet, had just reappeared in front of his eyes. He sat riveted, unable to move or say anything.
Before clarity returned to the Marine Sergeant, one of the 212th medics rushed forward while the other went to Connor. Both medics quickly began triaging the injured's wounds.
Tye tried to keep eye contact with Trevor, but quickly gave up as more troopers came over to secure him.
Trevor watched silently, as Tye was loaded onto a stretcher and quickly escorted away along with Connor.
"Hey, Sarge, you okay?" it was Aaron, he was looking at Trevor with concern, the normally no-nonsense sergeant looked white.
Trevor shook his head, "No, I'm not Aaron. I don't believe it... he died... they told us he fucking died!"
Aaron put a hand on Trevor's shoulder, partly to restrain, but also to show sympathy, "Calm down Trev, yeah he's alive, I'm a little surprised too you know, but we'll make due, right?"
Trevor shook his head, pushing Aaron away, he needed space; he needed to get his head straight.
For the second time in his life, Trevor felt at a loss of what to do. Part of him wanted to follow the stretchers and figure out just how his best friend was still alive. The other wanted to retreat, to give up, he had conceded Tye was dead just over a week ago, fuck, he'd been at Tye's Military Funeral. The ceremony had been quick and a lot less than what the Clone Corporal deserved, but it had been closure for Trevor. But now, he just didn't know what to think anymore. The men in familiar white armor, the alien invasion; it was all too much.
Aaron watched as his Sergeant slowly crumbled in front of him.
Quickly moving forward, Aaron forcefully pulled Trevor's head up, forcing him to look directly into his eyes, which showed no sympathy, "Look at me! Trevor, god dammit we need you right now! The squad, Julia, needs you! Her brother is dying Trev, Connor's dying! He needs you. We can worry about Tye later, okay? Let's just focus on the here and now."
Trevor felt tingling in his face, embarrassed at his behavior. Everything Aaron had said was right, he had ignored Connor and Julia, and his duty to his squad.
"Okay, I'm sorry Aaron, you're right," but unease still lingered in the Marines gut, no matter what he couldn't face losing another team member...
Trevor looked over at the clones who were still talking with their General, "Look Aaron, I need to stay with them, I have specific orders to not let the clones out of my sight, specifically Tens. I need you to go with Julia and Connor to the field hospital, I'll be there as soon as I can, but until this is battle is over... I can't make you any promises."
Aaron didn't like it, Trevor was still neglecting his squad, he was acting like a coward in Aaron's eyes, but he grudgingly agreed with a hint of ire in his voice, "Okay Sarge, I'll see you soon."
With that, Aaron quickly ran after the stretchers carrying Connor and Tye. Julia, who was still by her brother's side, escorted the stretcher outside to the awaiting Larty.
Minutes earlier…
"Commander, General!" Tens and his three brothers saluted their superior's briskly as the rest of the 212th troopers secured the hangar, and rushed to aid the injured.
"At ease," Obi-wan waved his hand down, folding his arms and looking at the four troopers in front of him, four troopers, who by all intents and purposes, had caused all of this fiasco to occur.
"You boy's sure are lucky, it's not every day we divert two entire legions and accompanying star destroyers to rescue a bunch of shinies, you better be worth it," Cody finished his greeting pointing directly at Tens and Right'eye, irritation and anger showing slightly in the veteran commanders voice. He had lost more men rescuing these four then he had gained by rescuing them to begin with, and that was just the 212th, not the 501st, who were still dealing with the droids in Washington.
Tens gave his brothers a sideward glance before looking to his General, "Thank you, for coming to get us, sir. I..." Tens paused and looked again to his brothers, he had to make sure they didn't suffer because of his di'kut mistakes...
"I take full responsibility sir, for everything that's occurred. It was my decision to commandeer the Consular Cruiser back on our Star Destroyer when it came under attack. It was my decision to jump to hyperspace instead of staying with the ship and jettisoned escape pods. I would also take responsibility for this invasion. It's become clear to me, sir, that my actions and mine alone led the Separatist to this neutral planet. I am sorry sir and I will take whatever punishment you deem acceptable for my actions."
Obi-wan listened silently, raising his eyebrows at a few of the troopers 'mistakes' before the Jedi general chuckled softly.
"There's no need to apologize Tens, you and your men, given the circumstances, did an exceptional job of handling this... unique situation. While I am not fully aware of the circumstances involved in your departure from the 442nd's doomed Star Destroyer, or how you ended up here. I do know however, that if you hadn't, half of the 442nd would likely be dead, drifting in space. But because the Separatists followed you, instead of staying at the scene of the battle, you saved half of your legion. I think that in itself is a forgivable mistake. The invasion of Earth is however, an accident, nothing more. And Tens, I'm impressed, through it all you managed to keep your brothers and your ship... well... mostly intact..."
'Which is better than what Anakin could have done...' the Jedi muttered to himself as he looked to the severely battered and damaged Consular Cruiser which the troopers had been charged with protecting.
Right'eye nervously scratched behind his head, "Umm... sir, well about that... you might find the ships emergency beacon to be a bit dysfunctional... it would seem that in the excitement of today, the system received a... umm... plasma bolt, and no longer works..." the trooper rushed the sentence out.
Riot chuckled, before receiving a hard nudge in the side from Jumps.
"Right'eye, I wouldn't worry about it, ner vod, look at the ship, I think more than just the emergency beacon's been disabled!" Tens commented over his private comm...
Turning back, Obi-wan narrowed his eyes at Tens. The trooper had an unusually strong Force signature, and the more Obi-wan reached out with the force, the more he realized just how much of a presence the trooper had. It was significant, far more than he'd ever felt before in any clone. But before he could delve deeper, one of the Marines walked over.
Tens frowned as Trevor stopped in front of them, he looked like he had seen a ghost. Tens and his brothers, having greeted their commanding officers immediately, hadn't followed what had gone on behind them.
"General Kenobi, Commander Cody, this is Sergeant Trevor Kelly of the United States Marine's."
The Marine placed a false smile on his face and forced himself to focus on the here and now, not the past, "I'm at your service, sirs."
Obi-wan looked over the Marine, observing his weapons and armor before looking back to his face; also noticing the force signature radiating from the Marine was almost as dark and conflicted as the troopers under his own control.
Obi-wan smiled extending his hand, "The pleasures all mine, sergeant. I hear you almost lost one of your men, I am sorry..."
Trevor shook his head, "Thanks general, but we knew the risks when we were assigned to protect your men, Connor's in good hands," his eyes followed the line of men carrying the stretchers out of the hanger bay.
The Jedi general looked back to Tens and his brothers, "As to protecting our men, you did a good job sergeant."
"Like we needed protecting," Riot grumbled, rolling his eyes at the Marine.
Trevor shook his head, "Actually sir, Riot has a point, Tens and his brothers did an amazing job protecting your ship, well until the tank's arrived... so it was more like they were protecting us then the other way around."
Obi-wan nodded his head, arms still crossed, "Yes well... I think we can all agree on that."
Turning to his General, Tens saluted, "Sir, what are your orders?"
The Jedi looked to the Commander at his side, "Cody, what's the status of the 501st?"
"We still have a lot work to do, general," Cody motioned for them to go outside, "Rex reported in. The droids are putting up one last stand in the center of the Capital. He's requesting additional troops."
Obi-wan looked over the clone troopers, and Marine, "Come, you may be able to help us further, and besides, I don't think we could afford for you four to get lost, again."
When Tens saw the smirk on his general's face relief flooded his system as they all walked outside.
At the same time, over fifty larties touched down near the Hangar, most filled with the green clad 442nd reinforcement's.
"Sir, all squads are reporting minimal droid resistance, the battle is over here," Cody stated as he ordered half of the 212th troopers to start boarding the transports...
Obi-wan nodded, "Good work Cody, keep some squads here until the Marine base is completely secure and every droid has been de-activated. We'll take our remaining troops with the 442nd reinforcements north to Washington to strengthen the 501st."
Cody nodded, "Yes, sir," the commander quickly issued the orders as he joined the others aboard the transport, "Not the first time we've had to save the captain's shebs."
"I was thinking the same thing," Obi-wan smiled at his Commander as the Larty doors shut and the transports took off with their characteristic deep humming.
Story Note: If you're wondering where in the world the 442nd troopers came from... remember that the Resolute was the first Republic ship to respond to the distress signal sent out by the 442nd when their ship came under attack near the Churba System. As such, the Resolute rescued the majority of the 442nd from their escape pods. So, not only does the Resolute have a good portion of the 501st aboard, but it also has a large portion of the 442nd as well, if only temporarily. And when you have so many extra troopers, why not make good use of them?
A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the rather longish update... I can say with some relief that the GARD Hangar is behind us now... so onto new places and battles...
The next few chapters will focus on Tens, Rex, the D.C. battle and to some extent the aerial battles unfolding above Virginia. Also, those mysterious government programs will be explained further, along with the resurrection of Clone Corporal C-42, also known as Tye.
Oh, and to those who suggested names... those characters will be making their début sometime soon, a few chapters from now, hopefully I'll do them justice.
A special thanks to my Unknown Beta, whom without this chapter would still be in its infancy.
Expect the next update in a couple of weeks... though it may be longer, I've just given up trying to make a time-table...
Please review, as always, and thanks for reading,
-Sly