p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"Chapter 18/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"The sun was high at 5:45 AM. Arakai was busy preparing his units for the battle, arming each one with E-5s and SE-14s he had taken from the main force. Then he went over his plan with his commander droid, OOM-113./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""I want two assault groups," he said, "I'll take half from the left, you take the others from the right. We'll meet in the middle. What do ya think?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""The enemy has heavy cannons behind the lines. It is not advisable to go in without air support."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Their cannons are faced to the front. They won't be prepared for an assault coming from the sides," Arakai explained, "I'm confident this will work. You just need to have a little faith."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Droids aren't programmed to have faith."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Don't be such a downer, now grab your troops and let's get a move on before Wellington finds out what's going on."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"They began their march at 6:00, a whole hour before he had planned the night before. The moved past the tree line and out into the open where they split the force into two groups. Arakai strode toward the Republic compound in a heroic stance, imagining how he would become a legend after handing the Republic a humiliating defeat. He motioned his troops to spread out, simultaneously making their force seem larger while increasing the difficulty in hitting it. He looked to the side and saw that OOM-113 had done the same./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Meanwhile, on the other side, a clone sentry, Garrick by name, spotted the "massive" force of one hundred-twelve coming in from the sides. Excited but also somewhat disappointed, he sounded the alarm and the GAR scrambled to their battle stations. A line of three hundred men formed in the trenches, DC-15s trained on the incoming droids, while the "forward-facing" cannons changed their trajectory and positioned themselves to fire on the droids./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"The siren could be heard for miles. Wellington knew exactly where his missing officer was as soon as he heard it. Quickly he scrambled Hyena bombers with Vulture escorts to cover the wayward captain, as well as a shuttle to evacuate him from the field. But he kept his main force behind, knowing that it was now too late to start his attack./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"This is it/em, Arakai thought, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"time to prove my worth to the galaxy/em. Then he raised his hand and yelled to his troops, "Charge!" 434s in hand, he began to run towards the Republic lines followed by just fifty-six B1s, firing on the clones as they went./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Boom!/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"The first cannon fired. The blast hit the ground only a few meters from Arakai sending what seemed like a metric-ton of dirt and smoke into the air. The quake it caused send him sprawling to the ground. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"What!?/em he thought, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I thought the cannons wouldn't move! /emHe looked back to see what happened and saw five droids already destroyed. Suddenly, he found himself worried. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No! /emhe kept thinking, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"This can't be happening! No, no, no, no!/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Bang!/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"The ground continued to rumble as the thunder of the cannons released an unrelenting barrage and blue translucent death. He tried to stand up. "Come on!" he called his forces to push forward, "the only way out is through that compound!" But he lost his footing yet again as he struggled to find stable ground. Now all too familiar whistles whizzed past his ears as the clones on the line sent a ceaseless stream of electric hail toward him. The droids were battered, some losing heads, others their limbs, all having in common the loss of their artificial life. OOM-113's group did no better, receiving a brutal show of military strength from the compound. They had been reduced from a somewhat frightening force to mere target practice. Only a few remained in that group, OOM-113 not among the survivors./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Arakai had never felt so close to death. Never before had he wished so much to have obeyed orders. His life began to flash before his eyes. He remembered everything; Mandalore, Tatooine… em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Alderaan/em. He remembered leading his family right to the front lines, caught in a hell storm just like this. He remembered Amee, lying dead on the pavement. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No/em, he thought, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I will avenge you!/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"With newfound courage, he stood again and called out, "Onward!" and raised his blasters once more. The resistance was fiercer than ever, lasers seemingly coming from every direction peppering the small company with unending fire. Droid after droid fell, cut to pieces by plasma bolts or annihilated by cannon fire. The situation was very bleak, but Arakai continued his doomed charge, determined and desperate to achieve victory./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Then, in what seemed like help from the hand of a god, ten bombers escorted by dozens of fighters followed by a shuttle craft came onto the scene from above. Diving towards the compound and letting loose an intimidating scream, they delivered an impressive burst of lasers while preparing to release their payloads, providing cover for the shuttle as it made for Arakai's position. However, thick anti-aircraft fire from the clone's side sent several of the Separatist bombers into the ground before they could properly complete their dive. The explosions from the downed ships made a deafening sound that rocked the Republic base./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Thinking the shuttle had reinforcements aboard, Arakai saw a chance and, while the clones were distracted with the swarm of vulture droids, stood up and once again renewed his charge on the compound. But to his surprise, when the shuttle landed it only produced a few OOM pilot droids who motioned him to come to the ship. But almost immediately the cannons put multiple rounds through the unshielded shuttle, thoroughly obliterating it and destroying the pilots. In spite of this, Arakai saw an opportunity for cover. Calling his remaining troops to follow him they continued moving towards the otherwise useless shuttle. Then, after the fire halted for a time, he stood once more and led his last four droids another reckless advance./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Using the smoke as cover, they slowly gained ground but took care not to fire a blaster so as not to give away their position. They could only imagine the loud cracks of the AA turrets as they launched countless beams into the sky. Arakai's senses began to betray him. Fear coursed through his veins in the form of adrenaline. Above were flashes of light as fighters were sent down in flames, but he could hear nothing save for the ringing in his ears./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"His fleeting hope of triumph was soon vanquished as the last of the Hyenas was shot out of the sky along with most of the supporting fighters. In the blink of an eye a spray of lasers suddenly came and went. One struck his hip and he dropped from the pain and shock of it. It took all his strength and resilience just to stand again. He turned around to call his troops onward, only to see there were none left. He dropped back to his knees at the sight of it, the thick scent of smoke penetrating his nostrils as he struggled to breathe from the bombardment. The remaining vultures retreated back to the CIS encampment. There was no sign of Wellington's ground units coming to attack. He was alone. It was over. He had lost./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Behind him he heard the drone of a speeder approaching. Several clones exited, putting their blasters to his head and binding his hands together. He simply stared into the trees, waiting, hoping for something to come from them, anything to save him from failure. Two clones grabbed him underneath his shoulders and dragged him to the speeder. No one said a word. There was nothing to say. All was still, sound, silent./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"The sun was high at 5:45 AM. Arakai was busy preparing his units for the battle, arming each one with E-5s and SE-14s he had taken from the main force. Then he went over his plan with his commander droid, OOM-113./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""I want two assault groups," he said, "I'll take half from the left, you take the others from the right. We'll meet in the middle. What do ya think?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""The enemy has heavy cannons behind the lines. It is not advisable to go in without air support."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Their cannons are faced to the front. They won't be prepared for an assault coming from the sides," Arakai explained, "I'm confident this will work. You just need to have a little faith."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Droids aren't programmed to have faith."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Don't be such a downer, now grab your troops and let's get a move on before Wellington finds out what's going on."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"They began their march at 6:00, a whole hour before he had planned the night before. The moved past the tree line and out into the open where they split the force into two groups. Arakai strode toward the Republic compound in a heroic stance, imagining how he would become a legend after handing the Republic a humiliating defeat. He motioned his troops to spread out, simultaneously making their force seem larger while increasing the difficulty in hitting it. He looked to the side and saw that OOM-113 had done the same./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Meanwhile, on the other side, a clone sentry, Garrick by name, spotted the "massive" force of one hundred-twelve coming in from the sides. Excited but also somewhat disappointed, he sounded the alarm and the GAR scrambled to their battle stations. A line of three hundred men formed in the trenches, DC-15s trained on the incoming droids, while the "forward-facing" cannons changed their trajectory and positioned themselves to fire on the droids./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"The siren could be heard for miles. Wellington knew exactly where his missing officer was as soon as he heard it. Quickly he scrambled Hyena bombers with Vulture escorts to cover the wayward captain, as well as a shuttle to evacuate him from the field. But he kept his main force behind, knowing that it was now too late to start his attack./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"This is it/em, Arakai thought, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"time to prove my worth to the galaxy/em. Then he raised his hand and yelled to his troops, "Charge!" 434s in hand, he began to run towards the Republic lines followed by just fifty-six B1s, firing on the clones as they went./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Boom!/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"The first cannon fired. The blast hit the ground only a few meters from Arakai sending what seemed like a metric-ton of dirt and smoke into the air. The quake it caused send him sprawling to the ground. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"What!?/em he thought, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I thought the cannons wouldn't move! /emHe looked back to see what happened and saw five droids already destroyed. Suddenly, he found himself worried. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No! /emhe kept thinking, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"This can't be happening! No, no, no, no!/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Bang!/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"The ground continued to rumble as the thunder of the cannons released an unrelenting barrage and blue translucent death. He tried to stand up. "Come on!" he called his forces to push forward, "the only way out is through that compound!" But he lost his footing yet again as he struggled to find stable ground. Now all too familiar whistles whizzed past his ears as the clones on the line sent a ceaseless stream of electric hail toward him. The droids were battered, some losing heads, others their limbs, all having in common the loss of their artificial life. OOM-113's group did no better, receiving a brutal show of military strength from the compound. They had been reduced from a somewhat frightening force to mere target practice. Only a few remained in that group, OOM-113 not among the survivors./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Arakai had never felt so close to death. Never before had he wished so much to have obeyed orders. His life began to flash before his eyes. He remembered everything; Mandalore, Tatooine… em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Alderaan/em. He remembered leading his family right to the front lines, caught in a hell storm just like this. He remembered Amee, lying dead on the pavement. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No/em, he thought, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I will avenge you!/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"With newfound courage, he stood again and called out, "Onward!" and raised his blasters once more. The resistance was fiercer than ever, lasers seemingly coming from every direction peppering the small company with unending fire. Droid after droid fell, cut to pieces by plasma bolts or annihilated by cannon fire. The situation was very bleak, but Arakai continued his doomed charge, determined and desperate to achieve victory./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Then, in what seemed like help from the hand of a god, ten bombers escorted by dozens of fighters followed by a shuttle craft came onto the scene from above. Diving towards the compound and letting loose an intimidating scream, they delivered an impressive burst of lasers while preparing to release their payloads, providing cover for the shuttle as it made for Arakai's position. However, thick anti-aircraft fire from the clone's side sent several of the Separatist bombers into the ground before they could properly complete their dive. The explosions from the downed ships made a deafening sound that rocked the Republic base./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Thinking the shuttle had reinforcements aboard, Arakai saw a chance and, while the clones were distracted with the swarm of vulture droids, stood up and once again renewed his charge on the compound. But to his surprise, when the shuttle landed it only produced a few OOM pilot droids who motioned him to come to the ship. But almost immediately the cannons put multiple rounds through the unshielded shuttle, thoroughly obliterating it and destroying the pilots. In spite of this, Arakai saw an opportunity for cover. Calling his remaining troops to follow him they continued moving towards the otherwise useless shuttle. Then, after the fire halted for a time, he stood once more and led his last four droids another reckless advance./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Using the smoke as cover, they slowly gained ground but took care not to fire a blaster so as not to give away their position. They could only imagine the loud cracks of the AA turrets as they launched countless beams into the sky. Arakai's senses began to betray him. Fear coursed through his veins in the form of adrenaline. Above were flashes of light as fighters were sent down in flames, but he could hear nothing save for the ringing in his ears./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"His fleeting hope of triumph was soon vanquished as the last of the Hyenas was shot out of the sky along with most of the supporting fighters. In the blink of an eye a spray of lasers suddenly came and went. One struck his hip and he dropped from the pain and shock of it. It took all his strength and resilience just to stand again. He turned around to call his troops onward, only to see there were none left. He dropped back to his knees at the sight of it, the thick scent of smoke penetrating his nostrils as he struggled to breathe from the bombardment. The remaining vultures retreated back to the CIS encampment. There was no sign of Wellington's ground units coming to attack. He was alone. It was over. He had lost./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Behind him he heard the drone of a speeder approaching. Several clones exited, putting their blasters to his head and binding his hands together. He simply stared into the trees, waiting, hoping for something to come from them, anything to save him from failure. Two clones grabbed him underneath his shoulders and dragged him to the speeder. No one said a word. There was nothing to say. All was still, sound, silent./p