The deep black of endless space sprawled outwards, unmoving but enveloping everything. Suddenly the nose of a Venator class destroyer broke through the darkness. The cruisers in a standard defense pattern surrounded the smaller acclamator class cruisers slowly moving through space towards the next hyperspace jump. On the lead cruiser, the flagship Illinois, the troopers were a bustle of activity. In the main hangar many of the troopers on the flagship were doing their exercises led by captain cutter, a newer officer who still had much to prove. Below them in the maintenance hangar, the crews update several tanks from brian's homeworld of earth including several Abram A1 battle tanks. As they updated the software in the tanks, Thorner walked over to a specific Abrams tank where lowering several shells into the tank was Brian, who was in sports shorts and a black army t-shirt.
"Thorner, what's the word?" Brian asked lowering another shell into the tank
"Ships are reporting no activity sir, But outer rim command is waiting for you on the bridge sir." Thorner said looking up at brian
"Did they say what about?"
"No sir but the chancellor is there as well, It's probably something big." Thorner said. Brian finished handing the shell into the tank and then jumping down with a trooper climbing up to take his place.
Both Thorner and Brian made their way to the bridge where Master Windu, Master Yoda, and the Chancellor were surrounding the holo pad with the image of a planet in the middle.
"Status report General Smith." Master Windu said as he looked at brian
"The convoy is almost to the next jump point. We will rendezvous with relief in 10 minutes master, nothing to report." Brian said
"Very well once you have your relief, regroup with the fleet, we are invading geonosis." Master Windu said as the planets size increased as brian stepped forward
"The droids foundries on Geonosis have been reactivated, the center of this reactivation is a new droid foundry which has been personally overseen by poggle the lesser. The factory is protected by a ray shield which is here. Generals Kenobi, Skywalker and Mundi will land here at a predesignated landing zone, from there the tanks will push forward through the shield knocking out the ray shield then we can bring in reinforcements.`` Master windu said pointing this out on the map "While this is happening you and the 123rd will go to the east and take control of this enemy airfield, giving us air superiority."
"Understood Master, Thorner get all troopers into their desert armor, once we rendezvous with the relief set a course for geonosis. When you and the other officers have your armor on, meet me in the war room." Brian said
"Sir yes sir." Thorner said as Brian walked off the bridge. 10 minutes later the digital desert camo troopers were seated in the war room mingling amongst themselves when Brian walked wearing his digital desert armor, brown paldron and brown kama
"ATTENTION!"
"At ease, alright gentlemen we are about to link up with the rest of the invasion force attacking the planet of geonosis with the target of shutting down this main droid foundry with poggle the lesser overseeing it. The task force made up of General Kenobi, General skywalker and General Mundi who will all converge on this predesignated LZ here, after which they will push forward, destroy this ray shield here and then push on to the droid foundry. The 123rd objective is to take this airbase to the east of the LZ here to gain republic air superiority and to stop any and all enemy reinforcements from the east. Farther east of the airbase about 4 miles from it is this narrow gorge on the other side is a secondary enemy base, which we know will send troops to support the airbase once we attack. Once we have stopped all enemy activity in our immediate AO we will then push to the west to support the lead battalions. Now our DZ is here about 20 miles south from the air base and 15 miles east of the main force LZ. We will be using the Abrams as our main battle tank which will be dropped in at the LZ and pave a way for the infantry to land just outside of the airbase in these marked areas here,here, and here. I will be landing with the tank group and lead the way. Thorner will be in charge of group A, while Captain Cutter will lead group B and Lieutenant Nees will take group C. If everything goes correctly we should all converge here on the main tarmac at 0730. Any questions?" Brian asked, looking around as no one said anything. "Fall out to companies, all tanks to drop lines fully prepped in 1 hour and gunships ready as well dismissed." brian said as they stood and saluted which brian saluted back and they filed out.
On every cruiser tanks were lined up in a row the parachutes packed with the lead tank by the door leading out of the underside docking bay. Inside the main hangar of each ship the scene was also the same with all of the digital desert camo troops bustling about preparing for the upcoming battle. On the Illinois Brian, Throner and Cutter were walking down the line of tanks double checking everything including the static lines for the parachutes. When Brian looked out of the underside docking bay he could see that they were within the planet's atmosphere and saw the explosions of enemy anti aircraft fire exploding below.
"Sir cruisers are in position, we are ready to launch bombers to soften enemy positions." Thorner said to Brian.
"Have the bombers target enemy AA that fires on the main invasion force then move to support us.." brian said
"All crews to stations all crews to stations." a intercom rang out as alarms sounded and the red jump light turned on and brian walked away from the tank a little ways
"ALRIGHT BOYS MOUNT UP AND BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES." Brian yelled as the crew scrambled inside the tanks and battened the hatches on the tank as the protective shield for the underside docking bay was disengaged causing air to rush in through the area blowing dust and trash about. Brian climbed inside the tank and closed the hatch locking it down and putting his helmet on and plugging into the comms the red light still on in the tank as he buckled in and booted the systems up
"Wardaddy to all tanks check in." Brian said into the internal comms as the tanks checked in. "all troops brace for drop." Brian said holding himself steady as the green light came on and he felt himself pushed backwards and into a freefall until the sudden snap of the parachutes slowed the descent. As Brian turned on the external coms linking everyone together he heard the chaos of the main task force as they were getting hit hard by the enemy anti aircraft artillery and the enemy fighters. Trob, Dust, Shift and Brian exchanged looks through their helmets as they kept hearing the screams but then focused on the job at hand
"We have scopes sir touch down in 20" Trob said
"All engine systems up." Dream said from his spot in the driver's seat
"Releasing chutes in 3….2….1 detaching." Brian said as he detached the chutes and the tank hit the ground and started rolling followed by the other tanks as Dust opened a hatch and manned the M2 mounted on top of the turret "alright boys keep your heads on a swivel and watch for the enemy." brian said as the tanks moved along at 40 miles per hour towards the airbase. As they did brian kept a constant eye through the scope until he noticed the airbase on the horizon
"Wardaddy to all tanks, enemy airbase in sight, target Anti Aircraft batteries and push on to the tarmac, wipe out any and all enemies that cross your path." Brian said through comms as the tanks pushed forward taking aim and opening fire on the enemy positions. The rounds from the tanks met their targets quickly, knocking out several Anti Aircraft batteries as crews from the rest retreated further inside the airbase. The tank Brian was in plowed through the tattered barrier made of dried up mud as did several other tanks, the droids outside started blasting at the tank but the blaster bolts deflected off the armor harmlessly as the lazer rifles on the tank mowed down the droids.
Brian's tank took aim and fired, destroying the flight tower, he watched through the scope as the tower fell over and crashed to the ground creating a cloud of sand which they pushed through and opening fire on the hangers that are across the runway. As they opened fire on the fighters that were in the hangers brian saw the gunships coming in to land
"Wardaddy to all tanks check your fire, check your fire friendlies in our AO." Brian said through the tankers comms then switched to external comms "Brian to Thorner we are on the airstrip heading towards cutters position, clear out all remaining enemies while we push to the gorge to prepare for a defense of the position."
"Copy that sir moving to trooper barracks now once cleared will converge on your position." Thorner said over coms as brian watched the last of the enemy fighters explode. He heard a thunk on top of the tank hatch and opened and fired his 1911 killed the geonosian that was on top of the and reclosed the hatch as they blasted their way to the entrance of the gorge. When the entrance was secure brian opened the hatch and got out of the tank his boots creating small clouds of sand when he jumped down and captain cutter walked up
"Sir we have secured the entrance to the passage sir should we proceed inside?" cutter asked his body poised to move
"No, have the tanks positioned here along with mortars towards the gorge, I want troopers topside with grenades and rocket launchers and set up multiple ambush points. I want the rest of the troopers sweeping the entire airbase making sure we destroy munitions and that the air base is 100% secure. Once the enemy has come through the gorge we will have the bombers begin the strike on the base on the other side of the gorge." brian said
"Yes sir." cutter replied quickly shouting orders at trooper who moved into position as thorner came up
"Sir Commander Cody is requesting you." thorner said putting a holodisk on the ground and a hologram of the commander popped up
"General Smith sir, we need immediate support." cody said quickly
"What's wrong Cody?" Brian asked
"Sir the 212th is the only unit that made it to the landing site and General Kenobi isn't even here sir we believe he got shot down."
"Do you have the locations of Mundi and Skywalker?"
"Yes sir we believe they are moving towards our position as we speak but the bugs have us surrounded and are hammering us sir." Cody said and as if to run the point home an explosion made Cody cover himself then recompose himself.
"At this time cody we are still securing the Airbase once we have we will make our way to you, brian out." brian said as the hologram turned off "Thorner I want a LZ X-RAY established to provide ourselves and the main force with artillery support, cutter get the admiral on the horn tell him to send the bombers now to flush out the fighters and begin our ambush on there forces." brian said and as if on cue an explosion from within the gorge made them jump.
"Everyone to ambush positions" Brian said as the first of the droid troops appeared and opened fire on them, Brian took cover behind the tank and drew his pistol, peeking around the side and sending several blaster bolts towards the droid forces, several of the bolts hitting the targets. As the droids advanced brian dove toward the small slit trench and crawled in it staying low and opening fire with his blasters on the droids as the rockets from above rained down on the droids in the gorge. Brian watched through his hud as the droids were completely destroyed, when the last droid was destroyed brian stepped forward scanning with his hud when thorner came up from behind him
"Sir droids are retreating, what are your orders?" thorner asked and brian turned around
"Thorner you stay here with Cutter and prepare for a counter attack through the gorge, all tankers mount up and we are heading to reinforce the main attack force." Brian said as he started climbing the tank and stopped before going inside "once we have reinforced with the main task force I want you to call in gunships to pick you boys up and reinforce us, then we will call in the bombers to carpet bomb both of the bases."
"SIR YES SIR!" Thorner said, saluting as Brian slipped inside the tank and took his seat. As they booted the tank up they heard the calls for help from the main task force over the radio causing brian to open a channel to all the tanks.
"This is wardaddy to all tanks from up on us in echo formation 1." brian said as they plowed through what was left of the wall on the outskirts of the airbase as they went into high gear screaming through the desert. As they screamed through the desert brian tried raising any of the main attack forces on the radio
"General Smith to Master Mundi, do you copy? -static- Master Mundi do you read me? -static- Master Skywalker do you copy? -static- Master skywalker respond. -static- Commander Cody do you copy? -static- Commander Cody respond!." Brian shouted into the communicator and then the com chirped as it connected
"General sir, we are in desperate need of support as the droids are closing in and we are unable to raise General Skywalker or General Mundi on comms." Cody said the sound of battle coming through the com with him
"Cody we are en route, ETA 5 minutes hold out as long as you can." Brian said switching the coms to Thorner "Thorner have the artillery open fire to support Cody and the rest of the main invasion force."
"Copy that sir." Thorner said, Brian then opened the hatch and grabbed the handles on M2 Browning mounted on top of the tank as several other troopers on other tanks did the same.
As the tanks sped across the desert brian used his range finder scanning the horizon looking for the main landing sight, and then he saw the large dust clouds and the flashes of explosions on the horizon
"War daddy to all tanks, main force LZ is in sight, range 700 yards, load HE and prepare to open fire on enemy targets, jackson play it loud." Brian said as he chambered a round in the M2 as Ride of the valkyries played over the coms.
Cody backed up firing his rifle at the enclosing geonosians, as he took more steps back his men started to as well as the droids and geonosians started to close the gap, behind him Obi-wan started to stand and ignited his lightsaber and suddenly several explosions landed just outside the perimeter. A clone on top of AT-TE noticed not only friendly tanks inbound but friendly bombers and yelled out
"REINFORCEMENTS, REINFORCEMENTS HAVE ARRIVED!"
The bombers released their payload on the enemy and the tanks opened fire the depleted uranium rounds tearing through the enemy tanks like there were paper. As the 123rd tanks went around the encirclement Brians tank went through a opening and stopped by obi wan who was sitting again
"Master Kenobi slacking on the job again are we?" brian asked causing a smile to come across Obi-wan's face
"Oh no, just 1 to many gunship crashes for today."
"Need a medic?"
"No no, I'm quite alright, Have you seen Anakin?"
"Yes Master, He along with Master Mundi are taking up the rear and should be here soon." Brian said getting out of the tank and walking over to Kenobi kneeling down as skywalker, tano and mundi came up
"Well what happened to you?" Anakin asked looking at the clearly injured obi wan
"I could ask the same to you." obi wan said with a smirk clearly visible on his face. As Obi-wan explained the plan to rush the shield generator as brian listened closely from behind until Obi-wan was done explaining
"Master Kenobi, with your permission, we can take this left flank area here and protect Master Skywalker from having his flank exposed to the enemy as this area is more open and prone to having enemy spider holes and such." Brian said
"Granted." Obi-wan said as brian nodded then turned and mounted his tank as it started off
Just outside the shield brian had his range finder activated waiting for the signal from skywalkers team to begin the attack, as he waited he glanced around scanning for enemies but found none and then saw the signal to begin the attack, when it did brian put his rangefinder up and signaled the tanks that quickly pushed through the ray shield and found several exposed enemies charging towards the ray shield generator. Brian and the tanks opened fire ripping the enemy tanks to shreds as Brian and several other troopers opened fire with the machine guns cutting the geonosians to shreds. As the tanks came to a halt the ray shield disappeared and Brian looked through his rangefinder and saw that the geonosians surrendering to Anakin and Ki-audi.
"Arlight boys, the bugs are surrendering." Brian said as he surveyed the immediate area "let's set up on that ridge to provide support to the main invasion force."
After setting up base camp on the left Brian and the 123rd helped recover all the wounded and dead from the field helping get the wounded to the gunships.
Captain Rex was helping Kix with the wounded troopers making sure they were doing ok and if they needed anything. As he went about he noticed several troopers were absent from checking on the wounded and noticed a group of troopers, some from the 501st, some from the 212th, some from the 123rd and some from the 21st nova corps all together with their heads low. Rex could hear them saying something but couldn't make it out so he walked over and saw Brian was in front of them facing them, behind him the many graves for troopers were dug, the fresh sand piled on top with the helmets of each trooper on the end of a blaster to mark the graves. Rex stood there and heard everyone, including brian pray all in unison
"Maela brothers, Maela at te darasuum bliss, Maela at finish te darasuum aka par solus tuur vi Kelir to gar bal cuyir o'r valhalla tome bal vi Kelir cuyir a aliit once or'atu" when they finished Brian spoke
"These Brothers will never be forgotten, let us win this battle and the next for them and every brother we have lost. Goodluck my brothers." Brian said and they dispersed slowly going to help the wounded as rex walked over to Brian
"General sir."
"Rex, how are the wounded doing?"
"Lots of shrapnel and blaster wounds but after a rotation or 2 in the bacta tanks they should be fine, we need as many troopers as we can for what comes next." rex said glancing at the looming droid foundry
"Yes the droid foundry, it's gotta be well defended especially since poggle is held up in there, I fear that we may be burying a lot more dead before the end of this campaign." brian said staring at the droid foundry
"That's the price of war sir." rex said quickly turning and walking back towards the wounded leaving brian to think for a moment before looking at the graves by his side
"At what point is the price too much?" brian said out loud.
Not even an hour had gone by before Brian saw the reinforcements of Jedi Master Unduli gunships flying low and fast towards Skywalker's position. Brian activated his rangefinder and watched Master Unduli go and talk with skywalker who looked to be arguing with ahsoka as usual
"Master Unduli is here?" Thorner said walking up behind brian who took his helmet off
"Seems that way, my guess is the 21st and the 212th took too heavy of losses to provide actual support for the assault."
"That seems very likely sir, lots of brothers in graves and many more in bacta including General Kenobi. I guess he had some pretty bad internal damage."
"He should be ok, nothing some good bacta won't fix, my concern is how Anakin is going to attack the droid foundry. There aren't a lot of options except a full frontal assault which should be covered by artillery but none of his cannons are up yet."
"Well sir we have the Abrams cannons and our howitzers, the Howitzers won't take very long to set up and the Abrams just need a target." Thorner said
"You're right Thorner, let's go pay Anakin a visit and see if he wants some support." Brian said as both himself and Thorner set off towards the command center.
As they walked by they saw the troopers getting ready for the assault many were checking weapons and equipment. As Brian and Thorner neared the command center they saw both Master Unduli and Master Skywalker deep in conversation.
"Master Unduli, Master Skywalker, how is the planning going?" Brian said walking up.
"We were just finishing it actually Knight Smith, the plan is Master Skywalker's Padawan Ahsoka and my Padawan Barris are going to infiltrate the droid foundry using the catacombs to destroy the main reactor while Master Skywalker and I distract the droids by a full frontal assault straight down the middle." Master Unduli said demonstrating the plan on the holo map
"It's bold and will definitely draw the droids out of the factory but it will come at a heavy cost. Why not plant charges under the bridge and in the surrounding area here so when a majority of the droid forces are across the bridge you can blow the bridge severing the reinforcements and then blow the rest of them away with the charges and artillery. As well we have our artillery and tanks within range to provide fire support." Brian said, demonstrating this on the holo map. "Or instead I would still put charges on the bridge and move forward as per your planning but instead of meeting the droids turn tail and run drawing their forces away then blowing the bridge trapping them and as the droids are in confusion push at them with the combined infantry and artillery attack."
"As well as both of those other plans look, we need to keep the droids occupied so Ahsoka and Barris can do their jobs inside so I'm saying we stick to the original plan and go down the middle parade style and let them come to us where we will stay engaged to them until Ahsoka and Barriss destroy the facilities main reactor." Anakin said
"You're in charge of the task force so it's your call Skywalker, I'll have the artillery on standby just in case." Brian said as he turned with Thorner and walked away.
From the position on the ridge Brian and Thorner as well as several officers and other troopers watched through range finders and binoculars as both the 501st and the 41st marched parade style towards the foundry and also saw the droids marching across the bridge to meet them. They watched from afar as the 2 forces collided in a hail of blaster fire.
"Its a fucking meat grinder." Brian said watching as one trooper after another fell from the droids blaster fire. "They should have just use bombers and arty to flatten the fucking place."
As they watched the 2 forces clash Brian noticed geonosians coming out of spires on the rear flank and started attacking the clones from behind.
"They just caught them in a trap." Thorner said as Brian activated his comlink
"Rex this is General Smith you have Geonosians closing in from the rear and the sides they are boxing you in."
"I copy General." Brian heard and watched as rex attempted to turn half the troopers towards the rear but to no avail as the enemy squeezed in
"Thorner, get riflemen up here now." Brian said as troopers who were on standby took position on the edge of the ridge and opened fire on the geonosians and droids. Brian surveyed as the support helped in taking down several geonosians allowing the troopers to focus on the droids in front of them. Brian watched as they destroyed the last of the first wave and the second made their way across the bridge as the 2 forces collided once again but this time with the help of the tanks pushed them back and took cover on the other side of the bridge, the artillery taking aim at the foundry.
"Smith to Skywalker has Ahsoka and Barris set the charges yet?"
"I haven't been able to reach either of them, the labyrinth might be making it difficult for our transmissions to get through." Anakin said
"I'll have my men use the high power transmitter to try and reach them." Brian said turning to a trooper behind him "Clock, get on the radio and try to contact Ahsoka or Barris on channel 1313 and see what the progress is."
"Sir yes sir." the trooper said sprinting off towards a tank as Brian turned to see what looked like tanks coming out of the main gate to the foundry
"Looks like the seppies got themselves something new to try out." Cutter said
"Skywalker's arty will make quick work of those tanks." Thorner said and as if on cue the artillery opened fire at the tanks. They all watched as the explosions caused a giant cloud of sand and smoke as they hit the enemy tanks repeatedly, when the smoke cleared the tanks were still rolling ahead as if nothing had happened.
"Sir nothing could ever survive that." Thorner said in disbelief.
"I want all the tanks to take aim at the enemy tanks." Brian said through coms "Smith to Skywalker I have my tanks ready to open fire on the enemy tanks. Clear your boys away so we can get a clear shot."
"Don't shoot Brian, Lumanara and I are planting charges under the bridge to bury the tanks." Skywalker said and Brian saw the backs of the 2 placing thermal detonators.
"Thorner once they are off the bridge open fire on those tanks. I want to make sure they stay dead." Brian said and shortly after watched as Luminara and Anakin ran from under the bridge and almost in sync the rounds from Brian's tanks hit the enemy tanks as the explosions went off masking it perfectly. Brian watched as the bridge crumbled falling into the gorge taking the tanks with it, then they watched as the foundry started to implode and fall apart as when it crumbled Brian heard a call for all clean up personnel with extreme speed to search the wreckage for Ahsoka and Barris.
Brian and the troopers of the 123rd helped as much as they could until they saw Skywalker and Unduli helping both Barris and Ahsoka out from some rubble. As the day started to come to a close Brian found himself on a medical transport helping the medics with the wounded. He was holding the hand of a fatally wounded trooper as of trying to save him from death as the trooper succumbed to his put the troopers hand on his chest and closed his eyes and whispered "naak cuyir ti gar vod"
"General Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt but General Windu is requesting you in the war room." Thorner said standing in the doorway. Brian nodded silently and turned, grabbing a rag to wipe the blood of his armor and then walked with Thorner to the war room where he found Master Windu, Chancellor Palpatine and Master Skywalker around the holoprojector
"Masters, Chancellor." Brian said bowing in respect
"Good to see you unharmed General Smith." Chancellor palpatine said
"I wish I could say the same for some of my men, How can I be of assistance?" Brian asked
"Master Delba and her troops are on the jungle planet of Weyland and are currently in a slog with the seperatist garrison on the planet's surface." Master Windu said as a hologram of the planet pulled up "we last had contact with her 3 rotations ago since then they have gone silent, the 123rd will redeploy itself to provide support to master delba and her unit until after I have defeated the separatists here on dantooine."
"I thought Master Delba and the 82nd were deployed on the other side of the midrim towards Versant?"
"She was redeployed due to my personal intelligence findings, they found that the separatists have instilled a puppet government to control the planet, I sent her to help the freedom fighters on the surface and according to my personal intelligence they have the separatists forces on the run"
"Even so with us not having contact for 3 days is very worrisome chancellor, when can your men be ready to depart Brian?"
"I will assemble my men and we will depart within the hour." Brian said
"Very well Brian may the force be with you." Master Windu said as the holograms turned off
"Master Skywalker sorry to leave you with a giant mess to clean up but duty calls." Brian said as he shook Anakin's hand
"Its ok Brian I'm both grateful and thankful for the help, don't have too much fun" Anakin said
"I can't promise that." Brian said as he exited the war room. As he made his way through the ship he passed by several troopers, some with fresh paint of the 501st and 212th and others with older paint, all of them delivering a sharp salute to Brian who saluted back.
When Brian stepped out of the gunship he saw what was once the command spire for the geonosians during the first battle of geonosis, all around it was the troopers of the 123rd cleaning up the gear as well as performing maintenance on the tanks and vehicles. As Brian walked inside he found thorner and several of the officers going over after action reports and found one of the troopers under a console
"Jeb what are you doing under there?" Brian asked as some spark emitted from under the console
"Well sir i'm trying to see if we can get any seppie intel from these consoles, had to clean some bugs out when we occupied it so I can almost guarantee there is some usable intel if…I ... .can just…" Jeb said as more sparks were emitted from under the console and then the console, as well as every console and display in the room except one powered up showing multiple holograms and such
"Way to go Jeb" Brian said helping Jeb up "Thorner have the intel boys try to slice any and all info they can out of these computers, it might be old intel but intel is intel."
"Yes sir."
"And Thorner have the men assemble back on the cruisers, we are being redeployed to Weyland."
"Weyland sir? When are we due there?"
"As soon as possible, we have lost contact with Master Delba and the 82nd."
"Sir, we should at least take some time to repaint the camo armor because our standard armor won't blend in at all with the woodland."
"Unfortunately we have not received any contact from the 82nd for 3 rotations so the longer we wait the more likely we will be too late."Brian said
"Understood sir, ALRIGHT BOYS EVERYONE GATHER UP YOUR GEAR WE ARE MOVING OUT." Thorner said as some of the men started gathering up the gear and several others started coming in with equipment to copy the computers.
Not even 40 minutes had passed before Brian was inside his flagship, already changed into his regular clone armor,sat on his bed staring at his heavily battle worn helmet, the scuffed Jaig eyes stared back at him as if to remind him of the honor and duty he had to his men, not that a reminder was needed. As he sat there his door chimed and then opened
"Sir, I pulled all the files you requested." Thorner said handing Brian a small stack of data pads which he took
"How goes the armor exchange?"
"Its moving along the entire legion should be ready to go before we reach the first parsec."
"Good, make sure we have extra food, medical supplies and munitions ready to go planet side, and have the medical staff on the standby, we don't know what kind of shape the 82nd is in and we need to be prepared for the worst."
"Yes sir."
"Also have the bombers load fire bombs for combat control, Weyland is a forest planet the fire bombs will help disperse the enemy and take away there cover giving us the advantage and also cutting at the morale of the enemy." Brian said as he quickly scanned the data pad "also inform the admiral that once we come out of hyperspace that we need to start scanning for the ping of the 82nd so we can tell their current position. Have legion officers in the war room in 10 minutes."
"Sir yes sir" Thorner said as he quickly turned and left the room.
As the officers of the 123rd legion made their way into the war room they found the general had holo maps pulled up as well as what looked to be history and archival footage.
"Alright gentlemen take a seat, the entire legion is being deployed here to Weyland, forest planet located exactly 2 parsecs from a major hyperspace lane that is being used to supply our war front throughout the mid and outer rim. According to the deployment report the 82nd was deployed to help freedom fighters of the planet to overthrow the government and instill a republic aligned government vs a seperatist aligned government that currently rules over the planet. Now according to reports from Master Delba the freedom fighters have actually been some help and have also helped them in overtaking many of the key cities, the capitol included and have them on the run but there are still pockets of resistance." Brian said
"Sir if resistance is crumbling and they have taken the capitol why are we being sent to reinforce the 82nd?"
"Good question Sharp, the answer is we have not had any contact from Master Delba or any of the 82nd in over 3 planetary rotations. When we last did they reported that resistance had gotten stronger and more organized before and Master Delba requested any available reinforcements. Since then any and all attempts to contact them have gone unanswered. We are assuming that the situation has gotten out of hand and they are in need of support. Best case scenario we go in, help with clean up and basically grab some R&R as well as touch up our forest combat training."
"And worst case sir?" sergeant clark asked as Brians faced turned steely with resolve and warning as he leaned against the holo table
"If they are pushed back to the point of where they are constantly retreating, we are going to have a major fight on our hands, now weyland is a planet that has historically been fighting against the republic since before the great hyperspace war. Time and again the people have revolted against the republic occupation so even if they are friendlies be on high alert we don't know if that's how they still are or not."
"Do we have any intel of the actual enemy strength?" Cutter asked as Brian pulled up several holo maps
"According to the reports from the 82nd at least an entire seperatist garrison supported by royal guards and tanks are present on the planet as well as a small 6 ship fleet of seperatist ships that have been locked in constant combat with the 82nds ariel forces. Now our forces are going to come out of this hyperspace lane here almost right into the combat so that way we can immediately engage the enemy forces. Once we have made an opening we will send the first wave containing myself, Throner, and Cutter with as many platoons as we can fit on the gunships. The second wave will contain more reinforcements and then the 3rd will contain ammunition and supplies. We need to move fast and be precise gentlemen, dismissed." Brian said as they all stood and then filed out.
The fleet quickly came out of hyperspace information and immediately opened fire
"I want all cruisers to open fire on those dreadnoughts directly ahead to make an opening for the ground forces to make it through." Admiral Tuck said as the lasers from the main cannons caused explosions on the several dreadnoughts
In the hanger Brian was walking towards the lead gunship that was in formation of the first wave of gunships and boarded the gunship as he heard the explosions coming from outside
"Guess we came out right like you planned, General." Thorner said
"That was the easy part, now the hard part is getting to the surface." Brian said and the blast doors closed as the gunships lifted off. The red light turned on and everyone double checked their weapons. Brian still had his hand on the handle as the others steadied themselves with their feet as the gunship swayed and moved from the explosions. Outside the space battle ensued as several explosions from the enemy fire erupted around the large group of gunships and tank carriers.
The feeling inside the gunship changed as they entered the atmosphere and the artificial air was turned off. The large group of gunships came screaming out of the clouds and then stopped mere feet away from the tree tops and the blast doors opened
"Comet start searching for that locating beacon. We need to find the 82nd as fast as possible." Brian said through internal coms
"Copy that sir." Comet said and turned on the receiver and immediately got a signal
"82nd command this is General Smith of the 123rd do you copy? -static- 82nd command this is General Smith of the 123rd can you hear me? -static- Master Delba this is General Smith we are here to reinforce you please respond -static-."
"Sir there is a locating beacon coming from the capitol but we aren't receiving any communication from the 82nd." comet said from the cockpit. As the gunships continued towards the beacon the buildings of the capitol came within sight.
"General Smith do you-static-"
"Sir Im getting a spotty transmission coming through, its origins are unknown." Comet said as he started to trace the signal
"Try to clean up the transmission" Brian said then activated his comlink "This is General Smith of the 123rd legion who is this?"
"Commander Cinol, IGNORE THE LOCATION BEACON IT IS A TRAP SIR WE ARE -static"
Before Brian could respond the entire sky around the large group of gunships suddenly erupted in Anti Air fire. The gunships moved quickly evading the exploding rounds as shrapnel and rounds hit the gunships.
"EVASIVE MANEUVERS! COMET TRACK THAT TRANSMISSION ITS THE 82ND AND CLOSE THE BLAST SHIELDS!" Brian yelled as the blast shield closed. The gunships all took evasive maneuvers but some took too many hits and caught fire crashing to the earth, Brian watched in his hud as several red roman numerals with notes attached popped up along with the chatter from pilots of some gunships crashing. The gunships flew away from the Anti Air and towards the origins of the transmission from the 82nd still flying low and fast against the treetops.
Back in space the space battle was not going well, the 2nd wave was delayed due to the enemy frigates having closed off the path to the planet and 3 more enemy cruisers had come to reinforce the enemy fleet. Admiral tuck stood on the bridge of the 123rd's flagship the Illinois as commanded the space battle to the best of his abilities
"Admiral Sir Chancellor Palpatine has requested for you." a clone naval officer said, Tuck swiftly turned and walked to the holotable and bowed
"Chancellor sir, what do I owe this great pleasure?"
"The battle you are currently engaged in is a trap set by the enemy, I want you to withdraw all your forces and regroup at medical staging area to help with the occupation of dantooine"
"General Smith is already planet side and there is no way for him to regroup with us, but your wish is my command Chancellor." Tuck said as he bowed again and the hologram turned off. Tuck quickly turned around and marched towards the window
"Recall all fighters and get us in position to jump into hyperspace. Order the 82nd fleet to follow us otherwise they are on their own." Tuck said as a slight pause came from the naval officers who looked at him in confusion. "Do it now."
As the cruisers of the 123rd turned around the cruisers of the 82nd stayed behind and still stayed engaged with the enemy fleet.
Back on the planet's surface Brian and the gunships of the 123rd were approaching the source of the 82nd transmission which seemed to be coming from 1 of 3 giant mounds
"Sir I'm reading several power sources ahead but they are very faint sir." Comet said from the cockpit
"Could be another trap sir." Thorner said
"Doesn't feel like it, Comet get us as close as you can."
"Sir yes sir." Comet said. The gunships then neared the mounds they could see that a giant part of the mound was missing as if it was cut out
"What the hell is up with that?" a trooper asked as they neared. When the gunships got extremely close they found that there was an installation built into the mountain. When the gunships landed they were met by Commander Cinol and several stretchers of wounded soldiers
"Commander, I need to be debriefed on the situation immediately." Brian said as he exited the gunship as several soldiers helped tend to the wounded
"Sir the situation here is complete chaos, the forces that were supposedly on our side have betrayed us and have sided with the enemy." Cinol said as the two walked inside "we are currently at 25% strength without counting the wounded."
"25% strength?"
"Yes sir, they turned on us in a very vulnerable position, a lot of good boys lost their lives that day." Cinol said a somber tone in his voice as they stopped in front of a set of doors
"And Master Delba?" Brian asked and Cinol looked at Brian sadly and then went through the door which revealed the massive amounts of wounded troopers. Brian stood there for a moment in shock at what he was seeing
"Sir we need the supplies in the second wave and to Evac these boys out of here." Thorner said from beside Brian
"Get a transmission to Tuck to immediately send out the supplies to our location and prepare the medical bays for the wounded, I'm going to find Master Delba." Brian said as he followed the path Cinol took too a back room, there he was met with the sight of Master delba in a set of blacks suspended in a bacta tank with bandages around several parts of her body
"General Delba was helping cover the retreat of our forces when they attacked us with tanks, she shielded several troopers from shrapnel before she lost consciousness." Cinol said, staring at Master Delba. Brian surveyed the room and found canisters of bacta with high republic emblems on them, Brian walked over and inspected the canisters
"Commander, how did you come across this facility?" Brian asked
"We stumbled upon it sir, we retreated as fast as possible and ended up at the base of this mountain where we found a way up and came across this sir, this facility still doesn't have power and we haven't ventured farther than the medbay." Cinol said as Brian put the canister down
"Cinol gather a squad. I want us to do everything we can to get this base powered up." Brian said as cinol nodded and exited the room and thorner entered the room
"General sir, you need to see this." Thorner said and the 2 sprinted outside and found sharpshot looking through binoculars up at the space battle
"What do we have?"
"Our fleet isn't there sir"
"What?! Give me those." Brian says as he grabs the binoculars and looks at the space battle and sure enough he saw just the small handful of 82nd cruisers were engaged with the seperatist fleet. "Where the frag did Tuck go?" Brian asked giving the binoculars to sharpshot
"Don't know sir but long range transmissions are being blocked." Throner said
"We need to get this facility's power on to use its transmitter, Thorner have a squad set up multiple OPs as we don't want the enemy getting too close. Cinol you and I are going to venture further into this base and get the power on and scrounge ANYTHING that can be useful as at this point we are on our own." Brian said and then everyone dispersed
Brian led a small squad down a hallway deep inside the structure. They had used glow sticks to mark the path back to where everyone was at. The hallway was illuminated around them by the headlamps and flashlights attached to the rifles otherwise it was pitch black
"This is eerie." a 82nd trooper said looking down a hallway the light illuminating it then looking forward again
"Just keep checking those corners" Brian said then stopped as they came up to a 2 way split for the hallway. Brian pulled out his holo map and tried to get a reading but it didn't work.
"Alright, right or left?" Brian asked as the group exchanged looks of confusion
"I think either one will lead to the same place, seems like all the hallways converge to the same points no matter what."
"So… left or right?" Brian asked as the trooper sighed
"Right sir." The trooper said and the group set off to the right. They went through several corridors and finally came to a set of large blast doors that were closed.
"What do you think is on the other side?" one of the troopers asked
"With those blast doors probably the armory." another said as Brian attempted to open the door via the force, he concentrated very hard and slowly the doors opened, the headlamps illuminated part of the inside which showed a holo table. The group cautiously walked inside and surveyed the room finding that this room is the main control center for the entire facility. The troopers started trying to get the controls to come online but couldn't, Brian scanned several different control panels and then stopped by one that caught his attention. Brian flipped several switches and pressed a big red button, suddenly the light started to slowly flash and get brighter and brighter and then fully power on as well as everything in the lights turned on throughout the base the lights started turning on on the other side of the glass in front of Brian revealing a hanger with a assortment of fighters all of which were from the old republic.
The hanger was full of activity as the hanger floor had been cleared as troopers were working on getting the wounded treated and working on the old republic fighters
"So far we have 23 usable aircraft sir, but there are other hangers that are password encrypted and we have been unable to splice into them so far." Thorner said as him and Brian walked by inspecting the troopers who were currently working on the vehicles
"Have Jeb slice it."
"He has tried, sir, but the words are in some language I have never seen before." Thorner said. Brian and Thorner walked over to one of the hanger door control panels where Jeb was busy at work
"Having trouble there Jeb?"
"Just a bit sir, I have tried everything I can but the problem is every warning and message that comes on here is in a language I have never seen before." Jeb said as Brian grabbed the control panel, the wording that popped up was english not aurebesh which surprised Brian who entered a password going off his gut and the doors made several noises and then slowly opened.
The rust started falling as the doors creaked and squeaked as they opened, when they opened all the way the lights slowly turned on to reveal several rows of unmarked F14 tomcats and F15s sitting fully armed
"Thorner we may have just hit the motherload." Brian said staring at the fighters before him
The troopers filed all the fighters possible out of the storage hanger and to the runway to be worked on. As Thorner walked up and down inspecting the troopers who were currently running checks on the fighters he noticed Brian was missing from the inspections. Thorner looked for Brian eventually found him in the main command center going through flimsy and holo paper work
"General sir?"
"Sorry Thorner just trying to figure something out."
"What are you trying to figure out sir?"
"Why American F14 and F15 fighter jets, unmarked, are here on this planet and how the hell they got here." Brian said as he grabbed a flimsy paper "AHA here it is, looks like these planes were sold to the old republic by General Louis C. Wagner JR. wow that's a mouthful. Looks like it was approved through congress to send pilots and fighter planes with new found allies to help build foreign relations." Brian said as he turned to Throner throwing his hands up in disbelief "Earth knew about the republic since the fucking 80's?"
"Not the new republic sir which could be what happened. When the old republic died the U.S. probably cut ties and kept everything Top secret." Thorner said
"Your….. You're probably right. Which makes sense why in the 5 years I have been with my master I haven't really aged which also means….."
"The pilots sent here also haven't aged that much and are still alive." Thorner finished. Brian then immediately flipped through several papers and pulled out 3 papers stapled together.
"A list of Air Force and Navy Pilots who were sent here." Brian said, suddenly a trooper burst through the door.
"Commander, General come with me quickly." the trooper said, the 2 officers quickly followed him right to Commander Cinol
"Commander, what is it?" Brian asked as the commander turned around, obvious tear marks on his face
"General sir I regret to inform you that General Delba has valiantly given her life in the line of duty." Cinol said as the troopers of the 82nd chartered off a stretcher draped in the republic flag "The 82nd is under your Command General Smith, what are your orders?" Cinol asked looking to Brian.
"Commander I want you to get 7 men with rifles assembled and Thorner assemble everyone else outside. We will pay our respects before we continue." Brian said as they all fell out
Outside the hanger door the troopers were all in formation as 7 troopers with blasters stood at parade rest. A pile of dead wood sat on the very edge of the metal and on top was the flag draped corpse of Master delba. Behind it stood in formation the group of the 82nd and 123rd as well as Brian who was facing them
"Men before us lay Master Delba, a Jedi who cared for her men above anything in the entire galaxy, a Jedi worth looking up to as a role model. She lays there after giving her life for her men. We shall honor her memory and win this battle for her." Brian says as he turns and faces Delba as a trooper lights the wood on fire. In the background the 21 gun salute goes off and then taps is played signaling the tribute to Master Delba.
In the hanger stood the combined force of the 123rd and 82nd facing Brian who was in front of a giant holoscreen
"Alright gentlemen this is operation homecoming, we are going to start by taking this airbase here located in sector 9G, then this airbase in 7B and finally this airbase in sector air bases form a chain of early warning radar for any attacks on the capitol. We will knock each one and then use that window to launch an assault on the capitol which will be done by the 123rd in the F14 and F15 fighters." Brian said as murmurs broke out "the 82nd will use this distraction to, at the same time, will escort the gunships loaded with wounded with the high republic fighters to the cruisers currently engaged in combat. Once the wounded are on the cruisers and if there is an opening the gunships will return with supplies, no matter what the cruisers will leave and jump to hyperspace to the ord sestis medical station." Brian said
"Sir without the cruisers the 123rd will be alone here and after a strike on the capitol it will cause retaliation." a trooper said
"You're right, that's why right now at the medical station the 501st and 212th legions are currently re-arming and refueling to supply reinforcements to dantooine. The cruisers of the 82nd will go there and inform the 501st and 212th of the current situation and have them send all the available aid to us. Gentlemen this is a very dangerous mission, if one part fails anywhere during the mission the mission will fail. Operation homecoming begins tonight with the attack on the closest air base here, you will wait until we cut the power then attack with the fighters. All infantry our H hour is 2100 hrs, gear up gentlemen." Brian said as those that were sitting stood and they all went about their business.
The pouring rain was coming down making the ground wet and soft, the soldiers of the airbase are doing their rounds on the perimeter, in the forest around them the mud covered troopers make their way towards the base slowly. One of the guards outside the fence moved his flashlight around surveying the woods as he walked his route. Suddenly the mud jumped up and quickly pulled him down the flashlight falling and illuminating the ground in front of it. The guard on the walkway on the other side of the surrounding fence stopped when he noticed and aimed his weapon towards the light, before being able to radio he was pulled off the walkway and into the woods quickly and silently.
The mud covered figures of the troopers slowly moved towards the fence and one turned off the flashlight. Using a vibroblade they silently cut a hole in the fence for everyone to fit through, the troopers slowly moved through the base getting into position. Brian and Cinol stood across from each other in front of the door to the main command center, Brian nodded to Cinol and kicked the door down clearing left then aiming forward at the officers around a table
"HANDS NOW SHOW ME YOUR HANDS!" Brian shouted his blaster aimed and his finger on his trigger, the officers raised there hands as several other troopers came in from behind Brian and watched the officers. Brian and Cinol quickly swept the base and hardwired the all clear signal then made their way back to the command center. Upon entering Brian removed his helmet and set it on the table, a ring of mud forming under it
"You are now prisoners of the Grand Army of the Republic and adhering to the Code of warfare will be treated with respect. You will not struggle against these men as they detain you unless you want to have the penalties of it." Brian said then looked at the lead trooper "Get them back to base." with that the troopers stood them up and walked them out. Brian watched them all walk out knowing there was no turning back now
HEY EVERYONE GUESS WHO ISNT DEAD! Yea just been writing and rewriting this story off and on for the past couple months but it was a long story that progressed alot as it went on. Hope everyone had a good read and I'll see you all in the next chapter