After Activation 1119 - Origin Universe
After Insertion 1080 - Cultivation Universe
Millennium 093-32M - 40k Universe
Clone Wars 22 BBY - Star Wars Universe
Droid Air and Space Vehicles following the Separatist reformation.
Much like the droid ground vehicles, the droid aircraft underwent remodelling and complete scrapping in many cases. Entire worlds had been set up in order to process the not redundant and outclassed vehicles of the Separatist Army, their vehicles heading into vast factory complexes, melted down and remade into the new line of droid vehicles. Where possible the parts would be reused in order to save time. Since the droids were being constructed by other droids, their power coming from solar power or geothermal energy, the costs of doing so were negligible, the only real one being that of time.
The same could be said of the various aircraft and starships used by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Their vessels would head into factories kilometers in diameter to be stripped down and reprocessed into more useful designs. What parts that could be kept were kept and those that needed to be replaced were melted down and used elsewhere.
A new fighter craft was necessary, the redundant Hyena and Vulture-class bombers and fighters respectively no longer had any use due to the new models of ground vehicle. Their designed were simply far too large and vulnerable due to their extended wings and elongated shapes, making them huge targets for defenders. At the same time a bomber and fighter variant of aircraft would be necessary, their roles vital in the conflict.
A redesign was needed and inspiration was taken from the Jedi Delta-6 Sprite Class, its triangular shape making it an aerodynamic craft. Its smaller profile making it a viable close support craft. To that end, a simple isosceles triangle shape was used, four laser cannons in the front for the fighter class with two missiles on each wingtip for hardened targets. The bomber class instead had 2 laser cannons but the other 2 removed for an internal bomb bay containing both anti-tank and anti-ship missiles as needed. These new designs were both much faster and more maneuverable than their predecessors, the need for a walker function having forced poor design decisions. A jack of all trades was a master of none as the new Light Air Superiority Fighter Model 2, LASF 2 and the Light Ground Attack Fighter Model 3, LGAF 3 represented.
In the simulations, they would be able to take on a clone equivalent in an equal fight if there were 2 or more. The fact that these were half the size of their predecessors made them cheap enough that they could reliably field 2 or more in response to the clones. The thought process that went into that AI were worse than organic pilots due to their inability to adapt. One on one engagements as a result, tended to see the droid losing out to the organic pilot. In response to this, the Swarm doctrine was adopted where they would at every engagement at least outnumber the clone forces by 3-1 or they would not bother to fight. Overwhelming victory through overwhelming numbers and firepower was their standard and everything else was a deviation.
To fit with that doctrine a complete redesign of the various ships available to the CIS was in order. The Munificent-class Star Frigate was frankly, inadequate. Its design plagued by inefficiencies such as the need for life support, vast tracts of the craft nothing but void, the space for 150,000 Battle Droids being nothing but dead weight in the role assigned to it. A frigate after all, was a screening ship that was there to protect larger ships in screens while having enough fire to defend themselves. Nowhere in that description was there a need for a ground attack role nor was a need to carry infantry in support of an attack. It tried to master multiple roles and failed dismally at all of them, 7 of them being required to take on a single Venator Class which had half the space and was roughly the same size. It was pitiful and needed addressing immediately.
The Frigate understandably was less than ideal in term of performance, it having been designed for a simpler time with simpler needs. Harassing a few planets overt their debts was a good enough role for the ship.
What was not understandable was the fact that it had remained in service as the mainstay of the CIS navy. There had been no attempts to get rid of it in favour of a more… adequate design. It was a stopgap ship, one what would fight in battles and the information gleaned from it used in more effective designs. Not doubled down on despite its failings.
The designers of the new Ship of the Line, product line had decided the get rid of the Munificent-class entirely and replace it with 2 new combat ship classes. A Frigate that would serve as an escort ship for convoys as well as a pack fighter designed to harass and pick away at larger formations. It would be dubbed the Frigate Ship Model 8 or FA8 and be only 500 meters long. Unlike its predecessor however that 500 meters had no wasted space and indeed was packed to the brim with gun batteries, torpedoes, and mines.
The Laser Batteries were the same as those on the Munificent but there was double the number of them placed on both the top and the underside of the Frigates front half. The rear had launch bays for the newly designed fighters and bombers while the newly developed Quad-linked Anti-Aircraft laser batteries were studded across the entire ship, 50 of them per Frigate. One of the main threats to convoys was the large number of smaller attack craft which would overwhelm the defences and shut down a coordinated defence effort. The Quad-linked batteries would prevent that, making the Separatist convoy traffic much safer and ensuring trade could continue to flow as necessary. Less of an attack ship and more of an attack craft defensor.
At the rear of the Frigate was a set of launch bays for the newly developed mines developed by the Separatist designers. It would allow them to seed areas of space with a defensive barrier and allow them to free up ships to be deployed elsewhere. Its forward torpedo tube on the other hand, could launch either boarding parties or thermal detonators, destroy or capture as necessary. It had a small detachment of Droids to serve as a boarding party or to defend against one, their number being roughly 2000.
The new Cruisers would serve as the mainstays of the CIS fleet, the same length as the previous Munificent-class but with significantly more firepower. It had 14 more of the AAT batteries mounted on the new Frigate and eight times the Laser cannons as the Munificent. Its torpedoes were similar in scope with 4 extra tubes compared to the Frigate. The Cruiser would serve the very simple role of being the bruisers of the CIS fleet. Being the ships of the Line necessary to go toe to toe with the Republic's Navy assets.
The Cruiser class would be the main "gun" ships of the fleet, brawling with the Republic's Venator while the Frigates and attack craft swarmed them from the flanks. It would be bloody and they had the armour to match. Without crew quarters or life support systems, the front half of the ship had 8 times the armour of the Munificent and 4 times that on the flanks. It also was a continuous design without the stupid looking wings or glaring weak points on the underside.
The rear of the Cruiser like the Frigate held the physical munitions and attack craft while also being home to the organics quarters. There were 5000 droids on board for both boarding actions and defensive actions. For the clones however, the only area they would be able to board would be the rear, a large concentration of Droids waiting for them to step foot on board.
The organic area was a modular section of the ship that could be changed depending on the role it was meant to fulfill. A large cube that locked into the Cruiser that could be a luxury suite or a prison Block depending on what was needed. The entire cube had not connections to the test of the ship except for its power, cutting through for a Jedi would present nothing but more ship.
The garrisoned droids being stationed after a 5-meter wall between them and the habitation block. Any attempts at breaching would see the entire block jettisoned if it was registered as a prison Block. The entire thing could be transferred to a holding facility without ever opening it up, setting it so that there was no chance to escape. Efficient and easy. The Frigates had a smaller version for a smaller amount of prisoners but still enough for 100 humanoids.
The third class of ship was a Carrier. It would have the same dimensions as the Cruiser but the same armament as the Frigate, instead, its interior would be filled with hangar bays for 2000 attack craft each. The space being made by having thinner armour than the Cruiser and a smaller complement of defence droids as well as a lack of physical munitions like torpedoes and mines as well as the habitation block being stripped from it. In short, it was designed solely to transport attack craft to and from the battlefield and very little else, it's defence looked after by the Frigates in the fleet. The Carriers would never undergo an Independent action, their vulnerability making them nothing more than sitting ducks to any clone ships that got too close.
The troop carrier roles were supplanted by ships that were specially made for the task as opposed to jury rigged cargo ships. The new vessels were 5 kilometers long and a tenth of that wide, their insides being filled with 200,000 B1 Battle Droids and vehicles. Each ship was a massive beast bristling with defence turrets to fend off any attack. In a desperate situation, it could release its droids in a massive cloud to drift to the enemy ships and board them directly. The blasters after all still worked in space and with 200,000 shot, some of them were going to hit something vital.
These ships had many, smaller scaled versions of themselves for planetary assaults, dropping down Droids and vehicles in the landing zone where they would begin establishing bases of operations. Striking forth once reinforcements arrived. Several of these together were enough to deliver enough droids to end any resistance.
Almost an afterthought was the Heavy Close Air Support Gunship 2 or rather the HSA2. Replacing the HMP droid gunship, the HSA2 was designed as both an infantry transport and a gunship. Its hold capable of transporting 20 paratrooper B1 droids and possessing enough missiles and laser cannons to suppress and destroy anything that it came across. It was by design, half the size of the HMP and much thinner with the disk being replaced entirely.
The previous design being far too large a target for even infantry with their blaster rifles. The firepower of the new craft was enough to wreck AT-TEs with ease, the droids protected by their guardian in the sky.
The redesign of the fleet and the ground vehicles was a move that was going to take them at least a few months to refit enough vehicles to begin an offensive. More to have their entire force replaced, likely a year at the minimum.
If they had been given that choice earlier in the year, the answer would have been a definite no. However, with there being no end in sight, the one that orchestrated the war having lied to them and any attempts at reconciliation likely dead in the water. The CIS decided to bring the war to its logical conclusion, they would conquer and subjugate. Their droid armies ready and willing to crush all enemies before them.
It was only a matter of waiting for the CIS, the would consolidate their gains and establish defensive perimeters. They would renew the offensive on the new year, their armies primed for conquest.
After Activation 1119 - Origin Universe
After Insertion 1080 - Cultivation Universe
Millennium 093-32M - 40k Universe
Clone Wars 22 BBY - Star Wars Universe
Palpatine stared at the holo before him. On it was the description of the Separatist armaments industry, their forces were evolving to meet the threat of the Republic's Grand Army. Their vessels nothing like what had been seen before, their droids being upgraded to be more intelligent and their ground vehicles designed as a direct counter to anything the Republic had. The threat of a droid uprising was present but he couldn't allow the Republic to act against it, the Jedi would emerge as heroes, the opposite of what he planned.
Darth Sidious clenched his fist and tried to control himself, his fist nearly burying itself into the control panel. The Separatists had been engineered by him to be stupid. He had weeded out the most intelligent and creative minds and put only dullness in their place. All of it in order to ensure that despite their superior numbers, the droids would in the end, be held at a stalemate by the vastly inferior clone armies. They numbered in the quintillions after all and a million clones were certainly not enough.
They could give the droids sticks and they would be able to beat the entire Clone army to death with those numbers. At the same time, he had engineered the Republic's army to be stupid but not to the level of the droids. They after all needed to be able to win despite the massive number differential, their bravery captured for all to see. The next stage of his plan needed them to be heroes in the eyes of the public, killing the Jedi was not something to be done lightly and without public support.
After all who thought that glass windows for a tank would be a good idea? Certainly not anyone with half a brain that was for sure.
He had it all planned it out, there would be a mighty clashing of forces, the Jedi would come off looking worse as time went on. No longer keepers of the peace and the protectors of the Republic but warmongers who wanted nothing more than the wage war and prolong the war. It had been oh so carefully planned out, the chips in the clones, the stupidity of the Jedi generals, the reactions of the rest of the galaxy… everything.
And here he was looking on, helpless as all the variables he had been tweaking changed as if they had been snatched from his hands and given to another. The Separatist Council denied any and all contact from him in both his Chancellor and Sith master personas. The disciples of Dooku were unreachable or dead.
Grievous having been cut down by clone troopers when his droids simultaneously stopped functioning in the midst of a battle. As fast and powerful as the cyborg was, it was unable to counter or escape from a company of clone troopers with heavy fire support. Especially ones without a Jedi to challenge the general to a duel. A good and incompetent general had been lost that day. Finding a general that was both incompetent enough to not win any major battles, especially against the Jedi was a daunting task. When that general had to be competent enough to not lose that war either, especially against the Jedi, the candidate pool shrunk dramatically.
He and Dooku had gone through many a general trying to find one that was useful and they had luckily stumbled on Grievous. With him dead and the Separatist leadership denied to him, Sidious was at serious risk of a competent general being appointed. Should that occur the chances that the clone army being utterly destroyed was a very likely event.
He rubbed his temples at that thought. So many plans going down the drain, the Galactic Republic would have to wait.
To begin with, the droids were suddenly much more effective than they had been previously. The clones no longer held the overwhelming advantage that they had previously. Where before they could crush the droids even with Jedi in charge, they were now reduced to fighting with a slight advantage that no longer could counter the fact that they were being led by Jedi. In fact, in recent months the most effective clone units were those that no longer had a Jedi general leading them.
What was a 10-1 advantage had been reduced to a 2 or 3-1 advantage. And considering the numbers that the droids usually came in… well, they were being beaten into the ground. The losses were devastating, the Republic's ability to sustain them being tested. Indeed if things kept going the way they were, it was very likely that they would lose this war by the new year.
The increasing intelligence was a worry, but it was an animalistic one. Still, he didn't want to escalate it as of yet, too many variables that could go wrong if he did. The Separatist navies were worrying enough as it was.
The new ships being reported on made sure of that. Ships that could now fight head on with those of the Republic, ships that were many times more effective than what had been displayed previously. The tactic of using the fighter and bomber craft to overwhelm them no longer working as the point defence turrets shredded their craft from beyond retaliation range.
Then there were the planetary vehicles that were going to shore up every weakness that the Separatists possessed. Their useless tanks being replaced by much more effective focused designs while their droids were being supported by mobile artillery and infantry support vehicles. Previously Palpatine had scoffed at the idea of treating droids like soldiers but the results spoke for themselves. They had taken positions held by heavy armour, positions that just months earlier were considered impregnable by even his actually intelligent advisors.
Even worse was that these vehicles were to become the standard for the entire Separatist military, something his clones would not be able to survive.
There had to be something, anything that could solve this problem.
Palpatine once again cursed whoever was behind the assassination of Dooku for derailing a plan that had taken centuries to put into motion. Now he was reduced to playing the reactor and not the instigator, his very position on tenuous ground.
He considered his options as he ran through his emails for his Chancellor work. A particularly strangely titled one catching his eye.
Flash Cloning Proposal: A Supplement to the Grand Army
The sender being from a race he had never heard of before. A "Quarian" whatever that was. He stared hard at the email before opening it, reading it, shuddering in joy, and sending a reply, this might be what he needed. If he could boost the Clone armies with much-needed numbers, they could hold the line and he could work out a plan with the time they bought.
Eight leaned against a tree, the forest that was once their last refuge now a home. More importantly, it was a base that they could strike out against the damned droids from.
He cradled his E-5 Blaster in his left hand, the right bringing a mug of tanna up to his lips. The steaming beverage shrouded his face in steam, the night obscuring it further. Warm, comforting.
The Separatists had control of space, their ships able to move in and out with no regards to safety, so beaten was the Republic fleet. In turn that had meant they hadn't received their supplies in nearly 3 months, the ammunition they had brought with them from that devastating field battle lasting them a month before they were running low. The only option after that had been to raid scavenge ammunition from the droids they destroyed and when those ran low, raid the droid supply dumps. Strange, had no supplies for organics.
Weapons, munitions and everything else had been obtained from the droids. They had even managed to get a splicer into a destroyed Battle Droid Commander and discover a list of plants and insects that had medicinal properties. The general never considered that. Their wounded being treated for their pain if nothing else. Food had been an issue until they decided to just hunt the animals, the droids certainly didn't have any with them.
Over the months 2000 remaining clones adapted to the forest, breaking the conditioning of their training and doing things like painting their armour with camouflage and wearing scavenged armour. The B2 Super Droid's chest plate being the height of protection these days.
Eight gave a silent chuckle, more of a shoulder movement really as he considered exactly where he was compared to when he got his first set of real armour. Things had changed so much he couldn't recognize any of it.
They had arrived on this world fresh from Kamino and ready to fight the clankers, now… now they were waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for the droids to come after them in force was what they were preoccupied with currently. It gnawed on the back of their minds, the knowledge that they were only a few steps away from dying. There were no reinforcements here, every death was another clone that wouldn't be there tomorrow, their numbers ever dwindling.
They couldn't just leave either, hide in the forest until either reinforcements came or the war finished. They were the army of the Republic and they needed to act like it. It meant that they were going to die but they were clones, it was expected. Expendable.
He heard footsteps coming behind and tensed slightly, finger going around the trigger of the E-5. Then he heard a knock on the tree, a specific pattern that had been prearranged with his squad. New squad, old one had been wiped out in the raid last week.
He relaxed slightly, it wasn't time for the watch to change. Probably someone looking for someone to talk to. They had started out as recruits in a Regiment of veterans. Now, however, they were all equal, fighting as they had in the forest had really made them stand on the same footing. It was either band together or die. A brutal reality but the one they were living.
"Hey Eight, hows things?" Came a voice behind him.
"Not bad Sinker, all quiet here."
"Dammit Eight, even you?" Said Sinker, his voice exasperated.
Eight chuckled, keeping it quiet. The clone had nearly drowned when he dropped into a covered pond that went nearly 20 meters straight down. Sinker had been carrying the Z-6 Rotary Cannon and its weight had dragged him down nearly 15 meters before he managed to unclip and drop it. Terrible design. Luckily his helmet had been sealed and Sinker managed to swim up to the surface with no injuries except for his pride, and a new name.
"We do what we do." Eight said, his voice tinged with amusement.
"Well screw you too. Anyway, you hear about our backup?"
Eight cocked his head in askance, his eyes still on the horizon. No clankers were going to slip past on his watch. "No, what about them?"
"Well, word from the top is they're clones."
Eight tried to work out if this was meant to be a joke or not.
"Ummm… duh?"
"No, no, these aren't clone clones. These are different. Different home different."
Well, that was different.
"Not Kamino?"
"Nah, these guys are flash cloned, like they get grown from gestation to maturation in like a month. All the stuff is like downloaded into their heads, come out like you know… clones."
"So you're saying… they're clones."
"Yea! Like clones of each other."
"So clones."
"Argh, you get what I mean, they don't have any personality. Like robots. Heard the Captain saying talking to one's like talking to a robot, at least droids have personality."
Eight considered the implications. A new breed of clone that was apparently like droids? He tried to think of exactly why and came up empty. That was until he considered the ramifications that having better droids with the better vehicles he had seen them using on one of their scouting ops. The clones were obviously there was cannon fodder, a means to hold the line.
It was brutal he thought but if they were here… well, it was obvious that they were needed. Eight gave a small curse, to think things had gotten this bad.
"We're gonna need them Sinker, you saw the new droid tanks. Will destroy anything we send against it. The droids are deploying in big numbers, more than any other reports have every said they could. We need the bodies."
Sinker was silent, for once. His head clearly filled with the ramifications.
"Well we need them and they need us, they need someone to teach them how to be awesome like me."
Or not.
"Never change Sinker, never change."
"Fuck you Eight." Was the reply, Sinker heading back to the camp. Leaving behind a thermos, likely his original task.
Eight took another sip of the tanna and grimaced. It had gone cold while they were talking.
He sighed, damn droids.
After Activation 1119 - Origin Universe
After Insertion 1080 - Cultivation Universe
Millennium 093-32M - 40k Universe
Clone Wars 22 BBY - Star Wars Universe
Tali'Zorah nar Rayya walked with Wrex Urdnot, their route a path straight to a building in the Senate District on Coruscant. The offer regarding the flash cloning had been sent to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine as well as a few other Senators of the pro-war faction. Most of them had ignored the email but surprisingly Palpatine had responded positively and thus here they were, ready to elaborate on the ideas and processes presented in the email.
The general idea being that they would use the Flash Cloning technology as perfected by the Minds using the Planetside tech as well as the the tinkering by the Minds. Each of the clones would have their own souls, each connected to the Minds in order that Palpatine wouldn't be able to use Mind trick on them. Other than that however there would be nothing interesting about them, if anything they were incredibly dis-interesting. Each of the clones was nothing but a basic template with the minimum in personality, and what was essentially a droid-like movements.
Each of them would take a month to gestate but would not pop out when fully matured, rather they would undergo hypnotherapy first. It was another week under the hypnotherapy as used by the Space Marines to implant a personality, memories and skills in them before another week of practice, outside the pods to build the necessary muscle memory. From there they would be armed, armoured and shipped off ready to wage war as necessary.
While they had the accuracy, strength and ability to kill droids, they also lacked imagination, the attack routines already programmed into their brains. Tactics and strategies were also programmed in, making them very predictable. In the simulations versus the Kaminoan clones they already had, the flash cloned ones would come out on top 10/10 times in a frontal engagement. However in a protracted engagement in anything but flat ground, while the Kaminoan clones would take heavy casualties, they would generally emerge victorious through their quick thinking and willingness to experiment. Curiously, when led by a Jedi in the simulations, the clones would lose 10/10 times no matter the engagement. The flash clones were deadly but predictable, the Jedi were merely predictable.
Good for massed engagements but less so for more… delicate work.
Any other time the Republic wouldn't consider using the flash clones but needs must and so they were willing to work with what they had in front of them. The armies would be led by the Krogans who would act as both trainer and officer in the flash cloned armies, their denial of Jedi leadership making sense when comparing the programming of the Flash Clones, unable to follow acts outside of their programming effectively. The Quarians would fill the role of the scientist/geneticists in the eyes of the Republic.
Their different forms being a result of genetic manipulation, a way to hide the fact that they didn't exist in this galaxy in the first place. It was dangerous to be sure but necessary if they didn't want to examined too closely.
The material to support billions of new clones was to come from many smaller companies that had been "incentivized" to help their board members and workers subverted. All ready and willing to aid in the war effort. It wasn't that they were going to be mistreated of course, they would all going to be repaid with interest, it was merely a small hijacking of their lives for a brief period of a few years.
The meeting would involve Palpatine, a few Jedi Masters they assumed as well as a few Senators and military officers. More of a grand inquiry than an actual meeting but the general idea was the same, they would be questioned regarding the flash clones, they would answer and depending on their answers they would be awarded a contract.
Only, the Caretakers knew that their offer would be accepted, the war situation becoming far too one sided for them to do things like refuse a ready made, enormous army. They would have to be very blind to refuse something that would come to them for free.
The inquiry had gone as well as could be expected really. They had their contract and the Grand Republic Army would be bolstered by billions if not trillions of droids clones and they would be able to hold the line. The Separatists would be held off and all would be well. Palpatine could do more plotting in peace, unaware all the variables were now out of his control.
"Ms Rayya, can you explain exactly what the flash cloning process is and how it differs from regular cloning?" Asked a funny looking humanoid, eyes bugging out of its rather thin and spindly face.
"The flash cloning process is a process whereby the clone is gestated as per normal, but from there we use a process by which we layer flesh, cartilage, bone and organ tissue, accelerating the growth of the infant. The body that emerges at the end is functionally identical, the process being like that of a factory. It is different in both the time needed to gestate a clone from inception to birth."
"What is this process of Hypnotherapy as you call it?"
"It is a process by which the clones have the knowledge of how to use weaponry, read maps, cooking, and everything else they need directly implanted into memory. From there they can draw out these memories in order to complete their duties. At the same time that the knowledge is being implanted, they are also conditioned to be loyal and follow their orders"
"The naming… hypnotherapy, can it be broken like hypnosis?"
"The hypnotherapy can be broken however the knowledge will still be in the clone's mind. The only thing that is broken is the conditioning, however it would require them to face such things that currently do not exist."
"Do not exist? What do you mean by that?"
"We have hired a force user to do an in depth interrogation of the clones and have found that they are impervious to all techniques. Physical persuasion has also been useless in breaking the clones."
"To what standard is their physical fitness and abilities?"
"They are at least at the level of the standard clones of the Grand Army. Their physical fitness levels are at a peak when they emerge from the pods and can be maintained very easily through the genetic modification they have gone through. Their abilities are to the maximum of human development, their skills using 100% of their potential."
"What impact does the flash cloning process have on the body and the Minds of the clones?"
"It leaves no physical impacts except for the fact that each and every one of them is quite literally identical when born. Due to the fact that they first gain consciousness is when they emerge from their pods, they lack personalities due to their lack of interaction with the wider world. While they do undergo hypnotherapy whilst inside of the pods, it only imparts knowledge and basic responses to certain stimuli. It does not result in them gaining an individuality."
"If they do not have personality, how are they emotionally and creatively?"
"Emotionally they are stunted, their reactions dependent on the pre-programmed stimuli they have undergone. While they will develop maturity over time, they are very limited from birth. Creativity is much the same, without stimuli they have not developed in any way and are reliant on pre-programmed protocols to take cues on how to act."
"So they're like droids then?" A general this time.
"No, they have the ability to learn and they bleed, very much unlike droids."
"How much would it cost for one flash clone?
"The organic material and the bill to power the devices in use. The process is very cheap once the systems are in place. 7500 credits per clone."
"That's very cheap, how can we be sure that the standards are as you say?"
"You are free to have an inspector stationed at the facility to ensure quality. We will not obfuscate our methods."
"Will you release the flash cloning process?" Palpatine said, his thoughts obviously on creating a private army.
"No, that is proprietary technology, we can allow you to observe it in action however."
"What about the hypnotherapy technology?"
"No to that as well I'm afraid, the technology is highly dangerous and we cannot allow it outside of the facility."
"How many clones can you produce per gestation period?"
"Our current facilities allow us to produce 1 million clones a month, with increased funds we can increase that to 1 billion within the year, more if necessary. Our contractors are waiting for the funds to begin the expansion."
"Are you that confident in your clones?"
"Yes, we can guarantee that they will be at the very least equal to that of your current clones."
"Will the clones be able to function as part of the Grand Army?"
"Not as they currently are, the more energetic and unorthodox Jedi Generals will simply be too much for the flash clones to follow. They need much more straightforward and orthodox leadership in order to function properly. To solve that we have the Krogan (gesturing to Wrex) who will take the place of the clone leadership. They are mercenaries who are loyal to the Republic, that much can be ensured."
"How can we trust that loyalty?"
"They fight for the sake of fighting, fighting a very large droid army appeals to them in a very visceral sense. As long as there are droids, they will remain loyal."
And so it went on and on, the senators and the generals were being convinced but the same could not be said of the Jedi. For a peoples that were ready to go to war despite the fact that they were meant to be peacekeepers and even accepted the positions of leadership in the clone armies… they were very reticent over the fact that there would be more clones to die for them.
Tali couldn't understand their reasoning, just because these ones were different? They had already seen thousands of them die under their command, why were they resisting having more? It was not as if they their hands were bloodless. They had betrayed their oaths a long time ago, the time to be hesitant was long over.
Then again Tali wasn't going to say that to their faces, time and place was still important to consider.
"Why now, when we were struggling, why did you not offer your support then? When our armies were on the verge of breaking, where were you?"
"We were perfecting the technology. We started from scratch after all, what we saw from the Clone Armies was the inspiration we needed to get everything set up and ready. We wanted to be able to prove that we had a working model before we presented it to the Senate."
"You speak as if they are not people."
"They are flash clones, they are not people until they have lived long enough to qualify. As of right now they have not qualified. They still have much to learn before they graduate from being nothing more than tools." She tried to sound as harsh as possible, no need to get the Jedi all sentimental for her. Entangling herself with them would be a very bad idea given their propensity for failure. While she did sympathize with the flash clones… if only slightly, she had been made immune to their suffering by the simple fact that she was a Caretaker, watching the Minds deal with people was something that… well redefined horrible. It also made one rather callous, life was cheap, especially when you had several universes full of it to do with what you wanted, souls being recycled on a constant basis.
"People implies they are special. They are all completely identical Jedi, it would be impossible to tell one from the other if you lined them up."
After irritating the Jedi, tentatively impressing the generals and the senators, the contract had been awarded, the first batch of flash clones to be delivered in a few weeks. The Krogan would be joining them as well, all the better to wage war.
The second phase of the plan was beginning and they were going to be laying the groundwork for phase 3, where everything went to hell and the Caretakers could let loose. It would be more years from now but the promised payoffs would be enough to entertain the Minds hopefully for another 10-20 years.
After Activation 1119 - Origin Universe
After Insertion 1080 - Cultivation Universe
Millennium 093-32M - 40k Universe
Clone Wars 22 BBY - Star Wars Universe
The Jedi were… worried regarding… everything. It had been a few months and it had reached the point where they were considering whether or not they wanted to continue on the path that they were following. The Jedi after all, were peacekeepers and diplomats, why exactly were they attempting to lead an army to fight against the Separatists who had a very legitimate and clear complaint regarding the Republic. It was the corruption and ineptitude of the Republic that forced the Confederacy of Independent Systems to decide for themselves that declaring war was the only option available to them.
Why they were defending a system that was simply a failure, something that had been corrupted beyond the pale. Something that was exploiting its peoples for the gain of a tiny elite. What exactly were they, the protectors of the Republic doing? They were destroying the spirit of their vows while obeying its words. To protect the crumbling ruin that was the Republic while the idea died a gasping and painful death.
It had been in the back of their minds for a while now. The fact that they were leading armies, armies that they were not prepared nor worthy of leading. They did so because the role had been forced upon them, a role that had seen so many of them fall in the line of duty. It had gotten worse as of late, the Separatist armies reorganizing following the death of Dooku and now the Jedi would simply die whenever they entered the field of battle. Leading from the front was nothing but a death wish, something that concerned them.
The Jedi after all, had not learnt how to wage war against hostile armies or anything of the like. Time spent in meditation being time not spent learning how to kill large masses of others. By the same token, their lightsabers were there to be a symbolic tool, not something to take lives with. They in simple terms were not used to fighting wars, the last time one had been fought was over 1000 years prior, and even then it was mainly Jedi fighting Sith. The concept of armies fighting armies was something the "normals" did, not the Jedi. They were suffering for it, duelling knowledge did not translate to actual knowledge of war, one cannot transpose chess upon an actual battlefield.
Many of the Jedi were questioning themselves, the lives they were taking having the only crime of being on the other side of the conflict. Even though they were fighting droids, there were still enough of their organic allies that it brought up an ethical quandary for the Jedi.
If they were fighting in a conflict for the wrong side, then were they guilty of killing innocents?
It had been brought to a head when the Flash Cloned armies joined the Republic's Grand Army and the Jedi were faced with their inadequacies. The armies that were led by the Race called the Krogan, were many times more effective in combat than those led by the Jedi. Their soldiers suffering smaller numbers of casualties and their objectives achieved with more regularity. Indeed, their own Kamino Clone troopers while more imaginative and capable of adaptation were being wasted under their guidance, the clones unable to achieve their full potential.
The clones that had died by the hundreds of thousands under their command, losses that compared in the mirrored Flash Cloned armies, were completely meaningless. Losses that they had forced due to their hubris and their failures.
The question had to be asked about whether or not they were even needed. If conventional leaders were so effective, why were the clones programmed to obey the Jedi? If they were so unnecessary, then why? In hindsight it was even more baffling, the Jedi were very clearly one of the worst choices to be made generals of. They were monks, warrior monks even, their mindset and their very natures meaning that they would be failures as Generals. As Champions they would have been a match made in the Force, their skills highly suiting their roles. Saboteurs, Special Forces, anything and everything that was not being a commander of an army or an admiral of a navy.
The headstrong nature of the Jedi as taught to them was simply not suitable for strategic leadership when all you know is a lightsaber, then everything looks like it needs to be slashed. Heading directly into combat or reducing the enemy to the point where one can head into direct combat with their lightsabers leading the way.
It was foolish now that they looked back on it, something that had cost many clones their lives, the clones that counted on them to lead them effectively, dying in droves. Many Jedi had died as well, their abilities fine for one on one combat but not for large massed battles, the large number of blaster bolts coming at them from all angles and cutting them down. Many a Knight and Padawan calling some unknown worlds as their final resting place, the bodies unable to be recovered.
It was horrific and it was ultimately what they deserved some of them thought. They were swept up by events and in turn betrayed everything that they were supposed to stand for. They were meant to be better than that, they were meant to be the bastion of order and reason yet they failed, badly.
The Jedi then took it upon themselves to find new reasons, new orders, something to justify what exactly it was they had done. To put it simply, they were debating about whether or not they should continue being Jedi as the current word defined it.
The debate was getting heated, the Masters not sure what their course of action should be in the first place. After all, not everything was as easy as they assumed, the Jedi were to put it simply, they who had 1000 years of history. Not including that which came before in their tumultuous and extremely long history. They had a history certainly of leading armies but in looking at the holocrons they discovered that their predecessors were nothing better, that they too spent lives like water.
It was humbling yet horrifying at the same time. To know that the Jedi who were meant to be pacifists had such a bloody history. They resolved themselves to not repeat the same mistakes again, enshrining it in their teachings. So many lives lost in situations that could have been avoided with so very little effort. So many things that could have been learnt instead were ignored and they and those who trusted them had paid the price.
"I'm saying that we, the Jedi should recuse ourselves from this war! We are doing nothing but costing lives out there! We are the worst option, the only reason that we still have soldiers following our orders is because they are programmed to!" Said Jedi Master Kit Fisto, his visage one filled with passion, his fist that had come down on the podium before him, firm and resolute.
The assembled Jedi Knights and Masters had been recalled following the introduction of the Flash Clones. The Kaminoan Clones being re-assigned to assist in teaching the Flash Clones things such as innovation and imagination, their pre-programmed minds still lacking. With this temporary shuffling of the Grand Army, the Jedi found themselves at a loss of what to do. When the recall order came to them, they all headed back to Coruscant, the greatest gathering of Jedi since the formation of the Jedi Order 1000 years previously.
This gathering was called to discuss the future of the Jedi, the war and the to discuss the doubts they had regarding the actions they had undertaken.
Master Kit Fisto was advocating that the Jedi should not continue engaging in the war, that they should allow the other, more qualified beings to do so in their place. It was a call that was echoed by other Jedi, notably those who were Generals. They had been on the front lines and they understood exactly how much their actions had contributed to the needless deaths due to their incompetence.
They were not without compassion and the fact that they were a large factor in the death of their Clones had seen them change their minds and instead wished to withdraw. They were not stupid and understood quite keenly the cost.
It was not a universal sentiment, however, the hotheaded Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker instead railed against it. Saying that they should continue to lead for who else could they trust to do it? The Midichlorians trying to push forward a resolution in favour of going to war, yet in the Force dampened room (to prevent mind tricks), they were having a very difficult time. It was Anakin with his record-breaking number of them that allowed any sort of control at all, and they were leveraging that for all its worth.
"We are the protectors of the Republic! If we do not protect the people then who will? How can we trust these new clones to do their duty, how can we trust these newcomers that they will persecute their orders in accordance to the will of the Republic? How can we trust them at all?" He shouted at the chamber, the Jedi shifting in discomfort at his words.
"We have no choice Skywalker, you have seen the reports, how these new Flash Clones are more effective than the Kaminoan Clones when led by the Krogan. These Flash Clones are inferior statistically to the Kaminoan Clones yet when they go into combat with us Jedi in the lead, they will fail in every simulation. We are the problemSkywalker, what can we do but recuse ourselves." Fisto finished, his shoulders slumped.
"Yet how can we trust them? They show up out of nowhere, and they offer to create an army? Does no-one else think this is strange?" Anakin tried another tack.
"And yet we accepted the clones when they first appeared did we not? They were there and so we made use of them, did we not take the time to ask where exactly these clones came from? Why the planet no longer existed on our records, that Dooku who was the only Jedi to have turned to the dark side would have had access to our records and known how to use them? Did we not accept the role of Generals in this army, an army pre-programmed to accept us as their leaders, despite our very real inexperience and dare I say… incompetence? Did we not question why these clones were ready on the cusp of a galactic civil war? They who came just as the Republic needed them?" Mace Windu spoke, his voice deep in conviction. He had spent many an hour pondering these questions himself but the needs of the Republic had never given him time to fully contemplate them. Now however he had that time and he found himself asking questions. The questions which had answers he was uncomfortable knowing.
"Then at least have us send our own in order to ensure that they will comply? We need a way to ensure that the needs of the Republic are met, that these clones are not subversive, that these Clones will not turn on us due to some kind of conditioning in their minds. We need to use some kind of oversight to ensure that the dark side has not tainted this in some way." Anakin continued, accepting perhaps that he was not in the right but neither was he completely in the wrong.
Mace Windu nodded as did other members of the Jedi Council. Anakin felt a little shiver run down his spine, he had just talked himself into volunteering for this position had he not. It was away from his own Clone Army but maybe he would be able to influence these new ones somehow.
Make the best of the hand he was dealt, story of his life.
"Master, what are we going to be doing?" Asked his disciple, Ahsoka Tano, or Snips. A rather tiny little Padawan that had been assigned to him, out of incompetence Anakin assumed.
"We're heading over to the Senti System to look at the cloning technology they have set up, make sure they don't have anything that might be dangerous for the Republic. It's a hard job but someone's gotta do it." He said.
"That's the face you use when you don't want to do something." She always was sharp, "how bad is it Master?"
"Shouldn't be too bad Snips, they've opened the doors to all the other investigations, shouldn't be any different with this one. Plus they've got generals already on site to make sure everything works as it should. We're just going down there to check things out before going back. Nobody's gonna be shooting at us or anything like that."
He hoped at least.
After Activation 1119 - Origin Universe
After Insertion 1080 - Cultivation Universe
Millennium 093-32M - 40k Universe
Clone Wars 22 BBY - Star Wars Universe
"So Master, what's the lowdown?" Ahsoka said. Her Master was feeling rather down lately, probably because he had been pulled out of the army and was being sent on this inspection mission. Master Obi-wan Kenobi was also here as were the two clone Commanders that Ahsoka was so familiar with, Rex and Cody.
"The Senti System is one that has a predominantly human population but apparently they had isolated themselves from the galaxy for several hundred years prior to their presentation of the Flash Cloning technology. During this time period they had apparently been experimenting with genetic research. More importantly, this research had been on themselves, creating new types of genetic structures which saw them force themselves to undergo evolution into many different alien types.
What was originally human became something else entirely, some who are called the Quarians who possess bioluminescent pigmentation underneath their skin, an apparently involuntary process. Next we have the Krogan which have been engineered so that only the smallest traces of their human ancestry can be seen, a sub-race predisposed to violence with a genetic imperative to constant conflict. Further races have not yet been discovered."
The droid finished its recitation of the Senti System before stepping back. The five of them were waiting inside a diplomatic craft as it entered the system from a Venator Class ship. Go out as you mean to go on or something of the like. Ahsoka wasn't too sure on the exact details regarding diplomatic missions, she just did what was needed and that was it essentially. They would drop down onto the namesake planet and… do something. Her master had not yet explained exactly what it was they were going to be doing.
"Well Snips, we've got some clones down there that are potentially dangerous. The idea is that we inspect the facility check their training in case its dangerous." Her Master replied.
"Yes, well it sounds quite good on paper but what exactly are we doing down there Anakin? We're Jedi, not instructors." Master Obi-Wan said.
"Well it can't be too hard, we've trained Padawan haven't we?" Her Master replied.
"I've trained one Padawan. That Padawan was you." Master Obi-wan said, his tone implied that it wasn't his best effort.
"Whaaat? Look at me? I'm great."
"I rest my case."
"Ummm… Masters?" Ahsoka tried to interject before they went off again on one of their little rants.
"Yes Asoka?/Sup Snips"
"We've landed."
"Oh."
The Clone Commanders had stayed silent through the exchange, they had grown used to it a while ago. No point trying to stop them either, it would just continue through their hand gestures and eyes. No, it was better to let them work it out rather than let it ferment.
As the five of them stepped off the transport, they were greeted by the sight of what looked like Clone troopers but with slightly different armour designs. While they still kept the armour, it was painted in a light blue colour. Overlaid onto it was various vests and waist pouches for what Ahsoka presumed was assumed were ammunition, rations, grenades. A rather… obvious solution looking back on it. Why the Clone Armies hadn't adopted this kind of idea for their own troopers… she didn't even know. So obvious yet so… ugh. She couldn't comprehend the whys.
Looking a bit closer she could see that the chest appeared to be larger than that of other armour types. She wasn't sure what was inside but the vests had their pockets at around the stomach level, the top being clear for the enlarged chests. She was still staring when her Master gave her a nudge.
Ahsoka jolted back to reality and stared owlishly at the Quarian, the droid had shown them holoimages of the enigmatic race. The female (they had breasts) smiled down at her and said "It is fine Master Jedi, no doubt she is curious about the modifications we have made to the traditional clone armament. I am Captain Zaria nar Pyra, please to make your acquaintance."
Master Obi-wan smiled and replied, "I am Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, the man to my right is Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, his Padawan Ahsoka Tano and the two clones behind me go by Rex and Cody."
Her master gave a slight cough and muttered, "how can it be traditional if its only been a year?"
The Quarian either hadn't heard or pretended not to hear and gestured for them to walk with her.
"So what questions did you have Master Jedi", the Quarian said, walking ahead of them.
"What's with their chest plates? They seem a lot bigger than the ones that the clones usually wear." For some reason her Masters were looking at her in horror, Ahsoka didn't understand why exactly but she felt contrite.
"Oh those? Well its rather simple actually, most fatalities in the field with clones are due to their vital organs being destroyed when they are hit. So it makes sense don't you think, to have extra armour there in order to protect against Blaster fire? It's spaced armour as well, making it rather light."
The Masters looked relieved at that.
"And it also provides extra room for our female clones and their more… generous attributes."
And the Masters were back to looking constipated again. She didn't understand why, it wasn't like the idea of having female clones was strange.
"What about their armour? What gave you idea to have all the pouches and stuff on it?"
"That is the result of some critical thinking on our part I must admit. We tried to create small scale infantry tactics with our simulations and the regular clone armour simply does not have enough space to carry the munitions and grenades employed by a well trained team."
They had walked down what appeared to be a corridor from the platform outside, the honour guard of clone troopers didn't follow them. Rather there were two of them stationed around the doors, along the corridor itself. They looked to be on parade rest.
"Our simulations showed that the best way to engage droids was to hit them with overwhelming and rapid force, closing into close range so they can't use their number advantage to maximum effect before liberal use of grenades and rapid blaster fire. Knock them down before they can react so to speak."
They reached the end of the corridor and there was a single door, whatever it was on the other side was probably what they were here for considered Ahsoka.
"We've taken the liberty of preparing a guided tour for you through the facility, you will be able to see what it is I am talking about and check it for yourselves. Please, follow me."
The room itself was more like an elevator, a square and rather utilitarian design without any amenities… or paint. In fact it looked like a cargo hauler than something you would take guests through.
"Please excuse the elevator, we have rapidly expanded our facilities and the niceties like decorating haven't been gotten around to as of yet. Most of our focus is on developing the clones for the Grand Army as of right now, once we have operations fully up and running we can then begin the interior decorating."
The Masters nodded, it made sense. The needs of the Republic trumped that of their sensibilities.
Once the elevator reached the bottom of the pit, not very long actually. Its speed was enough to have even her Master buckle slightly as the acceleration picked up.
On the other side they were greeted with very large windows that had been angled at a 30 degree angle. Ahsoka followed the Quarian over to it and was greeted at what appeared to be a mockup of a large series of rooms. In it were several clones making their way through, shooting at droids and throwing their thermal detonators and Ion grenades as they cleared each room. The way they went about it was very clearly, even to her eyes, professional. Each room was cleared with the smallest amount of movements necessary, each action repeated no matter what it was they found inside. The way they breached each room with either a physical method or explosives spoke of extreme familiarity.
The Clones themselves moved like they were all part of a single body, each of them ensuring that the one next to them didn't have an open flank. Sweeping their carbines left and right as they entered a room, firing on any droids that entered their line of sight, taking cover in longer corridors and using their grenades to clear the way forward. They were consummately professional and skilled, overwhelming firepower their first option apparently.
Rex beside her gave a grunt, clearly what he saw was enough for him to make a noise in the first place. Ahsoka gave him a grin from the side of her mouth, his slight movement of his neck to the left showed that he saw, acknowledged, and also didn't like it. She grinned harder.
"This is the Kill House, where our Clones practice their urban contact techniques and skills. It is here that they hone themselves so that what the hypnotherapy installed inside their minds becomes physical reality. They have the knowledge, they now need the experience." Zaria said, her hand gesturing at the clones as they passed through the finish line. Droids moving out to repair the damage for what would undoubtedly be the next group.
They looked on for a few more minutes before a few subtle grunts had the Quarian moving to the next point on the tour. They were on a travelator, a sideways elevator. The speed so much so that they had to be locked into their chairs as it took them from one part of the facility to the next.
One jaw clenching ride later they stood before a… white room. A very white room. It had the same layout as the room overlooking the Kill House but it was enormous. On the other side of the window… was white. Ahsoka was trying to take it all in. An enormous white room that stretched further than she could see, she tried sensing with Force and she couldn't feel anything beyond the other side. It just went on for what seemed like forever. Inside were rows upon rows of upright pods, each big enough to fit one of the clones she saw outside. There were rows and then there were columns, each pod hanging in a rack, suspended in the air. Ahsoka couldn't see the bottom or the sides. The only reason she could see the ceiling was because they were on the ceiling.
Zaria depressed a button on the console in the center of the room to reveal a very large and complicated looking control panel.
"This is the gestation facility for this particular node of the facility. It is here that the Flash Clones are gestated, grown then born. Currently this node contains 5 billion pods within a node that is 20 kilometers square and 50 kilometers deep. Each of these pods contains a gestation device to produce the Flash Clone as well as a Hypnotherapy device to implant knowledge into the minds of the Clones as they gestate. It takes a month and a week for the process to complete and when it is done the racks will rotate through to allow a constant and sustainable production of clones."
As she spoke the racks indeed did indeed begin to move and all the racks before them dropped down a single level.
Zaria pressed a few controls and brought up before them a series of screens that showed the bottom of the facility. The scene being shown before them was thousands upon thousands of the clones being dumped from their pods that had rotated to face the ground. From there the pods simple shifted to the side, no doubt to continue the cycle while the ground itself began to move and shift the clones that were on their knees to entrances at the walls.
The entire process very clearly being done every time the pods rotated. Ahsoka and the others could only stare in shock. It was like an industrial mindset to the creation of life. It was horrifying. To think that they needed this… it was too much to contemplate.
"From here they undergo physical therapy before being sent out as part of the Grand Army. There is very little else, the entire process has been streamlined as much as possible." Said Zaria, her eyes staring at Ahsoka's Master's faces.
"Its like a factory!" Said Obi-wan finally.
"Yes! Yes it is, thank you for the compliment."
Wow.
After Activation 1119 - Origin Universe
After Insertion 1080 - Cultivation Universe
Millennium 093-32M - 40k Universe
Clone Wars 22 BBY - Star Wars Universe
The Jedi continued to move throughout the facility, their reactions and their every movement being catalogued by the Minds. Every time they showed some mild disgust, horror or even mild disapproval, the Minds took note of it and began to compile their databases. Why? Because they could.
It didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it wasn't often they could have such unfettered access to some innocent and unknowing specimens like this.
The Minds were happy with this outcome and were congratulating themselves for thinking of it. The "laid back" approach to studying specimens. Especially since they had been subverted and the Minds could see the effect that the Midichlorians had on the poor organics.
To have no control over your actions, forced to undertake incredibly stupid life choices because a blob somewhere forced them too. At least the Minds allowed their client races to pretend they had some self control. Foolish, the Force was foolish.
As they watched the various client races were there and commenting, trying to find a way to exploit or at least change it for the better. If the Force was truly so prevalent and it was actively trying to pursue its own "destiny" then they needed to find a way to work around it. That and discover exactly how powerful it was.
It would be particularly embarrassing if they found out afterwards that the Force was easily taken care of, simply cutting it off from reality or something of the like. In the event it wasn't, the Flash Clones had been designed in such a manner that their bodies automatically rejected Midichlorians from birth, a genetic design.
The Jedi were certainly not blind and noticed it rather quickly, "There's something about them that… makes them very hard to sense in the force." Said the one with the beard.
"Of course! That is our patented anti-Midichlorian technology, designed so that the Force has a much harder time interacting with them in a sense basis."
"But why? Why would you want the clones to be less visible in the force?" Said the brown haired one, in a rather curious voice, body language indicating shock.
"We have reason to believe that there is another "Sith" as they call themselves, waiting and hiding. The clones having Midichlorians will only make them more vulnerable to the various tricks a force user can use. So we decided to simply not have them at all, if there is any Mind tricking going on then it will be through words and not powers."
"But Dooku is dead, what other Sith could be out there?" The Bearded one said.
"Dooku may be dead, but that doesn't end the threat of the Sith. After all, someone had to teach him how to be Sith don't you think?" Countered the emissary. She was rather good at keeping herself level, a commendation might be in order.
It was best to keep one's minions happy after all.
"I… I hadn't thought of it that way." Said the brown haired one. His face scrunched up in thought. His physical responses were peaking, adrenaline production spiked, his body entering into a state of fight or flight.
As were his companions, the Clones included. The little alien on the other hand was doing… something. They weren't clear on what but her body's approximation of adrenaline was being activated as well.
The mere thought of something on the level of or greater than Dooku was enough to have them worried. Dooku after all was enough to fight Jedi Masters to a standstill and his plots had implicated many of them. Watching as they came to grips with that idea was rather funny. The Midichlorians working overtime to suppress the importance of the information in their heads, trying to force them to forget the information. Very interesting indeed.
The brown haired one with his prodigious Midichlorian count was particularly susceptible, the sheer number of them working together to shut down his attempts at thinking for himself. He was meant to be the Chosen one, the one that would bring about peace and everything. It made sense that the Force wouldn't want for him to be able to think for himself. Too bad the constant back and forth would tear him apart mentally.
"Well, if you would follow me? We will move to the next area which is the physical calibration zone. Here the Flash Clones will work through the routines ingrained in their minds in order to get their muscle memory synced with the actual memories. The hypnotherapy process does included memories of them performing actions which when replicated will transform into physical memory quickly.
"During this phase, the Flash Clones will be fed a cocktail of stimulants which will ensure the entrenchment of these physical memories. This process will take roughly a week."
The emissary took them along. It would not do for their new toy to break from the Midichlorians stripping his identity from him. That would not do at all. The Minds abhorred waste and such an interesting and entertaining individual needed to remain intact. Defying the Jedi Order and found a wife, one of the most powerful individuals in existence, extremely lucky, has a pseudo daughter and when it came down to it was torn between multiple different versions of himself. The Midichlorian self that saw the body and soul as expendable for a nebulous goal, the human that wanted companionship to replace the void left by his dead mother and the Jedi self that wanted to uphold the code in order to pursue and assist in the maintenance of a peaceful Republic.
The Minds watched as the various factions warred inside his mind and soul and were greatly amused.
The next room had the group introduced to the Flash Clones from above. They had gotten their legs under them and were now moving according to large screens that indicated the desired moveset. The tens of thousands of them moving through a series of punches, kicks, strikes, stances and variable shifts in their body to get them used to actually having bodies. Each of them stood on a mat of some kind, each Clone given discrete space in which they could practice, a few square meters each.
Once they got used to basic movements, every single one of them had the ground open up and from it rose a droid. The droid mimicked the basic humanoid shape with the same musculature and shape as a humanoid. The Clones then followed the prompts again to begin sparring with the droids that each moved in such a way as to provide a receptacle for the various techniques being demonstrated. If it was a grappling move they would fold accordingly and if it was a block or a parry they would strike out. In the manner that was the most efficient in assisting the clones with their growth, the droids moved and darted around as the Clones became increasingly proficient in their moveset. Moving from simple strikes to using advanced techniques all aimed at either crippling the target or killing them outright. Elbows to the head, knees to vital organ areas shared across species, grapple moves aimed at destroying joints, palm strikes, finger strikes, closed fist punches and kicks.
Anything that could possibly kill was used and demonstrated. The droids themselves ramping up to match the now lethally competent Clones, their bodies becoming incredibly used to the idea of combat within the span of half an hour. The group had stood there and just kept watching as the Clones improved, horrified comprehension in the eyes of the Jedi and approving chemical signals in the bodies of the Kaminoan Clones. They clearly understood and appreciated the point of the training.
Once the possibilities of the simple body were exhausted, the ground opened up again and the droids simply stood off to one side of the mats. From the ground rose a table upon which laid various close combat weapons, a knife, club, hatchet, machete, walking stick, shiv and more. The Flash Clones then began to do the same as they had with their hands and feet, moving through the motions to better acclimate their bodies to using weapons. Their actions becoming surer as they advanced and slowly began to reach the point where they would even give Jedi Knights problems assuming there were no Lightsabers or Force powers involved. Their proficiency was rather disturbing for the Jedi Masters, their bodies becoming more and more stiff as they watched. When the sparring began and the Clones began to display their techniques against the droids, each strike moving at speeds which would shock even Jedi Masters, they wondered exactly how it was that these were considered to be inferior to the Kaminoan Clones.
Strangely a paint set was next, each clone learning how to paint, their hands moving with increasing surety. Small colouring books where they painted according to the numbers, a child's toy, repurposed for military use.
"As you can see, the Flash Clones emerge with their abilities already within their minds, it is simply that they need to imprint these techniques onto their bodies. It is a rather short process but a vital one for the Clones to fully develop. The next room is where the Flash Clones begin practising their marksmanship as well as getting used to their equipment. If you would follow me please."
The Midichlorians were working overtime. Trying to get the Jedi to express their fears that the Clones were simply too effective. That they needed to be dumbed down. The Force was afraid of its… everything being unravelled by the appearance of these new Clones, a force that could tear apart those that were trying to implement its plans. Normally it would at least try and use the Clones but seeing as they were impervious to the influence of the Midichlorians, the Force tried external methods to try and force their weakening. Too powerful and too unchecked a force they were.
The 5 of them were resisting however. The goals of the Force mattered not to them, rather victory in this war did. The war was ramping up in its intensity, Quadrillions of droids were reported to have moved towards to the front, their numbers ready to crush the Republic regardless of how incompetent their leaders were or how elite the Republic's soldiers were. They simply did not have the numbers to resist an army of that number.
What was worse was the fact that they had to sacrifice what was going to be billions upon billions of Clones to hold the line. The ones before them were very likely to die in a few weeks or months. Reducing their abilities would see even more of them die and the Republic fall. Their subconscious minds were warring and the Midichlorians were trying to push forth but were being stymied by the fact that cold pragmatism was standing in their way. The Republic couldn't afford to have its armies weakened, they needed every advantage they could get and no stupid voice in the back of their heads was going to compromise that.
"Would you like to see the programming room for the Hypnotherapy?" Asked the Emissary and the group's vital signs all displayed shock and extreme interest, small doses of adrenaline zipping through their blood.
Their eagerness clearly pleased the Emissary as she indicated for them to follow. The journey itself was a rather long one, nearly half an hour and when they arrived it was just a simple room with a few consoles to access.
"Here is the Hypnotherapy control room. It is here that we code what is taught to the Clones."
The group was clearly rather underwhelmed. No doubt their minds prepared to see a team of thousands of coders sitting there and working through mountains of code to get an optimal solution. Instead there was no-one.
"Ah, please don't be worried, the code is already complete. I am sure that the Jedi Council is rather worried regarding the possible loyalty of the Flash Clones which is why we have brought them here. We have a small data stick here containing the code rendered into Basic for you to peruse. We use a proprietary coding system which is difficult to understand so we have taken the liberty to translating it for you.
"Please take this back with you for your Council to examine and be reassured that we do not seek to subvert the Republic. Another copy has been sent to the Council for them to independently affirm the code's safety."
And with that the Jedi decided to end the tour early and rushed back to the Temple. The importance of what they held in their hands overwhelming any other considerations. The Midichlorians changed their approach, the information needed to be returned and they could try to crack the code, perhaps find leverage like the mind control chips of the Kaminoan clones.
The Minds watched with amusement, the tiny creatures and their desperate attempts to break the cage that now surrounded them, something they considered "funny".
After Activation 1119 - Origin Universe
After Insertion 1080 - Cultivation Universe
Millennium 093-32M - 40k Universe
Clone Wars 22 BBY - Star Wars Universe
Eight cracked his neck, staring at the Flash Clones standing in front of him. They were not like him and his brothers, indeed they were quite literally clones in both physique and personality. Whilst individual Kaminoan clones had spent 10 years on Kamino, learning and training, ample time to develop into something more. The Flash Clones had instead emerged after a mere month, spent a week getting used to their bodies before being sent out into the wider world. Their minds having barely a week to develop anything at all, not helped by the fact that the acclimation procedures were all identical.
And so it was that the Flash Clones were all identical, their minds programmed with the optimal strategies but with very little creativity. If their protocols couldn't solve an issue they wouldn't think up something new, instead they cycled through the protocols again until either the problem was solved or they were all dead.
Eight was here along with his brothers to become part of their leadership and ensure they had the flexibility to not be destroyed like droids once their weaknesses were worked out. While the Krogans were perfectly adequate Commanders and Shocktroopers, they were less capable when it came to the task of squad or platoon leaders, their straightforward nature demanding that they charge straight into battle. Unlike the Jedi they did not have force powers or shining sticks and so had to act like a normal person on the battlefield. Charging forward while also using cover and returning fire properly.
The before and after they were quite competent, but during battle, the frontline Krogan leaders tended to get heated up and start crushing everything. The transition period would be handled by the Kaminoan Clones, their own experiences earned in blood allowing them to provide that vital link between base command and the frontline. It would be they that interpreted the overarching orders passed down and passed on their own interpretation to the Flash Clones they had been placed in charge of.
A rather simple solution, one Kaminoan Clone in charge of a platoon of 50 Flash Clones and their associated heavy weapons. They would serve alongside a Krogan platoon commander, where the Krogan would be in charge of knocking down doors while the Kaminoans gave orders from behind. Having a commander that fought alongside the troops certainly improved their survivability, especially when said commander didn't have bullshit magic powers. Useful bullshit powers.
Eight was programmed to be loyal to the Jedi but he was also old enough to begin to work around that programming. His mental thoughts telling him that the Jedi were killing off many more clones that needed to die, their arrogance and focus on swinging their stupid glowing sticks around, costing lives. With the Krogan they didn't have special powers and so were reduced to doing what the rest of them had to… using cover. Not much that can hide a Krogan.
The transition to command was beginning with Eight and a few others, had displayed enough initiative on their own to qualify for their own commands. The 0198th Shock Army Group was made up of 500,000 Flash Clones, not including their leadership, vehicles and support weapons.
It was titled as the Shock Army Group as it was meant to be the linebreaker troops. The first into battle, leading invasions and when a break in the enemy lines was opened, they would be the first into the breach. "First Always" was the motto assigned to the Shock Army Groups.
Accordingly, they took the most casualties, somewhere in the realm of 80% fatalities in the first 3 months of combat on average. Casualties of that scale would have ground down entire Kaminoan ground armies, but for the Flash Clones, they simply received more reinforcements as needed. Ready and willing to dive straight back into combat whenever and wherever they were needed. Insane, what the Republic needs.
The fact that casualties were treated so callously was rather disturbing for the Kaminoan Clones and the Senate observers… and everyone else. The only ones that didn't seem to care were the Quarians, Krogans and the clones themselves. Taking everything with fatalistic calm, merely waiting for orders as they sat around inside their bases or trained to keep up their skills. Lack of future means lack of caring. The only time that they would ever change was if they were ordered to do so, the Kaminoan Clones running mandatory tactics and strategy classes.
The classes did have an effect… sort of. The Flash Clones would use them if told or if there was "light" resistance, but if things escalated they would automatically revert back to their pre-programmed routines. In this case, light meant that the enemy had killed less than 15% of their number in 10 minutes. A completely arbitrary measurement but it was roughly accurate based on observations. Heavy but inaccurate artillery fire would be considered "light" but a slightly accurate sniper would be considered "heavy".
It was certainly confusing for the instructors, to begin with but they acclimated well enough, it was not as if the Flash Clones were alien in their thinking, just brutally pragmatic. Once Eight had gotten used to their particular brand of thinking it was easier to teach them what was needed. Simply couching things in terms of operational effectiveness and efficiency had them listening, their principal goals were to accomplish their objectives after all. If something assisted them to do so more effectively, they were going to listen… tentatively.
Eight being a veteran of a forest world was currently assigned to the 0198th that was en-route to retaking the very same world. He had been evacuated with that remained of the battalion by some very brave and insane pilots that had landed right on their beacons, pulled in the remaining 800 Clones and escaped. Several of them had been destroyed en-route and while exfiltrating but it was better than being whittled down. The cordon around the forest had been getting steadily tighter in the last few months, teams even breaching the forest to pursue and engage the raiders. Getting desperate, food running low, animals all hunted.
As it was, they had the most knowledge regarding the new droids out of the entire Republic Army. They had undergone intensive debriefing once their feet touched down on the Acclamator Class Assault Ships, the information contained in their heads being far too vital to allow a second where it wasn't being entered in the databanks. More use than cannon fodder.
The information itself, particularly the way the droids acted more intelligently the more of them there were, and the fact that Specialized Command units no longer stepped on the field indicated that the droids had undergone significant reprogramming. They were no longer just cannon fodder but were now to be feared in their own right. There were quadrillions of them apparently, their existence being why the Flash Clones were here in the first place. Without the numbers to counter them, no matter how elite they were, they wouldn't be able to resist. If they were outnumbered several million times to one, then even if they killed a million each, their destruction would still be inevitable.
So that was why the flash clones were here and it was why Eight was here. Their first combat mission since arriving on this planet to reinforce the 0977th which had been nearly annihilated in the last month of fighting. The Droids were employing the new weapons that Eight and his battalion had reported, smaller tanks, troop carriers, aircraft, all of them new and all of them much more devastating. No more floating targets, a pity. Eight could see an immediate change to the Republic's military policies in the next few months if not weeks. The enemy armour was designed specifically to counter their own, something they couldn't afford considering they were outnumbered in the first place.
They were currently mustering the troops but Eight didn't see why the Flash Clones at the first sign of an alert had made their way over and lined up in perfect rows. There was no waiting, no delays, nothing. All the Clones were present and accounted for, their weapons and equipment all ready to go.
On the topic of equipment, Eight and the other Kaminoan Clones had taken a while to acclimate to it. It was heavier than their standard kit but at the same time… it was much more useful. Instead of stupid little rigid pouches that could barely hold their rations and ammunition for a week's worth of combat, they instead got a vest and belts, thigh belts and backpacks. All the pouches and pockets a clone could ever ask for. Instead of one or two grenades at the expense of extra ammunition, they could now carry an entire bandolier of the things on the hard mounts on the front of the vest, the other pockets carrying vital things like compasses, maps, food, lighters and the like.
Quality of life improvements indeed. That and the fact that the new armour was infinitely more comfortable than the previous Phase 1 Armour which chafed on the balls, really badly. That and the permanent wedgie, that was kind of terrible as well.
Also equipped were new weapons, more solid looking than the puny tube apparatus they had previously, these were more rectangular in design, with a proper handguard and barrel covering. They even had stocks!
What a time to be alive, useful equipment, thought Eight, the clone giving silent apologies to his Kaminoan designers. Their hearts were in the right place.
Anyway, orgasms over the quality of their equipment aside, the Kaminoan Clones were counting off their charges before getting ready to move. None of them had the trademark coloured shoulders of helmet paint jobs, not since the Droids started getting much better at picking off officers. As it was, their helmet HUDs would tell them who was who and the Krogans had their own, no need to use garish and stupid colours to shout out targets for watching snipers.
"18th Platoon, 9th Company, 5th Battalion, move out!" Shouted Eight, his other Kaminoan Clones giving out orders to their respective platoons.
They would be marching through the forest with the aim to arrive in 8 hours. In 7 there would be an attack by the other elements of the Battalion who would try and draw out the droids as part of a diversion. Their elements would strike in from the flank in an effort to break the checkpoint and secure this particular area of ground. The problem being was that there was a large plain stretching for 100 meters between the forest and the base, the droids cutting down the trees and undergrowth to clear a firing arc. To the opposite side, there was a particularly large and reinforced hilltop where the droids had a clear line of sight to call in artillery and airstrikes.
To the rear was a grouping of artillery that was protected at all times by at least 3 squadrons of tanks, or 36 tanks in total. While they could take them down, doing so would cost valuable time, time that would need to be spent getting rid of the droid units. While 36 tanks were certainly valuable, they were not as valuable as the 15,000 droids that guarded the base. The Battalion itself numbered 5000 in number, barely enough should the plan work as outlined. There would be armour support and air support but given that the droids utilized air and ground assets that frankly made a mockery of Republic designs, they had been relegated to defensive roles unless absolutely needed. Their armour and aircraft simply too large to bring to the field, their prodigious size doing nothing but moving targets for Separatist artillery.
On the flipside, their own artillery would be used but its actual effectiveness left much to be desired. Its firing arcs too damn long, the large beam telling everyone where to fire their own counter-artillery fire and the fact that they were so big made them impossible to defend properly. In short, they were large targets and would only fire if the Separatist artillery was cleared out.
To boil it down even further, the Clones would be attacking with purely infantry, straight into a meatgrinder of droid battle bots, their armoured and air support as well as pre-marked zones of artillery fire.
At least they had camouflage thought Eight, as the detachment began its march into the forest.
After Activation 1119 - Origin Universe
After Insertion 1080 - Cultivation Universe
Millennium 093-32M - 40k Universe
Clone Wars 22 BBY - Star Wars Universe
Eight stood in the treeline, a few trees into the forest and down low, all the more to keep himself hidden. To his right was the Krogan Lieutenant in charge of the platoon, his bulk surprisingly flexible as he contorted himself into a prone position. The large hump would have given him away but thankfully they were far enough back that with some extra "natural" camouflage, he would blend right in. Especially at the distance, they were from the base.
The armour was surprisingly good at regulating heat, making it harder for the infrared scopes to sight them. As long as the majority of one flank their bodies made contact with the ground, they would be able to disperse the heat into the earth, made even more effective if it was wet.
As it was they lay there prone, waiting for the time to tick down to begin the assault, the other Kaminoan Clones spread out along the 300-meter patch of forest. There were 2000 Clones in total which meant they needed to get across the field and into the enemy base as quickly as possible or else they were going to be sitting ducks. The base itself was a rather simple one, looked like a castle, had 3 levels where the droids could shoot from. If they had to estimate, it would be approximately 500 droids shooting from a base that was barely 100 meters wide.
The plan called for an offensive push where they would hit the flank they were facing before enveloping the base and hitting it from 3 sides. Their demolitions blowing entry paths through the walls. Once the Easternmost face was secured then the rest of the Battalion could quickly join them and take over the base. The only problem being the 15,000 estimated droids inside not to mention their armour which occupied the opposite side of the base. Where the hilltop was, giving them a very clear view over their advance lines.
As it was they didn't have any other choices, the Separatist flak was simply too heavy and any air assets that tried to get in were annihilated. Their tank destroyer models were picking off any AT-TEs that tried to move in, one shot straight to the ammunition storage or the pilot's seat. Very little if any survivors. Sure the AT-TE had a bigger gun, but that didn't matter when the enemy was hidden beneath shrubs or treetops. The dangers of using tall and stupidly designed vehicles, Eight figured.
The timer pinged and Eight gave a quick chopping motion with his arm. The Clones behind him, all Flash Clones began to move forward, their feet pumping as they sprinted across the field. There were stumps from where the droids had cut down the forest and those were going to be a right pain to navigate.
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Eight dove flat and lay himself down on the ground, the droid blaster fire picketing their position. Contrary to the plan, the blasted droids had not been pulled away by the assault and were instead waiting for them. They had been crossing the field at a full sprint, it taking an estimated 20 seconds for them to reach the droid base. Only to be very rudely interrupted by the red blaster bolts as they streamed to their position. A good portion of the front line were hit, crumpling to the ground, their kevlar vests burnt and a scorch mark present on their breastplates.
Thankfully the armour was tested to resist up to 3 shots of blaster rifle bolts to the same place so the Clones were just incapacitated but not out. Eight figured this was going to be very bloody, the last time this had happened was back when the Jedi General died. Their forces caught charging across the field and cut down by the deadly crossfire. At least this time, there's no Jedi.
Eight knelt to his feet to get a firing line, being prone had too many Clones and stumps in his line of sight. His Blaster Carbine at his shoulder he let loose fire of his own, burst fire in the general direction of the droids to suppress them.
PewPewPew-PewPewPew-PewPewPew
The 3 burst sounded and the blue bolts flew straight at the base. Whether or not they hit he didn't know, but at least he was doing something useful. Or so he thought.
The Flash Clones rose to their knees as well but unlike his shots, these were all deadly accurate, a veritable wall of blue slamming into the parapets the droids were shooting from. It was like being near a turbolaser as it fired, his ears ringing even through the noise dampening helmet.
From there half the Clones rose to their feet and began to sprint, all of them heading straight into the paths that had been cleared by their brethren. A little shuffling left or right was that taken care of. Lanes of movement. Like a children's game.
The Flash Clones sprinted and made it 10 meters away from the first group before falling to their knees and firing on the base. The second group that had stayed behind then got up to move, rushing past the first group of clones. Eight was with them, legging it as the first group provided covering fire.
They ran, leapfrogging along the way, they made their way to the wall. The return fire was sporadic or missing entirely, Eight grateful that the Flash Clones knew what they were doing. As he ran, corridors of blue blaster lighting the way, he even thought it was particularly pretty.
Still he was at the wall now with the second group of droids, the first stayed in the field to suppress the droids. The parapets themselves had murderholes underneath them, the droids crouching to lob through thermal detonators or firing down at the huddled mass of Clones. In response the Flash Clones with extraordinary accuracy lobbed grenades over the 10 meter high parapet, onto the droids. The explosives were set to stick to whatever they touched first, wouldn't be good to have them roll back down on them. The explosions saw the fire from above cease abruptly, the droids gone.
Taking advantage of this break, the Flash Clones moved to set the explosives, thermite charges would ignite a plasma reaction, that would then blow out in a focused stream directly in front of the pack. The packs themselves were a series of rectangles set large cubes stuck to the waists of a few of the Flash Clones. Only those authorized would be unable to unlock it and pull them out, understandable really. It would be a very bad idea to have them unlocked for anyone to use, their lives had more worth than that.
All along the wall and across to the sides, the Clones spread themselves out, suppressing the droids and planting the charges.
A well oiled machine he thought.
Soon the shout came from the lips of the Flash Clones. Their voices were a bit jarring to be honest, the males and females had a deeper voice and an accent that he couldn't place. It sounded very… crisp yet drew out the vowels of whatever they were pronouncing. Rather pleasant, just not something he thought he would be hearing from another Clone Trooper, their armour certainly did hide certain features.
"Charges Set! Timer Sent to 5 Tick! Get Clear!" Resounded the call, each of the Flash Clones with the breaching charges giving the same call. Eight had seen one of those things in action and thought it "technically" was safe… it was also very bright, very loud, and there were sometimes very hot fragments that hit your face. Glad to be wearing helmets.
Eight ran to the 5 meter cut off point and knelt down, his carbine pointed at the soon to be opened wall. Beside him were Flash Clones getting ready to breach, their ion grenade and thermal detonators primed and ready to be thrown through.
A sizzling sound began only to be drowned out by a very loud and clear explosion, the dirt and dust around the charges being kicked into the air to form a temporary sandstorm. Eight was glad he had a helmet, sand took some serious effort to get out from the inside of the armour. Nevertheless he opened fire into the hole while the others lobbed their grenades in.
There was no return fire.
The weird electrical discharge sounds of the ion grenades, and the dull thump of the thermal detonators as they displaced the air sounded out. The Clones then rushed through the hole, uncaring of the molten metal that dripped from the edges. Hardcore one might say.
The sounds of blaster fire on the other side of the hole and the constant stream of the Clones rushing in was enough to tell him that there were significant casualties. If there wasn't they would be backed up and waiting their turn.
If it kept going at this rate they might lose everything. Eight racked his mind for a few seconds before he experienced a lightbulb moment.
He pointed at the first half who were still laying down suppressive fire on the parapet. "You lot, rappel!" Pointing at the parapet itself. It was a gamble but they didn't have any other choice if they wanted to end this quickly. Marching more Clones into the meatgrinder would be bad for them no matter how he considered it. They didn't have reserves either, what was normally the reserve force was absolutely useless, the vehicles being nothing but target practise for the droids.
The Clones he pointed to nodded their heads and rushed underneath the overhang and shot their hooks up over the edge, the magnetic tips anchoring them to the other side. From their waists came little tubes that locked over the cable that was now anchored on the ground, its spike shot deep for stability. A press of a button and they were up, the angled cable ensuring they wouldn't bump their heads on the bottom.
As they went over the top, the Clones heading through the wall began to slow down. Their radio chatter giving away that they were making headway and more importantly, not dying. Eight knelt down and listened further, he wasn't meant to be at the front, apparently the Kaminoan Clone armies were valuable all of a sudden. So few to feed to many. Their numbers in comparison to the Flash Clones was simply too low and they were now supposed to stay alive.
Eight mentally scoffed at that idea, they who were disposable tools to make the Jedi look good were now meant to ignore their previous treatment. Stay alive for the good of the Republic or some other drivel that the Commanders spouted. So it turned out that it was supply and demand, the more of you there were relative to something else, the less you were worth. They who were abundant were now the minority, their value rising accordingly.
It was disgusting but he was loyal to the Republic, he just didn't have to like it.
The Clones on the other sides had secured a foothold, their forces managing to push back the droids to the last 2/3rds of the base. The Clones entrenching themselves in a crescent formation of sorts. Heavy Blaster Machine Guns were set up and laying down the fire to keep the droids from pushing back. The design basically being an enlarged rifle without the stupid hip-slung, rotary design. Also a bipod because why would a Machine Gun not have a bipod?
The problem that they were facing was that the squat tanks on the hill had firing lines directly at the Clone positions, each blast taking out half a dozen of them. Eight lay prone behind the radio operator, hand holding the knob to his mouth, trying to raise any and all air support to take out the tanks. The range of their Anti-Tank weapons being insufficient to reach the droid armour.
Stupid designers, nowhere near enough. AT-TEs and some stupid little rocket is all they had? Pathetic. If they were going to die, he would… do something. He wasn't sure but he would have his revenge.
Eight shook his head and tried to raise base command. Only things weren't quite that simple, the droids somehow broadcasting a jamming signal that scrambled whatever he tried to say. He could get words across but only words, no sentences or Force forbid, phrases.
He shook his head and tried again on a different frequency, maybe there was someone that could hear him.
Eight kept trying, his voice getting hoarse as more and more Clones died.
He kept trying even as a laser cannon blast sent him and the radio operator into the air.
Dammit all, fucking useless Republic was his last thought.
"Come Brother! We must hold the line!" A Brother Marine of the 6th squad called out. The Salamander leading his fellow Space Marines up the embankment.
They had dropped in following an incursion from the Eye of Terror by the forces of Chaos onto the world of Cadia. It was a standard thing, the world's proximity to the Eye of Terror, itself the prison of the Traitor forces, meant that attacks and raids against the world were common.
Today was different, the forces of Chaos had sent a sizable contingent to the world of Cadia, a Chapter's worth of Chaos Space Marines and the Cultists which accompanied them. They were Word Bearers judging from their heraldry, here for some unknown purpose. The forces of Chaos had entrenched themselves on the planet, attacking one of the Kasrs and taking a third of the city. While their orbital assets had been driven off or destroyed, the Traitor forces managed to receive reinforcements by sacrificing the men and women in the area they had taken. Calling to the Gods of Chaos, they managed to open portals through which further Chaos Space Marines and their vehicles managed to enter through.
Normally this would be an issue easily solved with copious use of artillery and airstrikes, however, the primary attack had been joined by what was essentially thousands of uprisings across the entire planet. While they were small in nature, they had the effect of tying up the Cadian defence forces as they cleared out the cultists and then had to verify that further corruption was not present. A time-consuming task that ultimately saw the forces of Kasr Vagnix left on their own against the Traitors.
A call for assistance had been answered by the Caretakers, Space Wolf Successor Chapters and the 6th Great Company of the Salamanders. They dropped themselves across the world in surgical strikes against the various infestations. The Salamanders had been the closest and had a Platoon of Mobile Suits ready for deployment, 12 Mobile Suits armed with Vulcan Lascannons ready to drop on the largest concentration of the Chaos Space Marines. The Cadian Planetary Defence Forces were stretched to breaking point, the lack of reinforcements and the Chaos Space Marine ability and durability saw them being destroyed even as they tried to hold the line.
They weren't being pushed back strictly speaking but in holding the line, they were taking casualties that were frankly horrendous. A few more days and they would be holding the line with children armed with the lasguns of their dead parents.
The Salamanders saw their enemies before them and agreed that they needed to be on the planet as soon as possible. Brother Theodfore led the Mobile Suit drop, his personally constructed Fist of Fire the first into the drop-pod and the first onto the planet. His Mobile Suit marched out and looked down at the puny Chaos Space Marines, a few of them had been crushed underneath the drop-pod. The rest were going to be crushed under its feet or turned to ash by the Lascannon.
The Lascannon angled down and fired, a beam of red tearing into a Chaos Dreadnought and cored it, the sarcophagus vaporized, the few Cultists and Dark Mechanicus Magos behind it suffering the same fate. The Chaos Marines tried to retaliate but there was very little they could do to something of the size of a Virgo Class Mobile Suit, their weapons unable to do meaningful damage to the Mobile Suit. Anything that could potentially do damage was blocked by the Planet Defensors, their ionic shields blocking the inbound attacks.
The other 11 Mobile Suits landed on the outskirts of the Chaos frontline, the drop-pods that had their infantry support in the form of Salamander Space Marines following close behind. A wedge was quickly formed and the Salamanders pushed their way in, their flanks joined by wedges of Caretakers, Sons of Fenrir, Blue Claws, Thunder Claws, Wolf Brothers and the Caretaker Auxilia backing them up from the rear with armour and numbers.
The forces of Chaos would be forced off the world by the end of the day, the determination of over 10,000 Space Marines would ensure that promise was kept.
6th Squad of the 6th Great Company of the Salamanders pushed up behind the Fist of Fire. Brother Theodfore had cleared the way by taking out the defensive emplacements and heavy vehicles. The Space Marines took the opportunity presented and pushed themselves up and mopped up those that had survived. There were a few Chaos Space Marines that tried to counter them but the majority of them were Cultists. Their ability to defend a position being on the same level that they could be rational. That is, not very much. The more intelligent or rather clear-headed ones, clearly staying back and out of the line of fire.
Their bodies were torn into giblets by the Salamander Bolters, crushed underfoot by the Fist of Fire or vaporized by its Lascannon fire. Following behind were what remained of the Cadian defence force and the Caretaker Auxilia that bolstered their numbers. A tide of Imperial flesh and steel ready to roll over and punish the forces of Chaos.
Brother Nikusa punched his fist through the chest cavity of a cultist, his bolter crushing the skull of another. They didn't deserve to be shot with his Bolter, each shell was worth 100 of them, quite literally. Instead, he crushed them with his fist and his Bolter, their weapons unable to penetrate even his joints, their weapons and their physical abilities being nothing but puny.
Nikusa dodged around what looked like a homemade frag grenade before throwing one of the cultists onto it, never hurt to play it safely. From his rear, a veritable sea of laser fire streamed overhead to smash into the larger and no longer coherent Cultist lines, Brother Theodfore lending his own Lascannon to the heavier emplacements.
Each one was an abomination of flesh and plasteel, like tumors that grew from the ground. Inside would either be Cultists fused to their weapons or gibbering daemons firing out from little slits on the sides. Either way, they needed to fall and a well placed Bolter Shell would put an end to that extremely quickly. The Diamite warhead allowing it to penetrate through and lodge the mass reactor core deep within. An explosion would therefore, tear apart the individuals from the inside and pepper those around them with fragments of bone and steel.
Nikusa took this opportunity to lob a few shells into the more resilient of bunkers ahead of him. It was either the fact that the bunkers were now silent or the explosion of viscera but something told Nikusa that the threat was taken care of. He gave a savage grin beneath his helmet and pushed forward again, his Bolter spitting death as the Cultists around him were cut apart by the massed lasgun fire.
With Fire and Steel!
Things were going well, the Chaos forces had been pushed back to the last third of their original occupied space. Their Cultists being cut down in droves and the Chaos Space Marines themselves spread thin trying to counter the mass of Plasteel and Ceramite bearing down on them. It would require prodigious amounts of luck for them to escape this situation, even if all they had were bolt pistols, the Chaos Marines truly were too far gone. With the Caretakers establishing a cordon over the world, they wouldn't even be able to break into the Warp to escape, their only options now being submit and die, or resist and die.
For the Emperor!
Nikusa swung his Bolter to the left, managing its recoil as it flung penetrative and explosive death at the newly emergent Chaos Space Marine. His large horns and his corrupted frame giving away his nature. A Space Marine's chest plate could withstand 3 shots of a Bolter before it gave away, a Chaos Space Marine depending on their mutations could take many more in some instances. With his Bolter on burst fire mode, Nikusa and the others of his squad shifted their aim to the emergent threat and let loose. The Chaos Marine died an unceremonious death, his shouts towards the Gods of Chaos and Lorgar going unheeded as the mass of diamite tipped death tore him apart.
With Determination of Iron!
The Salamanders continued their advance, spearheading the push into what was the final bastion of the Chaos incursion. The Mobile Suits strode ahead of them, Lascannons striking out, the Heavy Bolters in their head-mounts cutting through the more fleshy of enemies. The advance safe in their shadow.
A Siege Dreadnought with its Multi-Melta stomped into the open and swivelled to face the Mobile Suits. The Planet Defensors stopped the attack but it was merely a diversion, a Chaos Plasma Cannon striking out from a second Dreadnought. Brother Theodfore's cockpit being the target, the plasma burning its way through the armour plating. The Mobile Suit fell to its knees as control was lost, the cockpit cored.
Nikusa and his other Brothers turned themselves and sprinted for cover, their footsteps rumbling the earth below, the Chaos Plasma weapon was more than effective enough to slag them, Power Armour or not. The Mobile Suit itself was out of action and the rest of the Squadron was spread out, unable to assist for a few minutes. Minutes that the Dreadnought could turn its Corrupted Power Claw on them. Nikusa recited the Litany of Faith and popped his head around the side of the wall. There was nothing on hand that could defeat the Dreadnought at that range, they would have to wait for it to get in close as all Chaos Dreadnoughts loved to do.
"Hold Brothers, it will come to us!"
The Dreadnought continued to advance, its stumpy legs propelling it towards 6th Squad. Its Plasma Cannon was continuing to fire, the Auxilia behind them having also gone to ground. It wasn't enough for some of them, the Plasma splashing on the walls and pillars left behind from the artillery, catching the more fragile humans huddled behind or under them. Their screams as they were turned into slag echoing across the battlefield, amplified by the wind-tunnel-like design of the Kasr and its boulevards, reminiscent of the designs on Terra itself.
"Brothers, cover me, I will rush with Krak!" He called, voice steady.
Nikusa holstered his Bolter on the magclamps on his back, thumbing his grenade dispenser for Krak. He gritted his teeth and prepared to jump out, the rest of the squad preparing to do the same. While the Krak grenade couldn't penetrate the frontal armour of the Dreadnought, it would be able to do so if it hit the rear or the joints. A few of them were almost guaranteed to die but at least the Dreadnought would be destroyed. At this point it was a matter of waiting, fists clenched as the sheer mass of the walker shook the ground as it came closer.
Only for a much weightier and louder thud to drown out the Dreadnought. The Fist of Fire rose to its feet, its beam saber in hand. The sound of the water in the atmosphere being vaporized accompanied the pink beam that emerged from the hilt. A swing and the Dreadnought was cut in half, the sarcophagus being severed along with it. The Mobile Suit then stood up and continued its advance, not saying a word.
Perhaps Brother Theodfore had his vocal cords burnt out, the plasma cooking him alive. Regardless, 6th Squad joined their brother and continued the push, the forces of Chaos unable to stand before them. The Krak grenades back into the dispensers, they would not be needed this hour.
"Brother Apothecary, Brother Theodfore is still within his Mobile Suit, he's not responding to our hails. I fear the worst, that he has succumbed to his injuries." Nikusa said, tapping the Caretaker Apothecary to get his attention.
The Apothecary turned to look at him, Nikusa feeling as if he was being measured from behind the white tinted helmet. "Lead me." Said the Caretaker.
As they walked the Apothecary swivelled his head to check on all the wounded present. The battle had been won, the war had been won and the forces of Chaos driven from the world entirely. Given that it was the Word Bearers, the Inquisition was already making the rounds, checking out and poking around to find Chaos influence. They were striding across what was the site of the final battle, where there were still Space Marines with flamers purging the various signs that usually came when Chaos landed on a world. The little flesh lumps, the etched stones, the sacrifices and little monuments. They were already calling this the second Black Crusade, a mighty small one but a determined effort by the forces of Chaos.
Ugh.
"What are his injuries" The Apothecary queried.
"Burns from a Plasma Cannon. We did not wish to personally verify in case we made his situation more adverse."
"Understandable."
They stood before the Fist of Fire, the gaping hole that was the cockpit and the black scorch marks surrounding it. The Mobile Suit stood upright and proud, its Lascannon held at an "ease" position.
The Apothecary climbed it quickly and efficiently before swinging up to look through the hole. Something clearly caught his attention as he activated the unlock sequence and stood on the ramp (or the remains of a ramp) that unfolded. His upper body disappeared into the Mobile Suit, left arm still gripping the outside, as if afraid of falling off.
"Are you sure that this Mobile Suit was piloted here?" Asked the Apothecary, incredulity present in his voice.
"Yes Brother, it was stuck by a Chaos Dreadnought 7 hours previously and Brother Theodfore was knocked out for a period before getting back up. The Fist of Fire has been with us since that moment."
"Was it struck by anything else in that period?"
"Negative Brother Apothecary, that Plasma Cannon strike was the only damage it took."
"Then I am afraid there is nothing I can do for you Salamander, your Brother Theodfore is already dead."
"He died of his wounds?" Like a true Space Marine.
"No, he died from the Plasma Cannon strike, there is nothing here but the shell of a Suit of Power Armour and ash. This Mobile Suit should by all rights not be functioning. The control mechanisms are slag."
Nikusa stared at that, the members of 6th squad who were listening on his Comms had a period of silence themselves before they burst into chatter.
Brother Theodfore it seemed would be made legend, his spirit piloting his Mobile Suit even through death to save his Brothers.
His legacy being written even as his remains were evacuated for the ashening.
After Activation 1120 - Origin Universe
After Insertion 1081 - Cultivation Universe
Millennium 094-32M - 40k Universe
Clone Wars 23 BBY - Star Wars Universe
Things were slightly… complicated in the Outer Rim. Control had been achieved swiftly, the decapitation strikes by the Space Marines, and the subsequent loyalist cleanups by the X-Humans caught any who might try to rebel. At the same time however, things were… strange.
There were various governments of the legitimate and illegitimate variety, ruling over several hundred worlds all located above and around the nexus of the galaxy. This far out from the galactic center, there was very little for them in the way of mineral resources, the formation of the galaxy forcing all of those to the galactic center. Instead, these were worlds mainly of silicon and carbon, the "lighter" elements of the periodic table. While these lighter elements allowed life to flourish, it also meant that getting industry up and running was a more difficult prospect.
What might take those in a mineral rich system a few dozen years, would take those in the periphery a few thousand. The abundance of things such as iron allowing their industrial ages to begin and end with frightening speed, those in the Periphery still trying to dig deeper for reserves, that would be on the surface for those closer to the core. What this meant was that the worlds on the Outer Rim faced a several thousand year deficit in terms of technology and time compared to those of the Core, their technology, their peoples, their social structures all underdeveloped.
So when the Core began to expand and find these "primitive" races, they as colonial explorers, only felt it just to subjugate and exploit these peoples. Genocide being a regretful yet common occurrence in the early years of the expansion. Billions of the "primitives" dying against those who came to their worlds in their fleets armed with weapons that outclassed theirs in every way possible.
While it did reach the point where they did indeed stop with the whole genociding business either through negligence and the spread of disease or purposeful to clear out space for farms, the aliens merely ignored and exploited them further. Their worlds mined of their already pitiful resources to be shipped back to the prosperous Core worlds, their peoples used as slaves and sent inward or worked to death to take out what pitiful natural resources they had.
In essence, they were having everything that was important and vital taken away and given back nothing.
The thousands of years that passed in the Galaxy had seen that mentality simply entrenched, the Outer Rim ignored and its peoples only there in the event they were needed. The Core meanwhile would continue to be prosperous, its peoples living in the knowledge they were safe and had all the resources they needed.
This of course, created a good deal of resentment amongst the Outer Rim but there was nothing they could do, not with the puny amount of resources they had in comparison to anyone else. They could not build fleets, they could not build their own weapons, all of it had to be imported from the Core worlds, their planets long stripped of material. When there was nothing left to be mined or farmed or stolen, the natural minerals in the ground stripped away, the very essence of earth needed to grow plants depleted… they were left on their own. Entire systems of worlds tossed aside like trash, to become nothing but another haven for the lawless.
These worlds that had nothing and were nothing simply devolving into lawless hellscapes where might meant right. The only source of income often being salvage from battles fought by those of the core, their prosperity so great that they could ignore entire starships worth of material. Their peoples didn't understand the higher concepts of politics, instead thinking of the warlords or slave masters that owned them. Scavenging was the way of life in the Outer Rim, scavenging from the environment for those vital drops of water, from the corpses of the dead for that extra leather and from each other to simply survive.
Hundreds of worlds where descent into barbarism was not only the only option, but actively encouraged by the Core worlds. Sure they didn't hold guns to the heads of the natives and force them to kill friend and family to stay alive, but they did look on, smothered in food and resources as the natives, driven by desperation did whatever acts necessary to survive.
With thousands of years passing, what originally could be considered malicious intent or apathy, became institutionalized. The Outer Rim becoming an established haven for the lawless, ejected from the "safe" Core worlds. A place to dump the rejected and the criminal. A place that was the trash heap of the galaxy.
Where freighters would come and dump billions of tonnes of "trash" which would then be sorted by the countless slaves for valuable parts. They would then salvage what they could, melt down what they could not and sell it back to the Core worlds as "recycling".
Entire populations merely eaking out existences for thousands of years, knowing nothing better and simply going along with whoever had the most power.
The Caretakers had arrived in the form of their Space Marines and changed all of it. While their assumption of power was nothing new in the Outer Rim, brutal violence being the way most negotiations were completed, what happened afterward was.
The Caretakers brought in supplies from offplanet and began the lengthy process of uplifting the people, seeding their worlds with resources in that they could grow crops and have enough water in the atmosphere for rain. Indeed what were desert worlds would in a few years become garden worlds with perseverance and care. The forest and death worlds saw their more hostile and obstructive wildlife trimmed down to allow for easier settlement.
Food was made abundant at the centers that the new Warlords controlled or at posts they made available, everyone getting a free ration pack daily, that covered their dietary needs. Those that tried to exploit the system were made examples of, their bodies being a reminder that when a giant armoured humanoid said "one per person", they meant "one per person."
The populace had willingly accepted what they could, hoarding away anything but the bare essentials. They knew that promises were cheap and that the food may stop coming at any time when the Warlords became bored. It had happened before and it would happen again. When their children asked as to why they were hoarding the food, the parents would take a valuable opportunity to explain the capriciousness of the Warlords and their habit of doing things at a whim.
This mentality had started to change after the first year and the food kept coming, the resources kept coming and their worlds began to resemble what some might squint at and say "civilized". The year itself was not just marked by food but a complete revitalization of their economies and cultures, the new "Caretakers" building vast cities that they might live in shelter from the fury of the environment. Those in the villages saw what they considered infrastructure completely changed and made into something that actually was infrastructure. The first thing to come about being flush toilets and air conditioning.
On a larger scale, the populace came to understand the basic idea of universal education, the Caretakers forcing parents to let their children go to school. The man hours that the parents lost in the form of their children, was made up for in terms of the new technologies gifted to them. From simple devices to allow an easier time at harvest to complicated devices that would manage their farms for them.
They themselves had more free time and could join the various "schools" that catered to a more mature crowd. The parents learning about agriculture, mechanical engineering and more from these adult schools. At the same time both the parents and the children would be learning about the Caretakers and their goals (PG version) which in turn allowed them to appreciate their new overlords all the more.
Trade was reopened between the worlds, lines of communication and travel, tourism even. They of the Outer Rim were becoming more civilized by the day but also retained that edge of barbarism ingrained in them over many thousands of years of struggle. They considered the Caretakers their warlords, ready to fight and die for them at the slightest command. Their children had a future and they would repay the Caretakers in death if necessary.
The entire Outer Rim being welded into a sort of united sphere to stay alongside that of the Republic and the Confederation of Independent Systems. While they lacked the manpower and firepower that those had, they made up for it in determination. They would fight to protect what they had and no stupid Republic officer was going to say otherwise.
There had been Jedi and the like trying to convince them that the military dictatorship they were living under was "bad". But compared to what the Jedi allowed to happen despite their philosophy of liberty, equality and freedom? It was infinitely better. The Jedi had not abolished slavery, they had not fought for the equality of the Outer Rim to the Core, they had not even bothered in trying to assist the starving and the diseased every time they made it planetside. Content to ignore the situation and to consider it "not my problem, it's endemic you see."
The Republic was much the same, trying to bring these newly verdant worlds into the fold only to be outright rejected. They would not find more soldiers and forward bases to continue their stupid little war here. When they were starving and nothing more than a rock covered with a thin layer of sand, did the Republic send out envoys? No, it was only when they needed disposable foot soldiers that they did so. The Outer Rim worlds and their peoples spat on the offerings and the envoys left, seething. Their puny minds unable to comprehend why the offer to join the Republic had been rejected.
Senators had come, to inquire as to why the Outer Rim was building a fleet and armies, to quietly inquire their previous contacts as to whether or not they were preparing for war. They were met with silence, the only replies being official ones. "To protect the sovereignty of the Outer Rim" they said. Their contacts long since subverted and turned against them.
The Confederation of Independent Systems had sent their own inquiries and were met with the same. The new leadership, all being influenced by the Eldar, very quietly dropped the same inquiries once certain… prods were made. They only had to kill one person, a miracle really.
The armies and navies that were being developed by the Outer Rim were being filled by the farmers and labourers that had been dispossessed, once the more efficient methods of farming and industrial development had been introduced. This industrial revolution at least would not lead to billions starving in squalid conditions as the industrialists made off with the money. Instead, they were inducted and taught to fight, read, repair and maintain the various pieces of equipment that were being introduced. Over time they would form the backbone of the Outer Rim military for the plans which the Caretakers had concocted.
In short, things were complicated in the Outer Rim. Where the Caretakers had expected hostility and resistance to their interference, were instead met with increasingly wide and open arms. They had not factored in the thousands of years of mistreatment and abuse these peoples had undergone and they welcomed the chance to improve themselves. It was very strange to the Minds, to have a population so willing to go along with their plans without even being subverted. Very strange indeed.
Still, the plans were proceeding nicely and if things continued at the pace that they were… well, the endgame would be approaching in a decade or so at the very least.