Nakssa groaned with every step he took in the cramped spaces of the crawl space. They were moving above the main passageway where most of the fighting was taking place.
He caught a glimpse of green and brown spotted metal dotting the edges of the room.
"Battle droids? Didn't think I'd ever see those guys again," Nakssa said, keeping his voice low. Even with the constant blaster-fire going on, his voice was still deep enough to potentially draw the attention of a few of Crultekk's crew mates at the very back of their attack formation.
"So the Confederacy is running that mine," Krunnoh replied, not making so many grunts and noises as Nakssa thanks to his smaller frame.
"Maybe, or it could be some other organization. Like those rebels on Daphermil," Nakssa replied, his breathing labored. Their body heat had nowhere to escape, raising the temperature of the crawl space by a few degrees.
"Could be," Krunnoh watched the battle down below as he waited for Nakssa to slowly crawl his way forward a few feet before he would continue, "Those droids are putting up a good fight. They haven't lost too many. Hopefully they'll kill them all"
"I'd rather we deal with those droids than Crultekk's gang. They'll surely be worth more points than these cowards. I've seen those droids fight. They have no fear, don't tire out, have decent aim – I figure they'd be worth double the points of Crultekk's entire gang," Nakssa heaved himself forward, "I need a break"
"We don't exactly have all the time in the galaxy," Krunnoh craned his neck down at the fight below, "Damn, looks like they've got Dakussta on their side. I thought he died"
"He's just about alive. His legs didn't work anymore last time I checked. Had them replaced with the legs of a protocol droid," Nakssa took a deep breath and continued forward.
"He's got better aim than anyone else here," Krunnoh growled, "And he's hiding in the back like usual"
"Throwing detonators too I imagine. Like I said, they're cowards"
"Maybe we should kill him ourselves"
Nakssa sighed, "And risk our position? No, focus on Crultekk"
The blaster-fire continued to erupt below even as they finally came upon the exit of the crawl-space.
Krunnoh handed Nakssa a screwdriver. He removed the metal grate, it made a slight grinding noise as he pushed at it and came loose.
He unceremoniously dropped down into the shadows of the command-bridge near the entrance. Krunnoh landed with a soft thud behind him. They pulled their blasters and approached Crultekk. Two guards stood at either side of him. Krunnoh fired at one in the head and Nakssa at the other.
Crultekk whipped around his wide body casting a shadow against the light coming through the windows behind him.
Krunnoh and Nakssa stood at either side of the T-shaped command-bridge, their blasters trained on Crultekk's head.
"Crussk failed, like he always did," Crultekk said with a grin. His eyes staring holes into Nakssa.
"Always sending others to do your dirty work and hiding behind a mass of bodies like the coward you are," Nakssa replied with a growl. He stepped a little closer along with Krunnoh. He held his tribal blade in his right hand.
"You could say that for most generals or leaders. I get things done and keep my men in line," Crultekk looked at Krunnoh, "That is why I will destroy those pathetic droids and capture you two and have you cut to pieces alive"
"You sound so sure," Krunnoh said, his finger itching to fire the trigger, but just like the frist whale on Trandosha, the time wasn't right just yet.
"You and this elder don't stand a chance against me," Crultekk said with a growl.
"I'm here to get my father's honor back and rid the world of pests like you," Krunnoh hissed.
Crultekk whipped his blaster out of it's holster. Before he could aim it at Nakssa, Krunnoh shot it out of his hand. He groaned and clutched his hand. The left half of it was turned black. Nakssa pulled out his own blaster and fired on Crultekk's stomach, wishing to give him a long and torturous death. He staggered for a moment but was quick to recover and clawed the weapon out of Krunnoh's hand first. All the while, Nakssa continued to pepper him with bolts to his stomach and chest.
Even through the many shots that riddled his stomach, somehow Crultekk managed to walk it off. He placed Krunnoh in front of him as a shield and locked an arm around his neck with his own blaster aimed at his head.
"So you've been teaching him," Crultekk said.
Nakssa fired a bolt at Crultekk's hand just as he fired the blaster. The shot grazed Krunnoh's snout, burning the top half. He pushed Crultekk to the side, but regretted doing so as he used the momentum to charge at Nakssa while he cooled down his blaster.
He pushed him to the ground and kicked his blaster away. Returning his attention to Krunnoh who was desperately grabbing for his blaster on the floor, he charged him and toppled him to the floor.
He snatched Krunnoh's blaster and bent the muzzle downward and threw it back to him, "Let's do this the old fashioned way"
Crultekk took a few stomping steps toward Krunnoh to pull him from the floor but Nakssa grabbed him by the waist from behind and heaved him off the ground. He twisted to be on top of Crultekk while falling to the ground. With one arm wrapped around Crultekk's neck, he prepared to slam the muzzle of his blaster onto Crultekk's head but with herculean strength, Crultekk pulled Nakssa's arm from his neck and slammed him from his back to the floor. He stomped on his blaster, causing cracks to form on the muzzle.
"You two are the size of hatchlings," Crultekk said in between breaths, "Should've brought more"
Krunnoh kicked at his stomach from behind. He reeled back in pain as his foot met metal.
"He's got armor, go for his head," Krunnoh said with a pained groan.
"Too late. We'll do this the old fashioned way. Scorekeeper watch me, for I will fight the coward as a tribesman would," Nakssa said, pulling out his tribal vibroblade from his waist.
"There you go," Crultekk replied with a breathy laugh. Krunnoh grabbed at him from behind. Crultekk simply pulled his arms apart and threw him at Nakssa.
Nakssa and Krunnoh rose to their feet within the span of a few seconds and split apart, one going left and the other going right. Crultekk charged at Krunnoh, pushing him with one arm to the floor. Nakssa slashed at his neck from the side but missed by a mere inch. Crultekk turned his attention back to him. He watched Nakssa's every movement from his slow creep forward to the small ripple that ran through his body as he took a step.
Nakssa slashed at him once again. Crultekk gripped his arm after dodging the strike and pulled it up overhead. His grip tightened further and further until Nakssa began to groan in pain as he felt his wrist creak under the pressure. Krunnoh snapped his talons, grabbing Nakssa's attention. He motioned for him to drop the blade. Nakssa let go of it, sending it down to the floor. Krunnoh caught it midway and leaped at Crultekk, slamming the blade into his neck right into his artery. A river of green blood began to flow from the wound.
Nakssa stumbled to the ground as Crultekk held the knife.
"No! I won't be killed by a weakling like you," Crultekk said through a clenched jaw, "I'm bringing you with me!" He pulled the knife from his neck and slashed it downward, aiming for Krunnoh's forehead.
Nakssa ran underneath him and pushed at his arm with both hands, twisting it to the side. He kicked him in the crotch. Crultekk keeled over, clutching at his neck. His blood drops began forming a growing pool on the ground beside him. He slipped and slid over his own blood in an attempt to get back up. Desperately, Crultekk pushed at the slippery ground for a few seconds, his entire body becoming bathed in his own blood. His head slammed to the floor as he finally passed out from the blood loss.
Krunnoh and Nakssa looked at each other as they gasped for breath.
"He died like an animal," Krunnoh said, a scowl forming on his face. He stared at Crultekk's body as his blood began to run like the flow of a river to a waterfall down into the lower level of the command-bridge.
"Fitting for someone like him," Nakssa glanced at the entrance of the bridge. His ears honing on the continuing blaster-fire outside, "I think it's time for us to leave"
Krunnoh nodded and crouched down beside Crultekk's body, rummaging through his pockets. He picked up Crultekk's blaster from the floor behind him and fired a single bolt into his head.
"Even if we don't manage to take over this mine, we have this," Krunnoh said, holding up a comm-device.
"His com-link? What about it?" Nakssa replied, rubbing his aching wrist with his other hand.
"No doubt we can access his bank account from this. He must have a fortune if he bought this cruiser," Krunnoh said, shoving the device into his pocket.
Nakssa glanced back outside, "Doesn't sound like anyone's winning out there. We should leave, take off with his money instead"
Krunnoh sighed, "I'll blow the charges once we're off the ship"
They limped back towards the crawl-space at the front of the command-bridge. Nakssa groaned as he lifted himself up.
Ron scanned the room in front of him for the hundredth time. His CPU went over the situation.
For each fallen trandoshan, another would take his place. There were only around fifty crew-members on-board but their target elimination rate had been greatly reduced with R-23E being knocked out of the fight. Now, they were simply fighting a battle of attrition. Most of their shots were not hitting their targets thanks to the inaccurate spread of their E-5 blasters. Only B-35 and Dornan were shooting most accurately but Dornan was now pinned down on the left-side of the room with no way of getting out and B-35 was being littered with blaster bolts from the turret on the right side of the room. Occasionally, a detonator would be thrown their way, leading the droids to retreat back into the rooms of the barracks where they were holed up. A few of the trandoshans would attempt to push up while they hid in cover only for Ron to whip around the corner and use his blaster pistol to take out a few of them before they're able to reach Dornan.
The red bolts rained in on Dornan's position and Ron's attack squad. With each shot getting closer and closer to their intended target for each passing second.
"Damage level is beginning to reach max capacity," B-35 reported as another burst of blaster-fire landed on his chest.
"This isn't looking good," Rev commented from behind cover. His photo-receptors stared directly at Ron who was beginning to overheat. The loss of R-7B and R-23E weighing heavy on his CPU, "OOM, if you've got an idea now's the time to share it"
OOM partitioned half of his CPU on aiming and firing down the hall while the other half focused on creating a solution to their predicament. He pulled back and set all focus to the situation after his blaster overheated.
"These organics are much more accurate than any other I have seen before. They fight hard even with great losses. They are trandoshans, they like to kill for points of a fictional game. Being captured to them is worse than death so that's out of the question," OOM said listing off variables out loud, "And they also like explosives, which means, one of them must have a cache of them stored on their body," His head swiveled over to look at Ron, "Does your scan indicate more mines?"
"My sensors have a difficult time picking up explosives," Ron replied.
"C-37 you should have no issue, conduct a scan, find the organic with the most explosives," OOM commanded, pulling him back into the room he was using for cover.
"Copy that," C-37 said, initiating the scan.
"Hold the line until C-37 can find a good target," Ron commanded.
"How's it looking over there Dornan?" Rev asked over the radio.
"It looks like they really want to kill me. Some of them are pushing up on my left. Pin down the organics moving on my right, and I'll deal with the others. There's a few star-fighters here that I can use for cover," Dornan replied.
Rev fired a burst out into the room, getting a few trandoshans to duck down into cover. He noticed one crawling to Dornan's position. He shot a single bolt into the organic's body. The trandoshan curled up into a fetal position and stayed there even as Rev continued to fire at him.
He looked back up to see Dornan whipping through the air behind one of the starfighters at the very back of the room. He sword pierced through the stomach of a trandoshan, throwing him to the floor with a crash that even Rev could hear over the symphony of laser beams sizzling by his audio-receptors. Dornan slammed the vibroblade into the trandoshan's head through his eye, and pulled it back out with the help of his foot.
C-37 returned to the doorway with OOM and C-05, "I've got one. There's an organic at the very back, he's got lots of detonators on him. He's the one who keeps throwing them at us. The battery on his weapon is a lot more powerful too"
"Alright, we'll give you covering fire. Everyone keep firing, B-35 pull back and get ready to overcharge your blaster," OOM said.
"I am returning to cover," B-35 replied as his bulky body just barely fitting through the doorway of one of the barracks quarters.
OOM commanded each of his squad-mates to overheat their blasters. C-05 was the last to pull back.
"B-35 move back into position and overcharge, the rest of you fire your blasters along with him, stagger your shots," OOM commanded.
The turret was quick to lock back onto B-35. Ron used the opportunity to fire a bolt from his pistol at the head of the turret. It managed to hit the trandoshan in the head. His body fell limp and slammed into the metal floor of the turrets nest.
A torrent of blaster-fire flew directly at the crew of trandoshans, each of them taking cover behind a different piece of overturned machinery or defunct weapon. Most of them were forced back into cover with their turret gunner down. Ron kept up the pressure on the trandoshans around the turret, ensuring none would try to man the weapon.
C-37 ran into the threshold between the barracks and the main passageway. He pulled the pin on his home-made detonator and threw it in an arc around the corner of a group of crates at the very back of the room. It landed directly onto the lap of the trandoshan wielding the detonators.
The explosion sent stacks of crates and weapons flying through the air. Multiple detonators launched from the trandoshan's dead body out into the room like the seeds of a plant spreading across the ground. Smaller explosions littered the area, some of the trandoshans were thrown into the air, while others were simply peppered with metal fragments, putting them out of the fight.
"Advance!" Ron commanded, running out of the barracks quarters. He grabbed R-23E's disruptor rifle while Rev recovered R-7B's body and pulled it back to the barracks right beside R-23E. He heaved R-7B's heavy blaster from the ground and moved to set up on one of the fighters at one corner of the main passageway. The droids now faced the entrance of the command bridge. A thick metal wall separated the main passageway into two sections. In front of the entrance of the command-bridge, a short hallway connected both sections.
Ron could hear the constant firing of the turret on the other side of the wall, "Silver, report in"
Silver was sat behind an overturned locker near a barracks quarter. His CPU was running at full utilization as he assessed the situation before him, "R-6Y is giving us cover to push up, almost all of my units are inside the main hall now. There's a back entrance near R-6Y's position but it's locked, there's no way of us joining together from the rear"
"That's alright, we're making small gains over here, we're all set up in the main area. Holdout for the time being, we will do what we can here," Ron replied.
On Silver's side of the wall, R-6Y continued to suppress the trandoshans. His torrent of blaster-fire rained down on the trandoshans hiding behind overturned supply crates and metal shields used by the previous owners of the cruiser. He looked back at the sounds of the locked doors behind them being pounded.
"They're trying to flank us, either we eliminate these organics in front of us now or we're dead," R-6Y said over the radio to the entire group.
"Their marksman is down on our end, how about yours?" C-37 replied.
"C-J2 eliminated the organic with the powerful blaster on our end before he fell," R-6Y replied. He crouched down to take cover as the organics began to fire on his position.
Silver noticed a pattern. The trandoshans at the front would begin to fire while the ones in the rear would move up on the sides. Thomas noticed one sneaking by his position. He pierced the trandoshan's neck with his wrist blades and pulled him back into cover. Johnny grabbed the organic's blaster. He fired a few test shots at the head of another trandoshan giving suppressing fire near the front of their formation. Three bolts flew by the his head at nearly the same position until Johnny finally corrected his aim and hit his mark.
"These blaster's aren't all that much better but they are slightly more accurate," He remarked to Thomas.
"How many are left?" C-05 asked.
"My scan indicates thirty in front. Maybe a dozen behind us," Ron replied.
"I say we push, use any explosives we have on hand. I can give covering fire on our end," R-6Y said.
"I agree. These organics are aggressive, we can use that against them. That and our enemy seems to be demoralized on this end. Those explosives killed off a good portion of them but they still outnumber us," OOM replied, "We can do this: Split them up into smaller groups with the use of explosives and eliminate them as quickly as possible"
"That sounds feasible," Ron replied.
"They're pushing up again," Warhead said, peering over the fighter where he was taking cover. He hoisted his metal shield back up and prepared for another onslaught of fire to pound against his arm.
Auto, another of Silver's squad-mates, fired a burst from his position at the far end of the room, "I'm covering the best I can while you guys plan but I can't do it all myself"
"If we're going to counter-attack, we should do it soon," Silver said.
R-6Y watched as Silver ran into the room. His photo-receptors glanced over at the bodies of his fallen squad-mates.
He felt something activate in his memory unit and CPU. Like an explosion of electricity within his head.
He pulled the heavy blaster rifle from it's mount and wielded it in two hands while stabilizing it against his waist, "I'll start"
"I've sent out the orders. Synchronize and push!" Ron commanded.
R-6Y moved forward from the turret's nest, walking down the steps of the platform all while squeezing the trigger of the heavy blaster in his hands. He'd handled many like it, all different in shapes and sizes but the feeling was always the same. For a brief moment, he felt unstoppable, like the entire Confederate army balled into one unit.
Warhead was the first to take advantage of the trandoshan's confusion at R-6Y's actions. Those at the very back moved to fire on him but they were cut down by more of Silver's squad-mates from the left.
Thomas and Johnny moved along the edges with Silver's squadron, taking out the trandoshan's from the sidelines where they were completely exposed. Their formation fell apart and they were forced to retreat. Soon they had nowhere left to go but the hallway leading to the bridge. One of them called for Crultekk to open the doors but there was no response.
On Ron's end, C-37 pulled the pin of his incendiary detonator and flung it directly into the hallway connecting the two segmented rooms. It blew up in the face of a trandoshan attempting to cut through the door of the command-bridge with his blaster in a desperate attempt to get away. The fire spread, lighting a few trandoshans clothes. They ran in every which way all while swatting at the fire feeding on their body. Ron and Rev cut down each one. Their bolts perfectly timed with one another with Ron handling the disruptor rifle, disintegrating as many trandoshans as he could while Rev gave him covering fire with the heavy blaster.
Dornan jumped over the fighters in the corner of the room and sliced through two trandoshans, cutting off their hands and then slashing at their necks in a flurry. The trandoshans struggled to comprehend what had happened to them as they drew their last breath.
The trandoshan's formation finally collapsed completely. C-37 threw out a detonator between two squads of trandoshans trapped in the middle of the room. B-35 gunned them down as they ran from the detonator.
On the other side, R-6Y glanced over at another one of Silver's squad-mates who'd taken a hit. He dropped down behind cover and struggled to get back on his feet. His synced squad-mate helped him get back up.
R-6Y whipped around to the sound of metal clanging behind him. He sprinted back up the platform of the turret's nest, his feet clanging against the platform's steps.
The trandoshan's behind them had broken down the door with explosives. Metal fragments flew through the air as the door burst into pieces. R-6Y unleashed a wave of blaster-fire at their position, eliminating three. Their bodies stacked up on the floor of the entrance. The trandoshans still in cover used this to their advantage.
A bolt struck his chest. He dropped on one knee to the ground but continued to squeeze the trigger of his heavy-blaster. The muzzle began to smoke and sizzle.
Through the blinding red-bolts, he saw the glint of a scope.
A single concentrated bolt traveled across the room and burned a hole directly through his photo-receptor. He dropped onto his side with a clang, his finger still squeezing the trigger of the turret.
Silver felt a ping of data hit his antenna, "R-G2's squad has been completely eliminated. The organics are flanking us on our side. Eliminate the hostiles in front as quickly as possible"
The trandoshans, even with their numbers dwindling, continued to fight to the very last man. Silver and Auto turned their attention to the rear while the rest of his unit continued the frontal assault. They peppered each trandoshan moving into position at the rear. Silver made a note of how they ran in with their blasters firing wildly at their position. His squad-mates were unfazed by the incoming fire, they continued to cover the rear even as the lasers whipped by their heads.
"All hostiles from the front are cleared," Ron reported.
"I need back up on my side, they're flanking us," Silver replied.
"We're here," Ron said, moving into position at his side.
"Where's R-G2 and his squad's bodies?" Rev said coming up on his left.
"Most of them are by that fighter on the right there," Silver said pointing to a fighter positioned closest to the barracks where they'd entered the ship.
"Priority should be the elimination of these organics," OOM said close behind them.
C-37 armed his second and last incendiary detonator and launched it at the doorway where the trandoshans were pouring in.
It blew with a bright fireball lighting up the entire room in shades of orange. A few trandoshans were caught in the explosion, sending them down to the floor while their clothes caught on fire.
"They have another accurate shooter from what R-6Y's final report tells me," Silver reported.
OOM turned back to the intersecting hallway behind him, "C-37, go grab that powerful blaster you detected and bring it to me"
"Right away," C-37 said, running crouched to the very back. He came back a few moments later with the rifle in hand.
OOM took it into his possession and combed through his database of blasters he'd downloaded using the galactanet, "A Relby-V10 rifle and grenade launcher?"
C-37 nearly snatched the rifle back into his hands, "I think I saw another one on the way back, I'll go double check"
"Hurry up," OOM said, discarding his E-5 for the rifle in his hands, "C-05, cover for him"
C-05 nodded and withdrew into cover.
OOM glossed over the instructions manual of the rifle from his database, "Give me covering fire, I'll take out their sharpshooter"
Rev synced up with OOM and brought up his DC-15 heavy blaster and began to rain down on the trandoshans. Most of them had managed to get inside, including those that had been attempting to blow the door on the other section of the main passageway.
"I count fifteen or so," Silver reported as his scan ended.
"We outnumber them now," Ron replied.
OOM brought the rifle to his photo-receptor and scanned the trandoshans in front of him. He caught sight of a trandoshan wielding a blaster that was much longer than usual in the far corner of the room, hidden deep in the shadows of the fire still burning at his side.
He aimed down the scopes, his photo-receptors doing their best to block out the incoming blaster-fire from his view. His aiming protocols kicked in. The rifle made a high pitched noise that grew in volume as he charged it up. The bolt, a much more concentrated and thinner shot, pierced through the air directly into the eye of the trandoshan sharpshooter. He was pushed back into the wall by the shot, his body slumped into a sitting position.
"Our statistical odds of winning have doubled," OOM reported.
C-37 came back with another rifle in hand, "Unfortunately, this is all I could find," He said displaying the weapon to OOM.
"That is a DC-15X, the snipers the clones would use. Hold onto it," OOM said, holstering his E-5 blaster onto his back.
"Roger that sir," C-37 said, holstering his own E-5.
Ron went to issue out new orders but a ferocious blast sent him staggering to the floor. The entirety of the cruiser creaked and groaned. Sounds of small explosions and crashing metal rang out from deeper within the cruiser. Alarms began to blare, their deep hums rumbling through the droid's audio-receptors.
R-56V, still patrolling the skies on the outside, witnessed metal panels being blown out from near the rear end of the light-cruiser, 'I've seen something like that before…" He connected to the radio of the attack unit, "Get out of there! It looks like the reactor was blown"
Ron reconnected to his portion of the attack unit, "The enemy is retreating, fall back to the ship," He turned to Rev, "Help me get R-7B and R-23E's body out here," The incoming blaster-fire died down as the trandoshans ran back into the doorway where they entered, fleeing straight to the escape pods, "Silver, recover R-G2 and the other's bodies!"
"Get on that immediately," Silver said relaying his orders to his squad, "The rest of you get back on the ship"
Warhead holstered his shield onto his back and his blaster onto his waist. He hoisted R-6Y up into his arms in a bridal position and ran for the barracks.
Johnny grabbed C-J2 and slung him over his shoulder while Auto and Spider from Silver's squad picked up R-G2 and C-8H.
The droid's frantically boarded their ships. They departed a few moments later as the roof of the cruiser began to cave in. The rumbling of the explosions shook their ships even as they rose into the air.
R-56V met with them on the way down, escorting the two freighters back into the headquarters.
"That should be all of Crultekk's gang gone," Krunnoh said, sitting in the co-pilot's seat of the cockpit of Crultekk's light-freighter ship. It was bulky and spherical in shape with shades of green painted all over the outside.
"I made sure to lock the escape pods and most of the doors. Nobody should've survived," Nakssa replied from the pilot's seat. His eyes widened at the sight of two freighter ships descend back down into the base below, "Either those droids were wiped out and some of them survived or the droids made it out"
"A scan should show if there's any lifeforms on-board right?" Krunnoh said, taking in the instruments of the ship before him.
"It should," Nakssa pointed at a small screen to the far right on Krunnoh's end of the cockpit, "Over there, start one up on both of those freighters, I'll get into a better position"
He pointed the nose of the freighter upward and ascended further into the blue sky.
A short series of beeps emitted from the screen, "Nothing, no lifeforms"
"So its the droids," Nakssa sighed, "Looks like we're not getting any titanium today"
"They're weak now, maybe if we-" Krunnoh said, his eyes scrunched in contemplation.
"No, Krunnoh. Those droids are fierce fighters. I spotted a B2 with them. That model of battle droid would be the death of us. We failed here," Nakssa looked over to Krunnoh as he sunk into his seat.
Krunnoh pulled the datastick from his pocket, "Let's see what Crultekk has on here," He plugged it into his comm-device, "Lots of notes, inventory checks, and...looks like he's got his own house on Daphermil," He sat up in his seat, "Oh here we go, passwords," He looked at Nakssa with a grin.
"I'll set course for Daphermil," Nakssa said. He touched a fingertip to the cool metal of the blade on his waist, "Just don't shoot me in the back now"
Krunnoh growled, "I'm not Crultekk, Nakssa. You have my word"
Nakssa pulled the hand from his waist. A long silence followed up until they entered hyperspace.
"If we find a fortune in his bank account, what exotic animal should we buy first?" Nakssa asked, leaning back into his chair. It creaked with the movement as he rubbed at his eyes.
"A rancor...or maybe—" He pulled the datastick from his comm-device, "I've heard of an animal that's capable of cutting of force-users from the force. The Scorekeeper will give us plenty of points for that one," He turned back to Nakssa.
He was watching him with a keen eye, both hands on his waist.
"You don't trust me, do you?"
"Money tends to drive people apart," Nakssa replied.
Krunnoh snorted, "I'm not a child, I can contain myself. You, on the other hand, I know you're greedy," He slid a hand back to the blaster on his waist
Nakssa suddenly sprang up from his chair, he smacked Krunnoh on the chest and headed for the entrance of the cockpit, "I'm just messing with you, trying to use humor like those humans do. I can't hunt a Rancor on my own anyways"
Krunnoh breathed a sigh of relief and watched the blue and white lights of hyperspace travel for the rest of the trip.
Ron hovered above the wreck of the cruiser. It's long metallic body covered a vast swath of the forest just south of the sanctuary. Small fires erupted throughout the area.
"There's signs of organics but I can't tell if they're the primitive beasts of this planet or the enemy we were just fighting," Rev said looking over the report of the scan.
Ron reached over to the small screen and tapped at it, "There, we know the species is trandoshan. I downloaded their body composition onto the ship's database, do another scan"
They waited a few moments in silence. Ron glanced back at the smoking metal dome structure that was their headquarters. The rest of the droids were already fixing up the damage while R-4V began looking through which of their casualties were repairable and which were not.
"Their bodies are all there, but none of them survived," Rev reported.
Ron sat up straighter, "That's all we need to know," He sped back towards the sanctuary and made a hasty landing. He pulled Rev onto his feet and made a beeline for R-4V on the outside of the workshop.
R-4V lifted open the chassis of R-7B, and turned on his artificial light to peer inside.
Ron silently stood at his side, watching him work.
He closed R-7B's chassis and stood, facing Ron. The other droids behind them worked tirelessly in repairing the torn metal of the headquarters and putting out a few fires that had erupted near the outskirts of the sanctuary. Plumes of smoke dotted both near and far with those farthest appearing to be the strongest. The smoke clouds were large enough to periodically block out the sunlight.
"R-G2 and his squadron are all dead. C-J2 received the least amount of damage but he was shot in the head several times. The others were all shot through the head with a single powerful bolt, melting their CPUs," R-4V said.
"There's no chance of recovering them? Not even their personality cores?" Ron crouched down to view R-G2's body closer.
"No. Our head is what's most vital and is needed to sustain our personality cores. If just one part is melted, we are effectively killed. Our bodies are not so important. In this case, not even their bodies could escape the damage. That bolt was powerful enough to fry all of their internals just from the residual heat," R-4V explained.
Ron dug his foot into the dirt, shredding apart an island of grass, "Their deaths were my failure," His visor's vocalizor crackled with white static as he spoke. He looked up directly into R-4V's photo-receptors, almost afraid to ask his next question, "And what about R-7B and R-23E?"
"Severely damaged but recoverable," He leaned up against the open doors of the workshop, "Their body's internals were completely fried. Their heads are unscathed, thankfully. I was thinking they could be the first recipients of our new armor, but that won't be anytime soon. We need to get replacement parts for them as well, most likely from Akiva or perhaps we can begin constructing our own once I can figure out a way to begin mass producing our new armor parts using that factory"
"That is quite ambitious, R-4V," Ron replied, his vocalizor crackled again, struggling to convey the medley of artificial emotions bubbling within him, "Almost overly ambitious, but...we must move on from the damage of this attack swiftly," He stood up and walked over to Deadeye's unconscious body, "And what about him?"
"He sustained minimal damage. He was not given the recovery mode, however. R-U5 will install it manually and ensure the process goes smoothly," R-4V replied.
Silver looked over to him from the southern end of the sanctuary where he was assessing the damage to the research center, "I can install it, you just worry about upgrading our armor"
"Copy that," R-4V said.
OOM hastily made his way to Ron's position, pushing away C-05 and C-37 who had come to see their injured squad-mates.
Before he could say a single word, Ron sent him a brief summary of what R-4V had told him.
"They are our best units, I refuse to work on anything else until they are repaired. And I will help fix them whether you like it or not," OOM said getting close to R-4V.
R-4V nodded, "We will need the help," He looked down at R-G2's body then tilted his head up towards the sky, his photo-receptors catching the tail-ends of the smoke clouds in the sky, "Are they all dead?"
Ron followed his gaze, "Yes, their bodies were picked up by the ship"
"Good," R-4V straightened out his back, "Those organics are a blight to us droids. Sometimes I wonder how they were capable of creating great machines like ourselves"
"They create the perfect image of themselves through us," Rags replied, appearing from inside the workshop, "The Geonosians modeled us after their own society and bodies. Or at least that's what the galactanet says"
"If I could, I would never make contact with any organics for the rest of my life," Ron said, "But enough of all that, I am already tired of speaking about those beings. We must repair the damages sustained here. We will commemorate R-G2 and his squadrons sacrifice once we have recovered. They died defending our home, it's only right we give them the respect they deserve"
C-05's CPU honed in on a particular set of human practices he'd stored in his database, "I have a few ideas..."
"Send them to me, we need to focus on putting out those fires" Rev said.
C-5B and C-6C marched up behind him, their CPU's entirely focused on scanning for a water source in the area around the sanctuary.
Behind them, the rest of the droids had nearly completed the repair of their headquarters.
"Right," Ron replied. His internals fans kicked in as he began issuing out orders.
Ron dug out the last of the dirt. Four tall holes had been dug on the eastern end of the forest surrounding the sanctuary, just past the storage building.
"I think that's it," Ron said, picking dirt out of his finger joints.
"Should I call everyone now?" Rev replied, his legs and arms caked with mud and dirt.
Ron walked past Rev, back towards the base, "Let's clean ourselves first, I don't want my joints to lock up during the ceremony"
They entered the barracks, where they kept their usual cleaning equipment for their chassis. Ron half expected to see R-7B and R-23E in a set of charging pods, waiting to question when their next mission would be. Only C-05 and C-37 were present, both powered off.
Rev looked back outside, most of the droids had returned to their normal duties after yesterdays non-stop battle and the long and arduous fight to contain the fires that had erupted throughout the forest for the entire night. They'd spent the morning searching through the wreckage, looking for potential survivors of the crash.
"At the very least, we have all this metal and material to sell or use for our bodies," R-4V had remarked.
"Find what you can to help in your projects, and recover any blasters you find," Ron had offhandedly told R-4V and the others. His CPU had begun to overheat with so many processes and thoughts running through his head.
Now, there was nothing. R-4V and his squadron had returned to their projects. C-37 had constructed a few more detonators and even a prototype smoke grenade. Silver had worked the entire morning repairing Deadeye. Dornan was working closely with OOM in the repairs of R-23E and R-7B. The rest had gone off to continue the search through the wreckage.
"We can go get those J-1 proton canons later today…" Rev said, grabbing an oil canister.
"Yes, our defenses held strong but more units are necessary. Half of us were standing around doing nothing without any way of helping R-56V or the turrets and canon," Ron replied.
"Everyone did their best," Rev replied, "Come on," He said pulling Ron along outside.
A few hours later, the entire crew was gathered around the graves of R-G2, C-8H, C-J2, and R-6Y. They had yet to bury them. Their E-5 blasters were planted into the ground just above their burial sites with hand-made metal signs with their names engraved onto them by Thomas.
"This will be our first burial ceremony of our fallen brothers. I wish that we did not have to do this in the first place but we will all die one day and what greater honor for a battle droid than to die fighting and not only that, but to die a meaningful death, sacrificing oneself for the defense of our home," Ron began, "In honor of their service to us, we will be naming this planet R-G2. Each subsequent base we establish here will be named after each of R-G2's squad-mates. As such, this base will be named after C-8H," He looked to each of the droids, the sheer number of them took up the entire space surrounding the graves, "I can only hope to die such an honorable death as they did. All of you should remember them and all that they did to improve this sanctuary. R-G2 in particular, sacrificed much just to keep his squad-mates alive," Ron held up a data-stick, "We recovered a series of journals that he wrote. I don't know how, but he was able to keep track of his memory through this. Regardless, all of you should read through them. He is deserving of great respect just as the rest of his squad-mates," He sent out the journals through and motioned for Silver and Rev to begin their burial.
The rest of the droids stayed quiet, some helping to pour in the dirt.
When everything was said and done, Ron turned back to them, "We will remember them until the day we shut down for the final time. You are all dismissed"
