Percy couldn't suppress the yawn that tore through him.
He hadn't had any more weird dreams as of late to keep him awake and wondering, but that didn't mean he was getting the sleep he was used to, either. Shaak Ti had never prepared him for the fact that different regions of space had different day and night cycles. So, while his body craved to be asleep, used to his sleep cycle based on Coruscant's day and night, he had to force himself awake as the fleet of Jedi Cruisers and supporting ships left hyperspace into orbit above the planet of Ryloth. Which forcing himself awake became easier and easier as he realized that a fight was coming.
He was ready to finally get his boots dirty.
Percy, along with Masters Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi, dropped out of lightspeed just as the all-clear came from Knight Skywalker and his apprentice.
Admittedly, Percy had yet to dictate his first space dogfight, but he was pretty sure having your highest-ranking officer in an escaped pod shouldn't ever be a winning strategy. However, what works works. The Knight and apprentice had beaten the blockade if the exploding ships were any indication.
"Begin stage two. We are on a tight schedule."
Percy snuck a glance to the man who directed the descent of cruisers.
Mace Windu cut an imposing figure amongst the gathered officers. His seemingly permanent scowl did not help matters at all, nor did the way he always sounded disgruntled. Percy wasn't sure how long he would be able to put up with the man, for Shaak Ti's sake, if he didn't learn to smile.
Percy quickly looked away, avoiding the Master Jedi's gaze.
"You understand the intention of this mission, Perseus?" Windu asked, his arms crossed.
"Which part? The one where I'm saddled to your side, or the bit about taking down Wat Trombone from enslaving the planet?"
"It is Tambor, and we are unsure if he plans to limit himself to enslaving the Twi'ileks," Kenobi added.
"Right, same difference. Bad guy with a bad plan." Percy shrugged, gazing out the massive windows on the command bridge. "Let's get active and wrap this up. Tight schedule and all."
"That is a gross simplification of the matter, but yet," Windu sighed. "We are here to help free the locals from the Separatists invasion and the droid occupation. And we must do so quickly before reinforcements arrive to affirm their hold on the planet."
"Yeah. I know. I was there for the briefing. What are you exposition dumping for? Did you really think I wasn't listening?"
"You were pretty busy staring at everything but the holo-table," Kenobi rebuked. "Shaak Ti has also told us of your situation with reading as well."
"Right, so treat me like a child, then?"
"Lives are at stake. They deserve our full focus and efforts. This is the Jedi way," Windu finished.
"Right…." Percy trailed off. "When does that mean I can return to my ship with my men and begin my own campaign down there?"
"As soon as we take down Tambor, you can begin cleaning up the rest."
"That's not what I meant by my own campaign."
"Did you forget, Perseus?" Windu turned to Percy. "You are side-saddle with me for now. Your solo adventure only begins once my objective is complete."
Percy sighed, pouting, "And Skywalker gets to command The Olympus in the atmosphere as well."
"You've got me, sir," Commander Wrath chipped in from behind the Jedi. They all turned to face the trooper who had entered. The Jedi paused, evaluating his painted armor.
"That is a different color pattern," Kenobi replied neutrally, holding his chin.
Percy, however, smiled. He loved the new color pattern. Getting every clone under his command to the same scheme would take some more time, but it was better than seeing the color white again.
"At least your men will blend in with the shadows and night." Windu nodded.
"And the orange is to help tell people that they are my men," Percy added. "Y'know, since it matches my saber color."
"I am sure the black base will be revealing enough," Windu concluded.
"Well, I like it, and that's all that matters," Percy summarized. "Well, that and the men's thoughts."
"I like it, sir. As does the rest of the men."
Percy nodded to his commander. In the last few days of being grounded on Coruscant and the subsequent hyper-jump to Ryloth, Percy and Wrath had made significant progress in purchasing all the black and orange paint they could and handing it out to the men to go crazy with. It was a valuable use of the military's budget.
Percy even had taken to coloring in his own white armor. Gone was the standard issue white, and it was replaced by black. Yet upon his chest was his defining mark. Straight from his fragmented memories, he bore one of the few details he knew of his family and home: an orange trident. The weapon his father held in his hand was now Percy's defining statement to the world.
He wasn't fighting this war in the name of the Republic. He was fighting to go home. Then, when he got home, he could take off his armor and show it to his father. Show him that even when his world had fallen away, he had risen. He had shown the world and the galaxy what it meant to be a son of Poseidon.
Suddenly, Percy's stomach dropped.
"Now entering the atmosphere," an officer on deck called out.
Percy didn't need the man to announce it, though. He already knew. As his stomach went onto a wash cycle and spun, Percy widened his stance to maintain his balance. He didn't know what it was about a planet's atmosphere that did him in so badly, but he held back the sickness in his stomach as the Jedi began calling out orders.
He vaguely heard Kenobi announcing his departure to lead the preliminary force.
A hand landed on Percy's shoulder, "We'll get you on the ground soon enough, sir."
Percy gave Wrath a thumbs up, too afraid to open his mouth in case of the worst.
"What is wrong with you, Perseus?" Windu barked. Percy tried to wave him off, but Windu persisted at the edge of his vision. "Sick with nerves? This would be your first actual battle. It can get to you."
Percy really wanted to retort that he wasn't worried, but as he felt a lump move in his throat, he thought better of it. Thankfully for him, his commander spoke up.
"The General isn't afraid, sir. He just doesn't do well with flying."
"We were just in space, and he was fine. I do not see how anything has changed beyond the approaching fight."
"Maybe it is realizing gravity has a hold on you again, sir. In space, you are not going to fall down onto anything, but in the atmosphere, well, things crash all the time."
"Is this true, Perseus? Are you afraid of heights?" Windu asked, and surprisingly, it felt filled with genuine concern.
Percy shook his head and forced himself to swallow his nerves, "Wouldn't say afraid. More like my body is just naturally adverse to the air."
The man stared momentarily before he nodded, turning back to the windows, "Perhaps, something to do with your home. Master Shaak Ti mentioned you are plenty comfortable in the sea."
"Probably."
"Hold strong then, Perseus." Windu tossed him an encouraging look. "We shall land soon once Master Kenobi and his support cruiser clear the landing." Percy nodded to the man. "In the meantime, we should move to be ready."
"Come on, sir."
"Right. Lead the way. I am eager to get started." Percy gestured towards the door and began to follow.
As he put one foot in front of the other, he flexed his fingers, trying to relieve his bones of the unease. He took a calming breath and glanced back through the windows. A part of the jungle that spanned the equator awaited below them, where it met the base of a mountain in the closing distance. The tiny trees slowly were becoming towering as they were getting closer and closer as the ship descended.
In front of Windu's cruiser, Percy watched a lone LAAT approach a larger cruiser, and in front of that cruiser, another led the assault. Soon, he would be in the LAAT, touching down in the capital city and winning the war, and then, he would go to the next planet and repeat the process. Land, overthrow the separatists, root out the Sith, and win the war. He would then go home with laurels and smiles to find his life returned to him.
But it all started today. His journey forward toward home started here.
This was going to be his first genuine battle in the greater war. And this was no remote, isolated planet with a population under a thousand. This was going to be a full-on assault. In less than a few hours, tanks would march across rocks, and there would be a dog fight in the stars with a blood bath in the streets.
Was he nervous, looking out this window at what was about to happen? No, not really. As odd as it might have seemed, he felt eager at the idea of a fight. Perhaps his home in a galaxy far, far away, battles were everyday occurrences. That the struggle of life and death was something expected of him. Yet, despite the threat of death existing, he was ready all the same to put his feet in the dirt and charge forward.
He began to turn away from the windows to venture into the hangar, but it seemed the universe wanted him to look out the glass once more.
At first, it was a flash of light that had been shot into the air from the distant mountains. Then, it was an explosion that extended outwards from the lead cruiser. Chain-reacting explosions followed suit across the rest of the craft's hull as it fell apart in the air. The cruiser quickly began to tilt towards the jungle as it crashed.
Percy and all the other men on the ship's bridge paused to watch the doomed craft smash into the trees below. A plume of smoke began to blossom like a mushroom from the wreckage of flames and metal. Another explosion sent dirt and debris airborne.
A moment later, sirens blared. The men came back alive and in a flutter unlike any other. Officers barked orders as Windu commanded defensive procedures. Kenobi's cruiser, now the front-most, rose into the air as it began to turn back to a safer distance. Windu's cruiser, by the general's orders, began to copy the action.
The holographic visage of Kenobi appeared instantly in the bridge.
The hologram shouted once to people on his end before turning to Windu, "Anti-air encampment within the valley of the mountains ahead. Scans must have thought it to be a smaller peak. We will have to deploy an air-to-surface team first to approach the town at the mountains' outskirts before we can find a way into the valley to deal with the gun."
"Do it. We are not getting any closer to the capital and Wat Tambor as long as we are held at these mountains," Windu responded.
Percy stepped closer to the conversation, steeling his gut. This was his time to shine and not puke on the cruiser's floor.
"I can do it," he told the Jedi. "I can take it down."
Both Jedi looked at one another, and Percy could see the uncertainty in their eyes.
"Have some faith in me," he insisted. "I'm better on the ground than up here. A few men and I can clear the AA gun in no time. This is what Shaak Ti trained me for."
"it is more than a gun, Perseus. You'll have to sweep a small town as well. General Kenobi and his men have proven they can easily do both tasks. Place your faith in them," Windu responded.
"Okay, then I am going to the crash," Percy tried. "There could be survivors. We'll need all we can to take the planet."
Again, the Jedi gave each other uneasy glances, but Kenobi spoke this time, "A crash of that scale does not leave survivors. Your intentions are well received, but it is a waste of time and resources to investigate when, like you said, we have a planet to take back."
"How can you know that?" Percy sputtered. "Someone could be alive! If that were my men, I would be down there instantly, regardless of your orders to pull even just one of them out."
"I applaud your camaraderie, but the truth is that nobody survives an explosion and crash of that scale." Windu frowned. "Plus, you would be only risking your life and any others to even approach while fires still burn. There are many things that could still yet to explode. We can not lose any more than we already have. Nor can we deploy you just because you are eager to see action."
"So, you won't let me stop it from happening again, nor will you let me help anyone affected by it? What can I do then? I'm not just going to sit here and be useless," Percy challenged, crossing his arms.
"You wait and be patient until Master Kenobi clears our way forward."
Like Hades, I will, Percy scoffed in his head. I can do something, and I will.
"Sure," he said aloud, turning away from the Jedi, who watched him depart.
"The man is not wrong, Perseus. There is nothing to do here of value," Mother chimed in from wherever she existed.
You encourage me to take a life to save others, but I cannot save a life directly? Percy thought back at her. Where do I get a say in what is right and should be done?
The doors out of the bridge opened before him, where Wrath waited, ready.
"What is going on, sir?"
Percy frowned as he stared at his commander.
"What you think is right is not what must be done, Perseus. Heed not just my words but the Jedi's as well. What you are planning is not worth the risk or time. Some matters are lost the moment they happen. You plan invites only to increase the tally of dead. It is a fool's errand!"
Percy frowned. You should have hope that things can be better. That things can be okay even in the darkest hour. If it were me down in that ship, I would hope for some fool to come and save me.
"Wrath, do you believe in doing the right thing?"
The trooper nodded, "Always, sir."
"Even if everyone told you not to?"
"If it is the right thing to do, why would anyone tell me it is wrong?"
"Because they don't want to waste their time on things they think aren't worth it."
"May I ask what you are planning on doing, sir?"
"The lead cruiser just crashed, and I'm thinking I am going to be properly sick if I don't get my boots in the dirt. Think you can round us up a pilot to help me out?"
Wrath nodded, "Should I bring a medic, sir? Just in case, that is."
"Yeah, bring two and two men to stand guard. Find me in the hangar. I am going to go convince a pilot to turn his comms off to the bridge."
"On it." Wrath saluted before disappearing down the hallway. Percy watched him go with clenched fists.
"You are foolish to not heed my advice. You so eagerly jump because you see a path before you, but you do not consider what may lay in wait," Mother hissed.
A chill ran down Percy's spine as her words echoed across his bones. Yet, he didn't care. He was his own person. She and him may have struck a deal, but it did not give her a right to dictate his being. After all, there are many ways to swing a blade, and they all still end with the same result. How was winning a war any different if the outcome was the same?
What will a voice in my head do about me helping people?
:P LINE BREAK d:
The LAAT landed, and Percy was the first off. Each of the gathered men was quickly at his side. He turned to the pilot and brought his communicator close to his mouth.
"Remember, you are our ride out of here. That is an order. Stick around, hover close to the wreckage if you want, but there is anti-air in the area and a general who will be royally pissed if we don't come back with any survivors."
The pilot nodded, "I understand the risk, sir. If any of my brothers are alive in there, you get them out."
"Will do." Percy closed the communication. He turned to the Wrath and the four men he had gathered. "We make this quick and careful. No mistakes, got it?"
The men nodded.
Percy returned it and led them toward the inferno. As they approached it closer, Percy saw that the cruiser had fully flipped in its descent and crashed belly-up.
Trees were turning to ash as the fires spread further and further from the crash site. Debris of unrecognizable metal littered the area. That and the occasional piece of white armor poked out from the coat of ash that fell to the ground like snow. Smoke permeated the air, making Percy jealous of his men's helmets. All he had was the rebreather on his waist that he quickly put to work.
They continued onward.
The boots of their armor became quickly stained. While the insides of their armor began to moisten from the sweat of being so close to the heat of the crash. That, however, would not stop any of them as they searched for an in to the craft.
Using short-range transmissions only, the group spread out, searching.
It took longer than Percy would have liked, but they found themselves crawling on the roof of a hallway that Wrath recognized as one that should lead to the hangar. Lucky, too, as that should be where most of the men would be as they were gathered to deploy.
And so the impromptu rescue team continued forward, carefully avoiding exposed wires that sparked dangerously. They jumped over cracks that had formed from where the structure had split in its crash. They strode through flames faster than they could burn.
Eventually, after some moments of guessing their location, Wrath pointed them to the ship's hangar. Percy had to admit the clone had a great sense of direction, all things considered. He personally would have been lost at the first intersection, but Wrath seemed to have the layout of the cruiser down pat.
However, it was a shame that the hallway led out to the hangar floor, now its ceiling, since the cruiser had flipped. Below, on the closed bay doors, were the collective ruins of an army, once ready to wage a war.
"Hello!" Percy shouted to the graveyard below. Only silence answered his call…. He even repeated the hail over comms, hoping someone would answer. Yet, only silence remained.
"Sir?" Wrath asked from his perched position—the unasked question of what now was left unspoken.
"Anyone?" Percy tried again, fainter.
There has to be someone! Based on the statistics alone, at least one person should be alive, even if they are badly hurt. Just give me one person to save!
BOOM!
Part of the floor-ceiling exploded downwards into the hangar, causing the place to shutter and quake. Percy felt his heart jump into his throat. Chunks of metal and framework crashed onto the pile of bodies and ruined vehicles.
Perhaps it was a mistake to explore the wreck….
"The longer we sit here, the greater the chance we are part of the death toll," one of the troopers Percy had taken from Windu's command spoke. "No one is alive, sir. I'm sorry, but we need to get out."
"Not yet," Percy refused. He had gone behind Windu's back and, by extension, possibly even Shaak Ti's with her vouch for him. He was going to have something to prove for it. "Wrath, you think we can lower me down? Maybe I just cannot hear them respond."
"Sir?" Wrath hesitated. "As much as I want to pull a brother back to the med bay, it will be us down there next if we don't get going."
"No!" Percy shouted louder than he meant. "We have a war to win. We need every man, and five of them could be down there waiting for someone to pull them home. Those five men could change the course of the war."
"And we five men could do the same, sir."
Percy faltered.
"We tried, sir. The ship is belly-high. The bridge is gone, crushed in the impact. The hangar is in ruins. Explosions are coming from the quarters below. The sides of the ship lay littered in the trees. We tried, sir, but there is no place we will check that would have a greater chance of survival than what we already know is lost."
Percy clenched his fist.
Mother?
"Yes?" came her disinterested voice. He could almost see a woman inspecting her nails, half listening in his mind.
Are you capable of telling me if anyone is alive? Even if they are on the cusp of death?
She did not answer immediately, and Percy dropped his head into his balled fists. His knuckles pushed into his temple as he bit back a curse. He knew the answer. He had wasted his time.
"I am sorry, Perseus, but not all can be saved. As great as you will be, those around you are not infallible."
His hand shot out, smashing into the metal of the hallway. It caved to his strength, groaning as it bent around his fist. He did not pull away, though. The stinging pain oddly felt centering within the swirl of anger that clouded his thoughts.
Percy wanted to throw another punch. He wanted to yell. He wanted to go down there and drag someone out alive.
But he couldn't… because it was all a waste.
His breath left him in quickened stints as he fought to keep it in.
"Sir?"
"There is nothing for us here," he finally admitted to the clones while staring at his feet. "They were right. We need to get back to the transport."
"Yessir," the clones responded somberly.
KA-BOOM!
The cruiser shuttered again, and Percy slowly pulled his fist from the wall in defeat.
This was all a waste of time. There were no survivors… and if there were, they were lost in the burning carcass of the cruiser, and Percy very much doubted he had time to play vulture and pick the ship clean, looking for anyone who might be alive.
Could this get any worse? He groaned. Could I have messed up any more?
A high-pitched grinding noise screamed from above them. The floor, now the ceiling, had begun to cave and break right above their heads.
It would seem it could.
Their time was officially up.
"We need to move now!"
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