Buck was sort of surprised by the deployment of the troops in the Base. He looked from an overhead window in the command post of the Grand Army of the Republic at the motor-pool, where six-legged walker-tanks and strange gunships resided, guarded by dozens of troops. Not to mention the artillery that still thundered in the background as the sun began to set. A shuttle lifted off in the distance, pushing its oddly-angled engines to the maximum as its wings unfolded.
He turned toward the Holographic table in the center of the room, walking up to it while his soldiers lazed about next to the Clones. Admirals Lasky and Yularen had begun their talks with Generals Skywalker and Kenobi no less than half-an-hour ago. When he got into range to hear them talking, Admiral Lasky stated, "... The UNSC is willing to provide assistance in securing Christophsis. The Confederacy fired at us without provocation and they're not responding to hails on any of their frequencies that you've offered. It's war they want."
"And, from the looks of your Fleet, Admiral, it is a war they'll get," Yularen said rather placidly, "The terms of the alliance will, however, need to be properly ratified by specific parties. We could ask the Republic Senate to send an ambassador to your fleet. Engage in negotiations properly, rather than just this one-off talk. We will need to know force composition, strength and what kind of support we can expect."
"Understandable," Lasky replied with a nod, "We'll have an envoy vessel ready with a group from ONI Section 1. Diplomatic corps."
"That'd be good," Anakin quipped, crossing his arms. "I'm sure more than a few senators would be glad to negotiate our friendship, Admiral..." And the audible sound of gunfire took the man's attention away. He stated quickly, "But I think we might need to cut this meeting short..." before turning to Buck and his men. The ODSTs all slid their helmets on their heads and ran out first.
Down the corridors and out of the base, the ODSTs were the first to spot the few enemy Air Assets still in play:Enemy fighter-like droids swept in, their energy weapons raking the ground. UNSC mobile SAMs had them pegged the moment they'd poked their heads out, however. Missiles streaked, trailing with white smoke before detonating next to the fighters themselves, sending the remains tumbling to the floor, detonating.
Rex and Cody ran out next, noting the destroyed craft's remains sprawled out across the ground. Rex sighed and looked to Buck as the Gunny gave the soldiers manning the SAMs a thumbs up. He took his helmet off and murmured to himself, "That was probably cutting it close..." before looking to the Captain, Commander and Generals, "Sir, air defense is online. Oughta keep the enemy's air support in check."
"Not like it wasn't dwindling already..." Anakin said, sighing in relief, "Good shot."
"Not my hit, sir," Buck quipped, then looked around and ordered, "Alright, Alpha Niner, let's move it out. Find our positions and pray we get a bit of a break to get acclimatized. Anakin crossed his arms to his chest as he saw the men salute and turn to leave for one of the forward barricades, all while the clones around their fellow UNSC infantry and units were examining the kit deployed by their newfound allies of circumstance.
Anakin noted, "They've got a lot of slug-throwers and missiles..."
"Waxer and Boil said they saw one of their heavier weapons was a pulse laser," Cody added, eyeing some of the Marines as they unpacked equipment from another Pelican. A dish and a few consoles they set up in the middle of the place, presumably to test it. He crossed his arms to his chest and said, "Sirs, I'm not too sure how to feel about them... Call me jittery, but this is... Convenient."
"Tell us about it," Anakin snorted, then looked to Rex, "Rex, do we still have that Separatist observation post nearby?"
Buck seemed confused as to why the man would bring it up, but Rex nodded, "Yessir. Haven't been able to get to it yet and that means the Clankers can see right into our backyard in a way. If we take it out, they're going to have to rely on calling their airstrikes the moment they make contact with our troops tomorrow..." And he l oked to BUck and the others, soon realizing what Kenobi meant.
"What do you say, Sergeant?" Anakin turned to Buck with a grin, "Care to go for a test run?"
Buck looked to his team, all of whom looked right back at him, rifles in their hands and smiles behind their helmets. When wasn't Alpha Niner ready to throw themselves into the jaws of hell just to prove themselves, eh? That was what Buck thought as a grin crossed his lips. Turning back to Anakin, he slid his helmet on his head and said, "Just give us a target and just tonight to hit'em. It'll be gone."
"Good to know, I guess," Anakin nodded, "What do you say, master?" And he looked to Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan shrugged, "I suppose we could do with a dry run to see how the UNSC measures up."
"They're asking Special Forces to measure up," Mickey snorted, crossing his arms to his chest, "I think a better measurement's gonna be our Marines hitting the deck and kicking some tin can ass, honestly..." before watching a Marine Lieutenant with blonde hair and lilac eyes walk past. She stopped, turned toward them and crossed her arms, grinning. She looked to the Generals and saluted.
"Oh, boy. Hello, Lieutenant Zielinska," Buck rolled his eyes during the greeting.
"Gunny," The girl replied, "Hope you guys have fun..." And she smirked and walked away with a handwave. Buck and his team all watched her step off, with the Clones and Jedi Generals turning to them, brows arched questioningly even behind their helmets for the clones. Buck shook his head in a 'you don't wanna know' sense. Zielinska wasn't worth talking about at the moment.
Buck sighed and said, "We'll kick those tin cans around a bit and get you a secure airspace so our own birds may start coming in. Just give us the exact location..."
... As night fell upon this side of the planet, the ODSTs, alongside an observing team of Clone troopers, marched toward the enemy outpost which was located in one of the heavily-damaged high-rises off the beaten path. The Shock Troopers kept their rifles lifted up, scanning the place ahead. Visible lights on some of the floors told them that the damaged building was occupied.
Buck signaled his team to take cover with a motion of his hand. They found their positions behind various pieces of debris that had fallen near the base of the broken tower. He turned his gaze back toward a distant outcropping of the blue crystal lining the surface. The tower of ice-blue crystal had proven climbable, so they had overwatch. His VISR pinged two friendlies on top of the tower:Romeo and his spotter, a new girl in the team.
Buck then looked to the Clones, all four of which were highlighted green on his VISR-Enhanced Heads-Up Display. Before long, he thumbed the safety off his rifle and looked toward the tower, searching for an entry point. He found it in the form of a collapsed wall, the debris of which had formed a ramp up to the occupied second floor. He gave a quick hand signal to Romeo, who reported very professionally over the Com, "Tin Cans moving on the second floor. Fourth floor also occupied. First floor's completely sealed by the collapse and the third's got one sentinel... Zeroed in on the spotters..."
His voice was smooth and clear, showing his focus.
He was in the Zone, Buck thought with a grin. He gave a thumbs up, then raised three fingers. Romeo replied by winking his status light green. Their plan was simple:Romeo took out the spotters. The moment the first shot rang out, the ODSTs would kick the metaphorical door off its hinges and light these Tin Cans up like there was no tomorrow. They'd told nobody and even the clones acting as observers had barely been briefed about their intended target.
The Clones, one of which was named Jesse, stepped up to Buck and asked, "We good, Gunnery Sergeant?"
"Yeah," Buck replied, "We'll give the signal..." before eyeing the patrolling droids on the top floor and the spotters whose binoculars were aimed straight at the Republic/UNSC FOB. He hummed, patted Jesse on the shoulder, then winked his own light at Romeo. First, he winked it red, initiating the countdown. Then, he winked it yellow, reaching midpoint and causing his troops and the Clones to tense.
When green hit, the first four shots of the battle rang out. Four spotter droids lost their heads and tumbled over the side of the building. The ODSTs had begun their sprint to the entrance long before the enemy had managed to realize that and seconds before the Sniper shots' sounds were actually audible. The ODSTs pushed up the ramp of rubble and met the first droid.
Buck's rifle chattered, bullets piercing cheap armor plating. The second droid in line called out, "What the-" before its head got snapped off its body by the butt of a rifle. More sniper rifle fire rang out as the glass below them shattered. A squad of Droids appeared from behind the wall ahead of Buck and his team, so he stepped aside and let Rookie and Mickey lay into them with shotguns and silenced SMGs.
One of the SBDs guarding the place rounded the corner next. It aimed its twin arm-blaster toward the Republic and UNSC Troopers. Buck was quick to aim his AR. Several 7,62x51mm rounds punctured the thick frontal plate of the droid, sending it staggering. Its blaster shots were thrown off to the side, bolts slamming into the wall next to it. Following up, Rookie hefted and aimed his SMG. It coughed a one-second burst. The machine staggered again, before a 14,7mm round punched clean through the glass beside it and tore through its side armor
The mechanical monstrosity collapsed, its CPU destroyed. Its sibling tried coming out to engage them, but blue blaster bolts peppered its frame before it even got to round the corner properly. Tup sighed, relieved, then lowered his blaster and said, "While I appreciate the ol' Slugthrower here and there, fellas, maybe let us get a kill some times. We're used to dealing with these clankers."
Buck snorted and said, "Fair enough..." before he ordered the rest of the team to push forward. Going down the rounding stairs, careful to not hit any trip-mines, the UNSC Commandoes and the Clones of the 501st that had been sent in to survey their combat prowess advanced to the next levels to clear them. Finding the rest of the place rather easy to clear. They exited at the base of the tower, through a broken window.
Another clone beside them, Kix, checked his HUD and said, "A little under two minutes. Not bad for a bunch of Basics..."
"Basics?" Buck raised a brow as they marched out in formation.
"New one Kix came up with," Tup replied with a grin behind his helmet, "Basic humans. Not clones like the rest of us..." to which the ODSTs let out a series of laughs. Tup had actually felt a small weight lift off his chest at that, noting to himself that he'd half-expected them to at least take a pop back at them. He was glad to have been wrong, too. Things didn't need to degenerate between newfound allies.
The next morning had found General Anakin Skywalker, one of the more 'infamous' officers of the GAR, actually having had a peaceful night's sleep for a change. Usually, the Droid bombers would've woken them up at around six AM local. It was seven-fifteen and there was no sign of enemy aircraft in the sky. What he was, however, greeted by, was the UNSC deploying a few more troops in preparation to assault the enemy's positions.
Tup appeared from the right, yawning, then saluted Anakin and said, "Good morning, sir. Guessing you figured it out and/or read the report from Kix, but the enemy observation post's out of commission. And it only took the fellas we just tagged along with two minutes to wipe it out..." causing Anakin to whistle, slightly impressed. Tup nodded, "Yeah, they do seem to be the real deal, so to speak."
"That's good to know," Anakin said as he and Tup walked over toward one of the UNSC's anti-air systems, noting that the wheeled vehicle's driver and a few Marines were playing cards. The driver, a woman, looked up, smiled and waved, to which Anakin waved back. Farther in the back, Skywalker also noticed that their troops had set up a medical tent of some kind. Next to it was one of the UNSC's gunships, a 'Pelican', he recalled the name. The thick, heavily-armored bird sat quietly there, clearly bearing the red marks of a medical ambulance aircraft.
Tup said, "They're getting settled in for the big one. I heard from Waxer that they're sending out platoons to reinforce some of the boys sat in our towers, too," as he watched some Clones sat in a corner, talking to each-other while a platoon of female nurses belonging to the UNSC Navy disembarked from another aircraft, each carrying medical kits and sidearms for self-defense.
"The enemy's been moving a lot of droids just North of us, so we'll probably be prepping to blunt an enemy assault," Anakin told Tup as they marched to the front barricades, "I don't blame them for wanting to be ready. We'll be moving out to back up an ambush Obi-Wan is setting up a few klicks from here, too." and he noticed one of the UNSC's M808B Scorpions sat there, cannon pointing out toward where the clones had told them enemies were.
The driver was sat on the vehicle's track, chowing down on a sandwich of some kind. He turned to the General and Clone and greeted them with a raise of the hand in which the food resided, before he went back to eating. Beside him, a young woman peered through a pair of binoculars while standing on top of the tank's next tread. She hummed, turned to the Jedi and nodded, before peering back through the scopes, her face impassive.
A clone in the place, Checkerboard, saluted Skywalker and said, "Good morning, sir."
"Morning, Check," The General replied, "Everything in order?"
"Yessir. Turns out these UNSC folk are pros. Not very talkative, but they've got the knowhow," He replied, then motioned to a high-rise building to the right. Both Tup and Anakin looked up at the place as UNSC troops were working on it. They removed the windows and set up weapon emplacements and what looked to be bags of sand. One of the troopers hefted a heavy machine gun's body onto his shoulder and carried it from one end of the corridor to another, before helping his buddies assemble it on the tripod.
Another was keeping an eye on the enemy and radioing positions to the fleet up above. A few more were talking to each-other about whatever it was UNSC Troops talked about. Tup hummed, noting the fact that, beside their basic interactions with the Marines, the UNSC mostly kept to themselves. While both he and Anakin understood this as early jitteriness, they needed to break the ice somehow.
"Good to know, then, Check," Anakin nodded. The com system attached to his left glove pinged. He looked at it, then sighed and said, "And that's probably Obi-Wan. You fellas keep this place secure and maybe try to chat up the Marines a bit. Breaking the ice is probably gonna help with the alliance, considering the few non-clone officers they've met so far are Jedi and an Admiral."
"Yessir," The two troopers brought their hands up in salute. Anakin nodded to dismiss them, then stepped off toward the base's command post. Check sighed and said, "Easier said than done," before noting the confused look Tup gave him. He clarified, "Chatting the Marines up. These folks are wound tighter than any clone we have around. I get what's up with them to a point, new factions and all, but you'd think they'd open up a bit."
A UNSC Marine walked by them, rifle in hand, and told them, "Give us a couple more days to get acclimatized," Before flashing Tup. She was a beauty of a woman and that seemed to have caught him off-guard. Ginger-haired, with gemstone blue eyes and porcelain skin that looked a little dirtied by combat, the young woman leaned her standard-issue Battle Rifle against her shoulder and explained, "We did kinda drop here outta nowhere. Gonna take us a hot minute to get our shit together."
"That's the first time I heard that expression," Check quipped as he stood next to Tup.
The girl snorted, "I'd suppose there's some differences in language, though I guess you can get what it means in the context."
"... Refers to you guys getting your bearings, right?" Check asked after a hot moment of thinking. The girl offered a nod and a bright smile to them before shifting and looking to the confused, maybe-slightly-red-in-the-face Tup. Check now noticed his brother had been quiet for a little over two minutes and elbowed him in the shoulder, "Hey, Tup, you good?"
Tup shook his head, "Huh? Yeah, sorry..." And he turned to Check. His fellow clone crossed his arms to his chest and gave a slight raise of his head. The body language, Tup had immediately understood. The trooper was grinning behind the opaque T-Visor of his helmet. For what reason, Tup only realized when he looked back at the UNSC Marine in front of them.
"Oh, right, shit," The girl face-palmed, then let out a short giggle at her own expense before stating, "Forgot to introduce myself. Corporal Jane Staten, UNSC Marines, 45th MEU off of the Infinity herself."
"She's a right heartbreaker! Watch your asses, clone boys!" The tank driver called out with a grin, having finished his sandwich. The two Clones blanked, only to be surprised by Jane lifting the central digit on her five-fingered hand toward the man, who laughed and boarded his tank. The officer with the binoculars shook her head, unimpressed, all while the two Clones continued to stare, dumbfound.
"That was private Järvinen. Our tanker," She sighed deeply, "Bastard likes making a lot of dumb jokes."
"I bet," Tup replied with half a mouth.
"Anyways. You guys got names?" She raised a brow at them.
Tup nodded, "Tup and Checkerboard. Nice to meet you, Jane."
"Likewise, Tup, Check," She smirked, "Those sound more like nicknames, though I, uh..." Then she became a little awkward, rubbing the back of her neck and stating, "I suppose, with Clones, it's only natural you guys would've probably been stuck with numbers early on, right?" and received nods from both boys. A short sigh of relief told them she'd been worried about offending them.
Check said, "Relax, Jane. Takes more than a question to phase a Clone," and crossed his arms to his chest. She couldn't tell, but he was smiling behind his helmet. He then looked to Tup and voiced jokingly, "Of course, some of us get flustered more easily than others..." garnering a glare from his brother and confusion from Jane. She giggled at the quip.
"Fair enough, I guess," She said, then checked a digital watch on her hand and went bug-eyed. She cried out "Oh, shit, I'm supposed to be running a patrol with Vic and Paul! See ya fellas later!" And waved, flashing a short smile at Tup before running off. Tup's shoulders sagged, while Check started laughing loudly at his brother's expense. Tup turned to him, glaring again.
"What was that about?" Laughed Check. Tup rolled his eyes.
"Listen, you tell me you didn't get a flutter when you saw her and I'll call your lie out," The clone replied with half-a-mouth, which further exacerbated his brother's laughter. He sighed and planted a palm on his face, "Why do I even bother...?" before pausing as he heard the roar of jet engines up above. Two more Pelicans flew in, heading for landing pads nearby and disgorging another pair of platoons.
One of them was being led by a dark-skinned man with a cigar in his mouth, a shotgun in hand and heavy-duty green armor. He called out, "Alright, Marines! Looks like the Admiral decided he needs us to help your fellow Forty-Fivers kick some ass down here! Docs, go to the Med tent and report in! Riflemen, go find the main defensive line and set up with the Clones!"
While Tup, Check and the clones on the forward line seemed a little dumbfound, the Marines cheered the arrival. The man marched up to Captain Rex and Commander Cody, gave them a salute and said, "You two must be the Clone officers Buck told me about. I'm Sergeant-Major Johnson, UNSC Marine Corps. Where are me and my boys bunking for the battle?"
Rex, although surprised, nodded to the brash Sergeant-Major, then said, "I'm Captain Rex and this is Commander Cody. General Kenobi just told us you were coming in, Sergeant, and we're glad to have you. As for where you'll be bunking, well, where the rest of your men are. West Wing of the base. We have some free barracks there, still..." all while Cody seemed a bit surprised.
Johnson gave a nod in thanks, took a deep puff from his cigar and blew the smoke off to the side, not in the commanders' faces. He saluted again, which got the Clones to do the same, before flashing them a grin full of pearly whites and stepping off. Rex and Cody looked to each-other, then Cody stated, "Him and Skywalker are gonna get along like two peas in a pod, I can already tell."
Rex hummed and nodded, "Knowing General Skywalker? Very likely you're right. Seems like just his style of trooper..." before motioning to Cody to follow him toward Tup and the others. The airfield near-by the base had also become a UNSC hive of activity. They saw a pair of Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles launching off the short runway, carrying AGMs on their bellies and highly-advanced cameras and sensors. Rex hummed and said, "That's a lot of military assets they're focusing here..."
"They have an army aboard their fleet, Rex," Cody replied, "I'm not surprised they're assigning several units here. Admiral Yularen, at least, must've briefed them on Christophsis's importance... Not a lot of places where you have a mining guild this powerful, or this many resources localized into one system..." He then supposed as they marched forward. In the distance, a rumble thundered as one of the UCAVs presumably let loose one of the missiles. Poking the enemy, were they?
That wouldn't bite them in the behind, right? Right?