I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters.
Missions
"Hey, you're RC-Five-Five-Six-Three, right?" Eila asked, stepping up beside Ace, where he was watching a group of clones with stun rounds struggling against Asha, who was doing nothing but standing still and deflecting their blaster bolts.
"Ace," Ace introduced himself. "It's easier to remember. Those commandos I took my final exam with picked it."
Eila nodded, smiling, and held out her hand. "I'm Eila."
Ace smiled, shaking her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. You were there when I woke up, right? It's a little foggy."
Eila nodded, smiling. "We were getting a tour on our way to oversee the clones' training and you suddenly got ejected from your pod. They said you haven't been aging as fast as you should, and that's why you're still so young."
"I see," Ace nodded, frowning. "That explains a bit. Any word on when we're going to be receiving orders?"
"It shouldn't be long," Eila assured him. "Although, I'm not sure when it'll be something that requires you all."
Ace sighed, nodding. "I figured." He glanced at the clones training against Asha again. "So, why are we training Jedi vs Clone? Isn't that a little...counter productive?"
"Not really," Eila shook her head. "She gets to train against blasters, and so do I when it's my turn, and they get to train against a lightsaber wielder, like the Sith."
"Are we expecting clones to have to fight Sith?" Ace asked.
Eila shrugged. "Master Nu teaches that we have to be prepared for anything."
"Master Nu?" Ace asked.
"Yeah," Eila nodded, gesturing at Asha. "Master Asha Nu."
"What's your last name?" Ace asked.
"Temra," Eila smiled, then did a mock curtsey. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Ace bowed dramatically. "Charmed."
Eila laughed just as Luminara slashed the last of the clones with her lightsaber, currently with its power reduced so that it would do no more damage than to leave a scorch mark on the clones' armor or a welt on their skin. Asha looked up at them and a small smile formed on her lips. As both looked down at her, she motioned for them to join her. Once they were in the room, she passed Ace an electrobaton, then as soon as he'd deployed it, she struck, forcing him to fight a hopeless battle against her, Eila joining him against her master after a few minutes.
Ace peeked around the wall carefully, watching the droids as they carefully, albeit clumsily, loaded the heavy ordinance into piles next to the massive starship cannons, each one of which had a bore half as wide as Ace was tall. They hadn't noticed him, and the one droid that had seen him had been close enough that he'd killed it with the concealed, nine-inch vibroblade hidden in the back of his right vambrace, which stuck out six inches ahead of his fist. It wasn't perfect, and it wasn't his favorite weapon, but it allowed him to kill droids fairly quietly when needed, so he was grateful for it.
"I'm in position," Ace said softly.
"So am I," Boomer agreed.
"Tactical Droid in sight," Crosshair agreed.
"Wait for my signal," Skipper said, going silent for nearly a minute. "Boomer, then Ace, then Crosshair."
A moment later, the floor lurched as Boomer detonated the first stock of munitions on the opposite side of the fortress from Ace. A second later, Ace's grenade launcher had set off his own, the blast obliterating the room and blasting the outer wall of the fortress wide open.
"All for-" the fortress's resident Tactical Droid began from an overhead P.A. system, only for a single shot to ring out from it before the system went dead.
"Target neutralized," Crosshair muttered. "Falling back to rendezvous."
"En route," Boomer confirmed.
Ace stopped, ducking into cover as a door ahead of him began to open. A moment later, as he'd slipped into an empty room with a trash chute, a platoon of Super Battle Droids began to stomp past.
"I have to take a detour," Ace muttered, heading for the trash chute. "Don't wait for me."
"Ace, that reactor is going to blow in five minutes!" Skipper hissed urgently. "Where are you detouring?"
"Trash chute," Ace answered as he dropped in, beginning to slide down the rectangular pipe rapidly.
"Ace, those have trash compactors at the bottom!" Boomer warned.
"That's what I'm counting on!" Ace grinned, imagining the confused looks on their faces.
A moment later, he crashed down in the trash compactor. He sighed, glad there wasn't too much metal, then reached up, sealing his suit to make it airtight for the next step.
"I'm going to override the compactor to vent all the trash, and me, out of the cruiser," Ace explained. "You all just have to catch me."
"Shit, Ace," Boomer chuckled. "You're crazier than me!"
"I'm powering the shuttle up now," Skipper reported. "Go ahead and vent."
Ace, who was rapidly crossing wires, finally managed to hotwire the purge protocol, venting the contents of the room into space. For a few minutes, he drifted in complete silence, the only sound being his own breathing. Then, the shuttle arrived and Boomer and Crosshair pulled him into the shuttle before it closed and repressurized, sound returning just as the shuttle fled from the impending explosion. And a few moments later, the Separatist cruiser erupted into a massive blast.
"We do good work," Boomer grinned, admiring the destruction.
The explosion itself hadn't been that spectacular, since they were in space, but it did scatter a ball of superheated plasma, which had glowed a brilliant red for a few seconds before cooling and scattering into oblivion. Ace unsealed his mask as he sat down beside Skipper, staring out at the stars.
"That was a good plan, Ace," Skipper admitted. "Well done."
"Thank you," Ace smiled. "But it was entirely your idea to have me and Boomer blast the munitions as a diversion to clear the reactor."
Skipper shrugged. "Let's go home, boys."
"It had to be the sewer," Boomer sighed, slinging muck and undesirable types of waste from his arms.
"Easiest way out of the facility," Ace shrugged, glancing at the young boy they had with them.
He had short, brown hair with all but a single braid buzzed, a light brown tunic, white pants, and dark brown leather boots with a dark brown outer layer on his tunic. And in his hand was a lightsaber, which was shining its blue light around them.
"Ace, you stick with the kid," Skipper instructed. "Crosshair, you're up front, Boomer, in back. "I'll support Ace and navigate."
Everyone arranged themselves instantly.
"What's your name?" Ace asked.
"Camren," the boy said nervously.
"Well, Camren," Ace smiled, pulling off his helmet. "We're going to keep you safe, alright? I know it's gross and smells bad here, but we're gonna go through here and get away from the droids, then we'll get you back to our ship, alright?"
Camren nodded.
"Alright," Ace said, pulling his helmet back on. "Douse the light."
Camren deactivated his lightsaber, and the clones all activated their night vision. Then, Ace drew his DC-15s and wrapped his free arm around Camren to guide him as they all began to follow the sewer tunnels. The facility they were escaping from had once been a Separatist fortress, but after the Separatists had been driven off of the planet, a small army of Trandoshan slavers had taken the fortress, wiping out the clones defending it and managing to kill the Jedi Master stationed there, capturing and imprisoning Camren as a slave. Ace and the others had been sent to liberate the padawan and get him out of the fortress before the fortress was cleared by the regular clone forces.
They hurried through the sewage, which was knee-high on Camren. They were careful to move at Camren's speed, but within a few minutes, Boomer began to spray into the tunnel behind them with his minigun. At the same time, snarls and splashes began to echo from ahead of them and a side passage they were just passing.
"Company ahead!" Crosshair warned, firing his DC-17m as a sniper rifle rapidly.
"Here, too," Skipper added, him and Ace firing down the side tunnel. "Crosshair, Boomer, switch to clear the front, then switch back!"
The two of them complied, and after about another minute, they were advancing, Crosshair reloading as they ran through the sewer. More and more Trandoshans began to swarm them from behind, but Skipper and Boomer kept them from being able to overrun them while Ace carefully aided Crosshair in the front. Eventually, Skipper traded his DC17m for his two DC-17s sidearms. Then, after nearly five minutes, they stopped as they reached a large, dry, open chamber, only to find the leader of the pirates waiting. He was the only member of the small army of slavers who wasn't a Trandoshan. Before them, standing in the center of the chamber in a shaft of light from the hatch above him, stood a Houk. It was a massive, seven foot behemoth with his entire body thick as tree trunks with muscle, a black, sleeveless shirt and pants, and a long whip made with a braided metal cable coiled up in his hand.
As Ace and the others all stepped into the chamber, the Houk grinned wickedly, letting the whip fall to the floor, then pressed a switch on its hilt, yellow electricity crackling along its length. Ace swallowed hard. A neuronic whip. A weapon that attacked its victims on a cellular level, causing unbearable pain. Camren stepped back, watching the Houk in fear.
"It's him," Camren whimpered. "He killed my master."
Ace glanced back, seeing the Trandoshans had filled the passage behind them, and more were forming up in the other three passages leading out of the room. There were dozens, still, and even if they killed the Houk, they'd have to kill all of the Trandoshans as well.
"Ace, can you handle this?" Skipper asked.
"We'll find out," Ace growled, stepping away from Camren and drawing his kal in his left hand, holding it in reverse grip.
"You can't beat him!" Camren whimpered.
"Don't worry, kid," Ace smiled. "I've got this. Stay with Skipper."
Camren nodded hesitantly, and Ace looked back to the front. Then, after taking a slow, steadying breath, he sprinted to the right, opening fire with his pistol. The Houk roared in pain as the first shot punched into his left bicep, but then he turned, lashing out with the whip. Ace stopped short, ducking, and the whip passed over him, then turned, charging straight toward the Houk. It grinned, snapping the whip back the other way, only for Ace to roll under it, firing a trio of shots into its gut as he regained his feet, then put his pistol away, having reached the Houk. It roared in pain and rage, swiping at him with its free hand, only for him to duck under it, slashing it along the side with his kal as he extended his right arm's vibroblade. He spun back the other way behind the Houk, slashing it across the back, and it spun, swiping a backhand at him with the hand holding the whip, but he again ducked under the swipe, slashing his forearm with his kal, forcing him to release the whip, sending it down one tunnel, catching and tangling around a handful of Trandoshans. The Houk roared, swiping rapidly with first one hand then the other, and Ace constantly avoided the strikes as much as he could, slashing anywhere he could reach with his blades. Finally, however, the Houk managed to catch him in a bear hug, beginning to crush him instantly.
"Bad move!" Ace forced out through gritted teeth, then drove his two blades into the Houk's head from opposite sides, piercing his brain.
The Houk grunted, releasing Ace just as Ace ripped his blades out, and Ace slashed the major arteries in the Houk's upper arms as well before using the Houk's shirt to clean his blades before retracting his vibroblade and sheathing his kal, looking around. The Trandoshans were all standing in stunned silence, and Ace readied his rifle again. However, after another second, the Trandoshans began to recover from their shock, advancing into the room with their massive variety of blasters raised.
"You'll pay for that!" one of them snarled.
Ace narrowed his eyes, the clones forming a circle around Camren. "Stay behind us."
"You think you're going to fight us all?" the Trandoshan sneered.
Just then, blaster fire began to echo from down the four tunnels, flashes of blue light strobing from behind the Trandoshans, those at the back of the groups shrieking in pain and surprise. The other Trandoshans spun toward the new threat instantly, only for Ace and the other commandos to open fire as well, rapidly slaughtering the Trandoshans in a very careful pincer attack. And as the last of the Trandoshans fell, Clone Troopers began to jog into the chamber around them, Eila at their head.
"Eila," Ace smiled. "Fancy meeting you here."
"I had a feeling you could use a rescue," Eila smiled, eying the Houk. "Was that you?"
Ace glanced at the Houk and nodded. "He's the one who killed this one's master." He set a hand on Camren's shoulder. "Eila, meet Camran."
Eila smiled, walking over and kneeling in front of the much younger padawan. "Hello Camren."
"Hello," Camren smiled, then looked up at Ace before hugging him. "Thank you for saving me."
"Of course," Ace smiled. "No one's killing a child if I have anything to say about it. Now, let's get you somewhere safe."
Camren nodded, and Eila ordered her forces to link back up with Asha and the rest of the clones, then accompanied Ace and the others in escorting Camren.
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