26th day of Month 15 ABG
Kuallue is finally seeing his first proper action within the Republic military, which is something that he's been waiting for over roughly a month and a half. However, he can't help but feel a deep sense of foreboding as his mechanical tank descends into the depths of the cliffside tunnel that the Republic has been digging. With Selbar's fortress-like construction, the Republic's careful blockade, and the ray shield barrier between the two, it's only natural to try to find other ways into and out of the city. The Babteer Pil have already had success with tunnels in the past, smuggling supplies into their town, and now it's the Republic's turn to use the same trick.
Using drilling equipment obtained from the MMC, they've been poking holes in the cliffside, directed toward Selbar, and apparently one of them is getting close to where one of the major wells is supposed to be. One of Sadiya's earliest lessons about military tactics is that wars are truly won not by soldiers or by technology, but by logistics.
"Water is usually readily available throughout the galaxy, but if an army somehow ends up without it, they won't last more than a few days," Sadiya had said. Celegians have somewhat different needs regarding their fluid intake, but he doesn't suspect that any more of his kind would be in Selbar. The primary goal is simple: Collapse the well, rendering it unusable, and pour in enough toxins to make the water table undrinkable. Of secondary importance, if they can climb the well undetected, it would provide them with a chance to strike at Grievous's forces from a place he wouldn't expect.
Should all go as planned, they'll end up in the Valmin Water Treatment Facility in downtown Selbar, with a prime chance to wreak havoc behind Grievous's front lines.
Hearing the sound of the drill up ahead, Kuallue and the clones marching beside him know the end of the tunnel is near. He will be leading three squads of jet troopers, and he'll be ready to also use his own repulsorlift for the occasion. Once they break through, they should be able to ascend quickly. Deep underground relative to the clifftop city of Selbar, their sound of drilling should not be heard easily by anyone above, and they've all refrained from using their comlinks in the tunnels as well. Though the messages are encrypted, the Separatists could still easily track their location if Kuallue or the clones dare to break com silence.
All told, Grievous should probably be expecting them to drill into his wells, and no doubt the straggling Babteer Pil who roam the wilderness of Bandomeer probably have reported seeing the outside of the tunnel. But they'll have no way of knowing when the attack would occur, or which of the three wells would be the target. Hopefully, the Separatists will guess wrong.
They finally reach the end, where a team of contracted miners from Liznob Bot are ready to operate the drill. "Greetings, Commander," the foreman says. "We've gotten close to where the ultrasonic sensors are detecting the well, and we're ready to clear out the last meter if you are."
Kuallue sends his approval telepathically while one of the clone sergeants responds, "We're always ready."
The miner continues, "As soon as we hit into the well, the water above us will begin to spill out. As instructed by General Keldon, we've dug a reservoir over there for it to flow into." He points to a hole in a wider, lower part of the tunnel. They nod and step off to the side, onto an elevated platform that has been dug out. At last, the drill turns back on, and the miners return to their work.
As they wait, Kuallue begins to examine the uneven, rocky tunnel once more, and he begins to wonder if it could possibly be the place from his vision just over a week ago. The exact details are wrong, for the cave of his vision was more winding, less man-made, but the ambiance is mostly right. The tunnel is illuminated by spots where the clones' and miners' helmet lamps point, while the rest is an ocean of utter darkness.
The voices are also not present: neither Sadiya, Djinn, Yoda, nor the mysterious man luring him toward the Dark side. However, all of their words reverberate through his mind right now. He wonders if this is to be the action that kills General Grievous, as the vision seemed to show, or if it could be the moment that leads him into the Dark side. Perhaps, it could be both.
According to most Jedi teachings, destroying or poisoning the water supply of a civilian town would almost certainly fall under the Dark side, but as Sadiya pointed out, this decisive action could ultimately lead to their surrender and a non-violent end to the siege. It could mean a Separatist defeat, Grievous's capture, and a Republic triumph on Bandomeer, potentially all without losing any more lives than they already have. The civilians could receive water imports after the battle was over. "If all of the outcomes were good, did I truly even touch evil?" That was the question Sadiya had asked him a few days ago, and it lingers on his mind.
Grievous's body may not be physically present at the end of the tunnel, but the chance to secure his capture is out there. But it is likewise with the warnings of Masters Yoda and Altis about the dangers of the Dark side. Perhaps today he can truly put those competing theories to the test.
At last, water begins to squeeze out from where the drill is digging. They are now getting very close, although the gap can't be wider than a few centimeters. The clones look on, eager but not impatient. It reminds him of how he looked at his son's Force training or Uyuo's burgeoning painting skills. In many ways, the clone troopers are quite like the Jedi: disciplined, emotionless, obedient to the Republic, and never knowing such a thing as parents. Maybe some of them would want to leave their duties behind to start a family, as he did. If they look at him with jealousy, suspicion, or disapproval, they don't show it, and he doesn't dare ask what they think of him. They probably wouldn't feel comfortable giving him an honest answer anyway,
The foreman says something that Kuallue can't hear over the drill, and the miners all step aside, onto the ledge with Kuallue and the clones, as the flow reaches its highest rate. It takes perhaps half a minute for the draining process to complete, and then one of the clone sergeants orders the miners to further widen the hole so that they can all get quickly in and out of the well.
In particular, that will be important for Kuallue, who's tank is far wider than the clones, even with their bulky armor and jetpacks. Now, however, there is much more urgency. The Meerians will notice the loss of water from that well and immediately begin investigating. It's only a matter of time before the soldiers start to barricade it. With the race now beginning, Kuallue leads the way through the hole, barely managing to enter his tank feet-first into it. The repulsorlift's stabilizers aren't exactly designed to operate with the tank horizontal, so he has to be steadied by the clone behind him until he enters into the pipe and the tank rotates upright.
Above should be the Valmin Water Treatment Facility, and there is no telling who could be waiting. He doesn't dare reach out telepathically to potentially give his enemies any further knowledge; he merely ascends in silence, save for the humm of the repulsorlift and the occasional thud of him hitting the side of the pipe, as there are only a few centimeters of room on either side.
It would be exceedingly unlikely, but if Grievous happened to be there, or if some Babteer Pil intelligence caught wind of the operation's details, he would be helpless unless the Force provided some forewarning. He doesn't see anyone above, although they might not even be visible with such faint light at the top of the pipe. The clones wait below, watching him ascend like he's some sort of bomb-sniffing droid. He reaches near the top of the pipe, bracing for anything…
And finds himself in a damp but empty stone cistern, sealed on all sides with only a small metal valve attached to some pumping machinery at one end. In situations like these, it might be nice to carry a lightsaber to cut his way out, but he instead calls out telepathically to the clones below, explaining that they'll need to use some of those explosives they brought to blow their way out of the top.
Collapsing and poisoning one well will be valuable, but it will not end the conflict so long as the Meerians have access to other wells and filtering facilities. Telekinetically, he grabs two detpacks which they hold out from below, and he brings them up onto the walls of the cistern. Time is limited, but he does his best to try to arrange them in a way that maximizes outward blast to one side while hopefully not exploding too far downward or collapsing the ceiling on them. Once the job is complete, he sets them to explode on a timer of thirty seconds and heads back down, to what should be a safe distance at the hole they drilled, and he tucks himself into it.
The first venture up was underwhelming, but once the detpacks explode and break open the tank, there will be nothing separating them from whatever enemy forces are awaiting, and Kuallue's crusade can truly begin. Perhaps, by this time, Grievous may arrive. Kuallue senses the detonation a second before it occurs, and he does his best to push the blast away from them and back at the wall of the cistern. Only a slight wave of hot air reaches to the depths below, and possibly smoke, although given the dark conditions and the fact that neither he nor the clones are breathing unfiltered air, there's no way to tell.
He simply ascends, returning to what he now can notice as light at the end of the tunnel. There's faint shouting in Meerian, but he can't tell if it's soldiers or workers. Suddenly, the Force gives him a warning of imminent danger.
He twists his body to try to get a better view upward through the small transparisteel window at the top of the tank, and he does so just in time to catch a glimpse of a small shadow dropping down from above. Through some combination of instinct or the Force he acts before he can even process what it is, shoving upward with a last-second telekinetic blast that knocks it back to the top of the pipe. A fraction of a second later, he hears the frag grenade explode, and tiny metal shards collide against whatever rubble is above. A few clatter against the durasteel on the roof of his tank, but thankfully, none of them penetrate any of his brittle transparisteel windows.
As he reaches the top, the rubble provides some degree of cover, but he can spot hands holding a blaster carbine pointing into one of the gaps created. He quickly shoves around the stone, collapsing a pile onto the gun and the arm holding it, thus neutralizing the threat. Perhaps Sadiya was onto something when she instructed him to lead this mission from the front. He sees another weak spot to his right, and he shoves again with the Force to create a proper opening as his four metal legs land on the building's floor. Simultaneously, he telepathically orders the clones below to jump up as well.
The jetpacks are much quicker than his repulsor, and within two seconds, the first jet trooper emerges from the well. The direction of the detpacks' explosion was fortunate, creating a sort of cover for them as they arrive in a dimly lit chamber, where Kuallue senses three enemy presences, one of whom he already trapped. Another tries to come around the pile, but he is quickly tripped by a subtle yet well-placed telekinetic push. A second later, the jet trooper finishes him off with a pistol shot to the head, evening the numbers at two each.
They step aside to let more clones into the room, and Kuallue continues stepping back as he watches a pair of them coordinate an attack around either side of the collapsed cistern. In unison they strike, almost as if telepathically connected. One is hit by a blaster bolt in the abdomen, and the other takes advantage of the easy chance to strike down the outflanked Babteer Pil soldier.
The latter shot is the only death that Kuallue senses, for it seems the plastoid-alloy of the jet trooper's armor absorbed the worst of it. He tries to step over in that direction to examine the bowled-over clone, but the arriving swath of additional jet troopers blocks his path. A few seconds later, he hears another blaster bolt end the life of the Babteer Pil soldier with the trapped arm. It's brutal, but they don't want to have any risk of someone slowing down their exit. The room they've taken is small, barely fitting the group, who is now packed shoulder to shoulder.
It was a surprisingly easy entrance, but there's little time to celebrate. He commands them to advance, and the clones quickly spill into a hallway at one end of the room. Kuallue tries to make his way toward the front of the group, so he can make the most use of his powers, but his mechanical legs are shorter and move slower than the clones' legs, so he finds himself quickly outpaced as they fan out ahead.
Perhaps their confidence has been bolstered too far by the swift early victory, but perhaps this aggression is necessary. He senses danger from behind, and a second later, he spots two B1 battle droids entering into the other end of hall before they are quickly blasted by clones.
He commands one of the squads, dubbed Beta squad, to head that way in case there are further threats from that end of the building. As for Kuallue and the other two squads, they come across a group of about a dozen frightened, sickly-looking workers at several more modern-looking durasteel tanks, who quickly raise their hands in surrender. The clones point their weapons but stand by. Kuallue orders the workers into the corner in response, and they hurriedly comply. He instructs one trooper to stay behind to ensure the captives don't try anything funny, while he takes the rest of the clones to look for an exit.
That doesn't take long before they find one, a pair of heavy durasteel doors at the end of a small vestibule, with two small windows looking out of each door. The clone at the front reports, "There's droids incoming from the street!" Kuallue immediately responds back wanting to know the quantity.
"More than we can fight through, sir," the sergeant responds, "and there's an AAT as well." That dramatically complicates things, Kuallue realizes. The Valmin facility should be reasonably defensible, but they could be in trouble if they take to the streets. Perhaps the chaos could work to their advantage, but it would also make it difficult to return. All told, he'd rather not throw away all their lives right now. He demands four troopers quickly try to jetpack onto the roof to act as snipers and defend their newly claimed building. As he gets closer to the doors, he can see that the droids are already close enough to make that difficult, so he hurls the doors open without warning.
Immediately, the storm of blaster fire from the vast droid army is unleashed toward them. Some of the clones, all while returning fire, try to take cover by backing against the sides of the vestibule. But Kuallue remains front and center, relying on the Force to defend himself. Just as many Jedi use their warnings from the Force to deflect blaster bolts with a lightsaber, Kuallue uses telekinesis as his shield, tossing objects into the volley. At first, it's two clay pots with small plants inside, but they are quickly broken up. He then does the same with the smaller pieces, and although it reduces his margin for error, they are easier to jerk around quickly.
Only a handful of shots reach through the cloud of debris, one of which strikes down a clone. If the soldiers are in any way surprised or impressed, they don't show it, and four of them take advantage to carry out his orders, charging through the door but remaining behind the debris until their jetpacks shoot them up onto the relative safety of the roof. Once they are through, Kuallue orders the clones to close the doors, and they quickly comply. He hovers totally motionless in his tank for a few moments, exhausted by the effort.
After taking a few moments to watch as blue blaster bolts occasionally find their way down onto the droids, he orders the clones to fan out and find windows to continue sniping away at their exposed adversaries. One of Sadiya's earliest lessons in warfare is that defense is vastly easier than attack. So long as they can maintain control over this building, the Separatists will be at a strategic disadvantage if they try to take it.
But with the Republic already having a numerical advantage on Bandomeer, Grievous can ill afford to waste his precious few soldiers on besieging the Valmin Water Treatment Facility. Indeed, the blaster fire begins to wane down, as the battle once again has worked its way into a lull. The streets around them are a no man's land. For either side to advance would be to put themselves at a disadvantage.
That stalemate drags on for the better part of an hour, during which Kuallue takes account of the initial battle and reports back to High General Keldon. Two jet troopers were killed, and another two suffered debilitating wounds that required them to be sent back via the tunnel. They have thirteen captives, all Meerians, one who is a soldier and a dozen civilian workers. Republic forces in the tunnel had plenty of time to successfully deposit all the toxins that they had planned on. It will render Selbar's water table non-potable without a high degree of filtration. Meerians have a high tolerance for heavy-metal poisoning, but Sadiya was careful to pick out a compound that would impact them.
Even before the siege, Selbar's facilities probably couldn't filter these toxins at sufficient scale, and they certainly won't be able to now, given the crude sabotage of their treatment facility performed by the clones above. Thermal detonators, detpacks, and the occasional blaster shots lack subtlety, and the clones are far from engineering experts, but they have enough resources to be a bit wasteful and just shoot, smash, or blow up anything that looks important. The Separatists will no doubt have some water reserve in tanks or bottles, but it will be finite. This shall mark the end of the conflict. But until then, Grievous will not be letting them off easily.
It takes roughly forty minutes, but Kuallue eventually senses danger. He orders all clones to their lookouts, preparing to snipe at anywhere that droids or Babteer Pil might be advancing. There are none to be seen. Finding a window of his own, the streets are empty.
He considered that perhaps the Separatists would make their approach by disguising soldiers in a crowd of civilians, but there are no crowds to hide in. Using taller buildings of their own to host snipers was another concern that one of the clones raised, although Selbar doesn't have much for skyscrapers. However, even if that were the case, the danger would feel less sudden and more constant. Kuallue is just about ready to conclude that they're simply gathering behind buildings and preparing for a massive charge, when everyone's comlink goes off.
"Missiles, incoming!" is the simple shout that echoes across Kuallue's tank and everyone's helmets. That was a final possibility that Kuallue deemed unlikely: Everything that Kuallue understood about Grievous is that he prefers to win with direct, blitzing attacks, engaging his enemies using his own two lightsabers whenever possible. He was always more than willing to sacrifice soldiers to accomplish his strategic objectives.
But as they frantically try to run towards lower and safer areas, Kuallue realizes that the missiles were really Grievous's only option. It completely sacrifices the water treatment facility, but the clones had already rendered it just about worthless anyway. This is the only solution to get the Republic out of his town without costing any of his limited reserve of soldiers. It will probably cost the lives of the Meerians inside, but it's the most strategically sensible decision from Grievous's perspective. Kuallue should have anticipated it more, but his only preparation against it is a last-minute telekinetic push, one that does his best to hold back the blast.
It is a small gesture, but largely unnecessary as the missile hit the building in the corner opposite to Kuallue. A half dozen clone lives are wiped out in an instant. He knows that more missiles and more deaths will be coming until they are able to completely evacuate back down into the tunnels that are safely below ground.
The second missile leaves a hole in the roof five meters to his left, and this one is close enough for him to hear the dying screams of three clones off to that side, plus a few more above. In death, they are reduced to a pitiable outcry, not unlike his son. They were never given any names, either.
He lets the surviving clones go first, for he is the only one who can put together any real defense of the building, however miniscule it may be. The bombardment is unrelenting. By the time they get to the fifth or sixth missile, it is one screaming toward the center, which could cut off access to the well and leave them all trapped to die in the onslaught. That cannot be. He pulls on it, yanking with every bit of strength in the Force to make it fall short of its target. The shove is slight and only lasts for a fraction of a second, but it will have to be enough.
The missile misses the well and smashes right into where the hostages are held.
Their lives are all ended by the weapon of the Separatist army whom they had been working to protect. War isn't very fair that way. They may have been working against Republic interests, but they weren't killing anyone. They had families expecting them to come home tonight. Kuallue feels sorrow for these civilian Separatists, but he knows enough of Grievous to be certain that the vile cyborg would not. He can sense him out there, close enough to observe the devastation with his own eyes.
This time, there is an aspect of sadness to his presence. No doubt, Grievous would've liked to achieve a total victory by taking the facility intact and personally killing Kuallue. But he simply cannot afford to do so.
As Kuallue descends into the safety of the well, he makes sure that he is the last one to leave. But despite all his efforts to help the clones escape, once he reaches the bottom, he can see only ten clones below. Not more than an hour ago, there had been three squads of jet troopers. The Republic has lost something today, but Grievous and the Babteer Pil have lost something far greater in their access to water.
In warfare, that's what's called a victory. But it certainly doesn't feel like that for Kuallue, at least not until Grievous is dead or behind bars.