[FIN] Star Wars: Invisible Hope

[Sabretooth]

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STAR WARS

 

INVISIBLE HOPE

 

It is 2 years after the revealing of the SEPARATIST conspiracy and the beginning of the CLONE WARS. The JEDI fight droids alongside the faithful Clones, while the Separatists use guerilla tactics to evade and attack the REPUBLIC.

 

LT. WEFIVE, a former ARC trooper with limited experience is sent into the fray of battle on the outer rim planet of DURANKHIA. His squad dispatched from the Republic captial CORUSCANT, they travel a long distance to Durankhia.

 

Troubled by the unexpected arrival of the CLONES, the Separatists decide to ambush the Clones on Durankhia. Lying hidden and using the element of surprise, they wait for the coming of the Republic...

[Sabretooth]

The planet of Durankhia, situated in a faraway sector of the outer rim, is a treasure chest. A planet of humongous size, Durankhia was generally ignored through the ages, despite it being rich in both water and other vital minerals. It’s mines could dig up huge amounts of ore and unearth rare minerals considered to be extinct. But before the Galactic Republic could set its eyes on the planet, the Confederacy of Independent Systems was already there.

It was a time of great turmoil as the Clone Wars were waged across the galaxy. Mindless droids fought the born-to-fight Clones in a variety of environments and conditions. But not all were mere battles and skirmishes, some managed to become legends. Although nobody recognized them, nobody credited them and nobody rewarded them, they crossed the line of victory and brought to their faction triumph over all odds, some considered to be impossible.

Unlike what the Separatists were made to believe, not all clones were equal. Two more secretive and distinct classes of clones existed behind the curtain of battle, executing important missions and blowing the Separatist chance of victory. The Commandos were an elite squad that performed several important operations during the Clone Wars. Consisting of several four-man squads, their presence was almost unknown as were their identities and missions. However, they were not the first to be sent into battle as an elite fighting force.

The ARC troopers, who looked hardly different from standard Clones, were supposedly the original commandos. Intelligent and self-thinking, ARC Troopers weren’t as obedient as Clones and were used extremely sparingly. When the Commandos took over their job, the ARC Troopers were released and made captains, lieutenants and even Commanders.

 

One such ARC trooper was Lieutenant W-E5S, commonly known as Lieutenant Wefive. Lt. Wefive and his seven-man squad skimmed the dull Durankhian plain on a gunship. There were some hills and mountains on the distance and threatening ditches and dikes peppered on the plains. Wefive stood by the door, holding on the ceiling handle, scanning the horizon. His squad consisted of three anti-armour troopers, a sniper and three standard soldiers. The gunship was packed. Hovering in the atmosphere of the planet was RAS Shred’da, which was partially visible from the surface.

There was already a squad on the surface, a twenty-man team of troopers including some anti-armour and recon troops. They had arrived on a Troop Transport ship, which passed the ship as Wefive’s gunship approached the surface. The RAS now had no spare troops and just enough crew to keep it running. Lt. Wefive himself felt something was fishy when only twenty-five men were sent to the planet. Scans had shown that the planet was largely uninhabited, organically or otherwise. A Separatist base was presumed to be hidden in a bunker below open plain. Its exact location was not determined, as was the number of droids.

Lt. Wefive and his squad reached their post, a great slope culminating in a vast depression that spread till the horizon. Units were posted on various points along the slope, behind sharp boulders and rocks, crouched and lying. Sergeant Ac-25G and Sergeant FJ22-I stood out on the top of the slope, surveying the landscape with their binoculars. Lt. Wefive’s gunship sped towards them and slowed down considerably just some ten meters behind them. It turned, deploying the troops. Lt. Wefive jumped out.

“All, get into position!” he barked.

“Lieutenant, we have had no sightings yet. How should we proceed?” Sergeant Ay-see asked.

“We’ll wait and watch. If those Nemoidians have got at least a quarter brain, we’ll see them rushing in at us with a thousand droids.”

“Sir, I say we rush ‘em. They’re probably unarmed and calling for reinforcements.”

“Maybe. I’ve notified Shred’da to keep an eye out for Battleships or Cruisers.”

Sergeant Eff-jay put his binoculars down. “I’m picking up faint heat signatures. Droids. Approximately,” he looked back into his binoculars “fifty… maybe seventy or so. Up to a hundred at the most.”

Lt. Wefive strode down the slope majestically barking out orders to stay alert and keep an eye out into the depression. Both Sergeants took up position. Lt. Wefive stood right in the middle of the slope, surrounded by clones in cover. After some minutes, the horizons were filled. Droids advanced, marching steadily. Battle droids marched in front, while the more deadly Super Battle Droids marched behind them, their rocket-wrists on standby and their ominous gaze targeted on the twenty men that stood on the slope, awaiting their onslaught.

“Anti-Armour, set up shields!” Lt. Wefive ordered. Six anti-armour troops took off at full speed and took out their retractable shield generators. They took out the little devices and pressing a button, activated a bar. After spending some time calculating the distance and orientation, the troops set them up and blue shields lit up, blocking any and all energy projectiles from the droids’ side. Anti-Armour troopers ran back in and set themselves up.

 

The Battle for Durankhia had begun.

[Sabretooth]

The droids advanced relentlessly, as if the shields had made no difference. The Super Battle Droids readied themselves, aiming their wrists at the clones. Battle droids raised their blaster rifles and their sharpshooters took aim. Snipers separated from the mass, attempting to take cover before they get blasted to smithereens. Anti-armour droids crouched on a knee loading their rocket launchers. The other droids moved around them with a chilling silence. The mass closed in, now only a hundred metres away from the first shield.

“Fire!” Lt. Wefive announced, and blue blaster fire erupted from the slope. The droids, seemingly undaunted by the shields, opened fire which was effectively blocked by the shields. SBDs fired their wrist-mounted blaster cannons, which too were stopped. Droids fell and broke, oil splattered around and yet the tan-and-grey mass of droids loomed closer. Clone snipers aimed and shot accurately, aiming for SBD heads. The droid snipers, too found their way around the shield and began shooting the slope. Their sharp fire got a trooper, who was shooting off mercilessly.

“Take those snipers out! Anti-Armour on SBDs!” Sgt. Eff-jay barked. The droid snipers were blasted easily, as they had failed to take cover. Anti-Armour troops slid down the slope and took appropriate cover. Taking off their bulky rocket launchers, they reloaded them and fired at the SBDs who were hit rather badly and flew around like play-droids. Unfortunately, an inexperienced clone’s fire landed straight on a shield generator, eliminating the third shield and his chance for promotion. As the others cursed him, he shot down battle droids.

The battle droids began entering through the shields. By now there were only a couple of clone casualties, but the number of downed droids was beyond count. Wind struck suddenly, toppling dead parts and rocks alike. SBD torsos that were still firing and limping flew away. Lt. Wefive ordered all to seek cover from the wind. But he used the wind to his advantage. The wind was going perpendicular to the battle droid charge. Lt. Wefive took out a couple of thermal detonators and threw them into the wind. They flew fast, and hit the left flank of the invading force. However, the blast broke the first shield generator as well.

There were only some twenty droids left in full condition, when the last droid entered the shields. The battle was now in full swing with radio chatter everywhere and unpredictable gusts of wind in almost any direction. Clones were strong and fought till their last, leaving very little room for casualties. The Battle droids were defeated easily, but the SBDs were unstoppable. Rockets had been used up and using grenades was far too dangerous in the close-quarters battle. Snipers made easy targets for the SBD cannons as did the close packs of clones.

A good forty-five minutes had passed since the beginning of the battle when the last battle droid was shot and destroyed. Then began a scrutiny to check for any surviving droids and the number of casualties. Eventually, it was found that the Clones had suffered only but six casualties in total. The fourteen-strong squad now stood victorious in the battlefield of scattered metal and splattered oil.

 

“This is Lt. W-E5S! RAS Shred’da, do you copy?”

“We copy, Lieutenant! Report status.”

“We faced a seventy-five strong droid charge. We have six casualties and our ammo is a little out. We have no readings of further hostilities.”

“Understood, Lieutenant.” The static, which was mild up to now grew and the communication was being interrupted.

“RAS… RAS? Do you copy? We need further advice… RAS Shred’da!?”

The static was now too much to continue communication. Lt. Wefive turned his comlink off and looked about, considering what could’ve broken the communication. He glanced upwards. A gunship was approaching in their direction and the Republic Assault Ship was seen, pointing out into the infinite space out of the Durankhian atmosphere.

The clones now looked over at the slick gunship approaching and there was silence for a while. Lt. Wefive stood firm, gazing at the gunship. The silence was broken soon. Sgt. Ay-See had spotted something and expressions of awe escaped his mouth and into his comlink. “What is it, Sergeant?” A trooper asked.

“Enemies! Mechs! Spider droids, a couple of hailfires and a mammoth droid army is advancing, sir! We don’t have a chance!”

Lt. Wefive checked on his own visor. The vision took some time to be activated, but it was clear, the forces advancing towards them were droids and mechs were their vanguards. The gunship landed, but no one saw it. The first spider droids became clear on the horizon. Tall, stilted droids with a deadly laser arsenal. Their smaller counterparts, the Advanced Dwarf Spider Droids (ADSDs) trudged along, their hungry cannons scanning for targets. And then rolled in the Hailfire Droids, a missile battery between two tilted wheels moving at breakneck speeds.

Lt. Wefive took a step back and began full retreat. “All! Board the gunship and get out of here! This is too much for us!”

The clones rushed towards the gunship, as the clone pilots frantically made communication with Lt. Wefive. “Sir! Our gunship has capacity of just upto ten. Your party looks… bigger than ten.”

“You will follow my orders, you understand? We’ll get into the ship, and you will fly us to RAS Shred’da. Now shut up.” Was the reply he got. All he could answer was a typical “Yes, Sir.”

As soon as the last troop set foot on the gunship, it lifted. Troops stood inside, clutching the ceiling handles, some sat on the edge of the gunship. Four positioned themselves in the turrets. The droids were clearly visible now and the bigger droids were much closer now. The gunship, after reaching a particular height, turned towards RAS Shred’da and began it’s high-speed burst.

Immediately laser fire burst from the surface and was responded by frantic shooting from the gunship and its turrets. But it was too late, as the Hailfire missiles trailed the gunship and eventually it was hit. Luckily, it was one of the turrets that was hit. The second one missed it. A third finally connected the gunship at the middle of the bottom. A fourth hit the jets, causing a huge explosion. Clones fell from the gunship, and Lt. Wefive found himself cursing the droids.

Clone pilots hit the buttons, but it was over. They knew it was over. The gunship was losing altitude and the high-speed wind was only increasing the already fast gunship. The ground loomed closer and closer. Nobody said a word, but all expected the moment, when the gunship would hit the ground and a ragdoll-fest would kill all clones. It was there, in that moment of terror that a news of hope arrived.

“Sir! Our Repulsorlift is still active! We can hover over this planet, sir! But it’s gonna be hard. The repulsion would…”

Before the pilot could finish his sentence, the ship’s repulsorlift kicked in and the ship bobbed up and down, before reaching a level altitude above the surface. More troops fell out, but the impact wasn’t much. The gunship was now a much slower pace and nearly down. Suddenly the repulosrlift fell and the ship dropped to the surface, grinding to a halt. Clones lay scattered around, marking the path the ship travelled. Some lay fallen on the ground, some were getting up, rubbing their heads.

Lt. Wefive got up and scanned himself. His armour was dusty and so was everybody else’s. The droids were just a line on the horizon and their mechs were tiny silhouettes. The gunship was badly damaged and one clone pilot had suffered fatal injuries. The other dropped out of the devastated gunship. Lt. Wefive switched on his comlink, which was enveloped in static.

“All troops, regroup at me! All troops, regroup! We are going to make it through this. We are, believe me!”

 

Nine troops limped towards the lieutenant. Sgt. Eff-jay wasn’t with them.

[Sabretooth]

Smoke arose from the burning gunship. It was black and charred. Lt. Wefive glanced up at RAS Shred’da, which was almost out of the atmosphere.

“What the- They’re evacuating? They’re just leaving us here?” Lt. Wefive asked, a hint of rage in his voice. The clones looked up at the great Assault Ship as it’s ion engines lit up and it began a steady flight out of the atmosphere. Communications were down as the droids had seemingly brought in some sort of a jamming device with them. There wasn’t any ship in sight, no transport, no gunship. On the horizon, the droid armies advanced ominously. Lt. Wefive knew it was time to act.

“Alright, we are ten here. We have no ship. All, report ID.” Lt. Wefive ordered.

In turn, each member announced their ID and status:

“Trooper IF-H763 ready, sir. Minimal damage.”

“Sniper 4F-KAS ready. Injured left hand.”

“Sgt. Ac-25G ready. I have an injured leg.”

“AA trooper RPS-101V ready, battered armour, minimal damage.”

“Recon 55-YUI ready, medium ammo, injured hand.”

“Recon 4R-KJ, I’m ready but I have damage on my left limbs.”

“Recon RRT-F9, ready, minimal damage.”

“Trooper WX-BB5 ready to fire, sprained ankles”

“Trooper DDS-RM3 ready, minimal damage.”

“AA Trooper PSS-322S ready, minimal dama- damage.”

 

Gathering his squad, Lt. Wefive scanned the horizons. To their south was a large mountain, with two peaks, one higher than the other. They weren’t very tall, possible some 1000-2000 meters high. To their north, north-east and north-west were an impenetrable wall of droids, grey, beige, tall and deadly. The east and west were plains, rocky and endless.

Lt. Wefive knew there was only one place he could take refuge in, and that was the great mountain that lay to their south. “Alright, everyone. We’re going to that mountain there. It isn’t far. No complaints.” Nobody even felt like complaining. Lt. Wefive was racing with questions as he began the slow march towards the mountains. “Why had the RAS left them there, stranded? Did they call for reinforcements? Why were only thirty soldiers sent to recon and capture an enormous planet? Was this a covert operation? Did the high Commanders even know of this operation?” He couldn’t find answers to even one question.

The wind was travelling slow most of the time, but sped up soon, as if siding with the Separatists. The droids were still at a distance, though the Sniper 30X scope could find faint details of the droids. Outlines of Spider Droids and Hailfires were seen at a distance. Even the hailfire droids were moving relatively slowly, unlike their usual rash, high-speed behaviour.

The Clones trudged on, leaving behind all injuries in a desperate attempt to survive this planet. Their hopes were low, but they were Clones. They would never say no. They had a duty to protect the Republic at all costs or die trying. Lt. Wefive, although being a former ARC, was true to his faction. He was just as obedient as any other clone, but had a mind sharp enough to know what was right and wrong. It was this mind that substituted his lack of experience.

After traversing for some two hours, the Clones finally reached the feet of the great mountain. The path was luckily, easy. The initial slope was gentle, but rose suddenly. Spires jutted out at random locations. Finding a path wasn’t hard. Lt. Wefive gave some basic information on climbing as he made his way through the spires and boulders. His blaster was in it’s sheath and he was using both hands to get a good grip. The slope rose and at some places there was even sheer cliff wall.

The clones were good at climbing. Mishaps were very rare and recon troops got the added bonus of their jetpacks. The sun was low and nightfall was only a few hours away. Lt. Wefive watched the sun, tiny, above the sea of grey and beige droids. He was sitting on a boulder, awaiting for his entire squad to reach his location. He had sent recon out, hoping that they would find some cave to hide in. He knew he had made some good decisions up to now. The mountain would give great defence against the droid army. Droids were clumsy and it was impossible for them to climb steep slopes.

Recon troopers arrived before long. The squad had settled in on a flat surface, about halfway to the summit. Although it was a good place, it was very vulnerable and offered hardly any defensive support. They lamented, talked about strategies, their exploits and what-nots. Some boosted the morale and an occasionally laugh brightened the place, where at times they were reminded that their survival here is impossible. As soon as Recon troopers arrived, Lt. Wefive jumped up. “So?” he asked. “We’ve spotted a large cave, empty. All of us can fit in. It faces East, so we’ll have to turn. 4R-KJ devised a path leading to the cave. He’ll transmit it to you now. RRT-F9 is back at the cave, keeping watch.”

The party rose and marched almost mechanically. The march had considerably tired them out and no-one had even considered having a drop of water or a light bite. The cave wasn’t very far. The path was easy and was level most of the time. There were a lot of fissures in the rock and at times a cliff wall would meet them at their right, which they would hug to advance. The sun was almost setting and the sky was enveloped in violet-blue, with some pink and amber towards the west, where the sun was ready to depart. No sooner did the party plop down on the hard cave floor than they began shuffling for emergency rations and water. Taking off their helmets, they set them aside and laid to rest, depleting their resources. Lt. Wefive sat on a boulder, his helmet still on him. Finally, he took it off and kept it beside him and stared into the vast sea of stars. Sgt. Ac-25G and the Recon troopers sat nearby, planning the next day. Lt. Wefive paid heed to the conversation, but didn’t let anyone know he was. As the night continued, the Clones slowly dropped asleep. One clone was appointed the night watch and had to sit at the edge of the cave, trying to keep his eyes from falling. Even the intimidating Lt. Wefive got tired and fell asleep on the harsh cave floor. A day that started as usual had ended as a perfect disaster. Now there were few things that could save his squad from being wiped out.

[Sabretooth]

When Lt. Wefive got up, it was still night. The night watch sat at the edge of the cave, his legs dangling in the open. Lt. Wefive got up and took off his helmet. He took a sip of water and sat beside the night watch, 4F-KAS. Foureff was about to nod off when he heard the lieutenant settle beside him.

“See anything?” Lt. Wefive inquired.

“Nothing of interest, sir. Just those damned lights in the distance. Droids, obviously. They’ll reach this place by dawn, by my reckoning.”

“Well keep an eye out and tell me if you see anything suspicious.”

 

Lt. Wefive stared out into the distance. The bright white moon was in the sky and was illuminating the ground. The moon was close and huge. The second moon was much smaller and farther, it looked like an asteroid compared to it’s companion. Lt. Wefive tried to sort out things. RAS Shred’da had left them without as much as an attempt to save them. It was as if they thought the squad was wiped out. The command could only come from Captain FRI-90X, or Capt. Fri-9, as he was called. Capt. Fri-9, too was an ARC Trooper once and had great aggression. He had a brilliant mind, but his ego was his highest priority. Wefive and Fri-9’s rivalry went back to their ARC days, when Fri-9 would often consider Wefive unskilled and inexperienced.

The thought was crazy, but it was a possibility. Fri-9 always hated Wefive, but would he have risked an entire operation just to see his rival fall? And then a realisation hit Wefive harder than a missile: It was a covert operation. The high command didn’t know of this. No wonder, Wefive thought, it was a kamikaze mission. Wefive was never supposed to return. It was all Fri-9’s scheme, a brilliant scheme to eliminate his rival, who had come close to attaining his own rank. “Then I must prove myself.” Wefive thought.

 

At the first light of dawn, the night watch got up and hurried to the dozing Lieutenant. “Sir! They’re here! At the foot of the mountain, sir!”

Lt. Wefive jumped up and put on his armour. The others got up too and readied themselves. Recon was already up, a little outside the cave entrance. They rushed in as Lt. Wefive was barking orders to his comrades. “Sir, we did some pre-dawn scanning. There is another peak. It is at a distance, but it has a flat top, with a short wall. We can use it as a sort of stronghold, sir! We have recorded the path… there! I’ve transmitted it to your visor.”

“Good… good. It’s a good barricade. Alright, we’ll get to the peak, but I have a job for you Recons.”

“Sir!”

“Out in the distance, over there to the west, is a bunker. It’s a bit far and it’s hidden, but you should be able to access it. I think it must have communication devices. Try and contact the nearest RAS or RCP/S (Republic-controlled Planet/System). Disable these droids and blast the bunker. See if there are any Battleships around and see what you can do about them, otherwise warn the Republic. Remember! We have to make it out of this one alive, and that means absolutely no compromise. I’m trusting you guys.”

“Sir!”

The recon troopers made a slight bow and equipped their blaster rifles and reloaded them. After making last-minute checks and adjustments, they headed out one by one. Running at full speed, they jumped out from the mountain and used their jetpacks to fly at a low altitude. They were just three and given the cover of a few bushes, they flew or ran cover to cover. The droids hadn’t noticed them, and the bunker was only but a mile or so away.

 

Lt. Wefive was on nearing the top of the mountain. The droids had reached the feet of the mountain, but were unable to traverse further without toppling over. The battle droids were a little more agile, but were crushed easily by falling boulders which the Clones threw in their way. The Super Battle Droids advanced, but found it hard to get through. Anti-Armour and Snipers took their positions at the mountain base and fired at any Clone sighting. The eight clones travelled a spiralling way to the top, grabbing the semi-steep mountain and evading the droid lasers.

Hailfires set up themselves a on the mountain base, after attempting to climb it. Aiming correctly, they mass-fired their rockets on the mountains, where erupted huge showers of stone and dust. Spider Droids zapped the spiralling way, killing the last Clone.

Soon enough, LT. Wefive set himself up on the top of the mountain, and found the natural wall rather useful. Anti-Armour fired accurately, blasting open a couple of Spider Droids and then destroying one of the wheels of a Hailfire. Snipers shot SBDs and Battle Droids, occasionally targeting the red optical clusters of mechs.

 

55-YUI set himself up against a bush, firing off at the droid guards. His comrades 4R-KJ and RRT-F9 delivered laser fire into droid heads. With the last droid destroyed, they crept into the bunker, but was locked. Setting up a charge, they stepped back and let it explode, opening the door and entering. Starting their cloak, they stood in the crept through the dim-lit corridor. “Kay-jay, find the power generator and destroy it on my command. Ar-ar, go find the bloody Nemoidian in charge of this base. Assassinate him, but only after my command. Use cloak sparingly and try not to attract attention. We’re going to do this one quietly.”

[Sabretooth]

Yui secured his blaster rifle and crept through the rising corridor. It was dimly lit and occasionally the lights would flicker. The dim lights worked well to support Yui’s cloak. Unfortunately for Recon, the Separatists hadn’t thought of making a compact map of the bunker. The corridor ended in a door, which opened suddenly as Yui was a few metres away. Droids marched in, but their sensors couldn’t detect the Recon trooper. They were ten in number and marched in two files of five droids each. Seeing his opportunity, Yui ran as fast as he could and lunged in through the door, making a noticeable thud that drew the attention of some battle droids.

A blaster turret above suddenly began to scan it’s surroundings and droids began to converse on what could have caused the thud. Yui cursed his recklessness and quietly settled into a corner. This room was probably some sort of a war room, since there were holographic maps of the mountains they were camping on and a great, green mass of dots that were making slow progress onto the mountains. Yui knew he had to work fast.

 

Some fifty metres away, Kay-Jay was crawling through an air vent, towards what he hoped was the power generator room. Finding an opening in the vent, he broke it and slipped in, turning on his cloak. He fell flat on his face, onto a chair. The chair dislodged from it’s stand and fell off. Kay-Jay rolled back and shot the primitive light bulb. The glass broke and the room fell into an eerie darkness punctuated by a few light sources on computers, desks and several other things. The door slid open and a couple of patrolling Battle Droids rushed in. Kay-Jay could see their silhouettes against the contrasting corridor.

“What was that?” One of the droids asked.

“Dunno. The light is supposed to be on.”

“Glass broken.”

“Investigate.”

“Roger, roger.”

Kay-Jay took this to his advantage and slipped out. The corridor sloped gently downwards and Kay-Jay followed it down to a level, perpendicular corridor. There were two arrowheads pointing opposite sides fixated on the wall. One said ‘Elevator’ and the other ‘Generator’. Kay-Jay took a left.

 

Yui pressed the buttons softly and disabled the holographic interface. His first objective was communication. The room was quiet and only four battle droids were in. Two blaster turrets hung from the ceiling. Yui pulled out his comlink. “This is Recon 1. 2, 3 Report Status.” He whispered.

“This is 3. I’m still finding that damned fellow. Must be in… in the tactics room or something.”

“2 here. I’ve reached the Generator, it’s the lowermost “room” you can say. It’s basically a power generator in a cavern. I’m ready.”

“1. I’m in the war room, two turrets, four BDs. Primary Objective.”

Yui shifted his focus to the job at hand. The communication procedures were complex, but Yui’s hacking skills came handy. Soon enough, he had bypassed the system and shifted the computer alignment to support the clones. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the computer that made the Separatist war strategy. He made a scan using the RAS code – 910-IZH. The nearest entry came a good two minutes later. It was RAS-YT77X, which was about quarter of a parsec away, in the Inday system. Yui started communication with it. Communication took away a lot of precious time. Five minutes passed, and Yui’s comlink buzzed.

“3 here. I’ve found the Nemoidian. Katec Naal, a novice war strategist, according to his database bio. I’m following this fellow around. Give me the order and he’s off. Make it fast.”

Yui told him to wait a bit more and a few seconds later, a scratchy communication started. It was louder than Yui had hoped, but luckily the droids didn’t mind.

“This is Captain DT-G21, RAS Refnam. Who is this, over.”

“Recon 55-YUI here. I’m on Durankhia, Hrindaam system. Under Lieutenant W-E5S. Get your ship over here. We’re almost losing. Transmitting co-ordinates.”

“Durankhia… never heard of it. We’ll be there in about an hour, it isn’t far and we’re done here. Didn’t know there was an operation over there, out.”

“Didn’t know there was one myself” Yui thought.

 

Atop the craggy cliff, Lt. Wefive shot down his fifteenth SBD. His ammo was running low as was everyone else’s. Sniper rifles had been discarded, and anti-armour too was discarded, due to lack of ammo. Lt. Wefive shot with efficiency, keeping his team’s morale up and hoping that Yui would get him some news fast. Soon enough, his comlink buzzed and Wefive activated it without hesitation.

“This is Recon 1, 55-YUI. I’ve contacted RAS-TT77X, Refnam. It’ll be here in an hour and you’ll have to hold on.”

“Great news, Yui! We can hold on, but our ammo stocks are running out and the droid army is huge!”

“There is a TF Battleship around there. We’ve told RAS Refnam to bang it.”

There was another message coming up, from Yui’s frequency, but it was open, so Wefive heard it anyways.

“Recon 2, 3. Primary Objective complete, repeat, PO complete! Proceed with secondary objectives!”

 

Kay-Jay planted the last demolition charge on the generator. He stepped back, out into the corridor and shut the door. He stepped back even more. His cloak shield had worn out, but he didn’t mind. He pressed the button.

 

A huge explosion rocked the bunker. Power died and computers were shut down. Only portable objects that had light were on. In another darkened corridor, a Nemoidian ran, surrounded by Battle droids. He entered a small room, which too, was dark. He panted heavily and his other Nemoidian buddy collapsed.

“What happened?” he asked in his Nemoidian tongue.

Suddenly, two bursts of blue laser lit the room.

 

 

Captain Deetee watched the high-speed light rays pass as he travelled to the co-ordinated given by the mysterious call. It wasn’t a trap, as the message came from a Republic Computer. But even if it was, RAS Refnam had enough firepower and men to counter it. He went over to a clone, who was working hard on his computer.

“How much more?”

“About half-an hour, sir. We’re making fast progress.”

Captain Deetee sat opposing a computer screen himself and made a scan for nearby ships. After about three minutes, the results showed an RAS ship far away, with the designation SF-21K, RAS Shred’da. It was moving towards Kamino. Another ship was found, a Trade Federation Battleship, around the coordinates YUI had given.

Captain Deetee gave the command to be at arms.

 

A cry filled the air as Sergeant Ac-25G fell. He was sniped in the shoulder and he collapsed back. Lt. Wefive saw him and hurried towards him.

“Sergeant! You’re hurt! We’ll…”

“No, sir. It’s… It’s fatal. I’ve heard about it. The laser… it…”

The Sergeant winced as surge of pain hit his body. He cried out loud again. Lt. Wefive took off the sergeant’s helmet.

Sgt. Ac-25 blinked, his eyes devoid of enthusiasm. They were the eyes of impending death. But he suddenly blinked faster and raised his head.

“They… They’re here!” he cried, pointing to the sky.

RAS Refnam made the steady approach towards the planet, firing laser up into space, towards a battleship barely visible to the clones.

The clones were distracted as the beacon of hope sailed the sky, delivering green lasers up towards the battleship. Lt. Wefive pulled out his comlink.

“They’re here! RAS Refnam is here! Mission Success!” he cried out to Yui.

The clones suddenly cheered as five gunships flew down towards them at full speed towards them. Their green laser turrets went active and charred droids. Two gunships headed towards the peak, landing on it and getting everyone on board. Another gunship turned towards the bunker, where they got Recon on board. The clones had been rescued.

 

It was ten minutes after the survival confirmations of Lt. Wefive and Recon Yui. Captain Deetee looked out of the gargantuan window, towards the sight that awaited. A Trade Federation Battleship that was exchanging fire with RAS Refnam. Below lay the ominous, large planet of Durankhia and all else was space, black with white spots. RAS Refnam was strong and it was withstanding the Battleship’s lasers easily. The latter on the other hand, was being bombarded. It wasn’t far now. The shields were destroyed and with some well-aimed shots, the Battleship would be up in flames. Lt. Wefive and the Recon team ran towards the window, awaiting the spectacle.

Just a few seconds later, the Battleship broke into two, like a toy. White plasma erupted from the broken part as explosions rocked the hull. The white plasma covered the ship and suddenly came the huge explosion, where the ship exploded completely and chunks flew in all directions. An explosion ring emerged, sweeping beneath RAS Refnam.

 

Cheers spread through the ship, as the the droids below, on the surface disabled.

 

The Clones had won.