Star Wars: A Clone's Tale/Chapter Five

19 walked down the row of troopers under his command. They were all seated in a gunship, awaiting the combat drop, and their first real mission. A week ago, Prime Minister Lama Su had announced to the entire clone army that their time had come and that those who were ready would be mobilizing. Now they were at their destination, an arid, desert planet called Geonosis, waiting for the signal. It had been ten full years since the clones of Gamma unit had been birthed into existence on Kamino, even though they were all biologically in their twenties. Over those years, they had all been constantly trained for combat. They were finally going to see if those years paid off. The whole of Gamma unit had been divided between two gunships for the drop. Lead was in one gunship, and his 2iC was overseeing the other. He had his comm set to the unit channel so those in the other gunship could hear him. He wasn't any more confident in his command capabilities than when he was first given the unit, but now he had two years of experience under his belt to call upon.

He spoke firmly and confidently, "Gamma unit, this is the moment we've all been waiting and training for. In just a few minutes, we are going into real combat for the first time. We are going to see if we've all been paying attention to our training. Get it in your heads now that this is real. It's not simulated anymore. You take a blaster bolt here, you will not be waking up from it. Let's be careful and watch each other's backs. The Republic has called upon us, and we will answer."

A metallic PA voice sounded throughout the compartment, "Gunship Gamma, clear for launch. Prepare for drop in five."

Lead silently counted off the five seconds as he took a seat and strapped in. Once he was secure, the ship shook, then dropped in the gravity. As they freefell into the atmosphere for several long moments, Lead rubbed his torso plate to feel for what was held underneath, making sure it was still there. Around Lead's neck, beneath his body glove, hung a Kaminoan charm of moment. The charm's other half, a charm of memory, sat on the head board of his bunk in the barracks. The two charms together formed a Kaminoan charm of fortune. Zalma Far had given the charm to 19 just before they left Kamino for Geonosis. The charms were both formed of a rare sea rock found only in the deepest part of Kamino's oceans, making them very valuable. Within the carefully carved and polished stones were small devices that gave them their particular roles. The charm of moment held a small holorecorder to takes stills with. The charm of memory contained a projector that displayed the stills in a slideshow-like manner. According to Kaminoan superstition, the charm of moment protected its wearer, but had a limited energy source and had to unite with the charm of memory to regain its power. It was the closest thing to a religion you could find on a scientific-minded world like Kamino. There were already holos of Lead's training in the charm of memory, fond memories he could look back upon in future years. The words that clung to Lead's mind were that Zalma Far called it "a hedge against the forgetfulness of time".

The gunship entered the planet's atmosphere and the side doors slid open. Lead unstrapped and leaned slightly out the door to look out, careful not to be caught by the wind. Beneath them, minor skirmishes were already breaking out over the desert landscapes. Places where Republic and Separatist forces had already engaged one another. They continued flying, part of a group of over a dozen other gunships and a several carryalls. As they flew, Lead looked in the direction they were headed to see a massive hive-like structure in the distance.

He keyed his comm to the pilots, "Pilot, what's that structure in the distance?"

The pilot's voice came back fuzzy, "Geonosian arena. It's the target. We're moving in for an extraction."

"Who are we extracting?"

"A Jedi strike team inserted into Geonosis not long ago. They were here to rescue a few of their own. Scans show they've been ambushed and require aid."

Lead banged his fist on the bulkhead next to him, "Fierfek! Why wasn't I briefed on this on the Prosecutor?"

The pilot sounded just as edgy, "Because this is a mission redirect. You were supposed to be down there with everyone else. You would've been briefed en route anyway."

Lead cursed under his breath and went back in the compartment and let his troops in on the situation. They didn't come out with any war whoops or battle cries. They all just simply acknowledged him with wrapped attention and a light nod. Lead went back to the door and waited. On the bright side, their maiden mission they were getting to work with Jedi. They were approaching their destination and fast. He looked at the ball turret just forward of the open door. The gunner was running a quick diagnostic on his weapon's targeting. The ball gunners were probably going to do all the work for this. The troopers would just need to help the Jedi in fast.

The holoprojector in the middle of the compartment floor came to life with a very important Jedi on the line, "Trapped, the Jedi are, in the arena. To safety, we must bring them. Strike when we arrive, we will."

Lead looked at the hologram as it vanished, "Was that who I think it was?" The rest of the unit nodded soberly. That cinched in Lead's mind just how important their mission was now. As they approached the arena and hovered, slowly descending inside, Lead could see just how bad this was. There was a group of about three dozen Jedi all gathered in the center of the arena, sabers lit and ready. They were surrounded by a good one or two hundred battle droids. Some of the droids were a configuration he'd never seen before, gray humanoid units with mounted weapons in their arms. The only non-Jedi in the friendly group pointed up at the gunships as they descended. Everyone and everything else looked with her. Now that their presence was known, there was no need in keeping it a secret. The ball turrets opened fire with tributary beams on anything that remotely looked like a battle droid. The wing turrets had also begun firing, making a total of four tributary beams to work with. The beams raked across enemy droid formations, reducing whole groups to piles of junk in moments. The gunships came within a meter of the ground and dropped some troops to cover the Jedi.

Lead tensed as their gunship came near the ground, "I want three men down there with me. The rest of you, help the Jedi in fast." Within a meter, he jumped down and landed in a crouch, firing at droids as fast as his rifle would cycle. Three others followed him. Four Jedi ran past him to the gunship. He ignored them and kept shooting at the droids as they came. It was an extremely target rich environment. They were everywhere. The only thing preventing him from acquiring a good thirty kills off the bat was reloading.

Once the Jedi were clear, the pilot open his comm, "Hop in. We're pulling out." Lead ordered his troops to get in. He was first into the gunship and helped the others in. 28 was withdrawing to the gunship when a group of six of the newer droids opened up on him, peppering his back with heavy blaster fire. His armor caved and he went down before he even knew he was dead, his body landing just shy of the door. 19 cursed silently and gave the pilot the all clear. Their first casualty. Lead reached down as the gunship began to ascend and grabbed 28's lifeless corpse. He wasn't going to leave him to rot on this Force forsaken rock. He would be given a proper burial. As Lead hefted his fallen brother into the compartment, he felt the weight of the body disappear, then float onto one of the med gurneys on its own. He looked back in the ship to one of the Jedi.

The Jedi gave the clone an understanding nod, "I know what it is like to leave a comrade behind." The Jedi, an Iktotchi, moved closer to Lead, "I am assuming command of this unit. What is your designation?"

Lead was more than willing to relinquish command over to a Jedi, the greatest warriors in the Republic, "We're Gamma unit. I'm Gamma 19, LT. With whom do we have the honor of serving?"

The Jedi graced the clone with a minor bow, "I am Saesee Tiin of the Jedi Council. I will do everything within my power to preserve the lives of your men."

"You don't have to do that. We're just clones. We can handle ourselves well enough."

The Jedi shook his head, "But there is still a finite number of you, as I evidence with the body of your fallen comrade. The Republic will need its soldiers."

28's loss hit Lead like a shockwave. The Jedi was right. There was a finite number of them. Thirty six was now thirty five, with no sim reset button. He needed to listen to his own advice about this all being real. They couldn't get these soldiers replaced in the middle of a mission once they were killed. That was incentive enough to try to keep his pod brothers alive.

Lead nodded to the Jedi, "Then we would greatly appreciate your efforts, Master Tiin."

"I will take full command once we've landed at our destination. Have the men be ready for a fast drop."

Lead nodded and opened his comm to his 2iC, "Deuce, come back."

There was some mild interference, but 76's voice was clear enough, "Deuce here. Go ahead, Lead."

"How did your group fair with the extract?"

"Everyone's all right and we have three healthy Jedi and an armed senator on board. How'd you guys do?"

Lead grimaced, "Not as good. We got three of the Jedi, but…Deuce, we lost 28. He's gone."

"Frelling mechs! You recovered his body?"

Lead nodded and looked over to where the med droid was looking over 28's body, "Yeah, we got him. The medics will stitch him up for burial."

"I think we need to arrange some payback for that."

"I agree. We'll figure that out once we're groundside. I've got a Jedi here who's in charge once we land. Lead out." He closed his comm and went to the door to see what was going on. The gunship was maneuvering evasively now, swaying everything inside from side to side, which piqued Lead's attention. The gunships were avoiding enemy ground fire while they made their way to a forward drop point. A couple of assault ships had set down and were deploying troops en masse, but establishing a forward deployment zone would make things a little easier.

Lead knelt down in the door and opened his unit channel, "Listen up, Gammas. We are going in with the first wave. That means the LZ's going to be really hot when we get there. Jedi's in charge once we land. Lead out." The gunships closed on the target area. It was a large span of desert in front of several Techno Union transport ships. The transports were guarded by several hundred droids of all types. Homing spiders, dwarf spiders, Hailfires, battle droids, all kinds of mechanicals all looking to get a piece of the Republic's new Army. The turrets shredded a couple of small groups in one area and started setting down to deploy their troops. Gamma unit's gunships hit the ground firing.

Master Tiin was the first out, "Move out, soldiers!" He jumped to the ground and ignited his green lightsaber.

Lead was second out of the gunship, "You heard him, Gammas. The Jedi has command. Regroup at my position." He sighted a droid and fired, clipping its head off cleanly. He sighted another droid only to see it snapped in half by the Jedi's blade. Lead looked around to find the whole of Gamma unit collected around him, firing at anything that looked robotic.

Lead looked to the Jedi, "We're under your command, Master Tiin. What are your orders?"

The Jedi bounced away several blaster bolts with his lightsaber, then looked at Lead, "We're going to push through those droids. We'll be advancing with the forward line."

Lead nodded and looked to the rest of the unit, "You heard the Jedi, Gammas. Blast anything that isn't Republic. Let's move!" They began to press forward, Master Tiin in front deflecting shots, shooting at any droids they encountered. They pressed at a steady pace until a group of the new battle droids started raining some heavy fire on them. A couple more clones went down in the process and Lead clenched his teeth. The only way he was going to let the Separatists take away his command piece by piece like this would be to pry it from his cold dead fingers. The droids were becoming a problem until something unusual happened. Master Tiin leaped eight meters into the air toward the droids, hostile blaster fire flying past him harmlessly as he sailed through the air at them. When he landed, the Jedi kicked down one droid, ran his blade through two more, spun to evade a three shot burst from another before bringing his lightsaber up to split it in half, and finished his graceful maneuver with a downward stab into the first one. Lead stared in amazement. The Jedi had single-handedly dispatched four enemy droids in less than two seconds. Another half dozen were getting into position to fire when Master Tiin pushed his hand toward them. Lead felt more than heard a rumble through the air and the droids were all knocked to the ground as though pushed over. To finish out the show, the Jedi master threw his lightsaber toward a destroyer droid. The green blade flew to its target with a perfect spin, sliced the droideka in two, and swung around to return to its wielder's hand. Lead went completely slack jawed. Never had he seen a fighter so quick and efficient in dealing with enemy forces. The Jedi had earned the title of the greatest warriors in the Republic. Lead came to his senses in time to blast a droid that was coming up behind the Jedi. Lead's shots took the droid in the chest, knocking it down where it exploded. The Jedi master looked at the dead droid, then up to Lead.

He gave him a quick nod, "You have my thanks."

Lead waved it away, "There'll be time for that later. Right now, we have Separatists to deal with."

The Jedi Master looked toward the sky, "I'm afraid you'll have to deal with these now. I'm needed elsewhere. I thank you for your assistance." Without another word, Master Tiin doused his lightsaber and took off running back toward a landing area.

Lead turned away and fired at one of the new droids. It took his shots squarely in the chest and doubled over. Lead expected the droid to drop from the damage, but it stood back up, revealing three score marks on its chest, and kept coming. The mech presented its right arm and brought to bear a pair of blasters, firing erratically. Lead quickly snapped off another three shot burst. The droid took the full brunt but kept coming. He set his rifle to full auto and opened up on the droid. The droid took every shot as it came closer, bucking under the fire. Finally, after emptying almost a third of his clip, the droid went to its knees and fell. Lead closed the distance, keeping this new threat in his sights. He looked down at the hunk of metal and kicked it lightly. Assured that it was dead, Lead keyed his comm to Sensors.

"58, come to my position. There's something I want you to look at."

There was some static from the action over the comm, "Be right there, Lead." Within a few moments, Sensors was coming up to Lead, blasting mechanicals as he went.

He lowered his rifle and looked to 19, "What do you need, sir?"

Lead looked at the droid carcass, "What do you make of this?"

58 knelt down and began tinkering with the droid, "Molecularly enhanced casing, internalized comms package, enlarged power cell, enhanced logic circuits, strengthened joints and frame…"

Lead cut off his litany of upgrades, "What are we dealing with here, Sensors?"

The clone looked up at him, "It looks like we got some kind of super battle droid here, sir." He motioned to some of the parts as he spoke, "It has a strengthened frame to greatly increase durability, an enhanced logic circuit to increase its adaptability and independence, among other things. Basically, we're looking at the good parts of a droideka and a battle droid rolled into one. Probably expensive to build, but worth the cost."

Lead nodded, "Well, it's our job to turn them into expensive scrap piles." He opened his unit comm, "Gamma unit, regroup at my position." The unit collected at Lead's position and they began advancing again. They continued on for a long time, shooting at droids, blowing apart vehicles, watching brothers fall. Lead looked over his shoulder once and saw a massive blue beam ignite from an artillery battery and carve into a droid control sphere that was trying to escape. The one beam was joined by several others and they continued hitting the ship hard. After a several shots, the ship started to fall. It came down and landed with a deafening crash and the shockwave kicked up a sandstorm of dust.

Lead looked at the wave of dust charging at them and opened his unit comm, "Gamma unit, brace yourselves!" Lead braced as the wave overtook them. He could feel thousands of tiny impacts as the sand bounced off his armor. After a moment, the wind settled, leaving a thick fog of dust in the air.

"Visors on, Gammas. Let's use this fog to our advantage." Lead followed his own order and tapped a button on the side of his helmet. His vision went monochrome and a little fuzzy, but all the droids within fifteen meters of him were outlined in white. This mode also doubled as their night vision in the dark. He could see them, but they couldn't see him. Lead continued firing at any droids he could see. After a few more minutes, Lead saw a set of tributary beams carve up a homing spider and its companion dwarf spiders. He looked to the source and saw a flight of gunships making a firing run, hitting all enemy units with blaster fire, rockets, and tributary beams. They flew over firing, not leaving much in their wake, with several following flights cleaning up what they missed.

After several long hours of battle, Lead's command channel opened, "This is Alpha 01/224 to all Republic forces. The enemy is in full retreat and the Techno Union ships have been destroyed. Rendezvous with your gunship transports for extract. Mission accomplished." The whole of Gamma unit let out a cheer of joy. They had won their first battle. Lead simply took a deep breath and knelt down to catch his breath.

76 walked up next to him, "I bet the Republic's mighty thankful they pulled us when they did. Those few Jedi wouldn't have won here."

Lead just shook his head, "Win? I wouldn't use that word just yet."

76 looked around, "Why not? We beat them, didn't we?"

19 nodded, "This battle, maybe. But a lot of enemy resources made it out. I think we're just getting started." He turned around and looked at his 2iC, "Got a casualty list yet?"

Deuce nodded soberly and handed him a datapad. The casualties were tallied by the transmitters in the clones' helmets. The transmitter sent out a signal when it detected its wearer's vital signs change to indicate a wound or death. Lead looked over the casualties for Gamma unit. In their first engagement, they had four wounded and three dead. He went down the list of designators. 28, the first to go; 06, a decent recon soldier; 74, one of the heavy weapons soldiers wounded; 45…

Lead saw the designator for 45 in the list of casualties and paused. Next to his number was "KIA". 19's mind instantly flashed back to his and Zalma's conversation six years ago. If his personality doesn't recess with the combat training activating, then he might get killed. If it comes to that, one way or another, you'll be rid of the parts of him you don't like. Now that it had come to this, Lead wasn't so happy for it. 45 may have been a stuck-up, know-it-all egotist, but he was still a soldier and still a hand at the gun. It shouldn't have come to this. 19 didn't always get along with everyone in his unit, but they were his soldiers, his responsibility. He felt as though there was something he could have done to prevent this.

Lead looked at 45's designator and noticed the words "rear guard action" next to the KIA. Lead raised an eyebrow. Rear guard actions were dangerous, risky, and often suicidal, not a task 45 would have taken willingly. There was an attached visual sensor log to the marker. The Republic had little camera droids hovering all over the battlefield recording this first engagement for posterity, and apparently one caught some footage of 45. Lead activated the log and watched, hoping it would lead to some answers. The log started out with 45 and third squad leading a retreat, typical. The Republic forces were getting pounded and had to regroup to press on. Lead could tell that this retreat would only lead to the group's demise, when he saw something that caught his interest. He saw 45 stop running and turn around to look at the droids. He then called third squad to his position and addressed them with their task.

"Listen up, squad. Our forces have to regroup, but those droids are tearing us apart. Our brothers are going to get slaughtered if we don't do something. We will not flee in the face of this threat any longer. We will not die with our faces to the ground. We will stand firm, and if we die, we will die standing." The squad stood their ground and attacked the advancing droids. The log faded to static.

Lead thought to himself. I guess that personality of his did recess with combat.

76 noticed his leader's behavior, "You alright, sir?"

Lead came out of his reverie and formed a thought. What's done is done. I can't change that now. 45 was an egotist, but became a good soldier, and now I regret losing him. But he didn't die with his face to the ground. He died standing.

"Sir?"

Lead looked to Deuce, "Just fine. Have everyone load into the gunships. We're pulling out of here."