All around Dodge were blaster bolts fired from all sides of the battlefield. He was currently kneeling on his right leg, firing at Separatist battle droids with his DC-17 hand blasters from behind a LAAT/i gunship. The side of the gunship facing the Separatist forces was now scorched by laser burns, and Dodge could only think that the reason they had not brought in heavy weaponry to blow up the gunships was because they had an advantage in numbers. Not only that, but they had ambushed them from all sides, throwing the 56th off guard and disallowing them plenty of time to reach cover.
After shooting down a squad of B1 type battle droids using quick reflexes, Dodge stood up and pivoted behind the cover provided by the gunship's open door. He held his blasters at shoulder height, pointed to the sky. Dodge examined the troops fighting, noticing Viera in the middle of the circle of gunships. She was wielding her blue-bladed lightsaber, deflecting laser bolts back at Separatist forces; particularly the droids. Her cunning and superb fighting skills could give the Republic's forces an advantage in the battle, if they could only thin the battle droid offensive...
Dodge nearly jumped at the sound of Droidpopper speaking beside him, "Commander!" He reaffirmed awareness and squatted down next to the clone sergeant, peaking around the corner of the gunship's doors and shooting through the gunship and at droid forces as the clone spoke. "Sir, their forces are beginning to spread thin. We are beginning to gain an advantage."
The clone commander nodded his head, turning to Droidpopper as he did. "My thoughts exactly, sergeant. Have Charger and the rest of our heavy weapons specialists finish their droid ranks."
But before Droidpopper could give his response, an explosion occurred near the back of their defenses. The two clone troopers turned their attention in that direction, noticing one of their gunships had been blown up, a trail of smoke rising into the sky as it was engulfed in flames. That entire side of the field was nearly completely covered in a cloud of smoke. On the ground around the gunship, Dodge saw several dead and wounded soldiers that were caught in the gunship's explosion.
Both of the clones stood up as Dodge cursed silently. After a few seconds, a missile fired from the direction the explosion came from flew straight through the smoke, catching several clones off guard. The missile flew straight for the middle of the circle, and Dodge quickly noticed this. But before he could call out to Viera to warn her, the Jedi Knight clipped her lightsaber to her belt and extended her arms, shutting her eyes to focus. The missile abruptly stopped where it was in the air, barely fifteen feet off the ground and pointed right at the Asheran, and she moved the missile using her telekinetic powers.
"The Jedi fail to disappoint," Droidpopper admitted as they watched the missile, spinning in a spiral in the air.
Suddenly, the laser from a Balmorran blaster hit Viera's shoulder, and she let out a gasp of pain as she fell to the ground. She had lost her focus, and the missile continued the path it was now directed in.
It flew right into a squad of at least twenty Balmorran soldiers.
Using one arm, Viera pushed herself up to notice what she had done, and she shook her head shamefully.
Dodge rushed to his general's aid, providing cover as Snapshot helped Viera to her feet. Droidpopper arrived at the scene and began to provide further cover as Snapshot walked with Viera to the cover provided by a gunship that was not deep in the fray. Once he had seen that she was in a safer position, Dodge sprinted to them.
"General? Are you okay?" He examined her shoulder as Snapshot removed her shoulderpad. There was a burn mark running horizontally along her left shoulder.
Viera nodded her head quite frantically. "Y-yes. But... the Balmorrans..."
"Right now the Balmorrans should be the least of our priorities. Without you out there, they will begin to overrun us," Dodge stood up, quickly ducking as a stray blaster bolt fly by his head and hit the gunship.
"Then I'll continue fighting," Viera tried to stand up, but Snapshot held her down.
"You can't, general. You may have another arm, but I fear that without the support of your other you won't be much help - no offense or anything," Snapshot then stood up, slinging his pack over his shoulder. "That arm will heal quickly, so don't worry."
She grimaced slightly, "I think I can worry if we don't get out of this alive."
Dodge returned his attention to the battle, then said, "I'll be rejoining the boys, then."
Before he could get moving, however, a sound reminiscent to a horn sounded in the near distance, all around them. At first he thought they were more Separatists coming to join the battle, but he thought again once he saw the expressions on the faces of many Separatist Balmorrans. They appeared surprised, and almost concerned. Dodge's actions were cut off again, as just before he could question what was happening the horns were followed by the sounds of speeder bikes.
Behind the Separatist army several speeders swooped into battle, shooting down Balmorrans and droids alike. The riders had the same appearance as the Separatist Balmorrans - dark skin and relatively dark hair - but instead of wearing dark armor they wore white. The speeders themselves were almost like Republic BARC speeders, except they were shorter and bared unique gold designs that were much like that of a typical circuit board.
These Balmorrans drove into the 56th's circle without any authorization and parked the speeders, providing extra cover. They leaped off and began to fire at the greatly thinned Separatist offensive, who was slowly retreating.
"They're driving the Seppies back," Dodge realized. He turned and nodded to Snapshot, who helped Viera to her feet again. "I'd like to meet their leader."
"As do I," Viera grunted.
As the Separatist forces retreated, Dodge, Viera, and Snapshot walked to the center of the circle, where they met up with Droidpopper. Dodge looked around, then saw a Balmorran standing up from behind his speeder bike. He faced Dodge and stood at attention. "Where is your leader?"
The Balmorran raised an eyebrow, then pointed behind them. The group turned around to see three speeders zooming toward them in a triangular formation. The came to a stop about fifteen feet in front of them, and in unison they stepped off their bikes. Dodge noticed that the one in front was a Balmorran woman with tan skin, blue eyes, and black hair. She wore what appeared to be a white and gold trench coat, and she stared at them with a cold expression. She crossed her arms once she was standing in front of them, now flanked on both sides by the other two Balmorrans.
"I am General Irella Wain of the Balmorran Defense Front," she was the first to speak. She said this in a seemingly harsh tone, as if she meant business.
Viera nodded her head in respect, waving her hand for Snapshot to stop supporting her. "I am Jedi General Viera Cacete of the Jedi Order," she repeated what the Balmorran woman said, in her own words. She gestured to Dodge, who was now holding his helmet at his side. He saluted to Wain as Viera continued to speak, "This is Commander Dodge. He leads the fifty-sixth battalion."
"General Wain," Dodge nodded, quickly saluting to thet woman and standing tall.
She stared at both of them, particularly at Dodge first. "Dodge, you said? I was not aware that the clones had names."
"Err... yes, General Wain. Many of us do," he said in an almost unsure tone.
Irella Wain gave him a smug face, nodded, and then turned to Viera, "I have not seen your species before. You are no human."
"I'm an Asheran," Viera said. She decided to return to the main reason they were there, and asked her, "What is the Balmorran Defense Front?"
Irella smiled, "Ah, yes. We are a rebel militia fighting the Separatist Balmorrans. Been fighting them for about two years now. We believe that with your help we can finally put an end to Amadis' tyranny."
"Amadis?" Viera asked.
"Yes. Torm Amadis. He is the leader of the Separatists here on Balmorra. He governs Bin Prime, he's a dictator." She placed her hands behind her back. "I trust the Jedi have more troops on the way to help us assault Bin Prime, correct?"
Viera and Dodge exchanged looks of uncertainty, and the Jedi Knight replied, "No, General Wain. We have a cruiser above the surface, but we're told that they are receiving heavy resistance, and--"
"This is not enough forces. You do not even have tanks to attack our capital," she interrupted in a complaining tone. For a moment, Dodge raised an eyebrow, remembering their AT-TEs that he had ordered to stay on the Valiance. Perhaps a wise decision, as they could now be destroyed, but even if they were not they would have lost the previous battle, if not for Wain and her forces.
"With all due respect, General Wain, the boys in the fifty-sixth know how to get the job done," Dodge told her. "You can place all belief in us, don't worry. We just need medical attention, and a place to garrison at."
The Balmorran woman crossed her arms and glared at him coldly, before nodding her head, "Very well. Now, Jedi, answer something for me; how come you needed our aid to win that battle? They were nothing related to what you had."
The Jedi Knight could only shrug, "We don't want to kill any of your people. We--"
Irella let out a laugh, as if Viera had just made a joke. The Asheran let out small laughs, but stopped when she thought of why they were laughing. Irella then sternly told her, "Listen, girl. Those Balmorrans are not our people. They are tyrants. They are bast--"
"Okay, okay," Viera stopped her before she could say anything else. "I understand. What is your point?"
"Don't be afraid to kill them," the woman said. "They will stop at nothing to join the Separatists. We are the ones that will be joining the Republic. Not them. Us."
Viera nodded, "Understood."
Once Irella Wain had turned to give orders to her militia soldiers, Viera leaned toward Dodge and whispered to him, "She's a bit selfish."
Dodge shrugged, "I suppose so, general. I'm not going to say anything that could relieve me of duty, though."
"You're right."
Following their conversation, a clone trooper with blue markings resembling wings approached Dodge and Viera at a frantic pace, and he informed them, "Scouts are reporting that the Balmorrans are returning to our position."
"What?" Viera questioned.
Irella crossed her arms, before rubbing her chin and saying, "A counterattack. Ha. Their numbers are too slim for them to make progress."
Dodge shook his head as he thought on this, and replied, "With all due respect, General Wain, I don't think they're alone. Falcon," Dodge turned his attention to the clone trooper, "do you know how much time we'll have before those Separatists return?"
"Minutes, sir," Falcon replied.
"Then have the troops move out beyond the gunships, just a little, and secure a perimeter. Droidpopper, go help them out; and make sure they don't dally."
Falcon was already moving out when Droidpopper nodded and said, "Yes sir!" He then ran off to follow Falcon; clone troopers were already moving beyond their circle of gunships.
Irella let out a small snort and said, "Are you sure that's an effective strategy, commander?"
Dodge placed his hands behind his back and told her, "I've learned from only the best, general. Believe me, it will work." Suddenly his wrist comm blinked red, and he said, "I need to take this." He activated it.
"Commander!" The word was spoken frantically, and following it was the sound of an explosion.
"Eagle? What's going on?" Dodge replied, looking up at Viera with a concerned expression upon his face.
Eagle replied immediately, "Crow Squadron is returning to the Valiance. We're being forced out, and have to return to Coruscant to perform repairs and gain reinforcements."
Dodge shut his eyes a moment, seemingly in despair, but he shook his head and then nodded, "Understood, lieutenant. Don't take too long though." The transmission ended and Dodge grunted, "Sounds like we're on our own."
"We ought to not despair," Viera murmured. "This battle is only beginning."
An explosion then occurred outside their circle, followed by the sound of blaster fire. The three leaders turned their attention to the direction they were coming from, and saw that the Separatists had launched their attack. But they were not alone; they had reinforcements. Dodge had been right.
"Into the fray," Dodge said to Viera.
She let out a laugh, "Oh, really?"
Irella took a blaster from her belt, and walked between the two and towards the battle. "Let us join them, shall we?"
Dodge put his helmet securely upon his head and took his DC-17 hand blasters. "This must be what it's like fighting a civil war; skirmish after skirmish."
Viera activated her lightsaber, grimacing only slightly as a stabbing pain appeared in her left shoulder, but she nodded, "Indeed. Let's go join them."
The two rushed to the front lines and joined the others. As he began to fire his pistols, Dodge remembered clearly what Viera had said mere moments before: This battle is only beginning.