posted:ROTS novel clearly established prefixes for the Republic's ships
Coop posted:Lanscus Oicunn always had problems with authority. Born and raised on Jabiim, Oicunn was relegated to a mere support status during the Jabiim crisis. Dreams of grandeur crushed, only his love of the Republic kept him in line during weeks of grueling service to the loyalists. The battle did not go well, and the lone surviving Jedi, Anakin Skywalker, was forced to flee the planet with his forces. Oicunn blamed Skywalker personally – the Republic he loved would never desert its men. Determined to continue fighting, he eventually found his way off-planet back to the Republic, where he re-enlisted. Among the crew of the assault ship Absolution, matters only got worse. That his unit would be under the command of a Jedi Knight was a fact he had learned to live with, but when that Knight turned out to be Winnik Skyhopper – another native of Tatooine - it was like a slap in the face. Nevertheless, Oicunn dutifully toiled his way through campaigns from New Holstice to Skye. Jedi or not, Skyhopper enjoyed the spotlight the Clone Wars had given him, and Oicunn could do nothing but watch as he reaped all the glory. Eventually, everything changed. Skyhopper’s unit was clearing a Separatist redoubt on Kubindi when word came that General Grievous had been found and the war’s end was at last approaching. What caught Oicunn’s attention, however, was a small news item accompanying the announcement – Anakin Skywalker had been given a seat on the Jedi Council. Oicunn could take no more. He ran straight to the General’s quarters and shot the Jedi Knight in his sleep. He was thrown in the brig, but his luck would soon change: the Jedi had been proclaimed traitors to the Republic! His peculiar situation eventually reached Palpatine’s ear, and Oicunn found himself a free man. He was quickly promoted to Lieutenant, and transferred to the bridge crew of the Star Destroyer Emancipator, flagship of none other than Lord Darth Vader. At last, a commanding officer he could respect.
“Kubindi,” Alpha said. There were no murmurs of surprise; in fact, Alpha’s identification of the system was entirely unnecessary, as everybody in the room knew what system was now slowly revolving next to their instructor’s helmeted head. “Recently the target of a Republic assault led by General Bant Eerin against a Separatist base there. One of my brothers, Captain Alpha-51, was among her personal squad. “Now, here’s how the battle went.” Alpha touched the holographic image of the planet Kubindi and the display zoomed in on it. “Kubindi has three moons. In a situation similar to the attack on Thule before my reawakening, one of the moons housed a shield generator that protected the planet. However, rather than staging a full-out assault of the shield generator as was done at Thule, a four-man squad of clone commandoes infiltrated the shield generator to destroy it from the inside out.” He touched the moon orbiting nearest to Kubindi and again the image zoomed in. The shield generator building visible on the moon’s surface shone red, and Alpha touched it and the hologram switched to show the blueprint schematics for the generator building. “I ask you now, troopers, what should the clone commandoes, entering here -” he pointed at the back entrance door into the building “- have done right away?” A trainee raised his hand. Alpha pointed at him, and he saluted. “Clone Marshal Commander Thire at your command, sir,” he said, and Alpha returned the salute. “Sir, the commandoes should have immediately attempted to disable all security holocams and other defensive measures before proceeding, and then with extreme caution, keeping their weapon arsenals close at hand and ready to fire at a moment’s notice.” “Very good, Commander,” Alpha said, and Raster got the distinct impression that behind his visor, a grim smile was on his face. That suspicion was more or less compounded when Alpha continued, “Of course, had the commandoes done that, we could not have had this,” and with a tiny wave of his hand, a new holographic image appeared: one of a squad of clone commandoes firing recklessly to take down B-1 series battle droids that were rushing towards them down a metallic corridor. Raster dropped his forehead into his hand, disbelieving of the sheer idiocy of the commando team. “As you can see,” Alpha pressed on, “the commandoes did not in fact disable the security holocams and other defensive systems, nor did they proceed with caution. It is believed that one of the troopers succumbed to blasterfire from the battle droids stationed in the shield generator before the rest of the squad fell victim to a laser trap that they failed to disable when they forced entry into a room containing a security console and a computer terminal. This stupidity,” he said, placing contemptuous emphasis on every word, “will not be tolerated by me in my trainees. We will reenact situations such as this one, and certainly including this one, and anyone who shows the level of sheer sloppiness and idiocy displayed here will no longer train in my class. In fact, they will spend the rest of their days scrubbing floors and doing dishes here in Tipoca City. Now, would you rather be clone commanders, or clone janitors?” There was no answer. There didn’t need to be one. Alpha spoke again. “Good. Now -” “Sir?” It was Thire again. Alpha turned his head over to look directly at him. Thire quickly snapped off a salute, which Alpha returned without comment. Thire went on. “Sir, what did General Eerin’s forces do to eliminate the shield generator after the commandoes’ failure?” Alpha nodded slowly. “An excellent question, and one that I was going to address myself in a matter of mere seconds. Either way, I will address it. General Eerin, with great reluctance (or so I have heard), ordered her fleet to enact a Base Delta Zero bombardment of the shielding moon. The generator was slagged, along with the rocky crust of much of the rest of the moon. General Eerin landed her forces on Kubindi, and immediately targeted the nearest Separatist outpost…”