Saga - PT Last Squad: A Valiant Effort. A tale from The Clone Wars (Open to feedback!)

Last Squad:
A Valiant Effort
Author: CT-5713 “Arche”
Tale From: Rise of the Empire
Characters: CT-3297“Ghost”,
CT-5757“Phantom”, CT-4912“Wraith”, CT-4915“Revenant”,CT-1735“Banshee”,CT-7258“Spectre”,CT-5578 “Ghoul”, CT-7577“Shade”,
CT-3288“Spirit”


Chapter One

“Get up and gear up men! Let’s go, get a move on! We’ve got a whole seppie fleet right on top of us!!” yells a sergeant in the bunk room of the Venator-class cruiser.

Men rush to their feet and pour down the corridors to the amories. Before anyone can get to our room and rouse us we were already up and approaching the armory.

The entire time we were gearing up there was complete silence. Only the sound of the intercom on the ship repeating “Enemy fleet approaching, all hands man your stations, this is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill.”

In less than three minutes we have our armor on and our gear ready, but as we were rushing to the hangar there was a massive boom. The lights on the ship flickered and we could feel our cruiser tilting.

“What was that!?” yelled a voice behind me. “Are we going down?”

“Keep pushing on, if we are going down that's even more reason to hurry!” said the Lieutenant in front of me.

When we reach the hangar I am filled with dread at the sight of the two Separatist Dreadnaughts firing at full power on our ship. The hangar was full of wreckage and debris from a droid bomber that crashed inside.

“Sir, there’s only three gunships left, we can't get everyone out from this hangar, send two of these squads to report to the corvette in the lower hangar.” said a clone named Revenant, a member of my squad.

“Copy that, Xeno squad and Arche squad, head to that hangar. Celestial and Ethereal make your way to the gunships.” The Lieutenant said as he turned around. It was my squad leader, Ghost.

When I was almost to the gunship there was another explosion and the ship tilted further and started going down.

“Get on, Hurry!” I could hear men yelling at those of us not on the gunship yet. I looked to my left and there was a trooper trying to pull a pilot from under some debris, I kept going because I knew there was no time left.

Another explosion occurred just outside the hangar as we departed and the gunship carrying Celestial squad was caught in it. I looked away when the burning wreckage of the gunship fell out of the smoke. As I looked around I could see that the battle was much worse than I had originally thought. Dogfights were scattered across a field of crashing ships and explosions.

“Orders just came in, The Chancellor is being kidnapped, we’re going to land and give the jedi assistance.” Ghost had his helmet off now and he had a very grim look on his face.

“Wait the battle is on the ground too? This is not good.” said our medic, Spectre. “If you don't mind, Lieutenant, I would like to be dropped off with some of the other men to treat the wounded. Our losses here are going to be catastrophic.”

“We can't leave any men out of this mission. It’s Grievous behind the kidnapping attempt.” He put his helmet back on and sealed it. “Now let's go scrap the head clanker!”

This is what every battle, every session in the simulator has prepared us for. As we approach the landing zone, I think back to my days as a cadet, before geonosis, and before we joined the Airborne Division of the 501st.

 

I will be trying to get at least 2 or 3 chapters a week, and feel free to leave constructive criticism and suggestions here in the comments. I'm not sure how long this fan fiction will be but i will try my best to make it worth reading short or long. I will also be releasing a complete revised version once i get the last chapter posted.

 

Chapter 2

2 years earlier

“CT-5578, you're letting them flank our left.” called out a trooper as he ducked behind a wall.

“Well maybe if you were a better shot we wouldn't be worrying about the ones in front would we CT-7577?” I called out as we both started shooting at the droids appearing on our left.

“Can it, both of you. We need to focus on fighting the droi-” a blaster bolt hits the clone talking square in the chest.

“Man down! Cover me, I'm going to help him.” Says another clone as he bolts across to the injured soldier.

I begin to move left to provide suppressing fire when two more men go down across the room from me. I fire on the droids in front of me and I hear someone else drop.

The droids begin to shut down and I hear a woman’s voice over the my headset. “I’m sorry Ethereal team, but you've failed your semi-finals. You will have one chance in the finals tomorrow. Please report back to your chambers.”

I look around and the men start to get up, as well as a cleanup crew entering from the rear elevator.

“Well at least we did better than Condor squad” says CT-3288.

“Yeah but they were actually coordinated, unlike CT-5578 over here.” CT-7577 nudges me with his elbow.

Suddenly I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head as CT-1735 walks by and whops us both in the head.

“You two are both the ones not coordinated, everyone was doing perfectly fine.” he says as he picks his Z-6 blaster up and hangs it over his shoulder.

“Yeah well at least we don't sit there Screaming like a banshee when we’re shooting. The droids could hear you a star system away.” I chuckle as they continue arguing.

“Haha banshee? I think I like that name if it means I’m something you don’t like! Now that I think about it, you're always hiding under some kind of wall, so let's call you shade, since you're always in the shade of cover.” he replies.

“Just hurry up and get your gear back where it goes. I personally don't want to be sent to work maintenance because you can't be serious for one simulation.” CT-7258 grumbles as he pushes past us and put his equipment away.

Once we get our equipment put up we head to our bunks and chat for bit before going to sleep for the night. I woke up several times throughout the night, and never got solid sleep.The next day, after we get out of the mess hall for breakfast. Afterwards, we just sat in the waiting room until the other 3 squads finish their finals. Condor squad comes out with frustrated looks and one of them is rushed out on a stretcher.

We get onto the elevator and prepare for the hardest challenge before real combat. Not a word is spoken just glances and determination on our faces. We know that we can't afford to make any mistakes or play around with this simulation.

As soon as the gate opened we rushed out and split up to cover more ground. I took the far left flank. Two droids directly ahead and three to my left. I made quick work of the two, but the three were a bit tougher. I look to my right and see Banshee behind a short wall providing suppressing fire at the fortified enemies, with Shade and CT-7258 covering the right flank.

We broke through the first line of defense without incident, but when I came around a corner there was an unexpected commando droid. He shot me twice but CT-3288 took him down with a well placed shot.

“Thanks brother.” I grunt out as I struggle back to my feet.

“No problem, just don't get yourself shot up anymore okay?” then he continued his attack.

I was only shot in my right arm, so I continued fighting, using walls and crates to prop my gun on. This time around we did our parts as best we could. We make it to the back wall and launch our grapple guns to climb up, Shade being the first up to grab the flag. I was lagging behind because of my injury and just as one of them was about to help me up I lost my grip with my hurt arm.

“CT-5578!” I hear somebody call out as I crashed down, barely catching myself on an outcropping in the wall.

I lose my grip on the outcropping and drop the rest of the way down. It wasn't a very long fall, but I landed on my back, which added to the pain. The rest of my squad rush down to help me, Banshee being the first one down.

“Are you okay?” he asks as he helps me to my feet. “There’s no way to take him down is there?”

CT-7248 walks up “He's like some kind of zombie, or ghoul or something.”

“Well Ghoul,” Shade claps me on my hurt shoulder. “It looks like you earned a graduation, and a new name.”

The next day we graduated and were told we would be sent to the 501st legion. We always dreamed of being on the toughest legions in the republic, but never thought it would actually happen. They must have a shortage of troops. We were loaded onto an Acclamator-class frigate and shipped to Coruscant where we would join up with our new legion. Little did we know that few of us would stay long enough to make friends.

 

Chapter 3

Present day

I looked back at the cruiser we had just departed from and wondered how many men didn't make it off in time. The venator was splitting into four large pieces and I just hoped that the corvette made it out of the hangar.

“Brace yourselves, we’ve got incoming vultures” Exclaimed the pilot as the gunship tilted sharply.

Three vulture droids zoomed past firing like crazy, but only grazing the gunship. I could feel us accelerating so I braced myself for a rough ride. The vultures came past again and fire a short volley, hitting the gunship in various places. Several sharp motions and I could tell the fight was taking us to the planet’s surface.

The transmitters turned to static as we entered the atmosphere, we got garbled transmissions from all over the planet from squads and companies calling out for reinforcements.

“-need assistance…. Watch your six… we've got droidekas on the way… ammo depleting… you got one on your tail… enemy bombers moving in…-” I set my transmitter to private. I gaze out of the gunship as a squadron of ARC-170s swoosh past us to engage the vulture droids.

They took down one droid right off, and drew the others’ attention. I was glad that we weren't being shot at anymore.

“-static- This is Mace Windu calling for assistance from any squads that can reach my location quickly... General Grievous has the chancellor... attempting to flee th... any gunships... boarding crew please enga- static-” the transmission cut out as we sped past a series of skyscrapers.

Suddenly a hyena bomber crashes through the building in front of our gunship. Pieces of shrapnel and debris fly around and some of them hit the LAAT.

“Gah- we’re going down!” yells the co-pilot. “Main pilot is dead and we have extensive damage!”

“Alright boys, we’re going to be making the jump a little early!” exclaims Ghost.

“Ahhhh I was looking forward to blasting the head Seppie.” moans Wraith as we prepare to jump from the dropship.

As soon as the terrain below us is as stable as it was going to get I hear Ghost start yelling. “Go, go, go!” and he jumps from the gunship. Followed by Wraith, Banshee, Revenant, Spectre, Shade, me, Phantom, and Spirit.

After a few seconds of free falling we activate our jet packs to glide to the ground. Banshee was carrying the injured Pilot, so they landed a bit harder. Just like we were trained to do, we hit the release on our packs and the jetpacks drop to the ground behind us once we land.

There was no fighting in our immediate area, but the sounds of troopers screaming, and blasters blazing were everywhere. Our gunship crashed into the side of a short skyscraper, which caused it to collapse. Dust and smoke was everywhere.

“Alright men, we need to get to the nearest firefight that needs us. The droids are jamming our communications so we’re going to head to where we hear the most gunfire.” Ghost checks his equipment then starts heading southeast. “Move out!”

“Yes sir!” we say in unison.

We start moving, Spectre and Shade in the middle, helping the wounded pilot along. The shooting and screaming was getting louder, as if we were running towards it, but our pace was fairly slow.

I spotted it first, the giant droid walker latched onto the side of a building. It was unlike anything we had seen before.

“TAKE COVER!” I shout at the top of my lungs as I grab the nearest person to me and drag them to the ground.

BA ~KA-BOOM

The shot hit right behind the squad, sending debris, and us flying several feet. I rush to my feet and help Revenant to his, and we start making our way behind cover as fast as we can.

BOOM

Another shot makes contact, only this time a bit more accurately. It lands a few meters away from Shade and Spectre, sending them flying backwards.

“We’ve gotta get them!” Banshee runs out from cover and throws Shade over his shoulder, and drags Spectre by his arm.

Shade was moaning in pain when he was put down, gripping his left leg which was blackened from the blast. Spectre wasn't moving at all.

I look over to the pilot, but it was too late to save him. His body was twisted in ways not meant for humans.

“How are they Banshee?” asks Spirit in a shaky voice.

BA-BOOM

Another shot from the droid.

“I think Shade has a broken leg, but he’ll be fine after some time in the bacta tank. I can't say for Spectre though. He’s pretty banged up, and unconscious.” Banshee picks his Z-6 blaster back up.

The blaster fire was extremely loud now, and I realized that the battle was heading towards us, and suspected it was just around the next building. While peeking out from cover I notice the droid was aiming a different direction when suddenly it explodes in three places.

“Now’s our chance, Banshee and Spirit, stay with the wounded, the rest of you on me!” Ghost shouts as he runs from cover and charges over a large pile of rubble.

The rest of us follow him and I see that I was correct, what was left of a battalion was taking heavy droid fire from two directions. We begin firing on the droids trying to flank the battalion, as we make our way down to the battle.

There were roughly a company and a half of troops at the intersection fighting. A battalion of battle droids was coming from the south side, and several squads coming from the east. I blasted three droids then ducked behind a crashed speeder.

“It's about time we got some reinforcements” a staticy voice came over the transmitter. “How many of you are there?”

The Lieutenant stayed behind cover as he talked to the commander over the transmitter, the rest of us continued the push to flank the droid company.

“Only five, we took fire from that tri walker and it wounded two of us. Two more are staying with the wounded.” Lieutenant Ghost replied.

We stayed and held our ground until the Lieutenant gave us further instructions. A group of droids marched up and unleashed a volley of shots, effectively pinning us down.
“When we get these clankers cleared out I will send some men to assist your medic.” replied the commander.

“Our medic is one of the wounded, they need medical attention now.” Ghost jumps from cover and fires at the droids.

“Roger that, I'll be sending a squad with a medic to their position.”

The rest of us take this opportunity to jump in as well, and the group of droids is wiped out.

Ghost jogs to my position. “Ghoul, I want you to escort that squad to Banshee’s position. They need help as soon as possible, hurry trooper.” He pushed my back lightly as I start sprinting to catch up to the medic squad.

After around a minute of running I caught up to the squad, and we start the short trek to my fallen squadmates.

 

Love where you've placed the present day; Revenge of the Sith is my favorite Saga movie, and I thoroughly enjoyed Labyrinth of Evil for the same reason. Also, very notable improvement on what we talked about! And I enjoyed the backstory in Chapter 2, I hope that we get to see more of that, of who these clones are. Can I get a tag for future posts?

 

Thanks! I'm glad I made some improvements. I enjoyed the Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith quite a bit too.

I've almost finished chapter 4 , and I may replace the original 3 chapters with edited versions, to make them more enjoyable, as I have caught several errors in them.

Sent from my LGL21G using Tapatalk

 

Get ready for the next chapter of clone trooper action! Chapter 4 is now here!

If anyone can help me by making improved chapter covers or finding images that fit better I would be very greatful!



Chapter 4

The sounds of battle faded behind us as we walked down the deserted street. We were constantly cautious for ambush or unstable terrain.


“You guys distracted that tri droid long enough for us to take it down, it had been turning us into dust for about an hour.” said a trooper from the squad. His armor was pretty busted up, but I could see the red markings and knew he was just riot control before now.


“Yeah, I lost my whole squad to that thing. By the way, where’s the rest of your company? I know those blue markings aren't resident to Coruscant.” replied the medic accompanying us.


“Our cruiser was one of the first to get attacked, most of the crew is probably dead. Half of our company was on a corvette that docked in the lower hangar, and the rest were in a gunship that got caught in a blast.” I seeth under my helmet at the thought of losing Celestial squad. They were blasted good men.


“That's a shame, we could use more reinforcements right now.” The medic drooped his head as we continued walking.


“They're just around this rubble!” I shout and start sprinting to reunite with my squad mates.


The others followed me and Banshee almost shot us out of surprise. Spirit had his helmet off examining Spectre, but his expression was frustrated.


“About time we got some help, where's Ghost?” Banshee lowered his weapon. “And who are these guys?”


“I’m a medic from the Coruscant Riot Control, we heard you needed help.” He took his bag off and set it down next to Spectre.


“What shape are they in Spirit?” I ask, not looking forward to the answer.


“Not good. Shade seems alright other than his broken leg, but Spectre… He’s got more shrapnel in him than a frag grenade. I gave them both a bacta injection and straightened Shade’s leg out.”


“This man needs in a hospital immediately. Ace, check the map for the nearest one and call for a medivac.” The medic was picking pieces of shrapnel out that hadn't pierced too deep into the skin.


“Droids incoming! The battalion broke through our line and is moving our way.” Exclaimed the trooper called Ace.


“We need to move these men behind cover and just let the droids pass, we can't fight a battalion on our own.” The medic started picking up Shade, and another clone helped him.


Ace and I picked up Spectre and started moving him to a place behind a pile of speeders.


Once we got them moved all of us took up defensive positions around the wreckage.


“Hey just so you know, I’m Splice” said the medic. “The two shock troopers are Ace and Knock. The klutz with the riot shield is Brick, and the other riot control is Ram.” he pointed to each of them as he called their names.


The sound of blasters suddenly stopped in the direction of the battalion and my heart dropped. I began expecting the worst as far as the men fighting there, but I readied myself for the fighting bound to follow shortly.


“They probably retreated. It's not like the Lieutenant to fight to the death if he doesn't have to.” It was Spirit that said what was running through our heads.



Faintly I could hear marching in the distance growing louder. Metallic clanking, the sound of hundreds of battle droids moving our direction. Then the first shot was fired, a commando droid.


“Whoah, whoah, whoah!” shrieked Brick as it sprinted and did flips in his direction.


We all opened fire on the droid but our shots didn't faze it. I glance to my right for just a second, and I see the second droid just in time to jump out of the way of the massive sword.


I blast it several times but it kept coming, and it tackles me. While we are on the ground fighting Ace grabs the droid by the neck and shoots it in the head, deactivating it.


“Thanks for your help” he grabs my arm and pulls me to my feet.


I look over at Brick but his droid was almost completely dismembered.

The marching was like thunder by that point and we got back into our defensive positions. The first line of droids turned the corner and began firing, the commando droids must have transmitted our position.


“OPEN FIRE!” I'm not sure who said it, but the second they did we sent a huge volley right into the first two rows of droids.


I heard screaming and saw a stream of lasers flying into the droids, and realized Banshee was on a rampage. I was wondering when he would snap, and it just happened. He walked out of cover and mowed down row after row of droids with his Z-6 rotary cannon until he was out of ammunition.


“Banshee, calm down-” His rampage continued, as if he couldn't hear me.


He threw the cannon at the droids crushing three of them. He drew his rifle and started firing wildly at the droids.


“I’ve got this!” Brick dashed over to Banshee and pulled him back behind cover, guarding them both with his shield.


The number of droids marching around the curve began to grow too large to hold back on our own. Splice woke shade up in the process of moving him farther back, but Spectre’s condition seemed to be getting worse. We retreated back two blocks and set up another defensive perimeter but the droids didn't slow their pace any, and I thought they were going to overwhelm us at any time.


“Wait, what's that sound!?” Knock was looking in the sky, as if something was going to land on us at any time.


Suddenly a Republic Corvette passes over us, flying extremely low. The cannons fired a few shots as it went over, and around twenty objects dropped from it behind the Battalion.


I couldn't figure out what it dropped until i saw them slow to a near stop before hitting the ground, and realized they were airborne.


“Hold the line men! That's our reinforcements” Knock called out as he rushed to the front.


The corvette made another pass, taking out a good number of droids. The rest of us took up positions to try and push the droids back.


The fighting continued for another half hour. We had a few scrapes and grazes but everyone was unharmed for the most part. We ran out of thermal detonators but the squads behind them still set off explosives occasionally.


Suddenly there was a loud explosion somewhere in the air, and when I looked back a separatist cruiser was falling to the ground as a burning wreck. It passed over, high above us and landed out of sight.


“Hold the line, Ghoul stay focused” Spirit shook my shoulder before moving back to his position.


There were only a few droids remaining, and we were almost close enough to hear the troops yelling on the other side. We gradually moved closer as droids got scrapped, and I could see a familiar helmet.


It was Ghost, and he was fighting beside the leaders of Arche and Xeno squads. At first I was surprised that he was alive, but then I remembered how hard it was to kill Ghost. After what we went through on Geonosis I doubt it's easy to kill any of us.

 

Chapter 5 is finally here! Its more backstory but it's by far not the boring kind! Enjoy~ And good luck in the battlefield.



Chapter Five


Two weeks after graduation

“Welcome to the Five-oh-first legion boys. My name is Rex, but you will call me ‘Captain' or ‘sir'. Are we clear?

“Sir, yes sir.” we reply in unison.

We've been on the acclamator orbiting Coruscant for a week and a half awaiting the return of the 501st Legion from their last mission in the Dorin System.

“Our legion has been spread thin lately and most of the squads are short a few members, so we’re going to be splitting you up to replace members.” The Captain went down the rows giving men their orders for which squad to regroup with.

When he finally got to us we had already prepared to be split up into several squads.

“You men, Ethereal squad. Today's your lucky day, I’m assigning four members from two squads that lost most of their members to you.” he looks at each of us. “You're new squad leader is going to be Corporal Ghost, his team should be in the mess hall, regroup with him there.”

“Yes sir!” we all said before releasing a sigh of relief.

“What are the odds we get to keep our squad name and all stay together?” CT-3288 said as we made our way to the mess hall.

“I don't know, but let's hope this ‘Ghost' guy likes rookies.” CT-7258 replied.

As we entered the mess hall we saw a group of clones still in their armor, sitting around a table laughing about something.

“Um… Excuse me, where can we find Corporal Ghost?” Shade asked the group as we approached them.

“Oh no. Don't tell me we're getting a bunch of shinies stuck with us.” groans a trooper with a nasty looking scar on the right side of his chin.

“Uh- shinies, sir?” Banshee had a confused expression.

“Yeah, your armor is shiny and new, just like you.” replies a man walking through the entrance from behind us. “I’m Ghost, your new boss.”

He was holding a battered helmet and his armor looked as if it were caught in an explosion. The man with the scar walked over and patted my shoulder.

“Don't worry, stick with us and you'll be fine. We were last month's graduates from Kamino, and we survived some of the toughest battles so far.”

“Well I think it’s time for introductions.” someone we hadn't noticed before stepped out of the corner. He had a blue diamond tattoo on his forehead. “I’m Revenant, and this ugly bantha herder is Wraith.” he wrapped his arm around the man with the scar, who shoved him back.

“And I’m Phantom” The other man sitting at the table coughs out between laughs.

“So, do any of you have names?” Ghost asked as he sat down at the table. “Probably not yet, but I've known a few cadets to get names early on.”

“Actually we do. Well some of us.” I replied. “I’m Ghoul, these two are Banshee and Shade, and the other two don't have names yet.”

“What are your numbers?” Ghost asks the two with no names.

“CT-3288 and CT-7258, sir.” they snap to attention and say at the same time.

“Well grab yourselves some grub and then get some rest. You're gonna have a rough first week.” Ghost gets up and walks out.

The next morning all men were called to the main hangar for briefing. We were standing around a holo transmitter with General Skywalker laying out the plan. There were also holograms of Generals Obi-wan Kenobi and Ki-adi Mundi with their Commanders Cody and Jet.

“The separatists have a shield generator placed to protect the droid factory from aerial assault. We will move our troops into a rendezvous point just outside the shield.” General Kenobi points to positions on a map.

“General Mundi will move in from the north, while we move in through the middle.” Cody made lines on the map showing the waypoints of each General’s troops. “And General Skywalker will move up from the south. The trick will be getting past their forward defenses.”

“If anyone gets forced down before they can to the rendezvous point, try to hold out as long as you can until we regroup our forces to begin the attack.” Mundi stated.

“Cody, prep the gunships and I’ll meet you in the hangar.” Kenobi said just before the holograms shut off.

We begin loading onto our specified gunships and await the assault to begin. My squad was split up into two gunships. Mine had Revenant, CT-3388, and CT-7258. The other had Ghost, Wraith, Phantom, Banshee, and Shade.

I hear the comlink in the cockpit “Assault is a go, launch the gunships.”

I wobbled a little when the gunship takes off, but I steadied myself quickly. Almost as soon as the gunship left the hangar there was shaking from flak explosions everywhere. Geonosian fighters swarm around the gunships, while flak keeps the gunships in evasive maneuvers.

“Brace yourselves!” Revenant shouts as a swarm of Geonosian fighters buzz past us.

The gunship next to us explodes into an inferno and spirals to the ground. Flak continues to explode around us and one lands a direct hit on a gunship carrying an AT-TE, sending the tank plummeting to the surface, while pieces of the gunship scattered in all directions. Gunships started going down left and right.

“General Skywalker’s gunship went down, we have to land here.” The pilot exclaims.

“All right shinies, get ready to give’m hec-” Revenant gets slammed into the door of the gunship as a flak shell hits directly in the front of the gunship.

“We’re going down! Brace for impact!” yells a clone from another squad.

I don't remember much from the impact, but I remember someone pulling me to my feet. And then joining the charge. I rushed forward, but was forced to take cover due to heavy blaster fire.

“Ghoul… is that you? I saw your gunship go down, so I expected the worst.” grunts a soldier next to me.

I noticed the Z-6 cannon in his lap and knew who it was. “Banshee, where’s Ghost and the others?”

“I don't know, we got separated in the crash” he looks over the rock, but ducks back down to avoid a volley of blaster fire.

“They're falling back, we have to keep moving!” calls out Skywalker’s apprentice, Ahsoka Tano.

We both jumped to our feet and started charging behind her. The amount of shots coming at us slowed to a near stop, allowing us to move forward at a faster pace. We regrouped behind General Skywalker and I found the rest of my squad.

Once again we were pinned down, taking heavy fire from the Geonosians. Banshee and I laid down heavy fire at a cluster of geonosian soldiers, sending them in retreat, but more arrived shortly after.

“The only way we’re getting through this is by rushing them. Charge on three. One. Two. Three. GO!” General Skywalker jumped out from cover and sprinted down the battlefield.

“Go go go!” Rex jumped out and followed him.

We broke through the enemy lines, but when we turned the corner a massive wave of blaster fire hit us, taking down several men.

“Take cover! Don't get in that heavy blaster fire!” shouted Captain Rex, and we all jumped behind rocks or heaps of dirt. Commander Tano and General Skywalker were arguing about something.

“I feel like this wasn't part of the plan.” said a clone with the republic emblem painted on his helmet.

“When do Skywalker’s plans ever go the way they were supposed to?” replied the medic next to him.

Next thing I know Rex is yelling at us to target the droids at the top of the wall, and when I looked up the jedi were at the top slicing up droids. Suddenly the captain rushed to the wall and climbed up, using the gun sockets as a foothold.

We continued to fire on the wall, taking out a few of the guns. The jedi jumped down and caught Rex using the force. The wall exploded and collapsed as they were falling down. When the dust cleared some we could see the jedi walking out unharmed, with the Captain behind them.

“We have to keep moving, the landing zone isn't much farther from here.” the General said before beginning the climb over what was left of the wall.

Our pace was faster than before as we entered the open, barren plains of dust. We could see smoke rising in the distance. A flurry of wingbeats and screeching came from our right, and when we looked up there were Geonosians flying out of a cave, some of them on fire. It was General Ki-Adi Mundi and his men. They came out of the cave and I could faintly hear him talking to Skywalker by comlink.

We wait for General Mundi’s troops to reach us before making a full charge towards the landing zone. When we were almost the the zone a squadron of Y-Wing bombers flew over and made quick work of the tanks and clusters of Geonosians around Kenobi’s troops.

“Get some rest men, we still have the shield generator to take.” Rex tells us when we make it to the landing zone.

We all sat in a circle behind a crashed gunship and waited for the next part of the mission.

“What kind of hell is this?” Wraith had his helmet off, and was putting his face into his hands.

“I knew having shinies was going to be a bad ordeal for this mission…” Revenant said as he removed his helmet.

“Condor squad didn't make it a hundred meters out of the hangar. I watched what was left of Ace squad get picked off by the wall…” CT-7258 dropped his helmet and dropped his head.


“At least our squad somehow made it through. That's what counts, seeing as how you're the only rookies that are left.” Ghost had his helmet off, looking intently at us.

I looked around at the hustle and bustle of preparations for taking down the shield generator. Out of the roughly 280 troops and 3 tanks deployed from the 501st legion, only around 30 or 40 men were left. I realized at that moment that, although we had the best training in the galaxy, nothing can prepare you for all the screaming, all the blood. I was ready for this nightmare to be over, but it had only just begun.

Rex came over and rounded up what was left of the 501st for the next leg of the mission. We knew the next leg would be even harder, so nobody said a word.

We snuck as close as we could get to the shield generator and then began the charge. Blasters flared up as we ran across the open dirt. Every time I looked to my left or right someone new had taken the place. Men dropped on both sides of me, I could hear screams and stray shots hitting the dirt. Two geonosians swooped down and picked up the clone in front of me, flying away with him in their grasp.

When we finally made it to the generator, we all lobbed emp grenades as hard as we could. Once they were thrown we all ran back the way we came because the entire structure would be collapsing when the tanks started firing on it.

When the dust settled we were all scattered around, breathing heavily. I stumbled over to Ghost and Revenant, who took their helmets off and chuckled when they saw me coming.

“You're not a shiny anymore Ghoul. I respect all of you highly, it takes a true soldier to survive this kind of fighting.” He put his hand on my shoulder and knocked on my helmet with the other.

The rest of the 212th and Nova Corps. Soldiers were finally arriving, which meant it was time to regroup. We went around and found our squad. CT-7258 was helping the medic tend to the wounded, so we left him be for the time being.

I looked back at the 27 men remaining of the 501st forces that participated and knew that this was the legion I was meant to be in.

 

Chapter 6 is gonna be a bit slow in the making due to it being such a long chapter. Hope to get back to it soon.