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>>4143391
Previous Thread: >>4097180
Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Clone%20Wars%20Quest
Character Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/mLsh6Qwb

EPISODE 4:

The Separatists had been defeated at Kamino, but it was hard to think we hadn’t taken the worst of the opening exchange. Each side had attacked the other’s source of warriors, each had taken the other planet’s leader, and both of us had suffered heavy casualties. The difference was in the logistics. Droids could be replaced as fast as they could be manufactured, Clones like us took years of development and training. Although the Jedi had taken minimal losses so far, they knew that they wouldn’t be able to fight the whole war on their own. They needed us alive and fighting, not lying dead in shallow graves or drop zones.

From analyzing battle reports and records, the Jedi High Council determined that the most effective strategy was deploying smaller units of Clones along with a Jedi General and their Padawan. This would maximize the advantage of their Force powers while keeping them protected from being gunned down by droid blasters. The larger Clone forces were kept back, waiting for the Separatists to challenge in another set piece battle that demanded their numbers. The face of the war shifted almost overnight as, relatively, small detachments of the droid armies probed every front of the Republic. Our only saving grace was that it was disjointed, uncoordinated, and largely smelling of desperation. It would turn out later that it was anything but.

For us, the 905th Regiment, we would find out sooner than most that a droid doesn’t care if it's commander is desperate. They only cared about killing.

Mounting up in our Acclamator, we were deployed on the double to a system on the edge of the galaxy. A lonely, isolated Republic mining planet called Excarga. It was technically sitting exposed in Hutt Space. Our new Jedi General impressed upon us the need to be swift in bolstering the defences there. The planet was one of the main suppliers of Doonium for the Republic’s starships, a critical heavy metal that Separatists were likely to want themselves. It all made sense to us: Get to the planet, reinforce the populace, and beat back any droids that showed up to take it. Excarga was to be where the regiment and our new brothers were to be blooded.

Brother, what did you think when you heard about the mission?

>”We were no strangers to holding the line. I was more focused on making sure my squad was ready.”
>”The strategy was simple, but I felt it was wrong. I had a feeling things weren’t going to be easy.”

>>4143394
>>”The strategy was simple, but I felt it was wrong. I had a feeling things weren’t going to be easy.”
I wonder who the general will be

>>4143394
>>”The strategy was simple, but I felt it was wrong. I had a feeling things weren’t going to be easy.”
Hell yeah, Clone Wars Quest!

>>4143394
>>”The strategy was simple, but I felt it was wrong. I had a feeling things weren’t going to be easy.”

Hard Mode, boyos.

>>4143394
>”The strategy was simple, but I felt it was wrong. I had a feeling things weren’t going to be easy.”

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Posting this for easy access

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>>4143438
>>4143439
>>4143445
>>4143464
>”The strategy was simple, but I felt it was wrong. I had a feeling things weren’t going to be easy.”

Regiments like ours were being sent out with barely enough time to load our rifles. Those early weeks were chaos as a thousand battlefields opened up across every sector and there weren’t nearly enough of us to fight them everywhere. Maybe we were lucky in our own way, the Excaragans were at least willing to pick up blasters and help each other. The propaganda on the Holonet were keen to praise the Clone and citizen units fighting side by side, but in most places that simply wasn’t true. On countless planets the local populace seemed content enough for the droids to roll in and set up control, their loyalty to the Republic as cheap as a guarantee of peace. On others, Clone units were treated like fodder or droids, meant to die before the local defense force bothered to put themselves at risk.

Escarga fought. That was worth remembering them for, if not just for how we bled and died there. They would have fought without us too, we were all sure, even though they wouldn’t have stood a chance. None of them were under illusions about that either. The Separatists showed up expecting to walk in and push on, the Escargans would have made them fight for it. That we arrived in the nick of time was a happy coincidence, though our General might have said it was just as things were meant to be.

General Kim always seemed to believe that.

Through all the fighting, she never shook when it came to what was expected of her and us all. Her Padawan too. Commander Scout was young, but she was tough. We didn’t know much about Jedi politics at the time or why she seemed so happy to just be with us, but it was enough for most that she seemed interested in keeping us alive. Most of the lads had Geonosis fresh in their minds, where all too many Jedi were happy to order us to charge forward into the droid’s firing lines. Commander Scout understood what it was to not have magical powers. It was helpful for us that she had some of her own though, her ability to see and predict the battlefield saved more than a few troopers. I think it hurt her the most that she didn’t see what was about to happen to us…

Brother, when did you realize something was wrong?

>”When our LAAT/i started taking ground fire from the trees. We landed in the thick of it…”
>”The battalion was unloading at the starport, when we realized we were surrounded…”

>>4143563
>Commander Scout
QM, I'm not sure if I thank you profusely for such a wonderful EU character selection, or weep silent tears since we're gonna have to drop her when Sheevy P gives us the go-ahead.
>”When our LAAT/i started taking ground fire from the trees. We landed in the thick of it…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40JmEj0_aVM

>>4143583
Ditto, except without the cliche

>>4143611
Rest assured, I'll find other comparison-appropriate music next time I vote for an under-fire dropship landing in a forest.

>>4143563
>”When our LAAT/i started taking ground fire from the trees. We landed in the thick of it…”
Little late but glad to see you QM lets scalp up some separatists

>>4143563
>>”When our LAAT/i started taking ground fire from the trees. We landed in the thick of it…”

>>4143563
>”When our LAAT/i started taking ground fire from the trees. We landed in the thick of it…”

>>4143616
Shoulda been Long Tall Sally anyway

>”When our LAAT/i started taking ground fire from the trees. We landed in the thick of it…”

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>>4143703
>>4143686
>>4143642
>>4143611
>>4143583
The gunship rocks from the incoming blaster cannon fire.

The descent from the Acclamator had been smooth until that moment. Making your way forward, you peer out the port side hatch, fast enough to catch sight of more bolts tearing through the canopy below. A clearing in the treetops passes quickly and you spot the culprits.

“Dwarf Spiders!” you point out to the gunner in the ball turret.

It’s about then the actual Crew Chief puts a less than gentle hand on your shoulder to pull you back inside.

“We’ll handle it, Sergeant,” he assures, probably grinning under his helmet as he shoulders his blaster to add into the return fire.

You were butting in, you knew, and you had your own squad to see to, but it was hard to be passive in the situation. He LAAT was taking damage, in the cockpit the Master Alarm was probably blaring constantly already you knew, although these ships were tough ones to crack from the ground. Making your way back into the crew compartment, you pass the handful of support troopers making the drop with your squad. You were one of the last batches of 3rd Company to saddle in the dropship wave. The rest of your company, along with most of the battalion was likely already on the ground. You couldn’t be too far out, but if you went down here…

“Check your kit!” you shout to your brothers, “Hold tight and get ready!”

“Think he’ll keep it upright, Double-Oh?” Guile asks, his hands keeping his sniper rifle close and targeting optical safe.

“If he keeps it in one piece,” you agree.

“Should drop down a bit more,” 4582 adds, his own blaster rifle over his shoulder, “Makes the angle harder for the ground fire to keep up with.”

“No backseat flying, Vod,” you laugh, a moment of levity amongst the rattling and shaking of the gunship under fire, “We’re the guests today!”

“It’s rude to make guests walk,” Guile counters.

The continued fire from the turret outside is comforting in a way, you were fighting back, but it also likely meant there was no shortage of targets down there. After checking your beskad was tightly attached, you ready your carbine. 2337 is doing his familiar checks on his carbine too, the large medical pack on his back causing him to lean forward slightly as he braces against the LAAT’s interior wall.

Wasp and Harm had their engineer standard DP-23’s, while Grizzly was hefting his EMP launcher. You still hadn’t gotten out of him where that had come from. They supplemented with a large amount of explosives between them. The other three troopers were less explosively armed, but still reasonably devastating. Beast had his shield and carbine as did 5536, although you knew the latter much preferred the blaster pistols at his side. Harm had brought the heavy firepower...

>A Z-6 Rotary cannon, perfect for dealing with lots of enemies.
>A PLX-1 missile launcher for vehicles and heavy armored targets.

>>4143786
>>A PLX-1 missile launcher for vehicles and heavy armored targets.

>>4143786
>A PLX-1 missile launcher for vehicles and heavy armored targets.
We lack AT

>>4143786
>>A PLX-1 missile launcher for vehicles and heavy armored targets.
Need that anti armor, and we could use it to bust a hardpoint at a distance.

>>4143786
>A PLX-1 missile launcher for vehicles and heavy armored targets.

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>>4143796
>>4143797
>>4143809
>>4143821
>A PLX-1 missile launcher for vehicles and heavy armored targets.

Loadout:

CT-0027 [ACTIVE]: DC-15S Blaster Carbine, Beskad, 1 Medpac, 1 Detonator

CT-2337 [ACTIVE]: DC-15S Blaster Carbine, Medical Kit, 1 Medpac, 1 Detonator
CT-4457 “Guile” [ACTIVE]: DC-15X Long Barrel Blaster Rifle, DC-17 Blaster Pistol, 2 Detonators
CT-4582 [ACTIVE]: DC-15A Blaster Rifle, DC-17 Blaster Pistol, 2 Detonators

CT-6018 [ACTIVE]: DP-23 Shotgun, F-187 Fusion Cutter, 2 Demopacks
CT-0626 “Wasp” [ACTIVE]: DP-23 Shotgun, F-187 Fusion Cutter, 6 Proximity Mines
CT-0641 “Grizzly” [ACTIVE]: EMP Launcher, DC-17 Blaster Pistol, 2 Detonators

CT-8666 "Beast" [ACTIVE]: DC-15S Blaster Carbine, Blast Shield, 2 Detonators
CT-5536 [ACTIVE]: DC-15S Blaster Carbine, Blast Shield, 2 DC-17 Blaster Pistols
CT-9145 “Harm” [ACTIVE]: PLX-1 Missile Launcher, PLX Reload Pack, DC-17 Blaster Pistol, 1 Detonator

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>>4143929
It would be nice having something that could potentially reach out and make a tank think twice, you have to admit. If it came down to you charging even more tanks with a sword and a detonator, you weren’t likely to live that long. Altogether, you felt rather satisfied with your squad’s loadout. You had a good variety of weapons for all situations and enemies for the most part, something that suited their talents in assaulting as well as your preference for flexibility.

A panel blasts outward from over your helmet, ricocheting off the opposite side of the hull, followed immediately by a forceful explosion. It sends some of the support crew up front scrambling, while you tighten your vice grip on the strap you’re clinging to for balance. The rest of your squad manages to keep their feet, but it doesn’t take much of a guess to know what’s coming…

“Engine 2 is out!” comes the call from the pilot over the interior comm, “We’re losing altitude.”

“Should have gotten lower,” 4582 repeats himself.

“Well, now he at least has time to pick a landing,” Guile shrugs.

As you feel the floor angle downward and your weight decrease briefly, the sensation of a crash landing quickly registered with your training instincts.

“Prep crash positions,” you call out, not even waiting for the pilot or the actual Crew Chief to do it.

As one, your squad shifts their weapons and braces for impact. It was going to be on the pilots to make sure the gunship was landed well enough not to rip itself to pieces now. You feel a slight roll in the LAAT/i, the pilot was likely trying to compensate for the lost engine. If it was burning there was still a chance you all might just become a fireball, but that was neither anything you could control or stop. It struck you just how well all those hours in the simulator and flash training made you accept situations like this.

There’s a cacophony of noise as the gunship begins to clip treetops, and the airframe shakes and shudders by the pounding it starts to take. A few seconds later there’s an abrupt kick as the gunship bottoms out on the ground. The LAAT manages to slide a little, sparing you all the worst of a sudden stop and bleeding a good amount of velocity before it comes to a halt. You weren’t safe yet, though, there was no telling if the enemy was already moving in.

“Dismount,” you order, “Scan fire sectors and keep your guard up!”

Your squad barks a “Yes, Sergeant!” in unison. It’s more strange to hear that than anything else.

As the doors open and you lead them out of the wreck gunship, you notice that the ground is…

>Soft and spongy, you must be in the marshlands east of the spaceport. If the enemy was here, that meant they had clear shots on the landing approaches.
>Hard and firm, you were probably to the southwest of the spaceport. Was the enemy really operating this close to the city?

>>4143942
>Soft and spongy, you must be in the marshlands east of the spaceport. If the enemy was here, that meant they had clear shots on the landing approaches.

>>4143942
>Hard and firm, you were probably to the southwest of the spaceport. Was the enemy really operating this close to the city?

>>4143942
>Soft and spongy, you must be in the marshlands east of the spaceport. If the enemy was here, that meant they had clear shots on the landing approaches.

>>4143942
>Soft and spongy, you must be in the marshlands east of the spaceport. If the enemy was here, that meant they had clear shots on the landing approaches.
'Nam, baby.

>>4143942
>>Soft and spongy, you must be in the marshlands east of the spaceport. If the enemy was here, that meant they had clear shots on the landing approaches.

>>4143583
Wait, who's Scout? Nothing pops up on wookieepedia.

>>4144027
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tallisibeth_Enwandung-Esterhazy
Scout is a nickname she got from her quick deduction skills. She's got one hell of a real name.

>>4143942
>Soft and spongy, you must be in the marshlands east of the spaceport. If the enemy was here, that meant they had clear shots on the landing approaches.

>>4144033
Huh, seems like she might be good general.

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>>4144034
>>4144007
>>4144003
>>4143997
>>4143949
>Soft and spongy, you must be in the marshlands east of the spaceport. If the enemy was here, that meant they had clear shots on the landing approaches.

That would be quite bad, you think to yourself. 2nd Company had still yet to come down, along with much of your armor elements, to say nothing of all the artillery pieces. That the other battalions had come down cleanly and got to their positions probably meant the Separatists had just arrived in the vicinity.

Once you're satisfied the gunship isn’t about to explode or that droids were about to open fire from all angles, you direct your squad to fan out and cover any approaches. 2337 is already looking after some of the crew. The right ball gunner seemed the most injured, he was lying motionless while 2337 pours over him. The pilots are, naturally, a bit shaken up and probably more than a little angry. They look fine enough, at least, for a crash landing.

Conferring with the two of them reveals your suspicion was correct. You’re all due east of the spaceport, they agree, probably around four or five clicks away. Checking out your data charts, you combine that info with the last known position of your forces on the planet. They’re position around the nearby city, Zogoto, was in a good place to deal with any enemy push from that direction, but your landing forces were quite another matter. As you consider your next move, 2337 appears with a status report.

“The gunner is in a bad way, severe concussion and likely a neck injury,” he explains, I can stabilize his head, but he’ll need to be carried out to get better help.”

“If we make for the spaceport,” the pilot offers, “We should be there in thirty minutes or less.”

“That’s if the terrain or the droids don’t surprise us again,” his co-pilot tempers the estimate.

“Were you able to tell Command that we were hit?” you question the two pilots.

“Negative,” the pilot replies, “We started being jammed before they opened up.”

You check your own comms quickly, between any jamming, the trees, and the soggy ground, a signal isn't likely to get out.

“They still might have seen us,” 2337 says, “They’ll certainly notice we’re missing.”

“That may be,” you say thoughtfully, “But I’m concerned about the next incoming landers. It would be good to distract the spiders or, better, take them out, before 2nd Company comes down.”

“We don’t have much info on their disposition from what we saw,” the pilot explains, pointing to the chart, “But it’s likely they were here.”

“That would be a lot faster to check,” 2337 says, “But what of the wounded?”

>”The crew can make for the spaceport. We’ll go recon the droids and keep them distracted.”
>”We don’t know how many of them are out here. We should stick together and get this reported ASAP.”

>>4144065
>>”We don’t know how many of them are out here. We should stick together and get this reported ASAP.”

>>4144065
>”The crew can make for the spaceport. We’ll go recon the droids and keep them distracted.”

Quite literally the kind of op we are made for.

>>4144065
>”We don’t know how many of them are out here. We should stick together and get this reported ASAP.” A single missing section and lander wont draw attention of the rest of the battalion we need to alert them

>>4144065
I'll let this one go overnight. Thanks for making it to the sixth thread with me, troopers! I should be on again at around 2000 GMT.

Be sure to check out and vote the archive and the updated pastebin if you haven't. Any other questions, comments, thoughts feel free to throw at me!

>>4144065
>”We don’t know how many of them are out here. We should stick together and get this reported ASAP.”

>>4144092
I'm just happy we have a QM who is consistent and writes great content at the same time.
Thanks for running!

>>4144070
Ditto, never split the party

>>4144065
>”The crew can make for the spaceport. We’ll go recon the droids and keep them distracted.”
30 mins is too long to allow them to shoot down our transports as they please.

>>4144065
>>”The crew can make for the spaceport. We’ll go recon the droids and keep them distracted.”

>>4144065
>>”The crew can make for the spaceport. We’ll go recon the droids and keep them distracted.”

>>4144435
>>4144197
>>4144130
>>4144076
>”The crew can make for the spaceport. We’ll go recon the droids and keep them distracted.”

>>4144070
>>4144077
>>4144105
>>4144129
>”We don’t know how many of them are out here. We should stick together and get this reported ASAP.”

We appear to be locked up for the moment, I'll give it an hour for more troopers to sound off.

>>4144502
Didn't mean to tie things up. If we haven't got a clear winner by the deadline, feel free to scratch off my vote.

>>4144502
>”The crew can make for the spaceport. We’ll go recon the droids and keep them distracted.”

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>>4144547
>”The crew can make for the spaceport. We’ll go recon the droids and keep them distracted.”

It was a tough call, but there was no time for indecision. You had to take the initiative, this was exactly the kind of situation you had been drilled for. If the enemy was out here in numbers, that meant an attack was likely imminent. Anything that happened now, you think, could potentially throw their plans off. At a minimum a few more explosions would likely cue in everyone to the trouble here anyway. You turn to the pilot.

“You think your people can make it to the spaceport?”

“We’re trained for survival and evasion after crashes,” he replies confidently, “We’ll gather up some weapons and rig up a stretcher. If we’re small and fast enough we should be able to slip through.”

That made more than enough sense to you.

"Good," you nod, "Battalion needs to know the enemy is out here. We'll hit them and then melt away, but life will be easier if Command knows that we're here too."

Glancing at 2337, you see that he’s onboard with the idea as well.

“I’ll help get him secured,” he volunteers.

As 2337 and the pilots move to get to work, you head back over to the rest of your squad and give them the news.

“We’ve got a mission,” you explain, “We’re going to stomp those spiders before they take out anymore of our gunships. With a little luck the droids will all realize we’re here and just go back home.”

“We’re not just blasting them all?” Guile asks.

“That’s only if we have time,” you reply quickly, trying to keep things serious for a moment longer, “This is going to be tricky. Chance contacts and an enemy that knows we’re in the area. We’ll use teams of two for flank security and on point. Keep your distances and be careful, they probably haven’t been here long enough for traps, but we don’t know this terrain.”

Though the troopers keep their blasters and weapons pointed on their sectors, you hear their affirmations at once.

“Good,” you smile beneath your helmet, “We’re quiet once we head out, hand signals only. Take patrol formation, listen for assignments…”

>Put Guile and 4582 on point. You know they’re used to sneaking around and working together.
>Put Grizzly and Wasp on point. They know how to be crafty and will likely spot any traps.

>>4144656
>Put Guile and 4582 on point. You know they’re used to sneaking around and working together.

>>4144656
>>Put Guile and 4582 on point. You know they’re used to sneaking around and working together.

>Put Guile and 4582 on point. You know they’re used to sneaking around and working together.

>>4144656
>>Put Guile and 4582 on point. You know they’re used to sneaking around and working together.

>>4144656
>Put Guile and 4582 on point. You know they’re used to sneaking around and working together.

>>4144656
>Put Guile and 4582 on point. You know they’re used to sneaking around and working together.

You want your Sniper on point moving a little ahead and Grizzy+Wasp at the back incase of ambush they have the gear to get the squad break out done

>>4144656
QM, now that we've been assigned to a Jedi general, what're your thoughts on Order 66 implant chips vs good ol' fashioned blind loyalty to Sheev?

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>>4144787
>>4144780
>>4144723
>>4144667
>>4144657
>Put Guile and 4582 on point. You know they’re used to sneaking around and working together.

It made sense to have a sniper like Guile up front. With him and 4582 on point, you knew the squad would be well served by their experience from Stalgasin Hive. Together they would be able to spot contacts and inform you, in theory allowing enough time for the squad to react and form a skirmish line or redirect course. Your flash training on squad level tactics and the crash Sergeant’s course had taught you that in a forest like this, it was critical to get the first sight of the enemy.

The next important piece was the flank security. Getting engaged from the side was a dangerous possibility, one that could see the entire squad caught down if precautions weren’t taken. That meant having spotters ranging out on either flank of the main patrol. Who to put out there was rather obvious. You needed the heavy firepower centered, that meant that Harm and Grizzly were best with you so they could react in any direction quickly. Similarly, 2337 would be best with you as well, in case anyone went down. That left Wasp, Beast, 5536, and 6018. You weren’t certain if pairing Wasp and 5536 together after their altercation in the Battle Circle was such a good idea. Additionally, you didn’t like having all the high explosives and mines in one pair in case the team was taken out. That meant pairing Wasp with Beast on the left flank, and 5536 with 6018 on the right. That had the additional advantage of pearing a shotgun and carbine together on each side.

It was amazing how simple it seemed at first, but deep down you knew there were disadvantages. If any of the security teams failed, the entire squad could be taken apart piecemeal. The only thing that stopped that from happening was two pairs of good ears and eyes and focus. It took complete trust for a squad to function successfully. You had implicitly understood this as a trooper, depending on your brothers for survival and success, but as a sergeant the understanding was reinforced with something much more critical: responsibility.

This was all your call. As you give the signal to move out, the fact stays on the forefront of your mind. This mission was important, you had decided, now it was on you to make sure it was not only successful, but worthwhile. Leaving the wrecked gunship and the crew behind, you were all on your own now. Your squad only had each other from here on out.

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>>4145132
The journey north is quiet. There’s little sign of enemy activity, but the absence of any native species beyond vegetation causes you your own concerns.

It’s when you see 4582 motion a halt from up ahead that things briefly become interesting. You relay the signal, ordering the flank teams to take defensive positions and the rest of the troopers with you to sit tight. He motions you up, they must have found something.

Closing the distance quickly, you settle in beside him and Guile, kneeling at the obstacle that had halted progress.

“We’ve got water,” Guile explains the obvious, “Not telling how deep it is, but it’s wide.”

You understand his meaning. Going around was the obvious answer. The question was which way and how long you can wait here. Of course, the decision was deeper. You could try reconnoitering each way, but time was imperative. It probably wouldn’t be much longer before 2nd Company was scheduled to drop. You had to choose quickly.

The left path looked wider, more clear and easy. If Separatist droids were here, they’d probably stick to firm ground rather than sinking in and getting stuck. Alternatively, the right path was more dense, this might mean defenses could be weaker, but it also could be a good place for getting ambushed.

>Have the squad dig in here for a moment. Guile and 4582 will recon right, you’ll take 2337 to check left.
>There’s not enough time to be cautious, you have to go with your gut...

>>4145136
>There’s not enough time to be cautious, you have to go with your gut...

>>4145136
>>There’s not enough time to be cautious, you have to go with your gut...

>>4145136
>There’s not enough time to be cautious, you have to go with your gut...

>>4145136
>There’s not enough time to be cautious, you have to go with your gut...

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>>4145203
>>4145226
>>4145246
>>4145286
>There’s not enough time to be cautious, you have to go with your gut…

The left.

For whatever reason, that path stood out to you. Following your own logic it seemed somewhat silly. That was probably the best way to run into droids. Still, that seemed almost more comforting than the alternative. At least this way you might be able to see the droids coming and take them by surprise, whereas going into thicker bush felt more like an invitation to get ambushed yourself. Perhaps you were simply growing worried? Certainly your brothers hadn’t all been trained like you, but you all could face anything the Separatists might have coming, even a tank if need be. You certainly had the firepower.

You point out the left direction to Guile and 4582. They acknowledge immediately and set out again, this time following the left bank of the water feature in your way. They’ll pass on the message to Wasp and Beast to fan left and watch to the east, you know, as you head back to the squad. The procedure was still the same, but now 5536 and 6018 would be watching the rear of the squad. Your right side would technically be exposed to the water, but the many trees dotting in prevented you from seeing the other side. That was probably sufficient enough cover, as you didn’t imagine the droids going through the trouble of climbing trees.

Once you’ve given the order, the squad sets out again, following down the path that your brothers ahead were scouting. You feel your heart rate rise slightly, the thought of soon coming into an engagement with the droids the only logical conclusion to your choice, but there was still a chance it wouldn’t happen quite yet. This wasn’t any different than clearing Geonosian halls or Kaminoan rooms, the enemy would appear when they would appear.

As you advance, you’re surprised to see Wasp holding his position for a moment, even as Beast moves to get a clear view to guard the left flank. Your first emotion is anger, what was the troublesome trooper up to now? You check the feeling quickly, however, even if he was letting his partner leave his sight. He clearly has something to report.

“Sergeant,” he says lowly as you approach, “This seems like a potential exfiltration route for us. I recommend planting some mines here in case we have a following on the way out.”

It wasn’t that bad of a suggestion, although you of course couldn’t know if this is exactly the route you would take back. If a firefight did happen and you had to escape, going east seemed the logical choice though there was the potential you would fall back the way you came, at least. The guarantee of droids being here hadn’t been established yet, however, and using mines in a place you might not need them could be a waste…

>Give Wasp the go ahead, have 5536 and 6018 watch left so the squad can keep advancing.
>Acknowledge, but turn down the recommendation. There may be a more useful opportunity.

>>4145458
>>Give Wasp the go ahead, have 5536 and 6018 watch left so the squad can keep advancing.

>>4145458
>Give Wasp the go ahead, have 5536 and 6018 watch left so the squad can keep advancing.

>>4145458
>Give Wasp the go ahead, have 5536 and 6018 watch left so the squad can keep advancing.
Can you add a little compass to the map so we can actually tell which way is "left"?

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>>4145467
>>4145476
>>4145499
>Give Wasp the go ahead, have 5536 and 6018 watch left so the squad can keep advancing.

If he hadn’t been wearing his helmet, you’re almost positive you would have seen his eyes light up. The Clone practically skips as he gets ready to go to work, tapping fists with Grizzly as he passes him.

You signal over to 5536 and 6018, motioning them to move up on the left flank of the squad. The two of them looked confused for a moment, but seeing Wasp get to work planting a mine, they seem to understand what’s happening. They hurry over and send Beast back to help Wasp, while you and the rest of the squad continue after Guile and 4582. Your two brothers are making good time, but they’re also being cautious, keeping an eye for any potential traps or signs of droid forces.

4582 suddenly makes a quick signal to Guile after completing one of his moves, a short pull of his arm signalling to halt and conceal. The two of them dive behind a brush pile near an old and twisted tree close by. You signal the squad behind you to halt, looking for any sign from the point team. It’s Guile who manages to pass back the news, a squad of droids was approaching from the opposite direction. Clenching your hand reflexively on your balster, you send the signal for everyone behind you to take cover. 5536 and 6018 are pressing their way into the scrub nearby already, so you order them instead to continue cautiously. Finding cover for you all is simple, a matter of just stepping into the overgrowth to one side of you. It’s then that you realize your white armor is at something of a disadvantage here.

Wasp and Beast are the last ones to get to cover, spending a few extra moments putting the finishing touches on the mines they were lay-

The mines!

If the droids were coming this way, they would probably march right over top of them. That would certainly be one massive racket, audible for a huge distance. There’s no time to disarm them, however, as the droid squad marches from cover into the open and then right past where Guile and 4582 are lying in wait. A few seconds later and they’re passing you, close enough that you could swing your beskad and hit them. They don’t seem to notice any of you in the slightest, probably just transferring to a new location rather than actively patrolling or scanning.

As the droid squad marches right into the middle of your own, you consider how you might prevent the mines from going off. Grizzly’s EMP launcher comes to mind, that could take a large number out with too much of an explosion. The rest would be able to be dealt with by hand. However, even though it’s risky, a part of you doesn’t mind letting the droids hit the mines. Perhaps that could play into your hands by drawing them here while you all passed by…

>Have Grizzly hit them with the EMP and then finish them off as quietly as you can.
>Let the droids march by into the mines, then spring the ambush on the survivors.

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>>4145543
This is my last post for today. I'll aim to be on tomorrow at 2000 GMT! Thanks for playing! Please let me know if you have any thoughts on how I'm doing the maps, especially if there's any questions.

>>4145499
I'll see if I can find something clever, but generally when I say left, I'm referring to the actual left of the picture.

>>4144960
Good soldiers follow orders, trooper.

>>4145543
>>Have Grizzly hit them with the EMP and then finish them off as quietly as you can.

>>4145543
>Have Grizzly hit them with the EMP and then finish them off as quietly as you can.
It's not the only EMP he has, right?

>>4145544
Following orders hasn’t been our biggest strength, desu

>>4145543
>>Have Grizzly hit them with the EMP and then finish them off as quietly as you can.

>>4145543
>>Let the droids march by into the mines, then spring the ambush on the survivors.

>>4145543
>Have Grizzly hit them with the EMP and then finish them off as quietly as you can.
Hide their parts in the mud and take their chips.

>>4145581
Yes, it's his launcher. Not a one shot.

>>4145543
>Have Grizzly hit them with the EMP and then finish them off as quietly as you can.

>>4145543
>>Have Grizzly hit them with the EMP and then finish them off as quietly as you can.

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>>4146029
>>4145801
>>4145606
>>4145581
>>4145546
>Have Grizzly hit them with the EMP and then finish them off as quietly as you can.

The opportunity was too good to take these droids out without drawing too much attention to yourself. Assuming the droids might be having communication issues with the terrain and no commander in sight, this was an excellent opportunity to scrap them quickly and quietly. You pass the signal down to Grizzly to get ready to take the shot, his EMP launcher would hopefully disable most of them in the tight marching formation. The Clone acknowledges by hefting his weapon almost instantly, rising up from the brush and scrub of the overgrowth. You had barely enough time to switch to your beskad, unhooking the sword from your side and gripping it tightly. There wasn’t enough time to pass more signals now, hopefully everyone else wouldn’t just start blasting.

As Grizzly fires, the only thing you can think to do is charge out quickly, depending on the rest to follow your lead. When the EMP goes off amidst the droid’s formation, you’re already rocketing out from cover, the beskad tearing down into the closest droid. The sparks from the slash join the arcing lighting of the EMP blast. You don’t even stop to finish it off, leaving it to 2337 just behind you, and instead draw the blade back to hit the droid standing next to it. The B-1 only has enough time to register the attack and let out a pitiful robotic scream, which you cut short a moment after it starts.

On the other side of the blast, Beast and Harm waste no time joining in. Beast bashes a droid to the ground with his shield before slamming it downward to crush the B-1’s head. Harm improvises and uses his PLX like a massive club, achieving much the same result, although you’re partly concerned he might damage the valuable weapon like that…

Your feeling of concern takes a backseat to the fact that the droid patrol has been utterly destroyed in just moments. The Clones look ready to start cheering when they realize it too, but you quickly make the sign for silence. Pointing out a few quick gestures, you motion for them to start picking up the droid parts and tossing them into the foetid water and mud nearby. You then order 5536 and 6018 to scout the path ahead quickly to make sure mre droids weren’t about to come upon you. It’s then that 4582 puts a hand on your shoulder and points to the bush he and Guile had ducked into. Your other brother is waving you over...

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>>4146076
“Got a surprise,” he says quietly as you approach. Pushing back some thick branches and lifting away a cloak of leaves, he reveals what looks to be an old walkway of planks leading over the water. It looks rather rickety and neglected, but it seems to stretch far over the water. Even better, the amount of trees around it seem to have it concealed from the banks. You might have just walked past it without looking. 2337 and 4582 join you, the rest of the others finishing up disposing of the droid parts.

“It’s a shortcut,” 4582 says confidently, “We may be able to cross and check the other side without being noticed.”

“Or the wood might rot beneath our feet and plunge us all in,” 2337 adds a bit of cold water.

It’s just then that 6018 and 5536 come hustling back down the path. Droids, they signal, another squad coming down from the north a few minutes away.

This must be a frequent patrol route, you think to yourself, or perhaps the droids are moving to an assembly area further south. The appearance of the walkway could be an easy way to avoid them, although ambushing more droids was a chance to take out more of their numbers without them being any the wiser. It might be possible for you to take a team to check the other side as 4582 had said. The rest could stay here and keep hitting the droids…

>Stick together, have the squad start the crossing. The droids will blunder into the mines with you all well away.
>Pick a few brothers to come with you across the water. The rest will set another ambush.

>>4146078
>>Pick a few brothers to come with you across the water. The rest will set another ambush.
Go big or go home?

>>4146078
>>Pick a few brothers to come with you across the water. The rest will set another ambush.

Tell them that if it comes to actual engagement that they should displace immediately.

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>>4146122
>>4146136
>Pick a few brothers to come with you across the water. The rest will set another ambush.

Taking a few tenuous steps onto the planks stretching over the water, you gingerly test their strength with your own weight. The boards creak slightly and shift below your feet, but a few more moments of sitting stable gives you more confidence that they can hold for now. Using these to check out the other side would likely save a far bit of time, perhaps even letting you be back before the enemy patrol arrived. The question was now who should join you.

If there was an enemy presence on the other side, you would have to judge between hitting them by surprise or coming back this way to the squad. Anyone assault would need to be fast and overwhelming if you wanted to do anything besides just take a look. When it came to dropping enemies quickly, three was probably no better choice than Guile. No matter the range, he was more than able to make his blaster count many times over. The only trouble he might have would be against heavily armored targets or vehicles. That kind of problem pointed to bringing either Harm with the PLX missiles or Grizzly with the EMP launcher. The latter was probably far too valuable for the ambush team to lose, however, so that made Harm the solid choice. A team of three wouldn’t be a bad choice, but you can’t shake that a little more blaster fire and explosives would be helpful. 6018’s shotgun and demo packs would add plenty of each.

As the rudimentary strike team takes shape in your mind, you find yourself largely satisfied by the overwhelming firepower and destruction you could do quickly. The only shortfall was that it might be leaving the amush team somewhat underpowered. Grizzly’s launcher could only do so much, it would be on the rest to finish the job. Beast and 5536 certainly had good marks when it came to their assault ability and Wasp still had some mines if it came to it. The real question was going to be one of leadership, having someone to give the signal to start the assault and see it through. Your mind, naturally, thinks of your Vode first. They had been with you through the worst of fighting and had always been dependable. 2337 had never really shown any interest in leading, however, and you weren’t even certain he would agree. Still, he was rather intelligent and more than capable of improvising and outsmarting droids. If dependability had a literal example, it was him, but you worried if he might be too inflexible for a situation like this. He had always preferred following to leading, though you had noted he was trying of late to be more assertive.

As you think of the newer brothers, none of them really stand out to you as particularly suited for this. Indeed, it was hard to 5536 taking orders from Wasp or vice versa.

>Leave 2337 in charge of the ambush, he’ll do what's best to keep them alive.
>Put 4582 in charge, he’ll rise to your orders so long as you tell him.

>>4146262
>Leave 2337 in charge of the ambush, he’ll do what's best to keep them alive.
Us crossing this bridge will also secure an escape route so we can minimise our getting hit back. They spring the trap and then we move, once a trap is spring the hunter moves to new ground

>>4146262
>>Leave 2337 in charge of the ambush, he’ll do what's best to keep them alive.
Our boy has this

>>4146262
>Leave 2337 in charge of the ambush, he’ll do what's best to keep them alive.
My boy killed an ARC, he's got this.

>>4146456
Ditto

>>4146262
>Leave 2337 in charge of the ambush, he’ll do what's best to keep them alive.
We should probably cover our armor mud and foliage. Would that work as camouflage against droid (and separatist) targeting systems?

>>4146524
Near the end of the war troopers had camo armor. I think it'll work.

>>4146262
>Leave 2337 in charge of the ambush, he’ll do what's best to keep them alive.

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>>4146716
>>4146524
>>4146469
>>4146456
>>4146449
>>4146333
>Leave 2337 in charge of the ambush, he’ll do what's best to keep them alive.

He may not have shown much interest in being a leader, his medical focus easily the largest concern in his training, but deep down you knew he could be a good one. Between his intelligence and willingness to do anything for his brothers, he was certainly more than capable of pulling this off. Besides, you think to yourself, he had taken out far more dangerous targets on his own and with his brothers before.

“Guile, Harm, and 6018, on me,” you begin to order, “We’ll cross over and have a look. 2337, I want you to set up the rest of the squad here and get ready for more visitors.”

The medic tilts his head, clearly surprised.

“We’ll make them feel right at home,” he replies, “But how long should we wait here?”

His meaning is obvious, you needed to have a plan for if something went wrong or happened to your team.

“Wait till you stop hearing explosions,” you reason, “And then give us five minutes or so. If there’s no sign or word, head west for the spaceport. If you don’t think you can hold here, don’t wait.”

“We don’t leave brothers behind,” he chides you.

“No we don’t,” you agree, “So just clear the way and wait for us there.”

He’s probably frowning under his helmet, if you had to bet.

“Last time you ordered me to wait somewhere, we both ended up in a holding cell.”

“True,” you admit, “But here we are.”

“Here we are,” he agrees, “Good hunting, Vod.”

“Vode an,” you salute him and the rest of the squad, “Let’s pay them back for our gunship.”

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>>4146786
You set off down the planks over the water, your chosen team following after. The four of you spread out naturally, attempting to keep from overloading your perilous bridge. 2337 starts directing the rest, but his voice fades away quickly as you put distance between your groups. Soon there’s nothing you can see besides the water, the trees, and the narrow path ahead. It’s a delicate thing to keep your balance, more than once you’re forced to pause to let the platform you’re on stabilize, but you and the others manage to stay dry.

The planks take you over the water east a fair distance, before a slight bend shifts your course more northward. There’s a brief moment of concern when you realize it’s headed straight into a large overgrowth hanging down from a tree just beside the path. You end up needing to draw your beskad, hacking a large portion of vegetation away to keep moving forward. Each slash and splash makes you cringe, the idea of giving yourself away all too possible. Luckily, once you’ve cracked the outer layer, the rest of the plants are easy to shove aside and pass under.

It’s when the vegetation starts getting thicker again, that you suspect you might be coming to an end. The water below remains equally murky and unreadable to its depth, but you have a feeling you’ve nearly reached the edge of the water. You signal for your brothers to keep low and you quietly cut your way forward, pushing through and trying to peer past the foliage. As you push a branch carefully upward, you find yourself staring at a large amount of droids.

There’s B1’s and few B2s, as well as a number of dwarf Spider droids, their large guns trained on the sky through a large opening in the canopy above. Most prominently, however, is your nearest problem.

A large AAT sits amidst the droid forces, it’s commander’s hatch open. Sitting there is…

>A tactical droid sitting inside, peering up at the sky...
>A human, talking to what looks like a hologram projection...

>>4146799
>>A tactical droid sitting inside, peering up at the sky...

>>4146799
A tactical droid sitting inside, peering up at the sky...

>>4146799
>A human, talking to what looks like a hologram projection...
High risk, high reward. Especially if we manage to kidnap them and bring them back with us.

>>4146799
>A human, talking to what looks like a hologram projection...

>>4146799
>>A human, talking to what looks like a hologram projection...

>>4146799
>A tactical droid sitting inside, peering up at the sky...

>>4146799
>>A human, talking to what looks like a hologram projection...

>>4146835
We're not kidnapping a guy in a tank.

>>4146799

>A tactical droid sitting inside, peering up at the sky...

>>4146892
You're right. We're not just kidnapping a guy, but also a tank.

>>4146804
>>4146808
>>4146849
>>4146893
>A tactical droid sitting inside, peering up at the sky...

>>4146856
>>4146845
>>4146844
>>4146835
>A human, talking to what looks like a hologram projection...

We appear to be tied up! I will let this go until tomorrow when I pick things up again, probably around 2000 GMT. Thanks for playing today!

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>>4146908
In the meanwhile, you can also talk any strategies you would like to employ.

For reference, your team and their kit is as follows:

CT-0027 [ACTIVE]: DC-15S Blaster Carbine, Beskad, 1 Medpac, 1 Detonator
CT-4457 “Guile” [ACTIVE]: DC-15X Long Barrel Blaster Rifle, DC-17 Blaster Pistol, 2 Detonators
CT-6018 [ACTIVE]: DP-23 Shotgun, F-187 Fusion Cutter, 2 Demopacks
CT-9145 “Harm” [ACTIVE]: PLX-1 Missile Launcher, PLX Reload Pack, DC-17 Blaster Pistol, 1 Detonator

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>>4146799
>>A tactical droid sitting inside, peering up at the sky...
Clonebro dubs checked

>>4146946
Shit, I meant the human. My bad.

>>4146799
>A human, talking to what looks like a hologram projection...

>>4146911
>Strategies to employ

Well we originally came here to wreck those Spider Droids. They're the main issue, and the biggest threat to our gunships. This doesn't seem like a fight where we can last long against all of them. I suggest we hit the Separatists hard and fast, wipe out the Spider Droids and then fade away back into the swamp the way we came.

If we fan out, I don't think the AAT will be able to get a clear shot at us. And with how thick this swamp seems, I also don't think the AAT will be able to chase after us. Then again, that thing hovers above ground. If at all possible, I'd like to try and take out the tank too but I don't know if we'll have time for that. Perhaps Guile could at least take out its commanding pilot with his sniper rifle before we fall back?

In essenece

>Have Harm blast away at the Spider Droids with his Missile Launcher
>Have Guile snipe the tank commander
>Fall back immediately

Perhaps we could also set those demo-packs behind to cover our retreat should the droids give chase? Tossing some detonators also likely wouldn't hurt.

>>4146911
I can't tell from the map, do the droids look like they're on a path to our mines? If so we should wait until they do, then smoke them with the rest of the squad. Grizzly can EMP the spiders, Harm can disable the tank, Guile can disable the tank commander (a hostage would be nice), and everyone else can rain merry hell down on the infantry droids.

>>4146960
To clarify these droids are on the opposite side of the small lake and are standing still. They are not anywhere near the mines at this moment.

The rest of the squad is back on the other side, awaiting a different squad of droids that is approaching them.

>>4146979
Ah. Well shit.
>>4146958 has this, in that case.

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>>4146948
>>4146950
>A human, talking to what looks like a hologram projection…

Acknowledged.

Based on all discussion there are two general courses of action that are recommended

Option 1: 0027 and 6018 will sneak up to the tank while the commander remains distracted. At that time, there may be the option to attempt to capture them or rig the tank to explode/capture it. When 0027 gives the signal, Harm and Guile will open up on the Spider droids and nearby B1s, covering the path. On the success of the action or if the team can’t hold out, the team will exfiltrate back along the path.

Advantages: Potential CIS Commander as a hostage, Spider Droids specifically targetted.

Disadvantages: Droid forces not targeted have the potential of overwhelming each group, especially if discovered early.

Option 2: Harm immediately targets the tank and takes it out. The entire team advances to take cover behind the wreckage, eliminating nearby droids. They will then use it as a barricade to cause as much destruction as possible, while 6018 sets the demo packs to cover your escape along the northern path.

Advantages: Potentially removes tank from problem, likely significant damage to all droid forces.

Disadvantages: Spiders not specifically targeted, unknown enemy presence along exfiltration.

>Option 1: Grab and Smash. Infiltrate in and then engage.
>Option 2: Smash and Run. Hit them hard, fast, and then disengage.

>>4147750
>Option 1: Grab and Smash. Infiltrate in and then engage.

>>4147750
>>Option 1: Grab and Smash. Infiltrate in and then engage.
Stun the commander, commandeer the tank, use it to fuck up the rest of the droids.

>>4147750
>>Option 1: Grab and Smash. Infiltrate in and then engage.

>>4147750
>> secret option E
capture the command post

>>4147947
ENEMY FORCES HAVE CAPTURED OUR COMMAND POST
get going pt. dipshit

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>>4147952
CAPTURING THE COMMAND POST

>>4147750
>>Option 1: Grab and Smash. Infiltrate in and then engage.

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>>4147954
>>4147952

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>>4147763
>>4147816
>>4147840
>>4147973
>Option 1: Grab and Smash. Infiltrate in and then engage.

The chance of getting the drop on the Separatist and the tank was just too much for you to pass up. When you had captured the tank on Geonosis, it turned the tide of the droid attack almost all on its own. Of course, this wasn’t quite the same situation, but being able to even get a few shots off might make the entire operation even more successful. The danger was the human in the command position. They were a variable. A droid you could count on to act a certain way, but you were less confident about a sentient.

Taking them alive would be a boon, but difficult. The first step was getting close enough to even try. You signal back to your brothers behind you. In short order you direct 6018 to follow you closely. As for Guile and Harm, you point out the B1s and the spiders specifically and then the signal to hold tight. Guile gives an assured nod, which makes you think he knows exactly what you’re planning. Whether or not everything happened exactly as you intended, however, was another matter.

As you scan the droid forces once again, you’re satisfied that none are covering this direction. You give the sign to advance. Taking off low and quickly, 6018 is right on your heels as the two of you creep over to the AAT sitting idle. Approaching as silently as the two of you can manage in Phase I armor, you work your way toward the rear of the tank. You reach the cover, crouching to keep hidden from most the droids. The nearby B1s to the north could easily see you if they turned around, but that was a chance you were going to have to take. Glancing over to Guile, you see his long-barreled blaster sighting in a target from the overgrowth. There’s no sign of Harm, until you see the big figure carefully moving his PLX into firing position. They’ll be ready soon.

You motion to 6018 who, admittedly, seems a bit out of place at the moment. The bomb specialist was probably used to being careful, but stealth wasn’t something he had practiced much. He would just have to try. You signal for him to set up one of the demopacks on the tank, right over the rear power cell. If worse came to worst, you had decided, it would pay to have an insurance policy.

The voice of the Separatist carries to your ear, but you’re just far enough that you’re not following their words. Their conversation seems to be droning on, with the hologram side of it completely inaudible for the moment. There wasn’t going to be much room for error here. You consider switching your blaster to stun, but the noise from the shot might attract far too much attention. Knocking them out seemed like the best option if you wanted to take them alive. Carefully, you climb up the tank, making certain not to disturb the vehicle too much at once…

>Focus on getting the commander taken out as fast as possible.
>Try to listen to the conversation for a few seconds. What are they discussing?

>>4148354

>Focus on getting the commander taken out as fast as possible.

>>4148354
>>Focus on getting the commander taken out as fast as possible.
If we get him back alive, interrogation will get us the same information.

>>4148354
>Focus on getting the commander taken out as fast as possible.
Once we take him, we also get his comms, which can later be cracked and used.

>>4148354
>>Try to listen to the conversation for a few seconds. What are they discussing?

>Focus on getting the commander taken out as fast as possible.
Also his communication device as well.

>>4143511
One of these is not like the other
one of these is not the same
one of these is a wookie!

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>>4148510
>>4148404
>>4148383
>>4148373
>Focus on getting the commander taken out as fast as possible.

The only other non-droid Separatist you had met, besides the Geonosians, had been that Grievous character on Kamino. He had been wild and largely unpredictable. That may not be the case here, but it did make you think the human Separatist might be important and you certainly didn’t want to give them a chance to show just how crazy they were. The track record for reasonable and sane beings amongst the Separatists, as far as you’re concerned, has been rather spotty.

Holding on to the side of the tank with one hand, you shift your grip on the blaster in your hand. The Separatist seems to be finishing up his conversation with the hologram, which fades away as the communication device on his wrist turns off. Up until now, they’ve been entirely focused on it, allowing you to climb up to practically right beside him. The officer seems to notice something is amiss, turning their head in your direction. You get straight on view of them as they do. Well kept brown hair, light blue eyes expanding in shock as they realize your right beside them on top of their own tank. As their mouth starts to open, you’re already bringing the butt of your blaster around, bashing into the side of their head. The Separatist goes slack and you quickly stretch out to catch them before they fall back down through their hatch. You adjust your position and haul them from the tank. You take a couple careful steps with them in your arm, before you lower them down into 6018’s arms.

As the Clone tries to quietly drag away the unconscious body of the Separatist commander, you turn your attention back to the commander’s compartment on the tank. You just need to climb in and hit the controls-

Dropping into position, there’s suddenly a faint sound on the air. It’s unmistakable and clearly blaster fire, you think to yourself, coming from across the small lake. Had the rest of the squad just set off the ambush?

You’re not the only one that notices.

A B1 droid nearby suddenly turns around, a hand held up to the side of its head.

“Commander,” it reports, “There’s been an attack o-”

The droid looks straight at you.

“You’re not the Commander...” it starts to stay. It’s then that it notices 6018 dragging away its actual officer.

“Heyyyy,” it protests, “ You can’t d-”

It’s the last thing it says, as its head explodes in a shower of debris. Guile’s sniper rifle has spoken instead.

While the shot certainly shut the droid up, the retort has captured more than a little attention. The droids in the compound all start to turn around. You’ll need to get moving fast, you realize. You drop in the turret and take the controls…

>Firing the main cannon at one of the spider droids.
>Strafing with the repeater blasters the B2s close by.

>>4148961
This is my last post for today! I'll be back at 2000 GMT to keep the battle rolling. Thanks for playing!

>>4148961
>>Firing the main cannon at one of the spider droids.

>>4148961
>Firing the main cannon at one of the spider droids.

>>4148961
>Firing the main cannon at one of the spider droids.

>>4148964
Thanks for running!

>>4148961
>>Firing the main cannon at one of the spider droids.

>>4148961
>Firing the main cannon at one of the spider droids.

>>4148961
>Firing the main cannon at one of the spider droids.

>Firing the main cannon at one of the spider droids.
Secondary objective is go, eliminate the threat to our air units.

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>>4150085
>>4149544
>>4149420
>>4149312
>>4149050
>>4149005
>>4148979
>Firing the cannon at one of the spider droids.

The layout in the turret is quite different than those in the driver position, you think to yourself, but it’s clearly meant for the same kind of utility. You quickly locate the traverse controls and the targeting console, happily finding the barrel is almost exactly lined up with the spider droid sitting in front of you. It was just a matter of depressing the main gun down… and firing!

The AAT’s weapon charges and fires on your command. The heavy laser lances straight into the droid. A second later an explosion blooms outward from the spider’s casing, bursting it into pieces in a fiery plume. There’s a smoke trail that appears from the side of your targeting reticle, following after a high speed missile that buries itself into the next spider droid with a similar result. In seconds, the droids have lost half of them already. All the attention turns to your direction, the droids immediately assessing your threat and opening fire on the tank. Blaster fire starts to rake across the tank’s heavily armored front, mostly bouncing and deflecting away harmlessly.

All the remaining spiders turn as well, preparing to open a salvo in your direction as the B1s and B2s start to close in. They’ll be swarming around you soon if you didn’t do something quickly, but it was better that they were concerned more about you then your brothers. You check to your right, 6018 has managed to get the Separatist into the concealment of the overgrowth while Guile is busy knocking down another of the droids approaching them. Harm is nowhere to be seen, but you expected that. He was likely taking care of his reload and finding his next shot. You would need to keep the droids bothered for a little longer if he was going to get his sights on the next one.

That was no problem, you think to yourself. Lining up for the next shot you’re about to squeeze the trigger again when a warning pops up on the targeting screen- There’s been a weapon safing procedure started! You angrily press on the controls with no response, it must have been the pilot!

You carefully pop your head up from the turret, just in time to size the piloting hatch open below. A confused droid is starting to exit, poking his head to the side to look out and around.

“What’s going on?!” it says, clearly confused, “Why all the shooting?!”

You have an idea.

>Order the droid forward, tell it you’re under attack. Bail out quickly.
>Take it out with a blaster shot, hop down and try to get in the driver’s seat.

>>4150195
>>Take it out with a blaster shot, hop down and try to get in the driver’s seat.
The only good clanker...

>>4150195
>>Order the droid forward, tell it you’re under attack. Bail out quickly.
...is a dead one. But with this, he'll drive into the spiders and 6018 can blow the demopacks.

>>4150214
You know what i honestly forgot about the demo pack. Changing >>4150199 to,

>Order the droid forward, tell it you’re under attack. Bail out quickly.

>>4150195
>Take it out with a blaster shot, hop down and try to get in the driver’s seat.
Before we kill it: "Minor weapons debug systems are calibrated please return fire control" after it does so say roger roger and blast it

>>4150195
>>Order the droid forward, tell it you’re under attack. Bail out quickly.

>>4150195
>Take it out with a blaster shot, hop down and try to get in the driver’s seat.
Blowing up the tank now would cause us to lose the cover the tank provides against the B1s and B2s. Taking over the driving controls would allow us to continue to be the center of fire, which to a degree protects our allies and attempt to evade shots by the two remaining spider drones while running over the other droids.

>>4150195
>Order the droid forward, tell it you’re under attack. Bail out quickly.

>>4150195
>>Take it out with a blaster shot, hop down and try to get in the driver’s seat.

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>>4150490
>>4150289
>>4150219
>>4150214
>Order the droid forward, tell it you’re under attack. Bail out quickly.

The droids being droids, you figure it might be worth a shot to try and get the driver to solve your problem for you.

“We’re under attack,” you clip at it sharply, “Advance!”

“Roger, Rog-” the droid starts to say with a salute, before stopping mid-sentence.

“You’re not the commander,” it accuses, “You can’t-”

This time it’s your blaster that silences the droid. The metallic pilot clanks his last clank as he falls into a pile back inside the pilot compartment. It was worth a shot, you suppose, but with the B2s closing in you would have to hurr-

The tank lurches forward suddenly, startling you. Bracing yourself with your free hand, you realize that the AAT has started crawling forward. Had the droid survived? Or perhaps, you wonder, had it fallen onto the controls? Either way, the tank was doing as you had hoped it would, moving forward closer to the droid forces. Although it was drifting slightly to the right, it would at minimum block their firing lanes for a moment and provide some cover. At best, the demo pack on it might be able to give them an unpleasant surprise soon.

The trouble now was extracting yourself. The B1s closing in from behind made the rear of the hovertank a dangerous place, just as the B2s and spiders threatened the front. Worst still, you discover there’s a squad of B1s looking on from across the small lake, there’s a clearing just behind you large enough to see across from your angle. They must have noticed all the firing as well. Luckily, they may yet be too far away to accurately engage, but a lot more random blaster fire was worrying in itself. With your options limited, you drop down to the side of the tank, keeping close to the raised section and hiding behind the pan shaped lower portion. The position leaves you mostly covered, aside from the droids to the south of you that Guile’s engaging.

You raise your carbine and add your fire to his, knocking down a B1 quickly. As it falls, the last of the small group is destroyed, giving you some breathing room. The threat now would be getting back to your squad, with the B1s from behind closing in. You signal to Guile to help with that, but with the tank moving it won’t be long before you’re too far to run across quickly. Harm is getting ready for his next missile shot and 6018 is likely still busy with the Separatist. You could try engaging the droides behind the tank when they get close with your blaster or beskad, but a detonator might as easily do the trick and keep you less exposed…

>Toss your detonator to clear your path to safety.
>Save the detonator, engage the droids directly.

>>4150949
>Save the detonator, engage the droids directly.
Ah, it was worth a shot with the droid. Oh well.

>>4150949
>Save the detonator, engage the droids directly.

>>4150949
>>Save the detonator, engage the droids directly.

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>>4150983
>>4151013
>>4151016
>Save the detonator, engage the droids directly.

It’s not even a question in your mind. You can handle a few droids, especially if Guile was backing you up, no question. You’re careful to keep the tank between as many droids as you can, but you position yourself to draw the advancing B1s in. It’s then that a blaster bolt rips into one of the droids, a precision shot from your brother sniper no doubt. You raise your blaster to shoot at the next, but before you fire it too gets hit. This time it’s a salvo of blaster bolts rather than a single shot, clearly from a shotgun. It must have been 6018, you think to yourself, but now you had to swing around for the third droid-

With a robotic warcry, the charging B1 raises its blaster straight at you. With no time to aim, you’re forced to swing your own blaster to the side to knock that droid off target as it fires at you point blank. The blaster shots impact the ground just passed you, barely missing at the last moment. Perhaps unusually tenacious, the droid follows through by swinging his blaster back around at you again, forcing you to parry once more. This time, however, you’re more set and have the time to not only knock it’s blaster away, but to slam a hit into its head. The shot is enough to knock the droid off balance, it’s arms flailing outward to keep its footing. Flipping the blaster in your hand, you place the barrel right next to its chest and fire, scrapping the droid where it stands in front of you.

You hear the sound of Harm’s PLX firing again, the missile seeking out and destroying yet another spider droid. There was only one left! Your raid so far was highly successful, although that didn’t count for much until it was finished and your squad was out of here alive.

The fire coming in from the otherside of the lake is mostly wild, but you do note a few bolts landing close to your brothers. You also notice droids starting to pour in from the north and east as well. It was very clearly time to go. The problem was the tank wasn’t quite in position to get the last spider droid if 6018 blew it’s demo pack. It would certainly take a number of the B2s with it at least, they had been forced to stand aside for it to pass. In the few moments it would take to reach the spider though, they would be around it and probably firing at you. You take the opportunity to head toward your brothers, but how to take the last spider out was still in question. You could either have 6018 blow the tank now and hope that Harm could reload fast enough to take it down or you could take your chances with the Super Battle Droids and let the demopack do its work.

You decide on the run, yelling for…

>6018 to blow the demopack and the tank now. Harm will finish the spider.
>Harm to focus on the battle droids, 6018 will blow the tank with the spider.

>>4151129
This is my last post for tonight, troopers. We'll rally up tomorrow at around 2000 GMT! Thanks for playing!

>>4151129
>>Harm to focus on the battle droids, 6018 will blow the tank with the spider.

>>4150949
>Save the detonator, engage the droids directly.
use that human commander as a body shield!

>>4151129
>>Harm to focus on the battle droids, 6018 will blow the tank with the spider.
Harm fired at the spider last and thus will be wary of something coming from that way but stuck on defence allowing him to open onto the droids,

>>4151129
>Harm to focus on the battle droids, 6018 will blow the tank with the spider.

>>4151129
>>Harm to focus on the battle droids, 6018 will blow the tank with the spider.

>>4151129
>Harm to focus on the battle droids, 6018 will blow the tank with the spider

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>>4151852
>>4151472
>>4151468
>>4151254
>>4151160
>Harm to focus on the battle droids, 6018 will blow the tank with the spider.

The demopack would do the job, you’re confident, you just had to hold out a little longer for it to be perfect. Before he can start reloading his PLX, you shout to Harm to switch to firing at the droids. The Clone quickly slings his launcher behind his back and pulls out his blaster pistol, peppering the incoming droids as fast he can manage. You shift your own fire to the Super Battle Droids now marching from behind the tank, their arms raised and ready to fire. You turn as you move for your brothers’ position, firing as you walk backward.

6018’s shotgun fires again pounds one of the B2s, but a moment later you hear him shout in pain. A blaster bolt from the other side of the lake has managed to catch him in the side. You see him drop to a knee and place a hand over his wound but, after only a few seconds, he rises back up and continues to fire. You’re about to call out to him when you feel a hit all your own, a shot ricocheting off the armor on your left shoulder. That had been a close one. It strikes you that you’re very quickly being overpowered by sheer numbers. When the tank goes up, you decide, that would definitely need to be your time to escape. Your brothers and you were being picked apart slowly, but surely.

Opening up with your carbine, you send a little revenge fire back into the Supers and manage to send one crumbling. You motion to your brothers to start falling back. The brush and overgrowth won’t stop the blaster bolts, but it’s likely to at least make it harder for the droids to hit you. Guile and Harm quickly head deeper into the brush, toward the plank bridge and your escape. Stepping back yourself, you find yourself next to 6018 who’s still blasting away with his shotgun as best he can manage. You tap him on the shoulder and give him the detonate signal. He drops his blaster down and pulls out the trigger device. The tank has crawled on slowly and the spider is now positioned straight behind it.

It’s done for, you’re certain. 6018 hits the switch.

*KABOOOOOM*

The blast is massive, tearing apart the back half of the AAT and catching not only the spider droid, but a nearby B2 in the explosion. It’s thoroughly satisfying to see it happen, but the number of droids still pressing in means you won’t have time to admire it. Your next step is escaping. As the two of you drop back into the bush, you plot your next move.

>Have 6018 set up his last demopack here as a parting gift, you’re going to grab the Separatist.
>You’ll cover 6018 while he goes to carry the captured officer. You might need the explosive later.

>>4151887
>You’ll cover 6018 while he goes to carry the captured officer. You might need the explosive later.

>>4151887
>>You’ll cover 6018 while he goes to carry the captured officer. You might need the explosive later.

>>4151887
>>You’ll cover 6018 while he goes to carry the captured officer. You might need the explosive later.

>>4151887
>You’ll cover 6018 while he goes to carry the captured officer. You might need the explosive later.
If we can set that charge in the center of the wooden bridge, we can blow apart their advance and force them to back track.

>>4151887
>You’ll cover 6018 while he goes to carry the captured officer. You might need the explosive later.
>>4151988
good idea

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>>4152037
>>4151988
>>4151953
>>4151915
>>4151908
>You’ll cover 6018 while he goes to carry the captured officer. You might need the explosive later.

The only thing to do was to make sure your brothers and the prisoner were moving. You tap 6018 again, this time ordering him to grab the Separatist officer and go, you’d hold here to keep the droids busy. He grunts in acknowledgement, slipping into the brush behind you and out of sight. You train your carbine back in front of you, the smoking remains of the tank willing the air with a acrid and fuming odor of burning electronics and tech. A thick dark column rises into the air from it, probably visible for some distance.

A B1 is closest to you, earning a burst from a carbine that knocks it down just like all the others. The number of fresh squads coming your way is concerning now for more than just being a threat to you, there were a lot of droids in this forest. Aside from the tank and the spider droids, there must have been at least a company’s worth of battle droids if not more. The realization that hits you is sobering one. This probably wasn’t just some unit sent to hamper the Republic’s landing forces or even an early forward vanguard. Instead, it was likely this was an entire infiltration effort of the forest north of Zogoto, before launching an all out attack.

With a few last bursts of your carbine, you slip into the overgrowth yourself as the approaching droids fire wildly into the scrub around you. Leaves and branches explode and fall, cooking as blaster bolts scythe through them. You find the planks of the walkway across the water and simply begin to move across as fast as you can, picking up on your brothers quickly. 6018 is in front of you, carrying the Separatist draped over one of his shoulders like a pack. His other arm extends outward to his side, keeping a precarious balance on the warping planks below him. Their combined weight was probably taking the wood to its limit. You wondered for a moment if that might impede the droids?

Looking back, you can hear the droids communicating orders and entering the bush after you. It would be a hard thing to fight them out here if they got a clear shot. With nowhere to dodge besides jumping in the water, you would likely be easy targets, only able to get in the line of fire to protect the brothers in front of you. That just wouldn’t be acceptable.

Thinking quickly, the thought strikes that you could blow the planks and hopefully halt the droids advance. A detonator would likely do the job, you think to yourself, but a demopack, properly set, might be able to take quite a few droids with it as well. It wasn’t without risk though. Too big of an explosion could threaten the entire stability of the structure. Alternatively, if only a small section was destroyed, the droids might still be able to cross…

>Use your detonator to blow a section away.
>Grab the demopack from 6018’s belt and set it where it will do the most help.

>>4152110
>>Grab the demopack from 6018’s belt and set it where it will do the most help.

>>4152110
>Grab the demopack from 6018’s belt and set it where it will do the most help.
We should blow it just as we are nearing the end of the bridge.

>>4152110
>Grab the demopack from 6018’s belt and set it where it will do the most help.

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>>4152125
>>4152143
>>4152183
>Grab the demopack from 6018’s belt and set it where it will do the most help.

If fighting the droids on Geonosis and Kamino had taught you anything, it was that there was no such thing as too much firepower. The droid forces had no understanding of difficulties, only points of data. A minor inconvenience was no inconvenience to them and nothing short of a full destructive salve would stem the tide for longer than a few moments before they simply kept coming. With that in mind, you race up to behind 6018 and quickly pull the demopack from his equipment belt. The orange-colored clone practically falls from the plank he’s on, the Separatist’s Commander shifting awkwardly on his shoulder. He seems like he’s about to turn back and complain, when you shout for him to keep going and to hurry. What you’re doing must be apparent to him, because the clone starts to move just a little bit faster down the walkway, going so far as to urge the others to hurry.

If he was scared, you think to yourself, you must have made the right decision.

You get to work instantly, setting up the demopack at the edge of the thick foliage behind you. The droids wouldn’t see it here and, with a little luck, might just keep walking forward straight into the drink with no planks below them. If that didn’t short them, it would certainly get them well stuck. The problem facing you was that they were already very close. Even now, you could hear the clankers coming through the brush mere meters further down the walkway. You couldn’t see them, so thick was the brush and overgrowth here, but it wouldn’t be long before they pushed their way through just as you all had. With that in mind, you opt to set the timer on the detpack to a short fuse, 10 seconds only. Hopefully enough for you to get away clear...

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>>4152316
Activating the pack, you stand back up and take off running down the planks, all sense of caution thrown aside and your balance dictated entirely by your momentum. The sounds of more blaster fire and explosions from up ahead fill your senses, your brothers’ firefight must not have abated since it started. Hopefully soon your presence would be able to get them removed from the mire. But, for now, your attention is still behind you. You had been counting in your head, but were somehow still only at five. It was incredible how slow ten seconds could be, you think ironically. As the first droid comes out of the brush, you lament how you had worried if it would have been enough time for you. Perhaps it had been too much. The droid is aiming it’s blaster, as the four of you push hard to reach the other side. There’s no cover. There’s no def-

*KAAAA-THOOOOM*

The explosive goes off, the sound and fury of the blast amplified by the water below it displacing and shooting upward into the air. The droid that was standing there a moment ago is gone and so is a good several sections of the plank walkway. If that didn’t slow them down, you think to yourself, nothing would.

Although the planks below you shake furiously, you’re able to cross back to the other side from where you came. Your squad locked in a desperate fight. Droids are pouring in from the north, at least two squads if you had to guess. There are less to south, much less, but these droids don’t look like regular battle droids. They’re darker colored and someone moving incredibly fast…

>Help fight the droids to the north so the squad can disengage faster, before you’re overwhelmed.
>Fight the strange droids to the south and clear your path, before they tear through the squad.

>>4152317
>Fight the strange droids to the south and clear your path, before they tear through the squad.

>>4152317
>Fight the strange droids to the south and clear your path, before they tear through the squad.
Surprise them with a cooked detonator?

>>4152317
>>Fight the strange droids to the south and clear your path, before they tear through the squad.

>>4152317
>>Fight the strange droids to the south and clear your path, before they tear through the squad

>>4152317
>>Fight the strange droids to the south and clear your path, before they tear through the squad.
How far into the war are we, QM? Also, this timeline diverged because Anakin and Obi-Wan weren't captured on Geonosis, right?

>>4152415
It diverged when we beat Jango half to death I'm pretty sure. Also, this is our second battle after Geonosis.

>>4152317
>>Fight the strange droids to the south and clear your path, before they tear through the squad.

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>>4152498
>>4152415
>>4152412
>>4152382
>>4152329
>>4152326
>Fight the strange droids to the south and clear your path, before they tear through the squad.

Confident that 2337 can hold his own here on the north side, you focus yourself on reinforcing the south. It wasn’t that you dismissed the threat of the battle droids pouring down, even if they were relatively straightforward to deal with, it was more your concern of the unknown new droids that put you on edge. They were fast, you could clearly tell, and they seemed to be shaking off blaster bolts much more effectively than a B1 could.

As you close on them you consider tossing a detonator, but being interspersed with your own troopers made that impossible for the moment. 5536, Wasp, and Grizzly were facing down three of the droids, essentially lined up one versus one. You see at once the differences between the three as you close in, too far away to help but close enough to watch.

5536, being an assault specialist and more forward of the rest, naturally closes on the droid in front of him. With his shield up, he charges forward, clearly aiming to bash the droid. It comes as a major shock to you when the droid simply jumps over him. 5536 stops on a dime, surprised but determined and swings his shield back around at it. You’re raising your own carbine to blast it in the back when the droid simply jumps back to the other side. It’s playing with 5536, toying like a predator. The Clone swings around once again, but this time the droid meets him, grabbing the shield mid-swing and stopping it. They were strong too.

You glance to your right, checking on Wasp. He’s doing all he can to avoid the attacks of the droid, dodging nimbly and doing everything he can to use the environment of overgrowth all around him. Looking left, you see Grizzly doing much the same, but swinging his launcher round aggressively. The droid he’s facing seems to dodge naturally, as easily as if Grizzly was going in slow motion. It’s then the clone takes a step forward that everything changes. The droid pounces on the opportunity to get in close, but Grizzly suddenly lurches forward and rams his helmet straight into the droid’s head. That explains how he took down Beast in the Battle Circle so quick, you think to yourself. The clanker steps backward and immediately looks ready to attack again, but Grizzly has leveled his EMP launcher. He fires point blank hitting the droid straight in the chest.

With his enemy defeated, you’re certain Grizzly will shift to help 5536. That meant you would be best off moving toward Wasp. You’re about to turn, but that’s when the Clone shocks you. Rather than helping 5536, who’s now locked in a clinch with the droid, he passes him to help Wasp instead.

5536 is depending on you to help him, and they’re too close together for your blaster...

>Tackle the droid, use your strength to force it back.
>Draw your beskad. One precise thrust is all it will take.

>>4152532
This will be my last post for tonight! I'll pick things up at around 2300 GMT tomorrow! Thanks for another fun weekend!

>>4152415
We are approximately four weeks after Geonosis. To put bluntly, we are off the rails for a lot of reasons already. So hold on, troopers!

>>4152532
>>Draw your beskad. One precise thrust is all it will take.
We'll have to pencil in Grizzly for a stern talking-to.
>>4152536
Yeehaw, cap'n.

>>4152532
>Tackle the droid, use your strength to force it back.
Where did Guile go?

>>4152556
Since he and Harm came out first, they saw the situation in the north and dove in to help. They're currently helping 2337 and the rest hold there.

>>4152532
>Draw your beskad. One precise thrust is all it will take.

>>4152532
>>Draw your beskad. One precise thrust is all it will take.

>>4152532
>Draw your beskad. One precise thrust is all it will take

>>4152532
>>Draw your beskad. One precise thrust is all it will take.

skewer the clanker

>>4152565
And where's 6018? There were 4 commandos on the map, right?

>>4153889
Currently doing his best to hold to the Separatist near the north group.

I don't believe I ever showed you. There were 6 initially, but two ate mines and a third was gunned down before it got to close combat. I'll see if I can pretty map up to help clear things up a bit on the post.

>>4154005
Tonight's session cancelled, I take it?

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>>4152744
>>4152639
>>4152614
>>4152603
>>4152545

The two lower red squares are the remaining Commando Droids.

>Draw your beskad. One precise thrust is all it will take

These droids were dangerous, you couldn’t risk blasting a brother but you had to make sure the fight was over quickly. Your beskad was the surest way to guarantee that. As you let your carbine fall, you pull the Mandalorian sword from your belt and grip it tightly. You’re only a few a handful of strides away now, you just needed to-

The droid grappling 5536 shifts it’s arms in an unnatural direction, causing a snapping sound to crack above the noise of the battle. 5536 yells in pain and drops his shield before the droid twists again and throws him to the ground in a heap. The trooper tries to cradle his arm, but the droidstrikes with its foot, knocking his helmet from his face before slamming it down into his throat. The maneuvers had taken less than a few seconds. These droids were exceptionally dangerous. With a blaring rumble of robotic sounds, the droid leaps backward before you can close, leaving 5536 gurgling pitifully on the ground as his uninjured arm clenches at his throat.

You’re forced to jump over brother, swinging your sword at the improved battle droid in a fury. Knowing it could potentially jump over you the same way it had 5536, you’re careful in your final approach to keep your hand ready to strike upward. The droid seems to notice this, opting instead to try jinxing past you to the left. You're on guard, however, keeping yourself between the droid and the rest of your brothers, your snarling beskad hungry to bite into the clanking bastard. The droid then quickly decides to commit, closing the remaining paces between in an instance with a crouching roll. It shoots up to its feet automatically and you swing hard, but are surprised to find only air as it leaps straight up.

Danger, you think to yourself. Betting the droid is going for your head, you force yourself to tumble forward before it comes back down. Now behind it, you roll to a knee and slash at its back. This time, the droid simply leans forward to avoid the hit, the tip of your sword just barely scratching its chassis. A small sparc flies from the plate armor of the droid, which immediately recoils and jumps backwards. It lands in a deep crouch and, before you can even move, launches itself toward you like a spring-loaded rocket!

You have one chance to get this right…

>Force your blade into the droid with both hands as it passes.
>Side step and slam the droid with your free hand, then finish with the beskad.

>>4154188
>>Force your blade into the droid with both hands as it passes.
>>4154177
Oh me of little faith.

>>4154188
>Force your blade into the droid with both hands as it passes.

So that means the 4 droids that were marching down the east side are B1s or B2s that will be flanking to what is currently our south-east?

>>4154188
>Force your blade into the droid with both hands as it passes.

>>4154188
>>Force your blade into the droid with both hands as it passes.

>>4154194
Apologies trooper, the map took a bit more fiddling with all the combat steps to catch up on.

>>4154200
Most likely.

>>4154229
No problem man! I'm just happy to quest, you take all the time you need to get it as you like it.

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>>4154194
>>4154200
>>4154204
>>4154206
>>4154194
>>4154200
>>4154204
>>4154206
>Force your balde into the droid with both hands as it passes.

Once, during your combat training with A’den, he had faced you wielding your own beskad. You had been challenged to disarm him and the number of ways to do that seemed very limited. In attempt after attempt, you were simply outmaneuvered or outskilled by the Null ARC. His size and speed were superior to yours, to say nothing of his ability to fight. Over the numerous failures, you learned more than a fair bit of not only your own strength, but fighting an opponent with a beskad. He had taught you to use your strength in hand to hand combat, and lessons applied just the same to armed combat.

You had faced Sergeant Wrax with his, of course, those mere weeks earlier, but that had been largely improvised and maybe a little bit lucky. Against A’den, you found that luck rarely worked twice. It had largely been an exercise in frustration, but you had taken away more than one key point. The most important thing was the nature of the beskad. It was a thrusting weapon more than anything. Though it could certainly hack and slash, it was its ability to puncture and pierce that was the key. The beskar of its tip was able to defeat a large variety of defences, which is what made it truly deadly. Thrusting in front of you with two arms meant the relative short sword was dependent on your strength to keep it held out. Against a heavily armored foe jumping at you, most Clones would fear their arms would buckle.

You were not most Clones.

The answer here, you think to yourself, is obvious. You had to use your strength. You lean on your reflexes, trusting your instinct to put the blade straight on target. You plant one foot and drive forward, thrusting with the beskad. It’s finely honed tip pierces the droid’s chest as it buries itself down until the hilt. Pushing with all your might, you absorb the impact and then reverse it downward, skewering the droid into the ground. You twist and then rip the blade back out, leaving a sparking gash that signals the droid’s defeat. The orbs on its head flicker and fade...

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>>4154318
You have a moment to breath, but only a moment. Wasp and Grizzly seem to have defeated their combat droid as well. The memory of Grizzly running past 5336 while he was struggling is still on your mind, but this isn’t the time to solve the issue. Moving up from the south, a fresh squad of droids are approaching near where Wasp had placed his mines. You order Wasp to get 5336 and Grizzly to ready his launcher. To the north, 2337 and the rest of the squad have finally bought themselves some breathing room. Using a combination of blasters and detonators, they’ve knocked enough droids down to be able to disengage or take the initiative. There’s another squad of droids moving down from the north as well though, they’d be on you soon.

You have two wounded Clones, one quite serious, and a prisoner now, you think to yourself. The other troopers look tired, the continuous fighting starting to take a toll on them, and you still needed to escape from here intact. There was little choice but to fight your way out, but which way and how wasn’t certain. You could order the squad to attack your way south, back the way you came and use the mines to help, but it was still some distance with the potential for yet more enemies. The other option was to push immediately north and east, heading in a way you weren’t familiar with, but certainly closer and with a better chance of finding your own forces sooner.

2337 looks over to you, the piles of broken droids around the both of you telling of tally earned far higher than your own weight…

>Push North, on the shorter but unknown route.
>Attack South, on the longer but defensively mined path.

>>4154319
>>Push North, on the shorter but unknown route.
Lets book it, boys.

>>4154319
>Push into the heavy vegetation to the west
If they want us, let's make them work for it.

>>4154319
I'll let this one go over night, troopers! Thanks for playing troopers, I'll aim to be on at around 0000 GMT tomorrow to continue the fight. Thank you!

>>4154319
>Push North, on the shorter but unknown route.

>>4154319
>Push North, on the shorter but unknown route.

>>4154319
>Push North, on the shorter but unknown route.

>>4154319
>Attack South, on the longer but defensively mined path.

>>4154319
>Attack South, on the longer but defensively mined path.

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>>4154861
>>4154480
>>4154343
>>4154324
>Push North, on the shorter but unknown route.

The sooner you were through this, the better, you think to yourself. Retrieving your carbine and 5336’s shield gives you a moment to plan just how you would do it.The best way would be to punch the droids straight in the nose and force your way out of their clutches. Knowing that the squad setup would be critical to finishing off the enemy in front of you quickly, you immediately begin to order the unit into formation. Unlike earlier, when you had the ability to set up flank guards, your flash training dictates you should focus on the direction of assault. Your wounded required attention, however, so you would have to build around them.

You let Wasp catch up with 5536 and order 6018 to march alongside him with the Separatist prisoner. Not even needing you to order him, 2337 immediately rushes to them to try and provide some first aid while you’re on the move. Behind them you set up 4582 and Guile. You give 4582 the shield that 5536 had been using and order him to screen enemy fire while Guile picks away at any targets to thin their numbers as the droids try to catch up.

On the front of the formation you put your other shield-bearing Clone, Beast. Directly behind him would be the firepower, you decide, and you order Harm and Grizzly to blow the droid formation marching toward you all to bits. The two of them step up and you slot in beside them. The rest of the squad follows up behind you as the droids march into range of your guns.

The heavily armed Clones at the front open up with a devastating barrage, the one-two punch of Grizzly’s EMP and Harm’s missile shredding and zapping the droids with a thunderous roar. A few of the clankers managed to escape twin explosions, but short bursts of fire from both Beast’s carbine and your’s start clipping through those left standing. The droids at the rear of the formation seem less than confident to continue and, in fact, begin falling back!

That was certainly something you hadn’t expected. Of course even droids could get panicked enough to start behaving erratically, usually when without a leader. The fact that they had been taking heavy loss had probably factored in as well. A beacon of hope that idea is, you think, perhaps the droids were actually running out units to throw at you? Maybe it was too good to be true, but there was now doubting you had the initiative now…

“They’re running, Sergeant!” Beast says with pride.

You want it so badly to be true, but nothing was ever really easy with Clankers. A part of you wants to stop here and make sure that’s really what’s happening. However, you know that will just give a chance for the droids and whatever else is behind you to catch up and hit you from behind.

>”We can’t let them escape,” you order, “Let’s mop them up!”
>”Something’s awry,” you order a halt, “This doesn’t feel right.”

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>>4155190
>>”Something’s awry,” you order a halt, “This doesn’t feel right.”
And here comes the twist

>>4155190
>”Something’s awry,” you order a halt, “This doesn’t feel right.”
droids don't retreat unless something's screwy

>>4155190
>”Something’s awry,” you order a halt, “This doesn’t feel right.”
Better get to cover.

>>4155190
>>”Something’s awry,” you order a halt, “This doesn’t feel right.”

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>>4155203
>>4155228
>>4155230
>>4155246
>”Something’s awry,” you order a halt, “This doesn’t feel right.”

As you call the squad to hold position, the chorus of voices seems to pick up all at once. Your brothers start voicing their confusion and concern directly to you.

“Sarge,” Wasp shouts from behind you, “We have to keep moving!”

The sound of Guile’s blaster popping off another shot punctuates his warning.

“More droids moving in behind us,” 4582 calls out for him, “Another squad!”

“Double-Oh!” 2337 says worriedly, “Fifty-Five isn’t going to make it if we wait here…”

“We’ve got the firepower, Sergeant,” Harm implores, “We can take them!”

“What if those droids are getting reinforcements?” Grizzly adds on, practically shaking his launcher, “We need to get them!”

It was a strange thing, you think. You had all supposedly been bred and trained to follow orders almost without question, without fear or care of consequence. How hard had the Kaminoans tried to make you all flesh automatons? How badly had they failed for you to have a squad that was filled with all these voices? They were questioning your order, true, and that probably deserved correction for the sake of chain of command, but you found yourself strangely happy. You had once thought yourself very different than most Clones. You had thought that your Vode were the only ones who could understand the lessons that Sergeant Wrax had passed down.

Maybe these other brothers weren’t so different? Unpolished in some cases, unruly in others, maybe a little unlucky too, but they each seemed to have an uncanny reflection of yourself somewhere in them, more than just your face and your genes...

As the droids ahead retreat into the overgrowth ahead, you lose sight of them behind a thick cover of branches and bushes. Even with the enemy closing in behind you, you find yourself more and more convinced you’ve made the right call.

“Negative!” you say loud enough to shout over them. The Clones all fall silent.

>”Something big is coming.”
>”We’re exactly where we need to be.”

>>4155368
>>”We’re exactly where we need to be.”
If I ever fail to pick the path that gets us closer to the outcome of donut steel, force-sensitive, aberrant clone, assume I'm dead.

>>4155368
>”We’re exactly where we need to be.”

>>4155368
>We’re exactly where we need to be.”

>>4155368
>>”We’re exactly where we need to be.”

>>4155368
>>”We’re exactly where we need to be.”

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>>4155612
>>4155543
>>4155541
>>4155421
>>4155389
>”We’re exactly where we need to be.”

Enemies closing in from behind, almost assuredly some sort of trap to your front, the statement is almost mystifying to say, even to you. There was little indication that this was anything more than a small clearing besides a putrid smelling swamp in the middle of forest that seemed to have more metal in it than wood. You had been shot down by surprise, by an enemy that was not only present without your forces knowing, but seemingly well positioned and ready for your arrival. You had troopers wounded and a captured commander that was, for the moment, more dead weight than you likely had manpower to tend for in the face of a limitless enemy. And yet, the thought couldn’t be any more clear in your mind: You needed to hold here.

The feeling is almost one of blind faith, but it would only take a few more seconds for the object of that faith to become visible.

A pair of earth-shaking explosions ripple just up ahead on the path, sending forest, dirt, and mud flying in all directions from their epicenters. Moments later, heavy blaster bolts rain down from overhead, streaking into the forest in long streams of sustained fire. Some only meters above your head. The explosions and the blaster fire have the same origin. Swooping in like a terrible flying monster, a Republic gunship unleashes a terrible fury on the ground below as turrets, cannons, and small-arms fire pounds and punishes a number of enemy positions. Most of them you can’t make out, as they’re obstructed by the vegetation, but from the cadence and ferocity of the fire, however, you’re certain they warrant such treatment. More visibly is the squad coming up on your rear from the south that 4457 has been pruning. The heavy blaster bolts of a wing turret rake the droids thoroughly and precisely, ending their threat to you almost immediately.

Another thing you’re certain about is that LAAT/i is flying in your direction, skimming the treetops as it prepares to make a combat landing. You wave your troopers back, making just enough room for the heavily-armed and armored craft to get land on the boggy ground below your feet. It was risky to drop it here, but you realize the pilots are not without talent and experience. Rather than land, they bring the LAAT/i down into a low hover, barely a foot from the deck and operating perilously close to the trees on either side.

A pair of Clones in flight crew uniforms hop down on either side, their blaster raised, and join the turret gunners in covering all directions.

“Mount up,” you order to your squad, “That’s our ride!”

Your brothers still standing give a cheer and set out immediately for the open crew compartment door. Standing in the doorway, helping you all in is…

>Your Jedi General and her Padawan...
>Your battalion commander and a familiar ARC trooper...

>>4155649
>>Your Jedi General and her Padawan...
I wanna get to know the people we're gonna ~~heartbreakingly betray~~ fight alongside and become trusted allies of.

>>4155659
Shit, thought that'd strikethrough. Shame.

>>4155649
>Your Jedi General and her Padawan...

>>4155649
>>Your Jedi General and her Padawan...

>>4155649
>>Your Jedi General and her Padawan...

>>4155649
>Your Jedi General and her Padawan...

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Got a little bit later than expected troopers, so I'll let the vote go over night. I'll have the details of the wrap up the fight in the next installment tomorrow at around 2300 GMT.

For now, please enjoy the opening skirmish of the Battle of Excarga.

Special commendation to Trooper >>4151988
for the idea to blow up the walkway. This fast thinking undoubtedly saved lives. Good work to everyone who sounded off as well, your creativity and hard work is the key to beating the Clankers! Vode an!

>>4155649
>Your Jedi General and her Padawan...

>>4155649
>Your Jedi General and her Padawan...

>>4155807
I am now happy all the mines got used up at the very end.

I was giving some thought to personalized armor, and when the time rolls around, would anyone be down for getting Grievous-inspired paint on our helmet? His eyes, mouth grille, and kaleesh forehead lines would make for a moderately badass look, I think. It's probably too late to get his mask mounted on our wall, but I think it'd be a good way to memorialize our victory. Also wondering who's gonna take his place as big shot general. Sev'rance Tann?

>>4157311
Ooh, that's a good idea. I don't know how we'd fit anything but his forehead lines though, considering his head is very... thin.

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>>4157321
After an undisclosed time in paint, I can show you the roughest of rough outlines when it comes to what I thought it could look like. Wasn't sure how to do the eyes. I didn't want to freehand them and subject you fine people to anything worse than what already is there.

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>>4155928
>>4155824
>>4155744
>>4155735
>>4155696
>>4155680
>>4155659
>Your Jedi General and her Padawan…

Wearing the traditional, brown and tan colored robes, the two figures lend hands to the first of your squad to reach the gunship. The taller one is General Chankar Kim, her dark air flowing with the motion of the transport, while the smaller one is clearly her Padawan. Beast and Harm go first, practically picked off the ground before they can even step up themselves, before being followed by the wounded and 2337.

Ordering Guile and 4582 inside, you’re the last trooper on the ground before you’re hauled up by the two Jedi as well. It’s rather cramped, likely near full load on the way down for a drop, and you wonder if you’re at the limit. Still, the LAAT/i rises almost immediately, the big transport gaining height to clear the treetops and picking up horizontal thrust. The gunners blast away at the droids, your eyes making out perhaps a few dozen or so on the ground still functioning. There seem to be many, many more destroyed.

“It seems we were right to check this way,” the Jedi General, “Care to explain what’s happened, Sergeant?”

“Sir,” you turn to her, saluting, “Our gunship was taken out by spider droids on the way in. I decided to have the squad knock them out before more damage could be done.”

You’ve left out a few details, of course, but the General would probably appreciate brevity for now, a full report could happen later.

“And this one?” she asks, nodding her head in the direction of the Separatist.

The enemy commander was still unconscious on the deck, close up against 5336 and 6018 as 2337 and the LAAT/i’s medical droid worked together busily on their wounds.

“This one seemed to be in charge,” you explain simply.

“Well done, Sergeant,” the Jedi compliments, “What is your designation?”

“CT-0027, Sir,” you answer, “Have you heard anything about a flight crew being picked up or making it back to the spaceport?”

“Unfortunately no, Sergeant,” they reply, “We’ve had no communication with the spaceport or ground for some time. But we’re on our way there now, so we’ll surely find out soon.”

You nod, a bit disappointed to not know how the pilots and flight team from your transport had fared. If there were really that many droids out here…

“You’re worried,” a smaller voice comes from the side.

You look over to the Padawan, the red-headed child looking at you inquisitively.

“We split off from them, Commander,” you acknowledge, “I just hope they made it through safely. There’s almost certainly more droids in this forest, they’re probably prepared for an attack already.”

“I think we’ll find out sooner, rather than later, Sergeant,” the General says somewhat nebulously.

“General?”

She points…

>Over to the Separatist commander, who appears to be waking up.
>Out and up to the sky, as large CIS dropship move in over the horizon.

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>>4157345
Not sure if it's exactly what you have in mind, but something like this could be rad.

>>4157410
>Over to the Separatist commander, who appears to be waking up.

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>>4157410
>>Over to the Separatist commander, who appears to be waking up.
As much as I want to run us through the gauntlet of seppie reinforcements, we should talk to this guy.
>>4157431
Not what I had pictured, but I think I like it more! Pic related is what I tried to mock up in Paint, but I didn't want to freehand the eyes. Thanks for the rendition, by the way! Something to inspire future conversations about armor personalization.

>>4157410
>>Over to the Separatist commander, who appears to be waking up.

>>4157410
>>Over to the Separatist commander, who appears to be waking up.

>>4157410
>Over to the Separatist commander, who appears to be waking up.

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>>4157410
>Over to the Separatist commander, who appears to be waking up.
>>4157431
Grievous also had his own personal logo, if you feel like you want to use that QM.

>>4157410
>Over to the Separatist commander, who appears to be waking up.

Troopers, I've been trying for the better part of an hour to get this posted, but I keep getting some kind of Separatist interference that makes it look like spam to the filters. I'm going to try breaking into pieces instead to see what might be causing it. Please bear with me a moment longer.

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>>4157647
>>4157470
>>4157450
>>4157448
>>4157446
>>4157443
>>4157440
>Over to the Separatist commander, who appears to be waking up.

Groggily blinking his eyes, the human Separatist is definitely awake now. You had hit him fairly hard to knock him out reliably, that he was only just coming to probably meant you left him a very large headache to deal with now. You can’t quite find any sympathy for him, however. Moving to his side, you separate your feet to get a solid stance while the gunship continues onward. You reach down and grab the front of his uniform with both hands, pulling the officer up to his feet without any ceremony or courtesy. A quick movement later and you’ve pulled his own arms behind his back, locking them in a grapple he would be lucky to escape from. Turning, you present him to the General and Commander, facing the Separatist directly their way.

The Padawan looks rather nervous suddenly, a worried expression crossing her face. General Kim is much less emotional, the Jedi Master keeping her look calm and detached.

“Thank you, Sergeant,” she offers, “But please release our… guest. Unless he intends to jump out, he won’t be going anywhere.”

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>>4157669
You hold the grapple a moment longer, considering that potential of him grabbing a weapon or doing anything rash, but acquiesce to the order. You had seen enough from the other Jedi, like General Trebor or Secura, to know they were rather capable in any situation. The Separatist, his arms freed from the bind, seems a bit perturbed at you nonetheless and shoots an angry look. The only thing he gets back is the blank stare of your visor, you know, but you meet his eyes just the same with a steely expression that, even covered, would probably make him think better of trying. He’s not a small man by any measure, but from even the few moments of holding his arms together, it’s obvious he was not a professional soldier or mercenary. He was soft, not hardened by conditioning or training.

“My name is Jedi Master Kim,” the General introduces herself, “How are you called?”

The Separatist straightens his tunic, puffing up his chest and making a show of trying to act regal.

“My name is Captain Bonteri of Onderon,” he says with more than a little pluck, “I expect to be treated as an honorable prisoner of war, though it may be too much to ask of the Republic and your… trained creatures.”

You feel the hair on the back of your neck rise. He really didn’t understand his situation well.

“My troopers did well to capture a Captain,” General Kim replies, rather benevolently, “Sergeant, how difficult was your operation?”

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>>4157672
Your squad had taken wounded, of course, your troopers were lying on the deck not far from you still being treated. As far as capturing the blasted Sep, that had been straightforward enough. It might be a good chance to rub it in that he had been captured, although you weren’t sure how to regs that would be.

Still, for whatever reason, you get the feeling she’s giving you the chance to bite back at him. A’den had taught you some interrogation methods between physical training, it was sometimes useful to get in a prisoner’s head. However, he had just called you a creature. It struck you as a playing into his own mind games to get angry at him and show any emotion.

>Give him a taste of just what you think about him… (Feel free to offer suggestions)
>He’s not even worth spitting on, show him how a soldier knows discipline.

>>4157681
>>He’s not even worth spitting on, show him how a soldier knows discipline.

Apparently "Chankar", as in General Chankar Kim, triggers the spam filter. Bloody Seps censoring our officers!

>>4157681
>>>He’s not even worth spitting on, show him how a soldier knows discipline.

>>4157681
>He’s not even worth spitting on, show him how a soldier knows discipline.
But say that this capture mission was much easier than our last one (Which isn't exactly a lie).

>>4157689
Support this

>>4157689
+1

>>4157681
>Give him a taste of just what you think about him…
Exfiltration was a bitch, but the good captain here didn't even have the opportunity to pull his gun.

>>4157681
>>Give him a taste of just what you think about him…
>Exfiltration was a tricky, but the good captain here didn't even have the opportunity to pull his gun unfortunately for him he failed to even have a proper perimeter, look outs, or even lock the hatch of his tank ma'am

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>>4157698
>>4157692
>>4157689
>He’s not even worth spitting on, show him how a soldier knows discipline.

“Sir,” you answer immediately, “The droids had numbers on us, but not nearly as bad as it was on Geonosis.”

You recall the fight that had been, literally swarmed on all sides by enemies to hold on long enough for General Trebor to return with the Separatist leader Poggle and General Secura.

“You certainly made things easier for us by showing up General,” you give your genuine thanks, before continuing your analysis, “But we may have been able to fight our way out on our own. I suspect this was just a small element, either on a specific mission to stop our transports or leading up a much larger force.”

The Separatist doesn’t say anything, giving no signal how correct either of your guesses were.

“It would certainly be prudent to interrupt our arrival,” General Kim agrees, “I do, however, have difficulty seeing how it could have been planned. Captain, would you enlighten us?”

“I am under no obligation to answer any questions,” Bonteri practically spits, “You’ll have to torture me, Jedi.”

That would be interesting to see, you had to admit, although A’den had mentioned a few techniques that you had wondered about applying…

“You are mistaken, Captain,” she shakes her head, “The Jedi do not torture, we simply listen. Sometimes we do not even need to hear words.”

While it certainly sounded like a Jedi sentiment, you couldn’t help but recall the kind of listening Jedi routinely did with their lightsabers. Still, the General was clearly up to something. You watch as she motions to her Padawan.

“Tallisibeth,” General Kim motions to the young girl, “Tell me what he feels.”

The red-headed Jedi Commander raises her right hand, palm facing the Separatist. You watch as the expression on her face tightens, not unlike when you strained to lift a heavy weight.
“Gentle,” the Jedi Master tells her, “You must relax.”

“Yes, mistress,” Tallisibeth says, taking a deep breath. You’re not sure she’s relaxing though. If anything, it looks more and more like she was using basic force, rather than a magical force.

After a few more moments, the Padawan drops her hand and looks exhausted.

“Fear… Surprise,” she says at last. The Separatist’s jaw drops, he certainly was now.

“Meaning?” Kim prompts.

“They were not expecting us.”