23 A Bone to Pick
Kelp, walked stiffly through the near empty hallways of the imperial vessel, the walls echoed his footsteps. Flamer and Dasher followed with haste, as they looked in confusion to their leader, whose helmet had a large visible crack on its visor, with faded red patches on the helmets top. the starship itself was massive, and stormtroopers, Tks, and Clones alike roamed its halls, albeit much more clones were present then anything else.
stretching his back flamer bumped into Kelps shoulder "so…where are we being sent to?" The Clone asked confused.
"beats me" Dasher replied shrugging
"I didn't ask ya" Flame responded with a sarcastic smile.
"ha ha" Dasher said unamused.
"we were called into a room nearby, don't know why" Kelp spoke heavily, as they continued to walk.
"just great" Flame, said sighing as his dirty white armor shifted with his breath.
after walking for a few mins, and almost stepping on a mouse droid, the 3 Clones arrived at the meeting room. It was large, had the stereotypical table in the center with several chairs placed neatly along the sides, at the end of the table sat Grand Admiral Tarkin, he was clearly in deep thought, and barely noticed the Clones enter. His presence was eerie, Kelp and his clones felt like it was getting harder to breath, as if there armor was crushing them.
After a few seconds of silence, Kelp and the others saluted to the Admiral.
"that's better…" Tarkin spoke with a unpleasant look.
"say…...you are the three clones that were defeated by a kid and 1 old separatist Battledroid?" Tarkin asked slowly, as if talking to children, stepping up from his desk and towards the clones,
"…." Flamer shifted uncomfortably as Kelp responded "yes..sir…" he said slightly defeated.
"mmm" The admiral hummed. "Well, many other clones have perished to the kids ever expanding group of droids" he turned quickly to them "consider yourselves lucky, for you will be accompanied to Geonosis by me" Tarkin took another step to Kelp, who was still standing stiff with nervousness, and handed him a holo record.
"this will give you your mission briefing, as well as the other troopers that will be coming" Tarkin said turning around "I hope we can end this matter quickly, I don't want any of those droids rust to get on my garments" Tarkin said almost complaining to himself, before waving his hand dismissively. Instantly, the 3 clones saluted again and marched out the room, the door sliding closed behind them.
"that guy always gave me the creeps" Flame said shivering, returning to a calmer posture.
Kelp gave slight huff of laughter "ha…I'm more worried about having to go back to that god forsaken planet"
"it ain't to bad…a lil sand never hurt anyone" Dasher said trying to comfort his leader.
"debatable" Flame said nonchalantly, receiving a joking glare from Dasher.
walking over to their barracks, which were currently empty and held long and tall of beds that retracted into the walls, similar to the ones the clones were used to on kamino, but less sophisticated and more "good enough" handywork.
Taking out the record, Kelp played it on a small device on a nearby table. a mini image of the planet Geonosis appeared, with a marker signaling were they were landing. The three watched intently as the record stated the numbers of several clones that would be accompanying them, explaining that along side Tarkin, CT-8174, and CT-2224 would lead the small force of Clones.
as the record kept spouting info Flamer turned to Kelp "so you and Cody are leading us? HA! this kid doesn't stand a chance" Kelp didn't laugh, still staring at the holo recording play.
"why don't we just bomb the whole planet, id rather not be reminded of the War" Dasher said shifting uncomfortably, fidgeting with his hands.
"how do you say we explain to the civilian populous that we just bombed a whole planet out of existence, plus, no weapon could ever do something like that" Kelp said turning of the record and standing up.
"That's a fair point" Dasher sighed, "so, when are we scheduled to go?"
"an hour" Flamer said removing his helmet, revealing the all familiar face that millions of clones wear.
"shouldn't we meet the other clones?" Dasher asked nervously
"nah, we'll meet em at the briefing" Kelp said with fake confidence
without anything to do the three headed back to their shared quarters, stripped themselves of their armor, exposing the black suits they wore underneath, put on the pajamas given by imperial human resources, and tried to nap in their beds. Kelp stared at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep, his mind wandered farther than it should, and he laid there trembling slightly. Dasher was able to fall asleep quickly, he was relatively young for an active clone, and clutched onto his pillow. Flamer decided napping was for pussies after 10 mins of laying their doing nothing, so he quickly strapped on his armor, and headed to the shooting range to warm before the mission.
-------------------------------------------
Flamer, Dasher and Kelp stood side by side along side the line of 4 other clones and commander Cody himself, with Tarkin standing Infront of them, staring at the group of 8 with a cold glare. an imperial officer stood next to him, curiously however, the officers pants were covered in smalls amounts of red sand, and blood. Not willing to face insubordination, no clone questioned it.
with a scowl the officer barked at the group "This mission is to be a quick in and out operation, i realize you...clones" he said judgingly " have experience fighting droids, i personally don't care, whatever gets the job done"
Saluting while giving the officer a judgmental side eye, the 8 troopers stood waiting for their LAAT to be prepared. the surrounding hanger was filled with Clones and Tks marching about, and engineers checking out and fixing several V-Wings. the ceiling had large claw machines that could be seen carrying pieces of of scrap metal and ships and moving them around the hanger.
after a few mins, a Clone pilot came up next to Tarkin himself, who stood as still as a fossil.
"Sir, the transport is ready" The clone saluted
"Thank you" Tarkin waved his hand, walking towards and into the already open LAAT. The 8 clones, including Kelp, Dasher and Flamer, entered aswell. a large hologram played once the ships doors closed, showing several scans of the Kid they were after, along with a Separatist Battledroid.
"Just one droid?" a Clone said chuckling slightly "Your kidding right"
Kelp scowled slightly "Don't underestimate that droid, and that kid has proved to be a better fighter than thought" Kelp spoke, taking a step towards the random Clone.
"CT-8174 is correct" Tarkin interjected "not only that, but several more droids have been reported with this.....kid" Tarkin spoke without care.
"not to matter, this kid has prooved to allow his emotions to take control, data suggests he actually cares about his droids, especially his astromech" Tarkin stated while looking at a data pad he pulled out, the Clones listened closely. upon hearing the kids connection to his astromech, Flamer grew a toothy grin beneath his helm.
"how exactly do you know all this?" Cody questioned
"you didn't expect us to come unprepared to such an event" Tarkin spoke with a small smirk "Several probe droids have been spying on him, and thankfully neither he nor his droids have good awareness"
Cody gave a slightly worried look from under his helmet "oh...i see" clearing his throat "good job sir"
Tarkin glared at Cody as the ships engines roared to life. they had arrived in the geonosis system, using a large asteroid as cover as not to be spotted from the planets surface, the LAAT Pilot skillfully drove out of the blue space barrier, and sped towards the planets rapidly. Inside, the Squad held on to the ships as it shook.
"i heard their was an attack on this kid already, shouldn't he be dead?" a Clone asked
"the attack was unsuccessful, and was mostly targeted on the nearby village invested with vermin" Tarkin spat "do not worry, we shall be dealing with those insects as well"
"Sir yes Sir" the Clone responded, turning to another Clone next to him "just like the old days" he said giving a playful shove, receiving a laugh from the Clone. the imperial officer glared intensely at the two, kelp took notice of this, as did the others, but they wouldn't dare speak up.
It didn't take long for them to enter the atmosphere, they passed over the Geonosis battlefield, and landed behind a large hill. upon landing, the doors opened and the Clones shuffled out first, blasters pointed looking for any threats, once the coast was clear, Tarkin and the Officer came out, followed lastly by the pilot.
"Stay here and guard the ship" Tarkin said as he walked away dismissively, the Pilot nodded and walked back in the LAAT.
Walking through the sands, the Clones heaved their equipment with them, every step causing them to be burned by the harsh sunlight, even with their armor. Cody turned to Dasher.
"So, your with Commander Kelp?" Cody questioned.
"Yup, been with him for awhile" Dasher in a childlike tone.
"so were hiring teenagers now?" Cody said disappointed
"yeah" Kelp said walking in the conversation.
"heh, fair enough" Cody sighed.
"hey ya know for a teen he isn't to bad, plus he's the same height as the rest of us" Flamer said in the background.
"Ha! you tall basterd" Kelp said playfully pushing Dasher, receiving a chuckle.
continuing their banter, they reached the Geonosis Imperial Scouting Outpost, or G.I.S.O , it was a small area with a few cargo crates, 2 tents, and a decently large metal platform. the surrounding area as they got closer was riddled with droid bodies, and as they neared the tents, large Stationed minigun blaster turrets were put up on the cargo boxes. 2 Clones exited from their tents, both wearing the red geonosian armor covered in bandages.
"hello Clones....were are the rest of you!?" The officer spits out.
"dead" one of the red clones say, walking by him and to Tarkin.
"Sir, Commander Sandstorm and Trooper Grain reporting for duty. it nice to see a friendly face" Sandstorm said saluting.
"its nice see a face that isn't metal" Grain grumbled.
Tarkin gave a nod "we will require your assistance"
"affirmative sir, we would be honored to come along" Sandstorm said, walking over to Kelp and the Others. "Glad to be working with you brothers"
"likewise trooper" Cody said, patting Sandstorms shoulder
"hey..." Dasher spoke looking at Grain
"hello trooper, you look a little young to be fighting yet" Grain said questioningly
Dasher just shrugged is shoulders.
Not to long after, they had departed on foot to commence with the mission, Group A, consisting of Kelp, Flamer, Dasher, Sandstorm, Cody and Tarkin would head towards were a previous group of imperials spotted a Geonosian village. While Group B consisting of Grain, The Officer, and 4 clones, would head towards an old separatist wall bunker that Cody had informed Tarkin of weeks prior. Saying their farewells, Sandstorm gave Grain a final hug before the 2 groups walked their separate ways.
---------------- 2 hours later --------------------
The officer led his group into the canyon, they walked quietly through the eerie atmosphere, every Clone was on edge, their blasters up and looking around. Grain stared timidly towards the officer, as he stared, a small rock landed next to the officer, no one noticed. Grain looked up ,and only caught a glimpse of a figure falling from the top of the canyon.
"WATCH OUT" Grain yelled, firing 2 shots, missing the falling target both times as it crashed into the ground, blowing sand into the air. Gurgling noises could be heard as all the Clones tried to wave the sand away, as the dust settled, a Commando droid stood twitching violently atop the Officers body, who was now missing an arm, and was bleeding profusely from his throat, before toppling over dead.
Without hesitation all the Clones open fired at the Commando, the droid snapped its head up unnaturally and side stepped out of the way of the blue bolts before front flipping behind a Clone, grabbing the clones neck snapping it, then rapidly moving the clones body with one hand to block 3 blaster bolts fired from the others.
"Blast it!!!" a clone yelled as he ran towards the droid reeling back for punch, the commando dashed out the way before slicing off the clone arm with its sword, and kicking the clone to the floor. 2 blaster bolt flew at the droid and rammed into its chest as the droids spine bent backwards, before snapping back to upright position.
With an unsettling gurgling laugh, the droid did several well calculated flips and dashes, quickly closing in on Grain and the 3 other clones. They immediately opened fired but the droid expertly dodged the fire until it had reached melee range, 2 Clones tried to attack the droid, but the Commando caught the punch of one, breaking that clones wrist, and threw said Clone at the other one that tried to tackle it, knocking them to the floor..
Grain and the remaining clone stared at the scene at the edge of panicking, the other Clone charged at the droid with a frustrated yell as Grain watched unmoving with fear, and tackled the droid to the floor. The Commando grabbed the clones helmet, ripped it off, to reveal the surprised clones face, before reaching for its sword and stabbing the clone through the side of the head.
Grain shivered as the droid hauled the clones body off him, and stood up staring directly at Grain, the droid started to walked towards Grain, but the Clone he had throw the other clones body at shakily got up to shoot at the droid, but the -- ..- .-. -.. . .-. . .-. simply pulled out its E-5 and blasted the clones forehead. Grains eyes watered as he began to get flashbacks to hundreds of battles from the clone wars, unable to move as the droid walked right up to him, praying that the droid would show mercy Grain dropped his blaster and waited.
after staring at Grain for a few seconds the droid grabbed Grains neck and slammed him into the ground, with a pain filled grunt Grain looked hopelessly at the machine as it released a dark chuckle.
"yourrrr painn" It spoke, its word gurgled and corrupted "makes me feeeeeeel, Aliiiveeeeeeeeee"
The Commando stood up only to place one metallic foot on Grains red camo helmet, and began to push downwards, Grains yells of pain were ignored as the Commando used more power on its hydraulics, Grains helmet slowly cracked under the pressure as the droid continued to push and push andpushandpushandpu-
CRUNCH
The commando foot lay inside of Grains helmet, blood gushed from all possible exits as Grains body lifelessly twitched. The commando stepped away, its foot coming of Grains head with a disgusting squelch. The droid gripped its face with its metallic fingers, the blood from its hands dripped onto its face plate as it shook violently and stared at the floor, before long the Droid let out long screeches of laughter that hurt the ear, they were garbled and broken, the commando deep voice only worsened the sound of its maniacal laughter as it laughed and laughed and laughed...
Meanwhile...
Group A had been walking for quite some time, no communication equipment was brought, so naturally Commander Cody began to worry for Group Bs whereabouts, his worries were ignored by Tarkin as the Flamer scoped out the area with his binoculars, everyone hid behind a rock and waited for his report.
"Sir" Flamer said with a hint of joy as he handed him the binoculars. Tarkin looked through to see a clear image of the not only the boys house, but all of his droids and the boy himself, they were seemingly repairing there houses roof, not like Tarkin gave a shit.
"Very well" he said pleased "We attack in the morning"
With a salute, the clones began to set up camp, Cody looked through the binoculars himself, and looked at the boy. Cody thought back to his previous encounter, it was clear Jake didn't want to hurt anyone, unless they hurt him of course. But the Commander knew it wouldn't matter, Kelp, Flamer and Dasher all hated this kids guts, and Tarkin wasn't known for his morality. Cody got into his sleeping bag later that staring into the sky, worried about what he would have to do tomorrow.
