My nerves were stretched tighter than the strings of a guitar as I stood in silence among trained soldiers heading into an active combat zone. It won't be my first taste of combat, but fighting a bunch of animals was going to be very different from combat with intelligent and entrenched enemy forces.
I was fiddling with the blaster in my hands. I needed something to take my mind off my concerns and turned to one of the clones. "Do you like having a number for a name?" Was the first thing that came tumbling out of my mouth. Internally I cringed as it was such a stupid question.
"General?"
"It's just, I know that there are cultures that do similar things and many people don't really give their name much thought, but I was just wondering if you actually liked it. I'm so sorry if this question seems stupid to you, but please answer me if you can."
"I had not given it too much thought, General Degurechaff, but I think I would like a real name."
The other clones began voicing their agreements in liking the idea of having names.
"Ok, we got a bit before landfall," I said, happy for the distraction. With a hand placed on the first clone's arm, I gave a suggestion. "How about Revan for you? They were a Jedi in the distant past who was instrumental in ending one of the Great Sith Wars."
The clone puffed up his chest. "Thank you sir!" I could hear the pride in his voice.
I stepped over to my second in command on the ship and held out my hand for him to shake. "Oda was a visionary, a Warlord of a fractured nation that stitched the nation together into a unified front."
"I will wear the name with pride," Oda said, grasping my hand firmly.
I ducked into the cockpit and placed a hand on the pilot's shoulder. "The Red Baron was a legendary pilot from the earliest recorded days of flight, using a bright red fighter to invite enemies to dare and fight him. I'm counting on you, Baron, to land us safely."
"I won't let you down," Baron said, adjusting his grip.
From where I stood at the front of the ship, looking at my men, the clones who were going to be following me into battle and do whatever I told them, I could see those without names leaning forwards slightly in anticipation for their own names,
"I won't be able to name you all, so you'll have to help each other and those on the other transports with getting names, but I will try to give as many names as I can."
With that, animated discussions broke out as wild suggestions were made, questions were asked of me for possible name sources and I racked my brain for relevant military figures I've read about in both of my lives.
All too quickly though, we hit the atmosphere and all of our attentions were diverted to watching through the windows as Baron nimbly maneuvered the craft closer to the landing sight.
My forces were part of the first wave heading to site Sigma Three where an entrance to the underground hive was believed to be located. As we had adjusted the plans from an attempted decapitation strike into something beneficial in the long term, gaining control of the droid factories and cutting off supply lines to the front was a high priority. I would be leading an offensive to gain a foothold underground and establish our own supply lines with a buffer zone to launch further assaults from.
The surface of the planet was primarily wasteland and served no real tactical or strategic value in holding as all of Geonosis' population and manufacturing sectors were underground in complicated and interconnecting tunnel systems. The best comparison I had to such a situation was urban combat, but there were few accounts I've personally read on the subject and most mentions I've read made it clear that urban combat was horrible for not well explained reasons.
With our transport ship touching down and the hatches opening, we scrambled off and grabbed equipment to begin setting up a perimeter to the temporary surface command center.
"I want trenches dug along that line and on either side of that cave entrance," I ordered, directing the clones. I did not know if this was going to be the best approach, but if we were planning on an extended campaign with static command centers, it made sense to me to set up static defenses. Trenches were possibly a bit out of date as far as defensive measures were concerned with a mobile enemy, but they would at least give any guards cover from incoming fire.
"Larry! Set up those monitors over there. We want fewer lines of sight on the technicians using them."
"Sir!"
About half the clones were working on setting up the tents, equipment, and supply station while the other half were guarding the parameters to both the wide open desert that covered most of the planet and to the cave network. There were a couple of squads dispatched to scout out the rocky outcropping we landed near to check for other entrances underground and any noticeable features to keep an eye out for.
It was while I was setting up a radio tower that several more transporters arrived, this time carrying Masters Tiplar and Tiplee. I was not too familiar with them personally, but was aware of them and their reported expertise within the Force. Getting the tower in position, I let the clones take over getting the cables hooked up and everything hooked into place as I went to the Jedi Masters.
"Hello Masters," I said as I approached before bowing to the pair. "My apologies if I am a bit curt, but I wish to get straight to the point. We have begun setting up the local Command Post. There have been no hostiles here yet, but we suspect that will change quickly once we begin establishing a foothold below ground."
Master Tiplar gave me a smile while her fellow Mikkian looked around. "It would appear you have done an excellent job."
Master Tiplee nodded in agreement. "We will take over up here while you go underground to establish that foothold as you called it."
I bowed at the instructions. "Before I head out, why is Master Labooda not here?"
The two Masters looked at each other for a moment with a look crossing their faces. "That is a discussion for later," Master Tiplee said. "For now, padawan, establish that foothold."
I bowed one more time and took the blaster off my back where it had been sitting as we were setting up the outpost and settled it into one hand. I marched over to where Oda stood nearby.
"Ready?" I asked, my nerves returning as I thought about what we may face in the darkness below the surface.
"Yes sir," Oda said with a nod before motioning to the other clones who gathered up around me.
With a swallow, I looked at the blank helmets of the men around me before nodding. "Right. Our goal is to establish a beachhead below ground. So I don't want any of you trying to route the enemy. We go in, get a foothold, and steadily push out. Do not push our supply lines, got it?"
"Sir, yes sir!" The troops said in unison while saluting me.
I was shocked at the sudden change in temperature just a few steps into the cave system. The surface had been hot, but not unbearably so, but the coolness of the shaded cave caused goosebumps to form and shiver to travel through me. A few steps further, I pulled out my lightsaber and ignited it to allow the purple glow to light our way.
Deep shadows in the rocks outlined in purple greeted us as we made our way in. As the only one able to actively deflect incoming blaster fire, I was at the front of the squad and staying close to the wall. The nice, sturdy rock wall of the tunnels that would not have enemies coming from that direction so I could focus my attention on the shadows. The deep, dark shadows that could be hiding anything.
—
Obi-Wan's mind was racing as he rushed to the transport ship with the clones that had been assigned to him. Grand Master Yoda had arrived to pull him and Anakin out of the arena they had been put into after their capture while investigating who was behind the assassination attempt on Senator Amidalla. Now he was holding a blaster rifle against his objections and being flown towards the frontlines.
"Master, is it really ok for the Jedi to be using blasters?" Anakin asked as he looked over the blaster in his own hands.
Obi-Wan signed. "We will have to discuss that later." 'After I talk with Master Yoda,' He thought to himself, concern and his own confusion whirring away in his mind.
Arriving at the designated landing zone, the two Jedi and their complement of clone troopers jumped down and took a look across the field to where Separatist Ships were attempting to take off while under fire and an army of droids accompanied by droid tanks were approaching in organized files. Trenches were being dug by Clone Troopers along the edges of the landing zone as other troopers set up in the trenches, bracing their guns along the hastily dug walls.
"Generals," a trooper said, snapping off a salute at the two Jedi after coming from a partially buried tent. "The command outpost is this way."
With nothing better to do, the Jedi followed the trooper into the tent where a pair of clones with large shoulder pauldrons and their helmets on the table they stood around quickly gave the entering Jedi salutes.
"Welcome Generals," the one with a yellow pauldron said before indicating the map on the table. "We were just discussing plans to push back the initial wave of resistance."
"What is going on?" Obi-Wan asked, going close to the map along with Anakin.
"You were at the Arena, correct?" The Clone asked, getting a nod in response. "We are at war sir and the plans for this opening battle is to establish footholds over this planet and capture the local droid factories to deprive the enemy of resources."
"What about Dooku? He is getting away," Anakin asked, leaning in.
"That has been discussed already. The chances of capturing him and the other separatist leaders was deemed to have a low probability of ending the war while costing far more in manpower and resources than simply depriving the enemy of this planet."
Kenobi gritted his teeth before nodding. He didn't like the idea of just letting Dooku get away, but he also was lacking a lot of information to make a better decision.
Anakin slammed his hands on the table. "So we're just letting them get away?"
"Anakin," Kenobi started to say, before being interrupted by a Clone Trooper.
"We have resources in place to attempt to shoot down any ship attempting to escape our blockade of the planet, but there is a high likelihood that a few of the leaders on this planet may escape."
Obi-Wan rose to interject, for maybe a Jedi could help with that matter, but was cut off again by a clone, a different one this time, "Sir, we have been informed that few among the Jedi have experience or knowledge of large scale conflicts and have been given freedom to advise any Jedi in such matters. The current projections of how this war will play out based upon the current galactopolitical situation indicates that on a purely tactical level, this is a war of attrition."
Anakin opened his mouth to ask a question, but before he could get his chance, another trooper spoke up, "Both sides will be throwing their resources against the other for years and the first to run out will be the one to lose. On a strategic level, this is a Public Relations War. We need our generals to do everything they can to win as much of the public, especially the public of enemy planets, to our side. If we have to enact rationing due to wasted resources, the public may think we are starting to lose and turn against us."
Anakin frowned as he looked at the map, his hands balling up into fists as he took a moment to focus. "Where do you need me?"
—-
"Left!" I yelled as I slammed my lightsaber onto the rifle and used the force to weld it into place, the dual wielding proving awkward after a brief exchange with Geonosians my troops and I stumbled upon.
Larry, named after the main character of the first Star Wars movie, was dead. His corpse left behind as we retreated down a separate path. As far as I knew, the first casualty of the war.
I was using the instincts the Force provided me to direct which way we were going. I had no better ideas and the tug was the only thing I had to go off of. Without thought, I spun the rifle in my grip and deflected one of the blaster bolts coming at us before quickly firing off a pair of bolts to join the reflected bolt, all three finding homes in the bug men we were fighting. As the only one capable of putting up a defense, I was acting as the rearguard as we moved through the tunnels with enemy forces giving chase.
"Down!" I didn't know why I yelled that until after firing off another group of shots I turned and saw the Clone Troopers dripping down a hole in the ground. Turning around, I deflected the enemy fire as best as I could. The thought of asking for more power crossed my mind. If I asked, I could avoid another Larry. I could deflect all the enemy fire and take them out.
All it would take is losing control of myself.
No! We were not that desperate yet.
I was the last to get down the hole, using the Force to adjust my fall to join the troops in circling the landing under the hole and soften my landing significantly.
We rained fire upon the enemy as they attempted to fly down the hole and overwhelm us.
It took minutes? Seconds? Hours? For the flow of enemies to stop and a moment to gather our breath as the adrenaline began to wane.
"Status report: call out if you are still alive," Oda called out after a moment.
Looking around as the troopers verified who was alive, I saw only Larry was dead and that our run through the tunnels had gotten dirt and scratches on what had been pristine armor not long ago. The shine of their armor in the purple light of my lightsaber's glow had died down.
"Just Larry," I said as a hush came to us for a moment. Looking around, I saw several directions we could go. "This way." I pointed down one of the tunnels.
"Sir, if I may, why that path?" Oda asked, not questioning the actual decision, but simply wanting to know the reason for my decision.
"We need to keep moving and the Force is nudging me to go that way." Looking around at the men with me, I laid it out rather simply for them. "I don't know what we'll find going this way, I don't know what we will have to face, and I don't know if trusting my instincts with the Force is the best idea, but it is either we keep going, hoping the Force doesn't lead us astray, or we attempt to find our way back."
Oda nodded before turning to the other clones. "You heard her men, be prepared for anything. Things are about to get interesting."
I was terrified as I began to lead the way forwards, taking care to keep my eyes moving to take in as much of the tunnels we were traveling through as possible. I wanted to go back to the outpost. I wanted to not have to fight. I may have been an adult man in my last life, but I am not too proud to admit that despite my interest in military history and various war games, both first person shooters and strategy, I would not have done well in the military. I would have done everything I could to avoid combat, especially in a modern military where they don't go about executing soldiers for cowardice.
I likely wouldn't get court-martialed for cowardice if I did run away, but the troopers under me likely would not be so lucky. I was responsible for them and abandoning them would either result in them dying in battle without me there to help deflect bolts or them being court-martialed and executed in my place if they did follow me, if they were even lucky enough to get a trial.
As we moved through the tunnels, we came across a few lone droids or Geonosian guards that we were thankfully able to take out before they could call for backup. Eventually, the tunnel opened up into a large cavern filled with machinery building droids on industrial assembly lines, buckets of molten metal moving through the factory on thick cables.
"So, that is what it is," I said softly.
"Sir?" Oda questioned, breaking me out of my reverie.
Turning to the men, dirtier and more scuffed, but thankfully still all alive, I gave a soft smile. "We need to find the command center and take control of this droid factory. Once command is taken over, contact headquarters and inform them. If you can, get the droids to be on our side, otherwise, just shut the manufacturing down. As an absolute last resort, destroy the factory and retreat. If we can, we want to turn the enemy resources to our side, but denying them resources is the priority."
"'Sir!'" The clones acknowledged my orders with salutes.
"Oda, you will lead one group. Revan, the second group. I will lead the third. We will split up to cover more ground. Stay safe, please."
Oda and Revan nodded with salutes before breaking off with clones following them. I briefly looked at the four that were with me and nodded. "This way. Stick close."
We moved our way through the factory, realizing that despite all the droids being produced, the building was empty of actual workers or guards. It was an entirely automated factory with no safety precautions to be seen for anyone that did need to come to the factory. No guardrails to prevent falls, no covers on the machines to prevent loose clothing or body parts getting caught up in the gears or other mechanical parts of the factory machines, and nothing blocking sight of the powerful lasers being used to cut out parts from large slabs of metal.
I would need to remember to suggest adding such safety precautions and guards to the factory to prevent the exact thing we were currently doing from happening to us. Indeed, I voiced my thoughts to the men currently with me and ordered them to keep their eyes peeled for any other suggestions once we had full control over the factory.
"Keep a lookout, I'm going to get a better look around," I tell the clones with me before floating up to get a high up lay of the factory. The factory was massive with multiple layers of belts traveling throughout in a dizzying fashion, the loud crashing of the machines working drowning out any other noise. I could only hope once we found the control center for the factory that there would be accompanied diagrams for our forces to make use of.
Landing back with the troopers I had, I looked around again to regain my bearings on the ground.
"Which way?" Canderous asked.
I shook my head. "Don't know. The Force brought us here to the factory, but it is currently silent."
"Should we stick to the walls then?" Satele suggested.
Nodding my head, we moved towards the wall. "Where would they put the command center?" I asked as we moved.
"Up? That way they can easily look out over the factory," Satele said after a moment.
Looking up at the underside of the belts and tracks, I gave it a moment of thought. "Best place to start," I said with a shrug as we moved along the wall trying to find a way up.
It was several minutes before I stopped and slapped my forehead.
"General?"
"If you could fly, where would you put the stairs?" I asked.
It took a moment before it clicked for the troopers before I heard them groan together.
"We don't have jet packs," one complained.
"Get in contact with the other squads, let them know I am heading up on my own and you will be rendezvousing with them. Do a sweep of the area and attempt to establish communications with the command post."
"'Sir!'" The troopers saluted me and began following my orders without complaint. I bit my lip hoping these were the right orders to give, but was assured by them not complaining, especially as I had already established with them they were to freely offer advice whenever they felt it necessary.
Not letting the doubt get to me, I began flying up again, looking for something on the ceiling. Breaking past the highest conveyor belts, I was greeted by an alarm going off and the sight of several Geonosians beginning to fly out of what I had to assume was the control room.
"Shit!"
I had been spotted and was being fired upon. I quickly dodged to the side and leveled my blaster at the enemy while attempting to create an illusion of myself. Three had come out to greet me and I could see a fourth attempting to join them. I fired a shot at the last one while backing off. I had to deal with the Geonosians harrying me before I could get into the room. I grit my teeth and roll out of the way of the incoming fire before diving under a belt carrying some sort of droid parts, my illusion copying my movements.
Out of sight for a moment, no time to think, I flew close to the belt before splitting off from my illusion, both of us taking opposite sides of the belt to resurface, turning around to see the native bug people on the hunt for me. I crush the trigger of the blaster, firing off shots, letting the Force guide my aim. I barely confirmed that I had downed the bug before flying off to the side, out of the way of the returning fire.
I weave through the incoming fire as I move even further away from the control room. Scanning I spot large crucibles and dive down to hide behind one, pressing myself against the far side of it. I take a moment to catch my breath as I follow along with the crucible until it stops at some sort of filling station. I fly up to behind the flow of liquid, feeling the heat of the red hot liquid metal radiating off the flow. I shove my hand forwards and blast the flow at where I had last seen the bug. I got a glimpse of the bug that had followed me along with the one that had followed my illusion flying back. In the brief moment the flow was out of the way I sniped out the one farther away before racing towards the closer one, slamming my lightsaber into its chest.
The chittering gurgle falls away along with the body after I turn off my lightsaber.
Looking around, I am alone. My heart is pounding. I grit my teeth to hold in the scream I want to yell and fly back towards the control room. I lightly landed next to the body of the Geonosian that never made it out of the room, its head was gone. There was still one here, chittering on about something. Slowly I lift my blaster and take aim before softly pulling on the trigger. I drop my arms, barely keeping hold of the blaster. Slowly I moved towards where the last geonsian's body still sat and pushed it out of the way.
I look out the window and can't see past my own reflection. Pupils dilated, hair an utter mess, my robes were dirty and there were tears in it as the material was not meant for such rough treatment as an active battle in a warzone. It was meant for the roughness of diplomacy and maybe the dance floor.
I was shaken out of my daze as my comms went off.
"I have taken command of the control room," I reported, missing what my troopers said while shaking myself into focusing on my task of turning off the factory until we could get our own technicians in here to make any needed adjustments.