Chapter Text
SOLDIERS OF THE STARS
CHAPTER 4
OPERATION MUDHORN
MYGEETO ORBITAL AIRSPACE
CAPTAIN GUNNER
The elevator to the general’s quarters shuddered to an abrupt stop. At least this time it didn’t stop in the middle of the shaft, as it typically did. However, I still had to duck and step down onto the level below. I strode past the general’s private quarters to the double doors at the end of the hall. We started using the room for storage when we expanded the shooting range. Yensi forgot about the mess until about a month ago when he declared it as his next big project: turning the room into a study he deemed would be “the envy of the entire Republic fleet.” Now, his abandoned dream would no doubt become a miniature Jedi temple.
The doors pulled back just as I raised my hand to knock. The figure in the doorway stopped short, inches from colliding into me. “Oh, good! I was about to go find you.” Acrux’s blonde hair fell over her right shoulder, the tropical scent of her hair wash stronger than before. I involuntarily offered the datapad to her, then pulled my attention to the bookshelves lining the back wall.
Ancient books filled the shelves, with towers of them scattered across the floor. Rolled-up scrolls crammed themselves between the stacks, in dire need of organization. The dusty, dried paper and leathery musk barely masked the sour stench of the newly painted dark blue walls. The fumes stabbed at my nostrils and made the deep throbbing in my head to surge. Clippings from a Naboo fern sat at the edge of the general’s desk, with Colonel Ward’s signature scribbled on a tiny card beside them. Acrux retreated further into the study and leaned back against her desk, nearly knocking the plant over. She bit her bottom lip and drummed her fingers on the side of my datapad as she scanned the list. She froze and looked up at me through her lashes.
“My medical records and clearance form are attached.”
She reached back to lay the datapad on the corner of her desk and sighed. “You need to understand–” she rubbed the side of her head– “I only have the men’s best interests in mind.”
“No,” I corrected, jabbing my thumb at my chest. “I have my men’s best interests in mind, which is why I’m going on this mission, too. I’m not discrediting your capabilities, General, but they know and trust me. You’ll need every advantage to pull this off.”
She studied me quietly for a moment.
“Look,” I pleaded, “I know my limits—”
“And I don’t,” she interrupted, crossing her arms. “Which makes you a liability. This mission hinges on near-perfect execution.” Her gaze dropped to my trembling hand. I hadn’t noticed it started again. I dug my nails into my palms, moved both hands behind my back, and stood at ease. Her face softened. “What assurance can you give me that you are ready for this?”
I woke up this morning on the refresher floor with a wet rag over my neck while Winters cleared out my secret stashes in my quarters. I’d gone a few hours without vomiting, but bright lights and sharp noises still sent my head spinning as if I was in G-LOC. “I need to be on this mission.”
She examined the datapad again, scrolling through my clearance form and reading Fisher’s notes beneath it. Finally, she looked up and closed the distance between us. “I know you think I’m taking my frustration towards you out on your men.”
“Well, yes. But that’s not—”
“But I chose Able for the assault teams because I met most of your officers this evening—an opportunity I didn’t get with the other companies. You said they’d manage without you.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I blurted out, furrowing my brows.
“I need you to trust me.”
“The last time I trusted my men under someone else’s command—” I couldn’t afford these memories right now. Not when I spent the past four rotations keeping them at bay. “Please,” I begged, my pulse burning in my throat as I swallowed back tears, “I…I can’t live through that again.”
Her blue eyes bore into mine, cold, unshakable, and unyielding. “You will organize the rest of the men waiting in reserve, and engage only when necessary.”
“Please,” I barely got the word out, “Just…just hold on—”
“That is all, Captain!” she snapped; her words hung between us with finality.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, gave a brief salute, spun on my heels, and left. One way or another, I was boarding that kriffing ship.
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“That is all, Gunner,” I mocked, pulling my helmet on. “You need to trust me, Gunner.”
“Gunner?” Fletch peered over the ammo crates I crouched behind. “What are you doin’?”
“Getting ready to load this.” I rose, slapping the top of one of the crates. “Figured I’d get a jump on it and save E8 the hassle.”
“Oh, I wasn’t aware you were joining us. I didn’t see you at—”
“Last-minute change. Acrux debriefed me personally.” Without question, Fletch reached for the repulsorlift with the broken handle nearby and began helping me load.
The sharp clicking of steps grew louder, as did two voices, one like mine and one distinctly female. I tightened my grip on the repulsorlift’s worn, wobbly handle, scanning the hangar for shelter from General Acrux and Sergeant Balao’s view. I wouldn’t reach the closest cover in time. Without a second thought, I yanked the handle off with a clean, satisfying snap. It slipped from my grasp and clattered against the floor, sending a sweet ring chiming throughout the hangar. I dropped behind the loaded repulsorlift just as Acrux reached the gunship.
“Excellent!” Acrux said to Balao, her hair tie clenched between her teeth as she raked her hair back into a low ponytail. She wore standard white clone armor from her shoulders down, with knee plates, greaves, and boots over her black robes and gray pants. A glint of light bounced off the silver hilt, wrapped in black leather and clipped to her belt. I’d seen the weapon countless times in reports and holofilms, and only at a distance during previous campaigns, but never one this close. “We move out in five,” she called out, adjusting her pauldron before taking Balao’s hand and pulling herself onto the gunship. Once she vanished into the ship, I crept from my cover, maneuvered around the repulsorlift, and slipped in behind four of Fletch’s boys from Bev Squad.
The engines roared as the docking lights shut off, leaving us at the back of the ship hidden in the dark. Fletch turned for a quick head count. I raised my hands, signaling 1-2, and prayed he wouldn’t give me away. He squinted, threw me a thumbs-up, and turned back to Acrux. “All are accounted for, Ma’am.” A long breath escaped my lips. Fletch leaned over and whispered something else to the general. My heart stopped for a second, until Acrux tilted her head back and erupted into a dorky laugh. My eyes shot upward.
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KILO X-RAY - SEPARATIST FORWARD OPERATING BASE
The ringing in my ears pulsed like a chronometer. The ship’s violent shuddering kept dragging my attention to the front of the fuselage as wind bashed at its exterior.
A brutal force slammed underneath our feet, throwing the ship sideways. A second impact followed, then a third at the front. Red emergency lights flashed. A high-pitched whine blared throughout the bay.
I pushed forward, barking at the men to move. “We’re taking heavy flak!”
Acrux did a double take and shot me a hard glare, yelling over the commotion, “What the hell are you doing here!?” Another shell slammed into the ship. She grunted as it threw her into my arms.
“They’re not supposed to know we’re here!”
“That makes two of us,” she hissed, pushing herself off of me. Her wrist comm lit up, and she dug for her holoprojector from a small pouch on her belt. “Stacker, report!”
“Made contact…442nd…engaged early. Seppies…time to anticipate… taking heavy fire…” he cut out.
Turret fire rattled beneath our feet. Emergency gear dropped from above as the bay doors pulled back at the first altitude mark. Fletch ordered the men to put on their packs, then froze, staring outside.
Dark blue and gray thunderheads raged overhead as a hundred plumes of black smoke filled the sky. Purple flashes webbed across the horizon. A pilot’s voice crackled over the main channel, “General, I can’t see a thing. I’ll put us down as soon as I find a clearing.”
Acrux palm-struck the bottom of her holoprojector. Stacker’s blurry image returned. “Can Bravo get us an opening to the western valley?”
A pause.
“Affirmative. Sending our coordinates now.”
“Good, once we’re—”
The ship lurched with the thunderous groaning of metal. Fletch missed the grab rail and tumbled out of the troop bay into open sky. My chest clenched in horror as I dove for him, clasping his arm in the nick of time. But the force from outside twisted his body against the ship. A sickening jolt tore through his limb with a loud crack! Fletch swallowed back his cry, but his frantic gasps transmitted clearly over our helmet comms. Balao, instantly at my side, recovered his other arm. Together we started to heave him back inside. “We got you,” I reassured him. “We’re almost there!”
White light shattered around us, followed by an intense heat and the malodorous stench of an acrid, sulfuric powder.
I blinked at the hole where the bay door should have been. And Fletch was gone.
Balao yanked me back by my pauldron as cold air tore into the bay, ripping out anything not secured down. Two boys from Indigo Squad, Mess and Peaches, hurdled after the ammo crates with the EMPs inside. But before they could recover them all, one of the straps split, sending one to tumble out into the enraged sea of gray clouds. Acrux hailed our pilot, but only static answered back. Unable to shake this nightmare of a moment away, I brushed Balao off to assess the damage. I tightened my hold on the grab rail above and leaned over.
The ball turrets were gone, and ribbons of orange and yellow streamed off the engines into the dark sky. Sky turned to mountains, and mountains quickly turned to solid ground.
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Tears pricked my eyes. My nose stung, and the sharp tang of iron filled my mouth. I crawled up onto my elbows, fighting the heaviness in my limbs. My helmet’s head-up display burst into blue light, defining each rock and plant before me. Relief washed over me as the outlines of eleven troopers rose from the ground.
As I started to unclip the emergency chute’s harness, a pair of arms pulled me up. A crack trailed across Sergeant Balao’s visor. The fresh, dark indigo paint on his armor was already chipped. He avoided placing weight on his left leg, but he was alive. Thank the stars! He was alive. Before I could ask about the men, he blurted, “Where’s Acrux?!”
I whipped my head around. The wind sent waves of dirt sweeping along the horizon, lowering my HUD’s visibility. I flipped off the bio-synth vision.
Nearby, smoke bled from both ends of the downed gunship. Fuel dripped from the black tubes hanging off, and white sparks discharged from where the wings once were. Acrux stood atop the rummaged ship, desperately slashing at the canopy, her weapon useless against the transparisteel dome. Deep scarlet streaks painted the front of the cockpit. The pilot slouched over to the side, his head, or what was left of it, drooped motionless against his chest. The RIO in the backseat of the cockpit, however, slammed his fist against the glass.
I recognized that helmet anywhere. “Highwire!”
I sprinted towards the ship, but stopped short as a fire sparked, engulfing the wreckage and trailing up the side of the ship to the front. Acrux plunged her sword into the hitch pin and ripped the canopy clean off. “Get a medic!” she cried as she wrapped her arms around him and jumped from the flames.
Highwire thrashed wildly as the General and I patted out the flames eating away at his flightsuit and body. A blood-curdling cry escaped his lips as we forced him to the ground, drowning out the rolling thunder. Trout, the clone medic assigned to Bev Squad, ripped open his burn kit. “Get him still!” he ordered, tearing open a bacta-patch with his teeth. Highwire’s skin bubbled white and pink, and singed as tiny raindrops kissed the raw flesh on his thighs. He shrieked in protest, writhing underneath our hold as Trout pulled out a laser cauterizer. “I need him quiet! If he doesn’t stop, he’ll—”
“Let me die! Let me…Let me die!” he repeated, choking on his tears as his body spasmed. His eyes widened beneath his orange visor. “Gunner,” he rasped, “I can’t. Let me go.”
“You’re not going to die!” I ordered. “We’re getting you back to CP to patch you up.” Everything below his knees was unsalvageable, and it’d take a miracle to save his left arm. Highwire knitted his brows together and sobbed. There was no worse fate for a clone than surviving wounds rendering us useless for future combat. The Republic offered limited roles to wounded veterans, and the chances of landing them were next to impossible. But I refused to lose him today, too. “We’re here. We got you.”
Acrux gently pulled off his helmet and cradled his head. She pressed her fingers against his temples and repeated my words to him in a hushed tone. “Rest,” she commanded. His eyelids grew heavy, his breathing deepened, and his body went slack as he slipped into unconsciousness. Trout checked his pulse and thanked the General. The Cuy'val Dar warned us cadets of the many abilities the Jedi possessed, but they never mentioned anything like this. I stared at her, even as medical reinforcements from Bravo pushed themselves between Highwire and me.
“We’ll take it from here, General,” one of them said, bracing Highwire’s neck to keep him from moving too much.
Acrux rose, dusting the ash and dirt from her pant legs. She locked onto me, and her left eye slightly twitched. “AWOL?!” Her voice cracked.
I said nothing.
“Next time, sneak into the brig! Save me the trouble!”
Like it mattered anymore? Would Fletch still be here had I not tagged along? Or was this always to be his fate? Had I known, I would have never put him on the mission roster.
Finally, Acrux said, “Grab your gear. Take Bev and form a rearguard. Once we reach the outpost, you’ll lead Fletch’s team.” Her indigo saber hummed to life. She lunged to the right, swinging the blade in a wide arc. A blaster bolt whined against it and ricocheted back to its sender. A recon droid crashed to the ground with a thud. The blade vanished, and she clipped the lightsaber back onto her belt. “Let’s hope that thing didn’t have time to alert its friends.”
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KILO X-RAY - SEPARATIST FOB - 13 MINUTES TILL EASY’S DROP
A bolt ripped through the last droid’s head. I lowered the sniper rifle. The cold began to bite under my armor as light rain and wind whipped against the rocks I perched behind. Heavy rain would hit soon, and the last place we wanted to be was trapped at the bottom of a canyon with EMPs during a flash flood. “Acrux,” I called through the comm, “Knocked out the last of the scouts on our trail. Heading to your position now.” I switched the rifle for my assault blaster from Bev’s sniper, and slid from our cover.
Acrux and Balao gathered the men, a few feet shy of the bridge leading into the base. I shrugged my shoulders at them, tearing my attention away from my HUD’s chrono countdown. Winters’ men were nine minutes out, and we hadn’t even entered the base yet.
Balao tilted his head at the path forward. “The bridge is rigged to blow. But we’ve discovered a tunnel that’ll take us deeper into the outpost.” He pointed to the narrow shaft behind me. “Shifty went ahead to scout it out. He reported in ‘bout a minute ago. The way’s clear, but if we blow the bridge now, they’ll believe we fell for their trap.”
Acrux glanced up at the boulders along the ridge line. “I could pull down some of those. The weight should trigger the—” She turned sharply, hushing the men and holding a finger to her lips. Only the thunder dared to speak. She let out a long breath. The rest of us followed suit. “I guess it was nothing.”
The rocks and pebbles at our feet began to rattle. The ground beneath us trembled. Acrux and I exchanged a glance. The sky roared overhead, rolling and booming until its frequency transformed into a devilish screech that chilled my blood and made the hair at the back of my neck stand up. Acrux’s eyes widened. “Vultures!”
“Cover! Cover! Cover!” I ordered over the ear-splitting shriek as the first two low-altitude vulture droids whipped around the narrow bend of the canyon, their red lights glowing like the eyes of a pack of predators zeroing in on their prey.
I pulled my blaster up and shot at the left vulture’s air intake ducts. It exploded on impact, sending the other vulture into the canyon’s side. Huge slabs of rock tumbled down onto the bridge, triggering a magnificent detonation. A wall of hot air rushed toward us. I dove for the general, pushing her to the ground and shielding her from the flames and debris.
When the dust cleared, the men broke out in cheers, congratulating me on my lucky shot. I peered down at the general, her chest rising and falling in quick breaths and her eyes darting back and forth, searching for mine. I swallowed the lump in my throat. Fortunately, she couldn’t see my face as my cheeks and ears burned behind my helmet. What I meant to ask was, “Are you alright?” But what came out of my mouth was far harsher and sounded more along the lines of, “Glad I came along now?”
“You’re pulling on my hair,” She said flatly and winced as I scrambled to my feet, accidentally pulling at it more. I apologized profusely and offered my hand to help the general, but she swatted it away and picked herself up.
As soon as she got onto her feet, another shriek echoed from the canyon passage. We all ducked as the lonely vulture droid zoomed over our heads, causing the ground to shift in its wake. It arched into the dark sky and banked hard, coming back around. The men opened fire, but the damned clanker dodged each bolt. A series of blasts fired from its guns, striking the bare ground and trailing closer. Before it could land a shot, a bright flash of purple flared from the sky with a deafening crack and ripped through the vulture droid. The droid spiraled over our heads and crashed not far from its fallen comrades.
Mess from Indigo Squad threw out a colorful string of curses. My stomach dropped. No one else. Please. I held my breath as I turned. The black crate was shattered to smithereens across the ground. The cylindrical EMP sparked once or twice before falling into pieces.
Raindrops pelted the ground. I checked my chronometer in the corner of my HUD and shook my head. “Leave it,” Acrux ordered quietly. “I’ll figure something out.”
“We’re down two! We have to scrub the mission.”
“No! You will take what we have to disable the turrets. I’ll manually disable the shield.”
I scoffed. “You’re going to scale that tower during a storm with vulture droids and who knows what else up there, and what? Stab at it with your sword?!”
She placed her hands on her hips and flashed a curt smile. “It warms my heart to see you can follow along. How much time till Easy is in position for their drop?”
“Seven minutes.”
“Then there’s no time to waste.” She motioned for the men to push forward into the tunnel.
“This better work,” I mumbled to Balao, ejecting the empty cell cartridge from my blaster and jabbing a new one into it. Acrux was either really brave or really stupid, and it pained me how often the two overlapped.