Chapter Text
The Umbaran resistance had been too strong, they weren’t able to reach the capital and aid the 212th. With new orders, they are heading toward the military base feeding the umbarans their ships. With heavy eyes and a need for sleep, they approached a ridge and looked down.
Echo could see the airbase, glowing with blue energy. It wasn’t far, but he could tell it wasn’t going to be easy. The ridge drooped down into a bowl of land, which fed through a bottleneck into the airbase.
Rex looks over with his binoculars. “It’s heavily guarded, with guns and a few tank divisions.”
“We will advance through the gorge in a frontal assault.”
Did Krell not spend a single second actually looking at the base? There were tanks and a bottleneck.
“Er- sir. We will only be able to send out our troops in small squads, the gorge is too narrow. I think it would be more effective if we went closer to look for a more advantageous route.”
Krell’s squinted eyes glared over at Rex. “We do not have that kind of time. Obi-Wan and his battalion need us to take this base as soon as possible, the more we waste time the longer he has to hold off the enemy.”
Rex looked like he wanted to say something more, but stopped. “Yes sir.”
Echo had to look away and clench his fists against the barrage of warnings his mind seemed to be screaming. Maybe the other times it happened, it was just his gut, but this felt purposeful. Dread pooled in his stomach as he looked down into the gorge.
But it would have been obvious without, that this was going to go terribly.
-
After sliding and skidding down the steep trench, the platoons all converged, looking to Rex for orders.
“All platoons will split up into squads, which will make up two divisions, then move straight through the gorge to the airbase.”
All too familiar. Krell has some kind of obsession with mindless frontal assaults, surely.
“Casualties will be high with this… plan.” Echo mutters.
Tup looks at him, and nods in agreement. “Is Krell trying to kill us?”
“We already lost many good men trying to attack the capital, has Krell not learned that you can’t just throw troops at things?” Jesse calls out, both in a scathing tone but also in genuine curiosity.
“This plan is idiotic! It’s insane! We failed to take the capital because of Krell’s choices , so now we are gonna do it all again!” Fives howls, fury and outrage dancing in his uncovered eyes.
Dogma glowers at Fives. “The General’s decisions are his own, and we are to follow them. Unless you’re suggesting treason?”
Maybe before the Citadel, Echo would have agreed. He was always a stickler for the rules and the regs, and following your generals orders is pretty high on the ‘definately do’ list.
But Krell felt so wrong. Not… immediately, but as they trek farther and farther and more time passes, the uncertainty has grown. If he thought about it, the plans have been objectively stupid. And this one is too.
“Yes. Maybe.”
Everyone turns to look at Echo, ‘let me say word for word the exact reg you’re breaking,’ Echo.
“Just… Take a step back and think about it. This plan is going to get many of us killed, many of our brothers killed. We shouldn’t have to go through with this.”
Something curls pleasantly in his mind, as if pushing him to continue.
“Echo!” Rex hisses, gesturing for him to stop.
“No! I will not, can not sit back and let this happen. There has to be another way! We have no idea what kind of tech or weapons they have waiting for us.”
“This is treason!” Dogma cries, but is shushed by Fives.
Something keeps pushing Echo to go further, to continue speaking out. “I am not saying we should commit treason. I’m just saying that we should at least do something to lessen our casualties!”
“Such as?” Jesse questions.
Echo started to think, but the presence in his mind seemed to push an answer to him.
“I think we should send out a few scouting parties, to get a grasp on what weapons they have and how to defeat them.”
Rex shakes his head. “We have to follow Krells orders. He’s our general.”
“Do you really believe that, Rex? Why should we follow the orders of a man who does not even know us; who has no care for us. We are just numbers to him Rex, just numbers!” Fives rebuttals staring down Rex with a determined glare.
Dogma attempts to speak out again, but his voice is lost as the gathering troops voice their agreements to Echo.
Echo glances over to Rex, staring. The man sighs, saying, “Alright. We will send three scouting parties up ahead.”
Fives and Echo cheer, with Tup and Jesse joining in after a few moments.
“As long as I still get to blast things up, I’m good!” Hardcase chimes in, patting his trusty Z-6.
-
The three groups set out, one straight down the middle lane, and the other two on the sides. It was decided that Echo would not join any of the groups despite his protests, so Fives went instead.
He went in the middle group, consisting of Jesse, Hardcase, and a few others he was ashamed to admit didn’t know their names. Well, he always does prefer learning as he goes.
Like most of the time on this campaign when they’re not in direct fire, it's quiet. Their every footstep could be heard from up in the trees, or far away in a sniping position. It irks Fives, to be so exposed yet in such dense foliage.
He suddenly stops, holding up a hand and drawing his blaster. The ground was trembling with anticipation. Fives backs up, signalling to his squad to do so as well. The rumbling grows to a crescendo as the dirt shifts and groans, the trees shake, the ground quakes, and suddenly the floor opens up beneath, as a massive thing rises high above them. It roars and bellows, and Fives peers up. It is a massive vehicle of some kind, clearly non-organic, however resembling a massive legged worm (he swears there was a name for that). It curls back, writhing in a way that sends shivers up his spine, legs clacking together as they flail.
“Blast it!” He screams, shaking himself out of his stupor. They all retreat back some and fire, blue bolts ringing against hard metals. Hardcase’s Z-6 rains out bolts but they do nothing but squeal against the worms plating. “Fierfek, our bolts do nothing!” Fives yells, pulling his squad back for a hasty retreat.
The worm emerges completely, setting itself down with an echoing thud. Inside the head Fives could barely make out an umbaran driver. He skids behind a tree and begins the clamber through the foliage, looking back to see his squad following.
Jesse grunts as he nearly trips over the numerous vines. “We need to comm back and warn them.”
“As soon as we get away from that thing!” Fives responds, hauling one of the others out of a ditch. His fingers flutter over his trigger in anticipation, and his every muscle is tense for the moment the worm finds them.
He can hear it scream and its legs tap horribly across the ground, crushing trees beneath its body as it searches for them. He looks up then, and spots a hollowed out log through the dense plants and glowing leaves, curling over a dip of ground like a shell.
“Over there, we can stop for a moment to report back.”
The men nod, shushing quietly and clambering beneath the shelter. Fives squats in the back, pulling up his holoprojector. It lights up pale blue, displaying a solemn Rex, with a helmeted Echo behind.
Fives cups his hand around the hologram, in case the worm spots the unnatural blue light. “Sir, whilst scouting we discovered a massive umbaran vehicle. It's shaped like a legged worm, and about 50 meters long. Also impenetrable to blaster fire.”
“If you can, discover a way to destroy them.” Rex responds, transforming into his thinking face.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to. We’re holed up inside a log, but that thing is searching for us. It does have a transparent head holding an umbaran driver, so that's probably the weak point. An exposize would work.”
Rex scrunches up his brow, but nods. “We’ll think of something. Get back here as quickly as you can.”
Fives responds, then closes down the holoprojector, tucking it into its place on his utility belt.
“Alright, you heard him boys. Let’s find a way back.”
Echo bites his lip, tapping his fingers absentmindedly against his thigh. Explosives, they had plenty of, but he knew that it would not be enough. As each minute passes the foreboding sense gets more and more clear, but all he knows now is that if they send out the men now, there will be severe casualties.
But what could he do? He was no captain, he was no commander, and certainly not a general. They’ve already stalled the assault, and probably prevented many deaths, but it could go on no longer. They had to attack. And so Echo watched Rex send out the troops with a small sigh.
He didn’t say anything. What would he say, anyway? That he has a bad feeling about this? The worries of a clone versus the orders of a Jedi General. Echo just hopes the dread and warning burrowed in his mind was simply an anxious feeling, nothing more.
That was a mistake.
Bodies strewn around the tramped ground like scattered flimsi. Blood pooled from their now red stained white and blue armor, or none at all, when their evidence of death is several still-warm blaster holes.
The troops were no match against the umbaran tanks, and so they were killed in droves and masses. Sure, it was technically a win, they secured the airbase, but to Echo it was nothing but a catastrophic failure.
And he knew it was going to happen, too. The feeling, once dread, now wailed in despair, and Echo wanted to do the same. So many dead, from something he could have prevented.
Rex glances back, before putting a hand on Echo’s shoulder. “We have to keep going on, Echo. Things are looking up now, at least.”
Echo shrugs without replying. He doubted it.