25 Turning Point [Continued]

Part 2

Alpha Site, Ryloth

So far, the scouting exercise went without a hitch. That in itself was troubling. We met no resistance at all. No booby-traps either.

The village appeared empty, which was making me nervous. A company or two of droids should have been able to bleed and slow down any attacker unwilling to level the settlement.

The only other good place to make a stand would be the chokepoint between two cliffs, leading to the small plaza where the cannons were located. It provided nice, long and clear fields of fire, but that worked as a double edged sword. Any attacker who secured the village would have some cover, not to mention that a spread of missiles would be all it would take to disable the few CSI tanks seen by the recon flights.

Well, if I was an arrogant idiot, I might have presumed that the droid in charge of this little slice of Ryloth were lacking in programming and thought that deploying all it's forces at the small pass was a good idea. However, with me instead being a paranoid bastard, me and my troopers were searching for the surprises prepared by the Separatists for any uninvited visitors such as us.

Boil and Waxer were stalking down the street in front of me, their heads snapping in all direction, scanning for possible threats. At least those two were turning out to be competent scouts, with more talents than just their commendable reliance on overwhelming firepower. As the folks at a forum dimensions away would say, there were very few problems that couldn't be resolved by deployment of sufficient Dakka! Not that there was such a thing in existence, of course...

I sensed a tiny presence in the Force couple of seconds before we heard something shifting a bit of rubble. The sound came from a small alley to our left. There was someone alive here, beside us.

My soldiers turned their weapons in the direction of the sound and moved out, taking positions to the sides of the alley.

I frowned. I felt anxiety and fear coming in waves from the unknown person.

I nodded at Waxer who had his head turned in my direction. I didn't expect a threat, but better safe than sorry. We weren't playing a game on a training field after all.

My men darted into the alley, with their weapons at the ready. I followed suit, thinking that such actions would be made much safer by the addition of short ranged drones. Just another thing to add to the list. At this rate the R&D boys and girls would be busy for years after the end of the war.

"A little girl!" exclaimed Boil.

I walked behind the clones who were looking at a child who couldn't be older than five. She was cute little thing with light green skin. She was examining us with huge brown eyes. Fear and curiosity were fighting within her tiny hear which was fluttering within her chest.

I wondered how those two men, who still had their mental conditioning made by the Kaminoans would react to the kid.

"What are we going to do with her?" Waxer wondered aloud.

"We shouldn't do a thing. We have a mission to complete!" stated Boil.

"We can't leave her! We should take her with us!" exclaimed Waxer.

"Are you kidding?! She'll slow us down! Right, sir?"

"Perhaps." I muttered. "What do you two think we should do?" I asked innocently.

"Look at her! She's terrified of us." pointed out Boil.

"Not from us. Take cover!" I snapped quietly and pressed my back in a shadowed corner. The Chameleon paint on my armor made me melt into the darkens.

The clones followed my example, hiding behind nearby columns, while I projected a small Force field which I hoped would made us appear nonexistent to life-signs detector. It would work only on crappy sensors but it was the best I could do short of disabling the droid.

Moments later a scout droid, similar to the ones made famous by The Empire Strikes Back, perhaps an earlier model, skimmed over the streets where we were before we heard the girl. The machine made a cursory scan before continuing its path. Either it had cheap sensors or it noted our presence and was faking disinterest. We needed to get away from here quickly.

Boil agreed with my reasoning and said so.

"We can't leave her here! Not with the clankers searching for us!" Waxer disagreed.

I could clearly sense Boil's confusion. He stared at the kid for few seconds before reaching a decision.

"Fine!" he snapped at his friend. "I'll carry her."

Before any of us could say a thing, he went to grab her and to Waxer's and my amusement, she growled at my subordinate and clamped her teeth at his index finger.

"Ouch! She bit me!"

I went behind Boil and slapped the back of his helmet.

"Ow! What was that about!? Sir?" he grumbled.

"You are scaring her!" exclaimed Waxer.

"The child either thinks we are droids or she just don't like you." I smirked at Boil, who shook his head in exasperation.

"I wonder why..." muttered Waxer.

He removed his helmet and grinned at the kid.

"Hey little one! See, we are made of flesh just like you!"

I could almost see Boil rolling his eyes at his buddy's antics, before his shoulders slumped.

"I think she's starving. Here take this." he retrieved a piece of a field ration and handled it to his friend.

Waxer presented it to the girl who looked him warily, before carefully sniffing the food. She glanced at each of us in turn before grabbing the meal and taking a small bite off it. She smiled and started eating the food.

Boil removed his helmet too and massaged the back of his head, where I slapped him.

"Definitely starving. No way she would eat a piece of MRE otherwise." I muttered.

Those things kept you alive and that was their only redeeming quality. The less said about the taste the better...

"Nerra! Nerra!" The girl cheerfully pointed at the clones, then she looked warily at my masked face.

"No, sweetie. I am Waxer and he is Boil!" he tried to correct her.

I chuckled at her antics.

"Congratulations!" I cheered my men. "You were just adopted as big brothers!"

"Joy..." grumbled Boil.

I knelt next to the kid and removed my helmet.

"Hi! I bet you know all the fun hidden places around here..." I said.

She had to, in order to evade the droids since the invasion began.

"Can you show us how to sneak to the plaza where the droids are gathered?" I asked in Twi'leki.

She eagerly nodded, with her head-tails swinging wildly.

"Wouldn't you know, the short stuff's useful for something." muttered Boil.

"Waxer, please." I nodded at my other subordinate.

He smirked and slapped his friend at the back of his head.

"Ouch! What is this?! Pick on Boil day?!" he exclaimed, while the girl giggled at our antics.

I listened to a rapid string of explanations from the kid.

"Yes. Of course." I grumbled. "Why it always has to be sewers?! You sure that there is not another hidden way?" I asked with forlorn hope.

She shook her head and continued nibbling at her meal.

"Splendid." I muttered dryly. "Get you helmets back on. We have a mission to finish." I pointed at the kid, "By the way, your new sister's name is Numa."

=RK=

Site Alpha, CIS positions

Bo-Katan was toying with a vibroblade, while waiting for the damned tactical droid to reach a decision. The onerous machine was examining the data feed from its scouts, when it straightened up and turned towards an idle B1 which was simply staying nearby.

"We located them. The attack can begin now. Release the beasts." It ordered in a voice lacking any emotion.

The mandalorian woman rolled her eyes. Unless the clones were incompetent, she doubted that the animals would be something more than a slight irritation. After all, if the rumors were true, they were made in the image of one of her own kind, and trained by mandalorian mercenaries to boot.

Yet they were content to be slaves to the Republic, and that was something that made her blood boil. No true mandalorian would let herself stay in such a position!

Bo-Katan could hear distant growling from behind her. She shrugged. The beasts should at least slow down the Republic soldiers. She looked over the locals who were used as live shields, and were probably the only reason the village wasn't turned into glowing crater from orbit.

Evaluating what foolishness would be done by the CIS next was one thing. Being caught as what amounted to a hostage taker by what she expected to be vengeful Republic troops was another.

Truly, the only reason she was still on this damn planet was her expectation that the CIS fleet in orbit would crush the Republic's Navy attempt to break the blockade. Instead, the Separatist fleet was so much dust across the stars, and she was trapped on the planet. Her FTL capable fighter was securely locked back in the capital, and she was unable to refuse the "suggestion" to examine and improve the defenses of the artillery positions. Not when Tambor had a platoon of Super Battle droids nearby, and her ride was under lock-down.

Besides, after the mauling they received, the Republic ships in orbit were likely to shoot first and not ask questions if anyone tried to leave the planet.

Kryze knew that after Coruscant, the GAR would somehow change the way it operated. Witnessing it would be useful to the Death Watch. However, she had the feeling that doing so from the CIS side would prove hazardous for one's health.

Her frown deepened. Perhaps it was time to cut out her losses and seek a better arrangement. After all, she was not a common mercenary. She owed no allegiance to Tambor and the CIS...

She moved away from the crate she was leaning on.

"I'm going to see for myself how good the Republic clones are." She said to the tactical droid and stalked away with a predatory grace.

=RK=

Krayt Company positions, Alpha Site, Ryloth

I was thankful to the Force and all the gods I could think of for my sealed armor. Slogging through the filth in the sewers to reach the position where Cat and the rest of my men were waiting wasn't fun. If the kriffing droids had sensors to pick up smell, they would have found us sniffing around the plaza, when Numa led us to recon the place.

Well, it could be worse, I guess. That way we avoided any roaming scout droids, while en route back to our lines. Thanks to the Force and few helpful pointers from Numa we soon reached our destination.

I started climbing the ladder leading up to the manhole closest to my men and shouted: "Hold your fire! Incoming friendlies!"

I could sense my soldiers attention snapping our way. I shoved away the manhole cover and got out, to be greeted by half a dozen blasters pointed my way.

"Stand down, men. Good to have you back, sir. How did the scouting go?" asked Cat.

"Much better than anticipated. We have a covert way in. However there are a lot of clankers and civilians out there. We'll need a diversion before hitting the place."

Behind me a muttering Boil came out of the manhole, followed by Numa and Waxer.

Cat glanced at the kid. "You picked up a stray, sir," he pointed out the obvious.

"Its not like we could just leave her behind. Besides she is damn useful..." I trailed off.

Something bad was coming our way. I could sense anger and hunger.

"Take defensive positions! We have company!" I snapped and grabbed my lightsaber and activated it.

My men darted in all direction, in a carefully orchestrated chaos. They ran towards hastily prepared positions, preparing to face whatever was coming our way.

Behind me Waxer grabbed a startled Numa who shrieked in fright, and sprinted towards a nearby building.

I could hear the sound of clawed feet scrapping over the rocky ground. My first thought was that the animals we startled when the LAAT's landed had come back with a vengeance, and brought back friends. That idea was reinforced when a bunch of overgrown bugs covered with brown armored plates appeared behind a nearby corner. They growled at us and sprinted our way without slowing down.

"Open fire! Don't let them get near you!" I shouted.

I could see the blinking lights of demo charges, which were fitted on the beasts. Huh. Using animals as kamikaze. Someone on the other side was becoming creative. I needed to find that one. Such creativity needed a fitting reward.

My men opened fire on the horde rushing us with everything they got. To my unpleasant surprise, all but few of the heavy blaster bolts were harmlessly absorbed or deflected from the animals armor. I made a note to take samples for the R&D folks. That stuff appeared to be doing much better job than the armor worn by my men.

Two missiles passed around me and struck a pair of the insect like creatures, shattering their carapace and dazzling the nearby monstrosities.

I gathered as much Force as I could in the seconds I had before the beasts reached me, molded it and unleashed the energy at the pack of predators.

=RK=

A building overlooking Krayt Company position, Alpha Site, Ryloth

Kryze watched as animals rushed at the clones position. She stated at the man in color shifting armor, who appeared to be in command. That was a useful feature to have, mused a part of her brain.

Her attention was on the officer in charge. He looked familiar. Bo-Katan was sure that she has seen him before, probably on the holonet. When he ignited a lightsaber in the color of freshly split blood, it all clicked into place.

That was General Veil, the new GAR prodigy. The man credited with engineering both Grievous and Dooku's capture.

If the rumors which reached the Death Watch were true, he was a very dangerous man, who apparently was allowed to do whatever he deemed necessary to achieve his mission's objectives. Something that a mandalorian warrior could respect. What was even more interesting was the rumor that he tortured at least one man and faced no repercussions from his Republic overlords. That in itself was troubling. If the Republic was discarding its foolish ideals and the kiddy gloves with which they appeared to operate for centuries, it would mean that her and her brother's in arms cause could be threatened.

Or perhaps, this man and what he represented was an opportunity for the True Mandalorians.

She watched him snapping orders and the soldiers obeyed without a moments hesitation. Bo-Katan nodded in approval when they fell in a bunch of prepared positions and opened fire at the beasts attacking them. They were better than she was expecting.

The General just stood there, in the middle of the street and appeared to wait. Then he slammed his hands at the ground and the predators, the closest of which were few meters from him were thrown in the air by invisible force. They floated for a moment, before he made a pushing motion and the beasties were thrown towards the far end of the street, where they hit the facade of a building. Hard. Even from couple of hundred meters away, she could clearly hear the sound of cracking carapace.

Bo-Katan smile became a grin. So he was really a Force user. Not a Jedi either. They didn't use crimson lightsabers. This day was becoming even more interesting.

Kryze pressed a button on her wrist mounted computer and the explosives fitted to the animals detonated, turning the far end of that street into a charnel house.

She jumped from the building and slowed her fall with the aid of her rocket pack. Bo-Katan landed twenty odd meters from the General and was about to greet him when she was yanked forward by an invisible force.

The man pointed at the animals she just turned into shreds.

"I'll make an educated guess. That was originally your idea." He stated in an ominous tone.

Yeah. Interesting day indeed...