24 C2P8
Sprawled upon the throne of her command ship, Asaj Ventress watched her toy general make his magic work.
It was impressive how this droid managed to intuitively plan his moves in unexpected circles. But that was before. Now she could see a pattern to his movements and designs.
Her general favored extensive infiltration and the capture of enemy assets, trickery of using enemy assets to lull the enemy into a sense of security before striking with just enough force to make a stalemate while launching surgical strikes to secure victory.
Just as he was doing now, sending a contingent of commando droids with jetpacks to attack the relatively less defended command structure of the star destroyer, effectively attacking their vulnerable rear.
The pale dathomarian smiled as she gazed upon the hologram of the hooded droid, caressing the figure like it was a little chess piece.
Which it was, after a fashion; she had to admit though, 117 certainly had grown on her, sort of like a mold, really.
She was content to watch, for now, but inwardly Ventress wondered; what did her toy general wish to achieve?
-
Tector-Class Star Destroyer Justicar
Bridge
"What's the status of our men down in the Life Support?" Demanded Admiral Himler, grinding his teeth at the pulsing red sections spreading across the maintenance corridors.
"They're holding, but they need more powercells for their blasters," said his XO calmly as he looked over the scattered reports. "Droids are trying to push through all the secondary and tertiary corridors, but our lads are pushing them back. Lack of ammunition for the grenade and rocket launchers are becoming a concern."
"Very well, send them another case for their blasters and the last of the explosives. What about our boys on the front?"
"Taking losses. They are being pinned down near their initial footholds. Made good gains initially, but were unable to take their objectives."
"Have offensive elements withdraw into the maintenance shafts, double-time it," said Himler, grabbing a datapad and quickly skimming through it, "The enemy commander will have released buzz droids into the maintenance corridors. Get people to wield some plating to every vent we have. Can't have those little bastards drilling and cutting their way here. "
"Is that likely?" asked his XO, wincing.
"Considering he was smart enough to infiltrate this ship with clankers disguised as our own men, I would be surprised if he didn't." Grumbled the Admiral with a scowl. He turned to the clone with narrowed eyes, "How many Marauders do we have suited up?"
The clone officer grinned, "Two dozen fully suited. Four more are suiting up."
"Then we have our trump card. Deploy four squads of Marauders to the Life Support Hub," said Himler, his scowl becoming a malicious smile.
"It's time we struck back."
-
"Is it just me, or is it getting warm down here?" Muttered a clone next to Trask.
A short tongue of fire blasted over the barricade, catching the arm of a trooper, who shrieked and fell as he frantically batted at his limb.
The Clone Captain winced and tried to force himself to breathe normally.
Thing has gotten from bad to worse. The droids for one had gotten increasingly more clever with their tactics. Super battledroids with shielded riotshields kept inching forwards, forcing the use of rockets whenever they amassed in large enough numbers to overwhelm them.
They also collapsed the other passageways, dedicating all their forces to this single chokepoint.
Finally, they were pushing with ranged units. Snipers to keep their heads down and armored Supers with flame arms.
Worse, it was working. And they'll breach the barricades and the last blast door if nothing was done-
A loud groan filled the air as the blast door behind the clones began to open. Trask had only a moment to wonder what was going on when a his comlink flashed with a general alert.
Admiral Himler stood before him on his wrist-hologenerator. "Acivate magnetic soles. I am disabling the artificial gravity generators. Marauder units will be on their way to make the attack easier."
"Attack, sir?" Asked Trask in confusion.
"That's right Captain," said the old leader with a savage grin. "We're making a push."
"With what?" Demanded the Clone desperately as he primed the last of his grenades and tossed it over the barricade. "We've barely two hundred men left! There are still thousands of Clankers out there!"
"You have your orders, Captain."
With a growl of frustration, Trask activated the magnetic soles of his boots as the remainder of his men did the same. He led through the blast doors as the barricades melted and crumbled under the assault of the droids. As he prepared to face down the army of machines, Captain Trask was unprepared for seeing them all explode into tiny little pieces of scrap.
Behind him, a booming voice filled the air.
"Badaboom baby!"
Turning around, the clone found the biggest clone trooper he had ever seen trudging slowly towards him. Well over three meters tall, the armored behemoth's dome helmet was inset into the massive suit with the distinctive 'T' visor that was present in all Clone Trooper units.
"Suited up and ready to make some clankers explode!" Said the hulking Marauder in it's booming voice. Behind him, Trask could see a dozen more and change.
"Right after you," he said wryly as the droids began to gather in the tight confines of the chokepoint. B1s and B2s were rushing forwards as fast as they could, running forwards suicidally.
"Alright!" Growled the Marauder as he raised his gauntlet and stepped forwards. "First round's on me!"
A pair of miniature rocket-propelled grenades launched itself into the front of the horde of droid reinforcements, tearing them apart with the resultant explosion. Heads, limbs, and torsos were set on fire and shredded as Marauders marched into the chokepoint, tanking blaster fire and flames with little heed.
This was definitely better, thought Trask as he watched the Marauders trample the droids underfoot. He waved for his troops to follow after the hulking death-dealing giants, "Lets go and scrap those clankers! What are you waiting for, an engraved invitation?!"
-
Primary Command Post
"Sir! Clones launched an all out assault on our forward command post!" Squealed an OOM Commander Droid.
I turned towards the droid in confusion. "How? They're supposed to be penned up in the main life support bays!"
"A new clone trooper unit appears to be assisting them! Reports are scattered, but they paint a general picture. Big, armored, and wielding grenade launchers and repeaters!"
Taken aback by this sudden assault I fumbled for something to say. '...What?"
"Command Post is under heavy fire, what are your orders?"
"I want droidekas up there at once!" I growled, "I want those Commandos to double-time it. Get that bridge silenced, right now!"
The Commander droid saluted, "By your command!"
As if matters couldn't get any worse, I suddenly started flying. And by flying, I meant floating.
"What's happened?!" I shouted, flailing wildly.
"Enemy slicers have rerouted command circuits for the artificial gravity generators back to the bridge!"
"What?!"
-
Bridge
"All corridors and areas not under our control have lost artificial gravity, sir," said the clone XO.
Admiral Himler grinned, as he watched the red zones of the enemy's controlled sectors become conflicted with Blue before blinking Green, one after another as his Marauder troopers paved the way for total victory on board his flagship.
"Our victory is assured," the admiral said.
Which was about when the bridge windows, covered with blast shutters and all, exploded.
