Battle of Ryloth (Part 2)

-Madness is like gravity. All it takes is a little push…

A cacophony of blaster fire came from all sides as Joker and his men slid behind the rocky outcrops, providing vital cover amidst the chaos.

"Who came up with the wonderful idea to march straight towards the enemy fire?!" Joker shouted, raging at Krell's ineptitude, it was mere minutes after Cody left that Joker received the order to march.

They soon encountered a droid army, approximately ten thousand to twenty thousand droids. It would not be a problem for Joker if he could fight to his legions speciality. However, he was ordered to abandon his vehicles five kilometers before engaging in battle. Forced to fight on foot, Joker could do little more than order his troops to take cover and open fire.

An explosion roared near Joker's position, sending him sprawling. Once he regained his bearings he took in the situation once more, his legion was buckling under the sheer amount of enemy fire, morale was low. Elite soldiers were being thrown away like garbage.

None of this made sense.

Joker knew that he had to boost morale, he had to do something. So he picked up his rotary Z-6 rotary blaster cannon and opened communications so that all his legion could hear him speak.

He took a deep sigh and put on his biggest smile.

"Sing with me brothers! Dooku is a dickhead!"

As if practiced before, all his troops began to chant at the Separatists, singing loudly and proudly, so that the droids and surely their commander would hear them.

On the other side of the battlefield, a droid listened as this new development was relayed.

"They are doing what?!" There is only a brief moment of hesitation before readying new orders. "Send in the rest of the reserves, let's annihilate these clones!"

The droid tank commander looked at the droid commander, before tilting his head curiously.

"Does that include us tanks? Should we move forward?"

The droid commander turned and struck the tank commander with his binoculars.

"Of course it does! Leave the artillery position. I want a tank column on those clones' doorstep!"

The tank commander rubbed his head as though he was physically pained.

"..Roger roger." Complied the tank commander sullenly.

Joker watched as the tanks moved in close with a fresh wave of droids, they would soon be within range of his Anti Tank squads. The enemy tanks had been handing death to his men for hours, but now they grew arrogant heading straight for his bait.

He would punish these clankers.

"SING LOUDER!" Joker bellowed.

The clones continued to chant even as the firefight became a true slaughter as the fresh enemies joined the fight.

Loki ran to Joker, slipping on the final stretch to avoid incoming fire..

"AT ready and waiting, Joker."

With a wicked grin, Joker turned to Loki. They wore the same smirk, the same as Big Sister...

"Here." Loki said, hefting the oversized launcher to Joker. "I'll give you the first shot."

Joker rested his rotary blaster on the ground and looked over towards the enemy positions, searching for victims. Once a suitable target had been found he took the launcher from his friend.

Muttering a quick thanks Joker fired, the missile traveled around three kilometers before turning the tank into the past tense.

"DESTROY THOSE CLANKERS!" Screamed Joker over comms, adrenaline and hate filling him with fresh vigor.

Lifting his rotary blaster once more, Joker released a stream of hot plasma at his prey, battle droids. Suppressive fire was near useless against the droids, but a never ending stream of fire was one of the most effective tactics to stem a droid assault, barring tanks or other heavy weapons of course.

But beggars can't be choosers.

The Separatist tanks were destroyed piece by piece, the droids could not advance with the sheer amount of blaster fire levied against them. The blaster fire generated by over five thousand clones and the inflexibility of the droids gave victory to the 77th when the battle could have been a massacre.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joker was drinking booze looted from the village. They had set up camp and were now waiting for General Pong Krell to arrive.

"General Pong Krell is useless, his orders don't make any sense." Joker complained, checking his holo-table. He paused — a message caught his attention.

Joker read the message with curiosity. It was a missive from Supreme Commander Nemesis.

-Due to the loss of communication with Hestia and Big Sister, an emergency Clone Council will be created, composed of Supreme Commanders Aphrodite, Artemis, Hera, Medusa, Nyx, Nemesis, Elpis and Mania. Alpha and Omega will remain as observers.

As a first measure of this Clone Council, all commanders have been ordered to avoid the clone revolution. In times of uncertainty, we must remain calm and collected as Big Sister taught us.

This decision has been voted by all the Supreme Commanders in active service, the council has decided to not begin the clone revolution.

Voting results.

Aphrodite: Against

Artemis: For

Hera: For

Medusa: For

Nyx: For (Vote changed) Against

Nemesis: Against

Elpis: Against

Mania: Against

This missive will self delete within one hour of broadcast and has been encrypted by the Clone Council, sharing this information with any clone below the rank of Commander will be considered treason against the clones and will be punishable by death.

Joker grimaced, deleting the missive as soon as he finished reading it.

"Let's go get some fresh air." Loki said, recognizing the look on Joker's face. He gently pulled Joker out by the shoulder and outside.

"Has something happened?" Inquired Loki.

Joker pursed his lips and then looked up at the sky.

"I can't tell you, but it's not good, now I understand why Lion left with such urgency."

Loki nodded, putting his arm around Joker's shoulders.

"Don't worry, it'll all work out in the end. It always does."

Joker nodded, however he pulled away from him, giving him a poke in the ribs.

"Come on, let's make ourselves presentable, the General is coming."

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"CC-4578, you have successfully completed your mission." Pong Krell noted, Joker Held his tongue and nodded. There was a lot Joker wanted to say but Cody believed that there was a chance that with a little respect and understanding they could get along.

"I always accomplish my mission." Joker stated proudly, Pong Krell nodded, moving away from him, looking towards the horizon.

"In 4 hours, we will resume our march. It is about a hundred kilometers until we reach the last remaining droid stronghold. I have heard that the Ryloth resistance has been cooperating with Obi Wan Kenobi and they have given us some valuable intel. The stronghold is a major logistical hub for the droid army. If we destroy it, they will not be able to replenish or repair themselves. It will be a matter of days before most of the droids in the sector are deactivated. So we will storm the fortress and take it."

Joker was surprised at that statement. It would be foolish to assault such a fortress head on, especially without artillery or tank support. The most efficient tactic would be to leave a few companies around the fortress, denying their armies their logistics convoys'. Disabling the fortress without risking heavy casualties.

"General Pong Krell, if I may add my opinion to your plan I think it would be more efficient if we follow my legion's doctrine of attacking the convoys leaving the fortress. So that without sacrificing as many troops, we can achieve the same results."

Pong Krell looked for a second at Joker, before rejecting his proposal with a shake of his head.

"Negative, you will storm the fortress."

Joker bit his tongue and clenched his fists.

"Request that we be given at least air support."

Pong Krell began to walk, leaving the area.

"I will request air support."

With that Pong Krell walked away from Joker, without another word. Joker watched him leave frustrated, but at least he got air support.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Given the lack of heavy support and the commanding positions of the fortress, the only viable way to it was to utilize human wave tactics. Fort masses of soldiers to charge forth under heavy fire and hope they reached the target with their lives. Those that actually managed this feat would then assault the walls with grappling hooks.

Five thousand clones assaulted from the south, north east and west of the enemy fortress, running across more than 3 kilometers of open terrain. At the head of them all was Joker, who abandoned his rotary blaster and charged with his dual pistols. Forgoing his favored weapon for the sake of speed.

"DON'T STOP NO MATTER WAHT, STAYING ON THE OPEN GROUND IS SUICIDE!" He commanded over comm. This statement was punctuated by the fire of a blaster cannon, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Two clones ran over to help, but he struggled to his feet.

"Keep moving! My armor protected me, I'm fine!"

Both clones resumed their mad dash. Joker got up and followed suit. Clone armor was a marvel of technology. It could stop blaster fire dead in its tracks and even allowed clones to fight through otherwise mortal wounds. Not to mention how they were suited to almost any kind of environment or eventuality, from vacuum to shrapnel it had you covered.

Dodging the incoming fire Joker finally reached the base of the enemy fortress. Recovering from his desperate sprint he took in the devastation around him, and saw hundreds of dead clones sprawled out on the open terrain. He opened a communique to Pong Krell, shouting when he heard a response.

"WHERE IS OUR AIR SUPPORT?!"

Pong Krell glared at Joker, "Watch your attitude, clone! After identifying several threats to aircraft, I have decided it is too dangerous to send the air support."

Joker stopped listening, he threw the holocommunicator to the ground and stopped the device beneath his boot.

"Damn, damn, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN ,DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN IT ALL!!"

"Joker!" Someone shouted. Returning to the present, Joker turned and saw a worried Loki next to him.

"Loki..." Muttered Joker, he did not respond with words however instead giving him a pat on the back.

"Later we will weep and rage, but now we must move. The longer we stay here the more of our brothers will die."

Joker, despite his frustration, nodded.

"Yes, yes, you're right."

Joker turned and shot a cable towards the enemy fortress. As he began his ascent he was followed by dozens of clones.

None of the clones spoke or joked as they usually did in combat. Their normal advantages over the droids gave them confidence, but here they were nothing, here they were just numbers dying in the face of enemy fire.

Joker bit his tongue. He couldn't even shout or joke to encourage his brothers. They were fighting for their enslavers, and a battle cry of "for the Republic!" being a foreign concept to them They were not things, they were people, and none of them felt any loyalty to the Republic, even though they were supposed to.

As Joker reached the top of the wall he was immediately beset by blaster fire, and out of cover.

"KILL THOSE CLANKERS!" Bellowed Joker, rolling out of the way, and opening fire on the droids. Loki pulled his launcher from his back and firedit at the droids' position, taking out dozens.

"Keep moving!" shouted Joker, running down the stairs to ground level. His group was the first to break through the walls completely.

"This is reserve group 1, General Pong Krell has ordered us to advance to your position to support your advance."

Joker affirmed, turning on his internal communicator.

"Understood."

A nearby explosion forced Joker to take cover among some crates. Loki tapped Joker to get his attention.

"It's a tank. I'll wait for a lull in the fire then destroy it." Loki stated with grim determination, Joker gave him some space, a moment later another explosion rocked their cover, sending Joker sprawling once more. Loki jumped out of cover and took aim.

However a second tank had appeared at precisely the wrong moment.

And it was aiming right at Loki.

Loki fired, destroying the first tank, but before he could flee back to cover the second tank fired its cannon, obliterating his lower half in an instant.

Loki's screaming echoed over the battlefield

"LOKI!" shouted Joker, running for his dear brother. But Loki's screams were cutoff as a sudden blaster bolt silenced him forever.

The clones raged against the cruel scene, their anger and grief was a palpable thing. All of the brothers of the 77th legion held Loki in high regard.

And to see his life snuffed out so brutally…

"Avenge him!" shouted a sergeant, taking over for the unresponsive Joker. Joker who could not do anything but stare at the cooling corpse of his brother. His brother, who a scant few hours ago, had been drinking and laughing with a big dumb grin on his face.

A clone suddenly grabbed an insensate Joker and dragged him away from the scene.

"Commander, come on, we need to get you out of here."

Another explosion blasted their failing cover, sending it all crashing down upon those taking cover within.

Joker felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and knew no more.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joker woke up in a cold sweat and cold dread in his stomach. He found himself in a makeshift field hospital. Medics were running around treating the wounded.

That was when Joker remembered what had transpired.

The tragedy kept circling through his mind on repeat, every loss of life, every mistake he made, wIth every moment the weight grew and grew.

"Thank Elpis, how are you feeling Joker?" Questioned a medic, however Joker did not react, his mind far away.

Seeing the situation, the medic called a nearby brother over.

"Take him to a private room. He needs to rest but I need his gurney for the other wounded."

The clone nodded, leaning their commander on his shoulder drag-marching him through the old droid fortress only a handful hours after their assault.

"Joker, they're all dead," Muttered the clone as they left the care of the medics. "All the captains, gone, we lost four out of five of brothers in that fight. There are so few of us left." He said, voice raw with emotion, the legion had been decimated to the point of non-operation. The assault on the fortress was a massacre, but the urban fighting against droids after the assault only made matters worse.

Joker merely cried silent tears in lieu of response, the devastation wrought on his brothers too much for him to bear.

Finally the two arrived at an abandoned house, where he guided Joker onto a disused bed. The clone gave Joker a nod and walked out, leaving him alone with only his thoughts for company.

"Why?" Joker asked the empty room, everything had been so perfect, he had almost everything a clone could want, yet it was all cruelly snatched from him in less than a day.

Then Joker slowly and hesitantly reached for the blaster on his hip, brought it to his head.

He waited for a single infinite moment.

And pulled the trigger.

The dull click sounded like thunder in that silent room.

He looked down.

The damn fuel cell was dead.

In an instant he had smashed the blaster against the wall, and pulled his spare.

He pulled the trigger one last time

Another dull click.

Another dead fuel cell.

Joker couldn't help it.

He just laughed and laughed and laughed, it truly was a wonderful joke. And if his laughter sounded like the sobs of the anguished, well that was no one's business but his own.

However in the distance he heard a voice, the proud and deep voice of General Pong Krell.

"A resounding success." He proclaimed, proudly even. The medical clone that accompanied him stopped for a second as if his ears had failed him.

"The casualties have been crippling, the Legion is a Legion in name only. We lost eighty percent of our brothers, how can this be a success!?" said the medical clone.

"The only thing that matters is that the objectives were accomplished, Clones are replaceable after all." Pong Krell answered smoothly and without a hint of remorse.

Joker clenched his fists so tightly that he could hear his bone grind.

It was all his fault... They had died because of that bastard, Pong Krell, because of Jedi scum...

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pong Krell woke up, his head was spinning and he found himself without any of his gear and belongings. Working through the headache and his blurry vision, he clearly remembered that the last thing he had done was eat…

"Good morning Pong Krell!" Shouted a boisterous voice in his ear. He noticed that a communicator had been stuck in his right ear. The voice sounded like that of a clone, one he recognized.

CC-4578 the one the clones call "Joker" to Pong Krell.

A laugh continued in his ear, a laugh of a madman. An unhinged cackle that would send chills down your spine.

As suddenly as it started it ended, and heard only one word from the comm.

"Run."

And just like that communication was cut off. Looking around, Pong Krell saw nothing amidst the darkness. He didn't even notice how an insectoid beast approached from behind, biting into one of his four arms.

"Damned beasts!" He shouted, grabbing the Gutkurr, handling the beast with his other arms, forcing it to let go. Disoriented and drugged, he could hear the sounds of his stumbling echo. He was in some kind of cavern and the shuffling noises that surrounded him, helped him realize something.

He was being hunted.

With renewed energy, he took off. He didn't know where the exit was, but he knew that there had to be one.

He had to escape

Suddenly a group Gutkurr ambushed him, pinning him down and tearing into his legs. Using his connection with the force he slammed one into a cavern wall with violent strength, killing it instantly. With one removed he was able to force the others off him.

"Get back!" he shouted as he ran for his life. He didn't understand how this could happen to him, he was a Jedi, a defender of peace. He had followed the doctrine of the Jedi Order from beginning to end. Why had the clones betrayed him? Such questions plagued him as he ran into the depths of the cave.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two hours had passed since he had last encountered a Gutkurr. He was resting and treating his wounds. However, his body was slow and lethargic still, making the task difficult.

"Too bad, too bad, too bad, too bad," Sang the communicator punctuated, with a laugh that gave Krell the chills.

"The thing about Gutkurr is that they prefer dark, cold and damp places. However, as they need the warmth of the sun to survive, so they tend to stay near the entrances. And judging by the fact we can't hear your screams any more, it seems you fled deeper into the caverns...".

A chuckle could be heard once more from the communicator.

"If you want to escape, you'll have to get through the pack of Gutkurr. it's either that or die of dehydration in a day and a half."

Pong Krell, rose on unsteady legs, just then as if fate were on his side, he could hear the sounds of the beasts rang out…

He followed their cries in search of a way out.

"May the force be with me." He prayed.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pong Krell was moving as fast as he could, dodging dozens of Gutkurr in his attempt to escape. He was slowly bleeding out and his strength was leaving him.

A pair of Gutkurr attacked him from both flanks. With the aid of the Force however, Krell managed to stop them and smashed them together, before throwing them backwards to push back the horde that dogged his heels. Soon the light of exit could be seen, with what little strength he had left, he ran towards the light.

Krell stepped out of the cave. His hand reached forward as if trying to touch the light. He regained hope. His strength had not deserted him. He had survived. He would kill the clones for betraying the Jedi and the Republic.

These are the last thoughts of Jedi Knight Pong Krell.

A blaster bolt came screaming through the brush, ending the Pong Krell's life in an instant.

Moments later the corpse was dragged away by the Gutkurr to be eaten.

Suddenly laughter could be heard, it started out quiet a single voice, it was soon accompanied by more. Slowly, in ones and two, then dozens, then hundreds, until all of the survivors of the 77th Legion could be heard laughing. The they began to applaud Joker's grand performance.

To kill the bastard at the moment of his greatest hope…

A work of art.

They had all seen their brothers die, their family die, all because of him. So they only felt a righteous vindication at his death, and when they saw his corpse being torn to pieces…

They felt naught but joy.

However the legion had been changed, their armor painted blood red and bearing new marks. It was the helmet of a clone with a macabre laugh,giving a blood soaked smile.

They signed a Pact of Vengeance no less than a rotation ago by the surviving clones of the 77th Legion.

This pact would change the course of their legion, forever.

All the Jedi were guilty, none of them were free of sin, and the punishment was death.

They had created them.

They had used them.

And now they would reap what they sow.

"JOKER IS OUR VENGEANCE!" Shouted one clone, and soon the cry was taken up by his brothers, baying for Jedi blood.

"We will only be free the day all the Jedi are dead!" Joker shouted, raising the blaster that had killed Pong Krell.

The rest of the clones raised their weapons in response, reveling in their madness, even as silent tears flowed down their faces.

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