Escander 2

Here I was standing ankle deep in sloppy mud, watching on as the heavy footsteps of AT-AT walkers splashed nearby clones, covering the shiny new armour most of them had.

It's safe to say that the planet we were on didn't have the greatest of weather, reminds me of the mighty homeland. For the most part the surface of the planet was filled with shrubbery and medium sized trees, while the near constant rain turned the ground a muddy surface dotted with puddles.

Right now the majority of the ground forces are heading towards a group of hills a fair distance away from the Separatist base to establish a command centre. That will then be used to co-ordinate the assault, as well as give the army a resting and supply point.

Wiping the rain off my brow, I turn to my master walking at my side and ask "Do you not want a jacket or something?" as she was still kicking it in her usual sexy choice of clothing.

"I'm alright, it's not particularly cold anyway" she replied clearly not bothered about her lack of jacket.

"Did you even bring one?" I questioned as she continued trudge forward in silence. I'll take that as a no then.

A while later Aayla finally says something, "I see you have had a change of clothing" giving my outfit under the light jacket a glance.

"Yea the robes were good for lying about and stuff but they get in the way when moving quickly. Too many parts flapping all over the place." I tell her getting a nod in response.

"Say, why is it your wear clothes like that all the time. Not that I'm complaining thought" I ask while definitely not looking at her inconceivable waist to hip ratio.

Slightly glaring at during the end of my statement she says "A fair question, my outfit isn't very jedi-like after all isn't it" as she stepped round a large puddle. "As you should know, my species doesn't have the greatest reputation when it comes to having reputable jobs. Most women and even men are used as slaves in one form or another, this has been happening for so long that the Twi'leks just accept this as the natural course of things".

I trudged on through a similar puddle, layering my boots with even more dirt as she continued on "I used to be ashamed of my race" she said with a disappointed look in her eye.

"Eventually though, I came to accept the sigma of my race. Carrying it with me instead of being ashamed of it. Now I wear these clothes in a hope to inspire others of my race, to show them that you can still be what you want to be despite being a Twi'lek". She finished her reasoning with a slightly proud smile

"That's some pretty inspiring shit" That it is, must be nice to do something like that I thought while taking a swing from the trusty flask.

With a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes Aayla looked at me and said "If I catch you giving some of that to the soldiers, I'll triple your training for the foreseeable future".

Audibly gulping down the watered down ethanol, I nodded my head. Fuck that triple training, there's hardly any free time already never mind with two extra loads.

The rest of the trip passed quickly, as soon as we got there the clones rapidly put up defences to protect the make temporary base. Walking towards the juggernaut parked in the centre of the encampment, I climb up to the roof and enter the opened hatch.

Surrounding a table was Aayla, Bly and Lieutenant Galle, currently they were drawing up a plan of attack. Noticing my arrival both clone salute me while Aayla gestures for me to approach the table.

"How are the defences coming along?" she asked.

"The troops are almost finished putting them up, should be done within the hour." I replied.

Staring at the hologram for a few seconds I ask them "What plan have you came up with then?" prompting Aayla to move the components of the projection around before saying, "The Separatists have tanks guarding the path in between the recess in the hills that would be necessary for our heavy units to approach. There's hardly any cover for our troops so we need to find a way to let our army approach the base safely, whether it's through a distraction or other methods."

Zooming in on a different point round the back face of the hill she continues on, "There's a path around here that's difficult to traverse, but it should be possible on smaller vehicles. Commander Bly suggested that we send a unit of scouts headed by Lieutenant Galle to check the base's defences on that side".

Looking towards her lieutenant she says "I want you to take my Padawan with you, he will be able to notify you early if the enemy detects your presence. He's got sharp senses, so if he says their onto you make sure you get out of there, we can't alert the Separatist of our presence on that front or the plan will fail."

"Roger that General" Galle said before turning to me and saying "Pleasure to have you with us commander, I'll notify the scouts to prepare for departure" before climbing out the mobile base.

When he left I said "Guess I'll go find a ride, later Master" as I turn to leave Aayla cautions me, "Remember Lycan, in and out quickly no risky business".

"I know, don't worry too much" I said climbing through the hatch on the roof.

Standing on top of the large ground vehicle, I stretch my back out as I survey the camp for the scouts. Finding a ground of troopers with distinctly different armour kicking about a bunch of smaller off road vehicles, I leapt off the roof and headed towards them.

Arriving at the platoon I got salutes from the trooper as I walked by. Reaching Galle who was already mounted on an AT-RT with a spare unmanned one next to him, I hopped on a said "I'll be in your care then" getting a nod in return he shouted to the rest "All right boys, move out" and we began the trek over.

Let me tell you riding one of the walkers is a back killer, the seat was already minimalistic and it didn't help that we we're moving over uneven terrain. Fuck me these things were need some decent seats and some better suspension to go with it.

Sore back later we reached the point where we had to leave the walkers behind for we'd be at risk of being spotted, thank fuck for that. Slowly creeping up the far side of the hill, we avoided large patches off mud and puddle to minimalize the sound we were giving off, even though it was raining it was better not to risk it. By the time we reached the top we crawling across the ground, slowly edging forwards till we could peak over the apex of the hill.

In front of us was a clear view of one of the base entrances, all we'd have to do is slide down the opposite face and we'd be at their door step. Signalling at the rest of the scouts to use their Electro binoculars, I pull my pair out and get a good look at the the defences from this side.

The things that stood out the most were the 4 tanks forming a perimeter around the entrance. They were positioned so that they next had any blind spots to take advantage of, as well as giving the defending side a fair amount of cover along with the light barriers placed in between each tank, put together they made a crescent shaped blockade.

Although their setups solid, it won't be a problem to punch through if we get the jump on them. My probing of the base's defences was cut short as in the distance I could hear the humming of an engine.

Quickly locating the source of the I whispered harshly through my wrist guard "Droids approaching fall back" sending my message through each of the scout's helmets.

What then happened was as comical as it was effective, the entire platoon swivelled round and began to log roll down the hill at high speeds, only stopping when we reached some tree cover lower down the hill.

Around thirty seconds later the whizzing of B1's riding atop their STAPs was heard, the noise from the engines growing louder by the moment, it seemed as if they had found us.

That was until the noise slowly began to fade away, waiting an extra minute just in case, we carefully emerged from the shrubbery and gathered to discuss a the next course of action.

"What did you boys see up there?, It's better we pool together what we know before deciding on something" I asked no one in particular.

"So in the time we had I saw 4 tanks, 3 squads of B2's, 6 squads of B1's and 3 dwarf spiders" replied a clone known as Alf.

"I counted 5 spiders and I'm sure there is droideka hatches built into the inner wall" said another called Mach.

"There's 2 snipers up the back as well, must be commando droids" lieutenant Galle informed.

Having a rough Idea of what we'd be up against Galle asked "What should we do now Commander?"

Rubbing rubbing my hand against my no-existent beard for a bit, I soon told them "We're going to wait here longer, double check the defences and see if we can get the timing for the droid's perimeter check. If we know when they'll be coming round we'd be able to get the jump on them, without risking or men getting discovered on the hills incline. Once we've know that we'll head back to base and discuss it with the general."

"Roger that Commander" they said as me and the team began to head back up to our vantage point for round 2.