Bloody Beginnings

*BOOM*

The whole city was shaking as the artillery hit the projectile shield that had been deployed over the city. Bright lights were constantly flashing over the republic forces as they were sent into a frenzy by the suicide bombers that had been released by Alto Stratus and his men. Their frontline had been broken and the clone troopers were rapidly trying to salvage the situation by forming up whatever defence they could, but things were not looking good and it looked like the Jabiimi Nationalists were going to enter the city and gain their first foothold.

"Captain Duster status report!" Master Norcuna shouted through the comms link he had in his hand, but the captain did not respond so Norcuna could only assume the worst and that he had died in those explosions they'd all witnessed.

"Commander, get all the men into their positions, we must push them back before they can gain a significant foothold into the city," Master Norcuna instructed.

"Yes sir! Should I call for reinforcements?" Asked hoping the Jedi would allow him to.

"Negative Commander, we aren't losing so badly yet, this is just a bloody nose, we will bounce back," Master Norcuna said optimistically before heading further towards the front lines to get a better view of what was happening.

Commander Dex stood there with his fists clenched. He could tell from the locations do the explosions that their first line of defence was decimated. It wouldn't take long for the enemy forces to overrun their frontline position, their situation was a lot more dire than the Jedi thought it was, but if they called for reinforcements now they might be able to hold out until they got here, but since General Norcuna had declined calling for reinforcements. They were fucked.

...

*Jeeeeeeeeennnn*

Dusters vision returned to him as he gasped for breath and started coughing and sputtering inside his helmet. His ears were ringing from the proximity of the explosion he'd just endured and his visor was going haywire; he reached up and flung his helmet off feeling the cool air touch his skin and the heavy rain splash against his face. He looked around him and saw that there were still people blowing up their defensive perimeter; Duster looked down and saw his armour broken and shredded, parts of his armour were even embedded into his chest but it seemed to have not caused any lethal injuries.

His ears still rang as he pushed himself up from the ground, he jumped back as he felt himself get grabbed, pulling his vibrio-blade out he was ready to shove it into the enemy's neck, but held himself back when he saw it was one of his brothers. He seemed to be trying to say something to him but his voice was muffled, all Duster could hear was the the ringing sound in his ears and the loud explosions that he felt more than he heard.

"Captain!"

His mind came more into focus and the ringing died down, he was suddenly aware of how ragged his breathing was.

"Captain! What are your orders, sir!" The Clone Sergeant shouted at him before they were both rocked by another explosion, bits of earth and rock showered them and the Clone Sergeant dragged Duster down to cover.

"Sergeant..." Duster said his brain was still fuzzy, he could tell he had a severe concussion, but he didn't have time for field treatment.

"Your orders sir!" The Sergeant asked.

"Rally your squad, we need to reform the defences before the nationalists charge our position," Duster said as he stood back up, picking his weapon from the floor.

"Kill any civilians no exceptions, we can't afford to take any more damage or those damn nationalists will take this position!" He shouted over the sounds of explosions.

"Yes sir!" The Clone Sergeant said before running off to join his squad and issue his new orders. Captain Duster went to report their status to General Norcuna but as he pulled his communicator off his belt it crumbled in his hand making him curse. He'd need to find his Lieutenant, he'd have a communicator on him. Usually, all officers would have them but General Norcuna had recollected them in an effort to conserve supplies; considering how the battle had started it seemed futile now.

Duster shook his dizziness off as much as he could before standing up and rushing through the broken defensive line jumping over the corpses of his fallen brothers and almost slipping on the blood and guts of the Jabiimi who had been blown to pieces, without his helmet the strong metallic tang of blood filled his nostrils —so much so that he could taste their blood on his tongue.

*Pew*

A blaster shot hit Duster in his shoulder forcing him to the ground and into a puddle of blood. His armour had absorbed much of the damage but he could still feel his skin sizzling under the plasma. He quickly looked up and saw that the Jabiimi nationalists were commencing their attack, though they were sending Separatist battle droids instead of depleting their own forces. Duster rolled over and pulled the body of a fallen clone over his body and used it as a makeshift shield, he felt the clone shake as it was peppered with blaster bolts; Duster then jumped and rolled forward before rushing to cover. The Captain switched off his blaster rifles safety before unleashing hell on the Clankers.

In just under 10 seconds he managed to destroy five battle droids, but more were coming and their forces were still in disarray. At their current position, multiple barriers had been constructed just outside the shield that protected the city from bombardment; they could retreat into the barrier but there was nothing stopping the enemy from following them inside where they'd be in much closer quarters. 'No we have to try and stop the enemy here as long as we can,' Duster thought to himself.

He looked over to his far left and felt relief when he saw their anti-artillery equipment was still functional. That would stop them from being bombarded as it would shoot those seppy missiles out of the sky. While shooting his blaster rifle he pushed forward to where his Lieutenant had been stationed; he had been at the foremost position of their defence so when Duster arrived he saw that the clones here had received the worst of the explosions.

Jumping into cover he grabbed the Clone Lieutenant by the shoulder "Report!" He shouted over the sounds of blaster fire. The Lieutenant stopped firing and ducked behind the cover. "We have suffered heavy casualties, our forward line is in tatters, we need to fall back sir!" The lieutenant replied.

"Negative Lieutenant, we have to hold the enemy back as long as we can, reinforce the defensive positions still intact and booby trap any gaps in our defence they can slip through," Duster commanded.

"Yes sir!" The Lieutenant replied.

"Lieutenant give me your communicator I'll request reinforcements," he ordered.

The Lieutenant took it off his belt and threw it to the Captain who deftly caught it. "General! Our defensive position has been compromised, we can hold out for now but we need reinforcements if we are going to stop the enemy from entering the city," Duster explained over the comms. He didn't get a reply at first, but a moment later the holographic image of General Norcuna formed on his comms device.

"Captain Duster, hold your position, we are forming additional defensive structures, buy us as much time as you can," Norcuna stated in an almost emotionless tone.

"General we won't last long if we don't get some reinforcements," Duster said with gritted teeth.

"Hold your position Captain, Norcuna out."

Duster had to stop himself from crushing the communications device in his hands. In that moment he felt his years of indoctrination and training fight against the sheer anger and frustration he felt, he wasn't afraid to die, none of them were, but it was because of Norcuna's order to hold their fire that they were in this situation to begin with. Now they were being sacrificed to make up for his mistake.

'Life of a clone,' Duster chuckled grimly before tightening his hands around his weapon. "We are on our own brothers, and we must hold this line, for the republic!!!" Duster yelled as he came up from cover and began shooting with renewed vigour. The Clones all yelled out and began to fire; the worst of the explosions were over and the clones began to reform the defences.

They had a terrain advantage over the droids as they were on solid ground while the droids had to come through a field of muddy earth to get into the city. "Get those missiles out of the sky!" Duster commanded the anti-artillery team.

"Roger that," The Clone responded as he took a seat in the machine and began blowing up the missiles midair before they could reach them.

Despite having a small advantage they were still heavily outnumbered and were still taking casualties. The droids didn't stop, they kept coming and shooting at them, thousands of them firing continuously; Duster watched as his brothers were shot and blown up by heavy weapons. In normal circumstances, they'd retreat to a better position but that route was closed off to them.

*BOOM*

One of the artillery missiles managed to get through blasting a whole squad of clones into pieces. Duster held his arm up as he felt parts of their body hit him. "Keep firing!" He shouted as he shot until his rifle emptied and even then he didn't bother to reload, only pick up a weapon from his fallen brother that he began to shoot.

"Captain!" His Lieutenant shouted as he grabbed him by the arm.

"They're getting closer we need to-"

A blaster bolt cut him off as it hit the Lieutenant straight in his head throwing him to the ground, lifeless. Duster ducked as he was assaulted by more blaster fire, he looked over the cover and saw that the first wave of droids had made it out of the muddy earth and were now on even terrain with them. There were five layers of barricades blocking the entrance to the city, the other main entrances had been blocked off by destroying the buildings to prevent any heavy armour from coming into the city.

"Enemy contact Sector 2!!!" Someone yelled out, and Duster looked over the barricade to see the droids pushing through the first line of defence. Clone troopers had an advantage in hand-to-hand against the normal battle droids, but there were several super battle droids mixed in which were doing a number on their forces. Duster hopped over the barrier and rushed to the frontmost barrier while shooting at every droid he could.

He slid underneath a blaster bolt and shoulder barged a droid, another tried to shoot him but he lifted its weapon and pointed his own under its child before blowing its head off. Using the droid as a shield he destroyed several other droids that were attempting to flank his troops.

He rushed over to the Clones that had been floored by the attack and dragged them up "Get up and fight!" He shouted to them as he pulled them up with one hand and fired with the other.

*BOOM*

Another artillery shot slipped through blowing up the barricade they were behind and sending them flying. Captain Duster rolled before slamming into another barricade and falling onto his stomach; he looked up his vision just a blur and he threw up on the ground in front of him, he tried to push himself up but he fell back down to the mud. He watched as the droids pushed deeper and deeper into their position slaughtering the clones as they went; Captain Duster knew he wouldn't be far behind and so pulled a thermal detonator from his belt intent on bringing as many clankers with him as he could. He saw them come closer and raise their blasters at him, he pushed himself up and roared in defiance as he activated the detonator, he closed his eyes as they shot their blasters straight at him.

He didn't feel any pain, other than what he already felt, he opened his eyes and saw a young girl maybe 14-15 standing in front of him. She had red hair in a short braid a grin on her face and a blue lightsaber in her hand "Thanks for holding this for me!" She said with a chuckle before grabbing the thermal detonator from his hand and throwing it into a group of droids.

*BOOM*

"Push them back!" She shouted out.

Captain Duster looked behind him and saw nearly a hundred clones charging to the front while shooting and firing. He looked back to the girl and it clicked into place "Commander Enwandung-Esterhazy!" He said aloud, his concussion was worse than he thought if he didn't remember General Norcuna's Padawan apprentice.

She turned around to him with a frown on her face "I thought I said to call me Scout, you know I hate that name," she said before lifting her lightsaber and deflecting a blast right back at the droid it came from.

"Commander... Scout, what're you doing here? General Norcuna said we wouldn't be getting any reinforcements," he asked as he stood up leaning against the barricade.

"Master Norcuna is wrong, we shouldn't be abandoning you to die, so I brought my troops forward to assist, "Scout said as she deflected blaster bolt after bolt in quick succession. Scout was a prodigy in precognition, not only was her ability to see into the future enhanced but she was also given a wide view almost like seeing in 360 degrees.

"Watch out!" Scout said as she pushed Duster to the ground. He groaned but when he looked up he saw a massive hole in the barricade still sizzling.

"Captain start moving the injured back into the city, we can handle these stupid droids!" She said as she started pushing up. She sliced through droids easily while deflecting blaster bolts, she flipped over the barrier grabbed a battle droid by the neck and slammed it to the ground.

They'd managed to push the droids back beyond the first barrier and form a new defensive line. Though this wouldn't last for long; Scout saw it in a vision and her eyes widened "Pull back! Pull back! Run!!!" She shouted to the Clones under her command as the enemy artillery started concentrating fire at her location. She ran as fast as she could, using the force to enhance her speed but she was caught at the edge of the explosion —the anti-artillery not being able to stop so many missiles in one place.

*BOOM*

Scout was blown nearly a dozen feet in the air before slamming to the ground and rolling in the dirt and blood. She felt a little sick when she got up and saw that her white Jedi robes had soaked in the blood of various clones. She got up with her lightsaber ignited ready to continue the fight but was surprised to see the enemy had stopped firing.

"Everyone get behind the shield now, retreat to the next defensive line!" She shouted, her inspection of the battlefield had allowed her to come to the conclusion that any more defensive measures would be a lost cause, retreat was the best option.

"Stratus!!!"

The enemy boomed out as a large group of people who were gliding over the mud came closer to them. Scout held her lightsaber firm as she remained with a few squads protecting the retreat.

"Stratus!!!"

Both droids and men alike chanted his name loudly which managed to unnerve Scout slightly. Scout saw a blonde bearded man with long hair stop and deactivate his boots at the first barrier, on his back was a sword and holstered around his neck was a large rifle, the man was armed to the teeth and was clearly the man she knew to be Alto Stratus, the leader of the Jabiimi Nationalists —and the man whose name they had been chanting.

"Fight me Jedi, it is time to educate you in the same lesson of pain that the republic has taught my people!" He shouted out.

"What reason would I have to give into your commands!" Scout shouted back.

"Because if you don't I'll open fire on the wounded first!" Stratus said with a malicious grin as the men and droids all aimed their rifles.

Scout gripped her lightsaber tightly 'If I defeat him I could end the war right now... we could all go home,' she thought to herself. She was a Jedi, no non-force user could beat her in a duel. At least that's what she told herself.

"Very well, I'll fight you," Scout said and gestured for her troops to lower their rifles and go assist the wounded. Stratus' men did the same and the leader of the Jabiimi nationalists walked through the barriers towards Scout who couldn't help but feel as if the force was warning her about what she was about to do.

"Sending a child off to war... to die in the blood and guts of a battlefield, the Jedi truly are evil," Stratus said with a humourless laugh.

"The Jedi are peacekeepers, it was you who started this war!" Scout shouted back a bit impetuously.

"Where were the Jedi when millions of people starved on this planet, where were the Jedi when pirates plagued our system and sold our people into slavery, where were the Jedi when a plague killed 20 percent of this planet's population!!!" Stratus shouted with his men cheering for him in the background.

"The Jedi are republic enforcers and nothing more, if you had a daughter only 13 years old, would you put a weapon in their hand and send them off to an unfamiliar planet to fight in a war?" Stratus asked. Scout stuttered as she didn't know how to respond, her first thought was of course she wouldn't, but that was exactly his point. She was 14 years old and fighting in the middle of a war she hardly knew anything about.

"I didn't think so..." Stratus said as he unclipped his blaster rifle and threw it on the ground before unsheathing his blade.

"I don't enjoy killing children, but you made your choice when you joined the war to fight for a system that will eventually betray you," Stratus said grimly.

...

Further away from the city lying prone in the muddy terrain Jaden, Aubrie, Zule and their Clone troopers. They looked through their Macrobinoculars and saw Scout getting ready to engage Alto Stratus "Lock can you take a shot from here?" Jaden asked.

"Negative General, the storm is playing haywire on my visuals, I'd have to get closer, but I suspect we'll be caught by then," He replied.

"It is clear what we must do," Zule said grabbing everyone's attention. Jaden and Aubrie both looked at her expecting some sort of plan.

"We must kill Alto Stratus," Zule said simply making Jaden sigh.

"We do, but we need to try and think of a way to do so that doesn't get us all killed, he has an entire army at his back," Jaden stated.

"I agree Master, perhaps it would be wise to prioritise getting Scout out of danger, it seems as if she's not familiar with how dangerous Alto Stratus can be, he's already killed a number of Jedi Masters with that sword of his," Aubrie explained as she leaned closely to his ear, the rain had started to become more intense and the storm was picking up.

"You're right Padawan Wyn, we are too exposed out here, we'd have an easier time dealing with his forces in the city," Jaden said as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Whatever you do, we need to do it fast," Lock said interrupting them.

"They've started fighting," he pointed out as down below Scout and Alto Stratus engaged each other.

(AN: So first chapter is done, there isn't much written about the battle of Choal which I think is crazy but ah well, I'll try and make it as interesting as possible. Also Scout isn't an OC she's a padawan from legends, she isn't Norcuna's apprentice in canon but I thought it weird he didn't have one so I gave him one, unless he did have one then ah well. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.)

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