0557 Hours, 15:2:23 (GrS), Geonosis System, Geonosis, E’Y-Akh Desert

Boss could only faintly hear the roar of the LAAT/I’s engines from within its troop compartment as he donned his helmet. Boss looked around the interior of the gunship to see Delta Squad doing their final equipment check. Sev tucked another magazine into the bandolier slung across his chest. Fixer tapped a power pack into the side of his DC-17M while Scorch swung a backpack full of explosives around his shoulders and then slipped an AT grenade into his thigh compartment.

Boss’s visor polarized as he stared out the window to the never ending sea of sand, interspersed with mountains and mesas.

He hated this Force forsaken planet. They were back again after the bugs took it back. This was the first time he’d been here since the Battle of Geonosis. Many of his brothers were killed by Jedi incompetence on this planet. Even now more and more of them fell victim to the onslaught of the CIS military, fueled by the arrogance of the Jedi.

Kriffing Jedi. Worst thing that could happen to us clones was falling under their command, he thought.

His thoughts were cut short just as quickly as they had popped into his mind by Delta 42’s announcement, “We are approaching the insertion point, we are undetected.”

Boss and his team hooked onto the rappel line wordlessly and turned to face each other, their backs to the doors.

The doors opened, and the roar of the engines enveloped him. Even muffled by his helmet, they deafened any lingering thoughts. He looked to his right, and saw the spire quickly approaching.

He tightened his grip on the line, the engine no longer able to quell his frustration, and then loosened it, reminding himself that it was war, and they were bred to serve the Republic.

The gunship abruptly stopped and the lighting bathing the interior of the gunship turned from red to green. The commandos simultaneously rappelled out of troop bay. A motion practiced under Kal Skirata ever since they were strong enough to hold a rope. The moment they touched the ground, the ropes dropped and the gunship flew away.

They quickly secured the perimeter and scouted the area, scouring the base of the spire for an entrance in. Shortly after they found the vent which, according to their intel, led straight into the belly of the beast.

“Get to work on that vent, Scorch.”

“Got it Boss.” Scorch knelt next to it and started to slowly free the grate from the wall with his fusion cutter. Once satisfied with his handiwork, Scorch pried it out and tossed it into the sand. The duct was large enough that Delta Squad would only have to hunch over to fit into it.

“This reminds me of our bunks in the Prosecutor,” Scorch said.

“Why? Because everyone can hear you when you’re trying to be sneaky on your snack trips?” Sev snorted.

“You guys could hear me?”

“Cut the chatter before the Geonosians hear you, Six-Two.” Fixer warned.

Delta Squad continued on without uttering another word with Boss on point.

Suddenly, Boss took a knee and held his fist up.

“What is it, Three-Eight?” Fixer whispered.

As if on cue, Geonosians swarmed under them by the thousands. Delta Squad didn’t move a muscle. All they could do was sit and watch, hoping the bugs wouldn’t notice them through the slits of the vent beneath their feet. Every muscle was clenched in Boss’s body while the swarm flew by, only relaxing after the last of them passed over.

After what seemed like eternity, Boss finally gave the order, “Let’s keep moving Deltas. We still have a ways to go.”

They hurried down the accommodating corridor until they finally reached the massive cavern which ran the length of the spire, five kilometers down beneath the sands and all the way up to touch the clouds.

“Those bugs sure love hollowing out rock, don’t they?” Scorch said.

“At least you’re the one who gets to blow it all up,” Sev complained.

“Stow it commandos, I’ve got a transmission incoming,” Boss ordered.

CC-01/425 began transmitting into their comms, “Deltas, your primary objective remains the same, plant explosives down this shaft and make your way to the top of the spire for extraction, but I hope you packed extra cable. Your new orders are to make your way down to the command center at the very core of the spire 3000 meters down. High Command needs you to slice the central mainframe. It holds information crucial to the war effort. You might have to forego stealth during that part of your infiltration. The control room is crawling with bugs. Your extraction window remains the same. Advisor out.”

“Geonosis was always my favorite place for life threatening situations,” Scorch said, whipping out his fusion cutter and melting through the vent in front of them. Now nothing stood between them and the interior of the spire.

“Maybe today is the day I get even with these vermin,” Sev said optimistically.

“Wasn’t one factory and a core ship enough for you?” Scorch said.

“A single clone is worth more than 20 Geonosians,” Sev replied.

“Scorch, I need those explosives primed, and double check them after you plant them. Sev and Fixer, let’s get these cables prepped,” Boss directed. Boss threw down a holoprojector. “Scorch, I need those charges at these key sections.” He pointed alongside fuel and power lines running the length of the spire. “When we reach the top, you’re going to blow the charge at my command. Understood?”

“Affirmative,” they said in unison. Scorch slumped the bulky backpack filled with enough explosives to level the Republic Senate building five times over onto the floor. One of the charges fell out and rolled to the edge of the shaft. Sev caught it before Scorch could grab it.

“And you’re supposed to be our explosive expert?” he chuckled while tossing it back to him. Scorch caught it mid-air and shot him a dirty glare underneath his helmet.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Delta Squad quickly got to work while Boss looked out for any snags in their mission.

“Alright Six-Two, the cables are all set, magseal is holding and the claws are dug in,” Fixer said.

“Charges are primed and ready for your orders Boss,” Scorch reported soon after.

“Alright Deltas, let’s move to the control center.” Boss hooked himself onto one of the cables and began his descent, followed by his other squadmates.

Delta Squad painstakingly shimmied down the side of the cavern until they came just above a window leading into the factory’s control center.

Boss looked towards his squadmates and gave the nod.

Delta Squad burst through the pane of glass, blasters blazing, demolishing the garrison of battle droids.

A Geonosian worker shrieked in terror before Sev burnt a hole through its face with his rifle. Fixer slashed through a stunned Geonosian that was manning a console with his vibroblade. Delta Squad quickly mopped up the rest of the helpless Geonosians with a combination of blaster fire and took defensive positions inside the room.

“By the book,” Fixer stated.

“Fixer, I need you on that terminal, now!” Boss ordered.

“Roger that sir!”

“Here they come!” Sev yelled as droids burst through the door.

“SBDs! Scorch, get a handle on them!” Boss commanded.

“Take this you metal monsters!” Scorch launched an anti-tank grenade through the hall, bouncing off the plating of one of the droids and into the ceiling. The lights flickered and Boss’s vision was soon obscured by dust, but the targeting computer in his helmet highlighted the B2 super battle droids in red.

Sev blew one away; his sniper bolt went straight through its main photoreceptor while Scorch reloaded.

“Fixer, what’s the hold up?” Boss asked as he mag dumped into a B2.

“Almost…there… got it!” Fixer said, pulling out a data disk from the mainframe.

Scorch launched another AT grenade, collapsing the hallway and crushing the legs of a B2. The droid’s upper half tried to bring its weapon to bear but Boss put it down with a burst from his blaster.

“That should buy us some time,” Scorch said.

“We should really get out of here now Three-Eight,” Fixer said.

“Fixer’s right Boss, unless you want bugs all over us when we extract out of here,” Scorch suggested.

“Let’s move on then Deltas, I’ll call it in,” Boss said. Delta Squad hooked back onto their ascension cables and began sprinting up the side of the cavern. “This is Delta Squad, we have the data secured and are moving to the exfiltration point.”

“Copy that Deltas, I have a gunship moving there now. Don’t be late, Advisor out.”

Alarms sounded, Geonosians began swarming throughout the hive, flying out of every rocky orifice and filled the cavern with the echoes of their shrieks.

Boss pulled out his pistol and dispatched the ones closest to him, with Delta Squad following suit. Thankfully, it would be some time before the majority of the Geonosians realized exactly where they were.

The ascension wire pulled double duty as it cinched Boss and the rest of Delta Squad up the side of the wall at great speed.

“Uhhhh sir, it looks like we’ve got a big problem heading towards us right now…” Scorch informed as the sides of the wall rattled and kicked up dust.

“Spider droids? Where did they come from?” Sev asked while nearly getting melted by one of them. A pair of A-DSDs climbed down from the sides of the spire while opening fire on the commandos.

“Scorch, I think it’s about time you rearrange some architecture!” Boss commanded.

Scorch procured a detonator from his belt. “You got it Boss.”

Scorch clicked it and a charge blew up above. Delta Squad wasted no time to evade the advancing walkers, who were wildly spraying bolts all over the cavern. Once inside the newly created exit, they slipped away from their sight into a dark maintenance access path.

“Looks like we have to get out the classic way, eh Sev?” Scorch said.

“No thanks to you,” Sev replied.

“This is Delta Squad to Advisor. We had a complication with our exfil. How long do we have to make it to the gunship? Does anyone respond? Blast! No signal,” Boss said.

“We have to be quick, before the Geonosians start finding the rest of Scorch’s gifts,” Fixer said.

“I hid them pretty well...” Scorch said.

“Let’s get a move on Deltas,” Boss ordered, feeling the trembling of the ground from the pursuing droids.

“You know those things were made to get into tight crawl spaces, right?” Scorch asked while picking up into a sprint.

“You’re just claustrophobic,” Sev teased.

“Then so were those miners on Vyrumm,” Scorch defended.

“Don’t worry, they’ll only be able to send in infantry, or those smaller models,” Fixer assured.

“Oh great, the makings of an ambush,” Scorch moaned.

“We don’t have time to get to the top of the spire, we have to go out the way we came in,” Fixer observed.

“That’s a great way to get ambushed. They’ll be expecting us there,” Scorch predicted.

“It’s the best shot we have of blowing this factory. Let’s go,” Boss bluntly interjected.

000

Boss took cover behind a pipe and shoved a new charge pack into his rifle. “Scorch! How much longer?”

“I’m almost done!” Scorch said while setting another explosive on the wall.

Sev grunted while his shields absorbed a glancing hit from a DSD1 climbing on the side of the cramped tunnel while B1 battle droids brought up the rear. “Hurry up, Scorch!”

“Clear!” Scorch said as he blasted a hole into the wall, creating the desperately needed escape route.

Delta Squad rushed out of the dead end and into the ventilation shaft that they used to enter the spire.

They sprinted out of the shaft and made it their initial infiltration point. The sun shone harshly into their helmets and impaired their vision for a split second. After the shine of the sun was cleared from their vision by their polarizing visors, they noticed they were surrounded by a ring of droids.

Fixer gulped. “Looks like they were waiting for us.”

“I told you so,” Scorch said.

“I knew this mission would be fun,” Sev said.

“It isn’t over yet,” Boss said, determined.

Boss, Fixer, Scorch, and Sev readied their blasters and stared at the droids, seemingly hesitant to open fire.

Out of nowhere, a gunship shot out of the sky and obliterated the droids with a barrage of laser fire and missiles.

“Good ol’ Forty-two,” Sev said.

“Thanks for the assist Four-Two,” Boss said.

The gunship landed in front of the squad, doors opened. “My pleasure,” he simply responded.

Delta Squad loaded into the bay. The doors closed and the gunship shot out of the atmosphere off into space.

“Blow it Scorch,” Boss commanded.

Scorch grinned under his helmet and set off the explosives. The fireball travelled throughout the entirety of the spire, and boomed throughout the desert, collapsing the spire and destroying the factory underneath.

“Mission accomplished Deltas,” the Advisor congratulated. “You’re to report directly back to Chancellor Palpatine with the data. Don’t mention the data to General Zey.”

“Roger that Advisor. Delta Squad out.”

0836 Hours, 15:3:1 (GrS), Coruscant, Special Operations Brigade HQ

“That mission was crucial to the Republic war effort. You and your men did an outstanding job on Geonosis.” Jedi Master Alrigan Zey commended Boss, who had just gotten done with his mission debriefing.

“Thank you sir. What’s my team’s next set of orders?”

“This is a very special assignment, Commando. You’re going to the Milky Way.”