Mission Zero
RC-2156 tossed the holo-projector onto the floor of the Republic Gunship. Their Advisor appeared. “Violet Squad. You are on you’re way to a very cold planet. We have received reports from the locals, that General Grievous is on the ground and organizing an assault on the many Villages.”
“Considering that this planet has held no allegiance to either us or the CIS, I must remind you that this is a covert insertion. You must be careful! We have been warned by the Nelveenians that if either side steps foot on their planet that they will attack., to defend their planet.”
56 nodded. “Roger that. What is our orders?” The advisor nodded his head. “You are to confirm that Grievous is indeed on the planet. Once you have completed that objective, you will then proceed to destroy their stock piles of weapons. Without weapons, they can not attack. Repeat, this must be done quietly. We don’t want two wars on our hands.”
RC-2445 chuckled to himself. “That, would be fun.”
The advisor ignored him. “To start, you’re going to have to repel down the mountain. The Separatist base is just a few klicks North from you’re position. Good luck.” 45 looked around at all of us. His hidden gaze stopped on RC-2367. “Fetch, you think you can handle repelling or do you just want to let me handle this one?”
“I can handle it.” 67 replied, sarcastically. “Besides. Your just jealous because of all the kills I got on the last mission.”
“Hey, Ner Vod, You only got lucky with that sniper attachment of yours! That’s the only reason you got 100 kills and I only got 99...”
56 stood and readied his harness. “Time to go, Violets.” I stood and nodded. “Copy that Xor. Harness ready!” The Gunship hovered as Xor and I repelled down to the snow cover ground. A few seconds later 45 and 67 arrived. “All right squad,” said Xor, “The base is to the north. So lets move it out!”
“Gee Xor, don’t get your overalls in a bunch…”
We started our repel down the mountain. “Gee, good thing we have a temp setting for our armor.” muttered 45. I snickered behind my helmet. “Doesn’t matter with you Phyro. Your coldhearted anyway.” Phyro looked at me. “This coming from a guy whose in third place with the most number of kills…”
“Shut it you two!” We looked up to see Xor looking at us. “Got it boss.”
I zoomed my visor in on the enemy camp. Sure enough. Lots of weapons. Lots of droids. Battle droids. Hundreds of them. “Fierfek…” I murmured. “Copy that…” replied Fetch. “The place is loaded with kills!” Phyro chuckled. “Yea, and they’re all mine!” Fetch shook his head. “Rule number 78. Whom ever is in the lead, gets the first shot.” Xor looked at us. “That’s not a rule!” He replied.
Though we didn’t know it, he was smirking behind his helmet. “Time to roll out the big guns!” Xor said.
Phyro took out some EC detonators. “Those… are the big guns sir?” Fetch asked. I chuckled. “These things will take out 60 percent of those droids.” Phyro replied. “Ah. At least you leave me 40 percent.”
Fetch quick switched to his sniper attachment. Behind my helmet, I just rolled my eyes. “Here we go again…”
“Wait! Wait! I think… I think I see it!” yelled Xor.
“See what? A Bantha?” Fetch asked. I about dropped dead. “No Di’kut! Banthas live in hot places. This is a very cold place. Like Phyro’s heart.”
Fetch shook his head. “Then what?!”
“I see our objective.”
“Yes, sir. It’s Grievous alright. No doubt about it. I’m sending the image scans now.”
Xor pressed a button on his wrist computer. A few seconds later: “Confirmed. Violet Squad, Continue with your mission. Destroy those weapons!”
“Roger that advisor.” Xor turned to us.
“Alright squad, We’ve got a mission to complete! Lets move it out!”
We carefully made our way down toward the enemy encampment. We stopped behind a few large boulders. “Alright. Phyro, ready your charges. Fetch, prepare your sniper attachment. Nemesis. Your with me.”
We all nodded and proceeded with our tasks. I followed Xor back to a nearby tree. He pointed to the blast door that lead into the base. “I want you to set a trap there.” I nodded. “Got it, sir.” I made my way down and into the camp, careful not to make any noise.
I crouched behind a crate and peered around the corner. Clear. I ran over to the blast door and took out two charges. “Freeze.” said an electronic voice. I closed my eyes behind my helmet. Fierfek.
“Violets. I’ve got a problem.” I said. I wasn’t worried about the droid hearing me, because it couldn’t. It was a SRC, or Short Range Communication. Only the squad could hear me.
“What is it Nem?” replied Phyro. “BD, behind me. 4 feet away.”
“Haar’chak.” muttered Xor. Fetch chuckled. “Alright Violets,” Xor said, “Lets do this hard and fast. Fetch ready your trigger finger. Phyro, prepare to set charges. Nemesis, ready your charges and running legs.”
“Ready.”
“Copy.”
“I’m triggered.”
“Go! Blast! Go!” Yelled Xor. I heard the BD behind go out of commission with a “Uh!”. I smacked the charges on the door and pressed the arming buttons in 2 seconds. I rolled to my right and got to cover.
Blaster fire erupted.
Fetch focused on the BD behind Nemesis. “This is going to be number 503 for me…” he murmured to himself. Then came the signal. “Go! Blast! Go!” Yelled Xor. Fetch pulled the trigger and the BD went down smoothly. “Hehe…” He moved his scope and focused on 5 more droids as they turned to the dead droid. “Uh-oh.” One of them said. “Open fire! Commandos!” another said. “Yeehaa!” Fetch screamed through his comm, as he pulled the trigger four more times before reloading and finishing off the fifth droid.
Phyro was calm and collected. He always was when he was “In the Zone” of combat and danger. He watched Fetch was he aimed at the droid. He was anxiously awaiting the signal…
“Go! Blast! Go!” Yelled Xor. “Bout time!” He said aloud through the Comm, and took off running. He rolled forward and put a charge on the first weapons pile. He brought up his DeeCee and blasted 2 BDs and moved to the next pile. He quickly placed a charge on that one as well and turned. A BD stood in his way. He quickly slammed it in it’s chest. “Hehe…”
He ran to the third pile and placed a charge on this one when suddenly,
a blast hit his from behind. It cut through his shield and he went down.
Xor had tossed a thermal into a crowd of BDs when he heard Phyro go down. “Damn it Squad.” He muttered. He ran over to revive Phyro when suddenly a metal foot slammed down In front of him. He looked up. A magna guard. “So you want to play do you?” He brought up his arm and jammed his Vibroblade into the droids face. It back flipped and fired a rocket.
“Damn!”
The blast knocked Xor to the ground. The magna guard flipped in the air over head and ran off. Xor stood and looked around, DeeCee ready. “Squad. We have Maggies…”
Static. “We--Back---Charges--Ready!”
“I’m blowing the charges! Stand back!” Xor took out a trigger and pressed it. Around him, the weapons piles exploded. “Objectives complete Violet Squad! Proceed the extraction point!”
Xor revived Phyro and he stood up. “Ready to go sir?” I ran up. “RC-2375, ready to rock the place!” Fetch ran over as well. “Sir…” He said out of breath. “What is it commando?” Xor said, turning to him.
“I’ve lost track of my kills…” Phyro made a face. “Damn…” he muttered. “He beat me…”
“Let move! Extract point is 5 meters over that hill…” Xor waved to his squad to follow.
They took off through the snow for the extraction point. They had gone 2 meters before they ran into a road block. “Blast…more droids.” And it was. At least 2 and a half dozen droids had gathered nearby. “Advisor we’ve got a problem. Droids has stationed themselves near our E.P.”
“Copy. Hold on while I look for another path.”
I used my visor and zoomed in one the droids. It was a pack of Battle, Destroyer, and Super Battle Droids. Suddenly something explodes. “What was that?!” the advisor exclaimed. Phyro jumped up and zoomed in with his visor. “We’ve got Nelveenians!”
“Damn.”
“Damn is right 56. The Nelveenians found the CIS. Don’t let them see you. Repeat do not engages. Stay back and stay hidden!”
“Copy.” Xor turned to us. “Time to go camo.”
Fetch chuckled. “My favorite.” I quickly blinked at something on my visor. I couldn’t feel it, but I had just gone into camouflage with the terrain. “Let’s move. 75. Take point.”
I nodded and took off ahead of the squad. The small battle was over before it had began. The Nelveenians had much more powerful weapons compared to the blasters and cannons that the droids carried.
After they had destroyed the droids, the Nelveenians took off back to their village, leaving it clear for Violet Squad. “It’s clear boys and girls.”
Phyro replied, “Who are you calling a girl?” I just chuckled. “If I was calling you a girl 45, I wouldn’t be waiting for you to catch up to me…”
He looked my way. “Sure thing crackerjack…”
We continued to the extraction point.
“Advisor, we’ve arrived at extraction point 34A. What’s the Gunship’s ETA?”
“It’s ETA is 10 minutes. Until they arrive you must stay out of---” I tapped my helmet. Static?
“Advisor? Can you hear me?”
“What do you think happened?”
I shrugged. “Maybe a glitch?”
Fetch shook his head. “If so, it’s not on our end.”
“Doesn’t have to be---”
“Or…” Phyro started, “The Nelveenians foun---” He too was cut off, this time by another explosion.
“Uh-oh…” Fetch said.
Suddenly an aircraft flew over head. “Fierfek! We’ve been found. Take cover Violets. Switch to AA Rounds. Let’s take it down.”
“Don’t let em contact base for backup!” Phyro screamed, switch to his Anti Armor attachment. “Copy.”
I quickly switched my AA attachment and watched as the craft did a ‘U’ maneuver and came back around.
“Do we have a lock yet?” I shook my head and answered. “Neg.”
“Come on…” Phyro muttered.
“Lock!”
“Take! Take!”
An Explosion and the craft slammed down to the ground nearby. A chuckled came from Phyro. “That was fun…”
Suddenly something scorched the snow by my leg. I quickly looked up. “Blast! 56, we’ve got droids!” I screamed, opening fire with an AA round onto the small group of BDs. A sniper shot whizzed by me and knocked a droid to the ground. It open fire on the sky.
“Where the hell is that gunship?”
“Where the hell is Phyro?”
Suddenly there was a loud bang and a large flash of blue electricity. “Found him. He’s in the middle of it. Watch your AA fire!”
I aimed at a droid and blasted it. “Scrap pile rejects!” Phyro muttered.
A droid turned it’s back to shoot at Fetch. I ran up and jammed my Vibroblade into it. It made a cracking sounds and a slight Uh! Sound as it fell over.
“Come on---”
“Violet Squad this is gunship oh-seven-niner. Do you copy?” Xor looked up. “Copy this is RC-2156, Violet Squad Leader. We read you…”
“56, what in bloody blazes is going on down there?!”
“CIS. What else do you want to know?”
“Who the hell has AA rounds. Cause I’m taking fire!”
“Squad, do you read that?”
“It’s ain’t us boss!”
“Dammit!” Suddenly an explosion came from the west We all looked. The gunship - our only exit of this freezing planet - had just been shot down.
“Fierfek!”
“Boss…”
“Blast!”
“Uh-Sir…”
Suddenly a large dropship flew in. “Look out!”
“It’s a Trandoshan dropship! Ready your weapons!” I quickly switched to my blaster attachment and took aim, waiting for Trandoshans to start falling from the sky. “Well that’s just bloody great!”
“I don’t think we’d best stick around squad. Form up! We’re moving out!”
We all ran up and followed Xor, whom lead us back down the hill. “Alright squad…”
“Sir?”
“No plan survives contact with the enemy. Remember that and you’ll all be fine.”
“Copy.”
“Sir!”
“What is it Fetch?”
“I’ve got multiply targets on radar!”
“Damn it!”
“Alright… Calm down..”
“Let’s move!”
“Where to sir?”
“The Nelveenians airbase. We’re going to steal a ride out of here!”
Phyro chuckled. “That’s what I’m talking about! Common sense!”
We crouched down as Xor brought up the map of the Nelveenians airbase. “If we come from the east, there won’t be any guards. At least… Not until we blow a hole through their walls…”
“Sounds like fun…” Phyro chuckled. Xor gave him a crazy sign.
“Either way… they know we’re here…”
“Good.” Phyro said flatly. “I’d prefer a fair fight to all this sneaking around.”
Fetch glanced his way. Though no one could see his face, we all know what he was thinking. Shut up.
“Do we have enough explosives to hit em from both east and west?” Xor asked.
“Sure… but we’re going to have to shift it when we blow it…” Xor nodded.
“Ok. Here’s the plan. 75 and 67, you two will come from the east. You’ll blow a hole here.” He pointed at a large wall on the map. “45 and I will take em from the west. This’ll make em divide their forces.”
“Either that or they take one team out at a time.”
“Their Nelveenians. Their not Womp rats…”
“Shut up and listen…” Xor said, waving his hands at us. “We’ll have to move it into light speed gear once we all blow these holes. They’ll be all over us. The airbase is located here. At least a half a block away from the walls.” He indicated yet another point on the map.
“Let’s do this.”
Me and Fetch had reached the wall without any sign of being spotted. I took out the Det pack and placed it on the wall. “Alright… We’re in position.”
“Copy. Be ready…”
I nodded to Fetch, who took out the detonator.
“Ready…”
“Blow and go!”
“Fierfek!”
Fetch pressed the button and the ground shook and my comm went static. It came back seconds later. It was quiet. I waved to Fetch who was on my butt. “Go Go!” We went in low blaster’s ready. It was all clear. “Proceed to airbase!” Xor said into the comm.
I waved at Fetch and pointed ahead. “Time to go catch a ride.”
He ran over and nodded. I lead the way down the ally way toward the airbase. “Dammit!”
“Sorry sir? I didn’t catch that…”
“Their on us! Watch your back!”
“Copy.” We began to run for the airbase when suddenly 4 Nelveenians jumped out in front of us. We open fired. They all fell. “What’s your status Violets?”
Fetch answered. “Ambushed but still kicking!”
Suddenly I slammed into the ground, helmet first. “Fierfek!” I leaped up, throwing a Nelveenian off my back. It leaped back and snarled. Fetch came up behind it and jammed it’s neck full of his Vibroblade. “Stay down!”
“Now you’ve got it.” I chuckled and turned - and ducked as a blaster bolt whizzed by. Fetch had ducked too. “Let’s go…”
We began to run again. “56, 45. We’re here!”
“Copy. Hold your positions till we arrive.”
“You got it.”
We ran inside.
“Uh… Boss… We got a problem.”
At least two dozen Nelveenians were set up and had their blasters pointed at us.
Suddenly, an explosion came from behind the enemy. They flew all over the place.
Phyro walked in like a menace. “Where’s that problem?”
“You just took care of it.” Xor ran in. “Let’s get out of here! We’ve got 2 Trandoshan dropships flying in as we speak.”
Fetch ran over to one of the waiting ships and started it up. “I need a code expert!”
I ran into the ship and looked at the console. “What do you need?”
Fetch waved at the console. “Damn things encoded. I can’t fly it without the controls being unlocked.”
I took his seat and began to press buttons. “5.. No, no 6.… 10... Got it!”
Everyone ran in. Suddenly blaster fire erupted as the boarding ramp closed. “Trandos…”
I nodded. “I know…”
“Shoot! They just tossed a EC onto the side!”
“Dammit!”
“Hold on!”
A Rumble indicated that the EC charge had exploded. “Shields are down… Nothing else.” I reported.
“Get us out of here!”
I nodded and took the controls.
“I’ve got to do this manually…” I pulled up on the controls and the ship began to lift out of the airbase. “We’re in the air…” I hit the throttle. The ship took off. “We’re clear…” We all sighed.
It was over…
