Project Ares

Reunion

"Chief this is Hardcase, he has a few screws loose in the head but a menace on the battlefield for the clankas." The ARC trooper motioned towards a trooper with a blue tattoo down the right side of his head. Moving on to the second trooper, Fives continued; "This is Jesse, one of the original members of the 501st and one of the most loyal men you can find."

Jesse had a Republic emblem tattoo on his face and another across his helmet. As the two stood at attention, Chief walked past them like a drill instructor inspecting new recruits. Once he passed Jesse, 117 spun around after making up his mind. If Fives trusted them, then there was no reason why he should not. Asking Hardcase how competent he was with flying the Umbaran starfighters, the clone rubbed his chin and said that in theory, he could pull it off. When he asked why, Chief replied by saying that it would be strange for a high-value transport to fly without an escort. "Blitz, Streak, I want you two to go with Hardcase and learn as much about flying those things before we depart. I'll fly the CIS shuttle that is in one of the hangars, you three will be providing us cover once we reach the target. Blue Team, wheels up in 20."

Time skip

Soon all members were accounted for and onboard their various ships. As Chief guided the transport to the support ship, his three Umbaran fighter escorts showed up on his flanks. Over the intercom, Blitz asked how they were going to blow up the supply ship with only transport and three starfighters.

"When he was a kid, General Skywalker blew up a Lucrehulk command ship and he told me that the trick was hitting the main reactor." Fives answered before Chief took over; "So the plan is that all four ships enter through the main hangar bay door and fly straight through to the reactor, it will probably be ray-shielded so we will all engage the droid forces while Shrapnel and Thermos plant the bombs."

As the enormous space battle loomed in front of them, Chief sent an encrypted message to the Republic flagship to let them know that they were friendly. Once all the Republic fighters and gunners had been notified of the covert mission, the group of starships entered the battle-infested space with explosions and blasts shaking the very atmosphere that they flew in. "Blue Team, ETA 40 seconds." Chief announced over the com.

"You heard 'em, get tactical troopers!" Fives called down the length of the transport, igniting sounds of safeties being switched off and gear being tied down. Once the shuttle passed through the hangar bay shields, Chief switched off the internal lights to signal that they approaching the target. As the four ships approached the reactors, multiple droids alerted the bridge that clones were flying stolen Umbaran starfighters and had commandeered a shuttle, resulting in the ray shield being raised just as the task force arrived. With the last men putting on their helmets, the ship touched down and the ramp lowered revealing only a few security droids and around a dozen worker droids.

Opening with a wave of blaster fire from the clones, the droids were quickly dispatched before Chief could even exit the cockpit. Motioning for Shrapnel, Thermos, Jester and Gears to get through to the power generators, the four ran to an access hatch and started cutting it down before walking through to the power generators. Giving a quick set of orders to the rest, the remaining clones quickly established some protection with crates and supplies lying around them. Hearing the sound of droids rapidly approaching their location, the men got in a defensive position as they readied themselves for the full force of the droid army.

Although there were easily over a hundred droids converging on their position, the clones managed to hold the line along with fire support from the starfighters. However, this would not last long as both Hardcase and Blitz started reporting that their shields were starting to deplete at a rapid pace. When the pair's protection finally gave way, the two fighters were quickly disabled by the thousands of blaster bolts coming at them.

With only Streak providing cover fire from his starfighter, it wasn't long before the third and final starfighter broke down, landing on the steel floor with a deafening thud. Luckily, the demo team just finished planting the last few charges and had initiated the countdown. 

"Sir, we have 30 seconds till detonation! We have to move now!" Shrapnel urged, prompting Chief to order Streak and Blitz to fire up the shuttle and get everyone onboard. Soon it was just Chief and Hardcase with his minigun ripping into the advancing droids. Ordering him to get on the shuttle, Chief hopped on last after throwing some grenades to clear the path. As the ramp closed, the entire supply ship vibrated violently as the charges started going off. Gunning the throttle, everyone inside nearly fell off their feet as the transport accelerated for the exit.

As the flames engulfed the whole hangar, the shuttle barely managed to leave safely and make its way back down. Once the pilots were certain that the coast was clear, they switched on the internal lights and everyone inside gave a massive sigh of relief. Thankfully no one was injured or killed during this mission. Suddenly a transmission from Captain Rex came through on the intercom. Patching him through to the cargo hold, the pilots switched on the holo-projector as Captain Rex materialised in front of the team. "Hey Cap, you can tell Krell that the missiles will no longer be a problem."

"Not now Fives. Chief, Krell betrayed us. He orchestrated a friendly fire situation between the 501st and 212th. When we went to arrest him on account of treason, he attacked us and fled into the wilderness. I have search parties out looking for him but we got nothing so far. I need Blue Team to find him now."

"Copy, we'll be on the ground in 5 minutes. Have walkers and speeders ready for us when we get there." Chief replied coldly, ending the cold. Looking around at his men, Chief saw the fire of hatred burning in their eyes. They had followed Krell's suicidal orders to the letter despite their objections and now it turns out that the whole point of it was to kill them off. Standing up, all of the men locked their gaze on the supersoldier standing in the middle of the transport. "Sir, what do you want us to do?"

"Load your guns, sharpen your knives. Tonight we hunt."