Off the Beaten Path: a Star Wars fan fiction

Chapter 1: The Plan

The bridge fell silent as Ark made his way to the center of the bridge. He then shuffled his feet so he turned 180 degrees. He then faced us with a stern, chiseled look. He glanced among the bridge crew and his squad members. "Has anyone seen master Fisto on-board?" Then, from behind, a door depressurized and opened with a his as the metal doors opened horizontally, outward from each other. "Little strange for a master jedi to be late, don't you think master Fisto?" Ark once saved all of our asses in an op. We were only in danger because of a weak plan that crumbled almost instantly, Ark now maps out everything and makes count of all scenarios and interference we could possibly face. He now makes sure every little thing is in-check, almost makes it seem like he's crazy. But clones don't crack like that, he's just being sure. 

"Better late then never, commander," Fisto replied calmly, as jedi do.

"Just be sure it doesn't become a habit," Ark implied. Implying is all we can do to a jedi, they have authoritative power over us clones, no matter our rank. He then came back to the main objective. "All right, look men, I want a successful op with no casualties. We go in as quiet as possible and strike hard. We will enter at the aft compartment of the life support systems and make our way to the frigate's main reactor. That will require a hacker to open the main doorways. That means you Spark."

"Sir, yes sir. I'll have those doors open quicker than they were shut," Spark stood with attentiveness. He was a by-the-book kind of guy. For some reason, his abilities with mechanics and electronics were far superior to the rest of the squad's. He armor was decorated with lines of yellow that stretch down his arms. His helmet also had a giant yellow stripe down its center and the sides of the dome had lightning bolt symbols. His armor's gloves were covered in soot and solder, other than that, his armor was shiny and new. He even got a flip down visor that granted him to see circuits and wiring.

"I'll also need an A-grade pilot manning the controls of the boarding vessel," Ark implied waiting for Vehi to step up to the plate.

A clone then came climbing over the other crew, trying to be seen by Ark, "Me sir, I can man the vessel!" Vehi had been on-the-gun for manning all kind of vehicles, whether it be, air, ground, or space, Vehi was our pilot for every op that involved hauling more than just himself. Vehi was decorated with fresh black paint. The paint had been applied to the left of his helmet and resembled an AT-TE silhouette and the right had a Space Gunship. There was also a pattern of checkered squares applied to both of his shoulder pads. With all of that, he was granted for his great proficiency with vehicles an oxygen pack that linked to his modified helmet. It was partially a standard helmet from the nose up, but the lower part was that of a pilot's helmet. He'd also gotten the range finder attachment for his helmet.

"I always count on you for that sort of thing Vehi, you don't need to explode over the opportunity," Ark stated.

"Sorry sir, won't happen again sir."

"Kev! Dorsal!" Shouted Ark.

"Sir, yes sir?" Both Kev and Dorsal said almost in-sequence. 

"I want you to to be our guns and muscle for the operation," Ark ordered with a slight grin.

"I like the sound of that!" Kev shouted in excitement. Kev had been through a ton of ops and always blasted his way through it. His original duty was on Geonosis, where he manned the giant AT-TE artillery cannon. He had quite the score of droid kills. Some even say he's insane. His armor has red paint applied across his left eye in a splatter manner as to simulate blood. They've also given his gloves and half of his forearms the same treatment, also his boots and shins. He's also been given the Kama battle armor skirt. He also had the protective visor that helped him from blaster fire. In battles, he likes to lug around a large pack with ammo packs, grenades, and medical kits. He was the juggernaut of the group.

Ark then looked to me, "Got a problem with that Dorsal?"

"No sir, I'm ready for anything you throw at me sir," I replied respectfully. Ark and I hadn't put on our armor. We both like to put it on right before we get into the op. I got my nickname because of a mission I did back on Rhodia. My mission was to gain coordinates for a ship station secretly hidden on Mustafar. Quite an ironic situation. Hiding coordinates that lead to a magma planet on an ocean planet. Well, long story short, they blew up the complex as I was running with the data. I ended up having to swim my way back to a village, considering they torched my ship, that took nearly a day to find civilization. The village called me a human-aquatic. The troops heard of my story after I was retrieved from the village an called me Dorsal, in relation to a damn fish. 

"Alright, now, the mission debrief," Ark then snapped his fingers and a holograph was suspended in the room. "This is where Vehi will land the boarding ship here," Ark's finger landed under the frigate's bow. Just a few inches away from his finger was the life support bulb. The holograph then zoomed into the interior. "From there, we will make our way into this corridor," his finger followed a train of subsystems, "we will then be at the reactor here in the center," his finger landed on a giant reactor housing with fuel cells surrounding it. "Now, if we are met with contacts, try and disable them with hand-to-hand combat. We will also be carrying mini EMP darts that we can chuck at the clankers. This will eliminate their speech programs and that's it. We are working in stealth and a firefight, only if necessary. I will announce when we need to prep for launch. That is all, dismissed!"

The bridge crew went back to their usual procedures, Ark went to the front viewpoint of the cruiser and thought to himself, the rest of the squad went to the mess hall, and I went to the lockers to prep and equip my gear. I made my way down the corridor and realized that Kit Fisto was following me. I then turned around to face him, "Anything I could help you with, Master Fisto?" 

"No Dorsal, I'm just examining," he responded. 

"If you don't mind my asking, what are you examining?"

"You, clone. There's something about you that no one knows."

"What makes you say that?"

"I sense the force on this ship, and I am to be the only jedi on here. The thing I sense, it originates from you."

"I couldn't be, I'm merely a clone, sir."

"Perhaps," Kit Fisto said mysteriously and then walked off into the bridge room.

I kept my pace to the locker room. I then quickly punched in my code and opened my locker. Inside lay my armor. I ran a diagnostic on the gear and everything came in green. I started with my shin armor. Then slowly made my way up. The shiny gear had fit snugly adjusting to my body form. They gave my armor blue accents after I got back from my mission that gave me my name. They had given my helmet fin a grooved look, almost like a fish's fin. They also painted what looked to be gills on the sides of my helmet. I, like Kev, donned a Kama battle skirt, except that mine was trimmed and painted to have scales like a fish. Dammit, they took the name out of proportion. My helmet was like Vehi's where mine was hooked up to a breathing apparatus. 

"This is Commander Ark to all of Bright and Shiny squadron, we are ready to board the vessel, make sure to double check your gear, I don't want any problems along the way. Let's get to the flight bay and ready up, Ark out," the on-board cruiser announcement speaker shut off with a slight crackle. Quickly, I grabbed by DC-15 and a few charge packs for it. I was about to head out, when I remembered something. I quickly motioned for the nearly forgotten object, felt it brush my gloved hands, and I ran for the bay, slamming my locker shut and letting the automatic door hiss shut.