Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.4.2

By the time Caleb had gotten in the gunship, he was already best friends with the squad he was leading. Jesse loved talking just as much as he did, and the others liked laughing at them so they didn't try to stop them. Not a cruel laugh, just an entertained and joyful one.

Of course, when the gunship left the hangar, all the fun had to be put on pause. There were four things going on at once, and they needed to focus on their part. Hold on, Master, Caleb kept thinking. We're almost there.

"When we hit the ground, shields need to be off first," Caleb instructed. "Remember, we don't want anyone else other than you or me taking fire if we can avoid it."

"Yes, sir!" They responded, and they adjusted the straps on their arms.

Jesse chuckled at their immediate reaction, glancing at the Padawan through the helmet. "You spent a lot of time with Commander Tano, I can tell."

Caleb smiled, proud to be associated with her. "Oh, yeah. Not enough, of course, but I got what I could before everything happened."

"We all did," Brunt, one of the bombers reminded him. "It wasn't anyone's fault here that she left, but there's only so much we could have done."

"At least, that's what Captain Rex tells us," another bomber, Shell, added.

Caleb nodded, knowing where the captain had come from. "It's in the past now, anyway. Right now, someone else needs help. We can't focus on what's already happened if we want to change what will happen."

Jesse praised his monologue. "Roger that," and many clones agreed with him. "And right now, our job is to blow the towers and make a mess doing it. Do I need to explain further?"

The clones shook their heads cheering, riled up for the fight. It wasn't often that orders like this were given. Then again, it wasn't often that situations like this happened either, and for a good reason too.

Throughout the gunship, the pilot's voice warned them: "We're landing in about 20 seconds. Get ready, boys!"

Caleb drew his lightsaber but didn't activate it quite yet. The troopers with shields hoisted them, and the bombers drew weapons. Time to blow.

As soon as the doors opened, Caleb jumped out and activated his saber, ready to take any initial fire that might come their way. The five shielders were right behind him, covering the bombers as they stepped down from the gunship. With all of their extra toys, they were going to move slower than normal.

At the base, a squad of battle droids had been dispatched to address the intruders. They hadn't started firing yet, but Caleb saw them making their way over. They needed to close as much distance as possible before the tinnies prevented them from getting to the towers.

"Full speed!" He commanded the squad, and he ran out in front of them, even the shielders, trusting them to cover the bombers. Drawing their fire, he deflected the red bolts that started flying towards him, allowing the blue bolts to pass him and find their targets. When he got close enough, Caleb jumped on top of the nearest standing droid and started slicing them to pieces.

Dealing with the battle droids was no problem, but a destroyer was rolling towards him too. "Get to the towers!" He told Jesse and the others. "Start bringing it down!"

The destroyer, of course, targeted Caleb, the Jedi in the equation. He advanced on the droid, keeping his saber moving to deflect the blaster fire. He sprinted and deactivated his saber long enough to get it through the shield, and struck the blasters on either side. He thrust the saber through the heart of the droid, and the inner workings sparked and died down.