Airfield - Umbara
After being escorted out by sentries, Chief left the command building and headed over to the barracks. But before he could even enter, clones from all across the 501st Legion gathered around him and blocked him in. Scanning the men around him, Chief started to feel a little uneasy with everyone staring at him when suddenly he heard a voice call out from on top of a supply container. "Hey, let's give it up for the Chief!"
Suddenly the whole crowd erupted in cheers and applause as they showed the hero their gratitude. They were so grateful for everything Chief had done for them in the last few hours and despite taking heavy casualties, they knew that they would have been destroyed if Chief had not attacked the base on his own.
Unfortunately, the alarm sounded just as they were starting to relax. Hearing Krell over the intercom, the 501st gave a silent sigh of disappointment when they heard their assignment. "CT-7567, the Umbarans are mounting an attack on the airfield in the east. They have seized sets of clone trooper armour and weapons to try and slip through the lines. Take two platoons of troopers and eliminate this impending attack. You are authorized to use phosphorus and mortars to combat this threat."
"You heard the General, I want platoons 13 and 18 on me in 2 minutes!" Captain Rex called across the crowd. "Platoons 11, 12 and 14 are on standby. Rest of you, get some rest and refuel for the next mission!"
"Sir, yes sir!" The men echoed back before going off to their different posts. Soon 13 and 18 were back outside after going in to grab night vision and extra ammunition for the looming fight that was about to happen. Out of nowhere a trio of missiles exploded a few hundred meters from the airfield's perimeter. Taking a set of macro-binoculars off one of the AT-RTs, Chief zoomed up to find a CIS supply ship firing cruise missiles all across the battlefield while its escorts were busy engaging the Republic fleet.
Running back into the command centre, Chief almost broke down the door before reaching Krell. "General, there is a supply ship up there providing missile strikes all across the AO, we need to eliminate it before heading out to engage the Umbarans."
"117, I am well aware of the supply ship and the missile strikes. However, the Republic fleet will soon dispatch it, so there is no need to divert manpower to such a frivolous endeavour. The Umbaran counter-assault should be the main priority right now before we move on the Capitol."
"Sir, with all due respect, if you send out the men to face the Umbarans or to attack the Capitol, they will all die. Call off the attack before you cause the deaths of over 30 men, including Captain Rex."
"No, I don't think I will. If the Umbarans move on our position and compromise our foothold, then we will have lost all possibility of attacking the Capitol." Krell replied darkly before signalling the sentries to escort the green goliath out of the building again.
Furious, Chief stormed out and headed straight for the barracks where he knew Fives was located. Bursting through the door, Chief was met by a welcoming sight; all of Blue Team reunited along with some new faces whom he had not met yet. Explaining to them the situation regarding the attack on the Capitol and the unrelenting missile strikes, a deafening silence engulfed the room.
"Chief, I have talked to the men and we have all agreed that we will not follow Krell's orders, even if it means getting court marshalled. Given what you just told us, there is no way we are changing our minds." Fives broke the silence before Thermos continued; "Sir, you are a special operations field commander. You can challenge Krell's authority given the right circumstances and seeing that you are on an R.S.A. mission, you can stand up to him."
"I'm sorry Thermos, that can't happen, the general has refused all of my propositions and recommendations from the start." Chief answered, allowing the silence to return. Then the clone that had flown with Fives earlier put his hand up and gave the idea that they just take care of the support ship themselves. Quickly composing a strategy in his head, Chief remembered seeing a CIS shuttle in one of the hangars. "Fives, tell me who these troopers are with you."
"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."