It had taken nearly two hours to reach quadrant B4, even with Specter carrying all the equipment on the speeder bike. Null didn't mind the hike, though, he had been stuck in space for longer than he took pleasure in. The twins trailed behind, seeming to tire quickly, although, their much-commiserated weariness didn't stop them from walking. Once they reached B4, Null allowed a brief rest period before they started off again. The searching wasn't too hard, considering a gun emplacement was not a small thing. Null also allowed his scanners to sweep the ground as well, making sure the droids hadn't hidden the emplacement underground. Although the man, whom Null now knew was named Sarge, hadn't told him much on the earlier journey, he had enlightened Null as to what their current mission was. For Null, it was all he needed to know. The why and how of things could come later, as long as he knew what he was doing right in that moment, he was satisfied. It didn't remedy his curiosity about the squadron, though, and as they all four searched in silence, the ARC did much thinking about why these clones were so different from the others on Kamino. His current conclusion was that the Kaminoans had somehow changed the genetics further from their original form, therefore causing these men to be less like Jango.
Its almost a pity at how obedient they are, Jango would have been disappointed to have such sons, Null thought to himself as they continued their search. He glanced to his left and saw one of the men Sarge had often referred to as "the twins." Still, he couldn't be sure which was Bogie and which was Bookkie, so he avoided the matter as often as possible.
"What's our status?" called Specter over comm. Null dragged his eyes back to his scanners, glancing at the map.
"Nearly to the border section of A4 and B4."
There was no reply from Specter. The man was brief, and Null could appreciate that. Words were not something to be wasted.
"We've got a check in with Sarge after this section is clear, right, sir?" one of the other men asked. Null dipped his head in a curt nod. The other man fell silent. Hardly a word had been spoken the entire time, and Null wasn't bothered by that. He sorted through his scans again, the information flashing past his eyes like the flash training courses on Kamino. Still no sign of any base above or below ground, simply trees, trees, and more trees.
"You think they get any rain here?" asked one of the CT/110/2's.
"You'd have to ask the natives," replied his brother. They continued back and forth, sometimes not even answering, yet seeming satisfied with the other's silence. Null turned off his comm after a few moments, adjusting his helmet. Those two were a mystery, no doubt. An alert interrupted before Null though think more on the matter, however. His eyes darted to the little red light, notifying him that they had entered the border region and there was something up ahead. Switching his comm back on, Null held up one closed fist.
"Ready your weapons, I've got an unidentified bogie on my scanners," he ordered. There was a small amount of laughter from one of the CT/110/2's which was quickly contained as the sound of blasters being readied took its place. The trees swayed a little, yet there was no sound of footsteps. Again, Null's HUD scanners beeped at him, saying the object was closer.
"Back off, protect the supplies," Null ordered. Both of the men at his side backed up while he raised one blaster on the dark space between the trees that hid whatever was advancing. As Null tensed his grip on his blaster, their enemy suddenly burst forth from the trees.
"Updating...processing...insta—"
Starting a little, Null nearly fired as a confused B1 battle droid stumbled from the trees, muttering about an update and low power.
"Hold fire!" Null said quickly before any of the others could fire. There was a pause, then the muddled droid tripped itself, falling forward. Walking forward cautiously, keeping his blaster on the droid, Null approached it and rolled the machine over with his foot. It had no weapon and kept muttering about updating and nonsense.
"That's a useless droid if I ever saw one," commented one of the clones. "I don't think it's gonna do any damage, sir."
Null ignored the man and bent down, still on his guard. "Just because a droid doesn't have a weapon doesn't make it a friendly."
The ARC pulled off the front panel of the droid's chest armor, revealing the half empty chest cavity. No explosives. The trooper was right; the droid was useless. Holstering his weapon, Null straightened up and hauled the droid, half powered down, back onto its feet. He began pulling it back towards the others and he saw all of them shy back a bit. Scared little bunch. They were the ones who said it wasn't lethal anymore. Null dropped the droid to the ground.
"Bogie," he said, careful not to look at either of the two, not knowing which was Bogie, "establish a transmission with the Sergeant and make sure he knows our position. Bookkie, help him. I'm gonna rewire this droid to take us to its base."
"Sir," Specter interrupted, "it's against Republic Code. We have to search the entire area and leave the droid here."
Null set the droid down completely, stood up and looked at Specter directly. "Who is in command of your group right now?"
"You, sir," Specter said, deadpan.
"So who gives the orders around here?"
"You, sir. However, such orders must also fol—"
"I'm giving the orders, soldier, and you will listen to my orders. Republic Code 73-B: Republic soldiers and officers must obey the orders and directives posed to them by any higher military authority."
Specter dipped his head slightly as his tone became a little lower. "Yes, sir."
Kneeling back down, Null proceeded to turn off the droid, which already had very little battery left.
"Trooper, while the others establish contact with your Sergeant, I want you to go help them."
"I can assist you with your—"
Null's voice tone dropped significantly. "I don't need an assistant, go help the others."
"Yes, sir."
////
The clones finished securing a link as Null finished rewiring the droid. He had reconnected the navigation to a reverse run circuit, meaning that as soon as the droid was activated it would literally run it's original course backward, leading them back to its original location. Returning, with an established link, Bogie, Bookkie, and Specter stood aside to allow Null and Sarge to exchange progress reports.
"Any luck finding that base?" Sarge said. There was no projected image, just an audio.
"I have a feeling we're getting close, what about your team?"
"None yet, we've searched all of A3 with no luck, but we're ready to move into B3."
"We're moving out of B4 into A4."
"Any trouble?"
"None," Null said.
"Report back once you've reached the halfway section of A4," Sarge ordered.
"Copy," Null said. He ended the transmission without a word said about the droid or their new plan. He looked over and saw Specter shift, but say nothing.
"Specter, back on the speeder, Bogie, Bookkie, back with me," Null ordered. He could feel a bit of tension from Specter, but acted as though it did not exist.
"I charged the droid, we'll follow it back to its original location and if it is the gun emplacement, report to the Sergeant."
Bogie and Bookkie looked to one another but said nothing in argument.
"Yes, sir," they answered unanimously. Null turned to the droid, which was propped up against a tree for the moment. Finding the power switch on the back, he made sure to face the droid away from them before flipping the switch. The droid immediately snapped into a rigid standing position, then began muttering about updating again. Null backed off. All four were wary of the machine now, however, only because it was operating fully again. Rather of turning to attack them, as they all secretly expected it would, the droid instead walked off into the trees, still muttering to itself. Null waved them all forward, leading the small group as they followed the droid. Specter lagged further behind with the speeder, keeping it on the lowest power possible.
After nearly half an hour the trees became thicker and the shadows deeper, yet the muddled B1 kept on; somehow it avoided the low hanging vines and branches.
"Specter, ditch the speeder, for now, we'll come back to it," Null ordered. He knew there was no way they were going to keep up with that droid and navigate the speeder through this maze.
"Yes, sir," Specter said. Null didn't stop for the man, moving forward with Bogie and Bookkie. Specter could catch up. The trooper did just that, jogging forward to fall into standard formation behind Null. The droid paused, and so did all of the troopers.
"Think he's getting close, sir?" it sounded like Bookkie.
"Let's hope."
The droid tottered a few more steps forward, jerking its sand colored body through the forest again. They were well past the border now and Null's scanners were picking up hints of footprints in the dirt. They were deep.
"Scan," he whispered and his helmet systems began scanning the prints.
"Match for B1-class Confederacy Droid," it said. Null glanced up at the droid. Either these prints belong to it, or a lot of its tinny friends.
"Sir, Sandy's stopping again," said the clone from earlier. Null paused. Sandy? Since when did nicknaming droids become a part of the mission? Null almost said something but decided not to. He didn't know what nonsense they taught on Kamino now.
Again the droid jerked forward, then stopped after a few feet. It was getting slower.
"Think he's running low on power?" asked one of the 02's.
"Couldn't say," replied his brother.
"Only way to know is to take it apart."
"We c—"
"Shut it," Specter said sharply. Both men were quiet. Null motioned for all of them to stay back as he crept forward. The droid was still standing still, muttering. Coming up behind it, the ARC kept careful watch on all sides, aware that it could be a ruse to draw him and his men into an ambush. No droids appeared, yet he heard the B1 was finally talking sense.
"Coordinates are 65-E and 121-S," it said softly in that low mechanical buzz it called a voice. Null tried to tap into its feed with his helmet, but to no avail.
"Returning to base," the droid suddenly said. Null jerked back as the droid turned slightly. Again, it started off jerkily. Null turned and gestured for his men to form up again and the group moved swiftly his direction. With renewed speed, the droid set off and the clones followed, for at the moment, it was their only clue and hopefully it was leading them to the right mystery base.
Lwhekka, Quadrant B3, 1500 hours
The search of A3 had uncovered nothing, and it was now looking like the search of B3 was going to be similar. Sarge could feel the weariness of his men and the downcast attitude, yet they all kept moving. He himself couldn't help but feel a little pessimistic about the outcome of this search, however, they couldn't countermand protocol and they had to finish searching the area. Absently, the sergeant wondered how Null's search was going. Based on his check in, it had sounded just as uneventful.
"I'm beginning to think the twins are gonna find that base and blow it before we do," Haley said, trying to lighten everyone's spirits.
"If they do, at least the mission will be over," Ari said.
Whiplash cut in. "Yeah, but then we'll be on clean up."
"Point," said Ari.
"Well if none of you pick up the pace, you'll be doing clean up regardless," Sarge threatened.
Everyone quickened their pace, excepting Jordar, who still lagged behind trying to unscramble his own code. The trooper had been working on the transmission Null had brought back ever since that morning and he apparently hadn't gotten too far.
"What's the progress on that transmission, Jordar?" Sarge said. He himself was curious as to the nature of the message, and apparently it was a long one.
"I'm nearing halfway done, sir. Mostly all I've got right now is white noise, no words, nothing worth listening to yet."
"Why so much white noise?" Sarge asked.
"Couldn't tell you for sure, but it's probably from the two transmitters trying to connect properly."
"Why didn't it get cut out by the buffers?"
"Because someone was trying to say something in the background, but it's inaudible."
Sarge's face fell a little behind the visor of his helmet. He knew there was nothing they could have done, but internally the situation frustrated him, regardless.
"Keep translating it, as soon as you get to anything audible I want you to send it to me."
"Yes, sir."
Again, everyone fell quiet as they trekked across the grassland. There was absolutely nothing, just grass, and a few trees off to the right, but they weren't going to be able to search the jungle for several hours. Sarge's HUD notified him that they were nearing the edge of quadrant B3 and he ordered everyone onto a new course. It was almost the same exact view as before, only from a different direction as they fanned out into search formation again. The sun was still overhead, there was still miles of grass before them, and just like the hours before, no sign of a Separatist base.
It was another nearly forty minutes before Sarge suddenly heard something from the men behind him. It was a low whisper at first that he couldn't make out over his comm, then Jordar's voice came in clear.
"I've got the transmission decoded," the trooper said. There was a hint of excitement to his tone, causing Sarge to perk up a bit.
"Send it over," he ordered.
"Sending, sir. Might take a minute, it's a large file."
"Were you able to remove that static?"
"Can't remove it, just skip to time frame 6:47:98."
"Thank you."
Sarge watched as the file uploaded to his HUD database, a small white line showing it's progress. He kept his eyes on the area in front of him as well but watched that loading bar out of the corner of one eye. Finally, it finished and showed a ready status. Sarge quickly opened the file and skipped ahead to where Jordar had told him as he walked steadily forward. At first, there was a burst of static, then all sound faded for a moment before a clear voice started talking.
"Old Republic Base nine-zero-four, this is the survivors of Squadron seven-two-one. I repeat, this is the survivors of Squadron seven-two-one, otherwise nicknamed "Dorn" Squadron. There's only two of us left, the rest are dead, commanding officer included. If you get this, we are crashed near Omicron. We have b—" the rest of the transmission cut out abruptly, but Sarge already knew all he needed to.
"Omicron is on the other side of the map," he stated.
"If they followed any kind of protocol they probably aren't there anymore, sir. I'll bet they headed for our base," Haley said.
"Is there any way to contact them?" Sarge asked Jordar.
"No, sir. There's some sort of beacon blocking any transmission from this region," Jordar answered.
"What if we destroy the beacon?"
"Then we can call in our position to them."
"I'm gonna made an educated guess that the beacon is transmitted from that gun emplacement. In that case, we need to move faster and make sure to find that base."
"Sir, yes, sir," they all replied with renewed determination. Sarge closed the file, a new motivation pushing him to move forward. He should have never doubted the other squadron because he of all people knew clones didn't just lie down to die. They fought for their life. Clones were not only soldiers but also, survivors.