Strider's footsteps echoed loudly throughout the empty halls of the base, the only light coming from his helmet's head lamps. As he'd expected, each door he came by was either too damaged to open or locked behind ruined control panels. It took a solid ten minutes before he finally found a door he could open, which it did with a grinding but quick whoosh.
Inside was what looked like an armory, with all the weapon racks and everything. Each rack had at least five blasters, each one covered in a thick layer of dust. The weapons didn't match any sort of blaster that Strider knew of, not even the Separatists standard E-5 blaster rifles.
Strider went over to one of the racks and grabbed one of the blasters. It seemed to weigh around the same as his DC-15S, but the shape was different.
The other blaster had a long barrel and a boxy body. The handle was located at the very end of the blaster and two small rectangles were on each side of the body. The right side was hollow, most likely where the power pack would go.
Strider put the blaster back on the rack and made his way towards the back of the room which had several grey crates stacked on top of each other.
Strider grabbed one crate and took it from its spot on top of the tower of crates and opened it. Inside were a handful of smaller blaster pistols that were silver and black. Once again, they didn't match any pistol Strider knew of.
Strider grabbed one of the pistols and looked it over, seeing a dial which seemed to adjust the power output. He put the blaster pistol in his utility belts empty holster, along with a few power packs that went with it.
Strider shut the crate and moved onto another. This crate proved to have the same weapons from the first, with a pile of blaster pistols filling the crate up to the brim.
After checking five more crates that had only blaster pistols, Strider finally came across a crate that had something else inside. This crate housed what seemed to be a set of armor, which Strider carefully took out.
The chest piece which was designed similar to the armor for Jedi knights, was mostly silver with a single crimson red line down the middle. Two other black lines were next to it, separated by two silver lines. The chest piece was somewhat light, and after Strider knocked on it with his fist, he also knew it was tough.
Strider put the chest piece aside and moved onto what seemed to be controls that were supposed to be strapped to the forearm. Several buttons and switches were all over the piece, along with a few bits of silver which appeared to be the same metal the chest piece was made out of.
Next was a pair of shoulder pads and a utility belt. The shoulder pads were silver with big red shield shaped symbols. On top of the shields was another symbol, this one sort of resembling the G.A.R. standard symbol. The design was the same, but the outer shape was different. This one was a hexagon while the normal symbol is a circle.
Strider felt like he had seen this symbol before, but couldn't figure out where. He looked over at the utility belt which had several empty spots where power packs would of been stored along with an empty holster for a blaster pistol, and some sort of case for a tube like object.
The last piece of the armor that was in the crate was a helmet. This helmet also had the modified mark on it, plastered on top of a red line which ran through the middle of the helmet. The helmet was shaped like a clone Scuba trooper, with its bucket like shape ending with two circles that looked like they would attach to breathing rods. The visor was pitch black and shaped like a V, similar to his helmet's visor.
Strider rotated the helmet a few times in his hands, before putting it and the rest of the armor back in the crate.
"Whatever this place is, it certainly isn't from the G.A.R. or the Seppies." Strider muttered to himself as he shut the crate.
Strider left the small armory and began walking back down the hall in hopes of finding the communication center. There he could finally contact the Republic and get a gunship to pick him up.
Part of his mind slightly cringed at that, but Strider shook that feeling away in seconds, focusing on the mission at hand.
Strider navigated his way down the halls once more, eyes peeled for any type of movement or a sign that pointed to the communication center. Neither of these things happened for the remainder of his time searching, which eventually led him to a large door with a broken neon sign above it.
Strider pressed a few buttons on the control panel, triggering the door which screeched against metal as it opened. Strider went through the doorway and was quickly met with the sight of several control panels and powered down screens.
But what really caught his attention was a control panel with a microphone built into it. He had finally found it. Strider wasted no time as he made his way across the room and over to the panel. He pressed a few buttons which to his luck, sent energy flowing back through the panel.
A screen appeared in front of him, showing a few very old scans of the base, a few launch permits, and of course, com link waves.
Strider matched up the relay with the standard military G.A.R. channel frequency and crossed his fingers.
"Come on, give me a transmission." Strider said out loud, hearing static emerge from the speakers.
After a few seconds, a faint voice began to stand out against the static. Strider pressed a few buttons, trying to boost the signal. But the voice didn't get any clearer.
Strider tried lifting up a few switches, but that only led to a spark developing which shot right into his visor. Strider backed up, startled by the sudden spark, but quickly recovered and went back to focusing on boosting the signal.
However, that lever did more than just let out a spark. A few rooms away, two large dust covered blue robots were suddenly activated. Their empty eye sockets flashed red, before fading away behind their visors.
The two robots looked around the area, doing a quick scan to check the state it was in. Then, they walked over to a table where two blasters were resting, along with two alchemically treated Sith swords.
Once the two were geared up, they went over to the door that led to the hallway, which they soon found to be jammed. But that didn't stop them. Instead, one of the robots smashed its armored fist into the door, sending it flying across the hallway.
Strider heard the sound of crashing metal and immediately turned to face the door, DC-15S primed. The voice on the control panel slowly but surely became louder, eventually sounding like another clone trooper who was questioning if anyone was there.
Strider, without taking his eyes or blaster from the door, reached with one hand over to a button which activated the microphone. But before he could say anything, the sound of heavy metal clanking emerged from the door, before stopping.
"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Strider muttered under his breath, watching as the door slowly opened, revealing two figures.
Both figures were wearing tons of blue armor that covered every square inch of their bodies, making them look like a miniature tank to some extent. Both were armed with the blasters Strider had seen before in the armory, along with what seemed to be two swords that were sheathed on their backs.
"Intruder detected." One said in a robotic voice, aiming the blaster it was holding. The other one did the same, aiming their weapon directly at Strider's chest.
"Why can't I catch a break..." Strider grumbled, right as the two robots open fired.