//------------------------------// // Into the Hive // Story: Obsidian Flight: Crisis In Equestria // by EldritchNexus //------------------------------// It was strangely quiet under the canopy of the trees. No beasts were seen or heard, no insects buzzing, and no birds in the air. All that could be heard was the rain falling down on the overhanging canopy, and the sound of clone troopers wading through the swamps underneath. "You know, I'm starting to wonder how this battle will affect civilian life in this area." one clone trooper said, attempting to break the silence. "I know what you mean." said another trooper. "I'd be pretty damn ticked if this fighting postponed next week's race on the Fire Mountain Rally course." "Corporal, we're trying to find our general and all you're worrying about is podracing?" questioned a third trooper. "Hey, I made a bet with Lieutenant Zaps about who would win that race." said the corporal. " I bet fifty credits that Mars Guo, Jinn Reeso or Fud Sang won, and he bet a hundred that Cy Yunga, Navior, or Dud Bolt would win. I hope that I'm right, because that blighter still owes me fifty credits from our bets on last year's Malastare 100." "Oh, Candy...you and your gambling." shrugged Captain Zed, who activated his infared scopes, and scanned the rainforest around him and his men. "Captain, have you detected anything?" One of the other troopers asked, curiously "Nothing." Zed shook his head. "They must be on the other side of this rainforest by now!" "Should we go back?" the trooper questioned. "I mean, we could come back with speeders!" "That will take too long," Zed said, "Besides, the roar of the engines might draw unwanted attention." "But there isn't any wildlife in sight!" said Candy. "Exactly." Captain Zed stated, turning to his men. "In a rainforest as big as this, wouldn't you think there'd be some kind of wild animal or two hanging around?" "Oh, the captain's right." The first trooper moaned. "This just makes me uncomfortable as it is. What do you think drove the wildlife out?" "Battle droids, perhaps?" said a third trooper. "There's no sign of droids here." said Captain Zed. "Unless, of course, the swamp washed it all away." Suddenly, the troopers heard a loud wailing noise to the North; They were not alone. "Captain, what action should we take?" a trooper asked. "Hide behind those trees!" Captain Zed ordered. "Keep your blasters ready." They waded out of the swamps, and clambered behind the trees that stood around them. There was an odd plunking noise, as something large stepped into the water. Captain Zed peered out from behind a large bush, and saw the source of the noise: An acklay was stalking through the swamps, hunting for prey. The six-limbed beast was more than capable of slaughtering an entire squad of clone troopers to pieces. But those squads didn't often have an ARC Trooper leading them. Captain Zed relayed hand gestures to his troopers, and placed a sonic mine on a destroyed tree. Zed had one of his troopers hand him a spare cloak, so that he could wrap it around the stump. For extra efficiency, he placed his own helmet on top of it, and its built-in communcator was amplified to its maximum volume. He ordered his men away from the decoy, and spoke into the comlink he held in his hand. "Come over here, you cheeky little monster!" said his voice as it came out very loudly from the decoy. The acklay heard the noise, and saw what appeared to be a clone trooper sitting in the water. The ravenous animal slowly approached it, before letting out a loud screech. It charged towards the sitting clone, only to suddenly find that it had exploded, sending Zed's helmet soaring the air. The blast took the acklay by surprise, and had sent the beast somersaulting through the air. "Go loud, boys!" He shouted, pulling out a modified blaster rifle. The clones quickly showered the acklay with blaster bolts, and the beast fell into the swamps, dead. "Boy, were we lucky!" one of the clones said. "I hope the 182nd Legion never has to deal with those things again!" "Well, that's odd." said Captain Zed, recovering his cracked helmet. "Acklays don't usually reside on Baroonda." "It must have been kept in captivity, until it was released." another clone said. "But by whom?" "Well, if we were to trace where it came from, we should be able to find out." Zed told them. "It came from the North, so we'll go that way." "I'm no Jedi, but I have a bad feeling about this..." said Cpl. Candy. The clones eventually cleared the swamps, and found themselves in a drier area of the jungle. It was great to feel themselves walking on solid ground again. As Zed estimated, the acklay's tracks were visible in the direction they were going now. Eventually, they came to what appeared to be a cave with multiple openings. "I don't like this, sir." a clone said. "It seems unusual that there would be a cave like this in the middle of a jungle." "Right." nodded Captain Zed. "In fact, this cave looks like it was dug in by native creatures." "Which ones, though?" Candy asked. "I don't think acklays could...wait a minute, does anyone else hear...scraping?" The clones looked up at the highest opening in the cave, and saw a large insectoid creature with a black exoskeleton spying on them. It was clicking loudly, and scratching the stone walls of the cave. "Damn!" Captain Zed shouted. "It's a Bartokk hive! This won't end well!" The Bartokk gatekeeper jumped down on them, with a wild trilling in its repulsive voice. Zed already had his commando pistol out, and blasted the head off of the creature with ease. The disembodied head lay on the ground, screeching loudly. There was louder rustling and movement coming from the other hive entrances. "You've got to be kidding me!" Zed exclaimed. "Troops, let's show these bugs how clones exterminate them." All of the clones pulled thermal detonators out from under their cloaks, and tossed them into the hive entrances. There were several beeping and trilling noises, followed by several explosions, and the hive was caved-in. "That was a close one, for sure." Zed sighed. "Now we just need to find another way around this..." Suddenly, the ground collapsed underneath them, and the squad all landed in one of the lower tunnels of the hive. A few seconds passed, and the sickeningly familiar trilling returned. But the clones were ready this time. They discharged their blasters towards both ends of the tunnel, and ran quickly towards the one that ran North. "I hope you bugs love the taste of hot plasma, because that's the only thing we have for you!" Candy shouted in the confusion, as he blasted six Bartokk warriors to pieces. "I ain't your candy!" "Men, the exit is that way!" Zed shouted, pointing to a light-filled tunnel across from an egg chamber that they wandered into. "Run and shoot!" The clones blasted their way through the hive, shouting loudly to frighten their enemies. Before Zed exited the hive, he tossed a pulse bomb into the egg chamber, so as to prevent any of the insectoid creatures from chasing after them. They ran about fifty feet from the northern entrance when they turned to see the Bartokk hive collapse in a massive implosion. "Is everyone alright?" Zed asked his men. "We're all fine, sir." confirmed the clones. "Well, that's awfully lucky of you all." Captain Zed reflected. "I would've expected those things to tear three or four of you apart by now." "Did you seriously think we would come to Baroonda without special training to fight off its more dangerous inhabitants?" "Well, certainly not!" the ARC captain shrugged. "But now we need to find out where General Reath went. I don't think she was in that hive." Suddenly, a trio of battle droids mounted on Single Trooper Assault Platforms zoomed at them through the trees, discharging their blaster cannons at the troopers. "Take cover!" shouted Zed. "Blast them apart!" Suddenly, a rocket shot through the air and destroyed the lead STAP. Its fellows were promptly caught in the blast. Zed looked around to see the source of the projectile, and saw two other ARC Troopers standing on the ledge of a nearby cliff overlooking their position. "We've got your back, captain!" said the commando with the rocket launcher. "Good shot, Boomer!" Zed called to him. "Always glad to help, captain!" said the other ARC Trooper. "Now let's hurry and find our general!" The clones journeyed through the rest of the rainforest, until they came near the shores of a beach under the shadow of a volcano. In the distance, a Separatist gunship and three Geonosian starfighters could be seen flying towards the people on the beach. "Captain, we have multiple life-forms on the beach!" said Candy, checking his scopes. "That's got to be them!" said Captain Zed. "Troopers, go loud!" On the shoreline, Naat Reath heard blaster-fire coming from the rainforest, and her Dark Jedi captives all ignited their lightsabers. "Looks like they've already caught up to us." said Urjax, drawing a second lightsaber. "We have no time for this." Right then and there, the blue blaster bolts of the clones' weapons shot out from the treeline in a blizzard of hot plasma, creating confusion among the Dark Jedi. While most of them were able to deflect the shots, one or two of them were hit in the limbs, and collapsed onto the dampened sand. The gunship landed on the beach, and lowered its boarding ramp to allow a squad of B-1 battle droids to exit and engage the clones. Urjax tossed his second lightsaber at the battle droids, using the Force to ignite its blade in mid-air, and used it to slice up the entire group, before bringing it back to him and catching it with his hand. "Now is our chance to go!" said Urjax. "Board the ship, my brethren!" The Dark Jedi quickly sped up the ramp of the gunship, leaving behind Naat Reath in their haste. One of Urjax's minions disabled the droids piloting the ship, and took control of the transport himself. After raising the ramp, the gunship took off and rushed off into the stormy skies. The three Geonosian starfighters that were originally assigned to escort the gunship wheeled around to pursue it, discharging their laser cannons as they went. "General Reath, are you okay?" asked Captain Zed, as his men secured the beach and freed the Jedi from her binders. "Yes, captain." said Naat. "But we must not let them get away from us." Then Zed's comlink began to emit a stream of static. "..Captain Zed, do you read me? Captain Zed, do you copy?" Captain North's voice rang through the device. "Yes, sir." said Zed, speaking into the comlink. "We've managed to rescue the general. Requesting immediate pick-up!" "Copy that, captain." said Captain Terra North. "But you will have to move your group to another area. Our ship's scopes have detected Trade Federation reinforcements headed your way." "Acknowledged, sir." said Zed. "Make your way to the far side of the volcano." continued Captain North. "The Peragus III will touch down there, and extract you and General Reath for immediate evac." "I hear you loud and clear, captain." said Naat Reath, grabbing Zed's comlink. "And we'll be there as soon as possible." "May the Force be with you, master Jedi." said Captain North. Naat lowered the comlink to look at her troops. "May the Force be with us all." she muttered quietly.