Star Wars: The Clone Wars Elements

by Barrobroadcaster

Ep. 2 Ch. 3: The Base

"I sure could go for a recharge and an oil-bath. This jungle is not easy on my joints."

...

The droid in the lookout tower scanned the horizon again, then looked down at his rifle. "Do you think I should recalibrate my rifle again?" He had recalibrated his rifle thirty-eight times since his shift began that rotation.

He looked up again, out at the jungle outside the compound's perimeter. "What do you think it's like out there on patrol?"

...

He leaned forward, hand shielding the sun glare from his eyes as he peered into the distance. "I can barely see anything from up here. When do you think we can head back inside?"

...

No one answered him. Battle droids tended to talk to one another in groups and even pairs, chatting on and getting distracted from their duties. Not only did this make them hard to manage, the talking, interacting and gesturing and posturing like organics actually consumed their power supplies faster, forcing them to recharge more often and taking more energy. So there were multiple reasons garrison commanders needed to get their droid troops to just shut up and do their jobs and one of the ways was to assign them solo tasks or posting them on guard duty alone.

Not that it helped; some of the droids were perfectly fine talking to themselves endlessly for hours and hours, like the guard at the outpost's south entrance.

"I sure could go for a recharge and an oil-bath. This jungle is-"

*BENG-ENG*

The droid's head and the antenna on his power supply(the backpack-like attachment on his back that contained communications gear and the battery) took direct and simultaneous hits, both vaporizing. The body of the droid fell forward and landed on the floor of the guard tower.

Vok's feet landed next to the droid a second after the droid landed. A quick visual scan of the outpost from his visor was enough to update his HUD's tac-display with the general layout of the base. Speed was life. The base had a general layout; prefabs were set up around the base with storage containers, forming rows large enough for two droids to walk through shoulder-to-shoulder. Larger pathways cut a cross-section through the base for vehicles to access but nothing large like an MTT. Two large, raised landing platforms were at the back of the base with a control tower between them, a small landing platform at the back of the tower had space enough for a shuttle.

That was the surface level, anyway. Beneath the buildings, they could have built anything. Or nothing. The whole base could be rigged to blow at any moment and that was the problem with fighting droids. They were expendable so blowing them all up wasn't a problem for their commanders; it was just a problem for anyone nearby at the time. Vok needed to know the layout of the base for one reason: to determine how many droids it might have.

He guessed about a hundred-twenty. Minus the three he already took out, so somewhere still north of a hundred. Time to get to work.

He vaulted down from the guard tower and over the wall, landing on both feet, blasters in hand. Rising up, he blasted two droids that were walking in from the right. Didn't watch them fall, didn't watch his shots even hit them, no time. Squeeze triggers, move feet. He clung to the shadows of the buildings where he could, but there wasn't much shade. Two more droids coming from the left-side of the intersection ahead of him, dropped them both.

"One is in the base."

"Three is east. Green for heavy."

"...shhnn... nnnn..."

"Repeat, Two."

"..."

Static. Something was wrong. His last transmission, he was hanging from a transport that was landing. That might be where he was, it might not. The mission had to come first and that meant suppressing the feelings he had for his brother and securing the base best he could.

Two more droids, Supers this time. They would take more than a shot. Fortunately, they were a bit easier to evade because their heads could only see forward. He clung to a wall, froze. The footsteps of the droids were heavy, deliberate strides. He saw their shadows, saw their bodies twist as they scanned the area and quickly ducked into a doorway, the same doorway they came out of. It closed behind him and the two Super Battle Droids were none the wiser, just how he liked it. Even if they saw the smoldering bodies of their comrades, their programming usually wasn't smart enough to put two and two together.

The small building one was one of the multiple prefabs the Seps had set up in the base. Small, cramped, efficient. Didn't smell like droids though, no oil or battery or carbon-scent to the air. Odd. Vok crept in, turned into the man room of the tiny prefab and discovered why.

*Pyow-pyow!*

He barely had enough time to set his blasters to stun when he saw them, but his tactical mind took precedence. Two locals had been sitting at a tiny table eating. Stunned, one of them was now slumped against the wall while the other went face-first into her meal. Vok kept his blasters drawn.

"Encountered locals. Stunned two."

"Civs?"

"Negative. Treat as hostile."

There were no binders, no markings on them, they were wearing plan clothes- white lab coats, when most of the Equestrians didn't wear clothes. One was male, one female, unarmed. He pocketed a keycards off them both, Separatist keycards. Not prisoners, then... collaborators. He'd heard the reports that locals were cooperating with the Seps and now he had confirmation.

More questions, no answers and now they were missing a man. But now, Vok had access to the base and he intended to use it to find both. The control tower was his next destination.

Exiting the building, he repeated the process that got him there, faster. Stick to the shadows, drop any droids he saw.

*Pyeng-pyeng*

Two more dead, turned at an intersection and-

*Pyeng-pyeng*
*Pyeng-pyeng*
*Pyeng-pyeng*

He continued this pattern up and down the lanes of the outpost and very soon, it had very few droids left in it. None left to patrol the base, which meant it was only minutes before they went on alert when the droids missed their check-in. By now, there was nothing between him and the control tower. His weapons, still hot from firing them so many times in succession, he kept drawn.

CIS Outpost, control tower

The shimmering blue hologram did nothing to distort the image of Count Dooku. His image, his striking features, everything Dr. Amber Afterglow had heard about him was true. The man strong enough to take on the entire Jedi Order, the whole Galactic Republic, the rumors about him were almost too astounding to be believed. That he could shoot lightning from his fingertips like no other Jedi, that he fought and nearly defeated Master Yoda himself. Although clearly old and grey-haired, he was a stark contrast to the soft spoken, overly-sweet Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and his Senate of peons. Dr. Afterglow couldn't help but admire him immediately.

"You are to be congratulated, Dr. Afterglow. The results have been very impressive thus far. Indeed, you have surpassed our expectations."

The bronze mare gave a slight bow to the count. "Thank you, Count Dooku. I was happy to perfect a more efficient method than that of Dr. Uthan and Dr. Vindi. Viruses are so... messy and unreliable."

The count did not acknowledge her mentioning of her predecessors or their work. If he thought anything of her criticism, it was imperceptible, so much so Dr. Afterglow almost found herself embarrassed for the comment. Almost.

"We will have need of your expertise in the future. But our operations on Equestria are in jeopardy of being discovered."

"I assure you, Count Dooku, our work here will continue as-"

"You and your work will be relocated to our main base in that sector. Orchid Station is to be shut down immediately and you are to purge all project data at once. A transport will arrive shortly to take you to the base."

"I... understand." She was taken back a bit, but knew better than to question him. She was valuable to the CIS but this was war and anything could happen. They had to be careful, she had to be careful.

Equestria was important to the Confederacy. There was a lot they could do there, a lot to be gained. And it worked for Equestria, too, at least in the eyes of ponies like Dr. Amber Afterglow. The magical properties of this world and its inhabitants... all ripe for exploitation. Spells, potions, crystals- so many things entirely unique to Equestria and they could benefit the rest of the galaxy. They could uplift so many worlds forgotten by the Republic and bring the rest of them to their knees.

Then... then she could rub it all in the faces of those who kicked her out of the Manehattan Science Academy. The Royal Family, her own daughter, all would be made right. In due time. In due time.

Dooku turned to the Tactical Droid next to her. "Commander, arm charges at once."

"By your command."

The hologram of Count Dooku turned one last time and met her eyes, if only briefly. Eyes with such fire, such passion. He looked like he could set fire to the entire Senate building, raze Coruscant to the core. Perhaps they would. In due time.

Dr. Afterglow moved to the main computer console in the control tower and retrieved the scrubber disk. As with most installations that held vital data, scrubber disks were kept to wipe computers and data terminals quickly. Once inserted, their programs ran automatically, wiping any system clean within seconds. Of course, a good enough slicer could reassemble the data one bit of code at a time. It was a long and tedious process that only the most desperate paid great deals of money to go through. And reassembling code from molten slag, well, not even a Jedi nor an alicorn could accomplish that.

She raised the disk and was about to insert it into the terminal slot when-

*PYENG!*

"Freeze."

It seems like she had even less time than she'd thought. She turned back to face him- a clone, of course.

"Step away from the terminal."

The clone wore strange armor- modified, clearly, and one of those strange half-skirts they liked to wear. He held two pistols, larger than the standard ones in both of his hands and both of them were aimed at her head. The Tactical Droid was slumped against the wall next to the turbolift door- its body, anyway. The head lay on the opposite side, severed at the neck and its eyes dim.

The doctor did as he said. "Thank goodness you're here. The droids, they took over and they've been forcing me to-"

"Lose it, Sep."

Her brow lowered and an in instant, she went from looking up at him a feigned awe and relief to looking down at him despite his taller stature. Literally dropping the act, she now looked down at him, past the two pistols he had trained on her, and eyed him up and down.

"Ah, one of the elite ones. I was expecting a quartet of the deluxe models, but you... very impressive."

"The jamming signal- where's it coming from?"

She scoffed at him. "Wouldn't you like to-"

*Pyewf* And he shot a bolt through the window behind her.

"I won't ask again- where is the jamming signal?"

A sly smile dawned on her face. "Everywhere. You jackboot thugs haven't seen a planet like this before. But I'd be more than happy-"

Vok fired a stun bolt aimed at her. Better than she deserved but the Republic had rules. Even if they didn't make sense, those rules were trained into his DNA. Couldn't shoot an unarmed civ... but if she'd already set the place to blow, he could leave her stunned to save himself. Jedi wouldn't do that, but he wasn't a Jedi.

Except the shot never hit her. A shield, like a ray shield only sparkly appeared between her and him, as if she had a portable generator on her. Which, in a way, she did.

"...to show you," she finished.

He fired again, twice. The shield absorbed both stunning rings of energy. Outside, on the landing platform, a Sheathipede-class shuttle landed alongside a pair of MAF gunships.

"I do believe that's my ride," Dr. Afterglow said, grinning. The door to the tower opened and Super Battle Droids marched in, weapons drawn. "Equestria has more power than the Republic and the Jedi, than even the whole galaxy is ready for."

Vok fired at the droids, got as low as possible and moved to the only cover in the room available- the doorway he just came out of. "Not all of Equestria is with the Seps! Only a matter of time before we figure you all out!"

"Enough time to make your chancellor regret investing in a clone army," she said. "Detonate the charges. Farewell, elite model."

Explosions rocked the base, rocked the control tower, sent shockwaves through the trees in the jungle surrounding it sending flames, smoke and debris in every direction. Vok's vision filled with flames, and then the world around him fell.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Nicely done

[Barrobroadcaster]

11867323
Are you actually reading any of it or just commenting to show support?

[Bronycommander]

11867677
reading, of course

[Barrobroadcaster]

11867692
Well I do appreciate it either way. Reading preferred, of course, but was curious. I'm writing this mostly for myself and other fans of the Clone Wars games. Wanted to see more of that era and really wish we could get decent Star Wars games again. I'm disappointed we never got a game where we could properly fly a V-19.

[Bronycommander]

11867715
you tell me. i am happy we got the classic battlefront again, but wish they hadn't messed it up so much with the bugs

[Barrobroadcaster]

11867717
I unlocked everything, got all the achievements in a couple days except Marshal Commander and NOW they broke the Awards and Medals so I don't even have all my cool weapons or my Technician bonus which makes vehicles more viable against chip damage. I am waiting for them to fix it, hoping they do very, very soon.

[Bronycommander]

11867731
you and me both, i only care for singleplayer anyway. I am german and its rather odd: the houral uses the german voie but chatter and anncouncers are in english

[Barrobroadcaster]

11867748
Unfortunate and a missed opportunity. If the language can be changed, it should apply to all language in the game and lines, not just the ones considered important. Yet another thing modders could fix and probably have, with more faithful care and attention to detail than the actual devs that won't.

[Bronycommander]

11868115
You tell me, i cant even understand how one can mess up to mix 2 languages like that. Though its little issue, given i am well in english but still.

And dont take this the wrong way but after learning the lore behind the clone wars, i always felt conflicted which side to play in battlefront