Rescue On Devaron

by FourShadow

Chapter 3: The Temple

Author's Note:

Apologies for the long wait, I was trying to get myself together for this, hopefully this was worth the wait!

As the group kept marching on, they were starting to get closer to the temple. Their feet splashed through open water that was near the little waterfall as they paraded about. The water was nice and cool, but they couldn't stay in there forever.

"This jungle is massive. Where even is this outpost?"

"We shouldn't be too far now," Bolt said.

"But how--

"Shh!" Derpy said, getting them to stop talking. "Listen."

All of the clones stopped, hearing crunching sounds. It wasn't coming from them. It was all coming from up ahead, deeper in the forest.

"Everyone, up the trees, now!" Derpy whispered, full of fear.

Following her orders, everyone scurried up the trees and clinged to the tops of them, sitting on the branches and arms. A few climbed up higher, taking cover within the darkness of the leaves, while others just held on tight like animals. Just down below, there was a small squad of commando droids who marching through the clearing.

Derpy raised her finger up, shushing everyone. All the clones kept silent and looked down below, staring at the commando droids. The droids slowly stomped around, looking for any sources of noise or anything that stood out. But they didn't see a thing. Not a presence or sight that they could see.

After a second of waiting, the two commando droids stomped away, back to their positions like before. Once they were gone, Derpy and her troops got out of the trees.

"That was too close," Derpy sighed.

"You know, we can always take them out, General," Mohawk said.

"I know, but what if they weren't alone? They could have had more droids with them, and I didn't want to risk the mission of us getting caught," Derpy replied.

"Point taken," Mohawk replied.

The group ran through the jungle for five more minutes or so, until Derpy ordered them to a halt. Everyone crouched down and took some cover behind some trees or bushes or even the plants. Derpy and Commander Bubbles kept only up to their eyes out in the open as they looked around. A few battle droids were posted outside the front entrance of the temple, unfortunately, they were all commando droids.

"We're not going to be able to pass through so easily," Bubbles noted.

"I think we're gonna have to get them to go away. I've got an idea," Derpy said raising her hand up. "Wait on my command, I'm going to get them away."

Looking ahead, she found something to use as a throwaway. Lifting a single rock, she levitated it up into the air, and tossed it far enough to be out of sight. It crashed somewhere over on the left side of the jungle, away from the temple's doors.

The commando droids turned their heads, hearing the sound. The commander of them urged them to follow him, and started to walk towards that direction. Soon as most of them were gone, Derpy and Bubbles slowly rose up from their cover and started making their way to the entrance. A few of the other clones soon followed, staying together as a group trying to get out as fast as possible.

"Whew," Derpy wiped her forehead. "That was close. Now lets just--"

A thud sound hit the forest that they had just emerged from. Everyone looked back, and Derpy's heart sank. The commando droids emerged from their investigation.

"Oh no! I thought it worked, I thought they were gone," Derpy panicked.

"Looks like we might have to fight, General," Commander Bubbles said.

The leading commando droid looked at the temple doors, seeing the group of clones and the obvious Jedi Master in front of them. "Blast them!" The commando droid opened fire, and the clones ducked from the shot.

"Okay, change in plans! Get them!" Derpy panicked. With quick thinking, she reached for her lightsaber, only to fumble trying to grab it. She bounced it around in her hands like it was a ball until it dropped on the ground. She quickly reached down and grabbed it, blushing harshly at the clones. This was not how she wanted to start her first mission.

But as she looked back to the droids, she gave a confident look and ignited the weapon, letting it's green glow become visible in the light. She jumped up, performing an acrobatic lunge into the air and successfully landing on her feet, for once not feeling embarrassed.

The first battle droid pointed it's weapon at her and she prepared to block every attack. Her lightsaber was gripped to block attacks from the left, and then blocked from the right. With her chance, she used the Force to push the battle droid away until it was tossed into the ravine.

Commander Bubbles hustled up, charging at the pack with his twin pistols, firing with the targets in sight. Some clones joined him as well, all running to get into positions to fight. Coil and Fuse stood close together, slowly walking towards them like a rolling tank.

"Behind you!"

A battle droid was about to shoot them in the backs, that is until trooper Bounce held up his gun and shot the droid's head enough to throw it's body down. Two more emerged from the jungle, thankfully thwarted by shots from Troopers Stretch and Patch.

Once they were down, Derpy put her lightsaber away.

"That was too close," Derpy said with some fear. "I hope those were all that was out here, or else, our mission just got a lot harder. Now..." she looked up at the temple doors. They were big doors, almost a giant's size! "How are we going to get inside?"

"I think I can get us through, General," Fuse proposed. He pointed towards a small metal box connected against one of the walls. "I think that's how we can get inside. If I can cut the power to the doors, we might be able to break through."

"Well... okay, I suppose," Derpy said, unsure of her choice. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Yes, General."

The clones raised their weapons, forming a circle around Fuse while he worked on the controls. Derpy as well joined them, keeping a lightsaber up in defense.

"Lets see, cut this wire... connect these... and... there we go!"

Fuse backed away from the box, and everyone joined. The steel doors slowly began to slide open, opening with a loud grinding screech. Derpy's face scrunched up and she cringed at the noise until the doors stopped making that awful noise.

"... I really hope no one heard that," Derpy gulped. "Come on, lets go."

Everyone huddled up and they ran inside.

If anyone was to walk inside the temple, they would say the outside is a complete lie. The outside looked ancient, but the inside was completely modern. High tech panels and support beams held up to keep the entire area stable, light fixtures were all over the ceiling. The whole place was fit with technology.

"At least they decorated the place for guests," Coil joked.

"Though something kind of strikes me the wrong way," Master Hooves responded. "If this place is meant to hold Master Sandalwood, wouldn't there be more guards? Security doors, Storm Guards, traps?"

And speak of the devil, as they turned down the other corner there was more battle droids standing around, talking to one another until they caught sight of the unwanted visitors.

"Uh oh, more of them!"

"There's always more clankers," Bolt said, raising his weapon.

"Blast them!" The battle droid ordered.

Derpy grabbed her lightsaber, igniting it again. She blocked the first few shots, deflecting them to hit the sides of the walls. Troopers immediately took cover along the corners and sides, taking cover.

Commander Bubbles raised a pistol and fired multiple shots while Mix and Coil kept pulling out from the sides, firing their own pot-shots at the 'clankers'. Bolt and Bounce performed a roll, both of them firing in unison, taking two battle droids with them. Only six of them remained, they were sure they could shoot them down--

"General! Look out!"

Derpy checked back and gasped. Super battle droids had appeared and had joined the party.

Mohawk, Tap, and Stretch moved up and stood close by Derpy, shooting at the super battle droids that were coming down the other hall. They locked on target, but they barely made any dents in them until only a few shots after. Thankfully they were much slower.

"Keep firing!" Mohawk shouted, ducking from another laser blast.

"We can't stay here, we have to keep moving! Does anyone have any grenades or electro-bombs we can use?" Derpy shouted.

"Wait a minute, General!" Coil shouted. He reached into the backpack he had brought in, pulling out some small grenades. "Droid poppers!"

"Good thinking! Now chuck them, hurry!"

Coil stepped up, throwing a popper at the super battle droids. It rolled underneath the super battle droid, beeping rapidly. They didn't even look down until it was too late. Once it stopped beeping, it exploded, sending tons of electric volts through all of the super battle droids, shutting down their power. Then down the other direction, Coil activated the droid poppers and tossed them towards the others. Soon as the poppers were away, they went off, eliminating all of the battle droids in the process.

Now that the halls were clear of battle droids, Derpy put her lightsaber away.

"Hopefully that's the last of them for now," Derpy sighed. "But just in case, I think it's best we handle the rest of the mission without getting caught. Sneak around, stealth mode, um... spying?" Derpy's cheeks went red.

She couldn't tell what kind of faces everyone was making under those masks, but she could only imagine they were staring at her with confusion and or cringe.

"I think that's a good idea, General. Who knows how packed this station is."

"Yeah but where do we go now?" Coil asked.

Derpy looked down the left hall. Then down to the right hall. Turning around and facing the troops, she gave a confident look, or at least tried to give a confident look. "Commander, you take half a squad and go down that wing, I'll take some troops with me this wing, so we can cover more ground. But don't split up any further, I don't want to lose any of you.

Commander Bubbles raised his pistols up. "Understood sir. Mix, Patch, Coil, Fuse, you go with General Hooves. The rest of you, follow me."

And so the two groups split and went on their way.

---

Commander Bubbles and his team walked down more of the corridors, all the while looking around. There had to have been something semi-interesting around.

"For a temple holding a Jedi prisoner, you'd think they would have more security," Trooper Bounce stated.

"I think we might be walking into a trap," Tap replied.

"If we are, then stay on guard. We can't let anyone take us off guard," Commander Bubbles replied.

Upon hearing that order, Stretch turned around to look. Of course, he knew he wasn't told to immediately look, but he wanted to check just for their sake. But as Stretch checked behind them, the doors in front of him slammed shut, separating him from the group. Only the sound gave him any indication. "What the!?" He reached for the controls, but none of them were functioning properly. No access allowed, almost every time. "Agh, blast!" Stretch shouted, pounding on the door. But wait! His comlink, he could still communicate with them! Raising up his comlink and taking cover, he spoke. "Commander, come in, please!"

"Stretch! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Commander. But I don't think I'm going to be going the same direction, the doors shut down on me. Can you open them?"

He waited for a moment, listening for them on the other side.

"Blast! The doors aren't responding!"

Stretch snarled for a moment. "Great. Commander, I'll try and find another way around, I'm sure there's some vents I can sneak through."

"Alright, but stay safe. Don't let anyone see you," Commander Bubbles replied.

"Yes sir," Stretch said. "I'll meet up with you all shortly!"

Stretch held his gun up and began to run down the right hall, now entering stealth mode.

As Stretch went on his way and Derpy's group kept exploring, Commander Bubbles led his group down the hall, keeping steady and slow. Everyone kept looking around every corner, every square inch, every possible spot that battle droids or worse could appear from.

Bounce kept his eyes focused on every square inch around him, making sure he wasn't going to get shot from out of nowhere. "You think the general will survive this one?"

"If she's smarter than our former generals, she will," Mohawk replied.

"She'll make it out of this one, I'm sure of it."

But just as they were going down another hallway--

"Whoa there," Commander Bubbles said, halting his men. Everyone looked forward and raised their weapons. Right before their eyes were battle droids. All of them, in pieces. Not disassembled, but sliced up, like someone had cut through them. But what was stranger was they looked a little fresh, like someone had just gone through them while they were there.

"Well now this got interesting." The commander tapped the button on his wrist comlink. "General, come in."

"What is it?"

"General, a question if I may. Did you any chance run into battle droids yet?"

What they didn't see was as they were talking, Derpy and her small group of soldiers were leaning against cracks and sides of corridors, hiding from some commando droids who were stomping on by. "We did, but we just snuck by them. I'm trying to keep us as hidden as much as possible. Why?"

"We're standing in front of some fallen battle droids. And I don't think this is was from any of our men. The attacks, it looks like it had been done by a lightsaber."

Derpy was confused. "That can't be Master Sandalwood. Could it? Wouldn't an alarm go off if he escaped?"

"It's possible. But I just thought I would let you know, general."

"Okay. Thanks for the update. Are all of your troopers accounted for?"

"All except for Stretch. We got separated, but he's looking for a way to reach us again. That or he's heading towards your group, ma'am."

Derpy was about to panic for a moment until Commander Bubbles spoke on the last statement. "Good. And the troops you sent with me are still all alive and counted for. Let me know if you find something. Derpy out.

The commander then turned around to look at his soldiers. "Alright boys, now we don't know who made this attack, but we should consider the possibility of Master Sandalwood has escaped. We don't know if this is true or not, but we must keep searching."

"What if it's not Master Sandalwood? What if someone else is here?"

"It could be possible, but we don't know anything, Tap. But right now, we should keep moving," the Commander said. "We have a job to do, now lets get moving!"

The clones got back on their feet keeping up the search, not realizing what would lay ahead of them...

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Nice work! Good to see some action in this chapter. ^_^

Also, Derpy fumbling her lightsaber was hella cute.

[BradyBunch]

Holy crap, it's a sith lord!

Also, Derpy lightsaber action was the best part of the whole thing. Genius!

[BradyBunch]

Also also, the 2003 clone wars was as awesome as the 2008 one. Combine the storytelling and character work of the 2008 series with the action and artwork of the 2003 series, and you get perfection.

[Shadowsnake89]

Oh boy. Derpy not making the best first combat impression and it seems the squad has gone through their fair share of commanders. No telling who it is that's loose in this place. Don't think it's Sandalwood or the base would have been going crazy once he got loose.