The Wolf Pack

Chapter 26

Turns out having no intel on something didn't mean it wasn't there, just like Cody had pointed out. So having no reports on weaponry in the southern hemisphere didn't mean there wasn't any. Getting through the blockade was hard enough, the 212th lost two gunships and the 501st lost one. That was almost a hundred men we had lost even before landing. I tried my best not to think about it and to close myself off the Force so as not to feel their pain, their agony, their sadness and anger. I held onto the overhead handle even tighter, closing my eyes and forcing myself to breathe even more deeply. Then, I steeled my resolve. They would not die for nothing. I opened my eyes to see T.H. looking at me, he tilted his head as the gunship shook from a nearby explosion. He wondered if I was okay. I looked right into his visor with determination and nodded sharply.

The pilot announced we were two minutes away from the landing site. The blast doors opened and the men retrieved their blasters from where they had been hanging on the ceiling. I had been assigned a single platoon. That was four teams of nine, thirty six men, thirty six lives that were mine to protect. Thirty six soldiers that were mine to lead. The LAAT/i shook one last time as we touched down and the light turned green as the doors opened.

Master Kenobi had already landed with the ground assault troops, and Master Skywalker was right behind me with the tanks and heavy weaponry. We got to work immediately, setting a perimeter and securing it as the rest of the gunships and equipment arrived. We knew we had a limited window of time before the seppies sent their ground forces to try and take us down, so we decided on sending our patrols early.

I did disagree with the plan, we had not been expecting fire this heavy when we first came up with the it, separating our forces now would be suicide. Even more so when we had a single company trying to make a dent in a planet that was already occupied. But I was outnumbered, the mission was to take as much of Felucia as we could before the rest of our forces arrived and the fastest way to do that was to spread out. Master Kenobi understood my reluctance and told me it was not a decision they made lightly, even if it looked like it to me. The entire GAR was being spread past its capacities and we were not the only ones who seemed to be going into a blaster fight with a single bioblade. But orders were orders, and I could only bend the rules so far when it came to protecting the troops' lives. Ahsoka was given the western patrol and I was in charge of the eastern. We each took a platoon and, in no time, we departed.

True to their word, T.H. Waxer and Boil flanked me as we made our way through the Felucian forest. I did my best to expand my awareness of the terrain through the force, feeling any disturbances within the flora or fauna that may give away the presence of droids. Things were quiet, a little too quiet for my liking. It wasn't that I believed we would be jumped upon by droids any time, no. It was the kind of trepidation where you can feel something bad is about to happen, but not to you.

"I want someone monitoring comm chatter, I have a feeling we'll be needed back at central." I said out loud, knowing someone would take the directive.

I could feel the clones' reluctance to leave command with so few troops to guard them, and I understood. I felt the same way. Being sent on a planetary invasion with a single company was suicide, just like the mission to Teth had been. Rex -from what little he had told me- didn't look back on the battle with much joy.

Time passed differently on each mission. The Abregado system was crystal clear in my mind's eye. Christophsis had gone by way too quickly, as if I had been in a fever dream. Orto Plutonia had been a strange mixture between slow motion and real time, some things I remember very clearly and others are a complete blur. This mission seemed like it was going extremely slowly, as if my mind was trying to have me remember everything from the color of the plants to the sound of the soil beneath my boots. I guessed it all depended on how my psyche decided to process the situations I'd been through, but a humanoid's brain was a curious thing for sure.