Blurred Sides (COMPLETE)

7.4.2

When the Separatist ship appeared on the dash in the command center, it was Depa who took the initiative and sounded the alarm. The troopers started scrambling to engage the defenses, but there was only so much to do. A lot of the defenses were activated the moment the alarm sounded.

The leader of the base, Commander Wall (named for his proficiency in defense, particularly), had been speaking with Master Billaba when the cruiser dropped out of hyperspace. Once he realized what was happening, he immediately started ordering the troopers to their defensive stations. The only trouble with this was that half of the troops he now had, due to the reinforcements, didn't have defensive stations yet.

"General Billaba," he said, putting on his helmet, "can you man the control center?"

"Certainly, Commander," she replied, and started directing traffic. "Go organize your clones."

He dashed off to assign the new troopers to their spots. Depa turned her full attention to the command center.

"I want to know about any and all ships coming from that cruiser. We need to know what we're going up against." She looked over the shoulder of a clone and watched the screen that showed the cruiser at its orbiting altitude. Many ships were exiting the hangar, but the identifications were foreign to her.

"Sir!" A clone called out. "They're bringing out tanks. A lot of them, by the looks of things."

"Send out our own to meet them," she ordered. "We can play their game." She activated her comlink and connected to Commander Wall. "Commander, we have tanks incoming."

"Understood, General," He replied, and he turned to the shines he had just ran across. "You men know how to man the tanks?"

"Yes, sir!" They all declared, a little excited for some action.

"Get to the garages and escort them out, then. Don't let those clankers touch the base!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Was the eager reply, and they all ran off in the opposite direction of the garage.

Wall just chuckled. Eventually, the troopers came back and apologized. "Sorry, sir. Wrong way."

Wall laughed. It was always good to bring on a batch of shinies every once in a while. They brought new energy for everyone, as well as a few laughs.

He sent other groups to various posts around the shield to guard it while the offensives met the Separatists. Off in the distance, he heard the faint roar of motors and knew that tanks were on their way out.

"General, the tanks are on the move."

Depa forwarded the message to the clone managing the shield from the command center. An opening in the ray shield appeared in front of the tanks, and they began filing out. Depa watched them for a minute, before turning to look at the incoming tanks from the Separatist cruiser. Carriers were dropping them off about half a kilometer from the edge of the Republic base, and there were a lot of them. Depa had never seen so many tanks all at once. What is their move here? she thought.

The Separatist equivalent of gunships were landing next to the cruisers, but they held droids instead of clones. They started unloading by the tens, and before long, hundreds of droids were on the ground, walking next to the tanks. One of the airlocks opened, and a particularly large droid exited the ship. General Grievous. Of course.

Depa was slightly confused. Grievous wasn't known for using so many tanks at once, but it didn't matter. If she didn't hold off the Jedi killer he would rip apart the clones. She gave last-minute orders to the command center before dashing out the nearest exit. She ran and jumped off of the platform, leaping through the to join the clones making their way out of the safety of the ray shield.