The Cuy'val Dar were not a homogeneous group.
Exactly a hundred individuals who trained the future Grand Army of the Republic to become soldiers, only three-quarters of whom were Mandalorians.
But even seventy-five Mandalorians were enough to instill the clones of Jango Fett with Mandalorian traditions and customs.
Later, when the GAR had emerged from the shadows, the Cuy'val Dar, after ten years of secret work, were able to return to normal life.
Some, of course, remained in service, training clone commandos, but it was no longer the same.
In fact, the departure of the Cuy'val Dar from their positions as instructors made it possible to distinguish between "Kaminoan" and "other guys" among the clones.
In the new clones, whether created under the Spaarti or GeNod projects, there was no Mandalorian content.
That is why the Clone Wars veterans never got used to them.
Consequently, various spies and eliminators in the clones' ranks were quite easily exposed.
To Boss, the philosophy and culture of the Mandalorians initially seemed alien, incomprehensible, contradictory.
But over time... he just got used to it.
He liked the language of Mandalore — Mando'a.
It was surprisingly well-suited for war.
For example, the Mandalorians have no one they could call a "hero."
"There is a Mandalorian, and there is a hut'uun," Sergeant Veu used to say. "He who can be called a hero simply must not be a hut'uun."
And in that short but succinct explanation, literally everything is said.
The word "hut'uun" literally translates from Mando'a as "resembling a Hutt."
In other words — a coward.
The gravest insult for a Mandalorian.
And coming from a Mandalorian, too.
Therefore Boss did not know what to say in response to the gratitude of the two pilots, whom the Deltas had literally pulled from under the fire of the enemy battle droids a couple of minutes ago.
"We're no heroes," said THX-0333. "We're the Assault Commandos of the Dominion."
"That's almost a synonym," Scorch joked.
"Six-two," Fixer addressed him.
"I haven't heard my number this often since the incubation tank," he grumbled.
"What about the pilots?" Boss asked THX-0333 over a closed comm link, who was just applying an improvised splint to one of the pilots' broken leg.
Not a clone.
A kid barely twenty-five years old.
Born on Ciutric, mobilized into Prince-Admiral Krennel's army, then went into the reserves when Thrawn came to power.
Transferred to the Defense Forces, but quickly fled from there when he realized what a swamp it was, and the most fun is always with the regular troops.
And now for about a month he has been serving on the Guardian, commander of a pair of interceptors, shot down by a rocket droid while defending an assault gunship.
The leg — the result of a bad landing: upon head-on impact with a hilltop, the cockpit floor deformed and pinned his legs.
The clone of Major Kreb — the second rescued pilot — helped him free himself and dragged him to cover.
Where droids were already advancing after them.
Delta was just passing by, but couldn't resist stopping in.
And the kid told his brief life story while receiving first aid.
"We need a doctor," THX-0333 said over the comlink. "The shin is broken, I see soft tissue damage. There was heavy bleeding, but Kreb-765 applied a tourniquet and packed it. An hour and a half and it'll be too late; tissue necrosis will set in."
The pilot, of course, is better off not knowing.
Currently, the flagship is staying outside the range of the enemy's planetary defense forces, literally in another hemisphere — it moved right before the invasion operation began.
This way they managed to conceal the presence of forces in orbit from the base's central computer.
But that's not a panacea either.
The AI is clearly not an idiot; it understands what's going on.
And it's searching.
It may have already released satellites and additional reconnaissance droids to scan the surface and orbit from the atmosphere.
The Deltas finished off a couple of those, but several others still raced beyond the perimeter.
Given the size of the planet... those droids will reach the right position very quickly.
And they'll immediately figure out what's what in orbit.
If the base has mobile artillery, it will strike the Guardian.
Or it will still manage to summon its master for help.
Though logically, the Occupier should block all incoming and outgoing signals from the system without exception.
Which means they have one hour to break through the enemy units to the hypervelocity guns and silence them.
Only after that will the Guardian be able to deploy transport shuttles with medics and troops over the base.
And even then, it will be very, very bad if using standard assault tactics.
The Deltas learned that from experience.
Their Raider crashed outside the base boundaries and they made it here on their own.
They had to sweat it out, because the approaches to the base were a layer cake of different types of mines.
Automated turrets and camouflaged emplacements come included.
Including J-1 proton cannons of CIS manufacture, not seen for a long time.
And these things can not only gut an AT-AT, but also function as planetary defense weapons.
Which means a simple and grim thought: the reconnaissance droids were not mistaken, and the approach to the lakeshore is truly impassable.
Given how many guns are hidden beneath the lake's surface — the pilots learned that the hard way — it becomes clear why Thrawn wants to attack with a direct landing assault on the base itself.
If they suppress the emplacements on the shore, there is a chance of minimal casualties during the landing.
If they attack from outside the range of the planetary defense guns, they will have to drop almost beyond the horizon, if not farther.
And then the assault will drag on for hours, if not days.
Have you ever tried a frontal assault across a desert as smooth as a Kaminoan's skin, full of surprises?
Boss and the other Republic commandos have tried — Geonosis is not a planet you can forget.
Not bad defense.
The base is in the center of the lake, on an island.
In the lake — emplacements, possibly launch platforms (Boss and his people sketched a couple).
On the lake shores — garbage mounds and ruins, with more deadly traps in them than water on Kamino.
Not to mention the hangars, one of which just blew up thanks to a crazy pilot.
Two and a half standard kilometers from the lakeshore runs a chain of mid-altitudes, hills with hidden large-caliber emplacements and rapid-fire guns.
Beyond them begins a desert, mined and equally unwelcoming, to say the least.
To assault head-on after landing in a safe zone — minefields and artillery from the dominating heights.
And artillery so powerful that it would tear apart any mobile deflector — the commandos also spotted mass driver cannons, not just turbolasers, lasers, proton, and hypervelocity guns.
But an attack from above...
If the hypervelocity guns are suppressed, the Guardian can very well deliver an orbital strike.
With a targeting team on the surface, the bombardment can be pinpoint.
And if the ground team has beskar hearts, they can handle the emplacements themselves.
True, there are still the droids...
Hundreds and thousands of B-2s.
More precisely, they all look like B-2s, but not all of them are.
From flying altitude and at the pilots' speeds, with the lack of thorough study of the hardware, it's easy to confuse them.
The B3 ultra battle droid.
Thirty years had passed since B-3s stopped appearing on the battlefields of the Clone Wars.
And in their current form, these are not the four-meter B-3s, but a two-and-a-half-meter version.
Boss looked over the battlefield spread out before them once more.
The Deltas managed to break through to the hills, fortunately the Raider had crashed only half a kilometer from the hills.
Using their jetpacks, they managed to land without losses, fortunately the ship was so modified that it required no one on board except the four commandos.
They had to endure many tense moments in the air.
But now they knew that the energy shields, borrowed thirty years ago (or even more) from the Separatist BX-series commando droids, could withstand a direct hit from a medium laser cannon.
True, only once, after which the equipment becomes useless.
But the commandos had managed to break through into the dead zone of the guns on the hills — right to their base.
They also found out about the mines — but from the downed pilots.
"Fixer," Boss addressed his soldier. "Give the pilots a rescue beacon and some medical supplies."
The named soldier didn't say a word — silently he unclipped his backpack and started pulling out supplies.
"Scorch — they need ammunition," Boss continued. "Thermal detonators. Plasma and ion."
The demolitions expert obeyed too, but without much enthusiasm.
Separating Scorch from explosive materials was like separating a mother from her newborn child.
Good thing detonators didn't cry or ask for breast milk.
But other types — besides plasma and ion — wouldn't be useful to the pilots for self-defense against battle droids.
Fragmentation and high-explosive rounds were designed for taking out organic targets, but the armored-from-head-to-toe "tin cans" were resistant to that kind of trouble.
You needed skill to hurt such an armored bastard with conventional ammunition.
The commandos had those skills.
The pilots didn't.
Once both pilots were equipped with the essentials that might give them a chance to hold their own against droids in combat, Boss ordered his squad to move out.
Leaving a pair of pilots armed with two blaster carbines and half a dozen detonators at the foot of the hill was hardly something to be proud of.
In the event of another attack, they certainly wouldn't survive.
But Delta had already done more than enough.
Dragging both of them a hundred meters through a minefield practically crawling on their bellies, slithering like snakes to avoid traps or the sights of autocannons, wasn't exactly a dream job either.
It was a shame about the jetpacks, which they'd had to detonate as remote mines to blast a path from their landing zone and reach the pilots taking cover behind the hull of a burned-out interceptor.
But there was no other way right now.
They had a mission that Delta had to complete.
That was exactly why, leaving the pilots' position behind them, they moved to the edge of a small ravine at the very end of the dead zone of the large-caliber guns mounted on the hills.
Now they just had to storm the enemy's position.
After that, they wouldn't have to worry about an attack from the rear and could assault the hypervelocity cannon on the next hill.
The only problem was that they had to climb a steep slope that was practically devoid of cover.
A dozen large boulders were all the four clones could use for their safety.
"Go one at a time," Boss ordered. "First and second go, third and fourth lay down suppressive fire. Then switch roles."
There was no need to repeat such basics for Fixer and Scorch — after nearly forty years, they worked together so well they understood each other without words.
But TNH-0333…
The guy was smart and strong, but Boss didn't know what he was capable of, or his skill level.
"The moment we leave the dead zone, they'll open fire on us," the second sergeant in the squad said.
"Crossfire," Boss confirmed. "That's why we need to work in pairs."
Standard approach for a special squad.
"I suggest we improvise, commander," TNH-0333 said, pulling up a small holographic map on his HUD.
Identical ones appeared in front of the other three soldiers.
"I'll assault here," TNH-0333 pointed. "Draw their fire. You switch your weapons to sniper mode and take out the enemy positions with precision fire. I'll hide behind the nearest boulder, you work. Once we take out the first point, I'll cover you while you move up one by one. From there — keep going to the top the same way."
"We take out the weapon operators and crew — things will get easier," Scorch agreed.
Boss thought for a couple of seconds, then had to agree.
Damn dangerous.
Not by the book at all.
But it would work.
Walon Vau definitely wouldn't have approved.
"So we move…"
* * *
Things went wrong almost immediately.
As soon as TNH-0333 reached the first boulder to hide behind the three-meter giant, it became clear why the planet's defense designer had allowed such a "miscalculation."
And no, it wasn't some natural quirk that had pushed the boulders up from the sand.
They were camouflaged hatches reinforced with artificial stone, and from them emerged battle droids resembling B3s.
The moment you got close to the first one, all the stones slid up in unison, revealing the nightmarish armored beasts behind them.
Their predecessor was the famous B2, but shortly after the start of the Clone Wars, the head of the Techno Union set out to create a new model of super-heavy battle droid for the CIS army.
Just six months after work began, the first prototype was built.
After that, the machine was given the designation B3 and mass production was organized.
The engineers of the Techno Union and Baktoid based the design on the well-tested B2, increasing its size several times over.
But the visual resemblance between the B2 and B3 ended there.
The internal layout of the droids was radically different.
The original machine was powered by two massive leg-supports.
Powerful servomotors installed in them allowed the droid to stay upright despite its high center of gravity.
The B3's optical sensors were mounted in the upper part of the machine.
The droid's "eyes" had a night vision mode.
The droid had a very weak processor and a primitive artificial intelligence.
But at the same time, its presence allowed the B3 to operate without a droid control station.
However, that was nothing compared to what the B3 could "offer" its enemies.
The droid was a "walking arsenal."
A flamethrower was mounted on the B3's right manipulator (arm), and a plasma emitter on the left, sending a stream of high-temperature material at the enemy.
Two movable manipulators with built-in blasters, whose power was equivalent to a heavy army blaster rifle, were mounted on the droid's sides.
A missile launcher using small-caliber guided missiles was mounted on the B3's shoulder.
In addition to this arsenal, Baktoid's weapon-smiths installed a very interesting device on the machine — a version of a tractor beam generator.
However, unlike shipboard projectors, this device didn't attract objects, but rather repelled them.
The device was capable of increasing the droid's mass by 20 times for a short period!
This allowed it to literally trample tanks and speeders, and also to punch through some types of fortifications like a battering ram.
And finally, the B3's last weapons could be considered its upper manipulators.
Powerful servomotors gave the arms tremendous strength.
Of course, the droid couldn't tear apart a tank or pierce an armored speeder in hand-to-hand combat, but it could easily turn a clone that got "under its arm" into a "wet spot" or rip a door off its hinges.
As was to be expected from a droid that hadn't undergone a full testing program, the B3 showed several "teething problems" even at the mass production stage.
The most significant was the unreliability of the projector that increased the droid's mass.
Often when it was activated, the machine would stop dead in its tracks, after which the combat-ineffective droid would be easily shot down with grenade launchers or turbolasers.
Almost all production models suffered from this flaw.
It was only "towards the end" of the Clone Wars that Baktoid's engineers managed to find the source of the problem and fix it.
Besides the improved variant of the base B3 model, a modernized version of the machine appeared during the war, designated the B3-A.
The B3's incurable flaws included its large size.
Its four-meter height made the droid an easy target in open terrain.
That same height made it difficult to use the B3 in building assaults and made its participation in boarding actions impossible.
Because of its flaws, super battle droids like the B3 never became widespread in the CIS forces.
During the Clone Wars, the few B3 units were used as heavy assault droids, clearing a path for infantry and supplementing the firepower of tanks.
They were most often encountered during assaults on fortified bases and cities in Outer Rim worlds, where they fought against the GAR and the armies of local states within the Republic.
However, the first recorded combat use of the B3 was during the battle for Iktotch, a planet in the Expansion Region.
After the Clone Wars ended, the Imperials managed to find and return several hundred captured B3s to service.
These droids were used on Carida as training aids for teaching stormtroopers urban combat tactics.
Back during the Clone Wars, Baktoid's dealers began selling B3s to certain military organizations and states.
The machines were of particular interest to local governments in Outer Rim worlds that couldn't afford to buy full-fledged tanks and armored combat speeders for financial reasons.
Often on such planets, the four-meter giants were the most powerful weapons on the battlefield.
The B3-A, however, was practically no different from the base version, except that it received a highly developed, full-fledged heuristic processor, which raised its intelligence to the level of protocol droids.
The machine's programming was also improved: tactical programs and knowledge of mechanics were added to the memory core.
To increase the machine's survivability, stronger armor was installed on the droid.
This upgrade allowed groups of B3-As to operate autonomously for several days at great distances from their own bases and without any connection to a control center.
This autonomy made it possible to use B3-A units as diversionary-assault groups.
The size of such groups ranged from five to twenty B3-As.
Often, reconnaissance probe droids (probots) were also included in the groups, scanning the terrain along the group's path.
And now TNH-0333 was watching right in front of his nose as a massive boulder slid aside, revealing in its place two rows of battle droids that looked very similar to B2s.
Only they were armed like B3s.
And they behaved like B3-As.
But they were two and a half meters tall.
And they had the emblem of the Galactic Empire on their chests.
"Thirty-third, get out!" Boss commanded over the comlink.
But where to, when there was only open space all around⁉
There was no choice.
The sergeant dove sideways like a fish, away from a stream of fire and a plasma beam.
Slamming his shoulder painfully into the slope, he transformed his DC-17 into a grenade launcher on the fly and sent a round at the enemies emerging from the tunnel.
The explosion scattered five droids like dolls.
But it only killed one.
A laser beam from an automatic weapon struck his shield, which immediately dropped to zero.
He had no more shield buffer — only the Katarn armor.
His three comrades were firing at the enemy with their rifles, forced to duck behind cover after their first shots, pressing themselves against the edge of the ravine to avoid getting plasma bolts in return.
Higher up the slope, more and more tunnels were opening, and consequently, the number of problems kept growing.
TNH-0333 felt the heat from a plasma bolt that missed his head only because the sergeant tried to knock a rising droid off its feet with a slide tackle.
It didn't work.
The "tin can" stood firmly on its feet, and its pair of blaster manipulators were already aiming at the clone.
Fortunately, TNH-0333 had anticipated that his attack might fail according to Plan A.
So he put his whole heart into firing a burst from his DC-17 into the droid's "head," mechanically noting that only the third blaster bolt actually damaged the enemy's electronic innards.
Suffering only a burned hand and a scorch mark on his chestplate, 0333 finished off the enemy, which collapsed and rolled down the slope.
The Delta trio, laying down suppressive fire from all barrels while simultaneously climbing the slope, drew the attention of three of the four remaining enemies.
TNH-0333 didn't hesitate.
His opponent had been hit harder by the grenade blast than the others — its front armor was torn open so badly that electronic "innards" were visible in places.
But its weapon systems were working perfectly.
Small-caliber guided missiles were launched upward from the droid's shoulder-mounted launcher just as TNH-0333 fired a burst into its shattered chest.
The ionized plasma didn't just melt the B3's electronics — it savaged them.
The missiles harmlessly scattered to the sides, detonating in the sand.
The explosion of each wasn't powerful, but even that would have been enough to tear an organic fighter apart.
"Forward!" Boss appeared beside him, his armor also covered with scorch marks from enemy hits.
Scorch and Fixer moved behind them.
The Deltas climbed into the open tunnel, grateful that the stone wasn't sliding back into place.
They had no intention of holing up there either — just to check their weapons and let their shields recharge.
"When we get back, I'm asking for better deflectors," Fixer declared, transforming his rifle into a grenade launcher.
"Won't protect against the plasma from their cannons," Boss countered.
The squad readiness icons flashed green two seconds later.
"Moving out."
Staying in this stone trap with no other exit was pure suicide.
Especially considering the enemy still had missiles.
The space in front of them had turned into absolute hell.
Plasma, flamethrowers, explosions from small-caliber missiles, blaster flashes.
Sinking ankle-deep, sometimes deeper, into the sand, the Deltas fought their way to the top, pelting their nearest (and most dangerous) enemies with grenades and detonators.
After finishing off two crippled but not destroyed enemies from the next group of five, the Deltas, marked with dozens of glancing scorch marks, took another two-second breather.
Ammunition was running out before their eyes — they had just over eight detonators left, and three grenades each in total.
And they had brought double the standard load!
"Regular stormtroopers would be crying blood here," Scorch said without a smile, assembling a more powerful bomb from a detonator and a Tibanna container.
"Why no missile barrage?" TNH-0333 asked.
"The targeting system won't allow a strike on a covered position," Boss reported. "The software is standard B3. As long as those stone doors are above us, they can't see where we are. But if they flank us…"
Suddenly, a grayish, undoubtedly molten liquid began to flow from above, from the stone.
"They're melting the rock!" Fixer realized.
"Had enough rest?" Scorch handed each of his comrades a modified bomb. "Now it's time to attack, grenadiers."
"Four bombs won't be enough to take them all out," Boss noted, but he still took the explosive.
"Well, it's not windy right now," Scorch observed. "And the only 'add-on' to their scanners is night vision…"
The Delta commander caught on immediately.
"It's about to get a little dusty here," he grinned under his helmet and headed for the exit first, carefully avoiding contact with the stream of liquid, molten rock.
"Sergeant," TNH-0333 drew his attention. "We're fighting the base's electronic brain, right?"
"Yes."
"Then I have a suggestion," the second sergeant activated the map on his HUD and pointed to a spot opposite their original target. "Let's set a course for the second cannon, sergeant… It's located higher than the first. Plus, it has an excellent view of the planetary defense positions. I don't know where the other two guns are, but the second one can be used to destroy the turret compartments of the first cannon. And it'll be easier to pick off droids from there. It's simple tactical analysis, the most obvious one in our situation. We'll play on that. But we'll need smoke grenades. All we have, sir."
"Elaborate, sergeant," Boss said, intrigued.
* * *
If the first time was unexpected, then after the second time, the enemy figured out the reason for Boss's love of rocks.
No one was hitting them from the desert side; the rock protected them from attacks from the ridge — to destroy the commandos, they would need to flank them.
And come under precision fire.
Attacking with compact missiles required constant telemetry — and no droid could provide it, since the Deltas had shown from the very beginning that they were decent marksmen.
They accurately burned out the droids' optical sensors — their "eyes" and without visual control, the droids couldn't guide their missiles.
The problem had to be solved.
And the base's artificial intelligence ordered the plasma cutters to melt the stone hatches, to deprive the holed-up clone commandos of their improvised frontal shield.
The base commander figured out that the molten rock would force the clones to stick their noses out of the technogenic pit in the cliff — otherwise, it would just be flooded with molten material.
And there was nowhere to hide in there — five meters deep, sloping floor, no emergency exit.
As soon as the commandos came out, they would be destroyed by the suppressive fire of the cannons, the droids, and…
First, one explosion rang out on the left flank — but it brought nothing except a huge cloud of dust.
The base's electronic brain was just distracted by confirming the destruction of the third of five hidden hangars and ordered all missile droids without exception to attack the enemy bomber.
When it switched its attention back to the ground group, it discovered that two more explosions had sounded one after another — and again, the battlefield yielded no new victims, but the area within a radius of twenty meters was practically shrouded in a dust cloud.
The base's electronic brain didn't know what was happening inside it.
The heuristic protocol sorted through options, but it was too complex.
The computers' processing power wasn't enough to keep track of several battlefields at once.
The hangars were exploding, with the first wave's missile droids trapped inside.
The enemy in the bomber was operating with a clear pattern — attacking the hangars strictly according to their launch sequence.
That is, sealing the very machines that were ready to fly into a new battle with cave-ins.
The second wave was pulled back into the upper atmosphere, where it was taking heavy losses — the enemy's air wing was exhausting them and draining their fuel.
Searching for the enemy's carrier ship yielded no results.
Starships didn't just appear out of nowhere.
The electronic brain understood that the enemy had a concealed ship — or all the starships were using hyperdrives.
But the first option was more likely.
The enemy's damaged but still mobile machines were heading to a Star Destroyer located beyond the range of the hypervelocity cannons.
But the attack had been launched from a different vector.
The attacking gunships were also heading there for rotation.
The second wave was becoming less and less capable of repelling the enemy interceptor offensive.
The fourth hangar exploded.
The bomber was heading for its last target.
It was heavily damaged.
At the same time, reports started coming in about the destruction of combat units on the slope where the commandos were holed up.
The electronic brain ordered the destruction of the enemy, but the droids were essentially firing blind — the dust cloud prevented them from seeing the target, which had stopped returning fire.
The cheap B1s manning the hand cannons couldn't spot the commandos either.
The automatic cannon scanners faced the same problem — the dust cloud filled the entire space from the commandos' shelter to the top of the hill.
The scanners also detected smoke grenades — the dust was settling, but the chemical screen held firm.
The electronic brain ordered all its ground forces in that sector to move to the top of the hill and to lay down suppressive fire with all available weapons on the smoke screen.
The enemy intended to use the smoke as cover to leave their position and move towards hypervelocity cannon number two, mounted three hundred meters to the left of their current location.
That's why there was no return fire from the enemy!
Two hills — and they would be in position.
Analysis indicated that the enemy planned to destroy the hypervelocity cannons first — the ground forces were landed specifically for that purpose.
But why the farther cannon instead of the nearer one?
A tactical analysis of the situation two minutes after the smoke screen began revealed the reason for this choice to the central computer.
Due to the terrain, the second hypervelocity cannon was located on a higher cliff than the first.
The danger of losing the dominant height was averted!
But that was only a tactical advantage!
From the bunker of the second cannon, the enemy could use small arms to deliver precision fire on the positions of its assigned forces!
This was dangerous for the infantry units of B2s and B1s that served as the crews for the proton cannons operating there!
The base's creator hadn't had a full complement of B3-A-2s to form an entire garrison.
This position would allow the enemy to control the approaches to the cannon and deprive the base of one of its two key defensive structures!
Immediately after that, it would have to either redeploy additional droid forces, which were spread out along the base's inner perimeter — on the lake shores — towards…
This could not be allowed at any cost!
The central computer watched as its soldiers swept through the smoke screen after the firing points had delivered a massive strike on the enemy's presumed location.
It observed the terrain only through the optical sensors of its soldiers, via a special encrypted channel.
It had just received confirmation of the destruction of the fifth and final hidden hangar, using the same pattern as before.
This circumstance forced the electronic brain of the central computer to switch to a new task — the enemy pilot's crippled machine had lost one wing and, with its engines smoking and damaged, was crashing onto one of the hills on the southern slope.
The crash turned a long-term firing point of a camouflaged J-1 proton cannon battery into a scorched cavern forty meters deep and a hundred in diameter.
The hill had effectively ceased to exist.
A breach had appeared in the outer perimeter.
Numerous ground unit soldiers were damaged — over a hundred B2 and B1 platforms were out of action, along with fourteen various firing points.
The next message caused the analytical block to hang for several seconds, which was frankly fatal on a battlefield.
[TERM_OVERRIDES]
Additional data from the downed bomber overlaid with the data on the communication loss with hypervelocity gun number one.
Reports also came in from the pursuit team's fighters, stating that the smoke screen was beginning to dissipate due to the shockwave from the enemy bomber's detonation.
No enemy bodies found.
They also weren't found on the approach to gun number two.
Critical error in the logic protocol!
Enemy shelter checked — empty.
No enemy detected along the route to hypervelocity gun number two.
Gun number two not attacked and under full control.
Attention!
Data received from scout droids!
A geostationary orbital zone has been detected where assault gunships disappear and reappear.
Analysis!
Most likely, a camouflaged enemy starship is located at the designated point!
Data refinement!
The camouflaged area is moving toward the base!
Tracking based on enemy small-craft rotation!
Five-minute readiness to fire hypervelocity gun number one!
Allocating additional computing power for gun control!
Deactivating first-wave rocket droids.
Assessment!
Second-wave rocket droids destroyed.
Computing power increasing due to deactivation of third-level defensive measures.
Six enemy interceptor attack points registered.
Update!
Enemy assault gunships spotted, target being tracked!
Update!
Enemy bombers detected one hundred meters above the base!
Update!
Massive proton torpedo launch registered against anti-air and planetary defense systems!
Information update!
Inner perimeter defensive structures attacked!
Camouflaged fifth-level defensive positions attacked!
Analysis!
Fifth level was not engaged in repelling the attack and did not reveal itself!
Analysis!
Camouflaged enemy ship approach detected!
Insufficient computing power!
Partial deactivation of fourth-level defensive measures.
Deactivation of direct control function for B-3-A-2 combat droids in favor of increased computing power for first-level defensive structure control.
Attention!
Remote control disconnection of hypervelocity gun number one detected again!
Check!
Gun number one crew not responding!
Partial control over fourth-level defense platforms restored.
Visual assessment.
Rotation mechanism of hypervelocity gun number one detected as active.
Trajectory calculation.
Error!
Laser designation detected on hypervelocity gun number one's targeting system!
Target identification…
Update!
Fifth-level defensive structures destroyed, enemy small-craft air raids on base ground forces registered.
Casualty tally…
Update!
Firing sector for hypervelocity gun number one established.
Error!
Firing sector unauthorized.
Error — sector is opposite to the camouflaged enemy ship's location.
Directing all combat-capable fourth-level defense platforms to gun number one complex.
Switching to gun number two.
Acquiring target.
Preparing ammunition magazine.
Visual confirmation of hypervelocity gun number one firing!
Error.
Error.
Error.
Power lost to hypervelocity gun number two.
Situation assessment.
Visual confirmation of hypervelocity gun number one firing on an unplanned target.
Critical error in the defense complex.
Scanning!
Hypervelocity gun number one complex locked down, blaster fire observed against fourth-level defense units.
Supplementary information!
An Executor-class Super Star Destroyer detected in planetary orbit!
Identification request sent…
No response received.
Target marked as hostile.
Rotation of bombers and assault gunships that attacked earlier, through the main hangar of the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer, confirmed.
Status updates.
Hostile faction of Imperial affiliation.
Base encapsulation!
Bringing all defensive structures, levels one through ten, to combat readiness.
Operational capacity shortage.
Shutting down rocket droids.
No communication with defense levels two through five inclusive, redistributing control.
Active fourth-level defense platforms detected, autonomous operation disabled.
Reactivating combat platforms from long-term storage.
Assigning combat objective…
Attention!
Uncontrolled power surge detected in hypervelocity gun number two's power core.
Danger!
Danger!
Reactor shutdown initiated to prevent base detonation; hypervelocity gun number two de-energized.
Routing emergency protocol through priority communication channel.
Jammer operation detected.
Troop deployment means detected.
Transport vehicle type assessment…
Hostile Imperial faction confirmed.
Retrying communication session…
Error, jamming system still active…
Situation assessment…
Searching for alternative solutions…
Cross-referencing… probability analysis…
Directing all combat-capable units to hypervelocity gun number one complex.
Attempting communication session…
* * *
"What… was that?" Dia Passik pointed without hesitation at the blinding stream of white light that had passed through the mountain range towering over the entire base.
"The work of Delta Squad," I explained. "You didn't notice what they did, did you?"
"I was more worried about your heroic bomber," the former Wraith Squadron pilot admitted.
"Captain Bren outdid himself," I nodded. "Five camouflaged hangars and an attack on the enemy battery. Effectively he broke through the defenses where our second-wave bombers and assault gunships simply couldn't reach without losses."
"He sacrificed himself?" Dia Passik was taken aback.
"A Dominion pilot sacrificing himself is something new to you?" I asked in surprise. "Let me remind you, it was precisely self-sacrifice that brought you together with Major Kreb and all of us. Captain Tomax Bren knows better than anyone what it means to sacrifice yourself to save others."
"You speak about it so calmly," the Twi'lek woman shuddered.
"Of course," I shrugged. "We have plenty of Scimitar-class ships..."
"And you'll just clone yourselves new pilots, won't you?" she remarked caustically.
"Not without that," I agreed. "But in Captain Bren's case, it won't be necessary."
"Um... I don't understand..."
"Only the ship exploded. Not the crew. The cockpit of the Scimitar-01 was ejected during its flyover of the enemy's first hypervelocity gun position. The pilot survived, since he was able to do it. But we don't know the details — after the first attack, a significant portion of the Scimitar-01's control systems were damaged and unavailable."
"Oh... Why did he eject over the gun?"
"Because that's where our commando team is."
"But they laid a smoke trail to the second gun!"
"Yes. And they made the enemy believe that was the target. The gun on the dominant height. The enemy organized a counter on one flank, while they returned to the original objective, using the base's central computer's diverted attention. They took control of the gun, cut its communication with the base, and then we played along."
"You sent the Guardian toward the base and finally dropped the camouflage!"
"And thereby gave the central computer some extra analytical problems for a while. I think you noticed the droids work and fly in a rather uniform pattern — that's a sign of full control by the command station. While the base was busy assessing our ship and trying to run an IFF check, Delta Squad used the first hypervelocity gun to destroy the sub-turret compartment of the second gun and cut its power."
"But they could have missed! What if the power cables were somewhere else?"
"The precision of the strike indicates they checked the connection schematics before firing. The first gun is under our control and fully operational; the second is in a conditionally working state. The bombers and assault gunships, guided by the Deltas, precisely destroyed the anti-air and planetary defense systems inside the mountain ridge perimeter around the base, eliminating the need for orbital bombardment. We can land troops, evacuate our downed pilots, and storm the base. General Cain," I addressed the man over the comlink. "Your units may begin the landing."
"Orders understood, sir. Moving out."
I looked into Dia Passik's wide eyes.
"And that's it, Lady Passik," I concluded. "We're ready to move on to clearing this base and uncovering the secrets it holds."
"You're going there personally?"
"Right after the remnants of the garrison's resistance are crushed by my Force-users and the 501st Guard Assault Legion," I confirmed. "If you'd like to see for yourself the reasons why we're fighting the Empire, you can join."
"You... you know what they were guarding so diligently?"
"I know only part of the puzzle. And I have a guess about how the second part was implemented. And I'm absolutely certain it's not a sight for the faint of heart."
The girl swallowed a lump in her throat noisily.
"Maybe I... Can I think about it?" she looked at me with a pleading expression.
"By all means," I agreed, glancing at the tactical monitor. "If you're interested, Major Kreb has landed in his squadron's bay."
"And..."
"You'll be escorted."
"Thank you!" the young woman exclaimed, practically running for the bridge exit.
"Sir," Pellaeon asked quietly. "Is it what I think it is?"
"Sapient beings sometimes need to walk the very edge to show emotion," I intoned, returning to the battle analysis. "We have work, Captain Pellaeon. I want to know everything about the signals the enemy base is sending."
"Yes, sir."