For the next three weeks, we crisscrossed space, following a chaotic route devised by Li Noriega. How boring it was… But every cloud has a silver lining. We destroyed a couple of CIS squadrons—three or four ships each. The second time, they jumped out of hyperspace right in front of us, broadside at that. Needless to say, their chances were slim.
But what about the pirates and smugglers? Here, the catch was bigger. The very first encounter was heated. We even lost one Pelta frigate in that battle. True, we managed to evacuate most of the crew before the reactor was completely destroyed, but we were unable to save the ship itself. Of course, even though the pirate squadron consisted of converted transport ships, it was numerous and had no intention of surrendering.
Their actions in battle could hardly be called tactics—they relied more on brazenness, pressure, and psychology—but against the military, especially clones, this had little effect. The logical outcome of the battle was their complete destruction. Our prize was two container ships. More precisely, the contents of the containers.
At that moment, my inner hamster perked up—because there were as many as six hundred AT-PT combat walkers packed into one hundred and fifty containers. It was probably an order from some planetary government, intercepted by pirates along the way. Needless to say, I had no intention of returning it to its rightful owner?
After all, the walkers were simply a treat. The AT-PT is the first combat walker of the new generation, which appeared about fifty years ago. One person in an AT-PT can replace an entire infantry squad, and a small detachment of these two-legged machines can replace an infantry company with heavy weapons. It was believed that the AT-PT would be an effective means of close reconnaissance and patrolling. Well, for the "pocket armies" of small planetary states, a light two-legged tank could very well become the backbone of their armored forces.
As I learned from the documentation, the first units were manufactured specifically for the Katana fleet—incidentally, on Kuat. When the fleet's dreadnaughts disappeared without a trace into hyperspace, the Republic Senate once again asked itself, "Does it need a combat fleet, and does it need an army?" As a result, the Senate canceled the purchase of a large batch of AT-PTs for the Republic Justicial Forces, limiting itself to a relatively small series.
And if you ask me—they blundered badly. With a length of four meters and a height ranging from two and a half to four meters, the walker could reach speeds of up to sixty kilometers per hour. It was armed with a heavy double-barreled blaster cannon capable of firing at a range of two kilometers. Its secondary weapon was a 40-millimeter grenade launcher, effective out to five hundred meters with high-explosive fragmentation grenades.
In addition, the walker was heavily armored. It is worth noting that it could withstand any light weapons and, in some cases, even medium ones. But the advantages did not end there. Each "leg" of the AT-PT—also armored, by the way—had an individual suspension, which improved cross-country mobility and smoothness of movement over rough terrain. The movement of the walking machine was controlled by a fairly sophisticated onboard computer that calculated a safe position for each "leg" with every step. Thanks to its self-regulating suspension and high degree of leg mobility, the walker could overcome obstacles up to two meters high and climb or descend slopes with gradients of up to forty-five degrees.
The only real drawback was the grenade launcher's limited ammunition capacity—only eight grenades—but the load capacity allowed additional cartridges to be carried. The catch was that they weren't particularly easy to swap in combat. You had to spread your legs, lean forward, flip a switch (the charger would slide out from under the seat), remove the empty cartridge, turn around, toss it behind the seat, grab a new one, insert it, flip the switch again… A pain in the ass, in a word.
Yet these not-particularly-attractive machines were far superior to the AT-RT and even the AT-XT. Yes, the latter has a shield, but the AT-PT boasts better armor and more powerful weapons. On top of that, it can significantly reduce its silhouette.
After giving instructions to the clones to master the new technology, I made a note about these machines. Perhaps we'll be able to order a large batch…
And those weren't the only trophies.
In addition to a few tens of thousands of credits, we seized a shipment of weapons aboard a small transport. Naturally, there were no documents for it. Alongside several hundred blasters, we found forty BD-1 Cutter vibro-axes manufactured by SoroSuub. They were produced in large quantities even before the start of the Clone Wars. The BD-1's main drawback was its relatively high cost. After all, five hundred credits is real money… For comparison, a decent blaster pistol cost only twice as much. And there are few craftsmen who use such weapons nowadays. It's inhumane, besides—it leaves a such bloody mess behind…
Still, free is free. We'll find a use for them. You never know…
I was especially pleased by two small, elegant blaster pistols that ended up with Ahsoka. It really wasn't fitting for her to be running around with a DS-17…