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OUTER RIM TERRITORIES, SUOLRIEP SECTOR, SALEUCAMI SYSTEM, S-8, SALEUCAMI - 303 Days ABG
Sometimes the war was slow. Sometimes, they spent weeks at a time in hyperspace or just orbiting around planets, either because they didn’t get the clearance to engage in time, or because they’d arrived too late and there was nothing left to salvage.
The advantage of being a siege company was that they weren’t really being moved around too much. Not were they needed as often as other units specialising in other things, like the attack battalions. But often times, if there wasn’t anything to besiege, they’d be ordered to do other things.
Like tracking kriffing psychotic clankers with anger issues and a bad cough around a planet.
Fencer understood the necessity of stopping Grievous. He was the head of the droid army and one of the best strategists the Separatists had. He’d be incredibly hard to replace once he fell. So it made sense to him why this operation was so urgent.
Why the Jedi had wanted a siege company, of all things, to help, that didn’t make sense to him.
Sure, there were far worse things. The weather was relatively good, and the nature was…enjoyable, most of the time. So long as there weren’t any raging bushfires or the local fauna didn’t attack them, Saleucami was pretty okay. Luckily, at least the plants weren’t hostile. As far as they knew, at least.
Yes he’d lost a lot of men, by his standards, but that was to be expected. They were at war and soldiers died. That’s about the most natural thing there was to a clone. At least they’d gone out fighting for the Republic. Most of them.
People like Drill, who’d been actually killed by one of the enemy, died an honorable and good death. They’d been prepared their entire lives for the fact that they’d give their life, if necessary. That was okay, because they’d been conditioned to think that way.
Dying to a Nexu, however, sounded much more horrible. Especially since these things weren’t known for killing instantly. He’d heard the screams of Blank’s men, even if only very briefly. None had ever screamed that way when they’d been shot down by a blaster.
Drill was going to be missed. He was already missed by his pod brother, Charge, and also the rest of the Sergeants.
Fencer was always very happy and proud to talk about just how well his four NCOs worked together. Which was why he mentioned it at every opportunity he got.
Introducing someone new into that mix was gonna be difficult. Of course it always sucked to lose someone and then immediately get a replacement a few rotations later, but they always got used to the new guys rather quickly.
At first, he’d made an effort to memorise all of his platoon’s names, some of their numbers he knew to this day. But eventually, he stopped. He had to stop, in fact. Because every time he had to type in their names on the casualty report, he could picture the men, chatting with their squads, telling jokes, having fun with each other. Just simply being alive. So, after a while, he stopped learning everyone’s name.
Naturally, he knew all of the officers, as well as the NCOs. He didn’t know every one of the Sergeants from the other platoons by name, but he would recognise their armor instantly if he had to. He knew who belonged to Badge and Surges, and he knew who belonged to Trench. He hoped Trench would be quick to adjust, that he’d already earned the trust of his men.
In Fencer’s experience, once you’d earned the trust of your men, not only in you as an officer but most importantly in you as a brother, a person, then these men would die for you. He knew he’d have died for any of his boys in a heartbeat. But as sad as it sounded, how cruel, he knew he’d have to stay longer. He knew he’d be harder to replace than a Sergeant. That was the annoying part that came with being an ARC trooper.
All clones wanted to be unique, everyone always wanted to be different. Especially when everyone in the whole entire army looked and talked exactly like you.
They’d always known that they and their brothers were deemed expendable, that was the nature of their existence. Not that they didn’t want to change that.
Fencer wasn’t expendable, in a way. ARC troopers were rare, and because of their immense skill set also very valuable. In a way it was a good feeling. But that also came with responsibility. People recognised him. Maybe not him as a person, but most troopers knew an ARC trooper when they saw one. He would always stand out no matter where he went.
That was also weird. Since he wasn’t one of the Nulls or Alpha ARC troopers, a lot of the time he didn’t even know what to categorise himself as. In the end, he settled on just thinking of himself as a Lieutenant. Being an ARC came in second, especially in his current function. He hadn’t done much that normal troopers couldn’t.
Especially now. They were marching. How fun.
Of course it was a necessary evil they all just had to suffer through, there was no way around it, but knowing that didn’t stop him from complaining about how much it sucked.
Luckily, Surge and Badges proved to be very good distractions. Listening to them was always pretty entertaining. The two had a way of bugging each other, throwing insults and sometimes getting physical with each other, but it was always good natured fun. Almost like little kids.
He and Bull were similar, but not quite. They poked fun at each other occasionally and could both take a joke. But it wasn’t at the level that Surge and Badges were at.
Fencer quickly hurried up so he could walk right next to Bull again. All of his moping and complaining to himself had made him slow down a considerable amount, something his friend just didn’t really seem to care about.
“Hi.” He said in a comically high pitched voice and managed to bump his friend with his shoulder, falling into step right next to him. “I heard there’s a town in the direction we’re going in.”
“There is.” Bull nodded stiffly. “That’s why we’re going there to begin with. It has a space port under Republic control.”
The ARC wanted to chuckle at the fact that his joke had just flown right over his friend’s head, but he stopped himself, not wanting to seem insensitive.
“Great. Since when’s that been the case?”
“Well, I assume the spaceport has been there since the city was constructed.”
“What?” This time, the chuckle escaped before he could do anything to stop it. “No, that’s not what I was talking about. I meant since when was it under Republic control?”
“Since right before Cannon and Jester left. Cannon’s forces laid siege to the city while we were busy.”
“Wow. So you’re telling me that they had us - a siege company - out here scouting the farmlands like di’kute, and meanwhile Cannon’s guys get to do the job we’re supposed to be doing?”
“Hey!” Someone called out, and Fencer turned around, only to be stared down by the visor of one of the 715th Lieutenants. He was pretty sure it was Dye, from earlier. “If it makes you feel any better, they weren’t happy about it either.”
He wouldn’t really be happy, either, if roles were reversed. He acknowledged that sieges weren’t exactly fun for most people. But it was literally in their name, and he felt the 126th had a right to participate in one if they were on the planet.
“Jester got annoyed as well.” Bull said softly. “I don’t really know about Cannon, but they usually agree on stuff like that. The General ordered it, though. Dura, I mean. And even Cannon didn’t want to argue that.”
“It’s not really our place, unfortunately.” Fencer had to agree. He kicked up some dirt as he walked, kicking a small rock in front of him. “Actually, that makes me think that maybe Cannon wasn’t really the one with the high casualties.”
“Don’t go around saying that too loud.” His Captain chided. “You don’t want to make your men start to get anxious.”
“What? Like I’m not already anxious?”
“Exactly my point.” His friend berated again. “That rubs off on them. So just be calm and lay back. Like you always do. I know we don’t work with other Generals often, but we have to make do with the situation.”
“Y’know, I heard she’s not a big fan of us clones as a whole.”
“Fencer!”
“The man’s got a point, sir.” Dye joined back in. It was a bit unusual to have someone involve themselves in a private conversation like this, but maybe that just didn’t happen as often in the 715th. It didn’t seem like Cannon was particularly close to anyone in his unit. He was more gravitating around Jester.
“What do you mean?” Bull pressed on, and the other Lieutenant flanked his right side in a moment’s notice.
“You know, she doesn’t like clones. I mean, I don’t think that she has anything against us as people or anything. And she doesn’t not care about us either. But whenever we get new shinies, she gives this whole long speech about how we’re doing what we were made for, how we’re soldiers bred for this exact moment, etcetera.”
That…sounded a bit hard to believe. At least for Fencer. He’d never really even considered that different Jedi could have different opinions on the men they served with. Apparently, he was quite lucky with how Lirael was.
“Never had that problem with our General before.” Bull said, echoing his thoughts exactly. “I’ll admit that our casualties have been a bit higher ever since our Commander was knighted. But that’s to be expected. It is one less Jedi, and you notice the difference.”
“We don’t have one less and we still notice.” Dye agreed. “Ever since General Dura’s old Padawan got knighted, she’s been getting a bit more…reckless? That’s not the right word, I think. But things have been different. At least the other commander was experienced. And then we got Commander Cannon and Commander Resi.”
“Our Commander wasn’t a little girl, at least.” The ARC joined in, finally voicing something that’d been at the back of his mind for a while. “She’s like, what, eighteen now? Ours, I mean. How old even is Commander Resi?”
“Thirteen, I think.” Dye explained, and Bull’s head snapped up and around to look at the 715th Lieutenant in apparent shock. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m serious. Thirteen is the minimum age that the Jedi will send their kids out into the battlefield.”
“Dang.” Fencer gawked. “Is this, like, her very first assignment?”
“Yup. We’ve been on two missions with just the General and Cannon, and she only joined us right before we met up with you lads.”
Fencer sighed and shook his head, then purposefully bumped against Bull’s side. “The word ‘shiny’ doesn’t even cut it for her, huh?”
“Poor kid.” The Captain agreed and turned around briefly, checking on the men behind him, before he faced forward again. “Even sadder than Jaina, honestly. She’s a little girl.”
“Don’t think about it too hard, sir.” Dye reassured slowly. “You get used to it. Or, well, you don’t have to. It’s our Jedi.”
“I know. But, still.” Fencer joined in again. “I just feel bad for her. I’d feel bad for all kids in that situation. I mean, even our General isn’t really cut out for this, but a teenager…”
“We’re all technically younger than her.” Dye argued. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m eleven.”
“I’m ten, I guess.” The ARC admitted, and Dye let out a short whistle.
“You’re one of the shinies, then?” He teased. “Y’know I was trying to tell the others you’re a vet, but they didn’t believe me because you’re so spotless.”
Fencer looked down at his armor and had to admit, the false assumption had made him a bit proud. He took a lot of care of his gear, and always wanted it to be as spotless as possible.
“I’m the same age as most of the shinies, yeah.” He explained, slightly sheepish. “But I’ve been in the service for a while. About half a standard year now, so I’m not a rookie anymore.”
“Crazy. I didn’t realise the longnecks sent guys out before they were done cooking.”
“Lieutenant.” Bull grumbled as a warning. “If you’re going to be here just to insult my ARC trooper, then you should reevaluate your positioning in this formation.”
Dye looked like he was about to argue, but then just nodded and gave in, slowing down until he disappeared behind Surge and Badges. They’d gone quiet.
Fencer watched him until he was out of sight, then looked back straight ahead. The Jedi were both in one of the walkers not too far in front of them. Not that he could see them, but being so close was a plus for sure. Having them around was always better than not.
“They’re all in a bad mood. I think they’re skittish not having Cannon around.” Surge explained, and their Captain gave a little nod.
“Can’t say that I don’t understand.” He admitted. “But they’ll have to make do with me. Besides, they’re gonna be back within a few hours anyways.”
Suddenly, the two walkers stopped in front of them, so the whole company and what they had of the 715th stopped almost dead in their tracks. They watched as the two giant vehicles manoeuvred around, turning in place and re-angling themselves.
“Did the pilots fall asleep?” Flip, suddenly standing right next to Fencer, asked loudly, and trench hit his helmet from behind.
“All of them?” The newbie said. “Statistically very unlikely. Sorry to disappoint.”
“Yeah but they’ve gotta have some issues. They don’t just turn around for nothing.” The medic protested and took a few steps forward, but Bull grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. “Oh- hey!”
Fencer laughed at the scene, but had to admit he was more than a bit curious as well. He blinked his helmet integrated HUD into action and pulled up a map of their side of the planet. Their RV point had been about ten clicks away the last time he’d checked, so logically they should be a bit closer to it now.
Except that they weren’t. The marker wasn’t there anymore.
“Captain, I think our destination was changed.” The ARC pointed out, and his friend immediately turned his head to him with what he could only guess was a very confused look under his helmet.
“What do you mean?” Bull asked right away. “We’re going to the spaceport. If that had changed then I would know.”
“Well, all I’m saying is that the marker isn’t there anymore.”
“I would know.” Bull repeated and seemed to be doing the same thing as his ARC had just done, since he went quiet for a few moments, before a barely audible whine escaped from his helmet mic.
Then, he switched to a different comm frequency and stormed off towards one of the two walkers. The one with the Jedi inside.
“Is anyone in the frequency he just switched to?” Badges asked. “I’d like to see how this plays out.”
“It’s only for him, Jester and the Jedi. Even I don’t have access to it.”
“Ah, okay. If his precious ARC can’t join it..-“ Badges was forcefully cut off by receiving a very strong elbow in the side of his chest from his best friend.
In fact, Fencer would probably be able to join his friend if he tried. No frequencies were really off-limits as long as your helmet was able to scramble its own signature. But he’d been told to not abuse that tool too often, so he hadn’t tried to join any frequency he wasn’t allowed to so far.
One of the hatches on a walker opened and the three Jedi jumped out. First came the Padawan, then Master Dura, and General Fynla jumped out last. She landed right next to Bull, and as soon as they got to talking, she crossed her arms.
Fencer clicked down his rangefinder, not caring about the fact that his General would most definitely see him. She looked very upset, although he of course couldn’t say if that was because of something Bull had said or the entire situation.
In all honesty, she reminded him a bit of the time when she had had that fight in Suntorra’s kitchen as she was talking to Igani. He’d thought at first that the situation was just far too stressful. Chynnen had still posed a threat, and it’d been very unclear how things would progress from then on.
Now, almost six months later, he knew that Lirael was just sort of like that at any bigger inconvenience. Once she’d set out a plan, nothing was allowed to go wrong. And if it did, she’d be terribly upset. The woman hated to improvise, which was something Jaina was always very good at.
“If she wasn’t a Jedi, I think the Captain would punch her.” Surge commented, and earned a collective laugh from all of the Lieutenants standing around him. Two of the men from the 715th, Dye and the other one that Fencer remembered had bright orange hair under his helmet.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to do that to General Dura. But she’d whoop my ass if I tried.” Dye said and pushed past Flip and Trench, starting to walk towards the Jedi. Fencer was about to stop him when he realised that Dye was technically the acting commander of his unit for the time being, so he didn’t protest and instead let the man go.
The walkers were still trying to execute a turn, and in that moment the ARC realised they were aiming to walk straight through a ravine to their north-east. Great. They were never going to fit through there all at once. Not only was it too narrow, but it was also too dangerous for all of them to be in there at once. The rock walls didn’t look exactly stable. The vibrations of the walkers could very easily cause a rockslide.
A few moments later, he was proven correct, as his General got on their company’s comms. “Gentlemen, we’re splitting up.” She started. “Platoons one and three, you’re going to go with walker Aurek. Two and four, you take walker Besh. Uneven go to Aurek, even go to Besh.”
Fencer was happy that he was able to guess his General’s orders even before they’d come out, and even happier as he could see that his platoon was already moving towards their assigned vehicle. Blank and Tem were leading, while Charge was taking up the back. He kept on looking back behind him.
He was missing Drill.
Of course he was. That’s only natural, and Fencer knew that. He missed his own squad every day, especially now that he knew they were most likely on the planet with him. Or, well, most of them.
He missed Aurek Squad as well. Mostly Mink and Spire. He’d barely interacted with Dice when he was a part of their unit, and thanks to always being deployed he also hadn’t gotten the chance to spend more time with Daley yet. He’d always wanted to get to know the man a bit more, but he just couldn’t. They could never arrange a time and place to meet up, and the conversations they’d had over comms or holos had always been extremely brief. Most things he knew about Daley was things Suntorra told him about the man.
Without another word, Fencer walked over to his platoon and spared a quick look at the people around him.
Curiously enough, General Dura and Commander Resi were heading towards them.
He couldn’t believe that the Jedi would send out a girl who was thirteen years old into battle. That wasn’t right. Which was rich, coming from a ten year old man. There was that strange sense of him needing to protect the girl and watch out for her that he’d never had before. It wasn’t at all like he’d been with Jaina, and also not how he was with his General. More akin to the way he treated his younger brothers.
She had short blonde hair and was skipping alongside her master, seemingly carefree. Which was strange since she had to know that this was still a battlefield. That danger could lurk around every corner. Heck, they were hunting the droid General of the CIS. Maybe that just didn’t process in her mind yet, and Fencer was suddenly strangely jealous of that.