Episode I: Part 9

Clang tensed as the lightning flashed overhead. Several kilometers and a few hours later, he avoided four droid patrols to reach the edge of the clearing where the shuttle and tug had been set down. Through the trees he saw four Geonosian battle droids walking a slow patrol, obviously guarding the ships in case any of the Imperials, such as himself, returned.

The trooper retrieved his pocket scanner and took a quick reading. An electronic chirp sounded from the clearing. Clang memorized the direction and snapped the device shut. He looked back in time to see a droid approach within three meters of his hiding place. The battle droid stood still, its photoreceptors a steady amber light in the wet gloom. Clang barely breathed, his hands rested lightly on his carbine. Finally, the droid turned away to rejoin the other three. The clone exhaled slowly then moved from cover onto a small game trail.

That wasn't right. Clang thought. Droids scan more than just the visible spectrum. At three meters, any droid should have detected enough to be suspicious. Something's wrong here.

He crouched at the edge of the clearing again. Now the four droids stood aft of the Imperial shuttle. A double bolt of lighting flashed as Clang's breath caught sharply in his throat. The trooper watched while a battle droid removed a photoreceptor, wiped the grime from it, and replaced it over its organic, human eye!

Just then, a small branch under Clang's boot gave way with a loud snap.

"Oh damn."

Several kilometers away Kells shifted position to ease a cramp that wanted to form in his right leg. Sergeant Deuce glanced at Doc suspiciously. Misunderstanding the glance, Doc shook his metallic head and whispered as low as his mechanical voice box would allow.

"No transmission from Clang."

Deuce checked his own comlink and saw that Doc was correct. He grunted softly and replaced the comlink on his belt.

Kells sighed. "He'll get it done."

"And if he's taken?" Deuce asked.

"We go with plan B."

"Plan B, LT?"

"Plan B ... as soon as I think of a plan B."

"Yes sir."

The clone and the droid exchanged a glance then looked at the heavily secured fortress.

Blaster bolts tore the underbrush behind Clang in his headlong dash through the jungle.

"Moron, look for twigs before you kneel down." He swore under his breath. Clang slid to a stop at an intersection of three game trails.

"Can't run forever." The trooper reminded himself. He looked around, not two meters away was a twisted mass of oversized roots that formed a natural shelter. The trooper raced over, jumped down and crouched underneath in the damp earth. The small area was just large enough for one average sized human to hide in.

Seconds behind, the droids arrived in the small clearing. They only paused a moment before they started to search the area.

C'mon, the trooper thought anxiously, a bead of sweat rolling down his face. No tracks to see here just move along.

Suddenly, the droids turned as one and marched towards his position. Clang rolled his eyes and sighed.

They saw my tracks, fantastic.

He took two quick breaths, adjusted his grip on his E-11 and slid out from cover. Shooting the closest droid first, the clone dragged the metal body down against the top roots to bolster his cover.

Immediately, the other two droids opened fire. The clone ducked as energy beams burned through the branches and ricochet off the fallen droid's body. Finally the barrage of energy stopped and the droids watched carefully, looking for any sign of their quarry. Clang steadied his nerves then jumped out again. His first shot burned through the droid to his right. The droid on his left sidestepped and returned fire. The crimson bolt slammed into Clang's shoulder, punching through his armor and spinning him wildly to the ground. He winced at the throbbing pain of the blaster burn.

The trooper shook head, rolled over and shoved himself to his feet with a grunt. Above, the droid crested the roots, blaster at the ready. Instinctively, Clang dropped to one knee and held his carbine low, firing from the hip. The shot slammed into the droid, sending it flying backwards with a smoking hole in its torso.

When Clang climbed out from cover, eyes sharp for any hidden droids. He noticed the faceplates had fallen away from two of the battle droids. Underneath each there was a part of a human face.

Now I know what the Master is doing with his experiments. My squad is next. The thought made his stomach turn.

He tore his eyes away from the grisly scene and checked the scanner. The signal source was still ahead and he had lost time.

A loud crack and flash shook the humid evening air. Four meters away, a grayish alien tree, split wide from the lightning strike, fell to the jungle floor. From his vantage point in a crude shelter of rocks, Clang could see the dim trail through the lash of rain from the lightning storm. At the trail's end, sat a squat one-story building he had searched almost an hour to find. He yawned, despite his effort to quell it. He had a brief nap on the flight from the station down to the planet surface but other than that, his hours awake had started to wear on him. He thought back for a moment, it had nearly been two days since he truly slept. He sighed and looked at the small building again.

Two more bolts of purple lighting descended into the jungle canopy. Clang, narrowed his eyes. Despite being out in the storm so frequently over the past few hours, he had never really observed it.

Never seen natural lightning come so regularly, he mused. I almost see a pattern to it. So, if I'm right, then there will be a break in all this in three, two and one.

On the count of one, he burst from the rocks, rushing through the trees, rain and wind. He came to a crashing stop against the building's durasteel doorframe and punched in a code into the door's keypad. The keypad's indicator light glared an angry red.

"Bantha Spit!"

He typed another code. The indicator light remained red. On the third try, the light turned green and the door slid open. Clang raced through the opening. Outside, another volley of purple lightning erupted. The door snapped shut behind him, locking out the local weather.

The trooper triggered the chin switch in his helmet to change between the low-light enhancement vision system in his helmet then the thermal version. Convinced he was alone, he changed back to the normal view and powered a small glowrod to illuminate the room.

"Now, where'd they put a console in here?" he muttered. He slipped between the odd crate and repulsorlift part until he uncovered a dusty console that still showed some signs of power. At a touch, the control screen flickered to life with an impressive array of on screen commands. Reflexively he checked his chronometer, "If I can hotwire a tramp freighter, I can figure this thing out." He sat down and tapped one of the on-screen menu choices. Abruptly, the screen showed a new menu list with a complicated wiring diagram. He sighed. "Demolitions are so much easier."

Both Deuce and Kells' comlinks chimed. "Clang here. I'm in, show time in three, two, one."

Power coursed through the rerouted channels and transformed into a signal. The signal reached the station and was obediently relayed through different relays back to the planet's surface. Then, the fortress came to life. Shuttles, previously housed in docking bays, powered on and were moved to landing platforms. Ramps were lowered and dozens of armed droids boarded. When full, each shuttle took flight, its droid pilot lifting it away from the planet and towards the station in orbit.

"Good work, I think they took the bait." Kells told Clang. "Stay there, keep our illusion going for as long as possible. If you're position is compromised, regroup at this location."

"Roger that, LT."

From his crouch, Kells edged forward through the brush. On the landing platform the last two shuttles gathered the remaining droids that awaited transport. In moments, both shuttles were away and the platform fell silent. Then, without warning, the fortress itself powered down, extinguishing lights and automatic external defenses save the jamming field cloaking the facility. Kells motioned to the pair behind him.

"Let's move."

The trio descended using the jungle undergrowth as cover. Fifteen meters short of the landing platform, the jungle stopped abruptly and was a flat, cleared area devoid of cover. Kells crouched in the underbrush and peered upwards. Where a pair of message droids patrolled before, now there was nothing.

"Deuce?"

"On it." The sergeant had already pulled the scanner from his belt and turned it towards the fortress. Since the field overhead jammed sensor scans directed from orbit, the small hand scanner had little trouble examining the area around the building at ground level.

"No sentries, no active sensors. He's sitting tight and quiet. Looks like he bought what we're selling." The sergeant snapped the scanner off and replaced it at his belt.

"Doc, droid transmissions?"

The droid accessed the security frequencies he knew of. "Position on station, current status, nothing else. They are in position to spring an ambush on the new station's visitors. If there were any to ambush, that is. I estimate in less than five standard minutes, they will enact a communication blackout."

"Excellent." The Lieutenant checked the power cell charge in his sidearm. "Lets see who's home."