New Power

Ch 13

Cain was immediately shipped to Umbara to aid Obi-Wan in the seige to take the capital. As they descended into the dark and shadowy world in the gun ship, Cain found that because of the foggy nature his night-vision visor didn't work very well.

"Boy am I glad you're here," Obi-Wan said looking over at him. "It's starting to get really tricky. The Umbarans are more of a resistance than we anticipated. We may need to get Anakin to back us up."

Cain looked at his brother with an almost guilty feeling.Obi-Wan doesn't even know who Cain is.

"Alright. Let's get blasting boys!" Cain yelled to the 212th clone battalion, Obi-Wan's battalion. Cheers echoed around the shadowy land and blaster fire sung out, hitting their targets. Cain grinned, blasting down the Umbarans in front of him. More just took their places. Their forces seemed to be never ending.

The shouts of the injured and dying rung out from both sides. The 212th medic did his best to gather up the injured, but with the battle raging it was a nearly impossible task.

The screams and cries and blaster fire were nearly overwhelming. Cain already hated this seige, and knew it was going to last a long time.

~~~~<+>~~~~

Cain leaned against a tree, clutching his kyber crystal. It brought about an odd feeling of comfort when he held it, like everything in the galaxy would be alright again. The clones set up a temporary camp so everyone could rest and get ready for the next battle.

"It's hard, isn't it?" Obi-Wan asked, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Cain had readied one of his blasters out of reflex.

"The war?" Cain replied. He tucked and secured his kyber crystal in the pouch. Obi-Wan cast a slightly curious look at the movement.

"Yes. And I know you have been in it, or with the Republic in general, much longer than I have."

"I wouldn't say that. I'm younger than you, but not by a huge amount."

"You've been on the front lines longer, is what I mean."

"Yes, I 'spose I have."

"Come with me. You need to rest. I can show you your temporary quarters."

"Thanks."

~~~~<+>~~~~

Cain found it hard to get sleep. He kept feeling his crystal pull at him as if it wanted him to use it. He even verbally told it to shut up multiple times. It just kept persisting. He eventually groaned and sat up, giving up on sleep. Cain pulled the little crystal out and gave it a death glare. It seemed to understand what he was feeling and immediately pulled harder to him. The crystal was now mocking him. He tried to calm himself. He put the crystal down on the floor in front of him and focused on it, slipping into meditation. The crystal floated up in front of him, its pulling becoming weaker as he calmed and seemingly connected with it. Cain couldn't go too far with the meditation as he didn't want Obi-Wan to sense him.

Cain slipped out of the meditation and grabbed his crystal. It was silent now, satisfied with his actions. He rolled his eyes and put it back in its pouch. He laid back down and this time, thankfully sleep came to him.

~~~~<+>~~~~

Shouts of the clones getting ready to keep moving awoke Cain with a startle. He put his helmet on, got out of his temporary quarters and helped pack up the camp.

"They're closing in on us!" The commander of the 212th shouted to everyone. Cain saw Obi-Wan ignite his brilliant blue lightsaber and charge forward in front. He deflected and reflected Umbaran blaster bolts.

They pushed forwards. Comrades fell around Cain. It was a bloody and gruesome battle for both sides, both sides suffering heavy losses. Cain was starting to get weary of the amount of shots he had left in his blasters. They felt awfully light.

Cain looked over to the munitions clones. One had been killed, the other four still thankfully alive. The next moment Cain could get, he would be going after one of them.

Silence suddenly spread over the dark, shadowy land. Cain took the opportunity to get more ammunition for his blasters. As he clicked it in, a clone was trying to confirm how close they were to the Capital City.

"General! I have sightings on the Capital City!" A clone shouted to Obi-Wan.

"Fantastic! How close are we?" Obi-Wan asked the soldier.

"Five klicks at least."

"That's good. Let's go!"

~~~~<+>~~~~

The trek to the City was quiet and nothing came out at them. Everyone thought it was too quiet.

"Stay alert men," the Commander Cody, Cain thought it was, said to everyone in a hushed tone. The City walls loomed ahead of them. "We'll need to find the gates. Split into half and scour the walls. Half stay with me, and the Generals. Comm if you need help or have found the gates."

'Yes sir's rung out from the clones as they split into the two groups and moved out. Obi-Wan lead the way in the opposite direction of the other group. Everyone was tense, waiting for a sudden attack to happen. Or a trap to spring.

"Anyone thinking it's too quiet?" Commander Cody asked. There were grumbles of agreement. As if it were right on cue, a single blaster shot killed one of the troops. Cain quickly tried to locate where it came from. Whoever it was had hidden themselves well.

"Stay on high alert," Cain instructed.

"I'm quiet sure we already were, General," Commander Cody replied.

Cain smirked at the Commander's witty reply. "I'm just making sure."

The comm on the Commander's wrist beeped. "Commander, we have found the front gates. There are quite a lot of Shadow People in front of them. We'll need to regroup before we attempt to attack." A clone's hushed voice came from the other end.

"No worries. We will be there soon," Cody answered. He ended the communication with a beep. "Let's move out."

~~~~<+>~~~~

"Sir, right in front of us," the trooper who had probably made the communication with the Commander said and held an arm out in warning to not go any further. Cody nodded and readied his blaster, the rest of the group doing the same.

"Go go go!" Cody yelled, surprising the Umbarans who were stationed at the gates. They were immediately killed, but there were shouts afterwards. A whole hoard of Umbarans piled out of the gates, catching the 212th off guard. Cain took immediate cover and blasted as many Umbarans as he could. The sheer amount of them was astounding. Every time one was killed, another immediately took their places. It was a lot like the droids.

"Take cover!" Obi-Wan screamed over the noise, himself diving for the cover of the plants around the gates.

Cain contacted Obi-Wan through the comms as they were too far apart to speak normally. "What do we do?" He asked desperately.

"We hope Anakin can come and aid us. This whole seige depends entirely on his execution," came Obi-Wan's reply. "I can see a supply ship nearby. It is most likely giving the Umbarans their needed supplies. I will contact Anakin about it and see if he can cut off their supplies." Obi-Wan cut off the communication and promptly contacted Anakin. Cain looked over to his older brother, a holographic figure that sure wasn't Anakin on the communication holoprojector. Something had to have gone horribly wrong with him, he feared.

Obi-Wan finished the communication with frustration. Cain didn't need to sense it to know. Obi-Wan nearly threw the holoprojector onto the ground. Cain feared the worst. They weren't going to recieve direct help, were they?

"Everyone, listen up. Master Pong Krell is not going to give us direct support, but he is going to find a way to destroy the supply ship. We just need to hold out for a bit longer and chip away at their forces," Obi-Wan spoke into the comms. Cain hated that he was right.