Project Ares Gold Edition

Chapter 24 - Move like a shadow

Scipio

As the door to the makeshift clone barracks opened, all the troopers inside jumped to attention as the armoured behemoth walked in. Asking where the clone officer was, Chief was informed that Thorn just left to go to Senator Amidala's quarters to discuss what would be happening once they touched down on the planet's surface. Thanking the trooper, 117 left the room and walked across the hallway before rapping his fist against the steel door.

"Come in." Amidala answered, her eyes glancing up at the giant soldier ducking through the doorway. Immediately getting to business, Chief asked what the plan was once they reached the surface. Thorn explained that the ARC-170s and two of the V-wings would be landing alongside them and the pilots would be coming into the cruiser to rest. In the meantime, the security detail would be establishing a defensive position on the landing pad to protect the cruiser.

There was a very small garrison planet-side already consisting of a squad of Coruscant Guard troopers who had arrived with a passing Venator a few days prior. They didn't have much, just the standard squad weapons along with a LAAT gunship which they arrived in. Bringing the total Republic troops on the ground to about 45 including Chief, Thorn and all the pilots.

"While this is all happening, I'll be meeting with Rush Clovis, an ex-Separatist who has close connections within the bank. He will escort me inside where I'll be meeting with a Separatist senator and the heads of the bank." Senator Amidala explained. Out of everyone on this op, she was at the most risk due to the most eyes being on her.

That left the Master Chief and his method of entry, he had to get inside one of the most secure facilities in the galaxy. Normally, getting into a place like this was easy, it just required a small armoury's worth of ammo and explosives. However, this time it would have to be done quietly, and quiet wasn't Chief's strong suit. Deciding on a hard landing followed by a vertical insertion, Chief briefed the pair on what he was going to do.

As the ship broke through the atmosphere and neared the designated landing platform, Chief looked through the bridge's window to see Rush Clovis waiting for the ship to land. He was escorted by eight heavily armed IG droids with golden decals and the bank's symbol plastered on their chest. Marching out of the bridge and to the starboard airlock, Chief opened the door, gaining curious looks from the nearby clone troopers.

Leaping out into the Scipio air, Chief dove down past the platform so as to not get spotted by the security forces waiting for the cruiser's arrival. Firing his thrusters, Chief grabbed onto the snowy mountain face as he slowed his descent. After finally coming to a stop, 117 started climbing up the icy cliff, careful not to get blown away by the billowing winds and fall further into the chasm.

From what he read in the reports regarding the bank's security, most of their forces consisted of the best droid models money could buy. This meant that their primary fighting force was made up of IG units like the ones he saw on the landing platform. However, the IGB was also rumoured to have bought some dwarf spider droids from the CIS to protect the various cliff faces and vertically challenging environments. These spider droids were deadly on planets like Scipio due to their ability to climb virtually any surface. Thanks to the scans provided by the cruiser on their arrival, Chief knew that these spider droids had formed a protective curtain around a certain level of the cliff that he was climbing.

Luckily, Chief found a small cave entrance just below the line of sight for the droids. Infiltrating the side of the mountain, 117 switched on his helmet's lights and grabbed his assault rifle before moving up the tunnel. Coming across numerous rats and other small creatures that were hiding from the cold, Chief watched as a few of them came through a barely noticeable crack all the way at the top of the cave that was permitting a small amount of daylight to shine through.