Project Ares Gold Edition

Chapter 46 - Remember who you are

Imperial Base - Daro

Creeping through the halls, Obi-wan and Rex came across a heavily secured section of the facility. Needing to pass it to get to the rendezvous point, Kenobi ignited his saber as he plunged his blade into the door before starting to cut an entrance. When a small patrol of stormtroopers came running to secure the area, they were met by a barrage of blaster rounds from Rex as he fired at them with his DC-15. Hearing the sound of metal hitting the floor, Rex instinctively moved back through the hole and tossed a grenade to dissuade the troopers from chasing them.

But then the patrol stopped, as if there was something in here that not even they were allowed access to. Scanning the room, the pair observed a large barracks room, with well over two dozen bunk beds littering the space. Cautiously walked through the dark room, the only light being that from Rex's helmet lights and Kenobi's lightsaber.

Suddenly, two loud bangs could be heard as something seemed to be dropped from the ceiling. Going back-to-back, the two saw three large figures appeared around them. Clad in all white metallic armour with dark grey decals, both Rex and Kenobi realised that these were the Imperial Spartans. Armed with the Empire's new E-11 rifle that was rumoured to only be in design phases along with a pistol mounted to their side. "I'll take the two on the left, you take the one on the right."

"Sir yes sir." Rex responded before firing his carbine at the supersoldier, hitting him square in the chest but doing nothing as a result of the energy shields. Rex took a quick glance back as Kenobi charged at the closest of his two opponents and facing a similar fate when he struck them with his saber. Those energy shields were definitely going to be a problem. Focusing on his own issue, Rex watched as the Imperial ran full sprint at him.

Jumping out of the way just in time, Rex was soon picked up by the Spartan before being thrown across the room and through a series of bunk beds. Taking out a droid popper, the clone captain waited for the Spartan to charge at him again, dodging out of the way once more and stuck the EMP grenade to the Spartan's metallic armour. As his opponent's shields were defeated, Rex immediately began firing his blaster at the armoured soldier, hitting areas where the durable alloy did not cover. The bodysuit was tough, laced with some lightweight metals, but it relied mostly on the bulkier plates and energy shields for protection.

As the Spartan fell down to the floor, Rex quickly rushed over to check for a pulse, nothing. The Empire's new supersoldier had been killed by a regular un-augmented clone trooper with nothing going for him except his skill, determination and experience. However, the more Rex thought about it, the more sense it made. These Spartans were all probably some of the earliest recruits to the stormtrooper program that showed promising traits. Having gone through basic training and what was probably a lengthy medical absence period due to the augments, these soldiers likely had zero combat experience and were still probably getting used to their new bodies.

But this also meant that if these 117 imposters were to survive this battle and go out on missions, then they would quicky adapt to their bodies and gain crucial experience in the field, making them much more dangerous. Going over to Kenobi, Rex saw how the Jedi had used the Force to throw surrounding obstacles at the two Spartans and overwhelm their shields before taking them out with his lightsaber. Turns out that not only were these soldiers' augmentations less potent than Chief's, but their armour was also inferior, being susceptible to lightsaber strikes. "Sir, are you alright?"

"Yes Captain, I am quite fine. However I wonder why these men attacked us now? Why not as soon as we started infiltrating the base and why only three?" Obi-wan questioned, to which Rex replied that the rest were probably being held in reserve for some grand plan that the Emperor had. Deciding to continue on, the pair ended up at a T-junction with a door about 20 meters down each way.