The Varactyl Squadron Commander (A Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Four

"Our mission isn't to kill Unim. It's to capture him. And to do that, we're going to team up with multiple other clone squadrons." Commander Rino pressed another button on the control panel and the image switched from the CCD threat to a holographic map of Unim's laboratory on Abbakinto. It was an impressive-looking structure that stood seven stories tall, complete with a fifteen-foot tall electric fence that surrounded the perimeter of the location. "In order to capture him, we'll need to sneak past the fence, break into the building, and get to the seventh level. All without us being noticed."

"Why do we need to sneak around? Can't we just bust a hole in the fence, blow up the front door, and work our way up from there?" Risk asked, genuinely curious as to why they weren't just going to blow everything up. What they all expected to hear from their new leader was a scolding, saying that you can't just blow everything up and that there's probably valuable information the Republic could use in that building. But Commander Rino surprised them. Instead, she smiled.

"I wish, Risk. That would be way more enjoyable in my book. But strict orders say that the building can't be too damaged by the time we're done with it. Next time, though." The clones exchanged quick smirks as she zoomed in on the back of the facility. The same thought was going through their minds: Not only is she a woman, but she's humorous and fun, too. They got lucky. Damn, did they get lucky.

"The One-Eyes will be patrolling the fence at all times, usually travelling in groups of five to seven." She continued. "We'll rendezvous with Black-Out, Serpent, Mutant, Bantha, and Terentatek Squadrons when we get to Abbakinto. The commanders and I will meet and discuss which of our squads will distract the patrols and which one will break in through the back of the building. After a decision has been made, we'll brief the squads and put the plans to action. Any questions?"

None of the clones said anything.

"Good. We'll be taking gunship 768-B. Make sure your blasters are fully loaded and you have plenty of extra ammunition before we leave. The armory is next door if you need to grab a spare plasma pack or two. We'll leave for the rendezvous point in five minutes." Her words were followed with a 'Sir, yes, sir', then she nodded and turned the hologram off. 

Commander Rino turned on her heal and headed for the gunships, while Risk, Breaks, and Tyson all started walking in the direction of the armory, wanting to be prepared for this battle no matter what their squad ended up doing. But Axel checked his blaster, made sure everything was loaded properly, touched his hand to his side where he always kept an extra plasma cartridge in case he ran out of ammo, then decided to follow the Commander instead of joining the guys. Would they judge him for this action and think he was trying to get alone-time with Commander Rino? Probably. Did he care? Honestly, no. Because it wasn't true.

Molindi didn't notice she was being followed until after she arrived at gunship 768-B. 

"Oh, didn't need the extra ammo?" She asked him as she held her helmet on her hip and examined one of her blasters with her free hand. Axel just gestured to the spare pack on his hip. "Good. I like it when my men are prepared. Says a lot about their intelligence. I'm not saying the other guys are unintelligent, it's just that it's good to be ready for anything."

"I get it." Axel told her and folded his arms. She nodded in understanding.

"So, Axel, the other troopers know each other, but you seem to be a loner." Commander Rino acknowledged. He stiffened slightly and nodded in response, his eyes finding their way to the floor of the hangar. "I read your file. This is your third squad." He held back a snarky response. 'Wow, you know how to read, great for you'. Just because she was a woman didn't mean she had the right to be so blunt about something so serious. It wasn't just one squad, it was two. He lost two squadrons, two sets of brothers, one of them he didn't even have time to get to know. She obviously didn't understa- "I just want to tell you now that we have more in common than you and those guys." He raised an eyebrow.