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

Chapter Five

"We'll be landing on the surface of Abbakinto in five minutes." The pilot announced over the speaker from the cockpit. 

The clones all straightened up their posture and held onto the handle bars hanging from the ceiling, preparing for this peaceful descend to the planet below. But they'd soon find out that their landing would be anything but comfortable. Mere seconds after the pilot's five-minute warning, Commander Rino's comm-link on her white arm-guard suddenly began beeping and blinking green.

"Commander Rino." She answered, just as she always did when it came to answering her wrist-comm. Molindi was greeted with the sound of static and blaster-fire erupting from the other end of the connection. Something had gone terrible wrong. It grabbed everyone's attention and sparked their concern as words spilled from the communications device.

"Commander Rino, this is Commander Dexton of Black-Out Squadron, Unim knew we were coming." The clone speaking informed her. The woman's eyes widened, but no one would've been able to tell beneath her helmet. More blaster fire and static echoed through the small room that was the gunship, engulfing them in a chorus of battle that they weren't yet involved in. "Bantha and Serpent squadrons are gone. Terentatek, Mutant, and Black-Out are barely hanging in down here. We were ambushed." More blaster fire, demanding angrily to be heard.

"We'll back you up as soon as we-" Commander Rino tried to tell Commander Dexton. She wanted to help him, she wanted to help out the ambushed squads as best as she could. But he stopped her from speaking any further.

"No, we can't let Unim escape!" More static and the frantic cries of a clone being shot down somewhere off to the side. "Take your squad around the back of the lab like we planned! We'll keep them distracted here as long as we can!" 

"Copy that, Commander Dexton." Molindi replied, then pressed a button on the control panel on the wall. "Pilot, change of plans. Don't land at the rendezvous point. Take us to sector four-eight-twelve. Once you've dropped us off, the other squads need some help at the front of the facility with the guards. See what you can do about that."

"Copy that, Commander."

"You heard that, right, men?" Molindi asked them. Her question was followed by the usual 'Sir, yes, sir' and the sound of the clones turning the safety off their blasters. "I did some research of Unim's lab before I briefed you all on the mission, as did all of the commanders. On the fifth floor of the building, there are three plasma cannons. Tyson, Breaks, and Axel: you three will stop there and either destroy them or use them against the enemy. Risk and I will keep going to the seventh floor and apprehend the scientist."

"Can you two take him alone?" Axel questioned. 

But he never got an answer, for the ship jolted to the side and the doors slid open with a familiar hissing sound, revealing the icy, snowy world of Abbakinto. Snow whirled through the air and slammed against the ship, sending clouds of white straight through the doors. The sun was going down in the distance, staining the snowy ground orange and red like blood for kilometers. A little under a mile in the distance, among the white-capped mountains that seemed to surround them, sat Darius Unim's laboratory, protected by that tall electric fence.

"Thanks for the ride, Bigsby." Commander Rino spoke into the control panel on the wall one last time.

"No problem, Commander."

And the five jumped out of the gunship, landing with their knees bent and their heads up, ready for anything. With no time to think, they were off, sprinting in the direction of the building. Their boots were soundless against the white powder beneath them and the only sound they could hear once the ship was gone was the growling and roaring of the wind around them. Commander Rino took the lead, with Tyson and Breaks at her sides, followed by Axel and Risk. Five white specks in an endless pool of red-stained snow.

Half way there, the terrain started changing from powdery and soundless to icy and hard. If they weren't careful, their boots would slip and they'd go falling face-first onto the ground. By now, Axel couldn't even get a grip on the surface beneath him so he'd just slide forward in attempt to keep up with the rest of his new squad. At this point, he was just hoping he wouldn't be the first one to make a fool of himself by wiping out.

All too soon, the Commander lifted her arm up and held her hand in a fist, indicating for the others to stop. She, herself, came to a graceful pause, barely sliding an inch forward in the process on a particularly large patch of ice. The rest of her squad wasn't so lucky.

Like dominoes, they fell one by one, starting with Tyson. The poor guy never stood a chance against the environment around him. As if stepping on a banana-peel, his feet flew out from beneath him, causing him to crash against Risk who'd been running behind him. They both fell to the ground in a heap. While trying to steady himself, arms pin-wheeling at his sides, Breaks accidentally hit Axel in the face with his hand. The two other dominoes fell, leaving Molindi the last one standing. 

"Whoops." They all heard their commander giggling slightly from the comm-links in their helmets. "My bad, I should've told you we were stopping sooner." And she extended her gloved hand down to Tyson, who took it without hesitation. Axel just rolled his eyes and crawled onto his knees, before cautiously getting back to his two feet. 

"That was actually kind of fun." Tyson chuckled. The other two troopers answered in laughter and Commander Rino nodded in Axel's direction, asking with a gesture if he was alright. He nodded back and wondered if she knew just how annoyed he was getting with her. First, she had the audacity to say they were more alike than him and his brothers, and now she was pulling a stunt like this. A part of him hoped he'd get reassigned to a new squad.

"Down there." Commander Rino pointed through the blizzard around them to the fence less than fifteen yards away. "There's a gap between the fence and the ground. If we run and slide like you guys just did, we should be able to squeeze beneath it without getting electrocuted. I'll demonstrate first." 

The woman clenched her fists, took a deep breath, stood in a running stance, then began to sprint as fast as she could in the direction of the fence. It was hard to see through all the blowing snow storm, but the clones could tell around the ten-yard mark, she lunged forward onto her stomach and slid the rest of the way, straight beneath the fence. A moment later, she jumped to her feet and waved for them to follow suit. "Simple enough. Don't let the buzz of the electric fence scare you. Keep your head down and you should be fine."

"I guess I'll go next." Risk volunteered and cracked his knuckles.

"That 'a boy, Risk." Commander Rino cheered him on from the other side. "Don't be too scared, I'll catch you when you get over here." That caused Tyson and Breaks to chuckle at her mocking words and Axel just rolled his eyes once more.

"Promise?" Risk asked, matching her tone. She laughed and the clone was off, sprinting just like she'd done before. Milliseconds later, Risk was on his stomach, arms pressed against his sides and his feet lifted up off the ground to reduce friction. He shot across the ice, slid beneath the fence, and would've flown straight past his commander if her gloved hand didn't snag his ankle at the last second, bringing him to a jolting stop. "Woah, now that was fun."

"I'm next!" Breaks stated excitedly and started running. Moments later, he was safely on the other side of the fence. Tyson followed, and moments later, they were all successfully  behind enemy lines via penguin-sliding. Axel could admit, he'd never imagined tricking the enemy that way, but if it worked, he didn't judge it. 

After that little mini-adventure, Commander Rino jogged over to the metal door behind the building and started typing codes into the security panel, trying to break in. When it didn't work the first time, she tried again. When it didn't work the second time, she tried again. When it didn't work the third time, she pulled out one of her blasters and shot the lock. The button on the panel turned grin and the entrance slid open.

"Alright boys, here's where the fun begins." They all removed their blasters from their backs. "You know the plan. We'll stick together until the fifth floor. The cannons should be hard to miss." They nodded, then ran inside the building.