Stand For the 989th (A story of the Clone War's last days.)

The Hangar Battle pt. 2

Quad new that this would be one of the hardest fights of his life. All around him, clones and droids alike fell to stray blaster bolts, many of which were fired blindly and only hit a target due to luck. The walls of the Hall of Commerce's hangar were covered in burn marks. Quad peeked out of his cover and fired at a Battle Droid. He missed and was forced to duck back down again. A clone cadet crawled from in front of his makeshift cover and lay next to him. His helmet was missing. His face was half burned off. His armor was covered in blood.

"Help me!" he cried out in agony, reaching up and grabbing on to Quad's breastplate, leaving a bloody print behind. Quad pushed him away, knowing there was nothing he could do. The cadet began to cry, in shock and in pain, as another blaster bolt ripped his leg from his body. Blood oozed from the wound all over the concrete floor. Quad peered back over his cover, shooting, taking out a Droid, and when he looked back, the mangled clone was dead. A Muunchaki soldier ran up to him.

"For the Confederacy!" he shouted. Quad ended him. Another beckoned for his soldiers to advance. Quad put him down too. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Charlie rip the head off of a Droid, then shoot the body. A second later, he was hidden in the melee once again. A dismembered helmet flew over Quad's cover and hit another clone. The soldier got up and sprayed down a Super Battle Droid.

"Come on!" he shouted. Quad and three other clones advanced along side him. Two were killed instantaneously. The third took out a B2, but fell to a Muunchaki. Quad's fellow clone shot the man's head clean off. The two ducked behind a pile of droid parts.

"What's your name?" Quad asked him.

"Mynock. You?"

"Quad."

"Nice to meet you, Quad," Mynock said as he gunned down a B1 in three shots. "As far as I know, I'm the last of E Squad."

"I'm with the General. We need reinforcements. Help me find her so we can call in Squads B, C, and D!" Quad instructed.

"Yeah, got it," Mynock replied, taking out another Droid. "Let's go."

"Ladies first," Quad insisted.

"What a gentleman," Mynock replied. "Cover me." Then, with an intensity and fire you could only find in a truly hardened clone soldier, Mynock and Quad raced out from behind their scrap pile. Quad blasted the legs off of a Droid.

"Roger Roger, Roger Roger," it repeated as it sparked and died. Quad, looking around for the sapphire blade that would mark General Ti, nearly ran straight into a Muunchaki man. Luckily, Mynock halted him and gave the cowardly gent time to flee, who sprinted as fast as he could towards the droid lines, screaming as he went.

"Should have killed him," Quad commented.

"Negative. He had on a blue jumpsuit. He was just a worker caught up in all of this. Wasn't even armed," Mynock replied.

"Oh. Well, thanks for stopping me. I would've killed him."

"No problem. Besides, I think I found the General," Mynock replied, pointing to a place across the hangar where the powerful Togruta woman was leaving destruction in the wake of her deadly blade. The clones sprinted as fast as they could towards her. At one point, Quad glanced Charlie go down in a rain of blaster bolts. But he knew he had to keep on. The fate of the 989th depended on it. Finally, after nearly avoiding several shots, the cadets reached Master Ti.

"General!" Quad yelled over the torrent of enemy fire. "We need to bring in the other Squads!"

"Then we risk more losses. We need to wait," she calmly responded, blocking several laser beams back into the enemy.