Insurrection

Strategic Execution - Chapter II

Anakin and a garrison of clones waited at the funnelling point. Each trooper, waiting for the explosion that would mark their imminence into the pending battle into the chasm - which they held as their last resort at the refusal of defeat.

Boom. A sonic eruption layered through the air and vibrated the ground beneath the garrison. 'This is it' they all thought to themselves. 'This is when I die in service to the Republic.'

Anakin stood ready, the sudden silence had him on edge and the tightening grip on his lightsaber hilt was evidence of this. The air was eery - too quiet. But then the fragile silence was broken; Anakin listened closely and heard the tremor of a beast. A mechanical beast that wielded rockets and lasers; and this beast triumphed towards them - it's numbers potent, it's will, indefinite. The slow drumming of factory steel hit the floor as if in rythm; beat by beat hit the floor as if it were an instrument - each beat getting louder and more ferocious on its approach.

"General, I see them. Droids."

The clone scout was hidden behind his binoculars, studying carefully the droids heading towards them.

"There is a lot of them, double our numbers at least."

Anakin didn't look at the trooper, instead, he looked at the ground, and towards himself. He felt uneasy. Anakin had always had an attachment to the Clones he lead, regardless of their expendibility. As far as he was concerned, they were his fellow comrades, and that gave him a bond with them. He was unsure how many he would lose in this skirmish, as he had already lost too many in this Taris campaign.

"Order the snipers to fire when in range, position the artillery to hit their tanks, and have the rocket infantry hit the centre of the droids; that should split them up. Rex, take what is left of the AT-RT unit and the BARC Speeders and gain a strategic land advantage by firing from the mountain tops; wait for the signal before you start firing."

"What is the signal?" Posed Rex.

"You'll know it when you see it, Captain, now move out!"

Rex obliged without a moments pause and immediately started issuing a multitude of hand gestures to the troops.

The world of Taris hadn't had an attack of this size since the Dark Lord Malak, bombarded the city surface, in the times of the Old Republic. This place was a pit of discard; rubble was everywhere, and the fauna struggled to breathe under the dust emitted from such rubble, and to make things worse; practically all life was hostile, luckily for the troops, the Rakghouls were long extinct. This place seemed unhabitable, not because it couldn't sustain life, more because it couldn't contain it - the funnel point Anakin was ready to defend was layered in grass and indigenous fauna - dark, putrid colours littered their leaves and stems. But this was a perfect spot; a hill to the left and right; a perfect spot for defence, especially against number.

The loud sound emitted from the BARC engines startled Anakin, who took a moment to focus his emotions. Focus was the key here.

"General, the droids are coming around the mountain edge adjacent to us; they will soon be visible and within sniper range!"

Anakin looked up to see a distant Captain Rex bear his hand in the 'okay' signal.

"Fire now! Hit their tanks and cut off their retreat with our artillery!"

Huge cannons behind the Republic garrison began to fire huge shells of energy. The barrel of the cannon would glow hot after each shot, just for it to be compensated with the fixed coolant systems designed for that very problem. The shells flew, and arced their way towards the Separatist tanks - causing tremendous damage to their war machines. The Separatists retaliated under command of the automated droid general they had been in service to,

"Return. Fire. Focus on their artillery. Then smash the troop defense." omitted the droid general, through his metallic, fixed mouth.

The separatist droids responded as obediently as an automated machine can be, and immediately started firing from their AAT tanks, focusing on the Republic's artillery and narrowly missing their first rounds.

'Tanks aren't for droids!" Shouted Anakin among the commotion, in an attempt to boost morale for the troops, which proved well; as his comrades responded with slight laughter and humoured grunts.

The droid advance was constant and unwavered, despite the heavy bombardment and dissaray. The Super Battle Droids lead the advance, huge triangle shaped chassis mounted on bolted legs, followed by the standard issue Battle Droid - trailing behind the superior droid to act as cannon fodder and extra, expendable firepower. All droids were firing at the Republic defense; lasers from both fronts traded back and forth, with casualties on both sides - with the Republic turning out worse than the Separatists

"Sir, they're gaining too much ground, you need to call in the fire support from Rex's squad!" An officer exclaimed, with desperation in his tone.

"I know what I'm doing trooper, hold on. We can't signal yet without losing our advantage." Responded Anakin with his authoritative tone, making the trooper nod down and recede back into his previous position.

The Separatist army was getting close to the Republic force. The air was stale with tension, as the Republic clones watched the droids approach closer to kill them, unstoppable because of their vast numbers, even with the barrage of bullets constantly burning holes in their steel. With each, and every step, the Republic clones lost hope...

"Fire the flare now!"

Anakin's voice was bold, and even through the midst of battle, it cut through the stale air like a razor. The order was confirmed immediately by the officer's nod and he unholstered his flare-pistol, and aimed upwards. The officer shot a bursting red, potent glow that stood out easily amongst the battle. The sight of the flare was met with relief. Rex stood on the right hill with his guns unholstered, and fired the first shot straight through a Super Battle Droid's chassis,

"For the Republic!"  instilled Rex into his comrades.

The clone troopers accompanying him roared to their best ability with him, and they all started opening fire on the Separatists below. It was clear that the crucial timing of Skywalker was chosen to good effect; the droids were caught completely off guard, and having marched too far forward meant retreat was not an option - the Separatist army would have to stand and fight the-now overwhelming Republic offense. The droid army was sustaining massive loss as it fought a battle on two fronts, each droid trying to focus on both at it was gunned down by the Republic clones, who fired with precision.

"Now, fire everything we have!" Anakin ordered, facing his troops and gesturing all over the place.

Everything was exactly what they fired; missile, laser, shell. They were in abundance, and heading toward the droid stragglers, who had been completely overwhelmed. Anakin ignited his saber and charged toward the last few enemies, determined to get his fix of this battle. Battle always excited him; it engulfed and enraptured him and there is no place he feels more comfortable, than the battlefield. He emmersed himself within the flow of machinery by diving straight in the centre after a leap using the Force. He then span around, removing the legs of several droid and Supers alike, and then summoned the Force to push away his opponents, who were crippled by his power. Anakin then looked around to see if any droid had survived, and judging by the slight smirk on his face - a few did; he finished these with a few, concise saber swings.

Once he dealt with the droid stragglers, Anakin turned to face the Republic army he led. He was without his usual smile, and instead, it was replaced with a monotone expression, he couldn't be happy; Republic clones littered the battlefield and he had lost too many in this campaign to celebrate. He shouldn't have been affected by the death of his troopers - that was their job. But he couldn't help but feel as if he was responsible for the death of so many fine men. Too many had died.

"To the fallen." Anakin shouted, instilling a fine sense of commemoration among the soldiers.