Star Wars: Captain Rex

Chapter 5

"Yeah, but we had Jedi on Tibrin."-CC-2224, Commander "Cody."

Why is he staring at me? I thought. The clone pilot had come down from the Republic Attack Shuttle's cockpit to tell me something. "Captain," he had said. I had turned around to make sure that there wasn't anyone else in the shuttle's hull.

"Captain, sir," he said. I now realized he was addressing me as Captain. I wasn't used to being addressed as "captain."

"Yes?" I replied. The light from the floodlight above the hull of the shuttle glinted off of my shiny new commander-issue armor, making the helmetless-pilot turn his head slightly and squint his eyes.

"We'll be arriving on Tibrin shortly, sir," said the pilot. "General Skywalker contacted me a short while ago and warned me that we'll encounter heavy flak coming through the surface. But," he continued," we won't be going through the flak zone too long, as the LZ is close to our current position."

"I suggest you buckle up, sir. It'll be a rough ride." And with that, he turned on his heel and went back to the cockpit.

Kriff, I thought. I hate flak zones. Alpha had put us through fighter simulations and flying through heavy AA fire. We  had hit a "bump," as you might call it, and I had lost my lunch.

I turned around and saw two opposite rows of seats, each with a metal harness to secure over your shoulders to secure yourself into the seat. Before I sat down, I grabbed a datapad secured to the wall.

Like any decent commander, I decided I should read up on the situation. Tibrin, I thought as I punched in the letters on the 'pad's holoboard.

Tibrin: Once a water-world, much like Rogusa, covered in coral and underwater flora. A colossal increase in temperature in the planet's core made much of the water evaporate. Most of the water was dried up, and the majority of the marine fauna, the Ishi Tib, evolved from simple fish that jumped onto land to avoid predators, into a complex species. The Ishi Tib are not extremely fond of technology, although they use some of it, as they still use beasts to aide in construction. Buildings are mostly composed of massive, hollowed-out coral. Although not a strategical advantage,as the coral is not a strong material, the coral still provides simple shelter.

Conflict on Tibrin: Once a Republic-affiliated planet, the Ishi Tib leader, Suriban Tu, has started to lead raids  against small Republic Outposts on the planet and other outposts in the system. Motives for the Attucks are still unclear. The Senate and the Office of the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic are in concurrence to the plan to send in a clone force, preferably the 501st Legion, to attack Suriban Tu's palace and force Tu to stop the attacks. If Tu refuses, he will be terminated and a Republic-supporting Ishi Tib will be put in command. SO Brigade has deployed a team of clone commandos from the O-5 Commando Unit, under the command of General Jusik. Clone commando's current objective (<following information is classified>).

Hmmm, I thought. A commando unit? Things must be serious. General Jusik? Never heard of hi-

"Sir," said a voice over the shuttle's comm, interrupting my thoughts,"we're entering the flak zone. I suggest you strap yourself in now."

I reached up above my head and pulled down the heavy metal harness over my shoulders, securing myself to my seat. I turned my head slightly and glanced through the viewport. Two Acclomater-class cruisers were engaged in a large-scale battle against a Confederacy Assault Frigate. Explosions randomly appeared as V-19 Torrent-class star fighters dogfighted against clusters of Vulture Droids. I turned further around, as far as I could turn with the harness in my way, and saw that further behind the Acclomaters and saw a Venator-class Star Destroyer, the core of the Republic Navy.

Venators were the heart and soul of the GAR navy. Costing 59 million Republic credits, it held up to 40 larties (Republic Clone Trooper slang for LAAT/i, more commonly known as gunships), capable of holding up to 192 V-19 Torrents, with the crew capacity of 7,400, and standard ground deployment being as much as 2,000 clone troops. They were basically mobile, space-worthy staging bases. I glanced back down and checked the GAR Navy deployments in this sector.

The Resolute popped up, and I glanced down at the commanding Admiral. Wullf Yularen. And if I was right, this cruiser would be the ship I would be stationed on for the rest of the-

KROOM!

An explosion that was too close for comfort on the port side rocked the shuttle, and the pilot instinctively veered to the right.

KROOM!

Another explosion on the starboard side made the pilot veer back to the left again. I could hear the pilot shouting,"Resolute, this is RAS Striker, requesting a fighter escort down to the planet surface. We are carrying a VIMP, to be delivered to General Skywalker."

A VIMP? What the heck is that?

KRAKOOM!

Suddenly, the shuttle lurched forward, and the pilot started screaming into the comm," We've lost the port engine! Requesting permission to make an emergency landing on-"

KRATHOOM!

Another giant explosion interrupted the pilot, and he was silent. I glanced at the entrance to the cockpit and saw flames crackle through the entrance.

"Trooper?" I roared. "Trooper!" I tried to remove the harness, but the pilot had engaged the manual-override lock. "Fierfek," I swore out loud. I reached as far as I could and grabbed a long range comm link off the wall. It would broadcast to the nearest GAR comm channel.

"This is CC-7567," I said, en route to the surface of Tibrin. The port side engine has been destroyed, and my pilots are incapacitated, I'm unsure of their condition. Requesting emergency extraction."

KRACK!

The pilot's control station blew up and emitted a small explosion, throwing the pilot out of his seat and into the hull. The pilot's white armor, outlined by yellow, was scorched, and the explosion had shattered a whole in the front of the pilot's helmet.

The clone trooper's face was now unrecognizable. The explosion had burned through the front of his face down to blood and bone. I realized that that image would be seared into my memory for the rest of my life.

And I never even bothered to learn the poor man's name.

"-is clone pilot Hawk. What's your ksssshhh -ocation?"

The shuttle, instead of going straight towards the Resolute, now steeped down at an angle and started plummeting towards the planet, as it grew closer and closer.

"Scratch that!"I roared into the comm, now hanging on to the harness for dear life. "I'm headed on a collision course with the planet! Coordinates are- AGH!"

The harness broke loose and I flew across and hit the back of the hull, unable to move as the g-force immobilized me. With all the remaining strength I had, I reached forward and grabbed part of another harness attached to another empty seat. Pulling the rest of my body closer to it, I finally was able to secure myself to it.

Now, the alarm claxons finally kicked in, and a red light flashed from inside the hull. "Shuttle Striker," said a pleasant female voice from the shuttles built-in comm," please brace yourself for impact."

Oh kriff. My first day off Kamino, and this happens to me.

-*-

Well? Finally I gave you guys a nice, lengthy chapter. Hope you enjoyed!