TK-66 had encountered droids before, multiple droids actually of all sorts. He had fought against some battle droids though it was only minor and an act of defense.
He had heard multiple stories about the battle droids of the confederation and as such, had some idea about them
Without waiting for the droids to come to a conclusion and that would them begin acting again, he took the initiative and fired his weapon.
His first short missed his target as his arms moved to stabilize, he fired again and took the head of the lead droid causing panic within their ranks.
Without stop, he fired multiple times as his fellow trooper hurriedly -after snapping out of a short stupor- fired at the vines to lossen them and pull back.
The droids, quick to shrug of the loss also returned fire in a monotone manner. Breaking ranks as they advanced slowly and methodically, just as designed.
"We need to fall back and report this " TK-3450 screamed as he hid behind a tree which blocked the incoming fire. Crouching slightly, he peeked and returned fire a few times before returning to his hiding spot.
TK-66 knew protocol was to do so, but he also knew that if these droids were not eliminated here then they would return and alert their entire army....or what's left of it.
" Are you listening to me? " he repeated, recieving no answer from his first statement as he watched his brother in arms simply sit still behind cover.
He peeked once more and saw that the droids were closing in on them really fast. He had to do something.
TK-66 took a deep breathe and then activated his comms.
[< Commander, commander can you hear me?. We've spotted some droids but we are currently engaged with them, I am unsure of their current position but we know that there is a main base around here >]
[< Come in commander, did you recieve that?>]
[
....
Waiting was one of the worst parts of being a soldier, especially for a commander waiting for a report from his soldiers. The scenarios that could play in your head are enough to run you mad.
"Anything from them yet? " His Lieutenant asked as he approached his position.
"No....nothing yet " a short worried reply came as he looked towards the deep forest.
The trees blocked out a huge part of their surroundings, aiming up high into the sky leaving only the direct look atop their heads to be the only fairly clear view of the sky.
'There can't be a ground factory, it would have been spotted by the ship as soon as they begin their orbital scan. '
He thought as he looked up, wondering what sort of situation this might turn out to be
' Perhaps it's an old factory no longer running, maybe it's one of the very many seperatist outposts scattered around the galaxy. It's old garrison must be what scares the locals...'
He continued
' A tactical droid would have moved to either avoid them or take over this planet once it realised the seperatist allaince had fallen.....assuming it disobeyed the shut down order.
There can be at most 120 droids there then, assuming all of them still remain intact. Even if they had an entire army, having them all powered on would cause a huge power transfer to be going through here.
Something they had confirmed is not so....at least for now. Meaning, most of the droids should be shut down, even if not permanently. It should be enough for them to take it quickly.'
He reasoned as he gripped his rifle much tighter, a frown came across his face knowing that any large scale droid incursion would lead to much losses among his company.
Furthermore, most of their armour was outside the forests. Around its perimeter as he didn't want any accidents or unnecessary losses due to natural causes.
'And....we could always designate them orbital bombardment targets ' he thought and a small smile grew on his face before it vanished with the sudden static on their comms.
[
[
[
The message kept coming in, broken apart by the static noise as whatever was meant to be sent surely didn't come in one piece.
"There's too much interference here Sir, we won't get anything usable from them. Orders?" His lieutenant said as the comm still repeated incoming messages, static blurring out whatever sensibility was left in there.
"Sir?" The question came again as only silence was given.
Single seconds turned to double, double increased in weight and each passing moment inched closer to a minute. Then he spoke.
" Squad 3, I need you on double time. Straight ahead, no more than 10 minutes. Squad 4, you're pushing right behind them. Move it!!!"
He ordered as his troopers rushed to obey, leaving their positions to begin re-organizing for a forward push.
[
He commed in
Just then, his neck snapped to the side as his head suddenly got a shiver. Like an invisible feeling suddenly pushing against his mind, he stood unmoving as he stared in the direction his soldiers began pushing to.
At first, it seemed like nothing would break through. Nothing would come through or even happen.
It was just his soldiers, marching through the dirts, trees and vines of this forest. He almost believed he was imagining things, that his mind was playing tricks on him.
It came like a sizzling sound, before many of them could notice, a tree burned hot and red. Flames erupted as it cried out in words none of then will ever understand or hear.
"Incoming fire, North of us. "
A calm voice stated as troopers moved more cautiously. Some questions began erupting in the group but were quickly silenced by a second...and a third and a...
"Take Cover!!!" A trooper screamed as red beams filled the sky. The burned the air and the brought heat and fire.
Troopers fell from the suprise attack as they quickly took position, they had their orders. Storm troopers were trained with obedience and loyalty first and foremost.
The squads already on the move still sought to push forward despite the blatant change in the situation.
Perhaps they sought to push forward still and establish their position?
Most likely they were just following orders.
[< Delay my orders, focus on the enemy in front of us. The enemy has found us first, flanking squads are to focus on them >]
The company commander quickly ordered as he noticed his troopers wanting to push and follow their original commands.
He grimaced as memories of the past war threatened to resurface but he quickly pushed them aside and focused.
Quickly, their situation was becoming apparent. Something had gone wrong, so wrong to have caused a huge amount of droids to suddenly attack them.
Troopers used the trees for cover and returned fire, the droids pushed forward and with each step, they came closer into visual view.
"B1s" the company commander muttered with a hollow tone, the familiarity he had with them was not one he enjoyed.
They moved in ranks, marching with synchronized steps as each downed droid only allowing the next to begin firing.
The trees offered little obstruction in their way, rather proving to actually provide some sort of cover to the storm troopers dismay.
That much was obvious as the trees around and between them were filled with blaster marks.
The company commander knelt down behind a suitably large tree, he was confident in his accuracy and that much was shown with his scored hits.
" 3...5....6 " he muttered as he cycled between taking cover and risking his head. He preferred to follow protocol, coming out of cover in a kneeling position to better support his fire angle then quickly rushing back into cover.
As he counted, he noted the reduction in droid marching and their reduced fire. They were gaining the upper hand...were.
" What....is that " A trooper said in disbelief as one the last few rows of B1s were being taken out. A new row revealed a different model.
Towering, armoured and utterly devastating. Troopers from the sides had begun firing first, the scored a hit of down and downed the droids.
These emboldened the rest and they also began firing, believing that this will be an easy fight....except, the only droids that fell among their ranks were being hit from the sides....
The droids dropped down their arms and opened fire, the first shots tore through the plastic body of a trooper as he fell screaming in agony.
Another two saw their cover shredded in seconds, the tree erupting in fire as it arched, bent and broke under its own weight.
The droids pushed without stop, with some turning to face the side troopers who had some luck downing a few more.
Worse yet, they were being flanked by B1s which proved focusing fire on the tanking droids impossible.
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Notes
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The life of a stormtrooper is not so difficult as usually portrayed. Most never saw true battle especially with the years putting distance since the clone wars.
Many simply had minor fire fights and criminal fire exchanges. As such, they are untested in battle even to the degree of their early predecessors talk less of clone troopers.
But their job was not war but police work, thus they didn't need to be soldiers but officers. Their training emphasized loyalty and effectiveness to the degree needed of them. Never more.
Specialized divisions existed for a reason.