Have no fear, Grubkiller is here.

This my newest story.

It was originally, apart of my Clone Wars story, Fall of the Republic. But I decided to cut that part out and make it into a separate story. I've also decided to rename it recently to 'Brothers All'.

It's based off of the Bad Batch arc from Clone Wars. But I made a change that you should all notice.

Anyway happy reading, and feel free to leave your thoughts down in the review section.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Battle for Anaxes! The home of the Republic shipyards is under attack from Admiral Trench's Separatist forces. Jedi Generals Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker lead a two-pronged attack on the ground and in the air. But after weeks of heated battle and mounting losses, the Republic's grip on Anaxes begins to slip away.

Anaxes, Republic fortress world, Axum system, Core regions.

Anexes.

A world covered in canyons and strange red vegetation.

To most people, this planet may seem unimportant and barren. But they, like most people, underestimate its true value. Anexes is actually a Republic fortress world, and is the nerve center for the Republic Navy's shipbuilding and resupply hub. It was also right on the doorstep of Coruscant, the Republic capital.

That's why the Separatist fleet was throwing everything they had at the planet to take control of it. But in return, the Republic was throwing everything it could back at the Separatist Navy, because if they lose this planet, then the Republic Navy's thinning numbers won't be replenished, and the CIS will have nothing standing between them and ultimate victory.

In the skies and lower atmosphere, Republic and Separatist warships hammered away at each other at point-blank range. Burning chunks and slivers of metal were blown away from the hulls of warships on both sides, before they sank to the ground and slammed into the red forests and rock canyons below. Republic and CIS star fighters zoomed and zipped between the warships, trying to paint the other side's fighters with a fresh coat of plasma.

On the ground, Clone Troopers and Battle droids of all kinds tore at each other's throats for every last inch of land. It was a desperate fight for both sides. But for the Republic, it was even more desperate.

In the red forests, a Battalion of Clones, with white Phase-II armor that had maroon accents, were trying to punch through and take out the HQ for the CIS ground forces on the planet, which happened to be the Republic Navy's main ship-building hub. This was the Republic's only chance in weeks to take out this installation, but they failed to break through the outer defenses.

Now, they were desperately trying to hold the line against a never ending wave of Separatist droids. Super Battle Droids, Droidekas, Grapple droids, Jump-pack droids, flame droids. You name it, then it was probably somewhere in the mix. Behind them were AAT tanks, which were advancing with the Droids under the cover of Hyaena bombers and Vulture droids.

The Clones were holding a hastily dug-in trench line, which they defended with repeating blaster turrets, mortars, and a few tanks.

In the center, a dark skinned Jedi with a purple Lightsaber was expertly deflecting blaster bolts back at the droids, while around him, his troopers held their positions with both hands.

A clone commander, who wore a skirt-like Kamas around his waist and shoulder pauldrons over his clone armor, ran up to him.

"General Windu!" Commander Ponds shouted as he fired his DC-15a heavy blaster rifle at the advancing droids. "We can't hold this position much longer!"

Several explosion rocked the Republic lines, sending clones and occasional armored body parts flying in different directions.

Mace Windu spoke into his com-link.

"Skywalker. We can't hold this position indefinitely. Where is that air support?!"

In the skies above, Anakin Skywalker was leading Gold Squadron from the cockpit of his Jedi Star-fighter. They were trying to lead a bombing run on the CIS's defenses. Fighters from both sides were participating in a dance of death.

Puffs of red and black smoke appeared in the space around the Republic fighters.

"We're trying to get to you master. But this enemy fire is too thick," Anakin said as he banked his fighter from side to side in an effort to avoid the heavy flak.

"Are you able to complete your bombing mission?" Windu asked.

Before Anakin could answer the question, he saw two Y-wing bombers each take a serious hit. One of them disintegrated immediately. But the other lost an engine and spun out of control. He could hear a frantic voice call out 'mayday mayday mayday' before the ship lost contact and slammed into the ground.

Anakin shook his head in disappointment.

"I don't think so master. I've lost several bombers already. At this rate, we won't have enough ordnance to destroy the enemy defenses," Anakin said.

Windu immediately responded.

"Then call off the bombers! And then get down here. We're going to fall back, but we need you to provide close air support".

Anakin thought about it.

"Very well master," Anakin said before he switched the channel to his air wings. "Shadow squadron, return to base. We are aborting mission".

"Copy that General," Broadside, the shadow squadron leader, acknowledged. "Sorry sir". Anakin then saw the squadron break off, and in that moment, a tight knot formed in his gut. Clones despised retreating. Much like him, the clones only knew one direction: forward.

"Next time Broadside. Alright Gold squadron, on me. We've got a new mission".

Anakin then banked left and down to the surface. His squadron followed close behind.

Back on the surface, Mace was continually deflecting blaster bolts back at the advancing droid army, while his troopers took cover and returned fire as best as they could.

"Sir, we can't hold on any longer!" Ponds shouted out.

Mace spoke into his com-link again as he continued to block laser bolts with his purple saber.

"Skywalker. Where is that air support?!"

Just as Windu asked this, the whine of several engines sounded out across the region as a yellow Jedi Star fighter and several Z95 Head-hunters swooped in and rained Hell upon the Droid Army.

Droids were cut down.

Tanks were blown up.

Vulture fighters were shot down, their flaming fuselages leaving a trail of smoke that always led to an explosion in the middle of the forest.

"Right here master. You'd better get out of there fast. Another wave of Droid forces are advancing towards your position," Anakin said over the comm.

Windu turned to Ponds.

"Commander. Order the retreat".

Ponds nodded.

"Alright you grunts! Pack up your crap. We. Are. Leaving!" Ponds called out.

Every trooper in the battalion, what was left of it, began to high tail it out of the forest and return to base.

As Mace marched back to the evac zone, he could see the heavy toll that the battle had left on the Clone Army.

He saw troopers that had missing limbs, blaster and shrapnel wounds, and bandages wrapped around different parts of their body. His Regiment had suffered 60% casualties in this battle since it began. The CIS had won this round.

'How many more of these numbers can we sustain before this battle is over...' Windu thought. '...Whether we win or lose'.

The Jedi Master couldn't answer that. All he could do was lead his men into battle and try to take care of them to the best of his ability.

But deep down ... he felt like he was failing.

Fort Anaxes.

At the base of a monstrous cliffside, the very center of the Republic's operation on Anaxes was buzzing with activity. Fort Anaxes had several power generators, a few landing strips, and several guard towers lined the perimeter, which were manned by snipers and repeating blaster turrets.

Heavy cannons were blasting away at unseen targets, and fighters were taking off and landing around the clock. They left fully loaded with fuel and ordnance, and then they came back completely empty. Or they came back with less fighters and more damage.

Clone Troopers were marching back and forth. They were either marching off to the front, or they were returning from it, some of them limping or being carried.

A trio of severally damaged Republic gunships were coming in for a hard landing. As they did, several small brick like viechles moved up to the landing gunships, and dropped off their crew, who ran to the gunships with stretchers. They carried any wounded trooper back to the base, which was inside a cave at the base of the cliffside, and at the back of the airfield.

Inside of the cave fortress, near the entrance, was a makeshift hanger bay, which was packed with fighters. In the rear of the hanger bay was a small CIC (combat information center). In it, Anakin Skywalker and Mace Windu were standing around a holotable, which had a holographic display of a large, dome-like structure. It was a very critical shipyard for the Republic, currently under the control of Admiral Trench's forces.

"The droids have overrun our main production facility. It won't be long before the Separatists take Anaxes, compromising our entire reserve fleet," Mace said.

Anakin looked at him, with concern written all over his face.

Without the reserve fleet, then the Republic's invasion of the outer rim would grind to a halt, and the Separatist fleet might even have a stepping to invade Coruscant and the rest of the Core region.

Before Anakin could say anything, he heard footsteps coming from his left. He turned to face the noise and saw that it was Commander Cody, his master's clone commander, and Captain Rex, his own clone commander. The two of them had been conversing over a holo-terminal moments ago, and now they were obviously here to share something concerning it.

"Pardon the interruption General," Cody said as the two clones walked up with their helmets in hand. "But Rex has a good theory on why we keep ... er ... losing".

The two Jedi Generals looked at them with renewed interest.

Windu extended his hand towards the terminal. "Please, Captain".

Cody stood aside to allow the veteran Clone captain to access the terminal. He pressed a few keys on the terminal to bring up the image he wanted. The image of the planet and the fleet battling over it was replaced with several charts with mathematical equations.

"Well, as you know, I've studied our battle lines and developed an algorithm, to counter all our tactical tendencies, with the hopes that we would shore up our weaknesses. But ever since this battle started, the Separatists have always been one step ahead of us. If I'm right, then Admiral Trench has my algorithm, and he's using it to predict our strategies". The Jedi were looking with interest, and concern as the captain revealed this startling revelation. "It's just ... I don't know how he got it. My data files are heavily encrypted".

The Jedi looked at each other. Mace spoke up. "Did anyone else know your work?"

"Well ... Fives did. But he's gone," Rex said, referring to an Arc trooper that he's known since the Rishi Base incident, who was killed when he had seemingly gone off the deep end, trying to uncover a 'conspiracy'. "There was one other trooper," Rex said softly, "Echo".

Anakin noticed it. He spoke next. "But we lost Echo at the Citadel".

"Yes Sir. I know. But I also know Echo, and he could never leave well enough alone. He used to re-check that algorithm everyday, just to cut the tension of battle. Kind of like a hobby. He might've had it on him when he died," Rex said.

Anakin looked at Windu.

"We have to consider what Rex is saying. It would explain the ease with which Trench has been able to defeat us," Anakin said.

Windu stroked his chin thoughtfully before he addressed the two clone officers.

"Skywalker and I will hold the line on Anaxes. I want you two to take a small squad of clones behind enemy lines to infiltrate the Separatist cyber center. If they have possession of the algorithm, then you'll find evidence of it there. Cody," Windu said, prompting Cody to snap to attention. "I'm putting you in charge".

"Rex, you're in on this one to," Anakin said.

"Thank you General," Rex said.

Cody stepped forward. "I ... have got the perfect squad for this operation. Delta Squad".

Anakin and Windu looked at each other with surprise written on their faces.

This battle just got a whole lot more interesting.

Cody and Rex were walking along the runway with 4 clones from their respective battalions. Waxer and Boil from the 212th, along with Jesse and Kix from the 501st, walked behind their clone officers.

"Ah, a few deluxe models ... coming to save us with their superior training," Kix monologued.

"Those deluxe models are coming here to help us. So show some respect trooper," Cody ordered.

"Yes Sir," Kix said.

"So Cody ... you seem to have experience with Delta Squad? Care to elaborate?" Rex asked.

Cody kept walking. But he was happy to share the story.

"Back when the Outer Rim Sieges began, General Kenobi and I were ordered to deploy to the planet Sarrish, a CIS fortress world. It was mostly isolated, but it protected a route that led to several Separatist industrial worlds, and the Seps were using it to launch hit-and-run strikes on our supply routes into the outer rim. So the 212th was sent in to take the planet. At first it was going well. We thought that we were going to take Sarrish. But then we suffered set back after set back. Loss after loss. What was going to be a quick and decisive win... turned into five weeks of Hell. So eventually ... we were forced to pull out of the system. But the Sep fleet had blockaded the planet, and our own fleet was scattered. So they had to rally up and punch a hole in the enemy blockade for our boys to get off the ground."

"Yeah, but there was a hyper-velocity cannon on the ground, keeping our boys in the Navy from getting too close," Boil said.

"Exactly. So we needed to take it out. General Kenobi gathered a team. Me, Waxer, Boil, and a few others. There was also a company of commandoes on the planet. They were apart of the Siege as well, and had suffered over 80% casualties. They were itching for some payback. So they paired our squad up with one of the surviving commando units," Cody said.

"Delta Squad," Jesse deduced.

"Exactly," Waxer confirmed.

They piped down to let Cody finish.

"As I was saying, we were ordered to take out the cannon. When we got there, we cleared it out. I've never seen a squad of clones maneuver and fight the way they did, individually or together. They tore through the Droid forces in a way that would've made Skywalker blush," Cody continued.

Rex and the others were listening with pure fascination.

Cody continued.

"So we took over the cannon and were about to destroy it. But the Deltas had a better idea. They sliced into the controls and had the cannon start targeting Separatist warships."

"Whoa!" Jesse said.

"No way!" Kix exclaimed.

"Oh yeah. They took out five warships, including the flagship. With the clanker fleet in disarray and several of their ships wiped out, we ordered the evacuation. We got almost everyone that was left out in one piece". When Cody finished, he looked back to see Rex, Jesse, and Kix looking at him with shock and dumbstruck looks on their faces.

"Wow!" Rex said.

Cody grinned. He then looked off into the distance to see a Nu-class shuttle flying towards them.

"That's them now," Cody said.

Everyone watched as the shuttle came in for a landing. Before it touched down, the wings folded up to allow the landing gear to deploy. When the hatch started opening, pressurized carbon shot out of the hatch, creating a smoky mist. When the ramp extended, 4 clones stepped through the carbon smoke. Each of the commandoes had secondary color patterns over their silver/gray armor: orange, green, maroon, and one with a mixture of black with yellow.

The commandoes started walking towards them.

The team of commandoes were now right in front of them. The orange one walked up to Cody.

"Deltas, good to see you again," Cody said as he shook their hands in greeting.

"Good to see you too commander," the orange clone said.

"Boys, this is the squad leader, Delta-38".

"Just call me 'Boss'," 38 said.

"You're late to the party, Deltas,' Boil joked.

"Yeah. Sorry we didn't come fast enough. We were putting down a Xenomorph infestation on Yalvik Prime," Boss said.

The black and yellow armored clone stepped up. "You guys ever seen a Xenomorph?" he asked.

"Uh ... no. Can't say I have," Jesse said.

"You're lucky. They come out of no where and swarm you. They'll stab you with their tails, stab you with their tongues, and if you try to take'em head on, you risk having your face melted off. Their blood is made of acid," Scorch said, recounting everything horrible about Xenomorphs, which is everything.

"This is Scorch. He's our demolitions expert. He may seem like he wants to blow up the whole galaxy, but if you want a crater instead of a bunker, he's your man," Boss said as Scorch nodded his head and gave a thumbs up.

Boss hooked his thumb over his shoulder at the green clone.

"That's Delta-40, AKA 'Fixer', my second-in-command, and the squad's computer, technology, and hacking expert. The quiet one over there is 'Sev'," Boss said, referring to the clone with maroon armor. He's not much of a conversationalist, but if you want to put a blaster bolt through a womp rat's ass at ten clicks, then you'll want him on you're side," Boss said.

"So commander, what kind of suicide mission do you have for us this time?" Sev asked.

"You're advisor'll brief us on the way," Cody said as a Gunship hovered next to them with the hatch opened.

With that, everyone piled onto the ship. Most of the troopers stood up, but Sev and Scorch decided to sit with their feet hanging over the edge.

The Gunship then took off and flew away from the base.

Over the vast rocky valleys and red treetops, the strike team's gunship continued to fly towards its objective: the Separatist cyber center. As the Gunship continued flying, the buzz and hum of the engine rolled over the landscape of Anaxes for miles in every direction.

The commandoes and regular troopers stood in awkward silence for the duration of the trip. It wasn't anything personal. The two usually didn't work together very often. But everyone understood that they were all on the same side, and that they were working towards something greater than each individual clone: Victory for the Republic.

Everyone in the crew-bay spread out. When there was enough room, Delta-38 threw a black disk on the ground. For a second, nothing happened. But then a blue light turned on in the center, before a hologram of a clone wearing plain white, phase-II Clone armor appeared. It was Delta Squad's advisor appeared.

"Alright commandoes, listen up," the Advisor said as a holo image of a Separatist base with a large communications dish appeared next to the advisor. "Your target is this cyber center. It's the brains of the entire Separatist campaign here on Anaxes".

Scorch stepped forward.

"No problem. I've got enough charges to blow that building twice".

"This isn't a demo job Delta-62. It's strictly a retrieval mission," the Advisor scolded.

Unbeknownst to anyone on the gunship, they were being watched by Separatist droids that were set up on top of the canyon wall.

One B1 unit with green accents painted on his tan plates pressed a mechanical finger to his head, and an antennae extended from a power pack on his back. He was making a call to his allies.

"Sector 1 alert: Enemy Gunship approaching your location. Come in sector one".

In another part of the canyon, a platoon of battle droids were setting up a firing position with several dwarf spider droids. They were domelike droids with spider-like legs. They each packed a serious punch.

"Roger Roger,' a droid commander said as the spider droids walked up to the cliff edge that overlooked the canyon.

They soon caught the afore-mentioned gunship with their photo-receptors. The ship was flying through the canyon towards their location.

The droid commander pointed to the gunship. "Fire!"

And with that, the spider droids cut loose with their heavy blaster fire.

The gunship was being rocked by heavy flak, causing an alarm to blare out in the cockpit and passenger bay.

"Incoming fire," the pilot said.

He banked the gunship up as hard as he could, trying to get out of the canyon and avoid the flak.

But below the ship, the spider droids looked straight up and fired on the ship.

One blaster bolt caught the ship right where the wing meets the engine section.

The gunship began to rapidly lose altitude.

"Sir, we're going down!" the co-pilot exclaimed.

"Everyone, brace yourselves!" the pilot ordered over the ship's intercom.

As the strike force members grabbed ahold of the hand rails, the two pilots desperately tried to control the ship's rapid descent.

The ship banked to the side, scraping against the canyon wall. The left wing tore a gash into the rock wall before it was torn off. With just a right wing left, the gunship banked to the other side. It smashed into the ground, scraping against the ground and digging up a massive trench into the earth, as well as leaving behind chunks of flaming debris.

The ship eventually came to a complete stop.

After a few seconds, the hatch was opened manually by Fixer and Sev, allowing the clones to spill out of the wreckage.

Eventually, everyone was outside.

"Rule 45 Sev: Any landing you can walk away from is a good one," Scorch said as he stumbled to the ground. But then he looked over his shoulder at the cockpit and noticed that the pilots weren't moving. "Damn, never mind. Poor sods".

Cody stumbled out while limping. He, like several others, was coughing viciously from the smoke that poured out of the open hatch.

Then he stumbled to the ground when his bad leg gave out underneath him. "GAH! Status!" He called out as Kix began to check his leg.

"Sir, the bird's waisted and we've lost the pilots on impact. The rest of us are dinged up, but okay," Rex said.

"We lost a lot of our equipment," Boss said.

"And I'm not getting a signal, sir. We are officially cut off behind enemy lines," Fixer said.

Everyone gathered around Cody.

"Oh, this is just perfect," Boil muttered, "just Goddamned perfect".

Kix waved his medical device over Cody, giving his body a quick scan.

"Sir, your leg's all messed up. You can't move on your own right now," Kix reported.

Suddenly, the gunship exploded. The fire presumably spread to the fuel tank, or the missile launchers.

"Well, things can't possibly get much worse," Jesse said.

"Wanna bet?" A gruff voice said.

Everyone turned their heads in unison in the direction of the voice, and saw Sev looking off into the distance. 'What was in the distance you ask?' About 200 battle droids, moving towards the crashed gunship as fast as they could, their metal legs clanking menacingly as they went.

Sev turned to Boss. "That blast gave away our position".

"Oh yeah? Well I thought getting shot down gave away our position," Scorch said, smarting off.

"Cut the chatter," Fixer ordered.

Rex stood up to rally the troops. "Find cover. We'll hold this position and let them come to us".

Boss stepped forward. "With all due respect sir, but I don't think so. That's not our style. We prefer to go to them," Boss said, pointing at the advancing droids. "Deltas, plan 82. Shockwave maneuver!"

The four commandoes from Delta Squad readied their weapons. Their armor glowed blue for a second as their personal deflector shields activated, giving their durasteel armor an extra layer of protection.

Fixer checked his wrist blades, while Scorch and Sev configured their rifles to use their preferred weapons modification. Scorch preferred the anti-armor grenade launcher configuration, while Sev, the fierce hunter that he is, preferred the sniper configuration.

When Boss checked his dual pistols, he took point and picked up a piece of the gunship hatch to put in front of him. His squad gathered around him, ready to follow his lead.

"Let's get to work," Boss said, before his team charged at the company of battle droids. Boss held the piece of metal sideways to run with it more easily, while his squad was right next to him.

"Blast them!" The droid commander shouted. Seconds later, every battle droid in front of the clones opened fire. Boss swung the metal he was carrying in front of him just as the red laser bolts began to pound their position.

As Boss ran with the shield, his men began to fire back at the droids, putting several of them down with unrealistic precision.

Back at the wreckage, Rex and the other clones were hanging back to provide supporting fire.

They were amazed at how the commandoes were just charging at the enemy.

Jesse stopped firing to put in his two credits worth. "Are these guys for real?" The arc trooper asked.

Rex was himself dumbstruck by how the squad seemed to dive head first into danger no matter how deep, and also by how the commandoes moved like a well oiled machine, using initiative and creativity in their ... questionable methods. He came to realize something about this unit: Boss was their squad leader for a reason. And the squad was his weapon.

Boss slammed the shield down into the ground to create a makeshift defensive barrier.

His squad continued firing on the enemy.

Fixer used his visor to scan the enemy forces and the distance between them and the squad.

"Boss, Sev. 45, mark 151," Fixer called out.

"45, mark 151," Boss repeated before he threw an EC detonator, 'droid-popper', at the droids. As it sailed into the air above the droids, Sev was tracking the grenade with his rifle. He squeezed the trigger and sent a spear of plasma down range towards the grenade, which it struck. The EC grenade detonated, causing an EMP blast to expand outwards over the droids, shutting down almost all of them.

Boss moved forward, again carrying the shield, and again his men followed.

They repeated the shockwave strategy a few times, taking out dozens of droids each time.

A group of spider droids were bringing up the rear, and they began to fire on the squad.

"Fan out," Boss ordered. He swung the shield at a trio of battle droids, knocking all of them to the ground. When the shield was dropped, the squad split up and rushed the remaining droids.

Fixer charged at one of the spider droids. He ducked, dodged, and somersaulted past the droids in his way. The spider droid tried to get a beat on the swiftly moving commando, but before it could, Fixer jumped on top of its dome-like head before he swiftly drove one of his wrist-mounted vibroblades deep into its weak spot, the red optical cluster in the middle of the droid's frame. When that happened, the droid sparked for a few seconds, before it collapsed onto the ground, dead.

Scorch fired his grenade launcher at the remaining spider droid. The projectile sailed into the air before it came down on top of the droid's head. The grenade exploded on contact, causing another explosion to rip it, and several droids around it, apart.

"WOOOOHOOOO! Eat plasma you stupid droids. YEAH! Have some of that!" Scorch chanted triumphantly.

Boss continued to direct the squad's movements as he fired his dual pistols at the enemy droids.

They began to falter and retreat.

"They're unstoppable!" One droid exclaimed.

"Run Away! Run Aw-!" Another one said before he was cut down.

"They're retreating. Take offensive formation!" Boss ordered.

The squad rallied and began to fire rapidly into the back of the retreating droids. 200 droids went into the canyon, but none came out. All across the canyon floor, the ground around the victorious commandoes was littered with dead droids. And the only noticeable damage that they received was some dust they got from the explosions.

Captain Rex and the other clones, one propping up an injured Cody, began to walk back over to the commandoes.

Rex walked up to Boss and his men. "That was quite the show you put on," he complimented. that was an understatement of coarse. His men were in awe.

"Just doing our jobs, sir," Boss said.

Sev blasted a droid body, getting everyone's attention.

"Sev, do you always have to make such a mess?" Scorch asked.

"Rule 17: Always make sure they're dead," Sev said.

"It looks dead to me," Scorch said.

"It is now," Sev said.

Ignoring the banter between the two commandoes, Rex decided that it was time to salvage this mess.

"We should get moving before more droids show up. Our position's been compromised," Rex said. Boss nodded, and both clones rallied their respective troopers to get moving.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Canyon, Separatist controlled territory, hours later.

Some time later, a force of droid commandoes and a tactical droid were surveying the what remained of their forces in this canyon.

One of them had a hologram of Admiral Trench.

The droid leader spoke.

"We wanted to speak with you directly sir. This infiltration is...irregular".

"*Tck Tck Tck*. Were there Jedi with this squad?"

"There is no evidence of jedi sir. Just clones, but using tactics we have never seen before."

This got Trench's undivided attention.

"Interesting. Tck Tck Tck. They're on their own in the middle of no where. Sweep this area and locate these clones. And notify me if this incursion escalates, Tck Tck Tck".

The droid leader bowed his head before the hologram of Trench disappeared. He then started directing his men to continue searching the wreckage for anything remotely useful.

These clones were like a virus that could not be allowed to fester.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Deep in the jungle, the clones had set up camp. Bird calls and bug noises echoed throughout the red tree tops of Anaxes. And much further away, explosions were doing off in the distance. But they were muffled by the distance, and the tall canyon walls.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Boss was trying to get a signal back to base, while Cody was being treated for his injuries.

The rest of the clones were gathered around a fire, eating their ration bars.

"So what now?" Boil asked. "The commander's injured and we're stranded in the middle of Sep territory with no backup".

The regular clones around him shrugged.

Sev, who was cleaning his rifle, interjected.

"We're not trapped here with the clankers. They're trapped here with us".

Jesse smirked and shook his head.

"Don't you guys ever get tired of this?"

"Hell no!" Scorch jumped in. "Sev's right. We've been through worse. Remember that whole situation aboard the Prosecutor, back in the Chaykin Cluster?"

That's when Rex and Boss came up to the troopers.

They all looked at them to see what was up.

"What's the word sir?" Fixer asked.

"Well boys ... I've got bad news: Cody's still injured, and our comms are still out. Which means that we're on our own with no evac on the way".

The clones all looked at each other.

"So what's our next move?" Waxer asked.

Rex looked at Cody, who was carried forward by Kix, who set hit down.

"We have to keep moving," he said as he looked up at Rex. "Rex, you're taking point on this one."

Everyone looked at Rex.

"Alright. Let's move out".

The team began to trek through the jungle. During the journey, the sounds of nature and distant battle mixed to create an ominous feeling.

"This jungle gives me the creeps." Scorch said.

"Ah Scorch. Nothing like moving through the jungle, hiding in the bushes, and putting a plasma bolt through a hostile's cranium," Sev said before he took in a deep breath. "It makes me feel alive".

"Okay. Now oh-seven is giving me the creeps," Scorch said.

"Everything gives you the creeps," Sev said.

Several hours later, the team eventually came up on a security tower, guarded by battle droids.

Rex, Jesse, and the Deltas were in front. Waxer and Boil stayed behind to protect Cody and Kix, who were bringing up the rear.

"Not our primary objective. It's an outpost. Should we take it?" Boss asked Rex.

"Probably easier than going around," Rex said.

"Alright. What are your orders. Pick 'em off from the tree-line one by one?"

"Hmmm. We'll have Cody and the others do that. Meanwhile, I was thinking maybe we'd take a page from your book: Rush them head on".

Boss chuckled a little. "I like your style".

The Battle droids were just standing at attention, guarding this outpost. As usual, they didn't see much action. They didn't see any action since they've landed a few weeks ago. Just guard this spot that seems boring and uninteresting.

Suddenly, several blaster bolts came out of the tree line off to their right.

The droids all looked in that direction. They didn't see anything.

Suddenly, a squad of clones burst out of the tree-line from guns blazing, from a different direction off to their left.

"Clones! Get them!"

The droids began to advance on the clones, firing their blasters rapidly as they marched. But the clones were too fast for the slow-witted droids, and one-by-one, they began to fall.

When all of the droids on the outside of the facility were killed, Rex, Jesse, and the commandoes rushed the building.

They took out several more droids in the corridor inside, and boarded a small circular lift. While Rex, Jesse, Boss, and Fixer travelled boarded the lift that would take them to the top floor, Scorch and Sev stayed behind. When a few more droids tried to re-enter, the two commandoes fired their rapid fire DC-17 blaster, filling the droids with blaster fire. The droids, having had their torsos dotted with blaster marks, doubled over with a groan and died.

At the top of the tower, several battle droids were working at their stations. But they were so busy, that they didn't notice the lift that had just raised up into the center of the command deck. The lift's cargo: Four terrifying Clone troopers and commandoes.

One droid, a commander by the looks of his yellow markings, finally noticed them when he turned around.

"Hey, you're not authorized," the droid said a split second before Jesse put a blaster bolt dead center in it's chest, causing him to groan and slump to the deck.

That's when the other three clones swiftly went to work ripping the droids a new robotic asshole bigger than Anaxes' deepest canyons. The commandoes, used their wrist mounted vibro-blades to tear the droids to pieces. Bluish-purple motor oil sprayed onto the clone's visor when they did so. Fixer ripped the head off of one droid and began to mercilessly beat the crap out of another one with it.

Rex and Jesse were blasting the remaining droids that were still seated.

Soon, the fighting was over. The commandoes visor-shield wipers wiped the droid 'blood' that had sprayed onto their visors, and then they checked their weapons. At the same time, Sev and Scorch were arriving on the lift. They looked around at the carnage that their brothers had caused.

"It's over already? Dammit!" Scorch complained.

As that happened, Fixer went to one of the terminals and Rex walked over to the window to look out over the landscape. The tower's command deck had a 360 degree view of the region. They saw trees, rocks, and some more trees. But Rex managed to pick out a massive satellite dish at the base of the hill that the tower was overlooking.

"There!" Rex said, pointing at the dish. "That's our target: The Separatist cyber center".

"What've you got Fixer?" Boss asked.

"That's definitely the cyber center. It looks like it only has a few droid squads protecting it. But both entrances are guarded by several defensive turrets, which are activated if the alarms go off. But it looks like the turrets aren't activated by motion detectors," Fixer informed. "Be advised, I'm detecting a whole platoon of mechanized infantry heading our way".

As Fixer said this, he brought up a hologram of three MTTs and some Ground Armored Tank (the star-fighter tanks from the 2002 clone wars video game) escorts.

Rex began to think to himself.

'This means that we have to make this quick. If one squad can distract the enemy, then another squad can go around back without setting off the defensive turrets and then sneak in completely undetected. Hmmm.'

The veteran clone captain then looked at the base of the tower and saw several Geonosian designed flit-knot speeders.

"38, I want you and some of your boys to take those speeders and flank the cyber center. I'll take the rest of the boys and launch a diversionary assault on the front of the cyber center.

Boss nodded and then turned to his men.

"Forty, Six-two: you're with me. Sev, go up on that ridge line and give Rex and Cody some sniper support".

"Affirmative," Fixer said.

"You got it Boss," Scorch said.

"Copy that," Sev acknowledged.

Rex smirked.

"We've gotta tackle that base before their reinforcements arrive. Let's do this boys".

A few moments later, a trio of Separatist speeder bikes began to zoom across the ridgeline off to the side of the canyon, in which the cyber center was in. They were carrying Boss, Scorch, and Fixer.

When they were behind the cyber center, they dismounted their speeders and slid down the sloped side of the canyon. They landed behind a bunch of bushes, completely concealed and out of sight.

Fixer and Scorch looked at Boss, who gave them a series of hand signals.

'Stay put', Boss signaled.

The two commandoes nodded.

All they had to do was play the waiting game.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the base, Rex and the other troopers moved through the tree-line about 30 yards from the front entrance.

Cody was being carried to a good shooting position by Kix.

Rex and Jesse took point, inching their way through the edge of the tree-line until they could see the opening between them and the front entrance. There were about 20 commando droids out front. Two droids were right in front of them, their backs facing the clones.

The two clones walked up behind them.

The droids, having no idea the clones were about to kill them, were deep in conversation.

"Do you know what's going on?" One asked the other.

"Maybe it's another dri-aaaaahhhh!" It whined as Jesse yanked the droid back and ripped it's head out of its socket.

"Hey!" The other one exclaimed as Rex shoved it to the ground and curb-stomped its neck.

When they were done, Rex, Jesse, Waxer, and Boil all prepared to rush the base. Kix walked up with Cody, who had an arm around his shoulder. When Cody was sat down behind cover, he aimed down the iron sights of his rifle and aimed at the droids in front of the base.

Rex spoke into his com-link. "Is everyone in position?"

"Affirmative," Boss said.

"Ready and raring sir," Sev acknowledged, as he laid down in a prone position and switched to his sniper mode.

"Let's hurry. The Seps'll have the outpost back under their control by now," Cody said into his own comm.

Back at the tower that overlooked the canyon, three MTT carriers and their small tank escorts rolled on in. Several trees toppled over as they surrounded the base.

Dozens off regular battle droids marched in rank and file, securing the tower perimeter.

Inside, a tactical droid and a squad of battle droids took the lift up to the CIC deck. They were surrounded by the smoking and sparking droid corpses from when Rex and the others stormed the tower earlier.

The tactical droid pulled out a small comm disk, which projected a hologram of Admiral Trench.

"Sir, we tracked the clone strike team here. They seemed to have captured this location and then deserted it," the droid said as he walked over to a window which had a good view of the cyber center. "I cannot calculate the logic of this assault".

Trench clicked his mandibles together before speaking.

"Tck Tck Tck. There is no tactical advantage in taking the outpost. Their target will be the nearby cyber center," Trench said before he began to ponder the situation. "They must know about the algorithm. Get me in contact with that outpost at once".

"Oh-Seven: the fiercest hunter of all your brothers." That's what Taun We said to Boss regarding Sev. He was in fact the fiercest of them all. Like his brothers, he was trained by the legendary Mandalorian warrior Walon Vau.

He was a sniper that lived for the hunt. He had a hatred for everything related to the Separatist Alliance, including some of the alien species that joined them, particularly the Geonosians. When the war broke out during the 1st battle of Geonosis, 10000 Clone commandoes were deployed to the planet's surface. But 4982 would never see the Republic emerge victorious, for they were killed. Sev lost quite a few brothers that day, and he promised that he would avenge them all.

4982 kills.

That was his goal.

One for every last one of his comrades that fell that day, the first day of the Clone Wars.

Laying down prone on the ridge-line that overlooked the cyber center, he looked through the two holographic blue sights on top of his rifle until the crosshairs were hovering over the head of a yellow armored battle droid commander, who was talking to a holographic version of Admiral Trench.

"Good night, clanker," Sev said to himself as he gently squeezed the trigger and fired.

The droid commander was talking to Trench. "Put all droids on alert. An attack is coming," he said.

The droid recoiled in surprise. "An attack is coming? When is-AHHH!" The droid screamed as a blue laser bolt burned a hole through his metal head. Before the droids had time to react, more blue laser bolts poured out of the tree line, downing several more droids.

Rex and his men charged out of the tree line guns blazing. Waxer and Boil threw some EC detonators, causing an electro magnetic pulse to emanate from the grenade's detonation, thus short-circuiting several more droids. Kix and Cody started pouring blaster fire from the trees, while Rex, Jesse, Boil, and Waxer hit the droids head on.

The droids fought back, seeking cover. As this happened, several automated turrets came out of the wall and started firing on the clones, who were forced to take cover.

Up on the ridge, Sev continued to work his way from droid to droid, squeezing the trigger every time his crosshairs hovered over some unfortunate droid's head.

It was at this time that the clones tried to fire back on the turrets. But they soon discovered that the turrets were ray-shielded in the front.

As their bolts were absorbed into the invisible barriers, Jesse cursed.

"Damnit! Our weapons can't penetrate those shields. Do we have any more droid-poppers?" He asked.

"That's a big negative trooper," Waxer said to Jesse, who grumbled in annoyance as he and the others were forced to keep their heads down.

"Rex! There's no way we'll be able to break through," Boil exclaimed.

"That's because we're not trying to break through. Don't you worry trooper. Delta won't let us down," Rex said as he fired one of his dual sidearms at the droids, who were continuing to grow in numbers and advance.

On the other side of the cyber center, the droids guarding the rear door were reacting to the sounds of blaster fire coming from the front. "All units to the front door," the commander ordered. He and his troopers ran to the other side, leaving the rear door completely unguarded.

Boss and his men were still watching from the bushes. There was no one left to keep them from moving in.

"Looks like the diversion's working," Fixer said.

Boss made a gesture with his hand in the direction of the back door. This caused his men to nod. He then took off, with the other two close behind.

"Alright, let's go in quietly," he said before he gestured towards Fixer. The green armored trooper nodded and walked over to the door control panel.

He tapped his fingertips against the panel, causing a series of clicking and beeping noises. "Very close now," Fixer said. The red panel blinked green and made a beeping noise. "We're in".

The three commandoes moved in, weapons at the ready. They checked their corners and swept through the narrow corridors.

Nothing.

All of the droids were outside, dealing with Rex and the others.

Perfect.

They came up on the door that led to the cyber center's control room.

It was locked.

The commandoes had two options: Slice the terminal and go in quietly, or blow the door and quickly sweep the room. Deciding to go with the latter, Boss raised his arm, bent his elbow and pumped his fist in the air twice.

"Delta Squad, execute door breach maneuver," he ordered as he made the gesture with his arm.

"Yes Sir," Fixer said as he turned around to aim his rifle down the corridor.

"I'm on it boss. One broken door coming right up," Scorch said as he went to place a thermal detonator on the door's locking mechanism. "Keep me covered".

"Roger that," Boss said.

Scorch pressed a button on the detonator, causing it to rapidly beep.

"Stand back," Scorch said as he moved away from the explosive.

The device blew up, blasting the lock off and opening the door.

Just as the door was opening, Boss swiftly pulled an EC detonator from his utility belt and tossed it through the opening door, which revealed a squad of battle droids and three tactical droids. "Fire in the hole!"

"Uh-Oh!"

"Mommy!"

The droids panicked before the grenade detonated and short circuited almost all of them.

The commandoes rushed in and blasted anyone that remained standing. Boss knocked one of the tactical droids to the ground and blasted him in the face with his DC-17. Another droid turned to blast him, but he swiftly pulled out his sidearm to blast the droid square in the face. Scorch stuck a small detonator to one droid and kicked him away, before the grenade exploded and enveloped the droid. Fixer tackled the third tactical droid to the ground and jammed his wrist blade deep into it's neck. When he withdrew the blade, sparks and oil spewed out onto his faceplate.

"Area secure Boss," Scorch said.

"Fixer. Get to work on these computers. We'll go get the others," Boss said.

Fixer nodded and went to work just as Boss and Scorch rushed down the corridor towards the front entrance.

Rex and the others were holding their own, but they couldn't advance. The turrets and the remaining droids had them pinned. But when it seemed like the stalemate couldn't be broken, it was shattered when the doors opened to reveal two commandoes.

Boss and Scorch immediately went to work blasting and knifing the droids one by one. Boss took his dual sidearms and blasted the unprotected flanks of the defense turrets, taking them all out. The droid ranks thinned swiftly until only a battle droid commander remained.

He turned around and noticed that the two clones stood over his dead comrades.

"Hey where did you come fro-AAAAAA!" the droid whined before Sev shot it's head off from the top of the ridge. Scorch saw the direction from which the blast came and gave a thumbs up. He was answered by a glint from Sev's visor.

Rex and others rushed up to the entrance.

"What took you boys so long? We've been here for at least two minutes," Jesse cracked.

"Well good for you smart-ass," Scorch shot back as the other clones secured the entrance. Kix, once again, came over with Cody propped up on his shoulder.

Just as they all rallied at the front entrance, they could hear a loud humming noise, followed by the rustling and cracking of breaking trees, and finally by the rhythmic sounds of robotic clanking.

Everyone looked to see the Sep reinforcements arriving.

"You'd better get in their Rex. We'll take it from here," Cody said as he aimed his rifle at the advancing droid tanks. Rex nodded and rushed into the building.

The troopers faced the mechanized CIS platoon just in time to see the MTT's open their front hatches. Several racks extended from each tank. When the racks were fully extended, Super Battle Droids were dropped down from them. They began to advance along with the rest of the droids, and under the cover of several Separatist light hover tanks.

"Open Fire!" Cody ordered, and the clones unleashed a storm of blaster fire.

Droids fell in droves, but they kept marching.

And they would keep marching until either the clones were dead, or they were dead themselves.

Rex ran into the control center to see Fixer hovering over the holo-table.

"Okay, I'm in. What am I looking for?" Fixer asked.

Rex pulled a data drive from his utility belt.

"Here's the algorithm," he said as he gave it to Fixer, who connected it to a data pad that was plugged into the computer system. "You're looking for a program using this sequence".

Fixer went to work, punching in keys rapidly. That's when a hologram of the algorithm appeared over the table in front of them.

"I found it!" Fixer exclaimed. But then he stopped himself. He then found himself studying the information in front of him. "Hmmm. This is strange. It's not a program. It's a live signal from ... another planet. Skako Minor".

"A live signal?" Rex asked as he went back to watching as Fixer punched in keys again, but with a new interest on his mind.

The battle outside continued to rage hard. The SBDs continued to push forward, and the clones continued to hold the line. They kept under cover, lashing out when the opportunity presented itself.

But the clones wouldn't be able to hold on indefinitely. The CIS had more droids than the clones had ammo.

"Everyone fall back inside the building!" Cody ordered. "38! Now would be a good time to call in a getaway ride."

As everyone pulled back into the building, Boss got on the horn with Sev.

"Sev, we're gonna need a lift. Try and find us a ride out of here," Boss said as the door was shut behind him.

Up on the ridge, Sev scanned the area around the cyber center. Then he looked off into the distance and spotted a small CIS vehicle depot. He saw a speeder with a dozen seats. More than enough to get everyone out of here. It was guarded by more droids.

"Not gonna be a problem," Sev said into his comm.

Back in the cyber center, Rex and Fixer continued to look over the data in front of them.

"Here it is. This is audible," Fixer said, referring to the signal.

"Patch me in. I want to hear it," Rex said.

Fixer punched in a few more keys, allowing the signal to come through.

They both studied it. But there was something strange about the signal, which Fixer pointed out.

"What is that?" They both continued studying the signal. "It ... it sounds almost human".

Rex looked at the signal.

"It can't be!" He exclaimed.

Meanwhile, at a viechle depot near the cyber center, Sev was moving steathily towards the speeder he eyeballed earlier.

He trained his rifle on the only two droids that were in sight.

When the crosshairs were on the droid's head, he fired, causing the droid to fall to the ground. His buddy noticed. "Uh-oh," he said before he to was shot in the head too.

Sev rushed out of the bushes and charged towards the speeder. He jumped into the driver's seat, started the engine, and took off towards the cyber center.

The front entrance door exploded, allowing the droid army to pour through in an attempt to overrun the clones inside.

"We've gotta go. Now!" Boss ordered. The clones pulled back deeper into the building, firing their weapons as they did. They pulled back one by one, each trooper covering his brothers as they ran. Each time, the troopers were able to fall back. And each time, the droids paid a price for trying to reclaim the building.

Rex and Fixer looked up as an explosion rocked the building, causing loose dust to float down from the ceiling.

"Fixer. Find out who's sending this. Ask who that is," Rex instructed.

Fixer went back to punching in more keys. Whatever he did worked. The signal began to speak ... literally.

"CT-21-0408. CT-21-0408. CT-21-0408," the signal said, in the voice of a clone trooper.

Rex nearly fainted.

"I ... I don't believe it," Rex said as the voice kept on repeating those numbers.

"CT-21-0408. CT-21-0408. CT-21-0408."

Fixer pulled his data pad from the terminal and put it away, just as Boss came to collect them.

"We're gone. Captain, let's go," Boss encouraged.

Fixer rushed out to join the others. But Rex hesitated.

The battle was get closer and fiercer.

But Rex stayed there.

"REX! NOW!" Boss shouted.

Rex put his helmet on and left the repeating voice behind.

"CT-21-0408. CT-21-0408. CT-21-0408. CT-21-0408. CT-21-0408. CT-21-0408."

Rex joined the others, who were in the middle of a fight for their lives.

The clones blasted away at the droids, which continued to march down the narrow corridor over their fallen comrades.

The Republic troopers pulled out and prepared to leave the building. When they opened the door, they saw a droid on the other side. Without thinking, Cody blasted it with his sidearm while being carried by Kix.

"Nice one Commander," Waxer said.

"I've still got it in me, trooper," Cody said as everyone gathered outside.

They were soon surrounded. They circled up, standing back to back, and began blasting at the droids that converged on their location.

They continued to be pushed back until they were completely surrounded. When it seemed like they were going to be overrun, Sev came in on the speeder he hijacked and landed it next to the squad. Everyone piled onboard. They kept on firing after they took their seats. That's when Sev lifted the speeder up and flew away from the cyber center, red laser bolts flying up passed them. But they were long gone.

Back at the tower outpost, a tactical droid was speaking to a holographic version of Trench.

"We have chased the clones out of the center sir. They are retreating back towards Republic lines".

"Tck Tck Tck. Did they download anything from the central computer?"

"There doesn't appear to be any intel missing," the droid said before another droid handed him a data pad, which gave a quick scan. "But there appears to have been a connection made with Skako Minor".

Trench looked on in shocked horror.

"WHAT!?"

Back on the stolen speeder, which was traveling back to Fort Anaxes, Rex had his head down and his hands clasped together as he pondered the new information that he just drank in at the cyber center. Fixer leaned over to try and speak to him.

"That number Captain ... what did it mean?" He asked.

Rex looked at him, and then went back to looking at his lap.

"CT-21-0408. That was Echo's number. That was Echo".

The speeder kept flying over the landscape of the planet Anaxes, carrying information vital to the Republic's operation. Information that was on another planet. Information from a clone trooper long thought to have been dead.

Well folks. That was part 1. The rest of the story will focus on the rest of the Bad batch arc, but with Delta Squad instead of the bad batch. I like the bad batch. But I love Delta squad better, and I think that they should've been used in this particular arc.

Waisted potential Disney. Waisted potential.

Anyway, until next time, this is Grubkiller, over and out.