Lieutenant Bala Hunter

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ABOARD THE GLADIATOR
UNITED ARMED FORCES LEGION

IN ORBIT AROUND CORUSCANT

OFFICER'S BARRACKS.

The hallways of the barrack rooms were absent of any soul. All the officers and troopers were still in the hangar and at the bridge, waiting for the newly titled Emperor Palpatine's command. Bala could care less-fatigue had overtook her after boarding the cruiser once completing the operation. Well, almost to full completion.

Bala sat at the side of the bed, staring at the wall in front of her. She was still in her black Republic Commando undersuit. She had rolled up the sleeves so that the suit's leather wouldn't feel like a second skin. Bala had kept it on so that she could be warm in the cold, unforgiving room.

She rubbed the right side of her neck, feeling the scabs and scars from the night before. Again, she thanked General Vasco for letting her sleep in and not participate with everyone else. Horrid memories of the previous mission continued to flood her mind. Stop it, Bala thought sharply. Sleep. The word echoed through out her skull and she gratefully obliged. She layed on her side, closed her eyes, and tried to picture her childhood home on Concord, her Mandalorian parents before they died, her uncles, her aunts and all the rest of her family. But there was no use. She was immediately taken back to the very beginning.

* * *

26 HOURS EARLIER

REPUBLIC ATTACK SHUTTLE 88-45-01

CORUSCANT

* * *

"Alright guys," Vasco said in the shuttle's bay, "Operation Knightfall is a go for all RC units. We'll be deployed near the temple."

"The temple?" Devis said in question. "Why there? Can't the 501rst handle a few younglings?"

"We hunt down any escaping Jedi and hold security," Vasco answered. "Hey, Hunter, wake the shab up already."

A hard shove to the shoulder finally jostled Bala awake. She had nodded off in her black commando suit while in her seat. A few strands of her raven black hair was in her eyes and blocked out some of the blinding light. She moved them back toward her tight bun and saw Devis, Cold, Hawk, and Vasco surrounding her In their full ARC armor. "We need RC gear," Vasco said throught his T-shaped visor, "you brougut your squad's crate right?"

Bala grunted as she got up. "Yeah, I'll bring it up here," she told them, turning to the right toward the supply closet. "Well, I'm glad we're going to be little MP guys," Hawk said, "better than being stuck in the rain trying to hold the civvies down."

"No osik," Cold muttered. "There'll be a bunch of kriffing shabbuires demanding to know what we are doing."

Bala reached the shuttle's walk in closet and pressed the button with her gloved thumb. It's metal slid across the floor and revealed the large crate she had carried from her officer barrack. "Got it," she called out to the them while reaching down to grab the handle. She stood back up and pulled it by its wheels back to the bay. "Not one scratch," Bala said to them, "or your shebs will be out in space."

Devis chuckled. "After Operation Ground Breaker your armor looked as if a kriffing rancor had osiked all over it and not once did you bother to bring it to the freshers." Bala replied with a grunt. She dropped the crate in the center and slid the top off. A blanket of dust rolled out from underneath and covered all that was inside-DC-17s, issued pistols, parts to the Republic Commando gear, spoiled MREs, medical equipment, grenades, rifle attachments, and...

"Stang," Hawk whispered, "is that...?"

"Yes," Bala replied in a low voice. She slowly picked up two, small chain linked necklaces with a metal tag on each. She gently paced them on the crate's lid as Devis picked up a jar of ash. "Hunter, you didn't have to-" Vasco started to say. "It-it's fine, sir," she stammered, remembering who the necklaces belonged to and why there was a jar of ash In the crate. She took a deep breath, cleared her thoughts and told them, "Those are the cremated remains of Iron. Those are his tags and Amadeus', who was presumed KIA after about a year of missing from action. The guys from Omega were nice enough to bring those while I was in the medical bay." She sounded like a droid;all of it was explained in a cold, logical tone. Bala hated herself for it. She spoke as if the objects were from some crime scene and not from the two clones she had been with for years. But it was all she could do to prevent herself from tearing up before an operation.

The pilot's voice suddenly spoke through the shuttle's intercom system. "Recon teams are reporting in and have intel." Bala walked over and pressed the speaker. "Roger that, be right there." She grabbed her skull helmet from her seat and held it by her side, walking toward the cock-pit. "You guys put some buckets on," Bala said without turning. "Put Iron's remains back in the crate. Devis, you keep the tags." No one argued.

Bala reached where the pilot was and pressed the button for the door to open. It slid ajar and she walked inside where she had a full view of the cities of Coruscant. The planet was shrouded in night, but its buildings refused to go to internal darkness, leaving the lights shining through out the world. Rain was splattered over the window and thunder striked in the distance. Bala looked down toward where the pilot was and saw that he had his full attention on where he was going. "Their waiting for you on the holo messenger, Ma'am," he told her without looking. Bala took a step over to it and pressed to open a connection. Within a few seconds a clone in full UAF Marine recon gear appeared on the holo messenger. "This is Lieutenant Hunter of General Vasco's personal commando fire team."

"Hello, LT," Shade's voice said. "We have full visual on your shuttle's LZ and the area near the temple. No activity there. However we have made contact with a contingent of Jedi seven clicks south of it."

"Did you manage to cut them down?"

"Neg, we only managed to neutralizee half of their force before having to pull out. We cannot follow them on the scanners." Bala sighed. "Our orders were to have security around the temple and track down any hostiles. We cannot go on a wild chase for that many Jedi."

"I'll go ahead and send a squad over to the temple and have sniper and spotter teams set up along the roads."

"Aye. Any thing else?"

"Doesn't look like it so far."

"Alright, our comm's numbers are 36-275 if you have any more Intel."

"Copy that. Shade out." The holo vanished. "How much farther until we reach the landing zone?" Bala asked. "About two hundred meters," the pilot answered. She nodded and walked out, the door sliding behind her. She strode back into the bay where everyone was still fitting their gear on. "What's the scoop, Hunter?" Devis asked while fitting his chest plates on.

"There's a contingent of Jedi that are seven clicks from our LZ. Staff Sergeant Shade is getting sniper and spotter teams along the roads and will be our eyes in the sky for the mission."

"Did he send a squad over to replace us for security?" Hawk asked, trying to fit his boots on. "Yes."

"Good man," Vasco said while putting clips of ammo into his pack. "How much farther till we get to the zone?" Cold asked, who was messing with inside of his helmet. "Two hundred meters."

"Firefek," Hawk hissed. Bala went over to the crate and picked up a few, fresher looking MREs. She turned to the left and walked to one of the seats and sat. She stuffed them into one of the packets on her belt and placed her skull helmet onto her lap to where it was facing her. She started to remember Amadeus and Iron, Special Operations training in Tipoca City, the meeting with them as a mercenary, and hearing their voices as their gunship crashed. You need to stop, Bala thought, ''Amadeus and Iron are gone, it's been a year. Move on. They are dead. ''

Those three words rang through her head. ''They are dead. They are dead. They are dead.''

"Hunter," Vasco's voice said.

Bala shook herself out of her thoughts and looked up. Everyone was fully geared in white commando armor-except Devis, who was in the black suit. Devis still had that small beard, Cold with the hard set features and side burns, Hawk with the basic cropped hair and Vasco with the plain, bald head. "Radio check," Vasco told them, placing the helmet on his head. Bala did the same along with the others. She heard the seal lock with the bottom neck part of her chest plate. The HUD was instantly activiated on her visor. On one side was a list of comm channel numbers, call signs, and armor stability. On the other side was scanners and personal helmet options. "Ghost One, checking in," Bala said.

"Gladiator Three, checking in," Hawk said.

"Ghost Two, checking in," Devis said.

"LEEEEEROOOY!" Yelled Cold. Everyone laughed. "Alright, comms are fully functional," said Vasco. All of a sudden the lights in the bay went off, ushering in total darkness. A bright, yellow light replaced them in an instant. Bala reconignized it-the signal that that the shuttle is lowering. "Form up, form up," Vasco barked. In silence, the five commandos got their weapons and formed themselves into two seperate lines with the team leader in front. Outside, Bala could hear the winds being whipped up from underneath the wings of the ship. The thrusters of the shuttle screamed for a few minutes, then gradually died down to a low mutter.

The bay's doors cracked open. Rain and loose foliage seaped through, creating puddles on the metal flooring. It slowly became fully ajar, revealing wind sweeping rain in a small courtyard in the night. The street lights allowed the team to see through the darkness. Everyone jogged out and on to the the ramp, exiting the the shuttle. Bala turned out toward the right, jogged a couple feet with a shadow from the street lights and then kneeled to where she faced northeast with her DC-17 raised. "LZ clear," Devis announced. "Staff, you with us?" Vasco asked.

"Yes, sir," came a static filled reply. "Rally up," Vasco ordered. Bala got up, turned around, and walked quickly to the circle of clones. "Shade, has there been any hostile activity so far?" Hawk asked. "Affirmative, but I was out of range for any signal to connect to."

"Aye, tell us when and where, Ner'Vod," said Devis in a cool tone. "Eighteen'o hundred twenty five hours and south of your location. To be more definitive it was near a speeder garage. Marking it now." Bala opened the map on her HUD where she saw the distinct markings of her team and then a bright blue dot that was below them. Bala silently cursed to herself. "Stang, that's only one hundred meters," she told them. "Did you see where they went after that?" Asked Cold.

"Negative, our tech and gear was malfunctioning in the rain," Shade replied almost reluctantly.

"Shab it, sergeant, too many mistakes," Vasco growled. "Listen up," he said, making them all turn to him, "Three breach the place, two watch their six on the streets. Now let's kriffing move-Devis take point." Devis nodded, turned and trudged to the front with everyone behind. Bala found herself up with Hawk and they began a run up to the speeder garage.

* * *