C1P9

Mobile Command Vehicle

Overlooking the Battlefield

It was very cold, I decided. Despite having no way of actually feeling it, my joints were decidedly stiffer and my internal temperature was at it's record lowest. Despite having two Commandos guarding me, I was not comfortable with my current guest.

"Your attack has failed, droid. Where is the victory Count Dooku has promise me?" Demanded Gout, looking very displeased. The warlord had decided to come and witness my battle prowess for himself, something that he justifiably believed was impossible. But I was no mere B1 Battledroid. I was a displaced human mind within a B1 Battledroid, who was simply smarter than Major Kendal Ozzel.

But Unger Gout did not know this. Instead all he saw was an inept battledroid who had taken over his battle and his authority, and now he believed I just wasted an incredible amount of troops and tanks, leading the clones to the mines in full and utterly disgraceful retreat.

"All in good time, Warlord," I replied reassuringly. "Here they come now."

I raised the electrobinoculars to my photoreceptors and peered through it. The binoculars immediately highlighted enemy armor through the windy snowfall. There were over a hundred AT-TEs and nearly twelve times in A6 Heavy Assault Juggernaughts and their Troop Transport variants. There were at least eighty to ninety percent of the Republic's entire ground force concentrated right here in this confining valley.

A confining valley filled with droids hidden under the snow on all sides. Once I gave the order, Commandos would pop out like daisies and cut down the clones, firing missiles and throwing EMP grenades at the lumbering vehicles. And to make matters worse for my enemy, hundreds of dwarf spider droids would follow, stacked upon each other like a great wall of cannons, they would reduce vehicles closest into burnt husks, creating a makeshift prison as the walkers and transports become trapped in the corpses of their very comrades.

"Is it ready?" Demanded Ventress' voice behind me.

"Nearly. Whoever the Republic commander is, he is very brash," I replied, turning to a BX-series Commando Captain behind me. "Sergeant 127, begin the ambush now!"

As i had planned, explosions covered the flanks of the enemy armored spearhead, dozens of walkers crumpled like paper against the amount of firepower suddenly being erected against them. Juggernaughts were caught off guard as laser blasts slashed their wheels and sent them into a grinding halt. Clone troopers were ground under into paste by confused walkers and the wheeled behemoths as they crashed into each other in the chaos. Within minutes, the core of the group were packed against each other, surrounded by burning walls of wrecks as entire battalions of clones burned alive within their transports.

Smoke billowed thickly from the fires consuming man and machine alike in an enormous pyre of destruction. Gout looked suitably impressed by the destruction I had created.

"Are fighter wings three and four ready for sortie?" I asked sergeant 127. The Commando nodded.

"Begin immediate sortie, make one pass and then assault the remaining clones and their armor at the processing facility. I want intact clone armor and vehicles for salvage."

"By your command," intoned the droid captain, bowing slightly.

"You work fast," remarked Ventress, smiling slightly as she raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"I do good work," I reply, tilting my head slightly towards her. "Are you displeased, ma'am?"

"No. I am not," she replied, not warmly, but certainly not coldly. I took that as a good sign.

We watched as Vulture droids screamed down from the skies, torrents of laser fire peppering the corralled walkers and vehicles until more explosions filled the air. Both fighter wings regrouped and began making combat runs at the small detachment that had been left behind to guard the processing facility.

"Sir," said a B1 as it ran up to me. It held a small disc-like holopad. "There is a frequency wide transmission coming from the wreckage in the valley. A Major Kendal Ozzel is surrendering himself and his troops to us."

"Excellent," murmured Ventress as Gout nodded, looking impressed. I activated my own comlink and ordered my troops to cease fire. Almost immediately, the sounds of blasters and laser cannons stopped firing, leaving only the howls of the wind and the steady pops of the fire devouring pockets of air within the wreckage.

"Secure prisoners for interrogation," I ordered.

Several clones and a human officer were brought to us. The officer looked worse for the wear, half his bushy mustache was missing and he was sporting some ugly burns on the side of his face.

"Where are the other Jedi?" Ventress demanded as Ozzel was thrown down to her feet.

"As an officer of the Grand Army of the Republic, I am not obliged to cooperate. Taking into account the Convention of Civilized Systems—" Ozzel recited dutifully.

The acolyte lit up a lightsaber, cutting off his recital and decapitated a clone trooper.

Ozzel's face turned an interesting pale color as his mouth went slack. "...I...um...er..."

"Lets try that again, shall we?" Ventress asked, her voice polite and airy, as though she had no just killed a helpless soldier by cutting his head off with a plasma sword.

"B-but the convention of civilized systems-!" Argued the Major, trembling like a leaf.

Gout pulled out a blaster pistol and joined in the fun, shooting a helpless clone in the arms, legs, and lower abdomen until the powercell ran out. Ozzel stared at the screaming clone until I pulled out my rifle and shot the poor bastard in the head.

"Sir, you can't!" Whispered a clone next to him.

"The Jedi are on their way to your weather-control base with a detachment of clone troopers, they're being led by a native resistance member called Adaroo! I swear, that's all I know about them!" Said Major Ozzel quickly, his face shining with sweat.

"Much better," Ventress hissed, before cutting up another clone trooper.

"W-what are you doing?" Spluttered Ozzel in shock. "I've told you everything I know!"

"Therefore you are of no other use to us," she replied.

"Wait." Heads turned to Gout, who was stroking one tusk with a massive hand. "We can put them to work in the mines. If they can't work from exhaustion, we'll feed them to the other prisoners. We always need new bodies and your mining droids are too slow anyway."

I sigh and nod, "Take them away. Remove their weapons and armor, then give them a jackhammer and put them to work in the mines."

"By your command," said several B1s as they forced the prisoners to their feet and forced them to start marching.

"I am going after the Jedi," growled Ventress, turnng away and jumping onto a speeder. Nearby, two dozen commando droids waited on STAPs.

"I will deploy additional units to reinforce the station," I agreed. I turn to Gout, "I will return to the redoubt to prepare my forces. The weather control station must not fall, or this planet will be lost."

"Very well, very well," replied the warlord airily, waving his hand at me.

I left Gout to his own devices as I ordered several hundred STAPs and a flight of Vulture Droids to reinforce the station. I would have armored support arrive in time to stop the Jedi and their strike teams. However, in the meantime, while I had access to the Redoubt all to myself...

"Unit 127, I want you to begin loading up the transports. In the meantime, send a team of units to these locations and begin salvaging operations..."

-

Weather Control Station, Kafiri Mountain

"Sir, we have a priority transmission from Warlord Gout!" A B1 informed the aqualish supervisor. The supervisor nodded and headed to his office to receive the message.

"Villpu Nagg. I have learned that a small Jedi strike force is on its way to destroy the weather station. Count Dooku's assassin is leading a commando unit to eliminate them. That stupid little droid general is going to join her in some fancy clever little maneuver to trap the Jedi."

"Oh, that is good then," said Nagg, looking relieved.

But Gout wasn't done yet, which frankly horrified him. "I want you to generate a storm large enough to kill the Jedi."

"What of the assassin? And the droid general? They'll be caught in the storm—" Said the aqualish, looking squeamish at the thought.

"My orders are to defend our interests here with every resource at my disposal. That is what I intend to do. If that makes you feel uncomfortable, ask yourself this—are you comfortable with only one warrior and some stupid droids standing between you and two Jedi Masters and their elite clone commandos? Target those Jedi. Leave no survivors."

Nagg shivered at the thought and nodded. "At once my lord."