C3P10

Kamino

Tipoca City, Outer Wards

"Pull back! PULL BACK!" Screamed Rex as white armored bodies flew through the air. He grimaced, feeling the burns on his body from stray blaster shots that should have by rights killed him.

Stumbling to his feet, the clone commander barely avoided being crushed under several bodies as another explosion sent the several retreating soldiers flying.

When did it all go wrong, he wondered, spitting blood from his mouth. Probably when the anti-air started to miss every target in the sky. Yeah, that definitely was the beginning of everything going to shit against them.

Transports landed everywhere. In the water, in the air, or outright crashing into the city. When the first transports hit the outer wards of the city, the line began to crumble under the weight of attempting to plug the massive holes each crash made. And when they tried to fill those holes, the droids attacked those weak points and started to get through.

That's when things went all wrong, Rex decided as he propped himself up.

Artillery droids started climbing up the pillars that kept the city afloat, firing as they climbed. Hailfire droids on armored skiffs circled the entire city, firing missiles slaved to the laser targeting of the thousands of recon droids pelting their lines while whole battalions landed and began the meat grinder that forced them back.

Baring his teeth, Rex could only follow after his retreating brothers as another transport began depositing hundreds more battledroids.

The outer wards were lost.

-

The city proper was lost. Hunter Killer droids were raining down on them and there was little to do but run, hide, and hope for relief.

But deep down, Padme knew this wasn't an option.

The command center had been overrun in a matter of minutes, an overwhelming force of battledroids delivered through the flaming wreckage of dozens of transport ships crashlanding into the center of the city made sure of that.

Entire districts had been destroyed by these suicidal crafts, but thankfully, most of the inhabitants had been evacuated prior to the attack. Unfortunately, it still left a lot of ground for Padme and her group of clone officers. Most of the troopers had died after the main supports of the command center collapsed, bringing down most of the upper levels down on them; but the core elements of the command center had gotten out in time.

They had run from the still-burning wreck of the command center when they encountered the first of the Hunter-Killer droids.

Standing a little under two meters tall, the HK droid had a small square-like head with a single photoceptor, a larger torso than that of a B2, and thicker limbs. Four blaster barrels jutted out of the end of the wrist where it's right hand would be.

Fortunately, blasters were still effective against them.

But as soon as they had destroyed it, another appeared. They fired and destroyed that as well.

Just as it was blown apart, another appeared. Soon, as dozens began to give chase, they were forced to run.

That was half an hour ago and Padme was fast running out of options. Out of the thirty-two officers and six surviving troopers she had started out with, only two dozen officers and a trooper survived the relentless onslaught the hunter-killer droids brought.

However, their running would soon come to an end.

"Central Armory," sighed their last escorting trooper in relief. "Let get inside and get some real blasters!"

All around her, clones murmured in agreement as the doors opened, revealing rows of blaster rifles, crates of grenades, and racks of heavy weaponry.

Grabbing a light blaster rifle, Padme caught sight of a gleaming bandolier of droid poppers.

Then she had an idea.

"Say," she asked, her tone light, "Just how many droid poppers are there in this crate?"

"About a hundred," replied their escort, glancing at her. "Why?"

The Nubian Senator tossed a popper up and down in one hand as she grinned. "Then I know just where to put them."

-

It took him everything not to cry out in alarm as he flew through the air. A grunt was forced out of him as his back hit the ground when his impromptu flight ended, knocking the breath out of him.

Rolling onto his belly, Obiwan Kenobi coughed and dry heaved, his saliva specked with blood.

"This..." Growled the Jedi as he turned his eyes upwards, "...is not...a good...day!"

Throwing himself to the side, he brought up a cyan lightsaber just in time to parry three lightsabers of varying colors, a large clawed foot denting the ground where his chest had been moments earlier. Just as soon as the parry had bought him a second of breathing space, Kenobi grunted and leaped away as a pair of blaster bolts shot at his afterimage.

"Heheheh! Your precognitive abilities will not save you, Kenobi!"

Grievous whirled his blades and charged forwards once more, a pair of Commando Droids flanking him as they kept their distance and waited for him to become vulnerable again.

It was a tactic that Obiwan found himself grudgingly respectful of. The eerie coordination the droids had shown could only be the direct manipulation of his cyborg foe, whose tactics were of this kind of ruthless caliber.

Dodging several swipes and a flurry of jabs that came far too close for comfort, the Jedi General raised his hands and pushed.

Snow, debris, wrecks and rocks rose into the air as he summoned all his strength for a brute force approach. An invisible force flung out towards Grievous and his two Commandos, but though the droids were thrown back, the Separatist general merely dug his clawed meet in and endured the Force Push.

"You are tiring Kenobi!" Crowed Grievous, his rasping voice holding a tone of victory as the storm ended. "You may have the Force to sustain yourself, but how many more near deaths can you avoid?"

Obiwan barely had time to raise his saber as his opponent slammed into him, throwing him to the ground as fresh pain blossomed up his left side, tempered only by the snow-packed training grounds.

"This is the end!" Hissed Grievous, raising all four arms. Obiwan tensed as he prepared to-

A blaster bolt struck Grievous in the side of his head, breaking one of the vanes on the side where his ears would have been. The bolt was clearly far more powerful than regular shots, as it clearly stunned the General momentarily as he stumbled away.

Forcing himself to his feet, Obiwan staggered away as an increasing wave of blaster bolts began to fill the horizon of former training grounds. Thousands of clone troopers were charging towards him, and behind them were hundreds of walkers and tanks firing relentlessly at the tattered remains of Grievous' army.

Speaking of which...

Obiwan turned back to grin at Grievous, who shot him a glare of deepest loathing before dashing away, howling for his droids to retreat.

"Well...I suppose even bad days have their moments," quipped the Jedi. He closed his eyes as clone troopers overtook him and began to summon his strength back through his connection to the Force.

A moment later, the pain lessened and his strength returned. In that moment, Obiwan allowed himself to become the predator again and began chasing after his prey.