CT-5555 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
5ame_heart) wrote2020-12-29 04:32 pm
5ame_heart) wrote2020-12-29 04:32 pm
Entry tags:
The Battle of Ryloth
The role of the 501st in the liberation of Ryloth has been mostly one of orbital support, but Captain Rex has his eye on the boys from Domino Squad. He's assigned Echo and Fives to the 91st Mobile Reconnaissance Corps for the operation.
According to Rex, his reasoning is that as neither Fives or Echo can pilot worth a damn, they'd better make themselves useful in the ground assault. Echo is optimistically convinced this attachment to an elite Recon Unit is serving as field training for eventual promotion to ARC-Troopers. As Rex has been friendly with them since Rishi and has continually expressed his respect for them as soldiers, Fives doesn't have a reason to disagree.
A major difference between the 91st and the 501st is that the men of the 91st like and respect their Jedi General with the sort of fondness and respect that comes with reliable, understandable and well thought out plans - General Windu seems to like and respect them back, to the extent of their lives as equal to his own, and as highly as they value each other. Skywalker is the same, of course, but the 501st are generally of the opinion that a healthy culture of talking back is a key part of letting your General exactly what you think of showy recklessness.
But one way they match, of course, is that all plans are lucky if they last five minutes' contact with the enemy.
The 91st are engaged with the droid army in the approach to the capital city of Lessu. Ryloth is all mesas and gorges around here; it's hot, much drier than the jungles where they staged earlier engagements, and the ground has a bad habit of crumbling under one's feet - especially when hit by stray blaster bolts.
Fives is right by Echo's side one second, and the next he finds himself slipping perilously down a near vertical face into a gorge, sandy rocks racing past him to the sound of his name being yelled by his brother above. He shouts in annoyance and in shock, and then when his foot makes contact with a rock a few feet down, with pain.
The rocky nature of this planet acts to his advantage, Fives realises. He's sliding rather than falling, and is able to holster his blaster in time to grab another rock, which jerks his shoulder violently but stops his descent before his fingers slip and he falls again. The Force obviously has plans for him because he's able to combine what purchase he can get with what obstructions there are to turn a death fall into a painful tumble into shadow.
Eventually Fives lands hard on his feet at the bottom of a crevasse deep enough that the fighting above is only distant flashes of light, and next to the less fortunate body of a trooper who turns out to be CT-89-2874 - Fives doesn't know him and so doesn't know what his name was.
He stands up slowly, his legs screaming from the landing, his headache informing him that he may have hit that part of him on the way down. His armor is more than scratched - some of his plates have broken in clear shards, and he's entirely lost one of his He keys his wrist comm.
"Echo? Sarge? Anyone?"
But there's no signal. And there's no reason to come look for him either, so as far as Echo and the others is concerned, CT-27-5555 is one more casualty of the Battle for Ryloth.
He leans against the rocky wall, and considers his options.
And that's when he hears something.
According to Rex, his reasoning is that as neither Fives or Echo can pilot worth a damn, they'd better make themselves useful in the ground assault. Echo is optimistically convinced this attachment to an elite Recon Unit is serving as field training for eventual promotion to ARC-Troopers. As Rex has been friendly with them since Rishi and has continually expressed his respect for them as soldiers, Fives doesn't have a reason to disagree.
A major difference between the 91st and the 501st is that the men of the 91st like and respect their Jedi General with the sort of fondness and respect that comes with reliable, understandable and well thought out plans - General Windu seems to like and respect them back, to the extent of their lives as equal to his own, and as highly as they value each other. Skywalker is the same, of course, but the 501st are generally of the opinion that a healthy culture of talking back is a key part of letting your General exactly what you think of showy recklessness.
But one way they match, of course, is that all plans are lucky if they last five minutes' contact with the enemy.
The 91st are engaged with the droid army in the approach to the capital city of Lessu. Ryloth is all mesas and gorges around here; it's hot, much drier than the jungles where they staged earlier engagements, and the ground has a bad habit of crumbling under one's feet - especially when hit by stray blaster bolts.
Fives is right by Echo's side one second, and the next he finds himself slipping perilously down a near vertical face into a gorge, sandy rocks racing past him to the sound of his name being yelled by his brother above. He shouts in annoyance and in shock, and then when his foot makes contact with a rock a few feet down, with pain.
The rocky nature of this planet acts to his advantage, Fives realises. He's sliding rather than falling, and is able to holster his blaster in time to grab another rock, which jerks his shoulder violently but stops his descent before his fingers slip and he falls again. The Force obviously has plans for him because he's able to combine what purchase he can get with what obstructions there are to turn a death fall into a painful tumble into shadow.
Eventually Fives lands hard on his feet at the bottom of a crevasse deep enough that the fighting above is only distant flashes of light, and next to the less fortunate body of a trooper who turns out to be CT-89-2874 - Fives doesn't know him and so doesn't know what his name was.
He stands up slowly, his legs screaming from the landing, his headache informing him that he may have hit that part of him on the way down. His armor is more than scratched - some of his plates have broken in clear shards, and he's entirely lost one of his He keys his wrist comm.
"Echo? Sarge? Anyone?"
But there's no signal. And there's no reason to come look for him either, so as far as Echo and the others is concerned, CT-27-5555 is one more casualty of the Battle for Ryloth.
He leans against the rocky wall, and considers his options.
And that's when he hears something.
no subject
Fifty, seventy five.
Fives has his helmet jammed back onto his head, and the charge clutched to his chest as he runs. His long sprint stride slows down only to swoop down to the ground to leave the charge, and then once again as he pounds up behind Hera grabs her around the waist in one arm and sweeps her up into his arms before resuming the pace.
One twenty. One thirty
no subject
And then she's on the ground. She doesn't hear the blast, doesn't remember falling, though her headache is enough to tell her what happened. It's not quiet, though - now it feels like the whole cave is vibrating. Dust hits her lekku, and she struggles to push herself up. Her eyes open to the glow of sunlight, right ahead of them.
She can't get words out yet, but she manages a loud, guttural sound from her throat as she struggles up.
no subject
Then he's lying sprawled on the ground, would be eating rocks if he didn't have his helmet on, finding himself unable to move, in too much pain to know if it is the pain stopping him or something else.
The plastoid on his back has melted, fused through the fabric of his body glove, and further into his skin.
He can shift his head to the side, just enough to look for something that isn't the ground.
The sound he attributes to Hera is a welcome sound. It means she's alive.
"Hera?"
no subject
And once she does, takes one of his hands, the one that looks less burnt, and tugs at it.
"We have to -" she loses breath quickly "- get up there -"
no subject
"Right," he agrees. "You go. Call your people. Or mine."
The latter would be preferable actually, as he needs a bacta tank and who knows what else.
He folds one leg up and starts the painful process of standing. It turns out that the muscles on the back are used for every part of that process.
"I'm right behind you."
no subject
But she does immediately take the commlink, her fingers fluttering over for it a few moments, and then she's speaking in rapid Twi'leki. A woman's voice answers in the same, the conversation is quick, no more than a few words in each response between them.
no subject
He doesn't speak a word of Twi'leki, languages not being in the general clone repertoire, but he's relieved to hear someone else's voice, and to see Hera making contact.
He staggers over to her, each step needing a second to recover between until he finds a slow rhythm. He'd take his helmet off again, but he doesn't want to move his arms more than he has to.
"Everything okay?"
no subject
"They're coming," she says, switching back to Basic. "They can call your people, the Jedi."
no subject
He listens as he takes each slow and painful step, but he can't hear anything behind him. The thing is still there, but he's certain it hasn't ignited.
"Any word about the battle?"
Not that she should know, but it would be good to know how it went.
no subject
She pulls up the comlink again, and again speaks a few words of Twi'leki. There's a terse answer in response.
"They've only heard a little from my father." She says, lowering the comlink again. "That's good most of the time."
no subject
When he finally makes it out, Fives attempts to lean on the canyon wall. It doesn't work. "Can you help?" he says, reaching out to Hera.
He's just going to... lie on his front, if that's okay.
"I want to get this helmet off for a start."
no subject
She stays quiet as she moves, listening to the ground beneath them, still nervous the cave they just escaped could collapse.
no subject
"Mission accomplished, then. Good work."
no subject
"Last one," she says, as she offers it.
no subject
Yeah, Fives, like that's more important. Still, it might make more of a difference for her.
no subject
"It's okay. Good thing that wasn't a lylek."
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"What's a lylek?" he asks, hoping for at least a bit of talk to help the distraction.
no subject
"Big, six pointed legs and poisonous tentacles. They don't come around here, though."
An explosion in the distance makes her glance up, but the sound fades quickly. "My people will come soon. They'll ride blurrgs, it won't take them as long."
no subject
"Blurrgs, great," he says dryly. "Why does that sound like it bounces?"
He grains though. He's trying to make a joke out of it.
no subject
That's all she can really offer.
She wonders if she should stay quiet, not wanting to cause him anymore strain. But he's the one asking questions, it seems more like he wants to talk.
"After they pick you up, I probably won't see you again." Her voice is thoughtful, like she's only now considering of this.
no subject
"With luck, we'll have cleared the tinnies off completely and you won't need to see any of us again."
Not a lot of chance of that but it's appealing.
He shifts, ignoring the pain, to prop his chin up on two fists to talk.
"It's been an honor to serve with you, Hera."
no subject
But she recognizes what he says as the acknowledgement one soldier gives to another before parting, and she nods. The fighters she knows have stayed tightly bonded for years, in the same place, for the same cause, even as it comes in different forms. There plenty of things said for induction, for death, but only one thing she's heard said to those who left their place. She knows it almost entirely from stories, especially those about the old war, to the soldiers who were taken by slavers, or left to fight them on another world. It was when a goodbye, a request to return home, felt wrong or even cruel, and so instead it was a wish to not to lose yourself.
So Hera answers in Twi'leki, "Euwae aluvaatete wilson."
no subject
"You-way alloo.. what does that mean?"
no subject
"May," she says, and then looks up to him. "It means, 'may you know your enemy.'"
Suddenly Hera turns, looking down the empty canyon walls behind her, but says, "I think - maybe - I hear them -"
no subject
"Euwae," his pronunciation is terrible, but it suffices, "what, alovaatett..." That is not as good.
He makes her repeat it, repeats it back to her, and repeats until his pronunciation is as good as it's ever going to get, and there are Twi'leks on the large bipedal reptiles bounding over.
Fives slumps back down face first as many cool hands lift him up -- gently but nothing would be gentle enough for this not to hurt -- and sling him over the back of one of the beasts, Twi'leki spoken rapidly above and across him. He looks around for Hera, but all he can see before he's carried away to the RMSU facility is his discarded helmet, the eel mostly scuffed off by rock and dirt.
He hopes she'll always know her enemy, just as he will.