The soldier continued to look up to William, that confused expression simply growing more confused. William looked down to the man, both seeming to have entered a staring contest in the middle of an all out assault. The soldier finally decided to break the game by blinking at William in confusion. "Who?" This reaction took William aback, making him lose his poster and step back. He was about to say something about this soldier and his lack of respect to the chain of command before he was cut off. "Look, I don't care if you're a recruit or the Emperor himself, you're here to help us out with these blasted clankers?"
This made William take another step back, then look up to where his soldiers had run to. "Clankers? As in battle droids? Separatist Battle Droids?" he said, trying to figure out how there were any battle droids on this planet. Any active battle droids, that was.
"Yes, Separatist battle droids. What are you, dense as durasteel?" The soldier insulted, moving to the makeshift barricade that separated them from the front line. "This is my base of operations, these men are my men. I am in charge here. So you either get the hell out of here and go act all bossy with the other loyalists at the wreckage, or you follow my command..." he turned around, facing William once more. "..AND REPEL THAT DROID ASSAULT!"
William had a few questions he wanted to ask this man, but he felt he had to assist him before he could talk to him. He nodded, moving to the threshold that seemingly sunk into the earth. He walked through and saw that these men had made a trench system, which was surprising, because the surface was made of crystal. So either the crystal was brittle and could easily shatter, or these guys had some high level lasers with them to cut this away. He couldn't focus, however, as he heard a trooper duck into the trench, covering his head. "WRIST ROCKETS! TAKE COVER!" He then saw a bunch of other troopers nearby duck into the trench, and the edge of the trench began shattering, the rockets hitting the floor in front of the trenches. shattered crystal bits acted as shrapnel, injuring some of the troops. William jumped into action, heading for the trench wall.
He stepped on the parapet and looked at these battle droids. These droids must have been hidden at a base here or something, because their plating looked like it blended in with the crystal surface. Surprisingly they worked as if they were in mint condition. There were both B1 and B2 battle droids, the B1 droids slowly pushing the advance as the B2 droids followed slowly, providing makeshift artillery barrages with their wrist rockets. William grinned, seeing that the only men left firing at the droids were his Red Death, their death trooper armor protecting them from the crystal shrapnel. William then placed a hand on the floor and boosted himself out of the trench, the soldiers nearest to him looking up at the armored man in shock and bewilderment.
They were about to say something before William raised both arms, his wrist blasters protruding from their positions. He slowly and methodically, like a B2 battle droid, approached the droid, firing upon their line. Droid after droid began to fall from his attacks, and the marching line began focusing solely on him. The armor could take a lot of fire, but the impacts of all these bolts were slowing him down. He continued to fire, however, thinning the droids in this attack. He fell to his knee, still sending bolt after bolt to his assaulters. His troopers, as well as some of the defenders who were not terribly injured, began taking down the droids as well, taking advantage of the distraction he was providing.
As the firing on him lessened as more droids fell, he laughed under his helmet, regaining his footing. He flipped one of his blasters away and replaced it with a rocket, grinning as he sent one out at a group of B2 battle droids that were slowly backing up. The B2 battle droids got a taste of their own medicine, exploding as the rocket made impact at their feet. Seeing that they were now outgunned, the droids that remained began running away, some falling to blaster fire.
William sighed, disengaging his weapons as the men that could cheered and his own men lowered their weapons. They looked to him, waiting for his command. "Stay where you are and remain vigilant. The men that you are replacing for the time may need time to eat and rest." A static like noise came from each trooper, a noise of acknowledgment. William stepped back into the trench, moving out of the way for some men wearing Stormtrooper armor with a red medical symbol painted on it.
William returned to the base, his two pilots distributing what little medical supplies and food they had brought. The trooper that he spoke to earlier looked at him, his helmet removed and on a table. "So, 'Captain'," The trooper put air quotes around William's ranking. "I'm certain you have some questions?"
William removed his own helmet as well, his hair wet and drenched. He was taking a lot of heat with all that blaster fire he was attracting. "In fact, I do, but first, let's make sure your injured are in a position to be assisted. Where is your medical tent?"
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Andriana's face held an expression that was one merely of shock, her mouth open trying to find words to fill it. Draxacon held his face, rubbing his eyes after telling a long and detailed story that would surely see him exterminated if heard by the wrong people. "So, any questions regarding what you just heard?" He said it with no emotion, simply asking if there were any questions for the planet wrecking information he had just dropped on her.
She made a noise, trying to speak. She ended up placing her face into her hands, beginning to cry. Draxacon sighed, rolling over to her and patting her on the back softly. She wept and wept, harder than the last time they spoke. She lifted her face, her eyes red and tears flowing from them like waterfalls. "I loved him! I loved him, and now I don't even know the real him! How can I love someone who thinks they're someone else!" She moved to Draxacon, embracing him. Draxacon had to hold his own tears, having this same question from the moment it had happened. He and William had been friends since they were born on their home world. How could he treat someone as a friend when that person isn't the same he grew up with. He was William, but a horrible, mutilated version of the patriotic boy he considered a friend. Draxacon had to push Andriana off, sitting her on his bed, something that was more comfortable than the chair she was previously sitting in.
"Andriana, I know this must be a lot for you. I've been watching him since I lost him back then. I see the way you've looked at him, and I know you loved what you saw. But It's not him. It's who they've raised him to be." His hands hold her shoulders, trying to get her to look up at him. Her head is simply lowered, tears falling to her legs, staining her uniform. "Andriana, Listen to me. I've been spending years collecting this data and trying to bring the real him back. I've told you enough to get both of us killed, you simply by knowing this information, and me for, well, stealing it in the first place." He lets her go, moving to his desk and eyeing the RK-3 blaster on his desk. "So I need to hear you say that you are on my side. That you will help me bring the real William back, otherwise..."
"I will!" She raised her head, tear streaked face looking at Draxacon's back. "I loved the man I saw, but I want to help you so I can find out who the real William is." She wanted to say more, but that would be too much. "All of what you have told me will follow me to my grave, and I will help you. I want to meet the real William." Draxacon exhaled a sigh of relief, turning to face her.
"Good, now we talk about him." He turns to the screens, typing at his terminal once more. He enlarged an ISB file, an agent dossier. The face of the agent was completely blurred, but the name, unlike the other files regarding this one man, was clear for all to see.
Drekar Jaeger
Under where Drekar's race would be was simply
Mandalorian
Draxacon turns to a teary-eyed Andriana. "The man that raised William."
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William looks to the makeshift map that was made. The soldier he was speaking to, one Sgt. Thelor Derez , was with the ground forces when the Star Destroyer crashed. His commanding officers died, and he took command of the men here. He explained that when they tried to make contact with the Star Destroyer captain, he ordered the Stormtroopers there to open fire on his men, leaving only one survivor. After that display, he and the rest of the ground forces went rogue, simply fighting for their lives at this point.
"So that is the situation, Captain. The people who called for help are at the wreck, so you can take your super scary troopers and get the hell out of my camp." He said, leaning against his map table. William sighed heavily, shaking his head.
"Look, Derez, I've been meaning to say this ever since you said you went rogue, but you wouldn't let me get a word in. I came here for the Star Destroyer, not it's crew. I want it's parts. If the crew decided to join me, great, excellent. But it seems that they are being hostile in general, so I will have to kill them." Derez brings his attention to will, his face showing that he couldn't care less. "Which means that I would like to get your boys off of this rock and to join my crew. For the ship I'm constructing, It'll need a lot of hands and souls."
Derez looked away, thinking about William's offer. "None of my men down here know how to operate a ship. We're foot soldiers."
"Fine by me, defense cannons and gunners are simple to use. Plus, our crew hands on board can train your people who are willing to take a job. After they are healed that is." William explained.
Derez returns to his table, shaking his head. "I'd accept, but I believe we have a problem." He points to a group of crystals, two crystals holding a third crystal, which pointed upwards. "That damned orbital gun." William studies the map, seeing that it was the farthest landmark on the map, the line of crystals that made the fallen Destroyer being the closest thing. "That's where the clankers are pouring out of, and what stranded us on the planet. You need to take that thing out if you want to call your ship here without it meeting the same fate as the other Destroyer." He lowers his head. "From what I see, you have two options: You want my men to join your crew, but you need to take out that gun. You also want the wreckage for whatever you want it for, but there are crazy Imperials guarding it with their life. You can either go for the cannon, disabling it and allowing your ship to enter orbit, or go for the wreck and clear out the Imperials. Either way, one of them is going to make another attack, I can feel it." He looks to the two landmarks.
William looks as well, focusing on the wreckage crystals. "Is there anything I should know about the loyalists?"
Derez looks up. "Yeah, that they could destroy us if they wanted to. They're trying to conserve power and munitions so they can defend against the droid attacks. Unfortunately for us, they have two AT-STs, but they have been using it to hold off the droids. I get the feeling they'll use them against us soon." He slams his fist on the table. "They had a third, but we took it out. It...cost me my brother, though." Derez gritted his teeth, looking back to William. "There is also the fact that one of the ship's heavy turbo lasers survived the crash and is still operational, albeit at 20% capacity. It rotates slower and can only fire once every..." He looks at some markings he made on the side of the table. "Twelve Galactic Standard Hours, and the last time they fired it was fourteen hours ago."
William looked to the map once more, his options all having a possibly negative outcome. No matter what he did, he was going to leave a majority of his troops to hold the defense. He only needed four. "I'll have to think about it. I may attack the wreck first, and take command of it, but I may want to try and find the gun first and get it's coordinates. As far as I can tell, the only people that have the means of destroying the gun are the loyalists..." He rubbed his forehead. "Give me some time to choose. Nevertheless, I'll leave most of my troops to help defend in the event of another attack. I'll take four with me wherever I go." Derez looks to William, nodding. "Thank you, sergeant." William puts his helmet on and walks to the trenches, standing next to one of his troopers who watched the plains with vigilance.
Two major options, so little time...