[center][h1]Surface of Ord Mantell 
CIS Stronghold 
185th Attack Battalion[/h1][/center]
185th Battalion Commander Zeta felt the heat of an AA blast as it just barely missed his gunship. Major Ice whistled in appreciation as the blast exploded in a shower of energy behind them. Zeta ignored him and activated his communicator. "This Commander Zeta, all officers report." He was greeted with his Captains all reporting in, confirming status as battle ready. He started his second briefing of the day. "Remember, our objective is to take this stronghold. After that, we set up a base of operations so we can stay for a good while. Make sure you capture the points showed on your HUD. Good luck, lads." He cut off the communication and gripped his blaster rifle, the ground racing toward them now. They were greeted with red blaster fire, emerging from the various buildings around the LZ. "Light 'em up!" Ice ordered, firing his own blaster. The gunships turrets roared to life as the high-density laser ripped through the droids lackluster cover. "Go, Go, GO!" Zeta roared, waving the troopers onto the LZ, being the last one to leave the ship. He smacked the hull underneath the cockpit and the gunship took off, firing at enemies yet to be engaged by ground forces.

"Ice, take point, we have to clear these buildings and get up to the main entrance. Our boys are gonna need all the help we can get." The officer nodded and raced off, Zeta and the 2 dozen troopers right behind him. It seems that the gunship had done most of the damage. The droids had been hiding out in old abandoned storage cubes, hoping to ambush any clones that came this way. They had obviously failed. The team of clones cleared the remaining buildings with ease and rushed towards the main entrance, the sound of blaster fire becoming louder and louder. Zeta looked up to see more gunships approaching the stronghold, one erupting into a ball of flame after an AA blast hit it square in the nose. He grimaced as he blew the head off of a stray droid. This would be a bloody battle for sure. They group of clones emerged into the battlefield, the wall of the stronghold packed with turrets and droids. "Bloody hell." a trooper said as a volley of blaster fire raced toward them. "Get to cover, go, go go!" Zeta shouted, sprinting for the nearest wall. Three troopers didn't make it, the lasers ripping through their armor and sending them crashing to the ground. "Keep moving, troopers." Ice ordered, not even paying attention to the clone corpses. Ice took point once more as they jogged to join their brethren.

[center]****[/center]

Captain Blade dove to the ground as an explosive was launched in his squad's direction, the projectile hitting the wall behind an abandoned vehicle, causing it to erupt in flames. Several troopers yelled, getting thrown off their feet, but no one had been killed. Yet. Blade was leading several of his platoons to flank the facility and scale up the right side of the stronghold, where the defense was weakest. Commander Zeta and his various other superiors already knew of this plan, which was proposed by him. He was to take two of his battalion's platoons and infiltrate the facility, fighting their way to one of the various power reactors to plant explosives, so, when detonated, the explosion would take down the energy field protecting the facility as a whole and do quite a bit of damage. Blade returned fire on the squad of droids, who was not expecting to see a mess of clone troopers down in the old access tunnels. Needless to say, they didn't present much of a challenge for the troopers. "Keep moving troopers, we're nearly there." he yelled down the tunnels behind him and he continued on, seeing a glimmer of light through the slightly opened gate at the end of the tunnel, which would lead out to the right side of the stronghold.

He ordered his tech trooper to get access to the panel that controlled the large gate. After a few minutes of tinkering, the ancient gates groaned to life and opened, revealing the right wall of the stronghold. Blade grinned behind his helmet when he saw there wasn't even a platoon of droids guarding it, just a few squads and some turrets. He silently motioned for his men to follow and they sprinted out into the light, straight for the wall. The droids noticed almost immediately and opened fire. The clones returned fire as Blade and various other troopers reached the base of the wall and started to set up the rappel guns. Firing in unison with 10 other clones, a sheet of rope flew up the side of the wall and hooked onto the railing. "Alright lads, reel 'em up!" he ordered, hitting the recall button on his own gun and flying towards the top. Blade and the first squad up hit the top with surprising velocity, diving over the line of defending droids and mowing them down. Blade looked around and saw that the other droids hadn't noticed and he motioned for the rest of his men to come up. While waiting for the rest of his men, Blade took a knee to review with his second in command for this op, 1st Lieutenant Wing. "Alright Wing, let's review the plans for this place." he said, looking around for any droids that might blow their cover. "Aye, sir." Wing pulled out a holo-map, it erupting to life with the plans to the reactor floor. "The reactor is one of the most heavily guarded locations in the facility and it's 10 floors below us. It'll be a hard fight, for sure. But if we get to it, it'll be game over for the clankers." He said confidently, putting away the holo-map. Blade watched the last trooper vault over the ledge. "Alright, let's move out!"