Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 33 - Evacuation Operation
Christoph's Galaxy, Lysis satellite orbit.

Savarin sector.

In an industrial area ravaged by war, there were rubble, pits, and twisted metal everywhere.

In a warehouse in the ruins.

"Gently, Kix!"

Apo looked at the squad medic, his voice coming through the helmet's built-in communicator with a slight electronic buzz.

He was crouching under the cover of a factory porch whose entrance had been partially destroyed by bombing. Behind him, the severely damaged building had been requisitioned as a temporary field hospital.

The air was filled with the strong smell of burning metal and a faint, almost imperceptible odor of blood.

The clone commander took out a data panel, the cold light of the screen reflecting off his white helmet visor.

He quickly scanned the constantly updated list of casualties, his gaze sweeping over a wounded soldier sitting on an overturned industrial machine.

Army medic Kekes skillfully operated a hemostatic syringe, pressing white-foaming medical foam into a torn gap in the armor on the outside of the soldier's thigh.

Apo's gaze shifted from the data panel to the injured man. "You'll be alright, Ince?"

“Just some shrapnel, sir,” Ince grinned, sweat soaking his short hair that clung to his skin. “We can handle it.”

He gritted his teeth, enduring the brief stinging sensation from the syringe.

Kix's hands, clad in medical gloves and stained with dark red blood, carefully picked out a sharp-edged metal fragment from deep within his open wound and shook it onto a metal tray beside him, making a crisp clinking sound.

Several pieces of jagged metal of varying sizes were already scattered on the tray.

Shapeshifting armor is the best equipment you can buy with money.

However, the shape-forming armor is not perfect.

The joints of the armor, the seams between the helmet and the neck armor, and the ventilation grilles on the waist and abdomen are very vulnerable.

But it did play a crucial role, saving many people from deadly fire.

Apo's finger swiped across the numbers on the screen.

Reason told him that, given the intensity of the battle, the current casualties were relatively minor.

but it is not the truth.

Every time a name disappeared from the roster, it felt like a heavy stone pressing on his chest.

“Sir, we’re almost out of bakata.” Kix checked the remaining amount of thick, milky-white bakata foam in the syringe, tapping the canister lightly with his finger to confirm the level. “But we should finish the rescue mission anyway… How long do you think the general will keep us here?”

"I'll ask."

Apo propped himself up, the joints of his shapeshifting armor making a slight grinding sound.

Just as he stepped out of the makeshift shelter and back onto the rubble-strewn street, the threat sensor built into his helmet suddenly emitted a sharp, urgent beeping alarm.

"An attack is coming!"

Apo roared, his body reacting faster than his thoughts, and suddenly performed a tactical roll backward.

At the same time, he reached out and pushed Kix behind the bunker.

Just as they fell to the ground, an object trailing a fiery tail crashed down in the middle of the street less than ten meters behind them.

boom!
A deafening explosion shook the ground, and a powerful shockwave carrying debris and heat swept across the area.

boom!
Then came another explosion at close range.

The broken pipes and metal chains hanging from the building ruins were shaken violently, colliding with each other and making a jarring clanging sound.

Dust and tiny debris fell from above.

"……reconnaissance aircraft?"

Kix coughed as he struggled to his feet from the dusty ground, his helmet visor covered in a layer of grime.

Apo quickly poked his head out and scanned the black smoke and crater rising from the explosion site through the scope of his rifle.

"……Yes."

He confirmed this in a low voice.

Familiar, twisted metal reconnaissance aircraft wreckage lay scattered around the edge of the crater.

……

After repelling a wave of attacks by the robot army, the 501st Legion quickly recaptured the area behind the enemy's advance route.

The soldiers dispersed, carefully searching for survivors in the smoking ruins, while sending out small groups to conduct probing harassment attacks on the enemy's flanks and rear.

All they found were the wreckage of combat robots, shattered by high-explosive weapons and with exposed wiring, and fragments of armor, blackened and deformed by energy weapons.

There were also two Jedi remains.

The body was extremely damaged, almost unrecognizable, with deep, penetrating wounds covering the torso and limbs.

The cut was unusually clean, as if it had been repeatedly cut by some kind of extremely hot sharp instrument.

Clearly, the separatists have deployed a deadly new weapon they've never seen before. Analysis of the scene suggests their objective is to seize control of this industrial area.

Because the main framework of most of the factory buildings and production lines in the industrial zone was miraculously preserved and was not completely destroyed.

However, whenever a robot patrol squad discovers traces of the 501st Legion, it transmits the coordinates back before being annihilated.

Upon receiving the message, the separatists immediately mobilized rail or long-range artillery to launch precise and fierce bombardments on the exposed positions.

This means that although direct firefights on the ground have temporarily ceased, the clone soldiers still have no chance to catch their breath.

They had to constantly shift positions and build new temporary shelters, otherwise those cold, tin men would lock onto their location and tear them apart with a barrage of fire.

pat!

Despite the still-ringing shock of the explosion, Apo quickly grabbed his rifle, ducked, and used the broken walls and rubble as cover to dash across the street, avoiding the still-smoking crater.

What came into his view through his goggles was a continuous, blackened architectural skeleton, and a metal alloy road surface that was cratered and cracked by the explosion.

The war has devoured the original industrial machinery here.

The bodies of clone soldiers lay amidst the flames of war.

There was no time or space for a proper burial.

Clones do not have a tradition of holding funerals.

They could only extract the remains of their fallen comrades from the damaged armor, scan the identification codes engraved on the inside of their wrists, and then dismantle the blood-stained white plastic armor parts for recycling.

The bodies of the two Jedi they found were dumped on a platform made of discarded metal frames in the corner of the yard.

But they couldn't find their lightsabers.

“Commander!” a communications officer’s voice came from their makeshift command post in the semi-underground tunnel. “The 104th Regiment reports that eighty percent of the surviving Marines have boarded ships and evacuated. They recommend that we prepare the evacuation procedures immediately.”

"Received, I will confirm with the general."

Apo looked at the evacuation progress bar flashing on the data panel.

At that moment, he saw his Jedi General beside a relatively intact main road.

Anakin Skywalker.

Anakin stood with his back to him, his blue lightsaber flashing rapidly in his hand, drawing dazzling arcs of light and accompanied by a high-frequency hum, cleanly slicing through the last few patrolling combat robots.

click!
Metal limbs and torsos, sparking and emitting blue smoke, lay scattered on the ground.

Although no Christopher Sith survivors were found, Anakin insisted on ordering his troops to continue advancing, extending the 501st Corps' defensive line far beyond the intended operational area.

In Apo's view, this was a reckless despair.

All they found were more bodies.

The corpses of civilians and clone soldiers.

But that's just how robot armies operate.

When they launch their attack, their formation is so dense that it resembles a moving metal wall, row upon row, with a pace so precise that it evokes a chilling inhumanity.

Even the best-trained clone soldiers in the Republican Army could not match its uniformity and absolute obedience.

The robot's precision is ruthless and cold-blooded; it has no thought, no fear, only programmed, unstoppable commands to move forward.

Their basic combat logic is simple and direct: identify the target, fire and destroy it, and clear all obstacles in the path.

When carrying out clearing operations, they are more like a fine-toothed comb.

Apo could clearly picture the robot column advancing along the streets, entering every crumbling building, and methodically eliminating all signs of life, floor by floor, block by block.

Force all the resistance fighters into open territory, then have the heavy units in the rear relentlessly strafe them with dense blast beams and rockets.

"General."

Apo approached, his boots clicking on the scrap metal, and he raised his hand in salute.

"commander."

Anakin, panting heavily, his chest heaving, retracted his lightsaber with a "hum," gripping the hilt tightly in his hand. "Any reports?"

He turned his head, his blue eyes appearing particularly sharp against his soot-covered face.

“Our medical supplies, energy magazines, and rations are almost exhausted, and the soldiers are extremely tired and in dire need of rest, sir,” Apo reported directly. “General Kong has approved the evacuation plan.”

Anakin's gaze swept across the desolate street as he continued, "Have all the Marines been evacuated?"

"The 104th Regiment has probably evacuated about 80%, General," Apo reported truthfully. "We'd better speed things up. If the main force of those Tin Men suddenly turns around and catches us when we're halfway through our evacuation, the situation will become very bad."

General Skywalker gripped the lightsaber hilt tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force, and the muscles in his jaw taut.

The young Jedi turned around, his sharp gaze once again falling on the desolate streets and narrow alleys shrouded in smoke, filled with ruins and the aura of death.

The inhabitants of Christophersis had fled the area at the very beginning of the battle, and since then, they had never seen a single living local...

But under the rubble and in the dilapidated rooms, I saw countless cold corpses, so many that it was suffocating.

(End of this chapter)