"Surrounded."

Written and Directed by:
Paul Burton.
Fiction by: Paul Burton and (mostly) Anthony Hummerston.
STARRING:

Karnov,   Jimmi,   Niall,   Rojic,    Ta'alan,  Mama
And special guest stars:
Hen3ry , Joe-9T, Trio and 'Blinkie.'
as the droids.
AND
Storm Cutter, a bucket of rusty bolts that barely flies.

Republic forces have seized the spaceport at Mal'Agua in a daring attack led by Jedi Knights NIALL KILLIAN and KARNOV, aided by a band of valiant partisans led by Republic agents KORYANDAA VELEK and OONA GROTH. The brave fighters battle desperately to prevent the separatisis from opening the gate and releasing reinforcements to overwhelm the precarious bridgehead. These fighters are now cut off behind enemy lines and facing overwhelming odds in their desparate gamble to protect the clone troopers. Only their friends can save them now....

“I can’t visualise it,” Mama says, looking at the holo of the town, “The droid army are inside and outside, and we want to keep the gates shut because the ones on the inside want to get out and the ones on the outside want to get in.”

“No. Our allies are outside, trying to attack the enemy on the inside.” Niall explains, for about the fifth time.

“What about the enemy on the inside?” Mama asks.

“They’re defending the inside against the enemy on the inside who are trying to get out.”

“Where are our forces?”

“On the inside, stopping the ones inside opening the gates and letting the ones on the outside getting in.”

“And the enemy?” Mama persists. Niall sighs, “Stopping our defending forces. Keeping the gates shut and waiting outside to come in through the gates into the inside.”

Mama scratches her head. “I guess that’s why I didn’t get any further than basic training. I know who the enemy is, and how to shoot it. The logic of being inside and outside and defence and attack are all a bit over my head.”

Karnov is also struggling to understand. “So where do we come in?”

“We speeder along the wall. There we scale the wall with our sticky ropes and help defend the defence control building until our reinforcements arrive. Kory and Oona and a couple of dozen partisans are holed up there.”

“Why can’t they escape over the wall?”

“Because they’ve sliced the computer. If the enemy break the lock, they’ll open the gates and overrun the city.”

“Gotcha.”

Joe-9T reassures Mama, “I’ll explain the rules of cricket to you if you’d like.”

“Thanks. –That isn’t very reassuring though.”

Niall shudders. “Robots playing cricket. –This can’t end well!”

Joe-9T prepares to leave. “Where are you going?” Karnov asks.

“To man the walls. –I’m designated sniper this afternoon!”

There is no time to rest. They mount their mounts and speed off on their speeders. As Mama zooms off into the distance, the others raise their concerns. “She took quite a beating back there. Are you sure she’ll be okay?”

“She’s a tough old bird. It’ll take more than a few droids to kill our captain.”

They zip along the city walls. Rojic yells, “Turn widdershins at the corner!” At the rendezvous point, they use ascension guns to get up to a narrow walkway. –Mama feels the need to use two! From there they can drop down onto the roof of the defence control building. As they do so, the whole building rocks with the impact of a blast. They run to the corner of the building and see the trapped droid army. – Three companies of droids with six hover tanks. The tanks are shelling them. Every few seconds a blaster bolt is fired in return. The defenders are putting up a valiant fight, but it looks hopeless. They’ll be overrun in minutes!

They scramble down a hatch in the roof. On the first floor, are abandoned offices. A dozen or so defenders are firing from shell- holes in the walls. Outside, the droids are advancing along the streets. Every now and again one is destroyed, but the march continues otherwise uninterrupted.

They scramble through the hatch.

“Nice of you to drop in, little guy.” A familiar voice says.

“Like what you haven’t done to the place.” Mama says, joking.

“Isn’t it a bit draughty?” Niall asks.

Kory and Oona are working on a large computer console. “Hi sweetie!” Kory says without looking around. “Got a bit of a situation here. We’re locking out the controls, but they keep breaking through!”

Oona presses a switch. She types rapidly. “On my mark….Three….Two….One….Mark.” They both push buttons simultaneously and their displays show a graphic of a locked scomp port.

“That’ll hold ‘em!” Onna gasps. Kory isn’t so upbeat. “Until they get in here and destroy this console.”

“That’s where we come in.” Niall says, “ –How many defenders are we?”

“About twenty. – Some wounded.”

“Heavy weapons?” Mama asks.

“We’ve got a few grenades – But no point in using ‘em until the droids bunch up a bit. – Damn machines can keep blast radius plus two feet apart forever and a day.”

The building rocks again. “They’ll be in here quicker if those tanks knock a big enough hole through.”

“On our way.” Karnov says grimly. “Concentrate fire on the left flank. – We need to buy us some time!”

Niall barks commands. “Everyone over to the left. Get those guns firing. Keep the droids from advancing….When their numbers reduce somewhat, we’ll take care of the tanks.”

“Hover tanks.”

“Yeah, okay. Hover tanks. – It’s a lot more bother when they hover.”

Kory adds, “Stalingrad will never fall sweetie….” Just as a shell knocks a large chunk out of the wall.

Jimmi says, “I’m sure Kory has a couple of bazookas hidden away….”

The assault is on. The droids march boldly on, between them are two tanks on each of three flanks. This rhymes, and makes Jimmi think of something. “I could sing if you want….Make the walls come tumbling down.”

Between shots Rojic snarls back, “That’s trumpets….Stupid.”

“Besides, we want the walls up!”

Kory peels away from the console and puts two good shots into a tank with a blaster carbine. Oona aims for the weakend blast points on the tank, and with two precise shots pierces the armour. A second later, the tank grinds to a halt. The anti-grav dies and the turret droops. “Woohoo! We got one!” One of the defenders yells.

Mama goes back up. There are stairs up and a ladder. She goes up the latter, which is the ladder. The proofreeders slink back into their holes. With a few partisans, she starts chipping away at the column at the front of the building. Karnov leaps toward the downed tanks and starts a dazzling display of lightsabre skill. Time after time she connects with droids, cutting them down carefully and methodically. Ull follows Karnov, slicing and finishing off any stragglers. Niall lobs a last thermal detonator into the thickest part of the advance and sees several dozens of droids destroyed or damaged.

Jimmi starts up a whirlwind again, peppering the droids with debris from the road and debris from the destroyed droids. Niall leaps from the building into the right flank, landing neatly on a hover tank. The sudden shift in balance nearly makes him topple off. He goes to swing his lightsabre and almost takes off his toes. He sidesteps awkwardly before finding his feet. He sweeps down with the weapon, slicing a huge gash in the turret. A return sweep cuts a droid’s head in two, and a third removes the barrel of the gun. The controls spark and look like they might explode. There is a big puff of smoke, but Niall has leaped to the next tank in line.

Meanwhile, Mama has shot two battle droids in three shots, but Rojic is enjoying Igbo’s blaster, and is one-shotting every one he hits. The gun warms in his hand. He’s almost happy.

Onna and Kory manage to repeat their tank-busting. “Aim for the blast points!” Oona yells, but her voice is drowned out by an almighty roar, as a shell hits the back wall, and a great section of building comes down. A moment later, Mama and two injured partisans half-slide half-fall down the ladder to the roof. All three are injured. Blood streams from a cut to Mama’s head. She wipes it away with a sleeve.

“Okay?”

“Yeah…Just a scratch. I’ll get a pad over it.” She goes to walk, and feels woozy. She slumps down. “Medic!” Kory yells, and a young man of about twenty comes and sees to the captain’s injury. The building rocks again. A stream of debris rains from the ceiling, covering everything in dust and plaster. Jimmi comes through at a trot, changing flanks and casually quipping, “Kory’ll be shaking debris out her bra for ages!”

“I’ll give her a hand with it later!” Niall responds.

The battle goes on. Niall takes on the remaining tanks. Ull and Karnov are cutting great holes in the left flank with their lightsabres. Ull suffers several minor wounds. Rojic keeps plugging away, singing a dirty little Toydarian song as he does so, in a throaty voice. He sees an opportunity to disable a tank, and takes the shot….A hit! The tank trundles on for a few more yards before acrid smoke starts billowing out of its powerplant. Jimmi starts up a whirlwind again, clearing the smoke, but making the droids progress hazardous. As the whirlwind gathers speed and ferocity, Jimmi supplements it with balls of energy, which buffet and topple some of the marching machines.

Despite their valiant efforts, the building is being overwhelmed. As fast as the defenders can take out two droids, a third makes some ground. They are within touching distance of the defence control building when Niall sounds a retreat. “Take cover inside!” he yells. Karnov turns to cover Ull, who takes two nasty shots to the chest. Karnov leaps in and cuts down Ull’s attackers. Between them they’ve all but cleared the left flank. The few remaining droids are close enough to the frontal assault to join up with them. They start pounding on barricaded doors, scrabbling at the brickwork and smashing boarded up windows.

A dull thud is heard. More debris rains down. The right wall is gone. Droids start to climb in. Blaster bolts hit home. Everyone ducks down. Partisans seek cover. Niall calls people back. Kory joins him up close. (Five-syllable sentences end abruptly!) “Gee a grenade would be nice….” Niall says, ruefully.

Kory touches off something in her hand. A deft toss later and a smoke canister lands at the feet of the droids. Blaster fire pierces the smoke, but the shots go wild. Mama declares her intention to find cover. “Big cover. Very hard cover. Very cover-ey cover!”

Mama shots the first droid through the smoke. Jimmi waits for the haze to clear before tossing a grenade. The whirlwind starts up as soon as the grenade explodes and bits of shrapnel join the other debris cutting into the droid plating. “Six!” Jimmi whops, raising two fingers aloft. Not to be outdone, Niall lobs a grenade at a tightly packed group of droids. “Seven!” He yells over the explosion, as indeed seven of the attackers are blasted to bits. Niall sticks his tongue out. “Beat that!” He scoffs, confident that he won’t be outdone.

Mama bides her time. She rolls her grenade. It skitters past a group of droids and stops at the back wall. “Pfff! You missed!” A droid says, turning to see the grenade roll past it. A second later there is a small explosion, which barely scratches its paintwork. “Don’t waste ‘em!” Niall insists. As he does so, the wall collapses, bringing the ceiling down as well. Fifteen droids are crushed under tons of rubble. It is Mama’s turn to gloat!

“That gets my gloat!” Jimmi quips, but is interrupted as two droids surge forward, shooting from the hip at Niall. Niall reacts desperately at their onslaught, deflects their blaster bolts and cuts them down.

Outside the remaining wall, Ull and Karnov are fighting hard. Ull has several blast wounds. Karnov turns the next flurry of blaster shots back to their owners, downing three in rapid succession. Inside, Niall cuts down three droids. Rojic uses Niall’s elevated threat level to drop his grenade on a group of five droids. This also blows a hole in one of the remaining walls. “You certainly know how to make an entrance!” Jimmi jokes. From her cover, Mama blasts two more. Her breathing a laboured and there is genuine fear in her eyes. –One more hit will finish her for sure.

Ull and Karnov cleave the last few regular battle droids on the left flank. “Only the super battle droids to go!” Rojic yells and shoots one through. Karnov uses the hole in its chest to stab at another, which bunched up too close in the queue. She slashes another, cleaving it neatly in twain. She lets out a restrained cheer. In the next flurry of attacks, She and Ull leap for the building. –The left flank is clear. The forward and right flanks have combined. The defenders dig in for a last do-or-die assault. The droids rush forward, threatening to swamp the defence. In a miraculous streak of luck, every one of our heroes manages to shoot and destroy two droids each. Rojic can hardly hold his blaster for the heat. The last three droids standing are super battle droids. They put down a hail of blaster fire, taking out two of the partisans in the process. Our heroes dive for cover. Shots are traded, and the droids press their advantage. More shots flash off their armour. Seeing an opportunity, Karnov and Niall meet the charge. Lightsabres flash in a whirl of strokes. The droids are finished.

There is a moment of stunned silence. “-And breathe….” Mama says with a long sigh, before slumping to the floor. The partisans rally. They pick their way through the debris and rubble. The building is rather unstable. Kory and Oona run to the console. “Slicing is holding.” Kory says. “That’s my girl.” Rojic crows from the ceiling. The partisan medics tend to the wounded. When Mama revives, she starts directing triage and first aid from a seated position. Jimmi comes forward and gently lays on hands to let the force aid the healing process. Karnov assists by healing herself.

Several minutes later there is a call form command, telling them that the Republic forces are in position. “Open the gates!”

Kory knocks off the lock with a flourish. Within moments they can hear a battle raging outside the walls. They monitor the communication channels, urging their allies on. Within an hour, the droid forces are beaten back and are finally defeated. A ragged cheer goes up. The spaceport is finally liberated!

Our heroes emerge into the midday sun. All around them are twisted and mangled droids, destroyed tanks and debris. They walk out slowly.

“Another tough day at the office.” Niall says, dryly.

Joe-9T approaches. The barrel of his sniping rifle is thick with carbon. He greets Niall. “Sir, I am so pleased to see you.”

Niall turns to the others. “See?” He says, “No matter how tough your day, no matter how many enemies you’ve cut to pieces, no matter how much you’re crippled from your wounds, your assassin droid is always pleased to see you.”

“I concur.” Joe-9T says, “Though I am NOT anyone’s droid.

“That’s my droid!” Rojic says, patting Joe-9T’s head affectionately, before ducking out of sight so Joe-9T can’t shoot him!

Outside the battle dies down to a skirmish before the day is finally won. Clone troopers start mpooing up, routing the droid army. Meanwhile, rumours fly around HQ on the fate of Master Junn. The officers release an official statement, which confirms nothing nor elaborates on any details. Soon after, an ‘injured’ Junn is stretchered off to a mobile hospital. The crew are reunited with Storm Cutter, flown by Hen3ry and which touches down inside their base camp. Happy, our heroes survey their day's work.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Footnotes: