War raged on in this galaxy. No one knew that better than I, given my recent promotion. They were down there all along, and this assignment was just a trap. I think the previous Captain knew that. That's why he took our most powerful and most recent asset planetside. I just hope his resignation doesn't do him in...

Vice Captain Siegebreak sighed as he filled in the most recent entry to his holo-journal. "Captain!" A sudden banging echoed on his door. "Captain! Urgent request to the bridge, sir! Separatist forces just arrived outta hyperspace!" Another quick rapping on his chamber door followed, along with another insistent order to appear at the bridge.

"Order a full stop and issue the alert to Battlestations!" Siegebreak said in a gritty and deep voice.

"Aye! The clone troopers look forward to your response, sir!" The clone barked, sprinting off towards the comms center.

Clones...[i/] Vice Captain Siegebreak wasn't too fond of this new generation of clones from Kamino. They were too eager for orders, too obedient. "My generation didn't have this robotic sense of eagerness. Kamino must be desparate to win the war these days..." He rubbed his bald head, sighing to himself. Clone commander number GC-281 was his official designation, but that was abandoned a long time ago. His cloning generation was known as the most diverse out of the entire cloning process to this day, due to the gene pool his DNA was derived from. Standing from his desk, Siegebreak walked over to his closet, putting on his old battle armor and gearing up for another battle, his beard showing signs of age and his body scarred in various places.

His generation of clones was also known as the "lost souls" due to the diversity and lack of overall obedience they inherently possessed. Around one decade before the bounty hunter Jango Fett offered his DNA to assemble a clone army as part of an order from a mysterious client, Kamino was commissioned by a gang of mobsters to help quell a small rebellion in their controlled region of the outer rim. From his understanding, they used their own genomes to help serve as a basis for their army, but lacked the foresight or knowledge to have obedience chips implanted, and thus was a failure from the beginning. Most of the clones were put through rigorous training, ten times worse than the training the most recent generation experienced and as a side effect, shortened their lifespan. Only 20 survived to the present day, most carrying on with their own lives, but still retained the same knowledge from before, making them coveted strategists, and dangerous adversaries if provoked.

Siegebreak's war-torn armor proved it: scorch marks littered the ion infused Kaminoan Battle Armor. It was an exceptionally old model based off depictions of the ancient Kaminoan Warriors, before technology and evolution allowed them to adapt to how they are now. Heavier than the typical modern day clone armor, it was powerful enough to stop a direct hit from a single plasma cannon. His has been chipped in several places, signs of explosive damage, and even several marks that only a lightsaber would leave and yet putting it on still filled him with pride. It intimidated anyone that saw him in it.

Fully dressed and ready for war, the Vice Captain opened his chambers and made his way to the Command Center, located in the bridge. A rumble occurred, following another more powerful one a few minutes afterwards, jarring him slightly on the second one. Tapping on his holo-watch, the Vice Captain patched into the comms center. "Status report." He bellowed.

The clone from before appeared via hologram and gave him the basic rundown. "Separatists have begun their initial attack run and we already have wounded near the starboard battlements."

"And our 'Special cargo'?"

"Safe." He breathed a brief sigh of relief. At least they were unharmed. "And surprisingly helpful. One of them has been put in charge of a medical team in one of our hospital wards."

"Hmm..."Siegebreak grunted. "And the others?"

"Unknown, sir. We will try to find out more shortly."

"Carry on then, dismissed." He swiped away the hologram, ending the call before entering the bridge. Through the windows, he could see the ongoing battle taking place: The command ship was spearheading the assault while the others lingered not too far behind it, the beginning wave of fighters steadily approaching. Walking over to the holotable, the Vice Captain began to strategize with the other officers. A cacophony of voices echoed around the table, all of which he filtered out in favor of complete silence.

The first wave of fighters shouldn't be out this early, that's not how droids think. What's their play then?

Demoralize and confuse.

And after?

Crippling our defenses and leaving us for dead.

Conclusion?

The inner conversation he had ended, bringing him to a conclusion worthy of his nickname given to him by his comrades. "It's a surprise attack, obviously." He calmly said in his baritone voice, silencing the others around the holotable. "The droids are too cold and calculated to sacrifice forces this early in a battle." The Vice Captain brought up a tactical map of the Gambit as well as the enemy ships located just south of their position. "Their strategy was to confuse and cripple us so that way they can land their main forces planetside."

The map updated according to his instructions, showing a play-by-play of what happened so far. "They came out of Hyperspace just south of us, presumably to disable our engines." The map showed a shot landing a direct hit to the ship's engines, highlighted in blue. "However, their entry was too far to the right and instead hit us starboard side, which brings us up to now:" the actual shot was highlighted in red.

"How do we respond then, Vice Captain?" One of the officers questioned.

"Their strategy failed, we know that as a fact, but that doesn't mean they still don't intend to cripple us. Focus power on rear deflector shields and prepare a counter-attack! Once the battle starts, I want this ship turned 90 degrees starboard for the offensive."

"Understood, sir!" The officers saluted, breaking off into several groups to relay orders.

Walking up to the control rig, arms behind his back in rest stance, Siegebreak beheld his new chessboard and grinned, glad to be back into another fight. Tapping on some controls, he patched into Master Twilight Sparkle's droid. "Droid! Are the young ones safe?"

"Agh!" SP-K3 exclaimed. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Hmph."

"And to answer your question, Uh, well..." A distant explosion was heard in the background followed by a cheer from a raspy and enthusiastic voice.

"Vice Captain! An unauthorized ARC-170 has taken off in Bay 2!" A nearby officer reported.

"You're that ARC-170 aren't you, droid?"

Author's Note

An intermission before the next lesson?! Oh ye cruel gods!

Anyways, the next one is gonna be awesome! It'll involve explosions and stuff!

EDIT: sweet Jesus, I forgot to change my placeholder name for Siegebreak! AND IN THE FIRST NAME DROP TOO IM SO SORRY DONT HATE ME