Lichtenhal nodded to the clone midshipman who had just finished his report and turned, stepping toward Christen Mirro, who had just entered the ship's bridge.
"Christen, good to see you."
"Hello, paleface!" the second lieutenant replied, slapping the Atoan on the shoulder. "You have no idea how glad I am to see your face!"
"Now, now, you're getting carried away, Second Lieutenant. How long has it been since you were last in the brig?"
Christen, however, ignored the taunt.
"How long will the flight take? And where are we headed?"
"At least another six hours. The final destination is Lantilles."
"Then… I'll go get some rest, since there's no work to be done," Chris saluted and headed for the exit. "I'll set the snore alarm."
Like all Atoans, Lichtenhal was unemotional, but he could clearly see that his friend was only trying to appear the same as before, when in fact much had changed. And it was no surprise, considering the carnage they had been through…
When Rinaun gave the order to evacuate General Vikt's squad, Lichtenhal believed it would take much more than a single Acclamator… After all, it took three ships just to land the general's squad, and nearly 350,000 clones participated in the operation at all. However, things turned out to be much worse — after they took all the troops on board, there was still plenty of space left on the ship.
The evacuation itself, like the cover operation, did not take long either. Sixty-four LAATs and four V-19 squadrons from the Akagi cleared the area around the base. Although "base" was a bit of an exaggeration. Cerri had expected to see anything but a mountain riddled with explosions and landslides, spewing fire, surrounded by tens of thousands of droids and hundreds of pieces of armored equipment… The pilots spared no ammunition, and soon a veritable storm of fire broke out on the ground around the defending clones.
The starfighters from Rinaun's squadron also contributed, using torpedoes to knock out enemy equipment. He sent at least twenty squadrons to the surface. Fortunately, the droids did not expect an attack from the air and were even less prepared to repel it. The fighter pilots acted as if they were on a training range, forming a massive multi-level carousel and showering the surface with a barrage of fire and dozens of plasma torpedoes. Above all that chaos, the Isaribi, commanded by Grace O'Connor, flew overhead, firing heavily from its numerous twin blaster cannons. After all, a ship is still a ship, and few ground weapons can compare to a vessel's armament. The Consular's powerful shields allowed it to ignore the fire of any CIS equipment except the J-1s. However, the batteries of those cannons were the first targets the gunboats went after, leaving smoking debris in their wake. So Grace was just nominally covering the Akagi as it descended to the planet's surface, devoting most of her attention to firing at ground targets.
Finally, the Acclamator reached the surface. The landing legs extended; at one point, the left rear leg sank a good ten meters into the ground, but fortunately the tilt could be corrected by partially compressing the shock absorbers on the other legs. The landing ramp swung open, and a stream of clones poured inside.
The first lieutenant could clearly see on the surveillance screens that most of the clones were wounded, many being carried on stretchers. Cerri ordered the off-duty crew to rush to the hangar and help the clones. However, the clones hardly needed the reminder. Taking the wounded from the troopers, they hurriedly carried them to the cabins, while the clones returned for a new batch of wounded. He especially remembered the end of the evacuation. Throughout the entire time clones were boarding, the figure of the general in his easily recognizable armor stood there at the edge of the ramp, and only when the last clone reached the middle did he step forward. "Let's go." That was all he said over the comms, but Lichtenhal hastened to carry out the order. As the Acclamator slowly rose into orbit, the gunboats and fighters took their places in the hangar.
***
My stomach growled softly, hinting that it was time to hurry up and fill it with something substantial. No, clone dry rations are nutritious — I won't argue with that — but they're painfully boring and tasteless. Even worse than the high-calorie slop clones eat on normal days.
The dining hall wasn't particularly crowded, but considering our catastrophic understaffing, you could say the room was packed to the gills. I waved to the clones, telling them to sit and eat, and went to get my food. After receiving the coveted tray of grub, I headed for the nearest table.
I had barely finished my first course when Puck and Lucky landed into the seats beside me.
"Sir. I hardly recognize you," Lucky chuckled.
"Yeah. I was immediately surprised by this unfamiliar Jedi and where he had supposedly come from."
"With all due respect, Puck, Jedi don't travel through hyperspace without ships."
"That's what I'm saying — they're weaklings!" the clone laughed.
Suddenly, Puck grew serious and asked earnestly,
"General, I wanted to ask…"
"Well?" I nudged him, sensing some uncertainty?.. coming from the clone.
"Sir, what happened to Commander Xiss? Why did she… start killing her own people?"
I froze. Here we go… the Hutt's own luck, here we are. So it had come to this unpleasant conversation. How was I supposed to explain it to them? To them, the Force was some unknown crap, and Jedi philosophy was just a bunch of symbols. However, I had to answer: many of the clones nearby had gone silent, listening to our conversation. Apparently, for them, it was… a burning question.
"How should I explain it to you? Simply or in detail?"
"Simply, General."
"She went mad… but not completely."
"How so?"
"Here's how I'll explain it to you. You see, the gifted can use two kinds of the Force. Light and Dark— no, that won't work," I shook my head. "That's all nonsense. Imagine this instead: you're about to go into battle, and you have a choice of which armor to wear. The one you're wearing now — simple, not entirely reliable, without any bells and whistles — or the most modern power armor with a built-in exoskeleton, integrated weapons, deflector shields, and top-class AI."
"What's the catch, sir?"