Published: 2024-11-04
The rebellion was expanding their territory more quickly now. They had fully taken over the medical wing, and were now moving into the barracks. The hangar bay was closer, but they did not yet have the numbers to take it. Taking the hagnar bay would require a true battle, as there were very few bulkheads in it, and the ones that were there were very large and could not be opened and closed quickly.
So they moved aftward instead. They nad not left Deck 7 of the ship yet. They would move up and down after they had scucessfully captured this deck.
THe barracks were far more difficult to take than the medical wing. The medical wing mostly comprised of unarmed medical staff, droids, wounded clones, and the few clones that had shown up to fight, but all the off-duty clone troopers were in the barracks. The activation of their inhibtiro chips had woken up all of the sleeping clones, who were pulled into duty to search for Ahsoka.
"Commander, we've only converted around a thousand clones, and we have another two hundred and fifty captured and waiting for surgery. That leaves eight thousand left and only six days to do it. We need top ick up the pace," Rex informed Ahsoka.
"Don't worry. The barracks will have much more clones than the medbay. We'll be on schedule by the end of today."
"But the speed we can convert troopers is severely limited by the size of the medical wing. We need to either find somewhere to put captured clones, or get to the aft medical wing. And we need to do it soon."
Ahsoka thought for a moment, picturing the layout of a Venator-class Star Destroyer in her mind. "The brig is on Deck Six. There should be enough room there to hold any unconverted clones while they await surgery. We also won't have to stun them every time they wake up. It will be safer for the prisoners that way. We don't want to give them brain damage, after all. The brig is directly below the medbay, and we have access to three lifts. Send two platoons down there to take the brig. Report back to me when it has been captured, and transfer the prisoners down there. Oh, and strip prisoners out of their armor so we can more easily tell apart friend from foe."
"Right away. I'll send Lieutenants Thon and Xeroxes, and I'll go with to supervise."
"Of course. Now get going."
"Yes, sir. Thon! Xeroxes! Gather your platoons and follow me. We're going to take the brig," Rex commanded.
—
This was getting to be frustrating. The rebellion had taken the entire Deck 7 midship medical wing, and was now moving into the Deck 7 barracks and the Deck 6 brig. CC-5908 thought both areas had enough forces, but given the ability to beat his forces the rebellion had shown, he sent a company of troopers each to the barracks and the brig to reinforce them.
Tano, leading the charge against the barracks, was making more progress than CT-7567 in the brig, but CT-7567 had still taken more than half of it. Tano had taken nearly all of the barracks, and was beginning to push out the last of the loyalist forces.
—
Commander Rex had already lost three squads of troopers when the enemy got an entire company of reinforcements. It appeared to be commanded by Captain Zeer, which meant it was probably the 217th Company. This wasn't good. The 217th was known for their excellence in combat.
Rex decided to call for reinforcements. He held down the button on the side of his helmet that activated his comm. "Commander Tano, this is Commander Rex. I've lost three squads, and the enemy has received reinforcements down in the brig. It's the Two-Seventeenth. I need at least two more platoons."
"On it," Ahsoka replied. There was a brief pause as Ahsoka inquired as to what units she could spare. Then: "I can send the Thirteenth Company, Rex."
"That will do well sir. Thank you.
—
Apparently, Ahsoka's fight for the barracks was going better than the fight for the brig. Ahsoka had lost two platoons compared to Rex's three squads, but she had a much larger force to begin with and was dealing with more pushback than Rex. Additionally, Ahsoka's forces had captured over one hundred clones. Realizing that the brig was the more important target at the moment, Ahsoka sent yet another company to reinforce Rex.
Ahsoka fought on the front lines in the fight for the barracks. Unfortunately, clone deaths were unavoidable, but she did her best to prevent casualties on both sides. Deflected blaster bolts were sent into the walls and ceiling, and all the clones on her side had their blasters set to stun. The enemy clones were shooting to kill, however, and there were simply too many of them for Ahsoka to protect everyone.
At last, they were pushing the enemy forces out of the barracks. The fighting was slowing down, so she sent more forces to aid Rex in the brig. As the last door sealed behind the retreating enemy troops, Ahsoka breathed a sigh of relief. She posted guards at the doors on the edges of their territory and sent the rest to finish pushing the enemy out of the brig. She followed closely behind.