Hodges grits his teeth, fear beginning to rise in him. They had been trained for this. He had wished for this... And yet, a part of him now knew this had been foolish. They were about to die... NO!

He shakes his head, clearing the fear and throwing it to the back of his mind, finishing strapping on his armor and putting his bucket on, then raising his rifle. "We need to get someone on the line. The Republic needs to know. Are out long-range comms still working?"

He watches the doors apprehensively, rifle raised, expecting their killers to come charging through like wild gundarks any moment now....

A bead of sweat trickled down Riggs' neck as he listened to the calamity at Epsilon over the console. Taken off-guard, he turned to his teammates: Gyro was going to run to the dormitory and grab weapons and supplies. Batter had drawn his knife and looked ready for direct combat. Then, he heard Hodges' voice:
"We need to get someone on the line. The Republic needs to know. Are out long-range comms still working?"

Riggs responded to this: "I don't know, but I can go check. I can swing by the dormitory and grab my tools. If they work, I can radio the republic- if they don't, well, that's why I'm a mechanic." He paused for a second, then added: "Are you coming with us, Hodges? You and Batter? I'm just thinking we should stick together- anyhow, I'm going down." With that, he turned and ran out the door.

Batter stood with Hodges as Gyro and Riggs ran towards the dormitories to grab more weapons. Looking over to Hodges he asked "Should we go with them? Or should we try and get the long range comms working?" As the two clones stood in the room, rifle and knife drawn, the lights go out and they are left in darkness. With a dismal voice Batter steps over to Hodges, "Okay, we somehow managed to bite off more than we can chew, and it's only been 3 days."

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Running through the hallway to the dormitory, Gyro and Riggs can hear what sounds like faint blaster fire coming from Checkpoint Epsilon. As they reach the dorms and attempt to quickly open the door, they hear a small clicking noise, from possibly underneath them, then there is nothing but darkness. A small red light turns on and starts to pulse above each doorway, allowing very little to be seen. Looking into the half open door, they can see the empty dormitory before them.

Hodges sighs as the lights go out, clicking on the small light under the barrel of his blaster.
"I am no mechanic. We need to go keep our brothers' covered." He states, moving to follow out the door at a slow, but steady advance, rifle raised and ready to blast anything that wasnt in trooper armor.
In the back of his mind, he knew that their only real chance was to get to a ship, but he would keep quiet about that for now. Briefly, his eyes look down the route that would take him to the hanger bay, then shakes his head. He was a Republic Trooper. He would not flee until their mission was complete....

Gyro arrived at the dormitory door, he noticed it was half open. He found that concerning because that meant the power was out... not that the emergency lights hadn't already shown that. Opening a channel on his hands free comlink, Gyro quietly said, "Ok, I'm at the dorms and I am going in. I am going to get Batter's rifle, my pistol, and Rigg's tool kit; anything else needed while I'm here? He waited a moment for a reply, then hesitated for a moment before entering the room. He steeled himself. You've done this before, he thought. Carefully and stealthily, at least in his own mind, he moved into the room; his weapon was drawn and ready...

Riggs was running down the hall after Gyro, who'd had a significant head-start on him, then caught up with the other when he had slowed to a jog in front of the dormitories. He could hear blaster fire in the distance, and silently cursed his disgust with the now very-much desired inactivity of barely half and hour ago. Suddenly, the lights went out, and Riggs couldn't see his hand in front of his face. Only seconds later, a red light came on and washed the area in a dim, eerie red gloom.

"Well..." he said softly, trying to calm his nerves. "at least we know that the emergency lights work."

As Gyro opened the door to their dorm, Riggs readied his pistol for combat, preparing to face a hidden, imminent threat behind the closed door. Upon peering in, he saw nothing; and since it was empty, it was probably safe to go in. He strode toward the end of the room near his bed and took his tool kit and a power pack, then informed Gyro:

"I'm going to the security room and checking on the long coms. If they are working, I'll notify the Republic about this anomaly; if not, then I'm in there fixing them." He turned and left the room.

"I am no mechanic. We need to go keep our brothers' covered." As Hodges said this and started to walk out of the room, Batter followed with his knife raised.

"Think we're gonna get through this Hodges? Be pretty sad if we couldn't take on a few enemies right?" With a nervous laugh Batter continued to follow his brother through the gloomy red halls.

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As Gyro and Riggs entered the dorm, they were greeted with an eerie quietness. Looking in and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, both clones entered the dormitory. Scrounging in the dark, they managed to find what they were looking for.

Riggs, first to leave the room, almost didn't notice Hodges and Batter coming down the same route as they all collided. Laying on the ground they heard what sounded like heavy, but quick moving footsteps coming down the hall from Checkpoint Epsilon. A faint voice can be heard through the closed doors, "open up! we have wounded! hurry before the clankers get us!!"

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Laying on the floor, Batter was quite startled as to what was happening, one moment he was behind Hodges, the next Hodges was on top of him on the floor with Riggs. Just as he started to push himself up he heard the voice of a fellow clone. "Clankers!? Here!? Hurry up and open that door for them!" He practically yelled into Hodges and Riggs ears as he climbed up from the floor.

Gryo stepped out of the dorm and watched as his comrades crashed into one another. If it wasn't such a dire time, it would have been hilarious; however, this time Gyro only glanced over.

A faint voice can be heard through the closed doors, "open up! we have wounded! hurry before the clankers get us!!"

Laying on the floor, Batter was quite startled as to what was happening, one moment he was behind Hodges, the next Hodges was on top of him on the floor with Riggs. Just as he started to push himself up he heard the voice of a fellow clone. "Clankers!? Here!? Hurry up and open that door for them!" He practically yelled into Hodges and Riggs ears as he climbed up from the floor.

"Blasted droids!" Gyro cursed as we ran over to the door, forgetting he still had Batter's blaster. Sprinting over to the door, he screamed, "Troopers! Hold off for I second, I'm trying to get the door!" While standing next to the terminal, Gyro attempted to open it with any means necessary. He may not be as good as a mechanic as Rigg's, but Gyro was competent, and Gyro was the best one with computers. Now, he had to hope it was enough to save these troopers...

"Think we're gonna get through this Hodges? Be pretty sad if we couldn't take on a few enemies right?" Batter asked behind Hodges as he crept forward, following with a nervous laugh that seemed to echo down the hall.
Looking over his shoulder to respond, he feels someone collide with him, causing the tense trooper to curse loudly as he lands on Batter.

Suddenly, just down the hall, something began pounding on the door. "open up! we have wounded! hurry before the clankers get us!!" a distant clone's voice called, causing them all to begin moving, just as Riggs exclaimed, "Clankers!? Here!? Hurry up and open that door for them!"

Hodges saw Gyro already making for the door and, kicking and shoving, climbed to his feet, rifle raised to kill anything not in white armor that might come through the door, quickly advancing until he was between his fallen brothers, and Gyro. He nods.

"Open 'er up, I'm kriffing ready for em..."

As Riggs strode out the door, certain he had taken everything he needed, he collided head-on with two other figures and stumbled to the floor. He was momentarily dazed, then began to flail before he heard a familiar voice blast into his ear:

"Clankers!? Here!? Hurry up and open that door for them!" It was Batter, and he could rationally that the other figure upon him had to be Hodges. The latter was trying to get to his feet, kicking and shoving. Riggs received a kick to his helmet, knocking him once more to the floor. Once Hodges made it to his feet and Batter rolled off of him, he was able to pick himself up and stumbled toward the door where he noticed the small group beginning to gather. Gyro was fumbling with the computer mechanism on the door, trying to get it open.

This was it! The group was now engaged in combat. Riggs tossed his tool kit aside, stepped back and raised his pistol, preparing for anything. If it wasn't white, it was shoot to kill. The long coms would have to wait for now.

As Gyro smashed away at the console, the other 3 clones stood, weapons pointed at the door, waiting. As tension filled the room, time seemed to slow. At last, the blast doors inched open and four more clones poured through, blaster fire following. "CLOSE THE DAMN DOORS! BEFORE THEY GET US!"

One of the clones pushed Gyro out of the way and immediately closed the blast doors. The sound of blaster fire was reduced quite significantly reduced as the doors closed behind them. The one clone stood hunched over the console panting. Two others sit on either side of a clone laying on the floor, a gaping wound in his side. One of the clones looked up towards Hodges, Batter, and Riggs. Through gasping sobs he spoke, "A-a-a-are any of you medics? Can you save him? Please save him!"

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Batter stood dumbstruck as the clones fell in front of him. He couldn't take his eyes off the clone's wound. He wasn't trained for this, and he had no clue how to respond. His arms dropped to his side as the other clone spoke. "Sorry, I don't know. Let's get him to the Med-Bay though." Walking over, Batter helped pick up the wounded clone.

"I am qualified," Gyro stated, training immediately taking over. Following Batter with the clone, Gyro began to fumble with his utility belt. He pulled out his medpac, and walked to the medcenter. As Gyro set the injured trooper down, Gyro began to command. "Someone, see if there is a medkit. They are more effective then this medpac."

Hodges just watched as the fleeing clones stumbled through, the blast door slamming behind them. He barely heard the plea for the medic, his eyes frozen to the blast door, as if expecting a full battalion to charge through.

"Soldier!" He yelled to one of the unwounded clones that had just escaped. "How many are we facing? How much resistance?"

As the blast doors opened and the four clones poured in, Riggs jumped with a start, immediately lowering his pistol. Blaster fire faded in the background upon the closing of those doors, and his attention turned to an injured soldier at the floor. Obviously, heavy damage was being taken and they'd somehow been untouched so far. What are the odds of that?

As the clone was lifted and Gyro took control of the situation medically, he could hear Hodges asking another about the battle out there. Now was a good chance, perhaps, to work on the long coms. The Republic had to know about this. Riggs sided up to the group and, once he'd received one's attention, informed him:

"I am going to check out the long-range communication systems in the security room. If any of you can spare backup, that would be extremely helpful to me."

Hodges, Gyro and one of the other clones carried the injured one into the med-bay and set him on a bed.

"Someone, see if there is a medkit. They are more effective then this medpac."
"I'm on it." Batter spoke as he immediately started digging through drawers throughout the room. It took a minute, but he managed to find a proper medkit and took it to Gyro.

Looking over to the other clone he took off his helmet and sighed. "What's the situation? What happened?"

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"How many are we facing? How much resistance?" The clone at the console turned over his shoulder and stared at Hodges. His helmet was missing and he looked like he took a blow to the face. "I don't know... I-I-I just don't know. They must've had a dozen or so, maybe more." The clone stepped back towards the wall and slowly slid down it towards the floor clutching his head in panic.

The only other clone in the hallway looked up to Riggs as he spoke. "I can come with you. I won't be much help, but I don't think we should do things alone." Standing up shakily, he pulled out a blaster pistol and moved next to Riggs.