7777 was just keeping pace until he saw something in the corner of his eye, Songbird was making a break for it, trying to get first for his squad. "Oh, no you don't." 7777 muttered picking up his pace, then sprinting when Songbird was getting near him. As they approached the landing pad they were neck and neck until Songbird tried to trip 7777 at the same time 7777 tried to trip him. Fortunently 7777 managed to recover Songbird didn't falling flat on his face and rolling around on the ground. He wasn't going to be getting up without his squad that was for sure.

9182 watched as 7777 and Songbird started to race for first, they were both going at it with all they had until they both had the bright idea to trip one another. Upon Seeing that Songbird was still on the ground 9182 laughed and said " Looks like 7777 clipped your wings Songbird! " Acklay Squad stopped to pick up there brother letting most of Cyclone to pass Acklay much to Law's dismay.

With all the water in his helmet CT-3478 can barely see anything. It makes everything so much more stressful trying not to trip and falling into the sea, but also trying to keep up with the others. It's hard to tell where the others are.

We'd better be almost done. I'm tiring out and can't see anything!

CT-8128 focused on keeping up with those around him. Suddenly he noticed another clone had fallen in front of him, he was from Acklay squad. At the same time he hears 9182 over com. "Nice Job 7777" , he says while ignoring the tiredness in his legs as he passes Acklay squad.

Cyclone, Cyclone, Flip your tail,

Songbird, Songbird, Trip and fail,

Acklay, Acklay, Follow Law,

Into Cyclone's gaping Maw!

CT-5472 keeps cadence, at their rival squad's expense, but is barely managing to keep up himself. Now bringing up the rear, he hopes to at least inspire the more athletic Cyclones to keep up the lead they'd gained.

The Acklays pick up their tripped-up comrade, but Songbird clearly has been winged , temporarily at least. CT-5472 grabs his elbow on his way by, steadying him. "Keep flying, soldier, we're not there yet."

Lana continues to run to the finish almost there she stays ahead to the end

Songbird would hit the floor heavily with a loud wumph, skidding forwards along the slick bridge. 'Bloody goblins!' the muffled cry would be from the floor before it was replaced by a muffled yelp as the sergeant caught up with him. 'Pretty childish cyclones' Law would say as he falls back in line to reclaim his squad mate, disapproving look on his face.

This would leaver Cyclone squad up at the front of the line; at least most of them, when they arrived at the entrance to the second dome. Fortunately, the platform before the doorway was large enough for the rest of the troops to line before the two majors and the Jedi. The various sergeants that had corralled their troops to the new location would move to one side, talking in low voices among themselves as major Drummer takes a few measured steps forward.

'Attention!' he would bark, the response being almost perfect from the cadets, each one snapping to attention. 'Alright boys, my name is Major Drummer of the 404th line battalion. If you lot graduate, we will be in the same regiment!' He would begin to pace up and down the lines, examining the troops closely as he continues. 'However! In any regiment, there is always one battalion that stands above the rest! Now me and major Zombie here have a little wager going. I reckon my company is the least useless, but he reckons it's you lot!' He'd pause in his pacing, taking the moment to examine a random cadets weapon before continuing. 'Now the way we see it, there's only one way to be sure! As you lot are an assault battalion, you boys will be breaching this here dome, and purging the building of all enemy combatants. Those enemy combatants will be the 404th! Their job will be to hold this building and defend the command network at the centre of the dome! If you can defeat all enemy combatants or hold the command network for ten minutes, you will be declared victorious! However, if you cannot defeat the 404th, or reach the network within 10 minutes, you will have failed!'

With that, Drummer would turn on his heel, turning back to join the other major and Jedi. Saluting the pair, he would march towards the sliding door of the dome, going inside. It was at this point that the lights indoors flicker on for a moment, revealing the sight inside. The defenders had not wasted any time preparing for this. As the major goes inside, a clone cadet would run down the corridor, kneeling beside the door panel. After a few moments and a few sparks, the door would slide shut. He seemed to have shorted out the door controls, making it a harder for the attackers to gain entry. Further back down the corridor, a hastily erected barrier made of tables and chairs had been made as well. This was going to be an interesting fight.

Next, major Zombie would move forwards to address the troops. 'Alright boys, you heard the man! This is a standard breach and sweep, you guys have seen the training logs for this kind of thing a hundred times! Minimal destruction, not grenades or rockets, blasters only. Your commanding officer will be Commander Tar, you will obey his orders to the letter! Alright, time to ready up boys'.

While he had been talking a pair of technicians in blue overall and yellow jackets had been setting up a holomap of the building near by. 'Squad leaders, gather round, the commander will be leading the briefing for you to pass on to your men'. As the cadets break ranks to huddle around in their squads, a little over sixty clones would amble towards the table, presumably the current squad leaders'. Zombie would turn to nod to the Jedi. 'Don't worry commander, I'll be here if you need help'.

CT-5472, spent from the wet morning run, nevertheless musters the appropriate alacrity to represent his squad at the mission briefing. He smiles with pride, clapping his squadmates on their shoulders as he makes his way to the front. " Cyclone Squad present, Sir!" he reports, reverting to the stone faced team leader the officers seemed to expect.

Lana looks at the map of the place. If she was right about the plan she had some good info. sir! Could you come over here a sec, I have something to show you. she would have to show what she saw if they were gonna pass.

Anler can feel his heart rate going up as he considers what he needs to do. Directing a battalion of troops into an urban warfare situation without explosives, artillery, air support or similar. Against about equal numbers in fortified positions. When the squad leaders assembled, the young Padawan felt small and insignificant. Who is he to try to command those soldiers into battle. He tries to focus on the positive, there is a reason they want the Jedi in command. The soldiers might be excellent at tactics, but there is a bigger picture. The ability to think outside the box is what he's here for.

"Alright, this is how I see it. We need to make a strong attack on a concentrated front using the bulk of our force. The objective is to assault slowly on a narrow front, causing the defenders to reinforce that section. A secondary force will then deploy on a flanking maneuver. To ensure surprise, we need to find a location where we can breach the dome using unorthodox methods. I can cut through the wall with my lightsaber to get us access, but we need to select the spot carefully in order to allow us to then attack the flank of the enemy force. This should throw them into disarray and allow our main force and flankers to eliminate resistance quickly," he says.

As they examine the map, the civilian specialist, Lana, speaks up, pointing towards a spot where a service corridor lies next to an unused storage space. There is no door there, but who needs a door when he has a lightsaber? "Perfect," Anler says. "This will allow me to cut an opening undetected. The main force should attack along this flank here," he says, drawing a virtual square in green on the blue-tinted map. "The flanking force will then assemble in the storage area before assaulting through here, here and here," he says, pointing at three corridors.

"Major, you will coordinate the main assault and select an officer you trust to lead the flanking maneuver. I plan to take my squad further into the dome, through this corridor," Anler says, drawing a virtual red line on the blue-tinted map. "This is the logical place for the enemy to set up field headquarters to direct the troops. Ordinarily we would need intelligence to confirm this, but we don't have the luxury of that in this exercise. I will lead Cyclone squad here. With such small numbers we should be able to get past the enemy undetected, since they will be busy reacting to the flanking assault. We will then attack the enemy HQ. Hopefully we can take the position and hold it until we are reinforced. If not, we will attempt to fall back the way we came. At any rate, the attack should cause even further confusion that the assaulting force should be able to utilize."

The young Jedi pauses for a moment to double-check his plan, and to see if any of the others had advice or opinion. "Opinions anyone? I have no use for silent soldiers, speak your mind."

The map of the dome would be similar to most of the other structure found around the city. The control network was in the dead centre of the dome with two doors leading into it, one from the north, one from the south. Most of the corridors within the building resembled a grid with regular intersections that begun and ended with doors to preserve the integrity of the building, in case of any flood related incidents. Around the outskirt of the building was the narrow walkway, not much wider than a squad. The corridors were narrower than that though, only able to fit a few cadets next to each other. The majority of the rooms throughout the dome were barracks or storage rooms. There were three large open areas, presumably training pits for infantry and vehicle combat simulation. This was all along the ground floor, though there were three floors above this. This was largely classrooms and such, used by the younger clones for their flash training.

Lana had however noticed a few points of interesting points on the map that the defenders may have not noticed. The first was that a short climb up the surface of the dome would lead to a service hatch to the ventilation system. This was an absolute maze of small metallic tunnels build into the ceiling with occasional vents into the rooms and corridors. They were cramped though, no wider than a single. Most of the ventilation was hidden deep within the ceiling, and had no lighting apart from the thin slits of light from the vents.

The second was the drainage system. Do to the risk of flooding, the Kaminoans had built extensive drainage systems into the main rooms of the building. Each one lead to a large tank centralized between a designated number of rooms which then vented into the ocean below. It would be a difficult climb, but assuming the tanks were empty, a large number of troops could be transported this way.

The third was the vehicle hanger. Usually used for speeders and such coming and going from the dome, this was a large open space on the opposite side of the dome. Large open space that was mostly empty from vehicles. However in this weather, the entrance would most likely be sealed shut, though not impossible to crack.

"We have done that kind of combat training before. From what I remember Major Drummer likes to use attrition tactics. He will use barriers for his troops and then fall back to the next line of defenses and slow us down as much as possible. I suggest we try to circumvent the barriers by using the other entrances Summers found."

Finishing his run along side 7777 he put his hand on his back, " I think we found your name Brother, Clipper... What do you think? "

Over hearing the plans laid out by 8128 and the Commander, 9182 speaks up, " If I could suggest we go through the water way my choice weapon makes it difficult for me to go through the Ventilation. " He gestures with his Rotary Cannon.

With the grueling run over for Doc, he took a bit to get his legs up to speed before moving on to the map of the room.

"Defenders are stacked on the corridors, aiming to wear attackers down...have the doors open for now, they'll shut them when they have to fall back..."

And then Doc remembers something when looking at the holomap: in the more open areas of the building, like the hangar and the fight pits, auto-turrets were placed to provide defenders more firepower than they could bring in the event of an actual attack. If that was the case, it was a safe bet the defenders had someone manning the guns. That was not good, especially if Drummer's tactic was to stall for time. The auto-turrets were placed behind the defenders, though.

Doc hears the young Jedi's question and after hearing some of the others in the squad, answers.

"I agree with the ventilation as our main point of entry. Major Drummer is expecting to wear down an assault, so attacking from unexpected positions should allow the flanking to happen. I do have one thing to note, though. The more open areas, like here and here..." Doc says while pointing at the hangar and fight pits. "There are auto-turrets inbound. Without explosives, the auto-turrets will surely give any attacking force trouble. It's a safe bet that they have a slicer in their hands, too."

"However..." Doc notes. "If we could find where the slicer is, we could take over the auto-turrets. At the very least, we could shut them down, preserving our forces for longer. And at best..." he says with a smile. "we'll have flankers with a push of a button.

"Personally, I like it Label Maker." Clipper replies. Then he turns to the battle plans, "Sir I would like to suggest sending a third group to try and take control of the auto turrets, through the vents or water ways, while the main force pretends to have no idea the turrets exist while also avoiding the rooms in which they are until we have control of them. Meanwhile, if they try and retake the turrets, their forces at their HQ or their defense forces in the corridors and rooms will be weakened enough for the main force to push through easily and send reinforcments to the turret control station." Clipper is unsure if the Jedi wwill listen, after all Clipper wasn't the squad leader, but he had done okay in basic tactics and it seemed like splitting up the enemy would help.

9182 gives a laugh, " A good name, indeed but a bit on the long side. Label Maker... maybe I can find a way to make that sound better. " 9182 looks at the holomap as Clipper makes his suggestion, " If that group runs into trouble I could take out the turrets quickly, the Z-6 should easily tear through them, if we end up having to neutralize them."

"I think it would be best for us not to neuteralize sch a powerful potential asset. Perhaps we should send a number of through ventilation and a second group through the water ways both going for the turrets controls. That way if one fails, the other can still make it and allow for a rescue by the main force of the failed second group." Clipper responded.

Doc tries to use the feeds to figure out who is important in the other battalion, but between the armor covering any identifying features and the feed filters turning everything into the same shades of color, no one stands out.

" The auto turrets are controlled from the control network so it will be difficult to pass them to get there. But if we attack them from another direction first so that they are distracted it should be possible to control the turrets by using the controls integrated to them."

Studying the winding paths of the ventilation system and wondering how he'd maneuver in there while wielding his preference weapon, 9182 stumbles on an effiecient route through the vents. " Cyclones, Commander, I found a direct path to where we want to be going. " He traces the path with his finger. " Commander, what do you think is the best path the Vents or the Waterway? "

Doc takes a look the vents that Lana pointed out. An attack from the top was a surefire way to flank the defenders. The only problem was that it was a maze of shafts with barely any light and fans that could prove to gnaw up armor and arms. He sees 9182 tracing a path, and helps clarify the path that 9182's tracing for the rest of the team.

As 9182 is tracing the path, Doc notices small indentations on the holomap. "See those indentations on the map?" Doc says, pointing on them. "Must be the control panels for the fans. We could use them to stop the fans and clear the way."

Doc also notes that there is a path that 9182 missed, and for good reason: it's one with a double fan setup with 2 fans and 3 panels. It would require more bodies and timing, but it will cut down the time needed, since the setup would cut through a corner.

Anler waits patiently while the clones speak, his arms folded, hands inside the sleeves of his robes. As he listens, he can’t help thinking he hasn’t been given an easy task. Perhaps that’s a deliberate choice? Surely there are those who want him to fail, and fail spectacularly. Badly enough to get the council to rethink the decision to try integrating Padawans with clone squads at this stage in the training.

After hearing what the others have to contribute he steps up and silences them with a raised hand. “This is excellent, your training officers should be proud. Here is the plan. Major, you command the main assault, you will attack on the front here,” he says, indicating the map in the position marked earlier. “Of course, you’ll keep a part of your force in reserve, ready to react. You have the freedom to improvise based on the flow of the battle, just keep me informed of any developments when you are able.”

“You will select an officer to lead a quarter of our men in the flanking assault through a hole I will cut here,” he says, again pointing to the map. “Once the way is clear, they will wait for a signal and flank the enemy you and your men have engaged. All of you will need to keep an eye on the turrets and stay out of the field of fire, if at all possible. If they are confirmed to be inert, don’t be shy sharing that bit of good news.”

He then looks at Cyclone squad. “I will take the Cyclone squad up here, into the air vents. We will make our way through those until we are in a position to assault the enemy HQ. Our objectives will be to disrupt enemy communication by taking out the Major and his staff, and to take control of the turrets and turn them on the enemy, if at all possible.”

He holds up his hand to silence the Major, who seems to be about to speak. “I know it’s a risky maneuver. We will have no secured ground to retreat to. This is why we will take our time getting there, and only assault once the rest of you have their full attention. Once we are confident they have committed fully to the defense, we will make our move.”

He looks over the clones as they stare at the map and at him as he speaks. “Oh, and by the way. New rule. Next time we are assembled like this it is helmets off for everyone. It’s hard to see what you guys are thinking and who is who with your helmets covering your ugly mugs,” he says with a small grin.

7 minutes ago, Kymrel said:

He looks over the clones as they stare at the map and at him as he speaks. “Oh, and by the way. New rule. Next time we are assembled like this it is helmets off for everyone. It’s hard to see what you guys are thinking and who is who with your helmets covering your ugly mugs,” he says with a small grin.

"Sir, Yes, Sir!" CT-3478 takes his helmet off and a deluge of water falls out of it.

The major would stutter slightly as he is cut off, before rubbing the back of his shaved head as he glances at the map. 'Well, you are the commander, commander' he'd say, looking back up with a small grin. 'I doubt drummer will expect it. First rate defender, but his men are pretty green'.

He'd pause as he looks around the cadets present. Pointing at a clone near the back of the gathering, he'd shout out to him over the thunder of the rain hitting the floor. 'Law! You'll take the flanking team'. Law, arms crossed, would snap to attention, saluting the Jedi and major. 'Sir ye sir!' He'd turn back to the Jedi with a slightly awkward smile. 'Me and Drummer are the only officers present today, but Law's as good as they come. Anything else commander?'

Doc listens intently to the Jedi's word. He's impressed by the fact that the Jedi asked Cyclone Squad's opinions on the matter and considered their words and thoughts.

As Anler voices the last sentence, Doc waits until Anler is done talking to the Major before voicing his thoughts.

"With all due respect, you may still have a hard time trying to figure out who's who with our 'ugly mugs'...sir. But I'll keep that request in mind."