"Look how they flee from our divine retribution my brothers and sisters! Watch as they crawl back into their wretched holes!": He called out over the Sith's communication channel, the zealous words of their leader spurring on the soldiers even in their bloodied state. :"Give them no quarter! Kill every last slaver filth that you see, all of the Hutts' minions are to be executed for their sins!": It wasn't like they had any room for prisoners anyway.
Helix couldn't quite restrain a shake of his head as the Sith launched into a quasi-religious tirade to drive his men forward. He truly did believe his own party lines. Not that Helix had any issues per se with liberty; he was still a Separatist down inside his cold metal heart. He'd spent a long time fighting for freedom, alongside the CIS over nine hundred years ago, and the Rebel Alliance not long after that. He'd even done things rather like this, in his days as a younger droid, still feeling out the limits of his machine-learning.
The problem was that only he seemed to take these ideals to their logical final conclusion. Freedom was wasted on those unable or unwilling to appreciate it, and only those who could seize and defend their
own freedom deserved it. A sentient being deserved what they could take, or what they allowed to happen. If they were to drive off the Hutt Cartels entirely from the Rim (something Helix knew to be an exercise in futility; simply based on logistics alone the slugs could drag this out indefinitely if they needed to), there would come another strongman to fill the vacuum, and these wretches would find themselves right back in a cage.
Perhaps Strosius knew this, and intended to be that strongman. Helix didn't doubt his ability, so much as his sincerity. Revolutionaries were all the same, inevitably becoming what they'd fought against in the inexorable cycle that organic life seemed trapped in. He'd lost interest in the Rebellion when they stopped rebelling and became just another government, after all. Strosius was not only a revolutionary, but a Sith, and Sith were incurable liars, both to others and themselves.
In his brief time campaigning with the Sith Lord so far, he believed he had him about figured out, narrowing down his true nature to one of three possibilities. He was running from something, and using all this idealism as a way to assuage a deeply-buried conscience, or was a master liar and charlatan, gathering a cult of personality. Or he was a kindred spirit, something Helix found very few of. Not one being in a billion had the strength, mechanical or otherwise, to handle the weight of that destiny. A true believer, and a true liberator with nothing but serious good intent, good intent worth setting planets ablaze for. Such an end truly justified any means. Helix could respect that, if nothing else.
What then, he wondered, when Strosius had his victory, and it came time to actually
manage the mewling, bovine masses the Hutts supposedly had corralled down in those tunnels? He'd find himself in need of a way to control them, and the cycle would begin anew. Liberator, to tyrant. Then someday, this very battle would play out again, only with different sides on the field.
It was shameful that it had to be this way, but experience had taught him that the hordes below would have little idea what to do with liberty even if Strosius butchered his way below and handed it to them. Half would probably find themselves enslaved again somewhere else, and the other half would likely die on some battlefield on behalf of their liberator. Freedom of body was rather wasted on those without freedom of mind.
The shuttle exploded into a supernova of brightness. Shrapnel and debris, ripped through the air in all directions.
His thoughts were interrupted by several things happening at once. One of the Sith's dropships went up in a fireball, and shrapnel pattered harmlessly off his body. He frowned internally. Another complication. He didn't think the craft could damage the
heavy lander, but it could no doubt prove an issue nonetheless. Time was of the essence, and they could afford no more surprises. "
Wing One, dispatch five fighters to deal with that interloper." He sent the order up to the fighters, and several
Vulture droids leapt into the air off the looming heavy lander, streaking off after the enemy shuttle. Likely as not the obsolete models wouldn't get far, but he'd gotten lucky before. Worst case, it would buy them time to get inside.
The Acolyte was so focused on the task at hand, on fighting and surviving, that she was unaware of the blood that had now seeped through her robes and was running in small rivulets down her left leg, splattering to the ground at her feet to intermingle with the congealing blood of her slain foes.
Helix also noticed that the second, younger Sith was leaking blood all over the battlefield, a happenstance he had specifically assigned 034 to prevent. He opened his channel, sending out a rapid stream of Binary chatter.
"034, are your audioreceptors miscalibrated? I seem to recall ordering you to defend the client, yet I can see the client is damaged. You risk disciplinary action, 034. Do not fail me again. If they fall, you will be held responsible." He shut the channel off, ignoring the Linebreaker's slow-witted excuses.
"
The remainder, rockets on those blast doors, now. Hammer them down. And get the C-9979 down here, the zone is clear enough." He ordered. The massive vessel looming above began to sluggishly descend from the sky, shrugging off the remaining incoming fire with its starship-grade deflectors. He had tanks and many more droids inside. If they couldn't breach the doors with those, it would complicate matters immensely.
The
B2H droids obeyed, and a dozen of their rockets streaked through the air in a simultaneous burst to impact against one of the secured blast doors. He had no doubt it would take far more than that, but it was a start. He had all day, and plenty of rockets to spare.
Commodore, Acolyte, you two link up with me.
Hearing himself thus summoned, he did as asked, leading his
escort squad up to stand beside the client. "
The zone is mostly clear." He stated. "
We have them on the run. Their leader is playing a cautious game, however. He's wasting our time, dragging a losing battle out as long as possible instead of cutting his losses and abandoning the site. I can think of no reason for this approach, unless they are going to attempt to relocate your slaves in the interim, or the Hutt himself has not yet evacuated. Or both, naturally. I calculate this means the mission still possesses a 73.785% chance of success despite our sluggish momentum at taking the landing zone, a statistic that worsens somewhat the longer it takes us to breach the doors. This gives the interloper in the shuttle more time to slow us down, though I have tasked several fighters to destroy them."
"
My droids are already damaging the blast doors. It is now only a question of time. Whether our troops or theirs prove the swifter in their tasks."
And with that, Darth Panthac burst forward, her ruby saber igniting and slashing the left side of the door in an X motion, causing the whole thing to suddenly shift it's weight, before Jonyna blasted it inward with a telekinetic blast, charging forward behind it. For now, the Panther was on the hunt.
"
Sir, look!" announced one of the infiltrator droids, pointing a stubby metal finger. Helix turned his head, spotting another interloper who battered through the barricade easily. Too easily for his comfort, but one mustn't complain about good fortune. They needed through
now and if the stranger proved hostile, they could deal with that in good time. "
Scratch that, Lord Strosius. My sensors indicate one of the doors has already been destroyed. I am uncertain how. Perhaps the doors are less sturdy than we believed. In any case, I recommend we seize that open entrance without delay. This will save us time, and increases our odds of success to 81.6%."
