I noticed three things about Delstar as soon as I got out of my starfighter. It was hot, humid, and open. There were supposed to be forests, but all I could see was open, dusty ground, and cliffs a few clicks away. Then there was the Republic base twenty meters away.

The base was a big chunk of metal, in my opinion. It was a large, randomly shaped thing that stuck out of the dirt. It looked like the leftovers of a destroyed assault ship bridge. A nice visible target from the air.

Fortunately, the Seps didn't have any fighter craft at the moment.

I checked in at the base. Then I spoke to the trooper on duty. He registered me into the logs and sent me to the second-in-command's office. Apparently, the general had already left.

The second's name was Colonel Joran Regall. He was a non-Jedi officer. Tal walked into his office.

A tall, thin man sat at a desk. He didn't even look up when Tal entered. He had the air of someone with a lot of pride and arrogance. Tal waited.

Finally, the man looked up. Tal saw a shocked expression on his face for a split second. Apparently he wasn't used to seeing Mandalorians on his side. But he recovered. "Well? What do you want?"

"I need to send a message to General Tharr."

"The general is not here."

I sighed. Obviously, if I wanted to send a message, the man was not here. "Are you in contact with him?"

"No, although I don't know why I am telling you," came Regall's response. I was getting annoyed.

"Fine, then. I'll see you in a matter of days." Then I turned and headed back for my V-wing. Yes, the man was a complete di'kut. General Tharr should have stayed where he was. It would have made things much less complicated.

I climbed into my V-wing and headed for Chaos Squad's coordinates. I reached them just as it was getting dark.

They stood as I approached. RC-1301, also known as Chief, saluted. I waved off his salute. "No need for formalities. I'm only here to help you take out the cannons, not to take command." I took off my helmet and surveyed the camp.

The four commandos had created a small wall with rocks and and dried logs. Their packs were sitting around in the small wall, for easy access. And then there was the four commandos. One had set up a stand for a sniper rifle, where he was currently standing. Another stood by a boulder, with his sniper rifle relaxed on his shoulder. The other two commandos were by a small table, where food and maps were spread out.

Two of the commandos seemed suprised that I was a clone. A lot of people were like that. Kal had told me to keep that knowledge hidden, and so I did, most of the time. But my brothers certainly had a right to know.

I stepped over the wall and walked up to Chief. "What's the situation?"

Chief turned to the map. "They have fifty battle droids guarding the AA cannons, plus the gunners. Nothing extremely hard. The problem is that they're getting reinforcments and air support in two days. That means we have to hit them tomorrow night."

"Okay. We'll need to get moving so we can get in position by tomorrow afternoon. I'd say we need to leave at oh-two hundred hours at the latest."

"That's what I had figured, too."

I nodded. Then I moved off to relieve the sniper by the boulder. He would need the sleep.

"Go ahead and get some sleep for tomorrow night," I said.

The commando nodded. "Vor'e. I'm Bandit, by the way."