Oh, my sins are grave. Mentoring is a difficult thing. It was easier for teachers in schools. Or was it? Has quality been replaced by quantity?
Using telekinesis, I put the blades in my bag. It was time to think about more pressing matters.
As soon as we arrive on Donovia, we'll need to set up a proper headquarters and reorganize the troops a little. After all, I have fourteen and a half regiments of clones under my command. That'salmost a corps, and commanding each regimentseparately is quite a task. Although we're not quite up to a corps — we're one and a half regimentsshort of four full legions. I think that, with the help of droids, which can be distributed among the legions, we will be able to bring the total number up to full strength. Yes, it's a substitute, temporary, but necessary.
Appoint legion commanders... although no — I don't like the word legion. After all, I consider all regiments to be part of the Thirteenth Legion. I think the equivalent of the word legion is brigade. Exactly. So appoint four senior commanders from among the commanders of the regiments I had at the very beginning. Commander Blam from the first regiment — appoint him marshal commander, the "head" of the corps and mydeputy.
As for the staff... I'll definitely take Li Noriega with me. I'll dump all the paperwork on her, along with operational planning and communications with the fleet. She's smart; it's good for her to use her brain — especially with her IQ. And that communications genius — Mirro, I think. I remember too many situations from the cartoon series when the Jedi simply had no communication... I'll provide the midshipman with "toys" and let him do as he pleases, but he'll provide communication. Take a couple of specialists from among the clones as consultants: a pilot, an infantryman, a tanker, a technician. They are practical and will suggest solutions in their areas of expertise. Otherwise, running around with a couple of droids is not veryrespectable. It's fine for the base, but on Coruscant, for example, it's better not to shock the public. And security, of course — a company of clones, then those guys with vibroblades, and a couple of RC clones. For reliability.
In short, there's a lot to do. Oh-ho-ho. Who has it easy these days...
***
Upon entering Donovia's orbit, we contacted the base. They opened a corridor for us, a couple of fighters joined as escort, and then the Isaribi landed at our base. Not far away, four Gozanti stood frozen in a straight line. The rest of the ships were in space. So — everything was in order.
Immediately after landing, Ahsoka and I headed to headquarters. All the "bosses" and commanders had gathered there. The clones silently saluted.
"Glad to see you in good health, General," Commander Blam nodded, glancing at myprosthesis.
"At ease. How's the situation?"
Blam waved his hand toward the tactical table. We walked over to it. The clone began his report.
"Over the past five days, the CIS has resumed its attacks on Donovia. Six ships participated in the last one. According to priority, all ships providedcover for the orbital factory, which allowed clankers to land a small landing force. At this point, it has been completely destroyed. A list of our losses is attached. Twelve regiments are involved in defending the base, while the rest are on ships as a counter-boarding party. Four hours ago, a single Belbullab-24 strike bomber was spotted. We have recorded the use of scanning equipment."
"Reconnaissance? That means something big is coming... I'm lucky to be here. Okay. I order you to send a request to Sector Headquarters. Contact Commander Rinaun — he is responsible for our area. The ships are to continue defending the factory. Prepare the base for defense."
"All units are on full alert. General, what kind of ships are they?"
"An Order mission. Nothing significant."
I inserted the data disc into the slot.
"Gentlemen," I said, looking closely at the clones, "now let's get down to details..."
The meeting dragged on. Ahsoka, bored, wandered off somewhere deep into the base. I outlined my projects to the commanders; they scratched their heads in unison and saluted. Then came the routine of paperwork and otherorganizational matters.
As I was leaving the command post, I ran into our clone engineer, who was rushing toward me. An astromech droid rolled alongside him.
"General, I apologize for being late..."
"Well, if you were delayed, Captain, then the reason must be worthy."
"Yes, sir. There were problems with the communication system that needed to be fixed urgently."
"You're just in time, Captain."
The engineer was about to leave, but then he remembered something important and hurried to speak.
"General, I have news for you — we were able to hack into the combat droid databases of the OOM-series commanders."
"Oh, that's very good indeed."
Finally, I'll be able to figure out this whole mess of droid armies. And I'll be able to set up a combat simulator. In general, the tactical table used by both us and the droids has a kind of strategy function. The whole problem was that while we know the structure and protocols of the Republic Army very well, the CIS is a complete mystery. After all, they have completely different standards and strange ideas about the names of units and equipment. Take the frigate Munificent, for example. How can it be a frigate when it's over eight hundred meters long and has such heavy armament? However, the Separatists didn't give a damn about Republican or even galactic standards.
"Have you prepared the data?"
"Yes, General. A couple of days ago. It's all loaded onto a large tact table with a simulator option."
"Excellent. And—where is he?"
"Ertrisa will show you, General."
Following the droid in the right direction, ten minutes later — what did you expect, the building has more than twenty floors — I reached the right hall, where a luxurious tactical table, five meters in diameter, stood.
Pressing the keys on the keyboard, I began to display the necessary information on the projector. Hm, the oddities began from the very first lines. So, the main combat droid of the CIS is the B-1. However, it is not only the main one but also the most numerous. Okay, the droid's characteristics are known — let's move on to tactics.
The main tactical unit was a squad of eight combat droids. Combat protocols allowed them to operate independently, and the squad did not require a commander. For comparison, a clone squad consists of nine units. Seven squads make up a platoon of fifty-six droids. Companies consist of two platoons, with a total of 112 combat droids, plus support from other droids, mainly repair droids. Transportation is provided by either heavy MTTs or light PACs. Control was carried out by droid sergeants, who were usually located in one of the AATs, less often in the MTTs. A battalion consists of seven hundred and eighty-four combat droids, plus support droids, distributed among seven companies, with the support of seven MTTs, plus a company of twenty-four AAT Armored Assault Tank.
No — it's not like with humans. For some reason I immediately remembered Harry Potter with it seventeen sickles and twenty-nine knuts. Same nonsense.