Mark Stise Videos

A Sleepless Night

Mark Stise

Prologue:

Lieutenant Sands walked down the busy corridors of the Resolute. The young platoon officer had a lot on his mind. Accompanying him was his platoon sergeant Pounder and his batch bothers Handel and Repell. Sands had hoped with the 501^st getting ready for shore leave that Captain Rex would be in a seemingly better mood.

Sands wasn’t quite sure what to say, this certainly wasn’t a position he wanted to be in. Perhaps with the appearance of Repell, Rex’s own aide, his battalion commander might consider seeing reason.

Pouder was quiet as he walked just to the right and slightly behind his boss. The lieutenant was a good officer and fair. Still, after the failed attempt he had with ARC Lieutenant Fives there seemed little recourse left to them but to confront Rex personally. It’s wasn’t just the four of them here that were worried, but every clone in Timber Wolf Company. He had hoped that with Captain War Dog's record on the battle field Rex would show some compassion and rescind his order. Pounder wanted desperately to ask Lieutenant Sands if he thought everything was going to be fine after their talk with Captain Rex, but he knew that was wishful thinking. They would know soon enough once they had seen their battalion CO.

As the small group approached Rex’s office door, the Trooper on guard duty stiffened to attention and leveled his rife in salute. “Lieutenant Sands sir!” He sounded off proudly. Timber Wolves were well known aboard ship and the pride of the battalion.

Sands smiled slightly and steadied his nerves. “We would like to see the old man, Bolt.” It was common for soldiers to refer to commanders as 'the old man'. It was a form of respect to show they knew more and had far more experience. Such a term was never said to their faces only between other clones of lower rank. Some officers didn’t mind the slang term, some, like Captain Gunther, definitely did.

Bolt turned his head from his position of attention. He knew Rex’s aide Repell of course but four Timber wolves asking to see the ship’s senior clone? “Umm… All of you sir?” The Trooper couldn’t help but ask the question.

“Is that a problem, trooper!? Sands snapped at the soldier’s breach of military protocol.

Bolt stiffened to attention and readjusted his eyes forward where they belonged. “ NO SIR!” he sounded off sharply, knowing that in questioning the request he would be lucky if Lieutenant Sands didn’t put him on report. “NO PROBLEM” He then knocked three times sharply on Rex’s office door.

“Come,” came the deep commanding voice from inside the office.

The clone had stuck his head inside the door. “Sir, Lieutenant Sands and three Timberwolves are requesting to see you.”

Rex had been alerted from his friend Fives that Pounder, Repell a Timber Wolf officer and another Trooper had contacted him in regards to speaking to their senior. Rex was surprised that Sands was that officer. Show them in, Bolt.”

“Copy that sir!” The sentry replied back.

He watched as his soldiers walked into his office, snapped to attention and saluted him. Rex returned the salute. “Stand easy. What can I do for you and your men, Lieutenant?” Rex asked calmly, he already knew what was on his mind.

“Thank you, sir.” Sands said, being as polite as possible. “With respect, sir.” The young officer was clearly nervous and with good reason, he was about to ask his battalion CO to change his mind. "We respectfully would like to request you allow the Timberwolves to join our CO.” Sands could not quite believe he had just asked the question. Rex gave him a hard stare.

Pounder was watching platoon lieutenant on the edge of epically failing, but there was far to much at stake for him to stay quiet. The clone felt he had to do something and said the first thing that was on everybody 's mind. “ Sir, you can't let the old man fight Sev alone, he won’t last long against a Commando, especially one like that!”

Lieutenant Sands snapped at Pounder, he could see the glare on Rex’s face his battalion CO showed his displeasure. “Sergeant!” He had to find a way to regain control of the situation. “I’m sorry sir, the men are just concerned, they know that... I mean...” Great, now he was stammering on his words all over again.

“Request denied.” Rex snapped back and Sands instantly stopped stumbling over his words.

But he felt he had no choice and mustered the strength to defy his own battalion commander. “Sir, please reconsider... our C.O. deserves far better then this.”

Rex snarled and curled his lip at his junior officer’s defiance. “Lieutenant, I will NOT be questioned. If I see so much as one Timberwolf within three decks of the drill hall, they AND you will be up on charges so quickly your head will spin! AM I CLEAR?”

Sands immediately came back to the position of attention and sounded off sharply. “SIR, YES SIR!” He had more than overstepped his bounds. But if he thought that was the end of the matter, he was far from correct. From out of nowhere, Repell interrupted.

“Captain Rex,” the Trooper pleaded. “At least allow Corporal Black and Two to join in on this bout. Sir, there is no one Captain War Dog respects more then you, we know the two of you go back to Umbara.”

Rex glared at the group. Fives was right... War Dog had the resepct of the troopers under his command but they were clearly also picking up some of his bad habits as well. “THIS IS NOT A DEBATE! One more word out of turn and you and the entire company will be confined to quarters for the duration! HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?!” Rex was pissed. The next three word out of his troopers mouths had better be ' Sir Yes Sir'. And as expected the four clones snapped to attention, each stomped their left foot and sounded off in unison. Rex fought to hold his temper. “Now… dismissed.” He waited as the group left his office before sitting back down.

Pounder looked around when in the corridor outside of Rex’s office “That went well,” he said in a sarcastic tone.”

“Now what do we do?” Repell couldn’t believe Rex would be so unreasonable. Did he actually want Captain War Dog to get annihilated by a member of Delta Squad? And very possibly the hardest opponent he had ever faced. Sev was known for being unbeatable. A commando at the peak of physical prowess, his fighting skills were second to none. Added to that, he enjoyed the adrenaline rush of combat.

“Nothing, you heard Rex! We have our orders!” Lieutenant Sands snapped. After what they just did, he began to wonder if Rex would bring up formal charges of insubordination against them.

“But Lieutenant, what do we do, just sit around and wait for the aftermath?” Handel hated to state the obvious but his batch brother Pounder was right. Captain War Dog wouldn’t last long against any Republic Commando, even with his ARC training. Sev was going to win; it wasn’t a matter of if as much as it was when and by how large a margin. And their company CO wasn’t the type of clone to stay down.

Sands closed his eyes in despair. He remembered the Timberwolf Company motto: 'POWERFUL AS LONE WOLVES, UNSTOPPABLE AS A PACK'. But this time their pack leader was taking on the clone version of a Rankor and he was ordered to do so alone. “We don't do anything, we follow our orders. Like it or not, we're soldiers not civilians!”

The clones accepted their leader’s fate; all attempts at stopping this from happening had failed. Like it or not, unless their company commander had some trick up his sleeve, this was going to be a blood bath for Captain War Dog.