Vulture droid fighters flew in formation across the sky, swooping down to strafe every suspicious target that might appear on the ground.
Firefighting ships had already arrived, spraying large amounts of inert foam and coolant onto the billowing smoke-covered rail freight cars.
The droid rescue teams had charged into the scene through flames that had yet to be extinguished, trying to salvage any supplies that could still be saved. But the effort was clearly futile. In a violent ammunition cook-off, more than a dozen droids were blasted to pieces. After that, they gave up entirely and focused solely on putting out the fire.
But the instigators of it all—Clone Battalion 99—had long since withdrawn amid the chaos. They vanished into the dense primeval jungle, once again evading the defending forces' search.
The pristine terrain on Kato-Neimoidia, untouched by industrialization, was one of the planet's main attractions for recuperation and holidays. Now, it had become the best cover for special operations soldiers.
"They suspect there's a traitor inside, which is why the whereabouts of this shipment were leaked." Tech continued searching the Trade Federation's military command communications channels for useful information. "But I estimate they'll soon figure out their communications are being monitored."
"To be honest, I'm already surprised it took them until they lost seven shipments to realize that." Ye Zi shrugged.
"We should still be grateful for this gear." Beard patted the jetpack on his back. "These are all experimental models, given to us for priority use. Hahaha!"
"Equipment is certainly an important factor, but you should understand that much of what the Imperial Military Research Institute is studying now is actually imitating the Duchy of Dawn." Rainbow spoke gravely. "Take my optical camouflage combat suit, for example. They say it was modeled after a mysterious special forces unit