Saga Call of Honor: Arctic Peril - CW era fan fic (action, drama, intrigue)

Title: Call of Honor: Arctic Peril
Author: TheAdmiral
Time-frame: Clone Wars era; a month before the Obsession series of comics
Genre: an attempt for war thriller, action, drama
Characters: Ki-Adi Mundi, A-17 "Alpha", Etain Tur-Mukan, N-11 "Ordo", Omega Squad, Adrias Stark, General Sheerah and other
Disclaimer: cannon characters and stuff are property of Lucasfilm LTD., there are several non-cannon characters and places some of their names bare reference to other media
Summary: An important planet but neutral planet at the edge of the Mid-Rim seceded to the CIS giving its advanced and developed industry to the Confederacy. So the task of retaking it was given to Jedi Master Ki-Adi Mundi who was successful at this endeavor but there is a dark and sinister secret that makes the success questionable.
Note: I want to thank my dearest friends Corellian_Outrider (who is my Beta) and pashatemur who helped me to edit this attempt. This is my first time writing a fan fiction so I hope you like it. I want to apologize beforehand if my English is not understandable as it is not my native language and is very different from mine and I tend to translate some of our expressions in English...ah and another thing...due to some University assignments I can't promise to make update at regular basis, but will try to do my best...

Enjoy...


Location: Xinaghar, Mid-Rim

Third year of the Clone Wars

Galactic Marines HQ – capitol city Zimia

0600 hours

Master Mundi opened his eyes; he had been meditating for the last few hours. It was early in the morning on Xinaghar, a cold winter dawn. The Cerean Master stood up to stretch his legs. The heating system was not entirely functional so the room’s temperature was low. He needed to awake his body, a new day had begun. Ki-Adi slowly moved towards the window to watch the sunrise – his eyes moved across the courtyard of the base and the landing pads where some of the old V-19 Torrents were stationed along with the newer V-wings and ARC-170s. From up there in the HQ building he could see that frost was beginning to form on the hulls of the ships – most of them haven’t seen action for several days… Then his gaze swept across to the capitol city – it was a large metropolis – with skyscrapers towering in the central – corporate neighborhood. The scars of the recent battle were visible, but the citizens proved resilient and were recovering. The damage was not that bad – most capitols were lying in ruins. This time the Republic was lucky.

The orange hue of the rising sun appeared on the sky and colored the few clouds hanging over Zimia. It seemed that the day would be clear, though, probably snow would fall later. The senior Master Jedi warmed at the magnificent sight of the clear, rosy dawn over the stalwart cityscape - so peaceful. It was a change after the weeks of blizzards and dark days. Maybe he was wrong about the bad feeling that he had been having for several days…maybe the Republic actually won with fewer meaningless deaths…just maybe.

Ki-Adi opened the window to get some fresh air; he then placed his arms on the ledge of the window deeply inhaling the cold air. White puffs appeared when he exhaled and he felt condensation freezing on his mustache. The courtyard was noisy; Clones were running around busily working on setting the base up completely. Some of them were still in their old cold-weather armor – the older ones – the veterans…the new ones were with their crimson armors of the Galactic Marines… He often wondered what drove these men and whether the Jedi right to lead this army of militarily “fitted” bio-engineered beings…

Master Mundi shook his head; the moment was not right for such thoughts. They would surely undermine his resolve. The victory was not complete, there were still droid forces on the planet, the fight for Xinaghar was not entirely over. The planet was important to the Republic for its resources, highly developed industry and its closeness to the Outer Rim – thus making it a perfect planet upon which to locate a supply depot for the war effort in the Rim - the very same reason the CIS was fighting so hard to gain it.

As the sun was rising higher, the faint winter light was reflected by the snow and ice. Ki-Adi looked at the chrono on the far side of the wall – it was time, the session was about to begin, so he closed the window and moved towards the holoprojector. As he sat on a chair a 3D image of the Council Chamber appeared, all Masters were present – some (like him) via a hologram – the rest in person. Sadness crept into his heart like a window had been suddenly let open. Since the beginning of the war, the regular sessions had been held mainly to discuss tactics and warfare, not for philosophy and the contemplative and ethical light the Jedi might lend to the Galaxy. He missed all that, but times had changed, all were now called to protect everything they held dear.

Once again the bad feeling came again, while Ki-Adi tried to listen to Master Plo Koon’s debriefing of the mission upon which he had been sent. He would usually listen attentively to what his colleagues said – after all the Council was a collective mind, but there was something that bothered him – something malicious at the edge of the system…

“And what is the situation on Xinaghar, Master Mundi?” the voice of Mace Windu took him out of his thoughts.

The Cerean was aware that all eyes were fixed on him. They were waiting for him to reassure them that everything was under control and the Republic would soon be able to count on the planet’s production capabilities…Still…there was something wrong.

Ki-Adi cleared his throat for his report.

“We’ve managed to repel the CIS forces from the capitol and the major spaceport city of the planet. The rest of the droid forces managed to slow our further advance, but we’ll be able to take control of Xinaghar in the following month. Luckily, most of the supply warehouses were captured intact and with most of the resources still there. A large number of factories are still capable of renewing their production, but only a few will soon be ready to accommodate the technology to supply the war effort and most of the workers are still frightened, so it will take us a while to start producing anything. Unfortunately within their ranks there are a lot of CIS sympathizers and who had to be detained before they could sabotage the remaining undamaged foundries… A large part of the commercial spaceports were damaged severely and will not be able to handle the needs, trading vessels will have to land at the spaceport city of Kosmo, which is far from the main factories and the capitol, so merchants will have to use the maglev trains or the hover trucks…”

He paused for a second to take a breath.

“…As for the remaining CIS forces, they are badly organized and inefficient, unless such behavior is deliberate. We have air superiority though, which is the reason most of the spaceports were targeted and damaged. And finally, we have detained the pro-Separatist officials, along with some citizens of CIS controlled planets and CIS sympathizers.”

Ki-Ai disliked this aspect of the war, when civilians were caught in between. The problem for the Republic with Xinaghar was that it had remained neutral during most part of the war. It was near the Outer Rim and rich in resources and had a highly developed industry. That’s why it became an excellent objective for both sides. But the Separatists got lucky, a pro-Confederacy government was elected and soon afterwards droid forces started to arrive. The Galactic Marines arrived just as they started producing battle droids and were about to embark on further advances in the Mid-Rim.

“The news is good, Master Mundi, we will be sending forces to relieve you so that you and your men may proceed with your further assignments.”

The Cerean Master nodded, Xinaghar was a staging ground for further assault on the Outer Rim. He was about to express his concerns about a possible CIS counter-attack when the image started flickering and then disappeared. The Jedi frowned. This was unusual, he tried to connect once again…it seemed the long range communication was down. Something was amiss; he could sense malevolence and death! He quickly tried to call Captain Wolf on-board “Illustrious” – his VenSD flagship. A flickering image of the ship’s bridge appeared, then a Clone’s face appeared, the man seemed worried, in the background Ki-Adi could see red lights and crew running around.

“What is going on, Captain?”

“We’re being…” *static* “…by multiple hostiles…” *static* “…jamming…communications…” there was more static and the connection was severed.

They were attacked! The Jedi was sure that something was wrong and the CIS proved him right. Just as he realized that a massive explosion could be heard coming from the city. The shockwave hit the HQ, some windows were shattered. This was followed by the wails of the air-raid sirens…

The Jedi Master ran outside to see what was happening. A thick cloud of black smoke was coming from the area where the planetary shield generator was stationed. From where he was standing he could clearly see that some of the buildings in the vicinity were shattered and burning. Clones were running around the base, the engineers tried to “defreeze” the fighters for immediate take off. Commander Bacara ran towards him.

“General, Confederate commando droids and Mandalorian mercs infiltrated our base and blew up the shield generator. We have them pinned down… Our scanners indicate that our fleet in orbit is being destroyed, and our communications jammed. We’re trying to track the escape pods…”

The Commander’s report was cut by the familiar sound of incoming fighters. The tiny dots in the sky soon became Hyena bombers and Vulture fighters. Ki-Adi’s eyes were wide as he saw the incoming missiles. Some of them struck the Republic fighters that tried to take off. Twisted metal pieces rained all around, they had caught them off-guard. The Surface-to-Air-Missiles stationed around the city returned the favor to the enemy crafts.

A Vulture was struck by flak fire sending it spinning and crashing in a building. The Separatists were exploiting their weakness – the civilians. He could feel the anger boiling from the Republic soldiers. Several V-19s managed to take off and started chasing a group of Hyenas that were bombing a defensive position. It was clear that they were trying to deny them the air superiority and the defenses against further attacks…

Ki-Adi was still there on the courtyard, standing among burning debris, he could smell the burning fuel on the ground… Medics ran around to tend to the wounded and take the dead away… Then just as they arrived, the surviving CIS craft disappeared…

“Aye, and so this will be the real battle for Xinaghar…” Ki-Adi murmured to himself.

He hoped that the Council understood what had happened and were sending reinforcements…An important planet was at stake…

The droids would land soon…

“Commander!”

“Yes, sir?”

“Contact the perimeter guards and tell them to be ready. Also I want a Sitrep ASAP!” yelled the Jedi in his Cerean brogue as the roar of battle grew louder.

Bacara saluted and ran to comply with the orders…


Location: Xinaghar, Zimia

Several hours before the attack

On one of the few remaining fairly undamaged landing pads of the spaceport of Zimia an YT-1760 freighter – “Righteous” - was stationed. It was 3 hours past midnight and the snowfall had ended for some time now, so there was a thin layer of the cold white fluff on the craft’s hull. The crew had a special permission to land there as they were not the regular folks but Republic agents under cover.

In the middle of one of the rooms a half-naked tall and muscular figure was standing in front of a large mirror. The man was wearing only his black pants and military boots; on his right arm was a glove-like device covering the “area” from his finger to half-way to the elbow. The man folded his fingers in a fist then quickly struck the air - from the device a 50 cm blade appeared. Then struck several more times - just to be sure that the mechanism was working perfectly. The man was called Adrias Stark – a former Jedi Knight, now a Republic agent and bounty hunter.

He had been a part of the Order until his Padawan – Maya killed during a mission by a slaver. She had been one of the few being that could look at his deep scars on the left side of his face and his blind eye… Most beings winced and tried to avoid looking directly at his face but May was different, she was more than just a student… Stark stifled a cry, at first he was enraged by the Council’s inaction and their lack of initiative to root out evil and injustice from the face of the Galaxy. So he just left to become an emotionless vigilante, accepting only jobs that involved criminals, corrupt politicians, warlords…beings who brought pain and misery to the innocents. He had been approached several times by members of the Order to convince him to turn away from that path, warning him that he’ll only become the same as his targets – evil and ruthless.

For the past 7 years he had been asking himself this same question – is he now a bad man. When striking at his targets Adrias didn’t usually feel anything, he didn’t even hate them; they were just disease that has to be cured. It was too late to return back to the Temple…until the Clone Wars, he came back to work for the Republic and for the Order. He acted as a spy as he had access to some of the CIS controlled planets posing as a bounty hunter and was able to assassinate some high ranking Confederate officials. For the duration of the war his cover remained untouched and no-one really found out that he really is a Republic Intel and BlackOps operative. So now he can travel around the Galaxy unperturbed…

Stark shook his head, the moment was not right for memories, he had a job to do, someone wanted a high ranking Xinaghari official dead and a mysterious person had hired him to do the dark deed. Adrias usually had a habit to interrogate the targets about their crimes when he didn’t have enough information about them… He called it the “confession”… This order was confusing, the target General Valentinian is a respected man and a stark supporter of the Republic – he had miraculously survived the CIS occupation while leading the local resistance. The General is considered to be the next candidate for a leader of the planet. This bothered Adrias; there was something wrong happening on Xinaghar. An investigation was needed before he could inform Master Mundi…

So he started putting on his light gray long sleeved hooded shirt with a sleeveless dark brown leather wrapping, leather calf braces, leather wrap arm bracers and a white sleeveless surcoat – a complete Jedi Adventure Robe. It was rarely worn by Jedi so no-one recognized him as one. His shoulder-long brown hair was covered by the white hood. The Jedi then left his room, while walking through the corridor he passed a cabin – Nyll’s – the red-skinned Twi’Lek slave girl he had saved some years ago. Adrias half-opened the door and watched her sleep for several moments – she seemed to have finally found peace and looked so innocently, the scars of the atrocities that were done to her were healing…

Adrias turned his head to the far end of the corridor, there the large brown-furred Togorian – Thorn was waiting for him. The Jedi closed the door to Nyll’s room and moved towards his co-pilot. They didn’t have to talk, they both knew what to do, and after all they have been in this “business” for some time… So Adrias only nodded to the Togorian and went down the ramp to the cold city…


An hour later, around 0400 am

General Valentinian’s apartment

General Valentinian woke up suddenly by a presence inside the room. He quickly grabbed the blaster pistol and pointed it towards the chair where a shadow was sitting. The General was trying to get up, but his body was still half-asleep so he felt as if moving in slow-motion.

“Who are you?” he asked with his voice hoarse.

“No need for rash things, General…” the shadow replied with a husky voice.

Suddenly his pistol flew from his hand landed somewhere in the room. So the man was a Force-user…he must be one of Dooku’s minions!

“Do what you have to do to me, Confederate scum, and tell that slime – the Prime Minister that I am not going to approve of his secret dealings with the CIS! No matter how many threats and bribes he offers!”

The very same day the General learned about the Prime Minister’s secret dealings with Count Dooku about betraying the Republic and providing means to re-conquer Xinaghar and put it to a good use for the Separatist cause. Suddenly the shadow stood up and the night lamp on the cupboard switched on. This was odd, but he didn’t care, the General was going to die with dignity! The shadow’s left part of the face was covered by a white hood; Valentinian could see a brown circle beard, a striking grey eye and strands of long graying brown hair. The left part was concealed in shadow…
“I am no CIS assassin, but I won’t reveal my identity, do you have information to prove what you said to me about the Prime Minister’s treachery?”

The General narrowed his eyes, but thought he couldn’t lose anything and was sure that the man was probing his mind with the Force so there was no use in lying.

“Yes, I have copied some of the documents for the deal…”

The man grunted.

“This will not suffice, you cannot prove anything, I will make sure you will survive to find a solid proof for this. But I want you to forget about this meeting and to hire better bodyguards. I will be around to stop further attempts on your life…”

Before the General could speak, he felt extremely exhausted so he fell back on his bed sound asleep…


0615 hours the same morning

Somewhere in Zimia

A black and white clad figure was crouching on the snow-covered rooftop of one of the skyscrapers watching the sunrise. Adrias tried to ignore the destruction done to the city, his gaze passed on several SAM sites, AA and flak guns scattered around the neighborhood. He was sure there were more - the GAR was doing its best to protect the Republic’s citizens. For the past couple of hours he was covering his tracks and at last came to a secluded place to reflect on what he had learned… Suddenly he could feel a powerful tremor in the Force, something disastrous was going to happen.

The former-Jedi tried to shake it off so that he could proceeding with the troubling information the General had given him. The conspiracy was on a deeper level than he had imagined. He was almost sure that the Prime Minister had hired him to assassinate the popular but troublesome General.

The next events completely took him away from his thoughts… There was a large explosion from the side of the shield generator. Adrias almost fell on his back by the shockwave that shattered most of the windows of the buildings throughout the city. It was then followed by the familiar sounds of CIS fighters. Hyenas and Vultures were coming down in a strafing run towards the city. From his high point he could see civilians trying to run to the nearest shelter, some Clones activating the AA guns and flaks and other trying to load the SAM sites. Blue and crimson bolts started to fill the sky, some managed to strike several fighters before they could deliver their payload…

Explosions were coming from the GAR base, as some Republic fighters tried to take off, most of them were destroyed. Pieces of debris were raining from the sky, twisted metal hulls crashed in the building incinerating everything. The airspace was filled with the smoke of the missile trails. Adrias watched as three Vultures landed on the roof of three separate buildings destroying a SAM site. He suddenly realized that they were taking vantage point to deal a deadly blow to the Republic fighters and the Clones couldn’t react properly as they were supposed not to do much collateral damage. Luckily for Adrias the droids hadn’t noticed him as his robes were white and the roofs were covered in snow.

The former-Jedi stepped on the ledge of the roof of the skyscraper, his robes fanning by the wind. He reached to his back and drew his lightsaber that he had taken it just in case he would need it. His lips extended to form a grin - “Finally some real action”.

The first Vulture was standing on the roof of a smaller building, several floors lower than the one he was standing on. So Adrias made a leap of faith towards the droid. In mid-air he activated the silver-colored saber. The former-Jedi used the Force to soften his landing on the automaton’s body and before its processor could adapt to the change of the situation he managed to cut off its head. Then – before the body fell with a clank on the roof he just swiftly jumped off. He then turned seeking his next target - the second droid on top of the next building was turning around to fire at him. Adrias deflected several bolts but they missed the fighter and struck the wall of the building spraying duracrete to the street below. The former-Jedi found rolled as several more blasts struck the place he was standing a moment before. At last he managed to find cover behind the duracrete box that was the exit for the roof. He extended his Force-sight abilities to see where his target was and quickly used the Force to hurl the remains of the first droid. The other Vulture was not quick enough so was smashed by the headless body of its comrade.

Adrias then appeared from his cover as he sensed that the door was opening and a squad of clones appeared. Two of them were carrying portable missile launchers. He watched them put a rocket in each weapon and then fired at the remaining Vulture. One missile missed and hit the front wall of another building causing an explosion and pieces of glass and masonry to fall. The second one found its target and struck the fighter. Its head and right pair of legs were torn apart so it buckled and fell kicking snow and ice off the roof. Adrias looked up in the sky and saw the CIS fighters retreating. The Clones realized that they were not alone on the roof turned and pointed their weapons at him.

“Don’t worry boys, I’m on your side, see” he flashed his ID card “…I’m from the intelligence…”

It was odd for him to see that some of the troopers were still wearing the old Katarn armor. The Republic was tightening its budget so only the newer generation and the best clones to get the new equipment. The leader of the squad – a lieutenant checked the card to verify that it was not a fake one. After that he saluted.

“I am sorry sir; we didn’t know you were here…”

“No offense taken. What is the situation?”

“The CIS are launching a counter attack and we have lost our defense fleet in the process.”

Adrias nodded, not that the “fleet” was that big, they had lost a lot of ships for the capturing of the planet, so they were left only with 3 VenSDs and 5 Acclamators. Master Mundi was expecting that a relief force to arrive in the coming week…

“And the strange star anomaly started just before the attack…”

On certain points of its rotation cycle the star in the system had some strange flares that messed up the long range communications up. So the Republic forces were facing an adept General now…and they had ignored this natural occurrence…It will be a costly mistake. Adrias took his comlink.

“Thorn, take Righteous, use the fake ID for the CIS and slip away towards Coruscant, use my clearance codes and report everything you see, make recordings if you must, but you have to inform the High Command of what is happening here…”

The problem was that it would take Thorn at least 3 days to reach the capitol then a day or so for them to launch a counter-attack…then 3 more days…He hoped for the Republic forces to endure that long. And there was the treason from the Prime Minister’s office…

The Togorian acknowledged and broke off communications.

“Call a transport - I need to talk with General Mundi…”

The Lt. nodded and went to comply with the orders…


Somewhere outside Xinaghar system

0500 hours – an hour before the attack

On-board Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship “Grandeur”

“Everything ready for the mission, Count Dooku…” came a raspy voice of an albino Togorian. He was a CIS General named Sheerah, a Confederate patriot who fought against the Republic oppressors. The General was giving his final reports in his cabin to the leader of the Separatists – the brilliant Count Dooku. Sheerah had a deep respect for the man as he had opened his eyes to the truth that his abilities were needed to make the Galaxy a better place… The Togorian ignored the fact that he had to work with large corporations who also oppressed beings…he merely viewed them as useful tools and when the Republic collapses it will be time for retribution…

“Good, there should be no room for failure, General. I have high hopes in your abilities.” replied the Count before his three-dimensional image disappeared.

His heart was pounding.

“There will be none…” he whispered to the empty space.

Sheerah had been a competent and good tribe leader on his homeworld of Togoria before Count Dooku discovered his abilities and expanded them further. So he became a sharp blade for the Confederacy, a blade that cut through the Republic. With his ingenious tactics he managed to take control of numerous planets but still was overshadowed by Grievous. Not that he hated the cyborg but his colleagues had been making some bad choices and regretted the results… and the foolish obsession for trinkets such as lightsaber trophies… Sheerah chased away the thought; this was a distraction…a stupid one. He needed to focus on the objective; Sheerah was sure that after this conflict is over the history will remember his name as the liberator of the oppressed ones! The day of reckoning was near…the corrupt slavers of Coruscant will pay the ultimate price.

Sheerah stood up and growled silently and moved outside his cabin…He had an assault to lead after all…

When he entered the bridge of the ship he was greeted by the Quarren captain N’erot and a tactical droid at his right. The captain was an able leader and relatively good tactician but an inspired and dedicated patriot like him was the first to speak.

“The fleet is ready to jump at your mark, General!”

The “fleet” was not that impressive, consisting of: 4 Lucrehulk-class battleships, 1 Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship, 8 Munificent-class star frigates and 6 Recusant-class light destroyers. They were enough to retake the system…but he hoped that there will be reinforcements to hold it when the Republic finally counter-attacks. The whole operation depended on surprise and the exploitation of the odd natural event – the solar flares that will disrupt communications for several hours. So he needed to capture at least one Republic ship with Droid Commandos to delay the Republic to find out what actually was going on. The CIS also depended on the traitor Prime Minister, such people made Sheerah wary because if he is ready to cross someone once, he’ll be able to do so twice… But that was another problem…

The Togorian nodded, a feral smile appeared on his lips making him look even more ominous. He turned to face the tactical droid.

“What about our teams on the ground?”

“They reported that they are ready to commence with the operation at the set time.” came the reply with the synthesized voice.

“Good, set the timers, we hive a tight schedule to follow…”

The captain and the droid saluted and moved away. Sheerah was sure of his success; he was one of the few CIS Generals who employed the friends of his race – the Mandalorians. Thanks to the Prime Minister they were able to smuggle the droid commandos and the Mando’a teams on the ground. They were to knock out the planetary shield generator. Sheerah as every Togorian deeply respected the Mandos so he hoped that they won’t let him down this time.

The General was anxious for the oncoming battle…

Then the fleet just winked out towards their target…Xinaghar…

 

Excellent work!

Its great to finally see it posted. Looking forward to how the tale turns out.

 

Thanks! Well expect the next part soon...(at least hope so to be soon...)

 

Let's see what happens next, TA! Good work!


P.

 

Am loving it so far Admiral, good descriptive work.

 

Part 2

“…the pieces are moving…”
Xinaghar system, 0600 hours moments prior the attack

VenSD “Illustrious” in orbit of Xinaghar

Captain Wolf was sipping his cup of caf in front of the central viewport of the bridge and marveled the panoramic view of the vast emptiness of space. It was an empty, cold and lonely place. His gaze then shifted to the battered defense fleet stationed temporarily until reinforcements come and relieve them of the duty. They had suffered greatly due to the previous Commander’s foolishness, so Wolf was now acting as a CO as the non-clone one was killed during the attack. “Good riddance…” thought the Captain – after all the man was a fool and his mistakes cost a lot of lives of good men.

Wolf hoped that the CIS won’t counter-attack soon and catch them off-guard. The ships were holding together on spit and good faith. “Concentration, concentration…” he murmured to himself and turned to check the chrono on the far side of the bridge. There were 30 more minutes until the odd flares of the system’s star begin. This unexplained natural occurrence made all long-range communications and scanners go crazy. So for the duration of about an hour they will be blind and deaf to the outside systems. He wondered how the planet survived this long and not being overrun.

The Clone then gazed outside and watched as a couple of the new ARC-170s take off for their regular patrol duty. They were to probe for any enemy scouts in the system.

“Shadow 8, this is Illustrious, good hunting ner’vod. Over! ”

“Copy that, Illustrious, Shadow 8 out.”

The war was taking its toll on his men - the friendly banter was almost gone. The enthusiasm was slowly dying as the ner’vods saw no end to this conflict. They were tiring with an increasing speed. Soon there won’t be any soldier that could continue the bloody war. His anger started boiling again. “Probably it is true…the gossips…we’re indeed a slave army to the Jedi and to the Republic…” he thought and this made things worse. Luckily a distraction came from the comms officer.

“ Sir! Defender’s captain wishes to speak with you, he says, that it is urgent!”

“Patch him through…”

“Defender” was one of the remaining 5 Acclamators, it was staged at the edge of the system at the direction of the Confederate controlled territory. They were to scan for any incoming threats and slow them down until they could react and stop the invasion.

“Captain Wolf, our scanners have picked something odd, there are multiple large objects incoming from Hyperspace…*static*…FIERFEK! ...*static*…under attack…*static*…hostiles…*static*…AAARGH…”

Then communication broke off.

“Sir, it seems we’re being jammed… Our scanners indicate that there is an enemy battle-group at Defender’s position. Also there is a large enemy activity on the planet, there are multiple aerial targets moving towards the major cities including the capitol. From our best estimates they are fighters and bombers.”

“Blast!” Wolf thought, suddenly everything went wrong. This was a worst-nightmare scenario. He didn’t have enough resources at his disposal to deal with every threat, so he decided to leave the aerial battle to the Anti-Air corps and the ground stationed fighters. The Clone decided to concentrate on the bigger threat – the enemy fleet.

Wolf activated the loudspeaker and connected to the rest of the defendant fleet.

“General quarters! All hands, all hands! Man your battle-stations! This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill!”

Suddenly all lights turned red, they were re-routing the non-essential power resources to the more crucial ones until the battle is over…or the ship destroyed. The comms officer turned again.

“Sir, General Mundi managed to break through to us…”

“Good, bring him on the screen!”

*******

Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship “Grandeur”

Xinaghar system 0615 hours

“Finally, our target!” - murmured Sheerah when they winked out of hyperspace. It was a relatively large attack force. The intel provided by the Prime Minister’s minions proved to be correct as they arrived at the edge of the system where an Acclamator was stationed. “Now to destroy their eyes and ears.” he thought.

“Activate jamming sequence! No communication should pass through the system!”

The five Lucrehulks were carrying powerful jammers, they were sufficient to prevent further long-range and possibly short-range communications. Just as the flares of the star of the system. So he hoped that the Republic would fall for this trap. Sheerah’s forces will have an hour to do their deeds before communications are restored with the outside worlds.

The Togorian was standing in front of the viewport on the bridge and watched as a Recusant-class destroyer and 2 Munificent-class frigates break formation to make their first kill. From the looks of the hull the RAS seemed battered which made things easy for them. The Republic ship launched 3 squadrons of V-19 Torrents. The old fighters were no match for the more modern and faster Tri-fighters. The CIS capitol ships surrounded the Acclamator while exchanged turbolaser fire. It seemed that their enemy could not concentrate on one ship and while encircled had no room to maneuver out of the conflict zone. It was a matter of moments until their shields fail. When this happened explosions on its surface erupted like volcanoes ripping large chunks of durasteel and hurling frozen air and bodies. Their enemy was doomed…

A brilliant flash illuminated the forward view as the Acclamator’s core exploded ripping the hull apart. The flying pieces of debris smashed some of the fighters who were buzzing around. The CIS’s casualties were at a minimum and soon the dogfights around the capitol ships ended with the Tri’s emerging victorious. The reports of the battle came, the Confederate ships suffered minimal structural damage and there were 6 fighters destroyed. As Sheerah finished reading it he turned towards N’erot.

“Good, proceed towards Xinaghar…”

“As you wish, General.” nodded the captain then as the nav-computer finished calculating the path for their micro-jump signaled the fleet to make it towards Xinaghar.

*******

Xinaghar orbit

0620 hours

“Illustrious, this is Shadow 8, we’re picking up some vehicles approaching, definitely not ours. Over.”

“We got ‘em…*static*… return to…*static*… join the rest of your squadron! Over.”

“What the blazes is going on 57?” came the gunner’s voice.

“Dunno, maybe the seppies decided to attack after all.” It was the co-pilot.

“Stop it you two, we have to concentrate!” - The pilot CP-4357 “Shadow 3, this is Shadow 8 we have received orders to return to Illustrious to rejoin the squadron, the Separatists have finally decided to come back. Over.”

“Copy that Shadow 8, we’ve been listening to the chatter, it seems there is trouble on the surface also. Over.”

“Yeah, a bad day it is…” 57 sighed. Just as the two fighters turned towards the VenSD a massive attack force emerged from hyperspace “WHOA!”

They were at the right flank and coming from their sweep around the Xinaghar moon. Their tail was turned towards the enemy as the two fighters were about to make a sharp turn towards the imminent zone. “Tail gunner, do you see them?” the co-pilot seemed concerned, he didn’t have a clear view, as he was in the middle of the fighter.

“Yes, they’ve brought a lot of toys for smashing this time!”

“I guess they are serious about it…”

“It seems so…”

“Quit the chatter you two!” the pilot almost shouted. The scans indicated a large number of fast moving targets incoming…fighters!

“No time to go back! Shadow 3 - lock S-foils in attack position!”

“Copy that!” - came the reply.

Two fighters slowed down and each made a turn towards the enemy ships. The pilot watched as the CIS capitol ships were closing in firing range of the Republic forces and launched a large amount of Vultures, Hyenas and Tri-Fighters towards the smaller in numbers squadrons of the defendants. The battle was already lost…

“Shadow 8 what are you doing!? Return to the squadron immediately!”

“No can do that…sir…”

It was pointless, they won’t survive this, but this didn’t mean that they won’t take a lot of tinnies with them. The pilot grinned under the helmet ignoring the Squadron leader’s orders.

*******

Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship “Grandeur”

Xinaghar orbit; 0620 hours

Suddenly in a close range of the planet a relatively large attack force of CIS capitol ships emerged from hyperspace. They had finally reached their designated target. The Confederates quickly took battle positions: the Lucrehulks took a semi-circle position so that they could prevent the enemy from fleeing the battle. They were supposed to hold this position until everything was ready for stage 2 of the plan. The rest of the battle-group headed forward to neutralize the Acclamators – the CIS needed the Venators intact.

“General, we’re picking up a couple of fighters coming in from our right flank headed our way!” – an OOM-class droid pilot said.

Sheerah growled from annoyance.

“Don’t bother me with such insignificant matters!” - sometimes the battle droids were getting on his nerves. “What’s the situation, captain?” he asked as he turned towards the Quarren.

“It seems that there are only 4 Acclamators and 3 Venators left in the system. The good news is that both types of ships seem battle-damaged.”

Sheerah nodded.

“Good, let’s finish them off… All units engage the enemy forces!”

The Quarren saluted and started giving orders to the droids and to the captains of the other ships linked to the flagship. The usual “Roger, roger…” filled the room as the automatons acknowledged their orders. The fires of anxiety and excitement started burning through his soul – soon…very soon another planet should be liberated…

The CIS ships started pouring fighters towards the defendant’s lines as the capitol ships were approaching their counterparts from the opposite side of the barricade. The board was set…the pieces were moving. Everyone were now in their positions and almost as soon as they were in their place that brilliant flashes of turbolaser fire filled the viewport. A predatory grin appeared on his face thus rendering it even more ominous. It was the tactical droid who took him out from the trance.

“General, Commander Val reported that his fighters and bombers had begun their attack on the targets. He claims that their mission was a success and managed to soften their defenses. The Commander also asks whether to start the land operation.”

Sheerah frowned, Val was an ambitious and foolish man. He took a mental note to execute the Commander as soon as the battle was over. After all a man who so easily betrayed his world…would easily betray the CIS.

“Excellent send him the good-to-go phrase …”

The General didn’t turn to see the Tactical Droid, he didn’t want to miss the spectacle. So he just kept an eye on the reflection of the bridge.

“…commence operation Superiority.”



VenSD “Illustrious”

Xinaghar orbit, 0622 hours

Wolf listened to the comm exchanges between the different fighter groups as the enemy drew near. The CIS forces were superior and surely will gain the upper hand so it was up to him and the rest of the Republic forces to hold them off a while longer and destroy some of them in the process. Wolf had to make a tough decision, the Separatists were going to strike on the surface of the planet and they were going to need ever man to defend the cities. So he turned to an officer who had taken the position of a XO.

“I want every man and transport on the ground from every Venator and Acclamator, we’ll have to leave a skeleton crew. The ground forces will need them more than we do. Also try to ship down supplies.”

The man was grim faced, he had realized that they won’t survive this battle, but duty towards the Republic comes first. Se, the XO, just nodded and turned to comply with the orders given. Every transport craft and escape pods would be launched towards the surface to help their comrades defend the planet. They had a mission after all and it was more important than their lives. The ships were going to be operated by a minimum crew needed so that they could continue the fight.

Wolf doubted that the Acclamators would be able to send her ships as they were closer to the enemy. Anyway some of the transports might be able to pass through… The Trade Federation frigates and Commerce Guild destroyers were in range and started pouring turbolaser fire at the RASs. The fighter wings found and engaged their targets.
“So it began…”

*******

ARC-170

Xinaghar orbit 0625 hours

Shadow 8 and 3 were coming from the right flank of the enemy ships towards the heart of the conflict. 57 watched in horror as the transport ships, launched from the Acclamators, were reduced to scrap by the enemy fighters. The Assault ships were still intact though and giving heavy resistance to the enemy capitol ships.

“OK boys, we’re going in very hot!” exclaimed 57.

The scanners picked up a squadron of Vulture droids racing towards the Republic lines to reinforce the CIS attack on the fleeing transports.The two pilots of the fighters pressed the triggers of their sticks and green flares launched towards the enemy crafts. Two Vultures exploded right away and third was struck at its wing making it lose control and smash into the fourth fighter. Four of the rest eight turned around to meet the new targets.

“Well, we now know that they are aware of our presence” said the co-pilot.

"At least they won't chase the boys in the larties..."

The two Republic fighters continued pouring fire towards their incoming enemies thus forcing them to maneuver more and not to be able to make a shot.

“Shields to double front.” the pilot commanded the astro-mech droid.

Shadow 3 scored another hit as one CIS fighter was struck right in the middle of its hull and exploded.

“Good shot, Shadow 3!”

That left them with only 3 problems. Their enemies passed between them and then made a sharp turn towards the two ARCs. The pilot – 57 hoped that the astro-mech was smart enough to react and put some shields at their rear. The tail gunners did what they could make things harder for the pursuing Vultures. The two fighters made some sharp twists avoiding debris and turbolaser shots both of which became even more frequent as they were going towards the center of the fighting. It was not a long way as the defense line had already shrunk. They were passing by remains of dead clones, destroyed Republic and CIS fighters. The Acclamtors had to cover a large portion of space while coping with the enemy capitol ships.

The Vultures were still right behind them and trying to get on-lock. Then something miraculous happened - the two Shadow squadron fighters were saved by a couple of V-wings.

“Thanks ner’vod!”

“Sure thing…”
Suddenly the fighter shook wildly, they were struck, a portion of the left wing was missing and fuel and sparks was pouring out of it. When he got the ARC under control, 57 checked the systems and saw that some of the panels were fried and there was that smell…of burnt cables? It seems the hit was more serious than he thought; he then ran diagnostics check and drained the fuel out of the left wing, after that he checked the systems again and it seemed that their main laser cannons were offline. So he’ll have to suffice with missiles.

“Um, 57, I think we lost something…”

“Yes, I know, a Tri-Fighter took our left laser cannon. Weapons are offline, tail-gunner, how are your lasers?”

“Fine for now… What are we going to do? Ah… and that beep beep sound is driving me crazy!”

57 grinned as he switched off the alarms then continued with a more serious tone.

“I guess this will be it… We can’t return to Illustrious, I’m thinking of taking out a capitol ship…”

A brilliant flash illuminated the canopy, then the fighter shook again…An Acclamator was destroyed nearby. He wondered what were the Venators doing and why weren’t they attacking. Something caught his attention, a flaming ball of fire was headed their way, it was a destroyed V-19 Torrent and unfortunately Shadow 3 was not fast enough and collided with it. This caused a violent explosion.

“Shab…”

“Yeah, they were good fellas…”

57 saw their target, a Munificent-class frigate whose shields collided under the pressure of a couple of Acclamators. The third remaining was struggling under the attack from 3 Frigates and a Commerce Guild Destroyer and its crew had several more minutes to live. This was a slaughter, only 3 more wings were intact but their numbers were dwindling by the minute.

“Co-pilot, arm the proton torpedoes, I want a quick launch of every piece of ordnance when I give the signal.”

“Copy that…” the man’s voice sounded hoarse, he knew that they were about to die.

The Munificent was growing bigger and bigger, explosions erupted from its hull from the powerful blasts of the Acclamators. One of them “Fiery heart” got struck by several proton torpedoes in the central part just beneath the command tower, the ship was disabled. Then 57 saw them, the Lucrehulks were moving in fast and launching waves of Droch-class boarding ships.

“Whoa!” came the tail gunner

”What is it?”

“Our guys from the Venators vaporized a Recusant!”

Finally, but this was not enough to stop the enemy. They were doomed…The last Acclamator was decimated and the Munificent miraculously survived the onslaught, though badly damaged. Not for long…

They received a coded message to head towards the surface, the battle was lost. This was the final order he defied…Not that it was usual for a Clone to defy an order...but as every human being they had to chose (for the last time) what to do and this was their decision, to take an enemy with them so that it won't kill more of their brothers. The shields were doubled at the front part and 57 avoided blasts coming from the frigate. The ARC shuddered as some of the shots grazed the shields, but it didn’t matter now…

“Target the bridge…”
“Acquiring target…Steady…Steady…TARGET ACQUIRED!”

They were close to the frigate’s bridge.

“TORPEDOES AWAY!”

The six proton torpedoes were launched in a quick sequence, the pilot followed their trails towards their target, and unfortunately a couple of them missed the bridge and struck the ship’s side “wings”. Luckily 4 managed to penetrate the viewports of the ship and exploded inside blowing the command structure from the inside. It was too late to veer away - they were going in fast to a crash course.

“KOTEEE! DARASUUUM KOTEEE!” This was the last cry of the ARCs crew before the fighter hit the frigate’s bridge, followed by a short eruption of fire, molten pieces of durasteel and smashed droid parts.

The Munificent lost control and from the gained momentum it struck the drifting hull of RAS "Fiery heart" and silently exploded in the vacuum of space. One less enemy to think about...

 

Talk about an explosive new entry.

I love how you experience the conflict by 'tracking' the characters through the chaos and also the ramp up of the situation.

Can't wait for part 3.

 

Am loving the explosive action Admiral, keep up the good work!

 

Great action and waiting for more.

Intriguing characters

 

Thanks, hopefully this week will be able to post part 3, so stay tuned for more!

 

This is a picture that my friend Corellian_Outrider did for this part

[image=http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd326/Corellian_Outrider/BattleOverXinaghar.jpg]

And here is a link where you can enjoy his other works http://boards.theforce.net/fan_art/b10020/30313977/p1/?77]The[/url] Art of an Outrider

Part 3

“Band of brothers”

VenSD “Illustrious”

Xinaghar orbit; 0700 hours

The battle was almost over and quite fast. Wolf was watching patiently so that the Venators could take part of this slaughter. He took his time, after all there was not prospect for victory and escaping this alive, that’s why the Star Destroyers didn’t attack the oncoming enemies. They needed some precious moments to start the evacuation of the unnecessary crew to the ground where they could boost a little bit the defenses there. The Clone captain was uneasy, after all he knew that he and his crew won’t be seeing the other day and his orders were questionable to say the least.
It didn’t matter, not anymore… Wolf frowned, he had forgotten about the orbital shipyard, they haven’t checked in for some time now. They will have to survive on their own…somehow.

“Captain, Sergeant Orr made contact from the shipyards! He says it is urgent!”

What an irony, as soon as he thought about the station they called him. The Clone almost wished for reinforcements to come, but it was unrealistic as the replacements were due to arrive in several days so there will be no help for them. Wolf watched the battle outside for a second as the combined force of the three Venators managed to destroy a Recusant. One less ship to worry about…

“Captain Wolf, this is Sergeant Orr…*static*…we’re overrun…*static*…traitors in…*static*…smuggled…droids…aaaaah”

These were the sergeant’s last words, the commlink remained active for several more moments so that Wolf could hear what was going on. There were several blaster shots and he could distinguish the synthesized voices of battle droids. So the Xinaghari workers are in league with the CIS and were able to smuggle Confederate mechs. Clearly, the shipyards were lost to the Republic.

“Captain, an YT-1760 freighter is making a run for it, approaching from the capitol city of Zimia! It is not transmitting any codes!” a lieutenant approached him.

The Clone frowned, who are these people? He wondered whether the ship was carrying the Republic agents or some CIS spies. They had no time to waste, he had to decide whether to open fire or let them pass, it didn’t matter much…

“What are your orders, sir?”

Wolf turned his head towards the viewport and saw the incoming Droch-class attack pods. It was now clear what the enemy wanted.

“Captain?”

“Let them go and let us hope they are on our side…”

The lieutenant nodded and turned to give the instructions to the turrets. Wolf went to the comms. Officer.

“Corporal, patch me through to the crew.”

The officer pressed several buttons and activated the loudspeakers and also connected the captain with the crews of the other two Venators.

“Crew of Illustrious, defenders of Xinaghar, we now face a large enemy force, who clearly wants to take our ships. Defend them with all costs. I am proud to have served alongside such men! For the Republic!”

As the line was closed, the ship shook violently then from several consoles a shower of sparks erupted. One of the officers got fried on the spot. They were struck by several Ion blasts, the ship was disabled. A female voice came “Low power! Ship’s defense systems are now offline!” Several moments later the claxons indicated that the hull was breached. As Wolf regained his balance he turned around to see the faces of the bridge’s crew.

“Men, we’re being boarded, prepare for battle!”


Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship “Grandeur”

Xinaghar orbit; 0700 hours

The battle was going according to plan, the information provided by the Prime Minister proved to be accurate. Even the losses that the CIS fleet endured were tolerable, after all he could call for reinforcements. The albino Togorian was standing in front of the viewport his massive arms clasped behind his back. He was forging his reputation in fire, the same fire that will liberate all the oppressed beings from the leash of the Republic. The General could almost hear the crowds shouting “Sheerah the Liberator!” he was thankful to Count Dooku for giving him this opportunity so he did everything within his abilities to repay the good man.

“General, our agents in the shipyards have reported that they had overpowered the Clone Troopers and the loyalists.”

Sheerah nodded to the Tactical Droid and turned back to watch the final accords of the battle. They had lost a Recusant Destroyer then a Frigate to a single starfighter! This was taking far too long to be tolerated. The Drochs were waiting for the capitol ships to fire their ion cannons and disable the Venators. The General needed the three capitol ships as to slow the Republic reinforcement which will surely arrive sometime in the following week. He had no illusions, his enemies will know soon what is going on and will come to retaliate! So he will have to accomplish his objectives quickly and prepare the defenses before the oppressors arrive.

Blue streaks of energy flew from the CIS capitol ships, the Venators made a final, desperate stand, before the blue lightings engulfed their hulls indicating that they were disabled. The Togorian purred from satisfaction and without turning towards his subordinates barked.

“Signal the Drochs to start their assault on the ships!”

He waited for a moment to consider the situation.

“Move the Lucrehulks closer and prepare the crafts for ground assault!”

Captain N’erot acknowledged the order then an OOM-class droid with blue markings of a pilot turned towards Sheerah.

“General, a Corellian freighter tries to pass through our blockade; they seem to have proper ID identifying them as our agents. Should we let them pass?”

The Togorian growled indicating his annoyance; the droids were dumb enough not to identify the CIS agents on the field. He then told the droid pilot to let the freighter pass, he then managed to overhear the voice of the Separatist agent and it sounded rather familiar. “Is it possible? Thorn?” he thought. Thorn – a Togorian, Sheerah’s best friend from childhood, who left their homeworld to find his luck in smuggling and being a merc. Was it possible for his friend to have seen the light and joined their glorious revolution? Sheerah thought for a moment to ask his friend to visit him onboard but remembered that they both have their own duties, they will have time to catch up later… He had a battle to win here…


V-wing fighter

Xinaghar Orbit, 0700 hours

It was supposed to be another calm day of patrolling around the fleet for CP-1432 “Skip” or also known as Grey 9 but the seppies thought otherwise and showed up to ruin his day. Skip took it personally, after all they ruined his plans to survive at this theater of war. Patrolling around Xinaghar was a dream job as the sector was “pacified” recently until today a whole CIS fleet jumped while he was having his breakfast and ’32 was a man who enjoyed every meal…

To make matters worse his squadron – the Grey Squadron had to remain and protect as long as they can the three VenSDs. He didn’t need do a lot of thinking to realize that they were losing badly and the squadron was facing gazillion fighters. He was ticked off by the squadron leader who cocky as ever replied to his remark “Never tell me the odds!” Skip wanted to blast the man. His patriotic feelings towards the Republic quickly evaporated when he remembered his “duty” towards it.

The V-wing was shaking wildly as he frantically tried to pass through a wall of fire between the capitol ships while chasing a Tri-Fighter. “I love those guys…” he murmured sarcastically when another pair of shots missed their target. He checked the readings on the rest of the squadron, it was a miracle – only two casualties! No wonder they were considered the best in the battlegroup. Drops of sweat started forming on his forehead as he watched the Tri moving left and right and missing the center of the crosshair so that he could blast it to atoms. “I have you now!” he exclaimed as he managed to get on-lock followed by a quick burst of blaster fire that ripped the engines of the droid fighter tearing it apart. The pieces had already gained momentum and smashed at the hull of one of the Venators probably denting the outer plating. Well, this is surely their last problem they are worried about. The astromech screamed something unintelligible, even the computer had some difficulties translating it. Then after it was done he could read that a couple of Vultures were closing in towards him. The message was followed by red bursts of blaster fire missing him closely.

“Oh, no you don’t!”

He made a corkscrew dive towards the space between two Venators. The Star Destroyers were hammered pretty hardly, the maneuver made him a bit dizzy but Skip managed to shake it off and proceed downwards towards the capitol ships. The V-wing was shaking as the blaster bolts came closer, he considered calling for some help but as he saw the squadron was down to 6 more fighters and by the looks of it they will soon flee for the ground. Skip was passing between the two large vessels followed by a couple of Vultures. One of the droid fighters got lucky and managed to blast away one of his deflector shield’s heat sinks, the Q7-class astromech screeched wildly so Skip switched off the commline not to hear it. He needed to concentrate and retake control of the craft, luckily the torn piece didn’t smash anything else as it flew away. That was the good news, the bad one was that the Vultures were trying to get on lock and fire their missiles at him. He needed to do something quickly or he won’t survive this. As he reached the nose of one of the Venators – “Endurance”, he made a sharp turn right, the maneuver rolled his ship ninety-degrees on its side (the tip of the topside wings were pointing at the nose of the Star Destroyer). Skip saw as two blasts passed just in front of his nose barely scratching his shields that were not able to restore themselves fully after the blast. The clone was holding his breath, this was close.

“There are too many of them!” “Can’t shake ‘em!” were the lines he heard the most from the coming from the surviving members of Grey Squadron. They were being slaughtered, after the sharp turn he started climbing towards the two towers of the bridge. He passed closely to the hull of the Venator the two Vultures closing in from above. The crimson blasts missing him closely managed only to strike the Star Destroyer doing little harm. Seeing on the screen that one of the enemy fighters was trying to get on-lock so that could launch its torpedoes. Skip decided to change his tactics. He then transferred power from the weapons to the engines and managed to boost his speed. Upon reaching the middle of the Star Destroyer the V-wing made a sharp turn right. This unexpected move puzzled the couple of Vultures. Skip got lucky because as he reached the rim of the Venator, the massive ship was struck by several Ion blasts that managed to disable his pursuers too.

Skip made a sharp dive towards the planet following the remaining squadron mates. The battle was over for the Republic, even the CIS fighters lost interest in them so the rest of the squadron could return to the surface. Upon seeing the state of the other V-wings he realized that he was the luckiest as he had lost only a heat sink, the rest of the fighters were heavily battered and burnt. They were entering atmosphere, the remnants of the squadron was headed towards the capitol city of Zimia. His V-wing was shaking wildly from the re-entry, he could see the orange glow of the heated hull on the rims of the fighter. Skip watched in horror as one ship disintegrated due to heavy structural damage. Another ner’vod dead in this war… The clone didn’t voice the curse in his mind, the rest of the squadron that consisted of 4 more pilots, remained silent while they approached Zimia. After 10 minutes of flight he could see smokes rising from the capitol as fires were being dealt with on the surface. The Republic forces were beaten…hardly. A lot of good men died on that day…

Skip sighed, at least he was alive so that could fight another day…


Droch-class boarding ship en-route towards VenSD “Illustrious””

Xinaghar orbit; 0715 Hours

Orto Carsev, a middle-aged Mandalorian, was crammed together with 4 Commando Droids and a couple of Super Battle Droids in a not so comfortable pod. He was part of a strike team, the objective of which was to create a beachhead on a Star Destroyer full of Clone Troopers. For each capitol ship there were four inbound boarding crafts each carrying, a similar to his, strike team. Orto had to secure the hangar area and then the Lucrehulks were supposed to “grab” in their arms the Venators so that the droid dispenser could be sent and proceed with the taking over the massive ship. The Mando didn’t care much about the odds, he craved the adrenaline rush from a battle. It wasn’t even personal, he didn’t hate the boys in white armor on the contrary he pitied them for being on the wrong side and that of the Jetiise. He didn’t like being on the CIS’s side, to fight alongside soulless machines disgusted him but he did so because he had a deep respect for General Sheerah, who had asked him for assistance in liberating the Galaxy from the Republic. This was something he would not refuse. “Target in range, closing in.” came the emotionless voice of the droid pilot. Orto checked on his HUD if everything was alright and then braced himself for impact.

The boarding ship pierced the hull of the Star Destroyer’s with its pincers. Then the front hatch opened, the two SBDs jumped outside with their arms pointed forward. They were to secure the area for the Droid Commandos and the Mandalorians to come in. The BXs followed their bigger “brothers”. Then Orto jumped too, unholstering his Westar 34 blaster pistols the same that his Mand’Alor Jango Fett used. The Mandalorian quickly took cover behind a crate, he needed to assess the situation. He was in the hangar area, the other three Drochs had pierced the hull and the other teams were taking their positions under heavy fire from the Clones. He could see that that there were no ships, only a few crates and from what he could make out there were at least 15 troopers. This was an interesting discovery, what about the rest, such ships were known to be carrying thousands of crew only? Was this a trap?

The Super Battle Droids were moving forward firing rapidly at the defenders’ positions. Orto could see that one of the B2s was down with multiple smoking holes on its chest. The droid commandos started moving forward as well shooting at the Clones. It was Carsev’s turn to move on, the attackers were slowly encircling the defenders. From what he could see most of the Clones were engineers and technicians, and a handful of troopers. Was it possible? The task was far easier than he thought it will be, from the looks of it, the ship was manned by a skeleton crew.

Another Super Battle Droid fell on the ground with a heavy thud. It was time the vode’an to take over the situation. He nodded to his squad mates. His black armor was reflecting the red light thus making him even more ominous. His first kill was an unsuspecting Clone engineer, who was caught in Orto's cross fire as he jumped forward laying down supressing fire. Just as the Mando hit the deck he quickly rolled forward between a couple of enemies. Quickly drawing his pistols he shot them before they could react. A third appeared - this time an armored trooper, and started shooting with his long barreled DC-15, Carsev rolled to the left as blue blast hit the place where he had been moments ago. The mandalorian ducked behind one of the crates for cover. Pinned down, his vision was limited. 'The guy was smart, well no one said that your enemies have to be stupid. ' he thought. A crimson bolt from the barrel of a Verpine Rifle caught the problematic Clone in the face, melting through the helmet. Sevvie, a female Mandalorian wearing a yellow-coloured armour, came to Orto’s rescue. He somehow managed to swallow his pride to allow a woman to help him, not that it mattered for a Mando. She was shooting with her Verpine rifle, one of the crimson bolts caught the Clone in the face, melting through the helmet.

The remaining 7 defenders were moving slowly backwards. One of them managed to destroy a Commando droid and three other Clones managed to shoot down another SBD, so they were down to five B2s and thirteen commando droids. So the enemy had managed to destroy two others while he was dealing with the defenders. The droids’ role was to keep the Clones pinned down for the Mandos to move forwards and kill them. Orto signaled the Super Battle Droids to maul the defenders’ lines, so the massive automata started walking, their chest armor absorbing some of the blasts. It was a quick and almost painless. The Clones had no cover and could not keep shooting and retreating while under heavy fire. They were killed in a matter of seconds.

Then the hangar became quiet again, Orto looked around to see scan the area, but there were no Republic forces, he could see that every airlock was closed as the ship was disabled and the shields were down. For the next part of the operation, the teams had to split up. Two of them were supposed to go to the engine room to restart the core, at least the basic functions like the doors and elevators. The other two had to move towards the side hangar doors to open them so that the Lucrehulks could send the droid dispensers needed for the capture of the ship.

Everything was going as planned…


Core room; VenSD “Illustrious”

Xinaghar orbit; 0735 hours

It took the Engine room team to bring the core back to “life”. They had to change some cables and burnt parts to achieve that feat. The team leader was Sevvie, a woman in her mid-thirties and still quite attractive despite some scars on her body.She had chosen the life of a mercenary and a bounty hunter when her late rich husband left her behind for another woman. This had been his last mistake as she murdered them both and while running from the local authorities she met a Mandalorian merc who helped her leave the planet. It was then when she was “reborn”, she started leading a life of a Mandalorian bounty hunter. The Mando who “recruited” her was Orto Carsev, the very same man she saved the life while trying to take over this Star Destroyer.

Sevvie tapped quickly with her boot on the metal floor to indicate her impatience, not that the droids cared much. She looked around the room; the harsh emergency red lights didn’t improve her mood either the color made her more aggressive. The droids were doing their job quickly and professionally as a machine is supposed to work. She felt awkward to having to fight alongside a lifeless automaton. At least the pay was good. Since her first kill Sevvie became addicted to the adrenaline rush that followed it. 'Guarding droids while they were repairing a disabled core was anything but exciting and this is how my husband, Carsev, repaid his debt for saving his life?'She took a mental note to bring this issue up when she will reunite with him.

Sevvie rolled her eyes in annoyance while listening to the four Super Battle Droids patrolling the corridors outside the core chamber. She found it odd that they hardly met any resistance to get to the engine room, several engineers and a couple of troopers who managed to destroy a commando droid. So the team consisted of three BXs, two were working on the core and the third was left in the control room nearby where the master computer was located to ensure that the Clones won’t do something irrational. Then suddenly the red lights were winked off to be replaced by regular lighting. The power was back online.

“Commander, the core is activated; we have contacted the unit in the control room to deactivate the unnecessary functions.” said one of the droids.

She nodded to the machine and activated her commlink “It is done, the core is online…”

“Good, proceed to the rendezvous point.”



VenSD “Illustrious” port hangar area

Orto switched off the commlink, everything was running smoothly, even the Republic pukes didn’t put much of a fight to stop him. He could almost hear his wife’s annoyance. The Mando remembered when he met her on her homeworld - the peaceful planet of Chandrilla. Back then she was a scared girl who murdered her unfaithful husband and his lover. He remembered seeing the spark in her that could turn Sevvie into an excellent warrior so he took her under his wing. For his amazement she learned the basics quickly and begun her journey to become a true Mando female. Then came the marriage, this was something to be expected and the Mandalorian culture marriage is more like a contract between a man and a woman and so they said the short lines that made them a family. She became part of the clan Carsev…

He heard the clank of metal feet, a commando approached him.

“Sir, the side hangar doors are open the dispensers are inbound in 5 minutes.”

Orto nodded “Good, have the other teams made contact?”

“Yes, sir, they have encountered minimal resistance.”

The Mandalorian didn’t respond, he turned around to have a better look on the hangar, the massive doors opened, the magnetic containment fields were up so that the air won’t escape. Outside he could see the massive arms of a Lucrehulk. The landing on the planet had begun a few minutes before that, probably filling the sky with the massive transports. His HUD detected metal objects moving towards him, the droid dispensers 4 for B1 battle droids, 2 for B2 Super Battle Droids and 1 for Droidekas. After a couple of minutes the large “cylinders” were inside the hangar, Orto could feel the repulsor engines that kept them aloft, then gently descended and touched the floor. Soon after that the dispensers were activated and started pouring droids, Orto could sense the victory hanging in the air.


20 minutes later the bridge of VenSD “Illustrious”

Wolf watched the enormous Lucrehulk “embracing” his ship; he was wondering why the CIS needed the three battered Venators. The Separatists’ actions rarely seemed logical at all which was rather odd for a machine army. One by one the defensive positions throughout the bridge structure fell silent. The Clone then turned and moved towards one of the screens showing “live” feed from the cameras spread in the corridors. He could see marching droids all over mauling through the Republic defenses, Wolf then switched to check on the prison cells there the bodies of the guards lied on the floor smoke still trailing. There some of the important prisoners, mostly high ranking officers from the Xinaghari defense force who were siding with the CIS, were held. ‘So the Separatists came to rescue them.’ It didn’t matter much to him, not anymore.

He could hear that the rest of the Clones became more agitated, Wolf turned to see what happened then a distinct noise got his attention. He could hear the muffled blasts of blasters and the clanking steps of multiple enemy droids. They were coming, ‘So it is over... A short pause then the door exploded sending molten pieces of metal flying. One particular large chunk of shrapnel hit an officer square in the chest. ‘At least he died quickly and did not suffer much. Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la /Not gone, merely marching far away’. Wolf drew his DC-17 pistol and took a position behind a console. He wondered why the clankers didn’t attack immediately; they were toying with the Clones’ nerves. Suddenly a couple of figures jumped right from the smoke. They were…Mandalorians! One was wearing a black armor and the other – yellow. The Clones didn’t hesitate much and opened fire but of no use. The intruders had quicker reflexes and managed to evade several blasts and killed two officers during the process. They were followed by SBDs and normal battle droids.

The bridge area was becoming even more difficult, there were only 5 defenders left and the Mandos were reducing the numbers. Wolf managed to get a head shot of a droid and beheaded it, then sent a couple of bolts in the chest of another one reducing the automaton to scrap. This drew the attention of a B2 and the machine extended its hands in firing position this was followed by a quick succession of crimson bolts melting away a large part of his cover. Wolf then rolled behind to another one in the left and managed to shoot at the assailant but the blasts were deflected by the thick armor. He could sense a presence behind him and decided to turn, this was his last mistake, the black-armored Mandalorian stood there pointing his, he was sure that the assailant was male, Westar 34 pistol at his head. Wolf quickly decided to try his luck but was not quick enough; his brain didn’t have time to absorb the information that his cranium was blasted…


Orto felt sorry for the lads, they fought honorably, there was nothing personal – just business. They chose death instead to surrender, like true warriors. He wished that these soldiers were on the Mandalorian side so that they could defeat the Republic and get rid of the corrupt government and Jedi Order. He sighed these grand plans should wait for now, there was another war going on, in which the Mando’ade were merely mercenaries – warriors for sale. Orto looked at the other side of the bridge to see what Sevvie was doing, she seemed to be checking the troopers for pulse, just to be sure. She seemed to enjoy fighting, as if a mental barrier, one that prohibited such acts, was down. This was not the path of a Mandalorian, after all they are not sadistic savages. Orto took a mental note to talk his wife out of it. He moved towards the communications console to make contact with his Togorian friend on the Lucrehulk.

“General Sheerah, we captured the ship and freed the prisoners. We are standing by for further orders. Over”

“Excellent, Orto, my friend! The other teams reported success too, I am sending you a shuttle to join me on the surface. We have a planet to liberate!” came the deep raspy voice of the Togorian General.

This was part of the plan, to take over the ships and replace the crew with Xinaghari Separatists to slow down the Republic reinforcements. The first part of the operation was over, he then signaled Sevvie to join him and move towards the hangars where the shuttle will arrive. His wife removed her helmet and grinned at him, she was excited by the prospect of more battles…


Meanwhile on Xinaghar; Malberg outskirts

Malberg was the largest CIS controlled city on the planet and the third largest after Kosmo and Zimia. The production of droids and other mechanized units didn’t cease during the war for the world, they were churning up more and more every day. Malberg had the best production capabilities on this industrial planet thus rendering it a vital target. If the CIS hadn’t arrived the Republic was going to strike there next so that they could reduce the droid production and to retake control over Xinaghar easily. If they had taken the city the CIS further assaults would have been impossible.

This day was different from the others, the large droid forces were assembling in every Separatist city. This event didn’t go unnoticed by a couple of ARF Troopers lying in the snow on a hill outside of Malberg behind the hill the ruins of a farmhouse, that had been hit during a bombing raid by the Republic forces,provide cover for their BARC speeders as the two clones surveyed the area.

“Well, well, the Seppies are preparing for an attack.”

“Yeah, we should report back to the boys at the Malia.”

Malia was a small town not far from Malberg, it was the central settlement to the Republic’s defense line and future staging point for the final assault. The two ARFs could see a long vehicle column heading out of the city. The first battalions were already heading out along the highway leading away from the Malberg. The end of the column could not be seen, somewhere further inside the city beyond their line of sight.There were a large number of MTTs, AATs, Homing and Dwarf spider droids, STAPs, Tri-Droids and many others. The Clone lying on the left patted his comrade on the shoulder.

“I can’t reach Malia all communications are jammed.”

“I guess we should race back there before the clankers strike.”

The other one nodded and both Clones quickly jump on their feet and moved downslope towards the bottom of the hill where their BARC speeders were parked and didn’t notice a human figure running towards a nearby abandoned shed on their left which originally part of the farm before it was destroyed. As they jumped on the speeder bikes and started the engine the two speeders exploded. The two ARFs were instantly incinerated by the fireball. This was their final mistake, in their hurry they became careless and they both paid the ultimate price for their carelessness. The two BARCs were sabotaged by CIS sympathizers who had noticed the presence of the Clones in the vicinity of the city. These loyal citizens spied on the ARFs and received instructions to sabotage their vehicles to prevent them from escaping. An area considered to have been abandoned - a mistake by the field intelligence.



Galactic Marines HQ – capitol city Zimia

Xinaghar; 0800 hours

It had taken the LAAT/i longer to arrive at Adrias’ position on the rooftop as there were few left and they were ferrying wounded to the medical centers around the city. He told the pilots not to hurry so that they could finish their jobs. The former Jedi was sitting on one knee at the edge of the roof watching the smoke trails coming from most of the defense areas then his gaze moved upward to see the crashing debris from space. Most pieces will melt in the sky but some eventually will fall on the ground, he hoped this won’t happen in a city or somewhere where people lived. The wind blew in the severe-looking face freezing the vapor of his breath on his beard. From the distance he could hear the distinct sound of the Gunship’s engines, finally his transport. The pilot was good, he managed to “park” the craft next to the edge so that Adrias will have to make just one step to get in. The repulsors were kicking the snow from the roof.

When he got in, a couple of non-clone corpsmen saluted him; the former Jedi could see dried blood on their light gray uniforms. They came to pick him up when they finished with their job as an ambulance. Adrias just nodded, this would not be the last time they would be doing this and he was sure they were used to such sights. The most cynical people in an army sometimes are the medics as they have seen so much misery and pain than the regular soldiers. They always look as if they are impervious to such feelings as sympathy, this is what war do to people turn them into emotionless machines. Adrias turned his head to watch outside, the bay doors were open he could see the signs of a lot of battles, not just the last one. Layer upon layer of pain and suffering it dawned to him that maybe what he had done for the Galaxy actually was insignificant and that maybe he just killed the wrong-doers to be replaced by others. Adrias cringed inside ‘Is my conscience taking revenge?’

He shook off these thoughts as the gunship arrived at the HQ landing pad or what left of it. Engineers, astromechs and medics were moving around, a busy day, one that included wounded and dead comrades and destroyed fighters. A sad scene, in the middle of it Adrias saw the Jedi Master Ki-Adi Mundi one of the most respected Jedi in the Order. The former Knight was taken aback to see such a wise and calm man on a field of battle. He did not expect to see the Cerean there. ‘Maybe I was out of touch far too long…’ he thought. The older man turned and saw him, Adrias came closer and bowed.

“Master Mundi, I did not expect to see you here…”

The man nodded.

“Neither did I…” Ki-Adi paused “I’ve heard that you were back as a field agent of the Intelligence. I see the rumors were true.”

Adrias managed to make slight smile.

“I am afraid they are…I have spent a lot of time undercover, posing as a bounty hunter and mercenary.”

He didn’t say that he had murdered a lot of CIS officials and crime-lords; this was not something you can brag for in front of a Jedi Master.

“What brought you here?”

“I am following a lead…Someone ordered General Valentinian dead so I paid him a visit and he claims the Prime Minister is a traitor to the Republic, which is something I believe.”

The Jedi raised an eyebrow.

“Are you sure about this?”

Adrias sighed.
“I still don’t have solid evidence but am working on it. I will talk to Valentinian, I guess it will be better that the good General act as if he is dead.”

Ki-Adi nodded “Alright, then report back to me when you are finished, we will need all the help we can muster.”

“I will…By the way, the freighter that lifted off…It was my ship, I sent my crew to warn the Republic.”

“Excellent-” Ki-Adi could not finish his sentence as another explosion thundered in the proximity of the base. A clone commander ran towards Mundi “General, unknown forces destroyed our communications center, we are cut off.” the Clone paused “There is another thing, our scans indicate that a large number of landing crafts are making an assault on various locations. Our estimates are that with our Type-B and C forces we won’t be able to stop them…”

“Type-A forces were the best equipped forces, Type-B less experienced troopers with less heavy equipment, Type-C forces fitted to do police work in the captured cities.”

This was what Adrias remembered from the classifications of the different types of forces on the field. This meant that the capitol and the surrounding areas were not very well defended. This was why the CIS destroyed the fighters and some of the SAM sites… The Republic will require his service once again… He didn’t listen to the rest of the report, he didn’t need to, he just pulled his hood on and started walking slowly towards main entrance of the HQ so that he could be back on the streets. He had a mission…

 

excellent update with the fighting scenes with Clones and Mando's. And Adrias is awesome.

 

I love how the action plays out on multiple levels. Wonderfully done!

I agree about Adrias and I want to know what will happen next.

 

I hope that the next part is coming along as planned. I look forward to reading more of the characters and story.

 

Yeah, hopefully very soon This took far too long than anticipated...

 

At last...it is ready...I want to thank you all for the patience and I want to thank Corellian_Outrider for helping me in editing it...
Part 4

“Dead men tell no tales”

Streets of Zimia, Xinaghar; 0900 hours

Adrias walked along the streets of the capitol city. He as he headed towards the apartment block of General Valentinian, the former Jedi had a plan that could mess the Prime Minister’s schemes. For now he was sure the General will be safe unless the man’s nemesis in the government grows restless and assigns the assassination to other bounty hunters. Adrias was familiar with the situation as he, himself, had some powerful enemies that needed punishment. Their time will come and the former Jedi will congratulate himself for the cleaning the Galaxy from such scheme. All he needed was patience and careful thought.

The streets seemed even more deserted than before the attack. Most of the civvies were surely hiding in the public shelters or foolishly leaving the city believing they will be safer outside the capitol. War made people mindless animals and animals make stupid mistakes that the hunters exploit. This was not only a conflict for the bodies of the people but also for their minds and souls. Adrias wondered what will be the post-war state of the Galaxy, one thing he was sure of – it will be a very different place to live. The Order will have a lot of work to do to pacify and settle disputes and conflicts on the countless worlds within the Republic.

In the distance he could hear the distinctive sounds of the LAAT/i’s engines, probably carrying troopers to the frontal defense lines. The enemy assault ships didn’t land close to the capitol though. Judging from the reports of the forward recon units, most of the CIS forces landed near smaller towns or on some unoccupied fields and the droid forces moved towards some of the warehouses and the city of Kosmo. They wanted to choke the Republic defenders, to strangle them mercilessly…This time they won’t be dealing with the amateur commanders, probably this time the CIS army was led by an expert tactician. This didn’t improve their prospects, unless Thorn somehow manages to convince those bureaucrats on Coruscant to send reinforcements but they will arrive in several days due to the great distance. They will have to survive a week without any support from the outside.

Adrias got closer to the building where the General lived. He was sure the man will return to his home when the initial attack was over. The Force gave him this hint, but he was not sure why. The building seemed intact, in front of it was a long and luxurious speeder waiting. The former Jedi was standing right across the street. The sky, as he noted, was getting darker by the clouds and suddenly it started snowing again. His steps made crunching noises as he stepped on the snow and ice on the pavement that no one bothered to clean.

His danger sense activated but could not identify from where it comes. The former Jedi crossed the street just as Valentinian showed himself from inside the building in his black Xinaghari military uniform. At first the man stopped when he saw the familiar face of the man who claimed to have been hired to kill him. The General clearly wanted to say something so he opened his mouth but before he could make a sound a crimson blast pierced his forehead killing him instantly. A crimson mist erupted from the back of the head along with pieces of skull and skin. His hat fell on the ground along with the body.

The burning rage deep inside him made Adrias want to shout. He knew it was no use to come near the General as there was nothing he could learn from a dead corpse. The man’s bodyguards came out barking orders to each other, not knowing what to do and out of desperation. They failed their objective - the man they protected was killed. One of them managed to spot the marksman’s position and ran towards the assailant. The position of the assassin was the top of the building behind Adrias, he was sure that the enemy fled the place when killed the target so the pursuit will be wild Bantha chase and the bodyguard will surely fail in this endeavor. It was time for Adrias to leave the street to avoid becoming a suspect. Luckily no-one paid attention to him, it was part of his training to make people not care about him and probably not to remember ever to have seen him before. The former Jedi found a small alley and retrieved his commlink, he needed to call the Prime Minister. Before he activated the device he took the voice-changer one, it was a safety precaution he didn’t want to be recognized by anything.

“If you send someone else to do my job while I am on the case you will become my next target.”

Adrias recorded the message and sent it. He was sure the man will just ignore it as an empty threat. Time will tell…

He then removed the voice-changer and called Master Mundi.

“Ki-Adi Mundi here…”

“General Valentinian is dead…”

“When?”

“Five minutes ago…”

“The Prime Minister?”

“Yes…”

“Come back to the HQ, we have things to discuss…”

*******
The village of Novie
Xinaghar; 2200 hours

The night was quiet for the defenders of the village, Novie. The snow had ceased to fall and the sky was clear. The ones that were outside in this cold night could see the flashes followed by the thunder of distant blasts. The other villages were under attack by the CIS. Fortunately they were not in the direct line of the assault as Novie was a small settlement far from the main front where the enemy was supposed to strike. This was why the Republic command decided that it was not worth it to send a lot of troopers to defend the place. Most of the villagers had long fled and only a handful remained to protect it. Along with the Clones, there were some soldiers of the local militia, mostly loyal to the Prime Minister Bor’soff. This mistake was yet to be appreciated by the Republic defenders as the ruler of the planet had decided their fate and their survival was not a part of it.

Outside of the village, a hovertruck arrived in silence to deliver its cargo – a container filled with Commando Droids that had been sent to assist the treacherous militia to liberate the village of GAR’s oppression. No-one expected ever that Novie will become such a valuable target, thanks to that oversight, the approaching CIS main column will be able to move unperturbed. The attacks on the other villages and on Malia were mainly to occupy the attention of the Type-A forces that were stationed there while the fresh CIS reinforcements move towards Kosmo. The assault forces in the other settlements were supposed to break through the defenses and race towards the spaceport town. It will be then when another column will move towards the capitol creating further chaos within the ranks of the Republic. The amassing of so many droid forces was possible due to the Prime Minister’s treason who managed to provide valuable intel and convinced the workers in the CIS occupied cities to assist the Separatists in assembling their weapons of war.

While the Commandos approached the first wooden houses, the first kills were made. Some of the militia troopers managed to sneak behind some of the Clones and stab them with knives and other sharp objects. Other saboteurs managed to place some charges at the barracks where most of their fellow countrymen, who were following the traitor General Valentinian, were sleeping or spent their time in the mess hall. The Prime Minister made sure that only in Novie and in a couple of other towns his cronies to be stationed to ensure that the Separatists will break through and strike at Kosmo.

The signal for the start of the attack was given, a red flare shot in the sky. At the same moment the charges in the barracks exploded, killing everyone inside. The fighter tanks guarding the roads were shot by portable missile launchers. Molten metallic shards and burning fuel littered the snow melting some of it until they cooled down a bit. Some of the Clones realized what was happening and opened fire killing some of the traitors but were shot down by the Commando Droids. Some militiamen managed to take over the five AV-7 Antivehicle cannons to ensure that they won’t be used against the approaching CIS column. The battle for Novie was a short one due to the treachery of some of the so-called defenders. The garrison of 30 Clones, 50 Militiamen (of whom 30 were the traitors), 4 Fighter tanks and 5 cannons were taken out. The thirty traitors and ten droids gave minimum casualties. The whole operation was a success. The leader of the traitors withdrew a commlink.

“General Sheerah, the village is ours, you can now proceed.”

There was a short pause, then came the deep and raspy voice of the Togorian.

“Excellent, everything is proceeding as planned…”

*******
Three days later
Chancellor’s Office, Coruscant; 1000hours

Palpatine was sitting patiently opposite to his enemies in the form of Master Yoda and Master Windu. He was sure that they had come to discuss the situation on Xinaghar and how worrisome it is that they lost contact with Master Ki-Adi Mundi. Sometimes the Chancellor found it difficult to conceal his true identity in front of his arch nemeses. Their time would come and their fall will be complete. Once more the Sith will rule the Galaxy. But first he needed to finish with this insignificant conflict he had engineered so that the number of living Jedi be greatly reduced. This charade of a war brought him closer to the ultimate goal. Unlike the Jedi, he had managed to bring more and more order to the corrupt Republic and the population loved him for that. This conflict did another good thing, the Chosen One – in the face of young Anakin Skywalker, was reaching his true potential and this had a price, it brought him closer to the dark side.

It was hard for Darth Sidious to pretend that he actually cared what the Jedi were saying. He knew quite well that he has to listen to what they are saying as sometimes there were some bits of useful information. Throughout the ages they had become complacent and didn’t develop their skills any further. On the other hand, the Sith, thanks to Darth Bane, gathered more and more knowledge and skills so that they could overthrow both the Republic and the Order. Palpatine was sure that this moment was close, ages of preparation would finally bear fruit. He was curious whether the Togorian General he had sent on Xinaghar was up to the challenge to actually kill a Jedi Master as Grievous was needed elsewhere. Besides someone will have to replace the cyborg if he is to be destroyed. Palpatines sometimes savoured the irony that the Mandalorian savages were under the control of the Sith. Sheerah liked to employ them in his campaigns and the Clones were descendants of the last Mand’alor.

“Troublesome this development on Xinaghar is.” So the discussion was started by the green ‘gnome’.

“I agree we have to act quickly if we want to keep the planet within the Republic.” Chimed in the other Jedi Master.

“But how can we be sure it was not a single act of terrorism that could have destroyed their communications relay? I think we are too paranoid and this is what the Separatists want from us my friends. The front is too stretched and we cannot afford to send more reinforcements when on Xinaghar a sizable force had been deployed.”

Palpatine needed to buy some more time until he agrees to send the reinforcements. He hoped the Togorian will kill the troublesome Jedi on the planet, especially the Cerean who seems to be one of the few Masters who were actually sympathizing to young Skywalker. Palpatine needed Mundi dead to make the Chosen One’s fall to the dark side quicker. The reason behind this was that when the Togorian’s job is done there would be less support for Skywalker in the Council thus furthering his frustration with them. Palpatine was glad that he even found a way to get rid of the boy’s troublesome apprentice, Ahsoka Tano.

The two Masters frowned.

“There are clear indications that the system is under attack. The fleet stationed there doesn’t answer to our calls.” Replied Master Windu.

Palpatine almost revealed his frustration. Sheerah had made a mistake, the General assured him that he had taken over the Venators in orbit. This was a big oversight, already the prospects of winning this was getting slimmer. He pretended to be considering the given information.

“I see, but still we need a proof…” he paused when the comlink built in his chair chirped “Yes?”

“Jedi Master Arligan Zey wishes to receive an audience, he says it is urgent.” Came the voice of one of the aides.

Palpatine but he knew better not to do so, Zey was the General of the Special Operations Brigade and the Chancellor was sure that Skirata’s boys had found a proof of the CIS invasion on Xinaghar.

“Let him in.”

The two Jedi Masters remained silent, he could feel their satisfaction. It seems they reached the same conclusion. After a few minutes a tall dark skinned Jedi Master entered his office. He was visibly excited by something, it was clear from the way he walked and how he bowed briskly as a salute.

“Ah Master Zey, I presume the news are urgent for you to come here so quickly.”

The man nodded.

“The ship of one of our field operatives returned from Xinaghar carrying vital information. The planet is under attack by a massive CIS attack force.”

The silence that followed was almost unbearable. If the situation was different Mace Windu and Yoda would have looked at him triumphantly, they carried a subtle form of the We-Told-You-So expression.

“Is this agent sure? What proof did he carry?”

“Actually he sent his crew and his ship, as he seem to have remained on the planet. Anyway his ship has cameras mounted on the hull and captured everything. Here I bring the recordings.”

The large window behind him became darker so that the projection equipment be able to show everything unperturbed by the light of the sun. Zey moved towards the holoprojector and took out the recorded material on a chip.

“The footage is from three days ago as they had to travel this far to deliver it as there are no hyperspace lanes that could bring them quick enough.”

The Chancellor and the two other Jedi Masters nodded indicating that they understood. Zey placed the chip and then the image appeared. They could see a large city, part of which in ruins, being attacked by Vulture Droids and Hyena Bombers. Then the ship clearly took off and the image shifted as the approached the three Venators in orbit. The defenders were under attack by a large CIS fleet. Zey stopped the footage just as the ship entered hyperspace. The three of them remained silent for a moment then it was Yoda who broke the silence.

“Send, we must a rescue force. A vital for the Republic, this system is.” Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Well, my friends you managed to convince me. Thanks to this timely information we can now act and prevent a big tragedy.”

“I agree, I propose to send Master Tiin as a leader of this operation.” This came from Master Windu, then he turned towards Zey “I also think Jedi Tur-Murkan could go too.”

The Special Operations General nodded in agreement as Etain had nothing to do here on Coruscant. He was sure that she would be glad to leave the planet along with her self-appointed bodyguard Ordo. The General was sure that something was amiss and there was no room for doubt that Skirata’s boys were involved with all of this. He already had an idea which Republic Commando Squad and which ARCs he will send for this mission. This operation will be a perfect exercise for cooperation between the different classes of Commando Units.

Palpatine tried to make a relieved expression.

“Well, then it is decided. There is another issue I would like to discuss…the situation with Fresia...”

*******
Jedi Temple
Coruscant; 1030 hours

Dennii Sunwalker, a Jedi Padawan in her mid seventeens, was sitting on her bed crosslegged reading a letter on her datapad. The message was from her childhood friend Jori from an ancient and most secretive organization called the Union of the Great Houses. In the letter, her friend was giving details about what was going on in the Union, what the recent gossips are and about her new boyfriend. Jori was a couple of years older and more experienced than Dennii in some aspects of everyday life. The Padawan missed her friend very much as she felt the Union as her home, not the Jedi Order. That was why because her Master - Eddard Dondarion, also known as the Lightbringer, spent most of the time there being their Jedi Watchman… at least self-appointed one. Due to the fact that this organization remained neutral in the on-going conflict, she and her Master didn’t take much part in the war. The need of every Jedi to be in the front lines forced the Council to ask them to come back and to start leading troops. Dennii dreaded combat and everything connected with violence. She found it hard to send all those brave soldiers, who were bred and trained to defend the Republic, to their deaths. Luckily for her, Dennii did not see much fighting as they were mostly sent to settle the matters using diplomacy and to convince the governments not to secede from the Republic.

The Padawan stood up and moved towards the window, outside Coruscant was bustling with life as ever. This was the planet that never sleeps, the traffic line seemed endless to her. Something got her attention, it was her reflection on the glass. She then did something that the Jedi disregarded and sometimes frowned upon – she used the window for a mirror to look at herself. This was a habit she got from the time spent with her friend. There she almost forgot that she was a Jedi and became a regular girl. Dennii was a rather attractive young woman. She was medium sized, with a slender body. Her soft straight blond hair cascaded down almost reaching her waist in length. Dennii’s Master allowed her to leave it that long, she only needed to have a Padawan’s braid to indicate her rank within the Order. Her face had an elliptical shape with sweet round cheeks. The almond-shaped sky-blue eyes were sparkling, she was pleased of what she was seeing in the reflexion. The nose was small and slightly upturned, the eyebrows thin and blond as well, her skin was soft and had a light complexion. Dennii then checked on her robes, whether they were looking presentable enough. The style and coloring of the clothing was almost the same of the one worn by Master Bultar Swan. Sometimes Dennii felt ashamed of this habit as it was not a very Jedi-like one. She shrugged, took her belongings and left the room.

The Temple during the war seemed almost deserted, every able Jedi was called to lead the Clones to the front lines. Dennii saw some fellow Padawans that were recalled for debriefing and to be assigned on new duties, she waved and smiled at them as she passed by. Her Master was probably waiting for her at the landing pad with the airspeeder. The Padawan hoped that she was not late…again. She started moving a bit faster, after all, she didn’t want to make her Master wait. Dennii entered a turbolift to reach the level faster than if she went by the stairs. The cubicle stopped at the designated floor and the door opened with a slight hiss. She then moved forward through the corridor, reached a door leading to a landing pad. Dennii pressed a button on the panel to open it and went outside. The wind fluttered her brown cloak as she approached her Master. Eddard Dondarion was a tall, for his age, man wearing all white robes, his long white hair and beard were fluttering as well. He pierced her with his grey eyes, but she could not see, nor feel disapproval or other negative feelings. Dennii suppressed a sigh of relief, probably she was not that late this time.

“Master…” she said while bowing.

“I see you finally came.” Her Master replied with a smile.

Dennii blushed a bit “Yyes… I just received a message from Jori, I am sorry for being late.”

“Yes, her father told me that she frequently sends messages to you. Anyway, we are needed elsewhere. I know how much you want to be with your friend, but the Order needs us to go to the planet Fresia. We have to accompany Master Plo Koon and Padawan Ahsoka Tano, there are some worrisome rumors…”

She hoped this time these rumors won’t result in another battle, but she nodded in agreement. There was nothing else she could do after all. Her Master then moved towards the airspeeder, it was the same model that the Jedi usually used, and entered it. A second later she followed him.

*******
Arca Company Barracks
Coruscant; 1100 hours

A shuttle landed at the Arca Company Barracks, from it disembarked several non-Clone Officers, a Republic Commando Squad and a sole Alpha-class ARC Trooper still wearing the original armor from a year and a half ago. The ARC was A-17 nicknamed “Alpha” by the Jedi General Anakin Skywalker. He was reassigned from training duties on Kamino. Alpha could boast that he had trained some of the most famous Clone Commanders such as: Appo, Gree, Cody, Bly, Bacara, Neyo, and many more.

The man was holding his helmet under his arm. Alpha got lucky to retain his original armor as he was from the older generation of Clones. He was an oldtimer, a veteran from a numerous battles. His old Katarn armor was glinting on the sunlight. Alpha looked around to observe the environment. Finally, he was able to visit the capitol for real, not just watch the holovids that had been sent to Kamino for the boys’entertainment. It was a breath-taking place for a man used to being on more desolate places fighting for dear life. Alpha hoped he would be able to spend some time at this magnificent place.

He could still remember the day the CIS decided to invade Kamino and the Prime Minister “activated” him and his Alpha-ARC brothers as a last-resort tactic. It was then when he met two of the few Jedi he ever came to respect and could call, with a clear conscience, brothers: the Generals Kenobi and Skywalker. He wondered where those two were sent to fight. A-17 was not able to catch up with the latest news while travelling towards Coruscant.
Finally, after a year-and-a-half he was brought back to the action. The Republic needed his service on the frontline to defend its citizens from the hated droid armies of the Separatists. At least this was what his supperiors used to tell him. Not that he believed that anyone actually cared whether he lived or died. Anyway he loved the Republic as he had been trained and would gladly give his life to preserve it. Alpha considered himself one of the few whose idealism remained intact and was not shattered by the harsh reality of war. At least this was the thing that kept him going and not to lose his hold on himself.

The ARC approached the Barracks’ entrance. He ignored several RCs snickering at him telling some stupid jokes about the kama. Alpha wondered why SpecOps Command required his services and called him to the “home” of the Advanced Recon’s rivals. A-17 shrugged, probably the boys need some extra training. This should be interesting, the RCs needed some discipline, especially the ones trained by the Mandalorian Kal Skirata. These clones believed themselves to be superior to the rest of the fold. The door opened and he was greeted by a fellow ARC A-26 “Maze” – Zey’s adjutant. Both clones greeted each other coldly. They were rivals since childhood, like every other ARC back on Kamino. The Alphas were loners, bred to become one, they didn’t rely on squadmates like the ReeCees. They were supposed to become one-mansquads and compete with each other.

“So you are alive after all, you old chakaar…” said Maze with a cold grin.

“Sorry to disappoint you, ner’vod.”

“I see you they brought you back, the aiwha-bait don’t need you anymore?” Alpha chuckled.

“They couldn’t resist my charm.”

A-26 shook his head and sighed.

“Some things don’t change in time.”

Alpha gave an innocent look then suddenly became serious again.

“So why yours SpecOps guys require my services?”

Maze stared at him for a moment.

“If I didn’t know the answer I would have asked the same thing. I’ll explain to you while we are walking to the briefing room.” A-26 said then entered the building followed by Alpha.

After several moments of silence he started the explanation.

“Due to the heavy losses sustained by the different types of commandos, General Zey had this idea to see whether the three main types: the Alphas, the Nulls and the RCs can cooperate in a mission. The objective…I guess you will see it for yourself.”

A-17 was visibly disappointed “One thing I don’t understand, since when you became so enigmatic?”

Maze shrugged and grinned “I guess this is due to working closely with a Jedi.”

Alpha shook his head and sighed “Whatever…”

Then both ARCs continued walking in silence. The corridors seemed deserted, a lot of squads were dispatched throughout the Galaxy on numerous SpecOps missions. The few RCs they met stared at them in mistrust and some with open hostility. They didn’t like their “bigger brothers” of the Advanced Recon Commandos. Not that the ARCs had any fond feelings for them. Alpha didn’t pay attention to the stares, nor he cared what the ReeCees thought of him.

After a few more moments they arrived in the briefing room. It was a small circular one on the ground floor with two rows of seats arranged in circle around a holoprojector in the center. The other people “invited” were already there: a squad of Commandos, from the markings of their armors he knew they were the notorious Delta Squad; there were a couple of ARCs – Nulls, Ordo and Mereel; a couple of Jedi one male and one female. He recognized the older one as General Zey but the girl Alpha didn’t know. The ner’vods stared at him with hostility, ‘There goes our fraternity.’ thought A-17. Alpha saluted the superiors, the two Jedi, nodded to the rest and sat in the front row facing Zey directly.

The General made a satisfied expression on his face and started talking.

“Now that you are here Commander we can finally start the briefing.” Alpha nodded in return and then Zey turned towards the holoprojector and activated it. It showed a planet, their next objective by the looks of it. It was nothing remarkable, three large continents surrounded by water. The northern one, the largest, was covered by snow at least what Alpha saw. The ARC Commander waited patiently for Zey to start the briefing.

“This is Xinaghar, it is situated at the very edge of the Mid-Rim. An industrial world, that chose to remain neutral throughout most of the war, this was so until recently. A government was elected that chose to join the Confederacy. Because of its location and the fact that it has a very well developed industrial capabilities the Senate, along with the Jedi Order decided to send Master Ki- Adi Mundi and his men to retake the planet from the Separatists’ clutches.”

“I guess they failed as we are now here in this room, hearing all this.” Came Sev’s deep voice.

The General’s expression didn’t change. “Yes and no. Master Mundi’s forces managed to take most parts of the planet until three days ago. Our agents on the field indicate that the Separatists launched a counter-attack. Their Commander seem to be very adept as he used the system’s natural phenomenon – the strong solar flares that disrupt long range communications for hours or days, depending on the flare’s strength. Luckily we had an agent on the field, Adrias Stark…” Zey paused as he observed Etain’s reactions “…A former Jedi, who after an incident with a slaver gang decided to leave the Order. In the outbreak of the war he contacted us and did a lot of Covert and Black Ops for us behind the enemy lines. His crew managed to slip just before the CIS forces blocked all exit lines and brought us a very disturbing image.”

The Jedi General paused and turned towards the holoprojector, then pressed several buttons to activate the recording of a massive Separatist fleet rushing towards the already damaged Republic ships. There was no doubt who won in this contest.

“Our forces are far too outstretched to protect the planet in adequate way, as they were waiting for reinforcements to come, but unfortunately this didn’t happen. We cannot say what exactly the situation is at the moment as we lost all communications with Xinaghar. We are preparing a major assault on the planet led by Masters Saesee Tiin and Voolvif Monn. This operation gives an excellent opportunity all types of Special Forces to interact: the Alpha ARCs, the Null ARCs and the Republic Commandos.”

Zey ignored the murmurs within the ranks of the Clones present in the room, he could feel their annoyance of the fact that they will have to work together in order to achieve victory. Not that they haven’t done it before in some occasions, but this didn’t mean that they wouldn’t complain about the fact.

“Gentlemen, if you please…” he tried to calm them down, so that he could continue

“…Thank you! The SpecOps supervisor for this operation will be Etain, as most of you know her, so I don’t have to introduce her. Questions?” Of course, there were none. “You will be provided with further details by Master Tiin when you depart for the system, I suggest you to search our databases about the planet for useful information. Dismissed…” he paused and added “…May the Force be with you all!”

*************

The city of Kosmo
Xinaghar, 1500 hours

An AT-TE was slowly advancing through the ruined streets of Kosmo. The troops inside were silent as everyone was exhausted from the 3 days of constant fighting. The CIS struck so suddenly and no one had anticipated that there will be traitors amidst the Republic ranks. The last days were a living nightmare. There was no clear winner in the battle as the frontline was shifting back and forth every hour. For every position retaken by the defenders the attackers conquered another. Some positions shifted “owners” every half an hour. The outcome of the battle was unclear…

The passengers of the AT-TE with the call-sign “War Pig” had a mission to retake or, as a last resort, destroy a school building, on the roof of which there were numerous SAM sites. The CIS were encircling the Republic forces with AA emplacements so that they could not utilize the Y-wing bombers to their full extend and also to deny them air superiority over Kosmo. The team consisting of forty Clones was led by a Jedi Knight – Cera Tan – an Arkanian offshoot with grayish skin, light blue intricate markings and long white hair tied in a pony-tail. An agile warrior and a great leader, she shared the hardships of war alongside the soldiers, not cowering from battle in fact she was the one who usually led the charge.

“We are approaching the target, get ready!” came the voice of the pilot. After a few more minutes the shuddering of the walker stopped indicating that they were in position finally. Everyone silently stood up and started taking their equipment.

“Men, as you know our objective is to try and secure the school building.” Cera started speaking with her soft voice.

“Why don’t we just blow it up or call for a bombing run?” came from one of the troopers.

“Because we are civilized and we want to keep as many civilian structures intact as we can. Besides we can’t call the Y-wings because the SAMs are operational and they will have a field day shooting our bombers… If we are to destroy the building and deny it to the enemy we have to disable the missile emplacements first.”

She activated the holoprojector and a 3D image of the school appeared. It was a cubical structure on 4 floors with a lot of windows. It was made of solid permacrete so it will endure a lot of punishment before it goes down.

“This is our target. We have little intel on enemy location and numbers but from the information we’d received, it is not so heavily guarded and we should be able to take control over it. After that we will send information and so reinforcements can fly in to secure the perimeter allowing the bombers to pass towards the enemy artillery position that has been pounding us. Any questions?”

“One, sir. Will we have any kind of support?”

“Unfortunately no, we are on our own. We will call for reinforcements after we've secured the building, not before that. So, no heroics nor taking unnecessary risks! If there are no other questions, dismissed! Let’s show these clankers not to mess with us!”

This improved the mood of the men, their commanding officer was acting as them, she was not like most of the Jedi. She was a warrior. Her “second in command” CC-1248 “Rem” approached her.

“Whenever you are ready sir, just say the word…”

Cera nodded and moved towards the hatch and before she exited.

“Come on men! Glory awaits us! Onwards to victory!”

Everyone cheered in reply and hastily followed her outside. They were met by a gloomy scene. The street was empty, the only things that could be heard were the distant noises of the distant battle and howling of the freezing wind. Cera shivered in the cold, even though her thicker version of the Jedi robes were tailored for frigid worlds. Soon the heat of battle will warm her. The arkanian drew her lightsaber hilt to be prepared for everything, who knows what lies within these grey and abandoned buildings.

Some of the structures bore the scars of war, rubble lied everywhere. There were some furniture, clothes and other rubbish on the street – the people who were running away must have left them there or the scavengers looking for some valuable things. Some parts of the snow were blackened and half-melted from recent explosions. It was a miserable picture, the lives of so many people ruined for just several hours and they will carry this burden to their graves. The Jedi led her unit of forty Clones through the empty street and no-one attacked them. They reached the corner where they were supposed to turn. The group moved through another deserted street until they saw the school yard. Some droid mechanics were doing maintenance on a droid gunship that had landed there. Cera nodded to one of her men who was carrying a portable missile launcher. Before they were spotted, the trooper crouched and loaded his weapon. Everyone else took cover and waited for the chirping sound of the missile being on lock. Then it shot skyward making an arch towards the grounded gunship. It was followed by a large explosion and the wail of the alarm. Now the droids knew they were coming.

Cera activated her blue-coloured lightsaber and ran forward, followed by the Clones who were shooting at the B1 battle droids that survived the initial attack. They had caught the CIS off-guard. Cera slashed through a couple of droids, before they could even react, as she approached the yard entrance. Once inside she halted, as ten B2 Super Battle Droids came out of the school.Her men had caught up with her and immediately opened fire at the new threat. Most of the blasts ricocheted from the durasteel casing of the SBDs. A couple automata fell, smoke rising from numerous holes. The Clones were making a semi-circle towards the entrance when from the windows three heavy repeaters opened fire. They were in the open with nowhere to hide and the SBDs were blocking the school’s entrance. Several Clones got killed in the first wave of fire. The situation was quickly deteriorating and she had to act before every trooper gets killed. Cera deflected most of the shots back towards the school or towards the SBDs. This reduced the number of the B2s further. The Clones had taken cover behind some large chunks of metal from the destroyed gunship.

Cera slowly moved backwards still deflecting bolts, once she got closer to a large container left by the CIS, she hid behind it. She could hear the shots hitting the container, she wondered how long will it take the droids to melt their way. The Jedi didn’t have much time, so she had to think of a way out of this situation. One of the Clones shouldered a missile launcher and got a shot at one of the windows containing a heavy repeater. Glass and pieces of permacrete flew from the blasted wall. The remaining repeaters and droids directed their fire towards the immediate threat. This was the needed distraction, Cera jumped from behind her cover and using Force speed, ran towards the SBDs. Before the automata could react, she had slashed two and opened their casings and severing important cables. The two droids fell on the ground with a loud thud. There were five more to go, she rotated quickly the blade in front of her deflecting their fire. Cera then leaped her blade making a wide arc and sliced one of the droids in half then quickly turned to the now slowly retreating enemies. They were firing at her but to no avail, the Force was flowing through her. In a quick succession she sliced in half the first one, sliced the hand then the upper part of the second, then pierced the head of the third. The last two she sliced in the middle splitting them in half. After that she took a look around and saw the smoking piles of scrap metal that was left from her foes. Her troopers managed to destroy the other two heavy repeater nests and moved towards her. The front door had been smashed already by the CIS so the Republic forces entered the building uninterrupted. The silence was ominous, she could see dust and other light particles hanging in the air. Was it possible that these were the only defenders? Cera signaled for some of her men to cover the ground floor and the rest should follow her. They were in the foyer of the school where there were some corridors leading off to the classrooms, the mess hall and the gym.They all had studied the plan of the building so knew where to find everything. In front of them were the stairs spiraling towards the other floors. To her amazement Cera could sense a living being upstairs. Was it possible, the droids to have taken a prisoner or the one who was there is one of the traitors? They will have to find it anyway. Cera was sure they were walking into a trap more and more she contemplated that this operation was a bad idea and they should call for the bombers to level it down. But could they? Probably they will be destroyed before they could reach the target by the SAM sites on the roof.

Cera hesitated for a moment then signaled the rest of the Clones to follow her. A couple of them moved ahead, DC-15s pointing forward.Their job was to scout ahead for enemy ambushes. The team slowly started climbing alert for any traps, their steps echoed in the seemingly empty building.

“Ground floor clear…" Came the lieutenant who was leading a squad of five soldiers to secure the ground floor.

"Wait a minute- Aaargh… OPEN FIRE!!!”

They were attacked, the noises of the battle came. Cera signaled to five of her people to go and reinforce the first squad as they will need at least the entrance cleared for exfiltration. The second floor seemed empty so she left a couple of men to protect the stair case. The living presence felt closer now, Cera could pin-point it now... the fourth floor in the principal’s office! The third floor was full of droids and opened fire just as they had noticed the Republic soldiers. Four Clones were killed immediately before the rest fell on the steps for cover. Cera rotated her saber in front of her deflecting blaster bolts back to their sources. There were B1s and B2s all of them pouring fire on the attackers. This was a difficult situation but they had their mission and Cera jumped forward in the midst of the droids. Hacking and slashing, automaton after automaton fell on the ground. Because she was so close, some of them fired on their “friendly” units, making her job easier. The Clones managed to regroup and joined in the carnage. With a sweep of her blade she beheaded a couple of B1s then cut the arm of a SBD. Using the Force with her free hand she threw the severed arm at the head of another B2 smashing the circuits instantly disabling it then hurling a regular Battle Droid towards its comrade at the railing causing both of them to fall to the ground floor. There were only five SBDs and three regular B1s remaining while her men fired at the bigger targets, most of the hits ricocheted from the metal casing of the chest. The enemies were standing in a straight line firing pinning down the Clones that managed to reach the floor killing two of them. Cera stood there deflecting bolts once again. She could feel the Force flowing through her guiding her hand. By returning the crimson blasts to their sources she reduced the enemies’ numbers to only one Super Battle Droid. Cera gathered her strength and made Force Push that crushed the droid’s chest then shooting it towards the far wall smashing through it.

Cera dashed towards the fourth floor without saying a word, somehow she knew that the solution to the situation was there. She didn’t wait for the Clones to follow her, they knew their job and will do it fine. With a simple slash she cut through a couple of security droids that were coming to intercept her. The only person to greet her on the top floor was a man in a crimson armor – a Mandalorian! The CIS had allied themselves with Mandalore?! The Council must hear of this! The man was massive, she wondered how he fitted the armor. The Mando drew his vibrosword, so this was going to be closecombat. Her saber was pointing towards the floor her chest unprotected. She wanted to lure her enemy to strike not that he needed an invitation to do so. The man was quick, she must admit that, with several steps he reached her and tried to pierce her with his sword. Cera sidestepped and blocked the attack with her lightsaber, she was unable to throw him out off balance though. At least she was alive, but so was the Mandalorian. The Jedi then somersaulted over the man’s head landing gracefully behind his back but to her astonishment he didn’t waste his time and turned immediately striking again. She will have to find a quick solution if she wants to survive. Her men will be arriving soon, probably they will be able to take him down. There were sounds of battle downstairs, possibility that more droids had arrived. This was a major oversight, they had sprung the trap.

Cera had to act quickly, using the Force, she pushed the Mandalorian skidding through the long corridor. She noticed some thick cables running along the floor, this must be the power supply for the SAMs. They will lead her to the objective, probably will need to call in an airstrike, this was an hopeless mission. Her thoughts were racing, searching for a solution to get most of her men out of this mess. She ran towards one of the classrooms where one power generator was located so she just slashed through it severing the cables and circuits bringing it out of commission. ‘Good, now to find the other three…’ the rooms were a mess, there were smashed desks, chairs, torn flimsi paper, children’s drawings. All of this will soon burn, her heart was pounding heavily with the grief of this prospect. There was a circular hole through the ceiling in which the cables were directed to the SAMs. She just severed the cables with her blade. Sparks and smoke shot out of them as they tangled like tentacles of a giant squid from the oceans of Mon Calamari.

As she exited the room, she sensed movement hurling towards her and she quickly jumped through a adjacent doorway just in time. A missile flew through the spot where she was a second ago, fired from the Mandalorian's jetpack. He managed only to blast a hole in one of the other rooms which luckily for her contained the next generator. Cera sent a smashed desk towards her assailant with the hope to slow him down for a few moments. The room was an exact copy of the first one she visited but this time didn’t waste time dealing with the generator, just slashed the cables and ran away. Back in the corridor the Mandalorian was getting closer, he had drawn his pistol and started shooting. Using Force Speed she evaded the blasts that struck the wall blowing molten chunks from it. Racing through the corridor she saw at the far side an open door and there were two generators. The droids foolishly had put the last two generators in one place. Maybe they didn’t have much space, anyway she didn’t have much time to contemplate about the reason for that. Cera just thanked the Force that the droids made the mistake.

The Jedi lunged forward towards the first generator, stepping on top of it and severing the thick cables with a quick slash. Just as he jumped towards the second, she got struck by a blast to the stomach that sent her flying and crashed on a table, smashing it in two. At first the shock absorbed the pain, at least she was alive, maybe if she gathered her strength…The Mandalorian was walking towards her confidently, he managed to defeat the Jedi so his job was done. He did not expect her to struggle still, these wizards were not supposed to be fighters. Now he could finish her…

Using the Force, she hurled her saber towards the last set of cables. Severing them, a shower of sparks shot out, distracting her soon-to-be executor long enough not to hear the Clone Commander approaching him from behind. Rem fired several blue bursts from his blaster in the Mandalorian’s jetpack causing it to explode, killing the man instantly. 48 quickly came and helped his commanding officer to stand up catching her under her left shoulder. There was blood streaming from the stomach wound, the General needed urgent medical assistance.

“General, can you walk?”

“I think…yes…What happened, where are the rest?”

“Only ten of us survived, I called for the walker to wait for us at the entrance.”

Cera nodded faintly, she was losing strength, but they will be able to apply a bacta patch once outside. This mission was a failure.

“Mission control, this is Commander Rem – ‘Broken Arrow’, I say again ‘Broken Arrow’! You have the coordinates.”

He was calling an air strike on their position.

“Copy that Commander, ‘Ice Man’ is on the way and bringing some friends. ETA 3 minutes. I advise you to leave the position as soon as possible. What is the General’s status?”

“She needs medical attention, she got hit by a Mandalorian supercommando.”

“Understood, we will do whatever we can. Mission control, out!”

“General," Rem said to her. "I am sorry but we have to increase our speed if we are to evacuate in time.”

“I understand…hmmmpf…I am fine, let’s go…”

The Commander supported her with one hand, the DC was hanging from his shoulder and he was carrying only a pistol for protection. Before they left the room he snatched the lighsaber from the now ruined generator. The fourth floor was deserted, there were still sounds of an ongoing battle. Upon reaching the staircase the Commander attached a grappling hook on the railing, they were going down the fast way. Rem turned towards her to ask her whether she could do it. Cera just nodded and attached herself to the rope. She was getting dizzy from the loss of blood and the drainage of adrenalin. The Jedi shook her head to chase the dizziness and followed the Clone down the rope. Rem shot a couple of droids while descending. The surviving troopers were waiting for them at the ground floor making a protective circle for their commanding officers to descend in. They had less than a minute…

“RUN!” ordered Rem to his men. They did not hesitate to obey the order.

“Rem, I am a deadweight, you will never make it with me…it is OK, leave me here, I might be able to hold them off…”

Rem clenched his teeth and said nothing, they were going to make it together or not at all! So he pushed even harder, the General to her credit gathered her strength so they were working together to leave the school. As they exited the school, three Y-wing bombers approaching fast. The Clone and the Jedi were struggling to stay on their feet from exhaustion and they reached the outer gate just as the bombers launched their proton torpedoes. Six missiles struck at different positions blowing large chunks of duracrete and molten glass in the air. They were knocked by the shock wave but luckily were not struck by debris. Rem was first to stand up and helped the Jedi get on her feet too. The AT-TE was approaching their position slowly, then they all heard the distinctive noise of a Droid Gunship. Suddenly from the smoke of the destroyed building a gunship appeared. The other Clones that were running towards the walker stopped immediately as a couple of missiles launched from the gunship. The AT-TE blew in a brilliant explosion engulfing the few Clones that were closest to it.

“This is not good…” came the voice of Rem.

********
Meanwhile in the outskirts of Zimia, several kilometers from the Republic outer perimeter defenses; Xinaghar

They did not encounter any significant resistance in their three day journey towards the capitol. The Republic must have stretched their forces thinly, so that meant that they were at the point of breaking. The outer perimeter defenses of the capitol consisted of a long line of trenches and bunkers with some heavy ordnance. The General will have all his skill and cunning to break through the lines. The albino Togorian sat in the commander chair of an AAT and studied the tactical map when one of the pilot droids turned towards him.

“Sir we have an incoming transmission from…Lord Sidious…Should I patch it through?”

Sheerah frowned, Lord Sidious rarely made direct contact with him. The situation must have changed drastically. He nodded to the droid, then the holoimage of the cloaked Sith Lord. The Togorian always wondered who the man was and how exactly he looked like. The rumors were that only Count Dooku had seen the man’s face but he kept it a secret. It suited Sheerah perfectly so there were no objections from his side.

“General Sheerah, how is the operation progressing?”

“The battle is going according to plan. In several days we will capture Kosmo and will have entered the capitol.
Give me five days and the control of the planet will be ours.”

“I am afraid we don’t have that much time, I have information that the Republic obtained information about our attack and are sending a sizable force to retake the planet once and for all. I don’t need to remind you that this must not happen.”

Sheerah remained silent, there was no need to ask how the Republic obtained this information. Clearly there was a double agent in their midst, will have to hunt them down before the operation was ruined. He depended on the element of surprise and the fact that the defenders will have stretched their supply lines and not to be able to protect themselves adequately.

“That is why I discussed the situation with Count Dooku and we have dispatched a similar sized fleet to your aid.
Don’t fail me General…”

Then the image flickered and disappeared. The Togorian was pleased with the situation…after all they will not abandon him to his fate….

“Excellent…” he managed to mutter.

 

You are welcome I am glad to see it has been post.

I love how things are progressing with the story, the way new directions are starting off are making the scope of the war much more larger.

 

Working on next part, stay tuned for more

 

Finally, after a long pause to be able to make a short update. Maybe from now on will be making shorter parts so that I can post regularly

Part 5
*
“Triumph and loss”

Above the city of Kosmo

Xinaghar, 1600 Hours

“Bravo Six, this is Mission Control. You have a go for the operation Sledgehammer. Do you copy? Over.”

“Mission Control, this is Bravo Six, we hear you loud and clear. Over.”

Bravo Squadron, comprised of 12 Y-Wing bombers, was lead by Bravo Six. They were one of the few surviving units after the disastrous attack by the CIS during which the Separatists had managed to destroy most of the Republic’s air assets. They were flying over the GAR controlled part of the city of Kosmo, escorted by 4 V-wings in case they ran into enemy air patrol. The droids had been flying sorties on a regular basis for several days now destroying defense emplacement and making their advance easier. The CIS were quick to established SAM sites to deny the Republic the chance strike back with their own dwindling number of bombers.

General Cera Tan managed to find a weak spot in a school building - if it was taken out it could give a window of opportunity. They were supposed to fly into a narrow corridor leading to the CIS artillery position and a warehouse that provided supplies for the enemy. The objective of Operation “Sledgehammer” was to fly in, destroy the position and do a lot of damage to the enemy and fly back. This would not be an easy feat, but could make the lives of the ground forces easier. That was why they chose Bravo Squadron - they were survivors that succeed in their missions.

They flew in a wedge formation, the V-wings circled around them. The city beneath them was in ruins. CP-1249 “Snakeyes” or also known as Bravo Six could see the smoke trailing from the recent destruction of the school building as they passed above it. Their sensors picked up a droid gunship converging on the General’s last known position. Unfortunately there was nothing they could do to stop it as the Jedi pointed out in numerous occasions that the mission was a priority. He resisted the urge to break from formation and converge at the incoming enemy. 49 closed his eyes for a second then as he opened them he fixed his gaze forwards. There was nothing he could do for them, there were bigger things at stake.

The squadron was in enemy territory now. The computer made a graphical representation of the situation. He could see the numerous points along the map. These were the CIS SAM sites and their ranges. Bravo Squadron was supposed to sneak between those bubbles before the enemy could send their fighters as there was very little space for maneuvering. The operation was a very tricky one, requiring all of the pilots’ strength and willpower. Some might consider this a suicide mission but the Bravos were known for doing the impossible to complete the objectives. This time, though, 49 hoped luck would not abandon them as this situation can easily turn into a slaughterhouse.

The computer indicated that they have not been detected, yet. Sooner or later a droid will notice a squadron of enemy bombers passing by. This part of the city had even more scars from the fierce battle. Probably in the end the whole city was going to end up in ruins. The sensors bleeped as they passed an armored column of AATs and MTTs, probably heading towards the front line. He resisted the urge to send some proton bombs towards it but this would not change the situation much. The artillery was a bigger threat to the Republic forces.
“Well boys the enemy knows we are here. So let’s finish this up before they could do anything about it.”

They were approaching the target. The squadron was flying over the industrial part of the city. The factories had sustained a lot of damage it would take some time before they can be operational again. The bombers maneuvered around the stacks of the chimneys. The targets were visual: 5 Heavy Artillery Guns (HAGs); 4 Proton Canons and 7 Hailfire Droids with artillery modifications. Some AA guns there opened fire as soon as they had a visual on the Y-wings. Thus far their shields were holding. The astromechs primed the warheads, ready to launch their first salvo of torpedoes at the HAGs.

“Bravos confirm that you have visual of the target!”

[Arming missile 1 and 2.] appeared on the screen.

The computer was trying to get on lock. He could see the red crosshair moving on the HUD choosing a target.

"Bravos, fire the torps on my mark!" 49 instructed over the squadron's com channel, the beep of the targeting computer confirmed a solid lock. "NOW!"

[Mynock 1 and 2 are launched.] the astromech confirmed the successful launch.

The Y-wing shuddered slightly as the two torpedoes shot out of the tubes. He could see the smoke trails from the launch and the warheads raced towards their targets. The front shields were getting a pounding from the AAs but remained stable for the moment. The two proton torpedoes approached the HAGs. Then the impact followed – a bright flash of explosion the Heavy Artillery Guns had a strong armor but not strong enough to withstand an aerial strike. They erupted into a fireball followed by a secondary explosion from the shells stored inside. The V-wing escort engaged the AA guns. 49 could see one of the fighters diving in taking several shots at an emplacement. There was a small explosion and one more target was down. The Y-wing Squadron was making another run at the position, they needed to finish off the rest of the artillery pieces that remained intact after the initial salvo. Just before the targeting computer found its mark 49 was wondering why the enemy had deployed so few emplacements... Something was wrong. This time the crosshairs that appeared on the screen were two, each missile will be individually guided. The prey were a proton cannon and a hailfire. The bomber shuddered more as two more smoke trails materialised appeared, shortly after that the droids were no more.

Half of the squadron broke formation and headed towards the warehouse nearby. They were supposed to bomb it, to deny the enemy the resources. The rest were finishing their job. 49 checked the chrono on the computer, only 4 minutes have passed since the beginning of the engagement. It was strange that the CIS did not send their fighters to deal with them. This smelled a lot like a trap. Just as the last droid emplacement got blown up, the warehouse erupted in a massive explosion. The Y-wing that flew next to the squadron leader got struck by several blast from the top. One of the shots hit the cockpit, tearing through it, immediately killing the pilot and the gunner. The next one struck the engine section igniting the fuel, followed by a brief flash. The bomber fell apart, debris falling on the buildings below.

“Multiple hostiles coming on top us!” shouted 49’s gunner. “Six Tris and three Vultures!”

So the droids did react after all and 49 was right, it was indeed a trap. Probably these artillery pieces were just a part of a larger number of guns. This was indeed a suicide mission and a foolish one as well. But there was no time for dwelling on these issues. Bravo leader immediately made an evasive maneuver to the left just as an enemy Tri-fighter was trying to get on-lock. Reports came in from the second group that they were attacked by a same amount of enemy fighters. The V-wings immediately broke their attacks on the ground defenses to intercept the enemy fighters.

“Brake off the attack, we are going back to base! The mission is over!” commanded Bravo Leader.

The bombers made sharp turns towards the entry corridor and doubled the engine speed. 49’s gunner reported that they were being pursued by six Tri-Fighters the rest were dealing with the V-wings. This was a bad piece of news as the enemy fighters were considerably faster than the bombers and they will be able to catch up with them pretty fast. The gunners of the bombers started pouring fire at the Tris. The blasted droids were far more maneuverable thus rendering the defensive fire to have more a calming effect than any real use. One of the assailants sent a couple of missiles towards one of the bombers. The clone desperately used the countermeasures, one of the rockets lost its lock and detonated at a building spraying the street below with snow and permacrete. The other missile forced the pilot to break formation and accidentally to enter the area of a SAM launcher. The emplacement shot a series of missiles directly at the bomber. Bravo 5 did not have time to react, while trying to evade the Tri-Fighter missile. The SAM was lucky, it obliterated the Y-wing. Bravo Leader cringed, four of his men dead.

The astromech indicated that the rest of the pursuers had dealt with the V-wings with minimal casualties and were joining the hunt. The situation was getting “better and better” by the minute. The gunner tried shouting that a Tri was incoming. The man was trying to shoot it though the droid was far too agile so his actions were mostly for reassurance. The bomber shook as the shield was struck by a blast. The good news were that it will hold but the bad were that it won’t hold for long. The squadron’s formation was falling apart as another Y-wing got destroyed. One of the Vultures managed to strike it at the left engine, the detonation caused the pilot to lose control and spiral towards a half-ruined building. Bravo Six didn’t take a look to see what happened, his imagination supplemented him with the necessary images. They were approaching the safe zone, but this did not solve the immediate problem of the pursuing Tri.

Snakeyes decided to make a very dangerous maneuver - one that could lead to his suddenly and fiery demise. He could see a broad boulevard downwards, wide enough for the Y-wing to fit. There were no tall trees that line the footpaths, leaving him only to think about the streetlights, lamps and signs. Well no one had said that life should be easy. He started the descend gradually, because if he nosedived suddenly most likely would end up as a crater in the middle of the boulevard. The enemy fighter was shooting behind him missing him by a few centimeters, hitting the street that caused sprays of snow and dirt to fly upwards. When he reached the necessary height Snakeyes elegantly leveled the bomber, the droid foolishly followed him. It was a risk that Bravo Six decided to take, the Tri could easily shoot him down. The Y-wing was shuddering slightly every time the gunner tried to blow the blasted droid. From the lack of an exclamation he deduced that the man was not lucky. At least the automaton won’t be able to have a stable lock.

It was time for the trick he was planning to do. Before he could warn the gunner, Snakeyes made a sharp turn right and spiralled upwards nearly hitting a building. If he was correct, the Tri will try to make the same stunt. After he levelled the bomber, he checked the computer. The blip on the screen indicating the pursuer had disappeared. So he managed to outsmart a machine, though it was more with the help of luck. The droid could have calculated the distance and avoided the collision, but the move was sudden and irrational so it could not predict it. The computer indicated that they were entering friendly airspace, 49 could see the survivors of the Bravo Squadron. There were seven of them, they had all shaken off their pursuers. The still visible trails of smoke coming from the ground answered his unspoken question. The Republic SAMs had dealt with the droids.

“Mission control, this is Bravo Six, the operation was unsuccessful. I repeat the mission was unsuccessful. There are still enemy artillery assets out there in the city. They outsmarted us...”

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Sierra Halo - One Zero Niner, city of Kosmo

Xinaghar, 1630 hours

The droid gunship hung in the air “staring” at them ominously. Commander Rem was sure it was going to open fire any second now. General Tan was in no condition to flee, not only that, but she most certainly would die unless treated properly. The corpsman and the missile trooper were both dead, cooked by the explosion that took out the AT-TE. Thus fighting the large floating machine with only a handful of DeeCees is futile, to say the least.

The surviving Clones had taken cover behind the remains of the stone wall. Rem had dragged the General under cover as well. The Arkanian was even paler while as she tried to concentrate, using the Force to aid in reducing the loss of blood. One thing was for sure, this will be useful until she loses control over herself. He retrieved her lightsaber, it was so elegant and light, almost unbelievable that it was such a powerful weapon.

The droid has not opened fire...yet. There was a possibility, however slim, that it could not “see” them. The Commander dared a peek and saw that sparks were showering from the hull that bore multiple scorch marks from blasterfire. It had been in a battle recently and by the looks of it, the gunship had been victorious. After all it was still flying, so it was a safe bet that its enemies were killed. Though the victory must had came with a price, the sensors must be severely damaged thus reducing its capabilities. They would be safe as long as they don’t make any sudden moves. The Commander made the standard gestures, while his hands were concealed behind the wall, to the rest of the Clones to lay still.

The giant engine was roaring creating a strong gust that kicked snow and small pebbles around. The droid took another “look” around, then suddenly turned left towards a boulevard. Probably a standard patrol pattern was initiated or was going back for repairs. Either way Rem did not care as long as it was away and not posing any danger. It was time to call for reinforcements.

“Mission control, this is Strike Team Delta, do you copy?”

“Strike team Delta, this is Mission Control, we read you.”

“We need immediate extraction from Sierra-Halo One Zero Niner. We have sustained severe casualties and lost the walker. General Tan needs medical assistance ASAP!”

“Copy that, Foxtrot-Tango Oh-Nine-Three is in the vicinity on patrol duty. It will be at your position in three minutes”
They were going to send a Fighter Tank!?

“Mission Control, we need a gunship, I don’t think the FT will be fast enough!”

“I understand, but there is a complication that makes in impossible for a Larty to arrive safely. We have reasons to believe it won’t do you any good.”

The Commander stifled an urge to start shouting and cursing. After all, he was a professional and as such he couldn’t start acting childish. He took a look at the General, her pretty face was twisted by the pain, clearly she was losing the battle with the blood flow. Unfortunately the group’s medic and his kit were incinerated so there was nothing they could do to help her. The piece of clothing tied around the wound was already soaked with blood so he decided to place his hands on the wound to add pressure to help stem the flow.

“Alright Mission Control, we are waiting for them. ”

“Copy that, they are on their way.”

Then the connection was terminated. The Commander relaxed a bit and rested his back on the stone wall. He closed his eyes, this had been a long day. The sky was gray, soon it was going to be dark. During the cold seasons the days lasted shorter than in the warm one. The planet was away from its star at this point of the cycle and combined with its tilt of the axis made the days shorter and the nights longer. Muffled sounds of the distant explosions and roar of engines came to their position. The never ending battle for the city was still raging. At this moment he didn’t care, his mission was to save his General.

After a couple of painfully slow minutes the engine of the fighter tank could be heard followed by the red and white hull of the vehicle appeared. It was visible that the driver was in hurry. The FT passed near the still smoking hulk of the AT-TE and stopped in front of the rag-tag group. Quickly the back hatch opened and a couple Clones jumped on the ground and ran towards them. Rem was already carrying General Tan in his arms. He was surprised how light she was. He felt like the heroes in those stupid action holofilms they were showing the men to pass the time between missions. Cera did not protest, she didn’t have the strength to do so. The Arkanian was just staring at the visor of his helmet. The “action hero” was carrying his girl towards the sunset. But this was not a holodrama and the General was not his girl. Despite his affection for her such things were a taboo for both of them. Besides he could not, and would never, be sure whether she will reciprocate.

Rem was aware that his brothers were staring at him. Probably finally they will have a spicy topic to gossip about in the barracks. He knew that he could always excuse himself by saying that he wanted to bring the General to safety as quick as possible and that they were imagining things. But this would have been a lie and they would know it. The biggest problem would be that the rest would know that their Commander is a liar and coward who hides behind deception. That is why he didn’t say anything, just put General Tan on the stretcher that was lying on the metal floor of the FT. Immediately one of the two clones went back to assist him. Rem removed the bloodied patch of cloth and managed to clean the wound as well as he could. It had been partially cauterized but still the fact remained that it was a hole on her body that was bleeding. There were some parts that a thin crust had started to appear, thanks to the General’s attempts to minimize the blood loss. The Clone applied a bacta patch, the substance will help her recover and speed the healing process. He retrieved a portable scanner to check whether the internal organs were injured, luckily there was no problem Cera would recover but will have to remain out of action for some time.

The other survivors climbed in and sat on the bench at the back of the tank. The FT had a limited transportation capabilities. It could carry all of them though, so there was no point in worrying about that. The compartment was crammed, but hopefully they would have to bear with it for a little while. The Fighter Tank was a fast repulsor craft and probably it would take them to the barracks in 10 minutes. One of the crew was manning the topside gun and was also scanning for ambushes. The pilot nodded to the newcomers as the gunner sat next to him.

Shortly afterwards they felt the tank speeding forwards. Rem closed his eyes for a moment. His whole body was aching from the exhaustion. He couldn’t wait for the few hours of relaxation he was entitled to. No sooner than a couple of minutes passed when the vehicle shook violently. Outside they could hear the muffled but distinct sounds of explosions. The top gunner screamed then his limp body fell inside. There was a sharp piece of metal protruding from his neck. It was tough luck to be hit in one of the few weak spots in the armor. The man had been instantly killed.The Clones knew it would be unwise to remove the shard unless they wanted to be showered by blood.

Rem managed to get up so that he could man the gun. He didn’t want to risk the lives of his men. The Commander rotated the beam canon around as he was searching for targets. Looking back he could see smoke rising from a large hole on the wall. Something had struck it with enough power to cause such damage. There was something moving, then a large disc shaped hull passed through the billowing smoke. It was the droid gunship! Luckily, if this term can be applied for the situation, it was the damaged one. So there were some chances for survival, slim, but they existed. But still it would take only one “lucky” shot to blast them to atoms. The tank was shaking a bit and the vibrations made it hard to aim. At least the droid’s hull was large enough so it was unlikely for him to miss. The problem was whether the canon was powerful enough to pierce through the tough armor. Rem pressed the trigger followed by a straight blue beam shooting forwards. It struck the left side of the disk, but did hardly any damage and added a few more scorch marks. The fight would be very hard... A quad of crimson blasts came as a response. Probably the thing was running out of missiles. The pilot was a professional and managed to evade the shots. There were sprays of permacrate and snow flying where the blasts struck.

Then the machine fired its main cannon, but managed only to strike a parked landspeeder that exploded in a fireball as the fuel ignited inside. Someone won’t find their speeder when the war is over. Rem pressed the trigger again but the tank made a sudden turn right to avoid large boulder on the street. The blue beam pierced the wall of a building,broken bricks and pieces of glass sprayed out onto the street. Rem managed to “draw” a scorched line on the front wall of the building. The gunship launched a couple of missiles towards the fighter tank. It’s targeting must have been damaged, because the two projectiles passed next to each side of the vehicle. One of them struck another building spraying chunks of permacrete, masonry and glass. The other one pierced the window display of a small shop soon a lot more debris followed. Rem ducked to avoid the biggest and sharpest objects flying around and banging on the hull. This battle was taking too long for his liking. The machine was persistent as only one automaton can be.

“Commander, get in! I have a plan!” came the voice of the pilot.

Rem decided to listen to the advice and while going back in he closed the hatch. As soon as he sat back he felt the vehicle make a sharp turn. Luckily, he was in the front part so he could see from the driver’s viewport. They were approaching a restaurant at the corner of the building. They crashed through the glass and wood front wall of the establishment. They raced inside, fortunately there were no people inside the establishment as the tank smashed tables, chairs and other furniture. The dining area occupied the the left side of the building covering both frontal and back parts, the kitchen and the bar were on the right side. It was good fortune that they would not have to pass through permacrete walls or the robust kitchenware. The tank ploughed effortlessly through the restaurant and exited out through the back wall. Pieces of furniture, glass and wood scattered around the street. Then just as they were outside the pilot made another sharp turn facing the alley and stopped. Rem was about to protest when he saw the droid gunship making a turn trying to pass between the buildings. As it had turned its broad side vertically, the automaton became a larger target with its over sized engine facing the tank’s guns. The gunner opened fire with the side canons causing sparks and pieces of molten metal to rain downwards on the snow-covered street. The tank shuddered as a missile was launched hitting the droid directly at the engine blowing a large hole. The gunship lost altitude and ploughed through the pavement. The sound of the screeching metal was deafening, it is the dampeners that helped decrease the intensity of the noise to a more bearable level. The twisted hull stopped moving after a few more meters. He could hear a collective sigh of relief in the internal channel, the danger was over.

“Uh-oh...” said the pilot and with this the moment for relaxation was over.

“What is it?” asked Rem when he rose to his feet.
The gunner pointed at something in the sky. The Commander saw the white and yellow body of a falling Y-wing. There was black smoke trailing from its behind. The cockpit’s hatch blew away and a couple of seats ejected. The two figures were of the pilot and the gunner. Soon afterwards the frontal part of the body smashed on the ground and the main body split in two. The engine section was hurled forward. All was happening as if in slow motion, the large burning piece of metal bounced a couple of meters from the tank then flew over it and crashed around ten meters behind them. An explosion soon followed and pieces of twisted metals pieces clattered on the tank’s hull. Rem wondered why the pilot did nothing then just realized that all this happened in a few seconds so it was practically impossible to react in time and make the right call.

The Commander climbed up to look through the hatch. The street was filled with smoke from the burning wreckage and littered with twisted pieces of metal. The pilot and the gunner of the Y-wing ran towards the tank. So, it seems, they will be bringing a couple of survivors more...

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Meanwhile; Outskirts of Zimia; approaching Defensive Line “Echo”

When the long Separatist column approached the first defense line of the Republic, it halted at a safe distance. The fifty MTTs formed several lines, hovering at equal distance from one another. The hum of so many repulsorlifts was deafening. General Sheerah was observing the area from the top hatch of the command AAT. He had brought a sizable force with him for the offensive of the capitol. If the agents were correct if they managed to pierce through the enemy lines at this position they would encounter hardly any more obstacles along the way. Of course Sheerah could have bypassed this position but would have lost a lot of time doing so. Besides, there might be ambushes that could harass his forces and further slow the advance down. Also the defense force was sizable enough to cause enough trouble when they approach the capitol city of Zimia. If they don’t deal with them at this position they would be able to strike the CIS forces in the back.

Sheerah had studied the terrain carefully. They were passing through an open snow-covered field with some medium sized hills scattered around. The enemy position consisted of two rows of trenches with bunkers and pillboxes at equal intervals. The Togorian could see some heavy mechanized units like: AT-TEs, AT-APs, A6 Juggernauts and various other smaller walkers. The intel provided by the agents hidden within the Republic ranks described an artillery position consisting of AV-7, AntiVehicle Cannons. Sheerah could see them on top of a couple of hills, the CIS forces were out of their range denying the enemy the first strike. The Togorian looked up at the gray sky, he was expecting the Hyena bombers to arrive.

He could hear a distinct sound, multiple engines were approaching. Soon the sky was filled with multiple bombers speeding towards the defenders. They were escorted by Vultures and Tris as the enemy might have called air support. The crafts scattered to avoid the blasts coming from the AA and SAM emplacements. One bomber was struck by a crimson blast sending it spinning and burning to the ground. Another got hit by a missile disintegrating it in the air followed by burning debris raining down. Sheerah could see several more casualties, but the crafts’ numbers were too great to make any difference, at these point at least. Three Hyenas launched their missiles at an A6 Juggernaut, a deafening explosion and a large fireball followed. A Vulture got hit and it struck an AT-AP straight in the cockpit. At least it took an enemy with itself. The General could see that his forces are causing havoc in the enemy lines. He took his macrobinoculars to his eyes. He could see clones running around, trying to find cover or assisting fallen comrades. It was a pity that they were serving such a corrupt government, Sheerah sometimes sympathized with them as they were copies of Jango Fett - a man he deeply respected for his skills and reputation. Unfortunately they were the enemy now and that made them accomplices to the atrocities that the Republic was committing in the name of “democracy and freedom”. They pretended to be guarding those principles but in fact they were the ones that eroded their meaning. If the Galaxy is to survive and prosper the Republic must go down in flames and be replaced by a new order, a just one that will fight readily for all beings and not for the corrupt bureaucrats. The Togorian was thankful to Count Dooku for opening his eyes and helping him to channel all the hate towards more constructive endeavours.

A large fireball erupted on the hills where the enemy artillery positions were stationed. It was done, the General pressed several buttons on the datapad transmitting his orders to the rest of the ground forces. The MTT deployed all of their B1s, B2s and droidekas on the snow-covered field. Thousands of automatons were activated simultaneously and their slow march begun. They were followed by the AATs, Homing Spider Droids, dwarf spider droids and Persuader tanks. The hailfire droids launched their first salvo of missiles towards the enemy positions keeping the clones’ heads down in the trenches so that they could not do anything to prevent the droids’ march. Some of the missiles struck vehicles that erupted in fireballs. The STAPs joined the fray by adding to the chaos.

Feeling the freezing wind hitting his face as the command AAT moved towards the Republic lines, Sheerah felt excited. Finally, they were making good progress, Lord Sidious will be satisfied...

 

Another exciting chapter

I hope it won't be too long for your next installment

 

I am waiting for the issue with the truncated posts to be resolved to continue with the fic so please bear with me

 

Part 6

“Wars don't ennoble men, it turns them into dogs, poisons the soul.”

Outskirts of Zimia, Defense Line “Echo”

Xinaghar, 1725 hours

They were being overrun by the CIS, the enemy had destroyed their artillery positions. Most of the vehicles on the ground were reduced to smoking twisted wrecks. Sergeant “Corialus” or also known as CT-3794 tried to organize a line in the trench that he was stationed in. They were supposed to slow the droid advance until the LAAT/i’s arrive and take them back to the capitol.

A Clone next to him got pierced by several shots from a Super Battle Droid. The enemy had approached their positions and were able to do real damage to the defenders. Corialus blasted the droid with several shots in its head. Another salvo of missiles from the Hailfire droids started raining on top of them. They did little actual damage to the Clones but were enough to pin them down and break their morale. Thus enabled the droids to advance to the trenches. Snow and charred dirt flied around, the Sergeant could hear and feel small pebbles knocking on his armor. The familiar roar of the engines of a large number of STAPs followed, thus further worsened the situation. All in all it was a complete and utter chaos.

A Hyena shot by and dropped a bunker buster bomb on one of the pillboxes. Flames and molten pieces of metal flew out of its openings along with pieces of the roof erupting. Another set of E-webs died down, there were less heavy repeaters that mowed down the enemy lines. The bulk of the droid forces were approaching them at a fast pace. Some positions were already overrun and the troopers in those trench lines were slaughtered. One of his brothers who was shooting with a lighter model of a E-web got shot in the visor and pieces of plastic flied around, along with some blood. Corialus didn’t dare to look at the man, he was sure that the results will be gruesome.

After a split second of hesitation he decided to take the man’s position and ran to the repeater. The Sergeant pushed the body aside and gripped the handles of the weapon, he then squeezed the trigger hard. Blue-colored blasts started flying from the muzzle. He then slowly made an arc with the E-web hitting B1s and SBDs and blowing them to pieces. A droideka was rolling towards him so he gunned it down before it could unfold and activate its shield. The inertia carried the now inactive body forward, it missed him by a few centimeters and crashed somewhere behind him in the trench.
Corialus heard the distinct noise of an incoming STAP. After a second he saw the small vehicle spitting crimson blasts at another part of the defensive line. The Sergeant fired several shots but missed hitting the target. Then someone near him managed to get a shot and blasted its left engine sending it spiralling to the ground where it smashed several droids. ‘94 took a quick look to the right, there was a Clone carrying a rotary gun. The man was shooting wildly at the enemy destroying some droids, but they were innumerable. Whenever you blast one, two more take its place. It was like throwing pebbles in the Kamino ocean. The rotary carrying man got hit in the chest by a powerful blast throwing him back. The droid that did this was a dwarf spider.

Corialus managed to make several pockmarks on the droid’s hull when the E-web’s battery died. There were no spares and he already attracted the automata’s attention. The Sergeant jumped left as a blast flew towards him. It struck the back wall making a large hole. Meanwhile the droids had managed to break through the central part of the defense position. His was the left flank where the push was not that hard but this was going to change soon. At his side were less than twenty Clones left. A couple of fighter tanks came to the position to provide fire support. They blasted the dwarf spider droid, then launched in a quick succession a couple of missiles towards an approaching AAT. The tank’s hull was torn apart from the powerful explosion hurtling the turret to the sky. This surely got the attention of the rest as there were now heavier mechanized units approaching them: Tri-droids, a Homing Spider Droid, Persuader class tanks and some AATs, almost every vehicle type the enemy has.

Then came the order for an organized retreat towards the barracks area to defend the landing pad or what is left of it. This meant that the transports will be coming very soon. The remaining defenders climbed on the exterior of the FTs, other mounted BARCs and AT-RTs or whatever vehicle they got a hold on. The rest had to run. Corialus managed to mount an AT-RT, he then quickly powered it up so it “stood up”. They were all trained to use these mounts just in case and now he was glad for it. He fired several shots at the enemy and then turned towards the retreating forces. The distance between the defense line and the barracks was 600 meters, he could see some of the prefab cubicles were on fire with thick smoke pouring. The ruins will be the last line of defense until the transports arrive.

The remaining heavy vehicles have already taken position under the Anti-Aircraft cover. The enemy fighters and bombers tried to take shots but were promptly chased away. There were blasts flying around him, explosions big and small hurled snow and dirt everywhere. A fighter tank was struck by a missile of an AAT. Its backside blew up in a fireball sending jagged pieces of metal flying everywhere. Needless to say the Clones that were mounted on the hull were either torn to pieces or incinerated immediately. Some pieces of shrapnel killed several Clones trying to get out of the way. An AT-RT got hit in the right leg so it sprawled on the snow, the unlucky rider tried to get up but got shot in the head killing him instantly.

There were 300 meters more to the defense line, he could hear the screams of more Clones dying. This was a slaughterhouse, it will be a miracle if anyone actually survive this. The AT-APs opened with a salvo at the pursuers. The brilliant shots flew over the heads of the fleeing Republic forces. The helmet dampened the sound of the explosions that followed. Some STAPs harassed them on the flanks taking potshots at the Clones. The situation as he felt it was getting even more desperate. Their ranks were thinning each time one of those swift platforms made a strafing run. Some of the gunners manning the topside weapon emplacements of the Fighter Tanks managed to blast a good number of STAPs out of the sky.

They were approaching the forward positions of the last defense line. The ones that got there first stopped to receive further orders where to go. Corialus passed by a SAM site where a couple of Clones were carrying a Surface-to-Air-Missile from a box so that they could load the emplacement. The Sergeant decided that he will provide cover for this position so he turned the AT-RT to see any potential threats in the vicinity. As soon as the missile launcher was loaded it started swiveling seeking targets. No sooner than several seconds passed a missile launched with a swift swoosh. Corialus followed the white trail to a Hyena bomber that was not even able to launch its counter-measures. It blew up in a big ball of fire sending twisted pieces of metal to rain down.

The surviving forces took their positions in the last defense line and started gunning down the relentlessly marching droid forces. They were doing so under heavy barrages of AT-APs and a few surviving AT-TEs and even a Juggernaut. Everywhere on the field geysers of snow erupted. The surviving Clones took cover wherever they could find. Corialus’ walker shook as he opened fire with its main cannon. He managed to blast several B1s and shredded the chassis of a SBD. Suddenly he got distracted by the sight of incoming Vultures, a couple were blown out of the sky, but the others were approaching fast. The remaining four launched a missile each at the enormous Juggernaut. A violent explosion followed, the blast was so powerful that even the ground shook. A couple of AT-APs that were near the multi-wheeled vehicle were sent falling to the ground.

This distraction proved disastrous for the Sergeant, an AAT approached them and fired at the SAM. The shock wave that followed the explosion smashed the AT-RT sending Corialus flying towards the snow. The armor cushioned the fall, despite that his whole body ached terribly. The Clone managed somehow to turn on his back with a considerable effort. He could hear the familiar sound of the incoming Larties. This meant that they were saved. A gunship that flew over him got struck by a blast sending it to the ground. He was sure that there will be other casualties as well. The Sergeant tried to stand up and as he managed to sit up a stray blaster shot pierced his helmet ending his career instantly.

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Venator-class Star Destroyer “Pride of the Republic”

1800 hours, Coruscant

Alpha studied the information provided to him about Xinaghar. On the first glance the planet did not look that important, but when you put it in the big picture of the ongoing conflict it could play an important role. It has a highly developed industry and infrastructure. Given the location in the Mid-Rim it could potentially become a beachhead for the CIS to get back to the more important world. Or even threaten Coruscant itself. The developed industry meant that they will be able to churn droids with less expenses and at a higher rate. All in all Xinaghar has a strategic value after all.

Alpha switched off the datapad and rubbed his eyes. Earlier today he had received his orders. He was to lead the reinforcements for the city of Kosmo. Hopefully there will be Republic forces to save when they arrive. If not, the objectives will change - from reinforcing to retaking the city. He will be under the command of the Jedi General Voolvif Monn. Alpha was curious, he had never served under the Shivastvanen Jedi and hoped that he will prove to be competent enough to lead them in battle. He knew that Fordo was with Master Monn during the battle of Muunilist, but General Kenobi was there as well. The Commander anticipated the prospect to fight some clankers, as the Clones referred to the droids.

Alpha stood up from his chair, he needed to stretch his legs a bit. So he left his cabin on the Venator-class Star Destroyer “Pride of the Republic”. It was a part of a larger force that was going to Xinaghar. It consisted of six VenSDs, ten Acclamators, a Victory-class Star Destroyer and several smaller crafts. The footage that the agents brought showed that the CIS had sent a large task force as well. So the Republic had to make a suitable response to that threat.

It will be hard to break through the blockade even with that many ships. But this would be a problem for the navy and the fighter jockeys. So it will be a dangerous flight to the surface. He was used to danger, after all he is a warrior and it was a part of his everyday life. Alpha considered himself ready for what the CIS might throw at him...

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Outskirts of Zimia, Defense Line “Echo”

Xinaghar, 1847 hours

Sheerah opened the top hatch of the AAT. He wanted to “smell” victory. The first thing he saw was that the sky was overcast, they were expecting to snow sometime during the night. Not that it would matter to the ground forces, but will deny them air cover. The Togorian finally showed himself outside, luckily his thick fur protected him from the cold air. There was a strong smell of smoke hanging that also irritated his eyes. The battle had finished recently so there were hulks of different mechs still burning. The assault was a success just as he expected. The Republic forces were defeated and his, as a bonus of sorts, managed to capture intact a landing pad with its equipment. They will be able to station the fighters and bombers closer to the capital city.

The droids were spread around searching for any survivors. They were not supposed to take prisoners so if they found one they were ordered to execute him on the spot. He found this dishonorable and distasteful but this was not a matter of honor, but a simple practicality. Clones even captured could cause enough problems and when, or if, rescued they will just bolster the enemy ranks. Besides since the army at his disposal was 98% droids they did not carry enough supplies to keep them alive anyway.

Sheerah had called N’eroth to send some C-9979 transport ships so that he could replenish his losses and proceed with the assault on the capitol. He had already divided his forces into several columns to take control of the smaller settlements and outlying manufacturing capabilities and warehouses. The General observed as the four enormous transport ships descended slowly, piercing the dark grey cloud cover. The roar of the engines was powerful and their repulsors kicked snow and dirt around the frozen field. After a few moments they landed and slowly the big bay doors opened allowing the ramp to descend. Each carried 11 MTTs and a different assortments of assault mechs. As he observed the tanks, mechs and troop transports disembark he hoped that the forces that Lord Sidious had promised him arrive sooner than the expected Republic counterattack. There were enough droids to capture the planet but not enough to hold it...

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A couple of days later

Zimia, Xinaghar, 2000 hours

It was dark and cold outside on the streets of Zimia. Not to mention silent, except for the distant sounds of explosions as several of the enemy columns had reached the outskirts of the city. The GAR forces managed to withdraw most of their units from the surrounding settlements before they were overrun. While fleeing towards the capitol they blew up some of the bridges and severed the mag-lev lines along the way. That managed to delay some of the CIS columns that were headed towards Zimia. As a result of that they were not experiencing the full brunt of the enemy assault, for now. The rest of the enemy forces were expected to arrive in the next few days.

Adrias was walking through one of the empty streets of Zimia. It was covered in snow, no-one bothered to sweep it, so every step he made resulted in a crunch. Household items laid half-covered in snow were scattered around the pavement, along with rubbles from the destroyed buildings and other rubbish. He was accompanied by a small group of Clones. Their task was to investigate leads of saboteur activity and to find their hiding spots. In the days since the initial bombardment and the assassination of General Valentinian the number of acts of sabotage increased. The Clone Intelligence managed to track down some of the groups. So Adrias and his group were tasked to rout them. There was another reason why he was doing this. Adrias was sure that the saboteurs were connected not only to the Separatists but to the Prime Minister as well. Thus far they had little success in gathering any substantial evidence to confront him. Of course Stark and Master Mundi were convinced of Bor’soff’s guilt, just needed proof to sway the general population.

They had managed to capture several of the enemy collaborators, but they could not reveal much. Somewhere out there must be enough evidence to prove that the Prime Minister was acting in accord with the CIS. No that they will be able to do much, but this way they will be able bring the hidden enemies to the light. Then they will have to find a way to convince Bor’soff’s supporters, at least the ones that could not decide whether to support the CIS or the Republic, to join them. The battle for control over Xinaghar will be long and difficult.

The group reached the sewer shaft that they were supposed to use as an entrance. The Clone engineer brought a crowbar to open the hatch, as it moved Adrias felt relieved to be wearing a ARF trooper armor and helmet. He was sure that the stench would be very intensive. When the warm air from within met with the cold one outside a thick plume of mist formed coming from the sewer. One by one the group started descending silently. They were reaching the most dangerous part of the operation. As he stepped on firm ground again he checked his helmet’s HUD for analysis. It showed that the temperature and dampness levels were relatively high, which was not a surprise. Adrias activated his nightvision as there was hardly any light. Using the Force he stretched out with his feelings to check whether there was an immediate danger for them. Except for a few minor lifeforms there was no ambush and he could not sense whether there was a trap. So he hoped that this time he was correct or this whole operation will be ruined.

Everyone knew the location they were supposed to hit, for their assistance the HUD displayed a minimap with a blinking red dot. Luckily the distance to the target was not so long. They had to use the sewer system so that they would not alert the enemy if they showed up on the street. The fact that they left it unguarded spoke volumes of their arrogance and sense of security. Which means that they were generally accepted by the population and even in some cases aided. It also meant that whoever is in charge was an amateur, or maybe they were walking into a trap. There were far too many unknowns for his liking.

It took them around ten minutes to reach the place. The group was supposed to breach the wall that will lead them to the basement where the saboteurs were supposed to be meeting. The schematics showed that the wall was not so thick, so with some simple charges they will be able to blow a hole so that they could pass. Hopefully the intel they had acquired was reliable and at that moment there must be a meeting of one of the cells. There must be a way to capture them alive for more information. A Clone Engineer activated the explosives then placed several charges at key positions.

Adrias could feel that there were people inside and his only hope at that moment was that they were the right ones to capture. The group divided in two flanked the explosives on both sides at a safe distance. The charges were designed in such a way as to direct the blast towards the wall so they were relatively safe. At least they will have surprise on their side. Hopefully the flying bricks and masonry will knock someone out.

The engineer counted the seconds using his fingers before pressing the button of the detonator. Luckily the helmets dampened the sound of the explosion as surely in this confined space would have been deafening. Not waiting for the dust to settle down Adrias activated his silver-colored lightsaber and jumped straight through the hole. What he saw made him pause for a few seconds. There were two people sprawled on the floor unconscious, one more reaching for her gun. What shocked him was the presence of two commando droids and a MagnaGuard.

Before the woman saboteur could draw her blaster pistol Adrias knocked her out with a quick Force push. Just as she hit the wall the Magna leaped forward trying to strike the Jedi’s head. Adrias quickly blocked the weapon, even through the filters he could hear the sound of the cracking energy. The visor dimmed the light as it could blind him in such a close proximity. He could sense the Clones trying to pass behind him to shoot the commando droids who have already taken positions. The two combatants blocked the firing line of both sides so they will have to become involuntary spectators until the duel was over.

The MagnaGuard was pushing Adrias’ silver-colored blade towards his face. The tension was growing inside his body. The Jedi reached for the Force and with a sudden move of the blade forward he managed to shove the droid backwards. The automaton did not lose its footing though, it just rotated the staff in front of its face at a high speed creating a circle of light. Adrias made a cautious attack to the left side, but was unlucky, the droid blocked the blade just as he was about to pierce the torso. He quickly moved the blade back before they reach another impasse. The IG droid quickly seized the initiative and made a swift sweep towards him. It was Adrias’ turn to block the attack, though the automaton got lucky too and almost hit him. Adrias jumped to the right, then before the MagnaGuard could react he made a diagonal slash. The droid fell apart with a loud clank, the molten edges glowed in red and orange before they started to cool down.
Just as he turned his attention the commando droids who were about to open fire on him the Clones gunned them down. This whole development worried him, the saboteurs had managed to smuggle droids in the capitol, which meant that when of the brunt of the enemy forces arrive they will have secret passages at their disposal. The Republic Intelligence will have to process and analyze the data gathered. His primary mission just changed, finding evidence of the Prime Minister’s treachery will become a secondary objective. He will have to find and seal the secret passages. Time was running out fast, any day now the CIS will be at Zimia’s doorstep.

As he went outside, he removed the helmet to feel the cold air. It was completely dark outside, except for the distant flashes of explosions. The enemy was approaching and soon Zimia will once again become a battlefield.

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Somewhere over Rostov fields,

Xinaghar, 2030 hours

Grey Squadron was flying over the frozen Rostov fields outside of Zimia. They were hunting for enemy columns coming towards the capital city. The scouts reported that after the CIS took over defense line “Echo” they divided their forces. The latest report showed that they had managed to take over several villages and smaller outposts. There were now five large columns marching towards Zimia. It was the mission of Grey Squadron to track one of them and deal as much damage as they can.

The Republic Forces could not afford sending a large number of troops to stop them. They could only dispatch fighter bombers or small groups of Clones to make hit and run raids to bleed the enemy. Gray Squadron was one of the few surviving units on this part of the planet. The recent bombardments of Zimia made sure that the Republic lose a lot of fighters and bombers along with the necessary equipment and infrastructure. Luckily there was another fighter base in the area. So with some delay there will be some air support for the ground units.

Gray Squadron, which consisted of twelve ARC-170 fighters, were stationed in the town of Karab. It was a quiet and boring place, having around ten thousand citizens. In the town there was a medium sized spaceport used mostly for import and export of goods. Whereas the one in Zimia was for tourism and people flying in or out of the planet. Karab was the lifeline for the capitol as Kosmo, the biggest spaceport is away. The town is situated thirty kilometers South-West of the capitol well out of harm’s way. Unless Zimia falls of course, then it will become the last line of defense for the Republic.

CP-1111 or also known as “One” was the gunner of the lead fighter. He was checking the systems before entering into combat. Everyone in the squadron could not wait for this engagement. They were going to hurt the enemy, hurt it hard. The fact that the clankers won’t be able to do anything about that made it sweeter. The reports on the targeted column indicated that there were no AA-units.

“Gray Squadron, this is Gray Leader,” came the voice of CP-4334 “Mer” “We are approaching the enemy column. You know your orders, I want everyone to come back alive, no heroics.”

Everyone acknowledged that they understood. “One” started the procedure of arming the proton torpedoes 1 and 2 for launch. It was after dusk so he had to rely more on the targeting computer. The gunner observed the usual representation of the radar’s ping, it looked like a ripple created in a pond. The Identify Friend or Foe system activated itself and showed a large amount of red dots in the vicinity. Several kilometers from their position.

“This is it men, lock S-foils in attack position!” came Mer’s order.

“One” activated the necessary switches then the craft shuddered a bit and slowed down. Their targeting computers were slaved to each other so that everyone could see who was targeting what. A red rectangle moved around the screen identifying the red dots and giving brief info about the targets. Their primary objective was to hit as many MTTs as possible then, if they had enough missiles, to destroy some of the assault mechs. “One” targeted a couple of transports, one for each torpedo. He then checked whether the others had “painted” their targets.

They were approaching the danger zone, despite not having anti-air mechs the droids could still hit them with portable missile launchers and the battle for Naboo from thirteen years ago showed that the AATs possessed the limited ability to shoot at flying targets. He could barely restrain himself from sending the missiles, but this will only alert the enemy and they will scatter before everyone could unload their pair of missiles and do maximum damage.

Upon reaching the previously predetermined distance every gunner pressed the triggers. A combined number of twenty four proton torpedoes launched towards the enemy column. The sheer speed with which they were flying towards the enemy made it impossible for droids to react in time. “One” could barely see the white trails in the darkness, but the fireballs that followed were visible enough. The opening salvo was a success, each craft hit their targets.

While the other two torpedoes were armed the targeting computer started tracking lighter armored enemies. The crosshair stopped at a blip, which the computer identified as a dwarf-spider droid. He squeezed the trigger followed by a stream of emerald lines which illuminated the dark sky. There was a brief flash as the droid got destroyed.

The other ARCs scored more kills as well. They were circling like preying birds looking for a kill. From the ground the droids made uncoordinated attempts to shoot them down. Some fired missiles from shoulder-mounted launchers but their tracking systems are so primitive and the simple release of flares made them overshoot their targets.

The second set of missiles were ready for deployment so “One” watched the targeting computer attentively. The crosshair moved wildly on the screen trying to pick a suitable target. The fighter made another turn over the enemy forces. The fighter was shaking from the shockwaves of the explosions on the ground. The other ARCs were scoring hit after hit and Gray Leader was lagging behind. This situation has to change if they were to avoid to become the laughing stocks of the squadron. It was when they finally turned the targeting computer had a solid lock on another MTT that was trying to flee. The ground was lit up from the numerous fires from the burning hulks. So One was able to see how the transport exploded. The back part was torn to pieces that flew around and the front hatch was blown forward by an enormous fireball.

With a brief shake the missile was launched. One followed the brilliant trail of the torpedo until it reached its target. There was a brilliant flash and flying molten debris. Splash another transport, the other torpedo was ready for launch and the targeting computer was seeking another piece of enemy hardware. Then a target was found, an AAT that was trying to shoot down one of the Greys.

The tank made some futile attempts at firing at Grey Seven but the blasts did not even came close to hitting the fighter. The sky was lit up by the flying crimson shots. The missile hit it in the back causing the turret to be shot up and disintegrating the whole body. One pressed the trigger on the blaster cannons at a group of battle droids who were trying to run. He could see geysers of snow and dirt flying up followed by pieces of automata as the blasts reached the group. The second torpedo was ready and the computer locked on another MTT. The missile hit it square in the frontal area, piercing through the front hatch and blowing it from within.

“Grays, sensors indicate that the enemy is sending bogeys our way. Cease the attack, we are pulling back.”

As everyone acknowledged the fighters broke off from their attack runs and turned away in the direction of their base. It was dark outside, the cloud cover made the night even darker. In the distance One could see the distant flashes of explosions. They come from the direction of Zimia, it seems the enemy got to the capitol after all...

 

It's good to be back I apologize for the long delay, hopefully I will be able to update more regularly (no promises though ) Anyway, I would like to thank Corellian_Outrider for his input as Ahsoka and the padawans.


Part 7

VenSD "Unstoppable" en-route towards Fresia
1100 hours

It has been several days now that they have spent on-board the Star Destroyer. Dennii tried to avoid the company of the other Padawan, a female Togruta, called Ahsoka Tano. Not that she disliked her peer, but she felt uncomfortable. After all Ahsoka was very famous amongst the other Padawans. Dennii felt that her abilities are mediocre at best so she tried not to spend much time with other Jedi learners. Unfortunately from time to time she and her Master had to work with other Jedi and these moments put a lot of pressure on her emotions. Maybe the fact that she had spent most of her apprenticehood away from the Temple was the reason for this.

Along with Padawan Tano and Master Koon came a group of younglings who seem to be acquainted with Ahsoka. They were supposed to come along for this mission on Fresia to learn about diplomacy, a rare occasion during this war. Dennii didn't know much about what their objectives were. If she remembered correctly there was something regarding an armed militia and dissatisfied workers at InCom Corp. So she guessed they were supposed to find out more and possibly broker an agreement. Dennii hoped that this time the negotiations won't end with a battle as the last time. This war made people irrational and more violent than before. So her hopes about a peaceful resolution were not high.

Padawan Sunwalker was walking towards the mess hall. She tried to avoid looking at the clones passing by in the corridor. Dennii felt uncomfortable with seeing all the identical faces and their helmets didn't improve the situation that much. She and her Master were a bit out of the loop with the current war. She wondered how can her peers be OK with all that.

When she entered the mess hall Dennii saw that Ahsoka and the younglings were there too. She sighed inwardly and hoped that they didn't see her so that she could sit alone and not be reminded of her inferiority...

One of the younglings couldn’t contain their excitement and pumped their fists in the air causing a few of the others to growl and nod in agreement. Ahsoka smiled at Petro’s exuberance at being away from the temple with the others again. The younglings had grown since their shared and ill-fated encounter with the pirates off Ilum... and Grievous’ attack on Florrum, mused Ahsoka, but they still have long ways to go yet.... and they can be quite a handful.

A flicker of movement behind the young wookiee, Gungi, had caught Ahsoka’s attention and her blue gaze lifted and focused on a figure that had entered the mess hall. A young woman, long blond hair and wearing the traditional garb of a fellow Padawan learner. Ahsoka was not familiar with this Padawan but she assumed she was the one Master Plo had said was assigned to Master Dondarion for this mission. It would be good to share the company of a peer and might also be good to inspire some of the younglings with her experience.

“Padawan Sunwalker...?” Ahsoka stood up and bowed her head to the other padawan.

Dennii stiffened slightly as she heard her name. Ahsoka had noticed her and there was no way to avoid sitting with the rest. Not that she disliked them, on the contrary she was very fond of her Jedi peers but always felt uncomfortable in their presence. Dennii tried to regain her composure when she approached the group.

“Um...Padawan Tano...” she reciprocated the salute with a nod but cringed inside for feeling awkward.

“Would you care to join us?” Ahsoka smiled warmly and gestured to where they were sitting.

The younglings had turned to see the other padawan. “Another one.” one of them whispered in awe to the other. They shifted to either side so that there be a space for her amongst them.

Dennii managed to form something of a smile on her face at least for the sake of the younglings. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad considering how the children reacted to her. At least her long absence from the Temple had erased her from the memories of her peers and the younglings. It wouldn’t hurt if she at least acted confident.

“Sure...um...I don’t see why not..” Dennii said and moved to sit.

Passing by the young wookiee she ruffled his hair with her gentle fingers and sat between the young tholothian girl and the nautolan boy.

“I think introductions are in order...” Ahsoka looked to the younglings starting with the Ithorian and made their way around the table.

The Ithorian gurgled in which Ahsoka translated in basic for him “Byph”. Then the female Rodian, Ganodi, Gungi the wookiee, Zatt the Nautolan, Katooni the Tholothian and finally Petro the Human.

Dennii smiled, this time a bit warmer this time. ‘Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all..’ she thought.

“It is nice to see you with us.” her diplomatic training kicked in “I am Dennii Sunwalker, Padawan Learner of Master Lightbringer.” she avoided mentioning her Master’s true name as he preferred it that way. Of course the Council and some of the other Jedi knew him by his original name and not the alias but Dennii decided that he will appreciate she to avoid using it. Dennii was not sure whether she should add something more but an idea came “You all seem to know each other and Padawan Tano...” Maybe not the best statement but it was better than just shutting up after her introduction.

“Padawan Tano was the one who took us to the Gathering.” Katooni spoke up.

Gungi growled and lifted his pudgy furry arms.

“Yes, Gungi.” Ahsoka pursed her lips. “A... complication had arose after the Gathering and we-”

“We fought pirates..” Petro jumped in, “and droids! Then General Grievous showed up and Ahsoka almost defeated him-”

Katooni and Ahsoka both glanced to Petro before looking back to Dennii.

“The situation was more complicated than that...” Ahsoka frowned on the inside from Petro’s impulsive remark, the danger was very real and the reality of it had not stuck entirely with him. He is still young, it will grow out of him. At least he is watchful of the others now, that was one good that came from it. “We all worked together and overcame it together.” Ahsoka finished.

“My Gathering was not that exciting.” smiled Dennii “Though these are different times but you young man” she turned towards Petro “should not crave such adventures. Hopefully this time there won’t be any on this mission.” she mused.

“Yes, Padawan Sunwalker.” Petro’s tone lost some of his earlier excitement but demonstrated that he is learning to restrain such emotion. “I will do my best.”

Maybe she stepped on the wrong foot, but the boy needed to hear this. Dennii was trying to find a way to get out of this situation and not lose too much face by doing it. Her own life was exciting enough and it did not include too many battles. She wondered what would Jori have done in her place. “Don’t worry the life of a Jedi is exciting enough as it is.”

Ahsoka smiled at the words Dennii had given the youngling. It was true, while they had been told that a Jedi should not crave adventure by Master Yoda, excitement certainly followed them wherever they go. Ahsoka wondered if the same was for her. “Dennii, how has your travels been fairing?”

Dennii stiffened a bit but managed to remain calm “Well, we mostly avoided the path of the war, which narrows down our travels to a select few systems. We were trying to persuade the rulers not to secede from the Republic.” she deliberately avoided speaking of the Union, which was a sensitive topic at best “We also had some encounters with our Separatist counterparts... Believe it or not the CIS are more insidious in the fields of diplomacy than on the battlefield. And they can be very persuasive as well.”

“Oh, I believe it.” Ahsoka agreed as she remembered back to several incidents, from the blockade of Pantora to the visit behind enemy lines on Raxus. “There are innocents on both sides of the war... though some of them have caught up so deeply and believe so strongly in their cause that they have made themselves blind to some of the wrongdoings that elements of their cause had... inflicted.” She took a sip of the water. “What were their representatives like?”

Dennii thought for a moment “Some of them were just corrupt officials trying to bully and bribe their way in disregarding the local customs. Others were smart idealists who used their charisma to persuade. These were the hardest to ‘beat’ in the negotiations. Very much like Count Dooku...” she didn’t finish the sentence it was an awkward topic to talk about Dooku among Jedi. At the beginning of the war some supported him, some opposed him, others were neutral and didn’t want to have anything with the war effort.

Ahsoka nodded, they sounded like they were wising up to their previous methods and trying different forms of diplomacy in order to sway the locals. What was it that was so important for them to be delicate and persistent than resort to sending an invasion fleet to subdue the population. What were they after? Or were they invited by a party within their government? “Were you and your Master able to resolve the issue?”

Dennii sighed “Unfortunately not on all planets, especially when the second type of negotiators were involved, maybe you have fought on some of the worlds me and my Master were unable to sway the local government to remain in the Republic...”

“Yes,” Ahsoka’s voice went sombre, her hand reached up and cupped her right lek. “Some were enslaved by the side they chose to join... only after did they realise their mistake, after it was too late. That is how loyalty is awarded to subjects that the Separatists deem expendable.”

Dennii nodded in agreement “We tried everything short of threatening the governments but couldn’t do it. I hope this time it will be different...”

Ahsoka wondered that too, there was no real way to tell how this situation will unfold. Feeling aware that several pairs of eyes were watching the exchange, Ahsoka gave an encouraging smile for all their sake. “I am sure that this time will be different, we are here for the peaceful negotiations.”

“Indeed, at least this time the Separatists are not involved in this for a change. Are you familiar with the situation and what our mandate is?” She looked mainly at the younglings as she was aware that Ahsoka and Master Koon were there if everything falls apart or the CIS appear. The children on the other hand were there to observe another aspect of the Jedi’s life - peaceful negotiations and the preservation of life.

Ahsoka knew that the dispute was something to do with the contractor that produces the ARC-class Starfighters for the Republic and that with parties belonging to the native population though some of the details were a little hazy. “It would do us good if refreshed ourselves with the situation and what to expect, there are some finer details that I am not too familiar with.”

Dennii didn’t know that much about the mission but didn’t want to reveal it. But there was no way to get out of the situation.

“Well I am sure the two Masters that are with us will give them to us when it is time.” she smiled.

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CIS controlled territory of Kosmo

Xinaghar, 1710 hours

They were stranded behind enemy lines. The droid forces had taken most of the city of Kosmo and the Republic defenders were pushed back towards the Aximand spaceport. They were losing the city to the CIS and soon they will have all the necessary facilities in order to prevent the Republic from retaking the planet. But that was for the future… CT-92146 or Loken and the surviving members of the 13th and 7th Armored Regiment of the 841st Armored Division had other problems at present. He was the gunner of the mass-driver cannon of the AT-TE call sign “Bantha”, part of the long line of the surviving elements of the division. It consisted of 10 tactical enforcers and 4 AT-PTs.

They were given orders to break through the encirclement in the northern part of the city and move to assist the defenders of the spaceport. Loken hoped that the rest were faring better that they were several hours ago when they left. After they learned that General Tan was incapacitated, the defense broke. Now there were several big pockets of resistance and some smaller ones. All in all the Republic was losing ground fast.

He could not allow himself to think about that now, had other issues at present. He had to pay attention to the surrounding urban environment as he maneuvered the cumbersome vehicle through the tight enclosed spaces of the city. Someone had the bright idea to send a tank column through the streets of the city. They were big, slow-moving targets crammed between the tall buildings. There was a gnawing feeling that they were being herded as they were crawling through enemy territory. This was the worst scenario, having your foe choose where to meet in battle and you have no choice but to walk into a trap.

The streets were deserted as they should be. The city’s population had taken to hiding from the skirmishes by concealing themselves within public shelters or their basements. As they should be, Loken liked it that way, so that there won’t be any civilians running around when the blasts start to fly. The road and the debris that littered it were covered by the snow. Even up there in the turret he could hear the crunching sound of smashed masonry and the twisting of metal pieces laying around the street. The buildings were pockmarked with holes, whole pieces of walls were gone, black marks on the facade where fire touched it. Loken wondered how people will rebuild when the war is over, once a lively city full of people now was a ghostly and deserted place.

The weather didn’t improve the picture as well. It was growing dark by the minute and the sky was still overcast. Flurries were flying around and gusts of snow were swept from the streets. It was too dangerous for the walkers to use their floodlights otherwise it would alert the enemy to their presence. Instead, they had to rely on the built in night vision filter of their helmets. Everything turned emerald and white. There were some brighter spots where fire was still burning. There were bright flashes in the distance where a battle was raging, the booms followed soon after.

Loken looked around to see whether there were enemies at the windows. Not that he expected that they will be easily spotted but he needed something to occupy his mind. There were Clones on foot checking the ground floor for hidden foes. The “Bantha” was the second AT-TE in the line. The AT-PTs were spread around as scouts to check out for ambushes. Loken saw one passing by on one of the parallel streets while they crawled through an intersection.

Something caught his attention, there was a figure on the roof on a mostly preserved building. It looked like a human or humanoid being. The person took something from beneath… What was that? A tube!?

“Watch out!” he shouted on the comm. channel “Bogey on the…” he was cut of by the sudden flash as a missile flew towards the lead walker. The cabin exploded spraying twisted pieces of metal and glass around. The front legs buckled as it crashed down with a screeching noise. The troop hatches on the right and left side and the top one opened. Plumes of smoke billowed from within. The surviving clones inside ran out but were met by blaster fire coming from the windows of the buildings on each side. They had sprung a trap…

Loken used the joystick to turn the turret around looking for a target. There were more than enough to choose from. Blasts were raining everywhere, it seems that in each building there were enemy teams hidden in the rubble, waiting for the exact moment. Reports came that the last walker was down as well. So the only options left were to go either left or right which meant that the enemy is directing them somewhere or are just slowing them down. Loken saw two figures in one of the rooms. That would do… He pressed the trigger, the walker shook from the blast. Pieces of masonry, along with the building material erupted. Two foes down, unknown number more to go…

Scarlet blasts ricocheted on the armored plating of the walker around him. This made him nervous as they were getting closer to him and it will take only one hit to kill him on the spot. Something caught his attention, there were no droids. It seems that the Seps didn’t trust the collaborators after all and left them to do the menial jobs. Unfortunately there was no time to take advantage of that. It was funny, the human enemies were more competent than the droids the Seps were throwing at them. Behind him the other walkers were blasting the buildings.

“Bantha” lurched forward, the driver had made the decision. Loken hoped the man made the right one as they will be leading the rest of the column to another trap. There was no time for them to wait for enemy reinforcements to arrive and slaughter them. The Seps made a mistake of springing the trap when the column was near the intersection. So, not that smart after all. The Walker knocked down one of the traffic lights, the tiles on the pavement crunched beneath it. The big machine needed room to make the turn. Loken rotated the canon to the side as not to hit the wall of the nearby building and damage it. He turned back to see what was that commotion. It seems that two of the drivers that followed the “Bantha” were panicking as they were able to crash their vehicles into each other making a racket. He could see the armor buckled from the hit.

There were groups of foot soldiers who were trying to keep the enemy at bay. Some had broken in the buildings to flush out the assailants. Other part had moved forward, down the street to sweep for any other traps and link up with the AT-PTs. Suddenly another missile struck an AT-TE. This time though it struck the main body, which was heavily armored, so the damage was minimal. Unfortunately, the top-side gunner was not so lucky. If the explosion didn’t kill him then the shorting out of the system would have finished the job for sure.

Loken bit his lower lip, this mission was turning into a disaster. Then something took his mind out of this as he saw a light cargo landspeeder approaching them. Its back was cut and an autocannon was put on a tripod. As soon as it appeared the autocannon opened fire at Bantha scorching the plate. Loken turned the joystick, the crosshair moved on the small screen, as the turret turned. When it was over the speeder Loken didn’t hesitate and pressed the trigger. Another recoil and the vehicle blew up, spraying the street with twisted metal bits and snow kicked around by the shockwave.

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CT-2619 “Odo” almost ducked when he heard the explosion. He had been jittery since his group entered one of the buildings to flush out the assailants. He hated close quarters battles, they got on his nerves. He wanted to train as a sniper back in Kamino, but they told him he was to be a regular grunt. His creators didn’t give him a choice, they just stated in their irritatingly calm voice that he does not have the necessary aptitude for being a marksman. Or they just didn’t bred it in him, he will never know and it didn’t matter, at least not anymore.

The building was dark, only some of the emergency lights showing the exits were working. This and the fact that it was silent inside, aside all external noises and the vibrations from the moving walkers, made the situation eerie. The building was a mess, clothing, pieces of furniture, food and broken glass scattered around. All this painted in green, as his nightvision was activated. As he passed around the different apartments there were bursts of light as there were fires still burning from the recent battle.

He got tapped on the shoulder by his squadmate. They were in a squad of six people tasked to sweep the fourth floor of the six-storey building. Why he didn’t use the internal comm line was beside Odo.

“There is a thing called a commlink, it is built in in your helmet, you know...”

A hesitant pause.

“Yeah, but they might be listening...”

Who were they, that was never specified. Though there was sense in the CIS to try and tamper with their communications. For all their capabilities the Seppies were not able to breach the defenses, or were they? Now was not the time to ponder on such issues or he will turn out like his squadmate behind him. The fact that a psychotic and maniacally paranoid person was watching his back unnerved him more.

Reports came that the other squads had started the “cleaning” of the building. The enemies were few, but you can’t be too sure. He knew that more such teams were sent in the buildings down the street to sweep up any more ambushes. The floor shook a bit as the building was rocked by a shockwave. The Walkers had blown something up on the street. Some shots were heard coming from upstairs, along with some muffled screams.

Odo and his squad mate decided to check one of the apartments. It was a mess inside, not only the looters had passed through the place but a missile or a projectile had struck it. The wall was gone, what was left of the furniture and the carpet were burnt. He felt lucky that he had a helmet on as he could imagine the stench. Odo still wore the old phase-I armor (at least the one that was for cold environments). For some strange reason the GAR could not outfit every soldier with new armors. It became a form of distinction between the veterans and the greenhorns. There were even Clones using parts of different armors, they were pain to look at. Luckily they were too few. In some units, such Clones were considered as mascots and thought to bring good luck.

Unfortunately, there were none in his unit. That explained why they were given the worst jobs. This soured his mood further, but again this was not the place nor the time for such issues. They finished checking the apartment, there was nowhere to hide inside after the place had been ransacked. He didn’t want to think how these people are going to rebuild their lives after all this is over. Most of the civilians were in refugee camps down south, or in public shelters and the lucky few were off-planet. At least he didn’t have to worry if he hits someone since the only civilians that are most likely to be still on the streets would be either looters (the Clones were allowed to either shoot them on sight or stun them), or enemy agents, or Republic sympathizers (who were more and more scarce these days).

The corridor was as deserted as before. Odo felt frustrated, this was taking so long. If they were to proceed in this glacial pace they could easily forget about the spaceport. On the other hand if they were careless they won’t reach the place at all.

After a few more minutes they received the all clear signal. They were to move forward. The other teams had checked the rest of the buildings down the street.

“Finally...”

*****************************************************************************************************

The AT-PT callsign “Matchbox” was patrolling one of the streets that was parallel to the course the column was taking. CT-4321 “Cutter” felt comfortable inside the walker. It was relatively warm, protected from the cold wind and there was some amount of armor between him and the enemy blasts. Not that he was a coward, maybe it was his training. He had spent so much time in this walker so it practically became home. Even when they were between battles he went to check on the vehicle while on the transport ship. Cutter was sure that he creeped out the engineers who did the maintenance on-board the Venator. He knew that some of his brothers exhibited some similar peculiarities.

Having fought almost constantly, with a little shore leave, made some of the Clones crazy or at least eccentric. The fact that he was aware of that made him less insane, or at least that was what Cutter hoped. Nevertheless, the protective environment of the AT-PTs soothed him. Though this was not the time to relax. He was scanning the buildings for any living or mechanical target. The AT-PTs were the only walkers that were able to progress around the narrow streets and maintain a higher speed. The AT-TEs were scanning the boulevard but they were not strong enough. Despite the fact that they had powerful sensors they were lumbering beasts that have limited mobility in the city. Not that it helped the column much as not a couple of hours had passed and they were ambushed. Now it was Cutter and his men’s tasks to sweep the side streets for other surprises.

The feeling that they were herded remained. Also there was a distinct lack of droids or any Separatists’ armor, aside of the vehicles utilized by the local traitor militia. The fact that there were enemy agents among the people who the GAR were sent to protect unnerved him. For the last few days he had been looking behind his shoulder, half-expecting a knife in the back. Some of the non-Clone soldiers were good enough, exhibited some heroic traits, but still you never know. There was a case of a highly decorated soldier killing all of his squad members because he had been a Separatist agent all along. The report mentioned that he had been very respected by his peers and according to them a Republic patriot. This proved that no Clone was safe around these guys.

The walker’s sensors picked a small number of mechanical signatures. Possibly a droid patrol. So, the Seppies don’t trust their allies either. Cutter smiled under the helmet. The weapons were powered up and ready. He was approaching an intersection and the signals were coming from the road on the left, they were moving as well. The walker came to a full stop around five meters from it. This time Cutter was going to do the ambushing.

The first couple of droids appeared marching. They had red markings on their shoulders and no backpacks. So there was a command center nearby, since they didn’t carry their extra battery packs. He had to report this finding to whoever remained alive to command the column. A command center nearby presented them with a dilemma - to attack and try to destroy it, or proceed towards the spaceport. This was not a decision that he was going to make, which suited Cutter fine. Both options spelt disaster for them as they were impossibly outnumbered. So they had to decide where to inflict the most damage.

But it was time to blast some droids. He checked the crosshair, a red silhouette of an automata appeared. There were ten of them, walking in pairs. ‘The fun start here...’ it was the motto of a holo commercial he happened to see once. So this is how these things work, they drill ideas into your head… Another distraction. He didn’t waste any more time and pressed the trigger. Since the cannon had enough power to pierce through lightly (and in some cases medium) armored vehicles so the beams mowed through the flimsy droids. Blowing them up to pieces. There was not enough time for them to say one of their silly lines like ‘Roger, roger...’ or the like. Only a minute had passed since the slaughter started. Cutter was aware that by destroying the patrol he had announced that there were Republic forces amidst the Separatist lines, depending on whether the local anti-Republic resistance had informed their droid masters of the column’s presence. Most likely they had, but nevertheless, one can’t be too sure.
The dark sky in the distance got illuminated by a series of missiles and projectiles fired towards the general area of the spaceport. There had to be an artillery position, along with hailfire droids, nearby, the droid patrol came from that way. Cutter checked the position of the column on his computer. They were headed the same way, he had to warn the driver of the lead walker that they were going to stumble upon enemy armored vehicles. This time they won’t be fighting a hodgepodge of repurposed civilian speeders, locally produced tanks and walkers. This meant that there would be a heavy casualty rate. Business as usual then...

 

So good to see this up

 

I would like to thank Corellian_Outrider and Jerjerrod-Lennox for their support and contribution as Ahsoka, Captain Terric and Plo Koon!

Part 8

CIS controlled territory of Kosmo

Xinaghar, 2025 hours

The column took another turn and now was crawling through a pedestrian street. This seems to have been a commercial area of the city as the walkers were flanked on both sides by different shops, boutiques, cafes and restaurants. Most of the windows were broken and parts of the merchandise laid scattered on the pavement. The looters must have fled in a hurry as there were a lot of items laying there, half-covered by the snow. Loken wanted to protest the idea of passing through this narrow space, but as usual no one will pay any attention. Not that they didn’t know that this was a disaster waiting to happen, but the captain was adamant. ‘The boulevard could be lead to a trap.’ he said. Those non-Clone officers had no regard for the lives of their troopers. They were nothing more than organic droids to them. This one, it seems, had suicidal tendencies or wanted to become a hero. The latter was worse. The graveyards were filled with hero-wannabes.

The disembarked soldiers were checking the shops around them for hidden traps. The overcast weather, the snowfall, and the fact that it was night didn’t make this process any easier. There was something unnerving having to crawl through deserted streets of this ruined city. If it wasn’t for the racket that the walkers made, the silence would have been eerie. It was basically a ghost town and given the amount of people that had died during the numerous battles for Xinaghar this description could be taken quite literally. Probably more were going to perish until this is over. The pavement underneath the big walker was crunching. It was not made to support heavy vehicles on it. At least the street was wide enough for two AT-TEs to walk side by side. There will be a problem if they had to maneuver as there was not enough room to turn around if the road ahead was blocked.

All in all the prospects were grim. Maybe the tiredness from the constant fighting in the last few days was taking its toll. Some of his brothers started taking stims just to stay awake, though they numbed their minds and reduced their alertness. They needed reinforcements badly. The good thing was that the planet was deemed important, so someone higher up on Coruscant will decide to send them relief. At least that was what his brothers talked about. Though it started to feel like wishful thinking. The alternative way of viewing things didn’t help either. All in all it was hard to remain objective at that moment.

Something caught Loken’s attention. At the far end of the street there were flashes of artillery fire directed at the spaceport. They had stumbled upon a fortified enemy position. The foolish officer with his idea to avoid the enemy as long as possible led them directly to the droids. This time there will be armored vehicles - AATs at least. He debated the idea of whether to say something. Probably the forward scouts had already reported this to the lieutenant. If only he was an officer he would have had access to the built-in cams on the helmets of the soldiers. Though considering the bleak situation maybe it was for the best not to see what was lying in front of them.

“We’ve got multiple hostiles in the vicinity.” came the voice of the AT-TE driver.

As if he didn’t notice the flashes from the bombardment. To be fair this warning was for the rest of the Clones that were riding the walker who didn’t have the luxury of being able to see everything going on. A part of the troopers were already on the street sweeping the buildings, but most remained on-board their vehicles. Some got killed in the previous skirmish, others were injured and unable to proceed on their own. Normally the wounded would have been extracted and moved to the field hospital but since there were hardly any vehicles that could be spared for that purpose those unfortunate souls would be treated by the medical droids on-board. Some of the vehicles were extra crammed as they had to carry the survivors from the destroyed walkers. All in all you can’t have three hundred people on foot and to try and navigate through a narrow space.

Loken saw one of the spherical probe droids that some of the scouts had been carrying. Those things were lifesaving in situations like these. Unfortunately they didn’t have enough with them in order to prevent the fiasco that was the last ambush. Probably the poor souls from the front and back Tactical Enforcers would have survived. Or maybe not, given the abysmal survival rate these days.

The column received an order to hold position. Loken saw the scout groups gather on the street. They were deciding how to approach the enemy positions. He checked the main gun’s scanners - no lifesigns, but there were droids in the vicinity. They were outside the visual range of the tinnies, but for sure they must have detected them by now. Loken saw one of the ner’vods approach “Bantha”, probably came to take some anti-tank weapons. The foot soldiers were supposed to distract the enemy long enough so that the cavalry could arrive and deploy on the square. It would be bad if the lead walker was blown up and block the progress of the rest of the column. This time there will not be any crossroads to turn to another street and avoid the bottleneck. He followed the groups spread around and disappear in the ruins. Then, no later than five minutes, the shooting started. Blue and crimson flashes flew around followed by brief flashes of explosions. This was the cue for the walkers to start moving. The enemy had been engaged.

The walker was slowly approaching what seemed like a square. Probably that was the enemy position. If the holo guidebooks that he found on the HoloNet these were usually places for street art, probably there would be a fountain or a big statue in the middle. There would be cafes and restaurants along with an administrative or a culturally significant building. The good thing of not having civilians around was that there would not be anyone to protest if any of the cultural artifacts got damaged or destroyed. Loken, like most main gunners, didn’t mind blowing things up as long as there were enemies. A couple of fireballs rose above the ruins. It seems the forward forces had engaged the seppies.

Loken felt the walker increasing its pace. Now that their brethren had announced their presence the column had to reach the square before the droids recuperate and create a bottleneck by blowing “Bantha” up. If it was warm probably his palms would get sweaty. The tension was rising, it was like in the holomovies. Loken could almost hear the soundtrack to this moment - something starting a bit slow, then a build up until they reach the enemy line when it will explode into a crescendo. He took a mental note to avoid holomovie nights at the barracks or in transit between battles.

There was an eerie glow over the city. It came from the multiple fires that were burning all over it. Loken wished for an aerial view, the vista of the ruined city spectacular in a haunting way. This war was turning him into a cynic. There was a kind of beauty in this kind scenery… Maybe it was time to go to see a counselor. Were there any psychiatrists embedded to the Grand Army of the Republic? Or the rumors were true, that there was a unit that gets “rid” of the Clones that got “defective”. Maybe that was for the best, since most of his ner’vods won’t be able to adapt to a civilian life. Not after this war...

The AT-TE reached the end of the street. It was now or never. The square was just as he imagined. At least what remained of it gave some hints of how it looked like before the war. There used to be flower boxes. Some of the trees were cut down. A circular fountain was in the middle. At least used to be. Now it was all ruins and craters with pieces of pavement flung all around it. On the opposite side there was a line of AATs and several hailfire droids. Three of the tanks were already blown up, their burning hulls were hovering, their repulsors still active somehow. One of the tanks looked different somehow, different color scheme and there was a now twisted antenna protruding from the back of the turret. Loken wondered whether the commander was organic or just another OOM series droid? Was he … it even in the vehicle when it blew up? The missile had struck it from behind so the inside must have been blown out from the front. A brutal way to go.

But the sightseeing had to stop. There were three more tanks, a couple of dwarf spider droids and six hailfire droids still remaining intact. Most of the enemies were already preoccupied with fighting the troopers that had taken position inside several of the buildings. Smoke and fire was billowing from most of the windows. His brothers should send a “thank you” note to the person who had the idea of giving them helmets with filters and armor with internal heat management. Basically they could survive this hostile environment, unless they don’t get shot of course.

“Bantha” was clear from the street and they had to turn right so that the rest of the walkers could spread around. The bad thing was that the square was not big enough so their survival will be dependent on the reaction time of the gunners. A classic Mandalorian stand-off, or was it Corellian? Irrelevant at the moment. A wild shot flashed over his head. It came from an AAT, it seems that the tinnies had recovered from the initial surprise faster than they were. “Bantha” was saved by the sheer inadequacy of the droid gunner. Why did the Seppies even bother?

Unfortunately, even the droids could score a hit sometimes. Loken used the joystick to turn the turret to face the assailant. He saw that the tank’s main gun was also moving into position. It was a matter of time before the walking scrap metal had a target lock on “Bantha”. But this time it was him who was faster. Loken pressed the trigger, a sudden backwards lurch and the projectile flew out of the muzzle. It struck right in the hemispherical part of the main body of the AAT. The command crew must have been destroyed. The ammo belt was just above the point where the projectile pierced the main body. A spectacular explosion followed, throwing the turret in the air.

Loken smiled under the helmet. That was more like it…

********************************

VenSD "Unstoppable" en-route towards Fresia
1100 hours

Eddard was sitting in the conference room of the Venator. On top of the long ebony table there were different datacards scattered around. He was reading all the materials the Order possessed on Fresia and InCom Corp. and it there was hardly anything that indicated that all this trouble was caused by someone who actually lived there. So there must be an outside influence at hand. This is what worried him, the Separatists were hardly using negotiation anymore, they took direct action wherever it was needed to oust the Republic. He hoped that the workers and the local militia groups were not foolish enough to have fallen for the promises of the Separatists. Dooku’s people didn’t care much for the collateral damage and the civilian casualties. There has to be a way to stop all this madness...

From the last report he could read that some of the workers at InCom Corp. were taking arms and refusing to work. This did not give a hundred percent certainty that there was a CIS involvement. Even if there was none, for sure they will take advantage of the situation one way or another. That was his mission, to prevent the CIS from taking over Fresia or taking its production facilities out. This will harm the further conduct of the war as the stream of fighters will decline for a time.

Eddard sat back on the chair rubbing his eyes, he had spent the last few hours doing the research. He felt the familiar presence of Master Koon approaching the room. The old Jedi had few dealings with the Kel’Dor Council Member in the past. He tried to avoid a direct contact with the High Council as it brought too many memories, memories he wished he could erase. Eddard had refused to take a seat on the Council back when it was offered to him. His past encounter with the Sith ghost over that swampy planet so many years ago left him scarred internally up to the point when he started doubting himself. Even worse, doubting his commitment to the light side of the Force. It was Dennii who brought him back on the right path.

"Ah, Master Dondarion.” Came the deep voice of the Kel Dor Jedi as he inclined his head in greeting. “I see that you are early."

"I was reviewing the data we have. Trying to figure out the right approach to solve the problem at hand. " he replied as he stood up.

“And have you found a solution yet?” there was a trace of humor in the otherwise expressionless voice as Plo Koon moved over to the conference table.

Eddard chuckled. “Unfortunately, no. There are things that worry me. Things that don’t add up.”

The Kel’Dor Jedi simply nodded as he gestured to the datacards on the table. “Once again the Chancellor was vague in regards to what appears to be the problem there.” He stated as a matter of fact.

It was the old Jedi’s turn to nod. “This, and the lack of evidence that the Separatists are involved at all.”

“Perhaps.” Plo Koon folded an arm across his chest as his hand cupped the bottom edge of his breath mask. It gave the impression that he was stroking his chin “Or perhaps not. Water is not always crystal clear and the surface rarely betrays what is lurking below the depths. Further investigation is required to get to the true core of the situation once we arrive. Tell me, which elements of the data hold your concerned?”

Dondarion frowned “This doesn’t feel like the usual Separatist sabotage. It is too subtle if it actually is. You know how heavy handed they are.” he paused “This protest looks genuine enough to be the work of the CIS. Unless Dooku is personally involved.” the old Jedi chuckled nervously “I am not sure which alternative is worse.”

“The production of a manufacturing facility hindered by labour disagreements with the native workers. In a time of peace this matter would be contained at a local level by the senator of the system. Sounds like a legitimate cause, does it not?” Master Koon right brow arched upward. “However, since the facility is owned by the InCom Corporation and they are responsible for the production of Republic’s starfighters…”

“You don’t have to sell it to me, but nevertheless there is something wrong in all this.” he smiled wearily “I almost hope that the CIS to be involved in all this. If not, this can become a large problem for us as an Order.”

The old man went to one of the consoles embedded in the table and activated the holoprojector in the middle of the table. A bluish 3D image of the planet hovered and different symbols flashing around and on it representing important facilities and the ships guarding.

“Also there is the problem with InCom...” he paused “They are not so… how to put it… pure as they want to look like. There is that business with Subpro...”Before he could say anything Captain Terric entered the conference room. Eddard could sense that the man had something to report.

“Ah, Captain Terric, good that you could join us.”

The light brown haired, blue eyed Corellian Captain of the Unstoppable, Milos Terric strode in and performed a crisp military bow.

“General, Ambassador, my apologies for disrupting your briefing, but my comm officer has been monitoring comm traffic throughout the surrounding areas to see if there are any updates from the Republic.”

Terric paused, then continued.

“It looks like there is some Separatist activity on Xinaghar. There are reports of heavy fighting between Republic and Separatist forces on the planet, particularly in the capital city. I think things are about to get a little tasty down there….”.

Eddard concealed his shock and turned to Master Koon “If I am not mistaken, Xinaghar lays right on our path to Fresia.” he rubbed his bearded chin “This makes sense, I believe Fresia is in danger. I am not a military strategist, but I believe that we should assist Master Mundi there. I can take a hyperspace capable shuttle to our Fresia to try and salvage the situation before the CIS strikes there as well.”

“You’d also need a bit of firepower as well Ambassador” said Terric “I can provide a couple of ships from the fleet to assist you. Fleet Command may not like it, but the way I see it if the soldiers down there need our help, then I would not begrudge them assistance”

“Hmmm… the Captain is correct Dondarion.” Plo Koon inclined his head. “If Xinaghar falls, more Core Worlds will be susceptible to Separatist attack. If their motives are to push for Fresia from Xinaghar then they will gain a foothold along the Metellos Trade Route… not only will that diminish our supply of much needed starfighters but leave Coruscant and other core worlds vulnerable to attack.”
The Kel Dor folded an arm behind his back and gestured with the other.

“If the situation is dire then a counter attack will fail before it arrives to assist our assets there.”

Eddard almost flinched when Master Koon mentioned his real name. Maybe it was time to start using it again. The time for hiding from himself was over. He nodded to the Kel Dor, what he said made sense. The old man felt out of his depth, he wished that Master Fay taught him a bit more about warfare but she did not care for such things ‘We are peacekeepers, not warriors. We are diplomats, not soldiers. We are servants, not commanders.’ this is what she said to him when he asked her about combat training. Even Master Yoda had to intervene and assign him a Master who can teach him how to wield a lightsaber correctly and not cut off a limb.

“Either way, we need to act swiftly. What is your assessment captain? How many vessels can you spare and still be able to hold on until the reinforcements that Master Tiin is bringing?”

Terric folded his arms across his chest and thought, trying to utilize his knowledge of tactics.
“Six or seven ships,tops” he responded after a moment “I unfortunately have no information as to what the situation is regarding the ships that are there at Xinaghar, but hopefully this small group can hold them off before the backup arrives. I could instruct the rest of the fleet to continue on and wait for us at a waypoint near Fresia.”

He then rubbed his chin “Hopefully this battle at Xinghar won’t be too long as we cannot leave Fresia in the state it’s in at the moment. With a full fleet we would have a better chance at engaging the Separatists that are stationed there”.Plo Koon gave a grave nod. “We will be going in blind. Normally communications and sensor data from the system are blocked every eight to twelve hours by interference from Xina, the F-class star that makes the sun to Xinaghar’s system.” The Kel Dor Jedi Master adjusted the controls on the holotable to show the system. “There is an irregularity to the spin of its axis that causes an increase of cosmic radiation to pulsate from the photosphere. There is no harm to the habitable planets due to a stronger magnetosphere though outbound communications are jammed during this phase. To counter this, a ring of satellites are arrayed around the system to stabilize the outbound transmissions.”The map altered to show the Xinaghar system and the communications array. Though one by the several of the satellites flashed red. “However, ever since the Separatists attack, several of the satellites became offline making it difficult to get an accurate picture of what we are up against. Before Ahsoka and I were transferred to the Unstoppable, I was given this report. One of our agents had supplied us with this information…”The map updated to show several ships that made up of the Separatist strike force. “These are a few hours old and not a true reflection of what is there now.”

Eddard couldn’t restrain himself from pointing out an error in what Master Koon had just said. “From what I read from the reports about the planet, hours is not the exact word. For all we know several days had passed even maybe a week.” he paused “Hours or days, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that we are close enough to render them assistance so that our reinforcements could arrive and not jump right in the middle of a trap.” Dondarion frowned “There is the question of what should we do with the children? Should they come with me or stay with Ahsoka Tano?”

Plo Koon’s brow furrowed. “The younglings have shown how intuitive they are and demonstrated their resourcefulness. However, they have only just completed the Gathering and not prepared as our padawans are for a self defence in combat situations. It might be best for them to be taken under your wing until we join you again. Hmm. It be good for them to learn the subtleties of diplomacy and negotiation. Will you be fine with them?”

Eddard nodded “I think so, yes.” an, uneasy smile creeped on his lips “Unless the Separatists catch up on us at Fresia. This might be the shortest negotiations in my experience if I am right.”
The old Jedi entertained the idea of leaving Dennii with Master Koon, she needed the combat practice. He was not a good teacher in regards to fighting so this might be beneficial for her. “What about my Padawan? I suggest she to stay with you Master. She is capable enough and you will need all the help.”

“Padawan Sunwalker? Hmmmm...” Plo’s brow arched and then nod. “She is welcome to come. I am sure she will work well together with Padawan Tano on this operation. ”

Eddard nodded “This is what I thought.” he turned towards Terric “Captain, are you certain that our forces will be enough to hold the CIS forces long enough for our main forces to arrive?”

Terric folded his arms across his chest and thought again, any miscalculation could result in hundreds of deaths, ships lost and the rescue mission a failure.

“I can confidently say yes, we should be able to at least provide a distraction for them, long enough for the main fleet to arrive and assist those on the ground”

Eddard smiled and tried to look reassured. He was no expert in military matters so he decided to trust the man and his expertise.

“I hope the troopers that we have on-board will be enough to boost at least in part our ground forces on Xinaghar?” the old Jedi turned to Plo.“It is just the sort of thing Commander Wolffe and his wolfpack live for.” The Kel Dor answered.

Eddard nodded “Good, now all that is left is to inform Coruscant of the change of plans.” he paused “May the Force be with us on this matter...”

********************************
CIS controlled territory of Kosmo

Xinaghar, 2025 hours

Odo and his squad were given the sweeping duty again. Was it so hard to allow him to stay in the walker? He was sick of jumping at shadows and the ruins provided ample opportunities for being scared or stumble upon an ambush. The first who were going to get hit were the troopers that were on foot sweeping the area. If only the Kaminoans had allowed him to be a sniper, he could have crouched inside a nice cozy building blowing the heads of the clankers or an occasional CIS sympathizer. His eyesight was not good enough they said, but is good enough to force him to check destroyed buildings, sewer hatches or whatever hole the enemy might use for cover.

The squad leader took a small spherical probe droid from his pouch ‘Now he decided to use these...’. They had to have more of these things, it would have made their lives easier. The higher ups on Coruscant didn’t care for their safety, the only thing they cared was to cut costs. But this did not explain why he didn’t use the remote earlier. Maybe the non-Clone officer ordered him not to? But what has changed? Odo understood the idea of not questioning his superiors, but this was absurd. He decided to remain silent though, given how tense was everyone he could face a court martial and possibly a swift execution. He had heard the rumors of those death squads - clones tasked to execute any of their brothers who showed disloyalty. The rumors also mentioned that in every unit there is at least one of these “commissars” for the lack of a suitable word who were always vigilant. Odo hoped that, if there was any grain of truth in the gossip, the ner’vod (could he call them that still?) who was embedded in his unit was dead or at least incapacitated.

“Hey Lt.! Why didn’t you use the probe earlier?”

Odo cringed. There is always at least one idiot within the unit. Hopefully this guy will take the full brunt of the anger if there will be one. At least afterwards there will be one fool less. Nevertheless the question was valid. He checked the indicator on the HUD, the question was heard only by the people from the squad. At least the guy, CT-3515 Lightningrod (a suitable nickname), was sensible enough not to broadcast it to everyone. Odo fixed his stare on Lt., the ner’vod was not an actual lieutenant but a sergeant but everyone called him Lt. and the name stuck.

“I know, I know.” sighed their leader.

Odo frowned, was that an agreement? He checked again whether they were broadcasting to everyone or just to their group. At least Lt was smart enough to keep it to a few people.

“So?”

“Our non-Cloned commander ordered me not to for some reason.”
Grumbling followed along the one who heard that. Odo was not sure whether he liked what he heard. It was unusual that a sergeant shared such information. Something was going on. Did he miss something?

“That chakaar...” could be heard and other more creative insults could be heard.

Were they paying attention at all? Did they forget that they were on the battlefield, this was not the time for this. They needed supervision from Coruscant. Discipline was breaking down, that was visible. His brothers were planning mutiny, which was unheard of. Being cut off from the rest of the GAR had this effect. Everything was falling apart and without proper discipline they will be slaughtered pretty quickly. Unless a miracle happens and the Republic actually sends someone to save them.

“Well...” started someone and Odo didn’t like the sound of the voice “...accidents do happen on the battlefield.”

This guy vocalized this, there was no turning back now. A mutiny was brewing and their demise is following. Once gone on this path there was no redemption. If anyone else knew of their plans they will be executed as potentially defective. You can’t have soldiers who were planning of killing their superior officer. Odo almost wished they will stumble upon a trap and his brothers’ attention will pointed at the right direction - destroying tinnies.

“Uh oh” came the voice of Lt. Another time Odo would have dreaded this sound but in this case it meant that at least his brothers would concentrate on the real threat.

“The probe found the viper’s nest.” Lt. transmitted the images that the probe was broadcasting. Everyone could see the square and the armored vehicles and artillery that the Seps had massed.

Lt. signalled the column to slow down as he and his group made their way and assessed the situation. A couple of the Clones ran back to the lead walker and disappeared inside of it. After a few moments they ran back each carrying a tube and a satchel with missiles. The probe signalled that there were not enough guards posted. It seems the Seppies were expecting a frontal attack. This time, for a change, the element of surprise will be on the Clones’ side. This information also told that the enemy’s numbers had thinned as well. Also there was a suspicious lack of organics, you can never trust a traitor. It was both funny and sad that the CIS collaborationists didn’t see how the Separatists were using them as cannon fodder to be exterminated so that in the end they will have the planet and its infrastructure for themselves.

Lt. shared his attack plan with the rest. It was straightforward - kill the sentries, blow up a tank or two, then hold the enemy until the cavalry arrived to save their skin. Good, the more complex the plan the more likely it is to fail. He wondered whether the droid guards had noticed them already, not that they were so stealthy in their approach. Not that you can hide that many walkers in these narrow streets.

“Listen up, boys, we are splitting into several groups. We are going through the ruins, the probe sent a scan of the nearby buildings and it indicates that there are breaches large enough for us to pass through. We will take out the sentries and engage the enemy. Understood?”

Despite the reassurance of the not so complex plan Odo felt sick. Knowing that the enemy is most likely aware of your presence. This meant that they needed to move fast, shoot accurate and hold the line until the walkers arrive and save them.

Odo got lucky and was assigned to Lt.’s squad. Maybe he was suspicious and needed to keep an eye on him if he tried to foil the mutiny. Or maybe he was going to be sacrificed? His mind wandered again. If he was to survive he had to avoid such distractions. If he was to be killed he will know the moment and hopefully react in time to prevent this from happening. Maybe it would be for the better if someone shot him, that way he wouldn’t risk being executed for something that he never had done or considered doing.

They were creeping through the ruined buildings. They were inside what was once an office building. It was not a tall building it had five storeys. The top ones had collapsed from the blast that had brought down half of the building. The bottom two floors seemed solid enough, so kudos to whoever built it. Odo checked the other teams on the minimap. His group had it easy, they didn’t need to crawl through the ruins of other buildings to get to their position.

They were on the ground floor, Lt. said that they needed to go on the second floor or higher, depends on whether the stairs were blown up. Odo had doubts about the structural integrity of the building. The second floor should be enough for their purpose. The lobby was littered with pieces of masonry, glass and other trash. The receptionist’s desk had been burnt, the computer terminal had been stripped by looters and the chair lied smashed on the floor. Odo saw a small room at the back, it must have been the guards’ room, he could also see the stiff feet of the sentry protruding from the door. The guy must have been killed in the first hours of the war, tough luck. Or was he a looter, or a civilian trying to find shelter, or maybe a Republic loyalist executed for his ideals? It didn’t matter, the man was dead and there was nothing to be done.

The main staircase had collapsed so Lt. directed them to the fire escape. They easily broke the door and proceeded upstairs. The staircase was refreshingly clean and rubble or waste were absent. Some of the emergency lights were still working, since they had their own power sources that were not yet depleted. The shadows they cast were ominous, the problem was that they couldn’t use their night vision filters of their helmets. Everyone took their flashlights and fixed them either on the helmet or underneath the nozzle of their blaster. Each member of the group stepped carefully, you never know when the steps might cave in and everyone will plummet to their deaths. It seems the building had an underground garage since the stairs went down three levels. So if the stairs collapsed they will surely die or be maimed.

The group reached the second floor. Lt. pushed the door gently, that was what it took for it to crash on the floor causing the snow particles to fly up. Luckily the snow cover muffled the clang. Everyone switched off their flashlights as there was enough light. The second floor was mainly an open plan area with multiple cubicles and workspaces scattered around. Half of it was missing as it had collapsed. Lt. decided that they had to move through the side corridor as it looked safer. There were some bodies crushed beneath the rubble, but again there was no way telling who was a looter, or a refugee, or an employee that came to take something personal. They passed by the open area and moved to the corridor, a frozen water cooler bottle lied on the floor. The water had turned into ice and Odo feared that they someone might slip on it. The corridor was leading to some offices and judging by the wooden paneling here the big shots used to work.

That was when the first shots flew at them. The enemy sentry at the opposite building must have seen them. A stray blast hit a wooden piece inside the room where his group was and it bursted into flames. A second one followed piercing through the wall next to Odo. Small pebbles and puffs of masonry flew from the charred hole. Give a battle droid a sniper rifle and it will miss again. His group ran through the ruined corridor of the building. One of the Clones got grazed on his shoulder leaving a blackened armor. A muffled explosion could be heard from the outside and the floor rattled causing the snow that had gathered on the windows to fall.

Just as it started the firing suddenly stopped. Group Two must have reached the tinnies and destroyed them. Odo wondered when will they meet the droids guarding the building that they were in. Then the answer to this mystery presented itself in the form of a blast coming from the ceiling. Five more followed it, judging by its power and the rate of fire it was a Super Battle Droid. A crimson streak pierced the helmet of one of the Clones killing him instantly. There was nowhere to hide, blasts were raining on them and a couple more Clones got killed. Odo decided to take the initiative and pointed his DC-15 at the ceiling and returned fire hoping that he will at least pin down the enemy. Some of the others joined in and thus weakened the structural integrity of ceiling. Masonry and molten pieces fell on the wooden parquet. A powerful crack sounded as the top floor crashed on them. Another Clone got killed, this time by the sheer weight of the bricks. Dust covered Odo’s visor, he blessed the person who decided that they were to wear helmets with filters. He wiped it with his gloves, he wished that he had one of those fancy helmets that the Republic Commandos had that cleaned themselves.

A Super Battle Droid lost its balance and fell through the hole and it was immediately gunned down by the surviving clones. Odo squeezed the trigger as he saw a regular skinny battle droid peeking to see what happened to its “big brother”. The shot caught it in the neck beheading it instantly. The body took a few steps forward and crashed on top of the B2 droid with a deafening clang. Lt. signalled that half of the surviving group, which meant three, should go upstairs and engage the enemy. The rest were supposed to sweep the ground floor and proceed with providing cover for the Clone with the missile launcher.

The group advance towards the part of the building that overlooked the square. Lt. signalled that there were droids in the next room so everyone braced the walls while the leader threw an ion grenade. The HUD flickered as the grenade went off, they were too close but far enough as to avoid their systems from being fried. Odo peeked inside the room to see the results. A smoking hulk of a Super Battle Droid lied on the floor along with a couple of regular B1 droids. This must have been the manager’s office, judging from the fancy decor. One of the droids had a commander markings on its shoulders. Even the tinnies were vane…

“JJA” who carried the missile launcher ran to the broken window. Lt. too one of the satchels that hung on the Clone’s back and opened it. He handled the missile carefully as to avoid becoming a paste himself. JJA had prepared the launcher for loading so Lt. gently put the projectile and closed the opening. Meanwhile Odo tried to push the massive desk out of the way, but it didn’t even budge a bit so he left it there.

“Launcher ready!”

Odo and Lt. flanked their brother. Odo looked through the blown out window and saw a chaotic picture. Several AATs blown, hailfire droids rotating and trying to get a fix on the incoming AT-TEs. “Bantha” blowing up a tank. Dwarf spider droids and regular droids firing at different building already occupied by Clones or at the ner’vods who were on the ground covering the walkers. The beeping of the launcher could be heard, then a shrill indicating that there was a target lock came.

“Stand clear!” screamed JJA.

Odo and Lt. moved a bit to the side. A quick swoosh and the missile was away. Odo followed the smoking trail to its target. The ordinance struck right in the big gleaming eye of a turning hailfire droid. A huge explosion followed as the machine had been recently loaded with missiles itself. The shock wave smashed the nearby hailfire droids and caused their payloads to detonate themselves adding to the size of the fireball. The windows that have not yet been shattered blew sending sharp pieces everywhere. Another blessing to the guy who designed their armor. Some of the tinnies and Clones were kicked on the ground. Odo saw Bantha shake and an AAT lurching to the side while the repulsorlift was trying to stabilize itself. As impressive as the sight was, Odo was sure that this will bring the attention of any CIS force in the vicinity.

It certainly grabbed the attention of the droids that were on the square. At least the surviving one. A medium sized blast pierced through and blew a large chunk of the wall behind them. It came from a dwarf spider droid. They were prioritizing the targets that were a bigger threat to them. While Lt. fetched the second missile Odo sprayed covering fire. The ner’vods from upstairs joined in as well, it seems they were able to clear the floor. B1s and B2s were reduced to slag. The droidekas and the dwarf spider droids were tougher nuts to crack. Masonry and pieces of the wall were flying everywhere from the blast impacts.

“Clear” came JJA’s shout.

Just as he was about to squeeze the trigger, another blast from a dwarf spider droid struck the man in the abdomen kicking him backwards. It was then when he shot the missile. Unlucky for Lt. and Odo the rocket was not able to clear the room. Instead it shot to the ceiling, blowing it up and the front wall in the process. It happened so quickly that Odo could not react in time, not that he could do anything about it. His mind shut off, he was just a puppet thrown out of the window and in the snow below. That was when everything just turned black and he couldn’t hear anything anymore…

********************************

VenSD "Unstoppable" en-route towards Fresia
1120 hours

Dennii sat there silently as Ahsoka and the younglings spoke excitedly about some of the adventures that the young Togruta had been on with Anakin and Master Kenobi. The children stared at her wide-eyed as she recounted her encounters with Count Dooku, Assajj Ventress and other notable Separatists. Dennii saw how bored were the younglings when she and Ahsoka discussed the diplomatic side of the war. Who could blame them? All they have seen thus far were great heroes facing countless droids and defeating them or die trying. The negotiations are for the grown ups. She was worried about the future generations of Jedi. They were growing up during a war, hardly knowing any peace.

Dennii almost chuckled at the thought of Masters Yoda and Windu trying to “cool” the children down after the war. She didn’t like the diplomatic missions as well, but there was nothing she could do about that when your Master is one of the chief diplomats in the Order. She preferred sneaking out with her best friend Jori in the Union. Going around shops, sitting in restaurants or tapcafs, or museums … anywhere else but diplomatic functions or events in which you are closely observed and one small misstep can cause a disaster. Dennii hated being watched, she felt uncomfortable and always imagined that people are judging her.

Ahsoka’s azure eyes shifted to Dennii’s and gave her a knowing wink. “That was not the point, Pedro…” She responded to an overly enthusiastic but arrogant remark the youngling had said about pirates in regards to the Felucia incident from the previous year. Master Skywalker, Master Kenobi and herself had crash landed and stumbled upon a community that were being taken advantaged of by pirates. The farmers had paid for protection by bounty hunters to stop the pirates from taking their harvest though things had taken a different road. “... it is one thing to step in and protect them from the pirates that one time and it is another to teach the farmers how to work together and defend themselves. It is like the saying… give a person a nerf and they eat for a day, teach them how to farm and they can feed themselves.”

“But you could have minimised the casualties and loss of life.” the green rodian, Ganodi interrupted.

“Perhaps….” Ahsoka allowed the silence to linger. “But what happens to them when the pirates come back for the next harvest and the hunters and us are not there?”

“Oh…” the younglings said almost in unison. She smiled. “While we are keepers of the peace, it is not our role to live the lives of everyone in the galaxy for them. We cannot be everywhere at once. At least now they know they can stand up for themselves and rely on each other, together.”

Dennii felt a bit sick, the Jedi talking casually about using civilians in the war. This madness had to end soon if they were to preserve the very soul of the Order. It was not Ahsoka’s fault, neither was hers. Though, they were all complicit in one way or another.

She sensed a familiar presence coming to the mess hall. Dennii looked around towards the entrance. First entered the Captain of the ship, followed by her Master and Plo Koon. One of the junior officers jumped from his seat, the fork clanging on the metallic plate spilling the goo that was supposed to be the food.

“CAPTAIN ON DECK!” he shouted.

The young man seemed confused, as Captain Terric was followed by a Jedi General in the face of Master Koon. Dennii guessed that the officer preferred to acknowledge Terric. She could feel the subtle resentment in some of the non-Clone officers against the Jedi and this worried her.

“At ease Ensign” Terric said warmly waving him to stand easy. He then gave a crisp bow to the two Padawans “ Commanders, once again a pleasure. We have some news to bring you”

“Captain Terric,” Ahsoka’s lekku swayed as she respectfully bowed her head to the commanding officer, her eyes remained on his. “A pleasure as always,” the corners of her lips lifted and gave a small smile as she straightened back up and her eyes darted to the two Masters then back to the Captain. Her left brow arched a fraction, “Bearer of good news, I hope.”

The Captain’s warm smile faded “Decidedly not” he responded “ It seems we are to undertake a rescue mission, a situation has arised on the planet Xinaghar. General Koon and the Ambassador are about to fill you all in.”

Dennii rose as well and tried to bow in a not so awkward manner that she usually does. This time she decided to remain silent as to avoid saying something stupid. The younglings were on their feet trying to emulate Ahsoka. The news of the trouble both excited and worried them. Dennii frowned a bit. It was then when her Master stepped in to brief them.

“We intercepted some comm traffic indicating that the Xinaghar system is under attack by the Separatists. It is important for two reasons: the first one is that it is a major industrial world in this sector, the second one is that if Xinaghar falls Fresia will be next. That is why most of our forces will divert to engage the enemy until the reinforcements arrive. Me and the younglings are proceeding to Fresia to shore up its defense.”

Dennii felt the children’s disappointment. They will miss a big battle and will have to sit through a series boring negotiations. Before her Master could say anything more a Clone entered the mess hall. It was Commander Wolffe. The one eyed man looked grim. He seemed to be looking for them so he approached the group.

“Captain, General, Ambassador.” he saluted the two Masters and Terric then just nodded to Ahsoka and Dennii. “Ambassador Lightbringer your ship is ready for departure.”

“Excellent.” her Master lightened up then turned towards the younglings “Young ones, you should pack your things. We are leaving for Fresia.”

Dennii felt the disappointment growing as they were not able to protest or do anything to change their predicament. She felt the same, why was her Master send her into battle knowing that she couldn’t handle such situations?

“But Master...” she stepped forward.

Eddard shot her with a steely gaze. His grey eyes growing cold and distant.

“We will talk later.” he then turned to Master Koon and Captain Terric “I bid you farewell and may the Force be with you.”

Before either man could say anything he stormed off the mess hall.

‘What did I do wrong!?’ thought Dennii.

With the tilt of his head, the Kel-Dor Jedi Master regarded the Younglings who were frozen in place. They were surprised by the haste of the departed human Master. His filtered voice snapped them out of the daze. “I suppose you best get a move on if you are to make that transport.”

“Can we not go with you?” One of them pleaded. “We can be of use to you. Padawan Tano can-”

“I am sure you can be.” Plo Koon chuckled warmly and knelt down so he was at their eye level. “However, it is important for your development as young and aspiring Jedi to go on this mission with Master Dondarion. You may wish for action and excitement but that is not our way, we are the guardians of peace and justice and are bound to uphold our duty to the citizens of the galaxy.”

“Yes, Master Koon.” They slowly nodded in understanding. “We will get ready to go.”

“Very good. Remember, language is a powerful tool. It may seem like mere words but it has the power to change and shape the galaxy… it is mightier than the lightsaber.” Plo Koon stood up and folded his arms in front of his chest. “Farewell younglings. May the Force be with you.”

Dennii recovered from her Master’s sudden outburst. This was not the first time this has happened, he was prone to such mood swings. It was a remnant from his dark past, something he avoided talking about. She also tried not to pry as he will surely discover her attempts and then she will be in trouble. At least he controlled himself during the negotiations.

Wolffe stood there observing the Jedi impassively then turned to Terric.

“Captain, the briefing room is also ready. I have gathered the rest of the officers as instructed.”

Terric who had remained quiet during the exchanges between the Jedi suddenly snapped back to life.

“Thank you Commander, I shall join them shortly” he nodded at Commander Wolffe then turned to the two ladies “Any questions before I depart Commanders?"

‘Commander… that was new.’ Dennii thought. She was not used to be referred by her rank. She knew that the Padawans and most of the Knights held that position for some reason. This situation was out of her league so she decided to hold on to the only peer competent in military matters. Trying not to be too obvious about it Dennii gave a sidelong glance at Ahsoka. ‘What now? Are we supposed to be at the briefing?’

“Captain,” Ahsoka stepped forward, her left hand cupped the tip of her right lek. “May we attend the briefing as well? The intel can be invaluable and bring us up to speed for what to expect.”

Terric smiled “I don’t see why not, as you say the information could be useful as to whatever it is we will be fighting against” he gestured with his hand towards General Koon “I’m sure the General would approve”

********************************
CIS controlled territory of Kosmo

Xinaghar, 2025 hours

AT-PT ran through the ruined streets. It was a bumpy ride but Cutter paid no attention to that. The column had engaged the enemy before he could inform them of what lied ahead. It was bound to happen sooner or later, since the CIS controlled most of the city already. His walker smashed a couple of battle droids unlucky enough to be patrolling the street. He didn’t have time to shoot them down. Cutter didn’t turn on the floodlight to avoid any unnecessary attention to him. Everything was in different shades of emerald with bright flashes coming from the distance. He changed the helmet’s settings to filter out the flashes so that they won’t distract him.

A message popped on the HUD, Cutter looked at it. The other three AT-PTs were going to converge at a nearby point so that they can rejoin the column. The coordinates were transferred to the walker’s positioning system. A red colored route appeared on the map indicating the shortest possible way to it. An alarm went off as a blast struck the side of the Walker. It seems there were more patrols and sentries. As long as he was moving and the enemy does not have any anti-armor weaponry. A lot of unknowns to risk one’s life, but there was nothing he could do.

His Walker converged with the other three at a small square. After a brief discussion they decided due to the fact that the streets are too narrow they were to divide in two pairs. Cutter’s group was to take the street on the left and the other one to the right. Hopefully both pairs will end up at the same place if the map was correct. They did not deliberate that long and both pairs headed towards their designated path.

He and the other Walker did not make several steps when they were attacked by the sentries. Matchbox shook as it was struck by a heavy repeater. Cutter knew that the armor could not take that many blasts before the repeater pierce it. A stray shot hit the windshield cracking it a bit. Alarms blared that they would lose integrity soon. Another blast struck the top of the walker and sparks started to rain inside the cockpit. Cutter and his partner stopped, the cabins of both walkers elevated a but as they both launched a grenade at the assailant. A plume of masonry and bricks erupted from the place where the heavy repeater emplacement was. The blast also brought down part of the wall. A battle droid fell down crashing on the street from the third floor following the collapse of the wall. The two AT-PT quickly finished off the remaining droids and proceeded down the street. It lead to another square, this time a bigger one. Cutter could see the column spreading in attack formation blowing up enemy tanks and droids. A huge explosion shook them as the hailfire droids were blown up along with all the ordnance nearby.

Cutter lowered the walker’s cabin down so that he could start mowing the remaining droids. He shot another grenade, this time at a dwarf spider droid, hitting it at its “soft spot” where the legs connected to the dome-like body. It tore apart, twisted pieces of metal flew around as it spilled its “guts”. The two Super Battle Droids that were flanking it were torn apart before they could even turn to see what happened. Cutter blasted several more of the automata. He was glad that he was inside a walker as the canons were powerful enough to destroy SBDs and droidekas with only one shot. Also the enemy could hardly hurt him as the blasters they carried could not pierce the armor.

A movement caught his attention, a couple of skinny battle droids were running. One of them was carrying a tube and the other a satchel. Of course there would be anti-armor weapons. A large piece of a wall that was blown from the inside the nearby building flew at the AT-PT. He was forced to change position and could not take aim and blow those tinnies up. From the chatter he could hear that one of his idiot brothers shot a missile inside the building, killing Lt. There was no time to mourn or think about the command structure.

“Blast!” he could not see the anti-armor droids. He was frantic in his search for them. A constant stream of blasts struck the walker to no effect. A flying brick struck the windshield thus creating another crack on it. The chief was going to kill him for returning the walker in such a state.

A flying streak shot towards his partner walker.

“No… No… NO!” he shouted as the missile struck the cabin. Jagged pieces of glass flew around followed by a swift detonation. The partner walker exploded, flinging pieces of metal everywhere. Since Matchbox was right next to it, it took the brunt of the shockwave. Suddenly everything shook and the world turned to the side. The sensor indicated that the left leg was torn apart and the walker was “kicked” to the right by the explosion.

Thirty seconds had passed until Cutter realized what happened. He unbuckled the harness and stepped on the right wall trying to open the top hatch. He had to apply some force as it seemed to be struck. After a couple of attempts he managed to open it, then he squeezed out of it. Once outside he took cover behind the wreck trying to assess the situation. He got only a blaster pistol, not much he could do with it. He checked the walker and saw the still smoking scorch marks from the earlier encounter. Then looked around, it seems he attracted the attention of a couple of battle droids. Lucky for him they were poor shots as their blasts kicked snow and dirt around him. Cutter managed to dispose of them quickly with his pistol like in those silly smuggler holomovies about the Outer Rim.

He peeked from the wreck to see where the column was. It seems he was between the two forces. Due to the crossfire he was not sure whether he will be able to make it if he tried to run. There was hardly any cover, but lucky for him, it seemed that the AT-TE would pass nearby on their way towards the spaceport. He had to survive that long though. Another near miss, this time it was from a more powerful weapon. He had attracted the attention of a Super Battle Droid. This time it had the upper hand, since the pistol could hardly pierce through its armor. He decided that the prone position would be better, reducing his exposure. Though somewhere at the back of his mind a tiny voice nagged him that he was about to die… Then a miracle happened, a blast tore the SBD apart. The second pair of AT-PT had arrived from the parallel street.

“You okay there Cutter?” came the voice of the leading AT-PT.

“Yeah, mind if you cover me?”

“Sure ner’vod.”

This was his cue to run. He had not run so fast since basic training at Tipoca City.