Chapter 1: Reconnaissance
The three Acclamator-Class assault ships exited hyperspace and the large orb that was Doonvar VI flew into view. On the bridge of Fett I, the captains of the three ships conversed about their operations one last time via hologram.
On Canderous, Delta Squad stood behind the ship's captain as he nodded.
"Scans came back green, all Separatist space forces are docked on-planet so that it made the location of their factories a little more discreet. There's only a vanguard of battle droids stationed there in it's defense."
"Not discreet enough," Scorch muttered.
Boss and Fixer gave him a reprimanding look.
"Good," the admiral aboard Fett I said. "That means it will take them longer to come up here and engage us. A vanguard huh? 1,232 droids versus our battalion of 576 plus special forces. Not too bad."
"Bombers are already on their way," Mandalore V's captain reported. Their ship contained all of the fighters and bombers, while the other two ships were packed with ground troops.
Canderous began making its descent into the planet's atmosphere and Delta Squad bid the captain goodbye. It was time for them to suit up. They wanted to complete the op quick enough to make Vau proud.
"Canderous, watch out for anti-air artillery. We'll be right behind you birthing LAATs and providing bombardment of the enemy hangars if possible."
"Copy," the officer responded. Delta was going to be first on the ground. They were about to do what was known as a hastened entry, sometimes nicknamed meat bombing. They were being sent in drop pods that hit planetside faster than most physical bombs.
"Man, I love setting off explosives, and I love firing shots that move faster than the speed of sound, but I do not, I repeat, do not, enjoy being used in such a manner," Scorch said.
"And here I was under the impression that you were the fun one," said Sev.
"Six-two, Oh-Seven, cut the chatter." Fixer muttered.
They each saluted one another then climbed into their individual one-man pods. The chances of survival were low, even with manual steering and autopilot assisted navigation systems.
The pod doors closed and they braced themselves. Some might call them fearless, but all four of them knew that fear was a tool, not a weakness. Brave? Maybe. But fearless wasn't exactly accurate. The ship shook and Scorch thought his pod was launched early, but his pod remained where it was.
"I guess the tinnies know we're here now," he said.
"They still won't know what hit them, good luck Deltas. Three-Eight out." Boss said, and then seconds later they all got green lights and their pods were launched at breathtaking speeds.
"There goes those RCs," remarked a bridge officer aboard Fett I, which was several kilometers above Canderous providing cover fire and air support. The ARC trooper captain in the red armor simply nodded. Alpha was well known for being quiet, but the captain of Fett I and it's bridge crew had never been in the presence of such a hardened warrior before. Alpha's helmet comlink buzzed.
"Sir, your gunship awaits. ARC Team 1 and 2 on standby."
"See you planetside Lieutenant," Alpha responded mildly.
"I said, put me in contact with Count Dooku you dumb trashcan."
"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" the metallic voice of the droid commander responded.
"Ugh," San Hill said.
Then he received a call on another comlink channel. It was encrypted.
An image of a ghastly white and bald figure appeared. San Hill knew
it was Dooku's assassin, also named Asajj Ventress.
"Greetings my friend. Word is, your factories are under attack. Since you're a banker, I'm sure you can simply buy off the clone troopers and their Jedi dogs, right?"
"Ha ha. Very funny. I'm not even supposed to be on the planet, I docked for fuel darnit! Come extract me this instant, or I'll make sure Dooku will-"
"That's not a proper way to ask for help," Ventress spat. "Unless you and your Intergalactic Banking Clan associates would like us to stop for some fast food on the way, we could certainly get you something off of the one-credit menu?"
San Hill looked flustered. He turned red out of anger, then a blueish color in fear.
"I'm sorry. When will you be arriving, my lord?"
"That's better," said the Sith apprentice.
The heavy turbolasers of Canderous and Fett I pounded into Doonvar VI's crust. One gunship-sized blue laser smashed into the roof of the hangar that contained stacks upon stacks of vulture droids. The semi-sentient self-piloted ships were in a frenzy as the alarm beeped and blared. The roof collapsed in on a good number of the ships. Others were scrambling to the best of their abilities.
Droids were hopping into anti-air turrets that weren't meant for targets as big as the Acclamators were. They fired in unison barely denting the ship's shields, while the Acclamator and it's back up returned fire relentlessly.
"Sir! The planetary shield is up around the Baktoid factory, and our city, but they destroyed the one around the hangar before we could activate it," the battle droid commander reported.
"This is not good. Blast! I told that darn Nute Gunray we needed a fleet in orbit, or at least a space station! We're practically defenseless!" The Neimoidian governor named Lar Feck was waving his arms up in anger.
"And on the exact day that one of the high Separatist council members is here to refuel, oh this is not good. This has to of been planned. Damn Republic intel."
"Sir, one of the Acclamator-Class ships is approaching a landing vector outside the city limits."
"Commander, send 75% of our on-planet forces to greet them, including any working tanks from the factory. Leave a small contingent to guard the factory and my palace. Then use the rest of our remaining forces to send an escort to San Hill. I want our best men-er, droids to ensure his safety. Understand, you dumb bucket of bolts?"
"Roger roger. Although, if my bolts are in a bucket somewhere, I need to order new parts."
"Out with you! GO!"
"Oh-Seven reporting. Anyone receiving?"
"This is Four-Oh, I'm here."
"Dodging blaster fire when we could only see through tiny viewports inside those pods. Fun, am I right?" Sev said. "Sending you my coordinates now."
"This is Six-Two, does anyone read me? I have a bit of a problem here."
Scorch was watching his pod's viewscreen show nothing but blue-green water. No matter where he rotated the camera, it was all the same thing. The pod was rapidly sinking. And Scorch was running out of air.
"Three-Eight reporting. I'm closest to you Scorch. I'll be right there."
"Don't worry ner'vod, no one can douse these flames."
Sev watched in his viewport as Boss came to Scorch's aid. He swam to the pod and climbed on top, then took out a plasma cutter and began cutting a circle.
"Incoming," Sev said, then used his sniper attachment to take out two droid sentries piloting STAAPs. "Tangos down, nice and clean. Proceed."
"Save some for me guys, when I get out I'm going to need to aggressively cope with some newly discovered claustrophobia."
While the commandos were rescuing Scorch, Alpha and his larger team of ARC troopers, or Advanced Recon Commandos, were being deployed via gunship. Fett I deployed all sixteen of it's gunships from hangars A through D. Four of them were filled with the ARCs. They diverged from the group, heading along the large river that fed directly into the planet's capital. Under two of the gunships were SWCC or Submersible Water Combat Crafts, and the other two gunships carried a heavy water gun-boat.
The Seppies on ground switched targets when the gunships were deployed, hoping to take out as many as they could before the cargo landed. The main group of LAATs, proceeded on a direct route towards the city.
Alpha was aboard the SWCC, when the gunship carrying it was mortally wounded. The pilot told them to brace for impact via helmet comlink channel. Alpha simply said. "Get us over the river and drop the goods."
The pilot did as told, and then they dropped the SWCC into the river where it sank immediately. The other gunship did the same, then pulled away back toward the main group. The final two gunships lowered the gun boat gently into the river, then released it and departed.
The two submarines were only a little smaller than the LAATs, but the gunboat was big enough to land a gunship on it. It had four heavy quad lasers, and sea-to-surface concussion missile launchers. The gunboats biggest weakness was how slow it was, but it didn't need to be fast. It just needed to reach the city by the time the two teams of ARCs in the SWCCs took out the city's shield generator.
The submarines stayed submerged, and rocketed downriver towards the city. The Republic assault on Doonvar VI had begun.
Chapter 2: Endurance
Delta Squad was reunited, and they were proceeding three klicks towards the droid factory. If all went well, a contingent of clone trooper reinforcements would be meeting them in the valley that fed directly into the droid factory. The commandos were sent early to soften the defenses and make sure that the separatists paid as little attention to the factory route as possible. They began their trek. Sev happily sniped any sentries they found on the way. "There goes another one. I think that makes twelve today." Scorch proudly created any path they needed with what he called "explosive renovations." Boss kept them in check and ordered them to cover. Fixer complained that there was nothing to hack. The mission went on.
"So how did the GAR know about this route through the river? I hope they know that it goes under the shield for sure." ARC B-5 said.
"We have a mole in the governor's palace. And he's sure." Alpha said.
"A wet, or a droid?" asked ARC B-3.
"A wet. He's the one who will capture the governor while we take out the shield gennie."
They encountered no resistance down the length of the river, even as they entered the city limits.
Lar Feck was sitting on his throne, looking impatiently at the viewscreens surrounding it. Everything from the curtains, the throne itself, to the rugs were as illustrious and expensive as the hooded informant would expect from a Neimoidian. The other two assistants in Lar Feck's administration were standing by just out of arm's reach. One was also a Neimoidian, the other a human. Next to them were two Magnaguards, elite, highly intelligent droids far superior to their B1 and their B2 counterparts.
Alan Starburst, a Jedi Padawan from the Darpa Sector, had been analyzing and observing the Governor's every move for approximately two standard weeks. He knew every single droid that was patrolling the palace, where their routes were, where the safe room was, and most importantly, how to mess things up like a wookie on a first date. He was assigned this mission from the Jedi Council as soon as the factory's threat had been assessed. If his mission succeeded, it would count as the last Jedi Trial for him to achieve the rank of Jedi Knight, and sufficiently become an independant warrior of peace.
"Sad, it is, that many Padawans trial's are in the field of battle, but trust in you, we do." Master Yoda had said. Alan clung to those words as he stayed in deep cover, sometimes fetching food for Lar Feck, sometimes mopping the floor, occasionally skipping YouTube adds for him.
His wrist comlink blinked green only once, which meant that he was to report his progress to his master. He snuck onto the second floor of the throne room and found a broom closet. He locked the door behind him and began the encrypted communication.
"Hello Master. The siege of Doonvar VI has begun. Lar Feck is annoyed and worried, but he has called in reinforcements. All I know at this time, is that the ex-Jedi Ventress is leading the counterattack. Finally, the Muun San Hill is going to be picked up. I'm attaching his current coordinates now, so if the clones can capture him before the droid convoy arrives, that would be great. If not, I will break cover and capture him and the governor as soon as I have an opportunity, most likely before they enter the safe room. Alan Starburst out."
He pressed the button and the encrypted communication was sent.
"Uh, Fett I, we need you to finish dropping off ground forces and get back up here, stat."
"Report?" the Admiral asked.
"Our sensors show that a big fleet is coming out of hyperspace. Enough ships to overwhelm us very quickly."
There was a moment of silence over the comms, but both bridge crews were frantic with the variety of tasks they had to to do.
"Copy that, we'll be right up. We've sent word to our back up forces. Three Venators will arrive shortly."
"It'll have to do. Let's hope our brothers planetside can operate swiftly. Mandalore V, out"
The SWCCs reached their objective. Right before they exited, Alpha received a transmission. It was from command, pinpointing San Hill's location. They suggested that he either divide his forces, or take out the generator quick and capture the separatist leader.
"ARC B-1, you're in command now. Take this team and disable the generator as planned. I'm going to take the other forces and bring them to get the Muun."
The trooper nodded, and loaded his thermal detonator into his grenade launcher. Alpha walked over to the other submersible craft.
"Team two, you're with me." He brought his hand up and closed it to do the universal "form up" hand signal.
Alan Starburst had to figure something out. He was a talented Jedi Padawan, but even he couldn't take out four Magnaguards and Lar Feck's security chief, a Twi'lek mercenary. Not too mention the other droids in the palace. He had to be sneaky to succeed. Luckily, he came prepared. He found his old bag that he hid in a lush Cato Neimoidian plant. In it, were four detpacks and two EMP grenades. He could do a lot of damage with that. He planned to do a lot of damage with that.
Six Municifent frigates, one Providence class assault carrier, and two Luchrehulk Droid Control ships entered the system. They were advancing into attack range quickly, but before they could do that, they launched a swarm of Vulture Droids.
"Sir!" the helm of Mandalore V pleaded, "We've got seventy-two vulture droids incoming, we need to scramble all fighters now!"
"Fire all batteries into those squadrons, we need to weaken or disperse them now or we'll be in trouble."
Blue lasers from below them flew up into the brown vulture droids as Fett I came to assist from the planet. The school of droid fighters simply launched all of their available missiles and the bridge crew of Mandalore V watched in horror as those missiles plummeted all over their Acclamator's deck.
"Sir those aren't ordinary missiles." one of the troopers commented. Another shouted. "Sensors are going crazy, I think we've got buzz droids!"
The yellow orb shaped buzz droids were numbered in the hundreds and were picking the Acclamator apart a piece at a time. Several Buzz droids were using their buzz saws to cut into the turbolaser batteries and disable them. The smaller manually operated defense lasers were attempting to pick them off of the ship as best as they could.
The captain was sweating as he saw all of the ship's diagnostics turn red. The buzz droids were doing immense damage to the ship, and it was way faster than the clones could repair or fight back. At this point, dozens of the insectoid parasites had already breached the outer hull.
"Prepare to evacuate. Go to the escape pods or the emergency gunships stat. Send a transmission to Fett I and ask for pick up. And where the blast are those reinforcements?"
The vulture droids flew past the ravaged Acclamator after dumping their Buzz Droid load, and all of them except for the few engaged in dogfights with V-19 Torrents headed straight for the Fett I which hadn't stopped firing on the Vulture Droids.
Fixer went behind a droid and yanked it's head off then kicked it. It's partner turned around just in time for Scorch's vibroblade to cut it's head off. A small squad of nine battle droids started jogging towards them, but Sev and Boss picked them off. They were atop a canyon providing cover, while Scorch and Fixer were in the canyon.
"There's a crab droid guarding the factory." Sev commented.
"You know, I always thought they looked more like spiders than crabs." Scorch said.
"A big one, or a small one?" Fixer asked, ignoring Scorch.
"Big enough to tear a gunship apart." Boss said.
"Let's introduce ourselves," Scorch said cheerily. He was excited to have a reason to use his anti-armor attachment. Then an explosion rocked the canyon, and a contingent of clone troopers began shooting at the crab droid from a cave. The crab droid fired it's heavy dual lasers that cut one trooper in half. Then it charged and impaled another.
"We better hurry to assist, or there won't be any shinies left to help us fight the clankers inside the factory." Scorch said again, and all four commandos broke out into a run.
Scorch began firing his anti-armor attachment and an explosive grenade was propelled into the large Crab droid. It swung its robotic limb and swatted a trooper away like a fly, then turned to face Scorch. It started firing while he reloaded and he dove into cover behind a rock.
"Hey guys, I think she likes me. Can I keep her? I promise I'll feed her and take her out on walks!" he said.
Sev and Boss opened fire with the sniper attachment and the crab droid jumped onto the face of the cliff. It began climbing swiftly towards them.
One of the cave troopers came up to Fixer then bent down on one knee. He fired a rocket launcher and it slammed into the crab droid with a fierce explosion. It fell back into the canyon in fiery pieces.
"Well, Six-Two, looks like we'll need to find you another one. This one had an accident." Sev said, while him and Boss repelled down the canyon wall for rendezvous.
"Aww, man. I was just gonna name him too."
Chapter 3: Prisoners
Alan Starburst walked right up to Lar Feck and his two associates. He casually waved his hand and Lar Feck collapsed. It was the force stun technique, but the two aids didn't see the subtle hand motion.
"Oh no, governor Feck! Let me take you to the medbay, quickly!" Starburst said with a tone of false worry.
The human aid shrugged, and the Neimoidian said "Get him there quickly, we will be in the safehouse. We'll keep the door unlocked until he arrives!"
Sure, unless the Republic shows. Then you'll lock it because you're a slug eating coward, Alan thought, as he picked up Lar Feck and put him on his shoulder. So far, so good.
A huge explosion erupted from the canyon. Slightly less loud, was the cheering from Delta Squad and the two squadrons of Clone Troopers. Of the eighteen, only eight remained. They had combined into one temporary squad, with Boss in charge.
"What are our orders now?" A sergeant from the squad asked, clearly looking at the Commandos.
"Well, briefing and says we need to check in with INTEL for a SITREP. We'll either be assisting the ARCs or meeting up with the Jedi stationed here."
"Well, well, well Boss. You've become quite popular with the shinies." Sev said, nodding towards the standard clones.
"Stow it Sev, we've got to figure out orders." Fixer said. He liked to play it by the books. Sev was glad he wasn't the squad's sergeant. Sometimes, Fixer was about as fun as a Geonosian book club.
"Look sir, droids!" shouted a trooper who got sniped right after pointing at the top of the canyon.
"Everyone, down! Cover, now!" Boss shouted.
An unknown number of droid snipers began firing on their position. The squad could also hear the sounds of a droid march heading down towards the factory.
"I don't think they're too happy we made their factory go boom." Scorch said mildly.
Arc Trooper A-17 was in a thick firefight in the thick brush on the outskirts of the capital. His platoon of thirty-six men was split in half to conquer two objectives at once, but because of that, his eighteen men couldn't make good progress towards San Hill.
A blaster bolt hit a trooper who was firing shots from behind a tree in the face. Now there was only seventeen. Seventeen against a company of a hundred and twelve battle droids, minus the handful they've taken out. They were under armed and outmanned. He made the mistake of thinking the separatists would be more spread out, when in actuality, they sent an entire vanguard of battle droids to extract and protect the sep leader. All it took was one MTT Multi-Troop Transport to divert from the convoy to hold off their pitiful force.
Two battle droids were strolling up to a tree next to him where one of his clones was taking cover. Alpha broke cover and fired both his DC-15 blaster pistols directly into the droid's heads, then returned to cover when several battle droids peppered the spot he was just in with blaster fire. Even through his helmet, he could smell the singed wood of the trees. At least they had plenty of cover.
"Command, I need air support and reinforcements ASAP. We've got a vanguard of over a thousand droids heading towards the HVT. MTTs, AATs, and STAAPs. Do you copy?"
"Copy that ARC-17. We'll divert the air support from Delta to you to ensure the capture of the High Value Target. Stand by."
"Delta, do you read? This is command."
"Receiving. Got an ETA on those gunships? Droids are swarming our position, and we're enduring heavy casualties."
"Sad to say we had to divert the air support. Wanted to make sure you knew so you could dig in. Good luck Delta. Command out."
"Fierfek, they didn't even say sorry." Boss said, clearly upset. Their extraction just abandoned them. They took out their objective like good little boys, and now they had to fight until they were dead or the droids were in pieces.
"Hello, this is command. Uh, well we know how much you guys like hanging out with the kriffing droids, so we decided to cancel your air support. Don't forget to invite the droids to your next birthday party! And thanks for flying Republic Airlines, and sacrificing your lives for the greater good, peace out!" Scorch said, in a bitterly mocking tone.
Sev had managed to out-snipe a lot of the droids atop the canyon, so they weren't pinned down too bad behind cover. There was just the fifty or so B1s and the two AATs bearing down on them that was a problem now. That also happened to be their only way out since they couldn't get extracted by air, and behind them a factory was a burning crumpled mess.
The clone with the rocket launcher from before, fired again. It destroyed the first AAT.
"We've got rollers." A trooper said. They rolled to the front of the droid pack then changed into their standing form. Boss shot one until it was scrap before the shield popped up. Two remained. Both of their shields went up in time, and their dual blasters tore the rocket trooper to pieces.
"Where's our green Chakaar?" Scorch said, meaning Fixer.
"Working on a present for you Scorch ol' buddy." he replied on the comlink channel. "It'll be a good apology for all those times I told you to shut it."
Alan Starburst had managed to sneak Lar Feck out of the palace entirely, despite passing a plethora of droid guards. He wished he could call a gunship and leave the planet with a successful mission accomplished. It'd be one of the easiest Jedi trials, even with the deep cover in enemy territory aspect. But the force told him nothing was ever this easy. If he called a gunship this close to the palace, it'd certainly get shot down. He needed to find the ARC troopers.
As he walked, he felt a tingle in the force. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a starfighter landing on the palace's platform. He had to hurry.
Lar Feck started fluttering around like a fish out of water. Alan threw him onto the ground.
"What are you doing? Where are we going?"
Alan Starburst took out his lightsaber and ignited it. He pointed it at Feck's chin.
"I'm a Jedi Knight, and you're under arrest. You can stand up and walk willingly, or I can cut off a hand and carry you. We don't mind if our prisoners only have one hand. It's not what you'd call, essential to us or this mission."
Lar Feck massaged his wrist with his hands, looking at them like he was debating how much he'd miss them. Most Neimoidians would probably sell their hands if they were worth anything. He began walking. Alan Starburst deactivated his lightsaber and smiled.
As Mandalore V got eaten alive, or at least that's what it looked like was happening to the ship, Fett I was getting savagely attacked by the remaining vulture droid fighters. The fighters had already managed to overwhelm the ship's shields, and that was without the support of the CIS warships looming out of attack range.
All of the bridge crew was so busy trying to fend off the vicious attack, they were mind blown when a section of reinforcements came out of hyperspace. Three Venators and four Republic Patrol Cruisers came bearing down, the Venators immediately sent out search parties to pick up the escape pods from Mandalore V. The four cruisers were on anti-fighter duty. They were known throughout the fleet as the Neon Four. In all of their engagements, they've never lost a cruiser no matter how outmatched they were. The Neon Four began tearing into the Vulture droid ranks with their lighter and faster blaster cannons.
Anakin Skywalker led three fighter squadrons towards the CIS fleet. One from each Venator.
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Commander Cody were on the bridge of the lead Venator.
"The ground forces are in need of gunship reinforcements commander. You'll join all of our available Larties down planetside and finish the battle there. I'd tag along if I could, but the fleet up here is standing by and I want to find out why. Good luck commander."
Cody saluted, and jogged off the bridge. Obi-Wan caressed his long beard and stared out at the bigger fleet. He hoped Anakin would follow the plan.
"Shab, we can't fire from cover long enough to take out those destroyer droid's shields. Not without getting turned into a Mandalorian soup by those lasers at least." Sev said.
"Fixer, it's very selfish to be hiding at a time like this. Be a good little Shabuir and come die with your brothers!" Scorch said.
"What are you doing Four-Oh? Get over here now. That's an order." Boss said. A trooper nearby got blown into smithereens by a thermal detonator.
The AAT was getting close enough where it could aim it's gun over there cover and fire at them directly. Then, a massive crab droid jumped off of the top of the canyon and landed on top of the AAT. It used it's sharp robotic pincers to tear the AAT apart. The droid piloting it popped it's head out to see what was happening, and the crab droid swatted it's head off and sent it flying.
"GOAAALLLLL!" Scorch yelled. "Fixer is this your doing? I love him. Best. Gift. Ever! I'm going to call him Buttercup!"
The Crab droid stepped off of the AAT and began firing it's dual lasers into the other charging B1s, literally bisecting them with it's thick plasma shots. Then it smashed the destroyer droid's shields with it's metallic pincers.
"I took out the droid brain and data logs of the one we blew up and downloaded it onto my datapad, then I sliced into the local Seppie network and assigned this droid, I mean, Buttercup, a new mission. As far as Buttercup is concerned, the Republic forces are Separatists, and the CIS droids are the Republic." Fixer stepped out from where he was working on the droid parts, clearly proud of himself.
"Well, that's certainly confusing. But as long as it doesn't try to kill me I won't add it to my kill list." Sev said.
Scorch leapt from behind cover and joined Buttercup in mowing down the last few B1s. "Do you think he'd let me ride on his back?"
ARC-17 Alpha was relieved when he heard the hum of the LAATs motors. The three gunships landed in a clear area and deposited much needed reinforcements. Then they took off and provided air support. All three fired their two proton torpedo loads into the MTT blowing it up instantly. The green lasers of the gunships dominated the battlefield as the lasers moved up, down, left and right picking off the remaining B1s.
Another ARC trooper pointed up to the sky. Alpha looked and saw a flood of more gunships. The twenty LAATs were headed towards San Hill's location.
"Commander Cody here, we'll take over from here. If we capture the HVT before he enters the city we can extract him faster. Go find our Jedi friend. Cody, out."
Alpha held up his hand like he wanted a high-five then turned it towards him and closed it into a fist. Form up.
Asajj Ventress was force choking the two assistants to Lar Feck. "Why was this safe room locked, and more importantly," she raised her voice to a shout, "WHY WASN'T THE GOVERNOR IN HERE WITH YOU?"
"My lord-ughfhogsdfkosl, the robed assistant took him to the med bay." the Nemoidan struggled for his breath.
"You mean a JEDI?"
The green alien's neck snapped and he was dropped to the floor. The human aid began shaking his head with pleading eyes. He fell to the floor after gasping for the breaths he missed while being force choked. "Thank you, thank you so-" he said, but Ventress turned and strode out of the safe room. She chucked a thermal detonator in the room behind her and then used the force to close the door, all without looking. There was a slight shake as the secure room exploded on the inside, but it's integrity held and smoke simply seeped out from the cracks in the door.
Looking at her comlink, Ventress said "All palace forces, scrub your guard protocols and begin searching measures. Sweep the palace then surrounding areas for the governor and anyone suspicious or jedi like."
One Magnaguard began hearing loud music. Bombombombom ba-dum bump ba-dum, dah dah dah dah da-da da da-da. It walked over to a little circle speaker attached to the wall playing the music. It's scanners showed only that it was transmitting music from a local signal, and that it was, a bomb? "Sir," the magnaguard tried saying, before the musical device exploded.
As Ventress was interviewing civilians on the streets surrounding the palace, she also was feeling out in the force to see if there was a Jedi nearby. As it turns out, she sensed there were a few, but at least one nearby. "I'll get you," she whispered, and then the governor's palace collapsed from multiple interior explosions.
Ventress snapped backwards to watch the building go up in smoke and flames. "RrrrrrrrrrrrrraAAAHHHHHHH." She yelled.
Chapter 4: Urgency
"Target found. Moving in to retrieve the governor now."
"Good," the hologram of Ventress said. "I'm on my way." The Magnaguard attached the portable comlink back to it's leg.
"I sense danger," Alan Starburst said.
"I hope it's my saviors. They're going to make you wish you were never plucked from your parents boy!" Lar taunted.
"Quiet." Alan said, closing his eyes and trying to summon the premonitory side of the force. After a few seconds, he heard the ignition of a electrostaff being turned on. He felt the disturbance as it was thrusted in his direction. Alan launched into a backflip over his would be attacker and ignited his own lightsaber. His blue blade slashed at the back of the magnaguard, but it's reflexes were also quick. It spun and blocked the attack with the center of the staff. Then the droid tried to hit him away with a backhand. He ducked it and kicked at the droid's knee joint. It bent a little bit, but his kick wasn't strong enough to buckle it.
Alan jumped back to put space in-between them and noticed that Lar Feck was making a run for it. He bit down on his lip. How would a real Jedi Knight handle this? Or better yet, what would a Master do?
The former Jedi Master, Count Dooku, lie awake on his bed on Serenno. He felt a strange presence. One that was almost familiar. He got up and looked around his room. Then he checked in with the droids guarding his palace. They all reported in, with nothing out of the ordinary either.
"Peculiar.." Dooku remarked out loud, and then he pivoted quickly and ignited his crimson blade to bring it down on the being that he sensed behind him. His face was glowing red from his lightsaber, and it was a caricature of disbelief and surprise. He was actually scared, because when he swung the blade through the hologram-like entity, it passed through easily and without damage."This is impossible. What kind of trick is this?"
"None," said the ghost of a man that had died over a decade earlier.
Obi-Wan felt a curious trickle from the force, and it stopped him mid-sentence.
"Uhm, what were you saying General?" the clone trooper Captain asked.
"I'm not sure actually, excuse my distraction. Has Anakin and the ARC-170s taken out the enemy flagship yet?"
"Not yet, and the Munificent frigates are closing in to attack range. Should the fighters engage? Six of those frigates would be enough to weaken our three Venators so the rest of their forces to wipe us out."
"You're right Captain. Order all three cruisers to open fire on them to try to persuade them not to get into range. We'll at least get first blood. Or first oil if you will."
The clone Captain stared at Kenobi, either not getting the joke or not finding it tasteful. "Yes sir." he said and relayed the orders to the other cruisers.
The land battle on Doonvar VI was coming to a close. The separatist forces were dwindling without reinforcements from the factories Delta destroyed. Commander Cody captured San Hill and was bringing him to an Extraction Point. ARC trooper Alpha was heading towards governor Lar Feck's palace when he noticed it had blown up.
"Sir, it's Ventress. We spotted her on the city streets nearby. Orders?"
"Take her." Alpha said, and then performed a karate chop in her direction. Target acquired.
The squad began closing the distance on her quick. When she sensed them, their snipers opened fire on her and all she could do was deflect and dodge their bolts. She began fleeing through the city streets.
"Pursue! Pursue!" the second in command ordered.
She rounded a corner and the two clones on her tail were instantly cut down when they passed that same corner. Another trooper put his back against the corner wall, then he tossed a thermal detonator without exposing himself. To his surprise, the detonator hovered back around the corner and blew up in his face.
Alpha dove into a shoulder roll far from the edge of the corner and found her waiting to pick off more troops. He fired his dual blaster pistols immediately and she deflected bolts that he barely managed to dodge. He took cover behind a parked speeder, but she picked it up with the force and was about to throw it at him when she heard the sounds of a jetpack.
Ventress turned around and two Jet Troopers had flanked her by going over the building on the corner. She used the force to throw both of her lightsabers like spears. One instantly impaled a trooper, who exploded when the lightsaber went through his chest and into his jetpack. The other one out maneuvered it, but then Ventress manipulated it into a helicopter spin and chopped him in half. Asajj Ventress smiled as the mutilated clone troopers dropped from the sky. She summoned both her lightsabers back to her, but before they came, ARC trooper Alpha was firing at her. She ducked and weaved, but lost the concentration on her force pull.
Alpha was moving closer as he fired, and Ventress suddenly stopped dodging and sprinted towards him. She fired a roundhouse kick that knocked both of the pistols out of his hands, and then she hit him with four quick punches into his chest. She expected him to drop to his knees or at least be winded, but he grabbed her head and brought it down into his knee, then he elbowed her in the face.
Ventress used her anger to force push him away and he was flung into a wall. Then she summoned both his pistols with the force and she aimed them both at him. Before she could execute him, his comrades came and fired on her. She began doing reverse hand springs and then backflips, while simultaneously retrieving her lightsabers. Then she jumped to the rooftops where the clones couldn't easily follow.
"Sorry Captain, we were held up by a magnaguard. Shall we use our ascension cables and follow her?"
Alpha shook his helmeted head. "It'd be a waste of time. Let's find our Jedi."
Dooku was staring into the face of his former Jedi Apprentice, Qui-Gon Jinn. "How.. I don't understand. I can clearly sense the force in you. But you can't be real." he said, hands still gripping his lightsaber tightly.
"But I am, and I am here with a purpose too. You must reconsider everything you are doing, my former Master. I beg you to think about the forces you lead, the one you now call Master, and what your place in this war truly is." Qui-Gon said, glowing light blue and pacing around Dooku's room.
"I know my role and I know my place. I do not know how you've managed to.." he paused, looking for the right words. "Cheat life, or appear in this form, but I know the Jedi have failed the Republic and the Republic has failed the Jedi. Only the Sith are fit to rule this galaxy now."
"I'm sad to say, I have seen the future. And it is a bleak one. For the Jedi and the Republic, but for the Galaxy and you as well, my very old friend."
"The beginning of what you say is assuredly true, but the Jedi will not be my downfall. Of that, I am certain."
Qui-Gon actually walked through Dooku, phasing right through him, and causing the Sith Lord to shiver. "No Darth Tyranus, your fall will be from the machinations of your very own Master. You are simply a placeholder for his real intended Apprentice. The boy I found on Tattooine."
"No! Impossible! Darth Sidious knows I am far more powerful and wiser than Skywalker."
"You know it to be true. You were never the real apprentice he desired. It's never too late to fix the mistakes you have made. Please remember that. Don't trade corruption for corruption, old friend. I beg you to stop Palpatine before it's too late for you, and the galaxy."
Dooku was in more turmoil than he thought possible in the last decade of dark side studies. It all made sense, but it couldn't be true. The Sith time and time again, had been known to use individuals as tools to further their own goals, but Sidious had taught him so much, how could he be a tool? Sidious had told him he was meant to rule by his side, not the insolent boy Skywalker. But if Qui-Gon was telling the truth, Dooku couldn't even do anything. Sidious would defeat him in a duel with ease, and even if Dooku would try to assassinate him when he least expect it, he still feared Palpatine would sense his true intentions. What could he possibly do?
Before Dooku could ask more of his former apprentice, his ghost disappeared as if he were never there to begin with. "I've missed you Jinn, and I'm sorry." Dooku said mildly, feeling more alone than ever before.
"We need to abandon our attack, there's just too many AGUGH."
Anakin's face drooped. He had never seen this many vulture droids before. And the separatist dropships were too heavily defended to get picked off. He could only hope Cody was helping their forces finish achieving all of their objectives and retreating, because the Republic reinforcements couldn't hold out for much longer .Even the bombers couldn't prolong their mission, since most had been taken out already.
"All fighters, let's pull back and target those Munificent frigates headed towards our cruisers. We need to conserve our remaining forces and regroup." The rest of the fighters acknowledged his command and headed back towards the cruisers and frigates.
Alan Starburst finally went through the magnaguards impressive defense by lifting it up with the force and bringing it straight into his lightsaber slash. To his surprise though, the top half of the droid threw itself onto him as if it were trying to hug him. It gripped tight, and Starburst couldn't move his arms. Then he sensed the droid's mission. It planned to blow itself up. I guess he's mad I blew up his comrades then.
Alan threw himself into a backflip and landed on the droid, but it still gripped tightly. Then he stood up without using his hands, and used all of his concentration to send out a fierce wave of force energy. The magnaguard not only let go, but actually disintegrated from the power of the blast, all but turning into a pile of screws and bolts.
But before Starburst could look for Lar Feck, two more magnaguards showed up. Alan was pretty exhausted. He wasn't sure if he could take both of them at once, even with supplementing his exhaustion with force enhancements. They took one step forward, and he took two steps back, deactivating his lightsaber.
Then a crab droid with a Republic Clone Commando barely holding onto it, jumped from a nearby rooftop and landed on one of the magnaguards. It was instantly smashed. The other one turned in a look of genuine surprise, then the crab droid fired point blank, cutting the magnaguard in half. RC 1262 Scorch fired his DC-17 into it, then yelled "YEAH! Take that Republic scum! Get 'em Buttercup, get 'em!"
Lar Feck was running as fast as he could...which wasn't all that fast since Neimoidians are legendarily bad runners. He turned and bolted down an alleyway. He had to find the CIS forces and escape.
"Not so fast Governor Feck."
He turned around. It was that blasted Jedi again. Then a pale bald woman landed in-between them. The Jedi took a step back, noticeably frightened.
"If you couldn't sense me coming, then you truly are going to be an easy kill," she said confidently. He ignited his blue lightsaber, while she ignited both of her red ones. She dashed at the Jedi. Lar Feck ran out of the alleyway. When he saw a large crab droid he sighed in relief.
"You! Droid! When you see a Jedi come out of this alleyway, kill it instantly okay?"
Then he felt the muzzle of an assault rifle touch his back. "Mr. Governor, I ask that you come with me and Buttercup. You're under arrest by order of the Republic."
Chapter 5: Betrayal
Alan Starburst clashed lightsabers with the Sith Assassin. She was certainly faster and more experienced than him, but he was determined to defeat her. Even if he needed a little help from his clone troops.
Ventress tore down his force shield and picked him up, then flung him into a lamp post. She used the force to dash at him and launch an outward cut with her sabers. Alan ducked just in time to hear her sabers cut through the plasteel lamppost, then he rolled past her and tried catching her off guard. She blocked it with one hand, then punched him in the face with her other hand.
The HAVw A6 Republic Juggernaut and it's ten heavy-duty wheels plowed down the streets of Doonvar VI's capital city. It drove over B1 battle droids, B2 super battle droids, and Droidekas as if they were insects. Any droid that wasn't immediately crushed by the tires, was gunned down by a number of heavy anti-infantry turrets. Any tanks in the way were disposed of with concussion missile launchers and no second thoughts.
The Juggernaut drove over an AAT, literally crushing the tank like it was a can, and then they ramped over it. The front tires came back to the ground with a loud bang, but the speedy tank's suspension was designed to handle terrain, so it absorbed such small impacts.
Inside one of the crew compartments was RC-Delta Squad. One member was absent.
"Shab, where did Scorch and his pet droid get to?" Sev asked.
"Tried hailing him on his comm, but he hasn't answered yet-" Fixer was saying until Scorch joined their channel.
"Hello boys! Me and Buttercup have acquired a new friend. His name is Lar Feck, and he's ugly and green. Wanna meet him?"
"Ner Vod, you've done it again." Boss said.
A voice came on the speaker in their compartment, clearly alarmed. "Warning! Geonosians and jet pack SBDs landing up above. They've already taken out one of our turrets. We need an assist."
"Bugs? On Doonvar VI? I guess it's my lucky day." Sev said, while ejecting his vibroblade to check it.
Count Dooku's hands were placed over his head. He yelled while images flashed before his eyes. A droid servant walked up to him and asked him what was wrong, and without looking at the droid Dooku's swirling dark energy simply ripped the droid apart.
One image was his Master with someone else. Someone with dark black armor and a peculiarly shaped helmet equally as black. Dooku wondered if that was him, or someone else. Perhaps Skywalker, perhaps not even him. He sensed that the armored thing was subhuman, it left a dark and devastating impact on the force, but not a full one.
Then he saw revered Jedi Master Windu being electrocuted by a powerful blast of force lightning. The senior council member then fell to his death. In the background it looked like the Coruscant skyline.
In an instant, he felt rather than saw, thousands of clone troops turning on their Jedi leaders and killing them. Just as him and his Master planned, but it felt different. It felt like...like he wasn't going to be there to see it.
The last thing Dooku saw was the worst of all. The force showed him two glowing lightsabers. One red, one blue. They were both above each of his shoulders, in scissor formation. Dooku had just witnessed his own demise.
Sev was the first one to open the hatch on the Juggernaut's roof. He took out his sniper rifle and no-scoped three Geonosians in a row, each of their heads popping and spraying yellow bug guts everywhere. The SBDs with the jetpacks turned their attentions from the last defense turret that they just destroyed, and went after Sev.
Boss came out next with a custom made DC shotgun attachment, and he blew two SBD's out of the sky.
"It's a good thing their programming is having a hard time adjusting their flight patterns as well as their aim," Fixer said. "Because we're in motion on the juggernaut they can't simply hover and focus on their aim. Their processing unit is too cheap to do both at the same time."
"All I got out of that was 'kill droids fast'" Sev said.
"That's all you get out of everything!" Scorch said, still in their channel despite waiting for the juggernaut. "You know, I kind of feel like I'm waiting for the six o'clock hoverbus. I wish I had a holomag or somethin'."
Then one the Geonosians used it's body to tackle into Fixer, and they both fell off the Juggernaut that was moving almost 80 KPH.
"Fixer!" Boss called, then kicked the Geonosian in front of him, then shotgunned an SBD behind him as he turned. He ran to the edge of the massive transport, and saw that as they fell Fixer rolled in the sky so that he was on top of the insectoid, and then when they hit the ground the bug splattered but broke most of Fixer's fall. Then Fixer rolled over onto his back.
"Driver stop this vehicle!" Boss yelled into the local channel, while Sev sniped the last of the enemies.
"What happened? Is Fixer okay?" Scorch said in a worried tone. "What'd I miss?"
Chapter 6: Loyalty
The Juggernaut screeched to a halt, and dirt and gravel on the road flew up. The abrupt stop almost threw the two commandos forward even with the warning from the pilot. Boss climbed down the ladder on the side while Sev simply jumped onto one of the massive tires, then eased himself so he was hanging off of it, then let go and fell to the ground, landing on his feet.
The commandos sprinted the distance to where Fixer fell. By the time they made it to him, he was just getting up. His green armor was almost entirely covered with yellow orange gore from the Geonosian he used to break his fall.
"You know Fixer," Sev said while giving him a hand in getting up. "For once in our short age accelerated lives, I'm actually jealous of your armor. The bug guts do suit you though."
Grandmaster Yoda himself, went to the distress beacon. It was set by the entrance of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and several Jedi commed him to come immediately. When he arrived, he was startled to feel such a strong tainted ripple in the force. He knew the ripple well. There were several lightsabers being swung at one red one.
"Ah Master Yoda! You've finally arrived." Dooku said, holding his crimson blade facing downwards. "How nice of you to join us!"
"This is the weirdest, most direct assassination attempt I've ever seen!" A Jedi Knight said, before bringing his green lightsaber down in an arc towards Dooku. Dooku easily deflected the blade and sidestepped the Jedi only to block two more lightsaber attacks.
"Did you all forget I used to teach dueling skills here at the Temple, not long ago. I can easily take all four of you on. I'd just rather avoid the bloodshed at this time. Also all of your forms need more work," Dooku said, looking past the blue and green blades and at Yoda.
"My old friend. Come to fight have you? Or talk, would you?" Yoda said in a loud voice. A fifth Jedi tried using Yoda as a distraction and charged Dooku from behind. Dooku simply raised the hand that wasn't on his lightsaber, and the Jedi was lifted off of the ground.
"I would very much like to discuss things with you Master. If you could tell your hunting dogs to deactivate their weapons I will come peacefully. I couldn't risk surrendering, because my message must be brought to you, and you alone. Our conversation must be absolutely private, and my presence a secret."
"Why not a message did you send?"
"There is no time. I had to come myself."
"Deactivate your weapons. Let Dooku speak, I will. See to it that no one finds out about this, accept Mace, you all must. My thanks, you have."
"But Master! I absolutely cannot leave you alone with that Separatist traitor!" One of the Jedi pleaded.
"He's dangerous!" Yelled another one. More curious Jedi began showing up.
"Handle myself, I can. Let us go to my private chambers, Dooku."
Alan Starburst force pushed Asajj Ventress but she landed gracefully on one foot, then sprinted back at him. Alan's stamina was running low. He closed his eyes for two seconds. On the battlefield that was two minutes. In a duel those two seconds are like twenty minutes. He refueled some of his energy and refreshed his mind. What would his master do? Jedi Master MCMC would tell him to use his opponent's strengths and weaknesses against them. To let his enemy get cocky and careless.
When Ventress was within striking distance, she hesitated. Something about the pitiful Jedi Padawan had changed. She sensed it. He opened his eyes and took the opportunity she missed. Then he began sluggishly attacking her.
Perhaps I worry too much, the Padawan is tired. Almost out of energy. His swift defeat will give me powering. His suffering will serve me and my strength.
Asajj began a relentless attack with her two lightsabers. Alan Starburst was barely able to block each strike. She could physically sense him slowing with each parry. Then she began using the force to enhance the strength and speed of her strikes. One final one knocked his blue lightsaber right out of his hand.
Ventress smiled an evil smile, and prepared to finish off her weaponless victim. Unfortunately, the second she took to smile, cost her the victory. Alan used the force to summon the blade back to him. She then noticed it wasn't deactivated, and she didn't knock it away entirely. Starburst had thrown the blade and hovered it behind her. She dodged as quick as she could as he pulled it back to him, but Ventress wasn't quick enough this time.
Three out of four of the members of Delta Squad returned to the Juggernaut, just in time to find out their fourth member Scorch, was under attack.
"They're after Feck, it seems like this is the last wave they have. Me and Buttercup will do our bests to hold them off. Just hurry up!"
The Juggernaut lurched back into motion, the onboard engineers were able to fix one of the anti-infantry turrets on top of it, and it was taking out the seemingly lost CIS remnants.
In front of the Juggernaut, a droid Commander was waiting at a roadblock. "It appears the B1s I sent to divert their attention was a success. Now ready your rockets!"
On both sides of the commander, there were three B1s armed with rocket launchers. The Juggernaut rolled around a corner and into view. On his mark, the six droids all fired. At the same time, the Juggernaut entered a freshly placed minefield. It front tires exploded and it started wobbling wildly. Then the rockets collided into it's side creating enough explosive force that it was thrown onto it's other side. Fires were rampant, and the droid Commander calculated that it had a 67% chance of it's engine exploding and taking out any survivors.
"Now, retrieve the Governor. We've cut off their reinforcements and their hope of extraction."
"What about their gunships?" A B1 captain asked.
"That's what the rockets are for. Pack up and go."
Chapter 7: Intervention
Alan's blue blade severed Asajj Ventress' right arm. She howled in anger and pain, and at the same time, she got put down by three blaster bolts to her back. When her body fell forward, she was still glaring at Alan Starburst with angry eyes. ARC Trooper Alpha was behind her.
"Good job sir."
Then it felt like the entire city was shaken by a large crash. Alan actually saw a building in the horizon begin to collapse.
"I think that was our extraction team," Starburst said sadly.
"I have a distress beacon from a crashed Juggernaut. Apparently a building fell on it, and it's core is leaking fuel." Alpha said.
"So it's likely to explode?"
Alpha nodded.
"Call those gunships back, stat!"
"Trust you, I do. Nothing to fear, have you. Stop Darth Sidious, we will." Yoda said.
"I'm afraid he won't be easy to defeat." Dooku said mildly. "He's much stronger than you or I. We will need to surprise him, then overwhelm him. If we can kill him, the true puppet master behind this war, I will dispel the Separatists and tell you everything. I only wish for a pardon from the Republic and the Jedi Order."
Yoda closed his eyes tightly. He knew that would not be easy. Not for the Republic, or the Jedi. Surely even the Jedi Council would be conflicted about what to do. For many, this was personal. They had lost Padawans, Masters, and life long friends to this Clone War.
"A Pardon you will get, but off this world you must live. Never return to Coruscant, you can. The Core Worlds, you must forget. A secret we will keep, from the Republic. But only for the greater good."
"Yes, thank you my Master. Now first things first. We're going to need to block his communications so he can't call for assistance. Let's just say, this Darth Sidious is a man of much power and wealth." Dooku stroked his beard. He was getting a chill. His path was clear. If Sidious were gone, he could do anything. Start a new life far from politics. Or he could usurp the right, and become the new lord of the Sith. A man of his power couldn't just rot away as a farmer. He'd have to think more of his future, but first he had to see events in the present through to their ending. My Master, will you see us coming? Let's see how you fare against a Sith and a Jedi.
"As a token of good faith, I have ordered General Grievous to attack this well defended Republic planet. He shall arrive in two days. He has been instructed not to retreat under any circumstances. We'll see if the coward obeys, but I suggest you consolidate your forces and eliminate him."
"Take him down once and for all, we shall." Yoda said. Dooku only smirked, and turned to face Coruscant. A very important planet that he might not ever see again.
There was nothing but fire, dust, and sparks. Fixer pulled Boss out from under a huge piece of metal. "C'mon Boss don't leave me. You can't quit. We need to get out of here soon. Please."
A trooper came up to Fixer. "The pilots are dead. The Juggernaut is on it's side, and is leaking fuel. We have less than ten minutes."
"Thank you soldier. Get out of here if you can." The trooper nodded, shot off a salute, then left. "Well, you wanted me to die with you, now here I am Ner'vod."
Sev found his way to the other two. Before he could say anything, a bunch of loud booms sounded off. It sounded and felt like an Earthquake, but it was above them instead of below. "The boys are sounding off. Must be the LAARTIES trying to save us again," he commented
"There's no way they can do anything for us. Too much rubble up above, and no proper way to bust a hole in this thing without finishing the job for the Seppies," Fixer said. "Let me try to reach Scorch. Maybe he'll know more from outside."
"If he's not too busy wishing he was a crab droid so he could date Buttercup that is."
Scorch was crying. He didn't know if he had ever felt this sad. But he was a soldier damnit, and he needed to be strong. He got off of his knee, and tried to forget the image in front of him. A broken and tattered crab droid, once known as Buttercup. Now just several pieces of burning metal burping up sparks. Buttercup had saved his life. He intended to honor that sacrifice to the very end. Oh and his three pod brothers in Delta Squad were also trapped in a smashed and crumpled Juggernaut transport with a collapsed building on top of it.
But at least there was two gunships trying to disintegrate the rubble before it was too late. Lar Feck opened up his mouth to speak, and Scorch quickly hit him with the butt of his gun. The green skinned alien fell to the ground, unconscious. "That's enough out of you." Scorch said, then began mowing down the battle droids that had destroyed, no, killed Buttercup.
"Do you think Scorch would care more if Buttercup died, or us?" Sev asked.
Boss and Fixer answered simultaneously: "Buttercup."
"Boss! You're awake?" Fixer said, delighted.
"Unfortunately. Looks like I'm awake just in time for the big boom."
Chapter 8: Consequences
Alan Starburst cut through the rubble. The pilots in the LAARTies were scared to cut through or detonate anymore rubble for fear of another collapse. So, the young Jedi hopped down through the rubble, and crawled through a small tunnel. Then he used the force to move some debris. He could sense that they were somewhere below him, and so here he was, cutting through thick duracrete.
"Sir, I've never in my life been happier to see a lightsaber." Boss said, after Alan hoisted him up. Then Alan did the same for the rest of the surviving clones.
"Now let's get the governor topside, asap." Starburst said.
Anakin Skywalker was in the nearest LAARTie. "Good job Padawan. Your mission was a success. This planet is ours." The remain droids Scorch was fighting were deactivated. He kicked one and knocked it over.
Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic Sheev Palpatine arrived at the private Jedi temple dock, with an escort of six blue senate guards. He walked quickly to meet Master Yoda.
"Hello Master, it is good to see you my friend, but I must know, what is the meaning of all of this? First you have my aide Mass Ammedda arrested, then you call me down here on urgent bussiness! If not for the arrest I would simply tell you to contact me again later, but I must know what you think my aide could have possibly done!"
Master Yoda only looked at the former senator up and down, before closing his eyes and drawing a breathe.
Ki Adi Mundi was with him, and he when he spoke, he used every bit of authority in his voice. "Chancellor, I regret to inform you, you are under arrest for treason, murder, corruption, and many other charges. You will have the right to defend yourself in a Republic court of law, with any lawyer of your choosing."
Palpatine looked stupefied. "Masters, you can't possibly serious! I've done no such things! Where have you gotten these inane ideas from?"
Ki Adi Mundi's appearance faded, and the hologram shut off. He was Count Dooku once more. "Hello Master," Dooku said, taking out his lightsaber and igniting it.
"A need for that, there may not be," Master Yoda said. "Come quietly, and you will receive a fair trial. The blue-armored senate guards that accompanied Palpatine looked very confused. One of them took out a pair of plasti-cuffs and reached for the Chancellor's wrist. Instantaneously, a lightsaber flew from the Chancellor's sleeve and ignited then slashed in a red arc. The guard shrieked as his arm was severed. Then Palpatine wasted no time in force throwing him into the other guards.
"Now is our only chance," Dooku said as he rushed to attack. Yoda dropped his gimer stick and ignited his own short lightsaber. A few of the guards had already gotten up, when one turned and fired on Yoda. Another one aimed at Palpatine, but a third guard went behind him and hit him with his blaster rifle.
Yoda sprung up and hopped up and down, spinning and flipping. He blocked and deflected a few blaster bolts, and measured up his surroundings instantly. Complete and utter chaos, it is.
Coruscant was in flames. The Separatist fleet was everywhere and nowhere. There were ships in the skies, in space, and some in pieces falling planetside. Mace Windu, Plo Koon, and Sasaee Tiin led a fighter force straight for Grievous's flagship The Invisible Hand. The Jedi trio and a platoon of clone troopers just landed inside the flagship's hangars. The droids were fighting back, but they didn't stand a chance against three Jedi Masters. Mace cut through the feeble droids like butter, while Tiin led the clones to cause havoc. Plo Koon was tasked with destroyed Grievous's starfighter and then the escape pods. Dooku had given them all of the droid general's favorite escape spots.
May the force be with you Master Yoda. If the Sith Lord has truly been Palpatine this entire time, then he's bound to be even stronger and more cunning than we could have imagined.
Mace force pushed through a door on the bridge, and was greeted by four IG-1000 Magnaguards. Grievous turned around. "Master Windu," he sneered. "I can't tell you how excited I am to add a purple lightsaber to my collection," then he activated two green lightsabers and joined his four bodyguards.
He purposely brought a few guards who were die-hard loyal to him, and a few who were loyal to the Republic to create utter chaos. You're as clever as ever Master, but you were foolish to come to the Jedi Temple. Dooku's red blade clashed with Sidious's, and then Yoda joined the fray and Sidious was fighting off attacks at all angles. Dooku's deadly precision and masterful stabs were the perfect counter to Yoda's wild but accurate flurries.
"Tyranus, you will die a thousand deaths for this!" the former chancellor said. Then both of his hands shot out fierce blue lightning. Yoda blocked the energy with his lightsaber, while Dooku answered in kind, firing his own Sith Lightning. "You old fool, who do you think taught you how to do that?" Sidious said, as his lightning began pushing Dooku's back toward him.
Dooku smiled. His plan worked. His master's attack pushed through and struck him, sending him backwards into a wall, but he forgot Yoda for only an instant. It was enough of a window for the Grand Master who directed the Sith Lord's lightning back at him while also jumping into attack range. The green alien went for a slash at Palpatine's throat, but he leaned just enough back to dodge a quick death. Yoda landed his small feet on Palpatine's chest, and then flipped off of him, knocking the Sith off his feet. Sidious quickly recovered with a backwards roll and then backflipped to put distance between his enemies. Five lightsabers activated behind him.
It was Shaak Ti, Ki Adi Mundi, Kit Fisto, Cin Drallig, and Luminara Unduli. Dooku stood up and joined Yoda. "Your reign as the dark lord of the Sith is over, Darth Sidious."
Mace was a blur as he dashed through the magnaguards, his lightsaber swinging all directions. He cut one Magnaguard in half before it could even move it's staff, then he elbowed another while kicking a third. When the fourth came at him with a spinning staff he used it's momentum and the force to throw it into the droid he elbowed. Before they could recover to counter, he sprung at Grievous with a forceful stab. The monstrosity blocked it with his two lightsabers, then sent out a kick with his sharp metallic talons.
Windu ducked under the kick and slashed at the general's leg. He barely managed to parry the slash in time. Mace then swung an overhead strike. Grievous's arms split and one arm went for Mace's neck. Now he had four arms out, with the extra arms reaching for lightsabers. Grievous wrapped his claw around the dark-skinned Jedi's throat. He began squeezing and moved his 3rd and 4th arm to position lightsabers in front of Mace's stomach. "Another Jedi down," Grievous said while laughing, but then Mace kicked off of his face and cartwheeled around him once Grievous lost his grip. He was about to stab through Grievous's back when a magnaguard tried doing the same to him.
Moving his hands in a breastroke motion, he ripped the magnaguard apart with the force, then turned and threw the pieces at Grievous. Grievous spun his lightsabers faster than any human could, and the droid parts were quickly cut down into scraps. Mace jump slashed and Grievous lost two hands. Since the hands were still gripping the lightsabers, they were still ignited, and Mace used the force to throw them like spears. It worked, and Grievous was pinned against a wall with his own lightsaber.
The last two Magnaguards walked up to him on either side and started swinging blows. Mace took a hit to the side, and the shoulder, but everything else he fended off one-handed. His other hand was keeping Grievous pinned. He managed to cut down the Magnaguard on his right, but was having trouble finishing off the other. Then a clone came in and put a blaster bolt through it's head. "You will never win, Jedi Scum." Grievous spat.
Tiin had arrived with reinforcements. Together, they used the force to move the activated lightsabers, as well as other ones that were on the General's belt, and cut him into tiny robotic pieces. Then Mace used the force to crush all of his undamaged organs. "The General is dead," reported the clone to comms.
Sidious fired a burst of Sith Lightning at the six Jedi behind him. Despite being caught off-guard, they all blocked it in time. His face soured. Dooku warned them. Yoda taught them how to properly defend against my attacks. They all charged at him. Using his acute senses, he picked out the one with the weakest grip on their weapon, Luminara, and pulled her weapon to him, then jumped and hit her with a kick to the face. He caught Cin's stab with Luminara's blade, and Ki and Shak's slash with his own. Then he sent a wave of force energy away from him in all directions.
It knocked all but Fisto and Mundi away. Yoda and Dooku were moving now, so he had to move quick. He put a stab straight through Fisto's leg, and severed off Mundi's arm, then pulled them into each other with the force while jumping over them. Luminara ran to heal their wounds, while Cin ran to block the way to Sidious's shuttle. Two Jedi Guardians were closing in to join the fray as well.
Sidious chucked Luminara's lightsaber into his chest, then sent Sith Lightning into it like a lightning rod. It electrocuted the other guardian, but Yoda moved the other Jedi to a safe distance. Dooku was on him, trying to press his advantage. Their red blades clashed, and Sidious feigned exhaustion so Dooku would get careless. Ever the careful duelist, Dooku didn't, but he did leave a small opening. Sidious used all of his speed to rush through Dooku's defenses and put his hand on Dooku's face. He shot Sith Lightning directly into Dooku's face, who screamed in pain, then Sidious impaled him with his red blade.
Cin Drallig and Yoda rushed the Sith Lord and Yoda was able to dash between Sidious's legs, cutting him at the shin as he did so. Sidious fell, and Cin jumped to finish him, but Yoda stopped him. "Answer for his crimes, he must." Cin took Sidious's blade away and kicked the Sith in the face to knock him out. Yoda looked around. Kit Fisto was bleeding from his leg, Ki Adi Mundi from his shoulder where his arm was detached. Two dead Jedi Guardians. Countless Senate Guards. So much destruction from only one man. And Dooku….
Yoda walked over to Count Dooku, former lord of the Sith. His face was a reddish brown, and his skin was beginning to peel and blister. His eyes were blank and dark. Yoda grabbed his hand. "Hello, my master. Looks like we won. Not that I can see anything anymore," he spoke softly, until he entered a fit of coughing. He spat up blood.
"Thank you Dooku. We would not have won, if not for your help." Yoda said.
"Should we heal him?" Luminara asked uncertainly.
"He is beyond healing, even with the force." Shaak Ti said softly.
"The Jedi Order will not forget what you did." Ki Adi Mundi said.
"Screw your order. I did it for myself, and for. And for, " the pained coughing began again. "For Qui-Gon Jinn. A truer knight than any of us."
"Thank you nonetheless, we do, old friend." The Grandmaster's words were the last thing Dooku heard before he died. And thus, the Separatists were defeated. Once they heard the Sith Lord Palpatine was captured, and their feared Generals dead, they quickly surrendered or ended their own lives. The Republic and the Jedi Order survived one more struggle, as it had over countless thousands of years. No Darth Vader or Empire. No Death Star. Just, peace at last.
THE END