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: This is my first fan fic that I started posting in another site
Introduction: Part 1
"The beginning of the end"
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 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, 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 Genenral 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 Ministers 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…