Chapter 1: Grievously Mistaken

1231 hrs, February 12th 2558 (Military Calendar)/
CISCom, Pau City
Utapau System, Utapau

General Grievous still had yet to recover from the results of his embarrassing encounter with his new nemesis, Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117. He simply did not have enough time to have a full body refit, so the technicians did what they could to repair his damaged chest plate.There was still a dark scorch where the Spartan Laser had hit him, and on top of it all his wheezing and hacking coughs were becoming worse than ever. However, all his arms were repaired. And he was still, after all, the greatest Jedi killer in the galaxy.

"So," said Nute Gunray, the Trade Federation's despicable Viceroy; Grievous longed for the day when he was no longer needed. "Another world lost to the UNSC. Their armies are pushing ours back on every front, and the Republic has joined the fray. I must say, General, your skills are not as great as I had expected."

Grievous imagined crushing Gunray's head beneath his duranium feet. "Our forces are retreating strategically. Soon, there will be few ships and men left to guard Galactic City. That is when we will strike."

There was a collective murmur. "I have not heard of this plan," said Gunray, "if you can call something like that a plan. Who authorized it?"

"I did," said Count Dooku. "By the order of my master, Darth Sidious. Perhaps you would like to tell him yourself what you think of his plans."

"Forgive me," said Gunray. "I did not know."

"Then you would do well to listen and not speak. When we strike at the heart of the Republic, their citizens will know the war will not end as soon as they would like to believe. Capturing the Chancellor and holding him hostage will strike terror into their hearts, because they will know then who holds the power in this galaxy." Dooku looked around. "Any objections? No? Good. General Grievous here shall lead the attack, and I have full confidence in his abilities. As for the UNSC…perhaps a raid on Earth shall distract them for a while. The Mandalorians could arrange that."

"What about the Jedi? Kenobi and Skywalker?"

"They will not be a danger to our plans. Do not worry, my friends. Our victory is at hand."

000

1800 hrs, February 24th 2558 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC BBBG-Class Battle Group "Tango"
Coruscant System, Coruscant

Captain Bart Mancuso sat in his room going over deployment, rotation and refit reports. The Iowa-Class Battleship North Dakota and her escorts were rotating crews as scheduled, bringing up fresh faces from UNSCEC (UNSC Expeditionary Command), the UNSC's base on Coruscant that just happened to be seven miles away from GARHQ (Grand Army of the Republic Headquarters). The Iowas, as predicted, had led the charge into CIS territory and raise all sorts of hell; many CIS units retreated instead of fighting whenever an Iowa made her presence known. North Dakota had done her job well, sustaining only two casualties, and those two young crewmen would soon be back on their feet. All in all, it was a perfect deployment, earning the battleship three battle-stars.

"Captain?" said his XO, Lieutenant Commander Jeffery Wong. "We're ready to commence shakedown procedures."

"Do it, Jeff," said Mancuso.

"I'm a step ahead of both of you," said the hologram of AI Horatio. He wore the uniform of a Revolutionary War-era American general. "Shakedown already in progress."

"Nice work, Horatio."

"Thank you, sir. Also, one of our allies's monitoring stations picked up a whisper near the edge of the system. Doesn't look too serious, but I thought you would like to know."

"Thanks."

"I thought you might be thankful. Adieu." Horatio saluted smartly, and his hologram vanished.

Wong shook his head; he wasn't fond of AIs and their often quirky behavior. "Hey, did you hear V. Adm. Parangosky's dead? Heart gave up on her."

"Murderous Margaret?" said Mancuso. "No, I didn't. Can't say I'm too sad to hear it. Nasty old bitch."

"And Admiral Harry Gibson's taking her place."

Mancuso looked up. "He got promoted?"

"Yeah. Apparently, finding several long-lost Spartans gave him a career boost." Wong shook his head again; apparently, he didn't much like Spartans either.

"Look at it this way, Jeff," said Mancuso. "Those Spartans give us a morale advantage over General Harris' high-and-mighty ODSTs."

Jeff grinned. "That they do, sir. That they do."

Horatio's hologram appeared again, and he appeared very serious. "Captain, I took a closer look at that whisper."

"Oh Christ," said Mancuso. "I'm not gonna like what I'm going to hear, am I?"

"I shouldn't think so, sir."

"Tell me anyway."

Horatio told him. Mancuso didn't like it

000

1834 hrs, February 24th 2558 (Military Calendar)/
Grand Army of the Republic Fleet Operations Center
Bright Jewel System, Ord Mantell

Jedi General Etain Tur-Mukan was getting heartily sick of war. She had seen so many men dying, so much destruction, that she had become numbed to all kinds of violence. She was getting some much needed help from Master Yoda, but she couldn't risk staying with him for too long; the wizened 600 year-old Jedi might be able to detect the connection between Etain, the clone commando Darman, and her son, Venku. There was too much risk involved, so Etain had to deal with her grief on her own.

For the first time in a long time, Etain was put in charge of what Fi called "a spell in a stone frigate": filing flimsi reports and drinking gratuitous amounts of caf. She was torn whether this or combat was the worst part of her tour of duty. Her good friend from the 41st, Commander Gett, was suffering with her; the 41st were stationed on Ord Mantell for another month before they would ship out and join their brothers in the Outer Rim sieges. But worst of all was that she had had no contact from Omega Squad, Darman in particular. There were mentions of the UNSC's Spartans everywhere, though. Posters of Spartans, holovids of Spartans, Spartans standing over the crushed chassis of dozens of droids, Spartans standing tall. They had become as much of a legend as the two 'greatest' Jedi in the war, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They had helped boost morale in the Republic better than any propaganda effort that the Chancellor's advisors could come up with. Etain now understood why ONI did what they did during the Covenant War by marking Spartan casualties as MIA instead of KIA, but she still didn't like it. She wondered where the Master Chief was, and how he was doing. From what she had heard, John seemed to manufacture his own luck.

Commander Gett knocked before coming into her office. "Ma'am? Priority message from the UNSC's Tenth Fleet, Battle Group Tango. I don't have the clearance to decrypt it." He handed her a datapad.

United Nations Space Command
Alpha Priority Transmission 22981Y-16
Public Key: file/charlie-gamma-beta-two/
From: Captain Bartholomew Mancuso, Commanding Officer,
UNSCEC Battle Group Tango/ (UNSC Service Number: 00826-37125-BM)
To: ALL AVAILABLE ALLIED UNITS
Subject: IMMEDIATE RECALL
Classification: Classified (BGX Directive)

/start file/

CIS forces detected on CORUSCANT system's edge. ALL available Allied warships to regroup at rally point GAIA at best speed. ALL SHIPS are to enact the Keyes Protocol immediately.

/end file/

Etain's eyes widened. "Commander! Get ready to move out!"

"What is it, ma'am?"

"The UNSC commander at Triple Zero just issued their equivalent of a Red Zero. CIS forces are converging on Coruscant."

Gett issued his orders quickly. "I thought the Seps wouldn't attack Triple Zero," he said in disbelief.

"So did I," said Etain, already gathering her things. "And so did a lot of people. It seems we were grievously mistaken." She snatched up her lightsaber. "How many ships do we have?"

"We have twelve ships ready to move out. About thirty others are still rotating crews."

"We'll take the twelve ships. Tell Commander Gree to follow us when he's ready."

"Yes, ma'am."

00000

A/N: Here's something for you to enjoy on your Spring Break. Also, avid Tom Clancy fans may recognize some of the names here.