Welcome to Star Wars: Clone Rebellion Season 2!
This season is based four years after the end of the Clone Wars and the elimination of the Jedi Order, and two years after the tragedy on the planet Yunashi. As with the future coming seasons, they'll most likely take place four years ahead as well, depending on how everything turns out. It'll balance out events that happen the timeline of the years between Revenge Of The Sith and A New Hope. Because of the extended amount of characters that were around during those days, they might make it in as main characters or might at least get minor roles.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy what the next series has happening! I promise you all that there'll be less errors in this one than the first series!
Prologue:
Geonosis:
A group of five Acclamators were floating in the clouds above the desert planet Geonosis. There was a storm that was violently raging a few miles away, in the dark night. The winds weren't so kind either and were dashing dust violently everywhere, making the view of the ground below barely visible from the air.
Inside the main hanger of the Frigate, a group of Clone Troopers were following a skinnier armored soldier with a more flexible look to their body. There were ten soldiers following that one skinny soldier followed by an ARC Trooper to act as a second.
The group of eleven had entered the body of a lone LAAT/i Gunship. It resided with a group of two Clone Pilots inside the cockpit. They appeared to be expecting a crew for some while and were ready for launch.
The LAAT/i proceeded to start up its engines and the one side panel open slides shut, sealing the crew onboard within. The Gunship then proceeded to launch from the belly of the small Frigate. Inside of the Gunship, the crew was well armed and appeared to be heading for a place where action was taking place. Both the skinny armored soldier and the ARC Trooper carried twin sets of DC-17 Hand Blasters at their sides. As a difference from all the other Clones, this skinny warrior appeared to be armed with a set of Lightsabers. Nine of the other Clones onboard the Gunship were carrying DC-15A Blaster Rifles and the last soldier was carrying a Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon.
The LAAT/i Gunship was a fair distance from the Frigates now, but they continued to move in the same general direction of the speeding Gunship, but at a much slower pace. The other Frigates had also launched Gunships of their own. Three had come from each of the Acclamators and proceeded to go into another direction, though still following the same general path. The count for the Gunships was now at thirteen.
This LAAT/i that this crew was on had a different color scheme than the others that were going on their route. This Gunship carried dark blue markings all over it and the rest of it was covered by dark black paint. The purpose of this different color was to define the difference from other Gunships.
The Gunship proceeded to start diving down and begins to pick up speed. With the speed picking up, it easily cuts through a cloud in mere seconds. Beyond the cloud however, a large battle was taking place down below. There was a very large conflict between Republican and Imperial forces, trading blues lasers towards each other. The amount of carnage was like a light show from the air, but obviously a terrible battle from below.
The LAAT/i had released the side panels on both sides, revealing the battle to the crew onboard. The Clones onboard the Gunship observed how the battle was going and noticed that it was stuck in a stalemate position for both sides. It was time for this stalemate to end and change the course of this battle. It was pretty clear that it was too heated to make a landing at the moment, so the crew's next response was to going in an alternate way: By diving downwards into the battle instead, going in head first before the other crews would come down.
"Get ready, this is it!" The ARC Trooper warned to his soldiers.
"Yes, sir!" The men responded back.
The LAAT/i was already above the battlefield and it was currently above enemy lines. There were trenches that was down below and that was the crew's target. Since there appeared to be a whole bunch of Clones heading for the enemy lines, it made a lot of sense to jump at a moment like this. The group of twelve then proceeded to make proper calculations on when the time to jump was accurate and not against them. It was take only a few seconds before they could go at the right time.
Five... Four... Three... Two.. One.
"Jump!" The lightly armored soldier cried loudly.
The group of twelve men then jumped from the sides of the LAAT/i and dived down fast like speeding bullets towards the trenches. The Gunship that had let them out had closed the panels and proceeded to return back to the Acclamator it left before. Its reason for being around was no longer needed and staying in the clear line of sight would most likely cause it to get shot down by enemy forces.
The group of twelve continued to fall rapidly, making their dissension very quick and not yet noticeable by the Imperial threat below. The leading ARC Trooper following on the way down noticed the lack of Imperial attention and felt pleased for it. The Imperial forces were so busy dealing with the rebel Clone forces that looking up seemed like a waste of attention for them, unless they saw what was coming down to rudely intrude on them. Until the dropping forces would hit the ground, the main line was their prime problem.
With less than one hundred feet left before smacking into the dirt of Geonosis, the ARC Trooper and the other Clone Troopers had activated their jet packs and their ascension was a bit slower, though still coming down at an exceptional rate. The lightly armored warrior however seemed to possess a smaller slimmer jet and it only let out a short bust every ten few seconds, assuming to slow down the dissension but keeping them from going down last. They were planning on leading the attack themselves.
Suddenly, the skinny soldier had hit the inside of the trench and landed right next to one of the Stormtroopers. The Stormtrooper didn't know what it was that had landed next to himself and quickly swooped his head around to get an answer, only to receive a hard punch directly into the left side of his plain white Phase II helmet. The impact was so strong and unexpected, causing the Stormtrooper to get a moment of disorientation, but recovered a moment later. He tried to strike back at the figure with his left fist while holding a DC-15S Carbine in his right. However the skinny figure had a fast reaction time than he did and got another punch to the bucket, this time causing him to get knocked out. However, during the incident of him getting hit in the face again, his DC-15S had released a blast that got the attention of other Imperials in the trench.
The skinny armored figure looked towards the enemy without a clear expression, as they had a helmet over their head covering their identity. The Imperials didn't care what they looked like beneath and instead decided to use negative force on their enemy. The result of firing against them was of a misfire that only wasted their cartridge in their Blasters. However, they wouldn't be able to finish them off as the armored figure had already dispatched their twin DC-17 Hand Blasters and fired at all of them with direct hits to their chests.
More Imperials had seen this break in their own line and attempted to make some repairs of their own, by dealing with the intruder tearing it apart. The figure noticed the larger amount Imperials coming for them and dodged a whole bunch of Blast fire while they came. However, their attempts were proving in vain.
The Clones from above had already started firing as they came down. The ARC Trooper was very focused during this attack from above. The other Clones had decided to compete with their leader as they felt influence by his direction. The Clone with the Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon however didn't fire a single shot before touching dirt as the recoil of the Cannon would've resulted in bad balancing and possibly cause a bad crash.
The Imperials after the skinny warrior had been taken down quickly, but they were obviously not the last of the Imperials. There were clearly hundreds more to go on with. The skinny figure had then climbed up the trench and proceeded to charging deeper into enemy lines. They had put their Blasters away and then traded for the two Lightsabers they had. There was a second line of Imperials not too far away and then found their enemy charging right for them. The Imperials at the line had instantly started aiming their weapons at the approaching hostile and then fired their weapons as much as they could. A few of the blasts had been dogged by the figure and then their weapons had been activated. The first weapon was a Lightsaber with a green blade while the secondary weapon was with a greenish-yellow blade. After blocking a few blasts and directing them back at some of the enemies, the figure had done a leap into the air and jumped back down on top of their enemies. With a few cuts and slashes, the Imperials in the center of the line had been down. The other Imperials were attempting to fire at the enemy from both the left and the right side of the trench, but they were already going down before they could get a fair shot.
The other Clone forces from the Republican side's trenches had finally made a rush forward and started to defend to assist their ally. The group of eleven Clones from the Gunship had proceeded to continue with their leader and took some cover momentarily in the second trench.
Both the lightly armored figure and the ARC Trooper were side by side when they had gotten into the trench. The two had holstered their weapons and proceeded to remove their helmets. Under the helmet of the skinny armored soldier was the face of a Togruta. It was of course Ahsoka Tano, who was the selected leader of the Clone Rebellion. The ARC Trooper with her was her right hand man and most trusted ally, Rex.
"Our dive in appears to have gone successfully, General." Rex says with a nod to his leader.
"Agreed, especially when it was our first actual jump." Ahsoka responded back. "How are Kix and Tup doing?"
"Their last transmission indicated that they were under heavy fire and that they couldn't make a break through the Imperial line. We seem to have solved a part of the problem but without continued support, this battle will take longer to win." Rex explained.
"Well then, we had better make sure we do our job, right Rex?" Ahsoka says.
"Yes, sir!" Rex responded.
The two soldiers then proceeded to reequip their helmets back onto their heads. Ahsoka's helmet was a specially designed one that helped to cover her lekku from any imposed threats. They hadn't grown too long since the four years had passed, but they were growing never the less. Her body was very slim and made it easy to move in battles, the armor was light and didn't slow her down much.
Once the two war heroes were fully equipped, they jumped up from the trench and took their squad with them. Ahsoka had activated her Lightsaber and Shoto again and Rex had taken his dual DCs out of his holsters. The two were clearly ready for the battle to continue for them. They charged fast, bravely encountering their enemy!
Episode 1: Raid
A war rages! After four years of training soldiers for the war against the Empire, Ahsoka Tano is finally ready to lead a full legion to take on the evil Imperial forces! With a lot of resources put into fighting an enemy with seemingly endless forces, the Clone Rebellion must take into consideration of assets beyond legit business and take deals with pirate forces! The pirate force known as the Lok Revenantes is one of the only forces in the galaxy who is capable to get the job done! Assisting with this attack is Mace Windu, along with the Clones Echo, Hardcase and Waxer!
A lone LAAT/i Gunship was flying above the planet Lok with the outcast Windu and his three crew members. They were being transported to the Mere Cruiser of the Lok Resistance known as the Tritus. The vessel was introduced to Ahsoka and the 501st during the first visit to the planet after Order 66 was called. Since then, the Revenants had focused their time on taking supplies from the Imperials and their presence was kept mostly hidden. However, after many raids of Imperial ships and convoys near the system, it was clear that the Imperials were close to tying the Lok Revenants to the problems. Because of their known success with raiding convoys, the security for these transports was being increased greatly. Because of the increased difficulty, the Resistance asked for help from the Clone Rebellion in exchange for a share of the profit. Because of the experience of Windu and the Clones, they were well suited for the job.
The Tritus had a hanger door opening up from the starboard side and a rayshield was revealed. The Gunship went right for the hanger and proceeded to enter through the blue shield. The path was big enough for the Gunship to enter and it had enough space to store quite a few ships. The Gunship had landed easily but didn't shut off its engines. The panel to the left side of the LAAT/i had opened up after it had landed and the crew of four had walked out afterwards. Once out they had noticed that Nym was waiting for the crew with his arms wrapped together. The Feeorin pirate gave a nod as he saw the crew coming towards him. He regarded Mace with a nod of respect, as the two had met on the same day that the Clone Wars had begun.
"I didn't expect to see you running around still, Windu." Nym says with a slightly smug tone.
"With the activity going on around the galaxy, it is very hard to turn a blind eye on those who need help." Mace responded. "That includes your pirate crew as well."
"Don't get me wrong, we're more than capable enough to handle the task ourselves. The Imperials know that if it was us fighting them, they would be shaking in their boots." Nym explained, earning grease from the ex-Jedi Master. "I just don't want a repeat incident of what almost happened on Nod Kartha. If it weren't for Adi being there, we wouldn't be here having this conversation and fighting against the Empire."
"Then we had best be ready." Mace says with understanding. "What do we know about this convoy?"
"I'll explain it on the bridge of the ship. Follow me." Nym says.
The group of four proceeded to follow the Feeorin while their transport had started to leave the Mere Cruiser. Because of the lack of attack ability on the Gunship while in space, it was best that it didn't stay behind. It left the hanger without delay and proceeded to the surface for when the mission was over.
Tritus' Bridge:
The group of four were taken to the bridge where Nym was going to explain the situation with the Imperials making a pass. From the looks that the pirates were giving on the bridge, it had appeared that they were at least a little uneasy when it came to Clones. News had spread around about the chip that was implanted in Clone Troopers during the early days of their development and were worried about how far their allegiance would go before they would turn. The one pirate that seemed to reveal their distrust the most was Sol Sixxa who watched the Clones with a grumpy expression. Others on the bridge like Jinkins and Kole however seemed to place more faith in the trust of Mace's men.
There was a main terminal on the bridge and a human male was standing there observing data on it. He appeared to be taking the task very seriously himself as well. He didn't seem bothered by the Clones on the ship as well just like Jinkins and Kole.
"Juno, what's the status of the Imperial convoy?" Nym asked straight forwardly to his Starship Captain.
"It appears that it'll be making its pass within thirty minute, Nym." Juno responded directly.
"Bring up the imagery of the convoy, Juno." Nym ordered.
"Roger, Nym." Juno responded.
Juno pressed a few buttons on the main console he was using to get the image of the Imperial fleet online. A holotable was directly in the center of the bridge and it had shown a whole bunch of blips that were moving at a slow pace. Judging by the size and shape of the blips it would appear that there was a Consular-class space Cruiser making the shipment. It was a ship model that Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi once used when boarding a Separatist ship. Now it was used only by Imperials.
Besides the transport, there appeared to be about twenty escort fighters assisting the transport. From the shapes that were shown on the map, it appeared that they were ARC-170 fighters being used. This was indeed going to be an interesting fight on their hands. Were it not for the pirates being experienced, they would all possibly be facing a battle not worth fighting.
"As you can see here they aren't fooling around. They know that if they were to deliver something important, they would need a good escort." Nym explained.
"Uh, why couldn't they just go through hyperspace… sir?" Echo asked while awkwardly referring to Nym as "sir".
Nym regarded the Clone with a brief glance before looking back to the holotable with the escort slowly moving. He reached out with his left cybernetic hand and pointed to the main vessel.
"The kind of load these transports deliver is very delicate. Besides regular supplies like dissembled Blasters and many other low grade military items they're also delivering fuel sources like Rhydonium on that thing."
"But I don't see why they would be moving that kind of stuff in a ship like that. When we were captured on an Imperial ship a few years back there was Rhydonium onboard and it was a damn Venator." Echo explained.
"It could be possible that they're not delivering the supplies to a regular world. It could be for a small base in the system." Jinkins suggests.
"What? Jinkins, that's stupid! The Imperials know better than to setup around this part of the system." Nym objected strongly.
"They weren't too smart when they attacked our base, it could be a sign that they want to take this place, only by doing it quieter this time." Kole says.
"They were after the Jedi- the ex-Jedi." Nym said and then corrected himself. "They want nothing to do with us."
"Can you be so sure, Nym? Kole might be on to something there." Jinkins says.
Nym took a moment to think about what his crew was saying. He moved away from the holotable he was at and did a few paces back and forth. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from his men. Usually they would agree with his opinions (with objections from Jinkins now and then) but since they were considering it as a possibility themselves, it might be something worth checking into. Nym didn't want any chances of exposure from the Imperials so risking a breach in their security and defense was foolish. They had already lost their base once from the Separatists, Nym was not going to allow losing it again.
"Fine, we'll deal with it." Nym responded. "There will be a new objective on this mission, men. When we finally take on that transport, we're going to check where it was headed. If it was heading to a planet near Lok, we're going to find their staging base there and take it out!"
Mace looked at the Pirate leader without surprise. This was the way Nym always acted when it came to someone stepping to him. Violence wasn't one of Mace's traits but with the changes made of him being a Jedi Master to being an outcast he was going to be forced to put his hand down.
"Mace, we had no time to lose. The transport will be going by very soon and we must be ready for them. I'm going to be taking the Havoc with me to deal with the escort guarding the ship. I want you to act as my secondary gunner for this battle." Nym explained.
"Very well, but don't fly like a maniac. I've had a few experiences with someone who always pulled off stunts like that. I don't want to experience it again." Mace says making his words clear.
"Ha, you don't know what flying is if you haven't been in a ship with a skilled pilot." Nym says. "Follow me to my hanger. We're going to have some fun dog fighting the Imperials."
Mace shook his head as Nym said that. Knowing what the pirate was implying, getting a gentle ride was the only thing un-promised. He had little time so he couldn't reject what choices he had to choose. He followed Nym down to the hanger, along with Jinkins, Kole and Sol following the two.
Echo, Hardcase and Waxer were left at the bridge assuming that they were partly forgotten about. The three looked around with their faces showing a sign of confusion beneath. Echo however found three vacant seats in a line near the holotable and silently noted to his friends to take those spots. Were it not for the helmets concealing their expressions, Echo would've noticed that his two brothers were smiling beneath.
Tritus Hanger:
Nym led Mace to his Fighter which appeared to be newer than ever. The paint job of the Havoc looked pretty expensive with the red and white glowing in the lights of the hanger. It was amazing what you could do with a perfect coat of paint. You could spray the Twilight with this kind of paint and it would look almost brand new. However since the ship was long destroyed, paint what was left would only make junk look like valuable trash.
Mace watched the Pirate leader as he walked up to his Fighter and pats it with his flesh hand. Nym then gave the Fighter a kiss and then took a moment to admire her great beauty that he saw in his personal war craft.
"I missed you, baby." Nym says before giving it a pat again and looked back to the Korun Force user. "Tell me Mace, have you ever had a ship that make you feel special to have?"
"No and I've never had that kind of relationship you have." Mace responded seriously but earned a few laughs from Jinkins and Kole in the background.
Nym looked at Mace dumbfounded and then to his own crew members. They were still laughing a slight bit but when Nym cleared his throat quite loudly the two instantly stopped.
"Enough chatter! We're boarding, now!" Nym says firmly. "Come on, 'Jedi'!"
Mace followed the pirate leader up onto the Havoc without any words, expecting nothing else to be said to him about this conversation. This was something Nym would let slide.
After Nym and a squad of fighters had lifted off from the Tritus, the group was waiting in idle behind some asteroids for the Imperial fleet to go past. They waited for about fifteen minutes before the enemy was in range.
Nym sat at his controls while staring dead into the vessel of the Imperials. He noted that the ARC-170s were flying in individual patters in order to locate any disruptions. The facial expression he carried would even make a Wookie think twice before encountering him. It was Nym's game face. In Nym's thoughts however he was just as serious and calm as possible. He was directly interested in where the transport was head and that made this raid a whole lot more interesting.
"Nym, it would seem as the amount of numbers from Juno's raider was accurate. There are twenty fighters escorting the transport." Jinkins explained over the intercom.
"This'll be fun then. Is everyone else ready?" Nym asked.
"Ready!" Sixxa responded.
"Ready, Nym!" Kole responded as well. "Our other fighters are all ready as well, boss."
"Good, then we'll head right for them now. We'll have an easier picking with the ship then." Nym said back. "Make sure Juno brings the Tritus in fast. If we do things right, these Imperials will not stand a chance."
"Copy that, Nym." Kole responds.
"Alright, let's do this!" Nym shouted over the intercom.
The Lok Revenants proceeded to shoot from behind the asteroids and charged for the Imperials head towards their direction. Nym was in the middle of the group and everyone else flew at his sides.
Mace was manning the turret to Nym's Havoc and got acquainted with how the controls worked on it. Judging by the power it had when turning it could prove to be fast with reaction timing. Despite this impressive speed, Mace could tell that the turret would be a bit sluggish on fighters during combat. This wasn't too much of a problem; however Nym had looked back and noticed a slight sense of frustration pinned to his face.
The Imperials within the transport were observing their path as they moved slowly. Their trip wasn't that much of an eventful one as of yet and they were almost hungry for some trouble to stir up. They were aware of the last transports here being taken down by pirates of sorts but they didn't expect it to happen to them.
"Keep maintaining our course. We cannot make any mistakes when moving the shipment." The Imperial Officer on the bridge warned.
"Sir, is this the final shipment we're deliver?" A Stormtrooper on the bridge questioned.
"If this one doesn't get raided like last time then yes, it should be. This final shipment will help get our operations out here improve and we'll be able to keep any pirates from making a daring attack against us." The Imperial officer explained.
"Sir, we're picking up fighters directing towards our position!" A bridge crew member pointed out.
"Raise the shields! These pirates will not be boarding us! Get the cannons into position!" The Imperial officer commanded.
Meanwhile within Nym's Havoc…
The leader of the Lok Revenants observed the target as it started being up its defenses. He laughed as he watched the shields starting to glow and the weapon system beginning to become active. Mace however took this sudden retaliation more seriously and begun to aim his gun towards the defenses, ignoring the ARC-170 fighters coming at them.
"I guess we've got the Imperials more scared than we could've imagined. Sol, are we ready to bring in the heat?" Nym asked.
"Hell yeah, Nym! I'm dying to give them a taste of my medicine!" Sol responded toughly.
"Good, then I think it would be a fun idea to let you take lead of the crew during this attack. I'm diverting my wingman HUD controls over to you for this one. Make this shot count, Sixxa!" Nym ordered.
"Gotcha, Nym!" Sol responded back.
"What?!" Jinkins exclaimed on the communicator. "You mean we're going to follow Sixxa on this attack?! That's almost suicide, Nym!"
"That's right, Jinkins. 'Almost suicidal' and that's why the attack will be perfect. Just make sure you follow everything Sol says and we'll do fine." Nym explained.
"Now I highly doubt that…" Jinkins says back.
"Those fighters are moving in a lot closer, Nym!" Kole warned but still stating the obvious.
"Just follow Sixxa!" Nym repeated again.
Mace shook his head as he heard this dispute going on between the pirate crew. He wasn't too impressed that disputes were made with these guys pretty easily. It even made him question how Nym was actually able to keep the crew together at all. But he also had to think about why these disputes were consistent between the rough bunch. Maybe it was the disagreement that kept their teamwork together and made it hardly inseparable. It was definitely not the kind of friendship that Mace would want to learn about however.
Seconds later the first few shots had started being traded to everyone on each side of the battlefield. The first of the casualties was of the Lok Revenants, who lost two fighters by being tackled under a swarm of fire from a few ARC-170 fighters. Nym witnessed the quick amount of bloodshed already happening on his side and decided to make a daring attack on the Imperial transport.
"Blast! Alright Windu, I'm going to make a quick dive in head first attack on that starship. While I'm attacking the ship I want you to aim for the turrets and take them all out in a quick session of time. Think you can handle it, 'Jedi'?" Nym questioned.
"Just focus on the enemy and make sure you get your job done so I can do mine." Mace responded back.
"Ha, whatever you say. Just don't mess up too badly." Nym says while adding more emphases on the word 'too'.
Mace ignored the pirate's criticism. Though it was basically joke rather than criticism to Mace's abilities.
Finally the Havoc had sped up and charged straight for the transport. The pirate checked his weapon systems before he got in range and made sure that his torpedoes were full and ready to be used to wreak havoc on the Imperial vessel. Nym grinned at his readiness and waited for the right time to blow of the surface. Before launching the missiles however he had one final explanation for the ex-Jedi.
"One more thing, the torpedo type I am using is designed to disrupt the shields for a short period of time near where I strike. Until the first shot manages to reach the surface of the Cruiser, you won't be able to do any damage so timing is key here, Windu." Nym warmed more seriously than he did before.
"Understood, I'll know when to strike." Mace responds back.
Soon Nym was in range of the area of the transport where he would let out his payload on the Imperials. He did a final quick check of his arsenal and knew that he was ready. It was then that he had his trigger fingers touched down upon the secondary weapon triggers and let out multiple waves of torpedoes on the top of the enemy ship.
Once they had hit the surface of the ship, Mace had noticed that there was a slight flash all over the ship, indicating a weakness within the shielding. This was where he knew he needed to take his chance. He quickly aimed the turret to where each of the cannons on the top of the vessel and let out a few bursts with each cannon. Since the turrets appeared to be busy on attempting to attack the Lok fighters, they were greatly exposed to Nym's Havoc. Each of them exploded one by one, crippling the defenses severely.
Once the Havoc had gone past, Nym had diverted back and decided on what his next objective to undertake. He checked not only the field but also the radar that he had detecting where his fighters were located. So far it appeared that the Imperials were already losing but the G-400 star fighters were also going down much too rapidly. This annoyed Nym but he didn't let the rage out… yet.
"Great work on the secondary gun, Windu." Nym complimented his shooter. "AND SOL, WHY ARE OUR FIGHTERS GOING DOWN?!"
"From the looks of things, it would appear that some of our fighters are low on fuel. It seems strange." Jinkins explained.
"Low on fuel?! They only started flight less than an hour ago!" Nym shouts on the communicator.
"Nym, the Tritus didn't have enough time to prepare for the Imperial fleet when you ordered us into orbit above Lok. We didn't expect to run low on the reserves so quickly. We'll need to add more protocols for future mistakes to be undone." Juno explained from the bridge of the Tritus.
"Just get the Tritus here now." Nym says back. "And Jinkins, I want you to add sensors to Mere ship before we go into battle next. This isn't a request, this is an order!"
"Relax, Nym." Jinkins responded.
"Yeah Nym, everything's still under control for us." Kole says back.
"Easy for you to say Kole." Nym says back. "You know how hard it is to hire a real crew these days. And start your attack run, Sol."
After his order, Nym cut the transmission and sighed for a brief moment. His fighter hovered back to the battle slowly and he leaned back on his seat while looking up onto the metal ceiling. His attention however quickly drew to his gunner who looked at him with what appeared to be a disgusted expression. Nym spun his chair around to face the outcast directly and wondered why he was not so impressed.
"What's wrong now?"
"Your communication among your own men isn't impressive."
"What are you saying?"
"You're always trying to lead your soldiers but when they don't accomplish everything to your letter it looks as if you feel disgraced to be around them."
"Excuse me? My men follow my commands because I know how to lead them. If they go off and act by themselves then they deserve a good reprimanding now and then since they tend to mess up. Badly I might add."
"That doesn't mean you need to act rash towards them. So them support, don't show them your dark side."
"We're pirates. We don't do things by the book like the Republic did. If the pirate Captain gives orders the crew must follow them."
Mace didn't respond and instead turned away from Nym. He didn't want to start up another argument as it would only cause more distractions with the battle coming up ahead. He took his place at the turret again and looked toward the battle going on ahead. Nym however still continued to face the outcast and let out a grumble of annoyance. He didn't want to let this conversation slip out of his grasp.
"You know I am right. We do things by a different code that is not like a military. At least we don't let minor distractions take the best of us." Nym says to Mace.
"If that's true, then I'll expect you to dodge that incoming fighter from hitting your ship." Mace replied.
Nym turned around and looked back out to the battle, only to see an ARC-170 in flames heading directly to his Havoc.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Nym cried as he pulled sharply to the left at his controls, dodging the Imperial fighter by only a mere second.
Nym then ignored all history of the conversation between Mace and himself and started to zoom in a lot faster into the battle. His instincts kicking in a lot faster as everything happened all over the battle zone. He noted that three lone G-400 star fighters were sailing along after Sol who was being followed closely by Jinkins and Kole. Nym felt annoyed that they seemed to be treating this as a careless exercise. However those three were usually the only ones who proved useful despite going against Nym's plans.
The best news of the battle however was just arriving… the Tritus. The vessel of the Lok Revenants that Nym heavily depended on when it came to quick action against enemy fighters. He watched as he quickly saw the Imperial fighters scatter as consistent amounts of orange fire went towards their positions. Most of the time if a shot missed it would make up for it by colliding with the Imperial vessel.
"Juno, glad you got here quickly."Nym commended the Tritus' pilot after reactivating the communicator again.
"I could see the Lok forces struggling so I decided to speed things up, Nym." Juno responded.
"It's about time things started working better for us anyway. Keep your firepower up Juno, this battle ain't over yet." Nym says. "Sixxa do a strike run with Jinkins and Kole at the bottom of the ship. But make sure you don't use too much of your power or you'll blow this transport up."
"Yeah, yeah…"Sol responded.
Sol's fighter had stopped its chase of any Imperial fighters and made a direct turn towards the transport with Jinkins and Kole following closely. Sol's target was the defenses on the underbelly of the vessel plus the idea to do heavy damage so the ship can't make a proper getaway. Once they had gone in for the attack, Sol had activated a burst of heavy orange firepower which shook the Naboo vessel violently. Jinkins and Kole dealt with any defenses beneath during the attack run. Once they had reached beyond the end of the ship, everything had gone haywire for the Imperials. There were holes within the ship that were spewing flames out into space which didn't seem to be dying down from the cold of the atmosphere. To make matters worse for them the engines had cut out one by one from left to right.
"The attack was simple and basic. Impressed, Nym?" Sol asked.
"At least something has gone right today…" Nym said silently.
"What?" Sol questioned sounding confused.
"Nothing Sixxa, just finish off the fighters and then we'll dock back on the Tritus." Nym says. "Juno, dock with the Imperial ship. We're going to be meeting our 'friends' on the other ship."
"Copy that Nym, just hope an Imperial boarding party doesn't try to get us by surprise. The Tritus went through enough when we had to fight Cavik Toth's forces." Juno warned wearily.
"At least we don't have to deal with Sabaoth fighters this time. Those things were a challenge and did a great deal of damage to our forces a few times." Nym responded. "Took some of our best men too."
"At least we won against them." Jinkins says. "Too bad about Reti though."
"And Captain Orsai." Kole added.
"Except Orsai sacrificed himself and Reti wasn't hunted down by Toth's forces. It was all Jango Fett who went after him." Nym corrected.
"That reminds me; did anyone ever hear from Vana Sage? The last we had ever heard from her was that she was looking for Reti herself, correct?" Jinkins asked.
"That's what she said. I'm guessing that since she didn't report back that it must mean she's dead." Nym boldly says.
"I fear you may be right." Jinkins responded back with some slight disappointment heard in his voice.
"Alright, enough bringing up the past, we have a job to do and I'm serious about getting it completed." Nym says. "Juno, finish off these fighters for us. We're going to dock right now."
"Understood, Nym." Juno responded.
Soon, Nym and the remaining crew members had arrived back into the Mere Cruiser so they could board the Imperial vessel that was about to be docked. Nym however decided to take the remainder of the spare time to lecture his men. Everyone of them were in a line near a few G-400 star fighters and watched Nym as he did long paces in front of all of them. The Feeorin had his flesh hand and his cybernetic hand intertwined with each other behind his back. With this pose as he walked, it meant that what he was saying was carrying some sort of unexplained meaning. For Mace he didn't see why this speech was even being spoken out.
"Alright men, I've had enough messing around! We've had a very unnecessarily amount of losses in the battle and frankly I'm sick of having to replace our men because of pointless mistakes being made! I expect a lot better from all of you, but instead it looks as if you're only good at being a near step to useless!" Nym shouts through the hanger. He then turned to face Kole, who he knew was about to speak to him next.
"You can't go off at us about all that, Nym!" Kole says back with an unsure response.
"Oh, but I can…" Nym says in a dark voice while dropping his head down to Kole's level. "Do you think hiring members for our group is easy, Kole? Do you think that nothing has changed since the galaxy got put under control of the Empire?! In case you haven't noticed, because of the lack of influence for a respectable crew these days, it costs a lot more for a crew and most pirates now only watch their own backs!"
"But I… but…" Kole could only respond.
"But you what, Kole?!" Nym shouts again, making Kole jump back and fall to the ground. Nym only got closer as the Chadra-Fan looked with some surprise. Once Nym was almost on top of him, the Feeorin continued speaking. "Speak up; you can't do anything right unless you know how to take proper initiative!"
"Nym, can't we just forget about this 'lecture' and just go on with the mission? We have a lot more things to worry about than this waste of words." Mace says.
"You're right." Nym said to the outcast, actually agreeing with him. "Alright, we're moving on to the battle plan, Revenants. We're going to bust in there and take anything that can help us find information and get ourselves some sellable merchandise."
"Understood, Nym." Sol says afterwards.
"I hope this attack goes a lot better than the last one then." Jinkins says.
Nym ignored Jinkins' response and decided to get the team moving instead. "Move to the hatch docked with the Imperial ship. I'll meet you there once we have the three Clones with us. And get up, Kole!"
"Yes, Nym…" Kole responds quietly.
"Now get a move on!" Nym shouts finally.
During the walk to the bridge of the Tritus, Mace walked side by side with Nym through the halls of the vessel. The Mere Cruiser had thick yellow walls with graffiti all over them. Mace didn't admire the works of 'art' on each side he viewed. It was all childish to him seeing pointless bits of decoration splattered everywhere you looked.
The journey to the bridge was proving to be an awkward one with the two males neither sharing a word, nor a glance to one another. It was however not so awkward to either of the two fighters. They both shared the same bold silence that tough people usually presented should they not have any orders to carry.
Mace however decided that with this bit of silence, he would speak to Nym about an issue he keeps on facing.
"Nym, I know we were speaking of this not too long ago, but I think it needs speaking of again." Mace starts.
"Look, I know where you're getting at and frankly I've had enough. My leadership to my men is something you don't need to question about willingly! It's the way I operate things!" Nym responded, breaking his cool silence.
"Just because you think your way is justified doesn't mean you're doing what's best." Mace responded keeping his tone to a minimal. "Your hash words may inspire loyalty to you, but that is the loyalty of fear you are driving them to follow. That isn't a sign of respect to your followers."
"So what?!" Nym barked out stopping in his tracks along with Mace who knew the action was coming up. "You saying I should go down to your level and give my men the leverage of doing what they please?!"
"What I'm saying is you're too rough on them. The way you treat them isn't something you should constantly repeat over and over again. They way you went off at your Chief Lieutenant disgusted me greatly. He only denied your blame that you gave to all of them which was immature and very rash. Yet all you did was step all over him." Mace says.
"Kole knows how my arguments go. In case you didn't understand this 'Jedi', Kole knew that I was going to pick him as my target for my speech." Nym says. "If anyone else had done the same as he had, they would've gotten the scolding that he was given."
"And what would be the point of that?" Mace asked. "From what I can figure, Kole is an exceptional person who follows you. You keep going off like this I can easily say that loyalty may not save you in the end, should something happen."
"If that's the case then Kole can leave right now if he isn't accepting of my ways!" Nym replied coldly but sounding less agitated than before. "And this conversation is over!"
Nym started moving directly for the bridge after his final statement. Mace just started at Nym's back as he moved further and further away. He sighs after the small outburst from the Revenant leader and followed soon afterwards.
"I don't like working with pirates… this is crazy."
Later on, everyone was at the Tritus' docking hatch with weapons armed and ready. Nym had his personal heavy Blaster Rifle ready which appeared to be pulsing in certain spots with blue lighting. Mace carried his singular Lightsaber which wasn't ignited as of yet, but soon it would be for the battle ahead. The Lok resistance members (including Jinkins, Kole and Sol) were mostly filled with males and with a few women joining in on the assault. They carried any type of standard Blaster based weapon that they could acquire. Echo, Hardcase and Waxer were simply carrying their heavily modified DC-15S Carbines and were more than ready for this attack to commence.
"Alright, listen up, men!" Nym starts "This seems pretty obvious to all of you, but the Imperials are more than aware that we've docked with this ship! That means that when we bust in through these doors there is a high chance that there will be a large force of enemies ready to greet us! We're going to do this the old fashioned way, by doing a full frontal assault! There will be no further warnings so I want you all to make sure everything is clear!"
Nym looked back to all of his troops, seeing all of them gaining expression of false rage and ready faces so that the enemy knows that they meant business. Nym gave a 'hmmph' and turned back to the doors ready to make his face off. After that brief moment of staring at the hatch he turned to face Jinkins who was at the panel on the left side of the hatch. The Bith's expression was less aggravated and more like a dull look telling Nym to give him the order to do his job.
"Jinkins, now!"
Jinkins turned back to the panel he was at and pressed a few buttons. After a few moments of hearing sounds from the ship's hatch, it slowly started to open. Unlike most hatches, this one expanded outward and went down like a door falling. The logical reason for this was most likely because it gave the pirates a slight advantage for when they need to advance. This appeared to be correct as Nym had already started running while the hatch wasn't even half way down. He ran up it while it was in a slope and aimed his weapon forward towards where the enemy would be located from his angle. The pirates followed him towards the battle as well.
Mace and the three Clone Troopers gave a surprised stare at the Revenants but quickly decided to assist in the attack. They couldn't see the pirates as they had already jumped on the other side on the Imperial's ship. They charged while the hatch was half way down, ready to assist. Mace had ignited his Lightsaber and the Clones had started aiming ahead of time as well. Mace was leading at the front while the soldiers were behind him closely. At the top of the hatch, they jumped down and observed how this battle was going. To their surprise however, they saw that every one of the soldiers on the other side were already dead.
Nym had appeared to have taken the last Stormtrooper out with a blast directly into the chest. He looked back up after the body had dropped and turned back to face Windu. His expression slowly turned to an expression of amusement. Despite not seeing it on his, Nym could see that Mace hadn't expected to see this finished within a matter of a few seconds.
"Surprised? We're capable of more than this, Windu." Nym says feeling proud. "Alright, we're making this quick! We're splitting up into two teams! My group will head directly to the bridge to find information! The second group will be taking out all of the enemies everywhere else and focus on taking the supplies afterwards! Sixxa, you'll be leading team two!"
"Copy that, Nym!" Sixxa responds.
"Alright, let's move it!" Nym shouts.
Soon the groups of pirates were split into teams, quite easily actually. Nym went with Windu, Echo, Hardcase, Waxer, Jinkins, Kole and a few Revenants. Sixxa went simply with only a group of pirates. He was a good Mere fighter and didn't need a proper teammate at his side.
As Nym was leading the group, Jinkins ran at his side curious about the way he was running this mission. He felt the need to bring it up.
"Nym, why didn't you assemble the teams before we boarded this ship?" Jinkins questioned.
"There wasn't much time to do more thinking. Considering a small dispute between me and Windu had happened, it took the remainder of time we had left." Nym responded.
"I see." Jinkins says.
With team two in the vessel, Sol was leading an attack with the pirates he took with him. He was running head first into the Stormtroopers, constantly killing them every second. Sol had gone up to an Imperial at point blank and he simply grabbed a sword from his back and did a quick slash against his chest. The pirates were raiding other rooms in the ship but lost a few members to Blaster fire when doors shot open. Considering the side and tightness of the ship, this raid was going to be a short one.
"Ha, take this you wimps!" Sol shouts almost bragging. "Haha, I'm lovin' this!"
The pirates however just treated this as a regular battle and didn't express themselves as Sol did. They did however keep their aggressive faces plastered on themselves. The Imperials in the back of the ship were almost defeated but they were pulling a pretty good last stand but it wouldn't last long with Sol in the area.
With team one Nym lead a very forceful attack on the Imperials. This attack was a bit more difficult to pull off as there were Stormtroopers with better weapons on the way to the bridge. There were some armed with Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannons who were in a line, firing consistently into the group of pirates.
Nym was feeling pretty annoyed as this was slowing them down and taking more than a few pirates down. He kept on firing for a moment and decided that he would make the run to the bridge himself. Jinkins saw Nym running and decided to call out to him.
"Nym, what are you doing?!"
Nym ignored Jinkins' cries and decided to keep his pace for the bridge. His goal was about getting to the Captain of the bridge so that he could get more information about any possible bases within the system. The way he went through was by going around a few stacks of crates that were pretty big in luggage being moved. Kole also noticed Nym's movements and also started to follow his path. Despite what had happened earlier, Kole was still a loyal member to his leader and wanted to give backup.
The Imperials could've easily seen these movements of Nym, but because of the forces that they were dealing with, they were more worried about keeping themselves alive than the one in charge of the ship. To make the attack a lot worse, the Imperials had also gotten a few of their own as backup with Flamethrowers. The ones with the Rotary Cannons moved aside and the Flamethrowers went off. The Pirates knew what was coming and ducked to the sides. Mace and the three Clones took the idea to step back and deal with things from a safer distance. Mace wasn't afraid but instead decided to use the Force to direct the flames back at the Imperials. The ones carrying the Flamethrowers hadn't predicted this and got their karma by receiving their flames back. Despite the Force bringing the fire back at them, the fire was still all over the area.
While the attack was going on outside of the elevator, Nym had already gone past the Imperials. He had his weapon ready and waited for the moment when the lift stopped. The feeling of waiting was only teasing his goal for the direct assault against the one in charge. He was so ready that he was almost close to shooting the walls.
Finally the left had stopped and the doors had opened, only to see…
"No one else is on the bridge…" Nym says to himself but still saw the Officer who was standing in the middle of the bridge. He was facing towards the open space in front of the ship with his back at Nym.
"Of course not, you Pirate." The Officer responded. "Welcome to my vessel Feeorin, this is where you'll soon meet your fate."
"Not likely…" Nym responded with a grunt in his voice before aiming his gun at the back of the Officer's skull. "Tell me of your operations in this system! Is there an Imperial base near Lok?!"
"You think I'll give you that information willingly? Ha, you're truly a fool, Nym!" The Officer responds. The leader of the ship wasn't armed but instead was moving his hands together to remove his gloves.
"What are you doing?!" Nym shouted annoyed.
"I challenge you, Revenant!" The Officer shouts back. "I personally wish to pummel you to death! I want to show a low life pirate like you what fighting really is!"
"Ha, you wanna play this the hard way I see! Well, I'm in the mood for a bit of a torturing session myself!" Nym shouted while throwing his weapon to the side of the elevator. He stepped out with his hands together cracking his fists with anticipation.
The Imperial Officer simply gave a maniacal smug look to Nym and raised his fists. He didn't look like he had a fight in him due to his skinny body. But Nym didn't accept this as an advantage and instead just wanted to let it all out on the Imperial. With a few seconds of staring at each other, the two of them had charged at each other. Once meeting almost head one, Nym let out a right hook to where the Imperial's chin was, only to see a flash remove his face from where he was swinging at. Nym hesitated for a brief moment to think about what had happened only to find himself getting tripped by the Officer from behind.
Nym tripped closer to the center of the ship and quickly tried to get back up, only to see a black pair of boots appear in front of him. He quickly tried to avoid what was about to happen next, only to receive a kick in the jaw which sent him flying back a few feet. The Imperial simply laughed as Nym looked back up at him.
"I thought you said pummeling, not using feet or dirty tricks! You're already playing it dirty, Imperial scum!" Nym shouts while standing back up.
"Oh please, I'm merely taking advantage for Imperial training." The Officer says back. "I didn't say that I wouldn't play dirty. And since you're already going down, I might as well finish you off right now!"
The Imperial quickly started charging for Nym who was just getting into another battle ready stance to fight his combatant. As he was predicting, the Officer had disappeared in a flash. Nym grew agitated with these tricks, trying to figure out how he could get this guy before he got him instead. Nym didn't have time to think as he was suddenly hit in the face with a left hook by the Imperial Officer. This make Nym a lot less focused but it also was boiling his rage levels pretty high. He wasn't expecting this from a lowly Imperial soldier as they weren't usually able to access tech that could do things like this. If Nym was to survive this encounter, he knew that he would eventually give this guy a payment of pain that wouldn't be able to support his medical bills.
The Officer laughed as he disappeared again. Nym looked around at ever corner trying to spot something stealthy moving in the area. With the right vision and attention given, it was possible to see those who were near invisible to the naked eye. For Nym however he had never tried this before on a target so it was unlikely he would react quickly enough if he spots the enemy coming. As another downside to this, the attacks were too repetitive for Nym to handle. A final hit to his face had not only knocked him back but it also landed him on his back and onto the floor again. He tried to get up but he was stuck in a hostage situation now. A Shock Stick appeared at base of his neck which appeared out from the stealth target's right hand. The stealth slowly started to wear off and soon the rest of the Imperial's body was in the clear. Nym only looked at him with anger, knowing that this was a situation he couldn't get out by himself. The Imperial could react a lot faster than him as it appeared.
"Now Nym, I guess this is where you die." The Imperial says. "I love killing Pirates like you!"
"You may kill me, but someday my crew will find you and you'll die slowly!" Nym spat expecting these words would be his last.
"You're all talk, now I hope you're a screamer, because this'll be a very slow process!" The Imperial says with a crazy tone.
"Nym!" A voice shouts from the elevator.
Both Nym and the Imperial looked to see who had called out the Feeorin's name. It was the Revenant Kole who had his Blaster Rifle aimed at the Imperial Officer. He looked as if he was willing to take over the battle for Nym. The Officer just looked at the Chadra-Fan with an annoyed expression and stood up slowly. He was more worried about the Chief Lieutenant than the Feeorin at the moment as the follower of Nym had an easy chance to get him.
"Fool, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into! Prepare yourself, Chadra-Fan!" The Officer warned.
"Kole, get out of here!" Nym shouts with what sounded to be a slight panic in his voice.
Kole ignored Nym's cries to leave and instead decided to fire at the oncoming target. After two shots had made it past the Officer, he went back into stealth mode. Kole looked surprised when he saw the enemy disappear n front of him and looked around confused. He aimed his gun all around the area trying to figure out where he went. But all hopes of solving where he went was for nothing as he quickly felt a sharp jab go through his chest, right into the heart area. Kole's body twitched with the sudden shock and his gun had dropped to the ground. The stealth on the Officer had disappeared again and Kole had realized that he had made a mistake by traveling to the bridge. He knew that this was where he was going to die.
"NO!" Nym shouts while watching Kole being impaled. The Imperial let his Shock Stick out of the chest of Kole, letting the Chadra-Fan drop.
"Ha, that's another Pirate down for the count!" The Imperial Officer exclaimed. "Now, where were we, Ny-"
The Imperial Officer couldn't finish his question as he had received a blast through his chest. He couldn't even mouth a few words as the blast had literally gone through his heart. With a few seconds the Officer dropped forward onto the ground face first, motionless and clearly dead.
Nym had his cybernetic left arm in an aiming position when the Imperial had turned. His left hand had an ability to morph into a small weapon as he pleased which was advantageous in this case. His hand had quickly reverted afterwards and he quickly ran for Kole who was on the ground, dying before Nym's eyes. Nym had grabbed Kole's body and held him in a cradled position.
"N-Nym…" Kole starts. "I'm… I'm sorry I- I…"
"Save your energy, Kole!" Nym says back panicked greatly by how his friend was doing.
The elevator had once again opened up but Nym didn't bother to look up as he knew who was there. He continued to monitor Kole with each second before death would arrive to take away one of his friends.
"Oh no, Kole!" Jinkins' voice was heard.
"We need a medic!" Echo's voice was also heard. "Waxer!"
Waxer quickly responded with a nod and proceeded to head to Kole. He removed his helmet and run to the dying Chadra-Fan. Despite all odds, it was clear that he couldn't make it. Nym didn't spend anytime shouting at Waxer as these final moments was something that he didn't want ruined by pointless angered banter. Nym also knew nothing could be done but he didn't openly admit Kole's death. He was focused on his crewmate.
"Nym…"
"Kole…"
"I… I always wanted to be a proud member of the Lok… r-resistance… I… wanted to make you proud…"
"Kole… you are a good soldier. You have made me proud. I never treated you as right as I should have, I-"
"None of that matters, now! I-I have something for you on my ship! I-it'll help you in future combat with the Imperials! Enter the code 'D37-Alpha' and there'll be a special surprise needed for hard situations! I… I know you'll love what I have for you…"
It was after this explanation that Kole's final breaths had been drawn, his eyes slowly closing as his life drifted from the galaxy in an instant. Nym looked into the face of his now hollow friend and saw nothing but a shell. He closed his eyes and slowly cradled the body down to the floor of the bridge. He left go and went deep in thought. Everything that had happened just then make him need to rethink what happened. Things had changed from a good attack to a great tragedy, effecting his emotions strangely.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think there was anything we could've done for him." Waxer says remorsefully.
Nym didn't respond but instead sat in the one spot for a few moments with everyone else gathering around. Nym didn't care about what everyone did, as long as they didn't try to take the moment away from him.
Tritus:
Sol and the other pirates had already returned to the ship waiting for Nym at the docking hatch where they had started their assault before. They had been waiting there for about twenty minutes expecting their allies to return ASAP. The time being consumed was more than expected as a pirate raid for them was a quick thing. If they couldn't gather information fast then they would steal computers and datapads. This was too long for their taste.
"Sixxa, Nym's back!" One of the lowly Pirates announced.
"Finally! They took long en-" Sol complained for a moment before seeing the situation in front of him.
Nym walked back with everyone in the Imperial ship. He was holding the body of Kole who was obviously dead in Sol's eyes. Sol was actually feeling a bit of shock while seeing Nym strolling towards him. He didn't expect to see one of the crew members dying any time soon, and this only made Sol feel more annoyed every second he saw Kole's body getting closer. He quickly ran forward to Nym who looked him dead in the eyes with a serious glance. Sol returned it as he stepped a lot closer.
Once the two of them were only five feet away from one another, Sol demanded an explanation for what he saw in front of him.
"Nym, what happened?" Sol asked sternly.
"The Imperials have taken Kole away from us, Sixxa!" Nym says back with a growl. "I want you to return to that ship with your squad and tear apart everything that can be of use to us! Don't mess around with this task; I'm not in a good mood!"
"Understood, Nym!" Sol responded back with an equally angered tone. Kole was one of his friends as well and losing him only left a small space for anger to cloud.
As Nym walked around Sixxa and his group, he continued to the bridge where he would notify Juno directly about the death of one of their close friends. Nym felt a lot different after what had happened on the Imperial vessel. There was a slight numb feeling in his heart which drained his emotions pretty thin yet at the same time brought his anger to a boiling point. Whatever he was feeling he knew there would be after effects very shortly. This was where his world wouldn't feel the same to him.
End of Chapter: