"I'm on your wing," said Bruck.

"Copy that Bruck," said Ahsoka. She brought the fighter out of its steep incline, heading out to chase some fighters.

"Everything okay R3?" said Ahsoka. The astro-droid beeped, signalling all systems were positive.

"Alright, ready to go hunting Bruck?"

"Do you even have to ask?" said Bruck. Ahsoka smiled to herself. They flew towards the city zone in front of them. Up ahead, a squadron of five Vultures was flying past, shooting at buildings. Explosions from the impact of their blasters hit the buildings, sending them toppling down. Ahsoka gunned her engines towards them, Bruck following close behind. She aimed her blaster cannons on the lead Vulture. Once they were lined up, she took the shot. A volley of green blasts exited her cannons, each shot hitting the Vulture. It exploded in mid-air, a fireball forming as pieces of it went flying in every direction. The other four veered off, traveling in pairs to get away.

"I'll get the ones on the right. You get the ones on the left," said Bruck. They veered off, chasing after the droid fighters. The fighters Bruck was chasing flew down, nearly at street level. Bruck kept up the pursuit, determined to make sure that they did not escape. Below them, a desperate street battle between a full-armored company of droids and a few squads of clone soldiers aided by an AT-RT was taking place. The Vultures went through hairpin turns, weaving in between the various buildings to try and escape. Still Bruck followed them, barrel-roll turning past the buildings in his relentless pursuit.

His monitors would flash every time the Vultures would get into his gun's sights for a split second. He needed a good shot, knowing that a missed shot could instead slam into a building. He could still sense life-forms in them, knowing that the shots could possibly kill them. He reluctantly held his fire, his senses on high-alert, waiting for the right minute to strike. Suddenly, a Vulture peeled off in the opposite direction from its wingmen. Bruck let it go, knowing full well what it was going to do, staying on the last Vulture. The Vulture he was chasing shot into the air, giving Bruck the clear shot he needed as they swept past the skyscraper limits. His cannons fired, a few catching the Vulture and sending it on a flaming trail down towards the surface.

"Now where's the other one?" he said sarcastically. A hail of red fire from behind him gave him the answer he already knew. He could sense the other Vulture directly behind, careening to the side in a dive. The Vulture followed, still firing all the while. Bruck then cut his throttle while maintaining his engine's thrusters and hitting the speed reducers. This caused his fighter to do a closed-turn mid-air spin in the air, the Vulture flew past, and when Bruck leveled out, he was right on its tail.

"Gotcha," he said, opening up on it. The Vulture was reduced to a flaming fireball, falling towards the surface before it blew up in midair.

Meanwhile, Ahsoka had finished off the first Vulture she was chasing rather quickly, destroying it with her first volley. She then aimed ahead of the second one right as it was about to turn. The shots clipped its rear enough to have explode and careen sharply to the street below them, plowing through it until it came to a halt, its red eyes shutting off.

"Bruck, how are you doing?" she said.

"Just finished off the last one, I'm heading to you," said Bruck.

"Let's circle back, there's bound to be m-" A shot clipped her win, causing her to veer from her current path. She looked back to see a squad of five tri-fighter droids behind her. Their repeating cannons lit up on her, causing her to weave in through buildings to escape their fire.

"Gonna need some help over here," said Ahsoka.

"Don't worry, I'm right behind them," said Bruck. He brought his fighter to the droid six o'clock position. Once the shot was lined up, he fired. Ion and laser fire from his four cannons erupted from him, hitting three out of five of them. The other two peeled off in various directions, not wanting to risk destruction at his hands.

"Thanks a bunch," said Ahsoka.

"Anytime," said Bruck. Bruck formed up by her side and the two continued flying back to their original destination. As they flew, Ahsoka saw a horrible sight up ahead.

"Oh Force," she said. Up ahead, the sky was darkened. Hundreds upon hundreds of starfighters flew in a massive wave towards the Senate and inner city district. All types of Confederate starfighters, from tri-fighters to Hyena bombers, were in the massive wave. A squadron of V-wings made for it, their cannons firing endlessly. Though almost a score of the starfighters were damaged, a great many of them peeled off to take care of them. It was over in matter of seconds, the V-wings either in fireballs or leaving a flaming trail to the surface.

"We can't take that head-on," said Bruck.

"You're right, which is why we're going to peel some of them off," said Ahsoka. At that all four of her cannons fired, Bruck's following her example. They hit several craft, but this caused them to become targets.

"Let's get out of here," said Ahsoka, bringing their two craft into a dive before flying in the opposite direction, followed by two score of tri-fighters and Vulture-droids. Laser fire followed them endlessly, a few close calls being made. They weaved through the endless amount of buildings, hoping to shake a few of them off their trail. One or two would be lost from time to time, but they would somehow manage to find their way back.

"This might have been a bad idea," said Ahsoka.

"Shall I put that on the report if we somehow live through this?" Bruck said back. Bruck tried to hail any friendly starfighters in the area.

"Anyone in the area? Requesting immediate aid," said Bruck, he and Ahsoka diving down to near street level from a recent hail of fire.

"This is Ghost Leader of Home Fleet Squad 34-7. We're coming up from behind," said the voice of a clone pilot. "Can you get them to an open spot?"

"We'll certainly try," said Bruck. "You got all that Ahsoka?"

"Got it. Lets get rid of these clankers," she said. They started an upward climb towards the tops of the skyscrapers, still pursued by the Separatist fighters. Suddenly, green laser fire began to pick some of them off, coming from a squad of ten ARC-170 starfighters. Ahsoka and Bruck knew now was the time. They sped up and pulled their controls as hard as they could to do a hairpin turn back towards the oncoming droids. They shot and flew past the droids, laser fire still coming towards them. The ARC's found themselves being attacked from behind as the droids that weren't shot down turned back and followed them from the rear, causing them to break off in separate flights.

"Come on, go down," said the clone gunner in the rear, firing his rear-mounted turret at four pursuing tri-fighters. He got one of the tri-fighters, but the other three kept on flying. One of them shot a discord missile at them, the missile veering past them.

"That was close," said the pilot. Suddenly, the missile detonated and a barrage of green and grey balls flew over to the ship. They attached to the ship and small droids popped from out of the balls.

"Buzz droids!" said co-pilot. The little droids immediately went to work using their drill heads, plasma cutting torches, saws, pincers, and prying hooks to begin to tear into the ship.

"Crap, they're getting into the system," said the pilot.

"My turret is going offline," said the gunner.

"We're losing power to our shields," said the co-pilot. They couldn't do a thing as the buzz droids went to work, eventually disabling their navigation. Their ship kept on a flying in a straight path until they crashed into the side of a skyscraper. Ahsoka saw the whole thing, being caught up in the dogfight to do anything to help them. Meanwhile, another ARC was downed, and then another. Bruck managed to shoot down two tri-fighters in his path, weaving through the dogfight as every craft executed tight turns and maneuvers. The rear turrets of the ARC's kept shooting, sometimes managing to down a fighter every now and again, but only six of them and the two Jedi were left compared to twenty-one droids.

Ahsoka did a barrel-roll turn and gunned her engines to the max to catch up to a Vulture on an ARC's tail. She downed it in a matter of seconds, veering right to dodge an oncoming salvo from a tri-fighter. Bruck took up for her again and downed it, weaving away for Ahsoka to get behind it and transforming it into a hurling fireball with her cannons. The dogfight continued until the last droid fighter was a hurling wreck. Out of the squad of ten ARC's, only three remained.

"We need to find reinforcements," said Bruck, hailing for any other forces in the area. Any that responded replied they had their hands full at the moment.

"Looks like we're on our own. Ghost Leader, can you fly point with us?" said Ahsoka.

"Yes sir, we'll stay on your tail," said Ghost Leader.

"Any units in the area, we have a Separatist cruiser heading down planet-side towards the Works. Any available fighters or bombers, assistance is needed," said a clone commander.

"Guess we have a new objective," said Ahsoka. The five ships made towards the Works district, dodging any other droid fighters or destroying them along the way. Along the way, they were able to free up a squad of six V-wings and five freshly launched Y-wings. As one, the newly-formed mixed squadron flew to the Works.

As they approached the Works, they flew past a skyscraper that gave them a view of the descending cruiser. It was a Providence-class carrier, complete with heavy gun emplacements and capable of holding upwards to 300 fighters. Its turbolaser cannons were firing down on the planet surface, destroying large buildings with ease. From the look of it, it was laying down fire for droid forces off in another sector. Ahsoka noted that it looked like the end of the district that Taran and Tia were currently fighting in.

"I hope they're okay," she thought.

"That thing is tearing apart our ground forces," said Bruck.

"If it continues, it'll decimate us," said Box Leader, commander of the Y-wings they had.

"Let's take it on," said Ahsoka. Without a further word, they took off towards the ship. Suddenly, small AA-gun emplacements began firing at the incoming fighters, sending laser blasts and flak in all directions.

"Scramble off and try to find some weak points," said Ahsoka. At that they all veered off towards various sections of the ship. The fire coming from the ship was intense, forcing Bruck to undergo advanced maneuvers the likes of which only a Jedi could do. A V-wing took a hit and plummeted towards the surface before bursting into a fireball.

"The flak's too heavy," said Bruck. A few close-calls had already made deep scratches on his wings and glass dome covering the cockpit.

"Everyone, start to climb. We can attack from above," said Ahsoka. She and the rest of them brought their starfighters to climb, the flak trails and laser bolts following their ascent. A Y-wing got hit in its right engine, cutting its acceleration in half, followed by a bolt from a turret hitting it in its midsection and causing it to explode into pieces.

"Use the clouds for cover," said Ahsoka. Everyone did as they were told, continuing their climb until they were safely in the clouds, though fire from the cruiser was still shooting at them, the trajectory was off and they were for the most part safe.

"Let's dive boys," said Bruck.

"Ahem."

"And ladies," Bruck corrected. All the craft began to descend sharply towards the Confederate cruiser. Once they lost their cloud cover, the weapons from the ship began firing again. However, due to their speed and the angle they were all flying, its shots weren't effective. The Y-wings and V-wings dove toward the engines while the ARC's and the two Jedi targeted the ship's midsection. The Y-wings unleashed their deadly payloads of proton bombs while their laser cannons opened fire on them. The ARC's launched their proton torpedoes at the ship's radar antenna and the bridge.

The bombs hit the engines of the ship with devastating effect.

BOOM!

The sound reverberated through their cockpits as the engines blew up one after the other, with one heavily damaged one in the center left. Meanwhile, the proton torpedoes slammed into the bridge and radar array, the array snapping off and slamming down onto the top of the deck. The bridge imploded on itself as flames and pieces from the inside exploding, bathing the entire bridge section in flames. They zoomed past the ship, leveling off after their attack run. The ship started to dip

"Not bad," said Bruck.

"Sir, we have incoming fighters from Point 05," said Ghost Leader. Two squadrons of Vultures, 24 in all, were closing in on them.

"Intercept them. Box Leader, have your Y-wings keep targeting the ship. We'll hold them off," said Ahsoka. She, the V-wings and remaining ARC's flew to intercept the incoming Vultures while the Y-wings circled around to engage in another attack run. Another dogfight occurred, with devastating effect. Though outnumbered, with two Interceptors, three ARC's, and five V-wings, the Republic pilots were experienced, and weren't going to go down easily. The V-wings used their laser cannons, two of them armed with flak shooting array guns, to deadly effect. Next to the Interceptors, they were the fastest and most maneuverable fighters in the Republic Navy.

One pilot got behind two Vultures and downed them easily.

"Got ya clankers," said the pilot.

"Silver 3, you got three on you," said another pilot. He looked behind him and saw three Vultures on him. Their blasters opened fire. Four shots hit his starship, and flames began to shoot out of his ship.

"Gah!" yelled the pilot as smoke filled his cockpit. He knew in any second that his ship would explode. As he thought of his impending death, he looked to the ship that the Y-wings were now dropping more bombs. He saw that the one damaged engine was allowing the ship to stay afloat.

"You guys, it was nice flying with you. Now it's time to do my part," he said. He aimed his flaming ship towards the last engine. At the speed he was going, he would hit it in a matter of seconds.

"Boxer, no!" said one of the men from his squadron.

"For the Republic!"yelled Boxer right before his ship crashed into the last engine. The explosion from the starfighter was enough to have the engine explode. The Separatist cruiser was now on a one way dive down to the surface. Flames and smoke trailed behind it as it went on its one-way course. It crashed into the surface of the Works district, several large miniature explosions from inside it sending parts and metal all around it before the next explosion was from its power core.

A titanic explosion that made the starfighters still in flight above it stall for a few seconds before they resumed their regular flight. The fireball could be seen from as far away as the Senate District and beyond. Meanwhile, the others had cleaned off the Vultures, Bruck turning the last one into a fireball. They did lose two more V-wings and another ARC, and a Y-wing had been destroyed by AA fire.

"I can only imagine what it's like out in the atmosphere right now," said Bruck.

"More brutal than it is here, that's for sure. Let's circle back and get back to the Senate District," said Ahsoka.

"Attack!" yelled Master Tiin, dawned in a breathing mask. He and the clone marines equipped with jetpacks jumped from out of the lower hangar. They glided in space for a moment before they landed on the outer hull of the Providence-class carrier that their dying ship had passed over. Immediately, they went to work. Keeping the turrets that dotted the top portion of the ship, Master Tiin cut a hole into the hull of the ship to allow him to get through. A few clones followed him in.

The clones on the hull fired at the turrets to get them to pay attention to their present threat, wanting to distract them from their general's plan, and to keep them from shooting at friendly ships in the area as well. The desired effect happened, but their losses started to mount.

Inside, Master Tiin moved rapidly to the bridge, taking out any battle droids that came his way. After completely obliterating any that came in his path, he made it to the bridge. The clones that came with him managed to blast the doors open, allowing them to go in and take out the bridge crew. They picked off the other droids in the room while Tiin went straight for the pilots. One slash per droid, three in all, sent them tumbling down in pieces while he grabbed the helm to turn the ship while the clones who stayed went to work repositioning the turbolasers.

The clones outside were pinned down from the fire they were sustaining. Suddenly, the turrets seized fire. To their amazement, each one turned and began firing on a nearby Separatist ship as the ship they had boarded changed its course. The clones all cheered as they watched their newly-converted turbolasers mercilessly pound the other ship.

"This battle is just starting," thought Master Tiin.