ON BOARD THE "RESOLUTE" VENATOR CLASS STAR DESTROYER, EN ROUTE TO NEW BORNALEX, 0925, 29 DAYS BEFORE EXECUTION OF CONTINGENCY ORDER 66
Rex, Ahsoka and Barriss arrived to the ship's bridge. There, admiral Yularen and Anakin waited for them.
"Captain Rex, commander Tano. Commander Offee, welcome on board the Resolute." Admiral Yularen was a renowned navy officer, as well as a very formal man. "As you know, we're headed to New Bornalex to lend a hand to our troops on the siege there. We hope our increased numbers will be more than enough to wipe out the separatist garrison entrenched there. Nonetheless, we've identified a threat that could make this siege take longer than it could be desired…"
Then Anakin took the word. "Our listening posts ahead of the system spotted some unusual activity close to the border with the Kappa Aquarii system… Here." Anakin signaled an apparently empty spot in the galaxy map. "We sent scouts and they determined the enemy had a hidden shipyard and droid factory in one previously uncharted system." As Anakin spoke, a small star filled the previously empty space, with legends on the nature and size of the enemy forces stationed there "They are relying on it to produce enough reinforcements to send them to New Bornalex and hold the sector. We would launch a direct attack on the position, but our navy has been spread way too thin. We believe we could overwhelm New Bornalex defenses before they reinforce considerably and then launch an attack on this system, but it would take too long and we don't want to allow the enemy more valuable time to countermaneuver us."
"I see… So you want us to go convince the locals to launch an attack on them?" Asked Rex, signaling the neighbouring system of Kappa Aquarii, very aware of his limited diplomatic charms.
"Not quite, captain, not you." Answered Yularen. "We have senator Bail Organa on board. He will deal with the diplomatics. Of course his safety is of our highest concern, and that's why we need you. Captain, please take 2 of your finest men. With them and the commanders here, you will supplement the senate guardsmen on his security detail. If the senator succeeds on his mission, you will then coordinate the attack with the Aquarii forces. Once we arrive to New Bornalex, you will take one of the shuttles and head to the system. Commander Tano, you will lead the mission. Any questions, ladies, gentlemen?" As no one asked anything, the admiral dismissed them and ended the briefing.
10 Hours later, after arriving to New Bornalex, the ship was at its loudest. The landing sequence was half completed and the legion was preparing to disembark. Clones were rushing here and there as tons of ammo crates and warfare equipment were being put on the right places for rapid deployment onland. Rex had chosen Echo and Fives, his two finest ARC troopers, for the mission. The three clones arrived to the hangar bay, where the jedi padawans and the senator were waiting for them alongside a senatorial guard squad.
"I assume you are the renowned Captain Rex of Torrent company" Said senator Bail Organa gently as he extended a hand to the clone in front of him. "I'm glad to have you as part of this mission, captain. I insisted to your admiral that the senate guards would do, but he just wouldn't allow it".
"Admiral Yularen tends to plan everything to the detail, sir. We'll give our best to protect you." Said Rex while shaking the senator's hand.
"I'm sure you will. This is Lieutenant Sartorius, he is the commanding officer of the senate guard squad. You should go and arrange with him everything needed…" Said the senator while pointing towards a blue armored male, but was gently interrupted by Rex.
"Oh, excuse me sir, but I'm not commanding this mission. That would be commander Tano here". Rex introduced Ahsoka to the senator, who remembered she was Anakin Skywalker's padawan and good friends with his friend and colleague, senator Padmé Amidala. Ahsoka thought that it was very out of character for a prominent pacifist senator to go talk to a neutral system's king and try to convince him of going to war. The mission party boarded the shuttle that was designated for the mission previously and after everyone got acquaintances with each other, fives took the pilot seat and before knowing it, they were drifting through the hyperspace, the hyperdrive a reassuring soft hum on the background.
"Senator Organa, I was wondering…" Ahsoka needed to ask, trying to be as cautious as her daring nature permitted her "You are one of the biggest opposers of this war. You voted with senator Amidala and several others against fighting the enemy on the battlefield. Why did you accept to try and convince a neutral system to rally to our cause?"
The senator wasn't at all uneasy with Ahsoka's questioning. "Young Ahsoka. I'd rather not be here, that's clear. I would have sat with the leaders of the confederation and try to talk this out rather than sending millions of innocent men to their deaths," He sweeped the ship's interiors with his head, observing each of the clones and senate guards without their helmets on, bonding and behaving like loud teenagers and having silly competitions "but I also believe in democracy and the senate voted for war. Now I'm no fool, I know the corruption that cooks every day within the senate walls, but there are also many honest people there doing their best, and my duty is with Alderaan and every other republic citizen. I know the Aquarii can help us a great deal in finishing this war sooner, and then sending all this men home."
At this, Ahsoka couldn't help but look at Rex. He was in a loud conversation with lieutenant Sartorius, laughing and defying each other to an arm wrestle. Even Barriss started to mix within the group and was starting to laugh at the guys' rough jokes. The oldest of the senatorial guardsmen didn't seem to be older than 26, and no clone on board was older than 12, at least not chronologically and certainly not mentally. She portrayed a life with Rex away from all this war, in some outer rim hidden haven… No, she couldn't. They were soldiers and that kind of life wasn't meant for soldiers like Rex or her. Maybe they could love each other, but they couldn't abandon their ranks and their people, they owed them everything…
The senator continued, as Ahsoka partly listened. "Besides, chancellor Palpatine was very insistent. He knows I'm acquaintances with the king. My wife is the queen of Alderaan, after all… He knows the king will listen to me."
At the mention of the chancellor, Ahsoka felt a chill run down her back. The jedi council suspected for a while now that something was off with the chancellor, but they just couldn't figure out what, and every mission commissioned by the chancellor seemed to always go wrong.
"You are right, senator. I hope this war ends soon. Enough lives have been sacrificed, now if you'll excuse me…"
Ahsoka went to look for Rex, who was on a tie with the lieutenant.
"Rex, I need to talk to you, now."
"Can it wait a bit Soka? I'm about to win a round in the canteen for the boys… Ahhh, Sartorius, is that all you got? Now you'll see!" Rex began pushing hard the lieutenant's hand, his grin at its cockiest, but then the lieutenant responded stronger than Rex expected, grinning himself, and the tie was even more evident.
"Attention!" For a 16 years old girl, Ahsoka's voice sounded quite commanding. Immediately, both clones and senate guards sprang to attention, stomping their feet to the ground in perfect unison. "Now that's better, boys. Stand at ease. Rex, come to the cockpit with me, now." The men relaxed at the 'at ease' command, but remained silent as the captain and the commander walked through them to the cockpit. After arriving to the cockpit, Ahsoka closed the slide door shut.
"Soka… I'm sorry. I should have listened to you immediately, I…"
"Don't worry Rex… I know it's sometimes difficult to remember we are captain and commander, and not just, you know… friends…" Ahsoka's blue strips darkened a tone "But listen to me, Rex. I was talking to the senator, he told me this mission was a direct petition from the chancellor and you know better than me how those missions end. I got a really bad feeling about this, Rexie, I can feel it through the force. I just wish I knew what it is, but something's not right. Put the men on alert, I'll stay here in the cockpit with fives, please send Barriss in, I'll discuss additional security measures with her"
"Alright, Soka, I've always trusted your instincts"
Rex went to the ship's cabin, and after sending Barriss into the cockpit, commanded the men to stop their chatting and put their gear back on.
ONBOARD SHUTTLE 025, KAPPA AQUARII SYSTEM, 0400, 28 DAYS BEFORE EXECUTION OF CONTINGENCY ORDER 66
"Ten seconds to arrival, commander, hang on… That's it, we arrived" Fives turned the sublight engines on as the nav computer disengaged the hyperdrive. "Oh, we're already being hailed by an Aquarii cruiser, the 'Commendator'... Their captain is awaiting on channel two"
"Patch them in, Fives." Fives did as Ahsoka ordered, and a human male not older than 24 appeared onscreen, clad in full white dress uniform.
"Greetings from the Aquarii navy. This is captain Anthony Koos, navy's Alpha group. To whom do I speak?"
"This is jedi commander Tano from the Grand Army of the Republic. We come in a diplomatic mission, senator Bail Organa is onboard this shuttle."
"Wait a moment, commander, we're validating your credentials… Ok, you can proceed to our port hangar bay. We'll take you to New Venice afterwards. Koos out"
Captain Anthony Koos was among the finest of the Aquarii military. Member of the navy's Alpha group, he was exceptionally trained in hand to hand combat and survival in harsh environments, and had much better tactic skills than any regular captain of the army or the navy. He was the commanding officer of the Commendator, one of the 20 barracuda class heavy frigates of the navy, and captain of Apollo company, a special company made up only of Alpha group soldiers. Although in general, the Aquarii philosophy preferred to avoid violence if possible, he as a military man found peace periods rather boring, and he almost hoped senator Organa to convince the king to attack that CIS installation just outside the system. He remembered the stories his grandfather used to tell him about when the Aquarii forces freed up several Mirialan and Togruta colonies in quadrant M3 from the Zygerrian slave empire a couple centuries ago. He just wished…
"Captain! We've got a hyperspace disruption portside! There are 15 CIS star destroyers... No, make it 18, entering from hyperspace! They are in attack formation and approaching the republic shuttle!"
"XO, sound the alarm, establish comlinks with the rest of the fleet, power up the turbolasers!" It seemed to the captain that war had knocked their door a bit too unexpectedly. He then took the ship speakers' microphone. "All hands, gear up now and man your stations, we've got 18 unfriendlies incoming from portside. All delta fighter pilots and gunners, stand by your ships and wait for further orders!"
At the moment, there were only 12 Aquarii star destroyers and a handful of frigates guarding and IV, but they all went to meet the enemy nonetheless.
"Sir, the closest CIS ship is using its tractor beam on the republic shuttle." Shouted the officer in the sensor station. Then Admiral Konstant appeared on one of the screens.
"All ships, attack formation, fire at will, let's break their lines, you know how this goes, this is what we trained for all of our lives. Captain Koos, admiral Martinez, engage the ship that kidnapped our guests but do NOT destroy it. Do try to disable their hyperdrive, but your main mission is rescuing senator Organa and his team. Do not disappoint our king. Konstant out."
"You heard him boys! All thrusters at maximum, let's block their prow while Admiral Martinez crushes their engines with his ship's MACs. All batteries, fire at will!" The XO repeated the captain's orders to the pilots and the ship began to position in front of the enemy ship's prow to avoid it to flee into hyperspace.
Captain Koos then spoke to his XO. "Lieutenant Burke, I'll assemble a rescuing party with my Alpha group boys, you have the ship."
"Captain, we have 18 CIS destroyers incoming from hyperspace, starboardside!" Fives knew an attack like this was very unlikely, so deep in the outer rim and in neutral territory, defying the Aquarii fleet's considerable firepower at their very home, so his surprise was evident.
"Thrusters at maximum, Fives, don't let them grab us with their tractor beam!"
Just as Rex ended speaking, the shuttle shaked violently and stopped way too abruptly, smashing some troopers standing near a wall and making the rest trip or fall. Then the ship started being pulled back to one of the CIS star destroyers' hangar despite having its thrusters at full power. Then captain Koos reappeared onscreen, although this time he was in some kind of combat armor.
"Republic crew, this is captain Koos. They clearly want you alive, I assembled a rescuing party with my Alpha Group boys, but you must avoid being captured by the enemy, at all cost! I'm sending you my comlink codes so we can coord... our t...s. Hang in th… we… for you! We…"
And then the transmission cut.
"They jammed the ship's comms! Fives, did you get the captain's code?" Said Rex, impatiently.
"Yes sir! It's a highly encrypted channel, they won't be able to jam it"
"Very good. Ahsoka, we need a plan"
"I'm thinking Rex!"
Meanwhile, Barriss was meditating. Suddenly, she opened her eyes.
"I have a plan. The enemy thinks the senator's escort is only comprised of senate guards. I felt it through the force."
"Are you sure, Barriss?" Asked Ahsoka raising an eyebrow.
"I absolutely am"
Barriss told Ahsoka her plan, who reacted rather surprised.
"Barriss, that's such a crazy plan! And coming from you!... But it might work... What do you think, Rex?"
"I think it could work, I mean, we've done crazier shit with the general, we should give it a go"
Lieutenant Sartorius agreed, too. "My men also think it could work. We didn't train to become damn prisoners of war, much less droid meat, let's do this"
As the shuttle approached the enemy's hangar and the spaceship battle outside was escalating with each second, men in blue and men in white prepped their weapons as two young padawans meditated to further strengthen their connection with the force.