Sheer Will and Determination Chapter 3
These first few chapters will be short and choppy and seem rather rushed, however that is only because I want to get through this bit and to the good stuff.
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Hypori, surface.
The world was blurry, fuzzy, muted, my arm felt like it was both on fire and not there at all. Then everything started to clear. My vision got sharper as did my hearing.
I lifted my head and looked around, Black Wing was arrayed around me in the wreckage of the ship.
"Vulture, report." I grunted out.
"Commander Shan! Good to see that you are alive sir!" Vulture replied standing up from his position looking over the corpse of a V-19 Pilot from a different Wing.
"Wish I wasn't, now report."
"Sir! Ship's Slagged, as you can see, Bait is out cold missing an arm, everyone else has varying degrees of minor wounds. No idea on anyone else sir." Vulture replied.
"Boss, I've got the fighter parked on the far side of the moon, almost outta fuel though…" 4X reported over the encrypted com link between myself and the droid.
"Good, wait for Exfil." I replied. I then looked at my right arm…which was buried underneath a large support strut.
"We couldn't move it sir, too heavy." Guts said.
"No problem." I replied as I lifted my hand up to the strut and applied a bit of pressure to it through the force on a shatter point, causing it to fall to pieces. My arm was useless though. "Anyone got some rope or cable?"
"Here sir, we used some of this to tourniquet Bait's stump." Pinpoint said handing me a fiber cord grappling hook.
I took it and proceeded to tie my limp and dangling arm to my torso, I could heal it later, but right now, I'd rather save my energy, I had very little left at the moment and I'd prefer to use that on Barriers and Tutamenis. "Thanks." I grunted through the pain. Then I fired up the comms. "Master Secura do you read?"
Nothing.
"Master Ti?"
Nothing.
"Master Mundi?"
There was a single click that let through a wave of the sound of Lightsabers whirring.
"Fuck." I mumbled. I handed Crosshair and Vulture my two Blaster Pistols. "Here take these, I gotta go, Masters Mundi, Secura and Ti are in trouble."
I then ran through the wreckage using shatterpoint and my Multiple-Shot-Type Blaster Rifle to get through obstacles.
After a while I arrived at a clearing and saw Master Mundi holding off General Grievous.
I leveled my Rifle, one handed, at Grievous and let lose in Anti-Tank mode. It hit Grievous right in the knee and the kyber Crystal enhanced bolt of plasma cut right through the armor, however my unsteady aim merely grazed the joint. I snarled, holstered the rifle and drew my lightsaber as Grievous looked behind him, I leapt up and brought myself flying down on his head, he blocked with one arm, and continued to deflect my strikes for another minute as Master Mundi did the same with the General's other arm, then a customized gunship came into view.
This distracted me long enough for the general to knock me aside with his leg. As several ARC Troopers opened up on the General. I stood up and added my own fire to the mix, in the form of my MST Rifle on rapid, sending three times the bolts of even the Z-6 rotary cannon.
I held my fire as I approached the gunship, out of the corner of my eye I saw Vulture and Crosshair adding their own fire to the mix with my pistols, more like Carbines to them. Eventually the General was buried under a pile of rubble and everyone was loaded onto the gunship.
"Commander Shan, if I may." A clone asked approaching with a led kit gesturing to my arm.
"I got it. You take care of those two." I replied as I started focusing my force energy to healing my arm. The Clone started to protest but halfway though his tirade, my arm snapped the fiber cord like it were mere vines.
"I stand corrected sir." The Clone said before turning back to Master Secura and Ti.
Several Weeks later. Jedi Temple.
I stood before the Council as they stared at me, myself and Master Secura had fought in close to a dozen battles over the last few weeks, both on the ground and in space, and the Council had finally called us back to the Temple.
"Very well you have done in this last month, even considering your power and skill." Yoda said.
"Thank you Master." I replied.
"We all knew that your tenure as a Padawan would be rather short, due to your skill and abilities as well as your age, you have proven in the past to have been able to go through the trials, throughout this war and the times before." Master Ti said, her injuries still somewhat visible.
"Indeed." Master Mundi added.
"That on top of the need for more Jedi in this war this Council has decided that you shall be promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight, though only until this war is over, at which point you WILL have to go through the trials." Master Windu said.
"You should feel honored, not even provisionally has anyone in the history of this order been promoted so fast." Master Mundi said.
Not really, the Hero of Tython from the times of the Old republic came to mind, as did the Jedi Battle Master of the same era. Both of which were each-other's twins as well as Mandalorians from Clan Atiin. But, I decided against correcting them. "Thank you Masters."
"This Meeting is adjourned." Windu said.
One day later.
I was understandably peeved at the moment. I looked over the scans of Bait's brain I had done, there was a tumor there, a rather weird one at that, it looked like some sort of control chip. Like the ones I had seen used in a few Outer Rim slave rings, before I tore them apart that is. I had questioned the Kaminoan liaison in the Temple and refused to reply. I had done several scans on the others in Black Wing, we had been staying at the Temple until the new Legion arrived here, and every single one of them had it.
"You ok there Master Shan?" Barriss Offee asked as she walked past me in the Library.
"Yeah." I replied. "I'm good."
I then got up and headed to the med bay. If there was one thing I hated it was complete control of a sentient being, so, I was going to fix this shit. "Black Wing, report to the med bay." Upon arriving I walked up to the Temple's main healer. "How many surgeon Droids capable of brain surgery are on staff?"
"A dozen or so, why?" The Master replied.
"My men have some tumors that need removed." I replied.
"Oh, dear, very well, I shall ready the Droids for surgery now." The Healer responded walking off.
"You wanted to see us sir?" Vulture asked as him and his Wing walked in, Bait was fiddling with his cybernetic.
"Yeah." I replied pulling a projection of each Clone pilot's brain scan on my holoprojector.
"Sir? What are these?" Crosshair asked.
"Control chips, I'm removing them." I replied. "No argument, this shit goes."
Then seven surgical Droids approached.
After about an hour the surgeries were done.
"How do y'all feel?" I asked.
"Better." They all replied.
"Y'all still ready to fight?"
"Yes, sir!" They all replied.
"Good."
Several days later.
I looked over the Legion the GAR had sent me as they assembled in the hangar bay of the newly minted Venator-Class Star Destroyer Void-Smasher. A relatively small Legion whose main infantry compliment was a mere 1,250 Troopers of varying classes. However they made up for this with 250 of them as jet troopers, 500 were airborne, 25 of them were ARF troopers, and the other 475 were Mechanized Infantry, i.e. The pilots of tanks and the infantry that rode in them. Of course there were the necessary gunship pilots, mechanics, bomber and fighter pilots. To go with all of this. The Venator carried 20 AT-TEs and 25 AT-APs. The GAR designated it the 725th Orbital Assault Regiment. They also had black armor painted similarly to that of Black Wing's, on my request. In any case I made a decision then and there: No. Fucking. Control. Chips. I had told various other Jedi of these chips, some had had them removed from their troops, 501st, 212th, 327th and the 104th all had their chips removed by their Jedi Generals, however the others were dissuaded by the Kaminoans.
In any case I decided to finally speak.
"Brave Troopers of the 725th Orbital Attack Regiment, I welcome you all to my command, I look forward to fighting alongside you all, however a certain…tumor has come to my attention regarding you clones as a whole, a control ship if you will, this is something I will not stand for in a force under my command, as such I am having each and every one of your Control Chips from you. From the crew of this ship, to the simplest of grunts, I need all of you to be able to think creatively, moreso than your control chips would allow, as such, once I dismiss you, you all will report to the med bay and other triage areas on the ship where you will undergo surgery to remove these chips, once that is done we will be off on our first mission as a unit." I stated. "Dis-MISSED!"
Three days later.
"Alright, boys names." I said as I leaned on the holo-table.
"Commander Psycho, sir." The Clone with the Cama and shoulder pauldron with his jet pack.
"Captain Stiff." He had Airborne armor on.
"They call me Gunner sir." The Arc trooper said.
"Alright, this is Commander Vulture, he leads the Starfighter contingent of this ship." I added introducing said Clone to his brothers. "What's the status of the surgeries Commander?" I asked.
"All finished sir." Psycho replied.
"Alright, here's our mission, three days from now we are to rendezvous with Master's Skywalker and Kenobi on the Planet of Cristophsis. They require heavy reinforcements after a traitor amongst their ranks destroyed most of their munitions and heavy vehicles. Admiral Yeularin will assist us in getting into a drop position where we will deploy First via jet pack, what kinda weapons are you and your boys equipped with Commander?"
"We got everything short of Z-6's General, that includes rockets and EMP launchers." Psycho replied.
"That's good, once Psycho and his boys secure a beach head for us to land at we deploy the airborne and armor." I said. "They do still have AV-7s on the ground."
"Air-support?" Stiff asked.
"Spotty save for my fighter, a bomber and six V-19s, they'll be basing themselves out of Skywalker and Kenobi's FOB." I replied.
"That's a relief." Psycho observed.
"From there we aid the 501st and 212th to take out the main enemy base, then we'll be there until the navy sends more ships." I said. "'Cause that blockade is a massive pain in the ass and not gonna budge without a few more Venators. We all clear?"
"Yes, sir!" Psycho and Stiff both replied, Vulture simply nodded.
Two days later.
"General, we are dropping out of hyperspace now." Captain Surge reported.
"Coordinate with Admiral Yeularen and get this tub over the DZ as soon as we drop." I ordered.
"Understood sir." The Captain replied. "I suggest you get to your fighter, we'll need all the firepower we can get out there."
By that time the bridge door was already closing behind me, I was amused to feel the Captain's frustration through the force as I approached the hangar after exiting the turbolift.
Upon entering the hangar bay I shouted, tapping my helmet's comms to Commander Psycho's. "Alright ladies! Get your asses in gear! Drop three! I want those gunships loaded for Bear! Bombers! Check your magazines and make sure you're ready to fly! Fighters! Get off those wings, glue your asses to those seats and seal those canopies shut! We fly as soon as this tub drops from Hyperspace! Bombers you follow suit! Drop One! Check you packs! Drop Two! Check your chutes! Stompers! Check your armor and check your magazines!" I shouted.
The hangar bay was then in a state of organized frenzy as fuel tanks were topped off and payloads were checked, Armor mechanics crawled all over their assigned beasts before giving he go ahead to the LAAT/c pilots to clamp on to them. AT-RTs crawled into both LAAT/I's and AT-TEs. Loading ramps for both AT-TEs and AT-APs were disconnected. Troops rushed to their assigned AT-TEs and ARC troopers loaded their BARC speeders onto LAAT/I's. I leapt into the cockpit of my Delta-7 which the troops and affectionately called the the Flying Reek, and started through the ignition sequence.
"4X how's she look?" I asked.
"All systems are reading as functional and all magazines are full." 4X replied in his deep voice.
"Good." I started as the entire Venator shuddered and the hangar doors opened soon after. I gunned the singer engine craft and pulled a sharp climb out of the hangar, followed shortly by the customized V-19's of Black Wing, well five V-19s and a customized Y-Wing, who had upgraded their ships with a pair of Mass Driver Guided Munitions Cannons on top of the two fuselage mounted engines that had eight round magazines, eight wing mounted Concussion missile launchers, and a single Proton Torpedo tube replacing the lower most cannon, of course the laser cannons were also upgraded to be double barreled and have a higher rate of fire, the Y-Wing had the nose lasers replaced with the same type of laser that I had on my fighter, the turret had two of the same laser cannons as the nose as well as missile targeting controls for the fifteen concussion missiles mounted on each engine nacelle, the payload magazine was the same size only it contained variable warhead seeker/hover variable fuse mines, frag, concussion and EMP proximity for anti-fighter and Proton, Ion and Concussion anti-capital ship duties to top it all off it came with an upgraded Class 1 Hyperdrive, to match the upgraded Class 1 Hyperdrive rings used by the rest of Black Wing, the Y-Wing was piloted by Bait with Pinpoint as the Gunner. Followed shortly by more stock V-19s and soon after that Y-Wings and a single Gunship that was modified extensively, the troop bay was replaced with a larger magazine for the two Mass Driver Guided Munition Cannons, the ball turrets were replaced with 10x5 Concussion Missile Racks, it had a stealth drive and attached to the wings were two Proton Torpedo launchers with ten round magazines, we called this the Extra-Orbital-Assault-Missile-Carrier, it was a little side project I had and was piloted by personnel from the Jedi Temple who had helped me put it together, they just called it the Prowler.
"Prowler, get to work, keep moving don't get detected and give them tinny bastards a headache to remember us by, Black Wing, you're with me, we're going to do our best to clear the way for Void-Smasher." I ordered. "Everyone else, link up with Fleet-Comm and get to work."
"General Shan, what a relief it is to have you here, you and Black wing have earned somewhat of a legend for yourselves at the Battle of Taris." I heard Admiral Yeularen comment over the comms.
"Sorry Admiral, I'm only up here long enough to keep a Drop Zone clear for the Void-Smasher, them I'm transferring myself and Black Wing to Ground Support." I replied.
"I half expected that, hopefully your New Regiment will be capable of supporting General's Kenobi and Skywalker long enough for us to get down there." Yeularen said.
"Hah! They may be shinnies but my boys are some of the best there is!" Commander Psycho reported.
"That remains to be seen Commander." Yeularen replied dryly.
"Vultures on scope!" Vulture reported, we had dropped out of hyperspace on the other side of the moon from the Seppie blockade so we did have some way to go from the ship to the actual fight.
"Arm Missiles, choose targets and let rip!" I replied as I armed the Launcher, formerly a simple proton Torpedo Tube it could now fire anything from Concussion Missiles to Proton Torpedoes, I locked on to a Vulture that was chasing a V-19 at about ten Kilometers away and let fly, the droid detected the missile lock and tried evasive maneuvers however the missile itself was specialized for anti-fights purposes and found its mark either way destroying the droid.
Black Wing let loose with their own missiles, each V-19 fired a single Missile while the Y-Wing fired two, thanks to the targeting systems in both the pilot and gunner's seat. Another seven Vultures were reduced to scrap.
"All fighters break formation and engage." I ordered.
The standard V-19s not assigned to bomber escort broke off and flew in, to help their brothers immediately taking one or two Vultures each.
"Bombers, break formation and find your targets."
The bombers and their escorts broke their V-shaped formations into groups of three to six, depending on target with at least one V-19 to cover each group.
"Black Wing, move in."
Together Black Wing soaked down on their accelerators as I did the same, the inertia flattening them to their seats as their customized engines propelled them towards the ship hovering over Skywalker and Kenobi's battle field.
"Crosshair, Guts go for point defense turrets then turbo lasers, Bait, go for engines and shields, Vulture, Hunter, Spit, we keep fighters off of them." I ordered, flipping off various safeties and limiters on my fighter. "4X divert power form shields and life support to engines, dampeners and weapons."
"Helmet on?"
"Yes."
"Done."
"Target in sight!" Vulture reported.
"Break formation and do your jobs!" I ordered.
As Bait, Guts and Crosshair broke off, Vulture, Pinpoint, Hunter and Spit broke to chase fighters. I myself went head on with a Vulture and took it out with an extended burst from the repeating laser cannon. Then in came another group of Vulture Droids, I held down the trigger to the laser Cannon and let the targeting reticle sweep over each fighter, needing only a fraction of a second on target to destroy each fighter.
The Frigate above the Smasher's DZ was currently having all of it's defenses picked off, the shields had gone first taken by proton mines from Bait's Y-wing, and the engines were down to the two tertiaries, the point defenses were gone and the last two turbo-lasers were set upon by proton torpedoes. The air space surrounding it was clear as well. Once again Black Wing had proven itself to be the best pilots the GAR ever head. Already several other Frigates had fallen to Y-Wings and the Missile Carrier.
"Boss, inbound Hyperspace signatures." 4X reported. "Seppies."
"Fuck." This would prolong the orbital battle, as another five Munificent Frigates arrived. "Captain Surge! Get that tub to the DZ! We need to get our boys on the ground before those damned Frigates plug the holes we made!"
"Understood General, inbound." The Captain replied.
Then the Frigate we had been harassing finally gave out, and detonated.
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Yup, all over the place but we're starting to hone in on the good shit. Commander Psycho will certainly earn his name, Captain Stiff, fairly obvious why he's called Stiff later on. The 725th will be similar to Torrent Company of the 501st as an elite group of clones, just looking at their roster of Clone Types will tell you that, Clone Jet and Airborne troopers were fairly elite to begin with, and the amount of ARC troopers, about fifty of them all not listed on the Troop roster for security reasons, is fairly ridiculous even in the 2003 cartoon we only saw like ten in one place at a time, but we always knew there were many of them, more so than Commandos, enough to make an entire Battalion of 'em, so it is plausible for a unit to have upwards of fifty of them.