Eeth Koth stood on the bridge of his Star Destroyer, his eyes closed in deep thougth. Behind him stood JedI Master Ausar Auset and JedI Master Stass Allie who meditated with equal depth. All was quiet and the clones and non-clones behind them did their work without speaking unless absolutely necessary which they did in low murmurs. Suddenly, Koth's eyes snapped open and he spoke, breaking the silence. "Prepare for battle. A Covenant fleet will arrive any moment. I can feel it's approach."
The entire fleet was now buzzing. Pilots ran to their ships, technicians went to and froe doing last minute checks on everything, gunners prepped the turbo laser batteries and the JedI braced themselves. "Contact Master Ti and Master Monn and tell them to prepare the planetary armaments for assault. I hope those Hyper-velocity weapons are ready to go. We will need them online as soon as can be." Just as he finished speaking a massive fleet dropped out of hyperspace. It was at least twice the size of their own and the massive Super Carrier left Master Koth speechless momentarily. But swiftly he regained himself and began issuing orders. "I want all squadrons launched. Keep the V-Wing and V-19's in reserve to intercept any attacking fighter and gunships. I want the ARC-170's and Y-Wings assaulting the enemy capital ships with the new Z-95 Headhunters flying escort. Master Gallia, Master Auset and Master Kolar, man your fighters. Master Allie, Master Di and Master Ma'kis'shaalas, I want boarding teams on that monster cruiser as soon as may be." As soon as the enemy ships were in range, every gun in the Republic Fleet fired. Energy and warheads flashed forth and were returned with plasma torpedoes that ravaged the shields when they were missed by the point defense weapons. Starfighters, dropships and gunships flew to and froe, blasting each other to oblivion. One of Koth's gauntlets had an uplink to the comms and he listened to the chatter of the pilots and boarding teams. Suddenly, laser and ion energy flashed through the gaps in the Republic ships with immaculate precision, reeking havoc within the front most corvettes and carriers of the Covenant fleet. As he watched three of the corvettes and one of the assault carries go up in flames, Master Koth allowed himself a small smile. This battle was not going badly so far.
Decimous, Chieftain of the Jiralhanae brutes watched as part of his front line was decimated. "It seems they are well defended. Time to put fear into their hearts the like of which they will not recover from for the remainder of their pitiful existence. Fire up the energy projector and blast their forward ships into nothing." As another few Covenant ships went up in flames, the Super Carrier fire it's energy projector, cutting through four Republic Venator-class Star Destroyers.
Master Koth gritted his teeth. Over the comes came Master Gallia, "Pursuer this is Blue Leader. What was that?" Master Koth shook his head, "I don't know, Adi. Whatever it is, we are outmatched by it." He was about to tell all ships to spread wider in order to avoid any more such blasts when his comlink chirped and Master Allie came through, "We have boarded the flagship but this thing is massive. Where should we go first." Thinking fast, Master Koth said, "Stand by on that, Stass. R4-56..." he said to an astro droid near the sensor station, "…analyze that ship and cross-reference it with every other ship the Republic has come across. Make it quick, R4-56." Within moments, the droids holoprojector showed the massive ship and pointed out where its critical systems were and also showed that it had seven such energy projectors. "Master Alli, my Astrodroid is sending you a holo image of the ship's schematics. Your first target will be the energy projectors starting from the front and going to the back. I want that ship impotent as soon as may be." As he terminated the transmission, an alarm began to buzz. "Sir, a boarding party has just landed and it trying to reach our critical systems." Master Koth spun round and ran towards the bridge doors saying, "Commander Tombs, I want a full security detail now and make sure the Muunalist 10 are with them. Meet me at the hangers." This was just getting better and better.
In Topica city, the capital city of Kamino, Master Shaak Ti and Master Voolvif Monn watched the battle view the holocam. Both looked grim as another blast from one of the carriers wiped out several more Republic ships. "We will need reinforcements as soon as they can arrive." growled Master Monn, a large canine like Shistivaanan. Master Ti, a Tagruta, nodded and said, "I will see who the closest reinforcement would be. I would like you to organize the firing of our planetary guns, Vool and to personally lead the defense when the Covenant try to land dropships." Master Monn nodded and she swept out. Turning back to the holoprojector, he contacted the planetary guns on his comlink. "Fire the Hypervelocity Guns at the nearest Assault Cruisers. They are tearing our Star Destroyers to pieces." As soon as the words left his mouth the ground shook slightly and he saw lines of ordinance firing from several guns.
Master Koth and his team were pushing back the enemy to slowly for his taste. The Covenant had landed at several points on the ship and were reeking havoc on the security forces inside. After wiping out several groups, Master Koth was searching for the final three. With him was the Clone Commander Tombs, Advanced Recon Commando 77 Captain Fordo and his ARC Troopers. The rest of the detail with him had been destroyed by the borders. "We have cleared the Engine room and hyper drive generator, Commander. We must check the main reactor and life supports next." As he finished, his gauntlet chimed. "Go, captain." "Sir, we have just eliminated another group but at heavy cost. These brutes take a lot of punishment. I'm going to gather the remnants of other teams and find the other. How goes your search, General?" said Clone Captain Ridges. Koth replied in short, "We are searching for one of the last groups and I think they are in the main reactor. Keep me informed Captain." They came to the Main Reactor chamber not long after he terminated contact and went in shooting. The ARC troopers were armed heavily with WESTER M5 Blaster Rifles, rotary cannons, quad cannons and a large assortment of other powerful weapons. The Covenant were hit hard and the grunt technician who was about to take the maintenance hoverpad out to the main reactor fell with a blaster bolt to the head while the hoverpad itself was blasted into oblivion by one of the other troopers. The brutes turned and attack angrily with their strange weapons. The spikes they fired from their weapons punctured even the Katarn Class armor of the ARC troopers, leaving several severely wounded. Koth was among the brutes in a moment, carving a path through them until they turned on him, trying to bring down this powerful warrior. Suddenly a massive brute with a gravity hammer leapt into the fray and nearly smashed Master Koth into the deck. The concussion of the hammer scattered the brutes and several clones who were to near but Koth was able to avoid it. Koth and the brute chieftain went at each other but the battle was pitifully short. As the brute raised his hammer Eeth Koth through his lightsaber and severed the head and arms of the creature, killing it before it could swing. The rest of the Covenant saboteur party tried to flea or charged in rage but were slain quickly, leaving none alive. "Well done Commander, Captain. What are the casualties, the three who took spikes are dead and two more have severe plasma wounds. The rest are mostly uninjured." "Save for yourself, Captain. Escort the injured to the medbay." said Master Koth with a slight smile at Captain Fordo's limp and misshapen arm from how he had been slammed against the bulkhead of the ship. "Captain Ridges, report." after a moment, a voice came on the air saying, "The captain is dead sir. My name is Lieutenant Caps and we just finished off the last of them. Permission to do a full sweep of the ship, General." Master Koth liked this new soldier. "Permission granted, Lieutenant. Carry on." When he returned to the bridge Master Koth witnessed the second volley of Hypervelocity rounds slamming through and into Covenant ships. Several enemy corvettes and assault carriers went up in flames and exploded. "Even so, we need reinforcements if we are going to win this battle. Furthermore, this is a battle we cannot afford to lose."
The comlink chimed and Master Ti came on the line. "Master Koth I have some good news. Master Rahm Kota is on his way with his militia. They should be here in less than three hours. Some of the Covenant have landed and are fighting their way into the facility. We can hold them but you have to make sure no more make it through." Master Koth replied swiftly, "I'll put our best squadrons on it now, Master Ti. May the Force be with you." "And with you, Master Koth." she replied before the transmission was terminated. Koth contacted the JedI Masters who were fighting in space, charging them with preventing anymore dropships from making it to the surface and too take the V-Wings and Headhunters with them. Just as he finished, a chime came from Master Allie.
On board the ship, Masters Stass Allie, Ima-gun Di and Ma'kis'shaalas led four separate Republic Commando Teams. Blue and White squad were with Master Allie and were headed towards the firing arrays of the energy projectors while Master Di went with Omega Squad to take out the comms station and Master Ma'kis'shaalas caused as much havoc as they could in the firing batteries. It was a desperate mission for the ship was massive and enemies were literally everywhere. Around every corner were groups of Covenant infantry that opened fire as soon as the Republic assault teams came around. Master Stass Allie and her squad came to a door and stopped. "What are we waiting for, General?" asked White Squad leader Snowface. She was silent for a moment before saying, "Unless I'm mistaking, this is the first energy projector control room and I can sense many foes waiting for us beyond these doors." The two squad leaders looked at each other and Blue squad leader Dirk said, "Alright commandos I want two door breach maneuvers ready with us and the general being the first ones in and fighting but make sure those grenades are thermal detonators. I want a pair of big bangs before we go through." Turning to Master Allie he said, "Step back, General and get ready to be impressed." She smiled slightly. Several times that day she had already been impressed. Standing back next to Dirk she waited and watched. One of Blue Squad planted a timed charge on the door and counted down. With a loud pop the door slid open and two thermal detonators flew into the large group of enemies waiting in the room beyond. With a loud blast and twin balls of fire, the enemy were throne into disarray. Then they were in, the Commandos maneuvering with the greatest precision while Master Gallia used the force to fend off projectiles and her lightsaber to stop enemy plasma round she sensed would hit one of the commandos, being careful to make sure it did not overload the green crystal in her lightsaber. It took a while to clear the room of Covenant and the Republic squad knew more were on the way. When the last brute was brought down by multiple shots to the head, Master Allie looked at the control consoles and notices that many were heavily damage. "Commandos take out the rest of those controls and see if there is a way to damage the weapon itself enough to render inoperable permanently." As the clones went around blasting here and setting charges there the two squad leaders talked to Master Allie. "There is no way to get to the projector itself unless we went to a maintenance level." For a moment the JedI master thought about it. IF they just gutted the systems, the Covenant may be able to get them back online before Kota's fleet arrived. On the other hand if they went to the maintenance level of each one, they wouldn't all be down before Master Kota arrived. After several minutes of though and the rest of the Commandos had gathered around Master Allie made her decision. Ringing up the other JedI Masters on her comlink she told each one of them to attack both the firing array and the energy projector itself that was nearest to them. "It is imperative that they are at least damaged enough that they will not wipe out our fleet or the planet below if they break through the fleet." After the communication was terminated, they continued on their mission. They went to the maintenance level and destroyed the power generator and energy collector before continuing on towards the next one, which was a great distance away in the massive cruiser.
Down on Kamino, Master Monn lead the Jet troopers and RAIL ARC Troopers in defense of the facilities. ARC Trooper Commander Colt served next to him, wielding a WESTER-M5 Assault Blaster Rifle with devastating effect. Even so, the enemy pushed forward. They were nearly to the cloning facilities with only the two JedI masters and a couple dozen ARC Troopers standing in their way. "Master Monn," said Master Ti, "It is time that we drove them back. They are too close and we have little to no knowledge of what is going on in the rest of the facilities." With that, driving a wave of force energy before them and deflecting both plasma and projectiles with it, they drove the enemy back. The Covenant forces, led by a large and powerful Brute War Chieftain, didn't expect it and the lesser aliens, the Grunt and Jackals, fled before the onslaught. The Brutes and two pairs of the massive loathsome Hunters recovered quickly and began to press their attack again. The Republic defenders were beginning to be pressed back again when suddenly a volley of blaster fire and even some light missiles dropped out of seemingly know where and consumed many of them. A dozen of the Mandalorians who were recruited by Jango Fett to train the clone army flew out of the upper reaches of the facility and caught the enemy by surprise, tearing them apart. Within moments, the Covenant in the area were dead. The leader of the group, Kal Skirata marched up to the JedI and said, "My Null-ARC troopers are helping secure the cadet barracks for the younger clones. It won't be long before these enemies are driven off our home planet." Master Ti bowed to him saying, "Thank you, Master Chief Skirata." One of the Mandalorians strode up and said, "Rahm Kota's fleet has arrived ahead of schedule, General." They all looked heavenward to see a small yet aggressive fleet engage the rear of the enemy fleet. Flying among the ships, it blasted all that stood in its way. A cheer went up from all over the facility.
With a roar of rage, Decimous swung his mighty arms and slew a nearby Grunt. "Get the fleet out of this pincer and back into position, NOW." One of his crew called back, "But my lord this ship alone has lost three of its energy projector and we are down to seventy five percent of our original assault fleet." Slumping into his throne yet still as tense as a rock, Decimous thought for a moment before finally saying, "Tell the fleet to disentangle itself and prepare for a retreat. The prophets will not be pleased."
The strike force got off the ship just before it went into hyperspace. It was a great victory but at a heavy price. A small part of the cloning facilities were heavily damaged and half the defending fleet was gone. Even so the cloning facilities were safe and therefore, the Republic still had a fighting chance to win a losing conflict.