Chapter 3: Old Enemies are New Friends

Admiral Mar Tuuk stood on the bridge of the CNS Unendurable and smiled, it would seem that their luck was changing at last; no sooner had the ship left hyperspace the radar picked up a Republic transport in the vicinity. "Engage the tractor beam, target that craft" he ordered "I want those Republic dogs alive".

"Roger roger, engaging tractor beam" the droid was silent for a moment before turning to the admiral "the target has been acquired sir, it will be deposited in Hanger A".

Mar Tuuk turned to the officer of his Neimoidian guards "Captain Fahar, you will proceed to Hanger A, collect our guests and bring them to the bridge if you please. Do not underestimate them".

Captain Fahar saluted "Yes sir" turning to his men he said "Haker, Plyth, remain here, protect the admiral and the general, the rest of you follow me". As the Neimoidian guardsmen hurried towards the hanger Fahar activated his comm-link "all available droids in the vicinity of Hanger A proceed there immediately". By the time the Neimoidians arrived in the hanger a force of at least a hundred droids had already assembled, which along with his own soldiers, Captain Fahar proceeded to deploy so as to best cover the site where the hijacked Republic ship would be landing.

As the small Republic troop transport was slowly guided into the Hanger by the tractor beam, there was no shortage of itchy trigger fingers among the Neimoidians. A large sergeant, abnormally heavily built for his kind, was actually growling deep in his throat "Republic scum, I'll make em' pay for Mustafar I tell ya!" his younger brother had been in Nute Gunray's bodyguard, and he was eager to settle the score

Captain Fahar glanced across at the sergeant "remember your orders Basar; we are to take them prisoner".

Sergeant Basar nodded "I know that sir, I'm just saying that if any of those bloody clones tries anything, I'll break his neck for him, that's all".

Meanwhile onboard the Galleon troop transport:

As soon as the tractor beam had taken hold of their ship Rex had pummelled the controls like a man possessed for a full thirty seconds, occasionally breaking off from an almost constant stream of curses to say to Ahsoka "pardon my Mandalorian". Eventually he sank back in his seat, they were dead, and he knew it, he hadn't got a good look at the destroyer that had hijacked their ship, but it could only be a Republic vessel. He turned to Ahsoka "I'm so sorry".

Ahsoka leaned towards Rex and kissed him "that's ok, we gave it our best shot, it just wasn't enough this time".

Rex brought his fist down on the arm of his chair "it's my fault, I should have seen this ship a mile away, damn it it's big enough"! He shook his head "I just don't know how they knew to reel us in, they can't have figured out you're alive yet surely?"

Ahsoka kissed him again "I don't know, but it wasn't your fault Rex, I didn't see the ship either and I was looking out of the window!"

Rex suddenly jumped to his feat "damn it we're not beaten yet, I'll try and talk our way out of it". Rex glared out of the window at the hanger they had just been guided into "I'll tell these droids something, maybe I can...droids!" Rex performed a double take that any comic actor would have been proud of as he stared out of the window at what was undeniably a Separatist hanger, he could see battle droids, supers and even the odd droideka.

"They're clankers" said Ahsoka in amazement "I don't know if I should be relived or not".

Back in the hanger:

The Republic transport was guided into the hanger and landed in the centre of a great ring of droids and Neimoidians. Captain Fahar stepped forward, and with the aid of a voice magnifier on his wrist communicator called out "surrender immediately, do not attempt to resist or you shall all be killed. Throw your weapons down the ships access ramp and then come out with your hands up".

After a moments silence a voice called back "alright, we're coming out", the ships ramp was lowered and a brace of blaster pistols and a lightsabrer clattered down it. At the site of the Jedi's weapon a muttering began to spread amongst the Neimoidians "murderer...honour less filth...back stabbers".

Captain Fahar glanced around at his men "keep steady boys, keep steady, only fire if I give the word". A clone captain and a young female Jedi appeared at the top of the ramp and began to slowly descend to the hanger, each with their hands in the air. Fahar indicated a couple of super battle droids and two of his own Neimoidians "on me, watch both of them, especially the Jedi", he walked towards them cautiously, keeping his own blaster pistol firmly targeted on the Togrutan girl. When they were a few feet apart he stopped and slightly inclined his head, whilst making sure to keep both the clone's and the Jedi's hands where he could see them, "welcome aboard the CNS Unendurable sir, madam, you have discarded all your weapons?" They both nodded curtly "I trust that you will not be offended if I do not take your word for it" said Fahar politely "Private Tornay, check them, we'll cover you".

Private Tornay didn't seem particularly thrilled with the prospect of having to get any closer to the clone and Jedi than he could help, but obeyed. Frisking the Jedi proved to be unnecessary, since as soon as she slipped of her cloak it became obvious to all that her costume offered no places were any weapon more bulky than a tooth pick could have been concealed without drawing immediate attention. Tornay was doubly pleased not to have to touch the Jedi because as soon as he'd approached her he'd noted a low growl emanating from the clone beside her. The searching of the clone himself proved rather more eventful, firstly because it was actually required, and secondly because Tornay discovered a mini-blaster concealed under his right arm.

"Slipped your mind I suppose?" asked Captain Fahar coldly.

The clone shrugged "yeah it must have done".

Mar Tuuk sat in his command chair and looked at the prisoners of over steepled fingers, this had been more than he had dared hope for, not only had they captured a clone officer, and a Jedi, but also, as he looked from one to the other he became aware that he recognized both of them. "Tell me" he said at last "you would not happen to be Captain Rex of the 501st Legion and Padawan Ahsoka Tano by any chance?"

Captain Rex and Ahsoka glanced at each other "how did you know that?" asked Ahsoka suspiciously.

Mar Tuuk smiled "You may or may not be aware that your master Anakin Skywalker got the better of me once, through the use of trickery and deception. Ever since that scoundrel bested me I have studied his every move, his history, and" he added nodding at Rex and Ahsoka "his closest allies; so that if I was ever to do battle with him again, I would be ready". Mar Tuuk leant forward from his seat "Now, you will answer my questions, what is going on! The Separatist Council has been murdered, whoever did so also deactivated the entire droid army, and I have reason to believe that it was your accursed master Skywalker, who may or may not have done so by the order of Darth Sidious; I want an explanation!"

And so, for the best part of an hour, with many interruptions, Ahsoka and Rex told their story. When they had finally finished General Whorm Loathsom whistled "Weel noo, eef theet eent a storiee weeth thee heerin!"

Mar Tuuk taped his chin "so, Darth Sidious and Chancellor Palpatine are one and the same person, he must have been playing both sides against each other throughout the entire war, planning to eventually reveal his true colours when the victor became apparent. How intriguing".

"I can think of other words to describe it" said Rex darkly.

The Neimoidian admiral smiled "well said Captain Rex, well said". Rising from his command chair Mar Tuuk walked towards the bridges window and looked out into space "I have a proposition to put to you, I plan to retreat to Mustafar, reactivate the entire droid army, use all the remaining funds in the Separatist coffers to hire every bounty hunter and mercenary I can find, and then launch a do-or-die attack on Coruscant. Cut the head off the snake, and the body will follow, we kill that traitorous scum Palpatine and this is over". Mar Tuuk turned and faced Rex and Ahsoka "the services of a Jedi and a veteran clone captain might well prove extremely useful in this enterprise, I propose an alliance".

It was the natural instinct of both Rex and Ahsoka to flatly refuse this Seps offer on principal, but the more they thought about it, the more it made sense. Eventually Ahsoka said "if we did help you, if we won, we'd have just helped to overthrow the Republic as well as Palpatine".

Mar Tuuk shrugged "our cause has always been a simple one young Jedi, all we ever desired was that the extortionate taxes levied on our trade should be lowered and an end to corruption in the senate" a slight smile formed on Mar Tuuk's mouth "our fears of corruption, I need not point out, have now been entirely vindicated. We did not seek to destroy the Republic, only to create a new one; might I remind you that our first act upon declaring out independence was to establish our own senate, hardly the actions of those bent on a fascist dictatorship or mindless chaos. With our victory the Republic will be restored to its former glory and every planet in the galaxy will have a greater freedom than ever before to trade and thrive. Do we have an arrangement?"

Rex and Ahsoka looked at one another and then both nodded in unison "deal" said Ahsoka, obviously not entirely happy with the prospect of working with tinnies.

"Capital" said Mar Tuuk happily "I think that perhaps introductions are in order then, Captain Rex, Padawan Ahsoka Tano, I am Admiral Mar Tuuk, my comrade and good friend General Whorm Loathsom, and I believe you have already met the commander of my personal guard Captain Fahar?" After a few rather forced greetings were exchanged Admiral Tuuk nodded, apparently satisfied, "well gentlemen, and lady, I suggest that we have wasted enough time here already and that we should immediately leave for Mustafar" turning to the helmsman droid he said "set a course for...".

Mar Tuuk never finished his order however, for it was at that moment that two Republic Star Destroyers and four Republic frigates seemed to appear from nowhere, completely surrounding the Unendurable and cutting of any possible avenue for escape. To his credit Mar Tuuk showed no outward signs of alarm, only Ahsoka noted the sudden spike of surprise in the admirals mind, "this is most unfortunate, I fear, Captain Rex and Commander Tano, that our alliance may be a very short one". Turning to one of the interchangeable bridge droids he quickly began to issue orders "divert all power from the engines to our shields and guns, we're not going anywhere, so there is no need to waste energy keeping our propulsion systems online"

"Roger roger".

Mar Tuuk activated his comm-link "we are under attack, all marine droids, man your battle stations, all Vulture droids and Tri-fighters prepare to take off and engage the enemy".

Whorm activated his own communicator, contacting his droid forces on board the Unendurable "ay, yer heerd heem laddies, geet reedie too repeel boordeers!"

Rex and Ahsoka peered at the attacking clone ships and with an unpleasant sinking feeling, recognised one of them "that's the Resolute" said Rex "that means Admiral Yularen and the 501st!" As the droid fighters clashed with their Republic counter parts beyond the windows of the bridge of the Unendurable, both Captain Rex and Ahsoka felt as if they were living some strange dream. They had watched identical battles a hundred times from the bridge of the Resolute, watched as Republic ARC-70's and Separatist Vulture droids engage one another in lightning fast dog-fights, but this time they were watching from a droid ship, and the droids were their allies.

The space battle between the Unendurable and the six Republic ships was a foregone conclusion, outnumbered, outmanoeuvred and vastly outgunned, the droid fighters were eliminated one by one, whilst for every salvo of fire unleashed by the Separatist destroyers defensive guns, six times that was poured into it in return. At one point a cheer arouse from the Neimoidian guardsmen, Rex, Ahsoka and Whorm when one of the Republic frigates suddenly blossomed into flame and exploded spectacularly. Mar Tuuk smiled "we must have hit the main reactor I would imagine, or possibly the magazine, most gratifying". It was however the last flicker of a dying candle, soon all the ships gun decks and defensive turrets had been destroyed, the ships shields giving out not long afterwards under the unrelenting pounding of Republic heavy guns and bombers, leaving the Unendurable utterly defenceless and at the mercy of the Republic vessels. Then however, instead of blowing the crippled Separatist ship to floating scrap, the Republic fighters and bombers retreated to their ships and the Republic gun batteries fell silent.

Whorm stood grinding his teeth "ay whee doont theey feenesh oos oof, wat har theey weetin foor?"

"I would imagine that they are planning on boarding us" said Mar Tuuk casually "after all, there happen to be quite a few persons of interest abroad this vessel" he indicated Whorm "you and I general are the last Separatist leaders left alive, Palpatine would no doubt like to know how we survived, before rectifying the situation". He turned towards Rex and Ahsoka "and we also happen to have onboard one of the only Jedi's to have survived order 66 and even more interestingly, a clone who chose not to obey it. All in all we are worth more to our Republic friends alive than dead, for a while at least".

Sure enough each of the surviving Republic ships had re-opened their hangers and began to pour forth a veritable swarm of Republic gunships. One of the droids monitoring the ships radar said, after a moment studying the advancing blizzard of contacts on the screen before it, "it looks like they're all heading for Hanger A sir".

"It's a faint" said Rex instantly "at the last moment they'll change course and make for your other hanger".

"Ay, Ayd whoo doo yee noo theet cloon" asked Whorm suspiciously.

"Because I am one" answered Rex simply "it's standard Republic attacking strategy, you'll have sent the majority of your forces to the wrong Hanger And by the time you realise they're heading for the other one it's already too late".

"Thank you Captain Rex" said Mar Tuuk, inclining his head, "as it happens I was already aware of this tactic, but none the less I appreciate your input". Addressing all those present on the bridge the Neimoidian admiral began to issue his battle orders "Captain Fahar, you and Commander Tano, will defend Hanger B, to aid you in this undertaking you shall be given the majority of all the remaining droids. Captain Rex, General Loathsom, the rest of my body guards, any reaming droids and myself, will defend Hanger A. If indeed the Republicans plan to launch no attack at all on that front, we can then make our way to Hanger B and offer support for Fahar and Tano's forces. If there are no questions then let us all be about our business".

"And may the Force be with us" said Ahsoka.