Star Wars Clone Wars
Enter the Demolition Brigade!!
Coruscant, the next morning,
The sun was just coming up as Shark rolled out of the bed he and Karona had slept in the night before. He was already in his boxers so he pulled on a robe and went out into the living room. R2-D3 was waiting out of the living room, in recharge mode. Shark pulled out some leftover cosmic pizza (I have no idea if there is an equivalent in Star Wars!) and warmed it up before sitting down and activating the HoloNet screen. He listened as the news reported about different planets that had been invaded by the Separatists Droid Army or had been liberated by Clone Troopers. Things were not looking good for a good number of systems and Shark couldn't help but shake his head. He then realized that he had a message from the Jedi Council. He activated the message and couldn't help but smile as he read that they had removed the restriction prohibiting Jedi from having relationships.
"Anything interesting?" Karona asked as she appeared in the doorway to the bedroom.
Shark smiled. "Other than the Jedi have gotten rid of that stupid rule of no relationships?"
Karona smiled as she had been hoping they wouldn't have to end their relationship. "Anything else?" She asked happily.
Shark frowned. "The war isn't going well for the Republic." He said seriously. "But then again, you've got Palpatine, who shouldn't still be in office, running things." Shark voice had a deep dislike in it and Karona noticed it.
"What's wrong?"
Shark sighed. "There's something wrong here with Palpatine still being in office for so long and getting himself more power." Shark said calmly. "If I didn't know better I'd say he was using this war to keep himself in power until he can take over permanently."
Karona looked really worried. Shark had a look on his face that she knew all too well: it was the look he had whenever he had to deal with a corrupt politician. "Shark, if you're going to strike against the Supreme Chancellor, you'll need to be a lot more careful than ever before." Karona said calmly. "I've heard that a number of people who stand up to the Chancellor end up being killed in bombings."
Shark smirked at his girlfriend. "Don't worry, I'll be careful." Karona relaxed. "Besides, I'm going to Kamino today, care to come with?" Shark asked. Karona rush over to the bathroom to get ready to go. "I'll take that as a yes." He chuckled.
Meanwhile, in the Naboo System,
Asajj Ventress had combined her remaining forcing from Mandalore with an even greater amount and was travelling through hyperspace towards Naboo, the home of Senator Padme Amidala. "Once we exit hyperspace, begin disrupting all communications." She said to the B1 Battle Droid commander.
"Roger, roger," replied the droid.
A cloaked figure stepped up behind Ventress. The person was taller than Ventress and had the hood of the black cloak pulled over its head. "We must be careful while on this planet." A deep male voice said from under the hood.
"Yes, but this invasion force is twice the size of the invasion force that was used by the Trade Federation years ago." Ventress said evilly. "Not to mention it will be two of us against any of the Jedi that they send to help the Naboo." The cloaked being nodded his covered head in agreement.
A few hours later, on Kamino,
Shark and Karona, along with R2-D3, had gotten permission from Master Yoda to travel to Kamino so Shark could speak with Lama Su and had arrived along with the Force Ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn. The Jedi Council decided to try an experiment since for some reason Qui-Gon couldn't return to a non-visible form. They had asked the Kaminoans to create a perfect clone body from a blood sample they had from before Qui-Gon died. The Kamino cloners had just finished the body and it was an exact match to how he looked when he had died. Qui-Gon was going to try to merge with the body to see if the Force wanted him to become flesh and blood again. The four companions were travelling on board one of the Venator-class Star Destroyer that was going to get more Clone Troopers for a battle that was taking place in the Outer Rim.
Unlike most people, since the trip was going to last a few hours, Shark decided to go over the data on the Cloning process. He realized that, according to the data, there was an adverse effect to the age acceleration. Shark made a note of this and decided to ask the Prime Minister about it.
After the hours in hyperspace, they arrived on Kamino. Taun We was waiting for Shark, Karona and Qui-Gon when they arrived. "Master Jedi, your new body is waiting for you." She said as she led the three to a room away from the clone troopers. The room was heavily guarded with Clone Troopers standing guard outside and inside the room.
Qui-Gon entered the room and saw his new body floating in a system that looked like a bacta tank. "Wow!!" The Force ghost shouted in surprise as he was suddenly pulled towards the body. The spirit entered the body and the body instantly sprang to life. Qui-Gon's eyes shot open, his lungs started breathing on their own without the machine and he started looking around in surprise.
"Good to see you in the flesh, master." Shark joked as Qui-Gon was helped out of the tank. The Jedi Master was given some modified clone armor, much like that worn by Obi-Wan Kenobi, but it had brownish ting to it instead of being all white.
"Taun We, I was wondering if I could meet with Prime Minister Lama Su about an investment my grandfather made here." Shark requested. He handed her the holo-message he had been given.
"I shall give this to him." Taun We promised. She then left to deliver the holo-message.
Meanwhile, on Naboo,
The recently elected Queen Apailana was in the middle of a meeting with her council members, as well as a holoprojection of Senator Padmé Amidala, who was on Coruscant. "Our talks with the Gungans have gone very well recently and our peace with them is stronger than ever." Sio Bibble said proudly.
"You've done well in keeping the peace, your majesty." Padma said to Apailana.
"It was all thanks to your advice, Senator." The queen replied with a smile.
Suddenly, Padme's hologram started to flicker and cut in and out. "What's happening?!" The queen asked frantically. Before anyone could say anything, an explosion rocked the entire palace.
Captain Panaka rushed into the room. "Your majesty, a droid army is invading Naboo!" He announced.
"Alert the Gungans and prepare to fight back!" Apailana ordered. Everyone sprang into action as they had been preparing for this day.
Padmé Amidala's Apartment, on Coruscant,
Padmé Amidala frantically tried to reestablish communications with Naboo but kept falling. "Mesa no likin' dis." Jar-Jar Binks said.
"Me neither," Padmé said worriedly. "I'm going to see the Jedi, to see if they can send a few cruisers to investigate this."
Jar-Jar agreed with that idea and Padmé started to leave when Captain Gregar Typho, Padmé's head of security and trusted friend, entered the room. "My lady, I'm afraid I have bad news." Captain Typho said.
Padmé interrupted the captain. "Captain, I need to see the Jedi Council immediately." She said as she tried to get past him.
"Then you're already aware that Naboo is being invaded." Typho said stopping Padmé in her tracks. "I was just contacted by General Kenobi. The Jedi have learned of this and are sending him and his forces to help repel the invasion."
"Is only Obi-Wan going or are more going to join up later?" Padmé asked seriously.
"Unfortunately, only General Kenobi's forces are available or they would've sent more." The security officer said sadly. "Should any other forces become available, they will try to have them sent to reinforce General Kenobi. But for now, the only ones available are Kenobi."
"Don't worry; mesa palo can handle disa mess!" Jar-Jar said happily. Little did Jar-Jar realize but his assumption was dead wrong.
An hour later, in Naboo System, near the planet Nabbo,
Obi-Wan's forces, which consisted of three Venator-class Star Destroyers, came out of hyperspace and were immediately engaged in battle with the Separatists Fleet, made of 10 Lucrehulk-class battleships, 5 Separatist Dreadnaughts and 7 Separatist Destroyers, that was blockading the planet by surrounding it. "We needed to get our fighters out there!!" Cody said as the Star Destroyer he and Obi-Wan were on shook.
"If we open our ships now, they'll be destroyed." Obi-Wan said calmly. He then showed a hologram of what Ahsoka Tano had done during the Battle of Ryloth. "Angle to hull towards the enemy and then release our fighters, that way they'll be safe and none of the bombers will be able to get in." The clone troopers did as requested. "Cody, try to contact the Jedi Council and let them know that we need reinforcements." Obi-Wan requested.
"Sir, yes sir." Cody said before running to the communication room.
A moment later, in the communication room,
Clone Commander Cody had patched through to the Jedi Council and was giving them an update about the situation. "Our forces are vastly outnumbered and outgunned." Cody reported. "We need reinforcements."
Yoda and Mace Windu looked worried. "Unfortunately, almost all of our forces are engaged elsewhere or are busy resupplying on Kamino." Master Windu reported.
"Contact Kamino, we will." Master Yoda said calmly. "Send help, we will."
The transmission then ended. 'This is not good.' Cody thought to himself as he made his way back to the bridge to inform General Kenobi.
Meanwhile, on Kamino,
Prime Minister Lama Su had reviewed the message from Jango Shadow and couldn't help but be pleased. The message was that his grandson was to given complete control of his 'investment' and that the order was to remain unchanged. By having this 'investment' revealed it would turn the tide of the war in the favor of the Republic but then there might be questions about whose side the Kaminoans were really on. Lama Su brushed those worries aside and decided to meet with Shark Shadow. He made his way to Qui-Gon's room where Taun We had said Shark was waiting for him, with the restored Qui-Gon Jinn and Karona, Shark's longtime girlfriend. Once he entered he found Shark and Qui-Gon doing a little basic training to see if Qui-Gon's body was functioning properly, which it was. "I see that your body is working properly, Master Jedi." Lama Su said calmly as the two stopped sparring. "Jedi Shadow, I would like to speak with you about your grandfather's investment."
Shark nodded. "I'm not about to keep secrets from my girlfriend or Jedi Master." He said calmly.
"Of course," Lama Su said with understanding. He figured that Shark would want to shall this information with his girlfriend and Jedi Master. Lama Su gestured for the three to follow him. Lama Su led them to a craft that they got into. The ship took off and then Lama Su began explaining what was going on. "You see, three years after Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, your grandfather came to us with a most mysterious offer. He feared that the rising tension within the Republic would threaten his home planet of Mandalore." The Kamino Prime Minister said. "Realizing that he was making the same request as Master Sifo-Dyas, I showed him the Clone Army that we were creating for the Republic. He was most impressed with our work that he immediately placed his own order."
Shark then realized what that meant. "You mean my grandfather's investment is his own Clone Army?!" He asked in shock. Karona was also shocked while Qui-Gon seemed indifferent.
"That's not quite right anymore." Lama Su said with a smile. "He is giving the entire army and all his resources to you."
Shark couldn't help but smile. "That means the Separatists are in for a rude awakening." He said. He then frowned. "Who all knows about this army?" Shark asked.
"Only your grandfather and those who work there," Lama Su answered. "We are developing it in another area away from the army for the Republic, as your Grandfather requested."
Shark frown deepened and he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "That may not have been enough; I think Count Dooku somehow found out about it." He said.
Lama Su realized that this leak in security was a really bad thing. "What are you suggesting?" He asked.
Shark thought it over for a few minutes. "How long would it take for you to move the Cloning and Training Facility to another planet?" Shark asked.
Lama Su seemed confused but knew the answer. "If you knew what planet it would take only a few days, since this facility is able to launch into space and travel through Hyperspace." He replied. "Your grandfather requested we have to facility be able to do this since Kamino might have needed to be evacuated should the Separatists ever gain enough firepower."
Shark nodded. "It might be best to do that after we reveal the army to the galaxy, that way the Separatists won't be able to attack it if they attack Kamino again." He said.
The Kamino Prime Minister wasn't too sure about this as it would mean moving one of the largest cloning facilities to another planet but had to admit that it made a lot more sense to have it on another planet since Kamino was an obvious target. "Just let me know which planet you want to move it to and we'll begin the preparations immediately." Lama Su said.
"I'd recommend moving it to the planet Ossus." Qui-Gon said. "Not many know about the planet as it is in the Outer Rim and its location is top secret by order of the Jedi Council."
"I thought Ossus was currently occupied by the Separatists?" Karona asked.
"They recently abandoned it for some reason, most likely because the natives didn't like being treated like slaves." Qui-Gon replied.
The ship started to approach the clone facility and they prepared to disembark from the ship. "So far, there are 100,000 units ready with a million more well on the way, a much larger army than the Grand Army of the Republic." Lama Su said proudly.
"Exactly how many troopers is that?" Karona asked.
"There are actually two different types of units we have: Republic and Mandalorian." Lama Su said calmly. "The Mandalorian Units, which were the original unit size, contain 15,000 troopers each. The Republic Units only have 576 troopers per unit."
"Why the different unit sizes?" Shark asked.
"Master Sifo-Dyas changed his order for some reason and requested the different unit size." Lama Su explained.
'Most likely it was Count Dooku pretending to be Master Sifo-Dyas…' Shark thought to himself. "What are the final numbers?" Shark asked.
"Should the war continue until the orders are complete…?" Lama Su said as he pulled out a datapad to look up the numbers. "The Republic will have an army of roughly over three million units, which comes to about 1,728,000,000 Clone Troopers, while your army will have somewhere around 16,500,000,000 Clone Troopers." Lama Su answered. So far, you have about 1,500,000,000 troopers ready to go."
Shark whistled in amazement as the four entered the facility. "So my army will be even bigger than that of the Grand Army of the Republic?" He asked sarcastically. He then started to chuckle. "Maybe I should name it the True Grand Army of the Republic, just to tick off that Chancellor."
Lama Su nodded. "I told your grandfather that and he just smiled but didn't say anything." The Kaminoan said with a smile.
"The Chancellor won't be too happy about those numbers when he finds out." Karona giggled.
Shark smiled. "It's his fault for not checking what the numbers were sooner than this but I'm not surprised." He chuckled and then frowned. "The guy doesn't exactly seem like he wants the war to end as soon as it could."
"Then we'll just have to end it for him." Qui-Gon said.
Shark just shook his head. He had a gut instinct that someone wanted the Supreme Chancellor to have all the power he was being given by the Senate but had no idea who it was. Unfortunately for that person, Shark planned to find out. The four found themselves walking through a glass tunnel that showed all the cloning tanks with the clones at different stages in them and the growing clones as they were being trained. Shark remembered his question. "Lama Su, I looked over your cloning process and noticed that there are adverse effects caused by the accelerated growth process." Shark said calmly.
Lama Su seemed to stiffen a little at this. "Yes, we've already discovered that flaw and are in the process of finding a cure." He said.
"Once you've found the cure, I'd like you to give it to all of my soldiers." Shark said calmly. That drew confused looks from Lama Su, Karona and Qui-Gon. Shark just shrugged. "Just because they were grown to fight in a war doesn't mean that they won't be allowed to have normal lives once the war is finally over." He replied.
Karona and Qui-Gon both smiled proudly at Shark while Lama Su looked impressed. They entered the overview area and watched as the army was marching in parade formation. "Magnificent…" Shark said with a smile.
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Karona said with a smile.
Lama Su smiled proudly. "The armor your troopers are wearing is the Phase-I Clone Armor but they have a few alterations to them." He explained. "The armor worn by the normal troopers has black forearm armor and strips on it. The commanding officers also have different colors compared to the armor used by those in the Grand Army of the Republic."
"What are they?" Shark asked calmly.
"Gold equals a clone commander, purple means the Clone is a Captain, orange is used by lieutenants and gray means the trooper is a sergeant." Lama Su replied. "This highest ranking officer is Senior Clone Commander Treks; he'll be working directly below you in the chain of command."
A bold headed clone entered the area. He had a black goatee and while his armor looked similar to that of the other commanders but had a black X painted on the chest plate of his armor. He also had a DC-15S Blaster slung over his back with the handle sticking up over his right shoulder and a pair of DC-17 hand blasters on his thighs. "Senior Clone Commander Treks reporting for duty, sir!" The clone stated loudly. Treks definitely had the sound of a fully disciplined military soldier with years of combat experience.
Shark smiled and held out his hand to shake Treks. "Good to meet you, Treks. I'm Shark Shadow, your new boss." He said, the last part was a joke and Treks smirked at it as he shook Shark's hand. 'At least he has a bit of a sense of humor.' Shark thought.
Shark then introduced Treks to Karona and Qui-Gon. Treks led Shark to the command room where a few of the higher ranking captains had been gathered. All of them had purple markings on their armor. One of the clones was wearing armor that looked like the armor worn by the ARC Trooper Captain but had the purple colors instead of the red ones. He had the normal hair cut for Clone troopers but had a tattoo in the shape of black flames on the left side of his face. "This is Tracker; he's the leader of our best recon team." Treks explained.
"Ready for duty, sir!" Tracker said with a grin.
Another clone captain stepped forward. This one had a shorter hair style while his armor looked like a normal suit of armor wore by a clone captain except he had tools on his belt. "Captain Tech, reporting for duty." The clone said with a salute.
"Tech here is the head of the Technical Advancement Division." Treks explained. "He's working on new things to help us take out those tin cans."
"My guess is that you and I will be working together on that one." Shark said with a grin.
Tech looked confused but Karona explained. "Shark likes to create new upgrades to weapons or make completely new things."
The last clone stepped forward. "The name's Scanner." The clone said. "I'm in charge of gathering information." Scanner's armor was just like Tech's but it had a datapad and datachips on his belt. "Tracker and I usually work together since our two groups have to do with gathering information and checking to see if it's accurate."
Shark smiled at this. "Excellent, then the first job I have for you is to try to locate Count Dooku." He said.
"Yes sir!" Scanner said with a confident smile. Being given such an important task right away showed that their leader already trusted them and their skills to get the job done. To which Scanner was more than happy to prove that assumption right.
Lama Su's communicator then started beeping. He pushed a button, transferring it to his Imagecaster. A hologram of Taun We appeared. "Prime Minister, Jedi Master Yoda is requesting that we send any available troopers to Naboo but the only ones available are still in their training."
Lama Su looked worried but Shark took charge. "Treks, load up the men!" He ordered. "Tracker, I want you to take your squad and assess the situation!" The Trooper snapped into attention.
"Sir yes sir!" The two clones said before heading out to do their jobs.
"Tech, I want all of our Ion and EMP Weapons armed and ready to go." Shark said calmly.
Tech smiled as he and his team had, secretly, just finished helping Kuat Drive Yards designing, building and testing their brand new v-150 Planetary Defender Anti-Orbital Ion Cannons. Tech's men were currently working to make them be able to travel through space on their own or making them attachable to Star Destroyers and Assault Ships that the clones were using. They had recently finished making a few of them into spacecrafts that only needed three people, a pilot and two gunners, to operate them.
Scanner was about to follow but Shark stopped him. "Scanner, I want you to begin working on finding Count Dooku." Shark said calmly. "Finding him or any of the Separatists leaders is your top priority."
Scanner nodded but there was some intelligence that he had wanted to follow up on but didn't know if it would be allowed. "Sir, I've been going over clone intelligence information for a while now and recently found that there might be someone leaking information to the Separatists." Scanner said. "I'd like your permission to look into it."
Shark thought it over for a few minutes before he nodded. "Permission granted."
Scanner smiled happily. "Thank you, sir!" He ran off to begin working immediately.
Shark turned to Qui-Gon and Karona. "I'm going to need both of your help as well." He said calmly. The two nodded and agreed to help.
Lama Su watched all of this. "Tell Master Kenobi that the Shadow Army is one it's way."
"No," Shark said suddenly. "Tell him that the Demolition Brigade is on its way."
Everyone looked confused. "Why brigade?" Karona asked.
Shark smiled. "It will sound like the army is a lot smaller than it actually is and that will give us the advantage of surprise." He replied.
"Good call." Qui-Gon said with a grin. Lama Su relayed to Taun We so she could tell the Jedi.
Thirty minutes later, in the Battle over Naboo,
General Kenobi's forces were holding their own but they were still out numbered when the call came in that a brigade was on its way to help. Obi-Wan was about to get into his Jedi Starfighter to join the fighting when that call came in and was relieved to hear that help was on its way. "As long as help is on its way we should be fine." Obi-Wan said as he returned to the bridge. Tracker and his squad had arrived and were relaying the information of the battle to his superior officer.
Just then the scanners picked up something. "Sir, a number of ships are coming out of hyperspace!" A clone trooper reported.
As he finished talking, twenty Venator-Class Star Destroyers and fifteen Acclamator I-class Assault Ships came out of hyperspace. "What the blazes?!" Obi-Wan shouted in shock. He had expected reinforcements but not this much.
"Yo, Obi-Wan!" A familiar voice said over a communication channel. Obi-Wan turned to see smiling holograms of Shark Shadow, Karona, and Qui-Gon Jinn looking at him. "Say hello to the Demolition Brigade!" Shark's hologram said.
All of the Star Destroyers released V-19 Torrent Starfighters and ARC-170 Starfighters to engage the enemy while the Assault Ships hung back at a safe distance. "The Star Destroyers are loaded mostly with our Starfighters and some landing crafts while the Assault ships have mostly landing crafts and gunships." Shark explained proudly.
"So this is your grandfather's investment." Obi-Wan said as he had already suspected it but didn't expect it to be this large.
"Yup, there were fifty Star Destroyers and fifty Assault Ships available but I decided to just bring these while the others are on standby in case we need reinforcements." Shark explained.
"How large is your 'brigade'?" Obi-Wan asked.
Shark smirked. "Over one billion with another fifteen billion on the way," He said proudly.
Obi-Wan was impressed as he watched the Separatist Blockade begin to crumble under the presser from the forces of the Demolition Brigade. "Most impressive…" He said thoughtfully. He then watched as the v-150 Ion Cannons crippled a number of the blockade while the fighters engaged the rest of the droid fleet. It was soon over as 8 of the 10 Lucrehulk-class battleships, 3 of the 5 Separatist Dreadnaughts and 4 of the 7 Separatist Destroyers were destroyed while the rest were forced to retreat from the battle.
"That takes care of the Blockade." Karona said with a smile.
"All we need to do now is free the planet itself." Qui-Gon said seriously.
Shark frowned. "I sense that there are two beings with Sith Training down there." He said calmly. Shark's Force sensing abilities were a lot sharper because of his Sith and Jedi Training.
"Then we'll have to be careful and make sure they don't escape." Karona said as she patted her newly acquired weapon that looked like a lightsaber hilt. She smiled at Shark. "Good thing you decided to give my new lightwhip before we came here."
Shark smiled back. "Just make sure you don't lose this one like you did the last one." He joked.
Obi-Wan looked at the Hologram of his former Master. Qui-Gon smiled as he knew what was on Obi-Wan's mind. "Don't worry," he said, "I won't be dying this time." Obi-Wan smiled at his old master's joke and relaxed as the gunships and landing crafts were released by the Assault Ships as they made their way towards the planet surface.
To Be Continued…
A/N: I got the numbers for the different army sizes from the Grand Army of the Republic page on .com. Towards the bottom of that page, it mentioned the units being either 576 troopers or the real-life unit size of 15,000 troopers. I also got the three million units from that page when it mentioned command structure of the Clone Army.
Also from this point on, unless indicated, the Clone Troopers in the Grand Army of the Republic are all wearing Phase II Clone Trooper Armor. This is also where the story really deviates from the Star Wars Canon.