Orange Squad
Chapter 7
Special note: It seemed appropriate to post this on the anniversary of this fan fictions release date.
Author's note: Playing Halo 5 has given me several ideas to apply to the Spartans. Colours company consists of primarily Spartan 4's.
Disclaimer: Halo belongs to 343 Industries, and Star Wars belongs to Lucas Arts/Disney. This story is a work of fan fiction and is not to be considered canon for either franchise.
CIS – Invisible Hand
General Grievous
Upon exiting the turbolift I took a moment to glance at the count and confirmed that he was none too pleased with the results of the day's events. Normally such battles were easily dealt with by eliminating any survivors, but Dooku had reacted differently and called for the barrage to cease. Whatever caused the count to suddenly change tactics must be related to the Force.
As we approached the collection of escape pods I noticed that there was mostly civilians but they appeared ready to run or fight; Curious? Upon further inspection I noticed that some of the survivors wore armour similar to the mandalorians but was thicker in construction, these individuals also carried an assortment of weaponry that reinforced that image.
We stopped a respectful distance from the pods so as to appear less threatening. Although when a group of armed droids, a menacing looking cyborg, and a scowling sith lord approach; attempting to look friendly, is not easy. But should they refuse Count Dooku's kindness, I am ready to dispatch them with my lightsabers.
(change of perspective to Count Dooku)
"I am sorry for the damage that our forces have caused you," I explained to the survivors. "Our forces were currently engaged with an oppressive government, when your ship suddenly appeared in the middle of the crossfire. I regret to inform you that the remaining escape pods have been captured by our hated enemy, the Republic." Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that a pair of legs were dangling from on top of one of the pods.
"That's fine and dandy," replied one of the armoured individuals painted red and green. "But we don't know your name."
Continuing my charade I responded "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Count Dooku, leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. And to my left is General Grievous, the master general of our military forces."
"Greetings" said the cyborg.
"Warlord Schared Ghet, of the Mandalorian Crusaders," replied the red and green clad soldier.
"I wasn't aware the mandalorians still had warlords?" I inquired. The legs began to swing back and forth, as if the owner hadn't a care in the Force.
"Some things were going to be noticed sooner, rather than later" chuckled the warlord.
Was that a veiled threat? Interesting. "Until we can return you to your home system, we need to focus on rescuing your friends from the Republic."
"They're not really my friends," stated the warlord.
That's fortunate, because I had no intention of rescuing them. "We should still try to help them."
"Why? They're more than capable of killing everyone on that ship, anyways."
What? "That Republic fleet is supported by four Jedi on the cruiser they were collected by."
"Hmm? That's going to be a brutal fight" said the warlord.
"Are you going to try and help them," I reasoned
"Wait, are we talking about the Jedi or the pureblood's?" asked the warlord genuinely.
"What do you mean by pureblood's? Thug," insulted Grievous.
"He's referring to those that look like me," claimed a voice connected to the swinging legs.
I looked up to the figure on the pod and found his features to be familiar. He appeared human but his skin was red like blood, with spurs protruding from his brow and chin. He had a coy grin with sharp teeth, but his eyes held more information than I needed to know. His eyes were yellow, probably a feature he's had since birth but with an intensity that only the dark side can garner. He's a Sith Pureblood.
Choosing my words carefully. "It has long been believed that the pureblood's were extinct, so I find it suspicious that one happens to appear during our military engagement. Your presence here suggests that you must be a scouting force and if that's the case then this war is about to turn far more dangerous."
"You are correct about this being a scouting force, but our intent was to open communications with the ruling government and not have a repeat of our failed past. Although some individuals are doing this this for for territorial gain," smirked the pureblood as he glanced to the warlord. "Before you continue your attempt to, um, `sway` this conversation, I would like you to know that I am aware of your connection to the force and what you intend to do to us, now that this is known," he informed me.
I smiled wickedly and exclaimed "Open Fire! Kill Them All!" Igniting my lightsaber, I leaped for the sith who rolled away into a defensive stance, with a metallic sword in hand.
Staring at me with a disappointed look, he asked "do you always attack those your trying to coerce?"
During this scuffle the civilians took cover in the pods or by crates, defending themselves with the weapons they had, consisting of slugthrower's of all things. Warlord Schared Ghet and four of his honour guard fought with Grievous, while the remaining crusaders focused on keeping the civilians safe.
(change of perspective to Obi-Wan)
Republic Destroyer – Resolute
I never noticed grabbing my weapon after Ahsoka made her comment, but neither did the others. The Sith? Three thousand years go by and they return only to be rescued as a matter of happenstance? I suddenly wished that the council was present, so I wouldn't have to decide their fate.
"Obi-Wan, we need to get rid of them before they try to kill us," said Anakin with pure hatred.
"If we kill them, we might bring a third party into this war or they might join the separatists," I replied.
"We should return them to Coruscant and place them in cells for everyone's safety," suggested Plo Koon.
"Place them on some shuttles and send them back to where they came from," said Ahsoka.
"Force them back into their escape pods and jettison them back out into space," was Anakins idea.
"Anakin that's the same as murdering them," I chastised.
"If they were in our position they wouldn't hesitate to kill us. I don't see the point of trying to treat them any differently. Galactic history has shown that they would stop at nothing to conquer us, destroy us, or enslave us. Is that what you want? Because I sure don't. If we take care of them here and now we can focus on fighting our immediate problem, then we can deal with the next threat."
After he finished his explanation, Ahsoka, Fives, Echo, Rex and the majority of the clones were ready to support his decision. It was clear to everyone present that this was by far the best option. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to sway his opinion, I looked to Plo Koon, Cody and Wolffe hoping that they may be able to aid me in this debate. Thankfully Admiral Yularen interrupted our conversation.
"Sirs," exclaimed the admiral in urgency. "We're detecting another massive radiation surge coming from the unknown regions. We believe it will be here in roughly two minutes."
"Seal the bay the pods and survivors are in. Make sure they can't get out," I ordered. Prepare our ships in case they turn out to be hostile. Anakin, Ahsoka and Plo Koon; I need you to prepare your fighter wings for combat. I sense that this may turn out to be a battle."
"I sense it as well," agreed Anakin. "We'll focus on our preparations while you assist Admiral Yularen in directing our fleet."
As I made my way towards the turbolift, I noticed that the sith purebloods and massassi had sheathed their weapons and returned to their fellow survivors but remained alert. Except for one massassi warrior that leaned with its back against a pod with his arms crossed. Staring. Staring directly at me; but with no hostility, but... disappointment?
(change of perspective to a massassi warrior)
I was looking forward to the possibility of dueling with the one of the Jedi. Facing off against a member of the faction that has always defeated the sith, a fight like that would be exhilarating and a well deserved experience. But fate had the decision to bring our rescuers before that possibility could present itself. So I contented myself with leaning against a pod and watching the Jedi depart, to my surprise I managed to catch the eye of the bearded one as the doors to the turbo-lift closed.
"We'll get our chance to duel the Jedi at a later time, until then they'll need to deal with our support forces."
Glancing to my right I saw a pureblood, known as Baron Yorzen. "I heard that there was to be a token force following us in our wake, but to be honest I know nothing about their numbers or capabilities."
"A single ship."
"Just one? It must be a capital ship with an impressive assortment of firepower."
"Indeed it does. It's one of the UNSC's newest models; a battle-cruiser to be precise. They only have three at the moment, with two more in production. But alas, that is all I know about the vessels general information. Their crew and troops are different matter entirely."
"I must admit, your ability to garner certain information never ceases to intrigue me. Although I shouldn't be surprised given that you're apart of SIA*."
"You give me too much credit. I am nowhere near as skilled some of the veteran members of the agency; but let me tell you one last thing."
"And what's that."
"Their entire troop deployment force are: first generation Spartan 4's," chuckled the baron.
I couldn't help but stare at the baron in disbelief. The subsequent generations of Spartan 4's are dangerous combatants already, but the first generation are a different matter. These were the survivors and veterans of their previous war before the Sovereignty and Crusaders encountered them. And when those battles and skirmishes occurred, many lives were lost in that brief campaign; very few losses were experienced by the UNSC. It showed us what a race is capable of when a war of extinction is the greatest threat. These Jedi and their republic, and the foe battle are about to experience a fight that will test their strength, skill, tactics and resolve to their breaking point. And we get to watch it. Perfect.
(SIA = Sovereign Intelligence Agency)
(change of perspective to Obi-Wan)
"Generals!" exclaimed clone sensor specialist. "We're reading another anomaly like the last one, except much bigger."
"Bring it up on display," commanded Admiral Yularen.
"Yes sir."
The Jedi and the bridge crew who could afford to distract themselves from their stations looked to the holo display to watch the impossible happen once again. A tear in the void of space opened up and out came a vessel unlike any they have ever seen before.
"Begin scanning the unknown vessel," ordered Admiral Yularen to a specialist.
"Scanning now sir," replied the technician. "The vessel is just over 1,600 meters in length. It matches no known designs in the database. The ships armour plating appears to be of a unique titanium alloy, and it's supported by some type of shielding. The ships weaponry..."
"What's wrong?" asked Anakin.
"The ships weapons appear to be lined with magnetic coils."
"Rail guns?" asked Ahsoka. "Who still uses rail guns as ship based weaponry?"
"Probably a bunch of primitive sith," Anakin sneered.
"Don't be too sure about that," remarked the admiral. "Personal experience has shown that you should never underestimate your enemy regardless of how primitive they appear."
"The enemy vessel is launching what appears be fighter craft at both us and the CIS. There also appears to be a number of troop ships in the rear formation," stated the sensor officer.
"Ready our defences," shouted the admiral.
"Their fighter craft appear to be performing a bombing run," commented Plo Koon.
"Shields are up," called a specialist.
"Bombs have been dropped," called another. "Brace yourselves."
The explosions never came, but all of ships electronics and shielding went crazy.
"What's happening to the Resolute's systems?" asked Obi-Wan.
"Those weren't ordinary bombs," commented Captain Rex. "They appear to be designed to render a ship inoperable, much like an ion cannon."
"Masters!" called Ahsoka, as she was pointing out the front viewport. "The troop transports are deploying forces onto the ships hull."
"Sirs," called Commander Cody. "There's an access port into the Resolute near their location. The comms are limited to a couple hundred feet, so we need to get down there and coordinate the efforts to repel the boarding parties."
"I agree," said Captain Rex.
"The turbo-lifts appear to still be functional," called a technician.
As we made our way down to the location the boarding party should be traveling through we picked up a number clones along the way to aid us in the upcoming assault. As we got within optimum comms range, Captain Rex called the clones in the area to update everyone on the defence against the intruders. The response was unbelieveable.
"They burst through the bulkhead and then shot through the corridor like a blaster bolt," replied a clearly frantic and scared clone. "They killed or disabled anyone that got in their way. They shot anyone who got in their way once or twice or they punched them with enough force to break through our armour; just like what they did to my shoulder. A couple soldiers were thrown to the side like they weighed nothing at all. They appear to be heading straight for the survivors."
"Good job keeping it together soldier, we'll take care of it from here," assured the captain.
"If we turn right at the next junction we can place ourselves in the hangar between the survivors and the boarders," ordered Commander Cody.
We entered the hangar a moment later and were relieved to see that a few contingents of clones had remained in the hangar in case they needed to deploy for space combat. "Sirs, we're here to support you if you need us," stated a clone officer.
"You're help will be greatly appreciated. We're here to repel a boarding party that is on their way here to rescue the survivors. Begin setting up defensive lines to prevent them from reaching the pods over there," ordered Anakin as he pointed to where the sith and humans sat in relative silence. Although judging by the looks on their faces they seemed amused with what we were doing.
"It would probably be much safer if you leave the hangar and take all your troops with you," called a male pureblood. "They're very formidable warriors. We've lost to them on many occasions, if you can believe it."
"Stop talking Sith," hissed Anakin. "You're not going to make it easier for your soldiers to rescue you."
"They're our allies soldiers, not ours. And I was just trying to make it so you'll survive this engagement," replied the sith.
"Ignore him Anakin," I said. "The sith are skilled at causing doubt in their enemies."
"CLANG."
"What was that?" asked Ahsoka.
"CRUNCH."
"They're tearing open the blast doors," called out a trooper near the front barricade.
"Open fire when you see them after they breach the door and keep them from gaining a foothold into the hangar bay," ordered Captain Rex.
"Vrooooooom CRA-KOOOOM."
The blast doors glowed red briefly just before they exploded outwards as if they were hit by a high-powered energy weapon. From the smoke and flames charged five large and imposing battle droids, that opened fire on the clones with impossible skill and efficiency. The front line was taken out within seconds causing the rest of us to open fire and bunker down as much as possible. Shockingly they were using slugthrowers of all things; but these slugthrowers punched through the clones armour like it wasn't there. And our lightsabers were ineffective at blocking their slugs, as Master Plo Koon learned when he tried to intercept a shot fired at him. The slugs traveled at a fast enough velocity that they retained enough mass to still inflict serious injury after passing through the sabers beam of energy.
The second and forth droid in the line suddenly charged forward quite rapidly, plowing into two separate clusters of clones, causing them to be knocked backwards into their fellow clones. Suddenly three more of these droids blasted down to the deck from above causing damage and injuries to those they landed on and around them. All eight of these droids barreled through the final line of defence and faced off against the commanding officers on deck.
One droid grabbed both of Ahsoka's hands, preventing her from swinging her sabers. Her hands, wrists and lightsabers were crushed rapidly causing her to wail in intense pain and agony. Plo Koon was swiftly punched in his breathing aparatus by another, causing him to be briefly choke, he lost consciousness when the droid tackled him to the deck.
A third droid punched Commander Cody in the stomach, cracking the armour, forcing the commander to fall to the deck, clutching his gut in pain. The droid proceeded to place a single roundhouse kick into Captain Rex' Shoulder causing him to hit the bulkhead and fall into blackness.
Another droid managed to disarm Anakin. He was less-than-pleased that a mere droid was able to remove his weapon and proceeded to fight back aggressively with hand-to-hand blows forcing the droid back. But another droid came up and grabbed Skywalker by his right shoulder, spun him around and head-butted him, followed by a swift right hook to his jaw, knocking him out.
One of the droids pulled a sidearm out and fired two single shots at me. Instinctively I used my lightsaber to deflect the shots but remembered too late how ineffective that is when both slugs hit me in the knees. I fell to the deck clutching my injuries, writhing in pain. The droid picked me up and tossed me to the side, as if to keep me out of the way. But then I noticed that was exactly its intent because everyone else was moved to the side of the hangar as well.
I finally noticed that the last droid had gained access to the hangar the sith and humans were being kept in and freed them from their confinement. As they began to leave their improvised cell I saw one droid approach and astromech docking port, hold up a very small device to the port and was shocked to see the result. The hangar bay doors opened to allow a number of troop transports to land on the deck, where the survivors began to board the transports and leave just as quickly as the ships arrived. The last two to board final transport were the massassi warrior I locked gazes with and the pureblood who called out to us just before we were attacked. As if he were reading my thoughts he politely said "I tried to warn you." Then the transport took off and left us alone.
I lifted my arm to my face and saw the blood on them from my knees and made my final decision for the day. "This is jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi, requesting emergency medical aid to the hangar deck, all hands on the hangar deck are down, I repeat all hands are down. All personnel please be advised that the invaders have rescued their people and escaped." I chose to let the message repeat so I could check on everyone's condition. Suddenly the Resolute vibrated a little, and communication on the vessel resumed.
"General Kenobi," said Admiral Yularen. "We just received your request for aid and are sending medical personnel to your location, they'll be at your location in shortly."
"Thank you Admiral. Did you manage to disable the jamming device," I asked.
"Unfortunately no, the device destroyed itself just moments ago. What's that?" said the admiral to someone on the bridge. "All hands!" announced the admiral over the shipwide comms. "The enemy vessel is charging their weaponry, our shields have not recharged yet, brace for impact." I saw that Ahsoka, Plo Koon and Cody were reacting to the annoucement accordingly by holding onto the wall and making sure those next to them were secured.
The ship suddenly shuddered violently, causing anything not locked down to be thrown about harshly. When the ship settled the wailing alarms, yells for help and signs of damages could be seen all over the hangar deck. A clone from the command deck that managed to recover gave an update as to what had just happened, "Significant damage to the starboard side of the Resolute; all primary, secondary and tertiary weapon emplacements and the starboard hull have been destroyed; heavy casualties and multiple injuries are being reported on all decks. All uninjured personnel are to begin emergency first aid on any nearby injured units, if no injured are nearby begin suppression and containment of damaged systems..." the message repeated a few more times as the medical team that was sent to aid us began their rounds through the hangar.
"I thought those rail guns of theirs wouldn't have been capable of damaging our shields let alone punching through the ships durasteel hull," commented Anakin in a strained voice. "And those droids were far more dangerous than we thought."
"Of that we can agree, my former padawan."
(change of perspective to Count Dooku)
One of the droids grabbed the last remaining magnaguard and tore it apart from the middle. I used the force to tear the deck plates up and use them as shields to protect myself from their slugthrowers, while throwing debris and lightning at them whenever I had a chance to retaliate. Grievous was hidden behind a pile of crates and debris occasionally firing four blasters at the assaulting force. The pureblood and the mandalorians were making sure all of the survivors got onto the transports while their droids dealt with us. A few squads of commando droids were aiding in trying to defend against the boarders, which helped turn the battle to a defensive battle instead of a constant retreat. Suddenly the droids tossed a couple of grenades at us that burst with a loud bang and a blinding flash, they obviously did this to cover their retreat onto their ships. Watching the last transport leave was a relief and the device they were using to disrupt the ships systems suddenly ceased.
"Count Dooku, the ships comms and other systems have been reestablished," announced a droid from the ships bridge. "Our shields are recharging; uh..." said the droid. "The enemy vessel is preparing to fire their weapons. Prepare for impact."
I immersed myself into the force and created a barrier around myself to protect me from anything that would possibly harm me when their weapons fire and Grievous locked down his frame low to the ground so as to protect himself. But we were not prepared for the destruction that followed, though I managed to survive by the way I manipulated the Force to aid me, but I was still knocked off my feet by the sheer force that hit the Invisible Hand. At one point Grievous had to leap out of the way of an incoming MTT, but managed to survive.
After a moment a droid came over the comm systems and updated us on the damages. "The majority of our weapon systems on the port side have been destroyed. What are our orders?"
"Are we capable of making a jump to hyperspace?" I asked.
"Yes, but only for a few minutes," replied the droid. "After that the hull will begin to tear itself apart. Sir, the enemy vessel has jump out of the system, but not in the direction of its point of origin."
"Ah, a clever tactic," commented General Grievous. "Enter a battle from one direction and leave by another, so as to prevent those who follow from knowing where you're actually from."
"Yes, it is clever, but our safest course of action is to make a tactical withdrawal. Then we can review the hologram of today's battle. Prepare our forces for a brief jump through hyperspace, for as long as the Invisible Hand is capable."
"Roger, roger."
For everything that has happened today, there may be a war with the pureblooded sith and whomever created those droids. What was most terrifying about these droids was that I sensed a complete emptiness and immunity to any influence by the Force. My master will be intrigued but he has not had to face off against something like this before. And if he does, all his plans will most likely crumble.
(change of perspective to Captain Angela Valeria)
"Lieutenant! Have the survivors been recovered safely?" I asked.
"Yes Captain. Brown squad and Pink squad were successful in their mission, and returned safely with no injuries."
"Good. Has our secondary objective been complete?"
"The prowlers report that Omega squad has been inserted onto designation [Target One] and Orange squad has been inserted onto designation [Target Two], with no incident."
"Open fire on the weapons emplacements of [Targets One and Two], then initiate a random jump into slipspace."
"Understood sir."
