"General," said the navigation droid. "We are six hours out from the Duro system."
"Come out of lightspeed," Grievous replied.
The Third Fleet dropped out of hyperspace.
In the distance, light-years away, Grievous could just make out the ball that was Duros' sun.
"Ready the missiles," the general ordered.
"The First Fleet has also dropped out of lightspeed, sir," said the hollow, mechanical voice from sensors.
"As soon as we launch the missiles, order them to return to lightspeed."
The ironic thing about Operation Durge's Lance, was that the attack was actually designed like a lance.
The Techno Union had recently invented the Seismic EMP counter-mines, a nasty projectile able to launch itself through hyperspace to attack an enemy on the other side.
The Republic had no knowledge of the weapon's existence, they had made sure to keep a very tight lid on its production. Indeed, these were only prototypes that Grievous had brought along, but they would work to the desired effect either way.
The lance worked like this: First would come the tip, the EMPs. They would put a dent in their space forces, and also alert them to impending attack. That would not matter, though, for the main fleet, the driving force behind the tip, would come out of hyperspace a few hours afterward.
But that was just on this side, the Thyferra side. Merely an hour after the EMP launches, the First Fleet, having jumped before the Third, and was thus closer to the planet, would appear in Duro space. It worked like a lance from both sides of the planet.
Using the EMPs was overkill, really. With two full fleets coming to bear on Duro, even the largest defense force would be hard-pressed to repel Grievous and his forces. Using the EMPs just signified the Confederacy would stop at nothing, sink to the lowest level, to rid the galaxy of the Republic. Of course, politicians like Nute Gunray, San Hill, and Shu Mai, twisted the view of sinking to the lowest to look like incredibly feats and acts of bravery on the CIS's part, but Grievous knew better.
This war was an extermination.
The extermination of the Republic, and of, more importantly, the Jedi.
And so, they would take the overkill route, shock the rest of the Republic into the believing they could not defeat the Confederacy. What would happen at Duro could happen to them as well.
Dooku was right when he said the war would be fought as much in the psyche as it would be conventionally.
"Missile cruisers report ready, General."
"Fire when ready."
Five blue streaks slashed across the main viewport and blasted away into hyperspace.
"Get us back into hyperspace," Grievous ordered, feeling the quiet satisfaction he felt whenever he knew without a doubt he would win a battle.
The fall of Duro had just been set in motion. The moral of the Republic would crumble.
Worlds would cry out in retribution for Duro, and the Chancellor would not be able to do anything about it, for the Republic fleet was spread thin as it was.
The government would fall, and chaos would reign.
And Grievous would have a hand in all of it.
Reyal, the head of the Trehalt Allegiance, sighed as he related the story to Aylee.
Apparently, some anonymous sympathizer donated some weapons and food stuffs to the Allegiance, with only one condition. They hit the Rotunda on the day of the talks. He convinced Reyal through a series of holomail messages that hitting the Rotunda during the meetings would be the right, logical thing to do. He convinced Reyal that the Ruling Council was handing over Duro's freedom to the Republic by letting them keep a permanent military presence here.
"Did you ever think for one second that your anonymous sympathizer could be connected with the CIS in anyway, and that this would be the perfect way to hurt the Durese from their perspective?" Aylee asked him.
Reyal scowled at her. "It crossed my mind, yes, but I didn't think the CIS would go to all the trouble to help out some militia group that should be off their radar."
Aylee smiled at him. There was no humor in the expression. "The CIS will go to the most extreme lengths to hurt the people of the Republic, I assure you."
They had called in a Republic gunship to conduct the briefing, for Aylee would not be caught dead walking into the Allegiance HQ.
Not only could there be traps, but she could barely hold in her anger at Reyal as it was. Being in his homestead would most likely push her over the edge.
Reyal looked up at her from the makeshift table they'd put in the middle of the LAAT gunship. "What concern is this to you, Jedi? Don't you have a war to fight?"
Aylee moved to him, leaning over the table. "The Jedi are keepers of the peace, fool. Whether it be defending a planet or stopping petty terrorists like you, I have vowed to protect the innocent. You have hurt many innocents these past two days, both physically and psychologically."
Aylee stormed out of the ship. Valiant walked with her. "Get him out of my sight, back to Ranadaast. You can conduct a more thorough interrogation there, I'm sure."
Valiant did not argue with her.
He turned back to the troopers and made a whirling motion with his hands, indicating they were leaving.
"Leave enough troops here with me so that we can take hold of their HQ," Aylee told him.
She got about two hundred troops in the end, with two AT-TEs waiting outside the cave entrance. Aylee led the way into the base.
By then, the Allegiance members knew of Reyal's capture, and had been warned that if any of them even stepped foot outside the base, they would be fired upon.
The base was a complex underground labyrinth complicated enough that Aylee did not wish to go traversing it herself. She sent three squads to secure the munitions depots, led by Neeja and another leader of the Allegiance.
She did talk to one of the engineers, though, and tried her best to draw a map of the base.
He led her down a rather direct route to the water supply. "You're getting this from the main water mane in Ranadaast?" she asked.
"One of the the lesser populated farms surrounding the capital, actually."
"Wonderful, so you're stealing from ignorant farmers."
The Duros frowned at her. "Get out front and prepare for detainment," Aylee told him. "You and your people are clearing out of this base by tonight."
She let the clone trooper take over watch-dog duty of the engineer, and she made her way back to the cave-mouth.
After checking in with the squad commanders, she commed Noona.
"Master," Noona said, obviously pleased to hear from her.
"Noona, how goes it up there?"
"Pretty well. We've got an effective defensive screen worked out up here. We'll be ready for an attack, should one come. Any word on those Star Destroyers?"
"Nothing yet. Though, any signal incoming from Coruscant might be hindered by the mountain range. Take over my comm frequency when I'm not using it, maybe you'll get word."
"Yes, Master. How goes it down there?"
Aylee smiled, genuinely for the first time in twenty-four hours. "We got the Allegiance with their trousers pulled down. Never saw us coming. We got lucky."
"I seem to recall being told numerous times that 'there is no such thing as luck. Only the Force.'"
"Yes, well, some things even the Force has no control of."
Noona hummed a chuckle on the other side. "Where are you now?" Aylee asked her.
"Running perimeter patrol in my fighter."
The Jedi Master frowned. "Your starfighter? I thought you were to be protecting the politicians."
"Well, since the Star Destroyers left, I've been all over Duro space, so I haven't been doing much of that in the first place. And now that you've shutdown the Allegiance..." she trailed off.
"Weren't you the one just yesterday talking about keeping up appearances? That the Duros government might take offense to the fact that the Jedi weren't personally protecting them?"
She knew Noona's response before her Padawan could voice it: "Master, if three warships abandoning the planet at a time like this hasn't already offended them, then I'm not sure I want to protect a people so dense."
Aylee laughed lightly. "All right, my Padawan. I'll check in with you later. Contact me if you receive word from Coruscant."
"Yes, Master. Qolid out."
The line was dropped.
Aylee was quite proud of her Padawan.
She remembered walking into the training center at the Jedi Temple, a newly christened Master, urged to take on a Padawan. While Aylee had known training the next generation was vital to the Order, she had at least wanted a few missions more to herself before having to choose an apprentice.
But, she abided by the Council's wisdom and went to watch the trainees anyway.
The Force-sensitive children were doing lightsaber drills when she and Yoda walked into the room. She immediately took notice of the young Calamari girl. When she was a Padawan, she and her Master had gone on an extended stay on Mon Calamari to serve as bodyguards for their Chancellor. The people as a whole had intrigued Aylee.
Little Noona Qolid had a blindfold on and was attempting to bat away sting bolts from a drone, as were all the children.
She managed to get many of them, but one too many slipped through her guard. Little Noona was becoming increasingly agitated the more the bolts got her. Aylee remembered smiling fondly at the youngling's determination. Yoda took notice of Aylee's interest in the Padawan, and began talking about how promising she was. That she tended to look at the bigger picture than the individual targets. She saw a forest where others saw trees. She also sought out alternative routes to problems, and such was made known when Noona finally had enough of the sting bolts, and reached out with the Force to smash the drone into the nearest wall. Her small mouth had fallen open so wide in a Mon Cal grin, Aylee knew instantly that the girl was to be her apprentice.
Yoda had smiled at Aylee. Usually, if a student had smashed one of the drones into a wall, it was out of anger. But Noona had done it with only minor annoyance, seeing it as the easiest and quickest solution to a problem.
Noona and Aylee went on their first mission together a week later. Nine years later, they were the perfect team.
Aylee knew she had never made a decision more right than choosing Noona as her Padawan. She would make a fine Knight.
Then a thought dragged her down. The Clone Wars had killed so many Jedi, never before had so many been killed since the great Sith Wars.
Aylee shook the detestable thought from her head.
Yes, many had died, and many more would. But those strong in the Force and in themselves would live to see another day.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading everyone. And don't worry, the payoff is coming! Get ready for grand epic space battles and ground battles galore. Hope you liked this little view into how Aylee and Noona came to meet each other. :]
Stay tuned, and remember to R&R! (I appreciate the reviews that have been given greatly, thanks guys, you rock!)
