Hope everyone is staying nice and warm with the cold weather we have been having recently.

I have noticed that when I use a reference, some people don't seem to pick up on the material I used. Its not a problem, but I thought most people would get what I was using. The part with Robert threatening Barriss, the whole dialogue came from Rath, the Appoplexian alien from the Ben 10 series, who is voiced by John DiMaggio, the man who voices Bender and Marcus Fenix.

Anyway, here is my newest chapter and the beginning of my next original chapter Arc. This chapter may be a little dark. You have been warned.

Disclaimers are the same as always. Enjoy.

Chapter 8: Battle of D'Qar, Part 1

May 2nd, 2018, 21BBY

Hyperspace

1400 hours

Erik's point of view

When I saw Barriss again, I felt like I was the happiest man in the galaxy.

True, she is a jedi and I am a bounty hunter, but she is one of the kindest jedi padawan's I have ever met. Her big heart is the main thing I like about her, but her beauty is something to admire as well. If the jedi code would change, I would ask her to marry me and I would still be the happiest man in the galaxy.

But when I saw her again she looked different. I saw her holding her cheek like someone had slapped her and it looked like she was in great pain. When she told me that her friend, Robert Lehner: The Lone Wolf himself slapped her, I was really pissed. No one hurts my friend and gets away with it. I had half a mind to kill him until Barriss explained the situation.

He was going through a rough time, he and Skywalkers padawan were close, not like boyfriend/girlfriend together, but as friends and he was really concerned for her safety and will not stop until she is safe. From the sound of things, he must have gone through something like this before, back on his home planet.

I can't say I blame him. I remember when I went through something like this back on Nar Shaddaa a month before the war began. Fenrir and I were tracking down a corrupt police man from Coruscant who had made the mistake of trying to blackmail senator Mothma of being lesbian and having an affair with a local underworld dominatrix/submissive. (A/N. I only know about this stuff from Black Lagoon and Saints Row.)

Needless to say, the officer was in way over his head and no sooner had he threatened her with this evidence, she had asked the jedi order too arrest this man after evidence was obtained of his dealings with several criminal organizations like the Black Sun and Pykes. He escaped the capital and went into hiding for several weeks until Fenrir and I took the bounty and tracked him down to the smugglers moon.

During our investigation, we learned that the cop was drug addict and had been using spice tainted with a powerful steroid type drug that made him stronger and more aggressive in his 'work'. This made him prone to outbursts of anger and caused him to go on several rampages. We found the devastation left by one of his rampages, a low-level family home destroyed and its occupants killed. Parents and their children murdered, by a man who was supposed to protect the innocent and instead choose to abuse his authority for his own personal gain.

Eventually we cornered him at the spaceport and were planning to take him in, I was told by Fenrir to wait for him, but the rage I had built up inside me after seeing those kids murdered made me ignore my partners instructions and attack the former cop. He was suffering from a withdrawal at the time and made it easier for me to take him down.

I'll never forget it. The pain I inflicted upon that man, the brutality of breaking his legs, the numerous times I punched his face in, I almost felt like I had become a monster to stop a monster. Thankfully, Fenrir stopped before I could shoot the poor bastard, it wouldn't have brought those people he killed back and since that day, I have kept my emotions in check, but I do tend to occasionally give slavers a slow and painful death for all the lives they have ruined.

Robert was acting just like I was. From what his uncle, General Barney Ross, leader of an elite unit called the Expendables told me, Robert almost gave the notorious Aurra Sing a slow and painful death on Tatooine when he was tracking her. I never would have gone to such extreme lengths to get a friend back, it was concerning.

Still I understand his position and want to help him as best I can.

Entering the armory, I was taken a back by all the 'slugthrower' weapons on board. Granted, it was only a few, but nonetheless it was something to marvel at. My gaze turned to a weapon with two sets of triggers, a 30-inch-long barrel and behind the triggers what I assumed to be the weapons magazine. I was tempted to grab it for a closer inspection but the light of a welding torch caught my attention.

Sure enough the welding torch was being used by Robert at the weapons table, with him wearing welding googles to protect his eyes. Deactivating the torch, he then used the force to assemble all the little pieces and fit them into place, finishing the weapon which was a large bulky pistol. Grabbing a box of ammo marked .500 S&W Magnum, which I assumed to be a caliber of one of the many weapons from his home world and watched as he loaded eight large caliber pistol rounds into ten clips before he finally noticed me.

"I take it you know about what I did to Barriss? I never meant to hurt her, it's just that I don't want anyone to stop me from preventing a repeat of an incident several years ago back home." He stated as he holstered his pistol and walked over to me.

I was taken aback by what he had said. Robert, the guy who had slapped my friend across her face and the one of the few members of the republic army to use ballistic based weapons was apologizing to me for hurting Barriss. "I can understand if you hate me and I don't blame you. I did something that no one should ever do to a friend. I just can't lose anyone else I care about, not after Courtney." Robert added as he grabbed his rifle.

"Who's Courtney?" I asked, unsure of what he was talking about. Robert turned around and let out a sigh. "Well it began after my mom was killed." He began.

Normal point of view

Anakin was relieved and concerned.

He was relieved that the council agreed to take the planet D'Qar and free the prisoner, whom Robert believed to be Ahsoka. While most of the council didn't trust Erik and Fenrir, Luminara was able to vouch for Erik's trustworthiness and recollected on the reports of one of his most recent bounty hunts. This caused those amongst the council to see that he and Fenrir weren't a threat but great assets to the republic.

However, while the Chancellor agreed to this operation, he had received word from republic intelligence that General Grievous, the supreme commander of the droid army was rumored to be present on D'Qar overseeing the interrogation of Ahsoka himself.

Knowing that Ahsoka had fought against Grievous during the mission to Skytop Station, several months before Robert arrived, Anakin had request that Obi-Wan be sent with the reinforcements due to the fact that Obi-Wan and Grievous had crossed blades several times over the course of the war.

Obi-Wan was to arrive shortly along with Master Luminara who was bringing the Muunuilinst 10 and several other ARC trooper battalions to assist in the operation. Krell and Kota were to join them, but Krell deemed it a waste of time to attack a planet with no military value and Master Kota's fleet had come under attack by a separatist fleet.

Even so Anakin was grateful that the council had deemed it a priority to liberate the prisoner. He was sure it wasn't Ahsoka, but he didn't want to tell Robert until the mission was over. A thing he didn't want to do but knew that it was that or get hurt in another sparing session with the Earth-born Jedi.

He was even surprised that Master Yoda had volunteered his services for the mission and would be arriving with Obi-Wan and Luminara at the rendezvous point before jumping to D'Qar and beginning the operation. Plus, from what Yoda said it sounded like he knew Fenrir personally.

That was over two-hours ago and now the four of them along with the Expendables, Fordo, Kilo, Robert, Erik and Fenrir were discussing the plan of attack.

The plan was to have Anakin and Fenrir, who would take up the mantle of Red Leader punch a hole in the enemy blockade and keep the enemy fleet distracted while Gunships carrying ARC-Troopers, Erik, Barriss, Robert and the Expendables would make their way to the surface and land several miles from the enemy base, knocking out the enemies anti-aircraft defenses, clearing the way for the transports carrying men from the 501st, 212th and 41st legions and the armored units needed to take the base.

Once the AA guns were knocked out, Robert, Erik and Barriss would take Kilo and a small squad of ARC-Troopers and assess the enemy base strength, locate the prisoners and extract them before the main assault begins.

"The Separatists don't know were coming, but we should be prepared for anything." Anakin called out to Fenrir who was having his own Droid, R2-S6 lowered into the droid slot of the Angel. Since most of the Resolute's fighters were undergoing maintance, Robert gave Fenrir the ok to take the Angel into battle as long as he doesn't get shot down. "Don't worry Master Skywalker. This isn't my first dogfight, I know how to handle myself. If Erik and I had our way we would be flying a couple of Z-95's into battle." He assured him as he gripped the controls of the angel firmly while S6 booted up the ships systems.

"Just don't get your ass shot down." Robert shouted over from the gunships wearing a Jungle green Advance Combat Helmet with a range finder, Jungle green t-shirt with a metal chest plate made from Mandalorian Iron hidden underneath his VTAC LBE tactical vest loaded with magazines for pistols and rifles, tan army combat boots, jungle camo cargo pants and light green combat gloves.

Slung over his back was a Bushmaster ACR assault rifle with Holographic sight, M203 grenade launcher, fifty-round magazine and compensator. In the holsters on his vest were his new pistol and 1911. Clipped to his pants belt were his lightsabers and in his hands was his Morita Assault rifle sporting its under-barrel shotgun mode. Sheathed to his vest was his knife.

Erik on the other hand, had a AK-74 with a forty-five-round magazine, ACOG sight and forward hand grip, PKP Pecheneg machine gun with a two-hundred-fifty round belt fed ammo box and a red dot sight along with his blasters at his side and blade gauntlets sharpened for battle.

"Army of Two ready to fuck up the enemy." Robert proclaimed as he applied eye black to his face while Erik boarded Fordo's gunship and began to chat with Barney.

Exiting hyperspace, the task force was greeted by four Lucrehulk-droid control ships, two Lupus-class missile frigates, three Munificent-class frigates, a single Providence-class destroyer and two Recusant-class light destroyers all off who failed to detect the twelve Venator Star Destroyers and the six Acclamators following close behind them at a safe distance.

By the time the droids detected them, Anakin and Fenrir already took off from the cruisers followed by their fighter and bomber squadrons with their targets picked out. On the Resolute's bridge, Yoda gazed at the waiting enemy forces. The bounty hunters claimed that the enemy fleet was over two-dozen ships strong, but what he was seeing was far less than what they said.

"The enemy fleet isn't as large as we expected General." Yularen pointed out as he walked towards the elderly Jedi. "Hmm. Something amiss there is Admiral, proceed with caution we must." Yoda said. "I will inform General Skywalker he may proceed with the plan." The admiral then said as he turned towards a clone naval officer to give Anakin the green light.

"Focus your fire on the cruisers and missile frigates. Those are the biggest threat to the gunships." Anakin called to the members of Gold Squadron as Fenrir pulled up on his wing. "Hope your ready for a fight Fenrir, because it looks like the clankers are sending out the welcoming committee." Anakin called to the Mandalorian as dozens of droid fighters and interceptors rapidly began to approach their position.

"Don't worry about me Skywalker." Fenrir responded as the angel's sensor array picked up several squadrons of droid piloted Geonosian fighters launched from one of the controls ships. "I didn't earn the nickname Bael for nothing." He stated as he pushed forward on the accelerator and sped towards the oncoming fighters. "Alright boys. You are cloned from Mandalorian blood, so let's see the courage and warrior spirit we are known for." He called to Red Squad. "Reds 2 through 6, provide cover for the bombers. Reds 7 through 12 prep your torpedoes and follow me. Were going to clear a path for the bombers and if were lucky some off our ordnance will miss and hit the missile frigates shields. That will make it easier for the bombers." Fenrir stated as he fired a salvo of cannon fire at a pair of oncoming vulture droids.

"Copy that red leader. Let's show them what the us Aerialbots can do." Silverbolt called out as he, Air Raid, Sky dive, Sky Blast, and SkyFire formed up beside their temporary squad leader and followed him into the swarm of enemy fighters fast.

Turning towards his target computer, Fenrir saw that he was almost in range to launch a missile salvo at the fighters. "Wait until the droids are right on top of us, then break away and protect the bombers." He instructed the pilots, preparing his own torpedoes for launch.

Soon the droids were right in front of them and began to fire their own cannons in an attempt to shoot them down. "FIRE!" Fenrir shouted to his pilots. A streak of sixteen proton torpedoes streamed towards the oncoming droid fighters, eight of them destroying a good portion of the enemy fighters while the rest of the torpedoes missed and impacted on one of the missile frigates, its shields flickering and fading from the impact of the ordnance.

Veering away from the frigate in a hard-left turn, Fenrir positioned himself behind a squadron of eight vulture droids, acquired a target lock and pulled the trigger launching a volley of concussion missiles at the fighters destroying them and pulling up to avoid hitting the debris before leveling out. Turning his head around, he watched impressively as the Y-Wings he helped to protect drop their proton bombs on the frigate, destroying it and return to the frigate. "One frigate down. Focus your attack on the next frigate." Fenrir shouted over the commlink as he blasted down four more vultures before acquiring a new target: a flight of Hyena Bombers making a beeline for one of the Republic cruisers.

"Air Raid, Sliverbolt, Sky Dive, Fireflight, Slingshot, we got a squad of enemy bombers heading for the Negotiator. Intercept them, the rest of us will protect our bombers." Fenrir called out to the five pilots who called themselves the Aerialbots. "Got it Red Leader. Let's get'em boys." Fireflight responded as they sped after the enemy bombers.

Turning back to the battle, Fenrir spotted that Anakin had picked up two bandits and were barely giving him any room to maneuver. Turning the angel towards his ally, Fenrir determined the vulture's flightpath, lined up his sights and fired the ships four cannons at the fighters, scoring two more enemy fighters to his kill count. Soon he bracketed by cannon fire. A flight of four geonosian starfighters were on his six o'clock and had knocked his shields down to 68 percent. One fighter fired its cannon, but Fenrir banked right causing the fighter to overshot its target.

R2-S6 beeped as a volley of blue laser bolts flew overhead in front of them, destroying the fighters. "SPLASH THOSE SUCKERS WOOHOO!" Maverick yelled over the commlink as he flew over Fenrir before forming up on his right side and saluting him, just as the second missile frigate was destroyed. "Nice shooting trooper." Fenrir complimented as he downed two tri fighters bring his tally to twenty-four confirmed enemy kills.

Back aboard the Resolute, Yoda sensed something was amiss. He had not felt Ahsoka's presence through the force and now felt a strong presence of anger and hatred down below on the planets surface. This hatred was directed towards the jedi and there was only one being in the galaxy that hated the jedi with such a passion.

"Hmmm. Conflict there will be down below. Pull back we must not, clear his path is. Make the right choice in the future Robert will." He said to himself as the nearby enemy cruiser exploded into a bright ball of fire.

"That's the opening." Anakin exclaimed. "General Skywalker to Commander Fordo, you have your opening, get your men down their and secure the landing zone." He ordered the ARC commander. It was time to get boots on the ground.

Part one of the battle of D'Qar arc complete.

Fenrir seems to be a capable pilot and holds the clones with high regards. His nickname 'Bael' means demon king and lets face it, anyone who encounters a skilled Mandalorian pilot would feel like they are fighting against the devil himself.

Roberts new pistol is based off the Snub Pistol from the Gears of War series but fires the powerful .500 S&W Magnum round like the M500 but features an eight-round magazine like the .41 and .44 caliber versions of the Desert Eagle. Thanks go out to Spartan-626 for the idea

Erik taking a few Russian made weapons into battle, lets just say he read the manuals for using ballistic based weaponry and being a Bounty Hunter, he sometimes uses enemy weapons like slug-throwers or something similar to that type of weapon, like the Trandoshan Accelerated Charged Particle Repeater Gun, or Trandoshan SMG in battle.

Next time, its going to be a rough landing for the ground forces. Will they secure the landing zone and gain a foothold on the planet? Find out in the next exciting chapter.

Be sure to leave a review and for those of you dealing with a snowstorm, stay warm.