"Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning." - Erwin Rommel

Impending Invasion!

Since arriving and setting up a base of operations in this new world, the Republic is urging Jedi generals Raiden Dakkar and Obi-Wan Kenobi to begin their offensive aimed towards crippling this so-called 'Empire' and bring them to justice for what they've done.

While clone commander Iron and his men had helped a village evacuate after spreading the news of the dreaded Fire Dragon of this world.

Now, with the appearance of the mysterious girl who wields a large axe has only made things more strange for the clones as they attempt to do what is right in this world. However, only time will tell if their actions are right...

The time has come for the clones to put their valor to the test!

~o0o~

Star Base, Alnus Hill

Few Hours Later

Scenes of fire and death played out in the mind of the elf. All she could see was the same event playing over and over again, seeing the people in her village being burned alive by the vicious flames spewing forth from the jaws of the Fire Dragon.

A creature which every living being feared in this world, making even the strongest of heroes look like helpless cattle.

To her, what she felt that day was nothing short of terror. Seeing her father at the top of the well, giving her the last image of him smiling. Then darkness filled her vision not long after falling down the well.

During her time stuck inside the well let her think about what might happen to her.

Thoughts about death creeped inside the girl's mind, it was sad for her to die alone while watching her own father die at the hands of Fire Dragon. Fading from conscious, the girl heard voices and felt her body being picked.

One of the first things she thought was that bandits found her and were going to have their way with her.

Then...

Nothing happened, she heard more voices and realized all of them were males. Soon she felt warmth not long afterward and was wrapped in something she hadn't felt in quite sometime; the feeling of being safe from harm's way.

She wouldn't wake up for quite sometime. Sounds of battle could be heard at that very moment as the elf slowly opened up her eyes and saw a metal ceiling above her. The elf would later find out it was a battle between the Fire Dragon who burned down her village against soldiers wearing white and gray armor.

Looking at their weapons, these bright blue lights of energy came from them and seemed to do some kind of damage to the beast.

It seemed to burn through the scales of the dragon, a weapon like the ones these men used shouldn't exist. There's nothing in their world that they know of that can break through the thick scales of the legendary Fire Dragon.

A beast which no hero has been able to slay over the course of the last few centuries.

Not long after the fight with the dragon, the men in the strange armor helped the villagers bury the dead and all of them merely bowed their heads in respect. Then, one of them spoke with a villager and from what the elf was able to pick up at the time, she saw that some of the villagers who lost their family were going to be left behind.

The elf also noticed a blue haired girl who she found out later on was a mage. Next, it was a girl wearing a red and black dress who also wielded a giant axe, later on finding out it was the figure known as Rory the Reaper.

Feeling somewhat fearful of the girl was natural, who wouldn't be terrified of someone who killed out of the joy they got out of it.

However, the elf found out about how she treated those who were innocent without issue and only killed those who deserved to die. A noble sense of justice which made elf slowly become more comfortable with her while the men in strange armor spoke among themselves about such a thing.

Now...

Tuka was sleeping on the floor of the vehicle the men used, one which had six legs and moved faster than wagons. Inside the AT-TE, captain Iron was currently manning the tank as he watched over the civilians who were inside.

There were roughly ten people who the villagers couldn't afford to take. A few of them were children and an elderly woman, along with the two mages, the blonde elf girl, and the young girl who wielded a dangerous weapon.

Such a strange group of people to be taken in.

However, the captain was now going to have to explain himself to the generals about why he hadn't checked in for quite sometime. Looking at the monitor in front of him, the captain could see the Republic base in the distance.

"Alright boys! We're nearing the base and I want a smooth return back, so stay sharp!"

Giving out the orders, every clone trooper followed them and began preparing themselves. Knowing that he was going to have to wake them up, Iron walked over to some of the people inside and shook them softly.

Even captain Iron realized that these people weren't soldiers, only civilians who were getting caught up in problems that have nothing to do with them.

The first person he woke up was the girl whose name was Rory.

As he placed his hand on her shoulder and started shaking her softly as he could, not wanting to be cleaved in half by what was in her hand.

"Hey, wake up." he whispered in their language.

The girl merely groaned at having to wake up. Her crimson eyes locked onto the black visor of the clone trooper's helmet. A smile graced her features as she saw the familiar shoulder pad, letting her know who it was.

"You know captain?" Rory said, "Waking up a girl from her beauty sleep means there's something important, usually."

Sighing, "Miss Rory, we're almost back at our base. I just wanted to start waking everyone up since we'll be arriving soon." captain Iron explained, seeing the rather unfamiliar emotion within the girl's eyes.

One he couldn't figure out.

Rory on the other hand, felt a little disappointed the captain of the soldiers woke her up for a reason concerning his job. The demigod was hundreds of years old and was nearing the end of her time in this world. There were still things she wanted to experience before moving on from this life to the next.

Such a thing is the emotion which has never sparked within the demigod's heart, one that is called love.

Over the past few centuries, it felt strange for the priestess to see the kind of love that one person felt for another. To see such emotions bloom from within someone's heart and give them the courage to do things they could only wish for.

However...

There was something strange she found about the captain, no scratch that, all of these soldiers for that matter.

All of them seemed to be similar in some kind of way. It was strange how they reacted to one another, not in the way a soldier would react to his fellow brother-in-arms, but in a manner similar to brothers in a way.

Such a thought was one worth keeping for the moment. Now, Rory looked over to the other people on board the strange vehicle. Standing up, the priestess walked over to the young blue haired mage and started the long process of helping the captain wake all of the civilians up.

After nearly five minutes, most of the children on board the AT-TE were now awake and curious as to where they were. Along with the elf girl whose name was Tuka, Rory, and the blue haired mage who went by the name of Lelei.

Most of them seemed a bit anxious since the AT-TE had no visible windows for them to look out.

A feature which was important to keeping the well-armored vehicle from being destroyed. Then the civilians heard strange sounds outside the vehicle they were in, one they never heard of in their lifetime.

Soon they felt the massive transport come to a stop. Wondering what was going on, they were soon told by the men in the strange armor that they were getting off here. As all of them stepped onto the platform, captain Iron was also on the platform with them.

Pressing a small button on the side, the platform started moving downwards. Small rays of light entered the inside of the tank and a few moments passed until all of them saw a sight which made many of the kids have wide eyes.

In front of them was a military base, one which seemed far more advanced than any military in this world.

There were more of the massive vehicle they traveled in, with even more men in similar armor, working on them. Large columns of men passed by them, looking at the new arrivals with their expressionless helmets and merely went back to what they were doing.

Captain Iron stepped off and told everyone that nothing would happen.

Hearing a familiar sound above him, the clone commander saw a gunship headed for their position. Looking behind him, he saw many of the civilians looked a bit nervous seeing the transport. He figured they've never had the technology to travel via air besides the creatures they called dragons.

Landing in front of them, the gunship's doors opened to reveal a clone trooper in armor similar to the captain, except instead of gray it was a yellow-ish color.

Individuals like Lelei and her master looked at the transport in wonder, trying to figure out what kind of magic these men were using in order to make the strange metal vehicle fly through the air. Lelei saw one of the men walking towards them.

"Can I ask what kind of magic you use in order to make that vehicle fly?" the young mage asked.

She received a few of the clones snickering behind her. One of the clones, who she remembered was one who the captain spoke to alot, approached her.

"Well... that isn't magic. In our world, technology has gotten pretty far and this transport is one we use in many of the military operations we take part in. Though don't forget that everything in this base is intended for war, not exploration."

Hearing such an answer was interesting. Seeing the metal rods in the the soldiers hands, to the massive six-legged vehicle they were in, to even this flying metal wagon. All of these things were used for war, and no one in their world possesses anything close to it.

As the people of this world spoke to each other, captain Iron was in the middle of explaining what happened to his superior as well as friend; commander Cody.

"So what happened out there Iron?" asked Cody.

Captain Iron only shook his head and laughed, "Oh you wouldn't believe some of the crazy crap that I just went through these past few hours."

The two soon started walking towards the gunship, but as the transport was about to take off, the captain yelled out in the direction of his men, "Stonewall, you're in charge until I get back. The rest of you are to take care of the civilians until we get things settled."

Nodding, the clones listened to the order of their commander.

Cody soon ordered the pilot to head towards the command center, where both Jedi knights were currently waiting. While the captain was currently remembering the events which lead to them having to take in these people.

Fighting off a giant Fire Dragon wasn't in their job description...

Or, so they thought...

GATE: The Clone Wars

Chapter 10: Introductions for All, Part 1

Heavy footsteps rang out in the distance as the familiar look of the heavy tank of the Republic's clone army; the AT-TE, continued to lead the column of refugees. All of them still feeling anxious with the thought of the Fire Dragon still out there.

Meanwhile, captain Iron was currently dealing with an issue that wasn't going to leave him along anytime soon. After picking up the girl whose name was Rory, the girl seemed to have taken interest towards the captain.

At the moment, the girl was currently sitting in the clone commander's lap.

This was certainly something the soldier had never dealt with. But the captain just went along with it, he didn't want to upset a girl who wields a giant axe and was capable of slaughtering the clone commander.

After hours of leading the column, Iron was currently riding on the WT-RT and was next to the AT-TE as they soon entered a rather dangerous area to be in. The terrain changed to where there were high cliff walls above them.

While they were inside the gorge, somewhere a soldier didn't want to be in.

Especially after the years the clones have spent fighting the droid army and the kind of weapons they possess would make any engagement with them a living hell unlike anything the galaxy had seen in many years.

"Captain, you think we're going to run into trouble?" asked Hotshot over the radio.

Just as the clone trooper asked the question, captain Iron noticed something strange about the shadows in the area. It seemed like they covered a much wider area than they originally did. Looking up, the captain saw something approaching their position.

It seemed small and insignificant until the clone commander used the advanced optics in his helmet.

A few moment passed and it became apparent it was a dragon of some sort approaching them. The small creature roared in the direction of the column, however it was cut short as something much, much bigger decided to enter the area.

Captain Iron couldn't believe what he saw, "You had to ask, didn't you Hotshot?"

The beast above them was a giant dragon with thick, red scales and golden eyes which locked onto the column of wagons trailing behind them. Something told the clone trooper that things were only going to get worse from this point onward.

"Hotshot, you had to open your big mouth."

Many of the clones were seeing the same thing as captain Iron. A giant red dragon soon landed with a massive sound, it perched itself on top of the nearby hill as it soon opened it's mouth and a wave of fire spewed from it's mouth.

The creature began to tear apart the wagons, it started attacking the defenseless villagers until a loud noise could be heard in the distance. Less than a second later, the Fire Dragon cried out in pain from it being hit in the side.

*BOOM*

Many of the refugees looked in the direction of the sound to see the barrel of the AT-TE smoking at the moment.

"Gunner! I need you to keep hitting it while we flank it!"

Doing as he was ordered, the AT-TE gunner fired another round into the dragon. The creature's attention was focused on the clone troopers and their vehicles. Deciding to take a risk, captain Iron got Rory to get off and allow him to do his job.

Just as she was going to ask what he and his could do, the captain was already facing forward on his walker along with the rest of his men.

Using the heavy gun on their walkers, they wanted to keep the attention of the dragon on them, not on the tank. Every time a round from the tank hit the armor, the beast cried out in pain. It was all they could do in reality.

As they were doing this, the clones were trying their best to make sure the people could get away from the battle between the clones and the dragon.

"What the hell is this thing?" asked Fox.

Iron only shook his head, "Just shut the hell up and shoot the damn thing, at least it ain't like the Zillo beast!"

Continuing their assault, the clones riding on the walkers were keeping the creature as busy as they could while the AT-TE continued to put round after round into the creature's body. Proving that against heavy weapons, it's scales will crumble.

Back inside the AT-TE, the clones were quickly trying to contact the base for some kind of air support. It wasn't until they saw the elf girl they rescued woke up and started speaking to them in their language.

"Ono! Yuniryu! Ono!"

It was here the clones saw the girl pointed towards her eyes and pointed at the dragon on their screen.

Stonewall soon got the idea of what the girl was saying.

"Gunner! I need you to lock onto it's eyes and hit it here! Now!" ordered Stonewall.

Without any hesitation, the clone followed his orders, "Yes sir!"

Continuing on their attack, Iron and the rest of his men made sure to stay one step ahead of the beast because with the limited number of men they have, it was best to be cautious. It was the only thing they could do for now.

Soon another round from the tank's heavy cannon struck the beast in the eye, causing it to roar out in pain.

Then the beast took off, it soon landed on the ground once more and caused the ground to shake. In doing so, it caused the AT-TE to move and the gunner fired off a round that hit the beast in the arm. Once that happened, the clones saw the creature using it's other arm to nurse the wound it received.

However...

They soon noticed an immense amount of blood pouring on the ground and saw a large stump. Realizing that they blew off the arm, the clones saw the creature fly off as a result of the limb it lost in the fight against them.

Just before it took off, the dragon's eyes locked onto captain Iron's walker.

It seemed to mutter something in it's language. But from what the commander could get out it was that it wasn't happy.

Then, it was gone.

The beast flew off. Many of the refugees saw the creature fly away and all of them looked relieved to see the Fire Dragon left them. Soon many of the villagers started thanking the clones for what they did.

For the first time in quite some time, the clones received gratitude for what they did for these people.

Soon the village chief approached the captain, "Captain Iron! We must thank you and your men for protecting us from the Fire Dragon. Your men are the first in centuries to accomplish such a feat in these lands."

Iron shook his head, "We don't tend to care about that stuff. We're only soldiers sir."

"But," he said, "You and your men are heroes, if weren't for you then we would be dead."

The captain didn't want to explain to them that the idea of being heroes didn't really enter the mind of the clones. From a young age they were taught that heroes were a dead profession and being a soldier was the closest thing to such.

Or, so they thought...

"We're only doing our jobs, meaning that we here to help."

...

Same Area

Hours Later

Once the battle with Fire Dragon was over, the clones saw that some of the villagers were killed during the course of the battle. A sight of burning bodies, from women to children to men, no one was safe from the beast.

Most the villagers were moving the bodies and looked to be burying the dead.

Something the clones respected. During the three years which they've been fighting the droid army, they've never been given the opportunity to bury their own dead brothers who had fallen in battle. In war, it was difficult to know that some survived and some didn't.

However...

That was war, and war never changes. A fact that the galaxy has accepted for thousands of years.

Feeling somewhat responsible the clones soon helped the villagers in the process of burying the dead. It was a slow and painful process for many of them while the Republic troops let them have their moments of weakness.

Sadly, it was all the clones could do for them.

Once they finished burying the dead, the clones merely stood in line with one another and bowed their heads as a sign of respect. The clone army over the years have interacted with people of different worlds from the Twi'leks of Ryloth to the Gunguns of Naboo, they've learn to accept the culture and value these people place upon the dead.

After the small service concluded, the villagers knew that the Fire Dragon was gone, for now. They decided that it was time for them to find relatives and towns nearby who could take them in after this whole ordeal.

But, there was a problem.

The chief explained to the clones that they couldn't take in the people who lost their families or were already orphans as well as those who are severly injured. It just wasn't possible for the group, already low on supplies, to take care of those who couldn't.

Knowing the issues he could face, captain Iron decided that he and his men would take in the refugees and bring them back to the base.

Something which was surely going to cause problems with the plan that the generals were coming up with. As the only reason why they were here was because of what the Empire did to the people of the Republic.

A revenge mission, in simple terms.

The clones merely showing the anger which the Senate and many of Coruscant were currently feeling at this moment. Now, this all of sudden turned into a relief mission to help those who couldn't help themselves.

Realizing how short on time they were, captain Iron soon ordered the rest of his men to start boarding their vehicles and telling them to help the refugees on board as they were going to take them back to the base.

Some of the clones were confused about this, but weren't opposed to it.

These people were victims of circumstance as the Fire Dragon was most likely the result of something happening and now these people thought they were going to be left to survive on their own abilities.

With most of them being kids in reality.

Something the clones wouldn't stand to see in this harsh world. They were going to do what they can and taking them back to the base was the only thing they could do was blowing their cover and letting the people of this world know who they are.

Once they loaded up on the walkers, the clones and the refugees started the long trek back to the base...

Wondering what was going to happen now? A thought many of the soldiers shared, one which was for those who couldn't seem to understand the reasoning and emotion behind such a move. The clones were soldiers, and soldiers follow orders, didn't they?

It was this simple reaction which would stir a thought among them.

One which wouldn't stay for long...

~o0o~

Alnus Hill

Present Day

"That's what happened with the Fire Dragon, sir."

Captain Iron was currently standing in front of both Jedi generals. Ever since he returned from the recon mission, the captain was currently telling the generals about the recent events which occurred while he was out there with his men. Resulting in them fighting off the massive Fire Dragon, a creature so dangerous that many ancient warriors of this land have died, all of them trying to kill it.

"General, may I say something?" asked the clone commander, currently holding his helmet on the side.

Raiden nodded, seeing no problem with his clone commander saying something, "You have permission to speak."

"The orders to bring in the refugees were mine, assisting the villagers to escape the Fire Dragon, and risking the lives of my men, was all my doing. My brothers had nothing to do with this, they were only following orders. One's that I gave out. Sir."

Hearing the clone commander taking responsibility for the actions that he took, it only made the Jedi respect the kind of bond the clone army has made with one each other.

Obi-Wan spoke up, "You're not going to be executed captain," said the general, "We only wanted to hear what had happened while you were out there."

The clone sighed in relief, not realizing he was holding a breath in. After hearing the Jedi generals merely asking him to retell the events which took place over the last few days. Starting from the beginning, Iron talked about them meeting the villagers and seeing the state in which many of the settlements near them were in.

Images formed in the minds of the Jedi knights.

To hear this government left it's people to survive on their own, was cruel. Most worlds in the galaxy had the decency to care for it's people, even if they needed to make a choice between the Grand Republic or the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

A choice that needs to be made with the state of the galaxy.

Soon Obi-Wan told the clone commander the result of his men helping Koda Village, "With the people of the villages nearby having a better opinion of us is going to be helpful. Since rescuing those villagers, we've been getting reports of our scouts being welcomed by the natives," he said, "And now we're starting to build a picture of the kind of world this is."

Raiden informed the captain of their military status, "Now with the people having a good image of us, it will certainly make our lives easier when we move towards the capital city."

"How long until we can move on the moutain pass?" asked captain Iron.

The Mandalorian sighed, "From what we can gather from the locals, there appears to be a rather large town in the middle between this base and the moutains. While I prefer not to attack this town, we're going to have to do something about it in the end."

After entering this world and building up the base, the Senate was becoming more and more of a headache since the Jedi have yet to take action. Raiden just wanted the Senate to shut up and leave the combat side of things to the clones and Jedi knights.

"So for now, we're going to wait and send out recon teams to check out the town." Obi-Wan said.

Such little progress, thought Raiden.

There wasn't much they could do with the limited air assets they had with them. In total, there were enough gunships to transport a unit of six-hundred clones into the air. With the rest most likely going to have to travel via ground transport or foot, it was dangerous with the kind natural threats which came with this world.

With creatues like the Fire Dragon still out there, it made the Jedi knights a bit hesitant to use them until they could neturalize the monster from the equation.

"Alright captain, you can go," said Raiden until he remebered something, "However, as an unusual form of punishment... you and your men have to take care of the refugees until we can figure out what to do with them. That is all."

It may have not been the worst thing in the world, but it was going to be tedious work dealing with the locals.

As he made his way off the command platform and headed to where his men were, he heard someone call out to him, "Iron, hang on a second!"

Looking behind him, Iron saw commander Cody approaching him. The familiar yellow markings on his armor along with the visor let anyone know who it was. Wondering what Cody wanted, Iron walked up and placed his helmet on.

"Yeah, what is it Cody?" asked captain Iron.

The commander sighed, "You really caused me some trouble having to cover for the multiple times you were supposed to check in. Now you owe me a drink for pulling something that general Skywalker is known for."

"Alright I get it Cody," said Iron, "Don't need to remind me twice after what the generals told me."

The two clone commanders have been working together for years, it was during the invasion of Ryloth when they met. From there the two clones have fought next to each other in quite a few engagements and one of the biggest was the second invasion of Geonosis.

One, if not, the largest battle which the Republic has participated in. A costly victory for the Republic, one which costed thousands of clones and heavily injured many of the Jedi knights leading them.

While this world may not inflict anywhere near those number of deaths, there was going to be bloodshed. Regardless of it being clone trooper or the people of this land, people were going to die at the end of the day.

~o0o~

Yural Mountain, Empire Territory

Few Hours Later

Deep within the moutains, traveling along a decrepit road, was a group of men. All of them were riding horses and armed with swords, shields, and other supplies needed for their profession. These men were bandits, roaming around the lands of the Empire and taking what they wanted from people.

A job which has been in full demand with the recent defeats the armies of the Empire and it's vassals have all suffered.

Now, there were thousands of bandits taking what they want from the people of villages, towns, and many other places. Spreading terror and mayhem wherever they go, almost like a plague which was now spreading like wildfire.

These men soon noticed a lonely traveler on the side of the moutain pass.

It was here these bandits got an idea. They saw how the man looked to be carrying things of value, and if it had value, then they wanted it for themselves.

As they approached the man, they didn't notice figures moving across the top of the moutains. The closer they approached the cloaked figure, the closer the figures on top of the moutains got to the group of bandits.

"You there! There's a fee for being on my land!"

The lead bandit called out to cloaked figure, wanting to make sure the man heard him.

Stopping where he was, the man with the cloak turned around and faced the bandits. With the darkness preventing the former soldiers from seeing what the man's face looked like, but the only thing they could see was a metal mouthguard.

Being in the moutains meant that there was little chance for anyone to hear them slaughter this man and take whatever valuables he possesses. Deciding to show why he was leading them, the leader of the criminals got off his horse and unsheated his sword.

"Hey! Didn't you hear what I say?" the leader yelled.

He began sauntering towards the cloaked man with his confidence bordering on the edge of being cocky. The man may have resorted to being a bandit, but that doesn't mean he was going to drop everything he learned over the course of career in the military.

And currently...

His battle instincts were on high alert when he was a few feet away the man in front of him. But he ignored them in favor of listening to what his desire craved for, and that was to become as rich and powerful as possible after what he witnessed.

Seeing his brother-in-arms being slaughtered as if they were livestock.

Ignoring those thoughts, the man walked until he was standing in front of the cloaked individual. It was here that he noticed something strange about him, he saw that his eyes were bright white and the mouth seemed to look more and more strange.

Looking almost like a small metal plate in a way.

The bandit noticed the hands, ones which didn't look anywhere remotely close to a human's, and there were only three apendages on them. Now everything made sense to him...

Fear took over in his mind and took notice of the figures surrounding them. As he started taking walking back to his men, the bandit saw his men were in a similar state as they witnessed these figures starting to climb down the moutain with unheard speed and agility and walked towards them.

It was almost sad really, the bandits were now facing an enemy unlike any they've seen before.

Once they came into the pale moon light, they saw that these beings weren't men. The group of beings did not even look organic since the bandits could notice the metal parts moving in perfect unison with one another.

A being made of metal approached them, wielding weapons similar to that of the enemy holding Alnus Hill.

Soon each metal being aimed their weapons at the bandits and within a moment, they pulled a button on them and bright crimson lights flew through the air and slaughtered the fearful bandits. However, one of the bandits seemed to have survived the attack.

It didn't take long for the metal beings to notice this and as they were ordered to bring back any individuals which may have a use for the general. As they began dragging the man away from the pile of dead bodies which were once his comrades, the leader soon saw a sight unlike any in his life once they climbed down the mountain.

From what he could see, there were thousands of metal beings marching from a gate deep within the mountain...

Just as he thought things couldn't get any worse, the fearful bandit saw someone approaching him. And due to the tight grip of these metal beings, he couldn't escape. Standing in front of him was a human, however this one was seemed to make his instincts go haywire.

Like... this man was far too dangerous to even exist.

"Good captain. I suggest we start probing that mind of his for information we need about this world." the man said to the metal being, making the bandit confused by what he was saying. It was like the man was speaking in another language.

Right before he was taken away, the sight of an army unlike any the bandit has seen before, was marching out of the gate by the tens of thousands. Now with two gates pouring armies of unbelievable power, war unlike any seen before was coming to this land...

That much the man was sure of.

It was time for this world to experience war between the droid army of the Confederacy and the clone army of the Grand Republic...

NEXT ON GATE: THE CLONE WARS

CHAPTER 11: Introductions for All, Part 2

Welp, I said the story was going to change in a big way and something like bringing the Separatist into the mix is something different!

Also... I'm sorry if I couldn't do the dragon fight well.

So I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'll see ya guys next time when this story gets even deeper into what I have in store for it. Now that we have that taken care of... I really hope the Falcons beat the New England Patriots.

That would be quite the game... but I digress.

Hope you guys have a fantastic day!