Chapter 10
The Valkyrie arrives at the Skynet Shipyard orbiting a mostly forest planet with a few mountain ranges. The planet is called Planet 1 since no one ever really named it or explore it. The Republic has an outpost on the planet. It will take a while for the Valkyrie to be ready to engage the Separatist again. The ship sustains heavy damage it's a miracle she could still fly. Master Heath received orders from the Jedi Council to remain there and wait for further instructions. Serena is in her quarters on the shipyard. His wounded troopers have been transfer to a Republic Hospital. Some would take weeks and months before they'll return to active duty. Heath and Commander Stone have been talking about the Sith that attacked them on Geonosis neither of them want to believe Emperor Raven gave the order. Heath will find out the truth when he returns to Imperious. Serena arrives in the hologram room. Commander Stone leaves. "Master Heath, what's troubling you?" He refuses to answer. She leaves he has no clue about the poison flowing through her veins.
Elsewhere another planet is in Malak's crosshairs and is fixing to come under attack. Five Separatist ships exit from hyperspace supported by eight Sith Dreadnaughts. Two Sith Cruisers are present. The ships part of Darth Malak destroys the two Sith Cruisers with only four shots from their primary weapon. They destroy the shipyard before the other ships can escape. Separatist ships move towards the planet and dropships descend towards the planet surface. The Sith ships command by Darth Lance have block all communications so no one will come to their aide. Thousands of droids assault the Imperial bases on the planet and the capital of the planet. Civilian transports head for orbit with the planets Air Force covering them but Separatist Fighters destroy many transports and their escorts before they reach orbit as soon as they did the Sith Dreadnaughts attack them allowing three to make their escape. However, they plant a tracker on some of the ships. It took 48 hours for the planet to fall into Separatist hands. Darth Lance arrive on the surface with a Sith Witch. They Imperial troops that were capture are turned into loyal followers of Darth Malak. The Seps manage to capture two Sith Cruisers on the planet which they turn over to Darth Lance. "The empire has decided this planet and its people aren't worthy to the Empire any longer. Therefore. Raven has decided your planet shall be purge of human life." He says. The people were shouting. "Silence," he says. The stop talking. "We shall allow 7 of you to live so you can tell all the other worlds within this area of what awaits them since Raven has decided he has no more use for this system." Darth Lance laughs. They return to their shuttle with the 7. However, this is part of Darth Malak's plan. Eighteen Sith ships emerge from hyperspace commanded by Darth Malak himself. They open fire on the Separatist ships and sent down dropships to the planet. Darth Lance and his ships enter hyperspace. The Seps retreated after they recalled their ground troops. Malak arrives on the surface. The people are once again gather at the Capitol building. Malak looks at the citizens of the planet that have survived the attack.
"My name is Malak I was once a friend to Emperor Raven until he betrayed me and tried to kill me. Now he's betraying his own people. You want be the only ones the emperor will attack. I care for the Empire and want Raven to meet justice for his actions. Join me and we can usher in a new Sith Empire." The people cheered. Malak smiles one planet down many more to go. Four more planets in the system joined Malak and the Imperial troops and ships are incorporated into Malak's New Empire. Darth Malgus is place in charge of his ground troops. Raven hasn't heard about the rebellion growing within his Empire. Since the transport heading to Imperious were destroyed by bombs planted onboard. The Sith warlord in charge of the system Malak is taking over planet by planet with the thought of Raven's betrayal have tried to raise Imperious for help to restore order but his communications are jammed. The planet is home to one of the Sith Academy's. Malak wants the planet and its troops. Malak purpose a truce and the warlord will meet Malak on Korriban. Meanwhile Darth Malgus and a hundred Sith Knights will take the academy using the same tactics he uses against the Republic during the Great War. The planet falls to Malak's New Empire the Sith garrison joins them. The warlord is killed on Korriban and his ships join. Malgus takes over as warlord of the system. The rest of the planets join Malak and pledge their forces to him with a total of 13 planets under Malak's control he's remains unnoticed by the Empire which is what he was counting on since he attack a system not extremely important to the Empire and hasn't come under attack by Seps before now.
Imperious, Emperor Raven has no clue Darth Malak has taken a system under his control and two fleets incorporated into his growing army. Grand Admiral Thriss have return from attacking a Separatist base near Sith Space. Raven congratulated her on her victory and thank her for her service to the Empire. He heads to a meeting with the council. While he's at the meeting with the Dark Council Raven felt something in the force and knew something was wrong but he can't figure out what's wrong. The Dark Council notice something different in their emperor. "Milord, is everything alright?" A Dark Council member asks. He nods. They continue to discuss business. Raven is surprise to learn of a few rebellions on a couple of planets in the Inner Colonies. They are minor and Raven gives the order to give his people what they want. The meeting ends. Several of the Dark Council members aren't happy with his decision about the rebellions. However, they decided to send a message to the Imperial commanders in charge of the planets to crush the rebellion. This will help bring the Empire closer to civil war.
Meanwhile the repairs to the Valkyrie are pursuing. Replacement clone troopers have arrived to replace the troop's General Heath loss on Geonosis. Little do they know the CIS plans to attack the shipyard to destroy Republic ships and then establish a permeant base on the planet. General Grievous is leading the attack. The Valkyrie leaves the shipyard to go to another shipyard to finalize her repairs however General Heath has been instructed to remain behind by both the Supreme Chancellor and the Jedi Council. Jedi Master Heath is heading to his quarters when all of sudden an alarm sounds throughout the stations and he felt the station rock. A clone sergeant appears. "What's going on?
"Separatist ships emerge from hyperspace and are attacking. Commander Serena has ordered all pilots to their fighters." Master Heath heads to the command center. Republic fighters' launch to engage the Separatist fighters and boarding craft. A Republic Cruiser is destroyed but escape pods are launched. Some of the escape pods are destroyed by Grievous dreadnaught. Boarding craft latch themselves to the shipyard. The clone troopers in those areas are caught off guard and are eliminated by Commando Droids. Super Battle Droids and Battle Droids following the Commando Droids. Several Jedi younglings are onboard during the time of the attack since their transport is being repaired. Heath instructs 8 Republic Commandoes to protect the younglings at all cost. General Grievous ship docks with the shipyard. Battle Droids, Super Battle Droids, Destroyer Droids, Commando Droids, and Grievous Personal bodyguards enter the shipyard station. Clone troopers are there to meet them but are easily dealt with. Republic Commandoes engage the Separatist on the shipyard. Serena is helping the fighter pilots defend the shipyard. The dock Republic ships are sitting ducks for the Separatist. The Jedi ship is also destroyed. Heath has cut down many droids. He tells the clones to begin evacuation to the surface of the planet. He finds the Republic commando squad he assigns to protect the younglings' dead all by lightsabers except for two. Heath uses the force to find the younglings before the Separatist. He finds them but General Grievous and his personal bodyguards appear. The younglings ignite their lightsabers. Three squads of Republic Commandoes arrive along with Commander Stone and his men. Heath tell them to get the younglings to safety while he deals with Grievous. Grievous laughs and acts the same way he does when he faces Kenobi, but Heath isn't Kenobi or Skywalker. Grievous has never face him before. The Magna Guards attack him but he cuts them down. Grievous is surprise by General Heath's lightsaber skills with his Magna Guards destroyed Grievous must face Heath alone. Grievous brings out his own lightsabers. They duel each other but Heath slices off several of Grievous arms and takes the lightsabers back. Commando Droids appear which Heath knew he could take them and kill Grievous bringing the Clone Wars to a closer end but he decided to retreat. He arrives at the escape pods. He contacts Serena and tells her to disengage and head to the planet's surface with all available Republic fighters. The escape pods for the shipyard are launched. Republic fighters try to protect the escape pods but some are still destroyed by Droid Fighters. The CIC claims the shipyard for themselves. Grievous orders droids to continue the fight on the planet surface. Several Separatist ships are destroyed by the Republic's Ion Cannons on the surface so Grievous orders transports to be sent to the surface to neutralize the Ion Cannons and take over the Republic forts. However, the Ion Cannons have already neutralized three of his frigates and one cruiser. Two thousand Separatist Dropships descend towards the surface supported by Separatist Fighters and Bombers. Several Separatist Gunships have already neutralized the Republic Anti-Air guns near their LZ. As soon as the transports land they begin unloading legions of Battle Droids and Super Battle Droids including battalions of tanks, and other support vehicles. Republic forces on the ground are about 5,500 against over a million Droids but some of the clones are ARC Troopers and Republic Commandoes from Alpha Team assign to General Heath. However, the forts fall to the droids without any fight since General Heath ordered all troopers into the jungle.
Back on Imperious, Darth Raven kept felling something all of sudden Darth Malak, Darth Malgus, and someone else appears. Darkness surrounds Emperor Raven. He bowls before Darth Malak. Darth Malak turns to the Sith Sorcerer from the Dark Universe. "Is he completely under your control?" The sorcerer nods. Malak smiles. The most powerful ruler of the Sith Empire is now under his control. However, the spell can be broken by a very powerful person and Malak knows of only one person Darth Blade. He gives the order for Raven to send Grand Admiral Thriss and a small fleet to attack a member of the Dark Council planet where he rules as a baron to help further the empire into civil war. Raven writes the order down and sealed it with his personal seal. One of Raven's personal bodyguards delivers the message to Grand Admiral Thriss. The next day in the throne room Raven ordered the immediate arrest of Lord North for treason against the empire. Darth Rune is surprise by this since Lord North has always been a loyal to the Empire and to Emperor Raven. Rune notice something different about Raven's aura and so did the empress. Lord North managed to escape. Grand Admiral Thriss followed the emperor orders not knowing what Darth Rune suspects. Several ships escape to spread the word. Darth Malgus onboard a cloak Sith Dreadnaught smiles as he watches Thriss destroy the planet. He smiles the Civil War is on its way the fire has been set now it's time for the inferno. Back on Imperious word has already reached many high-ranking members in the Imperial Armed Forces about the actions of Grand Admiral Thriss. Raven has already issued orders to the Imperial Secret Police which hasn't been use in a long time since Raven took the throne but all of them are loyal to Darth Malak to find those who are plotting treachery against the Empire. They are looking for rebels which are people that are just talking about Emperor Raven's latest actions which have shocked the Empire. Darth Rune decides to call Darth Blade back to Imperious which is part of Darth Malak plan. Darth Rune sends Captain Matt Raynor to bring him back and hopefully they can get to the bottom of why the emperor has changed. He tells Captain Raynor to be careful and trust no one. Captain Raynor takes his ship the Black Talon. The Black Talon heads towards Coruscant. They hope the Republic doesn't see their marking cause then they'll be in a world of hurt.
Back on the planet which Skynet Shipyard orbits General Heath arrived at the Republic camp Serena is their talking with a Republic officer named Talon he was sent by Bail Organa to see if Heath needed anything for his army. Talon is a native to Alderaan he's also a pilot his great-grandfather fought against the Sith Empire when they invaded Alderaan is grandfather was a Republic Officer/commando during the war. "Major, how many troopers' mange to escape from the forts before the Seps landed?" Heath ask Major Talon.
"Eight battalions general," he says. "Plus, two platoons of ARC troopers and a squad of Republic Commandoes." Heath looks around plus the clones who made it off the shipyard including Commander Stone, Sith Commandoes which have been reduce since they left Sith Space and Serena, and 6 squadrons of Republic Fighter Pilots. They don't have a large force to fight the Seps in the open so they'll have to rely on hit and run tactics to defeat the Seps. Heath hopes the Valkyrie will return with reinforcements. "Send out patrols to track the enemy movements. I'm sure General Grievous will build bases on the planet." The clone officers sent out patrols. Unlike clones or the Jedi droids don't need to rest. They construct many bases over the next four days. They have a few BARC speeder bikes hidden to launch raids against the Separatist. The Separatist hasn't seen the Republic forces for two weeks as per General Horton's orders the clones under his command haven't engage any droids for the last two weeks. They've just been watching them.
Onboard the shipyard General Grievous have made it his home. Two new Separatist ships arrive in system. The Republic all clear signal is still broadcasting which will keep the Republic from coming to the planet. All communications from the planet itself is being monitored. Grievous wonders why the Jedi haven't attack his forces on the planet. "General an urgent call from Count Dooku," A Battle Droid Commander says to General Grievous. General Grievous Contacts Count Dooku.
"General, did you get the reinforcements."
"Yes count," Grievous replies.
"What about the Republic troops on the planet and the Jedi?"
"They're escape into the jungle and no contact since we took the planet."
"Find them General and destroy them," Dooku says.
"Yes count," Grievous replies. General Grievous contacts the droid commander on the planet surface and tells him to send out troops to find the Jedi and the clones. The Droid commander gives the order. Five Battalions of droids mostly made up of Battle Droids leave the fortress they took from the Republic. A squad of ARC troopers watched as the droids leave the fortress and they hurry to tell General Horton.
General Horton aka Heath, aka Darth Blade divides his troops into small teams to hit the droids on their march then withdraw and to lure the droids into a trap. Commander Stone leads the first group. The Jedi younglings wanted to help but Heath decides to have them stay at camp. He hopes these younglings survive the war. Over the next 4 days they engage the droids and fall back drawing them into a trap. On day 5 General Horton has his troops on a hill surrounded by jungle with only one road leading in. he hopes the jungle will keep the droids from using their air power but in case it doesn't he has Serena and the surviving fighter squadrons ready to engage them. The Republic Troops are dug in. they have their BARC Speeders ready to hit the droids in the flanks along with AT-RTs and AT-PTs. His scouts have reported that 6 more battalions of droids have joined with the others. He knows his troopers will do their duty but they're vastly outnumbered by the CIS. The Republic also setup mines in hopes of slowing the droids down when they attack. A few teams continue to harass the droids. Some of the teams never made it back to the trap or to the camp. Commander Stone comes up to General Horton. "Sir, what are you thinking?"
"Stone, I want our best sharpshooters in those trees to rain fire down on the droids as they come up the hill." These Sith Commandoes were train by Mandalorians and are equipped with shield gauntlets to deflect blaster bolts.
"Yes sir," Commander Stone replies. Eighteen Sith Troopers climb a tree and wait for the droids to arrive. Twenty minutes later the first group of droids begin to arrive. Republic light artillery open fire on the droids. The Separatist tanks are easy bait for the artillery. The Separatist officer orders his troops to fallback. Heath smiles because he knows what the Separatist will do next many of their strategies are quite predictable. The Separatist powered up their ray shields to move closer to the Republic lines. Super Battle Droids are advancing towards the Republic on the hill. Battle Droids are falling behind them. They have a few Spider Droids too. General Horton is waiting for them to get closer before he sets off the trap and detonate the explosives buried underneath the droids' feet. Clone troopers with rocket launchers have the Separatist Tanks targeted. Droid Gunships appeared above the Droid Army and open fire on the cannons. Destroying them. Serena knows now it's time to engage the Separatist Gunships and Vulture Droids. The Republic fighters struck them from above inflecting serious casualties. The move caught the Seps by surprise. The Ray Shield protected them from the falling debris. The Droids continue their march towards the Republic. General Horton gives the order and the clone troopers open fire from different positions. The Separatist tanks are destroyed by multiple rockets which also destroyed many Battle Droids. The ambush worked. The clones keep firing clustering the droids together. Clones troopers lose their lives from return fire but the casualties are light. The explosives buried underneath the Separatist fleet blows send droid parts in different direction along with debris from their tanks. The clones continued fire on the droids. The Battle Droids and Super Battle Droids continue to fire back. Their ranks have thinned. A Super Battle Droid with a rocket arm destroys a Republic gun emplacement. The Droids continue to advance. The clones retreated a few throw droid poppers which stop some of them for a few seconds. They even throw grenades. Clone Trooper snipers aim for the droids' heads which will stop even the Commando Droids. He gives the signal and the AT-RTs hit the Seps from the flanks. They destroyed the reaming enemy tanks. Three Droidekas appeared but rockets take them out. The ambush is working perfectly but Heath use his binoculars to scan the battlefield and see a fresh wave of Battle Droids approaching his troops. He activates his comlink to inform the clone sergeant he has a fresh wave on the way. The sergeant turns towards the threat but a Droideka appeared and kills him and four more. "Captain Lucan, order the troops to fall back to the second line."
"Yes sir," Captain Lucan replies in his comlink on his arm. "Fall back!" The clones begin falling back firing as they go. Serena and her fighter squadrons are still dogfighting with Separatist fighters. General Horton knows he doesn't have enough men to continue this battle forever where General Grievous can continue to send more droids to attack him. He has no clue when help will arrive or if anyone will come.
Meanwhile the Valkyrie is being repaired has tried to raise General Horton but hasn't gotten any response. Lieutenant Andros and Black Squadron volunteered to go and find out what's wrong. Captain Lucas Pollen contacts the Jedi Temple and tells them of the situation. General Windu tells him to wait another 8 hours before sending someone to investigate. Eight hours pass and no word from General Horton. The Valkyrie dispatches a transport accompanied by Black and Grey Squadron. They enter hyperspace. They exit hyperspace on one side of the planet. They immediately detect a Separatist Frigate. Onboard the Separatist Frigate the droids onboard sent out Vulture Droids to engage the Republic. They inform General Grievous. Lieutenant Adores tells the transport to get back to the Valkyrie and inform them tell them the shipyard has fallen into Separatist hands. The transport head away from the planet and enters hyperspace. The two Republic squadrons continue towards the planets. The first wave of Separatist Fighters heads right for them. They pick up Republic signals on the surface. Lieutenant Andros tries to gain contact. "Gray Squadron cover us we're heading for the planet surface." He says.
"We've got you Black One," Gray One replies. Black Squadron ignores the Separatist fighters while Gray Squadron deals with them. Eight Vulture Droids go after them.
"General Horton, this is Black One, Commander Serena this is Black One," he repeats the message. General Horton hears the message on his comlink, he activates the comlink.
"Black One this is General Horton, we need help," Heath says.
"General, we dispatch a transport to get help Black and Grey squadron are the only help you're going to get."
"Do your fighters have any bombs?"
"Yes sir," Black One replies. Grey squadron broke through the Vulture Droids but lost half of their squadron.
"I need you to hit a droid division moving towards our location."
"Copy that general," Black One says. Black Squadron drop two bombs onto the fresh droid troops before joining with Serena and the rest of the Republic fighters. General Grievous contacts the Droid Commander and orders a retreat. The droids turned around and falls back. The Republic fighters return to a clearing near their camp. Republic ground crew go to work on the fighters. Serena almost collapses as she gets out of her fighter. A clone comes up to her.
"Commander are you alright?"
"Just dizzy," she replies. She goes to her tent to lay down. General Horton returns to the encampment later. He meets with Black One and Grey One. Meanwhile General Grievous arrives on the surface. He will personally lead the next attack. A hologram shows the Republic's encampment and their positions. Grievous notice they hold the high ground but a narrow pass is behind them he tells a Droid Commander to take two battalions of Battle Droids supported by another battalion made up of Super Battle Droids and attack the Republic from the rear. He would lead the main force right up the center while two more battalions attack the flanks. The Droid Army moved out while it's still night.
Dawn, General Horton awakes with a sound of alarm. Vulture Droids attack the encampment. Anti-air guns shoot some of them down but the Vulture manage to destroy most of the Republic fighters except for Black and Grey squadrons' fighters and 10 others. He knows a big battle is on the horizon. He heads to the site of the battle yesterday. The Republic loses yesterday were around 1 company and another company halfway depleted. He hopes with their dug in positions in front of their camp they can hold the Seps off until help arrives. He noticed the Seps aren't using their ray shields this time. The first wave of Battle Droids attack they're beaten back no Republic casualties on the first attack. Four waves attack next. The Seps are testing their defenses before the main assault. Talon brought a several crates of EMP Launchers/rockets for the missile launchers which they haven't used yet. General Horton is surprise the Seps aren't using their armor or fighters but they're only using infantry. Someone other than a droid is commanding the Droid Army and he bets its General Grievous. The second assault is also beaten back very few Republic casualties but the Seps continue to hit the same area. The Seps continue to attack and are beaten back. General Gravois's activates his hologram and tells the Droid Commander to attack through the pass.
"Yes general," the Battle Droid Commander replies. He orders his troops and tanks to move through the pass. Savage Squad and Echo Squad are guarding the pass along with a squad of ARC Troopers when a lookout spots several battalions moving towards them. A Clone Trooper gets on a speeder and goes to report to General Horton on the frontlines. He speeds through the camp. Serena tried to get out of bed but collapse back in the bed. No one has come to check on her yet. The clone trooper reaches the general's command post and gave him his report.
"Tell them to hold I'll send a platoon with some heavy weapons to help you hold the pass."
"Yes sir," the clone trooper replies. He gets back on his speeder and races back to the pass.
"Lieutenant Boone, take your platoon and reinforce the squads at the pass." Heath says into his comlink.
"Yes general," Lieutenant Boone replies. Major Talon enters.
"General Horton, one flank is falling we need to reinforce them." Major Talon says.
"Give the order to fall back to the 2nd line," Heath replies. The clone soldiers relay those orders. General Grievous watches as the Republic troops broke contact with his droid armies and began to retreat. He smiles. He turns to a Droid Commander.
"Now it's time to crush them send another 5 waves," he tells the commander.
"Roger, Roger," the Droid Commander replies. Heath use his binoculars to watch reinforcements joined the others.
"Grievous is falling into my trap," Heath says. Major Talon reaches for his sidearm. Heath sense something. Just as Talon is fixing to fire Heath cuts the blaster into Talon didn't even see him move. He uses telekinesis to pin the major to the wall. He tells the clones watching the monitors to leave. They didn't question him. "Why were you trying to kill me?" Major Talon didn't reply. All of sudden the major change into some creature he never seen before. "What are you?"
"I'm a chameleon I can change into anyone I touch," she says.
"Why are you trying to kill me? IS Major Talon still alive?"
"I was hired by the Seps to kill you." she says. "Yes, he is hogtied in his tent. Heath has a choice he could crush his windpipe with the force or give him to the Republic or a third choice let him live. He lets him down and puts his lightsaber to the chameleon's neck. The chameleon closes her eyes waiting for the strike but she hears the lightsaber deactivate.
"I'm giving you your life assassin," he says. He throws a pouch on the ground filled with gold coins which are worth a lot more than credits. He goes to leave but she grabs his arm.
"Jedi, in my culture when a person who could kill you chooses not to then we must serve him until him until death takes him," she says.
"I don't need a servant," he replies.
"I can be a great help to you," she says. Heath accepts her offer. Heath goes to free the major. He takes a speeder but he instructs her to help Commander Stone fight the Seps. She picks up a Sniper Rifle and begin nailing Droids in the head with deadly accuracy. General Horton reaches the encampment. He enters the major's tent and frees him.
"Thank you general," He tells him.
"You're welcome major," Heath replies. He exits. A clone trooper runs pass him. "Trooper have you seen Serena?"
"No sir," the trooper replies hurrying to one of the Republic tanks. They only have 6. "Apparently, Commander Stone called for some additional support." Three head towards the front. Heath heads to Serena's tent. He finds her in bed with sweat boring from her head. He checked her head and find she has a fever, he then checked her pulse. Her pulse is also low. Commander Stone and five Sith Troopers entered the tent. "Sir we had to abandon the front your plan worked for a second but we were hit on the flanks." Commander Stone tells him.
"Order all troops to retreat to the pass we'll make our final stand there."
"Yes sir," the others reply and leave. Even though their Sith Troopers they're wearing clone uniforms to blend in. Commander Stone looked at Serena and he knew what's wrong with her.
"Milord, she's been poison by a poison found only on Imperious but only the Emperor can authorize the use of the poison," Stone tells him.
"We'll discuss this later get her to the pass." He didn't want to believe the emperor would try to kill the woman he loves. He put the thought aside and focus back on saving lives which include the younglings, Serena, all the surviving clones and his own comrades. He exits from the tent and see a squad of Republic Commandoes and the Chameleon waiting for him. Grey and Black Squadron set charges on their fighters they're becoming foot soldiers now. General Horton tells the Republic Commandoes to fallow him they're going to slow the Seps down while the others make it to the pass.
Eight hours Earlier the transport arrives back at the shipyard the Valkyrie is still finishing up her repairs. The clone officer onboard the transport contacts Captain Lucas Pollen immediately. He informed the captain the Separatist have attacked Skynet Shipyards and the Republic troops are on the surface fighting Seps. Captain Pollen contacts Coruscant to inform them. He contacts Master Windu and Master Yoda. He tells them. "We'll send reinforcements captain." Master Yoda says.
"Generals, we're ready to go along with two their Republic Cruisers. The Valkyrie is at full strength except for a few battalions we left with General Horton."
"Very well captain do what you can General Plo Koon and General Saesee Tiin are on their way." Master Windu tells him. The Valkyrie and two other Republic ships enter hyperspace. Three hours later they arrived. They catch three Separatist ships by surprise destroying both. The Valkyrie and the other Republic ships launch almost all their fighter squadrons they'll need to get close to launch Gunships to help the Republic on the ground. Two more Separatist ships are destroyed before they knew what was happening. The reaming Separatist ships turned towards the Republic Ships and open fire. They launch their own fighters. Master Plo Koon fleet is the first to arrive bypassing the battle. He orders gunships to be launch supported by fighters while they hit the Separatist Fleet from the flank. Master Saesee Tiin arrives next the Republic has the Seps outnumbered. Separatist ships are getting hammered. General Grievous receives the reports and orders a shuttle be sent to pick him up. The Droid Armies on the surface are expendable. General Grievous shuttle lands on the command ship and it jumps away along with two cruisers. The reaming Separatist ships are destroyed. Republic Gunships are speeding to the surface. The Black Talon exits from hyperspace after they picked up the transmission from the Republic Cruiser the Valkyrie and the Jedi Temple. Captain Raynor has the cloak activated so the Republic or Separatist fighters want see them. They're heading for the surface.
On the surface, General Horton and the Republic Commandoes engaged the droids. Heath cuts many droids down and use his lightsaber to deflect blaster bolts back at the droids. He even uses the force to throw things at the droids crushing them. Once Commander Stone informs him everyone is at the pass they retreated. Heath sends a log crushing several Droidekas and Battle Droids. A Super Battle Droid fires a rocket which knock a Republic Commando down but Heath helps him get back on his feet. The Chameleon who hasn't given her name to him yet nails eight Battle Droids and 2 Super Battle Droids with headshots. An EMP bomb hits the front rank of the Battle Droids causing a wall. Battle Droids and Super Battle Droids attempt to cross it but collapse on the other side completely inert. General Horton and the others arrive at the pass. Heath noticed the pass is blocked he didn't care why since the only logical reason is the Separatist gave the clones no choice. "The Seps have only one way to attack us. I want the turrets setup to guard the entrance with overlapping fields of fire. I want sharpshooters in the rocks. Rocket launchers ready to take out large groups of enemies." He noticed a platoon of clones with jetpacks. The jetpacks even have missiles to fire onto the enemy. "Jet jumpers you'll attack from above. I want the last our mines planted on the droids' approach." Heath goes check on Serena. He looked at the Sith Trooper who's also a medic. "How's she doing?" The medic shrugs not knowing anything to do. Super Battle Droids with rocket arms fired onto the Republic troops. Heath activates his lightsaber. He's going to lure the Seps in. He hears on a voice.
"General, your reinforcements have arrived," Captain Pollen says. Republic bombs hit the droids. Gunships arrive and began unloading fresh soldiers. The droids are the ones falling back without General Grievous to lead them it falls to the Droid Commanders. General Horton gives the order for the rest to join in the advance. Only Commander Stone, Sith Troopers, Serena, and the female Chameleon are left. Commander Stone hands him a comlink.
"Lord Horton, Darth Rune request your presence on Imperious Civil War is breaking out," Captain Raynor tells him. He watches as the Black Talon lands. He goes and picks up Serena. They move towards the ship. Captain Raynor is there to greet him. "Milord why are you bringing a Jedi with you?"
"She's been poison by an assassin and the only antidote is on Imperious," Heath replies. Captain Raynor looked at him.
"Who's the other female?"
"She's a bounty hunter but she's also my servant," he replies. They board the ship. Heath hates to just leave without telling anyone especially his loyal troops but he knows he can't inform the Jedi about why he's leaving. A few Vulture Droids attack the Black Talon just as she's lifting off but the gunners blow them out of the sky. The Black Talon but two Separatist Frigates remain and plenty of enemy fighters.