If anyone has a problem with how I write my story when it comes to personalities and other stuff like that, then you all can form a line behind me and kiss my… well you get the idea, so no negative comments on my work.
Anyways, here is the final part of my Citadel Arc. I am glad you all liked that I kept Echo alive, but I am sorry to say that Tarkin won't die, at least not yet.
Disclaimers are the same as before, Enjoy.
Chapter:10 Citadel Rescue
July 29th 2018, 21BBY
Lola Sayu
0930 hours
Normal point of view
Amidst the caves and caverns that littered the volcanic terrain, droid patrols swept the area with orders to capture Master Piel and Captain Tarkin and kill the rest of the rescue team.
Carefully navigating the caverns lava river, the droids checked behind every rock for the escapees. As they were about to leave a powerful shot downed three droids pushing one into the river of lava. Turning to where the shot came from, the droids opened fire on the area, hoping to scare out the shooter.
Behind a large rock on the left, two ARC Troopers emerged from both sides and fired their DC15s at the droids catching them by surprise and downing four droids each before returning to cover. A grenade was thrown at the droids and before they could move the grenade exploded destroying one patrol.
The second patrol moved in closer to the troopers but was gunned down by a combined barrage of blaster and gun fire from the rear, destroying them before they could rely their position to command. Emerging from the caves entrance, Robert walked over towards one of the downed battle droids, pulled out his pistol and fired an entire clip into the droid's processer.
What should have been a simple rescue mission was now turning into a living hell for everyone. It had been nearly a day since they contacted the temple for rescue and in that day the group was pursued relentlessly by the droids, desperate to captured the coordinates of the Nexus Route.
'Every time we think we can catch out breath, the droids seem to be one step ahead of us.' Robert thought as he loaded a new clip into his handgun. There original escape plan was compromised due to Tarkins flawed plan of rushing the turret at the landing pad and now they had to wait for extraction.
To Robert, it seemed that their troubles started ever since they rescued 'Mister ungrateful' as he called the captain behind his back and every time things looked up for the rescue team, it was proven false.
Last night, while he stood guard over their temporary campsite the droids ambushed them and two of the other troopers from the 212th were killed before they were able to push back the enemy droids but forcing them to move out earlier than expected.
Now having finally gotten rid of their pursuers, the team contacted the council. Master Plo was already on his way to their rescue and their pick-up point was an island in the middle of a volcanic lake, which Robert found to be very risky.
They were barely given a moments rest when Cody spotted a trio of Commando droids following them. "Incoming." The commander shouted, gunning down one of the droids and causing its body to fall into the lava river.
Priming a grenade, Fives fired one of his pistols and lobbed his grenade towards the last two droids destroying them and collapsing part of the tunnel. "That bought us a little time." Robert said as he checked his remaining ammo for his Morita, he had twelve magazines left. "No doubt there's more on the way." Obi-Wan remined them as the group continued on to the rv point.
Back at the citadel, Sobeck was monitoring the reports from his patrols and was soon interrupted by another transmission, this time from Darth Sidious. "Commander Sobeck, I have been made aware that the prisoners carrying the coordinates for the Nexus route have escaped the Citadel and our now on the move. Need I remind you that whoever obtains the route gains an advantage over the other. I want you to double your efforts or else you will be off no use to our cause." Sidious remined him before his hologram vanished.
Meanwhile, the rescue team arrived at a large cliff overlooking a large river of lava. Suddenly a crab droid climbing on the rock wall near the cliff opened fired on the group. Rex opened up with Cassie's XM8 and downed the droid before more hostiles appeared and began to box them in which Ahsoka pointed out.
"Everybody, lock in your cables. R2, we need your droids to delay the enemy as long as possible." Anakin stated. "I will give them some fire-support." Robert said as he attached his rifle to his back and activated his lightsabers. "Better than expected, be careful. Everyone, follow me." Anakin shouted as Tarkin reluctantly got on Skywalkers back. "This is sheer madness." The captain declared. "Take it up with the committee." Cassie stated as she locked in her own cable and followed the others.
"Alright, let's give these scrapheads a real ass kicking." Robert stated as he blocked shot after shot from the enemy droids. "Yes, sir Sargent." OOM-10 responded as he and the seven remaining droids prepared for battle. As the heroic squad of droids moved to engage the enemy, they were gunned down in an instant leaving Robert the only one left. "Never send a battle droid to do a soldier's job. Reprogrammed or otherwise." He exclaimed as he jumped onto the back of one of the crab droids, stabbing his sabers into it like shark sinking its teeth into its prey.
One of the commando droids shot one of the cable hocks causing two of the surviving clones to fall to their death. Furious by their deaths, Robert surged forwards with his sabers, cutting the droids to pieces before grabbing one of the crab droids with the force and with a mighty thrust, through the droid into the lava river before crushing another and sending into another crab droid.
The hostiles eliminated, Robert deactivated his lightsabers and returned to the edge of the cliff. "Enemy pursuers eliminated." He shouted as he stepped off the cliff and activated his armors thrusters, slowing his decent. "Shame these two fell to their deaths." Robert said with much sadness in his voice as he picked up the fallen troopers rifle and handed it to Echo, before the two of them jumped down into a tunnel.
In hyperspace on route to rescue their allies, Masters Plo and Gallia had finished discussing the plan of attack with Masters Tinn and Fisto. Making their way towards the hanger bay, Barney caught up with them, very concerned about the situation on Lola Sayu.
"So, this Tarkin guy," Barney began as he loaded a Beta-C Drum magazine into his HK416. "What can you tell me about him?" he asked.
"Tarkin is one of the strongest supporters of Chancellor Palpatine and prefers to use brute force in times of battle." Plo began as he walked over towards Roberts fighter. "He is an excellent captain, but he feels that the Jedi should be removed from the war effort, believing that we lack the will to go further than our code allows us to achieve victory." Adi added.
"So basically this guy is a lap dog who believes the chancellors every word? That's fucked up. Military and politics don't mix." Barney stated, pulling back the receiver of his rifle.
Back on Lola Sayu, Sobeck was starting to get impatient with how the prisoners have constantly evaded them. To further complicate things, the location of the prisoners disappeared when the signal being sent to them by their clever little friend was lost.
His eye twitching and his patience worn thin, Sobeck decided to unleash the beasts. "BRING OUT THE ANOOBA'S! Use them for tracking only." Sobeck ordered his droids as they pressed the button on several cages. From inside the cages, several dark brown furred creatures with a signal razor sharp tooth below their lower jaw and bat-like ears emerged quickly picking up the scent of the prisoners before howling and darting off towards their prey. "Contact me as soon as the fugitives have been located." Sobeck ordered the droids.
Rex's point of view
As the Sargent would say 'we're in deep shit.'
He was right. Ever since we rescued Captain Tarkin and the other officers, the droids have been one step ahead of us and knew we were in the citadel.
But what really bothered me was the fact that he told the droids that Cassie had the half of the Nexus route that he possessed and let them interrogate her. If he didn't have the other half of the route I would push him into the lava river myself and claim it as an accident.
I didn't like him. Sure, he was a good leader but the amount of distrust he showed towards General Skywalker, Commander Tano and Sargent Lehner was starting to annoy me. I felt like he personally trying to get us all captured by the clankers.
Out of the nine troopers that accompanied us when we were frozen in carbonite only me, Echo, Fives, Cody, Charger and Longshot were left and the others including the survivors that were with General Piel were dead. Echo would have died had it not been for the Lone Wolf
Some generals call us expendable, but to many Jedi like Kenobi and Skywalker we were individuals and could each make our own choices. Still I couldn't help but think that there was something up with Tarkin. He seemed to relaxed when we escaped the prison and was even more surprised by the fact that general Skywalker had a backup plan, like always.
Soon the sound of howling echoed through the air and that only meant one thing, trackers. "Captain your going to want to take a look at this." Fives called as he looked through his range finder at the sky. I used my own range finder and saw what he was talking about. "Great. The separatists have extra ships. General Plo and the others are going to have a tough time breaking through." I stated, noticing that the seppies had brought in two extra frigates for support.
Putting my range finder back up, I noticed the kid pressing a button on his gauntlet and could tell he had a plan. But I was still concerned.
During the night before he took his watch duty, someone had emptied almost all of his ammo for his Morita and now he had only a few magazines remaining. Too make matters more complicated, he had only two packs for his BFG left. Someone had destroyed much if his remaining ammo supply and weakened our firepower.
My mind told me that Tarkin had done it deliberately, but I had no solid evidence to prove my theory. Deep down I knew I was right. My thoughts were broken when the sound of the howling was heard again. "Those creatures are getting closer." Fives stated as he turned around. "I would estimate we have about five minutes before they are on us, maybe less." Echo added.
"If they've caught our scent, they will lead the droids right to us." General Piell stated. "We're going to have to deal with them." General Skywalker added. "Good idea, but one question. How?" General McCall asked.
"Why don't we use the cave to surprise them?" The Commander Tano suggested. That plan sounded like a good idea, but General Piell stated we would need a distraction to get them to pass by us before attacking them from the rear. "Leave that to me and Obi-Wan." General Skywalker said as he and General Kenobi along with R2 create a distraction.
From inside the cave, I caught a glimpse of Captain Tarkin eying Commander Tano. After what he said about me and General Cage, I was beginning to think that maybe he was right and our relationship wasn't the right thing. But then I remembered that Robert told me that Cassie was happy just being with me and that made her happier then when she saw the kid again.
"Looks like the pouches have air support." My girlfriend called as six STAP's flew by, following the hunting party. The moment they passed we began to follow them, but we were interrupted by several Crab Droids climbed over the side and killed another one of my brothers.
Activating his weapon, General Piell destroyed one of the droids before ordering us to keep going while he and Commander Tano held off the droids. While the others headed towards General Skywalkers position, I turned around and watched the Commander stabbed her own weapons into one of the droids.
Ever since she was assigned to General Skywalker as his padawan, she's become more than a commander to me and the rest of the men of the 501st but like a sister. I couldn't help but smile under my helmet as I quickly rejoined the others.
I made it just in time as I gunned down a STAP that was making its way towards General Skywalker and later watched as he killed one of the Anooba's with his saber straight through its neck. Once again, another one of my brothers died protecting Tarkin, who just looked at the fallen officer before firing his stolen droid rifle at the droids shooting one down and allowing Artoo to shock it into submission.
"So much for the hunting party." Cody stated.
"No doubt there are more squads on the way." Tarkin added.
"I say bring it on. I got a lot frustration to vent out on those metal heads." The kid stated as he picked up a fallen droid blaster. That's when Commander Tano emerge from the smoke with General Piell over her shoulders. He was dead.
"He died, honorably." The commander stated with a lot of sadness. "And the information?" General Skywalker asked sadly. "I have it. He told me before he died." Ahsoka stated.
After wrapping the fallen generals body in a sheet, General's Skywalker and Kenobi used the force to gently push the body into the river of lava. I gave the fallen jedi a salute before following the others towards the extraction point. "He was a true leader." I said to myself.
Normal point of view
Above the separatist occupied world, the rescue forces exited hyperspace and began to deploy their fighter squadrons.
From the cockpit of his own Delta 7B, Saesee Tiin couldn't help but mention that battles such as the one about to occur haven't been seen since the days of the old republic. Aboard the gunship, Plo, Commander Wolfe, Comet and Barney held on tight as they prepared for battle with R4 flying the angel close behind them.
Back on the surface, the group finally made it to extraction point. "There's the extraction point." Obi-Wan stated.
Cody and Anakin rushed forwards and fired their cables at the rocks and hocked them in good. Rex and Tarkin began crawl over the lava lake before Echo and Fives followed suit. Turning around, Robert looked towards the area where Master Piells funeral took place. "My motion tracker is showing the droids are on their way. I will delay the enemy as long as possible." He proclaimed and was about to leave when Ahsoka grabbed his arm. "If you go and fight the droids you'll miss the pick-up point." She protested.
"I have planned for that and will be with you guys as soon as possible. R4 will be picking me up." Robert said as he pulled away from the Togruta padawan and headed towards the approaching enemy.
(Rambo gear up theme begins)
Ejecting his current magazine, Robert found that he still had three-quarters of .308 rifle ammo left in the magazine before attaching it back into his rifle. He then configured his BFG to launcher mode and reattached it to his back before pulling the slide of his pistol, chambering a round.
Taking out his knife, he looked at the blade through his helmet before returning it to his sheath and took cover behind a nearby boulder just as Sobeck and his forces arrived.
(Theme ends)
Above the planet, the space battle had begun.
ARC-170s launched attacks on the enemy fighter squads and had shot down three Tri-Fighters but failed to get the hyena bombers they were escorting. Their target was one of the republic cruisers. The cruisers DBY-827 heavy turbolaser turrets fired fiercely but failed to hit any of the bombers which dropped their payloads and veered away from the cruisers, one of them getting blown to pieces by an ARC-170.
"There are too many droid fighters. We need more time to break through the blockade." Master Tinn stated from inside his cockpit.
"We're out of time Master Tinn. We must break through now." Plo stated from inside the gunship as one of his fighter escorts was destroyed by a vulture droid. "Very well. Wing Commanders form up. We're going in." he ordered as he, Masters Fisto and Gallia followed Plo and the Angel down towards the surface.
Back at the extraction zone, the survivors fired at the enemy STAP's trying to stay alive until the evac arrived. Taking a que from Obi-Wan Anakin hijacked one of the STAP's and began to use it against the enemy forces.
On the other side of the lake, R2 activated his built-in extinguisher and hovered over to the pick-up point, creating a smokescreen temporarily blinding Sobeck and giving the two Domino ARC troopers the chance to shoot him down.
Casually walking over to the downed warden, Tarkin cocked his blaster and fired. However, Sobeck dodged the shot and lunged at the captain, throwing him to the ground before lifting him in the air. "If I can't have the information, then it will die with you." Sobeck growled and prepared to throw the captain into the lava only to be cut short by Ahsoka's Shoto.
"My thanks, padawan Tano. I see you trained her well" Tarkin said to Anakin as the gunship arrived.
The doors to the gunship slid open and they were greeted by Master Plo and Barney. "I believe you've worn out your welcome." Plo said as Barney began to fire his rifle at the approaching crab droids covering the rescue team while they boarded the gunship. "Where's Robert?" Barney asked Ray who told him that Robert volunteered to stay behind and hold off the enemy. "WE GOT TO GO BACK FOR HIM!" Barney shouted as the gunship doors closed. "Don't worry General Ross. The boy has a plan." Plo stated.
While this was going on a battalion of battle droids marched towards the island and was nearly at the republic pick up point when a grenade was thrown at the lead droids and exploded taking a good portion of the droids down.
"LETS DANCE!" Robert shouted before emerging from behind the rock and firing his Morita in a long burst.
(Indestructible by Disturbed begins)
Caught by surprise the droids quickly began to open fire.
Robert dived to the left, firing his rifle downing seven more droids before firing at a crab droid above him. Downing the droid, he caught the fallen crab droid with the force and hurled into the droids like a bowling ball, sending several of the droids flying into the lava river some of them screaming.
Reloading his rifle, a blaster bolt hit his armors right breast plate as a commando droid charged towards him. Firing the last of his shotgun ammo, Robert downed the droid and its squad before turning his attention back to the other droids as super battle droids entered the party.
Watching the gunship and three Jedi starfighters head up towards the atmosphere. Robert pulled out his BFG and began to charge it. Fully charged he fired the weapon taking out over a dozen hostiles just as R4 arrived to pick him up. "Better late then never buddy." Robert exclaimed as he jumped into the cockpit and followed the others up towards space.
He was cut short when a squadron of Vultures came in from 9 o'clock high, cannons blazing trying to shoot him down.
"You want to dance. THEN LETS DANCE CONS!" Robert shouted, pulling his fighter into a hard-left turn towards the citadel. Taking the bait, the droids followed him and tried to shoot him down, but thanks to his superior piloting Robert pulled a vertical loop, got behind the droids and fired his cannons, downing the fighters just as the made it towards the tower. One of the fighters crashed into the tower, damaging it even more as more and more fighters appeared in front of him. "Time to cut and run." Robert stated as he pitched his fighter up and made his way towards the fleet.
(Indestructible ends)
"Admiral Coburn, we have the survivors. Recall all fighters." Plo ordered his Admiral from inside the gunship. "Enemy units coming in from behind General. I can't shake them." The gunship pilot called.
Sure enough, a dozen Vulture droids from the planet surface were following them like sharks drawn to blood. No sooner had the pilot informed them of the enemy units, the droids were then destroyed. "Got your ass covered people." Robert shouted as he followed the others and landed safely back aboard Admiral Coburns flag ship before jumping into hyperspace ending the battle.
Cassie's point of view
While the rescue mission was a success, we faced a newer problem. Tarkin was apparently instructed by the Chancellor to give him the information while Ahsoka was instructed by Piell give her half to the council. "Hmmm… personally speak with the chancellor I will. Decide what is best we shall." The elderly jedi said before walking away.
Grabbing Tarkin by the collar of his uniform, I lifted him into the air just as Robert approached us. "You may be in the chancellor's favor, but next time you tell the enemy that I have the information they seek I will personally put a bullet in your brain." I said with a lot of anger before dropping the captain to the ground.
"I agree with you there Cassie." Anakin said to me as Tarkin boarded a shuttle with his shock trooper escort. "But like him or not, we need him. This is a war, but if we sacrifice our code even for victory we may lose what's important to us: Our Honor." Obi-Wan added as Tarkin left for the senate building. "I don't trust the guy." Robert said eyeing Tarkins shuttle with a lot of distrust.
What none of us knew at the time, was that our distrust of that bastard was right and he would do great harm to not only my family, but the very girl I think is in love with Robert.
Citadel Arc, completed. Really hoped you all enjoyed this one.
Before anyone askes, I am going to skip the parts with the Trandoshan hunters. While it would be good to include, those were more directed towards Ahsoka and I personally believe it to be one of her trials so that won't be included.
But for all you fans of firearms that can be used underwater, you are in for a treat because my next set of chapters covers the battle of Mon Calamiri. Should I have Robert wear the same time of gear that Anakin wore underwater, or scuba gear like Logan and Keegan wore in the Call of Duty Ghosts level "Into the deep." I would like you all to give me your thoughts, also I saw Solo and I liked it.
See you all next time.