-Main Bridge, Serenno, 900 kilometers from NCY-1-U-
Esera Corin walked nervously across the bridge of the, well, her ship. It had been very sudden, for lack of a better word, to be given one of the galaxies most powerful ships. She had just received word that Grievous had left Cataclysm, to engage some Jedi on the station. This left two droids and her to command the Confederate Fleet. She contacted OOM-27 and OOM-451 on Independence and Cataclysm. The two droids appeared before her in holograms, life size.
"Alright, what's our plan of attack?" She asked. 27 was first to answer.
"451, take the central line into the middle of their fleet. I and you, Jedi, we will take the flanks of the enemy. Simple enough, right?" Asked the droid.
"I agree." Said OOM-451. Esera nodded.
"So, Jedi, form a half circle around the flank you're attacking. I'll do the same on my side. 451, you'll enter the middle of the enemy. Spare none. And keep your ships in formation, we don't want any of our own getting caught in our net." Explained the droid commander. "Understood?"
"Yes, sir..?" Answered Esera, unsure if the droid was a superior officer or not. 451 was less experienced than 27, therefore lower rank, but answered with a firm:
"Roger, roger." The droid said some more, not wanting to end on the reminder of that horrible hard-wired program: "I'll keep my ships in order." With that, the meeting was done, and the battle began. Esera stared out the windows of the great bridge, watching as 451's line seemingly collide with the Republic fleet, breaking through it like a massive dagger. OOM-27's fleet engaged the enemy, red lasers spewing out into the Star Destroyers. Then, Esera's line opened fire, and received fire. Serenno's shields were too strong for anything to damage them, so the Subjugator plowed on right into the middle of their lines. She received new orders from 27, to have the lesser ships stay at the front of Republic lines, while the three Heavy Cruisers battered them from the inside. Esera ordered fighters and bombers to launch, as did the two droid commanders. The Confederate Jedi stood near the gunnery droids, directing their fire where she wanted it to go.
-NQS-391, Hyena-class Droid Bomber, 1000 kilometers from NCY-1-U-
The bomber swerved out of the great ship's hangar, what was essentially his home, in organic terms. He was followed by several other bombers, and surrounded by Variable Geometry Self Propelled Battle Droids, or Vulture droids to organics. He shot for the nearest ship, an Imperator-class Star Destroyer. ALERT: HOSTILE UNITS INCOMING announced his ship's fighter control computer. Sure enough, enemy machines were in bound, controlled by their organic masters. Green lasers rushed past him, smashing several of his escort. The bombers like him were tougher, and a few just shrugged off hits from the inferior Republic craft. 391 was suddenly aware of more hostile units, coming from the back. The bomber did a barrel roll, as it was called by organics, simultaneously shutting down his engines and flipping around, unleashing a torrent of lasers at the Republic ship. He watched in what might be satisfaction as it burst into flames and spiraled out of control into another enemy unit. NQS-391 faced to his target again, letting of a burst of his engines, and braced for the point defense fire.
Surely enough, small blue lasers were screaming past him, in almost every direction, hitting more of his escort and fellow bombers. A lurch and blast signaled that he himself had been hit. To try and throw off the enemy gunners, he pulled another barrel roll. It was becoming his maneuver of the day. Then, the time had come. The bridge tower of the Imperator was in sight. 391 opened his ordnance bay, and released his payload. Ten shield-breaker missiles flowed out, leaving straight clean trails behind them. His warheads hit, bursting up in flares of light, heat, and radiation that briefly made everything else incredibly dark. Sensors indicated the shields were down, and 391 was still on approach. He released the rest of his payload, standard anti-ship missiles. They streaked through space, and collided with the bridge tower, ripping holes in the plating and decks inside. He swerved out of the way, letting the other bombers fire their ordinance, taking out the Imperator's bridge tower. The massive ship had probably re-routed systems control to the secondary control, but it was of no consequence. 391's programming told him that with the outer armor of a good portion of the hull gone, the vulnerable inner hull would be exposed to fire from other ships. Even another wave of bombers could take the ship out. NQS-391 turned back to his ship, objective complete.
-Main Bridge, Cataclysm, Subjugator-class Heavy Cruiser 920 kilometers from NCY-1-U-
Ships scattered like leaves before the great bow of the Cataclysm, trying to avoid being torn apart by lasers or simply smashed by the huge ship's hull. The little Star Destroyers didn't stand a chance against the Confederate fleet, they were greatly outnumbered. A hundred and twenty or so Republic ships against the near thousand of Separatist ships. This battle would be over before it began. OOM-451 overlooked the scene of chaos out beyond the hull of the cruiser. Then he saw something he didn't like. The Republic's super weapon was turning toward his battle line. How was it still active? 451 then recalled that only a third of the ship was hit by the IPC's. Speaking of those, they were still recharging, on all three Subjugator's. "Uh oh…" He said out loud to the bridge crew of droids. "Uh, redirect all fire at the Republic's weapon!" Suddenly, the spray of red lasers stopped from the starboard side of the Confederate ships in his line. It would take a number of seconds to re-calculate their firing solutions, but those seconds might be too long: 451 saw the arms channeling energy into the dish. Then, it fired. A bright blue beam shot out of the dish, fanning out like it was a shotgun of energy. About a third of 451's line was hit. The ships were fine, but the he knew the droids were shut down. "All ships affected by the Republic weapon, retreat, I repeat, all ships affected by the Republic weapon retreat!" Ordered the droid. From the bridge, he saw a good deal of frigates and destroyers, not to mention nearly half his battleships turn about and head for NCY-1-U. The loss of those battleships would hurt. Luckily, he still had half of them. Unluckily, the Republic weapon was sheltering behind several Venator's now.
The thing was probably charging again, this time aimed at the defector Jedi's line. All ships reported in that their batteries had a new firing solution, but just then, the weapon fired on the Jedi's line. One of her battle ships, and about a few score of frigates and destroyers were hit. 451 clenched his mechanical fist. This thing fired fast. Too fast. "Sir! Our ships have a firing solution on the weapon!" announced a droid.
"Fire then!" He ordered. The spray of red lasers started again, battering the ships surrounding the weapon. An Imperator moved in to help with the defense, using it's powerful shields to deflect incoming ordinance from Separatist lines. Even if the Republic was doomed to lose this battle, they were putting up a hell of a fight. Then, the accursed blue beam shot from behind the star destroyers again, hitting some of OOM-27's Providence's, and couple frigates, and the lowest portions of Independence. Enough was enough.
"Alright, that's it! Plot a course right to the weapon, we're going to ram through those ships if we have too!" Ordered the droid commander.
"Sir?" Questioned another droid, probably one of the pilots. OOM-451 pointed at the cluster of Republic ships.
"All ahead full! Forward batteries target those Star Destroyers!" He shouted. If only Grievous where here to see this, thought the droid. Slowly but surely, the great Subjugator picked up speed. Cataclysm broke off from the main line, lurching toward the Star Destroyers, spraying lasers of red at them. The massive cruiser began to hurtle towards the Republic's super weapon, getting faster and faster. The Star Destroyers started to move, but maybe not fast enough. "All hands, brace for impact!" Announced 451 to the whole ships. Just then, the pointed prow of the ship smashed into the hull of an Imperator, spitting it in half, turbolaser batteries spewing their deadly fire at the remaining chunks. That didn't stop the Cataclysm though. It continued on, just barely missing the Republic weapon. That was of no consequence, though. They were near it.
"Launch boarding ships! Get those Commandoes over there!" Ordered 451, enjoying himself, and enjoying the success of his plan so far. Somewhere far below in the ship, the Commando droids were boarding their boarding craft, getting ready to board the Republic weapon, in an old fashioned ship-boarding. In minutes, the small gray craft were shooting out of the hangars, piercing through the armored hull. 451 went about the work of destroying the Republic fleet, letting the Commando droids do their work.
-Hallway 912, The Apocalypse Weapon, 910 kilometers from NCY-1-U-
Unit BX-821 leapt down from the Droch-class boarding ship, landing low to the ground, ready for whatever the Republic had to throw at him or his fellow commandoes. Unit BX-33 was the first down, like a good commander, leading the way. He silently raised his mechanical arm, motioning them forward. No words were needed. BX-33, BX-821, BX-823, and BX-826 all advanced up the hall, silently, soundlessly, sneakily. Their mission: Capture the bridge. General Grievous's last message since disappearing back into the construction facility was that all the Jedi were off the ship, leaving only clones on board. All to easy…
Suddenly, 33 raised his arm and open hand, signaling a halt. Another hand signal; the droids drew their vibroblades. Voices came from up ahead, clone voices. BX-33 had led 821 and the others on many missions, only three, 822, 824, and 825 had been lost, the droids knew what to do. As soon as the clones turned the corner, the commandos with swords were upon them, hacking and slicing so fast, the organics didn't even have time to react. A bloody mess, but the job was done. 821 realized that no alarms were going off. Something was amiss, it seemed. The 4 droids quickly advanced up the hall, making for the turbo lifts. 823 forced the door open, and the droids moved in. 33 calmly pressed the button for the bridge. The clones were in for quite a surprise. The lift shot up, up to the decks above. Then it slowed. The droid readied their blasters. Soon now… With a jolt, the lift stopped, and the doors opened. Several clones turned their heads to see who had arrived on the bridge. Four commando droids were the last thing they expected. "Greeting, organics." Stated BX-33, as the four stepped out of the lift.
"What the-!?" The clone was shot in the head before he finished his statement. The four opened fire on the bridge, gunning down all. BX-821 leapt over a console, and crouched down. It was his job to stop the weapon from firing again. As all the organics died around him, the commando entered the ship's power system, trying to shut it off. As the last clone fell, propulsion systems went off line. The ship was now drifting. Mission complete. Now, they had to just hold out here until they could figure out how to vent the ship's air.
-Main Bridge, Serenno, 910 kilometers from NCY-1-U-
Esera Corin grabbed hold of a droid's chair as the ship rocked from another Republic volley. Probably the last Republic volley too, considering how their fleet was collapsing around them. All around, Star Destroyers went up in flames, or out in flames, considering the lack of gravity. Air rushed out breaches, explosions ripped through hulls, metal shards broke free and hurled into the void, all around, the red lasers of the Confederacy flew. This was their victory. An incoming transmission:
"Sir, we have taken the bridge of the Republic super weapon, and have vented all air in the ship. It's ours now." Spoke a droid commando, BX series. Esera felt a surge of relief. It was over now.
"Good, good, get more of our troops on that ship. Corin out." She shut off the hologram, and sank into a chair. She attempted to contact Grievous, but to no avail. So it was to OOM-27 instead. The droid appeared, standing with mechanical hands on mechanical hips. "Uh… Sir, I've received word that the Republic's weapon is under our control. This battle is practically ours."
"Nice work, Jedi, is what I would say if you had ordered those troops aboard. Unfortunately for you, it was OOM-451 who ordered them aboard. We droids deserve credit for what we do, and I don't take kindly to thieves." The commander scolded.
"I… I wasn't claiming credit for anything… Sir. I'm just reporting the situation." Said she, taken aback by OOM-27's attitude.
"Good…" Said the droid. "Now, mop up the survivors. Let's put an end to this."
"Yes, sir." The Jedi replied gladly.
-Main Bridge, Independence, 932 kilometers from NCY-1-U-
The droid commander leaned back against the wall, watching his fellow automatons decimate the remaining Republic ships. Another victory for the Confederacy was at hand. He decided to contact General Grievous, and he replied.
"Yes?" The cyborg cheerfully said. Cheerfully? That wasn't right.
"Sir, are you ok?" Questioned 27.
"Yes, quite fine. I've just taken 4 Jedi's lightsabers. Now, what?"
"We've crushed the Republic-"
"I can see it quite fine from here."
"-And we captured the weapon." Grievous stared at the droid. Then he closed his eyes and raised a single fist.
"This is the. Best. Day. Ever." OOM-27 was scared by the General's lack of anger.
"Uh, ok, sir. Anything you want us to do?"
"Ready Cataclysm for my arrival. I'm going home." Said he.
"Home, sir?" Asked 27, confused.
"Yes, home, stupid droid." That was more Grievous like. "Home to Kalee. I've got a family to visit."
Author's note: See!? Told you I'm not dead. I just hit writer's block, then read a good story about Grievous (in my opinion) that inspired me: .com/art/My-Reason-to-Live-Part-1-121394155
Anyways, that smashed the block like the Seps smashed the Reps in this episode. And this is the first of many stunning victories by Grievous and gang. After all, who better to start fighting the horrible bias against the CIS in official Star Wars media than me?