Hello there everyone, welcome back to another chapter of Chronicles of War!
Ya'll seemed pretty happy with the last chapter, except for that guest, but I hope you will enjoy this one too!
Chapter 10
A pair of B1 battle droids casually walked through the hall without much of any care. The two past a small storage room, not worrying whether they should search it or not. And they moved on.
The room's door opened swiftly, unnoticeable to the droids. A large head encased in dark green, MJOLNIR armor, looked around, and walked out slowly. Carrying a battle rifle, Chief lead the small group, followed by Jedi Plo Koon, and two troopers from the room.
The hall's were usually clear, other than the occasional security team, it was easy for the MasterChief to sneak around the base. With the their troops distracting the droid forces, there were much fewer droids securing the halls and rooms of the factory.
"I've hacked the Separatists battlenet as well as some of the base's systems. The battle is going well enough for us, only a few casualties but the droids are right on them." Cortana said quietly from the Chief's helmet.
"We should get going then," Plo kept his saber in hand, ready for anything. "Cortana, have you been able to detect a control room of some kind?"
"Of course I have," She responded in a friendly manner, "I set up a NAV point in Chief's HUD, there's an elevator close by, the control room is below us, he'll lead the way."
Plo nodded and kept himself by Chief's side. The four ran fast, keeping their bodies lower to the ground so they wouldn't be seen as quickly. The four soon reached a door, Chief stood by it closely, staring at the door. The MasterChief pulled out his titanium knife, waited a moment as the door opened, and like a crack of lightning, struck the leading droid in the head. The large knife easily cut into the cheaper droid metal, and was now dead.
The second droid was too slow to react, and was easily shot down by a clone trooper. Chief put away his knife, and kept the door open. The elevator was now empty and free of droids.
"Impressive, the tale's of your skill do not give you enough credit on your speed. Even many Jedi could never reach that speed, I am glad you are on our side." Koon walked into the elevator. "Now let's go."
Chief nodded, saying nothing, and followed in. Thankfully for them all, the elevator was built to carry large weight, most likely heavy storage. So the Chief's massive weight wouldn't crash them when the elevator activated.
It took a few mere seconds to arrive on the second floor down, and everyone had weapons drawn and ready for anything. The door opened, revealing a pair of surprised droids that couldn't hope to react fast enough to the four, and were immediately gunned down.
The room was full of complex computer systems, large computers and entire walls of electronics that made a hundred different sounds. Glass windows covered the front where the biggest keypads stood, showing off a massive room outside the control room. Large containers were stacked along the walls of the right, while the left held a large, droid constructing complex that stretched for yards across. Sparks flew from some of the rapidly moving arms that attached limbs and basic parts to the developing droids.
"Commando droids." A clone muttered. "I was wondering why there were so many lately. This must be where they've been making them."
"Commando?" Chief looked around for a console he could put Cortana into, and was glad when he finally found one. He plugged Cortana in, and her body lit up on a holographic projector next to it.
"I see, these droids are being built here in large mass. Something about various infiltration plans on several outposts. There are all sorts of plans here. These guys aren't too tight on electronic security are they?" Cortana analyzed several data packets in front of her.
"This is important information. We must get it to the Republic immediately. Keep searching, see what else you can find." Plo Koon searched the computers as well, searching the factory's manifest systems.
"Roger." Cortana replied. "I'm shutting down several systems of the base, but we can blow this place sky high, destroy everything here."
Suddenly, the door behind them opened up, revealing two B2 battle droids that immediately opened fire. Red bolts missed passed their targets and hit the glass behind the group, shattering the glass easily. Plo Koon force pushed the two B2's back into the elevator, then used the force to close the elevator door and activated it, sending the two droids back up to the first floor.
"They know of our location, do we have all we need?" Plo Koon asked Cortana, keeping his saber ready in hand.
"Just another moment, I'm accessing files on other bases like this." She replied.
Chief aimed his rifle at the door, ready for anything that could come their way, until he noticed several dozen small dots on his motion tracker. Koon seemed to notice the same thing Chief did, and the two turned around to see several commando droids climbing up to the room, the first one grabbed the side of the glass window rail, crunching the remaining glass with its metal hand.
Two droids flipped inside, each pulling out a sword and tried to cut at Koon, only to be cut in pieces by the Jedi's saber.
"Pull me." Cortana said to the Chief, who fired off his battle rifle multiple times, killing several droids fast. Chief grabbed Cortana's metal chip from the computer and back into his helmet. Chief backed up, the droids grouping in by the dozens. Some carried blasters while others carried short swords, and all rushed to attack.
A commando jumped off the side of the wall and lunged onto Chief, who grabbed both the droids arms and used the droid as a weapon, tossing it around like a ragdoll into another commando.
The clones opened the elevator door, and fired their blasters into the droids that occupied it. A clone tossed a thermal detonator into the mass of droids, but surprisingly, one of them snatched it from the air, tossing it back in a front flip. Chief smacked the detonator away, his shields taking the damage when it exploded, and shattered three droids away.
Plo Koon force pushed several of the droids back, slowing down the advancing horde so they could all fit inside the elevator.
The elevator went up as fast as it could, and the THUD THUD THUD echoed inside the elevator shaft, and they quickly figured the commando droids had been trying to climb up after them.
"Alright, all hell is going to be loose soon, the factory is on high alert." Cortana went over the data packets she took before Chief pulled her from the systems until the elevator door finally opened. "Reports from Sergeant Johnson say more droids have been deployed from here, but they have everything handled. We need to head to the defense turrets located several corridors away."
"Where exactly is that?" Chief asked, watching their backs as they walked out of the elevator. Plo Koon used the force to activate the elevator again, sending it back down to the incoming commando droids.
"Head to your right, then make a left turn." She replied quickly.
The group followed her directions, going through several corridors, Cortana guided them throughout the base until they found a secured door. Two droids guarded the door, but could barely raise their weapons before being shot by the clones.
"This door is sealed tight, and there's no console to unlock it from the outside." Cortana said as Chief walked up to the door, searching it top to bottom for anything they could use to open the door.
"I'll take it from here my friend." Plo placed his hand on Chief's armored shoulder, and the soldier took a step to the side. Koon took his saber and stabbed it into the wall, and slowly began to cut a large square from out the door. The metal sides turned bright orange and slid off from the door, leaving the gaping hole they could easily walk into.
Plo stepped in first, saber up and ready for the droids that had been standing by the door. Chief ran through fast, smacking a B1 away before charging a B2, that also fell quickly to the Chief's rapid attacks.
Plo Koon and the clones finished off what remained, and stood by the door for anything that could be sent their way. Chief looked at the screens before him, all showing green outlines of large turrets that defended the factory.
The group soon heard the familiar sound of marching droids, dozens of footsteps repeated a perfect march, all aimed for their location.
"We need to move, now!" Chief stared at the consoles under the screens, until he found a suitable terminal and plugged Cortana in. Her image popped up on a holographic display. The screens were green, with the outlines of the dozen defense turrets on them. Alien writing littered a small box under each screen, but the screens were soon changed to red, and an alarm went off right after.
The marching grew louder, and the long shadow of a column of battle droids became present along the walls outside the room.
"I've set these turrets to full power, and I'm aiming them at each other. When a timer goes off the combined explosions should shatter this side of the factory, any fuel sources would react violently, more explosions would occur all over."
"How long do we have?" A clone asked anxiously.
"A few minutes starting now, I'll place the timer on the Chief's HUD." She replied, right before Chief pulled out her chip from the terminal.
"Alright, let's go." Chief pulled out a fragmentation grenade, tossing it up and down in his hand, and readied the pin to be pulled.
As the group rushed out, Chief tossed his grenade into the firing line of droids, killing two of them and knocking over another. The two clones fired onto the line as they retreated away, Plo managing to block off most of the shots fired back to them, and Chief also shot at the advancing line of droids.
"I did some reading on the layout of this base, our exit should be close by." Cortana said, setting up a NAV point on Chief's HUD for him to follow.
"Excellent. I like your thinking Miss." Plo complimented Cortana, stopping to block the last red bolt that got close to them before they made their way into a separate corridor to their right.
"We made it past them, hurry before more guards come after us!" Cortana exclaimed.
A pair of droideka's rolled from an unseen position, but Chief was quick to fire upon them before they could activate their bubble shields. He fired several rounds from his battle rifle, cutting through the cheap droid metal and disabling them.
Chief reloaded with a fresh clip before continuing on. The group ran forward, not stopping for anything short of being shot at.
"Vehicle bay up ahead!" The NAV point made an arrow that pointed to an open vehicle bay full of speeder bikes Chief had once briefly seen on Geonosis.
"Hurry!" Cortana shouted, everyone could hear her as they frantically hopped on and activated four speeder bikes.
"What about the door?" A trooper asked as he grew nervous of the possible death he could experience soon.
Plo Koon quickly used the force to activate the door, a trick he had become quite good at and proved useful on their mission. Droids desperately tried to catch up, but proved to be too slow and were simply outran. The door slowly opened, revealing a vehicle depot, with four speeders and a tank. Chief chose the speeder, and realized its controls were relatively simple, and didn't have time to waste trying to figure out the tank's controls. They blasted the hangar bay open with the speeder's blaster cannons, opening a hole for them to fit under and rode on.
When the timer on Chief's HUD reached zero, explosions shook the ground behind them, waves of flame overtook the front of the base, and the factory began to collapse in on itself. The turrets blew apart quickly, an explosion even sending one of the cannon tube's far into the forest away.
"Mission success. Sergeant Johnson, what's your sitrep?" Cortana radioed for the Sergeant as soon as they entered the forest.
"Alive and waiting ma'am. The tin cans didn't stand a chance." He answered quickly.
"Good, cause we have more bases to locate." A Venator slowly descended into the valley below, ready to pick up the marines and clones. Droid parts and bullet cases littered the ground, a single bent over tree caught fire and smoke, but was put by the large gush of wind from the landing Venator.
Ryloth, Outer Rim Territories
Master Mace Windu had his eyes closed tightly, breathing through his nostrils slowly. Behind him, a single brute poorly attempted to sneak up on the Jedi master. Mace turned his head slightly when the large creature stepped on a small branch, cracking it under his foot.
The brute charged forward, hoping to catch Mace off guard. The Jedi master turned quickly, determined to face the threat.
Mace duck from a swing from the hairy alien. The creature was as tall as a wookie, but much wider and clearly possessed much more strength. The Jedi leaped over the berserked beast, trying to avoid its massive arms.
The creature had been following him for some time when Mace was scouting ahead, until Mace had lured it to a steep cliff so he could attempt to capture it. A plan he realized couldn't work. The alien brute was enraged at Mace and tried to attack him with his bare hands after Mace had kicked his gun away a moment ago.
The alien ran towards Mace in pure anger, snarling and jumping off a rock to try and land on him. Mace easily sidestepped and tripped the creature over. The brute turned back to attack but was pushed away further. Even with his incredible strength in the force, Mace had some trouble keeping the brute at bay. The alien seemed keen on just getting to Mace, who didn't want to think of what the creatures intentions would be.
But Mace was determined, he wasn't going to let some alien tear him apart. Mace closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and reached out in the force. The brute snarled at the smaller man, but realized he could barely struggle against the powerful Jedi, his body began to float into the air. Mace lifted the creature higher, then slammed the brute to the ground hard. The once loud and aggressive creature now unconscious.
A dozen clone troopers started to climb from bushes and out from behind rocks at different times, as they had all returned from their assignments.
"Sir! Are you alright?" The clone commander asked his Jedi General.
"Just taking care of a small patrol, they seem to be getting closer to our camp." He referred to what was essentially a hole in the wall of rock around him. It was good for cover, and hard to find by accident, the only place his troops could hide.
"General, our scouts have been monitoring the enemy movement like you asked, and one of them found something very interesting." Ponds saluted to the Jedi, then stood at ease.
"What did he find?" Mace crossed his arms.
"He was tracking the movement of several hundred Twi'leks when he saw a recently constructed tower of some kind. Possibly a communications tower."
"What's the enemy strength their?"
"Dozens of those big aliens with personal deflector shields, about a hundred of the bird creatures, six or seven of those big ape creatures, and several dozen of the smaller guys. They have several mortar tanks as well as a couple of those wheeled scout vehicles." Ponds shook his head. "We're outgunned and outnumbered."
"We'll need help then." Mace looked around to his last remaining troops. "Contact the rebels, if they can distract some of the alien troops away, we'd have a chance."
"They are already here, sir." Ponds turned to Syndulla, who had just appeared from behind a ledge with several other of his trusted rebel companions. Half a dozen Twi'leks walked towards the Jedi, three of which wandered to sniper positions in case of any Covenant that would come around. Syndulla approached Mace with a frown, his eyes were noticeably baggy from not sleeping well.
"Master Jedi, I've come to help." Syndulla stated plainly. "The best way to help my people is to strike now while we have strength. My people are being enslaved and I cannot bear the horrors I've been told had happened to them. We," he gestured to his men, "are with you. I already have mobilized what little forces I have. What do you have to say?"
Mace breathed deeply through his nose, and exhaled the same way before speaking. "I'm glad you are here. I have a plan."
Kamino, Kamino System
Linda sat staring at the wall silently, marines and clones that stood around her had explained the passed events as best as they could for the Spartan. The room was just outside what she was told was a bacta room, where beings could be healed even after extreme injury, such as getting hit by plasma in the chest, like she had when her shields were down. Linda continued to ask questions and get slow responses from those around her.
"Then we jumped from Reach and into this part of the galaxy, thats when we met the Republic. We are actually in one of their medical stations." The marine known as Corporal Locklear gestured around as he finished, taking a breath after going over all the painful events that happened during and after Reach.
"Reach is gone?" Linda tried hard to swallow everything she had been told down. She gripped the sides of the bench she sat on tightly, leaving small, barely noticeable marks. "What about the others? Is Chief..." She couldn't finish the sentence, the mere thought of the MasterChief dying seemed utterly impossible to her.
"He's alive and kicking ass like normal. As far as we know, you two are the last Spartans." He bit his lip on the thought of the millions of soldiers lost at Reach. The marine shook his head in a sign of defeat, breathing heavily before looking back at Linda. She looked around cautiously, not fully trusting anything around her. Everything around her was either new or different, making her feel uncomfortable about the whole situation.
A Kaminoan walked into the room, followed the swish of the automatic door closing behind it. She was different from the Kaminoan Linda had choked before, which understandably didn't want to be around her at the time.
"Greetings, I am Goa Dri of Kamino." She spoke softly, almost like a robot in a way, with little emotion or energy behind it. "I trust you have healed fast yes?"
Linda nodded to the alien creature, still not sure how to class her as anything other than an ally. Even so, she remained cautious of her surroundings.
"Affirmative. I'd like to be able to see Captain Keyes or Sierra one one seven as soon as possible, if you don't mind." Linda stood up to try and match the height of the surprisingly tall creature.
"Of course, as soon as other tests are made to make sure you are fit for departure. May we be able to scan you for any possible infection in your bloodstream? I hear the plasma you were hit with was quite crude and dangerous." She seemed to try to assure Linda she was peaceful. Her dark eyes gave no hint of any emotion to Linda, making her unsure of its intentions.
"Its okay Linda." Locklear rested his hand on Linda's cold shoulder. "Just trust the doc alright?"
Ryloth, Outer Rim Territories
Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee sat impatiently on the bridge command chair, his fingers tapping together to pass time.
He had sent two battlecruisers to Geonosis as instructed, as well as a copy of official plans he had for the people on Ryloth. Luro sent multiple battalions across the world, where they rounded up hundreds of thousands of Twi'leks and placed them in several labor camps. Stations and depots had been constructed on the planet below, where raw materials were being kept and ready to be used. Hundreds of Unggoy had been placed in a secure set of linked chambers for their breeding duties, as was customary on newly captured worlds. Because of the fast growth and maturity rate of Unggoy, a few months could provide thousands more soldiers for combat.
Now with a mere eleven ships, Luro suddenly felt a small sense of danger. Anticipation mixed with a lack of enemy contact had him slightly worried. The only real dangers were the few native fighters as well as some of the human forces stationed their. Small squads were lost from surprise skirmishes, but nothing noticeably important to the Commander.
His fleet held a solid formation, cruisers scattered around the northern hemisphere, all in a circle around the Resplendent Fervor like sharks hovering over a whale carcass.
Luro had double checked everything was going as planned, his troops finished constructing the long range communications tower so they could communicate with fleets from several systems away.
He could only hope to prove his worth soon, and to not be passed by Koso.
"Commander!" A minor called from his station. "Another patrol unit has failed to report in."
"Where were they sent?" He asked with a hint of annoyance, having heard the same report of small patrol squads being killed or missing.
"They were patrolling the mountains several clicks away from the communications tower. Should we send another squad to search for them?"
"No." Luro growled. "If the enemy wants to face us, they will do so at the tower. Ready spec ops squads by it, let them come. They will only find their deaths."
"As you wish." The minor responded swiftly, fearing what the obviously unsteady Commander would say or do to whoever annoyed him.
Luro fell back into his thoughts, feeling slightly less concerned as one of his problems would soon be fixed.
Or so he thought.
Coruscant, Republic Capital
Jedi Temple, Communications Center
Every available Jedi Master had stood inside the room for several minutes. Most Jedi were out fighting the war, others trying to maintain peace in core worlds that were ready to erupt in conflict. The entire known galaxy was in a state of emergency, and even the most calm of the Jedi were worried.
Master Yoda stood by the famous Obi Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker, who had prepared a sort of display for the Jedi that had only recently heard of the new forces in play. Most were skeptical, some doubted the newcomers would pose a threat. But each one of them was curious above all other feelings.
"Masters." Anakin addressed the Jedi in the room calmly, keeping his hands held together behind his back. "I'm sure you are well aware of the news of new factions that we have made contact with. One is a friendly human race called the UNSC. From what we've gathered, they are an unfortunately less advanced race. Their ships lacking shields and resort to using mostly slug based weapons. For nearly thirty years, however, they bravely fought a superior faction called the Covenant."
Holographic images appeared on the table beside him. The Pillar of Autumn being one of them, as it and the two frigates stood in front of the weak Republic fleet. Most faces looked skeptical, but some weren't very surprised that some humans made it into the unknown regions and back.
"These ships belonged to them, but were unfortunately destroyed when these ships came." He gestured to the new images of Covenant ships. "These aliens are called the Covenant. A collection of previously unknown species that had nearly wiped out the UNSC. Killing billions, and burning hundreds of worlds in the process." He took a breath before continuing. "They declared war against us, and the Geonosians have joined them, leaving the Separatists behind. We rescued hundreds of UNSC personnel from the world. Only barely escaping a massive fleet of Covenant."
The images changed to the retreating Republic fleet being fired upon by the powerful Covenant reinforcements. Every set of eyes in the room widened as the images of Covenant ships filled the table screen in front of them. Most if not every Jedi had been shocked by the sights of the strange, alien looking ships.
"The Covenant are very skilled." Obi Wan joined Anakin and continued. "Our engagements against them proved they can take on anyone we know of in the galaxy. Their ships are long ranged and strong, their fighters have personal shields, as well as a good defense turret system."
Obi Wan pressed another button on the side of the holotable. Images of many of the Covenant soldiers and vehicles appeared in a slide show fashion.
"Grunts are the weakest units, difficult in large groups and are willing to suicidally charge with explosives. Jackals are bird like creatures with good aim, almost as good as clones. Hunters are massive creatures with thick armor and a plasma cannon. I heard a pair once took on an entire AT-TE. And finally, their most skilled warriors, Elites."
The images changed to several holograms of Elite's of various ranks in combat. An ultra could be seen cutting open a clone with his energy sword, a major charging with dual plasma rifles, and a few minors leading grunts into an attack against several clone troopers. Eyes widened even more as the holographic images continued to play.
"They are called Elites for good reason. They have strong personal shields that can withstand some damage, and are completely fearless. I once dueled one on a Covenant ship, he was very skilled with his saber."
Murmurs and side conversations sparked among the large number, sharing their thoughts and feelings on the new information, until Yoda raised his hand in the air, and every Jedi immediately stopped to pay attention to the Grand Master. Yoda walked forward from his position beside Anakin and stood in front of them, using his trusty cane to keep him steady, for even his strength in the force couldn't hold back the power of time.
"Worried, we are, about the Covenant. Their actions, dark and horrible, they are. Stop their evil, we must." Yoda spoke up to the Jedi.
Obi Wan nodded to the Grand Master, and took a deep breath before he spoke again. " Which is why we are preparing. Word had been received recently from a civilian transport. They reported a large massacre of small ships and corvette sized vessels, all clues indicate they were attacked by Covenant forces. And Mace Windu's lack of response from Ryloth can't be a coincidence."
"What do you suggest we do?" Kit Fisto called from the back of the room, his arms crossed in concern.
"We ask of you to ready yourselves and your fleets. The war already has us hurt badly, but we must answer the call to restore peace. We're sending a fleet to Ryloth, and forming a large fleet in the Outer Rim territories, so we could divide our forces properly in case more of the Covenant start showing up in our galaxy. We must be ready, that is all." Obi Wan waved his hand slightly, and kept his hands held together again. He found it strange how many of the new Jedi Masters lacked as much experience and skills that most did before the war. They seem to be getting younger and younger, too. He shook his head tried not to think about how desperately the Jedi tried to keep stability in their order.
Heads nodded almost simultaneously before leaving, many held conversations about the almost shocking information. Some of the younger Jedi were contemplating how they would fare in battle against the 'elites' and their strange lightsabers, and hoped to face them in battle. Others were more worried about having to fight two wars at once, especially since the clone wars had already taken its toll on the galaxy.
But not one was truly prepared for what would soon come.
Next time, this Consecration is Sacred