Obi-Wan and Commander Cody were joined by the Shadow Force as they advanced on the Separatist stronghold. As the Shadow Force was trained for stealth missions and guerrilla warfare, most of them snuck around to ambush droid battalions before they could face Obi-Wans group. Trickshot met up with Cody behind some cover behind a stray branch.
"Need any help brother?" Trickshot asked.
"It would be appreciated," Cody admitted, "where's your captain?"
"He said he could sense something going on inside the tree and took Ghost in to investigate," Trickshot explained, ducking as a blaster bolt grazed his helmet, "he told me to bring everyone else to aid General Kenobi."
"Good, we need your help."
As if to prove Cody's point, one of the droids cannons burst through the top half of their cover and obliterated a group of clones in white and yellow armor. Trickshot backed into the branch and readied his grenade launcher. He looked over and spotted a squad from the Shadow Force. He signalled to them to take out the cannons, receiving a nod from one of them as acknowledgement. The squad stealthily snuck behind the droids, quickly silencing any that managed to spot them. They stuck charges on each cannon as they passed through the battalion. Obi-Wan spotted them come out the other side of the battalion. the clone with the detonator looked at Obi-Wan, who nodded, and pressed the button, causing the charges on the cannons to explode, bringing the cannons down. With the only things pinning them destroyed, Obi-Wan signalled the clones to continue their assault.
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The visor on Dalkos' helmet allowed him to see in the dark. He also made sure that each of the Shadow Force helmets had night vision, so Ghost could see as well. Ghost carried her blaster rifle while Dalkos had a pistol. They made their way through the tree, a metallic clang sounding in the distance. Ghost looked at Dalkos, who could feel her gaze.
"I don't know what that is," Dalkos admitted, "but it might be what we're looking for."
The two continued. As they approached the clanging they heard something else. Electrical bursts coupled with a woman screaming. They started running through the sprawling tunnel, following the screams. After a while, they spotted a hole in the wall with a yellow light escaping it and illuminating the opposite wall. They stopped and Dalkos peaked in as a bright blue light illuminated the tunnel when another electrical burst was heard. Dalkos saw the screaming woman.
"I don't believe it," he whispered, "I didn't think they were real."
Confused, Ghost rolled over to the other side of the hole and looked in. She saw a woman trapped in an electrical torture chamber. She had blonde hair and barely open red eyes. She was gasping for breath. Her clothes were burnt and torn from the torture, to the point that she wearing almost nothing. She had feathered wings sprawled on the chamber floor, barely moving as she was close to death.
"It's said that they're the guardians of the Force itself," Dalkos explained, "a fairy. she must be the protector this tree. They must be trying to syphon its power out through her. Look," he pointed to several cords attached to the chamber when he sensed Ghosts confusion, "those are used to syphon power. We need to save her, she might know what they're syphoning this tree for."
Ghost nodded and entered the chamber, hiding behind an ammunition crate as Dalkos leapt in and blasted the syphon cables. the sound of lightsabers activating made him turn around. Pushing through the surrounding droids were two Sith apprentices. One male human carrying a normal lightsaber in his right hand and shorter bladed saber, which Dalkos liked to refer to as light daggers, both with red blades. The other a female Togruta with a double bladed saber, its blades were red as well. Both wore black armor and had yellow eyes.
"I heard Dooku abolished the Rule of Two when Sidious died," Dalkos said, pulling his own lightsabers out, "you two prove it."
"It was a mistake coming here Jedi," the Togruta said, "you will die today."
"Oh I don't know about that," Dalkos activated his blades, "why don't you try to bring truth to your words."
"Are you welcoming death?" The human asked.
"Maybe. Attack me and see."
The sound of metal hitting the ground made the Togruta turn around. Ghost was taking out the droids from a distance. Dalkos took the chance to strike. He brought his blade down on the Togruta, only to have it blocked by the human. The Togruta turned around and the two on one duel began.
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While the clones continued the assault inside the stronghold, Obi-Wan engaged General Grievous on the surrounding wall.
"You have already lost General," Obi-Wan stated when they locked blades.
"We may lose this stronghold today," Grievous said, "but we have already accomplished what we came here to do. My only reason to remain behind is for the satisfaction of killing any Jedi who came to investigate. You cannot stop our plans when you are dead Kenobi."
"I'm not the one who's dying today."
Grievous pulled his arms back to start a new assault.
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After securing the control room of the stronghold, a tech savvy clone took control of the console and shut down the battle droids on the planet before searching through the Separatist files.
"They must be protecting something important if they had this many droids here," Trickshot said to Cody, "what could they be hiding. It has to be something more than battle plans."
"Whatever they're hiding," Cody said, "we'll know soon."
"Sir," the clone at the console called, "I think I found something."
Cody and Trickshot looked at each other and walked over to the console. They studied the schematics on the screen.
"My God," Trickshot gasped.
"What is that thing?" Cody asked.
"According to the schematics, it's some kind of space station with a super weapon."
"The Jedi need to see this," Trickshot looked to Cody, who nodded.
"Download everything regarding this space station," Cody ordered.
"Yes sir," the clone said, pulling a device out of one of the cartridges on his belt.
I'm sure you now what the separatists are building. It's not anything new, we knew they had the schematics since the start of the Clone Wars.