A/N: Wow! I can't believe we're at ch. 14! Thank you all who have stayed with me!
I do not own Star Wars: If I did, I would not be posting fan fictional stories.
Mysteries Revealed
Chapter 14: The Battle Over Specro, Part 1
On Scipio...
The Chairman of Scipio wait concertedly for his back-up to arrive. He had one of Commander Hamsterwheel's officers program a viewing hologram in his office. Now, he could overlook the destruction of his enemy in the comfort of his desk. He laughed menacingly.
He took out his holo-disk and activated it. He pressed a few buttons and soon, a hologram of Count Dooku appeared.
He bowed his head to the Count. Although hard-headed, Marvin ultimately respected the Count. "Count Dooku, are your ships ready for attack?"
Dooku sat confidently in his chair. "Yes, Theodus. I am sending my best General to lead the attack. The Republic fleet will sure be surprised by his tactics."
Should I tell him about General Skywalker? Marvin gulped. "Indeed, that-" he stampeded, as he loosened his shirt collar by pulling it lose. He gulped, continuing -"that is good news, C-Count."
Dooku raised a menacing eyebrow. "Is there something I should know?"
Marvin felt sweat form on the back of his neck. "Well, uh...It's not a huge deal...but-"
Dooku brought a fist up and smashed it on the resting arm of his chair. Frustration clenched in his face, mirroring his fist. "Spit it out, Chairman."
Marvin threw his hands in the air. "Alright! General Skywalker is leading the expedition!"
Dooku's expression changed. Not to an angrier look, but satisfied. He unclenched his fist, setting it back on his lap. He smiled.
Marvin now knew he disliked the smile.
"Excellent." Marvin blinked. Excellent? Did I hear that correctly? Excellent?
He swallowed his fear, at least most of it. "I...uh..."
Dooku sighed. Seriously, the inhabitants of these two planets are completely unintelligent. "We can rid of a valiant player in this game of dejarik. If we were to capture General Skywalker, we can somehow bring him to join the C.I.S."
Marvin chuckled. "Count, if you may, I'd hate to disagree with you, but General Skywalker seems to be a very loyal man to the Republic. If he's such a threat, why don't we just kill him off?"
Dooku thought long and hard on the Chairman's idea. "My Master needs Skywalker for the future." He looked back at Marvin. "Do not let him escape. Let my General capture him. Understand?"
Marvin didn't like the Count's plan. The Skywalkers should just be destroyed, once and for all. He just smiled. "Cross my heart and hope to die." He made an invisible X over his chest with his index finger.
Dooku smiled. Oh, you will, he thought, as he turned off the hologram. Marvin's image disappeared. The secret Sith Lord stayed rather quiet as he thought about his next motive. As he sat in his chair on a hidden, secret planet, a disclosed hologram image of a creature stood beside Dooku.
"This is an important mission for you, General. If you can capture Skywalker and destroy the other one, we will be very close to winning this war."
The general's holographic image bowed to Dooku. "I will not fail, my Lord."
The Count smiled. "We need this planet for the Separatists. While Senator Skywalker lives, he gives hope for the people to stay with the Republic. When dead, the people will sure join Chairman Marvin's reign."
The image of the general laughed menacily along with his teacher.
On the Fury...
Anakin directed the clones back to their stations, as he, Rex, Padmé and Tan made their way up to the quarters. Padmé instisted that Tan needed to look more presentable, so she took it upon herself to stylize up. Seeing that he was of no use (well, mostly that he didn't want to be in the prescence of a woman and fashion), Anakin walked up to the bridge of the ship. He watched as some clones continued to run the ship. Admiral Wolon looked over from inspecting a Sergeant's work and noticed Anakin enter. The Admiral straightened himself up and saluted to the General.
"Sir, the ship is running at full capacity. We are ready for lightspeed."
Anakin nodded. "Good work, Admiral." He stayed quiet for a moment. Funny how the Scipians nor Separatist back-up came yet. We should probably go now. "Do so immediately."
Admiral Wolon knew exactly Skywalker's course of action. It is odd how no one's tried to stop us now...
Not a second later, a beeping went off the ship. One of the clones tried desperately to stop it, even the Sergeant couldn't stop it.
The Admiral walked over to the Sergeant. "Sergeant Ugo, is there a problem?" he asked in a hushed tone.
Ugo looked up to the Admiral from the lower computers. "Sir, our scanners have shut off."
Anakin walked over and joined Ugo and Wolon. "What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?"
Wolon shrugged to Anakin. "I don not understand. The scanners were working at full capacity just minutes ago. I had fixed it myself."
Anakin raised an eyebrow. So, if the scanners were just up, then that means-
Suddenly, the ship shook. It started from the bottm and worked its way up. The bridge felt the impact almost immediately. Anakin used the Force to keep himself balanced, while the clone officers almost fell out of their seats.
"What's going on?" Anakin asked, the ship continuing to shake.
Wolon almost fell off balance. "I think we got hit at the lower levels, General," Wolon assumed confidently, although not cheerfully.
Anakin didn't think twice about Wolon's report. If we were hit, then..."We're under attack?" he asked. Wolon looked over at the clones who were operation on the ship. His main attention went to Ugo.
"Sergeant, what happened?" he asked Sergeant Ugo.
He looked up at the Admiral. "Our scanners are still down, sir. We can't get a read of the attacks. I can estimate that we are-"
Wolon slammed his fist in his other hand. I can't deal with this! I want specific! "Be exact, Sergeant!" he demanded.
Another clone stood up, for Sergeant Ugo looked petrified beyond belief. "Droid activity is being picked up by our radars. We've counted twenty cartages!"
Anakin looked down at the sergeant and private. "Sergeant, get fighters ready!"
Sergeant Ugo nodded. "Yes, sir."
Anakin nodded to him, then looked back at Wolon. "Admiral, we are definitely under attack! We need to evacuate everyone!"
"Yes, sir!"
Anakin nodded. We'll evacuate the frigates-
Wait.
Anakin looked around. Where are Padmé and Tan? Are they still in their cabins?
"Admiral! Keep the Senators in their cabins until the clones can escort them to the frigates!" he demanded.
Wolon hesitated halfway. "What about you-"
Anakin held a hand up. "Just make sure they get to the frigates!"
Wolon went up to the controls and pressed some buttons. "Senators, stay in your cabins until clone escorts can assist you! Repeat: stay in your cabins until clone escorts can assist you! We are under attack! Repeat: we are under attack!"
A few minutes prior, at Padmé's cabin...
Tan opened the door of Padmé's room. He paired out and saw the blue blood covered clone along with the dirt covered one. What were their names?
"Boric and Clue Rack, what is the meaning of this?" he asked.
Coric leaned closer to Blue Jack. "He forgot our names again," he muttered.
At least he didn't call us Blusie and Uptight, Blue Jack thought. "Sir, we're just checking up on you. General Skywalker wanted us to escort you back to your cabin once you are finished."
Must be for safety, Tan thought. "Please show me the way." Blue Jack nodded. The three men continued on their way.
They walked to the south end of the ship, since that was where a lift was to the higher levels. Tan eyed the battle equipment that was stationed there. Large bombs and ammunition were stacked all over.
Suddenly, they felt a shake. All three men looked at each other.
"What was that?" Tan asked. Blue Jack stayed quiet. It can't be a Seppie attack.
...could it?
"...Repeat: we are under attack!"
Blue Jack and Coric looked up at the Admiral's voice. It's coming from the EA system, Coric thought.
Coric looked at Blue Jack. "Sergeant, you reckon its Scippio's backup?"
Blue Jack nodded to Coric. "I reckon so, Coric." The Sergeant looked over at Tan.
"Senator, we have to take you to the fri-" he began, but was interrupted by another huge blast. The three men were knocked off their feet from the explosion. A large lift broke from the wall and fell on explosives. The explosives reacted and sent pieces of the lift flying everywhere.
Blue Jack opened his eyes to see flames all over. Flames engulfed most of the lower decks. Dammit! What happened? He pulled himself up and brushed the dirt and gravel off. He searched for either Coric or Senator Skywalker.
"Coric! Senator!" he yelled.
"Sergeant!" Blue Jack turned around to find Coric walking toward him. Well, limping was more like it.
"Coric, are you alright?" he asked. Coric pressed the side of his helmet.
"Yea, I'm fine." He looked around. "Where's the Senator?" he asked. Blue Jack turned his head at different degrees, but couldn't find the Senator. Skywalker is gonna kill us!
Suddenly, the troopers heard a "Trooper!" come from under a piece of metal behind them, just a couple meters away. Both troops ran toward it and lifted it, using their unusual strength. The Kaminoians had modified clone troopers' DNA and trained them to lift weights so they could individually lift anything over two hundred pounds
Senator Skywalker coughed as he crawled out on his stomach. He used his elbows to pull himself out. Dirt covered the politician like sand on a bantha.
"Senator! Are you alright?" Coric asked, as he gave Tan his hand. Blue Jack mimicked him. Tan took both troopers' hands.
"Yes, troopers. I'm-" As Tan tried to hoist himself up, he hollered in pain, holding his right leg. "My leg! I-I think it's broken!" he realized. Blue Jack suddenly started to feel uncertain. What am I suppose to do? I wasn't trained for this!
"I can't tell, sir," he admitted to Tan, as he helped him sit back down. Coric looked back at Blue Jack.
"I can. I was trained for medicals." He bent down to inspect Tan's right leg. He grasped Tan's leg in a light grip, and moved his grip around it. Coric grasped Tan's shin, and the Senator gasped in pain.
"I believe you broke your shin bone, sir." Tan nodded with pain written on his face. Blue Jack hovered his arms around Tan.
"I'll carry you, sir," he offered.
Tan shook his head. "No need." He stood up again but then almost fell on his face. "Ahhh!"
Blue Jack caught Tan again, then got an idea. "Coric, I'll carry him. You cover fire."
Coric nodded in agreement. "Yes, Sergeant."
Tan shook his head again. "Sergeant, I can do this on my own. Do not help me; that is an order!"
What Coric saw was very unexpected and out of hand for Blue Jack. The Sergeant pointed a finger at Tan. "Listen, Senator. You may be of higher rank than me, but when it come to your safety and well being, you do as I and Coric say. The medic, that being Coric, outranks everyone, including me, when someone's life is in danger. Obviously, you are hurt, so please accept this help. I guarentee this; in war, you don't get a second chance. Got it?"
Tan and Coric were stunned. They had never seen Blue Jack speak this to anyone of higher than his rank. I needed that, Tan realized.
He nodded. "Yes, Sergeant. " He sighed. "I apologize for my stubborn behavior."
Blue Jack was surprised. He never had a Senator, or any clone, apologize to him. He still was trying to get over what just happened.
That was way out of hand for me."I'm the one who should be apologizing, Senator. Please forgive me for my outburst."
Tan shrugged. "Well, you are the Sergeant."
Deciding that they needed to leave for the frigates soon, Blue Jack hoisted Tan onto his back, to which Coric helped Tan onto Blue Jack's back. Once Tan was secure on Blue Jack's back, Coric grabbed a blaster and went ahead of the Lieutenant.
On the bridge...
Admiral Wolon commanded troopers to their frigates, in addition to some troopers who, stubbornly, insisted that they stay to run the ship. Clones ran to their designated frigates, which were in the docking area, from different parts on the ship, the pilots manning them.
Rex, with his helmet off, helped in the mess, as well. Anakin stayed on the bridge, waiting word from either Senators. I do hope they're alright. He pulled out his comlink.
"Senator Skywalker, you there?" he asked. Only static answered.
Anakin felt like going ballistics. He pressed the button again. "Ratanka, do you read me?"
Still no answer.
Where the Hell are you, Tan? Anakin felt as though he might go insane. He looked over at Rex. "Where's the Senator, Rex?"
Rex placed his helmet on his head. "I don't know, sir. Coric and Blue Jack are missing, too." Anakin didn't fully hear the Captain. He felt like someone punched him in the chest. I can't let Tan die! He won't die! Anakin pressed a button onto his wrist comlink once more. I'll ask the Sergeant.
"Sergeant. Sergeant Blue Jack, can you hear me?" he asked into it. Once again, his only reply was static. C'mon, Blue Jack! Answer! Anakin wanted to scream. He could sense Rex take his blasters out in defense.
"Blue Jack, reporting, sir," a clone's voice responded from the comlink. Anakin sighed in relief.
"Where's Senator Skywalker?"
There was a brief silence. "Coric and I have him, but he's injured."
Anakin sighed in half relief but in light grief. I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to him. "State your location."
"We're in a location where the Fury was recently hit. The south-east end of the ship, I estimate. I think someone must have thrown some bombs in the back."
Hyena bombers. "Get the Senator onto the supplies ship, like we rehearsed."
There was a slpit second of silence. "What about-"
"Just do it, Blue Jack!" he ordered. Anakin rotated himself to face the Captain."Rex, order your men to get into ships and go escort Senator Amidala to a frigate."
Rex held up his pistols. "Is there a Seppies attack?"
"Yes, Rex. Admiral Wolon will stay at the bridge until we get into hyperspace."
"So, we're doing like we rehearsed?" Rex asked.
Why is everyone asking me that? "Yes, now go!"
Rex nodded, as he left with the officers.
In Padmé's quarters...
Padmé felt the ship shake a few times, and began to worry. Well, the first shake she ignored. The second one, on the other hand, she began to worry. Ratanka and Kenneth did say Scipians might stop his escape. Not only that, the recording of the Chairman of Scipio and Dooku was rather shocking.
She took out a comlink, and forward the frequency to Anakin's. "Anakin, what's going on?"she asked into it.
No answer.
She tried again: "Anakin!"
Her only answer came from a knock from the cabin door. Could it be-? She walked up to the door and pressed a button. She half-expected for the knock to come from her husband...
but it was Captain Rex.
The Captain held his pistols in his hands."Senator, are you alright?" he asked, concern in his voice.
To be honest, Padmé was somewhat glad that Rex was there. "Captain. I'm alright." She looked around. "Where's General Skywalker?"
Rex raised a pistol. "He's up at the bridge with Admiral Wolon. I'm here to escort you to your frigate."
Padmé was about to leave when a thought addressed her mind. "Are your men in ships?" I will not leave unless the soldiers are safe.
Rex nodded. Padmé sighed in relief."Yes, m'lady. We must go now."
Padme "Anakin, are you alright?"
"Yes."
Padme sighed again in relief. Hearing her husband's voice gave her hope. "Where are you?"
Anakin, typically, dodged the question. "Is Rex with you?"
"Yes, he says something about escorting me-"
Anakin didn't let her finish. "Padmé, go with Rex and meet up with Blue Jack."
And your safety, Anakin? What about your life? Anakin always placed other lives before himself. "What about you?"
"Artoo and I will hang here and go on a frigate at the last moment, then Hawk is coming around to pick me up."
The Senator was dumbstruck. The only thing she could say was: "Be careful."
Anakin chuckled behind the comlink. "Hey, I'm the Hero With No Fear, remember?"
Padmé wanted to tell him "I love you" but how could she explain this to Rex, who was standing right beside her? How could she expain that this was the first thing that came to her mind?
Instead, she turned off the comlink and followed her husband's clone captain to the frigates.
On the Separatist ship, the Challenger...
An alien cyborg walked around on the bridge of one of the Sepparatist war ships. The cyborg used to be a Kaleesh warrior prior the Clone Wars, but got caught in an exploding ship. He bore no face, only a mask. The organic part of him were only his organs and his brain. Everything else perished within the accident. He would have perish completely if it had not been for Sam Hill, a Banking Clan member, who bought the funds to rebuilt him. The cyborg now is completely loyal to the C.I.S, and serves the C.I.S alone.
He had to admit, the droids which now served him were not of the warriors he used to lead into battle. Quite far from it, in fact.
The cyborg walked over to a droid painted in red. "Commander. Send in the super battle droids."
The Commander nodded. "Yes, General."
If the General could feel his face, he would have smiled sinisterly. Count Dooku will be very pleased...
On the Fury...
Clone trooper readied the frigates. A total of ten troopers were almost ready for take-off when a large shake interrupted them. Bunker, Ged and Vaise were about to board their frigates when they looked up to the ceiling, where the shake had originated. A huge claw-like transportation ship stuck in through the ceiling. Bunker was the first to notice super-battle droids fall from the transport.
"Droids!" he yelled. Ged and Vaise gulped. Oh, crud, Vaise thought.
The rookies ran over to a frigate full of clones. The clones were preparing the ships for take-off.
"DROID ATTACK!" Ged shouted. The clones immediately stood up, ran to grab weapons and exited the ship. Vaise grabbed a few blasters and a bag full of grenades. He ran out the ship, watching ten clones fight off the droids.
Attie looked over at Vaise. " Get the grenades!"
Vaise held up a grenade. "Got 'em!" he shouted. He threw the grenade at Attie. The rookie caught it, activated it and threw it at the droids. Ged and another clone came up to Vaise and took some grenades and threw them to the droids. The three clones ran out of the way.
"Hit the deck!" Attie shouted, landing near Vaise. Both clones fell right to the ground. Ged and the other clones fell to the ground as well. Within a second, three quartres of the droids exploded into thousands of pieces. The ten clones immediately got up and ran for cover. Bunker, who carried a Z-6 cannon, shot at the remaining droids as he ran.
"Haha! Take that, clankers!" he shouted with enthusiasm, as he continued to run. The ten clones went into the elevator and closed it behind them.
One super battle droid went up to the door and tried to open it. "It won't budge open."
Another droid shot the controls.
The first droid looked back at the other droid. "That is the only elevator here. How are we suppose to get to the-"
Suddenly, an AT-TE started shooting the droids apart. The droids stayed strong, but they were no match for the laser power from the cannons. Soon, the droids were all de-activated and in shreds.
The top of the AT-TE opened up, revealing two clone troopers. Both wore orange on their arms, unlike their blue-armed comrades. They looked around the landing area, making sure no more droids were alive. They high fived each other and jumped out of the AT-TE.
One of them sighed in relief. "That was awesome! We just took control of the AT TE and took care of all those droids!"
The other clone punched his brother's shoulder. "C'mon Lockdown. Don't be such a hot-head."
Lockdown shrugged. "Sorry, Sludge. I can't help but enjoy working with machines."
Sludge sighed as he walked over to the elevator. He started to take out some of the wires out of the busted controls and putting some together. His fingers moved like magic as he took apart wires and twisted them. Lockdown felt dizzy.
He bent down to Sludge's height, as he worked the controls. "You almost done?"
Sludge nodded. "It..should...be..." he was interrupted by his grunts to put together the remaining wires. Suddenly, the lights on the elevator flicked on. Both troopers backed up as the elevator made a ding and the ten troopers appeared behind the open doors.
Bunker stuck his head out, inspecting for any more enemies. "The droids gone?" he asked, raising his canon.
Sludge looked up to the lift where the droids entered. Nothing came out nor He looked back at the ten clones. "Lockdown and I finished off the first wave, but I assume they'll be back."
The clones raised their weapons, as they exited out of the elevator. A corporal walked up to Sludge and Lockdown. He gave them each a blaster.
"You're right. That won't be the last of those clankers." He faced the other nine clones. "I know some of you are rookies. Lives will be lost, yes. But we need to continue with our protocol."
The other clones started to speak out at different times.
"But we'll be ripped to shreads if we don't fight!" Del insisted.
Bunker held out his weapon. "I'm ready to make some oil shed! Bring it on, tinnies!"
Another clone, a veteran (he wore blue on his arms), held a hand up. "We need to follow orders, though. That is what we were born to do."
Attie pointed to the veteran. "I, for one, agree with L'il."
Other clones started to side with either L'il or Del. They all talked at once, no one able to hear over the other.
Sludge took Lockdown aside. "I wasn't expecting the 501st to be so outspoken."
Lockdown shrugged. "I like their sense of boldness."
"That's only because you have the same personality as them," Sludge insisted.
Lockdown laughed. "Better than following CC-2224, that's for sure."
Sludge shook his head, as he walked away from Lockdown. He thinks fighting is the way to do it, but there's other ways to go, Sludge thought. He walked up to the helpless Corporal, the other clones still talking at once.
Sludge patted his shoulder. "You need a little help there, Diesel?"
The Coroporal nodded. "Calm them down as I contact Gen-"
Suddenly, a huge blast shook the ship. All the clones looked right and saw more droids enter the ship. No one hesitated as they fired, as they left the elevator exposed and went closer to the droids.
A few minutes later, the elevator came back down, revealing Rex, Padmé, Coric, Blue Jack and a wounded Tan, along with the four pilots. Rex immediately pulled out his pistols. The pilots took out blaster.
Rex ran towards the clones. He looked back to Blue Jack. "Bluester! Protect the Senators at all costs!"
Blue Jack nodded. He looked over at Coric. "Cover me, alright?"
Coric nodded, as Padmé pulled out a pistol herself. The four humans ran towards the frigates, as Padmé and Coric fired at the distant droids.
They hopped onto one of the frigates. Blue Jack sat Tan down while Coric pressed controls on the bridge of the ship.
"I'm contacting the General, to see if he can help," Coric called out to Blue Jack. A second later, a hologram of Skywalker appeared. He looks worried, Coric feared.
"Coric, what's going on down there? Have the Senators made it to the frigates?" he asked
Coric took off his helmet. I'm gonna get shot for saying this. "Well, we have a slight problem. Droids have entered the ship."
Anakin's eyes widened in fear. "What? They entered the ship?" He looked back, hearing a clone scream in pain. Anakin turned his attention back to Coric. "I'm sorry, I can't help. Just get everyone out of there!"
Coric nodded. "Yes sir." The transmission ended. He threw his helmet back on his head and ran to the doors of the frigate. He stuck his head out, watching the battlefield. Now, there were more droids than ever.
He cupped his hand around his mouth. "Get onto the frigates! We have to go NOW!"
The troopers immediately obeyed. They continued to shoot at the droids as they ran back to the ships. Rex directed the clones back. "Sam, L'il, Duke, Quartz! Get up with them!" Rex shouted at four clones.
Sam and L'il looked back, as Quartz shot at the droids. "Duke won't-"
A lazer hit Sam straight through his head, his fall lifeless. Duke looked back at Sam, but was shot as well.
Rex ran back to L'il and Quartz. "Troopers, get in now!"
The two clones obeyed. Rex ran ahead of them. As they got to the frigates, a huge blast shook the ship. A large metal piece of the ceiling started to fall. L'il pushed Rex and Quartz out of the way right before the mental part crushed him.
Quartz looked back at the large metal. "L'il!"
Rex pulled him away. "We have to go, Quartz!"
Without a second thought, Quartz nodded and ran onto the frigate.
Once all the clones were on board, the pilots took control of the ships and started them up. Coric, Padmé and Blue Jack helped lay Tan onto a medical bed once they were on a frigate. Coric immediately began to cast Tan's leg.
He looked at Tan. "I apologize, sir, but this might hurt for a bit."
Tan nodded. "Doc, perhaps we should wait until we get into hyperspace." He eyed Blue Jack. "Sergeant, help me up. I'm going to contact the Separatist leader."
Padmé brought a hand on Tan's shoulder. "Tan, this isn't the time to-"
Tan looked up at her from his bed. " Padmé, my cousin is risking his arse to protect me. The Admiral is risking his life and ship to protect me. These men are risking their lives to protect me. I want their sacrifices to be met. If we wait around, Anakin's sacrifice would be for nothing. I need to help him. This is just the beginning of this battle."
Padmé was taken aback by Tan's words. True emotion raged through his speech. He cares about his cousin. In addition, he loves Anakin. Tan would risk his life to help Anakin, and vice verse.
But what can you do? she thought.
Without further disagreement, she nodded. Coric immediately stopped attending to Tan's leg, as he and Blue Jack helped Tan off the bed.
As Padme watched Tan leave, his words repeated through her mind:
This is just the beginning of this battle...
To be continued...