Orbit over Mustafar - Aboard the Legacy Hawk

Mustafar was not a pretty world. It was yellow and red and massive clouds of ash covered the planet. Aboard the ship, the Jedi and Republic commandos were running one more check over their weapons and gear. Master Sarjade gazed out the main viewport for a moment before asking, "Have you found the correct facility?"

"Yes, Master Jedi;" said Zavren while Roanni tapped away at the instruments. "It's a facility owned by the Klegger Corp for the Techno Union in the lava mines. Here;" and an image appeared of the facility.

Droggan Sarjade nodded. "At any moment, that fleet is going to hail us. As soon as they do, split power between engines and shields and get us down there. As soon as we're out, get out of here. We'll either contact you or find another ride off this planet but you must stay away. This ship is pretty fantastic but even it can't take on a whole Separatist fleet."

"We'll find a place top hide on the planet and power everything down;" said Roanni, seeming to ignore his orders. "If they find us, I'm pretty sure Tazzeran will handle them. He's worth a small army himself."

Droggan frowned and was about to reply when the plucky Jedi Ace Amara Karddine came in. "Are we ready to go, Dro?"

The tall master suddenly forgot what he was saying and smiled at her, a rare event as the smugglers had discovered during their journey from Coruscant to Mustafar. "We are, Amara. We'll gather in the lounge and get ready to deploy."

Just then, the comms crackled and a gravely voice hailed them. "Unidentified Freighter, this is the Separatist ship..."

They ignored it and Zavren said, "Get ready, Jedi. We're going in."

Amara chewed one plump lower lip, displaying her desire to be at the stick during a hairy situation. Uttering a rare, deep chuckle, Droggan took her gently by the arm and said, "Back this way, Flygirl. You'll be able to handle not being in control better away from the cockpit."

The fourteen clones were in ashen gray and black armor as they ran one final check over their weapons. The other Jedi were speaking together in low voices. Jusik wore Mandalorian armor that had been blacked out like the clones' armor and Etain wore dark gray robes. Drogan was wearing a light suit of black and dark gray armor and Amara wore a flightsuit in the same dark colors. With them was a astromech droid loaned to them by Anakin Skywalker. The little blue, white and silver droid had been chagrined to have its colors altered but it submitted grudgingly to match the other operatives. Within the little astro droid was stored the shut down codes for the whole of the Separatist war machine.

"Are we ready?" asked Droggan.

All eyes turned to him and nods and murmurs of affirmation were heard. "Good. We'll be deploying shortly. Get ready."

Suddenly, the ship began to shake and a call came from the cockpit. "Hold on to something back there! We're about to run their blockade!"

Amara looked anxious and said, "I really wish that I was flying."

Droggan chuckled and said, "So do I but it can't be helped. Let's sit down and strap in. Just keep breathing and focus on my voice."

She nodded as the ships continued to violently jolt and shake. "This ship is pretty remarkable. I wish that CEC stilled produced them."

Amara nodded in agreement. "I still prefer smaller and lighter fighters. Freighters have their place but in this situation, a Delta would be better - especially if I was at the stick."

"Amara;" chuckled Droggan. "Stop being sulky. You can't fly every time."

It wasn't a long descent but clearly Amara was stressed out of her mind. She didn't even notice the light jolt when the freighter was switched from sublight engines to repulsers as they entered atmosphere. Suddenly, Roanni yelled back. "Get to the boarding hatch! We're almost there."

"Thank the force;" muttered Amara as she unstrapped. "Let's go."

When the ramp lowered, they were less that twelve meters above the deck. Three at a time, they dropped out onto the platform and into a storm of heavy blaster fire. Droggan moved as if none of it was their, his lightsaber blade blocking and swatting aside the bolts with negligible ease. Amara and the other two Jedi were forced to concentrate a little more. The Jedi provided cover until all the clones were on the ground. Before lifting off and finding a place to wait for the summons, the laser cannons fro the Legacy Hawk cleared the platform for them. Droggan gave a salute with his lightsaber before calling, "We need to hurry. This platform won't stay clear for long."

As if to prove his point, the doors to the facility opened and four droidekas rolled out. They never made it to firing position as the clones blasted them to scrap. "Let's move;" said Darman, the Omega squad leader.

Eredenn Prime - Previously Abandoned Decimator Facility

Tobias and Aayla looked down at the testing site. There was nothing there but a Separatist shuttle and a dozen battled droids. There had been no fleet orbiting the planet either. "Judging by the looks of things, there is no way that this could be a trap;" said Tobias dryly, managing to drag a smile across Aayla's full lips.

"Of course not! Undermanned and undergunned Separatist operations like these are perfectly normal;" she chuckled before growing serious. "I have a bad feeling about this. How should we proceed, Tobias?"

It was the first time she had used his given name and he felt a little warmed by it. "Our goal is to retake the facility. Judging by the look of this place, we could do that ourselves."

Aayla nodded slowly before saying. "Alright. Let's contact our commanders and have them ready to launch ground forces just in case and then go down and take that facility."

Tobias nodded. Within twenty minutes, they were sneaking through the snowy rocks towards the base. The dozen battle droids didn't stand a chance and, judging by their comments before being cut down, they were perfectly aware of it too. The entrance to the facility and clearly been blown open during the first Separatist invasion of the planet, leaving the facility completely unsecured. The two Jedi slipped into the jagged hole that had once been durasteel blast doors. With their senses on full alert and their weapons in their hands, they began to pick their way through wreckage. None of it had been touched. The only evidence that someone had been there other than the now-dismembered droids outside were the prints in the frost and the dust. Aayla glanced at Tobias. Even though the paint that his people wore made it difficult to read his expression, she could tell that he was uneasy. His sapphire-like blue eyes were darting back and forth, watching every shadow. "I think I may have been wrong about this being a trap;" he said casually, trying to break the tension.

"I'm afraid you might be right;" said Aayla, willing herself to relax her grip on her lightsaber. "Tobias, ahead;" and she pointed to a doorway that opened into what appeared to be a vast chamber of some kind - perhaps a control room or motor pool for the Decimator weapons.

It would most likely be the ambush point if there was going to be one. As they approached the doorway, they could here droids communicating and machinery working - plasma cutters, welding torches, hydraulic lifts and the like. When they reached the door, they froze momentarily at the sites. Maintenance droids were crawling over six hulking weapons - the Decimator tanks. It looked like four of them were being cannibalized to repair and activate two of them. There were no armed battle droids to be seen, not were their any dark siders present. Aayla and Tobias looked at one another before slipping inside. They ignored the maintenance droids and cautiously looked all around. "So no ambush after all;" murmured Aayla.

Tobias didn't respond. His eyes were narrowed and a frown crossed his lips. The droids ignored them completely as they continued inward. Suddenly, a blast door opened and two more battle droids walked in. When they noticed the Jedi, they started and retreated back the way they came. "There it is;" muttered Tobias.

"Are we going to follow them?" asked Aayla.

After a moment of intense consideration, Tobias said grimly, "We're going to have to. I'll contact Blitz and Trauma and they can secure the Decimators behind us."

It was a quick conversation and they were after the droids moments later. With a trio of snap-hisses, their lightsabers activated. The colors cast eerie light through the already eerie corridors and the low hum did nothing to reduce their nerves. Again, they came to another open area - clearly a deployment bay for the Decimators as they went to their test firing site. A squad of droids was waiting for them. "Hands up, Jedi!" demanded one of them.

"Do they expect that to work?" murmured Tobias.

"Nope. But that's their programming for you;" replied Aayla.

She threw her lightsaber and cut down every droid in the squad before they were even fully inside the room. Quite predictably, when they were a mere dozen meters inside the room, the trap was sprung. Magnaguards, commando droids and a pair the rare and lethal and lightsaber wielding EG-5 Jedi Killer droids emerged from all around. It was fast and intense then with electro staves, blaster bolts, vibroswords and lightsabers flashing through the dimness. During the melee, Aayla saw Tobias's face and would have shuddered. He wore a feral grin and it, couple with the paint he wore, made him look very intimidating. Were they facing living opponents and not droids, they would probably be put off by it. He wielded his lightsaber pike in tandem with his regular lightsaber and even the lightsaber droids were having trouble keeping up with him. While Aayla handily dealt with the rest of the droid forces, Tobias kept them busy. The last commando droid went down a moment before Tobias bisected and decapitated the second lightsaber droid. "That was close;" said the Sarkai Jedi Knight as he examined the burns in his clothing from numerous near misses.

"No kidding;" said Aayla, still watching the shadows. "But it was still too easy."

A piercing laugh came from the exit shaft. At a run, the Jedi followed it - only to hear explosions behind them and have the shaft collapse. Ahead of them, another series of explosions resounded and the faint light faded. "Blast;" growled Tobias as the light faded.

The rumble continued and it was a moment before they realized the the shaft was beginning to collapse. Without a second thought, Tobias ran towards the collapsing tunnel. "What the hell are you doing?" yelled Aayla in alarm.

As he came to one of the braces of the wall and ceiling, Tobias thrust his and out and the ceiling began to fracture and chunks of stone began to fall. Focusing on the walls, he did the same thing before dropping back and waiting. The tunnel continued to collapse until, when it reached where he had fractured the walls and ceiling just beyond brace, it stopped. Sighing with relief, Tobias leaned against the wall. "What did you do?" asked Aayla from beside him.

"I caused a part of the tunnel to collapse just beyond the brace. My hope was that it would be to prevent the complete collapse of the tunnel by ensuring that it wouldn't continue to pull itself down. Basically, when a tunnel is collapsing like that, it does so in a chain. I hoped to break the chain at a brace but fracturing a part of the tunnel prematurely. Thankfully, it worked."

Aayla nodded. The dim lights suddenly winked out and Tobias sighed, "Great. Do you need a glow rod?"

"No, I have one thanks."

Moments later, two lights appeared and they took stock of the situation. "Well this is terrific. My comms aren't working. I think they have a comms jammer so there won't be any calling for help;" said Aayla as they headed towards the other end of the tunnel.

Tobias pursed his lips for a moment before saying, "Looks like twenty meters or so of this end of the tunnel has collapsed."

"So we're stuck here;" stated Aayla.

"For the moment. I'm sure Bly, Devis, Blitz and Trauma will find the jammer and shut it down or destroy it. Then they'll pick up our emergency beacons and come get us."

Aayla nodded slowly and activated her emergency beacon before shining her glow rod around. "Those pipes;" she said, "what do you suppose they are?"

"Could be anything;" said Tobias cautiously. "Cable housing, water lines, coolant lines - who knows."

The Twi'lek Jedi Knight pulled a scanner and hissed. "The temperature is beginning to drop. It's going to get cold pretty quickly. I would guess that those lines had hot water or heating fluid of some kind."

"Great;" said Tobias. "What kind of survival gear do we have on us?"

They took stock - maybe a week's worth of ration bars each, canteens with water for perhaps a little longer, a generic first aid kit apiece, the extreme cold weather garments they had and a shelter that they could construct just in case they had been caught out in the elements. It wasn't a lot. "Well let me see something here;" said Aayla and headed back towards the other end of the tunnel.

She had her environmental scanner out again. "We're getting air from somewhere somehow. Ah! There's a vent shaft here. It's tiny but it's enough."

A square vent grate and shaft no larger than a third of a meter across was near the ceiling in the side of the wall. "Got another one over here too;" said Tobias. "Looks like they're spaced out every eighteen meters or so. At least we won't suffocate."

"No;" said Aayla, "but we might freeze to death."

"Well let's try building a shelter. Maybe if we do it right, we'll be able to use it and our own body heat to make ourselves a warm pocket;" suggested the other.

It was something to do and it was worth a try. Shrugging, Aayla unslung her pack. "Right. Let's get to work."

The Clone Commanders had already set up a forward command post and were moving in on the testing facility. Advanced Recon Fighters were moving all over the surrounding mountains, glaciers and valleys, keeping an eye out for additional Separatist forces. Trauma, Blitz, Bly and Deviss examined a tactical holo of their troop movements. While the breaching was carried out by the forces under Tobias, General Secura's troops were securing the surrounding areas - setting up firing positions that could either face the base or defend it. Artillery pieces, tanks, airspeeders and all terrain vehicles were also being dug in to either attack or defend the facility. All in all, it was going smoothly - until a call came from orbit.

Bly pointed out one particular ridge where having some AT-TE's and E-web nests would provide heavy and effective fire on a large area when Jonah, Jedi Knell's second-in-command, hailed them. "What's the good word, Jonah?" asked Blitz.

"A Separatist assault fleet just dropped out of hyperspace and we're reforming with General Secura's fleet. They're also launching dozens of landing craft. You're going to have a hell of a fight on your hands, Commanders;" the Mon Cal said grimly.

The Clone commanders looked at each other before Trauma said, "Thanks for the heads up, Jonah. We'll be ready for them. Make sure you give them hell up there."

Jonah nodded and the line cut. Trauma was already heading towards one of the gunships. "I'm going to see if I can get our attack team heading inside moving faster. You three need to ensure that our forces are ready to defend this facility."

"Shouldn't we get whatever info we can and fall back, Trauma?" asked Deviss.

Bly answered for the other. "Not until the Generals give us an order to. We'll be ready to fight. Just put some plasma in our boys' pants and get them moving."

Trauma saluted and jumped into a gunship. After he lifted off, they turned to each other. "This is going to be a hell of a fight. They can come at us in six separate areas. See?" and he indicated gorges and passes through the cliffs and glaciers.

Blitz, an Advanced Recon Commando, pointed out four of them. "We can close these ones off and force them to funnel their forces through these two. Furthermore, we can have ARF platoons conducting hit and fade ambushes on their marching columns."

Deviss nodded, clearly warming to the strategies. "Rights and our artillery and tanks will be able to make their passage through his area extremely costly. I'm worried about this part here;" and he indicated the largest point that the Separatist armies would be able to approach from. "It's so large that we won't really be able to bottle neck it at all and we don't have time to dig emplacements or trenches right now."

Bly and Blitz nodded. It was going to be a brutal area to try and defend and it was almost certain that their would be more droids than they had men to counter them. "We'll use tanks and gunships as the cover for our ground forces and deploy as many energy barricades and blast shields as we can get into place. Other than that, I'm not sure what options we have."

The others nodded. They studied the tactical holo in silence before Bly said, "The ground gradually inclines upward along this whole area. It won't be much but we can make our position here at the top where it levels out. It won't be much of an advantage but it's better than nothing."

After a moment, the other two agreed. "Right, Commanders;" said Bly, "let's get to it."

Mustafar - Separatist Control Facility

The going had been very tough and every meter was taken through blaster fire and lightsaber blades. The Separatists were not going to allow the Jedi and Clones access to the facility's main comms array if they could do anything at all to prevent it. But the Clones were some of the very best the Republic had produced and no Jedi was to be underestimated. It was slow and grueling, but the Republic operatives couldn't seem to be stopped.

Droggan was cleaving his way through a platoon of superbattle droids while the Clone commandos of Delta Squad placed shaped charges on the doors under the cover of their brothers. The Null ARC Troopers were mowing down any and all comers that the Jedi missed like a Dantooine Tall-grain farmer during harvest. Kal Skirata, their adopted father and commanding officer, gave orders in Mando'a whenever necessary but other than that, he didn't speak.

"Dro;" called Amara, "this is too easy! Where are the Magnaguards and the droidekas and the other very dangerous and expensive droids the Seps use? This has to be a trap!"

Droggan had thought about that but in truth, he had no answer for her. Etain sent a wave of telekinetic energy towards a squad of battle droids, smashing against the interior walls. "Darman, when you get the chance, hook up to a security or control console and see if we can figure anything out."

"Understood, Etain;" said the team leader.

It barely registered to the other Jedi that the clone had addressed her by her given name. "Alright! Stand clear of the door!" called Scorch, one of the Delta Squad commandos. Moments later, their was a loud explosion and the RC-1138 was heard barking orders as they breached. Behind them, Omega squad filed in and assisted their brothers with heavy fire. Etain and Amara charged in with them and the Null ARC Troopers, Barden Jusik, Droggan and Kal Skirata continued to cover their back trail. No matter how many droids they swatted down, there seemed to be no limit to how many could take their place. Thus far, they had no casualties. The clone's armor was standing them in good stead, not to mention the Clone Commandos' battlefield medical training. "Droggan, get in here!" called Amara.

With force-enhanced speed, he blazed past the ARC troopers and Jusik and into the next room. It was clearly a control room of some kind. Aside from the dozens of battle droids and super battle droids, there was a huge droid at the other side of the room. It was the same shape as a super battle droid but it was at least three times as big and also had a vast array of weapons. "Damn;" muttered Drogan. "That looks like fun."

"It's armor's pretty thick, Sir;" said Darman.

"Use anti-armor shells and draw its fire. I'm going to get in close;" ordered Droggan grimly.

"Are you out of your mind?" demanded Amara.

When Droggan shot her a hard smirk and said, "Probably;" she began curse in fluent Huttese.

Explosive shells began to smash into the large droid while Droggan ran to one side before dashing around the edge of the room and slashing down droids with relative impunity. When he was in line with the huge war droid and after the Clones' anti-armor shells stopped smashing against its armor, he charged towards it, cutting down any other droids in his path. Suddenly, a small arm beneath one of its primary arms swiveled towards him and opened fire with rapid blasts. It wasn't enough to catch the Temple Guardsman off guard and he easily caught the majority of them on his lightsaber. Igniting both blades of his guardsman's weapon, he threw it like an archaic spear and it burned right through both of the droids secondary, rapid fire arm blasters. As he used the force to wrench the lightsaber pike free, the droid turned to face him and fired a missile from a shoulder-mounted weapon. Seeing it coming, Droggan gathered all the debris he could and used the force to hurl it at the incoming missile. The trick worked but the blast still sent him smashing against several consoles. His ears rang and he only barely heard Amara shouting his name. Through bleary eyes, he watched the woman, the secret love of his life, blaze through the room towards the monstrous droid.

Amara was struggling with panic as she fought her way across the room. The huge droid was lining up one of its arm mounted weapons on Droggan. Knowing that there was every chance it would be the death of her, she flung her lightsaber and, just before the droid's weapon could fire, her blue blade sliced right through it. Within a moment the weapon was back in her hand and she was amazed that she was still alive as she leaped forward. The massive droid was turning towards her, its other arm lining up with her when Droggan, he beloved, blazed past it and a glowing red line suddenly appeared right across its midsection. With a roar, she slashed through the droid from shoulder to leg joint before landing and rolling behind and ducking behind a holo-display table. Using the force, she yanked there as well just in time for the missile magazine to explode. Immediately, they were up and ready again - only to see that the room was clear for the moment. They could still hear blaster fire as the Null ARC Troopers filed through the doors with Barden Jusick as rear guard.

Before he had the chance to move on, Amara grabbed Droggan by the face and force him to look into her blazing eyes. "If you ever do that again, I am going kick. your. ass! Do you understand?"

A slow smile crossed the Guardsman's face and he whispered, "I love you too."

Amara's eyes softened and she looked to be about to kiss him when the Clone Commando Darman cleared his throat and said, "Um... Generals..."

Immediately, the straightened and Amara said, "Right. Did we find anything from any of those consoles, Darman?"

"Yes, Ma'am;" he replied, "this way please."

They hurried towards the only working console where another Clone Commando, Atin she thought his name was, stood working diligently. "We're here;" Darman said, pointing to a cluster of rooms and corridors, "and we're trying to make our way all the way up here;" and he pointed to a control room of some kind near the apex of the facility.

Droggan studied the map and murmured, "There is absolutely no straight line up there, is there?

"Oh yes there is;" called Captain Ordo, the lead Null ARC Trooper. "We can using ascension cables and climb right to the top that way, Jedi. They'd never even see it coming."

Droggan chewed the inside of his cheek and said, "Right then. We'll split up. Skirata, Jusick - you'll take the ARC Troopers using the exterior route and we'll keep slugging through this way. It will serve to either divide their defenses or keep them focused on us while you get to the communications center unopposed. Take the droid with you. Apparently he has rocket boosters that should get him up there."

They moved out immediately and Etain murmured, "You sure this is a good idea, Master Sarjade? We are probably stronger in numbers."

Droggan nodded slowly and replied, "I do. Let's keep going. The whole of the Republic is counting on us."