The Story of forgotten Jedi Owen Sun
Chapter 35: Battle of Castell Pt. III
Flying through the skies of Castell Owen contacted the Republic capital ships in orbit. "Commander Appo and his men have come under heavy fire and have lost a large portion of the ground force, their going to have to be reinforced" informed Owen.
"It's a bit sudden General, all we can put together right now is some troopers, anything else is going to have to wait" replied the clone navigator on the bridge.
"Then get me what you can now" ordered Owen.
"Yes Sir" replied the clone navigator.
As Owen made his approach into the flattened out portion of Castell City which was now the 501st landing zone he immediately saw several gunships descend into the landing zone, bringing his fighter in Owen got out of his cockpit and was greeted by the clone Lieutenant in charge of the landed troopers. "You work fast" said Owen shaking the hand of the clone Lieutenant.
"Were 501st Sir, we work efficiently" replied the blue striped clone Lieutenant.
"We could only manage a few squads right now Sir" added the clone Lieutenant.
"Should be enough for now, once we get a hold of the situation I'll send the rest in" said Owen satisfied.
"So what's the plan?" asked the clone Lieutenant.
Owen walked over to the nearby walkers that hadn't been deployed yet. "I'm going to get to the square and see what I can do, you are your men will guide these walkers and their crew to this location flanking the Separatists forces inside the square" indicated Owen pointing it out on his datapads map of Castell City.
"But Sir there's no path to the square through here" pointed out the clone Lieutenant on the map.
"Than make one" replied Owen referring to the walker's heavy laser cannon.
"By the time you get to the square I should have things in order, when you arrive you'll destroy this entire area, that should throw their defenses into chaos allowing us to take the square" informed Owen by way of the map.
"This entire area?" questioned the clone Lieutenant as to the size of the square.
"Yes, is there a problem?" asked Owen.
"No Sir, no problem" replied the clone Lieutenant.
"Good, get your men equipped and on the move" ordered Owen walking away towards the speeder.
Hopping on the barc speeder bike Owen took off with his Generals cape flailing in the wind.
Meanwhile back inside the square things were getting more desperate for the 501st.
The square was once the heart of Castell City, now it was a labyrinth of death. Clone trooper corpses lay by the thousands, bombed out craters covered the once glimmering ground, and carbon scoring painted the entire area, it was hell for the 501st. Death would come in so many ways, it could be as merciful as a well placed blaster shot to the head, or as horrifying as being blown apart by a thermal detonator. Despite this they refused to quit, refused to stop, refused to give any ground, they would fight to the last man if that's what it took.
In the middle of the square near the large fountain Commander Appo and his troops were slowly diminishing as they braced the murderous fire around them. As a super battle tank stopped in the distance to fire Appo yelling over the deafening sounds of battle around him got the heavy troopers attention. "Trooper, destroy that tank while you've got the chance!"
Coming out from behind cover the clone heavy trooper launched his rocket into the battle tank destroying it in a blaze of fire, but not noticing the tank behind it the following super battle tank fired its laser blasters turning the heavy trooper to ash. The deceased trooper had done his job though the leading tank that was destroyed blocked the way for the tanks following behind it, it would hold them off for now. The droid infantry continued to swarm them however using their incredulous numbers to overwhelm them, it was working as Appo and his troops were slowly being surrounded. "Sir, we can't keep this up" pleaded the clone Captain knowing death was near.
"We hold out until General Sun arrives" stated Appo.
The idea kept what was left of his troops alive, the fact that their Jedi General was coming drove them on reinvigorated their resolve to fight.
Rising up from cover to take out an advancing droideka Appo's weapon ran dry. "(Click), (click)" the sound of his empty blaster rifle gave Appo a sense of new desperation.
"Blast it…throw me a clip from the ammo crate!" yelled Appo.
"We're all out of ammo Sir" replied a clone trooper.
The last response shattered what little resolve Appo had left, with no ammo he couldn't fight, he was as good as dead until…
"Here Sir, my last clip" said a clone trooper tossing a blaster rifle clip into Appo's lap.
Reinvigorating his resolve Appo clicked the clip into place, he then addressed the entire clone line of resistance. "Pick your shots wisely clones, try to drop those blasted droids with one shot!" he issued.
As the battle drew on more and more clones continued to fall to the left and right of Appo until only a handful remained. Plopping down defeated both mentally and physically the clone Captain had nothing left. "It's hopeless Commander, utterly hopeless, we must fall back" he pleaded.
"No, we hold here until the General arrives" replied Appo with conviction in his voice.
"Sir it's been too long, he isn't coming" admitted a defeated clone Captain.
Appo looked straight into his Captains red lined visor. "He is coming, I know it…now grab your pistol and fight!" he urged.
Watching the remaining clone troopers fight with such fearlessness the clone Captain rose up with new vigor firing his blaster in all directions at the advancing droids. Getting a little too confident however he strayed from cover just enough for an assassin droid to pick him off, Commander Appo was shocked as he looked down to see the burnt hole through the clone Captains chest. "Captain!" he cried pulling him to cover.
Cradling the clone Captains body in his arms Appo tried to help him by giving him his own bacta injection. "I'm sorry Sir, it's my fault…ughhh…I should of done something" stated the clone Captain slowly dying.
"No, it's my fault, I never should have left my command" replied Appo admitting his failure as their leader.
Not getting a response the clone Captains head slumped in Appo's lap telling him all he needed to know, casting his body aside Commander Appo rose up with a new found hatred for the CIS firing his blaster rifle madly. "Damn you blasted Separatists!" he cursed.
A super battle droid then fired a rocket from his wrist blowing the entire right sector of the line into a fireball killing them all, except for Commander Appo of course. He ignored the blast and continued to fire from the left side of the line completely unaware that he was now surrounded, from behind him a single blaster shot then went right through his leg sending him to the ground. He cradled his leg while still hanging on to his blaster rifle waiting for them to close in, as the first battle droid became visible Appo opened fire disposing of the droid and five others that followed. But he soon ran out of ammo as a resolve shattering click came out from his rifle again, Appo threw his rifle away and reached into his belt for his blaster pistol, but before he could grab it a super battle droid stepped on his hand preventing him from getting to it. "AH!" moaned Appo as the droids bulky metal leg weighed a ton.
A droid Sergeant then approached getting word on what to do with the captured clone Commander, receiving his orders the droid Sergeant simply said. "Roger, roger" ending his transmission.
The Sergeant battle droid then turned to the bulky super battle droid. "Kill the Republic scum" he ordered in his mechanical voice.
Suddenly jetting through the square with his blond hair waving in the wind Owen Sun had arrived, as he spotted a defenseless Appo what he sensed was correct the clone Commander was in trouble. Leaping off the speeder it continued on its coarse crashing into a group of droids, igniting his yellow blade in mid-air Owen twisted and turned his body on the long jump until he landed right next to the two droids. Before they could even react Owen swiped his saber right through both of them as they fell into a heap, bending down Owen checked on Appo's leg wound. "I knew you'd come General" said Appo fighting back the burning pain in his leg.
While attending to Commander Appo Owen heard the familiar steps of trampling droid feet headed his way. "Stay here" said Owen.
Stepping out into the open Appo quickly questioned his Generals decision. "General, what are you doing?"
Igniting his blade that glistened a foreboding yellow from Castell's bright sun Owen responded. "It's time to show these Separatists who their dealing with"
As the first group of battle droids came at him bringing their blasters up to fire Owen simply raised his hand and thrusted it forward sending the droids flying through the square, a squad of droidekas then rose up and activated their shields raining heavy blaster fire onto him. Deflecting each shot directed at him Owen steadied his mind and held out his free hand and formed a fist crushing nine of the ten droidekas, as a group of super battle droids approached from the left drawing their wrist blasters Owen picked up the remaining droideka with his mind and steered it towards the group of droids in mid-air, the frantic droideka continued to fire madly as its repeating blasters ripped into the super battle droids taking out the entire group, with the advancing droids taken care of Owen threw the panicky droideka into a turret above him, the droideka exploded on impact destroying both threats. Seeing these new developments an entire platoon of CIS droids started advancing towards Owens location, being one of the first droids in the group advancing a super battle droid fired a wrist rocket that knocked Owen back in the blast. Getting up with smoke billowing around him Owen noticed new abrasions on his clone armor. "Ughh, just what I need" joked Owen.
As the group of droids advanced cautiously towards the blinding smoke surprisingly Owen sprung out and landed right in the middle of the droid platoon. Without a seconds hesitation the droids opened fire but Owen turned every which way blocking the melee of blaster fire with his saber, he began to hack through the droid group severing arms, legs, torsos, anything his lightsaber could get a hold of. After just minutes of this out of the entire droid platoon only two battle droids remained, both droids simply looked at each dropped their blasters and made a run for it, Owen smirked as he watched the comical droids flee. Clipping his saber back to his belt Owen stretched out both hands and brought them together causing the battle droids in the distance to rise in the air and collide into each other disabling them.
With the immediate droids in the area taken care of Owen brought the pinned down clones at the front of the square up to his position, clone medics immediately attended to Commander Appo. "Great job General, but were still vastly outnumbered, the Commerce Guild have a whole regiment up there and it won't be long until they send in a counter attack" informed the clone Lieutenant.
Owen peered through the optic binoculars confirming the clone Lieutenants warning. "So what's the plan General?" asked the clone Lieutenant.
Glancing onwards Owen noticed the raised platform in the distance. "If we advance now we'll be torn apart by their snipers and turrets, tell me Lieutenant, are any of you airborne?" asked Owen relating to his new plan.
The clone Lieutenant looked confused trying to figure out what his Jedi General meant. "Take your time Lieutenant" smirked Owen.
Finally the clone Lieutenant had figured it out. "Yes Sir, I think we've got just what you need" he smirked in turn from underneath his helmet.
"We've been keeping them in reserve for when we broke through, now that we've made some head way I'm sure they'll come in handy" informed the clone Lieutenant as he and Owen walked towards them.
"Jet troopers, at attention!" ordered the clone Lieutenant.
They all responded in turn clicking their heels together. "Sir, what exactly do you have in mind?" asked the clone Lieutenant.
Owen simply turned his head and replied with. "I have a plan Lieutenant"
Meanwhile further up in the square.
Commander Appo had finished being patched up but he was nowhere near being ready to fight, the only thing that could provide that was several hours in a bacta tank. As Owen approached with the clone Lieutenant and his squad of clone jet troopers he spotted Appo struggling to his feet. "Commander what do you think you're doing?" Owen asked.
"If I can still breathe I'm going to fight" replied Appo with conviction.
"Commander please, you don't have to do this the Lieutenant can stand in your place" urged Owen.
"If it's all the same to you Sir, I wish to fight" stated Appo.
Owen smiled admiring Appo's courage. "Okay then…rejoin your men" he motioned with a turn of his head.
Owen quickly relayed his plan to Commander Appo and his troops. "Once this buildings been taken and their droid Commander slain it will throw their forces into disarray, without advancing orders they won't know what to do" finished Owen indicating the targets on the virtual map of the square.
"But Sir what about these buildings and tanks, their still in our way" pointed out Appo.
"Don't you worry about that Commander, I have a little surprise waiting for the Separatists" assured Owen.
Suddenly interrupting their gathering. "Droids, a lot of droids, their counter attacking!" warned the clone trooper spotting them through the optics.
"You know the plan Commander, wait for the signal" stated Owen as he and the jet trooper squad left Appo's position.
Running ahead and to the far left Owen got himself and his squad some good cover while he lined up his throw. "What's he doing?" questioned the clone jet trooper.
"How am I supposed to know, he's a Jedi remember" replied another clone jet trooper in the squad.
"Hey, cut the chatter you two" ordered the highest ranked clone jet trooper.
In the distance above Owen could see several well hidden assassin droids standing in their way, twirling his blade in his right hand Owen saw his opportunity. With a mighty throw of his arm his yellow blade shot out towards the droids at an uncanny speed.
As the blade spiraled through the air at blinding speed several clone troopers at Appo's location spotted the yellow light hurling through the air. "Sir, what's that?" asked the clone trooper silently.
"Quiet trooper" replied Appo with equal silence.
Like a boomerang the blade turned swinging towards the assassin droids, before they could even compute a reaction the blade spun around beheading each droid as it made its pass, by the end 18 assassin droid had been dealt with rendering the area temporarily defenseless. Owens blade returned to him as he secured it back to his belt. "Nice trick Sir" complimented a clone jet trooper.
Owen took one last look seeing several thousand droids advancing on Appo's location. "Okay clones, it's now or never" said Owen as they sprung out from behind cover.
Running towards the high wall a battle droid manning a turret saw them right away, as the turret turned towards them many jet troopers thought the worst. "Oh that's it, were done for" stated a clone jet trooper accepting defeat.
Owen gave the turret a stern look, holding out his hand he then crushed the turrets firing barrel rendering it useless. The jet trooper squad looked stunned. "General how did you do that?" asked a clone jet trooper.
"The mind can be a powerful thing…now let's go" ordered Owen.
As one Owen and the jet trooper squad sprung up over the high wall into the area above, Owen using his force jump and the squad using their jetpacks. They had found themselves in a raised area connected by walkways and buildings looking down on the square below, this is where the assassin droids and turrets were firing from. As soon as they began down the first walkway an assassin droid from a level above opened fire. "AHHHH!" cried a clone jet trooper as he was shot dead.
"I got him Sir" stated a clone jet trooper springing into action.
Launching off the ground with his jetpack the jet trooper opened fire on the assassin droid with his EMP launcher frying the droids circuits. "See, their not so tough" stated the clone jet trooper still hovering in mid-air.
Suddenly out of nowhere the jet trooper was incinerated as a rocket hit his jetpack, he fell like a fireball into the square below. "They must have assault droids too" stated a clone jet trooper.
"Stay on alert clones" warned Owen as they continued forward.
While traversing across the walkways above the square Owen and the jet trooper squad faced little opposition, any resistance they met was dispatched of easily enough until they came across a large building with several levels leading upwards. "We better take a look at what's inside" said Owen.
"Doesn't look like there's any way in from here" overlooked a clone jet trooper.
"We'll do this two men to a level, destroy any droids you come across" ordered Owen.
"Are you sure there's any in there General?" questioned a clone jet trooper.
"This building overlooks the square, I'm positive there is" assured Owen.
"Alright, engage" ordered Owen as their jetpacks took off upwards.
Owen jumped up to a level well enough while the clone jet troopers used their jetpacks to get to each respective level. Seeing a nearby door Owen made his way towards it until one of the jet troopers in his squad tapped his shoulder. "You weren't going to leave without me were you General?" questioned the clone jet trooper jokingly.
Owen smirked accepting the help. "Let's go"
Going through the first few rooms Owen and the clone jet trooper found nothing until they came to a door requiring a keycard. "Looks like this is as far as we go" said Owen.
"Stand aside General" replied the clone jet trooper.
Making a quick hack on the door eventually the jet trooper got it open. "That door was keyed where did you learn that?" asked Owen.
"Basic training" replied the clone jet trooper.
"I don't recall the Republic teaching jet troopers how to hack locked doors" implied Owen.
"I'm 501st Sir, like you said on the capital ship in your speech, we're a different breed" explained the clone jet trooper.
Getting back to business inside the room there where numerous control screens indicating defenses, tactical strategies, and exactly what the building was for, the jet trooper then spotted another door on the far left in the corner. "General, over here" motioned the clone jet trooper.
Bringing themselves over they began to hear droid chatter on the other side of the door, suddenly nearly giving them both a heart attack a battle droid came through the door unexpectedly, it immediately saw Owen and the lone jet trooper but before it could warn the others Owen sliced its cone like head right off. The clone jet trooper then spotted four assassin droids aiming and shooting inside, the droids were positioned on balconies overlooking the square. "You see that General?" asked the clone jet trooper.
"Yeah, you take the two on the right I'll take the other two on the left" replied Owen.
Stepping inside the assassin droids were struck down with ease as their backs were turned to Owen and the clone jet trooper. They continued forward going across several walkways until they reached another room that looked important, as the jet trooper went to work on the locked door they could hear plenty of commotion and fire coming from inside. "Got it Sir" informed the clone jet trooper.
With his blade drawn Owen responded. "Open it"
Rushing inside he encountered 15 busy battle droids, in the close quarter's room Owen hacked through each one with the clone jet trooper providing cover from the doorway. Gradually each droid fell until Owen was the only one left standing, as the jet trooper stepped inside they again overheard the loud sounds of firing, finally coming to their conclusion on the noise they both turned to one another. "Turrets"
Spotting two doors echoing heavy fire they knew the turrets would be inside, stepping through each door Owen and the jet trooper noticed the turrets situated on balconies firing at Appo's troops in the square down below, they took care of each droid easily. But seeing Commander Appo and his troops being pinned down and slowly wiped out by the superior droid numbers Owen and the clone jet trooper jumped on the turrets and began to open fire.
Down below fending off the droid counter attack Appo began to notice hundreds of advancing droids being shot down from behind. "Commander look, up there" pointed a clone trooper.
Appo couldn't quite believe his eyes as General Sun and the lone jet trooper were using the droids own turrets against them, as the hundreds of droids down below began to diminish into just a handful Owen motioned to the clone jet trooper to leave. A few over eager clone troopers got up believing it time to advance but the clone Lieutenant held them up with his hand. "No w…wait, wait for the signal" reminded the clone Lieutenant steadying the troops.
Owen then gave the signal for Appo's troops to advance. "Alright clones let's go" ordered Appo leaving cover and running through the square towards another wave of advancing droids.
With just a few turrets and assassin droids remaining Commander Appo and his men could now truly engage the CIS on the ground.
Before venturing back into the previous room Owen and the clone jet trooper disabled the turrets. "So what now?" asked the clone jet trooper.
"We'll meet back up with the rest of the squad, see what progress they've made" replied Owen.
Suddenly the room's far door swooshed open and a super battle droid stepped through, bringing its wrist blaster up to nail Owen the jet trooper leaped in front of the shot and was drilled in the back with plasma. Owen quickly drew his saber and cut the super battle droid in two, he felt the worst had happened as he made his way back over to a motionless clone jet trooper. Turning his body over Owen immediately noticed the smoking wound in his back, the jet trooper was killed when the shot made impact. There was nothing Owen could do so he left his body and ventured out the far door.
Eventually Owen met back up with the jet trooper squad. "You find anything?" asked Owen.
"Yes Sir, mainly just assassin droids and a bunch of turrets, but whatever we found we destroyed" answered the ranking clone jet trooper.
"A few other squads found some assault troopers but they were taken care of, the buildings been cleared out" he added.
"Did you find the droid Commander?" asked Owen.
"No, but he's bound to be around here somewhere" replied the ranking clone jet trooper.
"Any losses" wondered Owen.
"We lost a couple running into a squad of super battle droids but that's it" he answered.
"You?" wondered the ranking clone jet trooper.
"Yeah, I lost one" replied Owen.
There was a brief moment of silence as Owen remembered what the clone jet trooper did for him.
"Uh…Sir?" wondered the ranking clone jet trooper.
"We'll move on ahead to the next building" ordered Owen reasserting himself.
Continuing on Owen and the jet trooper squad ventured to the next building overlooking the square, coming to a three way impasse leading into the smaller building they had three choices right, left, or straight forward. Owen instructed the squad down the left and right pathways while he went straight forward, by himself this time.
Not sure exactly where he was Owen used stealth to avoid the many battle droids patrolling the building. "There must be something here, there's too many droids, they must be protecting something" thought Owen.
Owen went like glue to the wall as suddenly a battle droid passed right by him. "(Whew), that was too close" he thought.
He then came to a stairwell leading upwards but protecting it were two heavily armed super battle droids, Owen could easily dispatch both droids but then he'd have the entire building on him. "Can't risk it" he thought.
Then suddenly Owen overheard the sounds of combat nearby. "Must be the jet trooper squad" he thought.
A Sergeant battle droid then approached both bulky droids guarding the stairwell. "Hostiles have infiltrated the building, come with me we must eliminate them" ordered the Sergeant battle droid in its weak mechanical tongue.
Responding in a much more threatening tone the super battle droids followed their droid programming of obeying rank. "We will follow"
As they left Owen made his way up the stairwell, after a long climb he found himself inside what seemed like a command post. Even so only a few droids were inside, noticing the yellow stripes on the battle droids mechanical body Owen knew he had found the droid Commander. As the droid Commander gazed at the battle in the square down below he stealthily destroyed the three other droids in the room, getting the droid Commanders attention Owen spoke up. "You've already lost" he stated.
The droid Commander turned around eyeing Owens clone trooper armor. "Clone?" the droid wondered questioning its programming.
"No, not clone…Jedi" stated Owen.
Bringing his saber up Owen then cut the droid Commander in half.
Meanwhile back down at the fighting in the square.
The seemingly unending waves of droids calculated their attacks with such precision pinning Commander Appo's advancing troops down yet again. As Appo glared at the brilliant strategy of the counter attack it appeared inevitably that the CIS would succeed until…
"Sir, look" pointed out the clone Lieutenant.
Appo was confused as suddenly groups of droids starting running around as if they had gone mad, other droids were bumping into one another, shooting randomly throughout the square, while some super battle droids actually shot at and tossed regular battle droids out of their way. "We should take advantage of this while we can" stated the clone Lieutenant.
"Right" responded Appo as they rose up opening fire at the confused CIS droids.
Back above in the buildings looking down on the square.
Owen had linked back up with the clone jet trooper squad as they overlooked the battle below. "All CIS forces destroyed General" reported the ranking clone jet trooper.
"Good work trooper" replied Owen.
"Looks as if your plan worked General, those droids look like their lost down there" stated the ranking clone jet trooper.
"Wait Sir, look!" pointed a clone jet trooper.
Suddenly down below all they could see were thousands of droids advancing towards Appo's firing position, it was so crowded there wasn't even an inch of space without a droid in it. Taking out the droid Commander had not just send the droids mad but had triggered a last ditch effort for the Commerce Guild to defend the square as the entire regiment had been deployed at once. It suddenly hit Owen. "Damn it, it must have been programmed into him" he said with his head down in a low tone.
As his head was bowed in defeat Owen caught a glimpse of a destroyed assault droids rocket launcher, he then peered up at the massive fountain in the center of the square, Owen put the two together. "Trooper, grab that weapon!" ordered Owen frantically.
"But Sir I don…" Owen cut him off immediately.
"There's no time trooper, grab that weapon now!" shouted Owen.
The jet trooper did what he was told and picked up the rocket launcher. "Now I want you to destroy that fountain" commanded Owen.
The clone jet trooper couldn't possibly understand what his General was thinking but out of fear of being scolded again he didn't argue, after finding the trigger on the weapon the jet trooper fired a rocket into the fountain. The blast made a light dent in the large concrete fountain spewing water out one side but it still remained intact. "Reload and hit it again!" ordered Owen.
Owen spotted the droids getting closer to Commander Appo and his men on the ground feeding his desperation. "Hurry trooper!" yelled Owen sensing their impending annihilation.
Propping the heavy weapon back on his shoulder the jet trooper lined up his shot at the fountain again. "Aim lower this time" guided Owen.
The jet trooper opened fire sending a second rocket towards the fountain, this time the fountain shattered sending concrete in every direction. The square began to flood engulfing the unending droid forces in water that fried their circuits and disabled an entire regiment in one fell swoop.
Looking down at what was left of the CIS forces, droids twitching and what have you Owen sighed in relief. "Looks like their not waterproof" stated a jet trooper jokingly.
"Yeah…at least not these modules" replied Owen.
Commander Appo contacted Owen via his wrist communicator, he flipped it open. "Thanks again General, you saved our skins" said Appo.
"Don't mention it" replied Owen.
Suddenly cutting off their brief victory a massive explosion took place deeper in the square, it was the first battle tank from earlier that blocked the way for the rest of the super battle tanks, with the destroyed tank now blasted out of the way the super battle tanks began their advance into the square. "General, battle tanks are advancing into the square" warned Commander Appo.
Owen glanced at his suits radar next to his wrist communicator. "I wouldn't worry about them Commander" he replied.
Appo started to hear loud explosions behind him. "Lieutenant what's that noise?" he asked.
"I'm not sure Sir, but radar is picking up something big headed this way" answered the clone Lieutenant.
"Commander you and your men better take cover" ordered Owen sensing the explosion.
BOOM! the massive explosion sent debris flying everywhere.
The AT-TE walkers had arrived as they had just punched a hole right into the square, as the smoke and debris cleared Owen could see the clone Lieutenant he put in charge leading the way for the walkers. "Let's go" instructed the clone Lieutenant as he guided them into the square.
The battle tanks continued to advance firing their cannons on Commander Appo's position, unfortunately the clone Lieutenant under Appo's command became a casualty in the barrage. Seeing this the walkers opened fire, almost immediately the entire group of super battle droids had been obliterated by the superior fire of the Republics AT-TE walkers.
The clone Lieutenant remembered his orders as he prepared the four walkers to open fire on the buildings in the square. Owen quickly got himself and the jet trooper squad out of the way before the area was destroyed. "Follow me troopers" instructed Owen.
Owen jumped from the building and landed safely in the square below while the clone jet trooper squad followed his lead and jetted from the building.
In the distance the clone Lieutenant was ready. "Okay their clear, on my command……FIRE!" he ordered lowering his hand.
The AT-TE walkers made short work of the area blowing the buildings into confetti, the few droids that were left in the square quickly departed retreating into the depths of the city. Commander Appo stood up seeing the droids retreating in the distance, getting on top of a broken down pillar so all his men could see him Appo rose his blaster to celebrate the victory. "We've taken the square!" shouted Appo.
What was left of the 501st ground forces roared in victory as they had accomplished yet another impossible goal given to them. It was a glorious victory as Owen watched Appo continually raise his blaster in the air in victory, but Owen didn't have the same sense of achievement as he looked through the square seeing the thousands of clone sacrifices made. It was a costly victory but now they had a strangle hold on the planet, all they had to do now was seize the Commerce Guild presidents building as behind the square the glorious Commerce Guild headquarters was destroyed by the Republic fighter fleet. "Nice job Captain" congratulated Owen.
"All in a days work General, I'll see you at the presidents building" replied the clone pilot Captain.
"Oh and General…enjoy the reinforcements" stated the clone Captain ending his transmission.
Looking up Owen put his hand in front of his eyes shielding himself from Castell's sun as hundreds of LAAT's landed troops, armored vehicle's, and supplies into the square. They were a godsend to a depleted 501st.
Owen quickly set up a command post in the square and got the reinforced 501st ready for the final attack in the city. "Five minutes clones!" announced Owen.
"You heard the General, get yourselves ready" replied the clone Lieutenant who was now in command.
The clone Lieutenant would lead the 501st troopers in place of Commander Appo as his wounds had hindered him from fighting any longer. Owen entered Appo's temporary quarters as he was lying in his bed helmetless still heavily sedated from the large bacta injection. "You alright?" asked Owen.
"Yeah, (cough) I'll be fine" replied Appo.
"Have you briefed the Lieutenant yet?" wondered Appo.
"He knows what to do" assured Owen.
"Still, maybe I should…" Appo was cut off as he tried to sit up.
"You stay put Commander, that's an order" replied Owen placing his head back down.
"General, I…I can still fight" stated Appo.
"You've done enough Commander, stay here and rest, this battle will be over sooner than you think" replied Owen.
"Even now when I think about the odds we faced I still can't believe we won" stated Commander Appo.
"Neither can I…but I think I know now what was behind us taking the square" replied Owen.
"It wasn't our blasters, our tanks, our unbreakable will to fight, it wasn't even me, it was…" described Owen struggling to find the words.
"What?" wondered Appo.
Owen gave Appo a steadied look. "It was the Force"
There was a long silence until Owen leaned over seeing that Appo had passed out from the injection, he got himself up and went for the doorway. "Rest easy Commander, we'll win this day yet" he stated quietly leaving the room.
Meanwhile on the other side of the city in the Commerce Guild presidents building.
President Shu Mai slumped in her throne room chair in defeat having just heard the news of the Republics victory in the city square and the Commerce Guild headquarters destruction. "How could it of come to this?" wondered a defeated Shu Mai.
"We had superior forces, we outnumbered them by the thousands, how could they be winning this battle?" she continued wondering.
"Excuse me your majesty but you wanted a final report on the Commerce Guild headquarters buildings destruction" implied the Gossam president aid.
"Yes, did any of the leaders survive?" President Shu Mai asked.
"N…no your majesty, none of them made it out alive" answered the Gossam president aid.
"They will come for me next" implied Shu Mai.
"We will put whatever we have left into battle to defend you your majesty, including the newly designed spider droids, our CIS forces will defend this place to the last droid, they haven't won yet your majesty" assured the Gossam president aid.
"Your right…but we will need something more than just our spider droids we need something much more…" eluded President Shu Mai in her Gossam tongue.
"We need the prototypes" she added.
"You mean?" wondered the Gossam president aid.
"Yes, the Juggernaut droids" stated Shu Mai.
"But your majesty they haven't been properly tested yet, we don't know for sure if they'll work right" cautioned the Gossam president aid.
"All the more reason then, we'll find out what they can do right here and now" replied Shu Mai.
"But your majesty we…" the Gossam president aid was cut off.
"That is a direct order, I want them online and ready to defend this place" interrupted President Shu Mai.
"Of course your majesty but it will take a several hours to bring them online" replied the Gossam president aid.
"You have one hour, I suggest you leave immediately" ordered Shu Mai.
As the intimidated aid left Shu Mai flicked on the viewing screen eyeing the mysterious blond haired Republic leader. "Who is that man?" she asked.
"I'm not sure your majesty, he fights with what appears to be a lightsaber, they say only Jedi wield those" implied another Gossam president aid.
"Humph, a Jedi…I should of known, the glorified Republic is too weak to fight without depending on the Jedi" stated President Shu Mai sarcastically.
"Have my ship prepared and put the special gifts we received from Holowan Mechanicals online"
"Forgive me you majesty but you don't really think they'll capture the presidents building, do you?" wondered the Gossam president aid.
Uncertainty loomed in the air for a moment as Shu Mai responded. "I don't intend on being taken prisoner by the Republic"
"Plus I like to be prepared…for anything" she added.
Back to the advancing 501st position.
The reinforced 501st ground forces made their way through the streets and corridors of Castell City, but as they soon found out getting to the Commerce Guild presidents building wasn't going to be easy. Fighting through the streets, alleys, and corridors of the city against random droid patrols and ambushes proved to be tough but for the battle hardened 501st nothing was too difficult and despite some minor losses they continued to punch their way through the merciless fighting to the presidents building.
Owen valiantly led a large portion of the ground forces down one of the main streets of the city, together with the clone infantry he took care of most of the droids on the ground while the armored vehicle's behind them blasted any droids in the buildings above as they made their way through. The closer they fought their way towards the presidents building the worse the fighting got, being almost there Owen and the ground troops encountered suicidal resistance from the loyal Commerce Guild manufactured droids. Stabbing his saber into the back of a super battle droid Owen was contacted by the clone pilot Captain in the air. "General, come in, are you there?" he transmitted.
While deflecting the murderous fire around him and sawing his way through the heavy droid infantry Owen flicked his wrist communicator open and responded. "I'm here Captain"
"Looks like you could use some help down there" suggested the clone Captain.
Tossing a group of droidekas out of the way Owen transmitted back. "These droids must be coming from somewhere, most likely factories around the presidents building, I want you to find and destroy them Captain" replied Owen speaking into his wrist communicator.
"Yes Sir, I'll keep you informed…out" obeyed the clone pilot Captain ending the transmission.
Plunging his saber through the last droid, Owen led the clone infantry onwards. "Let's move clones!" he yelled.
After several minutes of fighting through some of the toughest droid resistance they'd face thus far Owen was contacted by the clone Lieutenant who was leading another portion of the ground force through the city. "General we've made our way to the Commerce Guild presidents building" he informed.
"Excellent news Lieutenant, continue on forward we'll meet you there" replied Owen.
"Sir that's not all, we've run into a few problems that's halted our advance" informed the clone Lieutenant.
"Well, what are they?" wondered Owen.
"Sir, its best you see this for yourself" stated the clone Lieutenant.
Looking to his suits radar Owen complied. "Alright were half a click away, sit tight until we arrive"
Eventually Owen and his portion of the ground force had made it to the clone Lieutenants location linking up their forces. As he walked over towards the Lieutenant he immediately saw one of the problems. "The map of the city didn't have a river on it" said Owen as he approached.
"Looks like we missed it Sir, the only access way we can see for our ground forces is across that bridge" pointed the clone Lieutenant to the large bridge over the water.
Owen grabbed the optics and surveyed the bridge. "Their bound to have it rigged" stated the clone Lieutenant.
"No…I don't sense anything but they may just be waiting for us to cross before they think about doing something" replied Owen.
"Blowing the bridge while were on it" implied the clone Lieutenant.
"Maybe, maybe not…it's hard to sense, I feel something deadly is waiting for us on the other side" replied Owen trusting what he felt.
"That's not all General, look past the bridge" pointed out the clone Lieutenant.
Extending the optics range Owen was astonished by the gathering of CIS forces on the other side. "My God look how many there are" he stated.
"It's mainly all spider droids, dwarf, standard module, and a lot of those new ones we encountered earlier" informed the clone Lieutenant.
Running his hand through his jet blond hair confused Owen began to weigh his options. "What if we try across the riv…" the clone Lieutenant cut his Jedi General off.
"The waters too deep General, everything would sink" interrupted the clone Lieutenant.
Pacing around Owen had come to a plan that he had very little choice of. "We'll draw their fire from across the river with the walkers, then our troops and tanks will advance over the bridge" relayed Owen.
"We could try an airborne assault General" suggested the clone Lieutenant.
"No, we cross the bridge…it's the only way" stated Owen firmly.
Suddenly interrupting them the mass of CIS forces protecting the Commerce Guild presidents building opened fire, random blasts found their mark blowing a few armored vehicle's up and killing several clone troopers. "Get everything into position" ordered Owen.
"Yes Sir" replied the clone Lieutenant.
The clone Lieutenant quickly organized their forces and had the AT-TE walkers open fire, with the CIS forces distracted by the walker's heavy fire the rest of the ground force assembled to cross the bridge. Owen stood up on one of the Republic IFT-X hover tanks. "Come on clones, let's finish this fight!" he shouted as he began to lead them across the bridge.
They got about half way across before Owen spotted the first bit of CIS resistance, several hundred advancing droids with a group of dwarf spider droids began to open fire. Owen quickly hopped on one of the leading IFT-X hover tanks and helped the clone tank trooper to steer his fire correctly. "Trooper, I want you to plow right through that droid infantry!" yelled Owen over the loud tank.
Ignoring the droids opening fire the tank plowed through the infantry destroying the majority of them, Owen jumped off the tank and plunged into what was left of the advancing droids. He dispatched several of them with his lightsaber but to get rid of the rest he picked the remaining droids up and with a wave of his hand tossed them into the river. Now turning to the dwarf spiders Owen used his force speed and saber to quickly saw their thinly armored legs off, without the balance of both legs the spider droids fell to the ground and exploded.
As the ground forces continued to advance they met more and more CIS resistance, this time many of the standard spider droids came in to reinforce their counter parts the thinly armored dwarf spiders, and as always their was plenty of stubborn droids on the ground hindering their progress. It appeared they had hit a wall as the CIS seemed determined to keep them from crossing, suddenly things got worse. "General Sun, please come in" pleaded the clone pilot Captain.
Over the heavy fire Owen responded. "What is it Captain?"
"Were encountering some heavy resistance around the presidents building, we've already lost half of our reinforced fighters" informed the clone Captain.
"What about the droid factories?" wondered Owen.
"We've taken out a few but the gun towers present in the area are making it almost impossible for us to destroy them, their just too fast" informed the clone Captain.
"You must destroy them all Captain or were not going anywhere" replied Owen referring to the pinned down state the unending droid infantry had put them in.
"General we need your help our fighter fleet is being wiped out up here…(static)…we can't…(static)…hold out…(static)…for…" the transmission suddenly went dead as Owen grew increasingly concerned about the fighter fleet.
Owen made his way out of the treacherous laser fire being blasted back and forth and gave the clone Lieutenant his new orders. He understood them and Owen took off on a barc speeder.
It took some time but Owen speeded all the way back to his ARC-170, he got in and immediately blasted into the air heading for the Commerce Guild presidents building.
Arriving at the presidents building Owen could see that the clone pilot Captain wasn't exaggerating, the Republic fighter fleet was being torn apart by the gun towers around the presidents building. Sensing their imminent destruction Owen sprung into action right away targeting the first gun tower, but as Owen swooped in the prehensile tower quickly shot around and rained heavy fire into his ARC-170. Dodging the green laser fire Owen quickly pulled himself out of there, he could see now what the clone Captain meant. Owen wasn't going to be able to advance unless the tower was destroyed so rounding back in he devised an idea, as the gun tower turned and fired again Owen launched a torpedo into the long spiring radar site atop the presidents building, the radar site fell and crushed the gun tower below allowing him to pass.
As Owen got into the immediate fighting area he spotted the handful of Republic fighters, right before it could turn and face him Owen fired several proton torpedoes into a gun tower in the distance. Eventually the torpedoes found their mark and destroyed the deadly gun tower, the clone pilot Captain then noticed his Generals handiwork. "Thanks General, you have no idea what we've been through up here, these gun towers have been tearing us to pieces" he greeted.
"Then let's take out the rest of them" replied Owen speaking into his headpiece.
Through sheer grit and determination Owen and the beleaguered fighter fleet eventually destroyed the surrounding gun towers around the Commerce Guild presidents building. Owens superior fighter skills had definitely saved them. "I'm glad you came Sir" thanked the clone pilot Captain flying by the ruins of a gun tower.
"Never mind the thanks Captain we must destroy those droid factories now or our troops on the ground will be deadlocked" stated Owen.
"Yes Sir" replied the clone pilot Captain.
With the gun tower's out of the way the v-wing bombers swept in and made short work of the droid factory buildings below obliterating them with their heavy payload. "That outta through a wrench into their plans" stated a v-wing pilot flying over the wreckage below.
"General theirs still two more gun towers atop the entrance into the presidents building, they'll prevent our forces from entering" informed the clone Captain.
"Then let's go get them" replied Owen.
Surprising the gun towers from behind what was left of the Republic fighter fleet opened up destroying the first tower. The next tower proved to be more difficult as it knocked a few V-19's out of the air, looping back around Owen fired his aft blaster cannons while the clone Captain sent a number of torpedoes into the tower smashing it to rubble.
Looking towards the battle on the bridge Owen was relieved to see that the ground forces had pushed their way passed the CIS defenses and we're now across the bridge and on the doorstep of the Commerce Guild president's building. With no droid reinforcements to speak of now the CIS were slowly being pushed back and eliminated, it looked like the battle was theirs until suddenly from underneath the planet a loud rumbling that shook the very city was heard. The rumbling got louder and louder and the ground shook more and more until two massive circular machines burst their way from underneath the ground in front of the presidents building.
The two behemoths were equal in size to that of the enormous Separatists core ships encountered in the Battle of Geonosis, the massive circular mechanical machines dwarfed everything around them. As the smoke and debris cleared from their abrupt arrival the entire battle suddenly stopped as even the CIS turned around to see the overpowering sight before them. Looking down from his fighter Owen couldn't believe the sheer mass of the new apparent threat. "I've never seen anything like it" he thought.
The Juggernaut droids Shu Mai requested had arrived just in time, but the Commerce Guild prototypes just sat there for what seemed like forever as both armies looked on in awe at the unprecedented sight in front of them. Suddenly the sides of the circular machines opened and two huge cannons popped out, then from the bottom two giant objects sprung out that appeared to be the large machines legs. They stood silent for a time until suddenly a blue plasma like orb shot out from the chest of one of the colossal machines and landed right in between the 501st ground forces, a clone trooper observed the blue orb with interest until it started to glow brighter and brighter. The orbs light grew so bright that even the clone helmet visors couldn't shield them, then in a blinding flash the orb released a sudden ray of light that blinded the Republic forces on the ground. With the clones blinded and confused from the sudden flash several guns sprouted from the bottom of the behemoths, the guns then opened fire spraying hundreds of projectiles everywhere, this sprung the astonished Republic and CIS forces back into action.
In one fell swoop the new threat had killed half of the clone troopers on the ground and a number of hapless droids to boot. As the AT-TE walkers opened fire from across the river the Juggernaut droids responded in kind, the massive guns from the side of the Juggernauts fired a few shots that ruptured the very ground of the city. Traveling across the river the thick red plasma had found its mark blowing the thick AT-TE walker in half, the destroyed walker toppled over and crushed another fellow AT-TE. It took only one shot to destroy the powerful walker which concerned Owen greatly. "Those must be capital ship guns attached to them" he thought.
As Owen tried to think of something the two remaining walkers were literally annihilated by the Juggernauts. The two giant mechanical machines then turned their attention to the 501st ground forces in front of them, the clone Lieutenant had them fire everything they had at them but it hardly made a dent, the Juggernaut droids seemed indestructible as they cut into the ground forces below.
Owen immediately brought the rattled Republic fleet together. "This is just a last desperate attempt of a trapped corporation" he stated.
"Their president knows what awaits her, let's find a way to destroy these things and end this" added Owen.
Coming in for their run the Republic fighter fleet unloaded on the Juggernauts causing no damage at all, as they approached again Owen had the v-wings lead the way dropping their proton bombs on the seemingly invincible machines below. But again they got nothing. "Hardly made a scratch Sir" reported the v-wing pilot.
Then from the top of the Juggernauts several anti-air guns appeared tearing into their fighters, Owen quickly took evasive action but the firing of the anti-air guns was so incredibly accurate that it shredded the entire left side of his fighter. Owen struggled to keep himself in the air as a fire broke out across his fighter, being totally unaware of what he was flying into he found himself in the path of the Juggernaut droids enormous cannons. The cannons quickly opened fire on the out of control fighter blowing the entire back end of it off, what was left of Owens ARC-170 plummeted into the river below. "GENERALLLLL!" cried the clone Captain as he watched the burning wreck smack into the water.
The clone pilot Captain simply didn't believe what he was seeing, their Jedi General was dead, there was no way he could have survived. The 501st ground forces had been informed of the horrible tragedy. "Its terrible news Captain but we must keep fighting" stated the clone Lieutenant via the comm.
"We've come this far…we cannot give up!" pleaded the clone Lieutenant.
But despite the Lieutenants inspiring comments the news of their Generals death spread through the ranks shattering their hope of victory and sucking the morale right out of them, it was as if the heart of the 501st had been ripped right out. "We must find a way to destroy them!" cried the clone Lieutenant knowing they wouldn't survive for long.
For the first time doubtfulness and desperation had crept into the minds of the 501st, a victory that seemed so certain was gone and now they were fighting for their very lives, with what little hope the clone troopers had left they fought with……but despite the terrible loss there was still a glimmer of hope left in the deep blue waters of the river below…