Chapter 53: The Kamino Blockade

The Umbra hung in space just above the command deck of the Liberator as the rest of the Separatist fleet, eight dreadnaughts strong and flanked by dozens of frigates, sped toward the Republic ships that served to blockade Kamino. Dooku had not been joking when he had said that Kamino was no easy target, and with Sidious' war effort concentrated on the cloners' ability to produce new soldiers, it was no surprise that the Sith Master would take steps to guard his interests. Still, the entire fleet didn't need to get through. Obi-Wan just needed one ship, and it would be over.

Upgrades to the Umbra had been completed that week, and after a few tests in mock battles in the skies above Mustafar, Kenobi had declared the new systems a resounding success. Powered by stygium crystals, the cloaking device was developed earlier in the war by the Republic, and it had been upgraded and modified by the TechnoUnion to suit the specific needs of the Sith Lord. The cloaking technology created an invisibility field around the ship that made it impossible for both scanners and the naked eye to detect. Firing the ship's powerful cannons would give away its location, but if the ship was flown discreetly, the Umbra could go anywhere completely undetected.

"We didn't bring a big enough fleet," Grievous said from behind him, his mechanical claws on the back of Kenobi's seat, and with a frown, the Sith brushed the hand away.

"Do you want to give them even more ships to shoot down?" Obi-Wan asked, irritated. "We've already been over this, General. We're going to lose most of these ships, breaking the blockade isn't the point."

"He doesn't listen when you talk, darling," Ventress said, the Nightsister standing at his other side and laying a long-fingered hand on the Sith's shoulder. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. Ventress and Grievous had only just met that afternoon, and they hated each other immediately. The entire trip had been spent in heated argument over who was the more gifted of Dooku's pupils, which Obi-Wan found absurd. Grievous was eventually willing to conceded that Ventress may have been his equal, but Asajj, ever proud, remained dismissive of the cyborg, and the fighting began again. It only ended when Kenobi had drawn his own weapon and put them both to shame, and after that, they maintained a tense, mildly flirtatious peace. Cody found it disgusting.

The fighting began in a rain of green and red and blue as ships were struck, explosions erupting along their flanks, starfighters disappearing into balls of smoke and flames, and stalwart shields absorbing damage as they released fighters like a swarm. The Liberator and the Umbra held back, well out of range of the fighting, and Obi-Wan leaned over to Cody in the seat beside him. "Any word on our diversions?"

"Yes, sir." The clone pressed a few buttons on his side of the control console and a hologram of the galaxy appeared between them. "Rishi Station has been destroyed. Crys estimates that communications have been slowed by fifty percent as a result."

"Reenforcements won't even be able to get here before we are done!" Grievous said, laughing until Kenobi tapped him on the arm.

"Let's not get overconfident. Don't forget that they will divert all their attention to us once they know what is happening." He tapped his chin as he looked at the galactic map. "It's true that Kamino is a long way from Republic space...what of our activity in the Ryndellia System?"

The system lit up on the map, and Kenobi grinned. MidRim Ryndellia was a long, long way from Wild Space where Kamino was located. "The Kaliida Shoals Medical Center is currently under attack. The Republic has deployed their best to defend it, there are over sixty thousand clones stationed there."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Do we know the ships?"

"No, sir."

"It doesn't matter anyway, it will take hours to get here from the MidRim. We will be gone by then." He tapped the controls on the armrest, and the galaxy map faded and was replaced with a map of the cloning facilities on Tipoca City. "As a reminder, Ventress, you are headed toward the labs to secure a DNA sample. I have no idea why Dooku wants it, but if you fail him in this, it may be one too many failures for him to see any further use for you. I suggest you don't fail."

Asajj grit her teeth, the Dark Side flaring as anger overtook her, and Kenobi just grinned. "I won't fail."

"Good. Hang on to that anger, you're going to need it. Grievous, you are headed to the barracks. You're providing the distraction. When we get the droids down, you will lead them in to face the clones. These clones are battle ready, so be careful. Once you get the signal, no matter how well your troops are doing, you are to fall back, understand?"

"The clones cannot stand against me!" Grievous snarled. "I will destroy them all!"

Kenobi sighed. "Suit yourself...but if you aren't back at the Umbra at the designated time, I'm leaving without you." The cyborg growled, but said no more, his being relaxing into acceptance. "Cody."

"I stay by your side, sir, and when commanded, I am to return to the Umbra and prepare for our retreat."

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and reached out through the Force, feeling the excitement of Grievous, the calm of Cody, the rage of Ventress, and felt beyond them to the hundreds of thousands of identical lives on the planet below, and through it all, he felt one singular point of light. "As of now, there is one Jedi on the planet. That will not last. Be prepared for anything." The group quietly murmured their obedience, silence falling upon them as each of them focused on the task at hand, each of them looking out toward Kamino before them, the space between them and the cloaners filled with ships, lasers and debris.

"Cody, contact the Invisible Hand, tell them to issue the command to launch the Trident Assault Ships." The clone nodded, quickly activating the com to the other Separatist fleet when Obi-Wan activated the ship's stealth drive, the cockpit humming as the systems engaged and dropped the ship from sight. He grabbed the yoke and the accelerator just as his sharp eyes caught sight of two Star Destroyers appearing in the space behind Kamino where before there was nothing but empty space. Reenforcements had already arrived, reverting to sublight speeds and immediately making for the blockade, the large hanger doors on the top side of the ship opening to release hundreds of starfighters that immediately took to the fight.

Ventress began to laugh. "Well, that was fast."

"They must have been nearby," Obi-Wan mumbled to himself. "Or they somehow heard about the plan to attack. Cody, Identify the ships."

The clone quickly bent to the task, and before long, he whistled and leaned back in his seat. "You aren't going to like it. Our newcomers are the Impavid and the Vigilance."

Kenobi closed his eyes and breathed deeply, regaining control of his racing heart. He had already known who it was before he asked. He could feel it in the Force. Skywalker. "I don't know the Impavid."

"She's new, sir."

Obi-Wan took his hand off the yoke and leaned back, his finger tapping on the armrest as he watched the starfighters from the reenforcements join the fight. It didn't take him long to identify a yellow Delta-7B Light interceptor, the ship clearly custom fitted and improved to be lighter, faster, and stronger than other ships of its make. Moreover, it was flown by an expert, the ship so well handled that even Obi-Wan was impressed. He didn't need the Force to know that the pilot was Anakin Skywalker, and he took to the sky like he was born for it. Kenobi's hand tightened on the accelerator and grabbed the yoke.

"This is good, they think the fight is up here."

"The fight is up here," Grievous growled, and the Sith Lord breathed deep and centered in the Force.

"For now. Be silent, I need to focus."

Nobody said a word as Obi-Wan thrust the accelerator forward, the ship smoothly sliding into top speeds as it rapidly flew toward the battle. The task wasn't an easy one. Navigating the maze of plasma charges and the chaos of a thousand starfighters was no easy task, and it was made more difficult by the necessity for perfect stealth. Destroying obstacles in the way or absorbing enough damage for the shields to fail would make the invisible Umbra visible, and the game would be over. They needed to remain completely undetected, passing like a ghost through the battlefield to penetrate the blockade and make it to the oceanic planet's floating clone city. This feat would have been impossible for most pilots, but there were few in the galaxy that could fly better than Obi-Wan. The Sith Lord suspected that Skywalker could have accomplished this as well, if his knack for the mechanical was as prodigious as he had been led to believe, but there were precious few else who could make it, and certainly none that did not have the Force to aid them.

When the ship began to swiftly evade oncoming fare, diving below ships as they crossed before him, weaving in and out between red and green beams of energy, Cody leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes in full faith that the Sith would bring them where they needed to be, but Grievous and Asajj looked on in amazement. With the Force guiding his every action, it was if Kenobi and the ship were one as he executed swift flips, setting the ship into a downwards spin to avoid the explosive blast of two starfighters colliding, heading straight toward oncoming fire only to have the ship move effortlessly between diverging shots. At top speeds, despite the winding, twisting trail they cut, it didn't take long for the Umbra to slow, the engines lowering in pitch as they flew close underneath the belly of one of the Star Destroyers. They were at the edge of the blockade. They had made it through.

"Cody, check to see the status of those Tridents, I don't want to begin until they are ready to deploy our forces."

The clone activated the radar and began reading information that was displayed on the monitors on the console. "It seems they got through, sir, but they were damaged. The aqua droids are repairing them now, they will be battle ready in ten minutes."

The Sith nodded as he navigated through Kamino's stormy atmosphere, flying low over the ocean on the approach to Tipoca City and circling around it as he searched for a good place to land. He settled on a small landing platform that overlooked the larger main hanger. The thundering rain covered the sound of their already quiet landing, and the Sith powered the engines down, diverting the remainder of the power to keep the stealth drive activated. He could feel the anticipation of his companions through the Force, could feel the Dark Side gripping him tightly and urging him to release himself to its will, and Kenobi centered on this, knowing that very soon, he'd have what he needed to end this struggle between him and the Dark Side.

Obi-Wan pulled up the map of the city again, a glowing red dot indicating their location on the outside edge of the largest of the domes that stood above the raging waves. "Cody, how many Tridents made it?"

"Three, sir."

Kenobi nodded. "Have them lock on to our location and attack on the opposite side of this complex, and on the two domes at our sides. We want to divide their attention and lead them away from us." Cody bent to the task, and Obi-Wan pointed at the holographic map. "I am giving us no more than an hour to accomplish our mission, and if we cannot do it in that time, than we have failed. Orient yourselves to our location. You will be on your own from here on out. You know what you must do, and I trust you to succeed. Stay focused, stay smart, and stay alive. The Dark Side is with us. Do not give it a reason to lose faith in us."

The cyborg and the assassin nodded, quickly leaving the ship together, and Obi-Wan closed his eyes and lost himself to the Force, tasking it to show him the swiftest path to Shaak Ti.


"Alright, boys, fan out and follow me, those frigates are launching more vulture droids. Don't let them through." The com chatter was filled with a chorus of identical voices acknowledging the directive, and when the starfighters filed in beside him, Anakin pressed the accelerator forward and flew in to re-engage the droid fighters as he muted the com to his clones and opened the channel between him and the silver Delta 7B that flew just under him. "I'm at seventy four, where are you at."

The voice on the other end of his headset gave a long-suffering sigh and said in an aristocratic accent, "This isn't a game, General."

"Of course it isn't a game! But the clones and I always keep count. You haven't been with us long enough yet, Tarkin."

There was silence for a moment, and than the Captain said, "Since I am responsible for the destruction of the Foundry on Geonosis, do I get credit for the droids destroyed there?"

"W-well..."

"By my estimation, there were upwards of two million automata within the factory."

"It's a different battle, Tarkin, it doesn't count," Skywalker growled as he deftly flew toward the droid fighters, his clones close behind and creating a wall of blaster fire that the droids could not pass through. The vulture droids and the starfighters weren't the problem. The problem was the massive dreadnaught that loomed menacingly in space before them. The Invisible Hand was the new creation to serve as General Grievous' flagship, and it was nearly double the size of the Malevolence on which it was based. It appeared that Grievous was learning from the loss of the last ship, as he kept the mighty dreadnaught well protected, flanked by a small army of droid controlled frigates. More dangerous, however, was the Negotiator, the smaller ship hanging in the shadow of the Invisible Hand and adding its firepower to the might of Grievous' vessel. The two ships worked in perfect tandem, with the larger providing the cover and the smaller shooting down anything that came near with distressing accuracy.

"Tarkin, martial up your squadron and make a run at one of those frigates. If we're going to have a shot at bringing that dreadnaught down, than we need to clear space around it."

"I don't think that's going to be a problem. The commander aborad seems to be sacrificing them to keep the command ship safe."

Anakin frowned as he brought the nose of his ship up to avoid the screaming vulture droids coming straight for him, and he looped around to shoot them down as they passed. The Captain's implication wasn't lost on Skywalker, and it was distressing, and not only because he had been thinking the same thing. "You don't think it's Grievous aboard the ship?"

"It's reckless, even for him."

"...I agree." Anakin pulled up as Tarkin's silver starfighter took off in the direction of a frigate that had left the side of the dreadnaught it defended, the entirety of his squadron following close behind as he began the attack run, and Anakin brought his ship around to follow suit, his sights set on a ship that was swiftly moving toward the blockade on the far edge of the field. He listened closely to the com as the Captain commanded his troops with the maximum efficiency afforded to him, and it wasn't long before Tarkin had completed a first damaging run and was swinging around for a second.

"We will have a small window of opportunity when we destroy this ship," Tarkin said. "We have a clear shot at the dreadnaught. How shall we proceed?"

Taking a deep breath, Anakin fired his proton torpedoes and struck the droid assault ship right along its spine, a thick pillar of fire and smoke erupting as the frigate broke in half, scattering droids and other scrap into space. "Do not pursue. They won't be undefended for long, and the Negotiator is Obi-Wan Kenobi's ship. Master Qui-Gon says he's a talented pilot, and I don't want to provoke him to action."

"That begs to question why he hasn't taken to the field, sir," Tarkin said quietly. "I understand he's comparable to the Jedi."

Anakin laughed. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Than where is he?"

Anakin flew the ship through the barrage of lasers with instinct alone, his body and the Force guiding him safely back to Tarkin and his squad, but his thoughts were elsewhere. The Captain had a point, and it touched on something Anakin had been thinking himself for a while. The Separatist fleet was large, but not large enough. The command ships they brought were the best they had to offer, and yet they hung back, opting to attack the blockade from a distance instead of flying into closer range where they would have been exposed, but far more effective. They were taking heavy losses, yet the ships that went down were ultimately insignificant, as though they were bait. Worse, the commanders of the dreadnaughts, General Grievous and Obi-Wan Kenobi, were nowhere to be seen, which Anakin found highly unusual for the front line commanders.

This was a trap.

"Tarkin, fly back to the Vigilance and get in contact with Tipoca City. I have a very bad feeling about all of this. Contact me when you hear anything, even if you deem it insignificant."

The Captain broke away from formation. "Are you not returning as well?"

"As far as we know, the fight's up here. We need to keep the pressure on them until we hear otherwise. I don't want them to get away."

"Reenforcements are on the way, General. When they arrive, we will have them flanked, and there will be no escape for any of them."

Anakin chuckled. "If Grievous and Kenobi are here, we want to capture them, not blow them out of the sky."

"With all due respect, sir, it's their deaths that will bring a swift end to the conflict, not their capture. Imprisonment only gives them another chance to escape."

"You may be right about that..." He watched as the silver fighter looped around, engines burning as he accelerated toward the Vigilance. Wilhuff Tarkin was, if nothing else, ruthless in his methods, and while many Jedi disagreed with his brutal approach, Anakin included, in many cases, the young officer was a machine of brutal efficiency and tactical genius. When Anakin was knighted, the Senate had the ship Vigilance ready for him to command, and Chancellor Palpatine had personally assigned Tarkin to work closely beside Anakin as something of a symbol of the unity of the Republic and the Jedi. The best of the Jedi should work closely with the best of the Republic, Palpatine had said, and while Anakin didn't agree with the assessment, it was clear that the Chancellor was closely watching the careers of the two promising men.

With the threat of a trap pulling at the back of Anakin's mind, he gathered his troops around him and launched a new offensive against the Separatist fleet, swerving out of the way of flames and scrap as he effortlessly tore through the waves of vultures that were launched at him, coordinating attack runs to bring down surrounding frigates, and once, he had an open shot on the Invisible Hand. Losing himself in the Force, he commanded his clones to cover him while he pressed in through the gap, readying his plasma torpedoes and taking aim at the control deck high above, but the shot missed by a narrow margin when he had to suddenly drive the nose of his ship upwards, banking hard to the right as the Negotiator below fired a charged beam of energy from forward ion cannons. Anakin frowned when he saw the advantage lost, and he fell back into formation with the clones. It seemed like Obi-Wan had upgraded his ship.

For a moment, Skywalker had half a mind to evacuate one of the blockade ships and pilot the thing himself right into the closely grouped dreadnaughts. The loss of one Star Destroyer for the two prides of the Separatist Navy seemed both a fair exchange, and the only way that the two dreadnaughts would be taken down. As good as he was, Skywalker knew that one Delta 7B, even if it was piloted by the best in the galaxy, couldn't take down these ships on its own. A lot of people would have to die to even give them the chance. Tarkin would urge him to take the risk, writing off any loss of lives or ships as a necessary expense, but Anakin cared too deeply about his troops to put them in needless danger. There was a way to break the deadly tandem of the Invisible Hand and the Negotiator. There simply had to be.

His headset crackled with static for a moment before the connection was firmly established, and Anakin could hear Tarkin barking commands at personnel on the bridge before he addressed his General. "Sir, we just received word from General Shaak Ti in Tipoca City. The cloning facility is under attack."

"Kriffing hell, how did they get through!" Anakin cried, immediately dipping his ship down and flipping around to change course away from the Separatist fleet and back toward the Vigilance, which rested at the head of the blockade, the Star Destroyer shooting rapidly at the droid fighters that managed to get past the clones. Despite taking heavy fire from frigates that came within range, the shields were holding strong.

"It would appear that the purpose of some of these ships is to be shot down, they are carrying droids aboard that are repairing the salvageable parts into functioning battleships when they enter the atmosphere and fall into the ocean."

"That's the most absurd thing I have ever heard!"

"Maybe so, but that is what's happening."

Anakin groaned and ran a hand over his face, quickly checking his radar to make certain that his clone squadron was following him. "Is the invading force big?"

"No. General Shaak Ti says that there are not nearly enough droids to capture the city, but there are enough to cause a staggering amount of damage. Furthermore, it appears that they are being led by General Grievous."

Skywalker's grip on the yoke tightened as he clenched his jaw, eyes narrowing in a flash of anger. "You were right, Tarkin, Grievous isn't in command up here. Damn it, we've walked right into a trap! I can't leave. We need to be down in the city, but if we abandon the fight up here, they could break through the blockade and make things worse."

"We don't need to bring soldiers to Kamino, sir, since they have plenty of them down there. We just need an elite force to go down and take care of the Grievous problem. The clones are competent enough to handle mere droids."

"Does she report anyone else of note down there?"

"None that she is aware of."

Anakin closed his eyes as he closed the communication and reached out through the Force for guidance. These were the time that he needed Qui-Gon Jinn, but there would be no help from his former Master. Qui-Gon was busy at work with Luminara in the task of defending a medical center in the Ryndellia System. He wasn't alone, but as the General in charge of the Republic reenforcements, the call was his. The Jedi needed to be on Kamino, but at the same time, they were needed to help defend the blockade, and as they best pilot they had, Anakin was a necessity. Were Separatist reenforcements to arrive, the blockade may have difficulty holding, and the slightest slip in their defense could mean thousands of droids on Kamino.

What was worse, Anakin knew that somewhere in the system was Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the Sith Lord had shown time and time again to be able to change the tide of battle in his favor. If he was laying in wait on the Negotiator, if he was half a good a pilot as Qui-Gon had led him to believe, than he'd need to be there to shoot the Sith Lord down before he could cause too much damage. Even worse, if somehow Kenobi had managed to find a way down to Kamino, if right now he were walking about the cloning facility...

Growling in frustration, Anakin diverted full power to the engines, the starfighters screeching as it shot underneath his Star Destroyer, just as another materialized in the skies above Kamino. Anakin slowed the fighter, pulling the yoke back as he flew up between the blockade to get a look at the newly arrived ship, and he grinned widely as he opened a com channel between his fighter and the Star Destroyer. "Prosperous, this is General Anakin Skywalker. We're glad to have you."

The holodisc on the control console whirred as it was activated, and it quickly flickered on as the connection was secured, the stern, serious form of the Iktotchi Saesee Tiin displayed before him. "What's the situation, Skywalker?" the Jedi Master asked, his low voice serious, and if Anakin hadn't bonded with him over the joys of flight, than his severe features, his stern glances, and the horns that grew out of his head and curved down toward his shoulders would have cut an intimidating figure. As it was, he couldn't have asked for a better reenforcement. Like Anakin himself, Master Tiin had a lifelong passion for piloting, and he was matched in skill only by the young Skywalker. As for who was the better of the two, Anakin wasn't sure, but he wouldn't put it past the cunning Iktoochi to be able to best him, even if it was an advantage that only came from many more years of experience.

"Contact the Vigilance and they'll fill you in, but I need you out here now to lead the assault. I'm heading down to Kamino to deal with a situation there."

The Master frowned. "Am I needed on the surface?"

"No, you're needed out here. I'm taking Master Vos, Padawan Tano, and Captain Tarkin with me, so you're in command of the defense." Saesee didn't say a word as he cut the com, and Anakin quickly reestablished connection with his ship, his headset crackling as his Captain was rushing about and ordering the troops with quick, calm commands.

"General, I'm trying to coordinate a suitable counterattack now that we have additional reenforcements, so-"

"Glad you're on top of it, Tarkin," Skywalker interrupted, and he could practically feel the Captain burn with irritation from across the distance between them. "General Tiin is going to assume command up here. I want you to contact the Impavid, tell General Vos to grab his Padawan and come down to aid Kamino. I want you to meet us there as well."

In the silence that followed, Anakin could practically here the Captain's mind racing, running through all possible outcomes and alternatives. Finally, he said, "Will one General up here be enough?"

"Of course it will. Saesee Tiin is one of the best pilots in the galaxy."

"One man is not enough to stop the tide, General."

"Maybe not, but one Jedi can at least hold it back for a time. We're bringing the best to Kamino. I intend to finish there quickly so we can return to the battle here."

"Very good, General."

Steeling himself, Anakin pointed the nose of his starship down, diving beneath the mighty Star Destroyers and flying top speed toward Kamino.