DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS OR ANY ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS

Here we are, just getting to some of the larger action. It only took sixteen chapters. I think all of you are going to love this one. Drop a review and let me know what you thought! Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 16

Vader stood impatiently on the bridge of the Executor. His arms crossed, mask a blank expression as always, he awaited the arrival of Grand Admiral Thrawn. The Grand Admiral was a long kept secret by Emperor Palpatine, up until he joined the Empire's ranks nearly two decades ago. The male Chiss was a master strategist, and had the best mission success rate in the entire Imperial navy.

Vader dreaded the thought of having to call for assistance, for it would make him seem incompetent, but Thrawn was necessary to the hunt of the rebels. If the Emperor didn't see Thrawn as a pet, Vader surmised that he would have killed the Chiss a long time ago.

Finishing his thoughts, Vader watched as the entire Seventh Fleet dropped out of hyperspace in front of the Executor, spearheaded by the Chimaera, Thrawn's flagship. Twenty-five star destroyers, a mix of Imperial, Imperial-II's, and Tectors, as well as a motley support fleet. The only thing that gave Vader pleasure when he thought of Thrawn, was the Chiss loathed capital ships. He was known for using smaller, more maneuverable frigates and corvettes, despising the slow-moving capital ships.

When a shuttle dropped out of the Chimaera's lower hangar, Vader turned on his booted heel and pounded to the turbolift. Taking it down, he made his way to the main hangar, arriving just as the shuttle's ramp was lowered. A tall, blue-haired man with red eyes stepped out. Clad all in white, he appeared regal and confident with his hands clasped behind his back. Thrawn was one of the only three individuals in the entire galaxy that didn't cower in fear whenever Vader was present, however, only two remained after the death of Moff Tarkin.

Vader halted, crossing his arms in front of his armoured chest as Thrawn slowly approached, flanked by Colonel Yularen. "Lord Vader," he greeted in his soft, silky voice.

"Grand Admiral Thrawn," Vader acknowledged, falling into step with the Chiss, leading the way to the bridge.

"I understand you have a problem with the rebellion," Thrawn began. "I am prepared to wipe them out, your assistance will not be-"

"Do not mistake this for a call for aid, Grand Admiral," Vader boomed. "I need only your brain to ascertain where the rebels will strike next. After that, I will crush them and your services will no longer be needed."

Thrawn's back stiffened. "As you wish, my lord."

"Ord Mantell? How can you be sure?" Piett questioned from his seat at the glossy black conference table. Vader sat at the head, and Thrawn stood at the foot, facing the holoprojection of the planet.

"The rebels recently stole the Mandator-II class dreadnaught The Pride of the Core, yes? And you say they only had enough clones to run two Venator-class Star Destroyers? They simply do not have enough crew to run the dreadnaught, even if they abandoned every ship in their fleet. Therefore, they will seek alternative crewing options," Thrawn detailed.

"Whatever do you mean?" Yularen inquired with a raised eyebrow. Before Thrawn could answer, Vader regarded the old Colonel. The former Admiral of the Republic had aged considerably. His hair, which formerly had only a streak of white, was now completely stark, as well as his moustache. He'd resigned from the Navy after the Fall of the Republic, and went on to be a colonel in the Imperial Security Bureau. Oddly enough, the dark lord counted the man as a friend, especially after everything they'd been through together. Unfortunately, very few people knew Vader's true identity, so he could not speak to the Colonel as a friend. In fact, Anakin Skywalker and the Emperor were most likely the only two left alive who knew his identity.

"The rebels will do one of two things. They will either recruit volunteers, or they will use droids. And because recruiting nearly ten thousand volunteers is nigh on impossible in the limited time they have, they will use droids."

"But why Ord Mantell?" Piett asked curiously.

Thrawn placed his hands behind him again. "After the Clone Wars, the Separatist droid army was deactivated. Most of the units were sent to scrapyards, the biggest of which, is Ord Mantell."

Vader was genuinely impressed. Though he hated the Chiss, he had to respect the man's brain. "Well done, Grand Admiral. Set course for Ord Mantell," he said to Piett.

Thrawn held up a hand. "If I may, Lord Vader. I believe these rebels will escape if we are already in orbit. Let them think they are safe, for I will set a trap for them."

Vader remained silent for a moment, staring at Admiral Thrawn through his red display. "Very well," he relented, never breaking eye contact. "You may proceed as you see fit, Grand Admiral. I will report to the Emperor as you carry out the operation."

"I thought you wished to destroy them yourself, my lord," Thrawn commented.

Vader stood. "I have altered my plans. We will observe the success of your operation. If it goes well, I may have further use for you in the future," he said, before turning with a snap of his cape and disappearing into the corridors of the ship.

Rex and Doom dove for cover as Luke flailed wildly to deflect and avoid the retail droids' blaster fire. At a small moment of respite, Luke jumped down next to Rex, red lances of energy colliding with the rock they were behind. The other clones saw this and rushed forward to help, laying down covering fire, allowing the three of them to retreat.

Opposing sides formed, the clones taking cover, and the massive droids opposite them, slowly advancing. Over two dozen of them, they outnumbered the small squad of clones. Boil and his five men had to abandon their task to come help out in the firefight. The engineers moved to do the same thing, but Rex stopped them.

"Get back in there! We need those things started as fast as possible so we can get the hell out of here!"

A droid took five bolts and barely stumbled, almost entirely unaffected by the minimal damage that was being inflicted. Doom saw this and ducked back down just as a bolt whizzed in the air where his head had just been.

"I wish we hadn't sent Odd Ball back! We could use that air support right about now!" he yelled.

"How was I supposed to know?" Rex shot back. "Shut up and keep fighting!"

The droids shuffled slowly towards their position, legs creaking from lack of usage. They reached one of the cover points and fired down on the clones in it. Two of them fell, and the third had his blaster knocked out of his hands. He jumped at the droid, aiming to climb up it, but the droid chopped the clone down in midair with its right arm. He flopped to the sand limply.

"Luke!" Rex called, gaining the Jedi's attention. "I need you to skirt around the MTT's and flank them! We won't win in a straight up fight!"

Luke nodded and took off to the right, dicing for cover behind one of the massive, bronze-colored transports. He ran down a row, catching glimpses of the battle in the gaps between MTT's. He rounded the corner, careful not to catch any more antennae, igniting his lightsaber and dashing forward. As he slashed the first one on the midriff, halving it, the fire around him was diverted so the clones wouldn't shoot him accidentally.

As Luke carved open the middle, slashing left and right, the clones focused their fire on the wings, slowly bringing them in towards Luke. Before long, all of the droids were down except one. Luke hamstrung it, then ran his blade up the middle of the droid, watching as it fell into two identical halves on either side of him. When he looked up, he could see a white, armored figure on top of the surrounding dunes. The figure lowered his macrobinoculars and hopped on a speeder bike, disappearing over the ledge.

"That wasn't one of ours," Doom observed.

Rex shook his head. "No. You boys better stay alert. From this point on, we're expecting Imperials."

"Sir! Enemy ships coming out of hyperspace!"

Anakin snapped his attention towards the viewport at the front of the bridge. Five star destroyers emerged in front of them. "Oh hell, we're in for it now! Shields, full power! Launch all fighters!"

Alpha ran forward and slid to a stop next to Anakin. "This is not good. We can't take on a single one of those, much less five."

Anakin nodded. "I know, contact Kalani. Tell him to hurry his metal ass up," he said as he turned and took off towards the turbolift.

"Where are you going?!"

"I'm going to lead the fighters!" Anakin called behind him. He sprinted through the entire ship, tapping into his Force Abilities to aid his speed. When he reached the hangar, he leapt into the cockpit of his Jedi starfighter, new gray and yellow paint job shining. R2 popped into the left wing of the fighter as the cockpit closed. Guiding the ship out of the hangar, he joined the rest of the fighters, a mix of V-Wings, ARC-170s, Y-Wings, and assorted droid fighters, above the Vengeance.

"What's the word, Alpha?"

"They're hanging back. No enemy fighters have been launched."

"That's odd," Anakin stated. "What are they waiting for?"

"Hold on, sir. We're being hailed."

"Patch me in, I want to listen, but not seen," Anakin instructed.

A smooth, blue-skinned man with red eyes appeared on Anakin's small screen in his starfighter. "Greetings. I am Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Imperial Navy. Surrender now, and no harm will come to you or your comrades on the surface."

Anakin swore. How did they know? He glanced at the imposing fleet of star destroyers, noting that still no fighters had been launched. Alpha spoke up, as he was the only one Thrawn could see.

"If you really knew who you were dealing with, you would know that isn't possible," the grizzled vet said in Anakin's ear.

"Oh, I'm well aware of your alliance with the Rebellion, Alpha. I am simply asking you to remember your old loyalties to the Empire, and your Emperor," Thrawn said, rather soft-spoken for how intimidating he seemed.

"My loyalties died with the Republic, and the Jedi," Alpha aid menacingly, ending the transmission.

There was silence for a few moments on Alpha's end as he took a breath. He stared out the viewport of the Vengeance, taking in the enemy fleet. "It's a good day to die, General."

Anakin smirked, watching as dozens of enemy fighters dropped out of their lower hangars. "Yes, it is, Alpha. Yes, it is. . . . For them."

"Luke, come in. Come in, Luke."

Raising his comlink, the younger Skywalker said, "What is it?"

Anakin's voice carried over. "The Empire's here. We're engaging them now, but they outnumber us. We're doing our best to shoot down their transports, but they're trying to land troops on the surface."

Luke glanced at Doom and Rex. "Alright. Give us as much time as you can, we're doing our best. Luke out."

"We need to get these things back to the Dauntless right now," Rex stated, motioning towards the MTT's. He raised his comlink. "Odd Ball, tell Kalani we need everyone on our position. Fuel up two walkers and bring them as well."

"Copy that. I'll relay it and get back to you with an ETA."

Rex sighed, removing his helmet and rubbing his eyes. "This whole operation went to hell."

"Not completely, Luke said, rising and pointing to the transports. "We found what we came for, as well as a little bonus in some walkers. We only need a way to get these off-world."

"But how do you propose we do that before we're all killed by the Imperials?"

Luke studied their surroundings. They seemed to be in a large crater, with the MTT's at the center. Sand dunes and scrap piles rose on all sides in a massive circle. He pointed to two separate ridges, on opposite sides of eachother. "Sniper and rocket teams there and there. They'll give us cover from above."

Luke looked to the other two sides, seeing large plates jutting out of the sand. "Detonators on those two plates, we can bring them down on the enemy."

"That still leaves us in this crater with no way to combat their walkers," Rex stated.

Luke shook his head. "When our walkers get here, we can place them on opposite corners of the MTTs. When the enemy walkers show up, we hammer them with fire on their undersides. Since they're above us, it should give us the better angle at their underbellies. The gunships will provide air support. You'd better tell Kalani to send an extra engineer squad t get these things running as fast as possible, though."

Rex placed a hand on his chin. "It could work. But there are also many ways it could go wrong. Alpha and General Skywalker can't hold them off forever. We need to do this fast, otherwise none of us are leaving."

Anakin gunned the accelerator, heading for the newest batch of enemy troop transports. Five on total, one carried walkers. He opened fire on the two in the lead, flying through the debris and colliding with several white-armored bodies. He spun back around, aiming for the one in the rear, which carried the walkers. He was about to pull the trigger when alarms went off, signaling incoming missiles. He banked left, missing the transports, accelerating to top speed to keep away from the missiles.

"R2, prepare to jettison the spare parts," Anakin ordered, his brow beaded with sweat from the intensity of the dogfight. The droid beeped rapidly in response, causing Anakin's eyebrows to rise.

"What do you mean we don't have any spare parts?!"

R2 beeped apologetically, and Anakin shrugged it off, glancing down at his sensors to see how far the missile was from him. He headed back for the Venator, opening a transmission to Alpha.

"Alpha! It's me! Tell the starboard batteries to fire on me!"

"What?!" the clone exclaimed in disbelief.

"Just do it!" Anakin cried. Seconds later, a field of blue headed towards him. He twisted and banked to avoid them, glancing at his sensors every now and then to check on the missile. Weaving his way through the field of fire, he saw what he was looking for. A wall of lasers was on its way, somehow all fired at the same time. Anakin banked for it, spinning and diving at the last second. He twisted around in his cockpit to watch the missile explode behind him.

"Cease fire, cease fire."

As he turned back towards the dogfight, he spotted another set of transports. Dropping into an inverted dive, he followed them as they neared the atmosphere. That was when the voices on comms caught up to him.

"They're all over me!"

"Behind you!"

"Watch your left!"

"We're dying out here!"

Making a split-second decision, Anakin pulled back, regaining altitude, and headed back towards the battle. He opened a channel to the men on the surface. "Luke, you've got eight transports incoming. Two are carrying walkers."

Without waiting for a response, Anakin closed the channel and moved in behind a TIE Defender. He'd been told that these particular fighters had been equipped with shield generators, so they would be hard nuts to crack. He fired a burst at the back engines, watching as the shield prevented all of the damage. Growling in frustration, he closed the distance between the two of them, cannons on full auto. He melted the shield in a matter of seconds, the last shot destroying the starboard engine and sending the fighter into an uncontrollable spin. It crashed into the hull of a star destroyer below.

"Thanks, General."

"Don't thank me yet, we still have a long ways to go."

"Luke, you've got eight transports incoming. Two are carrying walkers."

"How many?" Luke asked, raising his comlink, but finding no answer. "Father?"

Rex finished guiding in the last tank, turning to Luke. "What is it?"

"Enemies incoming. Eight transports."

Rex whistled, making a circular motion above his head. "Everyone to your positions!"

All was quiet for a few minutes as the men took their positions, but slowly, they all heard a dull roar growing louder. Suddenly, over the dunes of sand, eight Imperial transports flew overhead. AT-AT walkers dangled from two of them, and Luke assumed the others carried stormtroopers. Luke could feel the nervousness of all of the clones around him. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and out of time.

An AT-TE took a potshot at one of them, hitting it in the engines. The transport fell out of the sky and crashed out of sight in a fiery explosion as the other seven flew past their position. Another few minutes passed as they waited for the enemy. Slowly but surely, the pounding squeak of the walkers' legs alerted the men. They adjusted the grips on their weapons as they awaited the enemy's arrival. For many of these men, it was their first battle since Kamino, over ten years ago. For others, this was their first battle since the Clone Wars.

Slowly, the heads of the AT-AT's appeared over the edges of the dunes. Four in total, they walked evenly spaced by about twenty yards or so. Ranks of sandtroopers crested the dunes, overlooking the clones' defenses below. Luke held his breath as the rest of the walkers were revealed, all the way down to their feet.

Rex signaled to Boil at the opposite end of the row of MTT's, and Boil nodded, holding up a thumb in acknowledgement. Several seconds later, an explosion rocked one of the massive plates that jutted out of the ground. Splitting in half, the metal groaned as it leaned over, crashing into one of the AT-ATs. The tall walker keeled over, trapped underneath the durasteel. Whoops and cheers went up as a rocket was shot into its head, causing a chain reaction that destroyed the walker.

The sandtroopers, having seen this, yelled their challenges and charged down the sandy hill, towards the defensive positions of the clones as the AT-ATs opened fire. As they descended, several of them fell to the expert marksmen of the Grand Army of the Republic. The AT-TEs returned fire, their blue shots impacting the chins of the Imperial walkers, causing them to shudder. Their armor was thick, though, and they fired their dual cannons directly at the six-legged Republic walkers.

The nearest AT-TE fell under the combined fire of the three Imperial walkers, sending some of the clones flying. Lances of blue and red began exchanging fire as the sandtroopers came into range. They far outnumbered the clones, but they lacked the skill of the former Republic soldiers.

Rex yelled behind him for the other walker to be brought around into firing position as Luke ignited his saber. He stepped out from behind an MTT and began his Form V Shien, deflecting the bolts back with deadly precision. Doom stood behind his left shoulder, using the Jedi to cover his right side as he fired his dual pistols.

"Get those gunships in the air, NOW!" Rex roared into his comlink before stepping out to fire his own pistols.

Several seconds later, a barrage of rockets impacted the side of one of the Imperial walkers, dropping it instantly, a massive hole in its hull. The bubble turrets of the gunships went to work decimating the sandtroopers as they scrambled for cover. Overall, the battle was going fairly well. Very few men had been lost on the rebels' side, while the Imperials had lost nearly a third their number, along with two walkers.

Suddenly, a half dozen speeder bikes rode in through the rows of MTTs, throwing thermal detonators. Doom whirled around and dove into the air, tucking his body in. His right shoulder impacted the chest of the Imperial riding it, and the two flew off, landing in the sand. Doom drew one of his pistols and shot the man in the chest before yelling out in pain. He propped himself up against one of the MTTs and shot with his left arm at anything that rode past, holding his right arm against his chest.

Luke glanced back with worry, but didn't have time to check on the green-clad clone, instead turning his attention back to the battle at hand. A good chunk of men had been killed by the thermal detonators, but enough were alive to keep the enemy at bay. The AT-TE kept firing at the nearest Imperial walker, the repeated shots at the underbelly taking their toll. With one final shot, the blue round from the AT-TE busted through the armor, leaving a smoldering hole, killing the pilots instantly. The walker toppled over, crushing several men underneath it, leaving only one remaining. It rotated its head and shot one of the gunships out of the sky, it crashing into one of the MTTs, killing several clones.

Boil came running over to Luke and Rex, out of breath. "Our left flank collapsed, we had to pull out of there."

Rex hurried over to Doom, crouching to throw the injured Commander's left arm over his shoulders. "Everyone fall back to the tank!"

Luke went last, covering the clones' retreat with his saber, before turning and dashing after them. A blast from the AT-AT exploded next to him, the force of the impact tossing him several feet into the air, his ribs colliding with the hull of an MTT. Luke writhed on the ground, gasping for air as his saber slipped from his hand. He was vaguely aware of someone calling his name, but the ringing in his ears prevented him from understanding. He raised a hand up to his ear, and his fingertips came away bloody. When his lungs finally expanded once again, letting the air back into his lungs, Luke gasped and laid there, panting. Rough hands hauled him to his feet and carried him towards the clone lines.

He was set down behind one of the legs of the AT-TE, looking up at Boil. "So this is how we die," Luke commented.

Boil chuckled. "Not yet, General. Trust me, these situations always rectify themselves," the clone said before rolling away to return fire on the enemy.

Even as the battle raged on, the sun slowly began to disappear. Many of the men glanced up, cheering when they saw what was above them. Luke leaned his head out from behind the walker and smiled, seeing the underside of the Dauntless. Blue cannonfire descended down onto the enemy position, shredding their ranks, as well as the only remaining walker, who'd shot down another gunship. After half a minute of this barrage, the few remaining sandtroopers clambered back over the dunes, scurrying back towards their transports with their tails between their legs.

The clones cheered as the Dauntless began its descent, settling onto the ground a few dozen yards away. Luke glanced to Rex, noticing the former captain wasn't happy. His eyes wandered, and it was at that point, that Luke realized just how many men they'd lost. The two squads that had been present were cut down to less than one full squad. And even then, some of them were wounded.

Doom was loaded onto a stretcher, mumbling something about a dislocated shoulder and being too old for all of this, earning laughs from the other men when they learned he would be fine. Luke slowly rose to his feet, using the leg of the walker for support. His head pounded like a drum, but he managed a slow shuffle towards the ship.

General Kalani strutted robotically towards them, flanked by two B2 super battle droids. "General Rex, I have arrived."

Rex nodded. "Aye, you have. Now let's get your droids to work on these transports. We need to get them onto the ship as fast as possible before the Vengeance is overwhelmed."

Throughout the course of the battle in space, Alpha had been employing what he called 'tactical irritation.' He constantly maneuvered out of range of the Imperial Star Destroyers, utilizing the smaller, more maneuverable Venator. As a result, the Vengeance had taken minimal damage.

The dogfight was starting to wrap itself up, with the clones victorious. The Imperials may be well trained, but they are nothing compared to born and bred soldiers, all veterans of the Clone Wars. Though the clone and droid fighters had lost half their number, nearly all of the enemy fighters had been wiped out, and the Y-Wings were having free runs at the Star Destroyers. Unfortunately, due to the absence of enemy fighters, the Star Destroyers could now fire at whatever they wished without any repercussions. As such, the space above Ord Mantell was coated in green laser fire.

The Vengeance added its fire whenever it could, but it spent most of its time trying to stay out of range of the more powerful Imperial guns. Anakin was in the midst of it, wiping out the last of the TIE Defenders. The shielded fighters had been a headache through the entire battle, and were now the last alive due to their insane survivability. But superior numbers proved to be an easy solution.

"Alpha, hail Thrawn. Tell him to surrender or we'll shred his ships with our bombers."

Anakin waited for a few seconds, waiting for Alpha's reply. "General, he says we've walked right into his trap. Do you know what he's talking about?"

Anakin scanned the battlefield, noticing that something did indeed feel wrong in the Force. Reversing direction, he faced the Vengeance, noticing several shadows behind it. "Alpha, five more Star Destroyers, your five o'clock!"

Anakin gunned the engines to intercept the incoming fighters, but found there were none. He realized that there was no need, for Thrawn had trapped them between two fleets of star destroyers, with their only option of escape being hyperspace. But given that they still had men and a ship on the ground, they would not abandon them.

"It's been an honor, men," Alpha said, a resigned tone to his voice as it came over comms.

"Don't count yourself out of it yet, Alpha," Luke's voice came in their ears. Anakin looked towards the planet's surface, seeing the Dauntless headed their way.

A broad grin stretched across the Jedi's face. "All fighters, return to the Vengeance."

Anakin guided his interceptor into the hangar, the hangar doors closing overhead since he was the last one. As soon as his fighter touched the deck, he popped the canopy and sprinted for the bridge. When he arrived, Alpha was just setting the hyperspace coordinates. The bridges of both ships erupted into celebration as the stars turned to bright streaks in front of them.