Mandalorian's Death-watch branch fought fiercely in the streets, from the windows of the central palace, Darth Maul himself watched the carnage, feeling a smile worm itself onto his face. Smoke plumes rose up to the top of the biodome, screams echoed from every building, blood splattered on the sidewalks and alley's... vehicles crash landed below him, the consistent pit-patter of blasters and low rumblings of explosions pressed against his eardrums and through all of it Maul was smiling.
So much hatred and malice in the air.
and he loved it.
This is how he wanted it to end, in blood, smoke and fire, this is where the damn Jedi would find him, this is where he'd be ready, conserving his strength for what he knew would be his final duel, his former master had made that clear... this is where he would die. Fulfilling his last mission.
Killing Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Ever since the young Jedi had cut him in half, it was his simple rage and hatred for the man that had kept him alive for all these years, eventually found by his brother Savage Opress and through the aid of Mother Talzin had been restored to his sanity, life and glory, conquering, killing and ruling, that's what he was bred for. The night-brother wasn't going to bested by anyone and he was eager to correct his biggest mistake, by killing Obi-Wan, he'd be restored to all his glory and after executing Pre Vizsla, he was waiting for that moment, he was on the path to power once again, with his brother by his side, they were simply unstoppable...
Then his master had returned to him and joy and elation had turned to horror.
He clenched his eyes shut, remembering his brother's death.
He remembered the malice in his master's tone.
He remembered begging for mercy, the mercy Palpatine wouldn't give him as he was tortured and imprisoned for weeks, his hatred burned as fiercely as the force lighting did, moulding Maul to despise all that he once held so dear.
"Sir... they've breached our outer defences!" came a cry from a death-watch commander, as he ran blindly into the palace "We're outnumbered, they...!"
"Are you or are you not Mandalorians!?" Maul snapped back at him, holding the man in a force choke, so even if he wanted to reply, he couldn't, as his windpipe was slowly being crushed "Are you telling me we should retreat!? Surrender!? What will you do, what will your tell your people as a Mandalorian warrior!?"
He released the man who fell to the ground, coughing hoarsely, Maul gave him a few seconds, before the man hastily replied.
"Fight" he gasped "We fight to bitter end"
"Good" Maul said "You do that, kill them all. Protect your city and your world, this is what you've wanted all your life, isn't it!?"
The commander nodded.
"Failure to fulfil this order, will result in all of your deaths. You either die in battle, or die by my hand" Maul told him clearly "Maximize causalities, kill all you can but him... I know he's here, he's mine, the Jedi with the blue lightsabre, I'll deal with him".
"As you wish" the commander said before leaving.
Maul was left to look at the battlefield that was once Sundari city, if this is how it was too be, then he was taking it all down with him, the city, the people, everything...
and especially Obi-Wan Kenobi.
It wasn't pretty on the streets.
The Mandalorians were everywhere, those in deathwatch, those that had fought to regain control of their city. Maul and Almec's propaganda had struck a tone with most of them fighting now. Blasters, blasting away at any foolhardy clones that came too close, Obi-Wan swished his lightsabre feeling bolts backfire onto his numerous would-be killers, he didn't want to look at them, the dust and smoke and mass of bodies starting to line the streets was making it very hard for him to simply... look around. It's what Obi-Wan wanted, he didn't want to look, he wanted this over with.
"INVADERS!" Were screams thrown in his direction, but he had to continue onwards, taking prisoners wasn't something any fighting Mandalorian would be subjected too, they wanted to be the warriors they once were. If Obi-Wan and his allies sieged the planet then that was all over for them, this was everything they had fought for.
"Kenobi, down...!" Bo roared suddenly, as a grenade that was thrown sent several pieces of the pavement flying in all directions, he flew through the air and landed evenly on his feet, Bo was by his side seconds later.
"We can't stay here!" she exclaimed, "We'll get blown to smithereens!"
That much was true, they had formed a barricade of broken vehicles from one side of the street, whereas the Mandalorians had constructed a steeper and much sturdier, slope of steel which the clones and rebel fighters alike were struggling to overcome. Hearing all of this, one of the young clones was spurred into action.
"WE'LL GO! COVER US!" He yelled.
"WAIT FOR GENERAL KENOB...!" The commander bellowed to little avail, as the young troopers ran through the street, past the fallen bodies of their brothers and flung themselves over the steel barricade, a second later a series of explosions silenced the majority of cries of "INVADERS!" while the other clones lay down a supressing fire to those higher up in the buildings. With dread building in his gut, Obi-Wan now sprinted through the battlefield, reaching the other side he found nothing but charred flesh and bits of clone helmets and Mandalorian helmets alike, a blown off arm near his foot confirmed his worst fears, as Shaak Ti landed next to him and gasped.
"They blew themselves up for this!" he exclaimed in horror.
Shaak Ti looked stunned, as the clones and the rebelling members of Death-watch, followed by them, the battle was momentarily silent.
"They really meant to give their lives to the republic" Shaak said quietly, shaking her head in disgust.
"It got us here" Bo snapped, to cut through their grievances "We should honour that"
"Honour it!?" Shaak snapped back at her "This is... this is disgusting! No one should feel the need to die so carelessly for..." she couldn't even bring herself to utter the words "the republic" but instead carried on with "...especially not children".
"They're fought for what they believed in Master Jedi" Korkie said, his blond combed hair, now dishevelled, his face covered in bruises and cuts from shrapnel, yet he fought on despite feeling himself shake, "My aunt is right, we should honour that, we can mourn them later but for now..."
"DOWN!" Obi Wan bellowed, flinging himself at Korkie, the young man fell underneath the Jedi's protective body, as a sniper bullet whizzed past where his head once was.
"We can't stop, we can't hesitate!" Bo reminded them all "We can't stay here on the streets, I'll take a squad to clear out the buildings!" she exclaimed to them all "The quickest way to the palace is through the sewer system, Obi-Wan..."
"I know it, I'll lead myself and the men there" Obi-Wan replied, getting to his feet, as Shaak deflected another sniper that was aimed for the clone commander.
"We don't have time to talk about this now" the togruta said nervously.
"Then I'm coming with the Jedi, I want to see this through!" Korkie said passionately as Obi-Wan and a clone helped him to his feet, "Also myself and Aunt Bo have a shared comm in case we got separated. If I go one way and she goes another with the deathwatch members..."
"We can keep in touch!" Obi-Wan said, "Bo, you be careful"
"I should be telling you that" she replied sternly "and as for you Korkie, stay safe and don't do anything reckless..."
"I won't, if you don't" he replied.
They smiled at each other.
"Looks like we're both going to breaking that promise" she admitted.
"Yes" Korkie said warmly as they took a short time to embrace, "Good luck" he uttered to her.
"You too" she replied, before she fired her jetpack to life "Alright!" she exclaimed to the deathwatch members behind her "Now this street is clear, we can start to scale these buildings without getting shot! Always keep moving, don't allow yourself stay still in the air for more than a second, or you'll be easy pickings for snipers...!"
While she gave her speech, Obi-Wan, Shaak Ti, Korkie and the Commander led the way forwards, Obi-Wan being sure to be in the lead this time, his lightsabre was all of their shields. He couldn't allow more of the young clones to make these sacrifices because he'd hesitated for a moment, he couldn't bear the guilt that was already piling onto his shoulders, as the first blasts came from the street ahead, running forward he leapt over the weaker barricades this time around and sliced down into more rebels, he was sickened that most of them were civilians this time around, the continued cry of "INVADER!" rang at his ears. Most of these were grown men, but there were women there as well and some even younger...
He didn't want to look, he just pressed forwards, until the commander stopped him.
"This is it" he said simply "This is the entrance to the sewer lines".
They removed a manhole from the scorched street and were faced with a black hole leading into all sorts of unknown horrors, but for Obi-Wan this whole place was pure horror and he just wanted out as soon as possible.
"I'm sending in the third set of reinforcements!" came a call from Yularen, Obi-Wan turned around to see Shaak was contacting him "Squads 8 and 9 have all fallen by the palace, security is too tight around that area, we need more men... as for you General Ti, where is your location?"
"About to enter the sewage system" Shaak replied "We'll be near to the palace in 20 clicks, if all goes according to plan".
"Yes, just be careful along the way" Yularen informed her "You two are the only hope we have against Maul and Opress and if they aren't beaten, I doubt the army themselves could stand in their way and if the army fails..."
"We are aware" Shaak said "We will succeed Admiral".
"I really hope so" he said sincerely, before his comm cut off, the two Jedi Masters looked at one another, too much was weighing on their shoulders for this mission to be a failure right now, however much it pained them, they had to continue.
He could feel the weight in their gazes, from Korkie, Boil, the commander and the soldiers of 212th, to Shaak herself, this propelled him forward, because he couldn't look back and think about what he'd done.
Or what would be done if he'd failed.
A/N: Okay it's the start of Obi-Wan's mandalore arc, which will conclude in Chapter 30, now to answer the reviewers I'm surprised there's so much love for Republic Commando game, granted this fic will include many, many characters and locations from the clone wars tv series, but I adored the game republic commando but generally thought it had been forgotten about, so I'm glad to see, Boss, Sev, Scorch and Fixer are getting some love.
As for the end of last chapter glad you liked the twist, can't confirm whether or not it was Sev we saw, but I imagine it will become clear very soon and those of you paying close attention or are fans of the game will already know. Anyway enough waffling from me, hope you liked this chapter!