Disclaimer – all original Star Wars characters in this fanfic (excluding my OC's) are the property of Lucasfilm and Disney.
Chapter 31 "General Grievous."
Planet Geonosis, Geonosis Laboratory Complex.
Planet Geonosis, referred to as Geonosia by some natives and known as Genosha, was the desert home planet of the Geonosians, a species of sentient insectoids. It had a breathable atmosphere, but an arid climate. Its irradiated surface was covered in harsh, rocky deserts, marked by mesas and buttes. Both its rocks and sky were tinted in shades of red. Surface water was scarce, amounting to only 5% of the entire total planetary surface. However, Geonosis had frequent flash floods. From space, it could be seen that Geonosis had awe-inspiring rocky rings. The planet was orbited by fifteen moons, four of which were major.
The Geonosians preferred to live underground to escape the radiation that affected their world; this form of existence was also attributed to a hive's desire to hide from their rivals as well as the predators that lived on their homeworld. Such underground Geonosian hives were traditionally concealed in the landscape and had natural forms to blend with the environment. Their dwellings were considered spectacular realms of architecture composed of soaring rocky spires that were carved from the landscape on their world's surface. These hives used a rock paste that was cultivated from farms where the parasitic Phidna insects were found. This process allowed the construction of soaring spires with an organic look that gave the appearance of melted bone.
In an underground laboratory complex located deep down under one of such spires was a dark room, lighted only by the green glow of the bacta tank's fluids. Inside the tank was the body of warlord Grievous, who survived the explosion of his ship. The barely alive warlord was taken to Geonosis and kept alive. The Kaleesh had no more hair on his head, and his skin was burned. His hands and forearms were gone, just like everything beneath his torso. A breath mask attached to his mouth allowed him to breathe and talk. He looked like a corpse attached to tubes.
He slowly opened his eyes, feeling pain in what remained of his body. "Ghhh... where am I?" he asked, not expecting an answer, but he received it. "On Geonosis."
When Grievous focused his eyes, he recognized the Chairman of the Banking Clan, San Hill, who stood in front of the tank. "What have you done to me?" the Kaleesh asked accusingly.
"We saved your life even though you've been ungrateful," the Muun replied. "The Banking Clan took on the debt of the planet Kalee and in exchange, you agreed to work for us. However, you decided to break our contract and fight the Yam'rii. You're very fortunate that we visited Kalee to look for you and we saw the explosion of your ship over the Kalee sea."
"My ship... exploded?" Grievous asked. "How?"
"When you first arrived on Coruscant, the Jedi have planet a ion bomb aboard your ship," San Hill lied just like Darth Vundus told him to. "The Republic didn't want you to fight the Yam'rii, so they took drastic measures. Normally, you'd never be able to properly function, but... we have been founding a Geonosian Bionic technology project, and you, my dear Grievous, are the perfect candidate for our experiment. An experiment that will plunge you back into battle to get your revenge against the Jedi."
"I'm not some guinea pig!" Grievous replied angrily.
"Think about about Grievous," the Muun tempted. "You can become a vicious killing machine, which would surpass even the Jedi Masters. You could become a fear of the Republic. After all, the Republic is really to blame for all of our galaxy's struggles. A Confederacy of Independent Systems is in the making, and a great war in inevitable."
Grievous heard about that from ArchKnight Zai'shira, and it only proved her words. "You can command the greatest and largest droid army in history if you become a General," San Hill continued. "You can become a hero who would help us create a new order. Death in a tank is not suited for such a great warrior. What would your ancestors think?"
The Kaleesh didn't like the idea of leading a droid army. He found it beneath him. Besides, he already promised to join the Kingdom of the Force, who were much more exceptional warriors than anyone from the Banking Clan or their allies. However, there was something in the eyes of the Muun that convinced Grievous to think carefully about his next words. He was in a bacta tank without ways to defend himself, and the Chairman could very quickly turn off his life support system. Grievous didn't want to admit it, but the Muun was right, there was no honor in such death.
Grievous decided to be cunning, and while he didn't like to be experimented on, it was his only way to get back to his feet. After they would finish their project, he could deal with them and return to Kalee. "Fine," the Kaleesh agreed. "Do with my body what you want, but leave my mind intact."
"Good decision, General," San Hill stated with a smirk.
Twenty minutes later – Planet Geonosis, Geonosian Command Center.
"He agreed," San Hill announced with a smirk when he entered a large room, which featured holographic projectors and various communications stations, manned by Geonosians. The room was equipped with a large holotable at which stood Darth Vundus and Archduke Poggle the Lesser.
"Good," replied the Sith Lord and looked at the Archduke. "Prepare everything for the project. Modify his memory so that he won't remembers anything except his argument on Coruscant and the bomb planted by the Jedi. Increase his hatred towards the Jedi while, at the same time, make him more compliant towards the Sith."
Archduke Poggle nodded and immediately contacted the Geonosian scientists so that they could begin.
A few days later - Planet Kalee, Kaleela - Capital of Kalee.
A few days after their fight on Oben, Zai'shira decided to contact Grievous and ask if the Yam'rii gave his people any more troubles. Since the insectoids killed on the Kaleesh colony didn't report back, the ones on their homeworld could send more to Oben or even Kalee. However, when she made the call, no one answered it. One time wasn't alarming, but after a few unanswered calls, Zai'shira and Deiven decided to travel to planet Oben to check if everything was alright.
Upon their arrival at the restored, sacred burial grounds, the two ArchKnights found the elite Kaleesh warriors, the Izvoshra, but without the warlord. What's more, the Kaleesh told them that Grievous never returned after he departed with them a few days ago. Concerned and confused, the members of the Kingdom took the Izvoshra and headed towards the Kaleesh homeworld.
When the Togruta landed the Silent Shadow and left the ship with Deiven, and the Izvoshra, they were quickly approached by the elder Kaleesh, the Holy Man. The elder Kaleesh looked at the Izvoshra, looking for someone. "Where is Khagan Grievous?" he asked. "Did the Yam'rii attacked again and he fell on the battlefield?"
"We don't know," Zai'shira answered. "I tried to contact warlord Grievous a few times via the holoprojector I gave him, but without success. We thought you have troubles with the Yam'rii again, so we flew to Oben, but his warriors say he never arrived there."
"That's concerning," replied the elder Kaleesh. Zai'shira noticed that he was tensed. "He departed to planet Oben to get his Izvoshra shortly after you left Kalee, but he didn't return to this day. We thought you know something."
Deiven and Zai'shira exchanged confused looks. "Something is not right," stated the young Firrerreo. The female Togruta looked at the elder. "Are you sure he left Kalee?"
"We saw him entering his ship and flying away," the Holy Man replied. "But if he entered the hyperspace, I don't know."
"That's bad," Deiven shook his head and looked at Zai'shira. "If he was attacked on his way to Oben, he could be anywhere."
"Did someone arrived on Kalee while we were fighting on Oben?" Zai'shira asked.
"The members of the InterGalactic Banking Clan and their droids," replied the Holy Man. "They searched for him because he decided to break the contract with them. They learned that he was on Oben so they left."
Zai'shira pondered for a moment. It was a lead, but they couldn't interrogate members of the Banking Clan since it would draw too much attention. Avelon wouldn't be able to give them information since Darth Plagueis wasn't working with Darth Sidious, and even Dooku as a Jedi Master couldn't help them without raising suspicions. As much as she hated to admit, there was nothing they could do to find Grievous.
The elder Kaleesh spoke. "I know he promised you that the Kaleesh would join you in exchange for your help with the Yam'rii, but without him, the Kaleesh don't have a leader, who would show them a common goal. The Kaleesh need Grievous to lead them."
"We'll find him and bring him back to Kalee," Zai'shira promised. "We have the Force on our side."
The Holy Man bowed his head. "May the spirits of our ancestors guide you towards him," he said.
Three months later – Planet Geonosis, Geonosian Command Center.
Darth Vundus paced around the holotable impatiently and waited for the 'new' Grievous to arrive. When he heard loud and heavy footsteps, he stooped and turned his head towards the command center entrance. A very tall, yet hunched metallic figure, clad only with a cape, entered the room with two MagnaGuards. Yellow-colored, reptilian eyes were the only thing that allowed Darth Vundus to recognize the former Kaleesh warlord.
The Geonosian scientists implanted Grievous's brain and eyes into a duranium alloy body reminiscent of a Krath war droid, complete with LX-44 robotic legs. His vital organs were housed in a synthskin gut-sack impervious to vacuum. Internal implants were also placed in his eyes to sharpen his vision and to protect them from the vacuum of space. Like the Sith Lord ordered, the Geonosians also altered the Kaleesh's brain against Grievous's wishes. Due to the tampering and a special memory chip, Grievous forgot about the ArchKnights, his fight at their side against the Yam'rii on planet Oben, and the promise he made to Zai'shira.
While Grievous hated his new droid look and personally found the experiment a failure, to San Hill and his allies, however, the experiment was a phenomenal success.
"Hmmm... an interesting design," the Sith Lord noted and approached the cyborg. "You look more like a droid now."
"I'm not a droid!" Grievous growled angrily with a raspy, metallic voice, followed by a sudden cough. His organic lungs were irritated by the cybernetics, which would trigger the coughing from time to time.
Darth Vundus arched his black-colored eyebrow and smirked. "Indeed, droids don't cough," he pointed out. "You're a Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lightsaber hilt. "This lightsaber belonged to Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas," he announced. "Now, it belongs to you, General Grievous."
While Darth Vundus and Sifo-Dyas were one and the same people, his old life as a Jedi didn't exist anymore for the Sith Lord. He constructed a new lightsaber, so he didn't need his old one. Grievous took the hilt and activated the weapon. A blue blade came to life and illuminated his metallic face. With one swing, Grievous turned around and cut a MagnaGuard in half in a defiant rage.
"Impressive strength and speed," commented the Sith Lord. "However, you need a proper lightsaber training if you want to become a real threat for the Jedi Order. "
Grievous looked at the human. "Teach me then, Lord Vundus," said the Kaleesh cyborg.
One month later - Hyperspace Tunnel, The Soulless One.
Darth Vundus began to train Grievous in the art of lightsaber combat, which Grievous took to at a rapid pace thanks to his advanced cybernetics. He learned all the seven classic forms of Jedi arts, including the rarely seen Makashi and Juyo. The Sith Lord was impressed by the cyborg's progress, but he needed to test him before they could unleash the General against the Jedi during the war.
Now, the General headed towards the planet Moraband inside his personal starfighter, the Soulless One. It was a modified Belbullab-22 starfighter, a fast and agile prong-shaped vessel produced by Feethan Ottraw Scalable Assemblies. Grievous considered his fighter to be a vision of the future of warfare, with a powerful arsenal consisting of two sets of triple rapid-fire laser cannons. The starfighter could easily match the Porax-38 starfighter for speed, fitted with twin ion drives and an extremely powerful hyperdrive.
General Grievous modified his fighter with a top-of-the-line hyperdrive allowing the cyborg General to stay mobile on a galaxy-wide scale. To remain in touch with his forces while flying his starfighter, a powerful but compact HoloNet transceiver was installed onboard, allowing Grievous to slice into legitimate and pirate networks. He also outfitted the Soulless One with a deflector shield and had the entire hull coated in a thin layer of impervium, making the fighter impenetrable to all but the heaviest of enemy fire.
"I'll arrive on Moraband in twenty minutes, Lord Vundus," Grievous said to the small holographic image of Darth Vundus located on the small display.
"Once you get there, you need to find a human female scientists named Jenna Zan Arbor and a male human named Granta Omega, the son of a Dark Jedi Xanatos," the Sith Lord instructed. "A group of Jedi is pursuing them for a failed attempt to assassinate the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. The two managed to hide inside a Sith Academy. They could prove useful for the Separatist Alliance so try to keep them alive. However, your main target is one of the Jedi in the group, a female Altiri Jedi Master named Lene Kostana, a former Master of Sifo-Dyas. You can kill the rest of the Jedi if you want, but be warned however, the Jedi cannot survive the encounter with you and notify the Republic about your existence. If they do, I'll consider the mission a failure. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Lord Vundus," Grievous said confidently.
"Good," replied Darth Vundus.
Sometime later – Planet Moraband, The Sith Academy.
Moraband, also know as Korriban, was the original homeworld of the Sith species and a sacred planet for the Sith Order, housing the tombs for many ancient and powerful Dark Lords of the Sith, and containing immense dark side power. It was a world of mountains and red sands, abandoned after widespread devastation during numerous wars. Located on the surface was the Valley of the Dark Lords, a wasteland filled with the tombs of ancient Sith Lords such as Darth Bane, among others.
General Grievous spotted the Sith Academy from afar. It was a towering pyramidal structure at the rear of the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban, made of stone and durasteel, and reflected the sun framed at the apex of the structure. At the base of the Academy, the entrance was located at the top of a wide staircase and framed by two kneeling humanoid statues representing slaves bearing the weight of the Sith's power.
The Kaleesh cyborg spotted two shuttles at the bottom of the staircase and assumed they belonged to the Jedi and the pair that tried to assassinate the Chancellor. He landed the Soulless One in a secluded place and quickly entered the Academy.
Symbolic of a Sith's climb to power, the Academy's main hall was located just past the main doors and contained dual staircases leading to the upper levels. The centerpiece of the main hall was a narrow stone monument that was carved with the faces of Sith; the statue was meant to remind students that the climb to success meant crushing those who vie for power along the way. Containing jails in which prisoners would be kept before interrogation, the Academy's lower levels contained many chambers for studying, lecturing, meditation, and training.
Even though Grievous never been inside the Sith Academy, he followed the voices and the sounds of blaster fire, which slowly led him towards his goal. The Academy's dark corridors kept his tall figure hidden, and the Kaleesh cyborg finally found a group of Jedi. Grievous, who stood on the upper floor balcony, observed the Jedi, who were located below before the entrances to the three separate corridors.
He counted five Jedi in total, and by what he heard from their conversation, there were two Padawans, one Jedi Knight, and two Jedi Masters. The group seemed to lose the pair and decided to split up in three different directions in order to find them. That worked in Grievous's favor.
One old female Altiri Jedi Master went down one corridor; two male humans: Jedi Knight and his Padawan, went towards the second corridor; and two human females: a Jedi Master and her Padawan, went inside a third corridor.
The Kaleesh cyborg decided to follow the two females and kill his two first Jedi.
Jedi Master Soara Antana and her Padawan Darra Thel-Tanis walked down the dark corridor with their lightsabers ignited and used as a blue light source.
"Be careful, Darra," warned the Jedi Master. "They could be anywhere."
"I'm more concerned about the possibility of encountering some wild beasts or even something worse," the ginger-haired Padawan replied. This whole place is oozing with the dark side of the Force."
"Either way, don't lose your focus," said the Jedi Master.
As the two females were about to reach a corner, Granta Omega jumped out and began firing at them with his KYD-21 blaster pistol. The Jedi began deflecting the shoots, and it seemed they would easily handle the situation. However, something large and heavy began to dash towards them from behind.
The Jedi Master heard a lightsaber being ignited followed by a roar, and she instinctively turned around just in time to block a blue blade. However, one of the blaster bolts hit her in the shoulder, causing her to scream in pain. Padawan Darra turned to look at the assailant, but a sudden kick to her chest sent her towards the corridor wall. Grievous had sharp claws at the end of his robotic legs, so not only did he broke a few ribs, but he also pierced her chest. While Darra was alive, she was severely injured.
Granta Omega didn't know what was going on and who was the attacker, but he quickly decided to escape, leaving the Jedi to fend for themselves. Master Soara was pushed towards the wall by the incredible strength and speed of the mysterious figure. She could only stare at the metallic face, illuminated by the blue light of their blades, and the yellow-colored reptilian eyes. Grievous began to slash at the Jedi Master furiously, who tried to block every attack, but with an injured shoulder, she missed the timing on one of the lightning-fast strikes. The blue blade cut her in half, and with one last gasp, the Jedi Master was dead.
"Master!" Padawan Darra cried out with pain. Grievous grabbed the lightsaber hilt of Master Soara from the floor and turned towards the young girl. With a burst of sinister laughter, he jumped towards her with two lightsabers.
Anakin, who ran along with his Master Obi-Wan Kenobi down the corridor, suddenly heard an echoing female scream and stooped. He recognized the voice of Padawan Darra, and so did Obi-Wan. "I heard it to," Obi-Wan said and looked at the concerned face of his Padawan.
Anakin raised his wrist to his mouth and spoke to his comlink. "Darra? Do you hear me?! Darra!" The human didn't receive any response. "We need to find them!" he said decisively, looking at Obi-Wan.
Before Kenobi could reply, his own comlink beeped, and the downcasted voice of Master Lene Kostana issued from it. "Obi-Wan are you there?"
Obi-Wan raised his wrist and replied. "Yes, Master Kostana. Have you heard it as well?"
"Yes, I was close, and I found Master Soara and her Padawan," she confirmed. "They're dead."
Obi-Wan closed his eyes while Anakin clenched his fists as Master Kostana continued. "Both were killed by someone armed with a lightsaber, and that person took their weapons. I think we walked into a trap. Focus on capturing the son of Xanatos and the scientist but be very careful. I'll try to find the killer of Master Soara and Padawan Darra."
"We understand," Obi-Wan replied.
Master Lene Kostana turned off her comlink and sighed, looking at the corpses of the female Jedi. As a member of Altiri, a Near-Human species, the Jedi Master had purple skin and white-colored hair. She held an ignited gree-bladed lightsaber and searched for any footprints or trails, which could lead her to the assassin. Since the whole Academy was filled with dark energy, it was hard to pinpoint the location of any Sith Lords, if that assailant was a Sith, to begin with.
The Altiri female had no idea that the killer of the two Jedi was right above her. Attached to the ceiling with his sharp claws, Grievous observed the Jedi Master in silence. Slowly, he prepared to attack. When he jumped down, he ignited two lightsabers and swung them downwards. Master Kostana jumped to the side, but Grievous jumped towards her and immediately attacked. Without any words or speeches, the Kaleesh began furiously attacking the Jedi with two lightsabers at once. She could only block them with her green blade, and she wasn't able to comprehend who or what he was, let alone focus hard enough to use the Force.
Despite wielding two blades, Grievous's attacks didn't have the weakness of Jar'Kai. The blows were so strong that there was no way to batter them away, even with a two-handed blow. When he raised two blades and slammed them down, the Jedi Master blocked two of them at the same time, and though she had a moment to rest and focus. However, sudden paralyzing pain in her stomach caused her to open her mouth and slowly look down.
During their duel, Grievous split one of his arms lengthwise in two and grabbed the third lightsaber, which was attached to his waist. He activated it, thrust the blue blade into the Jedi's stomach. As the Jedi Master sunk to her knees, she raised her head only to see blue color, that covered her whole vision. With a finishing blow, the Kaleesh end the life of Master Kostana, who's body fell to the cold floor.
The General chuckled and reached for the Jedi's lightsaber, which was still in the old woman's hand. He grabbed it, added to his collection and walked away.
After a few minutes, when the Kaleesh cyborg reached a higher floor and windows, he heard someone outside. Leaning out, he spotted the female scientists, who managed to leave the Sith Academy and quickly enter the shuttle but without the male human. When her ship reached the sky, the two human Jedi, dashed out of the Academy as well. However, it was too late to catch the scientist.
Grievous overheard their short conversation from which he learned that Granta Omega was killed by Obi-Wan in self-defense. When they returned to the Academy to find Master Kostana, Grievous decided to leave and return to Geonosis. Three Jedi were dead, including his main target, the former Master of Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, the scientist managed to escape, and most importantly, no one knew about Grievous's existence. His mission was a success.
Please R&R ;)