Disclaimer – all original Star Wars characters in this fanfic (excluding my OC's) are the property of Lucasfilm and Disney.
Chapter 52 "The New Apprentices - part 1"
Galaxy divided! The Separatist droid army has seized control of the major hyperspace lanes, separating the Republic from the majority of its clone army. With few clones available, the Jedi generals cannot gain a foothold on the Outer Rim as more and more planets choose to join either the Separatists or the Kingdom of the Force.
While the Republic currently battles against the large droid army of General Loathsom on the crystalline planet of Christophsis, the son of Jabba the Hutt was kidnapped by the Separatists, who have no idea that the Hutt requested the aid of the Kingdom of the Force.
Hyperspace Tunnel, The Untouchable, Command Deck.
"We'll reach Teth system in ten minutes, ArchKnight Zai'shira," informed a Rakata technician, looking at the female Togruta, who stood with her arms crossed over her chest and thought about the strategy.
Zai'shira took Aritia Vemo with her just like Deiven suggested. The Togruta was aware that putting the young Firrerreo in a mission against the Jedi Order too soon could prove too difficult for her. However, since their mission involved fighting the Separatist battle droids and rescuing a Huttlet, Zai'shira knew the former Jedi would have an easier time focusing and doing her best.
A yellow light flashed behind the Togruta, and she looked over her shoulder. Since the Untouchable was a very large ship, walking from one end to another would be taxing and time-consuming. For that reason, the Gree constructors created special hypergate teleporters in a shape of a round platform with a hovering, holographic panel. With it, one could teleport from one point to another in a blink of an eye.
A male Rakata called Zek'To, and Aritia teleported to the command deck and approached Zai'shira. "The Sentinels are ready for deployment, ArchKnight Zai'shira," informed Zek'To. The ancient alien had brown skin and gold-colored eyes placed on horizontal eyestalks. He wore a sleeveless white armor chest piece with red, yellow, blue, and violet patterns, white, forearm-long gloves, and a white loincloth over a white groin piece. Like all of his species, he walked barefoot and without pants. Only his calves were wrapped with leather straps.
"Good," the Togruta nodded and turned to face them. "Intercept any ship that will try to leave the planet, but don't destroy it. If we kill the Huttlet by accident, Jabba will sacrifice everything he has to get his revenge and we don't have time to deal with him, so be carefull."
"The issue is, there's no safe place to land on top of the monastery for a larger strike force and the Sentinels will be attacked by the battle droids before they can leave their ATSC pods and move into formation," noted Zek'To. At the same time, Aritia, who was both nervous and excited, listened to the conversation in silence. "Unless you plan to destroy the Separatist forces stationed on top of the monastery from above, we need to land below and reach the top the hard way."
"Sentinels aren't suited to climb a vertical surface," Zai'shira stated. "I mean they theoretically could use the ascension cables to reach the top, but the droids would be able to hit and destroy a bunch of them. Plus, we don't know how many upgraded models they have there. Normally, I would use the Silent Shadow to stealthy deploy the Sentinels and take out the droids by surprise, but Deiven is currently using it to fly to Coruscant unnoticed. It's better to not let the Jedi know he's there and what his mission is."
"We can use the GSTTs," Zek'To suggested with a smirk. "Kel'Duk'Ma and Be'Rusa really wanted to test them during a real battlefield."
Zai'shira rolled her blue-colored eyes. "Those two and their prototypes," she stated. "Still, we could try."
"Excuse me," Aritia interrupted. "What are the GSTTs?"
Zek'To looked at the female Firrerreo and smiled mysteriously. "Oh, you'll see."
A few minutes later – Planet Teth, B'omarr Monastery, Courtyard.
A large jungle world located in a Hutt-controlled space, planet Teth orbited the star of the same name and had two moons that orbited the planet itself. It was filled with enormous mesas and misty, dense canopies, inhabited by local wildlife such as Can-cells, large, six-legged, four-winged insectoids of more than three meters in length; and jungle rancors, one of the rancor bred subspecies with a much larger jaw, brightly colored skin, sharp spines that ran along much of their body as well as their tongue, and webbing between their fingers and toes.
On top of one of the mesas in a middle of a jungle stood a large castle called B'omarr Monastery. Originally a dwelling of the B'omarr Monks, the monastery consisted of lower levels where the prisoners were kept, a throne room, a monster pit underneath the throne room that contained jungle rancor, and a back door landing pad.
Bruck Chun and Komari Vosa stood at the courtyard in front of the entrance gate, preparing everything for the arrival of the Republic and the Jedi. However, as they talked, they suddenly sensed a lot of Force signatures.
"The Republic is here already?!" Bruck asked, but something felt off. He and Komari ran up to the middle of the courtyard and looked up. Even from the surface of the planet, the Sith assassins could spot a massive ship that didn't belong to the Republic.
"It's the Kingdom of the Force," stated Komari. "What are they doing here?! This wasn't the plan!"
"This can't be a coincidence," Bruck replied as the black-blue plated ship descended towards the planet's surface. He noticed many small ships, which he assumed were starfighters, which began to fly out from the warship's side hangars and head towards the monastery. "They're here for the Huttlet, but we need to contact Darth Vundus and inform him about this."
Far away from the monastery, the Untouchable dropped the ATSC pods, which landed on the ground between the trees. As their ramps were lowered, the Sentinels began to march out and form a straight line. They activated their blue-colored transparent shields and waited for orders.
ArchKnight Zai'shira, Knight Zek'To, and Aritia flew out the hangar of the Untouchable and headed towards the Sentinels in a Chariot-class Assault Transport. Simply called the Chariot, the blue-colored vessel with green lines was able to accommodate five people. While it wasn't a big number, the vessel was meant to transport small yet strong strike teams to the battlefield and provide offensive support if needed.
The Chariot consisted of two parts: a thin disc-shaped upper section with protruding round-shaped cockpit with two rotary blaster cannon chainguns on its top; and a cubic-shaped bottom section, which carried the strike team. The cubic had a carbonite missile launcher attached to its underside. The three square meter cubic was made from thick titanium, and each of its sides was able to open, allowing the team to leave it from four directions at once if they wanted to.
The three Force-sensitives left the Chariot, which returned to the Untouchable, and approached the Sentinels. "Forward!" Zai'shira ordered. The Sentinels marched forward, heading towards the mesa and the monastery, and the three members of the Kingdom followed them.
"GSTTs should arrive shortly," noted Zek'To and Aritia asked. "So once again, what are the GSTTs?"
"Gravity-Shifting Tactical Transports," the Rakata replied and looked at the sky. Aritia followed his gaze and spotted two long, silver-colored centipede-like vehicles heading straight towards the ground. At first, the Firrerreo thought they would hit the ground hard in front of them, but they stooped a meter above the ground and began to hover.
The vehicles were made of ten oblong-shaped segments with many handles and hook-like claws. The pilot sat in the first segment but could easily move to another segment if the front one was destroyed. In addition, the destroyed segment could be detached.
"They're meant to use on difficult terrain," the Rakata stated. "Mountains, canyons, anywhere a normal vehicle would have trouble moving or reaching, they can do it with ease."
"Oh, like the AT-TEs?" Aritia asked, and Zek'To answered. "The AT-TEs attach themselves to the vertical surface with their articulated legs. Damage the legs or even hit the vehicle harder and the AT-TE falls. The GSTTs can hover on vertical surfaces without touching them and even on a roofs in a large cave. Unless completely destroyed, they can't fall from any surface and can easily switch their gravity to 'jump' to another surface."
"Okay, enough of this presentation," Zai'shira interrupted. "The Huttlet awaits. Get on and let's go."
The Sentinels deactivated their shields and used the handles to climb on top of the segments while Zai'shira, Zek'To, and Aritia jumped on them using the Force. When everyone was ready and the two GSTTs were full, each segment was engulfed by a green-colored bubble deflector shield. Aritia felt a sudden pull to the ground, and she looked around puzzled.
Noticing her confusion, Zek'To explained. "The GSTTs create their own gravity inside the bubbles so even if we're upside down, we won't fall unless you leave the bubble."
"That's..." Aritia cleared her throat. "...good to know."
The two GSTTs moved forward with impressive speed and headed towards the mesa. The droids on top immediately began to fire, and the energy bolts were absorbed by the bubbles. The problem was the dwarf spider droids and their blaster cannons. Luckily for the members of the Kingdom, because of the fixed laser cannon, the droids could not turn around to track enemies, thus making them exceptionally susceptible to speedy targets.
The centipede-like vehicles reached the mesa and effortlessly began to move up. "Ugghh," Aritia felt as the gravity was shifted inside the bubbles, and the GSTTs hovered on a vertical surface. Like a snake, they began to avoid the strong cannons fire and advance towards the spider droids, who were attached to the vertical surface of the mesa.
"Does the GSTTs have any weapons?" Aritia asked, not sure how to fight the droids while being inside a bubble shield. None of the Sentinels had range weapons, and Zai'shira, Zek'to, and Aritia only had the Force, which was hard to use during all the high-speed maneuvers.
"Only one," Zek'To replied. One GSTT lifted its front segments like a snake, and a blue-colored beam was fired from the underside off one of the segments. It hit the dwarf spider droid, trapping it in a blue-colored bubble, and yanked from the wall. When the bubble dispersed, the droid was dropped down and destroyed.
"Stasis field projector," the Rakata spoke. "It lifts objects of the ground, and throws in any given direction. Pretty useful if you ask me."
The dwarf spider droids were slowly being 'dropped' one after another while the battle droids on top of the mesa futilely tried to stop the two vehicles. The GSTTs switched their gravity once again when they reached the top and the courtyard. The battle droids kept firing at the green bubbles while the Sentinels inside activated their shields.
The GSTTs turned off their green shields, and the majestic droids of the Kingdom jumped down, facing the Separatist forces. Without the dwarf spider droids, the Separatist battle droids didn't have enough firepower to deal with their shields. Especially since no upgraded models guarded the monastery.
Aritia was the first one to charge forward. Since she wasn't a full-fledged Knight of the Kingdom yet, she still had her normal green-bladed lightsaber. She jumped over the Sentinels and began to cut down the battle droids. Zai'shira and Zek'To were right behind her, deflecting the energy bolts with their Forcesabers and slashing the droids.
The young female Firrerreo wanted to unwind, and she finally had a chance. While she never was a perfect and quiet Padawan, she had some anger and grievance that she needed and wanted to release. It felt good.
When the last battle droid on the courtyard was destroyed, Aritia exhaled deeply and closed her purple-colored eyes. "Did you get everything out of your system?" Zai'shira asked, approaching the Firrerreo with Zek'To.
Aritia opened her eyes and turned to face them. "Um... sorry about that," she apologized, but the Togruta raised her hand. "It's okay, Aritia," she assured. "This isn't the Jedi Order, so there's nothing wrong with releasing your emotions. Still... you must be careful. Unchecked anger can cost you your life or the life of the ones that follow you."
The female Firrerreo took a deep breath, exhaled, and nodded. "I understand, I will do my best to become a strong member of the Kingdom," she replied, feeling more confident and calm. She looked around and asked. "So what now?"
The Rakata looked at the sky filled the Kingdom's starfighters. "No one will be able to leave the planet without us knowing," he stated and looked at the monastery's entrance gate. "So the Sith assassins are surely inside with the Huttlet and we can't rule out the chance the they have more battle droids."
"Keep your eyes open," Zai'shira warned and looked at a group of Sentinels. "Wait here and stand guard, the rest of you follow us."
Planet Christophsis, Chaleydonia – Capital of Christophsis, Main Street.
Since the Republic forces weren't sabotaged by Slick and their arsenal limited to the AV-7 Antivehicle Cannons, they were ready for any attack and engaged the enemy directly. Obi-Wan, Anakin, and their men fought the first wave of battle droids under Loathsom's command and manage to force them into retreat easily thanks to the Republic cruiser, the Hunter.
With the situation looking good, the Republic forces on Christophsis sent the Hunter for more supplies. However, since it was just a way to check the Republic's strength, General Loathsom didn't use any upgraded battle droids in the first attack. The second wave was much different.
Even from afar, Anakin and Rex already spotted three octuptarra Magna tri-droids that marched with a massive wave of B1 and B2 battle droids under their spider-like legs with Armored Assault Tanks following close behind in large numbers. "They're back!" the Jedi Knight announced, turning to look at Obi-Wan, who ran up to him with Cody. Immediately after, a red beam was fired from one of the upgraded B2 battle droids and hit a clone trooper.
"And it looks like they don't plan on going easy on us this time," said the Jedi Master as the clones moved forward. "I told you the earlier victory was too easy. We never should have send the ship back for supplies."
"It wasn't my idea to send the ship back," Anakin argued.
Dropping the topic, Obi-Wan turned towards the clones and spoke. "Alright men, Second wave incoming."
"Rex, you and your men follow me," Anakin instructed and ran off with Rex while Obi-Wan turned to Cody and spoke. "Cody, battle positions!"
"To the front!" the clone Commander ordered. The clone troopers took cover and opened fire at the marching battle droids. A couple of troopers charged at them on All Terrain Recon Transports and All-Terrain Attack Pods. The Republic gunships and AT-TEs began to fire as well.
This battle was far more difficult for the Republic since the upgraded battle droids picked up the slack for the normal ones. One upgraded B2 battle droid managed to hit a clone pilot inside a gunship, causing it to crash on top of an AT-TE. An upgraded B1 battle droid shot down a clone trooper, who steered an All Terrain Attack Pod and hijacked it.
Anakin, Rex, and a clone platoon proceeded through a route parallel to the central boulevard and made their way behind the droid lines. Captain Rex, Sergeant Coric, and the rest of the men accompanied Anakin through the desecrated streets of the city to an energy sphere tower. Leaving the majority of the troops at the tower to ambush the street-level droids, Rex took a small group of clones to accompany Anakin to the roof.
"What's our plan of attack, sir?" Rex asked, standing behind Anakin, who looked over his shoulder at the clone captain and replied with a smirk. "Follow me."
The Jedi Knight jumped down on an octuptarra Magna tri-droid while the clones used their jetpacks to safely descend to the ground below. Anakin activated his lightsaber and jumped down the droid's laser turret. When the other tri-droid began to fire at him, the Jedi Knight began to deflect the shoots at the droid's balloon-like head, causing it to explode. The destroyed droid fell over while Anakin jumped on the second tri-droid.
The clones and Anakin proceeded to attack the still-advancing droid lines from behind while Obi-Wan ordered his clones to attack as well. While the normal droids at the front were clueless, the upgraded ones quickly realized the attack from two sides and began to change their position.
"Take cover men!" Rex ordered and lunged behind the destroyed tri-droids together with the rest of the clones when the upgraded battle droids opened fire at them. Still, with the gunships and cannons, the Republic had the advantage in range and field control. Being more intelligent, the upgraded droids began to disperse and leave the main street to retreat to the main Separatist force.
As the number of battle droids began to decrease and the Republic cannons began to fire, the Armored Assault Tanks stooped, and General Loathsom contacted the OOM command battle droid. "Why are we stopping?" he asked, looking at the droid's holographic image.
"We cannot get past their cannons, sir," the OOM command droid replied.
"Cannons? This will never do," the Kerkoiden General shook his head. "We must pull back and set up a deflector shield. Turn the troops around!"
The OOM command battle droid relayed Loathsom's order to retreat to the droids on the front lines, and the battle droids pulled back to regroup in the Separatist-controlled part of the city.
"They're pulling back," Anakin noted. As he said that, both he and Obi-Wan spotted a Nu-class attack shuttle, which flew past them and headed towards the City Plaza, where the Republic had set up a landing zone.
"Looks like help has arrived," said Obi-Wan.
A short while later – Planet Christophsis, Chaleydonia – Capital of Christophsis, City Plaza.
"Our cruiser must be back," said Obi-Wan as he and Anakin walked towards the landing Nu-class attack shuttle with four clone troopers behind them. "Which means we'll be able to get our reinforcements," replied Anakin.
"Then it looks like our problems are solved," stated the Jedi Master. "Fresh troops, new supplies, and perhaps they brought my new Padawan with them."
"You really thinks it's a good idea to bring a Padawan learner into all of this?" Anakin asked doubtfully.
"I spoke to Master Yoda about it," Obi-Wan replied. "You should put in a request for one. You'd make a good teacher."
Anakin chuckled and shook his head. "Heh, no, thanks."
"Anakin, teaching is a privilege," Obi-Wan stated. "And it's a part of a Jedi's responsibility to help train the next generation. It's especially important in the Order's current situation."
"A Padawan would just slow me down," Anakin claimed as they both stooped in front of the attack shuttle. "I would be a disaster to babysit a Padawan learner while fighting Darth Enigma or General Grievous."
As the ramp of the Nu-class shuttle was lowered, Anakin spotted two alien girls, which he knew very well. "Ahsoka? Asajj?" Anakin's eyes widened. "What are you doing here?"
"Master Yoda sent us," Ahsoka replied, and Asajj added. "We're here to aid you in battle." Originally, Ahsoka alone was sent to finally meet Anakin, her new Master, as well as pass on a message that Kenobi and Skywalker were needed back at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. However, since Jabba the Hutt didn't ask the Republic for help, Ahsoka and Asajj were only tasked with helping them.
"I think we need more reinforcements than just the two of you," Anakin replied honestly. "We're in a bit of an emergency."
"Yes, our communications have been a bit unreliable, but we've been calling for help," said Obi-Wan.
"Master Yoda hadn't heard from you so he sent the two of us," Ahsoka replied.
Anakin sighed. "Oh, great, they don't even know we're in trouble."
"Maybe you can relay the signal through the cruiser that just dropped us off," Asajj suggested. Anakin and Obi-Wan looked at each other and smiled, liking the idea.
After a couple of minutes, the Jedi managed to contact the Temple on Coruscant through the Resolute, which was attacked by the intense turbolaser fire by the Munificent-class frigates. As the four of them stood around a portable holotable, a holographic image of Master Yoda materialized in the middle.
"Master Kenobi, glad Ahsoka and Asajj found you, I am," said the small alien.
"Master Yoda, we are trapped here and the enemy has many upgraded battle droids," informed the Jedi Master. "We need reinforcements. Our support ships has been destroyed."
"Sent reinforcement to you, we will," assured Master Yoda. As he tried to speak further, his image began to distort, and his voice crackled.
"Master Yoda? Master Yoda?!" Obi-Wan called, but the transmission has been dropped by the Resolute due to the increasing Separatist attack. The Jedi were informed by a clone navigation officer that the Republic ships needed to leave the orbit since Separatist reinforcements have arrived.
"Well, I guess we'll have to hold out a little longer," Anakin said and looked at Ahsoka. He noticed something and squinted his eyes. "Is that a Padawan braid?" he asked, surprised. Indeed, the young Togruta had a Padawan braid made from celka beads.
"That's right," Ahsoka replied with a proud smile.
"My apologies young one," Obi-Wan said and approached Ahsoka. "It's time for a proper introduction."
"I'm a new Padawan learner, Ahsoka Tano," the young Togruta said solemnly.
"I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi, your new Master," Obi-Wan replied, but Ahsoka corrected the Jedi Master. "I'm at your service, Master Kenobi but I'm afraid I've actually been assigned to Master Skywalker."
"Say what?!" Anakin's eyes widened while Asajj chuckled, waiting for his reaction. "No, no, no. There must be some mistake," he pointed at Obi-Wan. "He's the one who wanted a Padawan."
"No, Master Yoda was very specific," Ahsoka said strongly. "I'm assigned to Anakin Skywalker and he is to supervise my Jedi training."
Obi-Wan looked at Anakin with a big smile. The Jedi Knight looked at Ventress and asked. "You knew about this?"
"You bet I did," Asajj replied with a grin. "Seeing the look on your face was priceless."
"We'll have to sort this out later," Obi-Wan stated, sensing an incoming dispute. "It won't be long before the Separatists find a way around our cannons."
Anakin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll check on Rex in the lookout post," he spoke and beckoned the young Togruta. "Come one, Ahsoka." Since he knew Ahsoka and was aware of her skills, he wasn't as vehemently against having her around as originally, even though he still didn't want a Padawan.
"Go with them Asajj," Obi-Wan instructed, and the young Dathomirian bowed her head.
The Jedi Master watched as the three walked away and only smiled, shaking his head.
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