Rescue on Hypori: A Galaxy At War Preview.
Author's Note: Before you begin reading this is not a new story it is a preview for a grand story that is still in the works, many of you have no doubt by now read a Promise Made, A Promise Kept and it is both a short story AND it will be its own chapter of the largest of Empire's End's sequals: Galaxy At War. This story takes the characters from Eden we all know and love and puts them into the Star Wars universe on the eve of and during the Clone Wars and beyond. Now given the amount of time periods we will be covering in Galaxy at War its fair to know that I will have A LOT of work cut out for me, now I am a huge Star Wars fan and have been one since I was seven years old, just so you know it will be a mixture of everything I love and we will be following the number one rule that ANY Clone Wars fanfic writer should follow: Kill Palpatine before he can make the Empire! Now that's aside I'll like to demonstrate some of the action you guys can expect coming your way when I actually get to writing Galaxy At War: which considering I still have Killing Kuroinu and Song of Eastern Isles to finish before then it will be good for you all to get a couple gimmes now and then to show you what you can expect.
With that out of the way let's begin.
The planet Munnilinst, 5 months after the Battle of Geonosis….
Thud. The footfalls of oncoming organics stirred the platoon of B1 Battle Droids to full readiness, smoke clouded their vision thus the droid commander ordered a switch to thermal sensors then ordered them to fire as the smoke cleared and a green lightsaber blade ignited, the first line was torn aside and the OOM Squad commander took one look at the enemy and bellowed out "BLAST HIM!" at the top of its audio limits, the enemy was a Jedi Master and a Jedi General one of the masters in charge of the invasion force a brown-furred Shistavanen clad in the garb of a Jedi general named Voolvif Monn. The Jedi Master blocked the oncoming blaster fire deflecting shots at the ordinary B1s before pulling the OOM command droid towards him with the force skewering the helpless droid before bellowing out orders "NOW!" Voolvif shouted in basic and four LAAT Gunships soared over and landed, his troops arrived, half and half, a good amount of Clone Troopers whom had seen their fair share of bloodletting in the battle this far and the other half being Republic Infantry men, clad in the Gold and Red army uniforms of days past but worn once more again out of pride for the Grand Army of the Republic these troops were a mix of various species: Humans, Zabraks, Duros, Twi'leks even a few Wookies and other races that came from all over the republic, at the same time from the alley ways more troops arrived clones and to the Jedi Master's pleasant surprise soldiers from the Golden Dragon Empire of Eden, some battle droids of their own among them.
"Oh no!" a B1 exclaimed, then shut down followed by more, one dropped his weapon in front of the Jedi Master to his surprise before shutting off himself as Voolvif's command gauntlet holo began beeping.
Voolvif activated the holoprojector to see the familiar face of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the commander of the invasion force "The IG Banking Clan has surrendered, all their droid forces have been or are being deactivated, the day is over we have won" Obi-Wan declared, cheers went out from the troops and Voolvif joined the troops in celebration.
Meanwhile at the Republic command Center… "Are you sure that detaining Chairmen Hill under your own military forces is a good idea?" Fal asked Kenobi.
"Oh please, lets not discuss that now, he surrendered to me which means the accords regarding captured CIS prisoners being allowed to be taken to Eden for imprisonment don't apply here" Obi-Wan responded, the Imperial General, Senator and Princess was still not letting the issue be dropped.
"Right and you know the reason why we negotiated those rules" General Air Grundel, Fal's sister asked.
"To ensure that Seperatist Prisoners of war are secured in the best location possible; look I'm aware that that Republic doesn't have the best track record when it comes to security: but the Chairman surrendered to us" Obi-Wan Kenobi explained.
"I surrendered to General Gildenstrom now can I be transferred into their custody already" Chairman Sam Hill remarked.
"We're working on that now-" Air reassured when suddenly Captain Fordo shouted "General Kenobi!" Obi Wan turned to face him.
"Admiral Screed has reported a ship that just came out of hyperspace in low orbit, it matches the same profile of the one that Commander Skywalker followed into hyperspace" Fordo explained, to add to this the red winged Ginivex fighter that had been recently responsible for wiping out three V-19 Torrent squadrons in Orbit and pursued by Anakin Skywalker was now making a descent and- a very show off way of doing it "I've several batteries standing by waiting for your orders" Captain Fordo added.
"Hold your fire, let the ship land, I sense a rather familiar presence" Obi-Wan shouted then smiled as the ship landed on a nearby empty landing pad, Fal and her honor guard were the first to reach the ship followed by Obi-Wan, Air and the Arc Trooper squad under Fordo, weapons were raised and the cockpit opened to reveal Anakin Skywalker clade in torn jedi garb and with his lightsaber back at his side. "Anakin" Obi-Wan remarked dissapointedly.
"You were right master, it was a trap, plotted out by the Sith but I defeated the assassin" Anakin replied.
"That isn't the point the fact of the matter remains that you defied orders and ran off in pursuit of a single ship, there is a danger in all this and-" Obi Wan began to lecture when an emergency comm signal came and Obi-Wan activated his holo projecter.
"General Kenobi! General Kenobi! This is Master Dak-Man Barak we need immediate evac from planet Hypori, our forces are totally destroyed, only- only a few of us left- New Droid general! He's unstoppable! Can't hold out for long General GR—EIV-S is hunting us! HELP!" The a panicked voice yelled, the holo displayed a rather terrified human Jedi master whom was franctically defending against blaster fire only to drop the project which showed.
"Master Barak come in!" Obi-Wan shouted, the holo showed the master scream as he was impaled by a lightsaber a mysterious figure loomed over picked up the figure and shouted, "Jedi Scum!" before the transmission stopped the projector on the other end having been smashed out of existence.
"We need to rescue them! NOW!" Anakin shouted.
"Correct but you are staying here Anakin, I've had enough of you running after unknown enemies: Captain Fordo, take your Arc Troopers prepare for a rescue mission, bring back the survivors and if possible identify this new enemy" Obi-Wan ordered.
"Yes sir!" Captain Fordo replied.
"I'll go with them, a Night Raid team is definitely needed and we'll need a fleet to break a path for the rescue: I know the exact fleet and path to get there and do so fast" Fal explained.
"Very well, the Banking Clan forces have surrendered already, be quick though if your team doesn't reach Hypori fast enough there may not be any survivors to rescue" Obi-Wan replied.
"Don't worry General Kenobi; my team will make sure we can save as many as possible: you heard the general lads load up!" Fordo shouted and the company of 10 Arc Troopers and 25 Clone Regulars followed him to a gunship; Fal turned to her Imperial Guard and Night Raid escort. "Logue, Kobi, Mishi take a squad each you'll be coming with me: my royal protecters stay here and assist General Kenobi with his efforts here, rendezvous with the fleet as soon as time has come for our troops to pull out.
"Yes your majesty" One of the Imperial knights stated, Fal then turned to the three Elite Seven members, they were ready for what was coming next.
Hypori two hours later… High orbit above Hypori, Eden's ninth fleet under Grand Admiral and Empress Saryana drops out of hyperspace catching the orbiting CIS fleet by surprise, as the Lucrehulks of the Golden Dragon Empire deploy their modified R-41 Starchasers and modified Cloakshape Fighters, the heavy Kandossi Dreadnaughts unleash a barrage of firepower on the nearest CIS warships. The orbital combat commenced, Advanced Vulture droid Fighters followed by Eden's own bomber squadrons were now deploying from the hangers as well, soon after a few minutes the battle had began in earnest.
On the Bridge of the Free Spirit, Empress Saryana's flagship…
"Grand Admiral all our squadrons have been deployed the enemy is moving towards our fleet, all ships are awaiting your orders" The Deck Officer.
"My orders: lets give these Sep Bastards a hell of diversion!" Saryana ordered her gold eyes glinting with bloodlust she then turned to activate her holoprojecter. "Fal! The battle is underway you can launch your gunships now: reinforcements are standing by when needed, the Seppies won't stand a chance up here!" Saryana reported.
"Good" Fal replied then opened her general comm to the Gunship pilots. "Take off, head for the surface and the last location of Master Barek's distress call" Fal ordered.
The Gunships both Republic LAATs and Imperial Wyverns deployed from the hanger of the Free Spirit after securing against vacuum, they descended from high orbit into low orbit and from there into atmosphere, as soon as the ships had cooled off and they were approaching the site of the last transmission jamming signals were deployed scrambling CIS communications; the gunships locked on the foremost among them being the Gunship of the Munnilinst 10 which Fal was onboard of with Logue, Kobi and Mishi.
"Red Lights stand by" the pilot shouted, Fal noted the Clones preparing their weapons: Fresh blaster cells were loaded in, some DC-15s had been or were being fitted with under barrel grenade launchers, others sported WESTAR-M-5 rifles, the Arc Sergeant Steck was loading cells into a new Z-6 Rotary Cannon a six barreled behemoth of a weapon that could lay down a massive amount of fire on enemies wiping out squads, another Clone sported a mobile chest mounted reciprocating quad cannon, a four barreled weapon that was functionally an infantryman's quad laser turret, also known as Rip-Quad by the troops, at the same time Fall noted her own troops readying their weapons, the black and gold helmets of Night Raid operatives were dawned and Fal herself took a mental check of her plan: the plan was to rescue the survivors and find out what the hell had managed to decimate a sizeable republic army under the command of five Jedi masters.
Fordo dawned his helmet, the gunships descended and the pilots saw the wreck of crashed Acclamator cruiser. "Approaching Droid perimeter we are undetected" the Pilot
"Gun it and deploy the charges Skyrunner!" Fordo barked, the gunships dropped a number of explosive charges down throught the droid ranks, these were active for remote detonation, the B-2 Battle Droids that surrounded the ship didn't notice the Gunships fly over nor the presents from the Republic that had been dropped for them.
The crashed Acclamator had a series of large hulls on the sides that allowed Gunships to fly thru, the pilots were tested to their limits dodging the broken scrap towers that were present in the ship the Gunships flew towards a clearing and landed deploying their squads after a scan for life forms was positive, near the zone they noted the fallen form of one of the Jedi, Fal noticed the body and walked over to it with Logue coming up behind. "There's three life-signs, one in the rafters!" Fordo barked then pointed up and then at one of the Arcs who shouted yes sir and launched his ascension cable to scale into the rafters. "One in the Rubble!" Fordo shouted pointing west towards a large amount of broken metal and two more troops went off.
"Four survivors, Captain get a medic and some troopers here; this one's a Whiphid!" Logue shouted, Fal noticed and picked up a Lightsaber hilt, a few Night Raid soldiers helped carry the body of Jedi Master K'Kruhk whom was not dead but in a hibernation trance, most people wouldn't know this but Logue whom had a degree in biology and studied various alien species and civilizations as a hobby was able to tell that he was alive; the clones grunted assisting. "There is another this way: and something else, some life signs but not of any of the jedi assigned to this fleet" Fordo explained to Fal.
"Whatever did this to Master K'krukh is an immediate threat: and by the injuries armed with a lightsaber: potentially Dooku" Fal explained, Fal then led the squad towards the life sign Fordo and her issuing hand signals to adjust formations, the troops arrived towards the end of a fight the Jedi Master and Council Member Ki-Adi Mundi was locked in a fight with- a machine wielding lightsabers two in hand and one in what looked like its foot, the machine was made out of Duranium and towered over the Jedi Master, it had two arms, and two LX-44 robotic legs which were iconic for their claw like feet, the machine's chassis and design were reminiscent of a Krath war Droid, but the face and head resembled the war mask of an ancient warrior species; which only Logue recognized as being of Kaleesh origin. They didn't get much time for staring as the master was quickly disarmed and machine turned to face them. Fal ignited her lightsaber, the gold blade hummed to life and in the other hand she active the saber of K'krukh a green blade lit up. "FIRE!" Fal ordered and all troops unloaded on the machine which deflected the blasts then darted into the rubble under more fire the machine then vanished from sight. Fal charged after it. "General!" Fordo shouted at Ki-Adi-Mundi, Kobi and Mishi helped the Cerean master up. "We must pursue!" Ki-Adi shouted.
"General, your too injured to carry on a pursuit" Fordo shouted.
"Fordo get the General back to the ship with other wounded I'll take a squad and follow Princess Air!" Logue shouted, the clones led the master back to the Gunship and Logue took a few Night Raid troops in the direction Fal had gone she readied Rubinceite for action.
Meanwhile… Fal prepared herself and kept both blades ready and heard the clank of machinery and the subtle movement she dodged as the mysterious machine dropped. "You'll have to do better to get the drop on me" Fal commented taking a defensive stance.
"I was not expecting another Jedi to arrive so soon" The machine replied, a menacing voice and she noted the yellow eyes and the flesh around them, her new enemy wasn't a droid but a cyborg; of a person whom had taken a good deal of damage.
"I'm no Jedi, just a girl with a couple of Lightsabers and hell of a lot of spunk: and someone who was hunting you" Fal replied.
"You fool! You are doomed, one does not hunt the hunter: no not I, General Grievous, whom have laid waste to many an army and slain many jedi adding their lightsabers to my collection: you may not be a Jedi but you are still prey!" the Cyborg replied lunging with Lightsaber drawn exceptionally fast, Fal's combat computer caused her body to move to counter the sudden lunge.
(Song Begin General Grievous's Theme 2003) Fal adapted a defensive stance as flurry of staccato saber strikes came her way, she parried and counter only to find blow for blow matched by an exceptionally fast and dangerous opponent, this was easily the hardest fight she had been in so far and inside Fal was afraid of this enemy, but still she took her fear and crushed it and engaged in a series of counter blows, blade for blade both matched each other's strikes, Fal altered a technique and Grievous altered his; the general began to use his legs to perform a series of impress acrobatics chained into his fighting style, Fal in turn brought out Imperial fist rings shouting out the Katas and went on the offense, two blades met his. Inside the his mind the cyborg was enjoying this a challenge that was even more impressive then the jedi master he had just been forced to withdraw from, Fal's fighting style was exceptionally impressive and Grievous could tell from her fluid movements and exceptionally fast reflexes she'd had training in numerous fighting styles AND she had the same combat implants he did.
Brutal strikes met stern blocks, power attacks were countered by deft parries each combatant tried to edge out the other, both were pushing the other and Fal altered her technique again blocking with her gold blade and using K'Kruhk's saber to slash at the Cyborg's feet, Grievous to his credit side stepped and back flipped, as he back flipped Fal got a glancing blow delivered to the chassis, the Duranium armor held up and the cyborg groaned in annoyance; Fal simply stood her ground as the droid general attacked again, and again, and again but for each attack she responded in kind, until they were in a blade lock and she knocked him back. "You are fast becoming a serious challenger, a worth adversary I've not had that in years: but you will fall" Grievous remarked then Fal adjusted her defense she saw two arms detach from the main arm and those arms grabbed two more lightsabers, the droid general backed up and advanced his sabers began spinning with sounds similar to a helicopter's blades mixed in with hissing plasma of the sabers, two green, two blue and the droid general advanced Fal blocked the series of blows and dodged to avoid more, she was now on the back foot and this was a VERY dangerous fight now, sabers clashed and Fal worked Wakoku fighting techniques to counter multiple opponents into her defense, defend was all she could do until she could find an opening.
The Blades kept spinning and clashing and soon Fal was backing against a wall of scrap, suddenly a loud voice shouted. "Hey you machine shop of horrors eat flame! Rubinceite: Inferno blast!" Logue came in spraying fiery Salamander oil, Fal quickly got out of the way and the Droid General dodged the other way, this was something he hadn't had to deal with before nor expected to he hadn't expected the rescuers to bring a Flamethrower much less one that was spewing out a highly adhesive flammable liquid with the fire, the durasteel rubble was melted by the fire and Greivous ducked and ran deflecting blaster fire as he retreated.
Fal breathed heavily. "Alright lets get the fuck out of here now!" Fal shouted and they retreated quickly fortunately they managed to make it back to the gunships and take off as Grievous came out of the rubble, he was forced to seek cover as all four gunships unloaded their guns on his location as he escaped they fired a salvo of missiles bringing down a section of ship before the gunships took off, the droid army which was now aware of them was firing upward, the explosive charges were triggered soon after and the Gunships burned atmosphere into orbit, where the CIS fleet was on the backfoot Fal activated her Holo Projector . "Saryana this is Fal, mission accomplished get ready for withdrawal" Fal ordered.
"Alright, Alright: get back on the ships I feel like smacking the Seps around more before we leave" Saryana replied then noted the bridge officer yelling. "Oh fucking hell, just when we had them on the back foot the wimpy Seppies called in friends: two CIS battle fleets are on the edge of the system, tell your pilots to haul ass back to the Free Spirit, I'm calling back all fighters now; this is WAY too much heat for a rescue op" Saryana commented.
In orbit two more CIS forces arrived, the Lucid Voice the Providence Dreadnaught flagship of the CIS leader was tagged by one of the scanners. "Oh great now the high and might fucking Count had deigned to show his face with a fleet" Saryana remarked and received a hailing signal.
"The enemy command ship is sending a transmission your orders your Majesty?" The Deck officer asked.
"Patch it thru I'll gladly give my words for what I think of em" Saryana replied and the holo screen projected Dooku sitting on the bridge of his flagship.
"This Count Dooku, Supreme Leader of the Confederacy of Independent systems, I'm calling to inform whomever is in charge that it would be advisable for you to surrender, two fleets have arrived already and five more are on the way" Dooku greeted.
"Surrender?! HA! Now there's a laugh, NUTS!" Saryana replied, the Count was not amused. "We're leaving anyway take your offer of surrender and shove it up your fucking ass: like to see shit after that if your ass isn't already full of shit!" Saryana taunted then laughed before jamming the transmission all fighters and gunships bordered the Free Spirit.
"All ships are aboard, we've finished the calculations for Hyperspace" the Navigations officer reported.
"All ships this Empress Saryana Gildenstrom jump: lets leave this shithole for the clankers!" Saryana ordered, the blue lines of hyperspace surrounded the ships and soon the Imperial Fleet was safe on course for Republic space.
On the Medical decks… "How are the survivors?" Fal asked.
"There stabilized three are in self-induced comas, they'll make it, Master Ki-Adi-Mundi has requested to speak with you" The Medical officer reported, Fal approached the Cerean whom was now in medical garb and laying on a bed attached to an IV as a medical droid examined him.
"I must thank you for your efforts: Captain Fordo explained that it was you that went after the new enemy: I'm glad you survived, and that you were able to help rescue three of my fellow Jedi" Ki-Adi Mundi explained.
"It's all another day in my life, that was by far the most terrifying fight I've ever been in, I matched him blade for blade then the he breaks out two extra arms and its four blades of death with a mechanized machine heading for me: I wouldn't have made it out if it hadn't been for Logue and Rubinceite" Fal explained.
"The important thing is that you survived, wait four arms?" Ki-Adi replied.
"Yes four arms, and yes whirling blades of death; this General Grievous is by far the most dangerous enemy I've seen since Volgoth" Fal replied.
The continued to give their accounts of what happened.
Meanwhile on Hypori.. Grievous emerged from the destroyed crusier and noted the fact his army had taken some massive losses he then looked at the sunset. "Run Jedi Run, you are only prolonging the inevitable" Grievous remarked to himself then thought about his new enemy. "A worthy opponent I look forwards to facing her again: for someone who is not a Jedi to stand up to me that is- fascinating and something I relish facing again" Grievous continued, he noted a ship land and out proceeded Dooku, Grievous collected the new lightsabers that he had taken, six of them three from fallen Jedi a master and two padawans and three more stolen from Ki-Adi-Mundi, Shaak Ti and Aayla Secura, there was a seventh but that had eluded him, he presented them to the Count.
"The Jedi army has been defeated, more fine additions to my collection: It was unfortunately that three of them escaped, an unforeseen rescue force arrived one of the Jedi must have gotten out a distress call" Grievous reported kneeling before the Sith Lord.
"An excellent victory General but not without flaw, however it is more then worthy of recognition, one of our largest droid factory worlds is now secure from further Republic attack, let the galaxy know of you and what happened here, the days of secrecy are no longer of use General Grievous: the Jedi, The Republic and the Golden Dragon Empire will know your name and fear it" Dooku responded. "From now on though General I expect many more victories like this one, Lord Sidious will be most pleased with your efforts: I want you however to see to assembling new forces: the losses sustained here and noticeable and new troops will be needed, endeavor to make sure they preform well" Dooku ordered.
"Yes Count Dooku, I must report however I was engaged by an unusual opponent, a human wielding lightsabers with skills comparable to my own, but not a jedi, I nearly had her defeated when her allies came to her aid one of them with a flamethrower, they were not Republic military nor clones" Grievous explained.
"Your first encounter with the forces of the Golden Dragon Empire, come we will inform Lord Sidious of these developments.
To Be continued in Galaxy at War…