This is a bit of a free-shot at what could have happened at the Jixuan Desert during Obi-Wan Kenobi's campaign to capture the southern hemisphere. This was only mentioned in a line by Mace Windu in a hologram scene where Cham Syndulla's name was heard first in a holographic briefing with Senator Taa, Chancelor Palpatine, and Admiral Yularen. I hope you enjoy; Cloaked Writer out.
Ryloth, Jixuan Desert, 22BBY
Shard had endured heat in the simulations, and endured the figurative 'heat of battle', but the Heat of the Jixuan Desert in summer was borderline insane. The sand beneath his boots crunched as if he were shattering chunks of glass that had formed from the melting of the orange sands into glass-works.
General Kenobi wore a shawl over his head and face, leaving only a slit of space for his eyes to peer through in order to protect his face and head from the heat and from the sands.
"The City of Dumash should be just over those dunes!" He shouted back to him.
"Let's get into the AT-SATs then, they can scout ahead and move faster then the regular walkers!" He shouted back to him. Shard saw him nod, and that was confirmation enough for him. Black armor had it's perks, but black armor with a black body glove with a black blaster in the middle of a desert was murder.
He climbed the ladder to one of the AT-SAT's cabins. It was a small thing, with eight seats including the pilot and gunner's seats, a Holo-Pod, and a small holo-map installed, in order to measure locations.
He heard clanging footsteps behind me, and assumed it was just a Clone looking for a seat.
"Are we ready, General?" a smooth voice said. Shard turned around, and was surprised to find General Kenobi unwrapping his shawl and sitting down with a hunch in one of the seats.
"We are just gathering our last scouting detail, and we will be able to go."
A handful of white and black figures appeared over a sand dune.
"That must be them," Shard noted. He pressed a button on his wrist, and hailed one of his men in the group.
"Get those boys into a transport, we are getting ready to leave."
He lifted his finger from his wrist, then strode to the Holo-pod, pressing a few buttons and activating it.
"Do you have a plan, General?" Shard asked his peer.
"Not yet, do you?" Obi-Wan asked, pouring a small amount of water into his hair to cool himself down.
"Somewhat... more or less. Our scout teams found the city, but there are some serious issues."
"Such as?" The General asked, not looking up.
General Shard pressed a few buttons, and a map of the City sprung up. out of the corner of his eye, he saw the last of the scouting groups had reached their walkers and were secure. He keyed an order to stand by.
"To start, they have the high ground. A steep hill- no, mountain, in the center of the desert. The only way in or out is through a trench, and then a massive series of stairs. Both of which are armed with heavy weapons."
"I think I can figure out a way through this," Obi-Wan began, but Shard spoke again, unintentionally cutting him off.
"They have more then this. This was the heart of the separatist invasion force when they landed. The City is surrounded by three Separatist strongholds, armed with, if our scanners are correct, Hyena bombers and Vulture droids, as well as entire battalions of battle droids, in addition to the forces garrisoned inside the City."
"Even with these siege weapons, I don't know if we have the men to do this," Obi-Wan said skeptically, stroking his beard.
"Fortunately, I brought reinforcements." Shard said. He pressed a button, and a surprising sight appeared in the form of a Hologram. A column of battle droids, super battle droids, and AAT Tanks materialized in blue images.
"Droids?" Obi-Wan asked, confused.
"The captured droid ships had forces, and landing craft. The virus allowed us to have control over all aspects of the ship, including the deactivated droids. We are ready to land droids here. They will give us the necessary muscle and allow them to be scrapped in our battles, and let us keep our numbers." Shard said, folding his hands behind his back.
"I am finding an issue with the effect we will have when battle droids in the city are replaced with more battle droids, Shard." Obi-Wan said, frowning. Shard nodded, frowning. His right hand unconsciously reached for his face, where the BX Series Commando Droid face plate and photo receptor had been fused to his face where his eye was gone, and the deep slash on his face.
"I am sure we can... arrange for the droids to not be used in the battle for the city, or at least not directly aid our defense. I'll also need to wear my helmet, in order not to frighten them with my... injuries." He said stiffly, but his voice held a lining of sorrow. Shard did not want to be feared. He wanted to help others, to stay and help any group that needed it. But, with his terrifying appearance, no group wanted his aid, preferring the pretty white armored men, with normal, human faces and smiles. No one wanted a pale, scarred, robotic being, helping them. To his surprise, he felt a light hand on his shoulder, and saw Obi-Wan Kenobi standing beside him, resting his hand on him, smiling kindly.
"Helmet or not, injured or not. The Twi'leks of Dumash will hail you as their hero. I'm standing back as an advisory role for this one. You get the 212th, and I imagine Cody is eager to hear your command." he said, smiling wider. General shard blinked his real eye and his Photoreceptor eye flickered, mimicking a blink.
"You trust, me?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I?"
"It's... It's nothing General. I'll work on our strategy." Shard said quickly, turning back to the holo-map
Obi-Wan turned away, a small frown on his face. Something was troubling the General, he sensed it from his first message to him when they dropped out of hyperspace. He was incredibly curt and polite, but he seemed to have a thirst to prove himself. He then realized what was going on: He was alienated as the only Clone General, and was seeking allies within the military.
It made sense; Clones were excepted to fill all roles of the military, but none dared to attempt the rank of General. He recalled Anakin's sargent, Slik, and his views on the Clones as second class to the Jedi 'overlords', and guessed it likely seeped into the military, maybe not believed, but it was there. As the only one of his brothers to stand amongst the Jedi, he likely assumed, or feared, he would be looked down on, as any ordinary elitist military would certainly have this hierarchy. But this was the Republic Military, not the Corellian Navy or the Hut Hordes. He would show him all the kindness he could, and do his best to introduce him to differing Generals to prove himself, on his own terms. He likely did not want a Jedi holding his hand, that would antagonize him and only prove his point in is eyes. He would remain cautious, and be there for Shard if he needed him.
He turned back to Shard, his eyes intense with focus as he moved holographic troops around differing installations in imagined attacks. The Battle of Jixuan Desert would be a hell of a fight.
Obi-Wan had dozed off in his chair by the time Shard had finished his plans, despite it being a little over ten minutes. He approached the General and roused him gently.
"General Kenobi? Obi-Wan?" he asked, shaking his shoulders. His eyes fluttered open and he sat up.
"Are we ready to proceed?"
"Yes General. I have ordered Thirty Five percent groups of our AT-TE's to the two closest military installations, with a smaller number being sent to the final one, due it it's far off position, and five AT-SAT's to reinforce. In addition to several droid transport ships, with reprogrammed droids and tanks to aid in the attack. I added a few more transports to the far installation, due to it's lack of republic fighters. Our main force of twenty AT-SAT's and the rest of the AT-TE's will head directly to the city and begin our siege. The AT-SAT's can climb the walls or make serpentine motions and cover our walkers as they make the climb. I believe the design of the fortress was to funnel us through the trench and up the stairway. With this done all Separatist installations and the city will fall within hours of one another.
"How long will it take us to get there? Our walkers are not the fastest." Obi-Wan asked, concerned, nervously stroking his beard.
"I already sent the groups on ahead, and we just began moving."
Obi-Wan stood up and imminently fell back into his seat, feeling seasick. The AT-SAT moved like a snake, swaying in great, sweeping motions.
"Probably best to strap in until you get into the rhythm of it, Kenobi," Shard said, testing Obi-Wan for intolerance against more casual names.
"Will do, Shard," He replied, breathing deeply.
They reached the city by sunset, the dark mountain obscuring the sun, but yet so tall and thin it looked like a vertical pupil of some kind of reptile or feline predator, stalking them from the stars. Off in the farther distance, he saw the Separatist fortresses already under attack. He saw MTTs deploying battle droids, which were storming the fortress, and the swaying forms of AT-SATs dodging blaster fire before slithering over the wall like Wyrms. He roused General Kenobi, who opened his eyes peacefuly and stood tall.
"Let us end this, General." Obi-Wan said solemnly.
"For the Twi'leks." he added.
"Signal our group, full frontal assault. Alert the other forces to march on the city and reinforce with Clones only. You got that Clicker?" Shard asked to seemingly empty air. Clicker's disembodied voice sounded from a speaker.
"Yes sir, what about our droids?"
"Leave just enough to man the fort, then have the craft board the ship and have them return home." Shard said sharply. He did not want any droids to remain longer then they should.
"And another thing," he continued, having an idea.
"When I give the word, fry them. Shut them down and make them go limp, anything just get them out of commission."
"Yes, Sir!" Clicker said, before the communication ended.
The battle was swift, and deadly. The AT-SATs slithered up the steep mountain, flanking the defenses and striking a key blow to the droid forces. They slew the T-Series Tacticle droid stationed there and the droids fell into chaos. The arriving soldiers as well aided in the assault, eventually forcing the droids into one final, desperate stand, with one droid commander left on the field with his units falling all around him. We hoisted the republic banner, and it was over. We won.
"I will need to report on your success to General Windu," Obi-Wan said, patting him on the back.
"Rest easy now, Shard. You've earned it," he added, smiling.
"To be honest with you, Obi-Wan, I will rest easy when Wat Tambor is behind an energy field in a cell. Commander Tusk can take care of things here and help them in rebuilding. I will have to hurry back to rondevou with General Windu, he is pushing forward to the capital of Lesu." Shard said stiffly.
"Very well you had better get going then, General. I hope to see you again soon; you still owe me a sparring match," he reminded him playfully.
"I would be honored to duel with the best duelist of the Jedi Order!" Shard said, laughing with Kenobi as he boarded a AT-SAT and lead his remaining serpentine vehicles towards Mace Windu's location.
He had expected a convoy of walkers. What he found was a bloodbath.
And that is the end of the imagined battle for Jixuan Desert. I through the it would have been cool to see the clones in the Clone Wars to fight on more beaches or deserts, more sandy environments. We had rocky and we had orange, sure, but no yellow tatooine sands, ya know? Anyways the next and final instlemnt of the ryloth ark will be next, please COMMENT AND TELL ME WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE NEXT, I would love to add in whatever Clone Wars ark you guys want with these guys. Anyways, cloaked writer signing off :P