In the Supreme Chancellor's office, Palpatine, already in his guise as Darth Sidious, waited a moment for a foreseen transmission from Count Dooku. Predictably, the holoprojector chimed and Dooku appeared before him.
"My Lord, our forces are in position for the operation. All that remains is your final approval, my Lord."
"Good. You may begin the operation, Lord Tyranus. Today, the Republic and the Jedi will know true fear."
Early morning on the next day after the hearing, the clones were the first awake and were enjoying the complimentary breakfast their lodgings had to offer. The clones happily passed around the various foods they had been given. Some, particularly Hoot, was happy to point out that the food they were being given was definitely much better than the slop they were usually served. He also mentioned the little trick Pina tried to pull on Yoda. The casual banter and laughter from the clones eventually woke up their guests. Lelei, Tuka, Rory, Pina, and Bozes joined the clones in partaking with the food. While they continued to eat, Lelei would ask Wrench on what were they going to do today.
"Commander, do we have an itinerary today?" Lelei asked.
"Hmm, I don't think we do. I think the plan was for us to just take a day off. What would you want to do today?" Wrench said.
"A visit to your library, perhaps."
"Well, that can be arranged. What about you guys?" Wrench said directing his final comment to Tuka, Rory, Pina, and Bozes.
"We'll join you, Ms. Lalena!" Pina and Bozes seemed to both shout out at the same time which was immediately met with embarrassed expressions on their faces.
"O—Okay." Wrench said as he turned his attention to Rory, "Ms. Mercury? Maybe shopping or something?"
Rory shook her head, "I don't need any other clothes. My formal dress as a priestess is good enough for me." While Wrench would answer that she should go anyway because she might like it, Rory did feel tempted to go to the library as well. Her search for more information on Palpatine through the datapad didn't yield her the results she was hoping to find. It was just more stuff about how the humble Chancellor was dealing with the terrible war currently happening in the galaxy.
"And you, Tuka?"
"Hmm, I would like to see your 'shopping' places. I did like that formal suit I had to wear in your Senate." Tuka said.
Having heard the opinions he wanted, Wrench pestered their escort, Crom, to organize having half of RT3 go with Lelei, Pina, and Bozes to the library and the other half to go with Tuka and Rory, even if Rory was reluctant to go shopping. Wrench, Noah, Alloy, Ramius, and Crom and his Senate Commandos would go with Tuka and Rory while Fick, Ray, Hoot, Cabby, and Zipper would go with the rest.
Once they finally left for their separate destinations, Rory's opinion on shopping immediately changed as she forgot about the Chancellor and her earlier opinion on her clothing changed as well once she saw some pretty dresses. Some of the clothes even interested the clones in wondering what they would look like outside of their armor. Exposure to civilian life was a very rare thing among most clones. While Tuka and Rory tried every article of clothing they came across in the shopping district, Lelei immersed herself in the knowledge she was coming across in the local library they went to. While Pina and Bozes were also impressed with the knowledge they were coming across, they were saddened that a particular brand of fiction they had become familiar with seemed to be sparse. Upon finding little of the fiction she wanted, Pina looked into the history of the Republic and was both intrigued and startled at the numerous wars that have been fought over its 20,000 years in existence. She was also intrigued at the role the Jedi had played over those numerous wars with two competing narratives that the Jedi were both peacekeepers and warriors and that they were usually regularly blamed for them.
As she closed a holobook, Lelei turned to Cabby who was also thumbing through some of the books, "Trooper Cabby?"
"Yes, Ms. Lalena?"
"I have seen some references to the Jedi Archives. They refer to the Archives as the greatest repository of knowledge in your galaxy. How may I gain access to the Archives?"
"Hmm, I think you have to be a Jedi to see the Archives."
"Oh, a pity. Perhaps I could ask the General if her Order will allow a special permission."
"Feel free to try." Cabby chuckled until his holoprojector went off.
At the same time Cabby was receiving a transmission, the other clones received the same transmission. Eila appeared before them and even with her limited view through the holoprojector, a smile developed on her face as she saw her men having just as much fun as their guests were having of either looking though books or trying on clothes. Although, she felt rather perplexed when Wrench answered his holoprojector in a nice suit. Quickly composing herself, she addressed her men,
"Sorry to interrupt but all of you, along with our guests are to report to the staging area. The Chancellor wants our guests to experience space before we go back. See you all soon."
Once the transmission ended, Lelei, who had eavesdropped on the conversation said, "Looks like I will be able to make my request in short order."
Arriving in two separate transports, the clones, Crom and his Senate Commandos, and their guests exited into the embarkation area of the docks. Pina's eyes widened at the sight of numerous Venator-class Star Destroyers being resupplied or taking off. She shuddered at the sight of the massive ships passing overhead and making their way into space. Her tension was put at some ease when she and the group approached Eila who was waiting by a gangway that led into a Venator waiting at the dock.
"Welcome to the staging area. As you can see, this is where our navy is maintained and resupplied." Eila said, addressing the people unfamiliar with what they were seeing.
"General," Wrench said as he and the other men saluted her, "Why are we really here?"
"The Chancellor sees that it's a good idea to expose our guests to 'our technological wonders' so, we're taking our ship up and we're just going to stick around with the Coruscant Home Defense Fleet."
Lelei's eyes sparkled at the sound of having the chance to go into space and said, "A trip to the heavens. When do we leave?"
"Yes!" Rory exclaimed, "When do we get away from the ground and into the heavens?"
Rory was excited at the idea of being really far away from Hardy, the goddess of the underworld, and away from her reach.
"At least the two of you seems excited." Eila said as she observed that Tuka, Pina, and Bozes looking apprehensive at the sight of a Venator.
Eila looked over with small tinge of disappointment to Crom and said, "I guess you'll be joining us too?"
"Of course, General."
Seeing that Crom's presence is unavoidable, Eila waved to the group and said, "Well, come aboard."
As the group made their way onto the gangway and began walking towards the ship, Lelei came by Eila and asked her about the Jedi Archives.
"Access?" Eila pondered, "Sorry to say though but the Archives aren't really open to the public."
"Unfortunate and bizarre." Lelei said as they entered into the halls of the ship, "May I ask why? Your Archives are the largest repository of knowledge in the galaxy. Why are they closed off from the public?"
"It's just a matter of some information being a bit…complicated. Whatever regular knowledge the Archives have, they can already be found in any other library."
"What makes the other information, complicated?"
Eila sighed, "Well, some of the information contains schematics of dangerous super weapons that have been banned throughout the galaxy. Others are specifically concerning Jedi and can only be seen by Jedi. And then theirs the Sith…"
"The Sith?"
"Oh, maybe another time." Eila concluded as the group entered the corridors of the ship and made their way to an elevator to the bridge. A quick ride up the elevator, the group entered the command bridge. They were greeted by a non-clone Republic officer.
"Oh, welcome back General Deova, Commander Wrench. The crew was starting to become concerned that we would be reassigned." The officer said.
"Unfortunately, Captain Hawkins, reassignment is still likely; we're only really here to give our guests a show of the Home Fleet. Continued operations in the Special Region means me and Wrench are unlikely to come back for the Outer Rim Sieges at the moment." Eila said and directing Hawkins' attention to the group with her.
Hawkins was saddened by the news but maintained a professional demeanor as he saluted the guests, "Welcome aboard the Republic warship, Eternal. I am Captain Silas Hawkins. You must be the guests from the Special Region. I was able to watch the Senate session the other day. Welcome to the Republic."
Lelei, Tuka, Rory, Pina, and Bozes bowed to acknowledge Hawkins' greeting. Hawkins turned back to Eila, "Shall we get underway then, General?"
Eila nodded in approval. Hawkins then turned his attention to the command crew, "Ops, do we have takeoff clearance?"
"Tower has cleared us, Captain!" A clone officer called.
"Good. Disengage landing clamps and struts. Ready atmospheric thrusters and sublight engines."
A low rumble startled Tuka, Rory, Pina, and Bozes as the engines started and the ship began to lift off while Lelei looked out a window to see the ground slowly pulling away.
"Clamps disengaged and struts retracted, sir!" Another clone officer hollered.
"Thrusters and sublight engines ready, sir!" A final clone officer declared.
Hawkins nodded to the officers and said, "Alright, take us up."
After a short ascent into space, the Eternal joined the rest of the Coruscant Home Defense Fleet formation. Tuka, Rory, Pina, and Bozes looked out to both the massive fleet in orbit and the shimmering planet below. Lelei had already pulled herself away from the sights and was already asking Hawkins about the specifications of a Venator-class Star Destroyer. Hawkins decided to direct her to their engineer on the bridge where he could answer her questions. While Lelei moved away from the rest of the group, Wrench and the other clones opted to go to the hangar bay or commissary and greet some of their brothers who hadn't been able to join them in the Special Region. To Eila's joy, Crom and the Senate commandos he brought with him, had remained silent since they boarded the ship and simply kept an eye on their guests. Once the clones left, Eila came up behind Tuka, Rory, Pina, and Bozes and commented on the view they were seeing.
"Very nice, isn't it?" Eila began.
Startling the group, Pina spoke first, "General! Your navy is quite impressive! I can't even count how many ships are out there. I lose my place too quickly." Bozes would nod with her.
"It certainly is, but this being, for all of you, your first trip to the 'heavens'. How do you feel about seeing the stars like this?"
Tuka managed to say, 'beautiful' as she continued to gaze at the stars. Rory smirked and said, "What she said." Rory's suspicions of the Chancellor further slipped from her mind due to the spectacle she was seeing and feeling the smug satisfaction that she was untouchable from Hardy. Eila smiled that they were at least enjoying this 'show of force'.
As the others continued to gaze, Pina would ask Eila to talk privately with her. Once they were alone, Pina started first, "General, I understand why we're on your ship. This is a demonstration of the Republic's resolve. A message that if we don't take your offer seriously, we could see these ships in our skies. I will try to make it clear to my fath—the Emperor, that we pursue peace."
Eila sighed, "Yes, the Supreme Chancellor just wanted to make it clear."
Pina noticed that Eila was disappointed in her own answer, "Is something wrong, General?"
"No, no. It's just that I had already believed we had made our intentions clear. What were doing now just seems excessive."
"But what you're doing is…"
"I know. I'm following the orders of the Chancellor." Eila said while also thinking, 'Even though I should be following the Order.'
Eila continued, "But I do also want to make this trip interesting for you. It's why I asked about how you felt about seeing the stars from this angle."
Pina smiled as she would say, "Well, to be flying into the heavens and seeing the stars from here, unobstructed by the clouds or moonlight and even not seeing the gods up here, it is interesting."
The two would be interrupted when a clone officer approached Eila with an issue. "General," the clone began, "Captain Hawkins would like a word."
Eila nodded to Pina and walked over to Hawkins who was in one of the sunken pits next to the sensor officer.
"What's wrong, Hawkins?" Eila said.
"I'm unsure, General. The sensors appears to be detecting an overall increase in Cronau radiation off starboard but we don't have any incoming or outgoing ships scheduled today."
Eila pondered over the issue until she felt someone wrap their arms around her. It was Rory and with a lick of her lips, she whispered to Eila, "I smell blood."
At the same time Rory made herself known, Eila also felt a tremor in the Force and upon feeling it, she turned to Hawkins and ordered, "Raise shields. Prepare for battle."
"General?"
After Hawkins gave his puzzled response, Bozes would call out to both Hawkins and Eila. "General, Captain, look!" She shouted.
Hawkins and Eila rushed next to the viewport Bozes was staring out of and Hawkins was shocked to see a Providence-class dreadnought ram itself into a Venator and splitting the ship in two.
"T—The I—Impavid!" Hawkins managed to choke out. Eila grabbed Hawkins by the shoulder, shook him a bit, and repeated her order to ready for battle.
Snapping out of his shock, Hawkins barked out orders. "Raise shields! All hands to battlestations! Repeat, all hands to battlestations! All pilots to the hangar deck!"
A flurry of activity consumed the bridge as the viewport was suddenly filled with Separatist warships coming out of hyperspace. Some unlucky ships for both the Republic and Separatists met the same fate as the Impavid. The once serene view everyone was enjoying earlier was immediately filled with turbolaser fire, explosions, and wreckage. The ship likewise had sporadic vibrations as the shields strained under heavy turbolaser fire from approaching Providence and Munificent-class ships.
"Crom!" Eila yelled to the man who was likewise shocked that the Separatists were attacking the heart of the Republic, "Take our guests into a life pod and find a shelter on the surface!"
A wide eyed Crom followed Eila's orders and asked their guests to follow him. Eila could hardly hear Lelei, Tuka, Rory, Pina, and Bozes call out to her as they were escorted off the bridge since she was now fixated on the battle unfolding before her.
"Commander Salima has ordered defensive formation seven and has called for reinforcements!" A clone officer called.
"Alright, take us to 219-mark-47! Target the Munificent and Providence-class off our starboard bow! Forward guns, open fire!" Eila ordered.
At the same time, Hawkins also gave tactical orders, "Load all proton torpedo tubes! Target the Recusant-class attacking the Herald! Fire when ready! Launch all fighters immediately! They are to intercept all enemy craft!"
"General Tiin is approaching with fighters from the surface!" Another clone officer called.
Making their way through the crowds of clone troopers and crew rushing to their stations, Bozes would pester Crom on what was happening out of concern for Pina's safety.
"Mr. Crom!" Bozes shouted to him again, "Who is attacking the Republic fleet and where are we going?"
"Separatists! It's the Separatists! You were informed about them, right? And you heard the Jedi back there, we're heading for the escape pods!"
"Yes, but how are they attacking the capital?"
Crom's frustration was growing as he had also yet to find the escape pods, "How should I know?!"
"You are with Republic Intelligence, correct Mr. Crom? Is it possible this was unforeseen?" Lelei would say in her usual monotone.
Taking the hit to his pride, Crom stammered, "Y—Yes! S—Someone else at Intelligence, I'm sure, screwed up!"
As they continued to run through the halls of the ship, the ship suddenly shook violently throwing them off their feet. Once the shaking stopped and they got themselves back up, Hawkins' voice over the intercom sounded out all over the ship stating, "Security teams to decks 1 thru 6! Sections 12 to 20 have been breached! Prepare to repel boarders! Damage control teams to the hangar deck!"
Seeing a group of armed clones change directions as soon as they heard the order, Rory saw this as an opportunity and ran after the clones looking for a fight. Crom would call out to her in vain as Rory quickly disappeared down the corridor.
"Dammit! What is that girl doing?!" Crom yelled.
"She is looking for a fight," Lelei answered, "I will follow her."
Crom grabbed Lelei by the arm, protesting her decision. Lelei yanked her arm away from his grip and declared before walking off, "I will not leave Rory!"
Seeing Tuka also walk off with Lelei, an exasperated Crom turned to the Senate Commandos with him and ordered them to follow and guard Lelei and Tuka.
Crom turned to Pina and Bozes who hadn't left like the others, "Well, Princess? Will you go to the escape pods with me?" In Crom's mind, he was really hoping the Princess and her attendant would evacuate to the surface. Pina's response would dash his hopes.
"I wish to bear witness." Pina said.
"What?!"
"I wish to bear witness to your war."
"Princess! It's too dangerous!" Bozes protested.
"I concur." Crom said. Crom really wished he could force the Princess at blaster point to comply with his demands but then it might sour the diplomatic relationship.
"Besides Princess, why do you need to see our war?" Crom continued, "As your attendant said, it's too dangerous."
"It seems irrational but, seeing your war is a learning experience for me."
"War isn't a school, Princess!" Crom yelled.
"For me it is!" Pina insisted, "How can I help the Empire when I know nothing about how other nations handle crises?! All we've ever done is try to hit something as hard as we can when we didn't understand it!"
Crom gave a frustrated sigh and said to Pina, "Fine! We'll go after the girls but both of you stay with me. Any of you winding up dead is a problem."
'Particularly for me!' Crom thought as he led Pina and Bozes.
While Crom with Pina and Bozes lagged behind, Rory quickly made it to one of the compromised sections where clone troopers were battling a combination of regular B1 Battle Droids and B2 Super Battle Droids in the corridors. The droids had infiltrated the ship when numerous landing pods punctured the hull. Licking her lips at sight of a battle, Rory sprinted into a column of B1 Battle Droids. Even though her halberd didn't cut droids in the same way as living beings, the sheer brute force Rory made swinging it around shut the droids down all the same. Having learned from her fight with Fordo and with some help from the droids' pitiful aim, it made it easy for her to dodge blaster fire. As Rory continued to smash the hapless B1s, she didn't notice that Wrench and RT3 were also in the corridors fighting off the droids.
"Sir!" Fick shouted to Wrench.
"What is it?" Wrench said back.
"Isn't that Ms. Mercury?" Fick would point Wrench to Rory's direction who was happily laughing at the slaughter she was creating.
Seeing that Rory was taking on the droids alone, Wrench gave his order to Fick, Noah, and Alloy, "Give her some cover!"
The clones moved to cover Rory's flank as she slammed another B1 against the wall. After swatting the last B1 aside, Rory dove into a column of Super Battle Droids, reacting too quickly for Fick, Noah, and Alloy to catch up. Rory slammed the first Super Battle Droid against the wall and readied to attack another, a technique she believed was working since the B1s stopped moving when she did it. Unfortunately, for her, B2s aren't called 'Supers' by clones lightly.
"Look out!" Fick yelled to Rory.
Rory turned having heard him but realized too late that the B2 she had dealt with earlier was still functional and had turned its wrist blaster on her. From that point, Rory only remembered seeing red flashes and the agonizing pain that came with it. She couldn't believe it as she fell to the ground screaming.
'P—Pain! Pain after all this time!' She thought as a searing pain surged through her.
"Ms. Mercury's down!" Fick reported to Wrench.
"Down? She's been hit?" Wrench said, not quite believing it as well.
"Yes, sir!"
Responding quickly, Wrench turned to Ramius and ordered him to Rory's position. Once Ramius reached Fick, Noah, and Alloy, they had just finished throwing 'droid poppers' that shut the column of B2s down for good. Advancing to Rory, Ramius could see that she had suffered severe blaster wounds to her torso and arms. As Ramius picked her up to bring her to a safer location to treat her and Noah and Alloy, with some difficulty, carrying her halberd, Ramius could hear her mumbling.
"I—It's not h—healing. W—Why? Demigods don't die. We can't die. I—I can't die." Rory mumbled in her delirium before falling unconscious.
"Droids!" Fick called as the once cleared corridor again had more droids marching through it, "You got her?" He called to Ramius.
Ramius nodded and the clones made a fighting retreat to the rest of their comrades. Once Noah and Alloy dropped her halberd on the floor and returned to the fight and Ramius was in relative safety to treat Rory, he could see that the wounds were healing very slowly to the point that Ramius had to stare at the wound intently to see any movement of it closing. Before Ramius could prepare a bacta treatment for the healing process, Lelei came around the corner of the corridor.
Alarmed at the sight of an injured Rory, Lelei asked Ramius, "What happened to her?"
"She was shot by a battle droid." Ramius said and would notice that the usually calm, almost expressionless Lelei, looked shocked that Rory was hurt.
"What treatment will you give her?"
"Some bacta. It looks like the wounds are healing on their own. This will speed it up." Ramius explained as he placed small bacta infused bandages over the blaster wounds. While he continued to patch up Rory, he asked Lelei what she was doing here.
"I could not leave Rory. But I also wish to help." She said.
"What kind of help do want to give?"
"This kind." Lelei said as she advanced down a corridor that was about to be overwhelmed with droids. Muttering a spell, a barrier formed that stopped the blaster bolts from the droids. Lelei winced and poured more magic into her spell to keep the bolts from penetrating the barrier. Some of the clones looked in amazement at the sudden barrier that came up. Despite her effort, Lelei could tell this was something she couldn't keep up for very long.
Soon enough, Tuka and the squad of Senate Commandos also came around the corridor. Seeing what Lelei was doing, Tuka also cast a barrier spell down another corridor to stall the droids and likewise, felt the same strain Lelei was feeling.
Taking this as an opportunity, Wrench ordered his men to start gathering the wounded and fall back to a more defensible position. Troopers hurried to drag their wounded brothers out while others waited by Tuka and Lelei, ready to throw droid poppers as soon as they lowered their barriers.
Once the wounded, including Rory, had been pulled back, Wrench asked Tuka and Lelei to stop their spells. As soon as the barriers dropped, droid poppers were rolled towards the columns of incoming droids. Pulling the last of his troopers out, Wrench contacted an operations officer.
"Close off deck 4, section 23." Wrench ordered and the blast doors quickly closed. A duo of clones began welding the door shut. Taking a breather, Fick would approach him.
"The droids aren't making any sense, sir." Fick panted.
"I know. There's so many of them and yet they're not pressing the attack to take any of the vital areas like engineering, the bridge, or even the hangar deck. They seem content on sticking around on this deck and just bleeding us dry."
"A distraction, perhaps?"
"A distraction from what, then?"
While Wrench and Fick continued discussing about the droids' strange strategy, the rest of RT3 would gather around Rory who was also with Tuka and Lelei.
"How's the little lady?" Ray asked.
"Unconscious but well on the way to recovery." Ramius answered as he peeked under one of the bandages and could see that the blaster wound was closing up nicely.
"Hey, Ray, you do know that if she heard you call her a 'little lady', she'd rip more than your throat out!" Hoot snickered.
The troopers groaned at Hoot and Ray answered, "Of all the times to joke, you chose this?!"
"What? Tense situation? Just looking to lighten the mood from our possible deaths."
While the others didn't respond to Hoot's comment, Crom, Pina, and Bozes finally caught up. As Crom went to Wrench to learn of the situation, Pina looked around her and was quite shocked at the sight of clone troopers who had cut through their armies like a sickle were instead exhausted and beaten.
"Princess," Bozes whispered to her, "It looks like the Republic isn't so invincible."
"They never claimed to be, Bozes. They're just stronger than us and we must learn from them as such."
"Would it not make more sense to learn from the Separatists, if they're able to hurt the Republic like this?"
Pina's face contorted in anger but continued to whisper to Bozes, "Purge those thoughts, right now! It's rather rude to sympathize for the Separatists in the presence of the Republic's soldiers!"
"I—I didn't mean any disrespect, Princess. But we do want to make the Empire strong, don't we? Why not learn from multiple sources?"
"For one thing, the Republic isn't willing to open a dialogue with the Confederacy again. There have been attempts made by Senator Amidala who we met yesterday and they have all failed miserably. Second, from what I've read, the Confederacy fights exactly like how the Republic does, just with machine soldiers. And third, the Republic has been gracious and accommodating to our presence. Would you rather have soulless machines marching through the Empire or flesh and blood soldiers who can be reasoned with?"
As Bozes contemplated Pina's reasoning, they would both be shocked as soon as they caught of glimpse of Rory. Ramius would explain to the two that Rory was shot by a battle droid. Pina was disturbed by the revelation as she had believed that Apostles were practically invincible but realizing her own words that the Republic also wasn't invincible, she started to consider keeping an open mind from now on. While they both continued to look around the room, Wrench would question why Crom brought their guests to a battle.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Crom? Why did you bring our guests here?" Wrench chastised him.
"Commander, the Princess insisted. She believed this can be a learning experience and that girl," Crom pointed at Rory, "Ran off by herself."
Wrench sighed and said, "Stubborn, I see. Well, I'm pretty sure the General ordered them off this ship. Now follow orders and get them out. We don't need anymore of them getting hurt."
Just as Crom was about to walk off and carry out the order, another violent vibration shook the ship. As everyone climbed back onto their feet, the chief engineer came over the intercom.
"This is engineering. We are taking over control of the ship. Both bridges have been hit. Repeat: both bridges have been hit. We are assuming control over the ship's functions"
While nobody could see his face because of his helmet, Wrench was horrified as he whimpered Eila's name.
On the ground, Fordo was on his comlink addressing the situation to any commanders nearby.
"Sector Four needs reinforcements. We are being overrun. Repeat: we ar—"
Fordo turned to see Super Battle Droids cresting the pile of rubble his troopers had been using for cover. Reacting quickly, he blasted one of the droids and then used the butt of his rifle to smack another one down and fired at the downed droid too. Seeing another droid approach him, Fordo threw his rifle at the droid and downed it with his sidearm. Seeing more droids crest the pile, he grabbed the rifle from a fallen trooper and began firing at the enemy with both weapons.
"Fall back! Fall back! Fall back!" He ordered as more battle droids advanced. To the relief of him and his men, General Yoda jumped in front of them and began carving the droids up as he called for them to maintain positions.
Seeing General Yoda in the fight caused a surge in morale as Fordo and his men also charged at the droids and began pushing them back. As the battle continued and General Windu making his presence known by crashing a commandeered droid fighter into the enemy formations, Fordo wondered how everyone else was faring in the battle as he blasted another droid to pieces.
Author's Note: Well, they didn't go to Kamino. Sorry.