Chapter 22 - Battle of Kiros

I'm finally done with these chapters. Everything took far longer than I could have imagined. I suffered from a major writer's block. I had the basic plot of the chapters worked out, but every time I started to type my mind just went completely blank.

I took a short break, wrote a chapter for a new story and then continued with these chapters. It took me quite a while, but now they're done.

Despite the long delay, I hope everyone enjoys the chapter.

;-

In the space surrounding the planet Kiros, above the Togruta colony, six Republic cruisers were waiting in silence. At their left, two Shilian cruisers did the same. On board every ship, the crews waited anxiously for the battle to begin. Everything had been prepared already. All of the cannons were ready to open fire, the shields were at maximum capacity and the fighters and their pilots were ready to engage in battle.

On the planet's surface, the troops were just as anxious. All of the civilians had been safely escorted to bunkers under the governmental buildings. They were worried for their safety, but the troops present in and around the bunkers did what they could to ease their fears.

Around the city, the troops had all dug in at three strategic locations. These locations were the only access-ways to the governmental buildings. If the droids wanted to get the people, they would have to get through a horde of clones and Togrutan soldiers, led by several Jedi Padawans and H'Raani M'Kai warriors. A problematic situation for the droids, as none of them were going to let the droids pass without a fight.

An eerie silence hung over the colony. It was the usual calm before the storm. Everyone knew that, but no one liked it.

;-

On the main Republic cruiser, Shaak Ti waited patiently for the battle to begin. She was confident in her own troops and the soldiers that had joined them from Shili. Their help had been unexpected, but she certainly wouldn't complain about it. She could understand their desire to help the people of Kiros. Both Shili and Kiros had stayed out of the war. Neither planet wanted to get involved with the fighting. Nevertheless, the Separatists had attacked Kiros and subjected its people to a fate worse than death. After that, they had abducted the princess of Shili to force the planet to do Force knows what. Now, with the Separatists threatening Kiros again, the people of Shili have obviously had enough.

One of the monitors to her right started blinking with a few notifications. Shaak already knew what it was about when the clones checked the monitor.

"General, the Separatist fleet will drop out of Hyperspace in a matter of seconds." One of the clones informed her.

Shaak Ti nodded. "Send out an alert to all posts to get ready for combat." She replied as she turned to the clone. "Also, send a message to the planet. As soon as the ships appear, I want them to activate the shield generators."

"Yes General." The clone answered as he turned back to the other clones on the bridge and issued a few commands to them. They began working on sending the commands to the others.

Shaak turned back around to look out of the viewport at the space where the Separatist cruisers would appear when another clone came up to her.

"General, the Shilian cruisers just launched a squadron of fighters and are moving into an attack position." The clone informed her quickly.

For a moment, Shaak was surprised. She looked in the direction of the cruisers and spotted the fighters speeding towards the area where the Separatists would appear at any moment. The two cruisers were angling themselves to open fire at that same area.

"What are they doing?" One of the others on the bridge asked confused. The scanners on the bridge picked up the distortions in space that signaled a vessel emerging from Hyperspace.

"Don't be too surprised." Shaak Ti replied. She had already figured it out. The men looked at her for an explanation.

Shaak looked at the fighters accelerating to combat speed. "After all, a predator lying in wait,"

The Separatist cruisers dropped out of Hyperspace, fourteen cruisers in all.

"will strike its prey before it can be noticed." Shaak Ti finished as the fighters bombarded the closest cruiser with a barrage of missiles and the Shilian cruisers unleashed a barrage of lasers at the Separatist cruiser next to it. The squadron of fighters quickly banked around the devastated ship and unleashed a volley of proton torpedoes at a third cruiser, crippling its engines completely.

"Those guys are not messing around..." One of the clones commented. "They just took out two of their cruisers in one short moment and crippled a third."

Shaak quickly focused her attention back on the bigger picture. Despite the sudden attack, the Separatist cruisers were already preparing for the rest of the battle. The remaining ships all had their shields up and were launching their fighters and troop transports, eager to invade the city below.

"All cannons, target the cruisers and open fire." Shaak Ti ordered. "Launch the fighters and take down those transports. Take down as many as you can. We must not allow them to overwhelm the troops in the city." She received multiple confirmations from the troops around her. "And so it begins again." She thought silently. "May the Force watch over us."

;-

On the planet's surface, a few moments ago

Barriss stood waiting in the city. She could feel it clearly through the Force. The battle would begin at any moment now. She glanced back at the governmental buildings. All of the citizens were hiding there in the bunkers. "I hope that I'm strong enough to help protect them. They don't deserve to suffer anymore nightmares." She thought.

James walked up to her. "Are you ready for this, Barriss?" He asked her. He could sense her concern through the Force. Truth be told, he was worried as well.

Barriss turned to him and nodded. "I'm alright James, thank you." She replied. "I'm just a little worried for the people. You know what they've already gone through. They don't deserve any of that again."

James smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "That's why we're here, aren't we?" He asked her. "There is no way that those droids will get past all of us, especially with the help from Shili." He said optimistically.

Barriss smiled a bit at that. "You're right, thanks James." She replied. "We'll see to it that the people stay safe."

One of the clone captains walked up to them. "Commanders, we've received a transmission from General Ti. As soon as the Separatist ships leave Hyperspace, we are to activate the shield generators." He informed them.

"Very well, thank you captain." James replied. "Inform the men at the generator to do so, if you would."

The clone captain nodded. "Will do Commander." He said with a salute before walking off.

Barriss activated her comlink to send a message to all of the troops at their location. "Attention all troopers, the Separatist fleet will be here at any moment. Prepare for battle." She instructed.

"Ready for this?" James asked beside her.

He was brimming with confidence. Barriss could feel it clearly through the Force. "Ready as I'll ever be." She replied.

A clone walked up to them. "Commanders, the Shilian cruisers just launched a squadron of fighters." He informed them.

James and Barriss looked at each other confused. "The Separatists aren't even here yet, what are they doing?" James asked. The clone trooper handed them both a pair of macrobinoculars so they could see what the fighters were up to.

The squadron of fighters were rushing through space. Behind them, the two cruisers moved into position to open fire as well. "I don't… Why are they…" James stopped when the Separatist cruisers suddenly dropped out of Hyperspace. At that same moment, the Shilian fighters launched a flurry of missiles at one of the Separatist cruisers. The two Shilian cruisers unleashed a barrage of bolts at another cruiser. The fighters swung around and blasted a third cruiser from behind, completely crippling its engines.

Barriss put down the binoculars. She turned to James who did the same. "I guess you're right, they have had enough of the Separatists." Barriss said. James silently nodded in agreement.

Around them, the shield generators deployed the energy barrier around the city. Barriss and James nodded at each other and moved to their positions, ready for the droids that would soon be swarming the city.

;-

The space around Kiros

The Separatist cruisers were momentarily surprised by the sudden attack from the Shilian army. Two of their cruisers were already lost and a third hung dead in space, its engines completely fried. After the initial surprise, they quickly organized themselves. The cruisers activated their shields and moved into assault formation.

The Republic fleet was quick to follow after the Shilian cruisers and opened fire on the enemy cruisers. They also deployed their fighters to engage the enemy fleet.

The Separatist cruisers opened fire on the Republic fleet as they began to launch their own fighters and droid transports. Soon, the space surrounding the planet Kiros was filled with countless fighters and transports.

;-

The city on Kiros

Barriss and James looked up into the sky. Even at the large distance, they could see the flashes from the blasts. The battle in space was going on at full force.

Barriss could sense that the transport ships containing the droids would be landing at any moment. It wouldn't be much longer until they were fighting on the ground as well. The battle in space was already very intense, that much was obvious. "Stay safe, Ahsoka." She silently prayed for her friend.

Several forms appeared into the sky, moving closer to the city.

"Droid transports incoming!" One of the clones reported over the comlink.

James activated his own communicator. "All troops, prepare for battle." He ordered. He turned to Barriss. "Ready?" He asked briefly.

Barriss nodded. "Yes, I'm ready." She replied. "How about you?" She asked.

James nodded as well. "I'm good." He replied. He looked at the sky. The droid transports were already closing in on the city.

As soon as the ships were in range, they unleashed a barrage of lasers on the city. Fortunately, the shield around the city absorbed all of the fire. Realizing that they wouldn't be able to damage the city from afar, the ships moved in to land and deploy their troops.

Barriss observed the movements of the droid transports. They were flying to the front of the city, there was nowhere else for them to land. Under the direction of the Shilian army, the people of Kiros had built a defensive wall around the city and set up blockades to prevent ships from landing in other areas. A really tactful move, because now the droids were forced to come at them from one direction.

A large number of droid transports had landed in front of the city. Everything had suddenly gone eerily quiet on the ground. No longer could they hear the humming of the engines from the transports. All that remained was the sound of the wind blowing past them and the low buzzing of the energy shield.

The silence was suddenly interrupted by the echoing sound of metallic footsteps. A seemingly endless amount of droids began marching into the city. Thanks to the blockades set up, the large force was forced to divide itself into three. Each of the smaller groups was walking directly into the reinforced positions of the Republic and Shilian troops.

Both Barriss and James activated their lightsabers, two blue blades appearing in the middle of the soldiers. "Steady everyone." James said over his comlink as he moved into a defensive stance. Barriss followed and assumed her own defensive stance.

As soon as the droids moved into their sights, James issued another command. "Open fire!" He ordered. Almost immediately, a large barrage of blue and orange bolts began to fly at the incoming droids. The first rows went down without any effort. The droids behind them had more time to react and soon red bolts were flying towards the dug in troops and the two Jedi Padawans in their middle.

Barriss moved swiftly, deflecting the bolts fired at her away from the troops and back at the droids. Beside her, James did the same thing. Despite the battle, Barriss could see that he still favored Form 4. A small smile spread on her face, he hadn't really changed that much.

The battle was going their way so far. Their position proved to be secure. The droids were under constant fire and from their location, they were unable to fire directly at the Republic and Shilian troops in their cover.

"Squadron five, concentrate fire on those super battle droids." Barriss ordered over the comlink. A battalion of super battle droids attempted to carve a hole through several buildings, but a quick barrage of fire from the clones put an end to that.

"Nicely spotted, Barriss." James said from her side. She quickly glanced over at him and saw that he was just as busy as she was with reflecting red bolts from the droids. "Squadron three, watch out for those droids with the shields. Get some droid poppers behind them." He ordered another squadron over the comlink.

Barriss smiled a bit. "Good call on those shields." She replied to him as she send a number of bolts back at the droids. "Those things can be a pain."

James laughed a bit. "Yeah, I've dealt with them before. They're really annoying." He said as he used the Force to send a few droid poppers flying into the crowd of droids.

Barriss looked a bit surprised at his action. James saw her reaction and smiled. "We brought a few crates with us." He explained as he pointed at the open crates a few clones were just placing behind them. "How's your aim?" He asked her with a challenging smile. Barriss smiled back at him.

Concentrating on the Force, the two of them started launching droid poppers at the largest clusters of droids.

;-

James' strategy worked perfectly. They were able to wreck a lot of droids in a pretty short time. However, there were still plenty of droids left.

The clone soldiers were still maintaining their cover with care. Thanks to the constant barrage of fire they unleased, the droids had not been able to advance further into the city.

The Togrutan soldiers at their position were really giving it to the droids as well. Barriss knew that Togruta were predators by nature. They have sharp senses and use those often for hunting. Because of their sharp eye-sight, they were incredibly skilled with a blaster as well. Seeing their skill, Barriss was even more glad that they were here.

There was still a massive sea of droids headed towards them and the city. It was painfully obvious to Barriss that they still had a long fight ahead of them. Droids weren't programmed to simply give up and so they would simply keep throwing themselves at the barricades in the city until they either broke through or they ran out of troops.

Barriss and James both moved along their position, providing cover and instructing their troops where needed. They might have a long battle ahead of them, but no one was willing to simply step aside and let the Separatists take the city. They would keep fighting until they no longer could, or until the last droid was destroyed.

;-

Barriss' point of view

In the midst of the battle, I suddenly feel a sudden disturbance through the Force. I look around quickly to locate the source.

Next to me, I suddenly hear James yell out: "Commandos!".

I turn around and see him go down with a pained grunt. "James!" I exclaim in shock. There is a group of commando droids moving in on our position. "They flanked us!" The group of droids begins shooting down the clone troopers closest to them.

I begin rushing towards the droids. "Troopers, take cover! Commando's at our right flank!" I order the troops around me. "Commander James is down, give me covering fire!" I tell a couple of Togrutan soldiers that are at my side. They are in a perfect position to lay down suppressing fire on the droids, giving me the opportunity to rush in and end them.

The Togrutan soldiers quickly take in the situation. They see the droids and nod back at me. I nod back and dash towards the droids. The Togruta open fire on the commando droids, forcing them to go behind cover.

I can see that James understands what my plan is. He's obviously in pain, but manages to crawl behind some cover. He's out of the line of sight of the droids now, leaving him a bit safer.

From behind their cover, the droids spotted me moving towards them. They instantly started firing in my direction. I can see James' lightsaber lying on the ground in my path. Without really thinking, I call it to my left hand and ignite it. James' blue blade shines next to my own.

I quickly spun both blades around, sending the shots from the droids away. I pause momentarily and assume a defensive stance. The droids continue firing at me, but with the dual blades I can block everything they send at me.

From behind me, the Togruta soldiers send a swift barrage of bolts at the droids, forcing them back behind cover and giving me the opening I need. Dashing towards the droids, I leap over their cover and instantly slice off the heads of two droids. Before the others can respond, I quickly slice apart three more droids. The remaining five droids open fire at me again, but two of them are still in my immediate reach. I ducked under their shots and with two swift moves I cut the droids to pieces.

The three droids left jumped backwards to get out of my reach and started raining down blasterfire on me. I shift into a defensive stance to block and evade the bolts. Fortunately for me, when the droids jumped back they left their cover. The Togrutan soldiers quickly took advantage of that and took down the droids.

I deactivate my blades and turn to a group of clones. "Troopers, cover that hole they punched in the wall." I order them. We need to keep that area covered otherwise the droids can use it to break through our formation. After hearing their confirmation, I quickly make my way to James.

;-

General point of view

Barriss kneeled down next to him and quickly checked him for wounds. He had a blaster wound in the stomach. "Are you alright, James?" She asked concerned. She examined the wound a bit further and checked it with the Force. It didn't seem to be life-threatening and she remembered that James always was a tough one. He just had to stay still and rest.

James grunted slightly from the pain in his stomach, but still smiled. "Yeah, I'm mostly alright." He replied. He then gestures at the destroyed droids. "When did you learn to dual-wield like that?" He asked excitedly. "That was awesome."

Barriss was a bit shocked by his question. "I…uh…" She tried to think of an answer. "I have no idea, to be honest." She rubbed her head nervously. "I've never practiced dual-wielding before. I just…did it." It didn't answer anything and she knew it. "How did I do it?" She asked herself.

"Well, whatever it was, you sure took care of those droids." James replied. He tried to move, but only ended up hurting himself. Barriss quickly signaled a medic.

"Blasterwound to the stomach, take care of him." Barriss told the medic when he arrived. The medic nodded and got to work.

Barriss looked at her friend again. "James, you're not going to be able to continue fighting like this." She told him. James looked like he wanted to protest, but Barriss cut him off. "And no arguing. The wound doesn't seem to be life-threatening, but if you start acting like an idiot again, it will become a lot worse." She told him with a small smile, referring to a little incident he had as a youngling.

James laughed at the little reference but then grunted in pain. "Alright, you win." He replied. "But will you be alright with leading the troops on your own?" He asked slightly worried.

Barriss was silent for a moment. "Can I lead the troops on my own?" The question worried her, she wouldn't deny that. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the Force, searching for the support she needed. She could feel the Force all around her. It was definitely with her.

She opened her eyes again and looked at James. "Yes, I'll be just fine." She said in a confident voice. "You just make sure to rest up." She told him.

James smiled at her. "All right, may the Force be with you." He replied as a few clones came with a stretcher to carry him to safer location.

Barriss looked at him a moment before she made her way back to their command location. She activated her comlink to send a message to all of the troopers at her location. "Attention all troopers, Commander James has been wounded, so I am assuming command. Maintain your positions and stay in cover. Do not take unnecessary risks. If you see droids trying to move into a different way, inform me at once. We cannot allow them to outflank us." She ordered the troops.

After receiving confirmation messages from the squad leaders, she readied herself for the rest of the battle. At that moment, she realized that she still had James' lightsaber with her. She looked at it for a couple of seconds before making a decision.

Barriss moved back to the overview position that she and James had been on at the start of the battle. Activating both lightsabers, she jumped into position to overlook the battle. The two blue blades swirled around her as she issued orders to the soldiers.

;-

About fifteen minutes later

Barriss cut through a number of super battle droids and send their remains flying into a group of battle droids that unsuccessfully tried to march up to her. Deflecting a number of bolts back to a few other droids, she used the Force to leap back to behind the barricade.

She quickly wiped the sweat away from her forehead, a slight fatigue was setting in on her. Despite the minor tiredness, her eyes were still filled with determination. She wasn't going to let a bit of fatigue keep her from defending the people. She could sustain herself with the Force for the rest of the day if she needed to.

The battle was still going their way. The barricades had been built expertly, they were incredibly sturdy. Because of that, they hadn't lost that many troopers at all. A number of clones had been wounded, but only a few had been killed so far.

Thanks to the energy shield that Ahsoka and her friends had brought, the Separatists were unable to bomb their positions from the sky with their Vulture droids. They had tried to, dozens of heavy blasts had hit the shield, but it held. And, even if one of the generators started to fail, they had a few backup generators.

Barriss managed a small smile. "If things keep going like this, we'll be victorious in a few hours." She thought as she scanned over the battlefield from her position. A sudden feeling of dread settled itself in her stomach. "Guess I spoke to soon." Concentrating on the Force, she could clearly feel a strong danger approaching them.

With a little aid from the Force, she jumped up on one of the nearby buildings and looked out into the distance. A few hundred meters away, at the site where the droids were deploying their troops, several heavy tanks began rolling towards the main city gate. "This is bad." Barriss muttered to herself. If those tanks could get through the shield, they would easily be able to level the whole city in order to get past them. They could simply roll over their barricades like they were sandcastles. They didn't have enough firepower on the ground to take out those tanks, but while they were still outside of the shield…

Barriss activated her comlink. "Attention Republic cruisers, this is Commander Offee. We have Separatist heavy tanks approaching the city." She said over the comlink. "We need immediate air support to take them out. If they breach the shield, I don't know if we can stop them in time. We need a squadron of fighters to take them out." She quickly explained the situation.

A short moment later a reply came. "Barriss, this is Shaak Ti." The Togruta Jedi Master replied. "What is your situation now? Where is Padawan James?" She asked.

"James was wounded and couldn't continue the fight, so I assumed command." Barriss told the Jedi Master. "All of our barricades in the city are holding, but if those tanks get in that won't last long. They are about to leave from the Separatist main landing site. With the terrain and their maximum speed, they could be here in about seven minutes."

"Hang on, I'll try to scramble a group of fighters right away." Shaak Ti's voice replied over the comlink. A short minute later, another reply came, but it wasn't Shaak Ti's voice that she heard.

"Barriss," A familiar voice said, "this is Ahsoka. We're coming in a bombing run. Can you give us the exact location of the tanks?" Ahsoka asked.

Barriss smiled at hearing her friend's voice. "Good to hear from you, Ahsoka." She replied. "The tanks are approaching the city's main gate. They are about eight hundred meters away and incoming. There are ten tanks in total." She explained the situation to her friend.

She heard Ahsoka say something, but it was in Togruti so she couldn't understand it. "Barriss, we're on our way. Those tanks will be burnt rubble in just a moment." Ahsoka said in a confident voice.

"Glad to hear that." Barriss replied. "And don't worry, we haven't let any droids get anyway near your people and we don't intend to let them."

"Copy that, Barriss." Ahsoka said. "We'll deal with the tanks, you focus on the droids. Standby for bombing run."

They deactivated the transmission and Barriss jumped down from the building. She activated her lightsabers again and started reflecting the angry, red bolts from the droids.

A short minute later a shrieking sort of sound pierced through the air. To Barriss, it sounded strangely like some predatory bird diving to its prey. Looking up, she saw a number of fighters diving down from space, a group of Vulture droids right behind them.

Barriss looked at the fighters in shock. With their current trajectory and speed, they would crash straight into the ground. "What are they doing?" She asked worriedly. The fighters sped towards the ground, the Vultures still chasing them.

All of a sudden, the fighters changed their course rapidly. They pulled out of the sharp dive in a maneuver that seemed impossible to Barriss. The group of fighters then rapidly sped towards the front of the city to engage the tanks. The Vulture droids that were chasing them were not capable of performing the same maneuver and slammed into the ground.

The fighters flew over the city and launched a barrage of missiles and proton torpedoes at the approaching tanks and the Separatist landing site. Loud explosions echoed throughout the area and several large fireballs could be seen.

A message came over Barriss' comlink. "That takes care of your little tank problem." Ahsoka's voice said.

Barriss smiled as she saw the fighters speed back towards space. "Thanks Ahsoka, I owe you one." She replied. Barriss then turned her attention back to the situation at hand. "Squadron four, focus fire on those droidekas. Don't give them a chance to deploy their shields."

;-

An hour had passed when Barriss became aware of something: the flow of droids was starting to decrease. She got behind cover and took out her macrobinoculars. In space, three Separatist cruisers were turning around. The other cruisers were either completely destroyed or breaking apart in fiery explosions.

"Attention all troops." Shaak Ti's voice sounded over the comlink. "The remaining Separatist forces are in full retreat. Once the remaining vultures in space and the droids on the ground have been cleared up, we will be victorious." She announced.

Barriss smiled at the news. She activated her comlink to signal to the troops at her location. "You heard Master Ti, let's clean up these tin cans!" She told them. Several rounds of excited cheers were heard as a reply. Barriss reignited her lightsabers and jumped in front of the barricade, eager to finish of the remaining droids and put an end to this long battle.

;-

That's the end of the chapter.

It's not as long as I had originally intended, but I decided to split the chapters up. The aftermath of the battle will be in the next chapter. Barriss and Ahsoka will talk about the battle a bit and then they will part ways again.

Sorry to disappoint some of you, but Jana won't die just yet. And no, she won't be expelled from the Order either. Right now, the Council is far too occupied to be bothered by her nonsense and they need as many Jedi as they can get. But don't worry, later in the story, Jana will really be put in her place by Ahsoka.

I'm going to write a new chapter for both Rebirth of Light and The Hidden Truth next. I want to continue these stories as well.

After that Tale of a Togruta and A Mirialan's Story will receive a dual update again (the aftermath of the battle).

Until next time.