First of all, I want to thank everyone who reviewed Part I of my story for all their support. Jr iz Boba Fett: Thank you very much for such a positive review! Renee: Yes, you heard me right: "Empire". Lol. Yes, they went through a time nexus thing. Heather Wan: Thank you as well. And now, the much anticipated Part II.

The Confrontation - Part II

Obi-Wan looked concerned. A massive Imperial Star Destroyer threatened his comparatively small Republic Assault Ship. He had been ordered to surrender and prepare for boarding. His mind raced as crucial decisions needed to be made. "What are we going to do now, Master?" his young apprentice Anakin asked. "We're lost, we're outgunned and we're vulnerable!" Obi-Wan thought of everything that was at stake and instantly made his decision. "We may be in danger but we're going to fight!" Captain Ronet spoke up: "General Kenobi, we won't last very long against that thing. It'll blow us to pieces!" "Not without a fight, it won't." Obi-Wan said. "Bring us around and get the weapons online!"

On the bridge of the Devastator, Captain Motti paced back and forth. "We should have received their reply by now" he said to himself. "Captain, the Admiral is seeking a conversation with you," a bridge officer said. "Put him through." The Admiral's stern voice came through, "What is your situation, Captain?" "Sir, we've encountered a vessel. We have no idea how it arrived here but we've told it to back down. Sir... It looks like a Republic Assault Ship." "A Republic capital ship?! Impossible! They were all destroyed during or after the Clone Wars." "Lieutenant, send the Admiral the visual data." A few moments passed as the Admiral received the pictures and looked them over. "Impossible," said the Admiral, the surprise evident in his voice. "I will report directly to the Emperor about this. In the meantime, cripple the vessel, but DO NOT DESTROY IT! Do I make myself clear, Captain?" "Yes, Admiral." Captain Motti sighed. Although space battles were often exciting and dangerous, he longed to be a part of them instead of watching from the bridge. He had little time to reflect on that, as the ship shook under the impact of turbolaser fire.

"Fire the proton torpedoes!" Obi-Wan ordered. He launched an impressive attack against the Devastator, a ship twice the size of his own. "Six more turbolaser emplacements have been destroyed, Sir." "Excellent, keep up the attack. They won't get us that easy!" The Liberator fired 4 more proton torpedoes and kept up a furious pace of laser fire. "General, there's a problem. There are approximately 50 small starfighters coming out of the Devastator's launch bay!" It was now the Liberator's turn to take laser fire as the small TIE fighters unleashed their salvo. Obi-Wan and Anakin were thrown to the floor as the Star Destroyer also began to fire upon them. The battle raged on, Republic and Imperial forces fighting against unknown foes. The Liberator trembled furiously, on the brink of breaking apart. "Master, we won't hold out long against this attack," Anakin said, picking himself up off the floor. A fire broke out on the bridge and Anakin raced to get it under control. "General, the engines are failing. We can't stay in orbit for any more than 10 minutes longer, let alone attack another capital ship!" Captain Ronet said. "Can we land safely on the planet?" Obi-Wan asked. A small shudder answered him. "We don't have a choice anymore. The last main engine just blew out! We're heading into the atmosphere!" Obi-Wan stayed calm and was quick to issue emergency orders. "Make sure all the equipment is safely secured. Inform the crew and the clones to strap in and prepare for a crash landing! See what you can do to slow us down with the maneuvering engines!"

On the bridge of the Devastator, the crew members were keeping a close eye on the battle. "Good news, Captain. The ship has been disabled. None of the TIE Fighters were lost during battle and the ship is heading into the atmosphere of Carnosis." "Use the tractor beams to slow it down. I have orders from Admiral Notor to keep the ship intact," the captain replied. "Run a scan to track the ship's descent. Inform me as soon as it hits the surface." "Yes, Sir."

Several minutes later, the deck officer's console chimed softly. "Captain Motti, the ship has reached the surface. It's still intact and it seems to be in good condition. They must have had some thrusters online," He said. "Thank you Lieutenant. Send down ALL landing forces. I have a feeling they have at least one surprise left for us yet." "At once, Sir."

Down on the planet, Obi-Wan and Anakin were busy viewing damage reports in the galley. "The damage isn't actually that bad, Master. We only lost one Gunship, one Dropship and one AT-TE. All the other equipment has only minor damage. In total, we lost only 200 crew members and 56 clones." Anakin reported. "It doesn't make sense, Anakin. We had no engine power. The ship is still in one piece and right side up. There were minimal losses. What could have slowed us down enough to do that?" Obi-Wan asked. "Perhaps it was that warship. It's double our size. Fighters launch from the landing bay. It has 50 turbolaser emplacements. It could have a tractor beam of some sort as well," Anakin responded. "It's possible, but why would they want to slow us down enough to have us land safely? They were trying to destroy us. What's so valuable about our ship?" "It could be a Separatist plot. Or they might want to study our technology, although I don't know what good that would do. They're more advanced than us," Anakin said. "I don't know, Anakin. I just don't know anymore," Obi-Wan admitted.

Obi-Wan's gaze shifted to the viewport as Anakin left. Through the transparisteel, Obi-Wan saw a strangely familiar landscape. It was like he was on Geonosis again, re-living the opening battle of the Clone Wars. The landscape was that of sweeping plains and cliffs, the entire planet was a desert. The sky, the sand, the rock; everything was a shade of red, orange or yellow. The sky was an ugly mustard yellow; the rock a deep red and the sand a bright orange. It was exactly like Geonosis, except for the spires. They had been built by the native Geonosians and were part of the factories used by the Separatists. Here, there was nothing on the horizon except for a few mountains in the distance. Obi-Wan sighed as he turned and sat down to his evening meal.

"What am I doing here?" Obi-Wan thought to himself. He was stuck on an unknown planet with no way to get off and a massive warship on his back. "What if we can't ever leave? What if we die here?" His thoughts changed to Anakin. What would be Anakin's fate? Obi-Wan had already sensed his rebellious side, and how he was slowly starting to use the Dark Side of the Force more and more. And what about Padme? The way his personality changed around her, the way they looked at each other; was Obi-Wan wrong to suspect something? "Of course not. You're being ridiculous. He's a Jedi. He'll come around," Obi-Wan told himself as his thoughts shifted again to his former Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. He missed him, a lot. He had been killed 10 years ago, on Naboo by a Sith Lord. They were part of a battle to re-take Theed Palace from the Trade Federation. After Qui-Gon's death, Obi-Wan became a Jedi Knight and Anakin's Master. "Has it really been 10 years?" Obi-Wan asked himself as Anakin walked in again.

It was time for the evening report. "Master, we've made excellent progress. The atmosphere is breathable so we sent out crew members and five clone divisions to do some repairs. The only damage left over now is carbon scoring, which there is unfortunately a lot of and some stress fractures. Those are taking a little longer to repair but a sandstorm started so we couldn't finish. If it clears up by morning, we should be done by midday tomorrow," Anakin reported. "Thank you, Anakin. That sounds excellent," Obi-Wan said in a weary voice. "What's wrong, Master?" Anakin asked, concerned. "Nothing. I was just remembering Qui-Gon." Obi-Wan cheered himself up. There was no point in worrying Anakin. "You've done a wonderful job, Anakin. Get something to eat and lots of rest. We're going to need it." Obi-Wan said as he headed to his quarters to get some sleep.

The next morning, Obi-Wan awoke to a distant rumbling. It wasn't particularly loud but he felt the vibrations deep in his chest. They were slow, methodical and about two seconds apart. He immediately sensed a disturbance in the Force. He rose and headed to the bridge. "What's happening? Where's Captain Ronet?" Obi-Wan asked. Anakin responded, "He's gone outside. Something is going on but we can't see through the storm, even with electrobinoculars." "Let me see." Obi-Wan picked up his own pair of high-power electrobinoculars and scanned the horizon, at least, what he thought was the horizon. The dust was so thick, his view was only 1 000 meters now, compared to eight kilometers before. Suddenly, a tall, dark shape penetrated the dust. "Do you see that, Master?" Anakin asked. "Yes. But what is it? It must be very large for us to see it from here." Just then, Captain Ronet entered the bridge, his tunic covered in red sand. "General. I took one of the swoop bikes out. There are huge walkers coming. You should be able to see them from here by now. And there's also some smaller ones. Most importantly though, there are CLONES! An army, maybe 10 000 strong of clones! I couldn't get close enough for a good view but I know what I saw. There's an army headed straight for us and I have a pretty good guess as to who sent it." "Mighty Force! Anakin, Captain, prepare the clones for battle. This "Empire" isn't the first to try and destroy us!" Anakin and the Captain hurried away to get the troops ready. Obi-Wan looked through the viewscreen again. "Those walkers are slow," Obi-Wan thought to himself. "It'll take them another half an hour to get here."

Within twenty minutes, the clone army was assembled and ready. 14 000 clonetroopers, 47 AT-TE's, 36 SPHA-T's, 320 speeder bikes, 59 Republic Gunships and 19 Republic Dropships stood on the edge of a dusty plain, ready to defend themselves. Obi-Wan and Anakin stood at the head of two columns of clonetroopers, while the other two were under the control of yellow-coloured commanders. Through the dust, the huge walkers appeared. There were 20 of them, along with 30 smaller, two-legged walkers. In front of them stood 10 000 identical clones. They were faceless, covered in almost the exact same armor as the Republic clones. It was an eerie sight. "This is you last warning. Surrender now or be destroyed," came the Imperial Commander's voice from the lead AT-AT. "Never," Obi-Wan said under his breath. He and Anakin activated their lightsabers in tandem and ran forward. "Charge!" said Obi-Wan as the Dropships and Gunships took off behind him. The battle had begun.