Chapter 1

Light filtered into the hallways of the dome-shaped base of the Separatists, as the great door at the front opened wide. Thousands of battle droids and super battle droids marched out from under the cover. Next came General Grievous' personally trained warriors. Then even more battle droids. Finally, a giant hovercraft, guarded by more Grievous warriors, floated out. Under the soft red roof of the craft laid a throne chair, and on the chair, a man. Count Dooku.

Dooku glanced about at the several other beings aboard his barge. There was General Grievous himself, several of his guards, and San Hill of the IBC (Intergalactic Banking Clan). Dooku cringed at Hill. The alien disgusted him. Although through his funding the great Grievous came to be, his arrogance pushed even the collected Count to the edge.

"Count Dooku," Hill said, "the perimeters of the canyon have been checked. It is safe to move out."

"I thought we were already moving," Dooku mumbled.

Hill smiled weakly. "You know what I mean."

Dooku turned his gaze toward Grievous.

"General. Once we reach the transport area, I will be leaving, and will trust things to you. Is that clear?"

Grievous turned to Dooku. "Yes, my lord."

Dooku smiled. "Good."

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Hidden under scan-blocked rocks, were five Clone gunboats. Newly equipped with a renewable energy engine, and quad-laser blasters, these vehicles were top-notch. The rocks which encased the gunboats were scattered around the edge of the canyon. As their cameras tracked the battle droids movements, each special Clone Recon Unit (CRU) reported back to the main squad of troops, hidden beneath the ground about two miles away.

Recon 1 contacted Recon 3 through his comlink. "3! I think I spotted Dooku's carrier! It's the barge with the red and gold cover, behind all of the other battle droids."

"Copy Recon Leader. I'll send that back to base. Should I tell them we are ready to attack?"

"Yes, but first contact the others. Tell them to move on my count," responded Recon 1.

A few moments later, after the report had been relayed, Recon 3 contacted 1 again. "Sir! The main groups of troops are ready to attack. Base said they will follow us out."

"Roger that, 3," 1 replied, "Let's get them! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Have fun boys…GO!"

And with that the five Clone gunboats broke from their cover, and sped into the canyon. As confused battle droids turned to attack, hundreds upon hundreds of Clone troopers poured over the canyon wall. With that, the battle began.

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Dooku gritted his teeth. "Er…I thought we would get out of here without any trouble…"

San Hill frowned. "I do believe the droids can handle them…After all, THE General Grievous is here!"

Grievous grunted.

Dooku hopped out of his chair. He rushed towards the railing of the barge and leaped onto the side of the craft. With his binoculars up to his face, Dooku saw five Clone gunships appear in the horizon. He sensed powerful things aboard them. He stepped back onto the barge.

"What is it?" Hill asked.

"Jedi," said Dooku.

Grievous turned to face the two. "What will we do?"

Dooku shut his eyes tight, and gritted his teeth once more. "Retreat."

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Upon the first gunship stood Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. As they gazed upon the battle raging below, Anakin turned to Obi-Wan.

"Master, which ship is Count Dooku riding?" Anakin asked.

"I don't know, Anakin. I believe the base said it was some kind of barge…" Obi-Wan told him. "Let me check in with the others."

Obi-Wan turned on his earpiece that he could use to relay information between the other Jedi on the gunships. He tuned onto the first frequency.

"Hello? Master Ti? Are you there?"

It took a moment, but Shaak Ti did respond. "I'm here, Obi. What's the plan here?" Ti asked.

Obi-Wan glanced back at the canyon floor. "Alrite…Take your gunship and fly by the sides of the canyon. Tell Master Kit's gunship to do that as well. Then, tell Luminara's ship to fly above the battlefield and help out when she can. My ship, along with Bariss' will rush straight forward to find Dooku. Understand?"

"Yes, Master Kenobi," Shaak responded.

As she cut off to give the battle report to the others, Obi-Wan put his hand on Anakin's shoulder.

"We'll get him this time, Anakin," Obi-Wan assured Anakin, although all he could do was hope.

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Kit Fisto shared his gunship with fellow Jedi Master K'Kruhk. He didn't mind it, of course, but he felt rather uncomfortable with the size difference. K'Kruhk was a huge, brute-looking alien with shaggy gray-brown hair and a face like the baby of a kath hound bred with a kinrath. Of course, Fisto himself, with hanging green tentacles looking like hair and huge black eyes, wasn't the most normal person either…WHAT WAS HE DOING! Thinking of such pointless matters…

The entire ship shook with a blast from one of the super battle droid cannons below. A quick zap from the homing laser finished that off, along with an entire quadrant of droids.

K'Kruhk turned towards Kit. "We've received an order from General ahem Master Kenobi…"

Kit smiled. "It's okay, K'Kruhk. This war has changed some of us to generals. I'm sure Master Kenobi won't mind what you said. Now what were the orders?"
K'Kruhk straightened up. "He said to stick to the side walls of the canyon and take out straying troops!"

Kit motioned to the pilot. The gunship took off for the east side of the canyon. Kit looked onto the scene unfolding below them. War was changing all of them.

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Recon 1's gunship raced across the ground, blasting everything in its way to nothing. As countless droids and clones fell, 1 sped towards the central dome…the Separatist base.

"Recon 4! 4! Come in!" Recon 1 screamed into the comlink.

"Yes captain?" 4 replied.

"Tell the others to ignite main thrusters, ignore everything else going on and get to that dome!"

"Yes sir!"

Recon 1 turned off the secondary booster engine and switched on his main thrusters. It is time to capture Dooku.. Time to end this war.

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Luminara leaped from her gunship and pushed down with the force to keep her from hitting the ground hard. When she touched down, she rolled forward and pressed the red button on her lightsaber. Snap-hiss. With blue blade in hand, Luminara cut through the droids in her way, deflecting incoming shots.

During a break in the action, she glanced at the sides of the canyons. It seemed that Shaak Ti had dismounted her gunship, as did K'Kruhk. This battle was becoming fierce fast. Too fierce, too fast.

Luminara noticed that K'Kruhk was being overwhelmed by droids, so she rushed over to help. As she neared though, K'Kruhk saw her coming and called out something like 'Get back!'. Luminara didn't understand. She continued towards him. After yelling the phrase two more times, K'Kruhk cut through a few more droids clearing a path to him, apparently for Luminara. But as she rushed down it, K'Kruhk Force-pushed her back at least twenty meters. As she rose to her feet to try once more, a deafening explosion rang and hung in the air. When the dust cleared, she saw the group of droids K'Kruhk was fighting scattered in hundreds of pieces. She also saw the remaining skeleton of the "bomb-droid" that had gone off. She also saw K'Kruhk's body.

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On Kit's gunship, Luminara stared down at the corpse of K'Kruhk…the Jedi who saved her life. Luminara knelt beside him, running her hand threw his hair. She patted his forehead and stood up as Kit and the medical technician entered. The technician put on a pulse-reading device and heard nothing for a few moments. Then something began to beat! K'Kruhk's eyes opened. He stood up!

"K'Kruhk…," Luminara whispered, as she stumbled for words, "…you're…you are alive!"

Luminara grasped K'Kruhk's now-warm hand. "How did you…I didn't sense anything…" Luminara started to say, tears running down her face, but K'Kruhk wiped them off. He put one finger to his mouth and 'sshed'. Then he grasped her in a bear hug.

Kit looked at the pair and smiled. He then joined in. The hug broke.

Kit looked at them, surprised. "What?"