Hey everyone. Welcome back.
So, last time we ended of with the start of the Clone Wars. And starting this chapter, I am planning on involving the Protoss more in the story.
Anyway…
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On with the Story…
Unknown regions, 2 weeks following Geonosis, unnamed Recusant-class Light Destroyer
"We are approaching the rendezvous, Commander." A B1 pilot told the hulking cyborg behind him. "ETA 3 minutes and 14 seconds."
Grievous said nothing as he stared out of the view port, thinking about the mission he had been given.
Flashback, 3 hours ago
"Commander Grievous, you are to deliver the shipment of fission devices to the Black Sun for their mission." Count Dooku said.
"Shouldn't we put those ordnances to use ourselves against the Republic?" the Kaleesh cyborg asked. "Surely we can use them to…"
"Stop right there, Commander." Dooku said sternly. "We want to show that our cause is just. And us having to resort to fission bombs would make many worlds that are on the fence think twice about seceding."
"But why give them to the Black Sun?" Grievous growled.
"They are currently the only ones with the means and manpower to complete this mission. Plus, with the war, the Republic's focus will not be on the Peace Seeker Homeworld and the assault can be easily blamed on the Black Sun because they have had countless plans thwarted by the Peace Keepers. No blame will ever be traced back to us." Dooku explained. "Besides, officially, this will only be a simple stop on your way to your official assignment."
Grievous growled, but relented. "As you wish, master."
Flashback end
Grievous snapped out of his thoughts as the ship shuddered as it entered real-space near a small asteroid field.
"Send word to our contacts. We have arrived." He snarled at the comm droid, who immediately set about opening a secure channel.
"Are you the one sent by Count Dooku?" a Falleen male said appeared on the Holo terminal.
"Let's just get this over with, Pirate Scum." Grievous growled. "I have a war to fight and Republicans to kill."
The Falleen grimaced, but nodded, turning to the side and speaking to someone. Soon, a small fleet of freighters approached the cargo bay of Grievous' ship. Within the hour, Grievous and the Black Sun went their separate ways, not noticing that one particularly large asteroid, lazily floating in space, suddenly began transmitting a signal.
Approaching the Peace Keeper Homeworld, the next day
Naruto was at the head of his personal Squadron when R2BK9 began whistling.
"Patch me through, K9." He said. An image of Akiha appeared on his helmet's visor. "Master Akiha." He greeted her.
"Master Uzumaki, we bid you make haste to our homeworld." The old Mon Calamari told him, using a tone he'd never thought he would hear from her. Fear. "Your vision has come true. Your probes have intercepted a transmission between the Seperatists and the Black Sun, the latter are already on their way."
"We will be there within the next 10 minutes. Are there any tankers still in orbit?" Naruto asked. "The boys and I will need to refuel, and the response fleet is still gathering at AW6-EPN-557. They are set to move out within the hour."
"We may not have the time for that, Naruto." Akiha sighed. "The Black sun are estimated to arrive within the next half an hour. According to your probes, they are sending at least 12 frigates and who knows how man light carriers."
Naruto swore under his breath. "I'll send word to the response force. Have your people start evacuating, Master."
"May the Force be with you." Akiha said, before the line went dark.
"K9, patch me through to the response fleet." Naruto ordered. A few moments later, Jiraya appeared before him. "Sensei, you need to send what ships we have to the Peace Keepers homeworld. NOW!" Naruto said.
"Has something happened?" Jiraya asked, even as he gave the order to mobilize.
"The Black Sun will soon begin their assault." Naruto said.
"Got it. Be careful out there." Jiraya responded, then cut the connection.
"To all Ghost units, this is Ghost Leader." Naruto spoke into his comm unit.
"Ghost 2 here. We read you 5 by 5." his second responded after a short while.
"Listen up everyone. I just got word from the Peace Keepers. The attack is happening earlier than we expected. We may have to jump in combat ready." Naruto said. "We will link up with Nexu squadron and need to hold off the Black Sun until the Response Fleet arrives."
"Ghos 5 'ere. Any id'a what wer' up agains?" came the heavily accented voice of their Gran member. He was one of the oldest members of the squadron and a veteran of numerous battles against pirates, but always refused a promotion because, as he puts it: "Sumon's gotta looc afta tha Youn'on's!"
"At least a dozen frigates and an unknown number of light carriers." Naruto responded. "Our main priority is to keep the Black Sun busy until the fleet arrives. Our cruisers will take care of the frigates, so don't go seeking glory, you hear? I want all of us to come out of this alive."
"Sigh…why don't you upgrade our squadron to Wing status, Sir?" Ghost 9 asked, the youngest member, a female Fosh, groaned. "Because then we'd have the manpower to actually get out of your bad luck, regardless of how crap the odds are."
"I don't care what the odds are…and it's not my fault the situations always change AFTER we leave for the mission." Naruto snapped at her.
"I beg to differ." Ghost 2 said in synchronicity with most of the other squadron members.
"Alright then, name me a time when it was my fault." Naruto said…and immediately regretted it.
Because that is exactly what he got from them…and reminded him of his first mission as the Squadron leader.
2 hours later
The battered members of Ghost Squadron watched on as the last Black Sun frigate made the jump to Lightspeed, the wreckages of attackers and defenders alike floating through the void around them.
All 15 of them had survived the battle, if only barely.
Unfortunately, they had lost the battle.
Naruto turned his fighter around to look at the Peace Keeper homeworld.
…a world that was now consumed by the firestorm brought upon it by no less than 50 fission bombs, the oxygen rich atmosphere only adding fuel to the firestorm.
Naruto growled as he hit the panel in-front of him. How had he not foreseen this?
'Naruto, there was nothing you could have done." Jiraya spoke out to him through the force.
'But Sensei, I failed to keep the Peace Keepers safe.' Naruto responded.
'Those freighters were already on the planet's surface when the battle began, Naruto. At least know that your actions somewhat mitigated your vision. Some 3 score Peace Keepers have managed to survive together with their lore and knowledge. They can and will rebuild.' Jiraya said.
'…' Naruto sighed. 'Fine, but I WILL have a word to the Council. Nobody…and I mean, NOBODY, get's away with harming my friends!'
"Ghost Leader. Reaper Leader." Naruto turned to look at one of the squadrons that were part of the response fleet. "We'll take care of the cleanup. Get your squadron over to a carrier and head on home. You look like you need it."
"I'll take the remnants of Nexu Squadron with me. They had it harder than us." Naruto responded.
"Copy that. All Nexu units, attach to Ghost Squadron. You all are heading home." Jiraya called over the comms.
"Nexu 3, 5 and 8 forming up on your 6, Ghost Leader." Naruto heard the remnants of Nexu squadron report in.
Shortly afterwards
Naruto sighed as he sat on his assigned bunk, his head held in his hands. Across from him and next to him sat three other pilots, the current temporary leader of Nexu, Nexu 3, as well as Ghosts 2 and 5, the latter 2 looking at him worried.
Naruto thought back to events that started over 2 hours ago when he and his squadron arrived.
As planned, they had linked up with Nexu Squadron but before they managed to get into formation, the vanguard of the Black Sun's fleet appeared, roughly one and a half frigates, followed shortly by dozens of corvettes and carriers and lastly a couple of heavy freighters and transports.
Naruto knew that this was a common tactic used by the Black Sun. Whilst the warships kept the defence force occupied, the freighters and transports hit High Value targets, caused chaos and/or looted everything of value, then left together with as many civilian hostages as they could fit inside their cargo containers, preventing any but the most diehard commanders (#CoughTarkin#Cough) from firing on the transports. Meanwhile, Naruto and the 2 squadrons were holding their own, at least until a trio of Black Sun Corvettes micro-jumped right into the middle of Nexu's formation.
Naruto sighed.
The battle had immediately gone downhill from there as that event allowed the Black Sun to break up their formation, the relatively inexperienced Nexu Squadron breaking and getting picked off one by one.
By the time the Response Fleet finally arrived, 2 Dreadnaught-class Cruisers, 6 frigates, 17 corvettes, 2 wings of Kunai Fighters and 3 squadrons of Shuriken Bombers, Nexu had been reduced to nearly half their number, whilst Ghost Squadron was hard pressed to keep the survivors alive.
With some capital ships of their own, the Black Sun became noticeably more cautious with their assault; their commander, clearly a veteran from some conflict, being wise to avoid letting his ships come within firing range of the Cruisers' powerful armaments.
Then, all of a sudden, there had been a heavily encrypted burst transmission from the planet surface.
The next instance, the planet's surface was dotted in bright flashes, right where the Je'daii ships had tracked the Black Sun transports to have landed.
This was followed instantly by firestorms radiating out. The loss of life had been even greater than Geonosis and Naruto and many Je'daii were stunned numb as the cries of an entire planet called out, only to be cut off.
Afterwards, well, it wasn't a pretty sight as Naruto Force crushed the two nearest Black Sun frigates, blasted the hell out of numerous Corvettes using the light Turbolaser cannon mounted in his Kunai Fighter, and caused havoc amongst the Black Sun fleet just as the rest of the Je'daii Fleet arrived, catching the Black Sun in a pincer.
That was when the Black Sun commander gave the order to retreat.
"…irel?! Admirel?!" Naruto jumped as the hand gripped his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Ghost 5 looking at him, concern clear on his face. "Yer alrigh?" he asked.
Naruto breathed in and out, then shook his head. "I don't know if anyone who would be alright, after that…" he said.
"Better get some rest, Admiral." The temporary leader of Nexu squadron said. "I am sure that the Council will come up with something." Naruto sighed, but did lie down and close his eyes. Silently he swore…no, he promised…
…the Bogan will answer for this atrocity!
The next week
Naruto, after spending the last week in meditation and off duty in order to recover, marched down the hallway towards the Fire Temple's Council Chamber for the Debrief.
Just when he passed the last corner, he stopped and clenched his fists as who he saw.
Kalinea.
"I REALLY don't have time for this right now…" he growled.
"Well, get over it." She snapped at him. "If it weren't for Lady Akiha, I'd be off helping expand our own territory."
Before the two of them could enter an argument, the door to the Council Chamber opened and they were ushered in by a young Knight.
"Admiral of the Je'daii 9th Fleet, Naruto Uzumaki, here for the debriefing." He announced himself.
"Admiral Kalinea of the Protoss expansion Fleet, reporting in as requested, Hierarchs." Kalinea said.
"At ease Admirals." Tsunade began. "First, Admiral Uzumaki, Rear-Admiral Jiraya has handed in an extensive report of the recent battle, however, he did not include a report covering the battle prior to his arrival."
Naruto sighed and began reporting the opening half an hour of the battle.
Half an hour later
"…that was when Admiral Jiraya jumped in."
The Council looked at each other, but Naruto knew that they were holding a silent conversation with each other.
"And here I thought you were a coward, hiding away within that ugly monstrosity you call a flagship." Kalinea said without any of her usual spite.
Naruto gave her a scathing glare that made her swallow, but held his tongue.
"Admiral Kalinea, we bid you here in part due to your own prior relation to the late Master Akiha. The Funeral Service for her and the other leaders of the Peace Keepers will be held at Sunset. We thought that you'd have liked to be there." Onoki told the Khalai Admiral.
"…I suppose this takes precedent over commanding a fleet…" she answered.
In truth, she was hurting deep down. Akiha had practically raised her during her tenure as a student amongst the Peace Keepers. She had held, and still does, a great respect for the wise pacifists who helped her overcome the loss of her parents and older brother following their deaths at the hands of rogue Je'daii knights who delved to far into the Bogan some 15 years prior.
Then, some 4 years ago, she and Naruto had that dispute of theirs over a contested world, a world the Je'daii wanted to use for agriculture, whilst the Protoss wanted to turn it into a resource world due to the abundance of minerals critical to their species found within the planet's crust.
Kalinea sighed, forcing her anger at the blond admiral aside, recounting the days she spent with the old Mon Calamari. Next to her, Naruto relaxed, feeling the built up Force within her dissipate.
That Evening
The funeral was held within a large amphitheatre, with the few dozen empty coffins sitting upon pyres. Surrounding the central stage were an honour guard comprising of Je'daii Masters and a few high ranking Protoss, whilst the stands were jam-packed with individuals who came to pay their respects to the deceased.
The Grand Masters lead the prayers before lifting their hands and igniting all the pyres simultaneously.
Naruto saw the nod from Tsunade and turned to lead a procession of the spectators through the burning pyres, adding flowers or carved wooden tablets to the burning pyres as they walked towards the exit, where he took his place next to the door as people slowly walked past.
He was surprised Kalinea appear at his side after a while.
"…I will admit that I don't like you…" she began, clearly forcing herself to speak with him in the first place.
Naruto held back his snort, curious as to what brought this about.
"…Hierarch Akiha…always spoke about peace between all." Kalinea said. "Whilst I…can't exactly bring myself to see you in a positive light at the moment…I am willing to at least put THAT event behind me…should you do the same."
For a moment Naruto remained silent. "You clearly have a better relationship with my…our old mentor than I have." He began. "I…like you, I cannot forget the past, or my anger at your actions that day either…but I accept your proposal." He turned to her. "I had planned on sending this information to the Nerazim Matriarch. We found a system of barren worlds that might be of use to your people as mining worlds. The planets are too hot and radioactive for us Je'daii to settle on, but with your shielding technology and your unrealistic knack for automating just about everything, you should be able to extract the minerals and resources your people need." he returned his attention to the line of people passing by.
Kalinea looked at him wide eyed. "That…is generous of you, Uzumaki."
Naruto just nodded, but remained silent after that, whilst Kalinea joined him in his silent watch.
A few days later
Naruto was sitting in meditation in front of his students, using the force to guide them in the technique he was teaching them, a technique that he had learned (the hard way) that allowed him to sense the nature around them, from the blowing wind to the swaying of plants, to the little insect crawling up Asrith's leg…
With a loud scream of fright that jolted her fellow padawans, the Nerazim girl shot up into the air as the little harmless insect flew away in the wind, wondering what the hell had dislodged it.
"Is there a problem?" Naruto asked, still meditating.
"Sorry Master, the Spider just startled me." Asrith said embarrassed.
"Forget the insect…your scream nearly gave me a heart attack." Chi'sini said, clutching her chest.
"I agree with Chi'sini on that." Kiaros agreed, breathing hard from the shock he had just gotten.
"You guys…" Naruto spoke up, getting their attention. "Listen to the Force. Had that insect been intending harm, you would have known it." He opened one eye to look at them, before closing it. "This is as much about trusting in the force and yourself as it is about finding and keeping balance."
Nodding, the three youngsters returned to the exercise, reconnecting with Naruto as he guided them around.
Shizuka meanwhile was doing the same meditation in conjunction with Sakura, the both of them having been challenged by Naruto and Sasuke respectively to see how long they can spend next to one another in silent meditation.
Given that the winner of the two would get a day's long VIP stay at a spa of their choice paid for by Naruto and Sasuke, the two of them had been at it for most of the day now.
On the other side of Naruto and his team, Sasuke and his team were taking a break from training telekinetic abilities and were sipping juice and/or tea, listening to Sasuke list their shortcomings and ways on how to improve on them.
Soon, he sent his team to continue their previous training whilst he approached Naruto, whose team was beginning to grasp the technique he was teaching them.
"So…you and Kalinea made your peace finally." He asked his former teammate.
"Not really, but we reached an understanding." Naruto responded.
"Pity that it took the death of Master Akiha for the two of you to finally start to settle things." Sasuke said, sitting down next to his friend. "How are you faring by the way?"
"I have been pulled from active duty in the 9th Fleet until Inoichi's clears me for active duty." Naruto said with a heavy sigh, pulling a thermos towards him along with 2 cups. "I was there, Sasuke. I was there to witness the death of an entire planet, both through my eyes as well as through the Force."
Sasuke grimaced. "There was nothing you could have done for them, Naruto. Remember, we are not omnipotent." He accepted the cup of Batubuucha tea Naruto handed him with a nod of thanks.
"I know, Sasuke. I know." Naruto answered, looking at the cup held in his hands. "Which is why I am focusing on teaching my team the lessons I learned from Master Akiha, and meditating on the mistakes I made during the battle."
Just as he was about to take a sip…
"Hey, Lady Sakura…there's a spider on your shirt." One of Naruto's two protoss troublemakers spoke up, making Sakura repeat Asrith's earlier airborn stint whilst Shizuka first smiled, waited a few seconds, then let out a cry of victory.
"…I swear on the Force that I did not order them to pull that prank." Naruto told Sasuke.
…
AND DONE!
Sorry for the long delay.
I hit a writers block half way through the chapter that left me stumped.
Also, Naruto and Kalinea still won't get along, but they at least are starting to acknowledge each other.
I had finished this chapter before my exams began, but I found several inconsistencies that I edited out.
