Three months ABC
Derylon System
"Transitioning to real space in three…two…one, transitioning." The Resolute snapped back into real space, the rest of the Open Circle Fleet following suit. Obi-Wan's eyes searched around the empty vacuum before him before he found what he needed; the small flotilla that accompanied Commander Cortex and his 10th Legion.
"Inform Commander Cortex to add his ships to ours and report in personally." He ordered, turning from the bridge and walking to the turbolift. He took the lift to the hangar deck, where he found Anakin meticulously combing over his Eta-2 Interceptor. Behind him, his Gold Squadron were preforming the same checks on the ARC-170s, their crews inspecting and adjusting every bit that they could.
"Find anything disastrously wrong with your interceptor?" Obi-Wan questioned as he came to stop near the Eta-2.
"Nope, just the same-old same-old little things," Anakin called from underneath, "just tuning them up."
"Covering the little details?"
"Just like you taught me, master." Anakin rolled out, wiping grease off his hands with a rag. "Are we in the Derylon system?"
"Indeed we are; we're currently awaiting the arrival of Commander Cortex." Obi-Wan stated. As he finished, the hanger bay doors opened to allow the arrival of a Republic shuttle.
"Speaking of the devil." Anakin said, getting to his feet. The two approached the shuttle as the ramp descended, allowing five clones in green-brown armor to disembark. To say their armor was modified was putting it lightly; these clones had reoutfitted their armor with various data-receiving devices, scouting equipment, and survival tools. The lead one, however, carried only a set of datapads, the armor far too clean to be his regularly worn set. His eyes were the most defining feature of him; brighter and keener than those of most clones.
"Gentlemen," the lead one said, coming to attention, "Commander Cortex of the 10th Legion reporting. These are my command staff, Majors Trailblazer and Looker, and Captains Keener and Roper."
"At ease, commander, welcome." Obi-Wan said. "I'm certain you're eager to get to work."
"Yes sir, and I'm certain Commander Prizefighter is ready to get groundside with us as well." Cortex said, relaxing as the Jedi beckoned them further into the ship.
"I decided, based on your message, to keep our dear Prizefighter in the dark about your arrival." Obi-Wan informed him. Cortex blinked then grinned wickedly.
"If you don't mind me asking, commander, what is your history with Prizefighter?" Anakin questioned as they all entered the turbolift.
"Commander Prizefighter was once a Sergeant Prizefighter under my command in the Outer Rim," Cortex explained, "he was the hardest sergeant I had, both to manage and for the droids to kill. We served together near Hutt Space as security…and muscle for the Hutts when it suited them."
"That sounds like the Hutts." Anakin almost spat.
"Yes sir, but it's where I found my call to intelligence work. After being thrown into situations with little to no information, it fit me well."
"Is that how you became the commander of the 10th?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Yes sir, best command I've ever had." Cortex beamed. The two Jedi smiled at his optimism as the doors to the command deck slid open. Around the planning table were the clone commanders, Rex, Lance, and Mule. Prizefighter turned, his mouth opening to speak, then freezing as his eyes landed on his old commander.
"I-sir?!" Obi-Wan was slightly taken aback by the reverence and respect in his voice, or rather the high levels of both. Prizefighter's eyes were wide, his mouth slightly ajar, and his weight was settled on his back foot. This was genuine surprise.
"Relax, Prize, we're equals for once," Cortex said gently, patting the bewildered commander on the shoulder, looking past him to the holoterminal. His eyes landed upon the battle plans, and Obi-Wan watched Cortex's mind kick into high gear. The clone intelligence officer stepped past the stunned Prizefighter, placed his hands on the controls for the holotable, and began to inspect every detail of the plans, his eyes darting around them. A tide of questions and pointers came tumbling from his mouth, identifying flaws and improvements to the plan. Then came the question out of left field: "So where do you have Vork's men positioned?" Silence met that question.
"Men? As in organic combatants?" Mule asked.
"As in organic combatants," Cortex repeated, rapidly drawing up his own intel. The image of a human male clad in somewhat ornate light armor, and wielding a blaster rifle, pistol, and a slim saber appeared. "Count Vork's personal infantry, the Vork House Guard. Light infantrymen culled from the best Serreno has to offer. Used as a skirmishing and harassment force on clone forces throughout the Outer Rim. They are also his personal enforcers; brutal, uncompromising, and merciless. Records show that they take no prisoners."
"They'll find we have none to give," Mule said firmly.
"From Prizefighter's command? I doubt surrender is even in your vocabulary." Cortex commented, earning a proud grin from Prizefighter. Cortex turned to the Jedi. "Gentlemen, what are your plans for after the battle in space?"
"I will be coordinating our forces on the ground in order to strike at Vork's droid armies where they are most open and vulnerable. Anakin will be doing what he does and provide the biggest, loudest distraction for me to find my openings." Obi-Wan explained.
"Opening and exploitation, good…but what happens when Vork leaves the system?" Cortex pried. The Jedi blinked.
"You said 'when' as if that's a sure thing." Anakin noted.
"It's a ninety percent possibility," Captain Keener chimed in, "as I'm sure Commander Prizefighter can tell you, General Vork is a…savant in terms of formulating escape plans, usually ones that put innocent or allied lives in danger." Prizefighter grimaced and nodded.
"With the amount of internment camps I'm sure he's erected, Vork has plenty of options at his disposal. With your permission, gentlemen, I'd like to spend a day with the other command teams to put together a more comprehensive plan with this no information." Cortex stated. The two Jedi looked at each other.
"Give my former apprentice and I a moment, please." Obi-Wan said politely before exiting the planning room, Anakin in tow. As soon as the doors closed, Anakin launched.
"As much as I want to have better plans in place, we've wasted enough time already assembling this fleet and getting to Derylon as it is. Also, how are we going to hide the entire Open Circle Fleet hanging in the system from Vork?" Obi-Wan held up a hand.
"You may want to take this sitting down, Anakin…but for once I agree. Every hour we wait, Vork may slip from out grasp…but I don't like the idea of going in totally unprepared."
"What do you suggest, Master?"
"I propose we make our way further into the system at sub-light speeds; it will take us several hours to be sure and it will alert the droids to our presence, but it will give Cortex at least a little time to make further preparations. Additionally, it will give Yularen and I time to formulate new battle plans for the droid fleet."
"I can get behind that," Anakin said, "what do you want me doing in the meantime?"
"Staying out of my and the clones' way; let the adults do the planning." Obi-Wan teased, making his way back into the planning room.
"Hey, I am an adult!"
"Oh please, Anakin, if Ahsoka is anything to go by, you're a padawan trapped in a knight's body." Obi-Wan retorted as the doors slid shut behind him, leaving Anakin to his thoughts on his former padawan.
Returning to the table, Obi-Wan addressed the clones before him. "Gentlemen, as much as I understand the need for additional time, we have wasted too much time already in our assembly and arrival to the system. As such, we will be proceeding, at sub-light speeds, to Derylon. You have until then to formulate battle plans for General Skywalker and myself; do I make myself clear?"
"Yessir!" The clones answered in unison.
"Good; if you need me, I will be planning our tactics for the upcoming fleet battle with Admiral Yularen. Get to work, we have a planet to liberate."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ahsoka; it had been months since Anakin had last seen his former padawan in person, or even in hologram form. Since the ceasefire, Ahsoka had gone on her own after the renegade generals, serving as an agent of the Republic. Even though the Jedi Order had cast her out, Ahsoka was still fiercely loyal to the Republic. She was still on Anakin's mind when the doors to the hangar slid open, R2-D2 bent over a stabilizer on his Eta-2. The astromech greeted his master with a happy series of beeps and chirps.
"Hey buddy, how's the old girl doing?" Anakin asked, grabbing a rolling bench with the Force and moving towards the interceptor. R2 answered with a quick diagnostic; apparently Anakin had missed somethings. "Yeah, well…I'm only human, R2." R2 beeped skeptically as he turned his eye to his master, querying him on his current state. "Me? I'm fine buddy, it's just…do you think you can find Ahsoka's transmitter? You can use the ship's Holonet connection if you need to." R2 gave an affirmative, plugged in to the Eta-2, leaving his diagnostics list with Anakin, then rolled quickly away towards the turbolift.
Anakin chuckled as he set to work on his interceptor, quickly losing track of the outside world as he dove into the repairs and fine tuning. While he worked, he swore several times that he heard Ahsoka in the back of his head, calling to him, but Anakin dismissed this as nothing; he was merely being worried for his former padawan. Then, as he finished one of R2's tasks, the astromech came screeching back, shrieking and beeping and whistling loudly at his master. He rammed his bulk into Anakin's board, knocking him deeper under the Eta-2 and making him bump his head.
"Hey hey, whoa! What's gotten into you?!" Anakin asked angrily.
"Says the man who's been leaving his former padawan on hold for the past ten minutes." Came the voice of undisguised sarcasm. Anakin shot out from under his interceptor and stood; for there on the small holoprojector in the Eta-2 stood Ahsoka, arms crossed, brow furrowed, and doing her best to look very cross at Anakin.
"Oh come on, Snips, you know how I work; I get into it." Anakin deflected.
"Sure, but you don't go into a meditative trance that makes you deaf!" Ahsoka countered.
"It's been a rough few of months since you last saw me; maybe it's a coping mechanism I came up with."
"Oh please, we both know your coping mechanisms are destroying droids and a certain senator." Ahsoka said coyly. Anakin whipped around to see if anyone had heard. "Relax master, the whole ship probably knows already."
"Well they do NOW!" Anakin hissed back, garnering a pleased chuckle from Ahsoka.
"But really, how ya been, Skyguy?" She asked, her face switching from one of humor to one of concern. "R2 told me you're about to take down one of the renegades."
"Yeah, guy by the name of Carcus Vork; he's from Count Dooku's home planet of Serreno, only less Sith brutal and more "I'm a rich noble psychopath" brutal. One of the clone commanders has previous experience with him; apparently he doesn't take prisoners and civilians are just toys waiting to have bombs strapped to them."
"Sounds like a scumbag the Seps would drag up." Ahsoka spat.
"Yeah, what about you? How goes your hunting?" Anakin asked.
"I've given up trying to go for the renegades directly; they've hidden themselves too well and probably have too much firepower with them. Instead, I'm starting to go after their old hangouts and assets. There's this one pirate lord, Naraka Shorv, that I'm targeting right now, and he's got a few planets under his boot. I'm starting small; a frozen snowball of a planet called Kvaiias that has a small quadanium mining operation going on. Shorv's been ramping up production there, and I want to find out why."
"Quadanium? That's one of the most durable minerals out there; you could make space station out of it and it be almost indestructible. Why so small an operation?" Anakin asked, rubbing the back of his head as he thought.
"I don't know, that's why I want to find out why they're ramping up production by almost three hundred percent." Ahsoka answered.
"Got any backup for that?" Anakin asked. Ahsoka glanced around.
"Promise not to tell?"
"Promise?"
"Okay; I may have…commandeered a pair of clone battalions from the 2nd Assault Corps and the 7th Mechanized Corps…without permission."
"…and you did this how?"
"Through a lot of illegal paperwork and surprisingly little convincing of clones; they almost leapt at the chance."
"Ahsoka."
"I know it's wrong, but-"
"Well done." Anakin was practically beaming at his former apprentice. Ahsoka stopped mid-sentence and gave a wicked grin. "Just don't go parading them around; High Command wouldn't appreciate that."
"Will do. I've gotta go Skyguy…talk to you after this op?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Stay safe, Snips."
"You too, master." Ahsoka cut the call from her end and Anakin slumped onto his interceptor.
"Obi-Wan's right, R2." Anakin said. R2 chirped a query. "I've made another version of me." R2 beeped a response. "Well yeah Padme gave birth to Luke and Leia… I've made three of me…what have I done R2?!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Seven hours later…
Derylon Prime orbit…
The Cunning Count…
General Carcus Vork, Count of Serenno, heir to one of the longest lineages of the planet, sat with steepled hands and furrowed brows. Next to him stood a Super Tactical Droid, dubbed Lesion by the Count, and the droid was rattling off statistics, figures, and estimates as a holographic representation of the Republic fleet lumbered towards his fleet and planet. For Derylon Prime was his planet now, by right of noble conquest, and Vork would not have some Republic clone ramble and Jedi interlopers take his planet.
As it stood, Vork outnumbered the Republic forty-eight ships to thirty-six, but he knew that the Venator -cruisers made up for those numbers with firepower. In addition to that, the Arquitens-light cruisers would cause havoc amongst his fleet due to their maneuverability and anti-starfighter capabilities. And there were two other complications; this was the Open Circle Fleet, commanded by the infamous Jedi General Kenobi and his troublesome sidekick Anakin Skywalker. Whereas Skywalker could be tricked and fooled, Kenobi was more…troublesome, unpredictable. And Vork did not have the time to create a strategy for either of them.
"My lord, the enemy fleet approaches engagement range," Lesion noted, his mechanical voice cutting through the silence of the bridge, "what are your orders?" Vork tapped his fingertips together, his green eyes reflecting the light of the hologram.
"Deploy all droid forces to the planet, and begin preparations to move into the population centers of the planet; even those forces in the rehabilitation camps." Vork ordered.
"My lord?"
"I cannot hold Derylon, and if I attempted to I would be captured or slain; I am too vital to Dooku's plan to fall. So, I shall delay the Republic and force them to retake this world, piece by piece."
"As you say, my lord, it will be done."
"As for now….move the fleet to engagement range and open a channel to their flagship; I'd like to meet the poor miscreants before I put them in their place."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The Resolute
"General Kenobi, incoming transmission from the enemy flagship! It's for you, sir!" A clone deck officer called. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yularen, and the clone officers all looked up from their last-minute plans in surprise, a call from the enemy commander?
"Vork's calling to gloat," Prizefighter warned, "he's going try and get under your skin, sir, don't let him."
"Speaking from experience?" Obi-Wan asked. Prize gave a silent, shameful nod. "Very well then, I'll take the call. Anakin, Yularen, with me please." The trio of commanding officers went quickly to the communications room and opened the channel. The cruel, haughty visage of Count Vork materialized before them, the blue of the hologram unable to take the bright, cruel green of his eyes away. "General Vork, a pleasure to meet you; your reputation proceeds you."
"Master Kenobi, the Negotiator, your reputations proceeds you as well, though I'm afraid it will be of no use to you here." Vork greeted sourly.
"On the contrary, my good count, my reputation goes far past mere negotiation, as a man of your former affiliation should recognize. It is because of that reputation that I have been sent here to deal with you." Obi-Wan countered.
"Be that as it may, you will find no mercy, nor compromise in me, General Kenobi. The Derylon system is mine by right of conquest, and I shall do everything in my power to ensure it remains that way." Vork declared.
"With respect, General Vork," Admiral Yularen said, stepping forward from Obi-Wan' shadow, "you may have us outnumbered, but you do not have us outgunned or out-skilled. Surrender is your best option in this case."
"Admiral Yularen, is it?" Vork asked. "The pet admiral of the Jedi, I believe? Yes, yes, I remember now; Admiral Trench sent you running before General Skywalker proved to be the tactician you could not." At that, Admiral Yularen was visible stung… and Anakin's anger visibly rose.
"Enough of this," Anakin snapped, "General Vork, for crimes against the Republic and her people, you will come with us the easy way, or we'll dismantle your armies and your fleet, piece by piece."
"And there he is; the sidekick to the mastermind."
"Sidekick?!"
"Anakin, Yularen, please excuse us." Obi-Wan said firmly. Yularen snapped to attention and briskly departed, while Anakin turned an anger filled gaze upon Vork before stalking out, the Count sneering after them. "Now that you have finished behaving like a child, perhaps we can be adults and discuss terms."
"Do not take my insolence for childishness; it is a refined talent that has taken many years to perfect, something you Jedi wouldn't understand." Vork goaded.
"Really; the Jedi not knowing how to perfect skills over many years? It's as if we don't train for the fifteen years of our lives before we go out into the world." Obi-Wan retorted. Vork huffed, outmaneuvered. "In any case, the admiral has a point; you have one of the finest fleets in the Republic to contend with, as well as it's best pilot, one of its top admirals, and me, the charming one."
"If snide remarks were considered charming, this galaxy would be doomed."
"That would explain why there's no Countess Vork." Vork growled.
"As I stated before, there will be NO terms, there will be NO surrender, and there will be NO mercy, Kenobi." And with that, Vork abruptly cut the call.
"And ironically, the word I assume you hate being said to you the most is the word you used most often in that sentence." Obi-Wan said to an empty room, slightly frustrated that he had missed the opportunity for one final jab. But he had done his job; gotten the Count angry, now it was time to exploit it. Obi-Wan exited the room to find Yularen standing outside.
"Apologies for my intrusion, sir, I'm afraid I did not help the situation." Yularen said.
"Nonsense, Admiral; the situation was going to deteriorate no matter what I did. Vork has the mind of a scalding teenager and an ego to match, something I know how to take advantage of." Obi-Wan placed a friendly hand on Yularen's shoulder. "Now, I know something else to get under his skin; being defeated by a Jedi "pet"." Yularen's eyes brightened and his mouth curled into a savage grin.
"I'll do my best, general, but where will you be?"
"It's been a few months since I stretched my legs against the droids, and I believe dear Cody could use the company. I'll see you when we've taken care of Vork, admiral." As Obi-Wan turned and went to the turbolift, Yularen couldn't help but still feel stung by that term, Jedi pet. He straightened himself; he was not a pet, he was one of the best in the Republic Navy if not in the galaxy, and he intended to prove his worth.
