Chapter 45: Dantooine Outback
The agricultural planet of Dantooine was the site of several high-pitched battles between the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Galactic Republic. The fighting between the two sides had been so intense that the Jedi Order had sent Mace Windu in to score a decisive victory for the Republic. So now that the Confederate 8th Fleet hung in orbit over the temperate world, no one thought it unusual. 'Of course the droid army would be back,' had come from the mouths of many of Dantooine's civilians. And they had arrived, just as many had predicted, but the civilians and Republic troops had no clue as to the 8th Fleet's true reason for being there.
Of course a casual glance at the 8th Fleet's arrival at Dantooine and any Republic officer would have guessed they came to take back the planet (which wasn't inaccurate). A single Venator star destroyer served as the flagship for four Acclamator assault ships and a handful of Arquitens-class light cruisers and Consular-class cruisers. Despite numerical superiority, OOM-9 wanted the space battle finished as quickly as possible. He had Dr. Destroyer perform his mind control tricks once again. The Ithorian commanded the bridge crew of one of the Acclamators to purposefully crash into the Venator star destroyer. The Venator was falling apart and the Acclamator was completely obliterated by the impact. Then the Force-sensitive ordered a second Acclamator to crash into the dying Venator, finishing it off. He then manipulated the bridge crews of the remaining two Acclamators to crash their ships into each other.
That left a handful of Arquitens and Consular cruisers (and a few starfighters) to take on the entirety of the 8th Fleet. It was not a fair fight. Arquitens and Consular cruisers were no match for Banking Clan frigates and Commerce Guild destroyers.
Dozens of dropships and landing craft left the hangar bays of the 8th Fleet's capital ships and descended down to the planet. Amid the massive transports a single Sheathipede-class shuttle, the Emerald Slicer was among them. The Emerald Slicer stayed in the main group for a while but broke away from the others once they descended into the upper atmosphere of the planet.
OOM-9 was seated in the Emerald Slicer. He had decided to personally accompany Dr. Destroyer on this odd quest to find the so-called 'Star Forge.' Senior Commander EEK-176 was more than capable of leading the droid armies into battle against the Republic's clone army. OOM-9 and EEK-176 were equals in every way, though OOM-9 just happened to be the one that had taken a greater leadership role. It didn't matter to the droids who was in charge. It was just another in a long list of reasons why they were superior to organics: if two organic officers had been in the same situation, the lower-ranking officer of the pair would most surely be resentful and plotting the downfall of his superior. Organics almost always operated that way, giving in to selfishness and greed and their basic animalistic instincts.
KJZ-8267 was piloting the shuttle. In addition to OOM-9 and Destroyer, HK-47 and G0-T0 had been brought along in case they remembered anything relating to the situation (as unlikely as that seemed). Dr. Quartz had insisted he join the group, the Skakoan was very curious as to what could have possibly drawn Destroyer's attention. There was the possibility that Quartz would be useful in deciphering any potential technology they weren't familiar with. It was a long shot and it seemed like the Skakoan was mostly just along for the ride. Dr. Quartz was rather bloodthirsty for a scientist, even to the point of choosing to participate in battle on occasion. Major Katen also accompanied them. She hadn't been doing so well lately and OOM-9 thought it best to keep her out of the big battle with the Republic for today.
Eventually, the Emerald Slicer touched down on Dantooine's grassy soil. Katen was the first to get off the shuttle; she had been fed up with the stuffy air of spaceships lately.
She was instantly hit with a gentle breeze. The temperature was perfect. The sun wasn't too bright. Katen looked around as the others filed off the shuttle. Their surroundings were nothing more than a peaceful, grassy outback punctuated by an occasional odd boulder.
A couple of brith were flying in the distance. The large manta-like creatures looked like they would be more at home swimming in an ocean, yet there they were flying through the air.
"This place is nice. So, what do we know about this planet?" Katen asked.
If Katen wanted to know about the planet, she should have looked it up before they arrived, however, OOM-9 didn't feel like lecturing the poor woman on that point and instead merely chose to answer her question. "Dantooine is an agricultural world. The population had joined the Separatist cause, and the Republic came in and conquered the planet. Despite the fact that this world has been settled for thousands of years, it still struggles with maintaining a large population."
If Quartz or Destroyer found the scenery appealing, it didn't show. KJZ-8267 was the last off the shuttle (he was the one that had to lock it up). The pilot droid brought along a RD-4 radiation launcher just in case they came across any enemies.
"Where are we going?" Dr. Quartz asked. The Skakoan scientist could only look at the waves of grass blow in the wind for so long.
"That is difficult to determine," Dr. Destroyer said.
"How difficult could it be? You told us to go to Dantooine and now here we are. Yet you're lost when we get here?" Quartz had a hard time believing Destroyer didn't know where to go. He was a Force-sensitive for crying out loud.
"There are many echoes of the past here," Destroyer's voice was calm, "this planet was the site of grave significance multiple times throughout history."
"And you can't filter it out?" Quartz immediately asked.
"Like I said, it is difficult. My vision has been… clouded."
"Literally?" KJZ-8267 asked.
"No."
"Do either of your remember anything?" OOM-9 turned to HK-47 and G0-T0.
"Negative," G0-T0 answered.
"Apology: I am sorry, Master, but I cannot recall anything of significance in the area."
"That's just great." Katen crossed her arms. "So, what do we do now?"
"We take a walk." OOM-9 waved the others to follow. "Perhaps Destroyer will sense what we are looking for if we get closer to it."
"We could be moving further away for all we know," Quartz complained.
"You didn't have to come, Doctor," OOM-9 reminded the Skakoan.
Their leisurely stroll did not provide Dr. Destroyer with any new insight. OOM-9 was beginning to think that personally overseeing this mission had been a mistake. Katen could have easily handled overseeing the small group on her own.
An annoying bark echoed through the air, drawing everyone's attention. There was a trio of fur-covered quadrupeds in the distance. Standing only about a meter tall, the creatures didn't look like much of a threat, except for the sharp teeth that lined their mouths.
"Looks like some locals," Quartz spoke in a dismissive tone.
"Kath hounds, to be precise," OOM-9 said, "they are indigenous to Dantooine."
"They're coming right for us," Katen said.
"Then shoot them!" Quartz yelled.
OOM-9 pulled his custom E-5 from his back and blasted the first kath hound with its elite rifle function. The burst of purple lasers struck the beast in the head, causing it to tumble to the ground and not get back up. HK-47 killed the second kath hound with his own blaster rifle. KJZ-8267 killed the final kath hound with his radiation launcher. The toxic grenade sent the animal flying backwards. The poor kath hound lay on the grassy plain with a broken back and its fur burnt from the weapon's toxic effects.
"Reminiscence: It feels good to kill these creatures again."
"You remember something?" OOM-9 asked.
"Answer: I do remember gunning down these meatbags a few thousand years ago. But I do not think that is relevant to Dr. Destroyer's vision. It was fun though."
"It shows you've been here before," KJZ-8267 said, "that's something."
With the fight over, Destroyer started to move with a purpose.
"Find something?" OOM-9 asked as he and the others started to follow the Ithorian.
"I sense something. There is an area strong in the Force nearby."
"At last, some results." Quartz was pleased they wouldn't be mindlessly wandering around the grassy plains all day.
Soon they reached a low plateau. There was an opening on one of the rock walls: a cave entrance. Two boulders stood on either side of it.
"There is something in there." Destroyer activated his lightsaber pike. The Ithorian entered the cave, followed by OOM-9 and HK-47. Dr. Quartz and G0-T0 went in next, then KJZ-8267. Katen was the last to follow, whatever was in there it felt right to let the Force-sensitive go first. And if anything really bad happened the droids could always be repaired if they were destroyed. And if Quartz died… well Katen felt that would be his own damn fault then.
The cave was unmercifully dark. Without the green light emanating from Destroyer's lightsaber pike it would have been quite difficult to see. Not that they needed to see all that much, there was only a single path to follow. It was impossible to get lost.
Going further inside the underground tunnel they began to hear noises.
"I can sense enemies ahead," Destroyer warned the others. "They will not pose a challenge. They are nothing but animals."
"So, in other words they will be more challenging than the Republic's clone troopers," KJZ-8267 made a joke.
In the darkness ahead, large bug-like creatures started to skitter out towards the squad. They were oddly shaped animals, light yellow-brown in color and had four legs. Their weirdest feature was that they had a single arm, protruding out from their 'chest.'
Despite being in the lead, Destroyer did not rush to meet his enemies. Instead he let OOM-9, HK-47 and G0-T0 gun them down from a distance.
"Kinrath," OOM-9 said, "they pose no threat to us."
"Nothing ever does," Quartz added. While the statement wasn't true, Quartz felt good saying it.
The same pattern was repeated for a short time. They would come across a cluster of the kinrath and the ranged fighters would kill them before they could even get close.
Eventually the darkness in the cave began to subside. Instead of darkness and brown dirt they saw brilliant lights reflected off the cave walls. There were crystals in the distances… crystals and more kinrath.
The Separatist squad continued towards the crystals. The kinrath were more numerous this time. There were enough of them that Destroyer hit of few of them with Force lightning. The battle was over in seconds.
"What is this place?" Katen asked as she looked at a cluster of green crystals.
"A cave," KJZ-8267 answered.
"Don't be an ass," Katen replied to the pilot droid.
Littered among the crystals were what looked to be eggs.
"Looks like the bugs made their hive in here," KJZ-8267 said.
"These are lightsaber crystals," Dr. Destroyer stated.
"Very rare," Quartz absently said as he looked around.
"But not what we are looking for, is it?" OOM-9 asked Destroyer.
"No. This is not the right place. Though the Force has an unusual presence here."
"And now the Confederacy will have a presence here," OOM-9 stated. "I will send miners here to collect these crystals. They will be useful for production of our war-axes."
The cave was not what they were looking for, but they had gotten something out of it at least.
The battlefield had become ablaze with action. Thousands of foot soldiers and dozens of tanks fought each other on the open plains. Multiple fighter squadrons clogged the air. Dantooine hadn't seen such fighting since… the last time the droid and clone armies had fought over the planet.
NR-N99 tank droids had rushed ahead of the other droid forces. The open plains were the perfect place for the treaded tanks to operate, and they wasted no time in running over clone troopers while wildly firing their weapons.
Leading the CIS forces from atop a beige AAT, Senior Commander EEK-176 was firing off remote rockets from his E-60R rocket launcher. Remote rockets were always entertaining to use, though on the grassy plains of Dantooine there was the added bonus that the clone soldiers had nowhere to hide from the guided ordnance.
Another rocket exploded amongst a cluster of clone troopers. Unfortunately, it was EEK-176's last one. The E-60R rocket launcher could only hold four remote rockets at a time and now the command droid had to either reload or start using the launcher's seven standard rockets. He chose to fire off one regular rocket at an AT-RT—but the distance was long and the rocket missed the target. The purple explosive still ended up careening into a squad of clones though. Having missed his intended target, EEK-176 decided to reload and have some more fun with the remote rockets.
A trio of LAAT/c gunships was bringing in AT-TEs to the battlefield. That was not good. A trio of Stag Beetle fighters was able to break away from the enemy starfighters long enough to shoot down one of the gunship carriers, causing the heavy walker it was carrying to fall and crush a cluster of clone troopers below. A few gunship fighters were able to chase away the three Stag Beetles before they could destroy the other two LAAT/cs.
The remaining two gunships were able to successfully drop off their walkers and the AT-TEs immediately went about shooting up the Separatist armor. EEK-176's tank was one of the first targeted. The Republic walker's primary cannon punched a hole into the front of the beige AAT, causing it to drop onto the grassy ground. The tank's crew didn't miss a beat. The single pilot battle droid and two B1 battle droids had drawn their SE-14 blaster pistol side arms and left the wreck to join the rest of the CIS infantry. EEK-176 likewise left the tank. Though he had reloaded his remote rockets, he chose to use the regular ones against the armored walkers, as the remote rockets were ineffective against the AT-TE's heavy armor.
One of EEK-176's purple rockets flew threw the air and smashed into the first AT-TE. The command battle droid had chosen to attack the walker that had destroyed his tank. It was a solid hit but the six-legged walker was still functioning perfectly. EEK-176 reset the switch on the launcher that loaded the next rocket into the firing chamber. He took aim and locked on again. The AT-TE was absorbing concentrated fire from crab droids, dwarf spider droids, and scorpion droids now. EEK-176 fired. The rocket slammed right into the underbelly of the walker, right below the front cockpit: the walker's weak point. There was a massive internal explosion and the walker's six legs started to stumble back and forth, giving the AT-TE the impression that it was a cat trying to cough up a hairball… though it was a walker trying to cough up a rocket. The legs finally gave out and the walker crashed to the ground. That left just one AT-TE left functioning. But that didn't mean there weren't other Republic vehicles around the battlefront.
EEK-176 had to use his next rocket on an AT-RT, rather than focus on the next AT-TE. The smaller walker was taken down by the rocket, having already been softened up by a few crab droids.
"Take out that battle droid!" a clone trooper yelled.
"Which one?" another asked.
"The one with the rocket launcher!"
"There's like… three of 'em with rocket launchers!"
"That weird brown and white one! Get it!"
EEK-176 knew the clones were talking about him. The other two CIS troopers with E-60R rocket launchers were both B1s, one red and the other black and gray. It didn't matter if the clones went after EEK-176 or either of the other two rocket launcher-wielding droids—scorpion and dwarf spider droids had formed a front line and were effortlessly cutting down clones left and right.
Now was the time for EEK-176 to focus on the remaining AT-TE. It was the only real threat left in the immediate area, as long as he discounted the Republic starfighters in the sky. The command droid didn't factor them in on account that they were more than occupied with several squadrons of Stag Beetle, Scarab and Vulture droid starfighters.
The last AT-TE was currently busy trying to destroy two tri-droids. It was a somewhat odd looking battle: the low, squat walker against a pair of much taller droid walkers whose appearance resembled long-legged spiders. It was amazing (and annoying) that the two tri-droids hadn't been able to destroy the AT-TE on their own already. AT-TEs did have a habit of being annoying pests.
EEK-176 aimed and fired off a rocket—hitting the gunner stationed on the walker's main cannon. It was a difficult shot to make, but EEK-176 was no amateur. Unfortunately, the gunner was able to fire off one more shot before his death, and managed to destroy one of the tri-droids. Without its main cannon, the AT-TE was no match for the remaining tri-droid. The AT-TE exploded as the tri-droid sent a missile through its cockpit.
The tri-droid then exploded into a fireball and crashed down the grassy plain below, being deprived of any sense of victory after just having finished off the armored walker. EEK-176 looked just in time to have seen a trio of blue missiles soar through the air at the tri-droid, all at the same time but from different points on the battlefield. There were clones with rocket launchers somewhere on the Republic's side of the battlefront. EEK-176 had some hunting to do—he fired off another remote rocket.
OOM-9's squad had reached the outer edges of some ruins near a river. They were so old it was not possible to tell the purpose of the structure. Most of the ruins were just low-lying walls, though parts of the ceiling had stayed intact near the interior of the compound.
They heard blasters shots coming from within the ruins. They rushed inside. There wasn't much left of the ruins, and Destroyer could sense where the fighting was, leading the rest of the group right to the action.
A swarm of large, black insects chased after a female human. The bugs' dark exoskeletons were propelled by six legs that ended in scythe-like points. A pair of red compound eyes dominated the head. The network told the two CIS battle droids that the enemy they faced were known as laigreks. The woman crawled on top of some rubble, trying to get away from the oversized bugs.
The laigreks clawed at the woman with their forelimbs. The bugs squealed as three of them were cut down by blaster fire. The remaining laigreks turned towards their attackers, making a chattering noise as they charged.
It was less a battle and more a competition. HK-47 and G0-T0 acted out their rivalry in the form of seeing who could acquire the most kills. KJZ-8267 and OOM-9 didn't want to be shown up by a pair of ancient droids several thousand years older than they were. Quartz and Destroyer enjoyed the violence. Katen really didn't care but helped in slaughtering the laigreks anyway.
When the last of the laigreks was dead the civilian climbed down from the rubble.
"That was fun," Dr. Quartz said. The Skakoan wasn't much for putting himself in harms way too often, but he did enjoy a good battle when he safety was assured. The laigreks hadn't even gotten close to any of them.
"Declaration: My talents are wasted on killing Dantooine's fauna. I want to go fight the army of cloned meatbags I keep hearing about."
"Relax," Katen said. "There are billions of clones out roaming the galaxy. Plenty for you to kill. No need to rush things. You might even get bored with killing them."
"Rebuttal: Oh, I very much doubt that, meatbag."
"Thanks for saving me," the human spoke to the group as a whole. With so many different species (and droids) in the squad, she wasn't sure who was in charge.
OOM-9 approached the woman. "Civilian, what are you doing out here?"
"I was out hunting for kath hounds when I got surrounded by those laigreks. I got careless. I know I shouldn't have gone out by myself. If it weren't for you guys, I'd probably be dead right now."
"Is this not an agricultural world?" Dr. Quartz asked, "why would you be hunting in a dangerous area?"
"When the Republic conquered the planet, they took all our crops to feed the clone armies. They only pay us one percent of what they're worth. We can't survive. Those that could have left the planet but the clones forced the farmers to stay and grow the crops. We've been reduced to hunting the wildlife to feed ourselves. We've been waiting for the droid army to return for so long. But why are you out here? And why are there so few of you?"
"Our armies are already driving the Republic off the world," OOM-9 explained to the human.
"What about you guys?"
"We're on a scouting mission for any hidden Republic outposts," OOM-9 lied. "Is there any points of interest in this area?"
"Not really. This is just the outback. There are these ruins here and not much else."
"Just great," Katen mumbled.
"Well, there are some ancient burial mounds nearby to the east of these ruins, but I doubt that's what you're looking for."
"Thank you for the information."
"Thanks for saving me. I think I'm gonna be heading home. With you guys here to get rid of the clone army, we don't have to worry about hunting anymore now that we will be paid for our work again." The human was quick to leave. It didn't matter. OOM-9 had no more questions for her anyhow.
"We're going to check out the burial grounds to the east," the droid general told his squad.
The Work Wheel's core sphere had touched down on Dantooine, opening up another area of the planet to fighting. Thousands of battle droids and organic soldiers spilled from its innards as other transports also dropped down Separatist units. The clone army was already vastly outnumbered and the freshly deployed troops were only making things worse. Squadrons of roving E-STAP droid starbombers had already destroyed all the Republic's SPHA-Ts, leaving the clones with no way to harm the core ship. The Republic refused to give up, Dantooine was vital in keeping the clone armies adequately fed. LAAT/i gunships attacked the vehicles that left the core ship. They preferred going after the larger, slower armored units like the homing spider droids and tri-droids. There were still enough gunship fighters and V-19 Torrent fighters to keep the CIS starfighters from stopping the LAAT/i gunships. But the droids had their own counter, there were several MAF gunships flying about, harassing the Republic's ground forces. Where the LAATs went after heavy vehicles, the MAFs chose to target infantry formations.
The damage and different targets left the ground units of the two sides lopsided. The CIS had more infantry while the Republic had more vehicles. The Republic's walkers were more than capable of gunning down hordes of foot soldiers. The Confederates were fortunate enough that many of their infantry had anti-armor weapons. The amount of damage the two armies inflicted on each other had been surprisingly even so far, which was a bad sign for the CIS considering they held such superior numbers.
The dwarf spider droid DSD-08 was surrounded by 3B3-888, 3B3-2998, 8EX, and 5TE. Commander Z23-Y75 had ordered that a minimum of two B1 battle droids and two B2 battle droids escort each dwarf spider droid or crab droid. Their heavy vehicles were limited and thus Z23-Y75 made sure the next best thing was protected. The spider and crab droids were small enough to be ignored by the gunships, but the clone infantry were very interested in thinning their numbers.
3B3-888 fired another rocket from his E-8 heavy projectile launcher, hitting a personal clone walker that was busy shooting up a squad of B1 battle droids. The walker didn't pop but it was heavily damaged. It should have been, considering 3B3-888 had hit it with three rockets already.
Toxic black smoke rose from the white walker, signaling its end was near. The dark smoke attracted the attention of DSD-08, as if the dwarf spider droid were some sort of organic predator enticed by weakened prey. One charged blast from his laser cannon and DSD-08 finished off the bipedal walker.
"Hey, that was my kill!" 3B3-888 complained.
DSD-08 beeped back in response.
"Well, I weakened it!"
8EX, 5TE and 3B3-2998 ignored the exchange. They were too busy trading blaster rifle with a pair of clone troopers.
"Watch out for that spider droid!" a clone yelled.
3B3-888 tossed a thermal detonator to shut the clone up. A moment later and they heard the telltale scream the clones always gave out when an explosive sent them hurling up into the air. 3B3-888 and DSD-08 never got tired of hearing that sound; neither did any of the other battle droids, for that matter.
A LAAT/i gunship flew in low, prompting DSD-08 to try and shoot it down. The spider droid hit his target—twice, but the gunship ignored the mechanical arachnid as if it weren't even there. It flew past and destroyed a nearby HAG with a combination of rockets and lasers.
DSD-08 beeped in frustration. It was one thing to be ignored by an opponent; DSD-08 didn't mind that. It was being ignored and not being able to destroy the enemy when their back was turned that was so frustrating. The Republic gunship was already out of range and moving on to its next victim.
"You'll get the next one," 3B3-2998 tried to console the dwarf spider droid.
"Let the fighters worry about the gunships. We have our own problems," 8EX said. His wrist laser was giving off a steady stream of red as the super battle droid tried in vain to damage a clone scout walker. The walker wasn't firing back as it was preoccupied with destroying a crab droid and its infantry escort.
3B3-888 fired off his last rocket. The battle droid discard the E-8 projectile launcher and snapped up an E-5 blaster rifle from a nearby fallen B1 battle droid. It was a common practice for CIS troops to abandon empty weapons and snatch up weapons from fallen allies. After battles were over the worker droids would come in and sweep the area clean anyway, so that the droid army didn't lose anything. The Separatists were cheap and stingy, but it kept planets from being littered with weapons, droids and vehicles.
3B3-888 joined with the others in trying to destroy the scout walker. The squad knew it was a waste of time: DSD-08 was the only one powerful enough to bring it down but there were no nearby clone infantry to shoot at. It ultimately didn't matter that they tried at all, since the scout walker was taken out by mortars from a pair of thermal detonator battle droids. DSD-08's squad didn't get very far before they were impeded by yet another scout walker. It was going to be a long day.
Their fortunes changed in an instant. It wasn't going to be a long day anymore. A pair of AT-RTs rushed at the squad of droids. Despite being painted green, the two walkers didn't blend into the background of Dantooine's grassy fields in the slightest.
Blue needles of plasma cut through 3B3-2998 and 5TE instantly. 3B3-888 and 8EX tried to shoot the drivers but were also cut down into pieces. The two AT-RTs focused their cannon fire where DSD-08's legs connected to his body. The searing blue plasma cut both the spider droid's front legs from his spherical body. DSD-08 crashed into the grass, still functional but unable to get up. Rather than finish the spider droid off, the two AT-RTs moved on to their next opponents. The spider droid could just rot on the battlefield for all they cared, he wasn't going to be killing any more clones in his state.
OOM-9's group reached the burial grounds east of the ruins. It had only taken them a few minutes. It was a much shorter walk than OOM-9 would have guessed.
Destroyer quickly led the group to a large stone wall. The Ithorian pressed a square panel inward and the wall separated. OOM-9 noticed the Ithorian was moving with much more purpose than he was before.
Inside was dark. There was dust and rubble everywhere.
"This is the place from my vision," Destroyer said.
"Finally, some progress," Quartz said.
An ancient, four-legged droid was lying on the floor. It was impossible to determine how old it was, the network had no information on its make or model. OOM-9 transmitted orders to have a work team come and retrieve the droid, there was no telling what information it might hold.
There were three paths branching out from the hub room they were in. First they went left, finding nothing but a few more broken down droids and a ridiculously ancient computer. Backtracking and going to the right, they found the exact same thing.
"No one's been here in forever," Katen said.
They went back to the hub room.
"This is the way, I remember it from the vision," Destroyer said. The Ithorian depressed another square panel in the wall and it opened up for him.
The Ithorian went in first, with the others following close behind. Destroyer stopped when he reached a freestanding structure supported by three legs. At the Ithorian's presence, the legs folded upward and an orb ascended from the interior of the device, and a second later a dazzling display of holograms appeared.
"What is it?" Katen asked. "Is this the Star Forge?"
"It looks like a map," KJZ-8267 blandly stated.
"It's incomplete." Dr. Destroyer paced around the projection in a circle. "It's clearly been damaged and has been degrading over many years."
"This thing is ancient," OOM-9 said, "that it works at all without any upkeep is astonishing."
HK-47 and G0-T0 were at the back of the crowd. Neither of the two droids were all that interested in the device (at least when compared with the other individuals in their group).
"You're the ones hooked up to the network," Quartz looked over to OOM-9 and KJZ-8267. "Can you match any known planets with the ones on this map?"
"What good will that do?" Katen asked.
"Maybe the map will point us in the direction of the Star Forge," Quartz snapped.
"Let's see." OOM-9 studied the map and relayed the information to the CCCs up in orbit. "This map emphasizes four known planets above all others: Tatooine, Kashyyyk, Manaan, and Korriban."
"Four?" Katen asked. "What, is the Star Forge separated into pieces or something?"
Doctor Quartz started to pace about in annoyance. "Don't immediately assume this map is giving us the locations of the Star Forge, Major Katen. It could be anything. It could be nothing. The Star Forge may not even exist after all these years."
"But my vision—" Destroyer started to speak.
"Brought us here," Quartz cut his friend off before he could finish. "And there's nothing here but an old map that may or may not lead us to something else."
"It may lead us to other maps. Maps that might hold more complete information," G0-T0 offered.
"Or may hold less," Quartz responded.
OOM-9 and KJZ-8267 stored data the map data in their memory banks.
"Where's your adventurous spirit?" Destroyer asked.
"Where's your common sense?" Quartz snapped back. "I'd be ecstatic about such a find under different circumstances. But there's a war going on right now. We cannot drop everything and go off treasure hunting for something that may not even exist. And that's not even taking into account that we don't even know what the Star Forge is."
"HK-47 and G0-T0 might know," KJZ-8267 said.
"Then we need to get them into a first-class repair shop and properly fixed up," Quartz said, "but, this Star Forge may not even be worth our attention for all we know."
"But we don't know," Destroyer said.
"That's the problem!" Dr. Quartz started to leave the chamber. "We cannot base our actions solely off of blurry, Force-induced dreams."
The others started to follow the Skakoan out of the ruins.
"We already have," G0-T0 noted.
"To one planet," Quartz clarified, "we found the location of Dr. Destroyer's vision. He's had no visions of the other planets. Even if we do travel to all four planets, we have no idea where on the planet these ancient artifacts might be. The entirety of the planets would have to be searched. It could take years! And we don't even know what's on these other planets. Whatever was once there might not exist anymore."
"Doctor Destroyer, has the Force given you any other clairvoyance in this matter?" OOM-9 asked as they strode out of the ruins and into Dantooine's sunlight once again.
"No."
"Then it seems we are at an impasse. Doctor Quartz makes several good points. But more than anything, the Wookiees of Kashyyyk are not friendly to the Separatist cause. Searching that planet would prove difficult."
They started back in the direction of the shuttle. A few more kath hounds barred the way and were easily killed. But a few measly kath hounds were only an appetizer. Before they could reach the Emerald Slicer, they were beset by huge numbers of kath hounds, kinrath and laigreks. Amidst the large group were a few horned kath hounds (which were quite a bit more dangerous than regular kath hounds) and even a rare albino horned kath hound. It was as if Dantooine itself was angry that OOM-9 and his companions had discovered its ancient secret and had sent its fauna to kill them. And while the kath hounds, kinrath and laigreks had enough numbers to be called a small army, the animals were not a military force. The hounds and giant bugs fought with each other as much as they did with OOM-9's squad. And in the end, the native creatures were all eliminated.
The shuttle ride to the Karajor was quiet. Despite the bonus of finding the crystal cave the mission was largely regarded as a failure. The star map itself was interesting technology but it was not the Star Forge (whatever that might be). There was no telling what the other four planets might hold or where specifically on the planet the secrets were located. OOM-9 could send Trade Federation probe droids, but it could be years before they found anything. Unless Destroyer was hit with another vision they were likely at a dead end. Had there not been a war going on they could have done more but they could not drop everything just for some old relics.
OOM-9 did want to go to Manaan, though he did not yet mention this to the others. Manaan was a wreck of a planet on the verge of openly allying with the Confederacy. OOM-9 considered going there to show the Selkath that joining the CIS was in their best interest… and while doing that he might just ask around if there were any ancient ruins on the planet.
A shielded E-STAP starbomber flew through the clear Dantooine skies. The wind had picked up and was whipping around, as if the very planet was offended by the obscene battle that was taking place on its peaceful, grassy soil. Soil that was now being turned to ash as the droids and clones used their machines of war to destroy each other (and the environment on which they fought). Commander Zako was just as guilty as anyone else in destroying Dantooine's natural beauty, perhaps even more so than the average soldier. The cyborg had been using his shielded E-STAP bomber to blow gaping holes in the clones' formations.
Karl Zako found Dantooine to be an ideal battleground. The rolling plains provided the clone troopers nowhere to hide. Their bright white armor was easy to pick out from the green background. The central control computers had already estimated Zako had killed a minimum of three hundred clones in the battle so far. Of course, that was to be expected when one was doing the killing from a shielded starbomber. There were more than enough Stag Beetles and Scarab starfighters in the air to keep the Republic's aircraft busy. The anti-air tanks had been prioritized and destroyed early on. Other E-STAP squadrons and Separatist ground vehicles were taking care of the Republic's armor. All of this left Zako with the easy task of bombing infantry. This was not exactly a challenge for the CIS officer but considering how previous battles had been going Zako figured he could use a break. He knew OOM-9 was still disappointed in him for directly challenging General Grievous and what better way to prove his competency than bombing a few hundred Republic soldiers? Of course there were other ways, though a man like Zako was not one to shy away from taking the easy route. There was always time for challenges later. Besides, the occasional rocket launcher-equipped clone did shoot at him from time to time.
And one of those times was right now. A pair of blue rockets rose up from a mass of white armor towards the CIS bomber. Zako pulled his E-STAP upward, doing several barrel rolls as he did so. Such maneuvers certainly could make the average pilot sick, but Zako had been flying for a long time. It was a second nature to him. The rockets still followed, locked on to their target. They mimicked his twists and turns, slowly separating from one another until they were mirrors of each other's movements. A second later and the rockets collided into one another in a flashy display of fire and failure. Zako turned his bomber back around and headed for the ground. He was going to kill those clones that dared to try to shoot him down. Another pair of rockets came up at him and he rolled out of their way. He couldn't pinpoint the rocket launcher clones precisely, so he blasted the whole company of clones with proton bombs.
EEK-176's distinctive voice came in over the bomber's comm. "Zako, I have an assignment for you."
"What would you have me do, Senior Commander?"
"Several transports have started taking off from the Republic base. It looks like they realized they can't win this fight. I want you to destroy them."
"Of course I will do as you command, EEK-176… but aren't their anti-air turrets still online?" Zako figured EEK-176 would have given him a particular task sooner or later. He couldn't just bomb hapless infantry all day.
"They are. You are to attack the transports once they're out of range of the base's defenses of course."
"Of course. I'm on my way. They won't get past me." Zako twisted his starbomber around and shot down a gunship fighter that was chasing after a Scarab starfighter.
"Glad to hear it."
Considering the planet they were fighting on, Zako figured there was a decent chance that at least some of the fleeing transports were holding stores of food. Shooting down transports carrying meals for clone troopers wasn't exactly glorious work. There certainly wasn't anything of galaxy-shattered importance where Zako was to be found. But the CIS officer would enthusiastically go about his work anyway. Every little bit helped.
The Republic was running low on starfighters, as usual. The clone pilots were certainly better flyers than they were at the start of the war but they still lacked numbers. The clone pilots' improvement didn't mean much though when they were outnumbered by the CIS fighters four to one. Zako knew he could take two fighters with him (probably more but he didn't want to be greedy) without affecting the outcome of the current dogfight. "Slicer Two, Slicer Four, form on my wing."
The two brown Stag Beetle fighters easily folded into formation with the shielded E-STAP starbomber and charged off for the transports.
The targets were AA-9 gunship transports. They were slow, had average armor and no offensive weapons. The gunship transports were always a favored target for CIS fighters. There was a challenge in the form a few gunship fighters flying escort.
"Break formation and take their fighters first," Zako ordered his wingmen. The two Stag Beetle fighters each chose their own target, and Zako sped towards his own chosen opponent.
The gunship fighters left the transports and looped around to face the Confederate flyers. One of the Stag Beetles was able to shoot down its target before it could even turn all the way around to face them. Zako destroyed his target as they fired at one another. The other Stag Beetle collided with his chosen rival, tearing of a good portion of the gunship fighter's hull with his 'jaws.'
Only two gunship fighters were left. Each Stag Beetle chose one of the remaining fighters while Zako unloaded a few plasma bombs as he passed over one of the gunship transports. Black smoke erupted from the large ship as it stopped ascending and its elevation began to fall.
Since the overall starfighter battle was tipping in favor of the CIS, seven Scarab starfighters broke away from the main battle to assist Zako and his Stag Beetles in shooting down the rest of the gunship fighter escorts. With their guardians quickly turned into atomic dust, the small fleet of gunship transports was easy prey for the Separatist officer and his fighters.
The merciless hunt for transports was short. None of the Republic ships even made it into the upper atmosphere. With his task done, Zako took his bomber down and checked on the progress at the Republic base. A dozen bio cannons had taking up firing positions and had begun bombarding the base. The many defensive turrets were targeted first, and many were nothing but smoking piles of ashen rubble already.
Commander Zako found the base to be an acceptable target now. He hit the accelerator and sped towards the base, ordering his wingmen and the Scarabs to go back to shooting down Republic fighters and LAAT gunships. His shielded E-STAP would be all that was required for this task. As soon as the bomber's large shadow hit the outer wall protecting the base, Zako started to unleash his bombs.
Things were going well until Zako's E-STAP pasted by an anti-air missile turret on his starboard side. At first he hadn't realized that the turret was still operable but quickly realized his mistake when he had gotten closer.
He forced his bomber up and in a loop as a missile from the turret was launched, a streak of dull white smoke trailing behind it. Shit! Everything was going so well, Zako mentally groaned. He had allowed his enthusiasm to get the better of him in attacking the base (the bio cannons didn't even need his support in the first place). Zako pushed the bomber to its limits as he tried to lose the homing missile.
A moment later and his bomber shook violently. The bomber's controls jarred so violently and abruptly that it felt like one of his fingers on his right hand had been dislocated. Warning alarms alerted the commander to the obvious fact that his bomber's systems were failing and the ship was going down. The cockpit was started to get hot; that wasn't supposed to happen.
"Damn… I really messed up this time." Zako wrestled with the controls. Trying in vain to keep the dying E-STAP level. Karl Zako knew he shouldn't have attacked the base. It wasn't necessary; the bio cannons had it under control. He should have called in to EEK-176 and asked for new orders. His battle droid friends always knew what to do, always looked out for him. For a second he thought about sending one last transmission to his friends… but he didn't know what he'd say. 'Sorry I fucked up and died for nothing guys,' were not words to go out on.
With the comm off, Zako decided to just grumble to himself. For that's what Zako was: a petty, angry little man. All his life he had shaken his first at the hypocrisy of the galaxy, choosing to withdraw from society and spend his life among droids designed for combat. His chosen path suited him just fine. Zako figured he would die in battle; it was just a little sooner than he expected.
"Damn clones. If I'm going down, I taking you with me!" He angled his bomber down at the largest formation of clone infantry he could see.
When the Emerald Slicer reached space, it was witness to an undesirable sight. A new fleet of Republic ships had dropped out of hyperspace and was attempting to force the 8th Fleet to leave Dantooine. The network had already updated OOM-9 with this information; it was why he didn't have KJZ-8267 drop him off on the battlefield groundside. It looked like OOM-9 would have plenty to do up in space, and while he excelled at ground-based campaigns, he always loved a good space battle.
But this space battle was anything but good. Instead of trying to take control of the minds of the bridge crews of capital ships, Dr. Destroyer instead had to focus on killing the pilots of the fighters that attacked the Emerald Slicer. The Ithorian didn't even try to take control of the clone pilots' minds. Instead he was quick and brutal, exploding the clones' brains from the inside, killing them instantly. The trick left a lot of Republic fighters spinning wildly out of control or aimlessly flying in a straight line.
The 8th Fleet's flagship, the Karajor, was under attack. Not only were its heavy cannons trying to swat down a few annoying Consular-class cruisers but they were also trying to stave off the advances of a purple-colored Venator star destroyer.
OOM-9 looked at the oddly painted Venator star destroyer. He had never seen one painted purple before. He had a bad feeling about that ship. He wanted to order Destroyer to take control of its bridge crew to get rid of it, but knew the doctor was still busy keeping them alive by killing the clone starfighter pilots. It wasn't fair, the clone pilots having their brains exploded by the Force. They had no defense against the attack and weren't even being given the opportunity to fight and be shot down in a proper starship-to-starship battle. Not fair at all, but OOM-9 and his forces did not fight fair.
The Emerald Slicer reached the Karajor's hangar bay, only to find several Republic gunships and shuttles parked in it. OOM-9 was definitely glad he chose to participate in the space battle; he was not about to allow the Republic to commandeer his flagship.
HK-47 and G0-T0 were the first to leave the shuttle. The clone troopers they met were a little surprised by the two droids—they certainly weren't the standard battle droids the clones were used to fighting. They were still droids, and had emerged from a CIS shuttle, so the clones had no problem shooting at them. The clones' real problem was that the two droids didn't go down after taking a few blaster bolts.
OOM-9 and KJZ-8267 were next off the shuttle, followed by Katen, Destroyer and Quartz. OOM-9 and his regular minions noticed that the clones in the hangar bay had purple markings. That wasn't a good sign. The last time they had seen clones with purple markings was on Aargonar, and those clones were particularly effective at combat. Not to mention Mace Windu had been with them (if that Jedi was here things were going to get really bad really fast). At least now OOM-9 knew why the Karajor's defense squads hadn't been able to repel the boarding party. It also stood to reason that at least some of the invading clones had gotten past the hangar—for the hangar doors hadn't yet been shut. More enemy gunships and shuttles were still coming in. It was a good bet the Republic had control of the hangar doors. OOM-9 knew how to take care of that problem, but they would have to deal with the clones in the hangar first.
But killing the clones was quickly becoming a problem as more and more gunships landed in the Karajor's hangar. Though the Karajor was also getting shuttles from other ships in the 8th Fleet. Squads from other ships were being sent over to help with the Karajor's clone infestation. SSA-719 and Vex exited out of one of the CIS shuttles. Vex had finally gotten her arm properly reattached after her fight with Pong Krell and was determined to get into battle as soon as possible, and she was more than happy to march off into a fight side-by-side with SSA-719.
"Looks like you guys could use some help," Vex called over to OOM-9 and the others as she, SSA-719 and their squad of marine battle droids joined in the fight.
Captain Sledge and a cadre of super battle droids also appeared at the hangar.
OOM-9 fought his way over to the Karajor's captain. "What are you doing here, Sledge?"
"I came to get these assholes off my ship." Sledge wasn't always willing to throw herself into personal combat but at the rate things were going there'd be clones assaulting the command bridge soon enough. So the human decided to take the fight to them. She was even decked out in her combat armor, a clear indication she was ready for a real fight.
More Republic gunships and shuttles landed in the hangar. OOM-9 and his troops got a taste of what it was like to be the ones outnumbered for a change. It did not go well for them. For every one clone killed three battle droids fell. The clones capitalized on the momentum of their superior numbers in the same way OOM-9's troops usually did.
Dr. Destroyer quickly realized his mistake. His lightsaber pike was not suited to easily deflect incoming blaster bolts. He should have stayed hidden on the Emerald Slicer and destroyed the clones' minds from afar. It was too late to go back now. His haste to join the battle had cost him his common sense. Now he was stuck fighting in a battle using his brawn rather than his brains, like the way the foolish Jedi always did.
A clone threw a thermal detonator at Dr. Destroyer. The Ithorian was busy killing another clone and was barely able to get clear of the blast radius in time. Destroyer did stumble and catch himself before he was thrown to the floor—and that's when the problems really started. Another clone had his DC-15A blaster rifle ready and hit the Force-sensitive Ithorian with a stun blast before he could get his bearings. Dr. Destroyer collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
Charged bolts of blue static started shooting through the hangar. A few of the clones fresh off the newly landed Republic shuttles were wielding DN bolt casters. The DN bolt caster was made specifically to deal with droids.
One of the clones armed with a bolt caster just happened to be Commander Krane. Krane was in his custom purple armor, as usual, though now he also sported a purple pauldron over his left shoulder.
The clone commander turned his attention to the two odd-looking droids. Mr. Purple had started firing his Z-6 rotary blaster cannon at the red one, but the droid was surprisingly durable and refused to go down. Krane decided to see if his bolt caster would do the trick… if it didn't work, he was in real trouble.
Krane charged up the bolt caster to maximum. At full charge, the specialty weapon shook slightly in his hands. He let loose the charged shot, a healthy stream of pale blue lightning roared from the barrel of the elongated weapon and struck the red droid in the chest. The shock jumped over to the nearby fat, spherical droid. Both droids collapsed, disabled. Commander Krane looked over the smoldering hangar to his next group of targets.
Two clone troopers had closed in on OOM-9. He lit them on fire with his flamethrower function of his custom blaster. He switched over to the flechette shotgun and killed another that was rapidly approaching. Seeing there were too many enemies and he was quickly being outmatched OOM-9 then started wilding firing off bulldog rockets in an effort to sweep a large area clean in a short amount of time.
Commander Krane charged his bolt caster to maximum again and fired at OOM-9. OOM-9 saw the attack coming too late. He didn't get out of the way. The droid general was struck by the droid-disabling lightning. The streaks of evil blue jumped from OOM-9 and also hit KJZ-8267 and SSA-719 full on. All three Separatist droids fell to the deck, just as HK-47 and G0-T0 had before them.
Mr. Purple was able to destroy a string of marine and security droids with his overworked rotary cannon. Within mere moments, Katen, Sledge, Vex, and Quartz were the last Separatists left standing.
The blaster fire stopped, the clones giving their organic opponents a chance to give up.
"Oh… shit." Melissa Sledge looked around. There were clones everywhere and not a single functioning droid to be found.
Katen and Sledge dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender. Dr. Quartz merely raised his hands as his weapons were embedded in his gauntlets. They were good fighters but they weren't unstoppable. They knew when they were beaten and getting killed wouldn't do them or the CIS any good.
Vex may have paused in fighting but wasn't yet ready to give up her weapons. They others had given up too easily in her mind. Though to be fair they weren't powerful cyborgs like she was.
"Drop your weapons," a clone ordered.
"Fine," Vex did as the clone ordered. She knew if she kept fighting the others would be killed for sure. She had little choice but to surrender.
"Take them prisoner. I want them on my shuttle, now! And bring their weapons!" Krane barked at his troopers.
"Yes sir."
"Those odd droids over there!" Krane pointed at the lifeless forms of HK-47 and G0-T0. "I want them taken as well! And don't forget the red one's weapon!"
"Yes sir," another clone responded.
"Those three clankers as well!" Krane pointed over at OOM-9, SSA-719 and KJZ-8267. "I want them and all their weapons on my shuttle!" Krane was especially interested in the custom E-5 weapon OOM-9 was using.
"Yes sir." Some clones moved to handle the prisoners while some of the others defended the hangar from a new group of battle droids trying to take it back.
"I want all troops to withdraw! We're returning to the Violet Kinrath." It was a shame to withdraw while doing so well, but Commander Krane knew a prize when he had one. Not only had he captured the droid general, but also a few of his officers as well as Dr. Gatling Quartz and the Force-sensitive Ithorian, and the odd droids that looked like they didn't even belong with the Confederacy. If he kept fighting now, it would only give the Separatists the opportunity to rescue their comrades. And Krane was not stupid enough to let that happen.
Krane's Theta-class shuttle (and most of the other Republic gunships and shuttles) left the Karajor and headed towards the purple Venator. The 8th Fleet was aware of what had happed. Commander OOM-8 was quick to order a decisive counterattack. Vulture droids tried to stop the shuttles and gunships, but they couldn't do much without destroying them. Ultimately there was nothing the CIS starfighters could do but take a few potshots at some of the LAAT gunships.
Confederate capital ships started to release Droch-class boarding ships. The small craft headed towards the purple Venator. They couldn't stop the shuttles, so they would have to take the fight straight to the purple Venator.
When the Theta-class shuttle was safely aboard, the Violet Kinrath turned away from the battle. Several nearby E-STAP starbombers tried to disable the Venator star destroyer's engines but the purple ship escaped into hyperspace before the bombers or Droch boarding ships could do anything to stop it.
Commander OOM-8 stared through one of the large viewports of the Magna Musai's command bridge. The purple Venator had just escaped with OOM-9 and a good-sized handful of his subordinates. And the 8th Fleet still had to deal with the remaining Republic ships, without the benefit of Dr. Destroyer's Battle Interference. Saying their current situation was a disaster was an understatement.
Author's Note: The title of the chapter is named after one of the tracks from the Knights of the Old Republic soundtrack.
The crystal cave, brith, kath hounds, horned kath hounds, albino kath hounds, and kinrath appeared in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Laigreks appeared in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.