Hello, everyone! Well, this was quick. We are officially nearing the end of the story. With this, I have a few notes. I started this with the intent of keeping it to one story. However, that simply won't work. I am coming up on the death of one (if not 2) of the main villians. However, I have a lot more content to go through before I can kill the last guy. As such, this will be divided up into two stories. This first one is about three chapters (give or take) from conclusion. That said, I would still love to know what ya'll think. Is this a good idea, bad idea, what?
So, with that in mind, I give you chapter 17...
Colonel Yosef stared at a holomap of the city as the sound of cannon fire guided his thoughts. Blasts like drum beats echoed through the city streets. A quarter mile behind him, what was left of their Earth and Republic artillery was launching artillery shells high into the sky. As Yosef examined the city map, he heard the faint rumble and whine of tanks further out to the left. The tactic in use was old but effective. Not long after Captain Smith had returned, the clouds burst open. Sheets of wind-driven rain pounded the city and grounded aircraft of all kinds. If they were going to use artillery, now was time.
Yosef whipped around as the door to the room creaked open. He relaxed as he saw the yellow and white armored commander hammer the worst of the mud off his boots.
"So, Cody... How are the men?" he asked as he turned back to the map.
Cody shrugged.
"They'll be fine. Morale took a hit, but we're use to loss," Cody answered.
The lie was written all over the Commander's face. His men were used to loss but not like this. Yosef had learned quickly the Obi Wan was a well loved and respected General. More than a few of the clones owed him their lives. Yet, here he was, taken by forces outside their control. Nothing was ok, and no one was doing alright.
"That's good. The weather should keep the skies clear for now," he declared, deftly changing topics.
"It, will. Now, let's hope it holds. How long do you think this should go for?" Cody asked as he scratched at the dirt caked on his arms.
"An hour on its own. I want to shut up the worst of their armor. Then we'll go to phase two," the Colonel answered as he lit a cigarette.
Cody let out a dejected sigh, "Understood. I'll see what I can do in the mean time."
With that he made his way to the door.
"Hey, Commander!"
Cody spun around to face the aging Colonel.
"He's never coming back. The sooner we can accept that, the better," he advised.
Commander Cody gave a weak nod and disappeared out into the night.
(Cheyenne Air Force Station)
Director Holland wasn't much older than his NSA counterpart. However, thirty years in the navy had done quite the number on him. While he wasn't quite as bald, he did look every bit as old as he was, with almost white hair, a mouth that could make a hardened prisoner blush, and scars and muscles that told of a hard life. Of course, the sailor in him was carefully tucked away behind the administrator and professional spook personas.
Across from him, Agent Garner watched him fight each side as he delivered the briefing.
"They'll be flying in on a Navy chopper from the Iowa-" his eyes briefly sparkled with pride "-From there they'll make a stop by Cheyenne and refuel-" the spy in him cringed at having foreign leaders and operatives spending time at an operational military base "-before flying on to Gowen Field. It's a small National Guard base in the middle of nowhere," finally the administrator balked at the awkward time-consuming flight path.
"With all due respect sir, Boise is hardly the middle of nowhere," Agent Garner warned.
Inwardly he was cringing at all of this as well. On top of the three other foreign agents going with them, there was a considerable risk that came with flying seven members of the UN Security Council through contested airspace.
"No, but it is relatively untouched and there's a big ass desert right next door that they can land their ship in," he justified.
Agent Garner shrugged, it was as good as anywhere else.
"Alright, so what's my cover?" he asked as he read the files of the other three agents.
One was an MI6 Agent, the second was a GRU agent out of Russia, and the third was a MSS agent out of China. Between them was about sixty years of intelligence work with about half of it being in black ops or their non-American equivalent.
"Same as the rest- diplomatic security," Director Holland explained, "It'll give you a reason to snoop around and access to any weapons that you might need. It should also help in sniffing out leaks in Republic security."
Agent Garner shook his head. He and Holland both knew it wouldn't be that simple. Actually vetting the people in charge was going to involve some serious stretching of their official duties.
"I know it's not that simple. This what you get payed for. Regularly report to the council members. If something major cracks open, make contact with the Jedi. How and when is at your discretion. However, the less people that know, the better your cover will hold," Holland needlessly advised.
"Understood. How long until the flight leaves?" he asked.
"Hour and a half. You can sleep on the flight," Holland answered quickly.
(Volgograd Russia, One hour and a half later)
Obi Wan took every step with exaggerated caution. He sidestepped the antennas of two mine droids and slid into the shadows of a half-destroyed building. He slipped into the doorway and crouched below a window. Using the force, he reached out. He first felt the mine droids then nothing. He frowned and reached out further. That's when he felt them; two droids across the street and three stories up. They were on the opposite wall, facing east. That explained how he had not been shot at yet. Obi Wan stood up to move and froze. Using the force to propel his body, the Jedi dove across the room, across a waist-high counter and into the even darker shadows of the back wall. Obi Wan's breath caught in his throat as the squad of B1s marched by outside. He finally exhaled as the squad turned down the road and disappeared into a set of buildings further down the road.
Moving with the same caution, Obi Wan made his way out of the building and up the road. As he dove from shadow to shadow, he listened to the distant boom of cannon fire. This told him all he needed to know. The Russian EMP had never arrived. The counteroffensive was going to happen. That would keep the droids busy. Now all he had to do was kill Grievous.
"Ya, that's all," he muttered to himself as the ice-cold rain cut through his cloak.
Commander Cody watched from the back of the AT-TE as shell after shell punched into the ground two miles ahead. He was just as anxious as every other person here. Earth had some serious fighters, he would admit that. However, Cody had yet to see someone outside of his home fleet break Grevious's main army, let alone some plucky native force. The best thing they had going for them now was shear grit. This was no green force raised in a matter of days. This was a battle-hardened force of warriors. Sure, their homes were different, but they were skilled in their trade of war. The force knows that Cody had learned more than a little from them.
"The night's not getting any younger," Cody called into the radio.
"No, it's not. We are ready in the north," crackled Yosef's voice in response.
"Alright let's move out," Cody called as butterflies formed in his throat.
Cody grabbed hold of the gunner's seat as the AT-TE lurched forward. in front of him, a pair of British Challenger tanks raced forward with British and French infantry in tow. This was it and there was no going back. They were pushing forward, low morale and all.
(Earth: Low orbit)
Padme let out a gasp as she gazed out at the warships arrayed outside the view port. In front of her, the two clone pilots showed no emotion as silently navigated the cloaked ship through the CIS fleet. At over twenty ships strong, this was the biggest Separatist fleet that she had ever personally seen. As one of the key Senators in this operation, she had volunteered to go with. Well, "volunteer" was a stretch. She had basically pushed herself onto the gunship carrying Master Windu to the awaiting ship. For his part, he had let her on.
"This is insane," she muttered to herself, "What is so important that he would stall right here?"
"Debris at point five one," called the Navigator.
"See it," acknowledged the pilot.
Following the pilot's gaze, she spotted the ghostly remains of a Republic cruiser. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Windu lower his head in remorse.
"How many people lived here pre-war?" she asked Master Windu.
"Roughly 7.3 billion people lived here," he answered quietly before adding to himself, "And yet I was ready to let them die."
Not quite sure how to answer the admission, Padme didn't answer as she watched the various frigates pass by.
Slowly the black of space gave way to the brown hues of desert skies choked with smoke. Rolling hills and flat-topped peaks streaked past as the ship leveled off a few hundred feet off the ground.
"Standby to disengage cloak," called the Captain.
"Roger, standing by," called a voice in the back.
"Disengage in 3... 2... 1... now," The clone ordered.
"Disengaging now."
"Begin landing sequence," the Captain called next.
All at once the ship came to life as various crewmen worked to prepare the ship for landing.
"Gravity is .999 percent Coruscant standard... Atmosphere is human-safe. Temperature is sixty degrees standard, humidity five percent."
"Cloak is disengaged."
"Dialing back thrusters 20 percent."
"Roger, landing in five," called the pilot as he began flipping various switches.
Under them, the empty sand gave way to a single narrow road. It was this road that they followed for another several miles. As the ended, Padme was nearly thrown sideways as the ship spun around to meet the direction of a elongated landing pad.
Agent Garner stood in a sea of black and blue uniformed black and blue personnel. In his hand, he clutched a modified Saber-4, like the ones being held by the rest of the security team. His breath caught as the space craft came roaring up over the horizon. The flying cylinder easily dwarfed the C-130 idling on the tarmac.
"Матерь Божья" Gasped the GRU agent next to him.
Agent Garner simply nodded. Sergei had said it just about as well as he ever could.
The ship touched down on the runway with a smoothness all to its own. The same second, the ramp dropped to reveal a soldier in grey and white armor similar to that of the Republic infantry. However, his had two hoses connecting his helmet to a backpack.
"Let's go. Times ticking," the clone barked.
Everyone hesitated as nervous glances were passed back and forth. Snapping out of his shock first, Agent Garner and Li Suo took the lead and marched up the ramp. Taking the hint, the rest of the security team guided the ambassadors on board. As he crossed into the ship, it took Garner's eyes a minute to adjust to the dark interior. He paused as his eyes scanned the narrow interior.
"Back here," called a distinctly feminine voice. Garner spun around to see a woman bathed in the glow of a red work light.
The Agent shrugged his shoulders and marched down the line of seats.
He unslung his rifle and tucked it between his left leg and the bulkhead. While it made the rifle harder to get to, his sidearm would be his weapon of choice anyways, if things got dicey in here.
Across from him, the woman nodded at each person in turn as they took a seat.
"Ladies and gentlemen," began the woman as the last guard found his seat, "My name is Senator Armidala of the Republic Senate. This is Mace Windu of the Jedi order. I wish we could be meeting under better circumstances, but sadly that is not the case."
As if to highlight her point, the side hatch slammed shut to the dull roar of engines powering up.
(Volgograd, Russia)
Colonel Yosef was not an infantry man. He had not been one for years. The last time he had run into battle was Afghanistan more than thirty years ago as a private in the Soviet Army. However, in the midnight hell of Volgograd, it all came back at once. The allied line smashed into the droids with a fiery all unto its own. Driven by revenge and desperation, clones and regulars alike tore into the CIS lines. Tanks traded shots mere yards from each other while soldiers clashed in intense firefights measured in tens of feet. In the middle of this was Colonel Yosef. While he did trail behind by a half block, he did still see his share of combat.
"Sickle 1, get fire on that tower," he yelled as he threw himself against a concrete retaining wall.
Outside, a T-90 tank roared down the street. The tank came to a stop on top of a car as its main came around. The 125mm cannon fired off with a earsplitting boom. As an HE-Frag round obliterated one heavy repeating blaster, the Commander opened up on the second one across the street with his .50 caliber machine gun. With a AT-TE now bringing up the rear, the T-90 continued to push forward.
The colonel gave a forward motion with his arm before racing out the door. The company he was with raced out into the park across the street. Using concrete planters and shell craters for cover, the men traded fire with droids dug in inside the store fronts ahead.
BOOM!
The AT-TE behind them exploded in ball of fire and shrapnel. From there it was a quick-draw match between the T-90 and the CIS tank racing to flank the armored column. However, neither one made the shot. The T-90's shot went wide into the hotel lobby. The CIS tank took a shot before a British soldier with a Javelin missile sent the thing exploding into a several different, fiery pieces. Yosef ducked as one of the tanks anti-personnel cannon went skipping overhead.
Seeing the danger, Colonel Yosef quickly keyed up the command frequency on his radio.
"Commander, this Northern banner, we've got droid flanking us from the southeast," he warned.
"Where... Ghost Company, move it up!... Where are you?" Cody asked between barking orders to his own men.
The Colonel hesitated as he scanned the area for a sign of some kind. He may have been Russian, but he almost never ended up down in Volgograd pre-war. Frustrated, he shot down an overly ambitious B1 and yanked a map out of his pocket. In the shaky glow of his work light, Yosef was able to find his position.
"Two clicks north of the highway, pushing east," he answered quickly.
"Damn," he heard Cody mutter before commanding, "Bring your men south of the highway. We're going to have to meet early. Say..."
Cody proceeded to lay out a completely new plan of attack. He justified it by explaining that the central Droid line had held, and that they were at risk of being permanently separated. Yosef swore as he gave orders to his own men off frequency.
"Alright. We're moving out. See you on the other side," he agreed before switching channels, "All units take the left on Sentry. There's been a change of plans."
No matter how well planned out the mission was or how disciplined ones men were, armies did not turn on a dime. This was evident as a Ukrainian Captain fought to untangle the mess he was currently in.
"No... No. No. No. I said, 'point five one'," he yelled into his radio, "Orders have changed. Go down and make a left. We're cutting through the factory, not around it."
Up in front of him, a T-72 and a AT-TE were trying to keep from running into each other. A misunderstanding between the Captain's men and those of a German unit had nearly sent the walker crashing into its smaller counterpart. Next to him, a clone Sergeant traded shots with a couple droids across the street.
"All units push up. We're cutting through the factory," he ordered through the radio.
In response, both clones and regulars rushed forward out of the safety of their cover. Next to him, the clone rushed through the door, only to get blasted away by a B2 droid. The offending droid plus two others disappeared in a cloud of shrapnel as a frag grenade exploded at its feet. Seizing the opportunity, the Captain rushed forward into the the next building. he did a quick sweep with three other infantrymen before pushing forward. In his headset, there was still chaos on the frequency. Colonel Yosef's sudden change of orders found units running into each other as some made the turn faster than others.
The captain never slowed as he fired three rounds into each of the droids between him and the building. This one was the guard station for factory in question. It was a massive four story structure with seven or eight outbuildings for equipment storage, Four different loading docks with twelve doors each, two separate groups of silos, and two different places to load railroad cars. All in all, this was going to be one hell of a place to secure.
"Hammer 1 and Hammer 2 take second platoon and secure the south side. 3 and 4 take the north with third platoon. First platoon on me. We're going in," he ordered.
In response, 2 Leopard tanks smashed through the front gate. Trailing close behind were a pair of older T-72s. Each one broke away with an accompanying Leopard tank and began circling the perimeter of the building.
As he watched the factory come alive, the Captain allowed himself a tired sigh. This was going to be a long night.
BOOM! BA-BOOM!
The front of the factory suddenly exploded in a ball of fire as a pack of Russian T-90s suddenly appeared out of dense smoke on a side street. The captain recoiled in pain as both ears rang in protest. Next to him, another soldier let out his own string of curses a mixed company of Russian and Republic troops rushed forward. In the mix, he spotted Colonel Yosef. With a surge of adrenaline, the Captain vaulted out of the guard shack. With red sight, he grabbed the Colonel's jacket collar in a death grip and slammed him into back of a stationary tank.
"What the fuck was that?" he practically screamed.
With both ears ringing and his men half-buried in rubble, the Captain cared little for their difference in command.
"'What the fuck was that?'... What the fuck are you doing here?" the Colonel demanded in response, "You're suppose to be three miles down road."
"That's not what I was told!" he yelled back as he pulled out a map of the city, "I was ordered to push through here."
As he spoke he jabbed his finger into the spot where the factory was at.
"No. I was suppose to go through here. You were suppose to leapfrog and push south through here," the Colonel shot back as he angrily pointed to a spot further west, "Where the hell did you learn to read a map."
"Same place you learned to communicate," the Captain retorted.
The Colonel didn't immediately respond as he glared at the Captain. Had they been in the same army, he would've demoted clear down to enlisted right on the spot. However, they weren't in the same army and as such, Yosef lacked the authority.
"Alright, have your men fall in. I guess we're rendezvousing here instead of further down," the Colonel conceded.
The Captain gave an enraged growl as he practically tossed the Colonel to the side.
"The droids don't need to fight us, we'll kill ourselves at this rate," Yosef muttered bitterly as he found his footing on the muddy ground.