A/N: Hey all, yes another story that's not the one you want. A buddy of mine and I have been working on this for a while, and we agreed the time had come to start posting it. This is a story of two Jedi through the Clone Wars and the fall of the Republic. We have a backlog of chapters and at least for now are cranking them out, so I hope you enjoy! Oh, and unfortunately my friend doesn't have an account on FF, but I'll be sure to pass along feedback to him. Erajinn is his OC, Theron is mine, and the first section was written by him. That should be all you need to know!
Chapter One: Meet the (Sort-of) Family
"General, we are approaching the lower atmosphere now," A clone Ops officer reported through the wrist comlink of Jedi Knight Erajinn Kiro. He and the rest of the 49th Ranger Regiment were tasked with making landfall on the surface of Geonosis to provide assistance to the initial ground force of the 8th Infantry Battalion on the southern hemisphere of the desert planet.
"Acknowledged Ops, thanks for the heads up," Erajinn responded as he leaped into his powering up Delta 7 starfighter. "This is Kiro, all transports you are go, I repeat, all transports you have a green light to make your approach. Fighters keep it tight on those carriers, the first wave was met with stiff resistance on their approach,"
"This is Ember, 10-4 general," Squad leader Ember said as he and three squads of V-19 Torrents screamed out of the hangar bay of the Unshaken. They maintained a tight formation around the LAAT/i and LAAT/c gunships carrying the rest of the assault unit.
The second the contingent broke through the lower atmosphere, they were swarmed with the fast-moving Nantex-class defense fighters that took out the first several gunships in the front of the formation.
"Gold Squad and Blue Squad, break off and engage those fighters!" Erajinn said as he looped around and strafed a group of three Geonosian fighters, incinerating them all. The NCOs of the two squads responded and half of the fighters broke off and began to dogfight the alien spacecraft. The battalion was then met with a sheet of flak more intense than anything Erajinn had seen in his short career as a soldier. The constant flak from the surface made it almost impossible for the V-19's to maneuver with the Nantex fighters, allowing themselves to be led away from the gunships and exposing more of them to the laserfire.
"Ember we're falling apart! Get those fighters under control now! Gunships take evasive maneuvers, your goal is to make it to the landing zone!" Erajinn strained as he zipped in between flak and starships. The gunship pilots responded in unison as they broke off from the formation so as to become less of a target. It was too late by this point, however, as over one-third of the initial formation had been lost, with almost a whole squad of fighters being wiped out in the first engagement alone. "Unshaken, this is Kiro do you read?".
"Loud and clear General, how goes the approach?" the Admiral on the cruiser replied.
"The Geonosians were more prepared than we had anticipated, and this flak is tearing my squads to bits. Scramble the first and second bomber squads, Red Squad and I are going to make a trench run for those guns. I'll clear a path for the bombers, just make sure they're ready when a path makes itself clear," Erajinn replied with determination.
"Understood General, Unshaken out."
"Ember, you hear that?"
"Every bit sir. Are you sure that we can make it to those guns?" Ember replied.
"Not at all, but my starship and your Torrents are the only things fast enough to punch through the flak. That's not fear I sense in your voice, is it?" Erajinn said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Never in a million years, sir. Red Squad, we're making a run for those guns! Tighten up and follow the Jedi!"
Erajinn jammed his stick forward and punched his throttle as his starfighter took a steep nosedive away from the gunships with the rest of the fighter squad following suit. Allowing himself to be lost in the Force, Erajinn's world slowed down around him, and he saw much clearer through the haze of smoke and laser fire to the surface below. A large canyon separated the Republic forces from the droids, who were dug in and suppressing the clones with artillery. A few hundred meters back nestled in a cliff outcropping was where he saw the AA guns.
There were around twenty of them in a tight group, each accompanied by Vulture droids and Geonosian artillery squads. If he would be able to dive into the canyon out of range of the guns and pop out at the end, he might be able to take out the vulture droids and maybe even a few of the AA guns to make room for the bombers. The issue would be that only the best few clone pilots or a Jedi could control their fighter in such a way that they could make it through that canyon intact. He came out of his analytical focus and radioed into the pilots. "Red Squad, there's a change of plans. I need you to draw out the Nantex fighters that are hanging below the flak screen so that I can slip into the canyon with my more maneuverable fighter and draw away the vulture droids from their posts. By then the bombers should have arrived."
"Happy hunting, sir."
Erajinn again fell into the Force, a skill he had worked hard to refine in his time at the Jedi Temple. Allowing himself to become detached in this way made his movements more intentional, as well as giving him time to analyze and plan out a path. His fighter screamed into the mouth of the canyon, taking a moment to revel in the sight of waves of lasers flying overhead. Using a series of barrel rolls, flips, and stalls, he was able to dodge most of the crags and outcroppings of the bottom of the canyon scraping and nearly crashing his fighter on multiple occasions. He at one point almost smashed what he thought was a repelling clone trooper on the canyon face with his wing.
As he came over the last cliff face he was suddenly met with the abrupt end of the canyon. Erajinn pulled up on the stick as hard as he could in surprise, and almost passed out from the pressure. Luckily he popped out at the opposite end of the canyon, only slightly damaging his lower stabilizers. He then banked right and began strafing the outcropping containing the AA batteries, taking out a cannon and three vulture droids before the rest mobilized and flew after him.
Erajinn dipped and darted in the air above the AA guns, using his extra maneuverability to his advantage with a series of nosedives towards the installation with abrupt turns upward, causing the pursuing droids to collide with the cannons. He repeated this several times before the seemingly infinite swarm of vulture droids caught up to him and his starfighter began to take fire.
First, the rest of his main and backup stabilizers went, and then most of his engine compartment, leaving him dead in the sky and plummeting towards the ground, this time for real. "Blast!" Erajinn cursed as he radioed a final time into his clones. "Mayday mayday! I've got too many bogies on my tail, but the guns are clear, I repeat the guns are clear! Make the run count, boys!"
"We'll pick you up in a gunship General! Stay alive down there!"
As his starfighter began to spiral Erajinn began to feel lightheaded as the pressure began to get to him. He tried to reach for his ejection lever, but the gravity produced forced him into his chair. All he could do was brace for impact as the flaming spacecraft careened towards the ground.
Erajinn awoke with a start, the first emotion flooding into him was surprise in the fact that he was even able to open his eyes.
The second feeling, of course, was pain and lots of it. Every part of his body ached as he struggled out of his cockpit. He tried to survey his surroundings as his vision and hearing began to return, but his mind was muddled with the pain and he couldn't focus enough to fall into the Force like he had in the past. He slumped back into the cockpit with a gasp of agony as he felt along his utility belt for his medic pouch. He fumbled with the clasp, and was able to clutch his hands around one of the several high strength healing stims he kept with him while in combat.
He couldn't get the syringe into his neck fast enough as he sighed with relief, feeling the numbing sensation washed over his body. After a few minutes, his vision cleared and he stood up and found cover behind a neighboring boulder just in time to see his squad of fighters and bombers make their run, tearing down the rest of the battery and cutting a hole in the flak curtain to make room for the gunships. Hearing the sound of blaster fire getting louder behind him, he popped another healing stim and rose, igniting his two emerald blades as he faced the wave of battle droids.