I forgot to mention last chapter that my new poll is up so please put your votes for it.
I am sure I am not the only one who heard about the passing of Stan Lee, the man who created Spider-Man, Captain America and other characters from the marvel universe. He will be greatly missed.
Another thing, back in A Warriors Journey I would like to clarify that Roberts armor does not have the Star like Captain America's shield but has the paint scheme of his uniform. Sorry If I confused anyone.
Mpowers45, you hit the nail on the head with your review, I did indeed use that scene and I did pull a Robin Williams, figured I go with it.
Also, if any of you are annoyed with not being able to Watch Rwby Volume 6 on youtube, I suggest that you head over to kissanime and you can find the episodes that have already aired on the site.
Anyway, here is my newest chapter. Disclaimers are the same as before.
Chapter 10: Liberation of Mandalore
September 3rd 2019 20BBY
Keldabe, Mandalore
0045 hours
Normal point of view
Mandalore was in chaos. The recent increase in criminal activity by the Shadow collective had caused the people to lose their faith in Satine and ultimately saw Death Watch as saviors who then overthrew Satine and placed her and her supporters in prison, with Vizsla proclaiming himself as the new leader of Mandalore. He then betrayed the two who helped him return to his world: Darth Maul and his brother Savage Opress.
What the people didn't know was that this was all a part of Mauls plan for revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi, for the defeat he gave him all those years ago. Anticipating the betrayal of Death Watch he allowed himself and his brother to be captured with the goal of finding another pawn for them to use. They did: former Prime Minister Almec.
With this new ally, Maul challenged Vizsla to an honorable duel and killed the leader of Death Watch, claiming the Dark Saber as his own and claiming the role as Mandalore's ruler. While most of Death Watch choose to follow him, a majority of the group led by Bo-Katan choose to defy this and began to fight to liberate their home.
Everything was in place and now all that remained was to lure Kenobi to his doom and claim revenge. But Maul hadn't counted on one thing; The Hellfighters.
Almost immediately after her rejection of Mauls rule of Mandalore, Bo contacted the Lone Wolf on a special frequency he had given her after meeting him during a small skirmish on Tatooine when they were meeting with the Hutt Clan.
Even after learning that Robert was Mandalorian by blood, Bo didn't want to ask the Lone Wolf for assistance, but she had no other choice as the only one that could handle Maul was a Jedi. Thankfully, Robert excepted her plea for assistance and ordered the Dragoons to remain on standby until the time for liberation began.
At ten-thousand feet above the city of Keldabe, a CR-20 troop carrier hovered over the city. Unlike most transports, this one was specially modified. In place of the ships escape pods were six drop pods each sporting the marking of dragoons.
Inside the ship, the pilots of the ship confirmed that no enemy units had detected them and released the pods before veering away from the planet and heading back to the rest of the dragoon's fleet. As the pods continued to freefall to the surface, they soon changed course and were now on a direct path to the outskirts of the city and the pods thrusters activated slowing the decent of the pods before they landed on the ground.
Within seconds of the pods landing the doors to the pods blew off and six armored figures exited the pods. The first figure was armed with a Valmet M82 equipped with an ACOG scope, laser sight and extended magazine, a LWRC SMG-45 with a red dot sight strapped to their back along with a Fostech Origin 12 shotgun with a thirty-round drum magazine in their hand. Also strapped to her back was a Katana.
The second was armed a HK MSG90 sniper rifle with a twenty-round magazine, a HK33 assault rifle with a holographic sight and HK79 under barrel grenade launcher. In the shoulder holsters were two Glock 24 long barreled .40 caliber pistols.
The third was equipped with two FN-P90s each sporting a laser sight, a Zastava M70 assault rifle with a folding stock, red dot sight and fifty round magazine strapped to her back. Holstered to her side was a Smith and Wesson M500 revolver with a four-inch barrel.
The fourth figure had two Beretta PX4 handguns chambered to fire .45ACP bullets, a Steyr AUG with a sixteen-inch barrel, handguard and M203 grenade launcher in her hands and a GL-06 break action grenade launcher. Across the figure's chest were two bandoliers of 40x46mm grenade rounds.
The fifth figure, whose helmet sported the Mandalorian Jaig Eyes was armed with a M4A1 Carbine equipped with a M203 grenade launcher, hybrid sight and a fifty-round magazine. A colt 1911 and another pistol were strapped to his waist and attached to his back were a bullpup rifle with an under-barrel shot gun and one of the most dangerous hybrid weapons in the galaxy.
The last figure sported a pair of CZ-75 automatic 9mm handguns, a CZ 805 assault rifle with a DV-Mag 3 magnifier, ZD-DOT Red Dot Sight and a CZ 805 G1 under-grenade launcher in their hands and strapped to their back was a Franchi PA8 pump action shotgun. This figure looked like a real ODST come to life.
"Clear." The figure said before removing their helmet and revealing a nineteen-year old American Indian girl with wavy black hair, dusky skin and blue eyes. "You weren't kidding when you said we'd be dropping like Buck and his team into New Mombasa." The girl said to the one with the M4.
"I told you Rally; a direct landing is too risky. The only we would be getting to the surface was like an ODST." Robert said as the others removed their helmets revealing them to be Kasumi, Hitomi, Honoka and Marie.
"When you said you had been fighting in another galaxy for a while, I thought you were lying. But as they say 'seeing is believing'." Rally said before checking her CZ-75s.
Rally Irene Vincent was the latest addition to the Hellfighters. She had snuck aboard the Albatross by accident when she was doing an inventory of the Expendables equipment and gear when she mistook the ship for a warehouse. Sadly, one of the ammo boxes fell from the shelf and knocked her unconscious, long enough for the Albatross to return to the Retribution and bringing her into the clone wars.
At first, she thought she was dreaming and tried to wake herself up, but the pain she felt proved she wasn't dreaming. When she found Robert, she sucker-punched him in the face and broke down in tears. Like the others, she also thought Robert was dead after the train attack.
Rather than wanting to go home, she decided she wanted to stay and assist in ending the war. Like the others, she was given her own Spartan armor hers being more like an ODST/ airborne soldier like her father.
Her father, a former member of the 82nd airborne and veteran of Operation Just Cause, taught her everything about firearms and owned a gun store in Chicago and wanted to be just like him. Her mother was different and was opposed to Rally's interest in guns and the military and wanted her to pursue a career in being a violinist.
Both her parents constantly argued about what they thought was best for her. Her father was more accepting of her passions while her mother tried to sign her up for violin lessons every chance she could. But after numerous failed attempts, her mom had enough and was in the process of filing divorce papers when she was killed when several people, high on cocaine broke into the store to steal some guns.
After that, she and her father closed the store and moved to Massachusetts where her father began to work as an anti-gun runner officer for the State police and had broken up several deals. It was there that Rally met Robert and the two became quick friends.
Sadly, during an assignment her father was killed and Rally was almost sent to an orphanage had it not been for a nice old couple who took her in and raise her. However, as the years went by, the couple was struggling to make ends meet as their landlord had continued to raise the value of the house. Right away, Rally knew that this man was crooked and started to do some digging and found out this landlord was deliberately raising the prices on several other houses as part of a plan by a gun smuggling ring to use the houses and hid the guns they were bought and then smuggled to various street gangs, extremist groups and militia groups like John Seeds cult.
At sixteen, no one believed Rally so she took matters into her own hands and personally brought the snake in and arrested the buyers of the weapons that were to be sold. Her exploit made it into newspapers all across the country and she decided that she would become a bounty hunter. Despite the risks, her adoptive parents knew that she had made her choice and agreed on her decision as long as she would be careful.
Most of her bounty's took her across the country, but she enjoyed the traveling and she got to see more of the US than most people would. Hell, she even owned a blue 2005 Shelby Mustang muscle car and was given the nickname 'Kitty' since most people wouldn't expect a beautiful girl to be a bounty hunter. She was also Kasumi's girlfriend.
"The gangs all here. Alright, Bo-Katan and her Nite Owls should be here any minute." Robert said as he pulled out a Barret M107 from his pod.
Soon enough the sound of a dozen JT-12 jetpacks filled the air and Rally called out. "There they are." The jetpack users soon landed and aimed their blasters at them. "Stand down girls. We're not here to fight the Nite Owls." Robert ordered as the last Nite Owl landed and removed their helmet revealing Bo-Katan. "It's been a while, hasn't it Bo?" Robert said and held out his hand.
"You know, if we were still enemy's I would have gunned you down," Bo said before grabbing Roberts hand and shook it. "Good thing we have a common enemy. Mandalore belongs to her people and while I may not have agreed with my Sister, I want Mandalore to be free from the likes of Maul and his brother."
"Lucky for you, that's why we're here. Once we get what we need, we can bring in the Calvary." Robert before a couple of speeders arrived to bring the six Hellfighters to the Nite Owl base camp.
Roberts point of view
0600 hours
It's funny, I hate those who try to achieve their goal through needless slaughter. But at the same time, I understood their goals. For the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers all they wanted to do was to protect their people from the White Man who broke treaty after treaty, stole their land, slaughtered the Buffalo and killed countless innocents.
Death Watch is, at the most fifty-percent similar to them. The only difference is that they wanted to return to their roots as the galaxies most feared warriors and savage raiders, a goal that gave the galaxy the impression that Mandalorians were violent by nature and always will be a danger to the galaxy.
When I was first contacted by Bo, I immediately wanted to tell her 'Fuck you and handle it yourself bitch'. But at the mention of Darth Maul and his brother Savage had taken over the planet my mother was born on and had plunged the planet into chaos, I changed my mind.
I reported Mandalore's situation to the council and they in turn reported it to the chancellor. Despite the serious nature, the Chancellor in all his 'wisdom' deemed the planet a lost cause and said that the war was our top priority and the needs of 'savage-warrior' were of no importance to the republic.
That made my blood boil. I wasn't going to let my mom's home world get overrun by a bunch of criminals being led by a fallen Sith Lord.
Normally, I would try to go it alone but with Maul involved and the Nite-owl's numbers low Kasumi and the others decided to help me with liberating my mothers' home-world. Hell, they even said that Captain America couldn't do it by himself. Funny since I was promoted to Captain after Jakku.
Despite getting orders not to go, I disobeyed orders and ordered Halberton to prep a transport to take me and the others to Mandalore, assess the situation and to what I can to extract Satine so she can plead her case to the senate. If extraction wasn't an option, the full might of the Dragoons would be sent in to liberate the planet. Hell, even Fenrir said he was going to help. He just needed to find some of his dads' old friends.
The moment we were about to leave, Tarkin had positioned a small fleet to either force me to return to the planet or destroy the ship and everyone onboard, but surprisingly the Chancellor called his lap-dog off and allowed me to continue my unsanctioned mission.
Something didn't sit right with me. Palpatine may be chancellor and the supreme commander of the republic army, but to allow a soldier to go on his on a mission that was denied was a little concerning. To me and the others.
An hour after we landed on Mandalore, we rendezvoused with the Nite-Owls and were given an update of the situation.
Weeks after Maul took over and placed Almec as prime minister, the Nite-Owls were betrayed by Gar Saxon and Rook Kast who gave up the location of a Nite-Owl safehouse and either captured or killed many of the Nite-Owls that failed to escape in time, seizing the weapons cache that was store at the safehouse as well.
Only a handful of loyalists escaped but many of their weapons were seized and had been sent to the rest of the Shadow Collective, leaving the Nite-Owls armed only with only pistols, carbines and a few rifles. But despite the lack of firepower, the Nite-Owls continued to fight against overwhelming odds and an enemy with better equipment. The few pilots they had were flying damaged Gauntlet, G-400 and Fang fighters, which while superior to HH-87's in terms of firepower and speed were overwhelmed by the number of enemy fighters. Even the Owl's Velker airspeeders were no match and the enemy even had Dagger and Dianoga fighters.
Fortunately, the Nite-Owls had a skilled pilot by the name of Fenn Rau, who was also a fearsome warrior and leader on the ground as well as in the air. I bet if he put his mind to it, he could become an Ace in either a F35 or F18, given the right training.
But the most interesting thing about Fenn Rau was that he was a friend of clan Bralor. That put my mind at ease and kept me from thinking he was a spy for the Collective.
When we reached the Nite-Owl base, Bo was informed that several captured Nite-Owls were to be executed later today to serve as a reminder to the people that traitors will not be tolerated. The moment she was informed, I personally volunteered my services to liberate the prisoners and bring them back safely before they could be killed. Bo agreed and by the time the sun started to rise me, Kasumi and the others were overlooking the sight of the execution and assessed our situation.
The guards greatly outnumbered us and the prisoners put together. They were also heavily armed as well, packing Trandoshan repeaters, rotary blasters and basic death watch blasters.
From our vantage point, a hill overlooking the camp we watched as several Nite-Owls were executed in cold blood with point blank headshots or decapitation. Bo was furious that her comrades died a dishonorable death and was about to rush forward, but I stopped her. "You run down their guns a blazing, the prisoners are dead. We need to be smart about this." I said to her.
"The longer we wait, the more allies we lose." She stated. "I know that, but look. Hitomi can provide us sniper support while Kasumi and Honoka sneak around the back of the camp and get the drop on the enemy and free the prisoners. The rest of us will distract the Shadow by attacking from the front. We'll make them think we're being reckless and attempting a full-frontal assault. I promise, we will get your people out." I assured Satine's sister.
"If you're sure about this, then let's do it." Bo said in agreement.
I nodded with a few hand signal's, I gave the girls their orders and watched them move into position and wait for the time to attack.
It didn't take us long to move into position but the second Bo, Marie, Rally and myself were in position I contacted Kasumi and the others. "Everyone in position?" I asked over the commlink.
"Ready to kick butt!" Honoka exclaimed.
"All set." Kasumi responded.
"Bipod set and ready." Hitomi stated.
"Alright. Hitomi the second we attack, you can commence your sniper support." I instructed. I then turned to Bo and handed her a couple of Claymores. "Place these bad boys by the gates. When they come towards us, I'll detonate them." I explained.
"I like your style kid." Bo agreed and, in a few seconds, she had placed the mines in position and vaulted back over the wrecked speeder we were using as cover. "Rally, bird call." I said to the gunslinger. Mimicking a robin, Rally was able to get the attention of two of the collective guards and lured them away from the gate.
"They passed the mines, detonate them." Bo exclaimed. "No, not yet." I said and popped out of cover and fired my Morita at the collective forces, catching them off guard and alerting the rest of the collective goons to our presence. "LIGHT EM UP!" I shouted to the others.
Firing wildly, I noticed Bo gave me the 'what the hell' confused look before she began firing her own weapons as well. "I thought we were going to be a little more offensive with this attack. Not stupid." She roared.
"It's called planning." I said and pressed the button on the detonator. In seconds, the four claymores exploded sending twenty-eight thousand 3.2mm steel balls into the bodies of several unarmored collective soldiers killing them instantly and eliminating a bit of the opposition. "Overwatch, you are clear to engage. Dynamic Duo, move in." I shouted into the commlink.
One of the collective soldiers was about to lob a detonator at us, until Hitomi fired a shot at the goon's head killing him in an instant. More soldiers fell to Hitomi's sniper fire while the rest of us continued to hold our ground and make it look like we were a bunch of idiots. They had no idea that Honoka and Kasumi had already gotten inside the camp.
Normal point of view
Three minutes earlier
"Remind me again why we aren't joining in the attack on the main gate. I hate all this sneaking around." Honoka said, checking the cylinder of her M500.
"It's too risky to attack from the front, even with sniper support. While they distract the enemy, we free and arm the prisoners then attack them from behind." Kasumi reminded her friend, pulling back the receiving bolt of her shotgun.
Truthfully, Honoka always like to be where the action is and hated all the sneaking around. But with Robert as the leader of the Hellfighters, she knew she had to follow his orders. 'Following his orders is better than following the orders of that bastard Tarkin.' She thought to herself. Recently, Tarkin had tried to take command of the Wolfs Dragoons and add them to his own unit. But the top brass, after reviewing many of the admirals botched plans denied his request and the Dragoons remained under Roberts command.
Both girls suspected that Tarkin was up to something and this just further fueled their suspicion of the Admiral, especially when he was found to have several notes about the Nexus route and the mention of a 'strike at the heart of peace'. This brought some concern to the intelligence guys who then passed on the information to the Jedi who began to theorize the location of the attack.
Their thoughts were broken when the sound of gunfire broke her thoughts and was the signal for Kasumi to place a device similar to what burglar's use to open a window from the outside, cutting through the fence and giving the duo their entrance.
Pushing the cut fence down, the two found a group of Mandalorian warriors in front of them who were all confused about what was going on. "You guys want to fight for your home world, then you're going to need some weapons." Kasumi said to the warriors.
One of the warriors looked at Kasumi and surged towards her. Much to her surprise instead of attacking her, the warrior pushed her aside and tackled a shadow collective soldier to the ground and snapped the soldier's neck, picking up the fallen pistols. "I take that as a yes." Kasumi said with relief and tossed the same device to the front fence cutting a hole and giving the other warriors a chance to escape.
"FOR MANDALORE!" the warrior shouted and lead the other prisoners to the armory to get their weapons and armor. "Honoka! Let's give them some cover and take some of the pressure off Robert and the others." Kasumi shouted. Her ally nodded and took out her P90s and began to fire at the collective forces that had spotted them. She had downed four of them before she had to reload her Submachine guns. Sadly, one of the soldiers a member of the Pykes tackled her to the ground, knocking her guns out of her hands.
Jumping to her feet, Honoka disarmed the Pykes soldier and grabbed the soldier by the waist, lifting them up and turning them facing head down to the ground, before grabbing the thug's neck and snapped it. "Pile driver." She quipped and picked up her sub-guns, loaded them with fresh magazines, holstered them and let loose with her M500, killing three enemies with one shot.
Meanwhile, Kasumi had downed a full squad of enemy soldiers with her shotgun emptying her current magazine. Rather than reloading her weapon, she strapped it to her back, unsheathed her katana and with a mighty burst of speed, lunged towards four Hutt cartel soldiers cutting each of them down with a swift slash across the chest.
As she was about to sheath her sword, she was soon getting fired upon by a Black Sun soldier. Using her sword like a lightsaber, she blocked shot after shot from the criminal but unlike a lightsaber she didn't send blaster fire back and instead leapt into the air bringing her sword across the criminal's chest, killing him. "Can't beat the classics." She chuckled, sheathing her katana, reloaded her shotgun and then began to let loose with her LWRC.
From her position, Hitomi had downed her tenth shadow collective soldier and emptied her current magazine. Taking a fresh magazine from her belt, she reloaded her rifle and was about to resume her sniping, when she spotted a squad of Super Commandos rocketing in from the direction of Sundari. "WE GOT BADDIES!" she shouted into the commlink and fired her sniper rifle at the incoming flyers. She downed three of them with her sniper rifle before they managed to get in range and began to fire their own weapons at her, weakening her shields and forcing her to find cover.
The minute she ducked behind a large boulder, she unslung her HK33, waited for her shields to recharge before she popped out of cover and fired her assault rifle at the traitors to Mandalore. "Sniper support is out of action for the time being Captain. I have my hands full right now." She called to Robert.
"Just keep those bastards off us as best you can." Robert shouted, lobbing a grenade towards several collective soldiers dug in behind a speeder, killing them before he popped out and fired his M4 at the enemy. He downed another four soldiers with his carbine before he once again suffered a stove-pipe jam. "DAMN IT!" he cursed and slung his rifle over his back before unholstering the Punisher and fired his powerful sidearm at the enemy forces. "Never. Underestimate. The. Hellfighters." He said firing several shots in rapid session before ejecting his spent clip, loading a fresh one and holstered his pistol taking out his Morita again.
"WE CAN'T HOLD THEM OFF FOREVER!" Bo shouted.
"JUST KEEP SHOOTING!" Robert shouted back and fired a burst of .308 rifle fire downing two of the super commandos that managed to get passed Hitomi.
Rally and Marie fired their under-barrel launchers at the enemy, using the last of their 40mm grenades for their launchers. Marie still had her GL-06, but decided to wait on using it and fired her rifle at the enemy forces. "This is better than being in boring lectures." She stated before loading a fresh magazine into her AUG.
"Trust me Marie, I gone through firefights this intense all the time on my bounty hunting jobs." Rally reminded as she fired dual CZ automatics downing several unarmored hostiles while the rounds only dented the armored ones. "I need something better than handguns." She stated. Her prayers were answered when a D5 Mantis patrol craft hovered over the ongoing fight.
The patrol crafts boarding ramp opened and exiting the craft were two dozen Mandalorian warriors in black and blue armor. However, one of the warriors stood out from the others, for his helmet sported the Jaig Eyes like Roberts helmet and had a Mandalorian assault rifle equipped with an under-barrel grenade launcher, twin heavily customized WESTER-35 blaster pistols holstered to his side and a double bladed vibro-sword strapped to their back.
"Veer, Koj, Li, Whuth. Handle the flyers. Jioon, Gom, Boo, Vhi, get down there and free the other prisoners. The rest of you, give these traitors hell and keep them off us. Evac ships are on the way, until then let's give these bastards hell. We'll show them what happens to those who betray Mand'alor. Bralor Ori'ramikade's, ATTACK!" the leader shouted and the jumped out of the ship, free-falling to the ground followed by the rest of their warriors.
"I think we have more company." Marie said and aimed her AUG at the incoming warriors, but was stopped just in time by Robert. "Don't fire, they're on our side." Robert said, pushing down his friends' rifle.
"Your friend had the right to be concerned. After all, to her anyone in Mandalorian armor is either with the Nite-Owls or the Collective." The leader of the Mandalorian back up said, as they pulled out their pistols and fired a volley of blaster fire downing several collective soldiers that managed to get close enough.
"Your timing couldn't be better Fenrir. Though I thought you and Riyo were busy?" Robert asked as he aimed his Morita and downed several traitors.
"We were, but the moment I heard about the situation on my planet, I could not stand by and do nothing. Fortunately, my wife understood. All she asked was that I return alive, she doesn't want our child to grown up without their father." the now identified Fenrir said with a chuckle.
"Give my congratulations to Senator Chuchi. She's a lucky woman." Robert said, pulling the pin of a M67 grenade and lobbing it towards the collective soldiers. The grenade then exploded with a loud BANG, killing the last of the guards.
"Area secured. Let's get these people on the ships and get them out of here. Anyone who can walk, help the injured. Everyone else, get on the ship." Fenrir said to the released prisoners. The fight was over, but the battle had begun.
Three weeks later.
Dropping out of hyperspace above the troubled planet, the Twilight descended towards the capital of Sundari and landed. Inside the cockpit, in the same outfit he wore when we went undercover as Rako Hardeen, a spark from the controls flew inches past Obi-Wans face. "Anakin, that's the last time I borrow a ship from you." the Jedi master said.
Normally, Obi-Wan is a cautious and conservative Jedi, one who preferred to measure a situation before acting. But today was different. A transmission from Satine the other day confirmed that Mandalore was in peril with her planet now under the control of Darth Maul and Savage Opress.
Unfortunately, the lack of proof and the neutrality of the planet prevented the republic from sending any aid, despite the fact that Robert, Fenrir and Roberts friends were already on the planet and had assisted the Nite-Owls in handling the enemy.
Obi-Wan finally realized that he did indeed have feelings for Satine and he was concerned for her safety, after witnessing what Maul and his brother were capable of. Putting his helmet on, he walked down the ships boarding ramp which was also in need of repair since it got stuck a few times and was greeted by a guard.
The guard, not suspecting anything immediately told Obi-Wan that his ship should be looked at, to which Obi-Wan claimed it to be his friends ship and said that it was perfectly fine, even after a few bits of the ship fell onto the landing pad.
When asked for a landing permit, Obi-Wan lead the guard into the ship claiming the permit was in the ship, knocked out the guard and took their armor. As he made his way towards a nearby speeder, from above Bo, two of her Nite-Owls and Robert watched this. "Looks like my hunch was correct about Kenobi and your sister." Robert said to Bo who stopped her soldier from firing on the Jedi.
"I guess you're right. But do you really think Kenobi won't be able to escape with my sister?" She asked.
"Judging by the shape of the ship he took to get here, I don't think he will get five meters from the landing pad. Fortunately, I have a backup plan." Robert answered and pressed a button on his gauntlet and headed into the city. Before he did, he turned to Bo. "Tell the others to get in position and have your pilots ready for battle." He said. Bo nodded and pressed a button on her own gauntlet.
As this was going on Satine Sat silently in her cell. After her first escape attempt, she had hoped her message had gotten to Obi-Wan and help was coming. Despite claiming neutrality in the war, Mandalore was still a member of the Republic but she knew in her heart that they wouldn't send help to a neutral system. Despite this, she still held hope for someone to aid her people.
The sound of her cell doors opening caused her to open her eyes. "Here to do more of your masters bidding." She asked the guard, whom she had suspected was going to execute her. But to her surprise, no blaster was cocked. "I do my own bidding." A voice she knew all too well said.
"Obi-Wan." She said and hugged the man she loved, who in turn returned the hug. "Are you alone?" she asked after breaking the hug.
"Yes. The Jedi council and galactic senate will be of no help to us here." He responded. He didn't want to mention that Robert was on the planet and softening up as much of the enemy opposition as possible before any possible help arrived. He didn't know that Robert had planned.
Sadly, their escape didn't come, for Maul's forces had shot down the Twilight as they tried to leave the system and now the two were in the palace, Obi-Wan being held by two of Mauls followers and Satine on her knees by the throne she once sat on.
"Your noble flaw is a weakness shared by you and your Duchess." Maul mocked, using the force to lift Satine off the ground and began to choke her. "You should have chosen the Dark Side Kenobi. Your emotions betray you. Your fear and yes, your anger. Let your anger deepen your rage." Maul added.
"Don't listen to him Obi." Satine said gasping for breath.
"You can kill me, but you will never destroy me. It takes strength to resist the dark side. Only the weak embrace it." Obi-Wan said refusing to give into Mauls plan to goad him into using his anger.
"It is more powerful than you know." Maul reminded the Jedi master.
"And those who oppose it are more powerful than you'll ever be. I know where you're from. I've been to your village. I know the decision to join the dark side wasn't yours, the Nightsisters made it for you." Obi-Wan said, recounting what Mother Talzin said to him and Anakin when they were investigating Savage.
As Maul and Kenobi bantered about the dark side, none of them noticed that one of the collective soldiers had tapped his gauntlet, sending a signal to six of the seven Hellfighters who had each hooked a grappling hook onto the roof of the palace and were waiting to pounce.
Five hundred feet away, Fenrir had finished setting up the Barret 107 and listened carefully to his commlink for the signal to fire.
Back in the throne room, Maul had finally lost patience. "SILENCE! You think you know me? It was I who languished thinking of nothing but you. Nothing but this moment. And now I have the perfect tool for my vengeance right in front of me. I never planned on killing you, but I will make you share my pain." Maul said gloatingly, activated the Dark Saber and moved in to kill the women Obi-Wan loved.
For a second it seemed that Maul was about to win, until a voice broke the silence. "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!"
From his location, Fenrir pulled the trigger of the rifle he held and sent a .50BMG bullet into the head of one the Mandalorian traitors, taking the head off as Kasumi and the others crashed through the windows of the palace, taking down the Death Watch traitors with their weapons.
Caught off guard by this, Maul and his brother were sent crashing into the wall of the throne room and could only watch as Obi-Wan elbowed the soldiers holding him, called his Lightsaber to him along with Satine and activated his weapon.
"TRAITOR!" Maul roared to the only Death Watch soldier who wasn't dead. "No. I am no traitor." The soldier said and revealed to be Robert who had infiltrated the palace with his armors hologuise. "I am Iron Man." He joked.
"You let your overconfidence get the better of you Maul. You let your guard down and didn't count on one thing. Me and my friends." Robert stated as more and more Death Watch forces entered the throne room.
"You boy are mistaken. You can't leave this planet your ship is destroyed." Maul chuckled as he and his brother activated their own sabers. "Who said I was going to leave." Robert corrected. "MY MOTHERS HOMEWORLD WILL BE LIBERATED!" he shouted.
At that very moment, in orbit around the planet a dozen Acclamator assault ships and Venator class-Star Destroyers dropped out of hyperspace, opened their hanger bays and sent every gunship they had with walkers, troopers, tanks and mechs towards the surface.
"Wolfs Dragoons. Commence the liberation of Mandalore." Halberton spoke to the fleet.
Back at the palace, Almec had just confirmed the appearance of a large Republic fleet.
Taking the opportunity to leave the palace, Obi-Wan turned to Robert with a surprised look on his face. "I thought you were told not to send your fleet to Mandalore?" he asked confused. In all honesty, he was grateful the Dragoons were here.
"It's just like I told Tarkin. The hell I can't I'm a Captain." Robert responded as he blasted several collective soldiers with his M4. "Good thing you planned for this. If it weren't for you, Satine would be dead." Kasumi said before looking to a surprised Satine. "Your Highness." She said.
"I am no longer the ruler of Mandalore. I could do nothing and I was removed from power." Satine said sadly as she was placed into a speeder that was outside the palace where Fenrir and the rest of Clan Bralor were waiting.
"Stop being mopey and get up. Mandalore will be freed and you will return to be its leader. But this time, it would be best of you try something different to prevent this from happening again." Fenrir said blasting an incoming Collective soldier that was about to take a pot shot at Satine.
"There is no version of this where you get killed and Mandalore is plunged into civil war. Maybe you aren't the ruler of Mandalore now and maybe its too much for you and me. But if we can't save Mandalore, you can be dame sure we will avenge it." Robert proclaimed firing his rifle at any collective forces trying to stop their escape.
Satine looked at the boy from earth and she felt like, his speech and his vow were certainly that of a warrior. Her thoughts were interrupted when a pair collective droids came in from the palace, their blasters primed for attack. Quickly, she grabbed the Punisher and pulled the trigger several times, sending eight .500 S&W Magnum rounds into the droids, leaving nothing left of the criminal droids.
"Nice shooting." Robert said, taking the pistol from the Duchess and signaling the rest of the Nite-Owls in the city to head back to base camp before any more lives were lost.
Meanwhile, no one knew that Darth Sidious himself having sensed a disturbance in the force was on his way to Mandalore to deal with his former apprentice.
Three hours later
Obi-Wans point of view
Hotel Zephyr Nite-Owl/Dragoons base camp
Satines injuries from the interrogations that Almec had ordered on her were quite severe. Even though the wounds had healed, the scars of those wounds were still visible. I may not be an expert healer or on the same level that Barriss was when she left the order, but I am more than capable of healing injuries of this type.
Watching Satine sleeping quietly, I came to realize what other Jedi before me have realized. I always thought the code of the Jedi was something a Jedi was to follow for all their life, now I know its only a set of rules and only you could determine how to live your life. Even after all these years, I have finally excepted that my feelings for Satine are real.
I love her, more than anything in this galaxy. Like I told Satine, had she said the word years ago I would have left the order to be with her, looks like I might actually do that.
"How's the Duchess?" Robert asked me as he entered the medical room, in his Hero's armor instead of his Mjolnir.
"She's stable. According to the information Bo acquired, Almec had used interrogation droids on her to try and break her will. Fortunately, Satine was strong and refused to give in but the physical wounds are still visible. A bit of time in a bacta tank will help heal the wounds." I explained.
"And it will give you a chance to see the Duchess semi-naked." He joked.
"Very funny. I am not that kind of person." I retorted.
Robert just laughed. "Relax, I'm just messing with you. I actually came to get you. We got in touch with the council, and they are none to happy that you disobeyed orders. Nonetheless, since we're here they have given us the green light to liberate the planet." he explained.
"Well at least the republic will be helping the people of Mandalore." I said in agreement and left the medical tent, joining Barney and the others at the holo-table.
"Took a lot of balls for you to risk court-martial for this kid. Tarkin's been on your ass since the Citadel." Gunner reminded his nephew. "Ah, let that bastard try all the dirty tricks in the book. He doesn't know a thing about combat, especially since he's been siting pretty giving orders to his men from an office instead of the frontlines." Robert countered.
It was true, Tarkin had been giving his men orders from his office on Coruscant rather than his flagship, Conqueror. Though there have been times when he has accompanied his forces on missions, the details of which were only shared to the Chancellor.
My suspicions about Tarkin being a possible separatist spy have been becoming more and more confirmed, but without viable proof we can't arrest him on such accusations.
"We have over a dozen active battlefronts across the planet. Dragoon and Nite-Owl forces have been pushing back Mauls forces with ease, but there has been no movement of the remaining Collective forces in Sundari. Its almost as if Maul is anticipating an attack." Barney stated.
I was about to share my own thoughts when Halberton contacted us. "Pardon the interruption, but we just detected an unknown vessel exiting hyperspace and heading towards Sundari. Scans indicated its ETA-Class shuttle, but its not matching any known shuttles on record." The admiral explained.
"Its possible Maul had called for reinforcements. But how did he get his hands on a shuttle?" Grace asked.
Everyone then turned to Bo. "I am confused about this like everyone else. Even before Maul took control, Vizsla never ordered the theft of a shuttle and if he did, I knew nothing about it." Bo stated, defending her innocence.
"Well we can't just ignore it. Barney, you and the others lead the Dragoons and liberate the planet. I'll go check out the mystery shuttle." Robert stated and headed towards one of parked Balutar-class speeder bike.
While the others began to discuss battle plans, I followed Robert. "I would be careful if I were you. I sensed a disturbance in the force, a very powerful disturbance. I think it would be best if I go with you." I offered. But Robert just shook his head. "Its better that you stay here and help Satine. I can sense that she has the same feelings you have for you. Take it from a guy whose is in love." He stated, hopped on the speeder and headed back towards the capital.
"Just stay safe, for Ahsoka's sake." I said quietly.
Normal point of view
1800 hours
The moon shined bright over the Mandalorian capital as Robert arrived at the loading dock where the unknown shuttle had landed. Pulling his hood over his head, he leapt onto the pad and found two of Mauls soldiers dead.
"Looks like these two weren't killed by weapons but the Force. It couldn't have been Dooku." He assed before he turned to the unknown ETA-Shuttle. "Looks like this thing was modified intensely, passenger capacity has been reduced and I can feel a strong dark side presence from this thing." He surmised.
He was about to access the ships flight log, when he sensed a disturbance in the force. "Crap, sounds like the force-user is here. Better make myself scarce." He said, exited the shuttle and leapt to the top of one of the cargo containers nearby.
As Robert hid, Sidious in his velvet Red cloak walked towards the ship with Maul dragged by what appeared to be two Red Guards into the shuttle. "When I first heard the rumors that you were alive, I couldn't believe it to be true. But seeing you alive with my own eyes certainly has made me realize that you have other uses." Sidious chuckled as his guards placed the former Sith Lord into the shuttle.
"The only use this guy has being put behind bars." Robert stated and emerged from his hiding place. "Anyone you see to have use for is only going to help us end the war." He added.
"The Lone Wolf." Sidious growled.
"Wait, how could you see someone with cloak of yours blocking your view? Because unless your blind, that would be funny." Robert joked.
Sidious didn't take this lightly and soon began to use the force, throwing smaller crates at Robert, who just dodged every single one of the incoming crates with the kind of speed worthy of New York Cities friendly neighborhood Spider Man.
"Missed, missed, oh missed again." He joked dodging each crate that sent his way, this was part of his plan.
"Cease your incessant prattling!" Sidious roared and sent another crate towards the Dragoons leader. "But incessant is the best kind of prattling." Robert quipped, leaping over the crate just as it was about to make contact with his face.
He thought he was in the clear until another crate was about to hit him. Quickly, he ignited his mothers Lightsaber and sliced the crate in half. "Truly your skills are formidable. Perhaps you would consider joining me. Together, we can achieve great things, its what your mother would do." Sidious said trying to get Robert to join him.
"Sorry old man, but no fucking way am I going to just turn my back on my friends and family. I only care about one thing; justice." Robert stated.
"So be it. I was hoping to get the descendant of Revan on my side, but it appears that you are better off dead." Sidious said dissonantly and activated his sabers. "Join your mother in death." He roared and charged forwards dragging his sabers across the landing pad.
(Rage of Dust, by Spyair starts)
Sidious brought his sabers down on Robert, but the Dragoon leader quickly activated Revans Lightsaber blocking the enemy attack before sending Sidious back with a strong Force Push. "And here I thought Sith Lords had more brains than brawn." Robert joked as he blocked a torrent of Sith Lightning sent towards him.
"Bet you got a charge out of that one." He joked, charging forward and attacking with a double form V strike. Sidious parried the attack and Juyo strike followed by a Makashi and Niman strike aimed Roberts head and arms.
"Hey watch it. You could really hurt someone with those swords." Robert quipped blocking each strike before they could even make contact.
Sidious growled and soon began to attack with random attacks which had started to become sloppy and on the level of an amateur lightsaber duelist. "SHUT UP YOU DAMNED EARTHLING! I AM THE MOST POWERFUL SITH LORD THE GALAXY HAS EVER SEEN!" he roared. This gave Robert the chance he needed and in one swift motion, knocked on Sidious's lightsabers out of his hands and destroyed it.
"One down, one to go." Robert stated and deactivated Revan's saber.
Sidious only chuckled. "So that's your plan. Get me to lose control and of my anger and become sloppy. Clever boy, but not clever enough. DARKNESS FINGER!" Sidious said and sent a powerful attack towards Robert. "Two can pay at that game." Robert said, jumping out of the way of the attack and began to channeled his own energy into his mothers' saber. "This hand of mine is burning red, its loud roar tells me to grasp victory. ERUPTING BURNING FINGER!" Robert roared and sent a powerful Form IV cross slash towards his opponent.
Sidious was able to avoid the attack and quickly retreated to his shuttle which immediately took off and fled the planet. "COWARD!" Robert roared and deactivated his moms' saber just as Obi-Wan, Barney, the Nite-Owls and Dragoons arrived.
(Song ends)
"Sidious took Maul and got away. He's up to something, but without Maul Mandalore is free." Robert stated. Even with the victory, something still bothered him. What was Sidious planning?
Looking back to the newly liberated capital, Robert shouted "EXCELSIOR!"
Sorry for the long wait with this chapter. I got a bit carried away with Red Dead Redemption 2. Hope you can all forgive me.
For those who don't know, Rally Vincent is from the Manga/OVA anime Gunsmith cats. I have only watched the OVA and not read the Manga.
Anyways, I am debating if I want to actually go with doing all of the temple bombing episodes or have Robert arrive on Coruscant after he hears about Ahsoka being arrested or just skipping them an mentioning the events. Which would you like to see, let me know in a review.
Again, this chapter is dedicated to Stan Lee, the man of Marvels and the one who taught us never to judge someone because they are different. He will be missed and for those of you in the states, happy belated Thanksgiving.