Welcome back my fellow readers to another exciting chapter of Lone Wolf: End of a Journey. You are all in for a special treat this chapter for you are about to see the Lone Wolf team up with a Legend. A Hairy Legend.
That's right, its time for Chewbacca to return to the story. But first some reviews.
Mpowers045: Glad you liked the previous chapter. Trust me when I say that Shaak Ti is going to be the mother she should have been when the time comes.
Spartan-626: Glad you liked the last chapter. Then again, you like all my chapters I have posted for my Lone Wolf Series, well maybe not all of them but I'm glad you liked it. As for HK using the phrase 'Meatbag' I can't promise anything but I will try to remember that for future chapters. Honestly, I felt like I didn't do a good job at capturing HK-47's personality. Though I will admit, the Transformers Prime line was something I felt like would work for the droid
As for Shaak Ti, you'll just have to wait and see 'if' she lives long enough to be reunited with her daughter. I was kind of hopping I would have surprised you with this chapter. As for the Super Star Destroyer Robert is building, it will be a one of kind ship and used only by the Dragoons or those the Lone Wolf trusts. Like Anakin, Yularen, Kilian and Coburn. Anyone that hasn't earned his trust, not going to happen.
Now then, reviews out of the way its time for a very special chapter. Disclaimers are the same as before, please enjoy.
In Memory of Peter Mayhew 1944-2019
Chapter 26: Wrath of a Wookie
March 15th 2020, 19BBY
Kachirho, Kashyyyk
2000 hours
Normal point of view
The Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk was full of immense jungles and forests which would make any veteran of fighting in the Vietnam war suffer from suvere PTSD due to the many memories of the comrades they lost in the jungle terrain.
At first glance, the Wookies could be considered to be nothing more than walking carpets, a primitive species and slaves. But people like that are very wrong. The Wookies are known as one of the galaxies toughest, loyal and itelligant species. Expert crafters and warriors, a single Wookie could handle two squads of invaders single-handedly without even taking a scratch.
This also proved to make them valuable as both slaves for their strength and craftsmen ship and prey for those who hunt them. Wookie pelts are considered very rare and makes them a worthy target for Trandoshan's and other hunters looking for the ultimate challenge. However, those who under estimated them learned what the Wookies were capable of, just before their deaths.
If one was lucky enough, to save a Wookie they would be given a life debt by the Wookie they saved, who would stick by them until the debt is completed or the Wookie is killed.
At the outbreak of the Clone Wars, the Wookies remained a neutral party while their neighbors, the Trandoshan's refused such an agreement. As a result of this, small groups of Trandoshan's began to work with the Separatist's in several engagements, even going so far as to capture a Republic assault ship with the intent of selling it to the CIS and the information it had on the separatist plans for the wookie homeworld.
They failed, but the Wookies were still in great danger from the separatists and their lizard enemies.
Located directly on the coast of the Wawaatt Acrhipelago, Kachirho is the home of the Claatuvac Guild, the center of Wookie hyperspace mapping. If one had the fear of heights, Kachiro was not the place for them to live. A vast network of bridges connected the trees to one another allowing for easy traversing of the city for both natives and visitors alike.
As the moons light shined over the city, Wookie sentries patrolled the area keeping their eyes out for anything out of the ordinary that would threaten the people of the city. One patrol crossed one of the large bridges on the lower levels of the city and was about to continue their patrol when one of the Wookie's caught the scent of something that started to upset him.
The other Wookies with him caught the scent as well and raised their Bowcasters anticipating a battle. The scent soon vanished and the Wookies were about to leave when a series of precise shots killed the patrol.
All across the city, other patrols were taken down in the same manner before the bodies of the Wookie warriors were pulled away before the next patrol arrived. When the next patrols arrived, they found only the dead warriors' weapons and raised the alarm.
By the time morning arrived, the missing patrols were still not found and it caused the head of the night patrol some great concern. Luckily for him, the patrols were found but not in the way he wanted. Approaching the location of the dead warriors, Tarrful the Cheiftan of Kachiro covered his nose in disgust. Hanging from the branchs several feet in the air with their pelts removed leaving only their bare bloodied furless skin were the patrols that went missing. Some of the smaller Wookie children howled in sadness since some of them lost their fathers and brothers.
While the bodies were being given a proper burial, Tarrful looked towards a concerned Chewbacca who knew something wasn't right about the deaths of his fellow brothers. His thoughts were proven right when an autopsy done by the only non-Wookie doctor on Kashyyyk identified that all of the patrols were killed by a high-powered slug-thrower rifle. A scale on one of the dead wookies matched that of a Trandoshan, but traces of droid fluid was found on the scale. Tarrful then concluded that the both the Separatists and Trandoshan's were behind this incident and immediately following this discovery, orded a group of scouts to investigate the jungle for any signs of an enemy camp.
He then dispatched Chewbacca to Coruscant to request the aid of the Lone Wolf.
March 16th
Coruscant
1545 hours
Normal point of view
Standing outside Master Yoda's quarters, Robert took a deep breath before Yoda allowed him to enter his quarters. It may have been only a few weeks since Shaak Ti told Robert her secret but the he wanted be sure that Yoda wasn't considering expelling her from the order
"Enter." Yoda said from the otherside of the door and the two entered the room. "Told you the truth, Shaak Ti has yes?" Yoda asked
"Yes, master Yoda. I'm surprised I didn't see the resemblance sooner. While they don't exactly look alike, she is certainly is Ahsoka's mother. Her blood type matches Ahsoka." Robert began before taking a seat in front of the elde master. "Tell me you're not going to expel her from the order. Sure, she broke the code but she only followed her heart. Is that so wrong?" he asked
"Expel her from the order, I will not. A great child Shaak Ti brought into this world." Yoda answered, getting Robert to let out a collective sigh of relief/ "For along time, thought about the Jedi code I have. Realized that too attached to the code we are. If nothing is done, then destroyed the order will be." He added.
"Didn't see that coming." Robert said surprised.
"Long before today, attachments were allowed by the old Jedi order before newer generations believe that the attachments led to the darkside. But seen that attachments, a sign of the darkside they are not. A sign of the light they are. Without attachments, we become emotionless and cold like the Sith. If to survive, changed the code must be. But at the moment, the right time it is not." Yoda explained.
"I agree, unless this war ends and Sidious is killed, the Sith will no doubt try and turn one of you against the order. That's probally the reason Sidious is so interested in Anakin, he want's the choosen one on his side and if failing that, the last desendant of Revan." Robert said.
"Agree with you I do, Captain. But fear I do that in much more danger young Tano is. Through the Force, seeing her pain I do. Trying to aquire the Nexus Route the Separatists are. If aquired, in great danger we all are." The small Jedi said.
"Then what do we do?" Robert asked.
"For the time being, remain at the temple Shaak Ti shall. Need time to clear her mind she does, and a chance for her to find a lead to Ahsoka's wearabouts she can, with Breakers help." Yoda said, getting up from his seat.
"As for us. To the hanger we must go. An old friend here to see you they are. Need your help he does." Yoda said. Robert nodded and followed the elder Jedi master once he stood up. Once the two reached the hanger, they found Chewbacca waiting for them and once the Wookie saw Robert, gave him a massive hug.
"Ok, ok Chewie. Its good to see you too, but could you let me go? It's getting hard for me to breath." Robert groaned under the weight of Chewbacca's massive hug. Chewbacca let Robert go before he kneeled down to Yoda's level and spoke to the elder Jedi. The small green Jedi listened and assured Chewbacca that the Jedi would assist the Wookies. He then turned to Robert.
"Trandoshans and battle droids on Kashyyyk, Chewbacca has informed me. Brutaly murdered, several Wookies have been and Tarrfuls scouts, disappeared they have. Something amiss there is. Request your assistance the Wookies have. Your skills, needed for this mission they are." Yoda stated.
"Define 'brutaly murdered'. Are we talking about arm and leg less corpses or skinned and hanging upside down corpses?" Robert asked. Yoda then answered it was the second describition. "Feels like something is big is going down in the Jungle's of Kashyyyk," Robert began before turning to Chewbacca. "Looks like you're getting my help big guy. Hope you like slug-throwers, cause you're going to using one, hope you can handle the recoil." Robert added.
Chewbacca growled in agreement and then spoke to Yoda. "Asked me to assist you in this matter, Chewbacca has. A good friend to the Wookies I am. Return here you will when you have collected your gear." The master said, who then sat down and meditated.
"Well, lets get going." Robert said to the Wookie who had already boarded a nearby jedi speeder and headed for the Range.
By the time they reached the Range, they found Mission and Honoka talking about Missions adventures with Revan when the two entered the Range. For a minute, Mission thought she was looking at her old friend Zaalbar but Robert quickly explained that the Wookies name was Chewbacca.
"What do you know, a giant walking carpet. Man, this place is full of surprises." Honoka said jokingly. Chewie on the other hand, didn't find it funny and roared at her causing the Japanese girl to jump back in fear.
"He doesn't like being called a walking carpet. Chewie and I are here to get our equipment. Droids are up to something with the Trandoshans and they've already pulled a Predator on the Wookies. Skinned them alive, but left the skulls and spines intact. It smells bad." Robert explained. He then looked around the Range. "Where is everybody?" he then asked.
Honoka then explained that Kasumi, Rally, Hitomi and Marie were looking in the red-light district of the sub-levels for any leads on Tarkin's whereabouts. The Expendables were leading the Dragoons on a mission on Dantooine and HK-47 was in the armory putting the finishing touches on his personal AK-47. Boomer than walked up to the Wookie and sniffed him. Chewbacca kneeled down and petted the dog and was then rewarded by a nice dog kiss.
"If you got a mission. We're going with you. We need some action and Kashyyyk sounds nice." Honoka said.
The door to the armory opened and out came HK-47 and Barney. "Statement: If you're working with a hairy meatbag, then I shall accompany you captain. My assault rifle is ready for combat." The assassin droid said.
"Ok then, gear up and meet us at the temple in twenty-minutes. General Yoda will be accompanying us on this one." Robert said. The others nodded and headed for one of the speeders while Robert, Chewbacca and Boomer entered the armory.
To Chewbacca's surprise, he found himself staring at weapons he had never seen before. He then watched Robert place his armor on his chest which then shifted to cover his entire body before placing his helmet on his head. "Take your pick of firepower." Robert said to the Wookie before loading up his own weapons.
The selection of weapons was vast for the Wookie so it made it hard for him to choose what firepower to select. After a few minutes, he made his choice.
By the time they returned to the Temple, Chewbacca had choosen an AA12 shotgun with a thirty-two round drum magazine and holographic sight and a M60E4 machine gun sporting a two-hundred round belt fed magazine, red dot sight and muzzle break. "Let's not keep your people waiting." Robert said to the Wookie, boarding the ETA-class shuttle that was prepared for them, which then departed from the Temple hanger.
It didn't take long for the ship to reach Kashyyyk and land in Kachirho. When they landed, Tarrful was waiting for them and greated them warmly, especially Yoda who the chieftan knew very well. Once the reunion between the two was finished, Tarrful lead the group to the area where the doctor had set up shop.
"Ah, you must be the Jedi Tarrful asked to come to the planet." The doctor said, turning around from their datapad revealing the doctor was a female Mirialan with yellow skin, blue eyes and blonde hair in their early twenties wearing typical doctors' garments. "I am doctor Adeli. Please, this way Master Jedi." She said, gesturing the group to follow her.
"This is the only body of the Wookie guards that has yet to be buried. I thought it would be best for you to see it yourself. This warrior didn't deserve to die like this." She said sadly, revealing the dead Wookie on the examination table.
"Yep, looks like someone took the Wookie's pelt and left us a carcass." Honoka said bluntly, only to receive a smack to the back of the head by HK-47. "Angered Statement: Show some respect for the fallen warrior young meatbag." The droid said to the Salmon haired girl, who was rubbing the back of her head.
Robert just walked over to the body and lowered his head in silence. While he may not have known the Wookie, he felt a great deal of sadness not just for the dead warrior but the Wookie's family. With his head lowered, he could swear he saw flashes of the fallen warrior's life and those he left behind.
"Has the patrol you sent came back Chieftan?" Robert asked Tarfull.
Tarfull growled and moaned answering Roberts question, which Yoda translated. "Returned they have not. Supposed to return by the time we arrived, they were." Yoda said on Tarfulls behalf.
"Where did they go?" Barney asked.
"According to Tarfull, a possible location on the enemy landing zone, deep in the jungle two miles from the city, there is." Yoda answered the Expendables leader.
"Then we'll head into the jungle. I need a Trandoshan scale. Boomer can track them by scent and he should be able to lead us to the enemy location. All we have to do is just not let our guard down." Robert explained, after getting a couple of questionable looks to him from the Doctor Adeli, Tarrful and Mission.
"Go with you, I shall. Know the jungle well I do." Yoda stated. Robert nodded and Chewbacca led them to one of the lifts that connected Kachirho to the ground and once they got on the lift, began to descend to ground level.
"Well, lets just hope there isn't a Predator waiting for us in the jungle." Honoka joked as Robert knelt down and held the Trandoshan scale infront of Boomer, who sniffed it. Upon aquiring the scent, the cattle dog placed his nose to the ground and walked slowly away from the city towards the jungle with his companions following close behind, weapons at the ready. They didn't know that one of the attackers from the night before had spotted them and had contacted his allies.
Chewbacca point of view
I must admit, in all my years I have never met an individual such as the Robert. From what I heard, he is a man of great skill, willing to face impossible odds and do what ever it takes to complete a mission. While he is connected to the force, he prefers ranged weapondry but is more than willing to adapt to the circumstances and use his sabers.
He is also of man of great honor. He never once took the lives of innocent people or causes damage to the surrounding area. According to him, it's the code his father followed and would follow till the day he dies. He even fights fare against those who wield a weapon similar to a lightsaber, like General Grievous and Dooku. The latter of who was his mothers master.
I admit it was as he said 'quite a shock' that he was related in someway to Count Dooku, the separatist leader. Then again, it must be the reason that Dooku is trying to end the war peacefully. I honestly would like to live in a galaxy that isn't divide by war and where I could provide a decent home for my people.
It was fortunate that for us we had his Uncle, Barney Ross with us. According to the Lone Wolf, his uncle was a 'Delta Force' soldier and had conducted numerous missions in the jungles and forests of his home planet, Earth. Having someone like him with us would come in very handy when we found the patrol, if they were still alive.
We stopped after leaving the city behind a half hour ago. By now the sun had started to set and it was becoming dark. It would make our search much more difficult, especially with the Wyyyschokk or webweavers that lurked in the caves and hanged in the trees. Their mandibles held a deadly posion which can immobilize their victims, leaving them unable to defend themselves and prevent the spiders from wrapping them up in thick web strands. They are also skilled trackers and hunt in packs with their intelligence.
I have seen many an offworlder who came to my planet to hunt these spiders, believing themselves to be smarter than the bugs, only to find they had underestimated these creatures and ended up becoming their next meal. Nothing of them was ever left, not even their equipment.
My thoughts were broken as Boomer's fur shot up and the dog began to growl. This caused all of us to raise our weapons and scan our surrondings, but found nothing. "Must have been a false alarm." The human girl, Honoka said with relief lowering her weapon.
"If it's a false alarm," began the Twi'lek, Mission "Then why I am feeling something dripping on my head." She added, feeling her head and found something liquid on her head. "Blood!" she exclaimed and looked up. What we saw shocked us.
Like the guards, the patrol was hanging upside completely removed of their fur but unlike the guards, the patrol was dripping more blood than usual. The sight of my fellow Wookies, coupled with the smell from the bodies made me sick to my stomach but I kept my composure. Honoka and Mission on the other hand didn't and vomited at the sight of this.
"Mother of God." Barney said and cut loose the patrol. Once they were on the ground, Robert knelt down and examined one of the bodies. "These Wookie's had their skull and spines removed. What are we dealing with a Predator?" he asked.
"Answer: A predator couldn't skin these Meatbags like this. I suspect we are dealing with something we haven't seen before." HK-47 said in disagreement.
"Whatever did this, its obvious it was done with a large blade weapon of some kind. The flaying anyway, looks like someone pulled out the skull and spine of these warriors with their barehands. I can't imagine anyone doing something like this without enhancing their bodies." The Lone Wolf stated.
"Regardless, something out of place there is. On guard we must be." Yoda added.
"We'll mark the bodies and set up camp in that cave over there. I take it that cave is abandoned?" Robert asked me.
I nodded yes and we headed for the cave, just in time as the rain began to fall.
It took a while for us to light a fire in the cave, but once it was lit, we huddled by the fire to keep warm. Boomer nuzzled up beside me and quickly fell asleep. I rubbed the dog behind its ears as it barked in its sleep and turned to Yoda, who let out a hearty chuckle at how fast the earth dog and I became friends.
Barney and HK were checking their weapons while Mission and Honoka were just about falling asleep. Robert stood guard by the entrance of the cave, his weapons ready in case of trouble. I knew that he was worried about Ahsoka and I couldn't blame him, I was worried about her too since she helped me get off the Trandoshan hunting world and it was because of her that the Lone Wolf saved my life.
When this is over, I personally want to repay my life debt to Earths mightiest warrior. Hopefully, I can do so by joining the dragoons. I soon closed my eyes and fell asleep.
The next morning, I awoke to find that Honoka and Mission weren't with us. A strand of thick webbing led us to conclude that a Wyyyschokk or two must have sneaked up on them and took them to their nest.
Its rare that the Wyyyschokk take their victims to their nest which means they were still alive. HK-47 concluded that the nest must be close if they were able to get the drop on us.
Lucky for us, Boomer managed to pick up Honoka's scent and no sooner had we finished packing up our gear the dog bolted out of the cave. "FOLLOW THAT DOG!" Robert shouted and we all followed the dog, with master Yoda hoping on my back.
Boomer moved faster than speeder bike so it made it difficult for us to catch up to him, but we continued on after him and soon caught up to him standing infront of a large cave, which was clearly not made by natural causes. It was almost like someone had built the cave, seeing as it was large enough for a large ship to enter.
"Great, a bug hole. I really hate bugs." Robert said with disgust, activating his armors headlights and aiming his rifle as he entered the cave. The rest of us followed suit all of us followed him into the cave with our own weapons at the ready. Somehow, I felt like there was more to this cave than we knew.
When we entered the cave, I soon caught the wiff of a foul scent. No doubt something else in the cave was already rotting after being eaten by the Wyyyschokks after under estimating them. The further we went in the cave, the stronger the scent became until we found the source of the scent. Several Kybuck corpeses were found completely torn apart by the spiders. Along with them were several bodies of Trandoshan hunters which were all wrapped in webbing and dripping blood.
"Looks like these guys didn't stand a chance against the bugs." Robert said with a chuckle, kneeling down to pick up a fallen ACP repeater gun. "Poor bastards, they never stood a chance against these guys." He added, throwing the empty weapon aside.
"Close, our companions are." Yoda said. He was proven right when we heard the muffled screams of two females coming from very close by. Turning our heads, we found two cocoons dangling a few feet off the ground, their occupants struggling to try and break free from the webbing.
"The things she gets herself into." Robert joked, unsheathed his knife and began to cut the first cocoon open; Barney did the same thing to the other cocoon and in a few minutes both girls were out of the cocoon's. "You really have a knack for getting into trouble, don't you Honoka?" he joked again.
I chuckled myself getting a nasty look from the Lone Wolfs earth friend. "Laugh it up, fuzzball." She said in a mildy angry tone. "I hate it when I get caught off guard, especially by bugs." Honoka added, taking one of Roberts sidearms, aimed at a dead Wyyyschokk and fired. Each shot she made cause small bits of blood to splatter across her face. She continued to fire until her borrowed weapon was out of ammo. "I hate bugs." She said with anger.
"Well," Robert began taking his handgun back, ejected its spent magazine loaded a new one and returned it to his holster. "If you're done shooting a corpse, we need to get moving. I have a feeling the rest of the spiders in this cave might have heard those gunshots. Meaning you've just rang the dinner bell." He said with a small bit of anger in his voice, aiming his own rifle down the cave.
Sure enough, a large swarm of a hundred or more Wyyyschokk's were heading towards us some of them drooling as they came closer and closer to us. I raised the machine gun I was given, aimed at the closet spider and fired.
The recoil was like nothing I ever felt before but my shoot hit one of the spiders, hurting it before I downed it with a second shot, right on its head. I took aim at the horde and pulled the trigger again. I sprayed numerous rounds at the approaching horde taking down over a dozen more insects. The others followed suit with their own weapons and I was clear to me that we were in for a tough time.
Normal point of view
Further in the cave, numerous Wyyyschokk eggs laid in waiting some of them shaking before they hatched and the newly hatched spiders screeched before heading towards the entrance where their brethren were trying to capture their next meal. As the hatchlings headed for the entrance behind them stood their mother, the size of a Corpser with grey skin and hair, red eyes and looking very pissed.
Hearing the screams of her dying children, the mother spider slowly but surely made her way towards the individuals attacking her children.
Back with the group Barney fired off a burst from his LMG A1 taking down a few spiders before he released the trigger, shifted his sights to the right and fired a longer burst of machine gun fire. Five spiders were downed followed by six more until he had to reload his machine gun. Rather than doing so, he attached his weapon to his back and detached his ACR from his back, aimed down his rifles red dot sight and fired. A burst of 6.8mm rounds impacted the body of one spider, killing it before several more were mowed down by rifle fire.
HK-47 on the other hand sprayed numerous rounds from his customized AK-47 assault rifle. Being an assassin droid, HK had equipped his rifle with a one-hundred round drum magazine, a hybrid thermal/ACOG scope, its standard stock replaced with that of the RPD machine gun, a GP-25 40mm grenade launcher which acted as both launcher and handgrip and muzzle brake to counter the any unwanted muzzle rise.
He reduced ten insects to nothing but corpses before he ejected his spent magazine, loaded a fresh one into his rifle and then fired his under-barrel grenade launcher. 40mm shrapnel lodged itself into several spiders who then died due to lose of blood, their bodies being crawled over by the other spiders. "Excited Statement: I do love the slaughter of meatbags." The assassin droid said, resuming his attack on the spiders.
"Someone needs their programing adjusted." Honoka stated, loading a new magazine into her Howa Type 89 and resumed firing. "I find it really creepy that your basic programming is to kill anyone you're ordered to." She added before a spider lunged at her. Raising her rifle, she skewered the spider with her bayonet throwing the dead insect off her weapon and fired her weapon.
"Hey, he's an assassin droid. Cut him some slack." Mission countered, firing short controlled bursts from her DC-15s carbine downing multiple spiders with precision and effecinty. While she did know how to use a gun, she was still learning the basics of firearms usage and preffered to use what she's used to.
Chewbacca and Robert on the other hand stood side by side firing their weapons and had downed numerous insects when the ground began to shake. "Leave, we must." Yoda said when he heard the shaking.
It was a good thing the elder Jedi said it because approaching them at was a very angry mother. "CORPSER!" Honoka yelled in panic.
"RUN LIKE HELL!" Robert shouted and the group bolted for the exit. Barney, Honoka, Mission and HK-47 made it out of the cave but just before Robert and the others made it out, the ground beneath them gave way and the four fell down a large hole.
"KID/ROBERT/MASTER!" all four shouted as the cave collapsed.
"We're ok. The ground wasn't as stable as we thought so it gave way. We're in some kind of lower cave, not sure if its natural but we can't get back the way we came. We'll find another way out. In the meantime, see if you can find the enemy camp and wait for us. We'll catch up." Robert said over the commlink.
"You sure about that?" Barney asked in a concerned voice.
Back inside the cave, Robert stared up at the hole they fell through which was now covered by rocks. "Say again uncle. I didn't copy that." he said into the commlink only to get static. "Scrap. Looks like we're on our own for now. Hope we can find the exit." He said before walking over to Boomer.
When he fell, Boomer sprained his front right leg making it hard for the dog to walk. Fortunately, Yoda was able to heal the dog's leg easing the pain the cattle dog had endured and made it easier for the dog to walk.
"Truly grateful, your four-legged companion is." The elder Jedi said.
"Dogs are man's best friend after all. Now let's see if we can get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps." Robert admitted and reminded. Chewbacca growled in agreement and once they were ready went looking for the exit.
That was easier said then done, for it turned out that the cave was actually another part of the nest. Thankfully, the other spiders hadn't found them yet there was no doubt that they heading down towards the lower level of the nest.
Chewbacca roared with anger raising his shotgun and aimed it down the tunnel. "A danger, in this tunnel there is. Heading towards us, the queen is." Yoda transalated for Chewbacca.
"Then I think its time we bug out of here. Last thing I want is to end up as a meal for some spider bitch and her children." Robert cursed, removing his helmet and felt a breeze brush past him. "Exit is that way." he then said pointing to the right and putting his helmet back on.
Yoda hopped on Chewbacca's back and immediately followed after Robert with Boomer right behind them. The closer they got to the exit, the more spiders they encountered. Rather than stand and hold their ground, they pushed through the horde of bugs taking down as many as they could until they finally made it to the exit.
Their relief was short lived as the mother burst through the cave behind them and with a swing of one of its massive legs, knocked the group down to the ground before it grabbed hold of Chewbacca with a strand of webbing and began to drag the Wookie towards her.
Raising his AA12, Chewbacca fired his weapon at the spider in attempt to get the mother to let him go only his shots did nothing to stop her from pulling him closer and closer to the spiders open mouth and poisonous mandiables.
It was only when the queen's legs were sliced in half by a pair of blue and green lightsabers did the spider finally stopping pulling the Wookie towards her. Using the opportunity, Robert leapt in front of Chewbacca, sliced the webbing that was stuck to the Wookie's leg off, freeing the Wookie. Robert then rolled to the right avoiding the attack by one of the queen's still attached legs before jumping onto the spiders back and emptied an entire magazine into the queen's head, finally killing the spider.
Jumping off the dead spider, he grabbed the corpse with the force and threw it into the cave before he whipped out his BFG in launcher mode, charged up the weapon and fired at the cave's opening. The blast wasn't a powerful one, but it was more then enough to collapse the entrance to the gave, trapping the dead queen's children inside. "One entrance sealed." He said before turning to see Chewbacca standing behind him with a smile on his face.
"Is it too late for me to call in that life debt you ow me?" Robert asked the wookie. Chewbacca just pulled the Lone Wolf towards him and wrapped him in a hug. "I take that as a yes." Robert groaned under the strain of Chewie's strength before he was released. Barney and the others soon quickly joined them.
"Glad you guys aren't bug food. I'd hate to find your torn body." Honoka said with relief.
"I told you before, it will take a lot more to kill me. Plus, I've got a Wookie's life debt now so it wouldn't be good to be dead now would it?" Robert joked.
"So, that means Bigfoot here is a part of the Dragoons now?" Barney asked. Robert nodded and Barney thanked Chewbacca for saving his nephew. It was then that Boomer, who had managed to get away from the group to do his business began barking like crazy. Running over to the Cattle Dog, they saw that Boomer had found a Trandoshan/Seperatist outpost hidden deep in the forest.
Roberts point of view
In all but four hours since we had woken up, we fought giant spiders that reminded me too much of the Arachnids and Locust Corpser, saved my friends from being devoured by spiders, killed a giant spider and earned my life debt from Chewbacca, making him a member of the Dragoons. I thought we were way off course after that little escapade, but thanks to Boomer we found what we were looking for.
I couldn't tell if the camp we were observing was an advance force or something much more. Whatever the case was, it was clear that the Separatists were involved and as battle droids ranging from standard B1s and B2's to the BX-series commando droids and several IG-100 MagnaGuard's. Also, with them were numerous Trandoshan Mercenaries, Slavers and Elites all armed with either Separatist weapondry, ACP Repeaters, Scatter Guns, Heavy ACP Repeaters or LJ-50 Concussion rifles.
But the biggest problem I noticed in the outpost were the numerous Droid Dispensers. Each one held about forty droids each and if caught unprepared could overwhelm a small squad from any planet. About roughly five B1 and B2 dispensers were already deploying their droids with more than a dozen more behind them being activated.
"Looks like the droids and the Trandoshan's are planning something big. This kind of manpower means something big is about to go down." I said, lowering my binoculars and slid down the hill overlooking the outpost back to Yoda and the rest.
"An alliance, the Trandoshan's and Separatists have made. That much made clear to us during the Prosecutor incident." Yoda added.
"It gets worse, I saw a couple of drawf spider droids down their and that means something very bad. I also saw the pelts of the Wookies they killed, along with their skulls and spines Chewbacca." I added and apologized to my new Wookie ally.
I could sense the anger in Chewbacca building with each passing second and it was clear that he wanted to get even with those lizards. "Listen, if we rush the base now, the enemy will send everything they've got at us. We won't last even ten minutes against that kind of fire power, even with the BFG." I reminded the Wookie, stopping him from rushing in guns-blazing.
"If Gunner or Marie were with us, we could set charges on the main gate and detonate them making them think we were attacking from the front. Lee, Hitomi and Grace could pick them off from the ridge and a small group off us could sneak in from the rear in all the confussion." Barney said.
If only we could pull off a plan, but it was only one Jedi council member, a Cattle Dog, a mercenary, two girls in love, an assassin droid, a Wookie and me. Eight of us against hundreds of hostile units armed with more firepower than a battalion. Sure, they didn't have any tanks, but those spider droids they had were just as deadly as a single tank. To make matters worse, the permiter of the outpost was protected by several MMLT missile turrets and Wookie built quad turrets.
The whole place was designed to withstand frontal assaults and keep the enemy from discovering what -they were up too. "Hang on." I said, interrupting Barney and HK-47s argument of what I don't know, walked towards a tree and did a head stand.
"Question: Master, what are you doing? We have meatbags to kill and you appear to have lost it." The assassin droid said in confussion but I ignored him and closed my eyes. After about three minutes I ended my head stand.
"Droids have limited intelligence and from what I saw, whoever sent these droids here along with the Trandoshan's, seems to think that when the Wookie's find this place the 'primitaive' beasts will attack from the front in a Banzi charge. So, they have the front covered. But its highly possible that they have left the rear undefended. If we sneak in from the rear, we can bypass the turrets and spider droids and catch the enemy off guard." I explained, turning back to the others.
"That actually sounds like a good idea. Think it'll work?" Mission asked.
"If it doesn't then no one's going to be saying 'I told you so'." I joked.
"Then move quickly, we must. Sensing the arrival of Grievous, I do." Yoda said seriously.
"Then lets double time it. Silencers and knives only once we get inside the outpost, there may be prisoners inside the camp so we can't risk them getting killed." I added unholstering my handguns and screwed on the suppressors with Barney and Honoka following suit with their own weapons. HK-47 on the otherhand didn't attach a suppressor to his weapon since he preferred to go loud and Chewbecca's weapons weren't meant for stealth. Nevertheless, Chewie would be able to hand his own with his fists rather than a weapon.
Once we were all ready, we circled the outpost and found the back wasn't as heavily guarded as the front. Only four guards were guarding the rear door and no droids were with them.
Seeing this, Honoka, Barney, Mission and I moved forward slowly, dispatching the guards with a quick thrust to the back with our knives, hid the bodies in the shadows and were quickly joined by Yoda and the others. Mission soon went to work and hacked the door open, triggering no alarms and slowly but surely, we crept through the base with the enemy none the wiser.
Each patrol we encountered as we made our way through the base were silenced by a suppressed headshot or had their necks snapped by Chewbacca and HK-47. But when it came to Trandoshan elites, we waited and let them pass before resuming our course towards the outposts command center.
The bad part was that we had to pass through the prison cells and to our horror found many of the Wookie prisoners had been killed in the same bloody way the guards at the city and patrol were, once again making Honoka and Mission vomit.
Lucky for them, the smell didn't alert the guards and we kept our cover. But the futher we made our way into the outpost, the more difficult it was starting to become. One Wookie prisoner was able to escape but got caught in the searchlight of a nearby tower, raising the alarm and blowing our cover. Fortunately, the Wookie dropped his Bowcaster which Chewbacca picked up and used to snipe an enemy sniper that had spotted us.
"WEAPONS FREE!" I shouted, aimed my two handguns down range towards six slavers armed with Scatterguns and fired. A combination of 9mm and .45 caliber pistol rounds ended the lives of our attackers before they could even get into range.
I heard Yoda activate his Lightsaber and looked back to see the elder Jedi master make short work of a group of super battle droids while Barney took down two Trandoshan Elites with his machine gun, his shields flickering from enemy fire.
I turned back to the front and was about to holster my sidearms when a scavenger droid latched onto my helmet, knocking my pistols from my hands and began to try and drill a hole through my helmet. Boss told me that these things killed a lot of troopers on the Prosecutor, incapacitated Scorch and Sev and tended to use kamikaze attacks when they damaged.
That info in mind, I ripped the droid off my helmet, threw the droid to the ground and crushed it Gears Of War style before picking up my pistols, detached my Morita and pushed forwards with Honoka, Mission and Chewbacca while Boomer hid behind cover before lunging at a Trandoshan with a Concussion rifle, killing the enemy with a powerful bite to the neck.
"Mission, grab the Concussion Rifle." I ordered the Twi'lek who nodded and scooped up the rifle quickly. Taking aim with her new weapon, she fired at an approaching Trandoshan Elite. The shot hit the elite, implouded for a second then created a five-meter radius, taking the elite and several battle droids. She then aimed the rifle at a new target and fired again. More Trandoshan's and droids fell to our firepower and we continued forwards until we encountered a Wookie turret that immediately opened fire once we were in sight.
We hunkered down behind a barrier as green cannon rounds flew overhead, forcing us to stay down until we could a way around the turret. Chewbacca then tugged on my shoulder and pointed to a side area that got behind the turret. "Good eyes Chewie." I complimented and turned to HK-47. "Can you guys keep them busy while Chewie and I flank that turret?" I asked the droid.
"Answer: It will be my pleasure master." HK responded a little too enthusasticaly. No sooner had he finished speaking, the droid popped out of cover and fired his rifle at the turret, covering Chewie and me who made our way towards the side.
Unfortunately, we weren't alone. A small squad of Trandoshan's were attempting the same maneuver we were doing and once they spotted us opened fire. I pushed Chewie out of the way, but doing so knocked out my armors shields and it would take time to recharge.
Seeing this, Chewbecca roared in anger and charged towards the mercenaries his shotgun blazing to life. Four of the approaching Trandoshan's were killed by a volley of buckshot pellets which resulted in the wookie emptying his entire magazine. Rather than reloaded his weapon, Chewie slammed into another lizard, knocking him to the ground.
He then grabbed the mercenary by the leg, lifted the Trandoshan and broke its back with his leg before tossing the body towards the remaining mercanries knocking them down to ground. By this time my shields had fully recharged and I finished off the last mercs with a few shots from my dad's pistol.
I ejected my pistols spent magazine and reloaded, only to be knocked to the ground by a Trandoshan Elite that managed to get the drop on me and raised its massive repeater ready to stab me with the guns bayonet. However, Chewbacca came to my aid yet again, grabbed the Elite by the leg and with all his strength, tossed the lizard around like a rag-doll before he threw the enemy into the spikes on the wall impaling the mercenary and ending the life of the killer.
"Don't mess with a Wookie." I said to the dead lizard before Chewbacca and I finally managed to flank the turret and took out the gunner. We we're just in time as coming from behind us were more enemy units. Quickly, Barney manned the turret and unleashed hell on the enemy while the rest of us headed for the center of the camp.
We killed the mercanries and droids guarding the central unit of the camp. I then ordered Mission to download every bit of data on the terminal while the rest of us went to deal with the spider droids and droid dispensers.
Normal point of view
By this time, the outpost was on full alert and the remaining droids and Trandoshan's were preparing for a final defense. Grievous, on the other hand was waiting for the chance to face against the famed Master Yoda, the Grand Master of the Jedi Order and member of the Jedi High Council. Adding the lightsaber of the great Jedi to his collection would more than make up for the loss of the lightsabers the Lone Wolf had recovered/stolen from his collection.
"All of you will leave Master Yoda to me, the rest of them are yours." Grievous instructed the remaining defenders while he prepared himself for battle in his own way.
Meanwhile, Robert, Chewie, HK-47, Yoda and Boomer had encountered little to no resistance and had destroyed all the droid dispensers they had found. Sadly, each of the dispensers had already deployed all of their droids which led them to believe that all the defenders were waiting for them.
"I got the feeling that we're going to be in for a tough fight." Robert said, loading a fresh clip into the handgun he got for Christmas. "Even without the turrets, they still outnumber us in terms of firepower and numbers." He added.
"Assesment: They may out number us, but those cheap battle droids lack the intelligence I have. Extra assement: the main threat we have to deal with are the scaly meatbags with the heavy weapons and concussion rifles." HK stated.
"Too bad Mission has the concussion rifle we picked up earlier. That could come in real handy. Though the BFG could help, but I don't want to risk getting the rest of you killed." Robert admitted.
"Larger in number we are, but larger in mind we are. Outthink the droids we can." Yoda stated with a smile.
"He's right." Barney said joining the others with Mission and Honoka behind him. "They may outnumber us, but if we think clearly, we can take them." He added.
Robert spotted a few towers nearby and they looked like the perfect sniping position. "Honoka, get up on the tower on the left. Use the Type 64, it's a better choice for sniping. Mission, right tower. Save the Concussion rifle for later, I know you still don't have much experience with earth weapons but the SL8 is the best choice for sniping. The rest of us will stack up and breach the door. Yoda will face Grievous and we'll deal with the rest." Robert instructed.
The two girls nodded and headed for the designated areas while the rest stacked up on both sides of the doors. Barney prepared a couple of droid poppers and waited until the girls radioed that they were in position. "Breach and Clear." Robert said and placed a breaching charge on the door and took cover on the left, preparing a couple of grenades of his own.
The charge detonated and the doors opened up. Following this, Robert and his uncle tossed their grenades through the door and waited as the explosives detonated taking out several droids with an emp pulse or grenade fragments before Yoda leapt over the hostiles, his saber ignited and confronted Grievous who had ingnited his own sabers and the duel began.
Robert and the rest moved through the door and began to attack the enemy with Chewbacca leading the group.
(Smackdown, Thousand Foot Krutch begins)
Taking cover behind an empty crate, Chewie aimed the M60 at a group of Trandoshan slavers and downed them with a long burst of 7.62mm weapon fire before he shifted his sights to a pair of commando droids who had their vibroblade's drawn. Another long burst of machine gun fire downed the BX-series droids before they even got close to Chewbacca's position. He quickly reloaded the machine gun and then pulled out the bowcaster he had picked up earlier, firing the weapon of his people at the invaders of his homeworld.
A BX-series droid managed to get the drop on Chewbacca and swung its blade, forcing the Wookie warrior to block the blade with his bowcaster. The bowcaster was sliced in two, but then Chewbacca ripped the commando droid in two, throwing the pieces towards two B1 droids. He then wipped out the AA12 and with a loud roar, ran into the enemy his gun blazing to life, taking down numerous hostiles.
From the left tower, Honoka aimed her Type 64 and fired single shot volleys of 7.62x51mm Japansese service bullets at hostile after hostile, downing them with a precise headshot. Ducking down to reload her rifle, she then noticed a pair of Scavenger Droids had managed to sneak up on her and were about to drill a hole right through her helmet. Quickly, she drew her P9 and took down both droids with a full clip before returning to her sniper duty.
Mission on the otherhand was having a more difficult time. Sure, she had a little skill with ballistic weapondry but each of her shots kept missing her targets and she had spent an entire magazine with out a single kill.
Quickly, reloading her rifle the Twi'lek was tempted to take out her concussion rifle when she remembered what Honoka and Hitomi taught her. "Hold your breath for a few seconds, calculate the wind resistance and bullet drop, fire." She said to herself and fired. This time, her bullet hit her target, a Trandoshan Elite gunner right between the eyes, an instant kill.
She then shifted her sights to another target and fired again and again. "Thank you honey." She said quietly to herself.
Back below, Barney and HK sprayed numerous rounds at several enemy units taking them down for good before they moved up to another empty crate with Chewbecca and Robert following them. While HK lobbed a thermal detonator a group of dug in battle droids which were reduced to nothing but smoldering bits of metal.
Barney on the other hand raised his left arm, blocking a strike from a Magnaguards electrostaff before firing several pistol rounds into the droid's head. Pushing the droid's body away from him, the Expendables leader pulled out his second Kimber pistol, firing both in rapid succession killing anyone who got in his way. A quick reload of his pistols gave Barney the chance to pull out his ACR and fired more rounds towards the enemy.
As for Robert, he was using a Trandoshan Mercenary as a meatshield firing his Morita with one hand. His shield dropped dead and rather than attaching a grenade to the corpse, picked up the corpse and spun around like Crash Bandicoot swinging the corpse around knocking down numerous hostiles before finally throwing the corpse towards the wall just as several Wookie gunships arrived overhead and Wookie warriors dropped down into the camp to help deal with the remaining hostiles.
(End Song)
As Wookie warriors engaged the enemy, Yoda dodged a four-saber blow from Grievous's own weapons before pushing the droid general back with the force. Thrusting his sabers down onto the ground and stopping his skid, Grievous looked up to see that his forces were completely destroyed. "Another time Jedi. I will defeat you." The general snarled and leapt into his starfighter. Just as the cockpit closed, Grievous looked towards Robert.
"Don't think I haven't forgotten about you boy. I will take great pleasure in killing your lover slowly and ending both hers and your legacy's." Grievous said, laughing madly as his ship hovered off the ground and rocketed away.
"RAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" Robert shouted and fired his rifle at the escaping fighter. The bullets bounced off the ships hull until the ship was out of range. "Don't push me General. I will find her and I will not end up being like the person I was before." He declared.
By the time the sun began to set, the Wookies were grateful to the assistance of the Dragoons and Jedi master and vowed to support the Lone Wolf when the time came. But the data recovered from the terminal pointed that the separatists were planning something big on Kashyyyk in the near future, but the details of the plan were heavily encrypted and would take time to decode.
But as for Chewbacca he was more then grateful to have his life debt to the Lone Wolf begin and was willing to do whatever it took to help his quest to save the women he loves.
And now Chewbacca is a part of the Dragoons. I intend to have play a vital role in the final battle of the Clone Wars and really give it to the droids.
So, it looks like Robert is trying to combat the urge to use the darkness again. Will he stay true to his beliefs, or return to the cold blooded, emotionless, anger driven person he was when he killed John Seed and Atai? Not on my watch.
Anyways, this Chapter is dedicated to the great Peter Mayhew the man how played Chewbacca from 1977-2015. He will be missed greatly and the Force will always be with him.
Now, for my next chapter would you like me to go straight earth and its impending conflict or do some clone action and use the song Clones from Republic Commando? I want to hear what you all have to think about what I should do next so I can better plan the chapter.
Anyways, please read and review, cast your votes on my poll and I will see you next time. Oh, and before I forget, the F14D has the Jolly Roger paint scheme on its twin tails. Really forgot to mention that. Oh well, now you know.