Chapter 19
Location: Grievous's Flagship, Separatist Naval Rallying Point Near the Zeltros System
The battleship that General Grievous sat within was not one of his favorite ships, too slow and too unassuming. He preferred fast predatory designs, ones that struck fear into the hearts of all who saw them. But these ships were heavily armed and heavily shielded, so much so that it took the biggest and best the Republic had to face them. And with a forward deployed Republic dreadnought at Commenor his logical and prudent side won out. Being able to strike fear was nothing when the enemy did that better than you with a ship that could pacify entire sectors without firing a shot.
But he stood in command of a fleet of one thousand two hundred and eighty ships, the 34th Fleet. It was a large and formidable armada of twenty Lucrehulk Battleships, sixty Providence-Class Cruisers, four hundred Recusant-Class Light Destroyers, and eight hundred Munificent-Class Frigates. Grievous had pulled this fleet from the Confederacy's strategic reserve formations, meaning that he was in fact taking a risk with the CIS's ability to counter a major Republic offensive should it occur elsewhere. But now, he had the Republic on the backfoot, desperate to shore up their defenses in the Core, where the powerful politicians and loud constituencies were located. Make them fearful with a lightning quick raid to destroy war industry and war material and the massing armada of Republican Guard warships around Kuat would never be allowed to go beyond the Colonies.
Such was his principle objective, and if he could destroy a lot of Republic ships and kill some Jedi he was perfectly willing to go out of his way to satisfy his quest for trophies. Thus far though, he was less than satisfied with the Separatist offensive, his initial probe into the heart of the Republic had been met by a far stronger Republic presence than had been initially suggested by intelligence. But he now knew who his opponent was, Grand Admiral Drexel, an aggressive and gifted Republic officer. Defeating him would go a long way in securing victory in this war. His plan to deal with Drexel was to lure the Republican Guard out into the open, away from the Core, and strike a fatal blow. Grievous knew that Drexel's prime objectives had always been to annihilate Separatist fleet units, and he knew Drexel would realize a massive fleet was opposing him, and anticipated Drexel seeking him out. This was his grand trap, a trap the droid general was hoping would land him a Kuati Dreadnought and a Republic Grand Admiral.
"Sir, receiving a transmission from Raxus," his droid communications officer called out as he patiently waited for news of Republic fleet movements.
"Who is it?" Grievous growled.
"Nute Gunray, he says it is urgent," the blue marked droid responded.
Grievous growled as he tapped the button irritably, and the slimy Neimodian businessman's image came up in the form of a holo in front of his seat. He didn't move from his seated position, cape draped over the large chair and long mechanical fingers clasped loosely together.
"What do you want Gunray?" Grievous demanded immediately, "I am busy."
"General, I have just learned that a prized target has just entered dangerous territory," Gunray said with a smile, "Senator Amidala, she is on her way to Vivyis-12 to negotiate a Republican Guard pilot's release from pirates."
"What does this Senator matter to me Viceroy?" Grievous snarled.
"She is a very important leader within the Senate, wanted by many in the Confederacy for a great deal of money…"
"I don't care for petty coinage. I am the leader of the greatest force the galaxy has ever seen! War is my reward," Grievous declared.
"You misunderstand, she hold special connections with the Jedi Council, Generals Kenobi and Skywalker in particular. They have shown to be the Jedi of choice for rescuing her."
"Last I checked Kenobi and Skywalker are across the galaxy, taking Ryloth from your incompetent friend Watt Tambor," Grievous smirked, making Gunray wince at the loss of Ryloth, it was no secret that he had a large monetary investment towards its continued occupation and enslavement.
"They will come, and the greatest of all prizes will be yours, and my prize shall be mine, what say you General?"
"Amidala has proven uniquely capable of eluding capture Viceroy, have any suggestions?"
"Yes," Gunray said proudly, and another hologram appeared alongside him, this one a powerfully built Falleen in bluish and golden armor with the Black Sun emblem on his chest plate, "I have someone uniquely familiar with this particular situation."
"General Grievous, I am Captain Tanko, of the Black Sun. I believe you and I have two common enemies here, the Guard, and Hondo Ohnaka," the pirate said smoothly and respectfully.
"You are…familiar with this pirate? Ohnaka?"
"Yes, he owes the Black Sun a considerable debt. His time to pay has passed, and I believe you would be in the market for his prized captive, the Republican Guard Ace, Teela Abya?"
"The Confederacy is willing to offer a fair price for her capture, as well as that of her savior, Senator Amidala," Gunray said hopefully.
"The Black Sun is very familiar with such tasks, for the right price."
"You bring us Amidala, I will deal with the Jedi," Grievous declared firmly.
"Beware General," the pirate said quickly, "A powerful armada stands ready to face you to protect their Senator. I am all-too familiar with the ferocity of Kuat and Carida, they will not hesitate to fight you."
Grievous simply laughed. Despite the reputation gained by the Republican Guard he held them in contempt, as he did everyone besides himself and his own kind. The soldiers of the Republic, both Clone and volunteer alike, were just cannon fodder in the grand scheme of things, and so he had no doubts as to his ability to sweep them aside. After all, the Clones were supposed to be the finest soldiers ever made, if he routinely dealt with them, then the Republican Guard would be another of his clinical grand victories.
"Then a fight, they shall have…"
Location: Ohnaka Gang's Camp, Planet Vivyis-12
The two Senatorial ships landed in the large grassy clearing below the camp where three of the Ohnaka Gang's ships were landed, their massive disc-shaped hulls casting shadows over the forest. Their crews were sitting around or watching the two ships, a chrome Nubian H-Type Yacht and a blue and white CR90 Corellian Corvette, land gracefully with weapons held casually. The pirates watched a bit more carefully when they saw that a dozen uniformed bodyguards of both the Naboo and Alderaanian Senators were the first to leave their ships, with the larger CR90 providing direct cover to the smaller unarmed Naboo ship.
"We seem to be expected," Padme said as she stepped out, wearing a casual outdoors outfit, a jumpsuit and a maroon vest with a small blaster pistol tucked away.
"Indeed," Bail Organa agreed, waiting for her as the Alderaan and Naboo guards formed a line in front of them, heavy blaster pistols held tightly, "Shall we?"
"Yes, there's a lot at stake and I don't like being in enemy territory for too long," Padme said as she and Bail stood side-by-side as they saw a group of pirates led by Captain Ohnaka walking towards them, but without the pilot they were here to ransom for.
"It seems they're holding their hostage out of sight," Bail said calmly, observing everything, "They feel we may have the intention of seizing the pilot. Notice the number of pirates?"
"They match our guards, man for man," Padme nodded, "We're the ones in a position of strength to them."
"Welcome my friends, honored Senators," Hondo greeted them, "Welcome to our humble camp."
"Thank you Captain," Padme said evenly, bowing slightly, "I am Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo."
"The great warrior queen! Oh what high company we are in!" Hondo exclaimed, "The way you freed your people, oh, amazing, inspirational really…"
"I am Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan," Bail said after Hondo finished.
"Good for you," Hondo waved off, clearly more interested in Padme, "Now, I am assuming you know me so let us move on to business."
Location: Near Ohnaka Gang's Camp, Planet Vivyis-12
"I hate pirates," Major Myec growled as he scanned the field through his binoculars, marking out the pirates he saw along with their names and potential bounties.
"They make good target practice though," one of his men chirped up from next to him.
"This is true."
Commando Team Dagger had a section of thirty-six Commandoes pulled from the fighting on Commenor and dispatched to Vivyis-12 as the quick reaction force for the Senatorial envoys. The platoon of elite operators was in a fuzzy camouflage patterned cloak on their armor making them blend in as well as possible in the thick foliage. They had their blaster rifles pointed out into the field, each trained on a pirate.
Vivyis-12 was actually a planet the Caridans had paid visits to in the past. Its remoteness and Wookiee craftsmen and traders made it prime hunting ground for pirates of all kinds. While the local Wookiees usually dealt with pirates rather severely, more organized and powerful pirate bands such as the Black Sun warranted Caridan intervention. So these woods were familiar for each of Myec's men, who'd hunted Black Sun in this forest for a decade.
"Audio is up," his technical sergeant called out and Myec tapped into the audio transceiver they'd brought along to eavesdrop on the conversation below.
It came in scratchy at first until the feed cleared up, "We have brought along the spices as requested," Amidala was heard saying as the Commandoes listened very carefully for any tells as to if there was a brewing problem or escalation, "But we must see the pilot before we can show you the spice."
"Of course, a wise precaution, but go ahead and bring it out anyway," Hondo ordered her.
"When Captain Abya is brought out," Organa said, his tone betraying an aggression that caught the Caridans off-guard.
"Some balls on the Alderaanian," Myec's platoon leader called out with a laugh, the joke being that Alderaan was well-known for pacifism.
"Yeah, but he's gotta be careful, the pirate may see it as a challenge and double down," Myec advised.
"You are a tough dealer," Hondo said, pointing to Bail, "Hondo respects that. Very well, please, bring our guest."
"Thank you Captain, this won't take long," Padme nodded graciously.
"I certainly hope so, the poor Corellian, she is dying to return to the valiant struggle against the Separatists. I do hope her misfortune does not affect her career in any negative way," Hondo said.
"Smooth talker, flattery and grace…odd for a pirate," Myec observed.
"Ohnaka's not the average pirate, smarter, more basically driven but that simplifies things for him. A clear achievable object makes the planning and execution simpler by extent. Right?"
"Not necessarily," Myec said as he began to scan the ships and waited for the first signal of their missing pilot being brought out, and he got it, "Middle ship, ramp coming down."
"Got it," Myec heard his men say as a group.
Her red flight suit was easy to pick out amongst the dull colors of the pirates escorting her down and to a WLO-5 speeder tank. She was escorted by a half dozen pirates, all Weequay. The commandoes watched it zip on over, perhaps a show of strength by putting a tank at the forefront of the negotiating place to intimidate the two Senators. Or perhaps it was simple convenience. Captain Abya was placed on the ground gently, her hands tied behind her back and a burlap sack over her head. They all confirmed that it was in fact her when the bag was removed to reveal her face and short cut brunette hair and a thick black scarf tied between her teeth.
"Pretty little thing," one of his younger men observed aloud.
"Corellians, something in the water there," an NCO responded with a chuckle.
"Captain Abya, it's alright, I'm Senator Amidala and this is Senator Organa, we're here to return you to the Republic," Padme immediately reassured Teela who nodded wordlessly as Myec observed the guards around the two Senators tightening their grips on their blasters.
"Easy you guys," Myec whispered over a separate channel that connected him with the Senatorial guards, "Let the Senators finish their job. We're not in the clear yet."
He saw a couple of the Naboo and Alderaanian guards forcefully relax their grip but not their stances. The white helmeted and blue and grey uniformed Alderaan guards were easier to read than the more bulky leather armored and red uniformed Naboo ones. But they were doing their jobs, keeping their mouths shut and blasters ready on the quick draw.
"Is this truly necessary Captain?" Bail demanded, clearly not pleased with the condition that Teela was in.
"She bites," Hondo shrugged.
The Caridans stifled their chuckles at the pirate's extremely simple but quite adequate explanation.
Amidala now nodded to her security captain, a sizeable individual named Typho, who ordered the cargo of spices brought out of the CR90 guarded by a trio of A280-toting Alderaan guards. The pirates all had their eyes glued to the extraordinarily valuable crates, but the guards did something that Myec had advised them to do beforehand. Six of them, three Naboo and three Alderaanians, stepped between the crates of spices and pirates with heavy blaster pistols drawn. It was a classic Caridan way of reminding the opposing side they had to uphold their portion of the bargain or fight. Normally the Caridan Commandoes themselves would have done this by using their physical size, armor, and lethal reputation. The guards would have to do the same thing but with pure facial and body expressions.
Fortunately for all involved the guards managed to pull it off thanks to their training in maintaining and controlling their expressions and posture. The pirates were forcibly returned to the matter at hand.
"So, we are given our compensation and your pilot is returned a hero, yes?" Hondo surmised.
"In simple terms, yes," Padme nodded.
"Ah, very good," Hondo said and waved them forward.
The Caridans watched the exchange take place but their instincts were telling them something was up, but couldn't pin it. They then al heard the rumbling of ships in the air and they began looking around to find the source and then their sensor-feed from the Senatorial ships went dark.
"We're being jammed," one of Myec's tech NCO's snapped quickly after a reacquiring attempt was blocked.
"Visual on ships, five Black Sun Gozanti's, two Black Sun Interceptor Frigates," someone else called out, "Looks like someone didn't RSVP."
"All units, stay low, guards, get them out of there!" Myec quickly snapped on the channel.
It was a bit too late for that, as the yellow turbolaser fire from the two Interceptor-IV Frigates tore into the unshielded Nubian Yacht, blowing apart the hull and then more fire blew apart the engine block on the CR90 Corvette. The body guards were sent scattering as the Weequay pirates were stunned at the sudden attack. But they too found themselves in the crosshairs as laser fire shredded into both sides' ranks. Neither of them had any cover, and the WLO-5 tank exploded from the accurate fire, sending all members of the pirate band down to the ground in several directions.
The Weequay Firespray Frigates immediately began to engage, taking flight and firing their own weapons into the other pirate ships that took them on. Pirates on the ground immediately opened fire, sending red blaster fire skyward as the lightly armed Weequay ships took some shots. But Bantha-II Skiffs came zipping from the treeline towards them as Hondo took the situation as it was and knew it was probably time to leave.
"Well it seems these negotiations have come to a close," he said as a couple of his men shoved the pilot forward and snatched the crates of spices, "Thank you for your time, and have a wonderful day."
They quickly loaded up as the Gozantis landed on the ground and disgorged over thirty Falleen Black Sun soldiers with many of them holding blue and yellow riot shields in front of them as their dual-barel weapons were unleashed upon the overwhelmed defenders. The Naboo and Alderaan guards fired at them as Padme and Bail were pushed back behind their loyal guardians and drew their own holdout pistols and fired. Red, yellow, and green blaster bolts zipped through the sky as the battle erupted all around the negotiations. And so the Caridans snapped into action.
"Fire on those Black Sun fekkers!" Myec ordered, and the Caridans let loose.
Now blue bolts filled the air as the guards tried to fall back and Black Sun's soldiers were cut down by a third in the initial volley on their flanks. The battle was in full swing as several of the Naboo and Alderaanians fell to the fire they were taking as they took cover amongst the wreckage of their ships. The Black Sun was not done with them, but seemingly let the Ohnaka Gang pirates go, and turned their ships towards the Republic positions. A rocket volley from several Caridans smashed into the engine bank of one of the three Gozanti's that was landed on the ground, blowing it off and then a secondary explosion ripped through the rear of the ship which definitely gained them some unwanted attention.
Turbolaser fire ripped into the woods the Caridan platoon was firing from, scattering them as they took cover. A couple were badly wounded as the fire intensified into the woods when a couple more Gozanti's appeared and landed, deploying more Black Sun soldiers.
"What in the world caused this?" Myec's XO demanded as they fired as best they could.
"No idea, but it's clear that the Senators are the target, keep the pressure on, we need to buy time for the Senators to get to cover!"
An explosion rocked the ground as one of the Interceptors fired into the general vicinity that Myec was in. He looked up to see that the Senators were probably not going to be going anywhere without much more serious cover fire than what the Commandoes were capable of. But the return fire of the guards was certainly helping them, seeing as the Black Sun weren't advancing anymore and just trading fire against their opponents. The fight was a stalemate, but that phase didn't last for very long.
"We need help sir," his XO surmised after a bit longer, and then Myec remembered a source of help that they had used on this planet in the past, one that could always be counted on.
Location: Wreckage of the Senatorial Ships
"We can't stay here!" Bail's security captain implored upon the Senators.
"We can't go either or we'll be caught in the open, we're trapped," Captain Typho responded, shaking his head as explosions rattled the ground around them.
"The Black Sun is here for a hostage, not a kill order, there's no profit in it!" Bail yelled over the sounds of the fighting, "I will offer myself as that hostage to stop the attack."
"No!" Padme snapped, "These pirates cannot be trusted."
"Senator, we have very few options, our position is all but untenable," Captain Typho responded immediately.
"We can hold our own here, the Black Sun won't come any closer or risk killing them," the Alderaanian captain replied, understanding their situation, "We can harden ourselves here, hold out for the Republic to send reinforcements."
"The Guard is closest," Teela now interjected, holding the blaster pistol of a fallen Alderaanian guard, "They can have a task force here in minutes!"
"Our communications are being jammed," Typho said immediately, "And we have no long range transmitter anymore."
"They do!" Teela said as she pointed at the treeline where the majority of the pirate fire was being directed against the Caridans still fighting viciously, lobbing rockets into the large Black Sun frigates.
"Are you saying we need to tell them to disengage?! They are the only help we have!" Typho scoffed.
"They will understand the situation, but we have to tell them to do it or they won't stop fighting until they're all dead," Teela reminded them, "Maybe all they will need is a couple men carrying a transmitter out of range of the enemy jamming field. With luck they've already done so."
"Our check-in with the military passes in fifteen minutes, after that we can expect reinforcements. Tell me, can we hold Captain?" Padme inquired.
"Or die trying milady," Typho nodded and then returned to the fight.
"Captain Antilles, we must get word to the Commandoes, to make sure that they know to get a runner outside the jamming field," Bail ordered as well.
"Do you have a signal light?" Teela inquired as an explosion rocked the piece of engine they all took cover behind.
"You can signal with this Captain?" Bail asked the pilot.
"I can," Teela nodded and crouched beneath the engine and crawled under it and out of sight.
The young pilot crawled beneath the wreckage and then got to a point where she could see the trees where blue blaster fire was still pouring from. She took the signal light, a small cylinder device which was a different make than the one that was taken from her. It was capable of rapidly flashing any signal that was inputted into it and then a similar device was capable of reading that signal and writing it out for the other user to read, and so the visual conversation could occur.
It was as good a comms device as they had right now, and she made the most of it. Pointing it at a dense grouping of blaster fire she started flashing signals out to the Guard special forces unit. Her signal was simple: "COMM JAMMED, CALL HELP". She flashed that over and over again until she saw a pink light flash back in response: "ROGER". Sighing in relief that she got that signal out she sent another: "PINNED DOWN, BAD POSITION" and then waited for the response which came quickly. The pink light flashed a rapid but semi-detailed response: "FORTIFY, KEEP SENATORS DOWN, DO NOT MOVE, WILL DRAW FIRE". She then flashed a roger that signal and then heard a sound that she had to strain to recognize.
Looking up she picked out the shapes of droid assault craft entering the atmosphere. Around them were droid starfighters and droid bombers, which immediately tore into the Commando positions, and the blue laser fire stopped almost instantly. She was afraid that they were wiped out, such was the massive firepower directed against them, but a pink light signaled that the unit was still alive as droid HMP Gunships hovered down and deposited numerous battle droids. The message was quick, but disconcerting: "GETTING HELP, WILL BE BACK, STAY ALIVE".
As that happened a droid shuttle touched down and the hulking form of General Grievous stepped out along with a pair of Magnaguards flanking him. Teela lay there gaping at the tall droid general, the beast of many a Republic soldier's nightmares. She'd only seen images of him, but seeing him in the flesh was its own terrifying reward. He was said to decapitate Jedi, and mercilessly massacre Clones and militia for sport. What chance did they have?!
"Senators!" she called out as she retreated back into the covered area that the two Senators were fighting from, "It's Grievous, Grievous is here!"
"By the Force," Bail said as he laid eyes upon him.
"I have a real bad feeling about this," Padme breathed aloud as she watched the droid general stalking forward and then pull his hand up to signal a halt to the attack.
"It seems he wishes us to surrender," Captain Antilles noted once the firing stopped.
"Senators, you have no choice but to surrender immediately or perish!" the growling bellow of the infamous droid leader demanded of them.
Padme holstered her weapon, and stepped out into the open, but three of her guards stepped out, including Captain Typho.
"Milady, no!"
"You have done all you can Captain, I won't let the rest of you die in vain," she assured him.
"We swore an oath to protect you, I cannot let you go."
"Then I am ordering you to let me go Captain," Padme said sternly, channeling the regal authority that she still held within her from her days as queen and it did the trick. Typho unwillingly lowered his arm.
"At least let me go with you."
"She won't be alone Captain," Bail spoke up, stepping out as well, holding a hand up and nodding to his own men who stood immediately, trying to stop him.
The two Senators stepped out into the open grasses as began walking towards Grievous who, with his two Magnaguards and six B1's, was standing about in the middle of the space between the makeshift perimeter and the droid and Black Sun lines. The droid general seemed genuinely intrigued and surprised by their decision to come out and surrender. He examined them closely as they approached.
"General Grievous," Padme said, steadying her voice as best she could, looking around with her eyes at the numerous droids and gunships waiting for orders, "I am Senator Amidala of the Galactic Senate, I am here to negotiate the terms of surrender."
"I as well, Senator Organa of the Galactic Senate."
"Haha, negotiate? You have nothing I want, but I hold your lives in my hands!" Grievous cackled.
"We will surrender, on one condition," Bail snapped, rising against the droid general, catching Grievous off-guard, "You will leave this place and spare our bodyguards who have fought with honor and courage, taking their lives gains you nothing."
"Your concerns for your comrades is noble, if it were not so weak," Grievous growled at her.
"To fight for those who fight for you is the greatest strength in the galaxy, which is why the Republic's armies will beat you, General," Padme responded, drawing Grievous's narrowed gaze.
"You speak to me as if you expected something from this," Grievous observed, "Perhaps there is a reason Gunray fears you. This, I can respect. Surrender now and your guards may live."
"Do you give your word?" Padme demanded, not expecting much, but perhaps it may have been enough.
"Of course," Grievous said as if he were in fact serious.
The two Senators consented, seeing as this was their best and only chance of getting their people out of harm's way alive. Watching this all was Teela, sitting by in cover amongst the other guards, both Alderaanian and Naboo. The quiet groans of the handful of wounded and the noises of wreckage and pieces of metal being moved to make better cover was all they could hear as they watched helpless while the droids disarmed the two Senators and were slapped in cuffs. After being taken behind Grievous the two bodyguard captains stared him down, unhappy with this arrangement.
"He's not going to just let us live," Teela told Antilles and Typho, who both looked at her and knew she was right.
"Let's hope your Republican Guard hasn't left us to die," Typho sourly noted as he ordered the men to take cover with a hand motion, "We'll fall back into the corvette, we'll at least have better cover there."
"Agreed," Antilles said as Teela kept watching Grievous staring them down and as she predicted he turned and signaled the attack to resume.
And it did, with an incredible ferocity. Blaster fire filled the air in an unending torrent as she took cover while sonic rockets smashed into the rubble, and the remaining bodyguards just took cover and tied to hide out the maelstrom enveloping them. Teela crouched against the same engine part that she'd managed to crawl under before, and considered doing the same until she saw a young Alderaanian guard fall to a blaster bolt next to her and writhe on the ground wounded.
"I've got you!" she said quickly, dragging him into cover and saw the little hiding spot there under the collapsed engine, "Do you trust me?"
The young soldier nodded, his face still tightly contorted in pain. She pushed him to the hiding spot and began pushing him in, and he figured it out quickly and pushed his feet into the dirt and slid in underneath the wreckage and Teela now began looking around to find something else to try to help with. The CR90's landing strut on the port side got hit by a rocket and the ship keeled over onto its side providing them with some new solid cover to their side. But still, the situation was incredibly hopeless, as more and more of the guards dropped to what cover they could find and the droids advanced Teela began for the first time to feel that feeling of loss, as if no matter what she did, there was no surviving this fight.
Fighting with her claimed blaster she felled droid after droid that closed in, unrelenting in her desperation right alongside the others fighting for their lives. The signal was then given to fall back, and the groups of guards sprinted into the open hatch of the CR90 and scrambled inside. More than a few got hit on the retreating sprint, leaving the open space in between the destroyed ships littered with eight bodies and another five on the perimeter. Teela was among the last inside the ship, but didn't come out unscathed. As she entered the ship's open entry a blaster bolt struck her in the calf, grazing it badly. A pair of Naboo guards gripped her arms as she leaned against the white walls of the heavily damaged ship. The floor was angled quite a bit she noted as she was carried unsteadily through a maze of fallen wires, exposed metal supports, and red lighting or dead lights.
After telling them to take her no further the dirty guards all began reforming as she sat against the wall and they readied for a final stand. Wounded had already been brought inside, a dozen of them sitting further down the hall in various states. It was a real mess for a mere starfighter pilot to be in, but here she was.
"We're not going to make it out of here are we?" she asked wearily.
"I wouldn't bet on it," Typho sighed as he walked over once the hatch had been sealed by hand and their fortress was complete.
"All because of me," Teela sighed again, looking down at her boots.
"Don't beat yourself up, not everyone gets to choose how they meet their fates, we've all chosen to stand and meet ours," Typho assured her, "In the end, there's not much else we can do that truly matters."
"I guess so."
The group of remaining twenty or so men and women now began piling up any crates or tables or chairs they could get their hands on and began to create barricades to help in their inevitable defense. Teela herself tried helping, lifting chairs passed to her and passed them along to where a tall and thick wall was erected opposite of the hatch they'd sealed which was being cut into by a plasma cutter from the outside.
The group had made themselves a few walls that they'd quickly divided up into teams of three to fight for and withdraw to the next layer and then the next and so on. It was a rough plan, and depended on a lot, but they had hope that they would hold out until help arrived. Teela decided on her own to fight amongst the first layers of defense and positioned herself in a place she could see the sparks of the cutting tools working on breaking into their last stronghold. Outside they had begun to hear the thumping of explosions, thinking it was with the Ohnaka Gang, still out there somewhere. But then they heard something different, blaster fire near the ship. There weren't any guards left outside, the only one she knew of was perfectly hidden.
Then the hatch exploded and they all aimed their weapons at the door. But the group was surprised to see that no droids were streaming in, instead, there was a figure there that announced its presence that anyone would recognize. It was a massive seven foot tall Wookiee carrying a large bowcaster with a pair of ammo belts across his chest and a green emerald on a belt across his waist and a decorated pair of shoulder pads. There was a collective sigh and murmurs of 'thank you' as the guards lowered their guards. Another figure entered now as well, shorter, fully armored head to toe and carrying an A280 with a Viper Grenade Launcher. This guy was Major Myec of the Caridan Commandoes.
"Let's go! We're not out of this yet," the man said loudly, "But we've got rides."
"The Senators?" Captain Antilles instantly asked.
"Gone, Grievous took off and left you lot to his droids and the Black Sun," Myec confirmed, making the guards slump in dismay and some in disgrace.
"We're going with you, our mission's not done," Typho sternly stated.
"Get in line, I lost a third of my men trying to hold on for you guys, tonight, that droid dies."
Location: Dreadnought Basilisk
The bridge of the Basilisk was alive with activity and rightfully so, something big had happened. Grievous had surfaced, and he was the one facing the Republican Guard. This was their ultimate test, the greatest commander the droid armies had was commanding a fleet of over a thousand ships. For this, the Republican Guard was throwing everything it had at the cyborg commander. The combined might of eighteen Task Forces, six hundred and thirty ships, was assembling with each passing hour. Eight of them had yet to complete their advanced combat training and two of the fully trained ones had yet to see combat.
"Admiral, we have Dagger," Grand Admiral Drexel heard called out from the communications station in the CIC. It was a call he was waiting for.
"This is Drexel, Major Myec give me a report," Drexel snapped quickly to his Caridan commander on the ground.
"Not good sir, Black Sun interrupted the meeting and droids landed and the Senators surrendered to try and save their guard detachments, but Grievous reneged on that deal and they lost half their number dead and wounded. Captain Abya is secure though, took bolt to the leg but she's fine. The Wookiees were already on guard thanks to the pirate presence and we were able to mobilize their militia to drive them off long enough to evac to the Wookiees' main colony," Myec dutifully reported.
"The droid fleet?" Drexel inquired.
"We got a recording of what looked like three full squadrons, three battleships, they jumped back into enemy space once their forces had been routed."
"We know where they are massing, it seems like a heavily baited trap," Drexel assured him, "But intelligence is saying that the enemy has rebuilt their base on Vivyis-12. I'll need to ask your men for one more mission."
"Anything Admiral, name it," Myec nodded.
"We need you to draw in Grievous, we're receiving reinforcements from the Jedi, two Knights, their best, Skywalker and Kenobi. They've been sent to help us fight Grievous, seeing as no one has fought him with more success than them," Drexel said revealing their ace in the hole.
"Roger that sir, we'll take care of those droids," Myec saluted.
"Your full team is on its way, you'll be making your assault once the Jedi arrive here tomorrow rest your troops, go over everything we're sending you, remember, we need to bait in Grievous, we do that, we've got him," Drexel made certain to impress upon Myec.
The message ended and Drexel stood tall and looked over at his sensors station.
"Enemy transmission sir, Vivyis-12," the officer there stated.
"Very well, looks like the bait is laid out, let's work on the trap," Drexel nodded to his two new comrades, the holographic images of Generals Skywalker and Kenobi, who had been listening in the whole time.
"Well Grand Admiral, it seems that we finally get to see your forces in action," Obi Wan observed.
"It'll be an honor Master Kenobi," Drexel nodded.
"If your forces perform as per expectations and Grievous does as expected then he won't see any of this coming," Anakin responded with a chuckle.
"Your insight into Grievous' habits certainly helped concoct this plan, just hope that Grievous acts as predicted."
"He usually does, the problem is in getting past his fleet, it is the largest I've seen him command," Obi Wan observed.
"We'll take care of the fleet, you and your men will have your corridor to the flagship," Drexel assured him.
"I hope so, for all our sake."
Wow, long-ass chapter. At least it felt like a really long one. A whole lot of exposition I feel on Bail and Padme in their situation there on the planet, and how far the two are willing to go in self-sacrifice to help their people. I feel like I captured that adequately enough, and yes I did bring in the Wookiees, not Hondo to break the siege and rescue the bodyguards. Hondo wouldn't do that for free.
As for the battle to come, yes, there are over four hundred Republican Guard ships, but most of their on-paper numbers are corvettes with less than a hundred crewmen and women and their big dogs only count for a few tens of thousands of men. Of course there is an exception with their Imperator-Class Star Destroyers which in my story have only forty-thousand crewmen instead of close to sixty thousand in the Imperial Era. So yeah, big battle set to go down next chapter, I'm really excited to dive into the mind game of Grievous vs. Drexel. Can't wait to explore how to top tier commanders would fight each other with their large fleets.
Next Chapter Preview: As I said, big, big space battle, and of course, is the parallel ground fighting, bring it!