Chapter 21
Location: Separatist Landing Site, Vivyis-12
The forest around the CIS forward landing zone was a hive of activity. Trade Federation business associates, imbedded within the Separatist fleet, had known for a long time that was a great deal of mineral and biological wealth potential on this moon. Numerous private interests had wanted this world cleared of its Wookiee inhabitants to set up private resort lodges and hunting mansions. So the Separatist droids that had landed were primarily of the engineer class, felling trees, clearing land, and tearing up the area to pave the way for a true commercial spaceport to be built.
In the forest watching them however were the many Wookiee colonists, armed to the teeth, and eager to tear apart the droids ransacking their home. Among them were Republican Guard special forces, Commando Team Dagger. The unit had painstakingly mapped the enemy positions and had brought along loaned out mortars to aid the Wookiees' defense. These mortars were zeroed in on target, ready to lob their droid popper warheads into the midst of the enemy workers and guards.
"These slimeballs don't know when to keep their grubby palms to themselves," Colonel Myec whispered to himself as he surveyed the more luxurious private Trade Federation-marked building. Several Neimodians made it clear that they were in fact here on business that was being aided by the Separatists.
"No sir they don't, do they pay with blood or credits today?" his company first sergeant asked, hoping for the former option.
"Today they pay with everything they've got. If they don't run…well that's their problem. All stations this net, Dagger-6, sitrep over," Myec called out.
"Dagger-6, Dagger-1, in position. Holding for advance on southeast treeline."
"Dagger-6, Dagger-2, in position. Holding overwatch."
"Dagger-6, Dagger-3, in position. Holding for advance on southwest treeline."
"Dagger-6, Dagger-4, in position. Support element standing by."
"All Daggers, Dagger-6 reads all, prepare for attack."
Myec checked the timer on his HUD and saw that they had a minute or so before their attack was scheduled to begin. The operation was still right on schedule. He just hoped that the rest of the Republican Guard would be so precise in their timing. No matter, he and his men had a job to do.
"Daggers, commence firing…now."
A ring of blue blaster fire erupted from the treeline along with the green blasters of the Wookiees alongside the commando unit. Explosions tore through the droid camp as droid after droid fell, and the engineering vehicles detonated as Myec's HEDP (High Explosive Dual Purpose) rockets struck their weak armor and they began belching fire and smoke. The scene quickly turned into another gruesome scene of Republican Guard efficiency as the Wookiees surged forward to take the fight to the Separatists and the Neimodians began trying to evacuate, but were cut off when Wookiee assault craft bombarded their shuttle pads and destroyed their obvious rides off the planet. Myec and his men knew that their job had been done as well as could be.
In fact they'd even held back, giving the Separatists time to call for help, and then after the call had been made and acknowledged did Myec order the hammer to come down. Their mortar pits lobbed a handful of shells into the compound and the buildings all took damage, the Wookiees moved into the buildings, and out of Myec's sight they finished off the Neimodian commanders. He felt very little pity for them, he'd acted against Trade Federation interests many times when they conflicted with Carida's and direct action was necessitated, but this was a breath of fresh air being able to do so in so public and direct a manner.
"Command, Dagger-6, hostile LZ is neutralized, pulling back to defensive line Alpha," Myec said into his long range comm, knowing the fleet was awaiting this acknowledgement of success.
"Wasn't much of a fight," his XO commented.
"Well the real fight is coming up," Myec informed his men, "Brace yourselves."
Location: Dreadnought Basilisk, Hangar Deck
Ahsoka was preparing for her mission alongside her master and clones of the small 501st and 212th detachments that they'd brought along. They had been given a flight of four F6 Infantry Assault Craft by the RVC Marine detachment aboard the Basilisk for their boarding action. These assault ships similar in design but were a bit wider than an LAAT/i, the craft she and the rest of the Clones had been used to going into action in. But these bulkier, more armored ships were actually a meant more for the kind of bullheaded assault that suited it, when compared to the more fragile but more nimble LAAT's. She was happy that they had been given these, especially when she saw the armor plates on it.
"Thank goodness we have these," Ahsoka said in appreciation as she looked one of them over.
"You're not going in with us Ahsoka," Anakin said to her from the side.
"What?! Why?" she immediately demanded.
"Grievous has a penchant for boarding enemy command craft to personally decapitate the Republic unit's command structure. He'll be coming for Admiral Drexel, we need one of us here on board to protect him and his command staff," Obi Wan explained.
"Doesn't the Admiral know that?" Ahsoka demanded.
"I made him aware of it yes, and he has transferred a company of Anaxes Knights in preparation, but still I need you to be here as insurance," Anakin explained.
"Yes master, and if Grievous doesn't come?" Ahsoka asked.
"Then we'll deal with him," Obi Wan smirked, "And you may see how the Republican Guard fights its battles."
"It's not as fun in a command center," Ahsoka grumbled unhappily.
"Kid…" Rex said quietly, "You're not gonna wanna see this battle up close. Whenever a Clone gets wounded have you noticed something?" he asked her.
"What?"
"We don't scream. We've been trained to mostly hold in the pain and the fear. But, these boys around here, they haven't. For a lot of them a couple months ago they were shopkeepers and farmers," Cody explained, "They don't have that mental training. Being on the ground in the fighting may be the most traumatic thing a young Padawan can experience."
"Which is why it's best for you to remain here," Anakin further impressed on her.
"I understand master," Ahsoka nodded, the somber reality of the coming battle fully dawning on her.
"He's expecting you on the bridge," Anakin nodded, ushering her to get to her station.
"Yes Master," Ahsoka nodded, knowing that the decision was now made and that it was the best course of action.
Ahsoka bowed respectfully before sourly leaving the hangar, moving past numerous crewmen and women. This was one fact that she wasn't used to, all the unique faces in uniform around her. The uniforms were new and the armor was different, but each face was its own. Behind each there was a story, a family, and a reason for them being here. But she ignored that as she passed several gathering points of Anaxes Knights.
She'd seen them a few times today. Their imposing forms were a surprise to her. Such antiquated fighting techniques like the sword and shield were not unwelcome to Padawan, it was just that they weren't force-sensitive and didn't have her reflexes and powers. Yet they fought this way all the same. She couldn't see past the black visors but knew that these knights were looking at her whenever she passed. But they never said a word, comfortable in their status of her looking up at them as she passed wordlessly. It was just another wide-eyed moment for her, but she was certain that once the fighting got underway the habits she was quickly forming would kick in and she'd perform as she always did. So she settled into the same role as she had before battle and rolled her shoulders back and stood tall as she got to the turbolift into the bridge.
"Padawan Tano," Lieutenant Commander Kuat greeted her while reading over what was on the station he was standing at, still refusing to say the rank the Clones knew her as.
"Commander," Ahsoka said as she passed him and walked into the command center. She found the Admiral there, his white uniform making it easy for her.
"Padawan Tano, I see you followed your orders," Admiral Drexel nodded to her, "I thought being Skywalker's apprentice would've inclined you to working your way around them."
"Yeah…well this time there wasn't any wiggle room," Ahsoka shrugged humbly.
"Sound orders are usually that way. Glad to have you, it actually provides quite a bit of reassurance having you here."
"Glad to be of help. So, how long?" Ahsoka asked.
"Our lead formations are on the countdown to jump now," Drexel pointed at the large central holotable, with three blinking formations of ships hightlighted with timers counting down the time until they jumped into hyperspace.
"Three Task Forces?" Ahsoka asked, seeing their unit symbols highlighted.
"Yes, Task Forces ten eleven and twelve. our more experienced ships I can't afford to lose, and the buffer that these units will get will give them time to deploy their assault ships to the surface and prevent them from losing a legion before it can deploy."
"A hundred and eighty thousand troops…that's a lot of people by themselves," Ahsoka said nervously.
"The other million will be right behind them," Kuat said from beside the Admiral, "Grievous won't resist the temptation to land troops and divert fighters to escort the dropships to the planet with a million Republic Troopers ready to face him."
"That'll give us the advantage," Drexel nodded.
"Still, we're facing over ten million battle droids and their vehicles and twenty Federation Battleships," Ahsoka was quick to remind him, "Are you sure the plan will work to take them out of the fight."
"I'm certain of it, if the schematics of the Lucrehulks is still up to date," Drexel responded quickly.
"They are, my master and I got them ourselves," Ahsoka affirmed very firmly.
"Then this should work, and the enemy should be almost unable to react in the way they will want to. Are all ships prepared?"
"Aye sir," Kuat responded.
"Very well, battlestations."
"Sound battlestations!"
The bridge crew began scrambling to their posts. Ahsoka saw sidearm boxes being brought out, and each of the enlisted men and women picked up a holster with a DH-17 Blaster Pistol, and the officers all checked their SSK-7's. Then the deep whooping moan of the dreadnought's battlestations klaxon began going off. If there was any sound that signified the impending doom of battle, it was this one. And Ahsoka was glad that GAR ships used a different one. The orders to launch starfighters came in rapidly and she saw the numerous dots of starfighters being deployed from the hangars of the many Republican Guard warships. Control officers directed them to massing points away from the fleet, and the ships began to heave over, pointing at their intended destination as hyperdrives began spooling up. Each of the six hundred plus ships showed a status symbol as far as shields, power, and hyperdrive capability were concerned, and she saw each flash green one by one until the screen was covered in green.
"Are you ready young one?" Drexel asked Ahsoka calmly.
"I was born ready."
Location: Grievous' Flagship, Separatist Naval Rallying Point Near Zeltros System
"Bail, Bail!" Padme called out through the vent over the lone flat bench in her cell, "You there?!"
"I'm here Padme!" Bail Organa answered, hearing her voice from the next cell over.
"I tried accessing the lock and lights, they're welded shut, and the vents are too small. I don't there's a way out of here that we can use," Padme sighed, reluctant to admit defeat.
"They're same in my cell as well, Grievous has taken precautions for this," Bail agreed, "Our best option is to be patient I'm afraid."
"I'm not very good at waiting," Padme responded, looking up at the camera constantly monitoring her cell, and got an idea.
She walked over to the wall where the camera was, and stood right below it and then reached down to the back of her boot's right heel. There she had a small ring knife hidden in a compartment in her boot's heel. The tough little blade was able to loop around two fingers and was an excellent little hidden ace in the hole that could pry open electrical equipment or injure an assailant. In this case it would break the camera and lure the droids into opening the door. Her thinking was that the droids had protocols, and among them was a need for mechanical perfection as far as maintenance went. So breaking something important would indeed draw them in. With this little device in her hand she lashed out up into the bottom of the camera, and the hardened blade punched right through the thin metal casing and a few sparks and smoke signaled that her deed was done.
"Come and get me," Padme said as she walked over to the door stairs that led down into her cell from the door.
After a few moments she heard the sounds of light clanking beyond the door, and knew her moment was coming. She held her breath as she heard the mechanics of the hatch hiss open and she lunged out to strike the first droid that came in. But her hand was caught in mid-strike and a clawed hand snapped tight around her neck, and the young senator was hoisted into the air to look eye to eye with Grievous himself. Gasping for air and grabbing the large metal arm she couldn't really comprehend an intelligible sentence to say. But she was practically being strangled and kicked with strong desperate attempts however was well out of range.
"Senator Amidala, you're tenacity is nothing short of surprising. It is no wonder you are feared by the likes of Gunray," Grievous greeted her.
"F-flattering," Padme wheezed out, and got a chuckle from the cyborg.
"Take her…" Grievous ordered the two Magnaguards whom she was tossed roughly towards and landed with a heavy thud. Coughing the two droids' hands clamped down tightly around her arms and a pair of cuffs were placed on her wrists and the trio followed Grievous out, "Once Gunray is informed of your capture the Republic will come. And so your Jedi rescuers will arrive, and be destroyed."
"You won't get away with this attack General, the Republic will find you," Padme said as they reached a turbolift to the bridge. It opened as she finished her sentence.
"Let them come," he showed her the view of over a thousand Separatist warships, all arrayed in combat formation. Twenty battleships dominated the formations, interspersed with sixty Providence-Class Destroyer-Carriers. It was the largest fleet Padme had ever seen assembled in one place, and they outnumbered the Republican Guard by two to one, "Soon your rescuers, and their fleet, will be destroyed…"
"General, our base on Vivyis-12 has been destroyed," a droid called out to him from a comms station.
"Good," Grievous noted, "Let this contest begin. Launch the response force. Drexel…your career ends now."
Location: Vivyis-12, High Orbit
The fleet of two Lucrehulks and their escorting six Providence-Class and forty Resucants and eighty Munificents arrived in orbit as expected. The ships dropped out of hyperspace close to the planet, and from opposite of them, was a nearly equally-sized fleet of all-red Republic warships. Three Imperator's, the equal of the Lucrehulks, and nine Venator's made up the core of this fighting fleet and were escorting their twelve . But it was what they were doing that was strange to the droid commanders in the bait fleet. The Republic ships were diving towards the planet.
Screening the fleet were the escort ships, Arquitens-Class, QuasarFire-Class, and the heavy Split-Bow Assault Frigates. All of them stayed behind their corvette escorts of Hammerheads, CR90's, and Charger Refit Consular-Class. It was a well-coordinated maneuver, with the droids place well out of the range of their smaller medium turbolasers. But the heavy turrets on the Republican Guard Star Destroyers were just within range, and began firing from below, where the Separatists were weakest in their armor and shields. Streams of turbolaser fire from the three Imperators' octuple-barbette turbolaser turrets tore into the leading Separatist light destroyers, two of whom exploded as the exposed reactors were struck directly. Other Separatist ships took damage as even the few heavy guns on the Split-Bow heavy cruisers fired up into the Separatist formation, concentrating fire into the leading elements of the enemy fleet.
The biological commander aboard the leading battleship was not expecting Republic ships to have already made entry into the atmosphere and was hesitant. So he did something he should not have done, he hesitated as the Republic ships dove deeper away from him into the clouds, firing up into the bellies of his ships.
"General Grievous!" the Quarren officer pleaded, "The Republican Guard was already here, three task forces were waiting for us and they're diving into the atmosphere. I can't follow with my battleships, they can't operate in atmosphere and I can't split my forces with a dreadnought lurking somewhere nearby. They are deploying troops to the surface."
"Move your ships out of range and mass your fighter and bombers. I expected this trickery from that old man, but his dreadnought cannot operate in atmosphere either. No ship larger than a Star Destroyer can safely operate in a gravity well," Grievous responded in the communication, surprising the Quarren officer who hadn't expected Grievous to receive the news as well as he did, "Prepare for their starfighter assault. Reinforcements are on their way, crush those ships and those troops."
"Move us out of range," the commander ordered, "We'll have those ships destroyed in no time."
"Sir, we have ships dropping out of hyperspace," a sensor droid called out.
As he said that a terrifying sight greeted the Separatist fleet. Over five hundred Republic warships dropped out of hyperspace directly in front of him. The flow of contacts appearing on the holographic command center in front of came like a river. And then the target he and every Separatist commander feared most made its appearance. The massive goliath appeared, dwarfing all other Republic warships around it, and they were angled to come straight for him. Leading the formation were the sledgehammers of the Republican Guard, the Imperator's.
"Deploy all fighters! Screen us and open fire!" the man said as the first volleys came towards him.
The first strikes hit the leading Providence-Class which seemingly disintegrated under the withering fire of several Republic Star Destroyers and the battle was fully joined. Vulture Droids and Tri-Fighters and Hyena Bombers swarmed from the decks of the Separatist fleet as squadrons of F-Wings and Y-Wings flowed relentlessly towards his fleet. Several Munificents and Resucants were destroyed right before his eyes as the Republic fleet bore down on him. Then he saw the sight he was waiting for. A thousand Separatist ships, jumping right in on top of him, right where Grievous wanted. He'd lured the Guard in close, into a straight battle of attrition. And on the bridge of the flagship Grievous was more than pleased with this development.
"We have the whole enemy fleet before us General," a droid officer called out as Padme remained stunned.
"Excellent, wha-," Grievous stopped in his tracks, but saw that something wasn't quite right.
"The distance to the enemy fleet is at extreme range," his gunnery droid said, "The enemy is moving forward at slow speed."
"General, enemy transport ships are not in the formation, sensors indicate they jumped out of lightspeed on the dark side of the moon and are moving in-atmosphere towards their landing site."
"How many?!" Grievous demanded.
"Sixty Acclamator-Class Assault Ships detected General."
"General, enemy fleet is accelerating, they're moving towards the planet on a controlled entry course," another of his droids called out.
"Impossible, a dreadnought cannot survive atmospheric gravity!"
"Scanning now," a droid said and tapped away, "Sensors indicate that the Basilisk is giving off powerful tensor fields, far in excess of what intelligence says is possible for a dreadnought."
"Where did we get this intelligence?!" Grievous roared at his tactical droid.
"From a schematic of a Block-I Mandator-Class Star Dreadnought. This intelligence however is dated," the upgraded droid answered quickly and efficiently, "The Basilisk is a newer ship, believed to be upgraded in weaponry and hyperdrive capability exceeding the Ruusan Limitations, in violation of that treaty."
"Of course they upgraded their dreadnoughts!" Grievous snapped, "But no matter, we shall have this one destroyed, shortly. Move us into position to pursue, and prepare to land our troops! The Republic wants a land battle, then a land battle they shall receive."
"Our battleships will require protection, they are vulnerable alone," the droid responded.
"They have thrown everything they have at us, there is nothing left to guard against and we will need all our ships to engage that dreadnought!"
"We will have to divert fighters to escort our dropships, enemy starfighters and corvettes are numerous and more maneuverable," the tactical droid advised, "And the enemy have their strongest shields and armor facing our guns, and our ships' most vulnerable points shall be exposed."
Grievous growled angrily as he watched the armada of red warships disappear into the increasingly dense cloud cover that was surrounding the planet's surface. There was no way anything but extreme weather could interfere with ships but fighters would be gravely affected by the clouds gathering over the new battleground. But Grievous was not at all worried about that, he wanted that dreadnought, and the Grand Admiral who commanded it.
"All ships advance, descend to meet them. Prepare to board, assemble as many gunships as we can spare. Once we've softened them up, we'll board them and destroy their ship and their command."
Location: Basilisk, High Atmosphere of Vivyis-12
"Enemy fleet is reforming formation," Lieutenant Commander Kuat called out, "Looks like they're taking the bait."
"Our whole force is as good as bait gets, Grievous knows that," Drexel nodded, "But he's committed, he can't bring his battleships to bear and he can't retreat in the face of us. He's stuck. Are we arrayed to face them?"
"All formations are ready."
"Admiral, enemy dropships descending, too many to count," a sensor operations officer called out.
"Very well, weapons to full power, stand by anti-ship barrage."
Ahsoka could see from the bridge window the dots of swiveling turbolaser turrets from across the fleet. The Admiral had positioned them perfectly, and the droids were now descending directly into the line of fire.
"You're going to hit them as they're entering the atmosphere, when they're shields and power systems are at their most strained," Ahsoka figured out.
"And where their ships are naturally vulnerable, in their bellies," Wain said to her with a wink.
"All ships answer ready Admiral."
"Very well," Drexel nodded, "Primary those cruisers first, set secondary targets by range."
"Aye sir."
Drexel now tabbed a communications button at the table, "Hammer Fleet, do you copy?"
"Standing by," the voice of an officer on the other end responded.
"Grievous is in the nest, prepare to jump."
"Aye sir."
"Hammer Fleet?" Ahsoka questioned.
"A little trick we've kept up our sleeves since they rolled out of the docks two days ago," Drexel responded with a wink, "All ships, anti-ship fire, all batteries execute."
"Aye sir, all guns commence firing!"
From across the fleet blue turbolaser and flak laser fire let loose, aiming up into the sky as the dull orange of entering enemy ships began glowing above the clouds. The fire pierced the cloud cover, and tore into the droid ships, the focused fire smashing into the enemy fleet's leading elements shredding the vulnerable and fragile frigates and light destroyers. The droids fired back as the first hulks began plummeting towards the forest and mountains and the Republic ships continued their upwards bombardment. The first wreckage began appearing as pieces of ships and whole droid ships plummeted towards the ground. The land that was chosen was free of inhabited settlements in the cold northern rainforests where the Wookiees didn't like to live, so damage to any civil population would be minimal.
The impacts striking the ground shook the forest, and Ahsoka could see the grim effectiveness of the maneuver that had just been executed. She could see wreck after wreck falling from the sky and hitting the forest, sending explosions and wreckage sprouting into the air. She witnessed a Providence-Class Destroyer/Carrier smash into the ground like a missile, its hull flaming and alight, and its flaming stern half stuck out of the forest canopy with its observation tower bent and hanging by a thread.
"It's working," she breathed, seeing the flaming fruits of what looked like victory.
But then to her right she saw a Venator in the near distance firing its turbolasers trying to veer away. However its maneuver was too slow, and the ship was practically cut in two when the wreck of a Resucant Light Destroyer fell into it, and both ships fell from the sky. The explosion she could feel fom within the bridge. A piece of engine from that same wreck collided with a Hammerhead Corvette near to the stricken Venator and it two tumbled from the sky trailing thick smoke and debris.
"Star Destroyer Invictus is down! Corvette Iu is crash landing!" a bridge officer called out.
"They're diverting their entry angle, their wrecks are landing on us!" Kuat declared.
Ahsoka now saw the danger, Grievous was using his own fleet's wrecks as projectiles that nothing could stop, forcing the fleet to divert themselves and break formation if it wanted to survive the metal rain.
"Break formation and continue firing!" Drexel said quickly, "Damned cyborg's using his wrecks to break our formation. All fighters climb and intercept. We need to stay low, and get Grievous' ships fully engaged in-atmosphere."
Ahsoka turned back and saw a few pieces of wreckage striking the Basilisk's hull, all of them shattering upon impact against the strong armor. But a few other ships she could see were not so lucky, a CR90 was clipped by a piece of debris, and began listing and fell into a semi-controlled descent, trailing smoke and its engines flickering to stay alive. A Split-Bow Heavy Cruiser was hit by a whole Munificent Frigate smashing into its long exposed central hull, splitting the heavy cruiser in half and sent both portions crashing into the ground.
But the fleet kept firing, and now began to gain speed, and started moving around, and she saw only pieces of debris starting to make any contact that the larger ships could handle. But the enemy was getting through. Red turbolaser fire rained down thicker than before and now she saw enormous swirling dogfights taking shape around the battlespace as explosions and flak bursts from side lit up the skies. Amongst them all were C-9979 dropships descending towards the planet, and on the ground they began depositing their divisions of droids.
"Dropships are getting to the ground!" Ahsoka called out.
"We know, we're shooting as many down as we can but there's a thousand of them under fighter escort, we can't get them all," Wain replied as he tried routing reserve squadrons to intercept the transports.
"Master where are you?" Ahsoka asked herself.
Location: Grievous' Flagship, in High Orbit of Vivyis-12
Grievous was tapping tensely on his chair's arms as he and his two hostages observed the battle. His fleet was making headway. Despite initially heavy losses his ships had done considerable damage in their death plunges, destroying several enemy ships and damaging others. But the dreadnought and the Imperator's remained defiantly effective. The screens of corvettes and cruisers swirled constantly preventing his ships from getting close and the Imperator's ruthlessly hunted down his heavier Providence-Class ships and decimated them as they came down to join the battle.
"General, all ships are at point of entry," a droid called out to him, "All forces are committed."
"Good," Grievous acknowledged.
"You're doomed General, the Republic fleet has you where it wants you," Bail Organa said defiantly.
"I don't think so, I can still escape, while they have trapped themselves against the planet with my ships raining down on top of them," Grievous waved off, knowing that the odds were saying that his ships were indeed winning as they crowded in above the enemy ships.
His fleet was arranged just so that if one went down it would endanger a Republic ship or ships. This was a great danger, and the Republican Guard was breaking its formation, allowing for him to utilize his numbers. If they wanted to avoid this fate they would have to climb, and this would then bring them in reach of his battleships. His plan was working as predicted.
"Any sign of the Jedi?" Grievous demanded.
"None yet General. We are scanning for any stray shuttles or gunships, but there are so many craft that picking out patterns is impossible."
"Keep scanning! They will come, and when they do, their lightsabers shall be mine," he said as he looked at Padme and Bail, both held tightly by their Magnaguard captors, but Padme was still defiant.
"Oh I don't think so."
Location: Vivyis-12, 3rd Guard Legion Frontlines
Most of the trees were on fire, as was the wreckage. Even the very air itself was thick with glowing cinders blowing about as the infantry company moved out towards their objective, a downed corvette. Wyatt and Eva and the rest of 1st Platoon of Echo Company were tasked with getting to a Consular-Class Cruiser that had gone down two kilometers from their lines, right in the path of a droid battalion advancing down the valley. The crew of ten was still alive, but couldn't move their six wounded. So Delta Company was dispatched to get them out and hold the droids as long as they could.
The uneven terrain was thick with massive roots and boulders, making the terrain impassable to armor. So they were out on foot, with Wyatt's fireteam leading the way. He'd been forced to switch his grenade launcher with Hal, and Eva had to take over as their AT specialist and give the DLT-18 to Kyly. The Lieutenant had enforced the fireteam makeup more strictly today before they'd landed. And seeing the battle going on overhead and the numerous casualties other units had already sustained Wyatt fully understood why. They'd need their chain of command intact today, there were going to be a lot of casualties.
"Spread out, we're getting close," Lieutenant Yuno ordered the platoon, carefully leading them towards the pillars of smoke that were the obvious beacon to the crash site.
"Let's move up, quietly now," Wyatt said as he lead his fireteam on the left side of the squad wedge.
"1-1, on the high ground to the north go," his squad leader ordered them as they grew closer, "We're on overwatch while they clear the site."
"Roger, Charlie moving," Wyatt responded quickly, and he pointed out the wooded high ground in question, "Watch the hill, don't skyline."
He the others made their way up, staying amongst the boulders as they jogged through the knee-high ferns and slick muddy ground. Their rifles were loosely near their shoulders, ready to be snapped up to meet any droids that they came across. The squad was summiting the ridge when they heard the nearby sounds of droid vehicles, moving in quickly from the east. They were in a bowl-like depression, with higher ground to their left (north), and flatter ground that leveled out to their right. Ahead of them the valley seemed to level out into the area where the Consular had crashed, leaving a trail of shattered trees, pieces of debris, and flaming puddles of fuel around the area with chewed up dirt starting a hundred meters back and ending at the remains of the hull. The port engine lay separate from the ship, flames rising from the engine, and the rest of the ship lay partly on its port side, with its starboard engine being up in the air and pieces of metal strewn about with its hull ripped open in several places and not a single viewscreen or window being intact.
"Got eyes on an MTT!" Eva called out, poking her head up over the ridge, and saw the vehicle complete with battle droids leading it forward coming down the valley.
"I see it too," Wyatt nodded, getting up next to her, just seeing the vehicle passing behind a few large trees as it turned to get around a fallen and burning tree, "1-1, 1-1 Charlie, got eyes on an MTT moving towards the crashsite from the east."
"1-1 copies, get cover, prepare to engage."
"Eva, Kyly, take those rocks, Hal get your ass over here. I want a rocket right through the bridge of that fekker! You understand?" Wyatt demanded.
"Roger that corporal," Hal nodded and moved over to a rock that would give him a view of the enemy MTT as it came forward. The rest of the squad moved in behind them as they waited for the order to fire and by the time they did hear the call for set something happened.
A loud bang and creaking noise emanated from the MTT and they saw the vehicle appearing to be stuck. It was facing directly at them, but a log was blocking it from moving forward towards the crash site. The hatch to release its droid cargo began to open as Wyatt laid eyes on it. This was a chance to hit the vehicle while it was incredibly vulnerable.
"Hal hit that thing right fekking now," he snapped, grabbing his rifleman and tugging him out from behind the rock to take a shot, "Put it right into the deployer!"
"Backblast clear!" Hal called as he shouldered the launcher.
"It's clear, just shoot!" Eva snapped.
"Got a lock, rocket!"
He pulled the trigger and the rocket blew out from the tube and the smoke trail led right into the right side of the MTT's gaping deployment bay, and exploded within. When the smoke cleared a bit they saw the rocket had done its job in disabling the vehicle instantly and it dropped to the ground, wrenching the racks skywards. Black smoke and flame burst from the vehicle as a fuel tank caught fire and droids began moving up and they saw another droid deployment rack get deposited further just around the bend well behind the first vehicle they'd just hit.
"Oh fek there's another one in defilade!" Eva called out, but when she said that another rocket went out from one of the other squads down below.
The rocket missed just short, exploding in the underbrush as droid infantry ran out from around the corner and on the high ground, moving and firing along the way. Eva directed Kyly to begin firing, and everyone else began firing as quickly as they could. The droids' red laser fire pummeled the crash site as they started taking cover, bounding up as others covered them, usually with the sturdier B2's leading packs of B1's. Wyatt's squad was the one taking the most contact and were hard-pressed to take cover and fire back as the droids moved and fired in a far more proficient manner than they normally fought in.
"They're fighting differently!" Eva noted.
"It's like they're fighting like us," Wyatt nodded, "lifelike almost!"
"Not lifelike enough!" Hal said as he stood up to fire back and prove his point.
Over his shoulder Wyatt saw, on slightly higher ground directly on their left flank, movement from at least a platoon of droids cresting the ridge, looking right down at them.
"Hal get down!" Wyatt ordered, but Hal was a little slow, and a blaster bolt struck him directly in his left knee and into his shin and he went down grasping at the singed holes in his leg.
He immediately began cussing at the droids in excruciating pain, jamming up the fireteam net, and Wyatt immediately muted him to save his ears. Eva turned her grenade launcher towards the hill and fired, popping a HE round right up at the droids and it exploded amongst a bunched up group, taking them all out with a shower of broken metal parts and dirt. Kyly tried to move positions and then took cover with her bipod propped up to aim up into the enemy droids firing down into their flank. Wyatt grabbed Hal and dragged him into a hole in the ground behind some rocks as the squad medic rushed up and slid down next to him.
"Go I got him!" he told Wyatt as the sergeant slid in next to them.
"Corporal! Get your team deployed to suppress them, I've got mortars coming in on that hill, keep those junkers in place!" he quickly ordered.
"Roger that sarge!" Wyatt nodded, and grabbed the rocket launcher from the ground next to Hal along with the three rockets in his pack.
As he ran up a B2 with a rocket fired a rocket down into their area and it exploded behind him and knocked him forward into the air, and he landed hard behind Eva. Getting back to his feet he shook off the rough landing and tightly clutched his rifle and began firing up to suppress the enemy. They fired and fired, hitting many of them as they tried advancing but the droids realized that this was now a shootout. But when that happened the whistling noises of mortar fire greeted Wyatt's ears and the hill seemed to detonate with the sizeable explosions of mortar shells striking the hill and effectively destroying the droid formation.
"Got 'em!" Kyly whooped as she stood up to get a better look, but Eva and Wyatt couldn't speak up to get her down fast enough.
A red blaster bolt passed through the lower vertical support of her helmet's visor and then cleanly bisected her visor itself and went out the other side. The girl dropped to the ground and her hands immediately went to her face and she started screaming. Eva rushed to her side and pulled her hands down away from her battle buddy's helmet and Wyatt began pulling off her helmet to see that Kyly was in rough shape. Blood poured from the singed cuts from the shattered bits of visor stuck in her face including her eyes, and all of her face eyebrow and eyes had a serious burn on it. The wounded girl was whimpering in pain as another fireteam rushed to their aid and their grenadier got hit directly in the chest and lurched back into the ground, killed instantly. The medic rushed to Kyly's side as Hal limped over, and saw her condition for himself.
"Hold her down!" the medic roared at Eva, "Keep her hands at her side."
The medic had to roughly pin Kyly's left arm down with his knee as Eva grabbed her right arm and held it down. Wyatt grabbed Kyly's DLT-18 and tossed it to Hal.
"Keep blasting!" he ordered him and the battle continued.
The firing continued and continued until Wyatt felt a massive concussion hit them from behind. A pieve of ship debris hit the ground, and right above them a Venator was coming down from behind it, trailing smoke and fire. The groan of the ship's engines could easily be heard, and the nose of the ship was aiming directly at them. The red star destroyer was in trouble. It had deployed its landing gear and was trying to land safely, but red turbolaser fire from an equally crippled Providence continued pummeling it.
"Take cover!" Wyatt heard the radio call out as the ship went over them and pieces of debris fell around them.
Everyone tucked themselves in, praying they'd be okay. The medic dove over Kyly to protect his wounded patient, and Eva tucked in next to the boulder she and Wyatt were behind. Wyatt hit the ground as the forward landing strut hit the trees, shearing them away like toothpicks and then hit the high ground they'd just been firing at. After a few seconds though the weight of the massive ship was too much to bear and the strut snapped and the ship's nose dipped into the ground and crashed down mere meters above them. The ship's hull began breaking up at this point, raining pieces of metal plate around them as big as gunships along with piping, interior corridors, and parts of all kinds. The ship slid some more and the port strut gave out, dropping the ship onto its left side, tearing that portion apart. The hull's seams were wrenched away from one another as the ship settled and stopped.
The battleground had been coated in the wreckage of the downed star destroyer, with pieces of the hull scattered about with the main intact portion hovering over their heads blocking out the sun. Wyatt looked up and saw a piece of armor plate had landed behind him with sparks coming from wiring attached to it. The rest of their position was coated in wreckage and debris set ablaze with the destruction that had befallen the area. He couldn't see anyone from the squad, the devastation was so total. But he could see Eva.
"Eva!" Wyatt coughed out, pulling at her as she stirred, "You okay?"
"Y-yeah!" she called out hesitantly, looking around as she got up, weapon to her shoulder, "What the kriff just happened?"
"Star destroyer just crashed, we're lucky," he responded, looking around them, "Let's find the others. 1-1, this is Charlie, do you read?"
"Corporal!" he heard from beneath a pile of rubble, it was Hal.
"Hal!" Wyatt ran over and pulled the pieces of metal away, and saw the beat up armor of his rookie, pinned beneath the wreckage.
"Hang on kid," Eva called out, and they quickly dug him out.
"Where's Kyly?" the boy quickly asked.
"Mike, Charlie, you still up? Where are you?" he called, and looked at his HUD, and saw that many of the squad and platoon had gone from green to yellow or red. Half of them were hurt in some way, and four were dead. Among the living at least was Kyly and the medic.
"Over here!" a hand waved them over, and they saw the medic hoisting Kyly's right arm over his shoulder and carried her staggering to them, "Get her bandaged up. I gotta get to the others."
"Hal, take care of her, Eva let's get to the others."
"Scratch that," an order called out, it was Lieutenant Yuno.
"Sir?" Wyatt asked.
"Orders from the top, we need to get to the bridge and confirm that their computers are wiped. They can't contact whoever's left on that ship. I need you two to get aboard and find their captain and demo any computers on the command deck that're intact," Yuno ordered them both, "The whole legion's advancing to form a line on us. But the droids will be coming for this ship. You need to get there, and confirm the data destruction."
"Yes sir understood sir," Wyatt nodded and nodded to Eva, who nodded back.
"Another data and data recovery mission huh?" Eva chuckled as they jogged up.
"Yep, seems like it's happening a lot today."
Location: Dreadnought Basilisk, Atmosphere of Vivyis-12
"The enemy fleet's committed!" Commander Kuat called out, seeing the last of the enemy formation entering the atmosphere.
"Sir another star destroyer just went down," a comms officer called out, and Ahsoka looked around and saw the silhouette of the ship off in the distance, consumed by dust smoke.
"Master Skywalker, have you plotted the jump coordinates for our little surprise?" Drexel asked.
"Already done Admiral," the voice of Anakin responded with his usual confidence.
"Very well, Hammer Fleet, jump and engage those battleships," Admiral Drexel gave the command.
"Copy that jumping.
"What exactly is Hammer Fleet?" Ahsoka questioned, hearing the explicit order to engage twenty-one enemy battleships. Not just any ships could do such a thing.
Drexel expanded the scope of the map, to show the battleships perched in low orbit. Behind them were several beacons, friendly ones. These ones were the symbols for Anakin and Obi Wan, just sitting quietly, drifting towards Grievous' flagship right under his nose amongst the wrecks of the initial enemy casualties. But just beyond them were nine lines, indicating jump points for them.
They were then occupied by nine truly monstrous surprises for the droids. Six three-thousand meter long Revenge-Class Heavy Carriers and three four-thousand meter long Praetor-Class Battlecruisers dropped out of hyperspace directly behind the enemy fleet of battleships with their wedge-shaped hulls pointing their full complement of weapons directly into the enemy battleships. The 1,600 meter-long Imperator's could take on a Lucrehulk in a close fight, but Praetors and Revenges were far larger and far more heavily armed. These ships were battleship killers, and they had just caught Grievous with his pants down.
Location: General Grievous' Flagship, Low Orbit of Vivyis-12
Padme hadn't expected a visit from someone that she greatly despised. The slimy filth that was Nute Gunray had arrived in a shuttle early in the battle, and entered the bridge of the battleship.
"Well done General," Gunray said, greatly pleased as he and several other Neimodian ceremonial guards and a couple members of his entourage joined them on the bridge.
"Gunray," Padme snarled with all the menace she possessed.
"I don't have time for your visit Gunray, I am in the middle of a battle," Grievous declared, turning away from the scene in front of him.
"I felt it wise to claim my prize and witness our grand triumph personally," Gunray responded as he stood next to him.
"My triumph, the Republican Guard will be destroyed by my hand!"
"Or you will shoulder the blame for their victory," Bail responded.
"Doubtful…"
"General, enemy ships coming out of hyperspace!" a droid called out.
Immediately upon saying that the ships lurched hard as several hundred turbolasers and ion cannons tore into the rear engines of Grievous' flagship, devastating the sublight engines and destroying its hyperdrive assembly. A power shortage immediately darkened the ship and the red emergency lights kicked in. Nothing but an ion cannon fed by a reactor as large or larger than his own ship could do such a thing.
"Kenobi?!" Grievous roared.
"Nine enemy capital ships dropped out of hyperspace, all are larger and more heavily armed than our own," the tactical droid responded, "Their design indicates that they are battlecruisers and heavy carriers."
"What is happening?!" Gunray cried out.
"Return fire!" Grievous ordered as a battleship just to their left was obliterated from the concentrated fire of the ships behind them.
"Sir we are disabled, navigation and propulsion do not answer, we're drifting towards the planet."
Another battleship's starboard ring was torn away as one above and in front of the flagship exploded and severed the ring and central sphere from one another from the concentrated fire of heavy turbolasers hitting it directly into the engine block. Starfighters from the Republican Guard carriers zoomed past the bridge, engaging the handful of starfighters that had remained to guard the battleships. Over their heads came the shadow of a red dagger looming over their ship as it listed lazily. Grievous recognized it as a Praetor-Class Battlecruiser from its sheer size. He knew his fleet was doomed now, not even Lucrehulks could take on three of these monsters and a dreadnought. They were repurposed freighters, these were specifically designed to do battle with capital ships.
"We must get out of here, now!" Gunray insisted fearfully, cowering away from the sight of the Kuati giants.
"We are willing to negotiate the terms of your surrender General," Padme smirked.
"Prepare the escape ships!" Grievous immediately ordered, and saw the smug faces of the two senators, "Don't feel so comfortable Senators. I don't think our time together is at an end."
"You think the Guard won't shoot you down with us as a shield?" Bail said.
"Your claim is 92.9 percent inaccurate Senator Organa," the tactical droid responded, "Hostages have stopped Republic military action quite effectively."
"Especially with the Jedi coming to rescue you…"
Location: Hangar of Grievous' Flagship
Ten F7 Gunships zoomed in through the hangar, six carried the Clones and Jedi of Anakin and Obi Wan's personal units, and the others contained Republican Guard special forces, Anaxes Knights and Caridan Commandos. The heavily armed gunships immediately opened fire, sending barrages of rockets and laser fire into everything that moved, droids, roaming walking Vulture droids, and every turret in the hangar. They were excellent for this type of work, and due to their surprise entry didn't suffer a scratch before touching down.
This force was meant specifically to rescue the Senators, and/or capture of kill Grievous. The Caridans and Anaxes Knights were insisted-upon by the Guard's special forces commander, who saw an opportunity for his best troops to show off for the best the Republic had. Obi Wan was more than happy to have the Knights join them, but Anakin and the Clones were a bit reluctant for the added numbers.
The force had split into two groups, Obi Wan leading his platoon of 212th Clone Troopers and two squads of Anaxes Knights while two teams of Caridans accompanied Anakin and a platoon of 501st Troopers. They each landed in a separate hangar, directly across from one another. Each left a squad of Clones to guard their rides out.
"Alright, we'll sweep the main halls, keep your scanners on high, we're looking for lifesigns," Anakin informed his men.
"Sir yes sir," Rex acknowledged.
"Roger," the Caridan captain in charge of his teams responded with a nod, "Sabre-2-2, Sabre-2-3, you heard him, let's move."
"What's with all the numbers?" Rex asked Anakin.
"They're sticklers for organization," Anakin shrugged and began moving out, "Master, we're moving into the main halls now."
"Very well, we're doing the same, make sure you lead the way, we both know how dangerous Grievous is," Obi Wan warned his friend.
"With my luck he'll bump into you, you are his favorite," Anakin smirked as they walked onwards.
"Which is why I have some swordsmen to help me cut him down to size."
I think eight thousand words is a good stopping point. At some point it just gets repetitive and I've been put off for long enough. I apologize for not posting sooner, school this semester was just a real constant barrage that I had to just buckle down and focus. But I'm back, and on the attack. I'm also pleased to announce something else.
I've begun a gaming channel on Youtube, gaming is where I get a lot of my inspiration, especially lately since I have become a fully-fledged member of the 506th IR Realism Unit on Arma 3. We are currently in Winter Stand Down right now, so I'll be able to enjoy some writing and get you guys some quality content. I have already posted a video on my channel: "BIG Z1776 Gaming" of my first training op with the 506th. I will also be doing some livestreams in the near future, and will share other content as soon as I can. In the meantime, hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Next Chapter Preview: The rescue is underway, and the battle below continues to intensify.