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Hey folks.
Have no fear, Grubkiller is here.
Here's part 14 of 'Rise of the Empire'.
I hope you are enjoying so far.
Please feel free to leave a review. I love hearing your feedback. Just keep criticism constructive. And make I sure I can understand what you're talking about. And for God's sake, NO Abbreviations!
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Mandalore, Sun'dari, Royal palace, end of day 3 of the siege, concurrent to the events on Coruscant, Kashyyyk, and Utaupau.
The hallway was secured, albeit covered in blast marks.
Ahsoka and her men moved through the building, stepping over the smoking bodies of Maul's troopers.
They eventually came up on a massive lobby. It had two staircases that both led up to the upper level. In front of the two flights of stairs, was a fortified position. Maul's forces had set up barriers, with scaffolding above them to allow more troopers to defend that position. Fire was rained down on them from the barriers on the ground, and the scaffolding above.
Several clones were killed by laser fire, before the rest dove for cover and returned fire.
Ahsoka deflected oncoming bolts with her sabers.
"Return fire. And someone bring up the heavy weapons," Rex ordered.
Blue and yellow laser bolts flew back and forth. But it was taking too long.
"We don't have time for this. Jesse, I want you and your men to follow me," Ahsoka ordered.
"Yes, Ma'am," Jesse said.
"Rex, I want you to lead everyone else up to the roof. We're going after Maul," she said.
"Yes ma'am," the veteran clone captain acknowledged.
When Rex replied to his new set of orders, a team of Clone AT teams rushed up with their rocket launchers. As Ahsoka, along with Jesse's squad, went left up a flight of stairs, Rex called out to them.
"We've gotta get through that barrier. Concentrate fire on that target," Rex ordered. The three heavy gunners aimed their rocket launchers at the scaffolding. "Take 'em down!" He ordered, prompting all three gunners to fire.
Smoke shot out the backs of their launchers as rockets were propelled towards the Shadow Collective emplacements. Three powerful explosions ripped up the makeshift fortifications. Dust and debris, along with Maul's troopers, were blasted everywhere.
"Now's our chance, CHARGE!" Rex shouted before vaulting over cover, whilst firing his dual sidearms.
The rest of his men followed suit, activating their laser bayonets, and let out a powerful battle cry before they rushed the Shadow Collective troopers, blasting or hacking away most of them before they continued the advance.
"The Clones have taken the lobby. Fall Back to the parliament room!" One Maul trooper shouted, as he and his remaining comrades were chased upstairs by the charging Clones.
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Royal Palace, throne room.
Ahsoka continued to walk through the ruined halls of the palace. Holes appeared where Republic Artillery blasts had found their mark, allowing natural light to shine through. Most of the guards were in a different part of the building, fighting off the Republic assault. But she could see that these halls were occupied, judging by the debris and the dead bodies of several guards.
A shiver went up her spine when she thought that maybe Maul was responsible for their deaths, hence the small blast marks on their persons.
One to the head . . . execution style
A few moments later, she came across the door to the throne room.
Ahsoka opened the door. Glass windows lined up the side of the throne room. She could've seen the destruction brought on by the invasion, had the windows not been covered. Outside, smoke columns rose from the horizon, and Republic artillery continued to fire away, blue balls of plasma hammering into the front of the building, rocking it and making it rumble beneath her feet.
She could see a shadowy hooded-figure standing by one of the windows near the throne. The same throne that Satine used to sit in when Ahsoka was last here during a peace conference between the Republic and Separatists. The one that Lux interrupted.
Maul's face, darkened and obscured by a hood, turned away from the image of his smoldering empire. But then, he began to walk over, with the legs making a mechanical whining sound. The figure's feet clanked against the floor as he walked over to her.
He tossed his robe aside, allowing her to see the mechanical legs he was forced to use.
Master Kenobi's handiwork.
Maul looked her up and down, with skepticism and confusion written on his angered face. "I was hoping for Kenobi. Why are you here?" Maul asked, with fury leaking through his teeth, before he ignited his double-edged red lightsaber.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you," she said sarcastically before she activated her green lightsabers and assumed a fighting stance. "But you're gonna have to deal with me."
"This should be quick," Maul said dismissively.
He then drew his arm back and threw his dual-edged saber at her, which spun like a propeller as it flew in a vertical angle towards her. Thinking quickly, as Maul's blade tore up the floor between them, she dove out of the way just as the blade passed her, before being called back into Maul's hand, as he charged toward her.
She was still on her back when Maul was jumping through the air, preparing to thrust one end of his blade through her. But she flipped back over her shoulders, and back onto her feet, just as Maul plunged his blade deep into the ground. Ahsoka then drew her arms back and slashed her blades against the other end of his sword, before she began to lean forward and attempt to push his blade onto his face with her own.
But Ahsoka leaned too far forward, allowing Maul to deliver a swift kick to her stomach, forcing her back. He then summoned a force push that sent her sliding back. But Ahsoka plunged her blades into the ground in order to slow and stabilize herself, just in time to react to Maul's vicious offensive. He began to spin his blade over Ahsoka, forcing her to move quickly, blocking and parrying all of his blows. But Ahsoka decided to disengage, forcing Maul to try and keep up with the young Togrutan, who used her acrobatic skills to keep out of range of Maul's saber throws.
She jumped off of walls and chairs, especially the throne, to strike at him from above and from the sides, trying to keep Maul on the defensive.
But eventually, she was backed into a corner by the experienced Sith assassin. But instead of being hacked up, she had different ideas. As they were both caught in a saber lock, she used her feet to push off of the ground and flip over Maul, delivering a swift kick to the back of his head. He stumbled forward, growling in anger, before he turned around just in time to parry several of her successive strikes.
As they were caught in another saber lock, Maul began to smile.
"You've lasted longer than I would have anticipated. But I sense your fear. You are no match for me. You will die, just as many other Jedi have before you," he said, pushing her back with his blade.
Ahsoka was breathing heavily, with every muscle in her body crying out to take a break. But she knew that she had a mission to complete.
Then she smiled.
"You first," she said before tapping a button on her wrist comm.
Seconds later, a whole platoon of clone troopers stormed into the room, before moving to cover Ahsoka and surround Maul. They had been waiting for Ahsoka to wear him down, before entering at the right moment to try and subdue him. . . or neutralize him if need be.
Maul looked around, frustrated by the new threat that surrounded him.
"It's over, Maul!" Jesse called out.
Then Maul cracked a demonic smile. "For you, it is."
Maul's words caught everyone off guard.
That's when several Maul troopers came in through the door off to the side of the throne room. Right after that, several Mandalorian super-commandoes rocketed into the throne room through the windows that overlooked the embattled city. They hovered right above the throne seat.
One of them was Gar Saxon
"There they are. Destroy them for Lord Maul!" Saxon said.
They all fired on the clones in the room. The Clones fired back, with Ahsoka in front of them, deflecting bolt after bolt with her green lightsabers. Several Shadow Collective troopers fell, including some of the commandoes, who jetted out of control.
But a few clones fell too. Ahsoka and her troopers faltered a bit, giving ground to Maul's troopers.
As Gar Saxon led his men to drive Ahsoka and the clones out of the throne, Ahsoka could hear what Maul was ordering his men.
"Hold them here for as long as you can. It is time to begin the next phase of our operation." He said, before he bolted down the hall.
"NO!" Ahsoka exclaimed before she charged at Maul, slashing through two Maul troopers on the way. She swung her sabers at him, but the Dark lord parried both strikes before kicking her in the gut. Then he used the force to make her slide across the floor, only stopping when she drove her blades into the ground.
"Hold them here as long as you can," Maul ordered.
Commander Saxon nodded and ignited his jetpack to hover above the ground with his warriors and continue firing at the Republic strike force, as Maul retreated down the hallway.
"Grrrr! Maul's getting away!" Ahsoka shouted.
One Maul trooper ran up to her with a stun baton, shouting out a battle cry. "Victory or Death!" He shouted before he tried to swipe at Ahsoka with the baton. She crossed her main blade with the baton, and stabbed him in the chest with her shoto. She withdrew the blade from his chest just in time to deflect a shot back into a super-commando on the other side of the throne room, killing him.
"You go ahead Commander. We'll catch up!" Jesse shouted.
Ahsoka nodded as she sprinted after the dark lord. She force pushed several Maul troopers out of the way, going down the same hallway Lux was taken down when she was last here. Gar Saxon motioned to two of his men and they jetted after her down the hall.
Jesse, Echo, Hardcase, and several others continued fighting Saxon and his men.
One death watch commando jetted over to Hardcase, and used his vambrace to latch onto Hardcase rotary cannon with a cable. He was trying to pull away his weapon. "Oh no ya' don't!" Hardcase said as he yanked back on the cable as hard as he could. He ended up pulling the commando towards him. It loosened the cable enough for Hardcase to get a good volley on the Mando trooper. He shot out his thrusters, making the commando fall next to him. The Maul trooper looked up just in time to see Hardcase bring the cannon down on his head. Blood ran down the troopers head and out of his helmet.
Echo held up his rifle and used it to block a foot soldier's blow, crossing their rifles together. He knocked him back and began to bash the Maul trooper in the face with the butt of his DC-15. He was shoved to the ground, spewing blood and teeth from his mouth. Echo aimed down at the trooper's chest and fired, finishing him off.
The clones cut down several more Maul troopers.
Jesse aimed his dual sidearms at Gar Saxon, hitting him in his armored chest. The force knocked him back. Saxon, not liking his odds, threw a smoke grenade across the room. The room filled up with smoke, covering his escape.
"The throne room's secured, let's go after the commander," Jesse said to his men as they followed him down where Ahsoka was going.
Meanwhile, Ahsoka was chasing Maul, while being chased by two Shadow collective super commandoes. They fired on her. She deflected one of the blasts and hit one of the flying warriors in his jetpack. He spun out of control and flew straight into the other warrior, and forced them to scrape against the wall. Then the jetpack exploded, killing both warriors.
Ahsoka continued the pursuit.
Maul was speaking into his comm device.
She could hear the conversation with her montrals.
"Kast. Get the Nightbrother and get ready to pick me up. And tell the others to get the bombs ready!" He ordered.
"But Lord Maul. The Raxus bomb isn't ready," she said.
"I care not. Dooku is dead and his movement will follow. Worry about the Republic and the Hutts!" He ordered.
"Yes my Lord," Kast responded.
Ahsoka was shocked.
As she ran, she contacted Jesse.
"Jesse. I want you to send a squad of troopers to check the Palace bunker. Whatever Maul's plan is, I think he's about to go through with it," she explained.
"Yes Ma'am," Jesse said.
As The Republic continued to push through the palace, and as Ahsoka continued to chase Maul, deep in the bowels of the palace, Clone Lieutenant Vill, his platoon, a squad of ordnance specialists, and a group of Mandalorian riot troopers that were loyal to the Nite Owls, were stacked up on a door that led to a secret hanger bay that led out of the city's dome.
One clone placed an explosive on the door's locking mechanism. When it started beeping, he got clear, and everyone looked away from the ensuing blast, which took out the lock, allowing the door to slide open. When it did, two clones threw a pair of flashbangs through the door. Seconds later they heard the screams and cries of blind and deaf Maul troopers.
"Now's our chance, go!" Vill ordered, before he and his men rounded the corner and flooded the room, blasting away at the disorientated Maul loyal troopers, killing them all with precise blaster fire.
After all of the Maul troopers had dropped to the deck, the clones and Nite Owls began to inspect the cargo containers, and the cargo transports that were being loaded.
"Looks like they were in a hurry to get out," one of Vill's men said over the comm, so that everyone in the hanger could hear him.
"Yeah, but were they running, or did they have a mission?" Another clone replied.
One Mandalorian soldier tore the cover off of one of the crates. "I'm going with running. Not only are Maul's people cowards, there is nothing here."
"Ya' think so?" One clone said as he tore the cover off of another crate. Everyone turned around to see what he was doing. They walked over as he was inspecting the contents.
"Oh Scray!" One soldier exclaimed. "Are those...?"
"Yup... nuclear bombs." The clone tech said.
Everyone looked at the bombs with both interest and horror.
"These have the same payload that Maul needed to take out those Mando cities. And if you noticed the labels, I'd say he had some pretty big plans for them." The technician said, referring to the planet's names labeled on the different bombs.
Nal Hutta.
Tatooine.
Raxus.
Coruscant.
Kamino.
Mustafar.
Oba Diah.
Naboo.
"Damn!" One of the mandalorian soldiers said softly as he and the others looked at the devices.
"Maul must've wanted to take out all of the places that are important to the Republic." One of kano's men said. "Or whoever betrayed him," he said referring to Maul's former underworld allies."
"Where'd he get this kind of payload?" Vill asked.
"He must've done some serious shopping on the black market."
Suddenly the bombs all started beeping, making everyone jump. That's when a timer started counting down.
"Oh Scray!" Someone shouted.
"Quick, start defusing those bombs!" Vill ordered, and the Clone ordnance specialists started getting to work disarming them.
Parliament chamber, Royal Palace, Sun'dari.
Captain Rex and the rest of the Clones were taking cover near a busted open wall, where they fired on the enemy forces on the other side of the parliament chamber.
The other side, near several podiums, the Shadow Collective had set up several heavy emplacements to keep the Republic invaders at bay. The rows of benches across the floor of the chamber were being used as cover by Maul's forces. Heavy fire was being thrown at the men of Torrent Company. Several clones fell, and the rest were pinned down, and they couldn't get a good shot.
So Rex sent Boomer's squad of clones up to a balcony that was overlooking the chamber. They ran up the stairs and set up shop, using their blaster rifles and sniper attachments to thin out the enemy forces from above. They picked off Maul's Supercommandoes, targeting their jetpacks, with devastating results. They fell or flew out of control one by one until it was okay for the rest of the men to advance.
But Maul's forces had the same idea. They had troopers on the balcony on the other side of the chamber, and they were trying to pick off the clones. More Maul troopers started using incendiary grenades from above to keep the clones at bay.
That's when Bo-Katan and some of her fliers came in and shot at some of Maul's super-commandoes. They were killed, and the Clone troopers on the balcony started picking off more Maul troopers on the opposite balconey.
"Nice of you to join us Kryze," Rex said.
"Where's Tano?" Bo asked as she fired her blaster at another Maul trooper that got too close.
"She took thirty of my men and went after Maul," Rex said as he squeezed off another shot at the enemy troopers.
"Well then, I guess we'll have to take this palace ourselves," she said as she bent over and fired a volley of rocket pods at a massive statue of Darth Maul. The statue collapsed and crushed a Shadow Collective weapon emplacement. "As his statue falls, so to will his regime. Forward!" Bo-Katan ordered.
Rex and Kryze, along with their men, charged at the remaining Maul troopers. They ran behind a door that was jammed shut behind them. A pair of clones tried to pry it open.
But it wouldn't budge.
"Gah, it's jammed. We need a hand."
"Stand back," one of the Nite Owl commandoes said as he raised his wrists at the damaged door. Taking the hint, the clones stepped far back, before the commando unleashed a barrage of small missiles at the door.
The door was demolished. They heard screams of terror from the other side, as Maul-loyal troopers ran deeper into the palace, leaving their wounded comrades behind.
The Rex and Kryze's men executed the injured troopers and ran up the stairs after the fleeing survivors. They engaged in small firefights with troopers that were too slow to retreat, and they blasted doors open to execute or imprison the Maul troopers that were hiding, and continued to clear out the building one room at a time.
All was quiet as the allied troopers eventually found themselves going further upstairs and happened upon a maintenance area. It had more stairs that led to the roof.
"We must be close to the roof. Look how far we've come," one of Coric's men said.
"I say we throw these animals over the edge!" A Night Owl said.
"Captain, I just got word from Lieutenant Bow. He and sergeant Kano are moving into the building with reinforcements as we speak," Sgt. Boomer said.
"They can mop up what we missed. We should push forward," Rex said to Kryze.
"Agreed," she replied. "Soon, the bloody heart of Maul's pathetic little empire will beat for the last time".
Secret hanger bay, 30 seconds left until detonation.
Back in the secret hanger bay, where Maul's forces had planned to launch their operation, Lieutenant Vill's man were still hard at work defusing the remaining bombs in the Shadow Collective's stockpile.
Four minutes and thirty seconds had gone by, and there was only two bombs left to defuse, but with thirty seconds on the clock. Lieutenant Vill had kept trying to get a signal out to the Commander Tano or Captain Autem's fleet, but to no avail. Meanwhile, at the hanger's entrance, the Nite Owls and half of the platoon were fighting off Shadow Collective troopers that were trying to retake the hanger.
"Gah, I can't get a signal out of this place!" Vill exclaimed in frustration before he turned to his men. "Will you boys hurry up?! This is taking longer than I'd like!"
"Working as fast as I can sir," one ordnance specialist said.
"Well work faster!" Vill pressed as he directed another squad to shore up their defenses, and keep out the remaining Maul troopers. "If one of those bombs go off, then we can kiss this city, and the fleet, goodbye!"
"I got it! Bomb disabled." One of the two specialists said triumphantly as his bomb's timer froze before disappearing.
"It's all up to you, Fuse," one trooper called out to the last specialist, who continued to work on the bomb, which only had ten seconds left.
9...
8...
7...
Fuse began to sweat profusely as he held his pliers, picking at the wires inside of the bomb's exposed casing. But he couldn't buckle under pressure. He hd been trained for this. Failure right now would be the end of the city, and his brothers.
4...
3...
"Scray!" Fuse exclaimed as he plucked the last wire that led to the bomb's activation switch.
1...
Nothing happened. The time froze on one, and for a brief second, Fuse saw his life flash before his eyes from the moment he awoke in his growth jar to when he went on his first mission, and finally when he met a pretty twi'lek dancer in a bar.
He thought that he was about to die, but then, instead of the number 1 turning to 0, the timer screen shut off, and the bomb made an elongated high-pitched beep as it shut down, allowing him and his brothers to breath a sigh of relief.
As Fuse placed the bomb on the floor with his shaking hands, he turned to his commanding officer. "Lieutenant... I'm pleased to report that Sundari is going to safely remain on the face of the planet for the near future."
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Well folks, that was part 14.
Hope you all enjoyed.
I'll be working on chapter 15. Until then, this is Grubkiller, over and out.