Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. Hope you like this one.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 36- Citadel Rescue
The team slowly moves around a corner, Obi Wan still leading the team.
Stopping for a moment to rest, Ahsoka asks, "What's our next move?"
"We're gonna have to fight our way off this rock," Anakin replies.
"Contact the Council. See when they plan to rescue us," Obi Wan says.
"I'll handle it," Piell says. He then walks over to R2, who quickly establishes a connection to the Temple.
A hologram of Mace Windu appears. "Master Piell, it's good to see you alive, my friend," Mace says.
"Likewise, Master Windu. Our escape route has been compromised, and there are several squads of droids closing in on us," Piell says.
Anakin steps into view of Mace. "When can we expect your arrival?" he asks.
"A Terran battleship is close by, with two Jedi cruiser escorts. They have been given orders to reinforce you, and will be on their way shortly," Mace says.
Yoda now steps into the hologram. "Gunships will arrive to evacuate you and your men, but do not delay. Only a small window of opportunity shall we have," Yoda says. The hologram then changes to a map, and Yoda says, "Your rendezvous point will be this island."
"Understood," Piell says.
"May the Force be with you," Mace says before ending the transmission.
(Battleship Volgograd)
"Godspeed, men," Vice Admiral Vilikov says. In response, the 12 Israeli pilots from Squadron 69 salute, then hurry towards their aircraft.
The Volgograd had received the orders to go pick up the extraction team only a short time ago. Updating themselves with the current situation. The 12 SF-15s flown by the Israeli pilots would make the jump to hyperspace before the Volgograd and her two Republic escorts. The hyperspace jumps would be timed to that the SF-15s would have two minutes to attack before the Volgograd arrived.
The 12 SF-15 pilots inspect their fighters. Each one, in addition to their laser cannons and the 8 proton torpedos in their launchers, is armed with 2 SIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, 2 SIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, and 4 SGM-65 Maverick missiles.
After they've checked over the fighters, they climb into their cockpits. After they strap in and lower the canopies, the 12 Israeli pilots power up their engines, and at a signal from the hangar crews, they lift off.
The 12 Space Eagles soar out of the Volgograd's hangar space and form up. The flight leader, an Israeli Lieutenant Colonel named Daniel Peled, says over his radio, "All pilots, prepare for hyperspace jump on my mark. 3, 2, 1 Mark!"
At Peled's signal, all twelve pilots advance their throttles into hyperdrive, and the 12 Space Eagles make the jump to hyperspace. A few minutes later, the Volgograd and her two escorts make the jump too.
(Lola Sayu)
The team hurries towards a cliff up ahead, knowing they have to hurry towards the recovery zone.
As they reach the cliff face, several crab like droids appear on the cliff face, and a squad of B1 droids march into view behind them.
"They're boxing us in! We need to move!" Adams says.
"Lock in your cables!" Anakin says. He, Obi Wan, and several others attach their rappelling cables to the ground.
"R2, we need your droids to hold the enemy off as long as they can," Anakin says.
R2 lets out a series of beeps. Anakin says, "Good. Everybody follow me!" He then hoists Tarkin onto his back and begins rappelling down as Tarkin yells, "This is sheer madness!"
The team continues to return fire, while taking the chance to begin rappelling down as the chance comes.
As the team is firing, the three reprogrammed B1 droids turn to R2, and one says, "We understand, sir. We will delay the enemy as long as possible."
R2 beeps a few times, and one of the droids says, "Prepare for attack." The droid then looks at R2 and says, "it was an honor to serve under you, sir."
The droids then turn and begin firing away at the approaching Separatist droids. R2 heads over the cliff, using his thrusters to lower him to safety.
The two remaining SEALs stay at the top of the cliff as long as they can. Once they are sure that everyone has gotten to safety, they leap over the cliff face, firing off extension cables from their assault blasters and lowering safely to the ground. They then follow the rest of the team into a tunnel below the surface.
"Let's move! We need to get to the extraction point!" Adams shouts loud enough for everyone to hear, and they continue to make their way towards the extraction point.
Commando droids on STAAPs swoop over the landscape, searching for the fugitives. The team has to remain extremely careful in their movements, determined not to be spotted.
At last, they emerge onto a path that runs alongside a lava river. As they do, Tarkin asks, "What if your Jedi friends are not there when we arrive?"
"How about you shut your mouth, Tarkin?" Adams says, starting to get seriously pissed off at Tarkin. Tarkin narrows his eyes, but recognizes he can't really say anything as they are of equal rank.
Up ahead of him, Ahsoka asks Anakin, "Why did Master Piell have to share half the intel with that guy? It's like he's not even grateful we rescued him."
"Captain Tarkin feels the Jedi should be…relieved from the burden of leading the war effort," Anakin replies.
"That's ridiculous," Ahsoka responds.
"Maybe, but we aren't soldiers. We're peacekeepers. The Jedi Code often prevents us from going far enough to achieve victory," Anakin says.
"And what do you define as victory?" Collins asks, butting into the conversation.
Anakin is surprised when he doesn't have an immediate response. Collins then says, "Whether or not you're able to achieve victory is dependent on what you view as victory. From what I can tell, you Jedi have led the Republic's forces to many victories so far. Or are you not satisfied with the victories you've achieved already?"
Anakin doesn't respond to it. Not that he really has the chance to. Just a moment after Collins finishes speaking, a loud whine can be heard across the landscape. The team stops in their tracks, and Ahsoka says, "Did you hear that?"
"Yes. We're going to have company," Piell says.
The team slowly continues its journey towards the extraction point, now more cautious than ever, knowing its not just droids pursuing them now.
Adams stays at the back with Collins and Woods. Looking up at the front of the group, they see Anakin and Tarkin having a conversation.
"I really don't like that guy," Woods says.
"Have to agree with you there, Woods. He's as egotistical as h***," Adams says.
Then, the whine is heard again, but much louder. Adams glances behind him, and calls out loud enough for everybody to hear, "Whatever those things are, they're gaining on us."
"If they've caught our scent, they'll lead the droid right to us," Piell says.
"We're gonna have to deal with them," Anakin says.
"No s***, General," Woods says, only a tiny bit sarcastically.
"What about using this cave to surprise them?" Ahsoka asks.
"If we can get them to pass by, we can attack them from behind," Piell says.
"Ambush. Good thinking. We'll need a distraction though," Adams says.
"Leave that to me," Anakin says. Obi Wan looks at his former apprentice and coughs loudly. Anakin turns to Obi Wan, and says, "And Obi Wan, of course."
"Okay, the rest of you, follow me," Piell says. The rest of the team follows Piell to take up ambush positions, while Obi Wan and Anakin walk out into an open area to provide the distraction they need.
The team doesn't have to wait long. Pretty soon, the anoobas appear, bounding over the rocks towards the team's location. Following behind them are half a dozen commando droids riding STAAPs.
The anoobas bound right past Piell and the rest of the team. Once the animals are past them, they slowly move out of their hiding places and follow them.
The anoobas soon catch up to Obi Wan and Anakin. Growling hungrily, they attack the two Jedi. Evading the ferocious animals, Obi Wan and Anakin engage with their lightsabers.
The two Jedi quickly kill several of the anoobas. However, right behind the anoobas come to commando droids on their STAAPs, firing their laser cannons at the two. Anakin and Obi Wan twirl their lightsabers to block the incoming bolts, while at the same time trying to fend off the remaining anoobas.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team is hurrying to catch up. Before they can, crab droids climb over the side of the cliff.
One knocks down a clone officer, then fires its blaster, killing another. It's about to crush the clone it knocked over when Piell ignites his lightsaber and leaps towards it, stabbing his lightsaber right through it.
More crab droids appear. Piell says, "Go! Ahsoka and I will take care of the droids!"
Tarkin, the remaining clones, and the two SEALs hurry off to find Obi Wan and Anakin, while Piell and Ahsoka attack the crab droids.
It doesn't take too much longer for them to find Anakin and Obi Wan, still engaged with the anoobas and commando droids. Collins and Woods fire their assault blasters towards two commando droids on their STAAPs, successfully hitting them and calling the commando droids to crash to the ground, where they are destroyed by blaster fire from the clones.
An anooba lunges towards Anakin, knocking him off the rock he'd been standing on. Anakin tries to hold the anooba back, but the beast snaps its jaws wildly at him, trying overpower him. Seeing this, Collins pulls one of his normal P226 pistols out of its holster and shoots the anooba in the head. Anakin throws the dead animal off of him and nods his appreciation to Collins.
A commando droid flies in on its STAAP, firing at Tarkin. A clone officer jumps in front of Tarkin, taking several blaster bolts to protect him. Woods then raises his assault blaster and fires at the commando droid, downing it.
Obi Wan leaps into the air and brings down another commando droid. An anooba charges at him as he comes down, but Obi Wan uses the Force to throw it into the lava below.
The last commando droid swoops around, firing the blasters on its STAAP. The clones and SEALs fire away, and finally some blaster bolts from Collins brings it down. The STAAP spirals down and explodes, destroying the commando droid.
Obi Wan, standing on a ledge overlooking the site of the fight, looks back the way they came, and sees something emerging from the dust. A second later, he says, "Oh, no," as he realizes it is Ahsoka, carrying Piell's body over her shoulder.
Ahsoka walks up to the team. Anakin walks up to her and lifts Piell off of her, laying his body down on the ground.
"He died honorably," Ahsoka says.
"What about the information?" Anakin asks.
"I have it. He told me just before he died," Ahsoka says.
Silently, Obi Wan, with Anakin's help, uses some materials they have on them to wrap up Master Piell's body. They then carry it over to a ledge over the lava.
As they step back, Adams, Collins, Woods, Rex, Cody, Fives, and Echo step forward, holding their blasters. Adams looks down at Piell's body and says, "The 21 gun salute is given to honor the fallen. Today, we offer it in honor of Master Evan Piell." He pauses, then says, "Ready, fire!" The seven men fire their blasters once.
"Ready, fire!" The seven men fire again.
"Ready, fire!" The seven men fire one last time.
They step back. Adams again pulls out his recorder, and plays Taps. As the song plays, Obi Wan and Anakin use the Force to lift Piell's body into the air, move it off the ledge, and drop it into the lava.
They watch as Piell's body sinks into the lava and disappears. Then, as Taps comes to an end, they turn in silence to resume their course for the extraction zone.
(Hyperspace)
In the cockpit of his SF-15, Lt. Col. Peled monitors his systems.
Their plan of attack is very risky. They're estimating about half a dozen warships will be present over the planet. They will be dropping out of hyperspace pretty much right on top of the Separatist ships to give the Separatist as little time to react as possible. Assuming their guesses about the numbers of ships are correct, they will then split up accordingly and attack.
Looking down at his flight computer, he sees that they're nearing the end of their hyperspace run. Getting on the radio, he calls out, "Dropping out of hyperspace in three, two, one, Mark!"
The 12 SF-15s drop out of hyperspace, just half a mile from the Separatist ships. Glancing around, Peled sees that there are 4 Munificent class frigates, a Providence class dreadnought, and a Lucrehulk class battleship.
Thinking quickly, Peled says over the radio, "Lion flight, split up and attack the frigates. Diamond 3 and 4, attack the dreadnought. The rest of you, follow me!"
Peled heads straight for the Lucrehulk, 5 more SF-15s behind him as the others split up to attack their targets.
The Separatists are caught complete off guard by the sudden appearance of the Terran starfighters. Orders begin to be passed to launch Vulture droids, but the orders don't come soon enough.
Heading right for the four Munificents, the four SF-15s from Lion flight lock on and fire a pair of SGM-65s, targeted on the bridges. They then circle around and fire their remaining missiles into the hangar bays.
The first missiles strike the bridge. Two frigates lose their bridges entirely, while the other two have the electronics knocked out by the explosions. The remaining missiles succeed in destroying a number of starfighters and bombers in the bays.
Two of the SF-15s from Diamond flight move to attack the dreadnought. The leader dives towards the bridge and fires a pair of Mavericks. Both strike the bridge directly, destroying it completely.
As the leader circles around so he can fire his remaining missiles into the hangar, the wingman fires his Mavericks at the ship's point defense batteries. He successfully destroys a number of guns before the leader fires his remaining Mavericks into the landing bay, destroying a number of fighters and bombers.
Finally, the remaining six Space Eagles attack the one Lucrehulk. Firing their missiles at the main sphere, they are able to successfully damage the sphere and knock out some the battleship's targeting systems.
The Space Eagles pull back to regroup. As they do, the Volgograd and her two escorts drop out of hyperspace. On board the Terran battleship, Vice Admiral Vilikov orders, "Launch fighters."
From out of the two Republic ships, ARC-170s and Y-Wings take off and head to engage the Separatist fleet. At the same time, a formation of almost 160 SF-15s and Su-36s, as well as some ARC-170s and Y-Wings, emerge to challenge the Separatists. 30 Su-36s remain close to the Volgograd to protect her, while the rest of the fighters move to engage the Separatists.
Swarms of Vulture droids and Hyenas that are still intact take off from the Separatist ships and head to engage the Republic and Terran forces. However, they don't realize that the Terran fighters have a very long striking distance. They realize this when the Terran fighters launch a volley of missiles towards the Separatist fighters and bombers.
As the Terran and Republic starfighters and bombers press their attack, several LAATs take off from the Volgograd and heads towards the planet's surface. On board the gunships are Colonel Stasevich of the ASAT team and men from a Spetsnaz team. Two flights of SF-15s fly escort for the gunships, keeping the Separatist fighters at bay.
As this is happening, the three ships open fire on the Separatists. The Terrans had beefed up the Volgograd's offensive firepower, adding 14 more quad heavy turbolaser batteries. Now, she and the two Venators unleash their firepower on the Separatist ships.
Down on the planet's surface, the team moves around a corner, and the island designated as the extraction zone finally comes into view.
"There's the extraction point!" Obi Wan says.
Anakin and Cody fire extension cables over to the island. The team then begins making their way across the lines.
Unfortunately, only Rex, Tarkin, Longshot, and one of the clone officers make it across the lines before a familiar sound is heard, and Rex cries, "Incoming!"
Swooping down from the sky, Sobeck and a number of commando droids appear on STAAPs. The SEALs and clones begin firing their blasters at the same time Sobeck and the commando droids begin firing their laser cannons.
Obi Wan leaps into the air and destroys a commando droid, taking over its STAAP and firing its laser cannons at the other commando droids as Anakin does the same thing to another one.
Sobeck flies down, firing his laser cannons. As he does, R2 flies up, while sending out a white mist that causes Sobeck to lose track of his surroundings. Taking the advantage, Fives fires his blasters and disables the STAAP, causing Sobeck to fall onto the island.
Sobeck looks up and sees Tarkin aiming a blaster at him. Sobeck lunges at Tarkin, knocking the blaster out of his hand and grabbing Tarkin by the neck. He slams Tarkin against the ground, then lifts him up and starts to walk towards the lava. "If I can't have the information, it will die with you!" he declares.
Suddenly, he feels something cold press against the back of his head. He hears, "Wrong, a**hole," before a 9mm bullet blows his brains out. He falls, and Adams, who had pulled the trigger, catches Tarkin as he falls.
Tarkin recovers himself, then looks at Adams and says, "My thanks, Captain Adams. The reputation of you SEALs is well deserved."
A moment later, an LAAT swoops down out of the mist overhead, and opens up, revealing Colonel Stasevich.
"I think you guys have worn out your welcome," the Russian says to them with a grin.
Several crab droids appear, but the Spetsnaz in the gunship open fire with their assault blasters and keep the droids at bay as the team boards the gunship. As soon as everybody is aboard, the gunship takes off. As it does, an SF-15 dives down and fires a proton torpedo, destroying the island and all the crab droids on it.
The gunship climbs out of the atmosphere and quickly returns to the Volgograd. Several droid fighters attempt to intercept them, but are shot down by the SF-15s still escorting it.
As they head towards the battleship, Stasevich gets on his commlink and says, "Vice Admiral Vilikov, we have the survivors. Recall all fighters."
"Understood," Vilikov says. He then turns to his officers and says, "Prepare to jump to lightspeed."
The gunship waves its way through debris and clashing fighters. The Terran and Republic fighters pull back to their ships, keeping the Separatist fighters away from the gunship. Once the gunship is safely aboard the Volgograd, all the other fighters return to their ships. As soon as the last fighters are back aboard, the three ships make the jump to hyperspace, leaving behind them the destroyed remains of two Munificents and the Providence, with all the other ships damaged.
(Coruscant, hours later)
The LAAT flies down towards the Jedi Temple, setting down on a landing platform outside the Temple, where a greeting party is waiting.
"Of Master Piell's loss, we are sorry to hear," Yoda says after a brief summary of the events on the planet were given.
"We will be missed," Mace says.
"Because of his great sacrifice, we now have the Nexus Route coordinates," Plo Koon says.
"Captain Tarkin and Ahsoka have each memorized half," Obi Wan says.
"Debrief them both, we must," Yoda says.
"With all due respect, Master Jedi, I was instructed by Chancellor Palpatine to bring the intel directly to him for debriefing," Tarkin says.
Ahsoka immediately says, "I promised Master Piell that I would deliver it only to the Council, and that's what I will do.
"Hmm. Personally meet with the Chancellor, I will," Yoda says.
As he says this, Adams is glancing over at Tarkin, his eyes slightly narrowed. This behavior from Palpatine is only making him more uneasy. Adams has never liked the Chancellor, and always thought he seemed a little too genuine, or a little suspicious at times. An action like this just makes him more suspicious. He's starting to feel that it may be time to warn the Joint Command.
As the gathering breaks up, Anakin asks, "Master Plo, there's something we want to ask you. Did you assign Ahsoka to the mission?"
Plo looks at Ahsoka for a moment. Then, he says, "It appears I did." He then puts an arm around Ahsoka's shoulders and walks away with her. Anakin and Obi Wan follow, with Adams and the SEALs following. As they do, Adams leans in towards Collins and says, "I want you to contact JSOC command. Let them know I have a message I want delivered to Joint Command."
"Understood, sir," Collins says, having a sneaking suspicion he knows what this is about.
And, I'll end there.
So, the rescue from the Citadel is complete, and we've gotten to see Terra's first starfighters in action. I think, given how much Terran pilots are trained for precise strikes, especially Israeli pilots, they would be able to do what I had the twelve Israeli pilots do in this chapter.
So, as we saw at the ending, the Terrans are not exactly completely trusting of Chancellor Palpatine. At least some of them view him as dangerous. And this opinion will only grow over time.
Next chapter will be up soon. It'll be the start of the 3 episode Mon Cala arc. I hope you're excited for it. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!