Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
So, this will begin the events of the Mon Cala arc. I've been excited for this one. Let's get to it.
CT7567Rules: Because of my upbringing, I don't usually swear, so that's why I censor cusswords. Adams will probably be one to help Ahsoka when the bombing occurs. For Mon Cala, well, as you'll see in this chapter, there actually aren't going to be a ton of Terran forces until later, but APS underwater rifles will be used.
RandomFanAuthor: They are currently building their own version of the Star Forge, which will enable them build starships quickly. They are currently designing starships. Many of them will be similar in design to what we know of Imperial Star Destroyers, but they will have other, very different designs. And yes, they have already begun exploring the galaxy. All countries will come together eventually. And yes, there will be a sequel featuring the Terran Alliance becoming involved in the Galactic Civil War.
Chapter 37- Water War
(March 20, 1993, Terran time)
The Republic Consular class cruiser drops out of hyperspace and makes its way towards Mon Cala.
In the past few days, a rather scary situation has arisen on the ocean world of Mon Cala. The king of the Mon Calamari, Yos Kolina, had been found murdered in his throne room. At the same time, an ambassador from the Separatist named Riff Tamson had arrived, and had begun stirring up the Quarren. The Quarren, always at odds with the Mon Calamari, had already stated they did not support the coronation of Kolina's son, Lee-Char.
Captain Ackbar, a high ranking officer in the Mon Calamari military, had requested, on behalf of Lee-Char, that the Republic send an emissary to Mon Cala to help resolve the crisis. The Republic had first redirected a Venator class Star Destroyer that had been carrying the attack submarine USS Louisville to Kamino. The Louisville had been secretly deposited on Mon Cala 12 hours earlier, and was now waiting a few hundred miles from the capitol for orders.
Now, the ship bringing the Republic emissary, which consists of Anakin, Padme, and Captain Samuel Adams of the ASAT team, has arrived on Mon Cala. Descending to just above the waves, the bay of the ship opens up, and Anakin, Padme, and Adams jump out of the ship and into the water.
A Mon Calamari escort is waiting for them, and takes them down to an assembly hall in the capitol, where a meeting to debate Lee-Char's coronation is being held between the Mon Calamari and the Quarren.
As they take their seats, the meeting is already under way. Although, meeting might not be the most accurate description.
"The world prospered under our rule!" one Quarren shouts.
"It's time for a change!" shouts another.
"The prince's rule has been preordained," one of the Mon Calamari responds.
"Down with this monarchy!" shouts a third Quarren.
"We'll defend our right for a Mon Cala king!" shouts a Mon Calamari.
"We want a Quarren king!" shouts yet another Quarren.
"Down with the Mon Cala!" shouts another.
"Power to the Quarren!" shouts another.
Rather calmly, Prince Lee-Char speaks up and says, "I am dedicated to serving the Quarren, as well as my own people, the Mon Calamari."
Riff Tamson, the Separatist ambassador, swims up in front of Lee-Char and says, "Silence! You haven't earned the right to speak at this gathering."
"You have no say in the matter, Ambassador. You are only here as an observer for the Separatists," Captain Ackbar says angrily.
Tamson swims up to Ackbar. "Do not forget I am here at the request of the Quarren because you, Captain, requested the presence of the Republic and their Terran allies," he says before swimming away.
"Such a disgrace. I'll give you a lesson in manners!" Ackbar says, but Anakin holds him back.
Nossor Ri, the representative of the Quarren, speaks up. "Prince Lee-Char will bring the planet to ruin. The boy has neither the experience nor the knowledge to lead," he says.
Padme swims over from her spot and says, "Please. You're here to find a compromise. What can the Republic do to help keep the peace?"
Nossor Ri turns to Padme. "This is a matter between the Quarren and the Mon Cala," he states firmly.
"Yeah, who asked you?" demands a Quarren.
"The Republic has no place here!" shouts another.
"Down with the Republic!" shouts a third.
As other Quarren begin shouting angrily, Nossor Ri declares, "We refuse to support the coronation of another Mon Cala king. I'm sorry. Ambassador?"
Tamson swims up beside Nossor Ri and declares, "It is my opinion the Quarren have no further business here." He then swims up and out of the meeting hall. The rest of the Quarren begin to follow him.
Anakin turns to Ackbar and says, "Come on, Captain Ackbar. We have to contact Master Yoda." He, Ackbar, Padme, and Adams begin swimming up out of the hall as well.
They quickly head to the surface and board the cruiser that brought them to the planet. Once on the bridge, Anakin begins a call to the Jedi Temple.
It only takes a few moments before Yoda and Mace Windu appear on a hologram. After Anakin explains what happened, Yoda says, "Hmm. This civil war, is it inevitable?"
"Sadly so, Master Yoda," Ackbar says.
"The Separatist ambassador came here to stir up the Quarren, and he did just that," Adams says.
"It's only a matter of time before the Quarren withdraw from the Republic," Padme adds.
"I suspect behind this, Count Dooku is," Yoda says.
"The Mon Calamari system is still part of the Republic. This planet must not fall into Separatist hands. I'll dispatch Master Fisto and your Padawan Tano, as well as a company of clones and American SEALs. They'll be at your side by day's end," Mace says before addressing Ackbar specifically, "In the meantime, Captain, assemble the Mon Cala troops, and prepare for a Quarren assault." The transmission is then cut off.
The four of them return to the water. As they head back down to the capitol, Adams activates his commlink and says, "Captain Adams to USS Louisville. Come in, Louisville."
"Louisville copies, Captain Hall," comes the response.
"Peace talks between the Mon Calamari and Quarren have broken down. Action is expected. Request you close the distance to the capitol and prepare for battle," Adams says.
"Understood," is the simple reply before the transmission is cut off.
On board the Louisville, her captain, Commander David Gore, turns to his XO and says, "All ahead two thirds, come to course 090. I want us within a hundred miles of the capitol and ready to move at a moments notice." He pauses for a second, then says, "Sound general quarters."
The XO nods and relays the orders. The submarine speeds up to 24 knots and turns towards the capitol. At the same time, general quarters alarms sound throughout the sub, and the entire crew races to battlestations.
(Several hours later)
The Mon Calamari, along with Anakin, Padme, and Adams are all assembled in a small plaza.
An elder of the Mon Calamari says, "In this time of crisis, our king has something to say."
Lee-Char straightens up and declares, "I know many of you agree with the Quarren, that I am too young to rule. But I assure you I will use all my strength and all my abilities to lead us through this challenge. We are a great people, and I will do all I can to negotiate peace without bloodshed. I do not believe the Quarren will attack."
However, just moments later, blaster bolts start coming down around them. Turning around, they see an army of Quarren and aqua droids approaching the capitol, firing blasters.
"Well. So much for that," Adams says as he draws his M4 assault blaster off his back.
Lee-Char and Ackbar head out of the plaza, followed by Anakin, Padme, and Adams. They make their way to where a group of Mon Calamari soldiers are hunkered down, firing at the enemy.
"He's here! The prince is here!" one of them says.
"He's joining the battle!" another says.
"What are your orders, Your Highness?" Ackbar asks.
Lee-Char is quiet for a moment before he responds, "Stay where you are and hold the line."
"If I may suggest, Captain, we should take the prince to a safer place until Republic and Terran reinforcements arrive," Anakin says.
"That's impossible. That is a decision only the prince can make. He is our leader," Ackbar responds.
"Yes, and that's why he needs to be protected! You need to put your tradition aside, because this is war!" Adams says a little hotly, admiring Ackbar's devotion but disagreeing with the fact that it may prevent him from doing what must be done.
Ackbar looks to Lee-Char. "Majesty?" he asks.
"I have to stay here with my people. Press your attack, Captain," Lee-Char responds.
Ackbar nods. He then swims out with the rest of the troops, firing away at the Quarren and aqua droids.
As the Mon Calamari press their attack, Lee-Char says, "I need to get some troops behind those Separatist droids. Come on. I know a shortcut." He swims off, with Anakin, Padme, and Adams following close behind.
They meet up with several other Mon Calamari, and enter one of the tunnels that winds around the capitol.
As the group moves through the tunnel, Lee-Char explains, "We should come out right behind them."
"Good plan," Anakin says. He then glances up, and sees a large chunk breaking away from a building above them and falling towards the pipe.
"Look out!" Anakin calls.
The debris crashes into the pipe and breaks. The other Mon Calamari are pulled out of the pipe by the suction created, but Lee-Char and the three humans are able to remain within the pipe.
"What do we do now?" Padme asks.
"Well, we got to come up with another plan. Any ideas?" Anakin replies.
"Our only choice now is to wait for the Jedi reinforcements," Lee-Char says.
At that moment, a number of LAAT gunships are flying low over the water, deployed from a Venator. The gunships carry Ahsoka and Kit Fisto, clone SCUBA troopers, and two platoons of SEAL Team 1, numbering 32 men.
"Blue Leader, standing by," Ahsoka says from her gunship.
"Red Leader standing by," Commander Monnk says from his gunship.
On board the Star Destroyer, Rex says over his commlink, "All squadrons are in position, General Fisto. You may deploy when ready."
On his gunship, Kit says, "Commencing deployment now."
The gunships open up their sides. Kit says over his commlink, "Three, two, one…Mark." The clones and SEALs begin jumping into the water, with Ahsoka and Kit following them and using two small Mon Cala submarines to dive down into the water.
Meanwhile, the Mon Calamari and Quarren are continuing to fire, and have now closed so close to each other that some of them are beginning to engage in hand to hand combat. Tamson swims around, tearing through Mon Cala troops with his jaws.
Anakin deflects several blaster bolts with his lightsaber. Then, he glances up and sees the clones and SEALs, led by Ahsoka and Kit, descending into the city.
"Reinforcements! Finally!" Anakin says as the clones and SEALs begin to fire their blasters into the ranks of the Quarren and aqua droids, with some SEALs also using underwater firearms.
"Anakin. I'm going to look for Senator Tills! Hopefully she's still alive," Padme says before swimming off.
"Be careful," Anakin says. As he does, an aqua droid swims up behind him. Adams quickly notices it and dispatches the droid with two quick shots from a blaster pistol.
The clones and SEALs press their attack. Tamson swims up and attacks a clone, nearly tearing his leg off. He then heads for a SEAL, but the SEAL spots him out of the corner of his eye and starts firing. Tamson is hit once, but just roars and swims right at the SEAL, managing to grab his arm in his jaws. The SEAL cries out in pain, but draws a knife with his free hand and stabs it into Tamson's shoulder. The wounded Karkarodon quickly retreats. Another SEAL swims up and helps his wounded comrade back to the surface.
As Anakin swims off the take care of some aqua droids, Lee-Char looks around at the battle taking place. Ackbar swims up and says, "You hear that? They're cheering for you."
Lee-Char shakes his head and gestures at the defending army, saying, "They're cheering for them."
"Then make that cheering for you," Adams says firmly. Ackbar nods in agreement and tosses a blaster rifle to Lee-Char. The prince catches it, then nods once. He, Ackbar, and Adams swim off to join the fight.
Right then, over their frequency, Adams hears, "Anakin, Adams, I need you down here. It's Senator Tills. I need your help getting her to safety. We're at the base of the palace. And hurry."
"Ahsoka, cover for the prince. Adams, you help Ahsoka. I'll get to the senators," Anakin says before swimming off.
Ahsoka heads for Lee-Char, as does Adams. As Adams approaches, he sees Tamson, recovered, swimming right towards Lee-Char.
Narrowing his eyes, Adams fires his blaster pistol. Tamson turns angrily towards Adams, who then draws a HK P11 underwater pistol and fires several shots at Tamson. One hits him in the stomach, causing the Karkarodon to reel back in the water in pain.
Ahsoka powers by on her submarine, and Adams grabs hold. Ahsoka then heads over to Lee-Char and says, "Grab on!"
"Good idea!" the prince says as he grabs onto the submarine.
Ahsoka takes off. Tamson, now recovered, swims after them, managing to keep up for the most past. Adams narrows his eyes, wondering about why Tamson seems so determined to kill the prince.
"Get us out of here!" Lee-Char says as Tamson closes in.
"Ahsoka, flip us!" Adams orders.
Ahsoka flips the submarine upside down, so that as Tamson approaches, ready to sink his jaws into Lee-Char, he suddenly finds Adams right in front of him. "'Sup, A**hole," Adams says before kicking Tamson in the face twice. He then fires the last shot in his P11's magazine, hitting Tamson in the shoulder and causing Tamson to roar in pain and reel back through the water.
Ahsoka quickly dives into one of the pipes and takes off through the pipe. Thankfully, they move fast enough that before Tamson can recover and catch up, he loses sight of them. Roaring in anger, he continues to search, but Ahsoka, Adams, and Lee-Char have escaped.
Not long after, darkness has fallen as the sun has set above the surface. In the capitol, Kit, looking through binoculars, sees that the droid and Quarren forces are retreating out of the capitol.
"They are returning to their ships," Kit says as he continues to watch, "We seem to have won this round."
"We are lucky to have survived the first assault," Ackbar says.
"They could have easily overrun us with their droids," Anakin points out.
"The droids are taking up position in the coral, probably amassing for another assault," Kit says.
"Why would they hide in the coral?" Anakin mutters. He then turns to one of the SEALs and asks, "Is your submarine close?"
"Yes, sir. They've closed to within two miles of the capitol and are currently hiding their presence in a canyon. The sub is ready to move in at a moment's notice," the SEAL responds.
"We may need that sub," Anakin mutters.
About half an hour later, Ahsoka and Adams return with the prince. They stop in an alcove where Senator Tills is being cared for.
"Prince Lee-Char," Tills says in relief.
"Senator Tills. I'm glad to see you're safe," Lee-Char greets her.
"You must prepare to dictate terms for a Quarren surrender," Tills says.
"Surrender?" Lee-Char asks in confusion.
"Not so fast, Senator," Ackbar says.
"I know the Quarren. They won't surrender," Lee-Char says seriously.
"We have won the first battle, Your Highness, but it won't be the last," Anakin says.
"They're far from beaten. They're going to launch another assault. It's only a matter of time until they do," Adams says, folding his arms seriously.
Suddenly, a low rumbling catches their attention. Turning around, they see a light shining from below the city. As they watch, what look like monstrous, cyborg jellyfish begin to rise up from the seabed.
"S***!" Adams says. He then activates his commlink and yells into it, "Louisville! This is Captain Adams! We have Separatist creatures coming to attack the city. Proceed in and engage at will!"
As Captain Hall receives the transmission, he orders, "Come up to 100 feet! All ahead flank!"
The submarine's propeller instantly starts thrashing at the water, driving her forward as she comes up through the water to clear the canyon. The submarine accelerates towards the city, as in the bow, her torpedo tube doors open, ready to launch her torpedoes at a moment's notice.
Adams lowers his commlink and says, "Hopefully Louisville can get here fast."
"We'd better hope so. We have no other defense against those things," Lee-Char says.
"All troops, battlestations!" Kit orders. Mon Calamari, clones, and SEALs all take up their positions, ready to engage.
The massive creatures slowly rise up in front of them. The troops wait for the command to begin firing.
Unknown to them, the Louisville has already targeted the massive jellyfish. They are making enough noise that they show up on passive sonar, without need to use active sonar.
In the conn, Captain Hall shouts, "Are the fish locked?"
"Yes, sir!" the weapons officer responds.
"Fire all fish!" Captain Hall shouts.
One by one, the four Mk48 torpedoes are ejected from the tubes and begin to swim towards their targets at about 50 knots.
Within a minute, the torpedoes find their marks. Hitting the massive cyborg jellyfish at 50 knots, their 650 lb warheads detonate. Despite Tamson's firm faith in the massive creatures, the cyborg jellyfish are killed by the blasts, and the four bodies begin to fall towards the seabed.
However, they are still about eight of them left. With their underbellies now visible, Ackbar turns to Lee-Char and says, "Now, Your Highness!"
"Attack!" Lee-Char says.
All troops begin firing their weapons at the undersides of these massive creatures. However, the blaster bolts don't even faze them. Slowly, several of the Mon Calamari and clones are killed when the electrified tentacles touch them.
Then, blaster bolts start coming at them from behind. Looking around, they see that aqua droids are beginning to surround them.
The defending army engages the aqua droids. As they do, the men on the Lousiville race to get the torpedo tubes reloaded.
As the droid attack continues, Anakin says, "Ahsoka, find a way out of here."
"Where's a safe place?" Ahsoka asks Lee-Char.
"We can't retreat now. We have to be brave," Lee-Char protests.
"There's a time to attack and a time to retreat, and now is not the time to be brave," Ackbar says firmly.
Lee-Char relents. "The safest place is in the caves," he says.
"I agree, Your Highness. Follow me!" Ackbar says urgently. He then swims off, with Lee-Char, Anakin, Ahsoka, Adams, and Padme following him, along with several Mon Calamari and SEALs
"Anakin! Go. I'll hold them off," Kit says to Anakin. Anakin just nods in return.
Ackbar weaves among the cyborg jellyfish, and finally finds the route to the caves. He dives down deeper, and the rest of the group follows him. As they do, not far off, in the conn of the Louisville, the weapons officer shouts, "Captain! Tubes are reloaded and targets are locked!"
"Fire!" Captain Hall shouts. Again, the Lousiville fires four Mk48s. They find their targets within a minute, destroying four more of the cyborg jellyfish.
As the torpedoes are finding their targets, a sonar officer shouts, "Conn, Sonar! Two contacts, bearing 090, closing in at high speed!"
"All ahead flank, left full rudder! Come to course 290, and take us down to 700 feet!" Captain Hall orders.
The Lousiville speeds up as she turns and dives to avoid the Trident class assault craft approaching. Thankfully, as she gets down to 700 feet, the water is do deep in this particular area that she blends in quite well to the water. Captain Hall then orders the engines stopped and all noise minimized. Given her technology is different than what droid scanners are used to scanning for, the assault craft pass right over her without even noticing the submarine. Captain Hall decides to hold his position for the time being until the situation is safer.
As this is happening, Lee-Char and his escorts dive deeper, heading for the caves, with Kit and some clones following shortly behind. They leave behind them the bodies of many Mon Calamari and some clones.
The ragtag group takes shelter in the caves under the city. While Lee-Char had proposed trying to take shelter with the Louisville, Adams said that the submarine had retreated, and in any case, the sub would have to surface in order for them to board.
In their hiding place, Lee-Char turns to Ahsoka and says, "Thanks to you, Padawan Tano, and these brave soldiers. I wish I could have done more for my people. Maybe then we would have been spared all of this, the illusion that I could actually lead in my father's place."
"Your father would be proud of you," Ackbar says.
"Proud? We lost," Lee-Char protests.
"Yes, we did. But as a saying on Earth goes, 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.' Losing a battle doesn't mean you've lost the war. It's important for a commander to learn how to survive and keep fighting even after a defeat," Adams says to comfort the prince.
Lee-Char looks at the American, then just kind of stares off into space, knowing a long struggle is ahead.
And, I'll end there. Hope you liked this chapter.
So, since we're less than a month away from the premiere of the seventh season of Clone Wars, I have a question for you all. Once I get to the end of the Season 6 episodes I'll be doing chapters of, would you like me to wait to continue the story until after Season 7 is over, so I can cover those episodes and adapt the chapters covering Revenge of the Sith accordingly? Or should I just try and guess what happens during the episodes and just keep writing? Let me know what you'd like.
Next chapter will be up soon. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!