Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter, and the last one of the Mon Cala arc. So, given that there are no major Terran characters that have been captured, I won't be doing all the parts of the episode where Tamson interrogates/tortures the group.
Let's get to it.
CT7567Rules: I probably will create a starfighter version of the F-20, but it won't make it into service for a little while. And yes, there will be some Terran airpower present on Umbara. Not enough to end Krell's plan early, but definitely enough to help the clones.
The Crowned Prince: I may end up using those designs. Still undecided.
Chapter 39- Prisoners
Darkness has fallen over Mon Cala, both from the night and the dust and debris from the battles waged in the capitol city. It's been hours since the Gungan attack, and all of the defending forces have been captured.
As a patrol of aqua droids emerge from a pipe, Ahsoka, Adams, and Lee-Char watch from behind a ledge. "We can't hide forever," Lee-Char comments.
"The Gungan Army was the last of the Republic's reinforcements. There won't be any more," Ahsoka says.
"Not necessarily. I know for a fact two American Marine Corps units have been undergoing training for underwater combat, and have been receiving gear for it, though I don't remember when the date was for them to be ready for combat. They may be on their way now for all we know. And don't forget. Louisville is still out there. If her crew can get her back underway, she can still help," Adams says.
"The failure is mine, not the Republic's or the Terrans'," Lee-Char says.
"Get back!" Ahsoka says urgently, and the three duck back into the shadows as a group of captured Gungans and Mon Calamari swim past, escorted by aqua droid guards.
Watching the prisoners go by, the prince and his two protectors swim off and find a another hiding spot.
"If my father were here, he could unite with Nossor Ri and the Quarren. The Quarren and Mon Cala have always had a difficult relationship, but it was respectful until Riff Tamson arrived. Once that Karkarodon got inside Nossor Ri's head, the alliance between the Mon Cala and the Quarren fell apart," Lee-Char says before moving again.
The three swim deeper, heading for the bottom of the city. As they swim, Lee-Char says, "I know what I must do. The Mon Cala and Quarren people must be reunited."
Taking shelter to avoid being seen by a Trident assault craft, Ahsoka says, "Okay. I like your thinking, but what's the strategy?"
"Count all the prisoners. Mon Cala, Gungans, clones, Americans. If we all fought together, we would outnumber our opponent," Lee-Char says.
"If this is going to work, we'll need to let your people know. They'll have to be ready to fight," Ahsoka says.
"We'll need Captain Ackbar. And I think I know where to find him," Lee-Char says before swimming off, Ahsoka and Adams following the prince.
Miles away from the capitol city, the Louisville is still resting on the sea floor. Thankfully, unlike what was first thought, her engines didn't suffer much damage given that she technically hit bow first, although it was at a very shallow angle.
Inside the sub, it's a hive of activity. Repairmen are working hard to plug the leaks while technicians work on repairing damaged hardware. It's been almost 3 hours since the submarine was damaged and hit the seafloor. Captain Hall has given them a timeframe of 5 hours to get the sub back up and running again. Thankfully, with the damage the sub actually took, this isn't an impossible timeline.
"Status report!" Commander Gore demands from the conn.
Further down the sub, a repair officer responds over a telephone system of sorts, "Captain, all but two leaks have been plugged. There is some shock damage to the drive systems, but that won't take long. I think we'll be able to get underway again in an hour."
"Good," Gore responds before hanging up. He then stares off into space as he mutters, "I hope Adams has kept the Prince alive."
(Hyperpsace)
On the bridge of the Terran Venator class Star Destroyer Indefatigable, Rear Admiral Jean-Luc Delauney, a French Rear Admiral, turns to one of his bridge officers. "How much further?" he demands.
"Just over one hour until we emerge from hyperspace," the Belgian officer responds.
"Are the Americans ready to deploy once we reach Mon Cala?" Rear Admiral Delauney asks.
"Yes, they are ready," the officer responds.
"Good. If we don't get there soon, Mon Cala will be lost," Delauney says grimly.
(Mon Cala)
Lee-Char, Ahsoka, and Adams swim down deeper into the coral below the capitol city.
As they round a corner, they see a web of energy up ahead, and some aqua droids leading some prisoners towards it.
As they hide behind some rocks, Ahsoka asks, "A prison camp. How can we be sure Captain Ackbar's inside?"
"There's only one way to find out," Lee-Char says.
The aqua droids open the barrier. They do a quick scan of the area, then take the prisoners past the barrier. Taking the chance, Lee-Char, Ahsoka, and Adams make their way into the prison camp as well before the barrier reactivates.
Swimming through tall seaweed, they spot a group of Mon Calamari up ahead. One of the Mon Calamari sees them, and says, "Prince Lee-Char!"
Several of the Mon Calamari swim up to them, and one asks, "Are you a prisoner here as well?"
"I am here, but not as a prisoner. I've come with a message. As your future king, I have not lost hope. The time is coming when you will be free again. I will not fail you," Lee-Char says.
"We want to believe, but how can this be possible?" one of the Mon Calamari says.
Right then, Lieutenant Collins, one of the SEALs, swims up to them. "Captain Adams," he says in greeting.
"Good to see you, Collins," Adams responds.
"Likewise, sir. But I think you three should come with me. You'll attract too much attention here, and I think there will be somebody who'll be happy to see you," Collins says.
Collins leads the three through rocks, seaweed, and groups of prisoners. Finally, they come around a pile of rocks, and see Senator Tills supporting Captain Ackbar.
Tills notices the prince, and she says, "You're alive. Captain, you were right."
Ackbar opens his eyes, sees Lee-Char, and says with relief, "My Prince. I knew you would survive the battle."
"Captain, I need your help. I have a plan. I know how we can win this fight," Lee-Char says.
"But the battle is over, young prince. And it appears that we have lost," Ackbar protests.
"No. In truth, we now outnumber our enemy, and Captain Adams says that American reinforcements may be on their way. We can overwhelm our enemy," Lee-Char says.
"But we are prisoners. If we revolted, thousands would die," Tills says.
"Not if the Quarren struck first and aided in our attack," Lee-Char says confidently.
"Prince, how can you say this? The Quarren betrayed us. They assassinated your father," Ackbar says in protest.
"No, Captain. Riff Tamson murdered my father. Of that, I am sure," Lee-Char says.
"The Quarren are being used. I've seen it happen before. Count Dooku has deceived them," Ahsoka says.
"Classic divide and conquer," Adams says.
"We'll find Nossor Ri. He was my father's friend. I know he will listen," Lee-Char says.
"How can you be certain of this?" Tills asks.
"I can't. But, it's time for me to lead, and this I feel is my only course of action," Lee-Char responds.
"I will ready our people, Prince," Ackbar says.
"But Captain, you're injured," Tills protests.
"I'll be ready to fight with our future king," Ackbar says.
Collins and Monnk swim up. "Commander Monnk and I will marshal the remaining clones, Gungans, and SEALs. What will your signal be?" Collins asks.
"When a Quarren attacks our enemy, that will be your sign," Lee-Char says.
Suddenly, aqua droids swarm around the group. One raises its blaster at Lee-Char and says, "You are under arrest."
Ahsoka ignites her lightsabers, while Adams whips out his blaster pistols. Quickly, Lee-Char says, "No, stay your weapons, my friends."
Ahsoka and Adams reluctantly put away their weapons. Lee-Char turns to the aqua droids and says, "I am Lee-Char, leader of the Mon Cala people, and I demand to speak to your superiors."
The aqua droids take Ahsoka's lightsabers and Adams' blaster pistols and assault blaster. Thankfully, his lightsaber is hidden in his diving suit, and remains hidden. The aqua droids bind their hands and lead them out of the prison camp.
The droids lead them back up to the capitol city and lead them to the palace. The droids move them through the passages of the palace until they reach the throne room.
Entering the throne room, they see the throne turned away from them. But, as they enter, they see the throne turn around, and Riff Tamson sitting on the throne, with Nossor Ri sitting beside him.
Karkarodon soldiers push them forward with the butt of their rifles. "Touch me again and I'll kill you whether my hands are bound or not," Adams growls. The Karkarodons smirk, but at the same time have been told of the hand to hand skill of the SEALs, and decide not to tempt fate.
Tamson looks right at Lee-Char and says, "Greetings, Prince. We meet again. I must admit, you were more difficult to capture than I anticipated, Prince. You have my respect as hunter to his prey."
"I do not seek, nor do I want your respect. I have come to demand the freedom of my people," Lee-Char says firmly.
Tamson cackles a bit before saying, "Your people? You are mistaken, Prince. They are my people and under my rule." He then swims over as he says, "They, like you, are nothing more than slaves."
"Your rule is not recognized here, Tamson. My people are all those who live in the seas, whether they be Mon Cala or Quarren," Lee-Char glancing over at Nossor Ri.
"Surely you have not come here seeking the aid of Nossor Ri," Tamson says mockingly.
"Sure looks like it, dumb***," Adams says.
Tamson turns to Adams, glaring. "Insult me again, and I will kill you," he says.
"Try it, and I'll kill you with my bare hands," Adams shoots back.
As Adams and Tamson glare at each other, Lee-Char looks at Nossor Ri and says, "The Quarren are already slaves, even if you can't see it. Nossor Ri, you knew my father. Whatever differences our people had in the past, surely you must know we can work together to make Mon Cala whole. Dooku and Tamson want only to exploit us and leave our cities broken and our resources depleted. What will then be left for the Quarren?"
Tamson, who has given up his glaring contest with Adams, swims over to Nossor Ri and asks, "Well, Nossor Ri? Would you like to join this pitiful little fish and his dead father?"
After a few seconds of silence, Tamson turns to Lee-Char and says, "There, you see? What good would their help be anyway, Prince? The Quarren are more gutless than your people."
"You are just losing brownie points with the Quarren with every word that comes out of your big mouth," Adams says mockingly. Tamson glares at Adams, who just smirks back.
"As long as I live, I will give all people of Mon Cala hope to fight another day," Lee-Char says.
"Hmm, hope. We are of the same mind, Prince. That is why I have scheduled your public execution. Take him away!" Tamson declares.
The Karkarodon guars begin moving them out of the throne room. Desperately, Lee-Char cries out, "Nossor Ri, there's still time! Unite, and we will defend our home!"
The Karkarodons shove them out of throne room. As they do, Adams sidles up beside Ahsoka and mutters, "I can get out of these cuffs. Want me to?"
"No. Hold off for now," Ahsoka says. Adams reluctantly obeys.
(Torture chamber)
"Alright, I think I'm getting the hang of this," Anakin says. A moment later, an eel shocks him.
"Less talking helps," Kit says humorously.
Suddenly, aqua droids and Karkarodons swim into the room. The Karkarodons prod the eels, causing them to shcok Anakin and Kit as well as start swimming up. The aqua droids take the devices restraining Jar Jar and Padme and start moving them out as well.
"Jar Jar. I can't see anything. Where are they taking us?" Padme asks.
Jar Jar looks up at one of the aqua droids and says, "Hey, yousa, where yousa taking us?"
"To the execution of Prince Lee-Char," the droid responds.
The droids and Karkarodons take them out of the torture chamber, and bring them down to a plaza, where Lee-Char, with his hands bound, is being circled by several Karkarodons, with other prisoners, droids, and Quarren surrounding the plaza.
The droids and Karkarodons bring the four down to a spot next to Ahsoka and Adams.
"Good job protecting the Prince," Anakin says.
"You really think we'd make it that easy on 'em, Skywalker?" Adams says with a smirk.
"I was hoping you'd say something like that. Anything I can do?" Anakin asks.
"Unfortunately, this time, it's out of our hands," Ahsoka says.
"I'm not sure I like this plan after all," Anakin replies.
As he finishes, Tamson loudly declares, "For crimes against the Separatist State, I command the execution of former prince Lee-Char."
Nobody notices a quick nod Nossor Ri exchanges with a few other Quarren. As prisoners look on, a Quarren slips in behind Captain Ackbar and slips him his blaster as he whispers, "Captain. Nossor Ri and the Quarren are with you."
Other Quarren discreetly slip weapons to the other Mon Calamari, clones, Gungans, and SEALs, who wait for the signal.
"Kill him!" Tamson orders. The three Karkarodons swimming around Lee-Char swim a short distance away and form up. The leader roars, and the three swim towards Lee-Char.
Acting fast, Nossor Ri lets out ink from the holes beside his mouth, swimming forward and grabbing Lee-Char, swimming him out of the way of the three Karkarodons, who swim right into the ink left behind. They look around, wondering where their target went.
Nossor Ri swims Lee-Char a few yards away, where another Quarren removes the prince's binders and hands him a blaster rifle as Nossir Ri declares, "Fight, Quarren! Fight for Prince Lee-Char!"
Lee-Char fires his blaster at the three Karkarodons that attempted to kill him, hitting them all.
Immediately, the Mon Calamari, clones, and SEALs begin to fire their blasters at any hostiles within range.
Ahsoka smirks, then turns around and retrieves her lightsabers, cutting her binders off as Adams escapes from his binders and pulls out his lightsaber. The two ignite their sabers and cut Anakin and Kit free. Ahsoka hands one of her lightsabers to Anakin, and Adams hands his to Kit, taking his blaster pistols as they are returned by one of the Quarren.
"Send in more droids!" Tamson orders.
"Roger, roger!" one of the aqua droids responds.
Several thousand aqua droids appear, heading right for the Mon Calamari and their allies. But, suddenly, blaster bolts begin to descend on them from above.
Everyone looks up as shouting hits their ears. To their surprise, they see 2,000 men of the United States Marine Corps' 2nd and 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalions, all firing their assault blasters while shouting their war cries.
Everyone cheers as the Marines dive further, firing continuously down onto the droid forces. The Mon Calamari, clones, Gungans, Quarren, and SEALs join the fight firing at the droids.
Meanwhile, Trident class assault craft are making their way towards the city. One already in the city is attacked by Quarren and Gungans and destroyed. The other make their way forward quickly.
Unfortunately, the noise is detected by the Louisville, which is back underway. In the conn, Commander Gore smirks as he orders, "Fire!"
Once again, Mk48 torpedoes surge out of their launch tubes and swim towards their targets at 50 knots. It does not take long at all for the torpedoes to find their targets, destroying four of the five remaining Trident class assault craft.
The remaining Trident turn right towards the Louisville. Gore orders that the torpedo tubes be reloaded. However, he quickly realizes that the Trident is getting close too fast.
Gauging the size and armor of the Trident, he makes a decision. "All ahead flank!" he orders.
The sub surges forward, accelerating past 30 knots. The droids manning the Trident are caught off guard by the increase in speed.
With terrible screeching of metal, the Louisville rams the assault craft. Despite the high speed impact, the bow of the submarine suffers only minor damage, and no damage to her torpedo tubes. On the other hand, the hull of the Trident ruptures along its weaker sections, and its windows burst. The craft quickly falls to the seafloor.
Cautious of damage to the sub, Gore orders, "All up on the diving planes! Emergency blow!"
The diving officers pull the submarine up as steep as possible, and make an emergency blow of the ballast tanks.
The submarine surges towards the surface and very quickly gets to the surface. The bow breaks the surface, and the submarine surges about two thirds of its length out of the water before crashing back into the water. Gore immediately orders men out onto the outside of the submarine to inspect the damage.
Meanwhile down in the city, Tamson, furious at the intervention by the Americans, and that everything seems to be turning on him, faces down Lee-Char. Tamson smirks evilly and says, "Prince Lee-Char."
"Your rule was at an end before it started, Tamson!" Lee-Char says before attacking Tamson.
Lee-Char quickly realizes he's far outmatched at hand to hand against Tamson. However, he manages to grab an explosive knife off Tamson's belt before Tamson throws him.
Lee-Char extends the blade as Tamson laughs evilly and says, "I killed your father without pity or mercy!"
"Then I'll return the favor!" Lee-Char says as he throws the knife into Tamson's shoulder.
Tamson tries to pull it out, but fails. A look of slight insanity on his face, he roars and swims right towards Lee-Char, who fries his blaster rifle at Tamson. The first few shots miss, or Tmaons shrugs off. Then, Lee-Char aims at the knife and fires. The bolt hits it and it explodes.
Lee-Char shields his eyes briefly, then looks around. As he does, he sees Tamson's severed head falling past him.
"The day is won!" Nossor Ri says as he swims up beside Lee-Char.
"Long live the prince!" Ackbar declares, which is echoed by all around him.
(The next day)
Lee-Char swims into the brightly lit throne room, which is filled with Mon Calamari and Quarren, with a few Gungans, clones, and Americans present. Anakin, Padme, Kit, Ahsoka, Jar Jar, and Adams are waiting not too far from the throne, waiting to see the coronation of Lee-Char. Many of the forces have been pulled out by now, except for some of the Americans who will be left behind to help protect Mon Cala. The Louisville has been taken away from Mon Cala to be returned to Earth for repairs, and replaced by the USS Chicago, which will spend the next 4 months on Mon Cala.
Senator Tills and the Elder make their way over to Lee-Char, and Tills says, "Your father would be so proud."
"I know," Lee-Char says as he bows his head.
"May the blessings of the water keep you," the Elder says as he opens a shell next to him, revealing the crown of the king, "The might of your ancestors give you strength."
Nossor Ri removes the crown from the shell and places it on Lee-Char's head. He then declares, "As representative of the Quarren people, I pledge our loyalty to you."
Lee-Char straightens, and says, "And as your king, I pledge my loyalty to all people of Mon Cala."
There are several moments of silence as Lee-Char looks around at everyone in the room. Then, the Elder says, "I present King Lee-Char!"
"Long live the king! Love live King Lee-Char!" everyone present chants, glad that the crisis is over, and that Mon Cala has a new king.
And, I'll end there. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter.
So, this brings the Mon Cala arc to a close. Next up is the Umbara arc, which I think lots of people have been pretty excited for. I'll have the first chapter up soon enough. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!