Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. Hope you like this one.
Let's get to it.
Sectooper: Earth is not part of the Republic, so they don't have a seat in the Senate. They'll pretty much be pulling out of the galaxy pretty quickly, but your second suggestion will happen, though more extreme than fistfighting.
Guest DCDGojira: We may seem some characters from Rebels in the second story, although I won't be covering the events of Rebels. Yes, a number of the OCs from this story will make appearances in the second. The early parts of the second story will include descriptions and flashbacks that will show what's happened between the stories.
the mysterious Mr.E: No countries will be siding with the Empire. The Terran Alliance will obviously be helping the Rebellion, but will not be a part of the Rebellion. They'll be allies of the Rebellion.
Dalej0523: Kind of, but not too extensively. You'll see when I write that chapter. As for Thrawn joining the Terrans, definitely not, but that doesn't mean some Chiss might not, and we will definitely see Thrawn at least once.
Guest: Order 66 will definitely be a major event for the Terrans, but you'll have to wait and see exactly what they'll do when it happens.
DireNightFury: I might use some of those ships for inspiration.
Rvbfan424: Some of the slaves were returned to their homes, and the rest were given refuge on Terra.
Chapter 47- The Lawless
Obi Wan makes his way into the briefing room along with Captain Adams. It has been just over a week since Obi Wan and Colonel Stasevich's duel with Maul and Savage on Florrum. Since then, there had been no sign of the two, and Obi Wan had begun to allow himself to hope that perhaps Maul had indeed been killed in the crash.
However, Obi Wan had been summoned to the briefing room by Master Yoda. Adams had elected to join him.
As they walk in, they see Yoda and Ki Adi Mundi waiting for them. "You summoned me, Masters?" Obi Wan asks.
Neither Jedi responds. Instead, Master Mundi activates the holoprojector in front of them, bringing up a hologram of Duchess Satine.
"This is a message for Obi-Wan Kenobi. I've lost Mandalore. My people have been massacred and Almec is now the prime minister. I can't explain everything now, but Almec has the support of the crime families. Obi Wan, I need your help," Satine says.
Then, the hologram shows three Death Watch warriors surrounding Satine before the hologram cuts off.
"Your thoughts on this, Master Kenobi?" Yoda asks.
"Satine has been at odds with the Death Watch for years. And according to a report from Padawan Tano, they're no longer in league with the Separatists. If there was a takeover on Mandalore, it was likely an independent act, caused by the Death Watch alone," Obi Wan says.
"Without involvement from the Separatist, this is an internal affair for the Mandalorians. I'm afraid we cannot help," Master Mundi says.
"You're kidding me," Adams says.
"We cannot just hand Mandalore over to these crime families and let Satine become a martyr," Obi Wan adds.
"I'm afraid her decision to keep Mandalore neutral makes this situation difficult," Master Mundi says.
"Understand your feelings I do, Obi Wan. But to take action, support from the Republic Senate we will need," Yoda says.
Obi Wan is quiet before walking out of the room. As he does, Adams says, "Well, the Terran Alliance doesn't. I'll be contacting Joint Terran Command to inform them of the situation, and I can almost guarantee they will take action." He then walks out of the room.
Master Mundi looks over at Yoda. "I am worried. The Terrans have grown increasingly independent and bold. I know that many in the Jedi Order and in the Senate are concerned at how much they have begun to operate separately from the Republic, especially after their invasion and occupation of Onderon," he says, although knowing that the American forces left behind on Onderon have already mostly pulled out after ensuring the peaceful transition of power.
"Understand your concern, I do, Master Mundi. However, perhaps a blessing, they are. Willing to do what the Senate is not, they are. Perhaps a good thing, that is," Yoda says. After a moment's pause, he says, "Control the Terrans, we cannot. Sense that their willingness to do what is needed will make the crucial difference, I do."
Master Mundi doesn't respond, but just stares off into the distance.
(Mandalore system)
The Twilight drops out of hyperspace, Mandalore up ahead. In the cockpit, Obi Wan, dressed in the outfit he wore as a bounty hunter, works with the controls. Adams is sitting in the co-pilot's seat, dressed in the outfit he usually wears when out hunting back home in Virginia.
Obi Wan pilots the ship down to the capital city of Sundari, managing to land it on a landing pad on the outside of the city. As he does, a number of parts in the cockpit spark, and one slightly catches fire.
"Oh! Anakin, that's the last time I borrow a ship from you," Obi Wan says before putting on his helmet. Adams smirks a bit at that comment.
Obi Wan lowers the ramp, which stops halfway down. Obi Wan stomps on it a few times to get it to go down.
Jumping out and pretending to start looking at some of the parts, a red clad Mandalorian walks up and says, "You better get your ship looked at."
"Oh, it's my friend's ship," Obi Wan says, resting his hand on the ramp, which lowers suddenly the rest of the way.
"He told me it was perfectly fine," he says, right before several parts fall off the ship. Obi Wan stumbles back a bit, and says, "I'm terribly sorry about this."
"Do you have a landing permit?" the Mandalorian asks.
"Umm, I think I left it in the ship. Here, come with me and I'll get it," Obi Wan says. He walks into the ship, followed by the Mandalorian.
As the Mandalorian gets into the ship, he glances to the side, and sees Adams, sitting on a chair, drinking a beer, and aiming a blaster pistol right at him.
"'Sup?" Adams says before pulling the trigger and firing a stun ray, stunning the Mandalorian.
Obi Wan and Adams quickly remove his armor. Obi Wan dons the armor as Adams ties up the man.
"Alright, I'll wait here for you and keep the ship ready to go," Adams says.
"Thank you, Captain," Obi Wan says before walking out of the ship. He heads towards a speeder and boards it, taking off into the city. As he does, he doesn't notice that Bo-Katan and some of her Death Watch soldiers have seen him. Bo-Katan smiles, thinking that maybe what they need to stop Maul has come.
Obi Wan makes his way to the prison. Once he gets there, he begins searching through the levels of the prison, searching for Satine.
Finally, he rounds a corner and sees Satine in her cell, kneeling on the ground and staring at the opposite wall.
Obi Wan looks at her for a moment before opening the cell door. As he does, Satine opens her eyes and says, "Here to do more of your master's bidding?"
Obi Wan removes his helmet as he steps into the cell, and says, "I do my own bidding."
"Obi Wan!" Satine says in realization and relief, and she leaps to her feet, turns around, and embraces Obi Wan.
Obi Wan is slightly caught off guard, but accepts the embrace for a moment before pulling away. Satine looks at him and asks, "Are you alone?"
"Almost. The Jedi Council and Republic Senate will be of no help to us here. Captain Adams from Terra came with me, and the Terran Alliance may be able to send further aid, but for now Captain Adams is our only help," Obi Wan says before leading Satine out of the cell.
They make their way over to the lift as Satine asks, "I assume you have an escape plan?"
Obi Wan puts the helmet back on as he says, "As always, my dear."
Right then, the lift opens, revealing a red clad Mandalorian. Obi Wan, trying to keep the façade up, shoves Satine into the lift and steps in after her.
The doors shut, and the lift goes down again. After a few moments, the Mandalorian says, "There's no record of a prisoner transfer here."
"The orders came from upstairs," Obi Wan says, hoping the guy will buy it.
The warrior is quiet for a moment before asking, "What's the authorization code?"
"Oh, um…" Obi Wan says, trying to see if he can just come up with one. But, deciding, he's not gonna fool the warrior anymore, he attacks the warrior and knocks him out right before the lift doors open.
Obi Wan and Satine make their way out of the lift, as Obi Wan ditches his helmet. They climb onto a speeder bike, and take off, but not before being noticed by another red clad Mandalorian, who radioes a warning out.
After a fast trip, Obi Wan and Satine arrive back at the Twilight, where Adams is waiting for them. As they pull up, Adams hurries out, holding his assault blaster. As soon as the pursuing Mandalorians get within range, Adams fires off a volley of blaster bolts as well as a grenade, killing several of the Mandalorians before racing back onto the Twilight.
Obi Wan hurries to try and get the Twilight into the air. "We have to contact my sister! She'll send reinforcements!" Satine says as Obi Wan struggles with the controls.
"Who's your sister?" Obi Wan asks.
However, he doesn't get an answer. Right at that moment, Maul, who had arrived on the scene seconds earlier, makes a motion to some of his warriors. Two of them launch the rockets from their jetpacks towards the Twilight. Just a few seconds later, the missiles strike the ship near the engines.
Within seconds, Adams recognizes the situation. "Come on! We got to get out of this thing!" he shouts loud enough for Obi Wan and Satine to hear. He then grabs one of the parachutes he had brought aboard the ship just in case.
Adams straps on the parachute, then lowers the ramp. Immediately, seeing that the opening is no over the open air instead of the landing platform, Adams leaps out of the ship, the smoke and debris mostly hiding him from sight as he falls towards the surface of the planet. He opens his parachute just in time, slowing just enough to make a safe landing on the ground.
Meanwhile, Obi Wan and Satine are trying to desperately hold on as the ship spins out of control. Finally, their grip loosens and they fall out of the ship a few moments before it crashes.
Obi Wan, trying to recover himself, raises himself up a bit and sees Satine trapped under some debris. He quickly uses the Force to lift the debris off of her.
Looking up, he sees several of the red clad Mandalorians approaching him. Then, they part, revealing Maul in the midst.
"No. It can't be," Obi Wan says, slowly pulling himself to his feet and igniting his lightsaber. However, Maul uses the Force to pull Obi Wan to him, causing Obi Wan to drop his lightsaber.
"We meet again, Kenobi. Welcome to my world," Maul says as Savage picks up Satine and slings her over his shoulder.
Maul throws Obi Wan to two of his warriors before saying, "Take them back to the palace."
Maul and his warriors start heading back to the palace, except one. One of them briefly saw Adams as he fell towards the ground, though he didn't recognize what it was. A little concerned, the warrior decides to fly down to investigate it.
Flying over the edge, he flies down towards the ground. As he does, he sees something. Wondering what it is, he flies down further.
Too late, the warrior realizes what it is. As he does, Adams, holding an SR-25 marksman rifle he took from the ship before jumping out of it, fires. The bullet hits the Mandalorian in the face, killing him instantly. The warrior falls to the ground beside him.
Adams smirks a bit. He removes the warrior's armor and dons it himself, except for the helmet, which is ruined. He wraps the body in his parachute and disguises it with a thin layer of sand. He puts his two P226 pistols in the holsters, slings his assault blaster on his back over the jetpack, and picks up the SR-25 again. He then activates the jetpack and flies up to the landing pad.
As he gets up to the landing pad, he sees that Obi Wan and Satine are both gone. Knowing that they had to have been taken by the warriors that attacked them, he moves towards the entrance into the city.
Suddenly, he hears something. Turning around quickly, he sees Bo Katan and two of her warriors fly down and land in front of him.
"Who are you?" Bo Katan asks.
"Captain Samuel Adams. Terran Alliance Armed Forces," Adams responds.
Bo Katan looks at him for a few moments, then says, "You're here with the Jedi, aren't you?"
"Yes. Do you know where he was taken?" Adams asks.
"I know where he's going to end up. Come with us, and we'll get him out," Bo Katan says. She starts to turn away, then stops and motions to one of her warriors, who throws helmet to Adams.
"You're gonna want this," Bo Katan says. Adams looks at the blue painted helmet, and smiles as he glances between it and the red armor he's wearing.
"I think this is an appropriate color scheme," he says before sliding the helmet onto his back.
"You know how to use that jetpack?" Bo Katan asks.
"I think so, given I flew up here from the ground," Adams says.
"Alright. Let's go," Bo Katan says.
Bo Katan and her warriors take off, flying through the city and keeping out of sight as much as possible. Adams keeps up with them as best as he can.
Finally, they take up positions near the prison. Adams sets up with his SR-25.
"Think you can hit something that far?" Bo Katan asks.
"This thing can hit targets at 800 yards. Don't worry," Adams says.
Finally, a speeder pulls up to the prison. Several of Maul's warriors are on it, escorting Obi Wan.
"Target acquired," Adams says, taking aim at one of the warriors.
As the warriors get off the speeder with Obi Wan, Adams takes his first shot. The bullet hits the warrior in the neck, and he collapses dead instantly.
"It's the rebels!" one of the warriors says as Adams takes his second shot. The round hits the jetpack, causing it to explode and kill the warrior. Adams then quickly takes his third shot, which hits the targeted warrior in the face, killing him.
Bo Katan then flies in. She gets one warrior in a headlock and grabs his wrist, firing his grappling cable around the neck of the fifth warrior. She then extends a blade from her vambrace and slashes it across the warrior's jetpack, and the two warriors go flying off before hitting a building and blowing up.
Adams hides his SR-25, knowing he can't afford to carry it now, and flies down with the rest of Bo-Katan's warriors. As he lands, he removes his mask and smiles at Obi Wan.
"General. Good to see you again," Adams says.
"Adams. Thank goodness," Obi Wan says.
Bo-Katan pulls a jetpack off the first warrior Adams killed. "You know how to use one of these?" she asks Obi Wan.
"No. But in this case I'm a fast learner," Obi Wan says. Bo-Katan fastens the jetpack onto his back.
"Alright. Let's go," Bo-Katan says before taking off. Adams slides his helmet back on and takes off after her, followed by Obi Wan.
The group flies through the city, heading for the shipping docks. As they are nearing the exit leading to the docks, blaster bolts suddenly surround them, some killing one of their warriors.
Some of the warriors whip around and begin firing at the group of four of Maul's commandos flying after them.
Bo-Katan's group quickly lands in the exit. Adams pulls out his assault blaster and begins firing into the four commandos. Two are quickly gunned down.
A third commando flies straight at Adams. Without missing a beat, Adams dodges aside, then draws his lightsaber and ignites it, swinging the purple blade through the commando's neck.
Adams then follows Obi Wan towards the door leading to the docks. As the door opens, it reveals dozens, if not a few hundred, Mandalorian warriors, both those loyal to Bo-Katan and those loyal to Maul, fighting against each other.
Bo-Katan runs up beside Obi Wan and says, "Maul must really want you dead."
"You have no idea," Obi Wan says before he, Adams, and Bo-Katan hurry to join the fight.
The fighting seems to be growing fiercer by the minute. Several dropships arrive, deploying more of the loyalist Mandalorians, who quickly take on Maul's warriors. Another dropship is shot out of the sky by three of Maul's warriors using their missiles.
As Adams is firing away with his assault blaster, and Obi Wan is blocking incoming blaster bolts with his saber, a dropship comes down behind them, lowering its ramp. Bo-Katan motions for them to move towards it.
Obi Wan and Adams both hurry towards the ship. Bo-Katan says, "Go back to your Republic, and the Terrans. Tell them what has happened."
"That would likely result in a Republic or Terran invasion of Mandalore," Obi Wan responds.
"Yes, and Maul will die! But Mandalore will survive. We always survive. No go!" Bo-Katan says to the two. Adams is shocked. This is the first he realized that Maul was alive, or that he was behind the takeover.
Obi Wan starts to turn away, but stops and looks back at her. "You're Satine's sister, aren't you?" There is silence for a few moments before Obi Wan says, "I'm so sorry." He then hurries aboard, along with Adams.
"What happened to Satine?" Adams asks.
"Maul killed her," Obi Wan says simply.
Adams is quiet for a moment, then says, "I'm sorry, Obi Wan," referring to Obi Wan by his first name rather than his last name or General.
Obi Wan just nods as he and Adams walk up to the cockpit and tell their pilot, one of Bo-Katan's men, to set course for Coruscant.
When the two return to Coruscant, they immediately report on the situation. While the Jedi Council is adamant they cannot act without a decision from the Senate, who begins to debate the issue, the Joint Terran Command immediately dispatches a joint force of men from SEAL Team 6 and a Russian Spetsnaz team to Mandalore, along with Adams and Colonel Stasevich. However, upon arrival, they only find the remains of the battle in Sundari, Savage's body near the palace, and no sign of Maul. While this is of some comfort to the Terrans, it makes them concerned why he disappeared.
While Maul is missing, the Terrans feel certain that Maul's involvement in the Clone Wars is not over yet.
And, I'll end there. I hope you liked this chapter.
So, obviously, this won't be the last time we see Mandalore or Maul show up. Given that it's going to be featured in Season 7, I'll be doing chapters on that arc.
Alright. Next chapter will be up soon, and it will start the Jedi Temple bombing arc. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!