Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
So, this will be based on episode 4, but will obviously differ a fair amount given Echo's different fate in this story. I still hope you like what I do in this chapter.
Let's get to it.
Guest DCDGojira: Someone will be going to Mustafar with Obi Wan, but I'm not sure who it will be, or if it will even be an ASAT commando. As for Terran Jedi younglings and the Jedi Master currently on Terra, you'll actually get that next chapter. Not sure about the next title right now. The ASAT team will know about Luke and Leia. Still undecided about Barriss. Not sure about characters from the Resistance show. And no, the ASAT team now flies either specialized SF-15s or specialized Su-36s. Yes, there will be other species in both the ASAT team and Terran Jedi Order in the next story.
RandomFanAuthor: Not sure about a shootout. As for Ahsoka on Terra, you'll get that next chapter.
Jayhawks: May take that idea into account for new species.
Chapter 58- Unfinished Business
Hall makes his way over to the holoprojector where Mace, Obi Wan, Anakin and Rex are again standing. He had just heard that the Saudi troops holding the main assembly complex had finally been forced to retreat, with less than a thousand troops out of the initial 5,000 still alive.
"We have a dozen active battlefronts on Anaxes, and we are losing 9 of them. Without our Terran friends, we'd losing even more. But, if Admiral Trench can no longer anticipate our moves, we may have a chance to finally take back Anaxes," Mace says.
"I think I have an idea of how we can win this," Hall says.
"If you have an idea, Colonel, please share it," Mace says.
"I just received word from General Powell. A number of Terran and Republic warships are on their way, bringing massive Terran ground reinforcements, as well as two full squadrons of SB-1B bombers, as well as a stock of nuclear missiles to equip the Lancers with," Hall says.
"Indeed?" Obi Wan asks.
"Yes. Now, here's my plan. I will lead a team to the Separatist command ship to take out Trench and the ship. We order the bombers to launch nuclear strikes against the Separatist armies at these five battlefronts (indicating the five battlefronts), and massive carpet bombing attacks at these three (indicating the three). Then, Generals Windu and Kenobi will lead the clones and Terrans we have right now as well as the reinforcements, in a massive ground assault on the main assembly complex. At the same time, we devote more close air support units to the three battlefronts we're not losing and give them the final push they need for victory," Hall says.
The three Jedi think for a few moments about Hall's plan, then Anakin says, "I like your strategy. Only one change. I'm coming with you."
Hall grins. "Well, then. Good to have you on board, General," he says.
"I agree with Colonel Hall. This seems like it will work," Obi Wan says.
"I agree as well. Let us prepare," Mace says.
(6 hours later)
Hall smiles as he watches the three Acclamators descending towards the surface. He's been waiting anxiously for these ships to arrive.
Finally, the three ships reach the surface and come to a stop, lowering their ramps.
Within minutes, soldiers begin marching down the ramps. 32,000 soldiers of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division and 15,000 soldiers and 200 tanks of the Russian Army's 4th Guards Tank Division.
As Hall waits, Major General John Keane, the commander of the 101st, makes his way over to where Hall is standing. Hall salutes Keane, who returns the salute.
"Welcome to Anaxes, General Keane," Hall says.
"Pleasure to meet you, Colonel Hall. Now, when are we gonna see some action?" Keane asks, a slight grin on his face.
"Very soon. The men are gonna be getting underway with Generals Windu and Kenobi in about two hours," Hall says.
"Understood. Where can I find the Generals?" Keane asks.
"Follow me, sir," Hall says. He leads Keane over to where Mace, Obi Wan, and Anakin are waiting. He then walks away to find the team he'll be taking to go after Trench.
(2 hours later)
Hall makes his way towards the Bad Batch's shuttle, which they will be taking to board the Separatist ship. The rest of the team is already on board.
Anakin and Obi Wan are walking with him. "We will soon be commencing our attack here on the surface. We're counting on you all to pull this off," Obi Wan says.
"Don't worry, General. We'll get this done," Hall says.
Obi Wan stops, then nods once before saying, "I'll see you soon." He then walks off to rejoin Mace, while Hall and Anakin board the shuttle.
In side the cabin is the rest of the strike team, which includes the Bad Batch, Rex, Echo, Captain Allen, and a CIA operative named Alexander Bennet. Bennet is wearing a special suit designed by the CIA using Republic technology that gives him unprecedented ability to conduct cyber operations. It has attachments on it that enable him to plug in to an outlet similar to an astromech droid, and connects to his helmet, which enable him to view any information available to that port, as well as issue orders. The suit is connected to his brain, enabling Bennet to send the commands into the suit mentally, and use the suit to execute them. Bennet has been training with the suit for almost a year, and has gotten very good at employing it.
"Alright, men. Let's move!" Hall says.
Everyone settles in, and Tech powers up the shuttle and lifts off. As he climbs into the sky, Tech glances back at Agent Bennet and asks, "You Terrans really think that suit can do the job."
"Well, nothing is certain. But I think so," Bennet says with a grin. Tech rolls his eyes a bit.
"Please tell me we are blowing something up!" Wrecker says loudly.
"Sorry, Wrecker, this is strictly stealth," Anakin says.
Wrecker groans and says, "Ugh. I hate that word!"
"Alright, Bennet. You're up. Do your stuff," Hall says.
Bennet kneels down and plugs into the port right next to him. "Alright. Now, the trick is getting a signal to the command ship. If I can just make them think we're one of their shuttles coming in for a landing, we'll be fine," he says as he gets to work.
"And regs think we take risks," Hunter says.
The shuttle climbs up towards the Separatist fleet. Everyone watches as Bennet concentrates on what he's doing. Then, Bennet grins. Right as he does, a droid's voice comes over the commlink and says, "Roger, roger, Shuttle TC-159. You may approach and land."
Bennet stands up, grinning, as Wrecker groans and says, "I'd still rather blow it up."
"I have a feeling you'll get your chance," Tech says.
Tech pilots the ship up towards the Separatist warship above them, flying up and docking with the ship on its underside.
(Surface)
From his position at the main Republic base, General Keane watches the flightline as the ground crews are finishing loading missiles into the bomb bays of 5 of the SB-1Bs, while loading the other Lancers with their maximum bomb load.
The plan for the coming attack is simple. The bombers will launch their strikes at the same time as an advance force attacks the main assembly complex. Then, as the droids begin marshalling their forces to counter the Republic attack, the men of the 4th and the 101st will launch their massive ground assault.
"Are we ready?" Keane asks.
"Yes, sir," a clone officer says.
"Launch," Keane orders.
The order is sent out to the flightline, and one by one, all 24 SB-1Bs take to the skies. Two SF-15s and two Su-36s form up around each bomber to escort them to their targets.
As the bombers begin making their way towards their targets, Keane says, "Send out the message. Bombers are on their way."
(Space)
Hall and Anakin slowly lead the strike team towards the comm vault. They had decided to have Bennet, with some guards, station themselves there to be able to monitor Trench's communications.
They make their way into the comm vault. Bennet turns to Tech and asks, "Can you rig an interface for me to plug into?"
"I assume that's a rhetorical question," Tech says as he kneels down to start working on it.
Tech finishes the port quickly, and Bennet plugs in. Instantly, he says, "Alright. I'm plugged into everything. And some good timing it looks like. Our men are preparing to begin their assault, and our bombers are on their way. I'm gonna try and keep Trench off their scent until it's too late. But, that's not it. I'm picking up a report. There's a bomb under the main assembly complex. Big enough to take out the plant and a large area around it. Somebody's gonna have to go get the instructions on how to stop it from Trench."
"Leave it to me and General Skywalker," Hall says before hurrying off, Anakin right behind him.
(Assembly Complex)
Mace and Obi Wan look down at the main assembly complex from their gunships. "All airborne units. Begin your attack," Mace says.
The gunships open fire, blasting away at all the droids within view. As the droids are whittled down, the gunships lower and begin to deploy their troops just short of the complex.
"Alright, men. We need to draw the droids out. So, let's sit tight," Mace says.
(Anaxes airspace)
Over the plains of Anaxes, the SB-1Bs are racing towards their targets. The five nuclear armed bombers are each heading for the battlefronts Hall specified, while the other 19 are divided between the three other battlefronts the Republic is losing.
In one of the bombers, the strike force commander, Colonel Andrew Tibbits, radioes the other four Lancers armed with nukes and says, "Sabers 2 through 5. Prepare for attack."
The five nuclear armed bombers open their bomb bays. The other four pilots wait for Tibbits' word. Finally, Tibbits' calls over the commlink, "Launch."
All five nuclear armed bombers launch their missiles. Five missiles, each with a 50 kiloton warhead, launch and streak towards their targets.
After several minutes in flight, the missiles detonate simultaneously. In a matter of seconds, hundreds of thousands of battle droids are destroyed or disabled by the EMPs thrown off by the blasts. Given their detonation points, not a single clone or Terran troop is killed by the blasts.
(Space)
On board his ship, Trench looks in shock at his information feeds as they show the five nuclear explosions devastating his ground forces. Then, only seconds later, he receives footage of the other bombers beginning carpet bombing attacks against his armies in three other locations.
"How did we not see those bombers coming?" he asks rhetorically.
(Assembly Complex)
Mace and Obi Wan swing their lightsabers, blocking a flurry of blaster bolts. Some of the massive droid army guarding the assembly complex have started to come out and attack the clones that have been landed.
"General, more droids coming out of the complex!" an LAAT pilot calls over the Republic comm channel.
"All Terran units! The time is now! Begin your attack!" Mace calls over the commlink.
Within minutes, the sound of thousands of footsteps, accompanied by the sounds of tanks, begins to echo across the landscape. Then, from over a hill behind the clone lines appears the front ranks of a massive army of 47,000 elite American and Russian troops, with the Russian tanks leading the charge. At the same time, in the sky over them appear 100 AH-64 and Mi-24 attack helicopters.
The American and Russian troops begin shouting war cries as they quicken their charge, heading straight for the complex as fast as they can. The clones cheer as the Terran army charges to help them.
As soon as they're in range, the Russian tanks open fire, hurling shells towards the droids. Explosions tear apart hundreds of droids as the Americans and Russian open fire with their blasters, gunning down any droid outside the complex.
In a matter of minutes, the Americans and Russians have secured the east side of the outside of the complex and begin making their way into the complex, gunning down any droid that stands in their way.
(Space)
Trench watches in shock as the American and Russian troops charge over the hill. Once again, he had not seen them on any of his displays until they charged over the hill. He hadn't even known the troops were even on Anaxes.
"What is going on?" Trench asks.
"It's called losing, Trench."
Trench and the two commando droids beside him turn around to see Hall and Anakin standing in the doorway. Hall is holding his M4 assault blaster, and Anakin is holding his lightsaber at the ready.
"Jedi scum!" Trench says with contempt.
The two commando droids leap forward. Anakin uses the Force to throw one aside, and Hall guns down the other.
Trench raises on of his robotic arms, firing what looks like an electric net at them. Anakin leaps over it, and Hall ducks aside to avoid it. Anakin then rushes forward, holding out his lightsaber towards Trench.
"We know you put a bomb under the complex, Trench. Tell me the sequence to disarm it!" Anakin demands.
"Never. Dooku would kill me for losing Anaxes," Trench says.
"And you think I won't?" Anakin says.
"You're a Jedi," Trench says. He starts to say something else, but Hall whips out his lightsaber, ignites it, and cuts off Trench's three cybernetic arms with it.
"But I'm not. And I have no issue with killing you after all you've done. But first, you're gonna give us the sequence, or I have ways of convincing you," Hall says angrily.
(Assembly Complex)
Mace and Obi Wan make their way into the main hall of the assembly complex. The American and Russian troops have already pushes the droids out of this hall, and have almost completely retaken the complex.
Right then, Anakin comes on the commlink and says, "Master Windu, we discovered Admiral Trench placed a comb under the assembly complex. The admiral was kind enough to give me the sequence to shut it down. You need to send someone down there to shut it down."
"I'm on it," Mace says, and he runs for a lift.
The lift takes Mace down to the reactor. As the lift comes to a halt, Mace sees the bomb. Mace heads towards it, but right as he reaches it, a ray shield comes up.
"A ray shield," Mace mutters to himself. He then gets on the commlink and says, "I'm with the bomb. Fire away, Skywalker."
"The first number in the sequence is 3," Anakin says. Mace then uses the Force to manipulate the first lever to the 3 position.
Anakin the continues, "Then one. Eight. Two. Five. Seven. Three. Seven." With every number, Mace uses the Force to manipulate the levers. As he moves the last one into place, the ray shield and the bomb both shut down.
Mace lifts up his commlink and says, "Good work, Skywalker. The bomb has been disarmed."
(Space)
On the bridge of the Separatist dreadnought, Anakin and Hall smile as they hear Mace's words. "You and Obi Wan both owe me one now," Anakin says.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Hall sees Trench activating the end of his staff, which begins to crackle with electricity. Before either Trench or Anakin can move, Hall jumps forward and drives his lightsaber through Trench's chest. He smirks with grim satisfaction at the admiral and says, "See you in h***, Trench."
Anakin watches this for a second before going over to a console. He types a few keys, and what looks like a trigger device comes out of a nearby console. Anakin grabs it as Hall pulls his lightsaber out of Trench's chest.
"Wrecker's gonna love this," Anakin says before motioning for Hall to follow him.
Hall takes a step after Anakin, then turns around towards trench, who is stumbling, and says, "It's been a pleasure, Admiral." He then turns and hurries off after Anakin as Trench falls dead to the ground."
(Assembly Complex)
Obi Wan charges out of the assembly complex, blocking blaster bolts with his lightsaber. The droids are trying to hold a position just outside the assembly complex, but the relentless attack by the American and Russian troops is weakening their ranks.
Right then, Obi Wan's commlink activates, and Obi Wan hears General Keane say, "General Kenobi, do you hear me?"
"I hear you, General Keane," Obi Wan responds.
"I have some CAS support incoming. Please mark your positions with white smoke markers so they know where to attack," Keane says.
"Understood," Obi Wan says. He then gets back on the commlink, broadcasting his message over the Terran network, and says, "All Terran forces. There is close air support incoming. Mark our lines with white smoke markers."
Americans and Russians begin throwing white smoke grenades to mark their lines, and halting their advance.
Only a minute later, they hear the sound of approaching fighters. Within moments, 16 SA-10s and 16 SF-15s appear over the battle site.
The Terran strike fighters dive to the attack. The SA-10s begin strafing with their 30mm cannons, while the SF-15s begin dropping 1,000 lb bombs on the droid lines.
Within a few minutes, the remaining droid forces finally pull back. The Terran fighters pursue them, firing on them until the last of the droids are destroyed.
Obi Wan watches as the Bad Batch's shuttle flies back down towards the surface, and he allows himself a smile. Finally, victory is in their hands.
(Hours later)
Hall looks over the final reports. The last of the intact Separatist forces retreated about two hours ago, giving the final victory to the Republic and Terran Alliance. The 8 battlefronts that had been nuked or suffered carpet bombing attacks from the SB-1s collapsed for the Separatists within an hour of the attacks. And after the death of Trench and the destruction of his ships, the remaining battlefronts quickly fell apart for the droids.
Hall grins. Despite many setbacks, and many losses, Anaxes is still in Republic hands.
And, I'll end there. I know it may have been a bit rushed, but I wanted to get it up today.
So, my schedule is going to be a little different for the next little while, given the coronavirus outbreak. I'm not sure how it will affect my ability to write fanfiction, but I'll try and keep the updates coming. Be warned there may be breaks of a few days in between updates. That's what happens when you're a college student.
So, next chapter will be set on Earth, and feature Ahsoka again. After that, we're gonna get into the Battle of Coruscant.
Next chapter will hopefully be up tomorrow. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!