The First Contact War
Chapter 7 The Listening Station
2622 March 4th Earth Standard Calendar, Luke Sparrow onboard the Resolute in the hanger with Delta force.
Luke and the rest of Delta stepped off the YT-1300 light freighter nicknamed the Specter due to its ability to cloak. It had cost Luke 20,000 credits and a further 30,000 credits for all the upgrades to it and repairs but it promised to be effective for the role it was going to have to play. It was about 35 meters long with modified girodyne sublight engines capable of 1,200 km/h with an amplified quandex power core with a isu-sim SSP05 hyperdrive. It was Armed with a blastech Ax-108 blaster cannon and missile tubes with a twin plasma minigun turret on top and bottom of the ship. It had been modified to be able to carry twenty people and four crew. Delta Force or Delta had been formed of elite troops from the Marine Corps trained in all aspects of war to carry out any mission.
"I leave you alone for four months and you come back reassigned and with this rust bucket" Luke heard from a young Jedi.
"It can still outrun that piece of trash you call a ship" Luke fired back.
"you probably right" Ahsoka said.
"So you get involved in any exiting exploits while I was away?" asked Luke.
"Let's see... Stopped a Separatist super weapon the Malevolence, you?"
"Fought on a swamp planet called Minmban, my armor smelled for days of that cursed swamp, the conflict there is almost over, left it in the hands of the army. Seems like you got the fun mission between the two of us"
"You didn't have to put up with Skyguy's flying" Ahsoka said remembering the horror of being his gunner.
"So how much did it cost you or did you steal it?"
"It cost about 50,000 credits in total"
"How do you have that much money?"
"That's not important"
"How did you get the money?"
"Firstly I was minding my own business" Luke justified.
"I not sure whether to believe that"
"I was" Luke whined "Then these smucks kick down a door and attack us, and I followed them back to their hideout stole their money and killed all but one of them"
"What happened to the last one?"
"Killed himself" Ahsoka looked quite horrified at Luke's story.
"Anyway... I was told to report to general Skywalker, do you know where he is?"
"Yes, he is currently in the Main hanger preping the Twilight"
"Lead on"
Time skip
Luke walked through the main hanger and was impressed by its size, it took up most the central part of the ship. He saw a gold and black droid roll up the ramp into the ship while some clones with jetpacks were checking their DC-15s blasters.
"Hey Rex, is general Skywalker inside?"
"Yep, he is expecting you" Luke nodded and walked up the ramp. He noticed it was roomier as Skywalker had put his fighter inside. As Luke entered the cockpit he could see Skywalker doing pre-flight checks.
"I was told to report to you"
"Yes, you're going to help me find a Separatist listening post and possibly R2"
"Wait. You lost R2?"
"Yes, while chasing Grievous, a stray shot hit my ship, when I woke up I was told R2 was missing. Now I'm stuck with Goldie"
"Do you want backup, I brought Delta with me"
"No I think we have it covered"
"Sure, but it doesn't hurt to have a QRF"
"QRF?"
"QRF, Quick Reaction Force in case we need support"
"Sounds like a good idea"
"So when are we head 'in out?"
"In about five minutes"
"In that case, Simon delta has another mission, be ready to leave in the Specter in five minutes, I'll be going with the Jedi. I'll send you the details shortly"
"Copy sir"
"What makes you think you're coming with me?"
"You honestly think I'm going to sit on the side lines, fuck that"
Time skip, Twilight coming out of hyperspace
Anakin stood over Rex talking to him with Luke and Ahsoka with goldie beside them. "So what happened to R2, Skywalker only said he was missing"
"Anakin's ship got hit and we only found him, and there is a problem. R2 never had his memory wiped"
"So that means all of the Republics tactics and specs are on that droid, and it could be in separatist hands!"
"I know but we're working on locating him. Hang on a sec" Ahsoka said reaching for her earpiece.
"Master, I'm receiving a strange transmission, I can't seem to make it out though" She said pressing a button to put it on speaker. A series of bleeps could be heard sounding like an astromech droid.
"Boost the volume goldie" The droid bleeped in response and attempted to boost the sound. But the noise began to vanish.
"No, you're losing it" Anakin said as he hit another button making the signal clear. Odd, the droid should have been able to do that without Skywalker to intervene. Now R2 could be heard over the speakers clearly.
"That's R2" said Anakin.
"Err… that doesn't sound like R2" Ahsoka said.
"It's him, I could never forget that voice. Trace it Rex"
"Sir"
"Master our orders are to find the separatist listening post"
"Perhaps R2 is at the listening post, did you consider that"
"He's right, if R2 never had his memory wiped, then he would a valuable asset to the separatists"
"Sir we got a lock on the droid's location sir" Rex called over.
"Prepare to jump to those coordinates"
"Yes sir" A clone said as he started to impute the coordinates into the Hyperdrive. Ahsoka merely put her hands on her hips.
"Hold on R2 old buddy, we're coming"
"If you need me I'll be preparing, Trooper send those coordinates to the Specter"
"Will do sir" Luke headed to the rear compartment where he saw a group of four clones weapon checking.
"Officer on deck" called out one of the clones with a blue stipe across his helmet.
"As you were" Luke responded as he walked to wards LT Denal.
"Sir" Denal said saluting.
"There won't be any need for that while I'm around without a superior officer nearby"
"What can I do for you?"
"That droid, in the cockpit it couldn't boost the signal, have there been any other… incidents…. Like this before?"
"Actually no, but the droid seems a bit suspicious, even the General doesn't trust the thing, calls it 'stubby'"
"Thanks, this has been enlightening"
Time skip
"Sir the last transmission came from that moon's upper atmosphere, directly ahead"
"That's a separatist battlesphere"
"I'm picking up a lot of encrypted chatter"
"Contact Obi wan, Stubby scramble emergency frequency code set 1477, I don't want that station to pick this up" Luke walked in and saw Anakin talking to Obi wan.
"Master, I believe we've found your separatist listening post"
"Excellent work, back off and wait, I'll send two main line cruisers to help you destroy it"
"But R2"
"We believe my droid R2 is on board, he's the one that lead us here"
"hmm… this complicates things. You must sneak aboard and destroy it before the separatist crack R2's memory banks. I know your found of that droid but he's fallen into enemy hands"
"I could rescue R2"
"no this is not a rescue mission" With that Kenobi logged off.
"keep jamming their scanners, if they spot us we're dead"
"this is the specter we're cloaking now and will hold five minutes away from the battlesphere"
"Copy specter, we'll call if your needed"
"Trooper you stay here and pilot the ship, everyone else with me" Skywalker said. They all moved to the hanger and began to prepare. Luke strapped on his Exosuit and ran its system diagnostics. He also picked up a jet pack.
"Hey Rex, do you have a spare DC-15s I could use, it would be better suited to this mission"
"yeah here you go, it can fire 100 shots a cartridge and contains both stun settings and a grappling cable. It's the standard issue blaster of all troops in the Grand Army of the Republic and most favoured. Here are some spare cartridges" Rex handed Luke ten cartridges.
"Sounds good" Rex walked over with Luke to where Ahsoka was… prepping Goldie.
"You can't seriously be taking that with us"
"We need Goldie to open security doors and access the ships computer. Oh and Rex you get to carry him"
"Huh that's just great" Luke put a hand on Rex's shoulder.
"Unlucky mate, I'd do it myself but you've got this covered" Causing Rex to glare at him. They walked towards the door after Luke helped Rex strap Goldie to him. The door opened to reveal an orangey-brown sky and the winds caused the ship to shake.
"Follow me boys" Ahsoka called as she ran and jumped off. Luke and the other six quickly followed. Luke throwing in a flip for good measure. Luke moved his limbs into a spread eagle fashion, and could see the round shape of the Battleshpere with its satellite dishes. They raced past the upper floors and Luke could now see the area they were going to land in. The two Jedi used the force to slowly descend and come to a stop while the others fired their jetpacks allowing them to land safely on the surface of the ship.
"Next time your lugging this astromech around" rex said pointing at the others causing the others to laugh. "And was that flip really necessary?"
"One hundred percent" Skywalker activated his lightsabre and cut a hole into the ship and they all filled through. They entered a large corridor and could hear droids at the other end. Skywalker motioned for them to follow as they crept towards the droids. One of the clones snuck up behind and broke the B1's neck and the other was shot by Rex. They hurried quickly down the corridor.
"Alright stubby get to work" The astromech plugged in and projected a map of the station.
"We are here; the reactors are thirty levels below us there" Rex said motioning to the map.
"Ahsoka you take the squad and blow up the reactors, I'll do the rest. Meet in the landing bay"
"Where are you going"
"I'm just going for a little look around"
"I hope you find R2 in one piece"
"get going snips"
"looks like it's up to us to complete the mission. As usual" Ahsoka said as they walked off in different directions.
"So this is how most missions go?"
"Yep, you get oust to it"
"There should be an elevator that can get us to the reactors up ahead" Rex said. As they approached the junction, two droids stood guard at the elevators. Luke signalled for the others to stay put pulling out his kukri Knife and activated is electricity field. He snuck up until he was right behind them before plunging the blade through the first one's chest and then pulling the blade out and stabbing the other droid in the head before it could call for help or shoot.
"Impressive"
"Eh, I try"
They piled into the elevator and pressed the button for the thirtieth floor below them. The journey to the reactors deck was quick. The door opened and two more droids appeared and quickly were shot.
"Come on this way" Ahsoka called as they started to run down the corridor. After five minutes running Luke noticed the astromech wasn't with them.
"Ahsoka, I'm going to go get Goldie" He said before turning back in the other direction.
"What, but Goldie is just here… Oh" Luke continued on until he heard what sounded like voices. Pressing himself against the wall he heard Goldie communicating with someone.
"The Jedi are here! Delay them until I arrive" Luke called out to end the call.
"Goldie where are you" he then waited two seconds before rounding the corner.
"There you are, come on let's go" he said pretending he hadn't heard anything. The damn droids a spy, I can't say anything now without the droid being alerted. I'll have to wait to tell the others when that droid isn't present. Luke and Goldie caught up with the others outside the reactors blast shield door. It was ray shielded.
"There you are, come on Goldie open this door. Make me proud" Goldie went up to the control panel and began to override the security system. The sound of approaching droids could be heard.
"Oh this will be good" said Rex.
"Those droids are getting closer"
"Do you think R3 will have that door open anytime soon"
"He's working on it patience captain"
"get into defensive positions" Luke ordered taking cover behind a doorway.
"I can always hotwire it sir" Lt Denal offered.
"Hurry up Goldie"
"I think we run out of time"
"Goldie, if you do not open that door soon, I will shoot you and let Denal hotwire the door!" Luke said opening fire on the droids killing the lead one. The clones and droids quickly opened fire themselves with Ahsoka standing in front deflecting shots with her lightsaber. Luke noted how the DC-15s had little recoil and was quite accurate. The clones cut down more droids but Goldie activated another blast door in front of the ray shield.
"For fucks sake Goldie!" Yelled Luke. Now supper battle droids came from the other direction and opened fire. Luke swiveled round and unloaded seven shots into one, felling it.
"Rex droid poppers now" Ahsoka called as the clones threw their droid poppers at the enemy knocking them out.
"Thank god that's over"
"They sent a child to defeat me and destroy my station, the Republic must be running out of Jedi" said a man…thing… with a raspy voice, who Luke assumed to be General Grievous. Ahsoka activated her lightsaber as the others aimed their blasters at the General who had activated his lightsaber.
"You must be General Grievous" The General started to laugh but ended up coughing.
"He's just another tinny boys, lets scrap him like the rest" Ahsoka said before she ran forward and swung at Grievous but he blocked and attacked her forcing her to parry both strikes. Grievous then hit her and she flew into the wall and didn't get back up. Luke and the clones opened fire but Grievous deflected a shot into a clone and leaped towards them. He swung his lightsaber and killed two clones to Luke's left and threw Denal against the wall. He swiped at Luke and cut his exoskeletons left arm enhancer off and kicked him against the blast door of the reactor room. As he begun to fall unconscious from the impact he saw Rex get thrown to the floor and about to be impaled by a lightsaber but saw Ahsoka get up in his peripheral vision as he blacked out again.
Time skip
"Uhhhhh, I need to stop being knocked out" Luke said as regained consciousness. He looked around and saw Rex and Denal were moving as well.
"Rex, Denal, you still with me?"
"Yep"
"Yes"
"Good, Ahsoka isn't here so we can assume she has engaged Grievous"
"I'll contact Ahsoka" said Rex, "Ahsoka it's me Rex, there's only three of us left, should we abort the mission?"
"No complete the mission, set the charges and rendezvous at the landing bay"
"But sir" Rex started.
"That's an order Rex, I'll keep the General busy. Ahsoka out"
"She's distracting Grievous. Come on, we still have a job to do" Rex said as they got up and grabbed the explosives and Denal began to hotwire the door.
"Guys, remember when I went back to fetch Goldie when he lagged behind" Luke decided to tell them no Goldie wasn't around.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I overheard Goldie talking to Grievous, I think R3 is a spy"
"What, why didn't you tell us earlier!" demanded Rex.
"Would Ahsoka have believed me earlier if I had"
"No, but you should have said something"
"If I did, Ahsoka wouldn't have believed me a Goldie would know that I know he was a spy and would have had to get away from us and we wouldn't be able to bypass most of the stations security systems. No offense Denal"
"None taken and that does it" Announced Denal as the door opened revealing the reactors.
Luke turned to the two clones and said "If it looks shiny and expensive then stick a charge on it and keep the charge out of sight" The two clones nodded and they walked into the reactor room. Luke's HUD pinpointed the best possibly spots to place the charges. After a couple of minutes, the charges had been placed.
"Specter we are going to need you in the south hanger" Luke called over the comm.
"Copy that, see you in five"
"Rex, Denal, you done yet?"
"Yeah, just finished"
"Good let's move"
Time skip
Luke, Rex and Denal ran towards the hanger entrance. The door opened revealing Anakin, another clone and…R3.
"Stop that droid" Luke said as R3 closed the hanger doors. Luke pulled out one of his smart grenade and set it to homing. He threw the grenade into the air and it propelled itself towards R3 and detonated leaving only scrap.
"What is going on, why did you do that"
"R3 was a spy, he was sen-"
However, R3 had also been able to activate some of the Droid fighters before he was blown up and now two had just landed on the hanger floor.
"Get to cover! R2 get the hanger door open" Skywalker ordered as Luke and the clones ran for cover behind some steel crates shooting at some droid infantry. Luke skidded behind a crate turned and fired his DC-15s at the droids hitting a B1 in the head and another in the chest. R2 headed off in the direction of a control port outside the hanger. Luke and the clones focused on gunning down the droid's infantry instead of the vulture droids due to the fact their weaponry would not have much effect and would take too long to take a single vulture down. A shot from a super battle droid glanced Luke's shoulder-pad causing him to shoot it three times in the head.
"Rex, detonate the charges!" Skywalker ordered.
"But sir, we're still on board!"
"Just do it Rex, you let me worry about the details" Skywalker yelled deflecting some shots as Rex and Luke pressed the detonators, destroying the ships reactors and the separatist ship began to plummet towards the moon's surface slowly as its stabilizers fought with minimal power to keep the station up in the air.
"Sir we're outside the hanger but the blast doors appear to be closed, we could try blasting them open"
Luke took cover behind the crate he was behind and stopped shooting. "Negative, just be ready for when that door opens to use the two plasma miniguns to cover us as we board the twilight"
"Copy sir" Luke heard from the specter before he resumed with the firefight. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ahsoka exit an air duct and leap onto a vulture droid. She sliced its head before jumping down to where the others were.
"Did Grievous tell you our 'stubby' friend works for him"
"He might have mentioned it" Just then the hanger doors opened and the specter began its attack spewing blue death upon the helpless droids."
"Get to the twilight now!" ordered Skywalker as they began a fighting retreat towards the Twilight. Luke was the first one on board and began to cover the others as they one by one retreated on board the freighter.
"Wait where's R2?" Skywalker said before R2 could be seen making his way as quickly as possible to the ship. Once they were all on board, Rex hit the button and landing ramp shut. Anakin and a clone took the ship away from the station. The Specter following suit. Luke breathed a sigh of relief, but he quickly tensed with Ahsoka's question.
"Master what does 'fuck' mean?"
"Where did you hear that?"
"I heard Luke say it" As Luke took a sudden interest at what Rex was doing.
"Did he now, maybe he would care to explain it"
"Well as much as I would love to… there's this thing called absolutely anything else, so I'm going to go check up on Rex and Denal. Plus, this is good for Master-Padwan relations and bonding so… Bye!" Luke said dashing out the room with a very annoyed Anakin staring at where the Marine had just been.