And now, its time for Robert to begin the biggest challenge of his life. No, it is not telling Ahsoka he loves her, not yet anyway and I am sorry to those who thought it be in the form or a fight with Darth Maul and Savage Oppress, that will occur later on. It will involve a plot similar to the story of the show G.I. Joe Renegades.
To be honest I am quite surprised that no one called me out on the references I made to my favorite Tv show I watched when I was younger and ridiculed me for it, I am grateful.
Disclaimers are the same as before, enjoy.
Chapter 22: On the Run
February 28th 2019, 20BBY
Coruscant
Lower levels
1400 hours
Normal point of view
It had been raining hard for weeks of the republic capital. Everywhere was wet, wet, wet. Most people would be inside staying dry or trying to get home to avoid getting even more soaked than they already were, but today shock troops were searching every sector of the planet for the location of a former hero.
"Spread out and check the area. The traitor is here somewhere." A shock trooper shouted as another trooper with a Massif waited as his companion tried to sniff out the scent of their target. "Got anything boy?" the trooper asked his reptilian companion.
The Massif just stopped sniffing and let out a whimper. "Don't worry about it boy, we'll find him." the Trooper said as he and his companion moved on to another area.
No sooner had the troopers left and moved to the next area, the silhouette of a cloaked figured appeared and revealed the red, white and blue striped armor of the Republic's greatest soldier; The Lone Wolf, better known as Robert Lehner. Son of Linda Shan, former Jedi padawan to Count Dooku and his mother and a descent of the former Sith Lord, Revan.
Once he was sure he was clear, he sighed and removed his helmet letting the rain splash against his face. "That's the third patrol I have dodged today. I can't stay here much longer. Not until I can clear my name." he said to himself.
Flashback
Roberts point of view
After the skirmish with Death Watch on Carlac things weren't getting any easier.
First Rako was hired by the council to fake the death of Obi-Wan so he could infiltrate a group led by the criminal master mind, Moralo Eval who was planning on kidnapping the chancellor. While most Jedi were kept in the dark about this plan, Anakin was fully informed the moment he returned to the temple after he arrested a disguised Obi-Wan who along with Cad Bane escaped prison and attempted to kidnap the chancellor on Naboo during a festival.
Sure, Anakin and Obi-Wan were close and the council decided it was better for Anakin not to be informed of the ploy, but Yoda decided to inform Anakin of the deception and it was originally Obi-Wans idea to keep Anakin in the dark.
I may be part of the military, but I am also a Jedi and I could be trusted with such information. But the council decided it was best for me to kept in the dark about the plan. That really pissed me off, I have done nothing but fight to uphold the republic's ideals of peace and freedom and choose to fight at my own choice and yet they didn't even tell me about the plan.
Sure, we stopped the kidnapping, but Dooku was nearly killed by Mother Talizin, leader of the Nightsisters of Dathomir in an attempt to get revenge for Ventress after she was left for dead at Sullust. From the intel I had gathered, Dooku carried out those orders reluctantly and felt personally responsible for betraying her. She was also like a daughter to him and while she had failed many of her missions for him, he never had no intention of killing her.
That all changed when Grievous attacked the Nightsisters and killed them all except for Ventress who became a bounty hunter. From what Boba told me, she helped him complete his mission on learning the truth about the dictator of Quarzite Otua Blank, a selfish man who had hired bounty hunters to transport a Kage girl Pluma Sodi who he had chosen to be his bride. My guess he only wanted her so he could have his way with her.
Surprisingly, Ventress understood the situation Sodi was in and with the help of Boba, released Pluma and reunited her with her brother Krismo and left Otua the body of one of his guards and subsequently arrested the dictator and brought his rule to an end.
But that's when things went from bad to worse. It turns out during all this time, Savage Oppress was searching for his brother, Darth Maul the Sith apprentice who killed Qui-Gon on Naboo twelve years ago and was surprisingly after having half his torso sliced off was still alive but had become deranged and been given a crudely made centauroid, spider like prosthetic limbs by someone on Lotho Minor, a junk world similar to Raxus Prime and was brought back to Dathomir and given newer legs.
Not surprisingly, Maul had decided to take his vengeance on Obi-Wan and slaughtered an entire village on Raydonia in an attempt to draw out Obi-Wan. Naturally, Obi-Wan went to the planet and was captured by Maul and Savage, but surprisingly was rescued by Ventress. While the two nightbrothers were able to escape, the council was concerned that Obi-Wan would try to go after Maul and finish what he started; avenge his master Qui-Gon.
That was over a few weeks ago and as time went on, it became clear to me that Barriss and Erik were in love with each other more that ever before. Most times she would be out with Erik helping those in the lower levels and slum districts who were hungry and hurt, other times she would be shopping for clothing to wear for her boyfriend and would drag me along despite my objections.
The last time she dragged me on one of her shopping trips, she modeled lace blue lingerie that came with a corset, girdle belt, silk blue gloves and stockings for me to see if it would catch the eye of a male. I told her it would but she felt something was wrong and tried to talk to me about it but I didn't want to talk about it. She wasn't wrong about something being wrong.
After the events of Carlac I have been getting more and more nightmares about something from my past that I couldn't even remember and I became very confused. Every time I woke in the middle of the night the nightmares became worse and worse, I could barely fall asleep.
I tired to talk to one of my Uncles or Cassie about it, but they told me it was probably something from a movie I wasn't supposed to see when I was younger. They were lying and I knew it. Something happened to me after Courtney and her family died.
Speaking of family, I met with Admiral Leiase and we continued to discuss our theories on who the traitor was in the military and senate. Leiase had contacts in the intelligence division and evidence showed no sign of Nix or Lott as the traitor, but military leaks were coming from an office in the senate building and Republic navy headquarters on Coruscant.
While most of our meetings were about the traitor, Jahcort talked quite a bit about my mother. It turns out that during his early days as a naval officer around the time of the Stark Hyperspace war at the fifth battle of Qotile he was severely wounded and would have died had my mom not been one the Jedi helping the injured recovering from the battle.
From what the Admiral told me, she remined her a lot of his daughter who died in a terrorist bombing during a trip to Hosnian Prime. She was only fourteen and my mom looked just like her in both personality and appearance.
When he recovered from his injuries, the Admiral kept in touch with my mom and was one of the individuals that accompanied Dooku when he searched the wreckage of the ship my mom was on when she was presumed dead.
But when he learned that she had a son, he immediately found me and that's how we became friends. While he told me everything about my mom I told him a great deal about earth. It's cultures, countries, history and the Gundam series, the latter of which he found very interesting, particularly the Wing Gundam and Wing Zero with their abilities to transform from aircraft to a mobile suit and its firepower. While they didn't exist, he was awed by the fact that such weapons with tremendous firepower were popular across almost the entire world and could destroy a ship with just one shot.
When I told him about World War 2 and the Nazi's he was disgusted that such a group tried to destroy an entire religion and believed that those of 'Aryan' traits were superior to all other humans. He was more disgusted by the genocide known as the Holocaust left over six million men, women and children of Jewish decent were slaughtered in the transport of the Jewish people and in the concentration camps.
Just by looking at him, I could tell he was a man of honor and high morals. He never ordered his men to attack helpless civilians, care about his own personal gain or agreed with the idea of removing the Jedi from their positions as Generals. He also hated the idea of slavery like myself. While he was glad that Krell was dead, he still didn't change his mind about the incident that happened on the Shadow World. It was like I was talking with my older self.
For days we met at the Range and we discussed our ideas about who the spy in the military was and about Earth. I even instructed him in the use of a Desert Tech Micro Dynamic Rifle and other weapons like a Dan Wesson 1911 style pistol.
Then that dreadful day happened.
Admiral Leiase informed me that a separatist military officer wanted to defect and snuck his way on Coruscant with information related to what the seppies were looking for on Kiros. Strangely, the defector was waiting for us in the lower levels, near a high-class brothel where many well-known individuals in both the senate and military frequented while on leave.
I suspected a trap so I tagged along with the Admiral and brought only my 1911, armor, knife and sabers in case of trouble.
Turns out I was right. The moment we arrived at the meeting location we were ambushed by over two dozen Coruscant police droids. They should have recognized us, but the droids didn't. They must have short circuited and when one of them threw a grenade at us we were separated. For some reason, the droids focused their attention on me and left the admiral alone.
Not wanting to risk civilian casualties I led the droids away from the area and engaged them in an old abandoned factory. I killed several of them with my 1911 and killed the rest with my sabers, leaving nothing but bits of scrap metal.
Then I heard gunshots. Fourteen shots were fired in the area of the brothel and by the time I arrived I found the admiral bleeding heavily with multiple shots in the chest. I noticed the spent casings and identified them .45 ACP pistol rounds, the same rounds used in my 1911 and other weapons like the Vector. Two empty pistol clips lay on the ground and the murder weapon a Dan Wesson 1911 like the one I showed the admiral how to use.
"So, it appears you are a traitor." A voice said from behind me. I turned around and saw Tarkin himself flanked by several dozen shock troopers. "I didn't kill him." I stated, but Tarkin didn't care. "Arrest this man immediately." The captain ordered.
At first the troopers stood still taken aback by the orders they were given but when Tarkin mentioned court-martialing them, they immediately fired stun blasts at me in an attempt to take me in. My reflexes kicked in and I ran from the scene of the crime. A mistake that made me look guiltier. Running from the troopers brought back memories, memories of a time when someone took care of me for almost two years after Courtney and her parents were killed and when I took an innocent life.
Present day
Normal point of view
That was over two weeks ago and since that day, Robert has been running for his life. From a conversation he overheard, Tarkin had ordered the shock troopers to terminate him in the event that they couldn't capture him.
Each patrol he encountered, Robert subdued the troopers without killing them. They were only following orders and while they knew Robert was innocent, they had no choice but to follow the order.
Robert knew his Aunt and Uncles would believe him but returning to the Range was a risk. While only he and a select few knew of the secret base, he couldn't risk someone following him and getting their hands on the BFG. Nonetheless, Robert decided to get the BFG off world and had no choice but to risk it.
Meanwhile, The Jedi Council, Anakin, Ahsoka, Barriss, Erik, Fenrir, Tarkin and the Expendables were discussing the current situation.
"It appears that Robert has been working against us for some time." Mace said to the council. "I find it difficult to believe that young Lehner would do such a thing." Master Gallia said in response. "He is not the type of person to kill for no reason." She added.
"Regardless. I saw the boy murder Admiral Jahcort with my own eyes. He is a traitor and must be terminated before he escapes." Tarkin stated with a small hidden grin across his face. "Robert would never kill someone in cold blood." Lee argued. "It disagrees with his morale's and its something that he would never forgive himself for doing." The British sniper said.
"He is a liability, if he isn't dealt with he will no doubt divulge all of our strategies and battle plans to the separatists." Tarkin inputted. "The captain has a point. It is possible that ever since Scarif, the boy may have been aiding the separatists behind our back because of his mother's connection to Dooku." Ki-Adi summarized. "I think we are all getting ahead of ourselves." Anakin interrupted before Master Tinn could speak up.
"We don't even know the full story. We can't just jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts. We need time to analyze the situation and then bring Robert back to get the answers." He added. "General Skywalker, a military admiral was murdered with a Colt 1911 handgun, the same handgun the boy uses. There is no point in investigating, the boy is guilty and will face the full might of the republic law." Tarkin said before his hologram disappeared. "I really hate that guy." Barney said and walked over to Master Yoda.
"I think it's time I tell you something that me and the others know about, a part of Roberts past that he has forgotten and the source of his nightmares." Barney sighed. "General Ross, explain would you please?" Yoda asked.
Barney then explained that after Roberts second family was killed he was placed in an orphanage for little more than a week before he was taken in by a group that claimed to belong to the government and were working on a special project and needed Roberts help.
The group called themselves 'The Fourth Reich' and were not a government group but an international terrorist organization, whose goal was to carry out Adolf Hitler's goal of a Nazi ruled earth. They launched attacks across the country, targeting non-white communities belonging 'inferior' races as they called them.
They attacked recreational centers, churches, local sporting events and other places that their 'enemy' were known to have plotted the downfall of the nation. Despite evidence indicating the group responsible for the attacks, they were protected by a mysterious benefactor that was supplying them with military grade firepower and vehicles like tanks and Humvees.
Around the time of Courtney's death, intelligence had reached the U.S government that they were planning on creating a super soldier with the goal of 'riding the world of the cause of all of the worlds problems' and were taking children from orphanages across the country to use for these experiments.
For over a year, The Expendables worked with the U.S government and raided suspected Sons bases and outposts across the country but found no clue to the whereabouts of the group. They were about to give up when someone named 'Walker' gave away the location of the lab located deep in the Mojave Desert in an old missile silo from the days of the Cold War.
In a matter of days, a large task force consisting of SAS, Delta Force, Army Rangers, Navy Seals, GIGN, GSG9, Spetsnaz, JTF2 and other special operations groups from militaries all over the world was assembled and attacked the base. Casualties were heavy for the extremists even with the military firepower they had but the battle lasted no less than a day and the evidence gathered from the lab proved that they were injecting the kids with all sort of drugs and serums to turn the kids into weapons and rob them of their childhood. About ninety-nine percent of the test subjects died from either the rejection of the drugs into their bodies or the training exercises they were forced to endure, all of which were live fire and combat scenarios.
But the one percent was Robert. Somehow, when he was injected with the drugs his body excepted the drugs but then somehow disappeared from his system and he remained unaffected by the experiments. For the rest of the time before the attack, he was kept in a cell and was observed by scientists that were willing to assist in such a 'noble' goal.
When the attack ended, it was revealed that one of the organizations targets was Barack Obama, the president of the U.S. before Trump took office and other world leaders across the world. The equipment they were receiving was given to them by Thomas Magruder, a general in the U.S army that shared their goals and had given them the location of several military bases across the world for them to bomb. Still the one thing that was not determined was who was supplying them with the money and scientific knowledge to conduct such and advanced project and Robert was nowhere to be found in the base.
Once he finished explaining what happened to his Nephew, Obi-Wan spoke. "I cannot believe that such a group existed on your world and would go to such lengths just to further their own beliefs." The Jedi master from Stewjon said.
"Clearly such evil on your planet has been appearing all through out Earths history. The Nazi's, Al-Qaeda, ISIL, The Taliban and many other groups have tried to carry out similar ideas of genocide and have failed. But this last group, they seemed to be more funded, organized, armed and technologically advanced." Master Gallia said.
"Things like that are common back home, but when the world bans together to stop these threats, groups like that are defeated or go into hiding. Should they choose the later, they aren't prepared to combat a united front. Sure, they may succeed in a few their attacks, but most of the time they are stopped." Lee said.
"But that still doesn't explain what happened to Robert. Where was he when you and the other special units raided the base?" Anakin asked. He had a point, that was the one piece of information that wasn't made clear.
"We don't know what happened to him, but he wasn't there when the attack occurred. All we found was his Big Boy model." Lincoln said.
"But after almost a year, we heard from Grace one of his Dad's youngest friends heard from him and said he was coming back from California. But he didn't arrive, I am sure you all know what happened." Cassie added.
The council looked to each other. It was clear that whatever happened to Robert he was trying to return home when he arrived on Ryloth after he was caught in a terrorist attack.
Ahsoka had listened to everything and was deep in thought. "Maybe that is the reason that he has been acting unlike his usual self. A painful and terrible past like that would certainly explain a lot, but what about the thoughts about him blaming himself for a death of someone he looked up to?" she thought.
"Padawan Tano, your thoughts on this situation? Worked closely with Sergeant Lehner you have, perhaps something to add you have?" Yoda asked her.
"Well Masters, I have been having visions recently. They aren't about anything related to me, but they seem to be related to Robert." She said and began to explain what she saw.
While the council was discussing the situation with Robert, in his secret lair Darth Sidious had just received the report from his spy and was pleased with the situation the Lone Wolf was in. "Now he is an outlaw. He will be confused and scared, vulnerable to the dark side. Yes, this is the perfect chance to turn him into my new secret weapon." He said to himself before his transmitter beeped and a fuzzed projection of his spy appeared and bowed before the Sith Lord.
"My Lord. I am pleased to inform you that the Jedi Council is preparing to bring in the Lone Wolf for crimes against the Republic. Shall I continue to frame him for more crimes against the Republic?" The spy asked.
"No. You have done your part. Now that the Lone Wolf is accused for a crime he didn't commit, the Jedi will no doubt bring him for questioning and bring him before a military tribunal. Everything is proceeding smoothly. Now we must focus on acquiring new weapons for the separatist army." Sidious said before Dark Star appeared.
"My Lord, I have received information from our spy on Shili. It appears that the Togruta people have some sort of weapon similar to the Lone Wolfs 'Gundam' franchise on their planet. Unfortunately, they require more time to pinpoint the location of the weapons, the royal family is becoming suspicious of them." Dark Star explained.
"No matter. If the weapon is similar to the 'Gundam' franchise then it will belong to us and will allow us to achieve the destruction of the Jedi and the Republic all at once. Inform our source to double his efforts and tell us the location of the weapons as soon as he locates them, then we will send a fleet to secure the weapons." Sidious instructed before both Dark Star and the spy left the Lord of the Sith to continue his work.
As this was going on, a XJ-6 airspeeder landed at the republic military barracks with no driver operating it but full of several duffle bags in the passenger seat. The bags were lifted up and slung over the back of a mysterious figure how ran towards a nearby hanger containing an ARC-170 with the nose art of a orange skinned Togruta dressed in revealing clothing with opera length white gloves, holding a pistol in her left hand and knife in the right. The cockpit for the gunner position and co-pilot slid open and the bags were tossed into the fighter and R4 placed himself in the astrodroid slot. As the areas for the gunner and copilot closed, the silhouette of the mysterious figure vanished revealing Robert still in his custom armor proceeding to climb into the pilot's seat of the fighter when the sound of a blaster cocking was heard behind him. Turning his head, Robert saw Maverick standing in the hanger door way with Wing-Saber by his side.
"Maverick, Wing-Saber, please don't do this." Robert begged. "We aren't going to do anything. You aren't guilty and Tarkin knows it but won't listen. You need to leave while things are sorted out." Maverick said before tossing Robert a commlink. "Here, this will let you keep in touch with us and we will contact you the moment we hear something about what happened. Now go." Red 2 said to his squad leader.
"Thank you." Robert said and powered up the fighter and soon left the base. "He isn't guilty. Something is wrong." Maverick said to Red 5 as base personal and troopers attempted to stop Robert from taking off.
Meanwhile Ahsoka and Anakin had just left the council chambers after telling the council of her visions and it appeared to them that Robert had suffered another terrible moment in his life that he had not spoken of.
As the two watched several younglings practice wielding a lightsaber, Anakin could tell that something was bothering his padawan. "You seem distracted Ahsoka. Is something wrong?" Anakin asked his padawan.
"Well I wouldn't say something is wrong. It's just that I…I. Master I need your advice, if you had someone who you liked but didn't know if they shared the same feelings, what would you do?" She asked her master.
"Well if I had someone like that I would tell them how I feel. Why do you ask?" he asked as the two arrived at Ahsoka's quarters. "Well it's just that… I think I am in love with Robert. I know it's forbidden, but I can't ignore my feelings. He doesn't know, I just don't know if he feels the same way." She said nervously.
"Ahsoka, your feelings for him aren't something to be ashamed off. If you love him, then I will support you no matter what you decide in the future." Anakin said putting a hand on his padawans shoulder. "You mean it?" she asked confused. "Yeah, I was in the same boat a while ago. I got over it and now I am where I am today." He said lying. Its true he trusted his padawan, but to tell her about the fact that he married Padme was not something he wanted to share at the moment.
Before Ahsoka could say anything, Barney entered the room. "We got a problem, Robert stole my ARC-170 and just left the planet." he explained. "Well that complicates things." Anakin said sighing.
"To make matters worse, Tarkin has already placed a bounty on his head. The Chancellor even gave him the authorization." Barney added before clenching his prosthetic hand. "But the Chancellor or Tarkin can't do that." Ahsoka exclaimed. "Everyday, Tarkin and others loyal to the Chancellor are receiving more and more power. Pretty soon he might dissolve the senate and appoint governors to each sector of the galaxy. It won't be a Republic. It will be an Empire." The leader of the Expendables stated. "We need more help so I sent Lee and the others back to earth to get Max, Faye and two other members of the Expendables. I explained the situation to General Yoda so he knows of my plan to bring in some extra help, right now we need to figure out where Robert went and get his side of the story." Barney stated.
Meanwhile, Robert had landed on the planet Stobar and made his way towards the local restaurant. His armor was deactivated and instead of his robes he was wearing a simple blue tunic with off-white trousers and a metal plate on his shoulder. As he entered the establishment he walked over to the counter Loubo the owner of the place noticed his weapon. "Unless you are to order something then I'd ask you to leave the blaster outside. I don't any trouble." The owner said.
"I'm not here to cause trouble. I am hoping you might know of someone who needs some work done." Robert asked and pulled out a few credits and gave them to owner. "Water, please." He asked the owner.
"Here you go. Well if your looking for work, then I would try Takodana. Its in the mid rim, there's a castle there. Its owned by a someone who is called the 'pirate queen' but don't let her name foul you, she's a nice lady. She always has some work that needs doing, all honest stuff mostly helping her expand her collection of artifacts and stuff like that." Loubo said after handing Robert his drink.
"Thanks." Robert said and left the restaurant and returned to his fighter. "R4 set coordinates for Takodana, its time I go into hiding." Robert instructed his copilot sadly as he entered the fighter's cockpit and took off entering hyperspace the moment he was in orbit. Little did he know; a large ship had tracked him and was following him to his new life.
Before anyone asks, Robert isn't running away he is just trying to stay hidden from Tarkin who will not stop until the Lone Wolf is dead.
The idea for the Super Soldier part was given to me by Spartan 626 and I thank him for the help.
Next time Robert arrives on Takodana but things won't go as he plans. Until next time read and review and I will be putting a new poll up soon. It won't be related to my stories but to all of you.
