Chapter 18: Breaking Down
"Assassin-2, fire at will!" Alice ordered, now that they had entered visual range of the Droid battalion that was converging on the rebel stronghold. The SPARTANs, Clone Commandos, and Jedi all watched as a flurry of blue lances speared out from the dense jungle, disintegrating their targets. Amid the confusion, the Droids opened fire in all directions, prompting Gamma to open up in return.
The Prometheans that had joined Gamma on the ground let out a primal roar as they shunted themselves back into the Slipstream, emerging in the midst of the Droid formation. The warbling war cries of Promethean Knights and Soldiers rang out over the sounds of blaster fire and pulse rifle lances spearing through the air.
Ahsoka and Anakin charged ahead, using the confusion created by the Prometheans to their advantage. Delta Squad and the GC ODSTs remained concealed in the jungle, taking shots of opportunity against the B2 formation. Gamma Team charged ahead just behind the Jedi, inhuman reflexes kicking into overdrive as Droids were reduced to scrap metal and dust by Hard Light, pulse lances, and pulse grenades. Delta Squad watched as the SPARTANs worked like a well-oiled machine to whittle down the Droid battalion. Even Anakin was somewhat impressed as Alice used her armor's Constraint Field Generator to yank the Tactical Droid commander into the waiting arms of a Promethean Knight, who simply tore it apart at the joints before discarding it.
It was over in a few moments time, an entire Droid battalion reduced to a scrap heap by the Kig-Yar ambush and supporting fire from the inserted strike force. "Trackers are clear, stand down!" Alice declared, seeing the lack of any hostile blips on her armor's integrated motion tracker. She keyed into the comms network that OMI had received, connecting to the rebel stronghold. "Onderon resistance forces, this is Gamma-Actual. Droid battalion destroyed, your perimeter is secure."
"Copy that, Gamma-Actual." A highly-accented voice answered. "Our schedule's been moved up, transmitting rendezvous coordinates to you now."
"Copy, we'll be there." Alice affirmed, closing down the comms. "Armigers, engage infiltration protocol and move to designated overwatch positions in the city."
At her order, the small force of Prometheans shunted themselves back into the Slipstream, vanishing from sight in a simple blink of blue light. "Alright, prepare to move!" Alice declared. "We're moving to a new RV, clock's ticking!"
XXXXX
"What the hell's taking them so long?" Scorch muttered, staring down the scope of his rifle.
"No idea…" Sev answered, sighing. "I've got a bad feeling, and radio silence isn't helping." The two of them were overlooking the Royal Palace in Onderon's capital, waiting. Droids were patrolling around the perimeter, guarding a large power facility that kept the mechanical feet of the Separatist army marching. Delta Lead and Fixer were atop a building on the opposite end of the block, monitoring the patrols as they passed beyond Sev and Scorch's line of sight.
Sev returned to scanning the crowds that were walking through the streets below, giving the battle droids a wide berth. As he glanced across the faces below, it didn't take him long to spot one of Onderon's insurgent freedom fighters, concealing his face beneath a hood. Sev continued to watch him as he stood in the shade of an abandoned bazaar stall, waiting for a break in the droid patrols.
When the opportunity presented itself, the young man broke from his concealment and approached the massive concrete wall. He quickly pulled the backpack off his shoulders, tossing it over the wall with all of his might. It just barely cleared the top of the wall, and he quickly broke out in a run when a droid patrol spotted the act. They shouted for him to stop, but their calls were snuffed out by the Detpack in the backpack blowing a hole in the concrete wall, sending rubble and debris out in all directions.
In perfect synchronization, Sev watched the platoon of GC Prometheans shimmer into view atop the buildings surrounding the palace, opening up on the droids below. Sev didn't need radio confirmation to know that it was time to start opening fire, so he did just that. Four super battle droids fell in quick succession, and he quickly swapped out the power pack of his rifle. Thankfully, the civilians had enough sense to start clearing out when the rounds started flying.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sev watched the ODSTs, Onderon rebels, and SPARTANs emerge from their concealment, quickly moving to enter the palace grounds and secure the area. The ODSTs were deploying some sort of jump pack to quickly scale the wall, then the palace itself. The SPARTANs and Jedi, on the other hand, seemed to favor the direct approach. They filed in through the hole in the defensive wall, covering the distance to the Palace's entrance quickly. The rebels filing in behind them stayed in the courtyard to disable the power relay under the watchful eye of the Prometheans and the Commandos of Delta Squad.
Sev could hear Scorch giggling like an idiot when he saw a Separatist AAT round a corner, bearing down on the Rebels and Prometheans. He already knew what Scorch was going to do… he'd recognize the sound of the anti-armor module being attached to the DC-17 anywhere.
XXXXX
Ahsoka slid to a halt beside the large wooden door to the Onderon Royal Palace, with Anakin and Obi-Wan just a few moments behind her. The four SPARTANs waiting for them were prepping breaching charges on the door, and Willow held a pair of grenades in her hands. One was a "Droid-Popper" EMP Grenade, and the other was a GC-pattern Concussion Grenade. As the two Jedi Generals stacked up on the doors, Ahsoka watched the towering Alice give a quick hand signal to her subordinates, subsequently activating the breaching charges.
The doors flew in with a massive amount of force, Willow quickly following it up by tossing both grenades through the now-open doors. A few stray blaster bolts were fired from inside, but none found a target. There came a satisfying pop-sizzle, followed by a heavy concussive banging courtesy of the concussion grenade. The SPARTANS filed through the door with another hand signal from Alice, their shields taking a few blaster bolts before the return fire dropped the few droids that were left standing in the wake of the EMP.
"SPARTAN Alice, making entry now." Ahsoka heard the distinct accent of the ODST Platoon's NCO over the comms. From the top floor, another series of breaching charges detonated, and the soft staccato of GC Suppressors sounded off.
"Copy, Helix-Actual." Alice acknowledged, moving towards the right hallway and motioning for Kathryn to lead a second team to clear the left. "Objective stands, secure Onderon's king for extract."
"Affirmative." Helix Team's Lieutenant acknowledged. "Moving to clear the building."
Ahsoka fell in behind Kathryn, Willow, and Anakin as they headed for the left-hand hallway. They went door-to-door, methodically clearing each and every room they came across until they reached a staircase on the far end of the hall. The harsh sounds of battle were raging outside, the occasional tremor shaking the ground as a Separatist tank fired. One particular tremor was followed up by a significantly more-powerful one as a Separatist tank went up in flames.
They continued the practice up to the second floor, where Ahsoka could clearly see the SPARTANs and Obi-Wan mirroring their actions on the opposite end of the palace. With their central command facility under attack, the droids were thrown into complete disarray, making their job much easier. As small pockets of droid resistance were snuffed out, the ODSTs up above were clearly coming under heavy fire.
"Are we moving to help them?" Anakin asked, switching over to a secondary comms channel so he could be heard without the frantic chatter from the ODST squad.
"Negative, stick to the plan." Alice responded before moving up the central staircase and regrouping with Kathryn's small squad.
As they approached the third-floor throne room, the ODSTs eventually descended the staircase, their armor looking a little worse for wear. They were without their medical corpsman, who had stayed behind to tend to three wounded troopers. Seeing a quick hand signal from Alice, the nine remaining ODSTs moved to take up positions. Two of them crouched down, deploying their wrist-mounted Hard Light barriers to provide cover for their comrades while the SPARTANs and Jedi stacked up on the door.
When Alice and Kathryn moved to shove the double door open, they were greeted by the sight of King Sanjay Rash standing in front of his throne, pressing the barrel of a blaster to the temple of the deposed king Ramsis Dendup. A tactical droid stood beside the hostage-taker, brandishing its own blaster pistol and aiming for the ODSTs. "Hold fire!" The Lieutenant shouted into his comms unit, seeing his troopers were about to send a hail of rounds through the door. "Hostage!"
"Drop your weapon, now!" Alice demanded, her voice carrying over identical calls from the ODSTs.
Ahsoka could tell that King Rash was absolutely stunned. He was not expecting a platoon of GC ODSTs, a SPARTAN Team, and three Jedi to kick down his door. His hand was trembling like mad. He made one fatal flaw, however, he pointed his blaster at the breaching SPARTANs and ODSTs for just the briefest moment.
Ahsoka reached out through the Force, grabbing ahold of Rash's blaster and yanking it away. The very instant the blaster left his hand, Alice slotted a round through the tactical droid's head, and the SPARTANs filed in. Rash, now unarmed and facing four elite super-soldiers, threw up his hands in surrender. "Sanjay Rash…" Obi-Wan began, stepping inside as the ODSTs stood down. "You are under arrest."
Alice reached up to her helmet, keying into the GC's Slipspace Comm Buoys. "Admiral Cutter, HVT secured. We're ready for extraction."
"Copy, SPARTAN." Cutter acknowledged, his voice coming over the GC's general comms on Onderon. "Battlegroup's ETA: ten minutes."
Ahsoka glanced over as she felt an armored hand on her shoulder. She saw Kathryn standing next to her, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Nice work, Ahsoka." She couldn't help but smile up at the armored SPARTAN.
XXXXX
Ahsoka stepped out of the Palace with the rest of the SPARTANs, Jedi, and ODSTs. There was a resounding cheer sounding off through the city as the distinct silhouette of GC and Republic vessels hovered over the planet, mopping up the remnants of the Separatist orbital defense grid. After disabling much of the Separatist comms network, the droids were now without leadership and completely disorganized. What was once a massive occupation force would be swiftly wiped out by the Republic/Coalition forces.
Onderon was liberated, and another front had been opened up against the Separatists. The war was finally going somewhere.
XXXXX
Lasky sighed, running a hand across his face as he strode through the drab halls of the Republic's Senate building. He was getting dangerously close to wringing someone's neck with all of the joint-hearings at 0300. It was mornings like this that made him almost long for the days of petty paperwork on the Greater Ark… at least he could set his own damn schedule.
Just before he could step through the door to his designated seat, he heard an explosion that sounded just a bit too close for his liking. Reflexively, he turned to one of the nearby windows. If he could have gone pale in the face, he absolutely would have. A steady plume of smoke was rising out of the side of the Jedi Temple, and fire control vehicles were bearing down on the Temple itself.
Were it not for the two Sangheili that accompanied him through the halls of the Senate Building, he probably would have been trampled by the senators that were rushing to investigate the explosion. And of course, right on cue, he received a comms ping from Chancellor Palpatine. He sucked in a deep breath, and steeled himself. Knowing the Republic's track record, this was just another mess that would be left for the GC to clean up.
XXXXX
Lasky leaned against the wall of the Jedi Temple, only standing upright when he noticed Admiral Cutter, Fireteam Gamma, and their three Jedi counterparts approaching. There was an air of distrust around the Jedi Temple, and he damn well knew why. There was a very real possibility that this bombing was carried out by a Jedi. "Admiral Lasky?" Cutter asked, surprised to see his superior waiting for them by the Council Chambers.
"Cutter…" Lasky nodded. "Hope you're ready to see the colossal shit-show that is Jedi political proceedings."
"Were they that bad?" Anakin asked, earning a sideways glance from Obi-Wan.
"Apparently, they think this investigation doesn't concern us." Lasky's voice was hard, and undeniably irritated. "Four dead GC Military Advisors would say otherwise." He scoffed, looking to the distant entrance to the temple. "Got no problem asking the GC Military Police for riot control, though."
Lasky sighed. "Nevermind… let's just hear what they have to say."
Stepping into the Council Chambers, Lasky could practically feel the tension in the air. Even with Lasky's surprising them with his attendance, Yoda was quick to launch into explaining why they had all been called to the Temple. They wanted an impartial viewpoint in the investigation, which would be headed by Anakin and Ahsoka. "I just… I can't believe a Jedi would attack a place this sacred."
"If a Jedi, this is… gone to the dark side, they have." Yoda solemnly stated.
Lasky caught a few dirty looks from the Jedi Council as he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Is there a problem, Admiral?" Windu asked, not even attempting to hide the condescension in his tone.
"With all due respect to your order, Master Windu, whether or not this individual is a follower of the Dark Side, Light Side, or the Slightly Dim Side, we should be concerned with apprehending them. Their motives can be determined when we've actually got a suspect for questioning." Lasky wasn't quite so… tactful this time around. He was rather tired with getting the run-around from every corner of the Republic's expansive bureaucracy. "I've got eight injured GC personnel, and four dead military advisors; including an OMI Section I Intelligence Officer. I'd rather this investigation be finished as quickly as possible."
"So you wish to attach your own investigators?" Windu asked, deciding to ignore Lasky's rather snarky remark for the time being.
"I can have Section I Analysts in the hangar within twenty minutes, and a fully-reconstructed crime scene in an hour." Lasky stated. "If all goes well, we won't need to waste time interviewing the six dozen witnesses."
Windu glanced over to Yoda, who simply nodded. "Very well… you may send your investigators."
"Excellent." Lasky nodded, bringing up his comms unit and sending a quick series of messages to the fleet over Coruscant.
XXXXX
Ahsoka stepped out of the turbolift and into the Hangar. What was once a hanger for LAAT gunships was now a blasted-out husk… filled with GC Intelligence Agents and Crime Scene Analysis Droids. These small drones, made of the same alloy that every other piece of GC hardware seemed to be, were floating around scanning pieces of debris. All of the GC Agents were wearing full protective gear, taking great care to keep any evidence as it was.
"Captain Haywood…" Anakin smiled, seeing the Prowler Captain reading over a technical readout on his Datapad. The aging OMI Captain turned his head, giving a friendly nod.
"Good to see you all again." Haywood gave the faintest smirk. "Even if the circumstances are a bit… dark." He glanced over to Ahsoka. "Good to see you again, Ahsoka."
"Have you found anything, Captain?" Ahsoka asked.
"Straight to the point, huh?" Haywood smirked. "Yes, we have." He tapped a few keys on his display, bringing up a holographic recreation of the Hangar, exactly two seconds before the detonation. He zoomed in on a single LAAT that was being tended to by the Munitions Foreman for this shift. "This is Jackar Bowmani, the Munitions Foreman for the gunships in the Hangar facilities, specializing in nano-weapon munitions. He was at the center of the blast." Haywood activated the recreation, and two seconds of playback later led to a heavy blast, which ignited fuel canisters, causing a chain reaction. "We managed to recover precious few remains of Bowmani, but what we found paints a relatively clear picture."
Haywood swiped his hand across the holographic display, bringing up an autopsy report that had been carried out by Section I analysts and Huragok Engineers. "We found nanoscopic droids in his bloodstream. Further analysis of these droids show them to be rather… volatile in nature. Judging by the concentration in his bloodstream, they carried a blast equivalent to five kilograms of Compound-24 Plastic Explosives."
"So he didn't set the bomb… he was the bomb." Anakin sighed.
"Right." Haywood nodded. "We've already got droids sweeping the Temple for any other traces of nanodroids, and we've found nothing so far. Based on the evidence we've collected, it seems he acted alone, but I'm not willing to close this case yet."
"Wow… you guys really do work fast." Ahsoka was amazed. It had been less than an hour since the Section I personnel arrived, and they had already essentially determined the cause of the explosion.
Haywood chuckled. "What, worried Lasky was just blowing smoke up the Council's ass? This is why Section I exists. Nothing stays hidden forever."
"Or for more than a day, if you guys are involved." Anakin chuckled. "C'mon, let's go search his apartment. Look for any traces of these nanodroids."
XXXXX
Kathryn sat in the passenger's seat of a speeder, keeping her armor tucked away in the Slipstream for the time being. Alice was up front with Willow, while she sat in the rear with Ahsoka. Anakin was in his own speeder, along with Jane and two OMI Field Agents. "Kat…" Ahsoka asked, catching her attention.
"Hmm?" Kathryn asked, looking up from her Datapad.
"Do you… think this war's almost over?" Ahsoka asked, looking up to the SPARTAN.
"I think so." Kathryn nodded. "We're pushing the Separatists back on six different fronts, they can't afford to keep this war going much longer. Why do you ask?"
"I just… I want the Jedi to be protectors again." Ahsoka admitted. "I'm tired of seeing Jedi leading armies, I want to see them keeping the peace. Seeing the protestors at the Temple was… a bit of a wake-up call."
Kathryn nodded. "Well… if it's any consolation, we've got similar problems back home."
"Really?" Ahsoka asked, surprised.
"Yep. Not everyone back home was too fond of the war to start with." Kathryn explained, leaning back in the seat. "Losing diplomats and civilians in two terror attacks isn't helping the situation, either. There's already a huge push in the GC Parliament to start withdrawing forces from the war."
"I've heard that your diplomats and politicians don't really… agree with the Republic on a lot of things." Ahsoka added.
"That's putting it mildly." Kathryn chuckled. "A lot of representatives consider Palpatine a despot masquerading as an elected leader. Skirting elections with his emergency powers hasn't helped his case much."
"So… when this war's over, does that mean you're leaving?" Ahsoka asked, feeling like she already knew the answer. She just needed to hear it.
"Probably." Kathryn nodded. Ahsoka couldn't quite explain it, but her chest tightened at that. "No sense in keeping active SPARTAN Fireteams around here after the war's over."
"Oh…" Ahsoka half-whispered, awkwardly lacing her fingers together in her lap.
A few moments later, just quick enough to keep Kathryn from responding to that, the speeder set down outside a rather run-down apartment complex in Coruscant's mid-levels. Anakin's was already waiting for them on the ground, and the Agents were climbing out of the vehicle.
"Ready?" Anakin asked, seeing the SPARTANs disembarking their own speeder.
"Ready." Alice affirmed with a nod. "We'll follow you."
Anakin nodded, and led the way into the apartment building. It wasn't just the outside that was run-down. The entire complex looked like it hadn't had any maintenance work in years, with metal panels on the ceiling either hanging loose or missing completely. "Hmm… Thought working for you Jedi would pay a little better." One of the Agents hummed, adjusting something under his suit jacket.
"So did I…" Anakin nodded, walking up to the locked door they were searching for. He banged on the door for a few moments, and it was quickly answered by a rather thin woman with a tattoo on the right side of her face. She looked rather surprised to see two Jedi and six completely unknown individuals at her front door. "Are you Letta Bowmani?"
"Y-Yes…" She answered with a thick accent.
"I'm Anakin Skywalker, I wanted to ask you a few questions." Anakin explained. "Mind if we come in?"
"O-oh… of course." Letta nodded, stepping aside and letting them inside.
Ahsoka watched her closely. She seemed incredibly focused on the two OMI Field Agents, who were rather blatantly inspecting the apartment with a clinical eye. "Is this about the bombing?" Letta asked, looking to Anakin with a concerned expression.
"It is…" Anakin nodded, watching the field agents quietly looking around. One of them deployed a small drone from a rig on his wrist, and it started floating about the room, scanning everything around it with a Hard Light Scanning Array.
"What's going on?" Letta asked, her face paling as she watched the drone start scanning.
"Skywalker, we've got traces of the nanodroids in the food on the table." He nodded over to the dinner table, which was still set from a meal earlier in the day.
"N-nanodroids?" Letta asked, 'stunned'.
"Scan her." The agent directed his drone to Letta, who began backing away as it approached. It didn't help her, as the small drone scanned over her from a distance. "She's clean." The agent deadpanned, ordering the drone back to him.
"Letta Bowmani, I'm afraid we're going to have to take you in for questioning." Anakin explained as one of the Field Agents approached her with a set of magnetic cuffs.
"W-what!?" Letta shouted.
"Turn around, put your hands behind your back." The Agent deadpanned. "No sudden movements."
XXXXX
36 Hours Later
"Everyone!" Anakin shouted, practically barging into a joint hearing between Yoda, Obi-Wan, Admiral Cutter, and Fireteam Gamma. Suspiciously, he was missing Ahsoka.
"Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked, looking to his old student. "Is everything alright?"
"Ahsoka's… been placed under arrest by the Coruscant Guard." Anakin explained, taking a moment to catch his breath.
Kathryn's gut dropped like a rock. "What?! What the hell are the charges?"
"Sedition, murder, terrorism, and conspiracy!" Anakin declared. "Admiral Tarkin's accused her of orchestrating the bombing on the temple! He's… he's trying to pursue penalty of death."
"Hold right the fuck up!" Alice half-shouted. "Capital punishment?!"
"That's… definitely troubling." Cutter nodded. "SPARTANs, I'm giving you clearance to join Skywalker in speaking to Miss Tano."
"I tried, the guards wouldn't let me." Anakin explained. "Almost zapped me with their stun batons."
"Alright, I'm about to come undone." Alice rubbed her temple. "Not only is your Republic attempting to execute a goddamn teenager, but they're denying her any semblance of justice?"
"I'll… notify Admiral Lasky." Cutter added, bringing out his Datapad.
A/N:
Story's dead my candy ass. Sorry it takes me so long to update, but there's this thing called work that tends to take up a lot of time. I'm not in university anymore, so free time is something of a rarity for me.
