Chapter IV: Eve of Betrayal (19 BBY)
The green and blue world of Selvernos slowly rotated around the yellow star, oblivious to the violence going on in its orbit. The four Droid Control Ships controlling the planet began emptying their hangars of Vulture Droids and Tri-Fighters. The droid starfighters quickly sped their way towards the Venator Star Destroyers that had just emerged from hyperspace in the system.
The Venators soon opened fire upon the small fighters with their massive turbolasers, only to have the droid fighters quickly evade the lasers coming towards them.
Jorec tried to calm himself as he sat in the hard seat of a troop carrier in one of the Venator's massive hangar bays. The thought of his first real battle filled the young Padawan with dread. He could hear the sound of the droid fighters' laser cannons impacting harmlessly against the massive shields of the Star Destroyer. A worried cry escaped from Jorec as a lucky shot from one of the Droid Control Ships impacted near the hangar bay.
"Relax, Jorec. We don't need to worry until we leave the safety of the ship. Then we will have fighters escorting us, and the big control ships will be concentrating on the Destroyer itself, not the ships launching from it."
"Yes, master. I'll try to be more mindful in the future."
The yellow striped clone trooper sitting next to him secured his helmet and then turned to Jorec.
"Hey Colonel Merridon, you should really listen to General Fionst and me. Not many troop carriers have been destroyed by capital ships in this war. It's usually the small fighters we need to worry about. I've been on 12 combat drops in this war, and nothing bad has happened to a ship I'm on."
"Thank you Commander Hal. When are we launching?"
A slight jar reverberated throughout the landing craft as the shield over the open hangar bay doors was removed. Then the sound of the air rushing out of the room and the defense guns filled Jorec's ears.
"They're launching the first wave of escort fighters right now. I'd say in a few minutes. Make sure your crash webbing is secure."
Jorec felt another slight bump as the landing craft slowly lifted itself off of the floor of the hangar. The ship soon fired its rear engines and blazed out of the hangar. The vulture droids quickly found their new target and began tailing the transport ship, only to be reduced to wreckage by the transport's guns and the escorting V-Wings.
The troop transport craft quickly raced towards the planet's surface, evading stray shots from several Vulture Droids and the pursuing V-Wings.
"Jorec, when we land on the battle field stay close to me. If we stick together, the chances of us being injured or killed will be lowered. Remember that there is a time to fight and a time to run or surrender. Trust the Force."
"Yes, Master Fionst. But what if we get separated in battle?"
"Stick close to the troops near you. And remember, in this battle you will more than likely come face to face with fear. Do not act out of fear or hatred, for they are the path to the Dark Side."
With a thud, the landing craft hit the ground and the main hatch opened. Jorec quickly unstrapped himself from his crash webbing and followed the clones and his master as they raced to meet the battle droids in front of them. With a snap-hiss, Jorec ignited his new lightsaber, watching as the blue blade came to life. He also watched as the red blaster bolts from the droid army in front of him tore towards him.
Raising his lightsaber into a defensive position as he rushed towards the front line, Jorec deflected a blaster bolt that came dangerously close to him. Up ahead, he could see the green blade of his master's lightsaber twirling through the air in a dervish of destruction meant for the battle droids up ahead. Also ahead of him where the kneeling forms of clone troopers firing at the droids.
The scream of Vulture Droids in the sky above distracted Jorec for an instant as they made their attack runs against the lightly defended clones. The guns of the transport ship roared to life as they targeted the fighters in the sky above. The advance troops quickly raced towards their objective, avoiding the fiery attacks from the droids ahead.
Jorec quickly reached his master amid the chaos of battle and watched as the older man quickly decapitated two battle droids advancing. Jorec reached out with the Force and sent a single battle droid tumbling onto the ground, a quick down slash destroyed the nearly disabled droid.
With a quick movement, Jorec sent his lightsaber into the middle of a battle droid, slicing through the metal. Merrick made quick work of four nearby droids and sent another four into the hard ground with a quick movement of his hand.
The red laser bolts came towards them as the droids began to concentrate on the two Jedi. Knowing they were outnumbered, the two Jedi began falling back to the safety of their own line. Jorec watched as his lightsaber quickly moved to deflect any bolts that came close to him. However, he was not fast enough to deflect a bolt that seemingly came out of nowhere. It came in almost impossibly fast and Jorec could hear the bolt as it passed within inches of his head. Fear overcame the young Padawan as the bolts kept coming towards the two, and the blaster shots from behind him seemed to come in fewer than before.
"Don't despair Jorec, we're almost to cover. Keep close to me and stay focused."
Jorec tried to reply to his master, but the words came out as an unintelligible mumble. The few minutes they were out in the field seemed like hours as they neared a rock serving as cover for several clone troopers. Jorec was the first one to jump behind it, and he leaned his back against the rock, and began to catch his breath.
Merrick quickly reached the cover and turned off his lightsaber as he reached safety. The clones quickly popped up from behind the rock and fired a quick volley at the approaching battle droids. A faint clanking sound alerted Merrick to the danger about to come, he reached out with the Force and saw the rolled up Droidekas approaching their position.
"Destroyers incoming! Take them out before they can get their shields up!"
A clone acknowledged his order and quickly pulled a cylindrical object from behind his back. Another clone quickly assisted him in setting the rocket launcher up as the destroyers quickly approached their position. The clone quickly finished his task and took aim at the center destroyer rolling towards their position and fired. The resulting explosion took out all of the destroyers rolling their way.
"Good shot. How long until air support gets here?"
Commander Hal looked at Merrick and replied.
"We have LAATs incoming as we speak to help clear out this area, but we need to make some more headway before the tanks can land."
"Hopefully the LAATs can help us with that. What's their ETA?"
"About three minutes, sir. We can hold out until then."
Jorec finally caught his breath and leaned out from behind his cover and gazed over the droids heading their way. Several were caught by the blasts of the clones taking cover with him. Jorec held out his lightsaber and attempted to deflect the shots back towards their shooters, only to watch them go wide. Jorec let out a curse.
I was never any good at that.
The sound of approaching ships grew larger in Jorec's ears as cheers began to erupt from several clones farther back. He returned to the safety of the rock and looked backwards towards the back of the army. Bright flashes of red and green light erupted as ten LAATs quickly raced to the front of the battle with all of their guns blazing into the droid lines. The troops behind his rock quickly raised up and began firing towards the droids. Jorec and Merrick quickly rushed out from behind their cover and ran into the fleeing droid army with their lightsabers cutting down any droids that were too slow.
The sun of Selvernos was slowly setting as the last of the prefab buildings were set down near the newly won ground. The droids had retreated back to their base for repair and reinforcements. Jorec quickly finished unloading his equipment into his private quarters and smiled to himself.
Wow, a private room for the first time in my life. No more shared room with the other younglings, no more disturbed sleep!
A knock on his door removed Jorec from his thoughts.
"Come in."
The door opened to reveal Merrick, dressed in a simple combat uniform. His lightsaber held in his hand.
"Hey Jorec, have you heard the news?"
"What news?"
"We in the command center have just received word that Master Kenobi has engaged and defeated General Grievous on Utapau. This war is pretty much over."
"Grievous was defeated?"
Merrick nodded and a smile came upon his face.
"I hardly believed the news when I heard it as well, but we just received confirmation from headquarters."
"Why the lightsaber then, if the wars over?"
"Sen Udo-Mal and his Padawan are outside sparring right now, and since there isn't much chance of a counter attack tonight, I figured we should get some practice as well."
"I'll meet you out there."
Jorec quickly grabbed his brown robe and picked up his lightsaber. He put the robe on and walked outside.
The sparring area was near the edge of camp, in between two prefab shelters and near the edge of a massive forest. The trees swayed lightly in the breeze and the air was humid, Jorec could sense that a rain shower was soon on its way.
Sen Udo-Mal and his Padawan were already sparring, the older Cerean and the younger Ithorian moved almost too quickly for Jorec to see. Seeing Merrick, Jorec ignited his lightsaber and raised in a salute. Merrick returned the salute and assumed a battle stance.
Commander Hal sat in the command center of Selvernos as he scanned the reports of Separatist movements in the sector, and their retreat. The voice of his second-in-command broke the silence in the room.
"Commander, incoming message from Coruscant on the Chancellor's channel."
"Patch it through."
The tactical readout of the area disappeared and was replaced by a hooded figure, his features hidden by the hood, but sagging skin showed through.
"Commander Hal… Execute Order 66…"