Aayla leapt off the Republic Gunship and onto the Star Cruiser that hovered a mile above the battle on the surface below. Mace Windu was already there, his solemn face focused on the holo-map before him. He looked up and nodded at Aayla in acknowledgment.
Crowds of Republic soldiers, some clones, some not, were crowded around. Three Jedi Knights were there too, unfamiliar to Aayla Secura: one was a female Rodian who introduced herself as Derturo, one was a male Bith called Jular and the other was a male human who introduced himself as Gwangi Hok.
"We have important news, Master Secura. You're just in time", Windu said, before turning to address everyone, "We have a confirmed sighting of General Grievous' personal guards here, at this plateau three miles west of our 67th Division".
"How recent is this update?" Jular asked instantly.
"Literally three minutes ago", Windu replied, "I actually summoned you here to inform you of a plan to comb the surface for Grievous, but then this report came through".
"What actually has been seen?" the Bith asked thoughtfully.
"This", Mace Windu punched in a few buttons and a new image came up.
Aayla peered at it and saw a wind-swept plateau choked in smog and smoke. However, four figures could clearly be seen: the ghoulish MagnaGuards, standing arrogantly over the battlefield, weapons in hand.
"Where the MagnaGuards are, Grievous will be", Clone Commander Cal intoned, "All our records show that the MagnaGuards do not act independently of Grievous".
Windu nodded and returned the holo-image back to the map of the battlefield, "We're winning this battle, gradually. The reinforcements for the droids are less and less as time goes on. We must be depleting them. Grievous has probably assumed this position to give him the best vantage point over the entire army and organize his retreat".
"An act of desperation", Derturo smiled.
"Most likely", Windu clipped his saber from his best and held it in his hands, "However, we are also sustaining heavy damage from a cannon deployment here", he gestured to a point on the map, "Just an array of energy beam weapons, the usual array. I will assign you four Jedi Knights to take care of this. I will take the ARC troopers and engage Grievous and his MagnaGuards".
Aayla started, "Master Windu, are you sure you and the troops alone will be enough for Grievous and his elite?"
"I will be. I am a Master. Grievous has not fought a Jedi of my calibre before. He will not escape this time", Mace declared.
It was a statement, a truth, not a boast. But Aayla couldn't help feeling a sting to the comment, as if she were inadequate. However, she masked her deepest feelings and regained her composure.
"Are we all clear on our objectives?" Mace asked, and when the replies were nods and salutes, he stood up, "Alright. Disperse!"
Grievous hunkered over in the biting wind and dust flung at him. He tucked his armoured head into his torso and waited, fingers twitching restlessly as his cape flailed about him.
His mission was going to be enjoyable. His opposition was strong. Strong opponents always died in the best fashion. That look of shock on their face when a blade suddenly pierced their heart in the whirlwind of combat: the kind of look of shock that only sudden death could cause, it was all too familiar to Grievous.
In comparison to fighting Jedi, fighting clones was positively dull. No shock or horror as they died, merely anatomical responses that were completely devoid of personality. Usually just a waste of effort.
Sometimes it could be entertaining. He had truly blazed through entire squads of clones before, chopping them up by the dozen with his windmill like attacks. But that was simply the satisfaction of knowing he was so good: it wore off quickly. Grievous wanted confirmation that he was good from the horror of dying opponents: the more revered the opponent the better. He had loved duelling Ki-Adi-Mundi and Shaak Ti before, draining away that false Jedi confidence with each pounding blow of his swords. The end result had been so disappointing.
Those Republic ARC troopers were troublesome creatures. Bred, conditioned and trained to be the best of the best. Grievous had known their trainer and original host body: Jango Fett.
Grievous had been about as close to Jango Fett as he had been to anyone in his new life. Of course, it was not truly "close". All it involved was an intense mutual respect and a vague sense of comradeship. Jango was impressed by Grievous' tactical mind, formidability and his skills. Grievous, for his part, was shocked by the level of combat skill a non-Force sensitive with no alterations to a mere human body displayed, and he was also immensely interested in the Mandolorian history and culture. For what it was worth, Grievous and Jango had stuck by each other, finding each other somewhat less despicable than the Separatist leaders and more grounded than the two Sith Lords.
But that was all over now, and Grievous was aware of Jango's untimely death. It occurred to him that one of the Jedi he planned to kill today was the killer of Jango. Killing him would be Grievous' last way of acknowledging the bounty hunter's worth.
Mace Windu waited patiently as the Republic Gunship sped for the last known location of Grievous' guards. Around him a squadron of fifteen ARC troopers readied their weapons. Power packs were clicked into place, reloaded blasters were snapped shut, quad-firing cannons were strapped over backs and repeating laser cannons were primed in advance.
Such weaponry had put Grievous to flight before. It would work again now.
Mace was confident he could probably handle the situation alone anyway. Whatever skills Dooku had passed down to them, Grievous and his guards had no perception of the Force. They felt nothing, everything was programmed and rehearsed.
It didn't matter that he would have been outnumbered five to one anyway: when your opponents have vastly inferior skills and many weaknesses, it doesn't really matter how many of them there are. It becomes irrelevant. Like deflecting blasters from training seeker droids.
The plateau loomed large up ahead. The Gunship circled low, looking for any sign of Grievous. It wasn't likely he'd show himself with a heavily armed starship above, so Windu ordered the ARCs to descend. He leapt out from the ship as they sped down zip cords after him.
Grievous probably wanted to engage Windu and the clones at such close range that the Gunship would be unable to fire. That was fine by Mace. He flicked his lightsaber into his hand and ignited its shimmering blade.
Soon enough, four dark figures emerged from behind a large rock. MagnaGuards. They stepped forward, looking surprisingly intimidating with their red eyes shining in the gritty mist of Cosko.
The ARCs raised their guns and opened fire. The droids leapt through the air, spinning with elegance and skill, twirling their electrostaffs to deflect the smaller blaster bolts and dodging the larger ones. They landed in the midst of the ARCs.
If they were normal clones and not ARCs, the MagnaGuards would have triumphed over them almost instantly, striking clones down with lightning jabs of their weapons. However, the ARCs leapt back out of range, firing as they did so, keeping the MagnaGuards on the move.
Mace rushed forward to engage one MagnaGuard that had broken off from the others. His blade slammed down on the robot's weapon, driving the droid back. As he attacked, Mace kept his senses alert for Grievous and what would probably be an inevitable surprise attack by the General himself.
The Jedi Master was taken aback, surprised even when the MagnaGuard planted its weapon in the ground and used it to vault into the air and kick the Jedi in the chest. Mace fell back, brows furrowed in confusion and irritation. When had these droids learned to move so quickly?
Mace decided to try a little experiment. He attacked from above, swiping with his blade down directly at the droid's grotesque head. The droid raised its staff to block, but as it did Mace changed the angle of the attack and slashed horizontally, slicing the droid's shoulder.
Pitiful. Not even quick enough to see the attack and react in time. He attacked again, repeating the manoeuvre in order to end the battle quickly.
This time, the MagnaGuard twirled its staff to intercept and lock the swiping saber, catching it before it could connect to the droid's shoulder.
Mace's eyes widened in surprise, but it was a mistake to do so as in the next split second he received a powerful kick to the jaw that sent him flying through the air and crashing to the floor.
The MagnaGuard spun its staff and held it in a defensive position, waiting for the Jedi to stand back up.
Mace was shocked. The droid had learned the manoeuvre and found a way to stop it in the blink of an eye, even calculating the exact angle of the attack. The Jedi realized these droids weren't programmed: they were trained. That made things rather more difficult.
The ARCs were beginning to suffer against the droids. Six clones lay dead in exchange for one arm ripped out of one droid's socket by a quad-laser cannon blast. The MagnaGuard fought on regardless.
Things were becoming difficult. Mace had underestimated the droids and, he realized, Grievous. No wonder these elite warriors had killed so many Jedi. They were literal killing machines, equipped with a warrior's mind.
Another MagnaGuard broke off from fighting the ARCs and rushed to take on Mace. The Jedi leapt to his feet and parried the attacks from the two droids. He was hard-pressed to do so, breaking into a sweat as the electrostaffs buzzed uncomfortably close. The staffs hummed and crackled as the droids whipped them at Mace, driving him back with expert skill.
The four Jedi Knights skilfully carved their way through dozens of security battle droids. Sabers flashed and scrawny droids dropped in shattered heaps. Already the battle was almost over.
Aayla took a chance and leapt away from the enemy robots and turned her attention to the cannons firing at the clone army below. The cannons were droids in their own right: the machine had to be destroyed to be taken out of action. This prevented Republic forces turning the machines back on the Separatists.
The Jedi had little choice, and Aayla began slicing open the control panels of the guns, decommissioning one with each swipe. When the last of the security battle droids were destroyed, the other Jedi joined, quickly taking down the artillery post.
"That was easy", Derutro smiled light-heartedly.
"Maybe a little too easy?" the Bith Jular mused, adopting a pensive stance.
"There's no need to be paranoid when we just got lucky for once", Derutro retorted.
Aayla shrugged her slim shoulders and exhaled deeply. She was tired, and sincerely hoped this day was coming to an end. As the Rodian and the Bith bickered over logistics versus luck, the human Gwangi turned to her.
"Are you alright, General Secura?" he asked, his tired face breaking into a smile.
She nodded, "Yes, thank you. It's just been a long day".
The human smiled again sympathetically and headed towards the edge of the rock cliff to look over the battlefield. As he did, a large figure rocketed over the brim of the cliff and landed beside him. It did not crouch or bend at the knees, it simply landed in a standing position. Its cloak billowed about it as it towered over the Jedi.
The four Knights flipped away and raised their lightsabers. General Grievous posed, crouching over in an unsettling position with his clawed hands splayed in front of his body.
"What the…" the Rodian Jedi murmured.
"Oh, you're probably wondering why I'm here", Grievous snorted arrogantly, "You see, your comrade Master Windu has simply fallen for my little ruse. I find it a little disappointing, to be honest. It was a blatant diversion".
Aayla stared. So the MagnaGuards had been positioned to draw Mace Windu away from the other Jedi so Grievous could engage them alone. And was Mace…was he in a trap too?
The two MagnaGuards closed in on Mace, flanking him. He was breathing heavily and a trickle of blood ran down his cheek from his mouth. The droids attacked again. Mace blocked, parried and dodged, but it was becoming difficult.
The ARCs on the other hand were beginning to overcome the guards. As one MagnaGuard leapt through the air, one rocket impacted on his chest, blowing the breast panel to pieces and exposing the circuitry. Nevertheless the droid continued to fight, killing the offending clone by impaling him on its staff.
Mace fought with all his determination and skill and finally succeeded in slicing the legs out from underneath one MagnaGuard. Left with only one opponent, he began driving the droid back even as the felled elite droid reached for its staff and began crawling towards Mace.
These droids were programmed to keep fighting to the last, Mace realized. Amputations, decapitations and bisection weren't enough to stop them immediately. Their ability to fight on even after seemingly fatal blows was probably what had killed so many Jedi in the past.
Although crippled, the droids were far from done. They closed in for the kill, seemingly unaware of their handicaps, focused entirely on killing their quarry.
The four Jedi positioned themselves to surround Grievous, angling their sabers to point towards him. He didn't move in response and simply waited for them to attack.
He didn't have to wait long. They rushed as one, aiming their blades to strike from different angles. The General suddenly leapt into the air and flipped backwards, escaping their circle. As he twisted through the air he snapped out two lightsabers from his cloak and ignited them. He hit the floor.
The cyborg grunted in surprise as he discovered Aayla Secura was waiting for him, striking at him and forcing him to parry. The other three Jedi caught up and attacked as well, driving him back in concert with well-aimed, steady strikes.
The duel couldn't go on like this. The Jedi had Grievous cornered and up close, preventing him from performing elaborate moves, but despite being caught on the back foot and outnumbered, the General managed to block all attacks.
While keeping his body still, Grievous shifted his weight to one leg and anchored the claws in the rock beneath him. He used his other leg to twist at an unnatural angle and reach into his cloak, seizing a saber in his talons. The green blade shimmered to life and the General swept with it. The blow would have cut the feet out from underneath all the Jedi if they didn't have the foresight to leap into the air, narrowly avoiding the flashing blade.
With more room to manoeuvre for a few seconds, the General did not waste time. He tossed the saber from his foot to his right hand and reached into his cape pockets to produce another lightsaber in his left hand. He activated them all, and as he did each of his crooked arms split into two skeletal limbs, each of his four hands grasping a blade.
The extra arms and swords took the Jedi by surprise. They had heard of this unusual feature before in intelligence reports, but it was far more frightening in person. Grievous coughed once in exertion, then lowered his head and charged.
His hands spun through 360 degrees at his wrists, twirling all four of the blades at such a speed that they appeared to be deadly flashing green and blue discs of light.
In seeming panic, the Rodian Derturo thrust her saber into the rotating blades. Instantly her lightsaber was wrenched from her hands by the force of the spinning lightsabers. She gasped in surprise once before she dropped to the floor, a black burning hole through her chest.
As her saber clattered to the floor, the cyborg caught it in his foot and back flipped. As he did he hurled the still-lit saber directly at Aayla with missile-like speed. The unexpected attack caught Aayla by surprise, but she managed to block it and deflect the sword away with a wide swipe of her weapon.
She stared in shock. Four Jedi had been reduced to three in a few seconds, and it had been very near to there being only two left. The General reared up to his maximum height, his crooked legs unfolding so he towered two meters tall.
"Come", he growled.