The Lure of the Dark Side: Chronicle 1-The Turning of an Era
Episode IV: The Clone Wars
Chapter 4: Year 1-Deadly Weapon Unleashed
During the Battle of Muunilinst, led by Kenobi and Skywalker, the Republic unleashed a fleet of Acclamator assault ships on the Separatist defenses. Obi-Wan led the ground assault while Anakin led the space battle.
On Muunilinst, the Separatist bounty hunter Durge led an assault of IG lancer droids against Kenobi's ground forces. In response, Obi-Wan led a force of Clone lancer troopers on 105-K lancer bikes and defeated Durge's forces, with Obi-Wan eventually defeating Durge in single combat. He then teamed up with a squad of ARC led by Captain Fordo, who were on a mission in the city of Harnaidan, though their gunship was shot down behind enemy lines. Eventually, Obi-Wan and the ARC troopers raided the InterGalactic Banking Clan's Command Center, and took the Banking Clan leader, San Hill, into custody, again after fighting Durge one-on-one, thus defeating the Separatist forces.
Meanwhile in space, Anakin was leading the Republic forces to victory when a mysterious ship engaged him. When the pilot, a mysterious Force-sensitive protege of Dooku later revealed to be the infamous Asajj Ventress, jumped into hyperspace, the impetuous young Jedi followed, disobeying a direct order from Obi-Wan. He pursued her to the jungle world of Yavin IV where they engaged in a lightsaber duel through the jungle and on top of the Massassi temple. In the end, Ventress was defeated, but not killed. Despite this, the Galactic New Republic had won another major victory against the Confederacy. Anakin, during the space battle, used an unorthodox, but brilliant move, ordering the clone fighters to shoot their missiles at him. He led the missiles through the main confederate ships and destroyed many of them. A great victory was won.
Meanwhile, on the ocean world of Dac, the Mon Calamari Knights, under Jedi Master Kit Fisto, defeated the CIS backed Quarren Isolation League. After the battle, Fisto discovered the League was allied with Moappa, whom Kit discovered was also sapient. Fisto informed the Mon Calamari that they needed to make peace with and respect the sapience of the Moappa. Despite this, many members of the predominantly Quarren Free Dac movement fled Mon Calamari,settling on the CIS worlds of Pammant and Minntooine, where the Free Dac Volunteers Engineering Corps created shipyards. Using designs based off Mon Calamari Shipyards blueprints stolen by the CIS as a basis, these yards created Recusant-class Light Destroyers at Minntooine and Providence-class Carrier-Destroyers at the Pammant docks for the Confederate Navy.
The Confederacy was using the outer rim world of Dantooine as a staging point to launch a counterattack against the Republic blockade around Muunilinst. However, Jedi master Mace Windu learned of the Confederate presence on Dantooine and left with a force of clone troopers to halt the presence of the Separatists. War erupted on Dantooine as clones and droids clashed in a vast, open plain. With Master Windu at their side, the clones quickly gained the upper hand, despite being outnumbered nearly four to one by Confederate B-1 battle droids.
However, the battle was suddenly turned upside down at the arrival of a large siege weapon – the seismic tank. This tank, used by its seismic driver – once used in peace-time for mining operations – to cut a swath through the clone trooper ranks, either crushing them outright or sending soldiers flying from the shock wave. In the confusion, Windu lost his lightsaber and was forced to fight a number of droids unarmed. Retrieving his lightsaber amid another seismic shock wave, Windu leaped towards the seismic tank. Cutting his way in, he disabled the seismic driver, destroyed the tank's droid crew and knocked out the controls. Leaping clear, Windu watched as the seismic tank crashed to the ground and exploded. The battle was won for the New Republic.
Former handmaiden of Padme Amidala, Arica Grievous, was ready. It'd only been seven months, yet she'd progressed quicker and faster then either Dooku or Sidious could've predicted. Her lightsaber skills were dangerous and her combat training, nothing short of astonishing.
Following Asajj Ventress' failure of killing Skywalker on Yavin IV as ordered, the Rattataki was harshly punished for her failure. Her title of Military Commander in the Confederacy was revolted and she was made to train under Dooku for a brief time before returning to the field of war.
Grievous and Ventress saw a lot of one another since they both did most of their training under Dooku at the Count's fortress on the Bogden moon of Kholma. The competitiveness between the two was obvious and they'd always been something of rivals. Ventress looked down on Grievous because of her unimpressive past as a Royal and Senatorial handmaiden and because she could not wield the Force. Grievous looked down on Ventress because of her arrogant attitude and because of Arica's disdain for non-humans. According to her, such beings didn't deserve to hold, let alone wield, a lightsaber or the Force.
Though neither would admit to it, they both felt threatened by one another's gifts and abilities. Not surprisingly, Arica's pleasure at Asajj's failure was not hidden.
To some, Arica Grievous may now have been unrecognizable. Her once natural locks of blond had been replaced with that of black and she'd experienced a rather large growth sprout, not just physically but as a person. Although she was only fourteen, she could pass for twenty-one. She was no longer shy and had grown quite mean spirited and hateful towards everyone except her master, Darth Sidious.
During the beginning of the war, she traveled with Count Dooku across the galaxy on his various assignments, including that of the Dark Reaper Crisis on Thule. During the city's attack, led by her former friend Anakin Skywalker, she came extremely close to meeting him, but escaped with Dooku in time.
Her entire time under the tutelage of Tyranus, her presence was kept in shadow by Sidious. She had no contact with anyone besides the Sith and Ventress during that time.
To put it likely, Arica didn't like Dooku at all. And it was obvious that the feeling was mutual with him. He seemed to enjoy nothing more then lecturing and taunting her, so when she'd talk back, he'd strike her down with Force lightning.
To assure that Grievous was ready for the war, Sidious had Tyranus bring her to Coruscant where they rematched in a duel. From start to finish, Arica turned out victorious in the fight, even disarming her Sith master at one point.
It was time. Her training was complete. In addition to her role as a Jedi hunting assassin, she was made the Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies of the Confederacy of the Independent Systems.
Jedi Master Daakman Barrek and his apprentice, Sha'a Gi had gathered intelligence indicating the presence of a large droid factory on the outer rim world of Hypori. Along with it was supposed to be the secret base of the Separatist Council. A Jedi task force consisting of Barrek and his Padawan along with Ki-Adi Mundi, Aayla Secura, Shaak Ti, K'Kruhk, and Tarr Seirr left Coruscant at once. The Jedi were reinforced by an army of clone troopers. The group of seven was then dispatched to Hypori to destroy the factory. They were led by Barrek, due to his superior knowledge of industrial matters.
The battle was doomed from the beginning, as the Republic ships emerged from hyperspace orbital mines caused the majority of the transports to crash behind the Separatist's lines.
Strangely though, on the planet itself, no forces were waiting for them or could be seen anywhere. They knew it was a trap, but proceeded for the factory anyway. Inside, they were met by a young woman with black hair and medium skin. She had the look of a warrior to her, but she did not attack them on site; merely greeted them with a sarcastic smile. She seemed to be alone.
"Hello Jedi." Her tone was as cool as a slight breeze.
"And you are?" the Torgruta Shaak Ti asked.
"General Arica Grievous," she replied.
"Never heard of you," Tarr Seirr, a Cerean, commented.
"I wouldn't expect you to," she replied and rose a slight eye brow. "And the reason you are here is…?" she inquired.
"To end the war," K'Kruhk, a Whiphid, said igniting his lightsaber.
Grievous laughed. "You may try, however as I'm sure you've noticed the Separatists leaders are no longer here. They left not long before you arrived."
"How can we know if they're really gone," Sha'a Gi spat, also igniting his lightsaber. "How do we know that you're not simply hiding them somewhere?"
"Than by all means, stretch out with your feelings," she urged. "Do you sense any of their presences here?"
No one responded. Grievous smirked with satisfaction. "I thought not, now than-"
"Those are lightsabers on your belt," the twi'lek Ayala Secura suddenly stated.
Grievous scoffed. "Yes I know what they are. Do I look stupid to you?"
"You're a Sith Lord!" Daakman Barrek pronounced, ignited his lightsaber. The others who hadn't already done so, ignited theirs as well.
Grievous once again laughed. "A Sith Lord! You flatter me my dear Jedi. I must say I'm surprised by your stupidness of jumping to conclusions. Tell me something: Do you sense the dark side around me, or the Force for that matter?"
"Why else would you have lightsabers than," Aayla Secura asked.
"Just because a person wields a lightsaber doesn't make them a Jedi or a Sith," she pointed out. "Now, as I was saying-"
"But how did you get them?" Ki-Adi Mundi interrupted.
"What is this, an interrogation session?" she demanded.
"Just answer the question General," Tarr Seirr barked.
"By all means," she said in irritation. "How does any Jedi get a lightsaber? They build and construct them."
"How could you know how to construct a lightsaber?" K'Kruhk asked.
Grievous smirked. "I did have a few Jedi friends in my time, before the war. I asked them how they constructed theirs and they told me. It wasn't hard to do."
"Jedi friends! What Jedi friends!" Sha'a Gi spat. "Are you now admitting that you're a rogue Jedi?"
"Oh goodness no," she replied with a laugh. "But I must say Master Mundi, I'm surprised you don't recognize me."
The Cerean Jedi Master blinked. "Should I?"
"Didn't you recognize my name, Arica Grievous…and of course there's Antellica Grievous my twin sister...handmaidens of Senator Amidala."
While Tarr Seirr, K'Kruhk, Sha'a Gi, and Daakman Barrek looked generally confused, Ki Adi Mundi, Aayla Secura and Shaak Ti looked thoughtful. Realization must of than hit Mundi, for he snapped his fingers and looked at her in confusion.
"Yes, I do remember you. You had blond hair than."
She nodded.
"But you were one of Senator Amidala's handmaidens," Shaak Ti pointed out.
Again she nodded.
"You were the handmaiden that ran away," Aayla Secura stated. "I remember overhearing something about that from Skywalker. He was saying how worried he was for you."
"How touching," she cooed. "So you'll make sure to tell him I said hello. If you survive that this. But enough of this chatter," for it looked like Mundi was going to say something else. She clapped her hands twice and they were suddenly surrounded by countless destroyer and battle droids.
"I'm sorry my dear little Jedi friends, but as the Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies of the CIS it is my job to place you under arrest. You will come quietly and you will corporate."
"I don't think so," K'Kruhk said coolly.
"Very well." Grievous turned to face the droids. "Kill them!"
The droids opened fire, but the Jedi deflected mostly all of it. Tarr Seirr fought his way over towards her. Igniting two of her sabers she began to fight him, but as she was much more advanced than he in the Jedi Arts, the Cerean was easily struck down. The Jedi gasped and Sha'a Gi ran forward to finish the fight. He however was easier struck down as well.
"Oh and did I forget to mention that I'm also a Jedi slaughtering assassin as well," she jeered over the sound of gunfire.
The droids continued to fire and engage the Jedi, but Grievous decided to fall back to collect her fallen enemies lightsabers to add to her collection.
Eventually, Arica would rid herself of the lightsabers she built and simply use those of her enemies, but as of now, she'd keep hers.
The battle eventually led outside the factory when the Jedi fled the building to fight along side their pet clones. Many Separatists droids were destroyed, but even more clones were. It was easy to tell that the Separatists were winning this battle.
Growing bored with simply observing the battle, Grievous finally joined in, slicing down various clones that got in her way. She made towards the closest of the Jedi, K'Kruhk, and engaged him, but soon grew tired of the fight and simply sliced him down.
Daakman Barrek, the Jedi who seemed to be leading here, was now yelling at the few surviving clones to retreat. But what caught Arica's notice was that he was also trying to use a hand-held holo-communicator. Perhaps to call for back up?
Oh no. I so don't think so.
As she ran towards him, the Jedi seemed to notice he was being pursued and began to race after his fellow Jedi and forces that seemed to be running for the crash sight of numerous Acclamator I-class assault ships.
"Master Kenobi! Master Kenobi!" he yelled into his comlink.
"Yes Master Barrek," came the calm reply of Obi-Wan Kenobi over the comlink.
"Need immediate back up for planet Hypori. Only-only a few of us left. Can't hold out for long. New female General leader. She's unstoppable. General Grievous is-"
But by now, Arica had caught up to Master Barrek and sliced him down with one flick of her sabers. The comlink he'd been holding fell out of his hands and onto the ground, yet the voice of Kenobi could still be heard talking into it.
"Master Barrek come in. Master Barrek come in!"
She quickly silenced the holo-communicator by stomping on it with her high-heeled shoe.
Looking up, she saw the three remaining Jedi in the distance running to hide in the wreckage of one of the Acclamators that had crashed on Hypori with its front end facing the ground. She was pleased to discover that all their pet Clones had now been destroyed. Marching the remains of the Separatists droid armies – half of the original number – towards the wreckage, she halted them within several meters of it and motioned for them to encircle the ship, firing continuously upon it.
When it was obviously the Jedi weren't going to come out of hiding, she signaled the droids to stop with a raised hand. She would deal with these Jedi herself before back up arrived, which was sure to come any moment now.
"Jedi!" she called out in a loud ringing voice. "You are surrounded! Your armies dissipated! Make peace with the Force now! For this is your final hour! But know that I, General Grievous, am not completely without mercy. I shall grant you a warriors' death. Prepare!"
Proceeding forward, she made her way towards the crashed ship, making sure the sounds of her heels clicking were loud enough for them to realize that she was coming alone. She was met by utter silence. Coming to the mouth of the ship, she backflipped several meters into the air and onto a landing a few levels
above the Jedi. Quietly getting up, and keeping her clicking heels to a minimum, she flipped onto a wooden support beam right above the three remaining Jedi. They were standing back to back in a circle with their sabers raised, walking backwards and looking around for her. Grievous retrieved two of her new lightsabers from her belt and jumped down into the middle of the Jedi, starting the fight.
The Jedi struck their blades at her, but Grievous was swinging her blades so rapidly they were merely blurs of green and blue light and easily deflected them all. The Jedi were wide-eyed at this and she took it as an advantage. While they were gaping at her, she kicked the Cerean master hard in the gut with one of her sharp heels and made to slice down Aayla. It was blocked. However she was able to throw another powerful kick, aimed at the twi'lek's chest. Aayla was not able to duck this and lost her footing, falling hard to the ground. Grievous didn't get a chance to slice her down because Mundi and Ti were coming at her with expert speed and strength.
Spinning her torso around, Grievous easily held off the attacking Jedi and abruptly disengaged from the fight to attack the slightly winded Aayla who was just then rising from the ground.
Deactivating one of her lightsabers and throwing it away, she used the hand that was now unoccupied to lift
the twi'lek into the air and hurtle her across the chamber. This exercise was quickly repeated with Mundi. Both were knocked unconscious.
Gasping, Shaak Ti used the Force to throw a nearby crate at Grievous, but this was ducked. The Separatist General came at the Jedi and the two fought with Shaak Ti easily losing the battle.
"Ki-Adi!" the Jedi called to him. "Hurry!"
Obviously, the Cerean must've briefly been knocked out and not unconscious, for he lunged himself at Grievous a moment later, but she was too quick. She flipped into the air and landed kicking and than punching Shaak Ti to the ground before proceeding to pick the female Jedi up and throw her towards the wall where she landed in a heap.
"No! Shaak Ti!" Ki-Adi yelled. Grievous whipped around and kicked the Jedi across the face, knocking his lightsaber to the ground a few yards away from him. When he attempted to call it back to him with the Force, she stepped on it and smirked at him.
His face was cold as he used the Force to call one of the lightsabers on her belt to him. He ignited it and they both glared at each other engaging in a vicious duel.
Not long into this however, the back up Daakman Barrek had called for arrived and Grievous, realizing she was outnumbered made a run for it.
The ARC troopers led by Clone Captain Fordo opened fire on her, but she simply jumped and backflipped out of the way to avoid the shots.
"Shoot her down! Shoot her down!" Ki Adi was shouting.
Grievous eventually escaped and exited the ruined star destroyer just as the Republic gunship the backup arrived on was rising into the air to exit the planet. Looking around, she discovered that the remaining Separatists droids she'd left outside had been eliminated, but she could careless. It had still been a Confederacy victory that day. She looked up into the sky at the departing ship and smirked.
"Run Jedi, run," she cackled. "You have only prolonged the inevitable."
Once making sure she'd collected all four of her fallen enemies' lightsabers, she returned to the droid factory and contacted Darth Sidious to report on all that had happened, and learn of her next assignment.