Authors Note: When you're reading just picture the ACS squads gear similar to that of the Clone Commandos from the video game Star Wars Republic Commando. But remember not exactly alike, I use the Commandos only as an example, keep in mind my description of their armor and visors as I described in the previous chapter.
The Story of forgotten Jedi Owen Sun
Chapter 38: Assault on Foundry
In a sudden flash the freighter carrying Owen and the squad of 12 ACS Troopers exited hyperspace. Owen flicked on the ships intercom. "Were here" informed Owen to Ketros and his squad.
The cockpit door then slid open and in stepped Captain Ketros. "We should be there in a few minutes, you and your squad better…" Owen stopped in mid speech as he was astonished at the sight before him.
Nine massive CIS capital ships filled the sector of Separatists space, there were even a few specially designed Techno Union capital ships and unending droves of fighters swarmed around the daunting CIS fleet. "My God, if the Republic only knew" thought Owen gazing at the formidable force before him.
"Are we sure on the intel of this?" questioned Ketros.
"I'm not so sure anymore" replied Owen.
Regardless there was nothing Owen could do they were past the point of no return. "We have the stolen signal, we should be fine" assured Owen.
"Were coming up on the planet, you better get back there with your squad and stay hidden" ordered Owen.
"Yes Sir" replied Captain Ketros.
"Remember, stay in those compartments until I say, they'll search the ship" reminded Owen.
Ketros nodded confirming as he left the cockpit.
Owen nervously guided the disguised freighter right through the enormous CIS fleet, if the ship was identified they would be torn apart in seconds, but sure enough he guided the freighter past the daunting fleet. Owen closed his eyes exhaling in relief as he passed the last capital ship, and in just a few minutes he arrived at the mechanized Techno Union world of Foundry.
Foundry was like a paradise for a machine, the entire planet was covered in metal and steel as factories littered the planet producing everything from ships, droids, weapon's, really anything the Separatists needed for the war they could manufacture on Foundry. Billions of droids covered the planet, and somewhere down deep below the Techno Union had their headquarters led by the greedy corporation's leaders.
Owen brought the freighter and its ghost cargo closer to the mechanized gray world waiting for his CIS greeting, finally the freighters comm. crackled to life. "This is Foundry docking control, what is your business here?" asked the cold metallic voice of the docking droid.
"I have a B-class freight delivery to make, I'm hauling several thousand tons of specially ordered durasteel" stated Owen under disguise.
"Nnnnnn processing…" replied the droid checking his memory.
"What is your clearance code?" asked the docking droid.
"Okay, this better work" thought Owen.
"Your clearance code?" demanded the bruiting droid.
"Clearance code D147968952" replied Owen reading it off flawlessly.
"Nnnnnn scanning" calculated the docking droid.
Owen waited nervously as Jedi weren't able to feel a machine's thoughts.
"Nnnnnn confirmed, proceed to docking bay 636 and await further processing" informed the docking droid confirming his approach.
"(Whew)" gasped Owen as his heart nearly skipped a beat.
With Foundry docking controls blessing Owen began his approach to the planet bringing the freighter into the atmosphere. As Owen flew through the cold night air of Foundry suddenly he felt something strong in the pit of his stomach, it was as if it told him to turn back, but why? Owen immediately grabbed his chest. "Ughhh, what's wrong?" he wondered barely keeping the ship steady.
It was almost as if the force was trying to tell him something, Owen then remembered the premonitions and thoughts he had before. "No, it can't be" he said to himself.
"The council assured me we'd be fine, this is nothing" stated Owen with little faith deep down.
Shrugging off the sudden rush with the force Owen recouped himself. "I must continue"
Arriving at the correct docking bay Owen set the bulky freighter down, despite what he felt deep down Owen was ready for what he had to do.
Meanwhile just outside the disguised freighter.
Five of the docks battle droids approached to clear the cargo, the ships ramp then descended and slowly out stepped a disguised Owen Sun clad in a black robe and hood covering his body and face, the only thing visible was his mouth.
The ranking battle droid stepped forward to greet the freighter pilot. "I assume everything's alright" implied Owen well in disguise.
"We will have to clear your cargo" replied the ranking battle droid plainly.
"Of course, I think you'll find everything in order" stated Owen.
"Check the ship" ordered the ranking battle droid.
"Roger, roger" replied the two other battle droids ascending up the ramp and into the freighter.
After a little while the two battle droids returned. "Everything appears to be on board" informed one of the returning battle droids.
"But some of the cargo was missing" added the other battle droid.
"You'll find the rest of it in the storage compartments when you unload the ship" assured Owen.
"Very well, everything looks to be in order, now all we need to see is your shipping manifest" finalized the ranking battle droid.
This was it, only official CIS freighters are given shipping manifests, Owen knew it was time to make his move.
"Of course, let me just get it out for you" replied Owen reaching for his lightsaber.
Suddenly Owens bright yellow blade lit the dark Foundry docks up and in an instant he had swiped the two droids in front of him in half, behind him the two returning droids opened fire but Owen blocked the blaster shots with his saber and cut their cone like droid heads right off. The last droid ran to warn dock security but Owen threw his saber putting a hole straight through him, as his saber returned to him the docking bay alarm rang out. In just seconds a whole line of droidekas rolled in and sat up activating their shields. "Great" he thought.
The droidekas opened up with heavy fire lighting the docks up as Owen blocked each shot, knowing he couldn't keep this up he then picked up several of the firing droids and threw them into one another. With just three left quickly Owen used his force crush on one droideka, twirled in the air and sliced another in half from behind, then tossed the final one off the docking bay platform.
So far for Owen it had been easy pickings but that would change as an entire group of super battle droids stormed the docks. Owen back flipped out of the way just in time as a wrist rocket blast made impact next to him, discarding the robe Owens bright features became relevant again as his shoulder length jet blond hair and white Jedi garment were now visible. The group of advancing super battle droids fired a flurry of more wrist rockets as Owen jumped high into the air to escape the blast, nearby he then noticed an unmanned turret just ahead of him. So using his mind Owen turned the turret towards the group of droids and reduced them to scrap, just a few remained as he crushed the barrel of the turret with a fist and leapt towards the last four super battle droids. Cutting the first in half Owen then used his saber like a harpoon and threw it through the chest of two droids at once, retrieving his lightsaber Owen cut the remaining droids arms off then took its legs, what was left of the super battle droid squirmed on the ground, Owen twirled his saber into the droids gut and put an end to all resistance, the docks were clear, for now.
Owen knew it would only be a matter of time until they would regroup and send more droids so he quickly jumped into the freighter and tapped on the storage compartments assuring the squad that it was clear. "Gear up and I'll meet you in front of the ship" ordered Owen.
"Yes Commander Sun, but where are you going?" wondered Ketros.
"I just need to grab something from the cockpit" replied Owen.
Eventually Owen made his way to the front of the ship and met back up with Captain Ketros and the squad of ACS Troopers. "You ready?" asked Owen.
"Yes Sir, we are more than ready" replied Ketros.
Owen nodded looking towards the 12 heavily armed ACS Troopers. "Okay, lets go" he stated.
Getting far enough away from the ship Owen then stopped and activated the freighters auto-pilot on his belt. "Commander, what are you doing?" wondered Ketros.
In a gush of wind Captain Ketros' question was answered as the freighter lifted off the docking platform and into the sky. "What's going on Sir?" asked Ketros.
"I've set in a course in the atmosphere nearby" answered Owen.
Ketros looked confused. "You didn't think I was going to leave our getaway here to be destroyed" stated Owen.
"No Sir of course not" replied Captain Ketros.
With the freighter now gone Owen and the squad made their way to a group of nearby speeders, taking five of them they piled in and followed the leading speeder holding Owen, Ketros, and another ACS Trooper. Owen used his datapads map to guide him towards the center of the mechanized world holding their main line of production, key factories, and of course the core.
After several minutes of traveling Ketros spotted their objectives. "Look, over there" he pointed out.
"I see it Captain" replied Owen watching his datapad close.
Owen spotted the factories as they got closer, as well as the many droids guarding them, right away Owen knew what he wanted to do, he grabbed his communicator to inform the other four speeders of his plan. "Alright everyone, there's plenty of droids guarding those factories so just follow my lead" he relayed.
Owen began to increase his speed as Ketros leaned over. "Excuse me Sir, but what are you doing?"
"Were going to use these speeders to our advantage" answered Owen.
"How so?" wondered Captain Ketros.
"A little trick I learned in combat on Thule, just get you and your man ready to fire" replied Owen.
"You heard him, get ready" ordered Ketros to the only other ACS Trooper on the back of the speeder.
With his blond hair waving fiercely through the windy night sky Owen blasted onto the docks surprising an entire platoon of droids. "Open fire!" he shouted to Ketros and the other ACS Trooper.
As the other speeders arrived behind them they followed their Jedi Commanders lead streaking in and around the factories mowing down and picking off droids, the fast moving speeders were impossible targets for the droids, Owens plan was genius.
He zipped in and out of the action dodging the intense fire as Ketros and the single ACS Trooper continued their shooting from the back taking out droid after droid. "Watch the crossfire!" warned Owen shouting into his communicator.
Eventually only a handful of droids remained, sensing the opportunity Ketros detached the end of his advanced DC-17m pulse rifle and placed the anti-armor attachment on. On the speed by Ketros stood up and fired a single grenade shot into the overwhelmed droids incinerating them all at once. "Nice job Captain, you better hang on" cautioned Owen.
Gathering up enormous speed Owen took the speeder back round and was headed right for the factory doors. "When I say, jump!" yelled Owen over the speeder.
Ripping towards the door at blinding speed he gave the signal. "NOW!" shouted Owen.
Jumping off all three of them rolled out of the way as the speeder exploded on impact creating a door for them inside. Collecting himself Owen walked over to the regrouped squad. "Ughh, now I see how you got your reputation Commander" commented Ketros.
Owen smirked. "Lets go, we've got a lot to do"
Moving past the carnage on the walkway they made their way into the first key factory building, stealthily moving in it didn't take them long to find what they were looking for, Owen whipped out his optics to survey the huge factory in the distance. "There it is" said Owen plainly.
"So how do we destroy them, just set a charge on the machine itself?" wondered Ketros.
"First we take out the generators then we set the charge that will shut it down completely" explained Owen.
"I'll take a few of your men and hit the one on the right, you take the one on the left" relayed Owen referring to the two generators powering the droid factory.
"I trust you guys can handle that on your own" added Owen.
"You betcha Sir" replied Ketros with conviction.
"Okay, you four with me" picked out Owen as he set up to the right.
Captain Ketros moved the rest of his squad up with him to the left.
Owen waited patiently as the battle droid walked towards him on his patrol, just as he turned to head back Owen made his move. Springing out from behind cover he quickly sliced the hapless battle droid in half, motioning the four troopers out they made their way towards the alerted droids.
To the left Captain Ketros jumped into action as his Jedi Commander began the engagement on the right, as heavy fire rained upon them Ketros' inbred senses and training kicked into gear. "I want a sniper up there, you three lay down some cover fire!" he ordered.
As the troopers gave them cover Ketros moved up with what was left of the squad from cover to cover. "In twos, up!" he ordered pointing forward.
Moving up Ketros and the four troopers were hit a few times but their state of the art shields took the brunt of it, noticing a chance to flank the droids via an opening to the right Ketros seized the opportunity. "You two stay here and give us cover!" he issued over the heavy fire.
So including the four from the rear the group of six ACS Troopers laid down cover fire against the superior force in front of them. Ketros took just two troopers with him as he flanked the larger force, getting into position he had one of his troopers equip the anti-armor attachment to his DC-17m pulse rifle.
Captain Ketros gave a simple one, two, three order with his fingers and finally the order to engage, springing up from behind cover Ketros and his two ACS Troopers completely surprised the large force of CIS droids, they were obliterated as Ketros and his two troops tore right through them. One stubborn super battle droid remained as it surprised the three of them and knocked two of the troops to the ground, with the two ACS Troopers on the ground defenseless the droid turned to fire its wrist blaster. Immediately Ketros jumped into action throwing himself on top of the large droid, as they tumbled to the ground Ketros stabbed at its neck with his suits melee weapon on his wrist, eventually the super battle droid stopped moving becoming dismantled. Captain Ketros had saved his troopers life, it was just a testament to how much he cared about his men. "Thank you Sir, you saved our skins" thanked the ACS Trooper.
"Think nothing of…" Ketros was cut off as another super battle droid surprised him to the right.
Just as the three of them brought up their pulse rifles the droids head was blown right off, looking in the distance Ketros motioned his hand to the ACS Trooper with the sniper attachment in thanks. As Ketros' portion of the squad met back up he quickly gave his orders. "Put a charge on that generator" motioned Ketros.
To the right Owen and the four ACS Troopers were mopping up the last of the droids protecting the generator and droid manufacturing machine. Owen threw the last set in his way into the steel wall shattering their mechanical droid bodies, placing a charge on the generator Owen regrouped with Ketros and the rest of the squad as the first factory building had been cleared. Just as both generators went up the huge droid manufacturing machine lost power and shut down. "Place a charge on both sides of that machine" ordered Owen.
"Right away Sir" replied two ACS Troopers.
As they finished placing the charges everyone ran to cover. "Fire in the hole!" shouted one of the retreating ACS Troopers that placed the charges.
BOOM! the entire machine went up in flames.
"That should throw at knot into droid production" commented Captain Ketros.
"Yeah, that wasn't so bad" replied an ACS Trooper.
Suddenly a loud ruckus was heard outside interrupting their small victory. "What in the galaxy is that?" questioned an ACS Trooper.
It didn't take long to find out as the whole side of the factory building was blown right off sending Owen and the squad flying, shockingly in stepped a spider droid through the smoke and flames. "Look at the size of that thing" commented an ACS Trooper.
"Hurry, get to some cover, I want a base of fire from that position, anti-armor attachments only!" ordered Ketros.
Moving to various cover throughout the beaten up factory the squad of ACS Troopers pounded the spider droid with everything they had. "Aim for the red eye!" shouted Ketros nailing the droid with all the rifle shots he could muster.
As one of the ACS Troopers scored a hit dead on in between the red eye of the spider droid it turned and nearly melted the three firing ACS Troopers with its beam cannon. "Get out of there!" cried Captain Ketros.
The spider droid although fierce and intimidating was losing the battle as it was now on fire and smoking from all the damage it was quickly taking. Sensing an opportunity Ketros quickly got hold of a plasma grenade and tossed it right into the center eye of the droid, in a huge blast the spider droid erupted into flames as pieces of it flew everywhere. Standing up after the smoke and debris cleared Captain Ketros congratulated his men. "Nice job squad…real nice job"
Nearby Owen was just coming to from the blast. "Good job Captain, I'm starting to see why they bred you to be the best" he commented.
"Thank you Sir" replied Ketros with esteem.
"Well best or not if we don't hurry and get this done we won't make it outta here, if they haven't heard about our strike on the docks and our battle on the walkway then I'm sure they heard all these explosions" stated Owen.
They stepped out of the decimated factory building. "So which one do we hit next" wondered Ketros staring at each factory.
"Both" stated Owen.
"What, are you sure Commander?" questioned Ketros.
"We'll have to take our chances and this one to the left is far bigger then any of them, I'll need to go in alone and set the charges myself" explained Owen.
"But Sir there's bound to be an entire platoon in there" cautioned Ketros.
"I don't plan on letting them see me, I have to do this quietly and more of you would only draw unwanted attention to myself" stated Owen.
"You take your men and destroy the factory building to the right, we'll meet up outside in the back once it's all finished" relayed Owen.
"Yes Sir" obeyed Captain Ketros.
"And remember, their bound to be on to us soon so get in and out as quick as possible" added Owen.
"It's what we specialize in Sir" replied Ketros.
As they were about to split up a group of droids opened fire on them catching Ketros square in the chest. "AHHHHH!" he cried.
The rest of the squad laid down fire as Owen attended to Captain Ketros. "You alright?" he asked.
"Yeah…ughhh, wasn't even close" assured Ketros.
"Are you sure?" questioned Owen.
"I'm fine Sir go" pleaded Ketros.
He hesitated. "Just go Sir, please, we don't have much time" stated Ketros.
Owen knew he was right and departed heading towards the large factory building to the left.
He got in from the top slicing a hole with his saber through the metal rooftop, looking down Owen could see thousands of droids, weapons, even battle tanks being manufactured on a large scale. He wasted little time and gently dropped down into the large factory, a battle droid turned round to see the brief noise it heard, staying level to the ground and perched next to cover Owen didn't move a muscle. To his relief eventually the battle droid went about his business and continued on his patrol, slowly sneaking his way around the many droids present Owen placed a charge on the first generator, it took him a while but eventually he placed another charge on the second generator, but then suddenly Owen had alerted a nearby super battle droid as it turned round to face him, without hesitation he instantly sawed the droids head off with his lightsaber, looking around to his good fortune no other droids had been alerted by this. "(Whew), that was too close" he said quietly.
Owen then dragged the droids bulky body to cover, now all he had to do was place one more charge on the manufacturing machine itself which wasn't going to be easy as it was heavily guarded.
Meanwhile a recovered Captain Ketros and his squad continued through the other factory.
Ketros was a brilliant tactician as he moved his squad around strategically confusing the larger CIS force, he moved them from sniper positions to anti-armor and to support positions outmaneuvering the staggering CIS threat.
The droids guarding the factory were slowly diminishing as Captain Ketros seized his short window of opportunity. "Get some charges on those generators!" he shouted.
"Right Sir" obeyed the ACS Trooper.
"Squad, cover him" ordered Ketros.
As the lone ACS Trooper made his way to both generators placing each charge Ketros and his squad covered him laying waste to the battered droids in his way. The trooper eventually returned completing his orders. "Push that detonator" commanded Captain Ketros.
In a huge blast the two generators exploded rendering the manufacturing machine useless. "Now let's make sure they don't get the machine up and working again, put a charge there" steered Ketros pointing towards the manufacturing machine.
But suddenly one of the unmanned super battle tank guns began to turn. "Sir, look out that turret is active!" warned an ACS Trooper.
"Scratch that last order I want that tank taken out, anti-armor mark that position" ordered Ketros frantically.
Back in the previous factory with Owen Sun.
Owen had gotten as close as he could without being seen, it was too far to correctly place a charge on so he devised a makeshift charge of his own. Placing a thermal detonator on the charge the detonator would set off the demo charge blowing up the machine and droids guarding it instantaneously.
So quickly Owen stood up revealing himself and activated the thermal detonator and threw it towards the manufacturing machine, he used the force to steady his throw and guide the thrown charge directly onto the machine. "Over there, blast em" ordered the Sergeant battle droid.
Owen quickly ducked back down and the huge manufacturing machine exploded turning the factory to fire and smoke, the few droids that did survive were able to find his location through the blaze but right when they did Owen set off the charges on the generators, the droids were caught in the blast and destroyed along with the generators.
Collecting himself Owen stepped through the smoke and fire and out the blown out back door of the factory, he immediately made his way to the right factory building to check on the ACS Troopers and their progress but as he arrived the 12 troopers stepped out of the ruin that was the factory and met back up with their Jedi Commander just as he ordered. "I see you handled yourselves just fine" greeted Owen.
"Not bad, eh Commander Sun" replied Ketros.
Owen smirked. "Good job Captain, don't let it go to your head"
"Is that all of em" wondered an ACS Trooper.
"Not quite trooper, there's still plenty more where were headed next, the production line" answered Owen.
"But the ones we did destroy were a portion of the main hub for factory production on the planet, so that should diminish them somewhat" Owen added.
"But there's still plenty more right Sir" implied an overeager Captain Ketros.
"That's right and we need to…" Owen stopped in mid speech as he caught site of a large force of droids headed their way.
The squad then caught sight of the droids marching towards them in straight lines. "This way, come on" motioned Owen.
But as they made their way left yet another large force of lined up droids were marching their way, Owen pulled them back again. "Sir that's gotta be two whole companies" stated an observant ACS Trooper.
"Looks like were too late, their already on to us" commented Ketros.
"That doesn't matter now we've got to fight our way outta here" replied Owen.
"We can take them no problem" stated an overeager ACS Trooper in the squad.
Owen moved past the comment made by the seemingly suicidal ACS Trooper and looked around for a possible route to retreat to, he then spotted a corridor behind them, it wasn't much but it was the only way out of there. "Follow me squad!" shouted Owen.
In a hasty retreat Owen and the squad of ACS Troopers fell back, at the end of the corridor there was a wide open area, he quickly looked for another way out but there was none, they were trapped.
The squad of 12 ACS Troopers looked to their Jedi Commander for some answers as the lines of droids grew closer, Owen stared right into Ketros' glimmering dark green visor. "Captain, you know what to do" he stated.
"Yes Sir!" replied Ketros knowing exactly what he meant.
"Okay I want you three to set up a barricade here, I want everyone spread out firing from different positions no bunching up, I want two snipers, one up high and one on the ground, you two will…" Ketros went on continuing to setup a defensive for the arduous battle to come.
While Captain Ketros set things up Owen returned from scouting the advancing droid force. "How many are there?" wondered Ketros.
"You don't want to know" replied Owen.
"I slowed them down a little but there's a lot of droids still coming this way" he added.
"How are the defenses coming?" asked Owen.
"I've setup a standard defense of an outnumbered military situation, everyone's spread out pretty well, it should make us tougher targets" explained Ketros.
"But the good thing is the only way into the area is via that corridor" added Ketros.
"Well, at least they'll know where to aim" commented Owen.
Sounds of trampling feet were suddenly heard close by, Owen ran up to the corridor to check it out, getting a glimpse he quickly turned back. "Get your men ready" ordered Owen quietly.
"Okay squad, into formation" relayed Ketros quietly using lit and noise discipline.
As everyone got into position every ACS Trooper waited anxiously for the first droid to step through out of the dark corridor. Even though Owen had been in situations like this numerous times before it never got easier as his heart pounded frantically waiting for the chaos to begin.
Silence hung in the air like a blade as each ACS Trooper had their fingers primed on the triggers ready to waste the first thing they saw, Ketros had the detonator in his hands. "Wait until the explosion" he reminded.
In a split second suddenly the first few droids stepped through firing off a few shots, Captain Ketros immediately detonated the explosive charge incinerating the first batch of droids. As each droid poured into the corridor blinding fire was thrown back and forth lighting up the area in red and blue plasma.
After just a few minutes of this droids began to start piling up in the area around the corridor, it seemed like despite the overwhelming numbers Owen and the ACS Troopers were finding a way win this battle. "Get clean shots, aim for the heads and chassis" instructed Captain Ketros guiding his men.
But suddenly a huge explosion shook the immediate area and from another section to the left droids began to pour through the new blown out hole made. "Oh no" thought Owen.
Just when things were looking optimistic this new hole the CIS droids had punched could easily cause disaster for them, Ketros wasn't fazed by this a bit. "Come on men, let's show them why were the best, give em all you got!" he shouted over the hellacious laser fire.
Captain Ketros inspiring words had certainly rejuvenated his men as they tore into the advancing droids, for each droid that entered the area another one dropped, Owen did his part as well deflecting shots with his lightsaber back at the menacing droids. But when it looked like things were going to come out alright an uncountable number of droidekas rolled in and sat up, several were hit and destroyed before they could activate their shields but as each one did they opened up on Owen and the squad of only 12 ACS Troopers.
Immediately they were forced behind cover and pinned down, as more and more droids poured in to support the firing droidekas their defenses began to crumble. Plus even behind cover the squad was still vulnerable, the menacing fire was that bad. They were forced to retreat deeper into the area until their backs were literally to the wall, there was no escape now.
But Owen wasn't about to lie down and accept his fate, peering around he noticed a sealed opening, pulling out his saber Owen cut a hole through the large opening and stepping inside he noticed a path leading downwards, it was good enough for him.
Getting back to the squad Owen instructed them on what to do. "Get going I'll buy you some time" he ordered.
"But Sir alone you won't stand a…" Ketros was immediately interrupted.
"That's an order Captain, move!" he commanded.
"Yes Sir!" replied an obedient Captain Ketros.
Owen force jumped right into the fire as he attacked the superior droid force head on, pulling out his lightsaber Owen sliced through anything he swung at, it didn't take long for batches of mangled droid bodies to start piling up around him, but with the distraction Ketros and his men got out descending into the unknown opening. Owen was a droid killing machine laying waste to anything in his path but for every droid he slew two more would rise up and take its place, it was a losing cause so after crushing a set of super battle droids with a simple fist he jumped into the opening and ran after the squad of ACS Troopers.
After venturing down the pathway and running several minutes through a dark domed hallway Owen finally caught up with Ketros and his men, arriving he found himself in a surprising location. Peering around the high room Owen noticed several large openings along with a set of stairs in the center of the dimly lit room leading up to the Techno Union logo. "You guys alright?" wondered Owen.
"Yes Sir, our shields took a heck of a beating but other than that were fine" informed Ketros.
"Good, we've go to figure out where were at" replied Owen.
"It's funny, the droids that were chasing us don't seem to be following us now" commented Ketros.
Owen began to think about it and it was funny, going back over the entire thing in his head it was as if they were herded into here. Then, it suddenly hit Owen. "No…no, it can't be" he stated in disbelief.
All around them suddenly the openings swung shut and durasteel came down in there place, the room was then brightly lit up revealing reinforced durasteel all around them. "Now what" stated Ketros.
Continuing to battle his thoughts Owen wouldn't believe what the force was telling him. "No, no I'm wrong, the council said so" he stated questioning himself.
"Uh Sir, what's going on" asked an ACS Trooper.
Then in front of them at the top of the stairs in the center of the durasteel room on the platform a steel panel rose up from underneath the floor revealing a familiar face of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. It was Wat Tambor the Foreman of the Techno Union.
"Wat Tambor, wouldn't expect to find you here" scuffed Owen.
Tambors physical body required a specially designed pressurized suit to breathe and maintain himself in most atmospheres, an unfortunate requirement of his Skakoan race, thereby a mechanical voicebox did the talking for him.
Fidgeting with the many knobs and switches on his frame Tambor responded. "Did you really think that I was going to let you disrupt our operations here"
"This is not Castell Jedi" he added in his off key robotic tone.
"How long are we going to listen to this tin can, let's take him down" stated Ketros.
"No, he's bound to have backup" stopped Owen.
"But Sir" argued Ketros.
"I sense no harm will come to us, stand down for now" interjected Owen.
"Wise move Jedi, besides, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise" replied Tambor.
"Bring him in" he ordered.
Suddenly two of the durasteel openings slid up revealing several droids with a lone figure tied up and under guard, Owen couldn't see the obvious prisoner as his face was covered in a black shroud. "Show them" commanded the Foreman of the Techno Union.
One of the super battle droids then reached out and pulled off the mask over his face, Owen was in complete shock as he felt his insides sink. "You…how can it be you" stated Owen.
It was the Temple aid that had bumped into him on Coruscant, slowly the final piece clicked into place as everything slid into focus, Owens premonitions were right, it was all a trap…
Owen hung his head clinching his jaw in frustration, how could he of been so stupid not to trust himself, now it was too late. "Does it all make sense to you now Jedi" implied Tambor eyeing the Jedi's reaction to the prisoner.
"Sir what's going on?" wondered Ketros without a clue as to what was going down.
"I see your clone prototypes aren't as bright as I'd thought they'd be" commented Tambor.
"Allow me to explain everything" he added.
"After our unfortunate loss on Castell we knew the Republic would be overconfident of itself so we released false statements of our droid army resources, as I expected the blind and predictable Senate saw only numbers and when our little friend here told us about the details of the new operation we prepared ourselves for an enemy arrival……I expected more of a clone army to kill though, but I guess making sure 12 rare clone prototypes are never created again will certainly do" revealed Tambor.
"Wait a minute, this was all a trap, we were baited in here" replied Ketros in disbelief.
"Smart clone…and you could imagine my delight when I learned that famed Jedi Knight Owen Sun would be leading the mission…Shu Mai will thank me greatly for killing you here and now" he added.
"Enough Tambor!" shouted Owen coming to terms with things.
Owen looked down to the ashamed Temple aid. "How could you…how could you betray us like this"
He nearly had tears in his eyes as he pleaded his case to Owen. "Please Master Jedi you must understand they had taken my family prisoner and threatened to kill them if I didn't give them the information they wanted"
"I do not deserve to live" he cried haplessly.
"Correct, you won't" stated Tambor as the super battle droid kicked him to the ground.
Owens flipped the red activation switch and his yellow lightsaber hissed open. "Let him go" he stated sternly.
Suddenly from varying positions around the durasteel room several lasers came into focus pointing themselves directly at Owen and the squad of ACS Troopers, Owen withdrew his blade as he knew one single shot from the intimidating lasers would turn them to dust. "Good, now kill him" ordered Tambor.
"No please, help me!" pleaded the Temple aid.
There was nothing Owen could do as he watched him make a run for it. "NOOOOO!" he cried running away.
One of the lasers vaporized him into nothing as he ran for the opening, looking at what little was left of him Owen knew the force had made it's choice, he had paid the ultimate price for betraying the Republic. "I'm afraid it's your turn" stated Tambor.
"Kill them!" he ordered through his robotic voicebox.
Owen quickly dodged the lasers harsh beam as he back flipped out of the way. "You take out those droids, I'll get rid of the lasers" relayed Owen.
Captain Ketros and his squad opened up throwing everything they had at the numerous droids in front of them, Owen preoccupied the lasers attention twisting and turning in the air avoiding being fried to a crisp. Taking out the first few with his lightsaber he quickly had to think fast as the lasers began to work together coordinating their fire to fry the Jedi in a crisscross, Owen continued moving around avoiding the beams and getting a small window of opportunity he reached out and pulled three of the lasers off of their moorings. He then threw his blade at the fast moving lasers and as his saber twirled its way around the room cutting into and destroying any lasers it connected with Owen reached out and crushed the final two lasers with the force.
His saber returned to him as Ketros and his men destroyed the last of the CIS droids. Wat Tambor looked on distressed. "Give it up Tambor, nothing you do will defeat us" stated Owen.
"Oh I disagree Jedi, I suspected I may need something extra to defeat you and after mentioning who you were he insisted to come and take care of you personally" replied Tambor.
Owen was puzzled as he hadn't the slightest idea who he was referring to, suddenly the entire durasteel room began to shake knocking the ACS Troopers on their rears, then the platform Tambor was standing on began to descend underneath the floor. Owen quickly ran up the steps trying to keep his balance but the Techno Union Foreman escaped just in time as a grate of durasteel locked into place were the platform had been. "I'll be sure to retrieve your body once the great General is done with you" said Tambor with his last words as he descended.
"General?" questioned Ketros.
Owen didn't have a chance to respond as underneath them a flurry of steel grates began to rise up, they looked all around wondering where whoever it was would arise from. Then as Owen had his back turned the grate finished its ascension and behind him emerged the daunting 'General Grievous', Owen slowly turned around not believing who it was. "Hello Jedi" said Grievous in his sickly mechanical voice.
Owen Sun was in awe as he gasped at his intimidating cyborg body, he just couldn't believe that the droid General was here and now. "Your reputation precedes you Jedi, I'm here to correct that" threatened General Grievous.
Next to him from all sides three magnaguards emerged. "You ready for me Jedi?" wondered Grievous waiting for Owen to act.
"You take the magnaguards, Grievous is mine!" stated Owen.
As Ketros and his men engaged the three magnaguards Owen and Grievous were ready for their own battle, right away Owen ignited his saber revealing his bright shimmering yellow blade. Grievous wasted little time grabbing two sabers from his waistband and igniting them in his long mechanical six fingered forearms.
As Grievous went for the first strike Owen dived in between his legs dodging the harsh blow, Owen went for a swipe at his lower leg but Grievous easily kicked him away using his prehensile mechanical leg. With Owen on the ground Grievous tried to stomp him dead using his large deadly legs and claw like feet, Owen rolled back and forth trying to stay out of the way but Grievous grabbed Owen easily with one of them and threw him hard into the unforgiving durasteel wall.
Owen felt like he had just been broken in two. "Your pathetic Jedi" mocked Grievous.
Jumping back into action Owen jumped and twirled in mid-air catching the droid General off guard as he caught him underneath his heavily armed chest plate, Grievous cradled his chest as Owen stood waiting for him. "You were saying" stated Owen.
"AHHHHH!" Grievous let out a harsh mechanical yell as he lunged at Owen.
Owen blocked each deadly strike as the great General bore down on him with all of his mechanized fury, despite Owens earlier strike on Grievous he couldn't get close enough to him to do any damage, the droid General kept him busy and at bay with his fierce strikes and long mechanical arms.
On the other side of the room Captain Ketros and his squad of ACS Troopers were in quite a fight of their own with General Grievous' magnaguard bodyguards. Engaging each magnaguard in separated battles one of the them knocked two ACS Troops to the ground with a hefty swing of its electro-staff, taking advantage of the nearest fallen trooper the magnaguard was ready to jam its staff straight through him. Catching this at the last moment Ketros turned his attention to the unaware magnaguard, jumping on top of it Ketros jammed his pulse rifle into the magnaguards neck and let loose a punishing array of fire directly into its neck, the magnaguard fell down instantly out of action. "Thanks Sir" thanked the groggy ACS Trooper.
With two left Captain Ketros split up the squad into teams of six to hit each one with concentrated fire, even as the magnaguard moved all around dodging the heavy fire it was too much for it as it was backed into a corner and slowly but surely laid to waste by the heavy concentrated fire of Ketros and the 5 other ACS Troopers, now there was just one to go as they all moved in to surround and take out the remaining magnaguard.
Owen and Grievous continued their hellacious fight turning the section of the room they were fighting in to scrap as it was in ruin, in a break in the unending parrying and blocking action on Owens part he stretched out his hand to try and use the force on Grievous but it wasn't working, he was too strong and to do any kind of damage Owen needed his mind fully focused. So instead he pulled a section of durasteel off the nearby wall using his mind and launched it right into an advancing General Grievous. The droid General stumbled getting himself back up. "You'll have to do better than that Jedi" he mocked.
Quickly though Owen force jumped and wall kicked off the durasteel grate, the unorthodox move threw Grievous off and Owen had a clear chance to end the droid General right then as his unique droid head was vulnerable to attack but at the last second Grievous turned his head sideways avoiding disaster. Missing his swipe Owen flipped to the ground underneath him and tried jabbing his lightsaber into his frame, Grievous quickly rebounded nailing him square in the chest. Collecting himself Owen stood up and immediately threw his saber at General Grievous at blinding speed, but Grievous build-in intuitiveness sensed it coming and caught the lightsaber with his prehensile foot. "What are you going to do now Jedi, you have no way of defending yourself" scuffed Grievous.
Steadying his mind Owen reached out his hand and pulled the great Generals claw like foot apart, then with his free hand he tossed Grievous back into the durasteel wall. Grievous stood up in disgust. "How did you do that?" he questioned angrily.
Retrieving his lightsaber Owen responded. "A strong mind will always prevail over brute force"
"Says you Jedi" replied Grievous.
Via a well placed plasma grenade Ketros and the entire squad of ACS Troopers had destroyed the final magnaguard, now they all closed in on the great General to end this. "Ha, you think you've beaten me, you've yet to see the full extent of my power!" warned Grievous.
"Give it up Grievous, your surrounded" replied Owen.
Shockingly another set of mechanical forearms detached from General Grievous, he now had all four of his arms out as he grabbed another two lightsabers from his waist belt. Menacingly Grievous' four arms started spinning at blinding speed, they were moving so fast you couldn't possibly tell where he was going to strike. Slowly Owen and the squad backed up as Grievous moved towards them with his murderous winding arms. "Watch his arms closely, wait for him to strike" cautioned Owen.
Suddenly going from bad to worse the durasteel grates underneath their feet began to retract leaving dangerous gaps to fall into, it caught two separate ACS Troopers completely by surprise as the retracting grate was faster than they were and they fell into the seemingly bottomless gap disappearing down below into the dark. "AHHHHHHHHHH!" cried the unsuspecting ACS Troopers falling to their deaths.
Ketros was in shock as he had lost his first two men. "NOOOOO!" he cried watching them fall into the dark.
Grievous continued advancing towards them waiting for the perfect moment to strike, four ACS troopers became hemmed in by his wildly spinning arms and were instantly cut to pieces as he moved his arms brutally into them. Captain Ketros didn't know what to think, just like that half his squad was gone. They were almost completely back against the wall as Grievous continued spinning his arms at blinding speed towards them, so all at once they attacked Grievous throwing everything they had at him. Owen twirled into the air over the droid Generals head and tried striking him from behind but Grievous simply batted him away with a shift of his arms, Owen connected head first with the durasteel wall knocking him almost completely out. "Commander!" cried Ketros.
General Grievous continued his domination making mince meat out of two more ACS Troopers with his blinding fast saber wielding arms. Owen was just getting to his feet as Grievous knocked another two in the squad into one of the opened grates, with just two ACS Troopers left out of the whole squad Ketros fearlessly provided cover as the other lone trooper snuck in from behind. Grievous became infuriated as Ketros pegged him square between the eyes. "Come here you!" growled General Grievous lunging for him.
Ketros dodged Grievous long mechanical arms rolling out of the way and firing when he could, Ketros then found himself right under Grievous as he let loose all the blue plasma he could fire with his pulse rifle. Then quickly he placed on his anti-armor attachment and fired a single blast into Grievous belly, the droid Generals durably armored body caught most of the blast however. Finally the lone ACS Trooper spotted his chance as he jumped on top of Grievous head but the droid General got hold of the lone ACS Trooper before he could use his plasma grenade and threw him into the opened grate. Springing into action quickly Owen instantly cut two of Grievous mechanical arms right off, a surprised General Grievous then grabbed Owen by the throat with one of his remaining arms. "You're going to regret that" he stated.
Owen starred right into Grievous sickly yellow eyes as he thrust him against the durasteel wall. "Time to put an end to you once and for all Jedi" gleamed Grievous turning his lightsabers.
Just as the droid General was about to end it Owen reached out with everything he had left in his mind and with a mashing of his fist he crushed a portion of Grievous' mechanical insides. He immediately dropped Owen and fell to the ground coughing his Kaleesh heart out, Owen knew it would only delay him temporarily so quickly he rallied a winded Captain Ketros. "Sorry Sir, he caught me with his left leg and it sent me flying" apologized Ketros.
"If anything I should be apologizing to you for losing all your men, but we can't worry about that now we've got to get outta here" replied Owen.
"But Sir there's no way out" stated Captain Ketros.
Looking around Owen threw his lightsaber like a spear and it stuck right through the thick durasteel wall, grabbing the hilt of his blade Owen used all his strength and turned it round cutting a hole through the durasteel. At the end of the rotation he kicked in the burnt out durasteel and hurried though it. "Come on, we don't have much time" motioned Owen.
Owen and Ketros made their way through the unknown droid facility and eventually found their way outside, as they stepped out into the dark night again it was pouring rain now on Foundry and on top of that there was a coarse wind causing the rain the blow in from the side. As they ran down the uncharted walkway Owen activated the freighters auto-pilot on his belt. "It should be here in a few minutes, we've got to hurry" informed Owen pointing to his datapad.
As they continued on running as fast as they could through the windy night rain following his datapads signal sure enough they found themselves being chased by an unending wave of droids. Owen then spotted the end of the platform where the ship would be. "There it is, come on" pointed Owen.
Running down the narrow platform Ketros' shields absorbed a lot of damage as the pursuing droids were now in shooting distance away from them, as Owen got to the end first via his force speed the freighter was already in the air ready and waiting for them, with a flick of his wrist the ships loading ramp opened and he jumped up. Ketros was still a ways away as he got closer and closer to the freighters ramp. "Come on, come on!" shouted Owen holding out his hand over the blinding wind and rain.
Captain Ketros was right there as he attempted to reach out and grab his Jedi Commanders hand but just as he did completely out of nowhere General Grievous appeared behind him and with a murderous swipe of both his blades sawed Ketros' head and torso from his body.
Owen hung his head in defeat as Ketros fell into three separate pieces right in front of his eyes, without even thinking Owen instinctively shut the loading ramp and hit the auto-pilot to take off. Getting to the cockpit Owen knew he wasn't out of the fire yet as he took the helm. As he hit orbit he immediately noticed hundreds of Separatists fighters chasing the slow bulky freighter down, the freighter wasn't designed for combat and it would only take a few precise hits to knock him out of the air.
Suddenly the freighter shook as it was hit head on by the pursuing enemy fighters. "Blast it, I've gotta get out of here" cursed Owen.
Two more hits rang home as fire and smoke now broke out in the cockpit, frantically being far enough away now Owen punched in the hyperspace coordinates. Just as the Separatists fighters let loose with their heavy weapons the freighter shot into hyperspace leaving the pursuing enemy fighters behind.
A soaking wet Owen Sun leaned back in his cockpit chair and gasped catching his belated breath. So many things were swirling around his head at once, the mission failure, this whole thing being a setup, him being right and the council being wrong, Grievous, and of coarse the death of every ACS Trooper under his command including Captain Ketros. It was a horrible feeling as Owen knew that it would be impossible to clone more like them again, but on the other side of things he had narrowly escaped with his life.
As the freighter speeded through hyperspace barely intact Owen Sun felt just as battered and beaten both physically and mentally as the ship itself.