Hello and welcome to Surviving, Chapter 2. As promised, this chapter will deal with the Dark Jedi, Kanar Revv as he struggles with his decision to defect. This chapter actually takes places a little while before the first one, by a few weeks, so Order 66 hasn't been initiated yet. I don't own Star Wars, but I do own my OCs. I hope that you enjoy the following chapter, please remember to review and finally...thanks for reading!
Date: 19 BBY
Location: Hyperspace
The Bpfasshi Jedi-well, former Jedi, he thought to himself-Kanar Revv sat in silence and darkness as he waited for his moment. It was proving to be a very uncomfortable wait as he sat in the cramped confines of the container, as he had been doing for the past few hours. How the Separatists had managed to smuggle twenty-one or so crates onto Coruscant was a mystery to Kanar, but he had managed to accomplish it somehow. Kanar and the twenty battle droids that were accompanying him were laying in wait in order to assassinate Jedi Master Kayo Reither and the two clone trooper squads that were with him, Gurreck and Nereid squads. The purpose of this mission was to infiltrate the neutrally aligned planet of Eirrauus under the guise of Reither and his men in order sabotage any defences that the native Eirraucs might have so that Kanar could successfully pave the way for a Separatist invasion force.
"A lot of good that's going to do them considering how the war's been going so far." Kanar muttered glumly.
As he often did when he had free time, Kanar lamented as to how he had gotten himself into his present situation. This wasn't supposed to happen! I was supposed to be an artisan! Kanar thought bitterly. Kanar's mind drifted back to that horrible, wretched day when his life had changed for the worse...
Location: Pzob
Date: 22 BBY
"Kanar? What are you doing?" Kanar's Master, a reptilian Hortek by the name of Gallus Sturne had asked.
"I'm creating lightsabers, Master. I think I'm getting close to perfecting it." Kanar said as he held up his latest masterpiece.
It was a beautiful lightsaber, there was no disputing it. The hilt was made of a hard, crystalline substance, showing its inner workings; three gold rings were around the beam emitter, one on top of the other, opening only just wide enough to allow the blade to come out unobstructed and jutting out of the bottom of the hilt was a tiny yet intricately detailed gold globe of Bpfassh.
Gallus nodded in appreciation "A fine lightsaber, Kanar, it will go well with the two dozen you've already made."
Kanar smiled as he gazed at the wall were his other lightsabers were displayed. They were all ornately crafted, possessing highly unique designs. Some possessed decorative runes or illustrations while some had been crafted out of various minerals or bone. The one that Kanar was particularly proud of was his lightsaber bident, a lightsaber with two beam emitters located side by side.
"Thank you, Master. I wish you would let me make one for you. I mean no disrespect, but yours is awfully dull." Kanar said as he gave a disdainful glance at his Master's lightsaber.
Gallus gave a slight chuckle as he reached for his lightsaber "You place too much emphasis on appearance, Kanar. Your lightsabers may be elegant, but mine is practical, even if it is as you say, dull."
"Oh, Master, I'm sure that many other Jedi would love it if I crafted lightsabers for them. I know Alyss did." Kanar said, reffering to his closest friend, the Mirialan Jedi, Alyss Vrax. Kanar smiled fondly at the memory, he had managed to acquire some coral from Glee Anselm and had used it to craft a magnificent lightsaber. Alyss had absolutely lit up when he had handed her the lightsaber, as a replacement for one which had been destroyed.
The conversation would have likely continued on had a sudden explosion not rattled the lightsabers mounted on the walls. The clone trooper commander who had been assigned to the two Jedi, Commander Goblin rushed into the command centre. Goblin was dressed in the standard clone trooper armour, with yellow markings to denote his rank as commander. In addition, he had a pair of Jaig eyes painted onto his helmet, two stripes running under his visor and a rangefinder. As well as the additions to his helmet, his left shoulder pad was also much larger than his right one, mimicking the style used by the Senate Commandos.
"General Sturne, Commander Revv, come quickly! We're being ambushed by Separatist forces!" Goblin exclaimed as another explosion almost toppled the unfortunate clone commander over.
"Stang! Quickly, Kanar, we must repel this invasion! This world is too valuable to lose!" Gallus exclaimed as he activated his lightsaber and ran through the door, ready for combat.
Kanar, however, hesitated. He firmly believed that an artist had no place in battle, that was the work of a soldier, not a Jedi artisan! Nevertheless, after a brief pause, he rushed after his Master, sure that if all else failed, Sturne would at least protect him.
Outside, it was pure chaos. Explosions rang out, blaster bolts were flying everywhere and dozens of Separatist battle cruisers hung in the sky. Kanar's apple-green lightsaber blade sprang to life as hundreds, perhaps thousands of battle droids marched into the camp. Ahead of him, Gallus, Goblin and the men of the 489th Outer Corps were rushing to defend their position from the oncoming droid hordes. Both sides fired in volleys and both sides were already suffering some serious casualties. The clones had erected a simple barricade using a number of heavy, metal crates. The Separatists, however, just seemed to keep coming no matter how many were taken out by a well placed shot, whereas the number of clone troopers just kept dwindling. Aiding the droids was a sizeable force of Gamorrean mercenaries, natives who had signed on with the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
"General Sturne, we're taking heavy casualties!" Goblin exclaimed as he took down four B1 battle droids with a few precise shots.
"I know, Goblin, but have faith in the Force. I know that we can turn this around." Gallus said calmly as he deflected a blaster bolt straight into the body of a B2 super battle droid, his olive coloured lightsaber a blur.
"What can we do, Master? There's too many of them, we're outnumbered!" Kanar cried, panic creeping into his voice.
"Calm yourself, Kanar! We can win this!" Gallus said, his voice firm and confident "Follow my lead!"
And at that, Gallus leapt over the crude fortifications that the clones had made and dashed into the fray, his lightsaber a whirling death machine. Kanar hesitated once more, his fear threatening to take over. He shook his head in order to clear his thoughts, No, I can do this! I won't be afraid! Filled with newfound courage, Kanar followed his Master into combat, striking down a number of droids with quick slashes of his blade.
"C'mon, men, let's give the General and the Commander some cover!" Goblin shouted as he fired a volley of shots with his blaster rifle.
The other clone troopers rushed forward in order to aid the two Jedi in their fight. Had Kanar and Gallus been ordinary fighters, they would have undoubtedly been cut to ribbons by their own friendly fire, but due to their Jedi training, they were easily able to duck, weave and avoid the clones shots and could concentrate on their foes. The Jedi fought their way through the seemingly endless number of droids, cutting them down quickly, mechanical limbs flying. Behind the two, the clones continued to shoot, downing more and more droids.
"I don't believe it, Master! We're turning the tide!" Kanar cried out enthusiastically, and for a moment, he actually believed that they could win.
And then, he appeared.
Gallus tilted his head to the side in confusion "I sense something, something..."
And that was when he struck. He charged forward at full speed, two lightsabers lit, both raised to strike. As he moved to cut down the Hortek Jedi Master, Gallus parried in the nick of time. Behind the Jedi, the clones let out cries of shock and horror.
"No! Not him!"
"It's...It's..."
"General Grievous!" Goblin exclaimed, lowering his rifle in his surprise.
And so it was, the mechanical monstrosity who had recently slaughtered four Jedi on Hypori was currently locking lightsabers with Gallus, who was fighting furiously to keep his position. The droids stopped trying to concentrate on the Jedi and now moved to deal with the clones, who were now thoroughly demoralised by the mere sight of Grievous.
"You think that you can kill me, droid?" Gallus asked.
Grievous' eyes flared up in rage "How dare you call me a droid, Jedi scum?-! For that, I will make you suffer!"
Kanar stood paralysed in fear as his Master duelled with Grievous. What could he possibly do? If he did nothing, then his Master would be killed. Yet if he attempted to intervene, then Kanar himself would surely be killed. What could he do?
Despite his prowess with a lightsaber, Gallus soon found himself wearing down. Grievous might not have been a Jedi, but he certainly knew how to wield a lightsaber and he had the raw strength to back up his skills. Each blow was a powerhouse of energy that sent Gallus, who stood at almost two meters in height, reeling back. It seemed that all he could do was defend himself from Grievous. He parried frequently, but each attempt at defence made him weaker and weaker.
"Kanar, help me!" Gallus cried out.
But Kanar found himself rooted to the spot, too terrified to even move. His mouth hung open in shock at the sight of his Master losing. He was sweating profusely as the gravity of the situation began to set in. We're in a war! By the Force, I could die! But I'm supposed to be an artisan, not a soldier! An artisan!
Gallus was panting now, almost all of his energy used up simply countering Grievous' blows. His lightsaber was lower than it should have been.
"The time has come to end this. Goodbye, Jedi scum." Grievous said calmly.
And in that moment, Kanar's whole world shattered.
Grievous plunged both of his lightsabers into Gallus' chest, before wrenching them into separate directions, ripping Gallus apart. Kanar's eyes widened in terror and he let out a piercing cry of anguish and horror. Grievous' eyes turned to Kanar. Now that the Master has been dealt with, it's time to deal with his Padawan... Grievous thought as he slowly advanced on the trembling Bpfasshi.
Goblin, meanwhile, was beginning to find himself overwhelmed by the sheer number of the battle droid forces.
"Kriffing machines! All forces, fall back to the LAATs! Retreat, retreat!" Goblin ordered.
The surviving clone troopers ran back to the landing pads, fear giving them speed. Many of them were cut down as they fled.
"Attempting to escape? I think not." Grievous said, momentarily taking his attention off of Kanar.
Coming out of the forests were more droids. These ones however, were different. Banking Clan Hailfire droids, Heavy Anti-Air Super Battle droids and Baron battle droids rushed to join their fellows in combat. As the LAATs took off, they were quickly swatted from the sky.
"No, no!" Goblin cried out as he saw his brothers go down in fiery pieces of wreckage.
It was at that moment that his own escape craft was struck in the nose by a missile launched by a Baron battle droid and was sent plummeting back to the ground.
"And now that they are taken care of, it is time to take care of you, little Padawan." Grievous said menacingly as he walked towards Kanar, his lightsabers raised for combat.
Kanar took a step back. No! I am not going to die here! Not like this! He took a deep breath and threw his cloak open, revealing a number of lightsabers attached to the front of his tunic. Using the Force, he took them out and activated them. Now he was utilising not just one lightsaber, but seven.
Grievous was clearly taken aback "What is this?"
Kanar did not reply, instead he let out a cry and rushed forward, all of his lightsabers poised to strike Grievous. Grievous blocked the two closest lightsabers, before hurrying to dodge the next.
"Impressive, little Jedi, yet it is not enough! Behold the full extent of my skills!" Grievous boasted.
At that, his arms split and he reached for an additional pair of lightsabers.
Kanar gasped in surprise "Impossible!"
Grievous chuckled "Evidently not, little Jedi. This body may be a curse, but it does admittedly have its advantages!"
At that, he lashed out, striking back at Kanar's lightsabers, beating them away almost effortlessly. Now Kanar was terrified once again. He had thought that his ability to wield multiple lightsabers through the Force had been an advantage, an ace in the hole. However, compared to Grievous, it was nothing! He backed away as Grievous advanced closer and closer, his lightsabers a flurry of destruction. Finally, Kanar found himself backed up against a tree. Grievous chuckled again as he batted the lightsabers away, before he grabbed Kanar's throat using his foot and easily raised the Bpfasshi Jedi up as if he were weightless.
"Goodbye, little Jedi." Grievous said as he began to squeeze.
Panic clutched at Kanar, terror made him blurt out his next words: "Wait! I wish to defect! I wish to defect!"
Grievous cocked his head to the side in amusement "Oh? You believe in the cause do you? Am I to assume that you are not interested in merely saving your own hide? I knew that you Jedi were weak and cowardly!"
"I can help you! Please!" Kanar pleaded.
"Indeed? How can you help me? Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you right here and now!" Grievous said and once again he tightened his grip on Kanar's throat.
"I can build you lightsabers! I am an expert on it! I can join Count Dooku's Dark Acolytes! You've seen what I can do!" Kanar shrieked.
Grievous seemed to consider it, before he released his hold on Kanar "I shall talk with the Count. We shall see what he has to say on the matter." Grievous motioned to a pair of FLTCH-series battle droids "You two, keep an eye on our "guest". If he attempts to escape, kill him."
Kanar gasped for air as he lay on the hard ground. He barely noticed the battle droids approach him, not until their shadows covered him. Grievous stalked off a short distance away and activated his com-link. Kanar waited anxiously as the General talked with the leader of the Separatist forces. After two minutes of waiting, Grievous returned and stood over the cowering, quivering Jedi.
"I have good news for you, little Jedi. The Count has decided that you would serve us better if I allowed you to live. Of course, you work for us now and if you try to contact the Republic, I will kill you myself. Am I clear?" Grievous asked, leaning in close until his mask was only centimetres away from Kanar's face.
Kanar found that he could not speak, so he nodded rapidly instead.
Grievous smiled with his eyes "Good, now, to other matters."
Grievous picked up Kanar and forcibly dragged him back to the Republic's base. Sitting in the centre of the camp were the few survivors of the attack. At the front was Goblin, his armour singed by flames and badly damaged in the crash. His helmet was off, revealing that his face had been lacerated and his right eye was blackened.
"General, these are all of the surviving clone troopers. What are your orders?" An OOM series battle droid commander asked.
Goblin stared up at Grievous defiantly, hatred burning in his eyes. He turned to face Kanar, the same piercing look, forcing Kanar to redirect his gaze, to Grievous. Grievous turned for a moment, and then whirled around, a lightsaber activated. With one swift motion, Goblin's severed head rolled away, much to the alarm of the other clone troopers, who let out cries of distress.
"What survivors?" Grievous asked, before deactivating his lightsaber and walking away.
Kanar never forgot that sight, nor did he forget the sound of dozens of blaster rifles going off simultaneously, cutting off the cries of his former men.
Kanar closed his eyes. That was how he had entered the services of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. That was how he had become one of Count Dooku's Dark Acolytes. The next three years of his life had been a living hell as he had been forced to fight against the Republic, forced to learn the ways of the Dark Side of the Force. Kanar had been beaten for his failures and none of the other Dark Jedi trusted him, knowing full well that he had only switched sides to save his own life. The one small relief was that for most of the war, Kanar had been kept out of the fighting, instead he performed guard duty on battle droid factories for the most part and constructed lightsabers and when he did fight, it was mostly on small, poorly defended worlds.
But now that was about to change. Dooku wanted him to assassinate not just a Jedi Master, but a Jedi Weapon Master. Kanar remembered what Dooku had said. His target was a member of the Lamproid species, they were very fast, very agile, very aggressive, very deadly. Not only was Kayo Reither armed with venomous saliva and an equally venomous stinger, but he was also proficient with a double bladed lightsaber and discblades. Dooku had outright told Kanar that he did not expect him to survive his encounter with Reither and his men. Nevertheless, Dooku had given Kanar a Taozin amulet in order to disguise his presence from the force and two squads of BX-series droid commandos, as well as a T-series tactical droid to aid him on his mission. As Kanar sat in the dark confines of the crate, he felt a thump. The shuttle that he and his forces were in was leaving the Venator-class star destroyer it was docked with. Kanar gulped, it was almost time.
"And, she's away." The Captain of the star destroyer, Eye of the Storm, said as General Reither's shuttle flew off, accompanied by two squadrons of ARC-170 starfighters.
It was to be a simple mission, inspect the defences of the planet Eirrauc and see if they could hold off the Separatists, perhaps call in a garrison of clone troopers if the planet needed to be reinforced. And yet...Captain Bedasi Xialo felt that something was off. After a moment, he shook it off as nothing more than mere paranoia.
Aboard the retrofitted Charger c70 Consular-class cruiser known as the Red Phantom, Jedi Master Kayo Reither was on the bridge of the ship, alongside the pilots.
"Steady as she goes, Helmsman." Kayo said to clone pilot Eclipse.
Kayo Reither was typical for a Lamproid. He had a long, segmented body with grey-green skin, while yellow, ring-like spots lined his back. Lamproids usually did not wear clothes, but Kayo had chosen to wear specially made robes which covered his thorax and a belt to hold his weapons. Due to his status as a Jedi weapon's specialist, Kayo had chosen to wield a double bladed lightsaber, which had a circular hand guard that completely encompassed the hilt to protect its user's hands in combat. Also clipped to Kayo's belt were a number of razor sharp discblades, perfect for slicing into unarmoured flesh or the narrow limb joints of the battle droids.
"Aye, aye, General." Eclipse replied as he gracefully handled the ship, steering it through space.
As he stared out into space, Kayo could not help but be troubled by something. It was a faint feeling, yet it was persistent. Kayo braced himself for whatever was to come.
In the lounge of the ship, clone Commander Klaw flicked his wrist blades back and forth repeatedly. Klaw was a clone assassin, a very specialised breed of clone designed to deal with fighting Force sensitive opponents. To that end, he had been trained extensively in hand to hand and melee combat, with two retractable vibro-blades built into the arms of his armour. His helmet was different to most clones, instead of having a T-shaped visor; he had a single horizontal visor and a number of markings over his mouth. In addition, he had additional armour over his torso and a kama to protect his legs. Finally, as with all of the soldiers of the 382nd Corps, his armour was covered in charcoal coloured markings.
"Well, this is going to be a fun mission, right boys?" Klaw asked his men.
Sitting beside him was the leader of Gurreck Squad, sergeant CT-1317, Fang nodded "Oh yes, Commander, it'll be a blast." He said, his voice simply oozing sarcasm.
Fang was an experienced fighter and was decked out with weapons, such as a DC-15s blaster, a DC-15a and a special weapon that he had acquired on the battlefields of Kalee: A lig sword. Fang also had charcoal black markings, but in a different style to Klaw. Fang's resembled an animal's stripes and ran along his arms and legs. A stylised gurreck face adorned both of his shoulder plates and attached to his helmet was the lower jaw of a karabbac, also from Kalee. He had a history with Klaw, the two of them serving together as early as the Battle of Sarapin, where they had fought alongside Jedi Knight Jor Drakas, before being briefly taken prisoner by Separatist forces upon Drakas' death.
"What, you're saying that inspecting the defences of some backwater desert planet isn't going to be exciting?" Klaw asked with mock surprise, still flipping his wrist blades.
"Oh no, I'm sure that it'll be riveting." Fang said as he polished his sword.
Klaw snorted "Well, with any luck the Seppies will give us a challenge when we get there."
In the cargo hold, Kanar exhaled, It was time.
With a snap-hiss, his lightsaber sprang to life and he cut a circular hole into his container, allowing him to escape. Acting quickly, he did the same for the containers that were concealing his forces. Twenty BX-series commando droids and a T-series tactical droid stood before the Dark Jedi.
"It is about time you made your move." TX-47 said curtly.
For the mission, TX had been painted almost entirely red; save for a few patches of gold on his shoulders and head and on his chest, the seal of the Galactic Senate had been painted on. Needless to say, TX had not been pleased.
"This was the soonest I could do. What do you want me to do, blow our cover while we were still aboard the star destroyer?" Kanar hissed in annoyance.
"Calm yourself, Kanar. There is no use getting upset, is there?" TeeEx said in a patronising way which infuriated Kanar.
"Whatever, let's just get moving." Kanar muttered, averting his gaze from the tactical droid.
"Are you familiar with the plan, Kanar? I ask because inferior organic beings such as yourself are known to have terrible memories." TeeEx said, coming as close to smirking as was physically possible for him.
"I know the plan, TeeEx! First we strike the communications so they can't call for help, then we hit the weapons systems so that our reinforcements can come and then-!" Kanar started, before TeeEx cut him off.
"No, no, no, Kanar, that is not what we do at all!" TeeEx tutted as he shook his head "After we disable their communications, we strike at their engine systems so that they cannot escape and then we can disable their weapons systems! It really is a marvel that you have managed to survive for so long without my guidance!"
Kanar fought off an overwhelming urge to decapitate the droid. If he did that, his own commando droids were liable to turn on him. Instead he bit his tongue.
"Fine, I'll do it in that order then, happy now?" Kanar asked.
"I'm never happy. Look at what I have to deal with." TeeEx said flatly, staring at Kanar.
"Whatever." Kanar said as he turned and walked off in order to disable the ship's communications systems "Lousy piece of scrap, telling me what to do, I oughta-!" Kanar muttered under his breath.
"I can still hear you, you know?" TeeEx asked.
Kanar bit back a curse as he exited the cargo hold.
Kanar tentatively poked his head through the door of the lift. Fortunately for him, there was no one in sight. He quickly darted though the (thankfully) empty crew lounge and made a beeline for the multi-comm station, with any luck, it would just be the communications officer he had to deal with. Suddenly, Kanar felt a powerful presence in the Force. He ducked behind a pile of cargo crates. The door to the navigator's station opened and Master Reither slithered out. Kanar held his breath as the Jedi Master went by. Once he cleared a corner, Kanar exhaled and resumed his mission. He quickly dashed into the comm station, where, to his fortune, the communications officer had his back turned to Kanar. Kanar slowly crept up behind the clone, one hand outstretched in order to cover his mouth, the other reaching for his bidentsabre, because if the clone was going to die, he might as well do so in style. The clone began to turn and quick as a flash, Kanar grabbed him, muffling his screams with one hand, before silencing them forever when his bidentsabre plunged into the clone's back and exited through his chest. He slumped over, lifeless. Kanar sighed in relief, now he just had to disable the communications and hide the body. Glancing over the station, Kanar found a small locker, just barely big enough to hold a corpse.
And now for the next part of my mission.
Kanar now crept into engine room, being weary of the three technicians who would undoubtedly be attending to the ship's inner workings. The first one was swiftly decapitated, his helmeted head rolling a short distance away before coming to a stop. The second one was stabbed directly in his eye, the flesh around it sizzling as a neat circular hole was burned through his skull. The final engineer was cautious, having heard the sounds that Kanar had made, but nevertheless, he too was quickly dispatched, just as he was reaching for his shotgun. Kanar stood over his lifeless corpse, examining the vertical gash he had made in the clone's body. Once this sight had sickened him, but now it barely made him feel anything. With his work done, he made to sabotage the engines.
In the cockpit, the clones that had been at their stations were now puzzled. All at once, they had not only lost their communications systems, but their engines as well.
"Red Phantom, why have you stopped? Are you experiencing difficulties?" The Squadron leader hailed.
Captain Binary was frustrated that he could not reply. He knew that this sudden series of malfunctions could not be a coincidence. He reached for his com-link.
"General, come in, we have a problem." Binary said gravelly.
As Kanar raced to get to the weapons systems, klaxons began wailing and bright red lights began to flash. Stang! He had been discovered! Kanar reached for his com-link, only for it to buzz to life.
"You were supposed to take out the targeted systems simultaneously!" TeeEx admonished.
"How could I have done that? I'm just one person!" Kanar hissed.
"We supplied you with detpacks for just such a purpose, or has your weak organic mind forgotten that detail?" TeeEx asked.
"Detpacks were unfeasible! They're too powerful, I could have blown a hole in the hull and spaced us all!" Kanar said, anger starting to seep into his voice.
"Doubtful, I calibrated them myself; they would have gone off successfully. Of course, this is now all irrelevant. Wait for us to assist you, no doubt you'll need our help." TeeEx said spitefully.
Before Kanar could make a retort, TeeEx abruptly shut off his com-link. Kanar cursed, one of these days he was going to have to scrap that droid. Hopefully it would be soon.
Klaw stopped flicking his blades as the alarms began to sound "Well, it looks like we're going to see some excitement after all!"
"About time." Fang said as he sheathed his sword and brought out his carbine.
The two squad of clone troopers marched through the ship, searching for any possible intruders.
"Oi, Insect! Get out, we got a job to do!" Clone trooper Whirlwind shouted as he banged on the door to CT-3456, also known as Insect's quarters.
"Whatever it is, can it' wait? My Alderaanian woolly caterpillars are about to cocoon themselves!" Insect called through the door.
Whirlwind sighed. Insect was a good trooper, certainly, but sometimes Whirlwind thought that his bizarre fascination with entomology distracted him from warfare. When the war was over, he'd probably go live on Charros IV or Felucia or some strange planet just crawling with bugs.
"No, it can't! We've got a potential stowaway onboard sabotaging the ship!" Whirlwind said as he continued to bang the door.
Through the door, Insect sighed "Alright, just let me set up a holo-cam so I can watch this later."
Whirlwind tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for his friend to finish. After a minute, the door opened, revealing the clone. He had the standard markings of Gurreck Squad, as well as a rangefinder attached to his helmet but in addition to that, he had painted his helmet to liken it to a flewt, an insect of Naboo. Six green compound eyes had been painted onto the sides of the helmet, three on either side, just above the visor. Below the visor was an insectoid mouth, again, in the likeness of a flewt.
"Are you ready, or do I have to wait for you to feed your collection of jellybees?" Whirlwind asked, still tapping his foot.
"Well, maybe I should do that before we go..." Insect said in a light tone, making to turn and go back into his room.
Whirlwind grabbed his arm and led him off "Let's go, funny man. We've got an intruder to find."
"You think we'll find anything?" The Gurreck Squad member known as Sky asked.
"I think there must be at least one stowaway aboard." His companion, Gash, so named for the scars on his face replied.
"And when we find them..." Sky started.
"...We blast 'em." Gash finished, raising his blaster rifle for emphasis.
Two droid commandos stuck their heads out into the corridor. As well as being armed with blasters, they were also wielding personal energy shields in order to protect themselves from the clone's fire.
"Cargo bay?" Sky asked.
Gash grunted in rely "Good a place as any to check. It's got about a dozen places to hide though, so be careful."
The two walked into the cargo bay, their weapons raised. As it turned out, their enemy had no need to hide as they heavily outnumbered the two clones. Twenty-one droids stared down the clones, their blasters trained squarely on the clones.
"Oh, stang!" Sky cursed, before a blaster bolt struck him squarely in the throat, sending him to his knees clutching at his throat.
Gash attempted to drag his wounded companion away from the droids, before he too was felled by blaster fire.
"Remember to strike them on their unarmoured sections of body. It will do no good if there are conspicuous blaster marks on their body." TeeEx said as he lowered his smoking blaster, his shot being the one to take down Sky.
"Roger, roger." The Captain of the BX-series commando droids, Unit 838 said, wishing that he could roll his optics at being reminded to repeat the orders which they had already been programmed with.
"Now, move out, when their scouts do not check in, they will be suspicious. We must move while we have the element of surprise. They will not suspect such a large force."
"Roger, roger. Units 290 and 401, take the clones armour." 838 ordered, motioning to two of his subordinates.
"Roger, roger." The two droids said simultaneously as they stripped the clones of their armour and weapons and took them for themselves.
The armour was fairly typical, covered in markings that no doubt designated the squad, 838 observed. There were minor differences between to two sets of armour, however. Gash had two scar like patterns running over his visor, whereas Sky had a sun and an overturned crescent moon embossed onto the right side of his chest plate.
Searching the droid hold were Zombie and Treetop. Zombie was so known due to his somewhat disturbing fascination with death following a stint of service on Necropolis and because of the skull he had painted onto his helmet. Treetop, an Advanced Recon Force trooper and Gurreck Squad's sharpshooter, had received his name because of the climbing harness he always had attached to his armour, which he had come to use extensively during the war. In addition, he had attached a set of electrobinoculars to his helmet.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Zombie muttered as he shoved an R3 unit out of his path.
Treetop scoffed "You always say that, Zombie, you always say "I've got a bad feeling about this."!"
"Well, this time I mean it." Zombie said.
At that moment, Gash and Sky walked in on the pair, their blasters raised in a defensive, yet non-threatening manner.
"What are you two doing here? I thought you were supposed to be searching in the stern of the ship?" Treetop asked.
Zombie turned to face the two and suddenly drew his blaster "Droids!"
Surprised, Treetop stood back "Zombie, what are you-?"
Before either of them could say anymore, "Gash" and "Sky" gunned the pair down. The droids in the hold let out cries of alarm, although they were quickly silenced when Unit 290 raised his stolen blaster menacingly.
Unit 401 tilted his head to the side in surprise "Strange, how did he know what we were?"
Unit 290 kneeled down and took off Zombie's helmet. He saw a horizontal scar that ran from the clone's eyes and across the bridge of his nose. Where his eyes had once been, there were now two, bright green optics.
"Optics. He must have lost his eyes in a battle. They must have allowed him to see through our armour." Unit 290 said.
"A good thing that he was eliminated early on. He could have posed a threat." Unit 401 said.
Unit 290 shook his head "A clone posing a threat to us? You overestimate them, Unit 401."
"Perhaps you underestimate them, Unit 290." Unit 401 shot back.
"Irrelevant. We must call for backup so that someone else can have their armour." Unit 290 said.
A few moments later, Units 491 and 560 walked into the droid hold and took Zombie and Treetop's armour respectively.
"What of the droids? They are witnesses." Unit 560 questioned once he had put on the armour, glaring threateningly at the cowering droids.
"We will simply lock them in. We can wipe their memories once we take the ship." Unit 401 replied.
"Indeed. Now that we have taken care of them, we must continue out sweep." Unit 290 said, before leading the droids out of the droid hold in search of more clones.
Meanwhile, Kanar was leading TeeEx, Unit 838 and two other commando droids through the ship.
"We have yet to see Master Reither. I find that troubling." Unit 838 said, his vibro-sword drawn and ready.
"He's around here somewhere, either he went back to the cockpit or he's somewhere between the salon pod and the lounge." Kanar said, clutching both his bidentsabre and his crystal hilt lightsaber.
"We shall find him soon enough and then we will terminate him." TeeEx said calmly.
At that point, two clones burst into the room.
"There they are, blast him!" CT-1235, also known as Four shouted.
"A Dark Jedi!" Four's companion, Cudgel exclaimed as he raised his vibro-mace from which he derived his name.
The commando droids leapt to the front, their personal energy shields raised to defend their commanders. The clones blaster fire was harmlessly absorbed into the shields. Before they could retaliate, Cudgel rushed forward and smashed his vibro-mace into one of the droids, Unit 230. The droid let out a cry as his shield was smashed into pieces and his arm was nearly wrenched free from its socket.
"Take them out, now!" Cudgel cried, before he was decapitated by Unit 838's sword.
Four opened fire, grazing Unit 838 and TeeEx, before landing a hit on Unit 902's chest. It proved to be ineffective; as the droid's heavy armour easily absorbed the damage. Before he could continue firing, Kanar stabbed the unfortunate clone through the throat.
"You two, take their armour." Unit 838 ordered.
Unit 902 complied, taking Cudgel's armour. Unit 230 on the other hand, hesitated.
"Commander, I am damaged. My right arm is not functioning."
Unit 838 stared at the droid in disgust "Put the armour on before I completely offline you. Your left arm still functions, surely?"
As the damaged droid carried out his orders, the group heard blaster fire throughout the ship.
"It sounds like someone's making a stand." Kanar said as he tried to locate the source of the noise.
At that point, TeeEx's com-link activated, showing the form of the leader of the other squad of commando droids, Unit 487.
"Commander, we are engaging Nereid Squad, we expect to terminate them shortly."
TeeEx glared at the tiny holographic figure of the droid "You could not have done so in a stealthy manner?"
"Negative, Commander, the entire squad was present. We are engaging them in the escape pod access tunnel." Unit 487 said.
"They were attempting to escape?" TeeEx asked, alarm evident in is voice.
Unit 487 shook his head "Negative, Commander, they are merely making a stand here. We witnessed one rush in when he saw us.
If they could have done so, TeeEx's optics would have widened "You worthless bucket of bolts! It's a trap!"
At that moment, the familiar sound of a lightsaber could be heard through the com-link. There was a quick flash of...something, and then Unit 487 was still.
"Unit 487, report! Unit 487?" Unit 838 asked.
Unit 487 was still for a moment, before his head toppled free of his shoulders.
Kanar looked at the hologram in alarm "It's Master Reither! Now he knows we're here!"
"Calm yourself, organic, we can still stop him." TeeEx said.
"How? By the looks of it, he just destroyed the second squad!" Kanar exclaimed.
TeeEx growled in annoyance "My forces are droids and are therefore superior to any clone or Jedi. We will take this ship!"
In the escape pod access tunnel, Master Reither, Klaw, Fang and the sergeant of Nereid Squad, Webber, were standing over the destroyed battle droids. It had been a fierce fight despite the tight quarters. In the end, the droids had been destroyed, but at the cost of almost the remaining half of Nereid Squad, the other half having presumably being taken by the commando droids earlier.
"That was a disaster!" Webber exclaimed.
"Can't really argue with that." Klaw said flatly.
"Are there anymore?" Fang asked.
"I believe so, Sergeant. One of them was communicating with a T-series Tactical droid before I destroyed it." Kayo said as he recalled a discblade into his hand using the Force.
"How many could there be?" Webber asked.
"Likely I'd say at least one other squad." Kayo said.
Webber groaned and clutched at his helmet. Klaw and Fang meanwhile, exchanged glances.
"I'll need to check in and see who else is alive." Fang said as he reached for his com-link.
First he tried Treetop.
"Commander, what is it?" Treetop asked.
"Treetop, take off your helmet." Fang ordered.
Treetop hesitated "For what reason, Commander?"
"Just do it, trooper!" Fang barked.
Treetop moved his hands towards his helmet...and then he crushed his com-link.
Fang sighed "He was one of them."
"What about the rest?" Klaw asked.
One by one, Fang discovered that his troops had been replaced with droids.
"By the Force, are there any left alive?" Webber bemoaned.
"I still have two troopers left to check, Whirlwind and Insect." Fang said without turning around.
"Whirlwind here, go ahead, Sergeant." Whirlwind responded.
"Take off your helmet, now." Fang ordered.
Whirlwind, paused, before doing so, revealing him to be a clone.
"May I ask why I needed to do that, sir?" Whirlwind asked.
"Is Insect there with you?" Fang asked, ignoring the question.
"Insect? Sure, we've been searching together." Whirlwind said.
"And has he at any point left your sight?" Fang pressed on.
"Not once, sir." Whirlwind said.
Fang nodded "Good, I want both of you to come to the lounge. If you see any other clone troopers, I want you to run. They're not our brothers, they're droid commandos."
Whirlwind stifled a gasp before he replied "I understand, sir, we're on our way!"
A few moments later, the two clones rushed into the lounge, their helmets off to show their commanders that they were actually clones.
"General, what do we do?" Insect asked.
"We barricade our position; we must not allow the droids to take this ship." Kayo said as he pulled out his lightsaber.
And so the clone troopers hurried to fortify their position, moving objects into the path of the doors. Joining them was the navigator, a clone naval officer by the name of Pole and a 2-1B medical droid. Captain Binary, the pilot and the co-pilots remained in the cockpit.
"They'll be coming soon." Kayo said as he helped Webber and Insect block off the door to the entrance forum.
"Well then, we'd best be prepared for them." Klaw said as he flicked his wrists, unveiling his knives.
It was at that moment that one of the blocked off doors opened, revealing a number of commando droids in clone trooper armour wielding energy shields.
"Attack them! Show no mercy to these murderers!" Fang ordered as he drew his blaster pistol and fired.
Unfortunately for the clones, the energy shields of the commando droids were able to absorb the blaster fire.
"General, those damned shields aren't letting anything through!" Fang exclaimed.
"No blaster fire, let's see how they hold up to something solid!" Kayo said as he threw a number of discblades at his foes.
The blades slowed down before they hit the shields, went through and sliced up the droids. Unit 902 was swiftly decapitated, while another discblade sunk into Unit 560's chest, sending him flying backwards. At once, the droids pulled back.
Fang and Klaw changed surprised glances "They don't normally give up that easily." Fang said.
"I doubt they're giving up, they must be planning something." Klaw replied.
Suddenly, the barricade that the group had constructed was sent flying back into the room, knocking everyone off their feet. Kanar stood at the entrance, his hands raised, having used a tremendous Force push to clear the debris.
"One of Dooku's Dark Acolytes!" Kayo said with disgust as he activated his lightsaber, two brilliant sapphire blades springing to life.
Kanar tried to hide his fear through a facade of arrogance "Former Jedi, Kanar Revv, in the flesh, Master Jedi."
"You'll be a dead man soon, traitor!" Pole shouted as he took a shot at Kanar.
Kanar activated his bidentsabre and easily deflected the shot, causing it to graze the clone's left shoulder.
"Open fire!" Kanar ordered the droids, pointing his lightsaber in the direction of the clones and kayo.
The droids obeyed, quickly taking down the injured Pole. The medical droid stood protectively over him, trying vainly to resuscitate the clone. Kanar strode forward, deflecting the blaster bolts around the room in an overly showy way, twirling his bidentsabre gracefully in wide arcs. Webber stood up to fire at Kanar and was promptly cut down by the Dark Jedi. Whirlwind ducked from cover in order to fire on a commando droid. However, he let out a yelp when a shot from TeeEx took him in the stomach.
"Whirlwind!" Insect cried out in shock, rushing to aid his wounded friend.
"Insect, stay back!" Fang shouted, reaching to pull Insect back...
...Only for Insect to be shot twice, causing him to collapse. Now it was the droids facing down just two clones and one Jedi Master.
"So, it's down to three troops versus a traitor and almost two squads of battle droids. How very honourable." Kayo hissed as he held his lightsaber up in a defensive manner.
"I grow weary of the sound of your voice, Master Jedi. I think it is time to end this." TeeEx said as he gave the order to open fire.
"Take out the Dark Jedi!" Fang snarled s he leapt forward, sword raised towards an unprepared Kanar.
The blade was intercepted however, by Unit 838, who parried it with his vibro-sword. He stepped back and raised his sword in a challenging fashion, daring theclone to attack. Fang complied, and the two began to engage in a furious duel. The other droids all stepped back, unwilling to fire and risk hitting their commander. With the droids occupied, Klaw and Kayo lunged towards Kanar, their own blades eager to taste blood. Kanar countered quickly, but knew that he was greatly outmatched. For now, all he could hope to do was defend himself. He simply did not have the skill to repel both attackers. While the duels were going on, TeeEx simply stood back and watched. If it were possible, he'd have a smile of satisfaction plastered on his face.
"Give up, Revv! You are outmatched!" Kayo barked as he struck at Kanar's defence.
"You'll die if you keep this up!" Klaw added as he slashed ferociously.
Kanar's mind was racing. Should he give up? Perhaps they'd offer him mercy...Kanar shook his head. No, they would never do that, he thought, I'm a traitor, they'd never show me mercy!
Lost in his thoughts, Klaw managed to pounce past Kanar's lightsaber and cut him across his right arm. Kanar let out a cry and clutched at his wound. It was a mistake, and Kanar knew that straight away, but there was nothing he could do. In a moment, he felt two blades close to his throat, one of Klaw's and the other being Kayo's lightsaber.
"I think you'd better surrender, Revv." Kayo said darkly.
Kanar opened his mouth to speak, perhaps to beg for mercy, when he was interrupted. There was a cry and all present turned to see Unit 838 had managed to overpower Fang, sinking his sword into the clone's throat. Taking advantage of the confusion, TeeEx fired a single shot...straight into the backpack Kanar was wearing. The backpack containing the detpacks. Kanar's eyes went wide as he heard an ominous sizzling sound.
"Run!" Kanar cried as he wrenched the backpack free and tossed it away, directly at the feet of Klaw.
Kanar, TeeEx and the commando droids all bolted for the exit, while Klaw and Kayo stood paralysed. It was over in an instant. A massive explosion rocked the ship and the hull buckled from the force of the blast.
Kanar glared at TeeEx "You idiot! You could have killed us all! You could have destroyed the ship!"
TeeEx merely waved his hand in a dismissive fashion "As I told you, there was no chance of the detpacks tearing a hole in the ship. We should call in our reinforcements now, all forces save for the crew in the cockpit have been neutralised. All we have to worry about now are the starfighters escorting the ship."
"I'll check out the lounge first, just to make sure they're dead." Kanar said as he made his way into the badly damaged room.
It was a disaster area. Most of the room had been badly damaged in the explosion. Master Reither was nothing but a charred corpse, but his lightsaber was somehow in good condition. Kanar bent down to examine it.
"Cortosis," Kanar muttered "Well, that explains how it survived."
All of a sudden, Kayo's body shifted, causing Kanar to leap back in shock. After a moment, a badly injured Klaw crawled out from under the deceased Jedi. It was clear that he would not survive much longer.
"You...miserable...traitor..." Klaw gasped as he clutched at his sides, which seemed to be causing him a great deal of pain.
Kanar remained silent, simply staring at the clone.
"You're an...an animal...not fit to...to live!" Klaw spat out, before he slumped forward, dead.
Kanar gazed sadly at the clone before he said: "I know."
After a moment, Kanar called in the reinforcements. Within moments, a Diamond-class cruiser exited from Hyperspace. It was the Winds of Fortune, Kanar's flagship. It was accompanied by five full squads of Scarab-class droid starfighters, as Count Dooku had deemed Kanar unfit to use vulture droids. The clone pilots in their starfighters let out exclamations of surprise but attempted to fight back. It was a good effort on their part and they did manage t o take down a good number of the droid starfighters, but in the end, the support from the cruiser and the sheer number of the Separatist droids defeated them. With the starfighters out of the way, the Winds of Fortune docked with the Red Phantom. More droid commandos marched through to replace those that had been destroyed. Joining them were OOM series pilot droids, mechanics to repair the damaged ship and...
"Scalpel, Vial, it's good to see you." Kanar greeted the two medical droids, who were two of the three beings he called his friends.
"You are damaged, Kanar, clearly you are slipping." Scalpel, an ADK-25-MED droid tutted.
"Now, now, Scalpel, you know how fragile these organics are. It is rather pitiable, really." Vial, Scalpel's assistant, a MED-47 medical droid said.
"Perhaps. We should work on you now, Kanar, while the wound is still fresh. We would not want you to catch some kind of disease that plagues you organics so." Scalpel said as he leaned in close and began probing Kanar's wound.
Kanar let out a hiss "Can't you use some anaesthetic or something?"
Scalpel looked up at Kanar with his glowing white optic in amusement "Anaesthetic? Kanar, you don't need such things, you should be able to deal with this without it."
"Like I said, organics are fragile and weak." Vial said.
Kanar sat in silence as the two droids began to patch Kanar up. As the droids worked, Kanar glanced up to see the captain and pilots being escorted to the Winds of Fortune, where the brig awaited them. As they walked past, they glared at Kanar. The Dark Jedi sighed, he would be glad when the war was over.
And end of chapter two. The next chapter will deal with a force of Separatists as they attempt to escape from the Republic. Kanar and his group will return at a later point. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, please remember to review and finally...thanks for reading!