So here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for: Clones vs Clones. This chapter is a bit longer than the others, but I wanted to provide a full description of the battle. As always, nothing belongs to me.
"Doctor!"
Ahsoka and Strax emerged from a side corridor as the Doctor and his friends came inside.
"That's me. Hullo," he beamed as they all met up together in the center of the room. "What's the news?"
"The clones are all ready to fight, but the Sontarans are transmitting a jamming field. We can't reach Coruscant. We're on our own."
"They probably would come too late anyway," Anakin replied. "Well done, though, Snips."
"Thank you, Master," smiled the Togruta. It was obvious to everyone how much she valued his praise, and the Doctor's hearts twisted as he remembered her fate. Still, though, as he should know, she ended up all right eventually.
"For a boy, she did quite well," said Strax. Ahsoka opened her mouth to ask a question, but the Doctor forestalled her.
"Never mind. Anyway, where are the Kaminoans?"
"They've gone to a secure bunker undersea," Ahsoka answered.
"All right, here's the plan," the Doctor said. "I need to get back to the TARDIS. Once there, I'll be able to hack into the Sontaran fleet's navigational systems and send them far away."
"Sir, you will need a large source of power to override their navigation systems. I suggest you use your TARDIS to boost the signal."
The Doctor grinned. "Well done, Strax! Good thought."
"Thank you, sir."
"With respect, Doctor, I'm not sure that's a good idea," said Anakin. "The Sontarans will be here any second now, and you'll be trapped in your TARDIS-ship-thing when they come."
"He is right, sir," said Strax. "Enough Sontaran weaponry combined could blast through even the TARDIS's shields."
"Use the Kaminoan's central computer," Obi-Wan said. The others looked at him.
"Patch it through the TARDIS's console," he added. The Doctor beamed.
"Kenobi, you're brilliant."
"Not bad at all for a fleshy human," muttered Strax, which was his version of a major compliment.
"Right," said Anakin. "I'll take care of the air defense, buy you some time. Obi-Wan, Strax, stay here with the rest of the clones. You'll be the last line of defense. Snips, come with me, please."
The Doctor opened his mouth, then closed it. He knew that nothing he could say would change their minds, and he would need time. He just hated that lots of people-young men who had known no other life-were going to die for him. Again. But he could almost hear his old friend Qui-Gon telling him "to keep his focus in the present moment." So he did.
"Good luck," the Doctor said. Anakin grinned ferociously.
"No such thing," he replied. "But same to you."
He dashed off with Ahsoka following. Obi-Wan nodded to his old friend, then followed.
"Rrright," the Doctor said. "Strax, you'd better….get going. Be careful."
"Sir," the Sontaran replied with a salute.
"And no salutes!"
"Yes, sir," he said, saluting. The Doctor glared at him as he hurried off, then sighed deeply, ran a hand through his hair, and hurried off through the corridors.
Five minutes later, the Doctor was seated in front of the Kaminoan's central computer console. It was huge, reminiscent of a mix between his TARDIS's first desktop setting and the Enigma machine. He pulled out his brainy specs, settled them on his nose, and withdrew his sonic screwdriver and the piece of Sontaran tech from his pockets. Taking a deep breath, the Doctor set to work. Outside, battle raged. The Jedi led an aerial defense, their ships slipping and weaving between Sontaran fighters. Lasers flared, and explosions blossomed left and right. Two dozen clone fighters followed, engaging in a massive dogfight with the Sontarans, slipping and diving in every direction. A Sontaran scout ship maneuvered itself between Ahsoka and the fighter she was dueling. She dove, and it obliterated it's ally. Making a loop, she came up firing, and the damaged ship hurtled away, only to be pounced on by a V-wing. She dove back into the thick of the fight, twisting and spiraling as flashes of energy turned the perpetual night of space into daylight. Inevitably, several ships managed to loop around and land on Kamino. The Sontarans leapt out, only to be driven back as Obi-Wan led a charge of clone troopers.
"Strax, fall back! Protect the entrance!" he snapped.
"But sir-"
"Do it!" the Jedi Master yelled. "We can't have you getting shot down by one of our own men!"
"Sir," he replied, seeing the sense of the comment and stepping back to the doorway, then unleashing his rifle on the invaders.
The Sontarans who'd landed were driven back by the force of the assault, but rallied and came back in again. Lasers flew every which way. Obi-Wan's lightsaber was a wheel of blue energy. Just as they seemed on the verge of winning, several new ships slammed out of hyperspace and approached Kamino.
"Seps!" snapped Anakin over the ship comm. "The Sontarans must've made an alliance with them."
"Master, what do we do?" queried Ahsoka. "We're outnumbered."
"Fall back. If Kamino falls, we'll fall with it."
This was met with a growl of approval from the clones, who swung around and shot back to their homes.
The droids landed in a storm of fire that forced the defenders to pull back. The invaders leapt out and charged, accompanied by the Sontarans.
"Come on!" yelled Obi-Wan. He charged, his blade humming a deadly song as he spun, leapt, parried, blocked, and slashed, keeping all his moves tight to his body as he lead the charge. He reached the droid lines and carved through them. Lasers came at him from all directions, but he batted them all away, slicing his way through the crowd like a hot knife through butter. In later years, he would be described by Mace Windu as the master of Soresu, the Form of lightsaber combat that emphasized defense. Here, now, it was easy to see why. A storm of energy broke around him, but he coolly blocked and parried everything that came his way. The clones closed with the droids, swinging their blasters when they got too close to shoot.
One invader after another fell to their own lasers, sent back at them by the web of spinning blue light formed by Obi-Wan's saber. Strax stood back from the main battle, unleashing devastatingly accurate shots and the occasional grenade throw. Anakin and his force swept down from the skies, pursued by droid fighters. They went in for one sweeping pass, but it left them vulnerable to the ships above, which opened fire.
"Bail out!" Anakin snapped, and his forces obeyed. He leapt out of his burning ship, flipped, and came down in the midst of the droids and Sontarans with his lightsaber flaring. Ahsoka followed half a second later, with the rest of the clones landing not quite so elegantly and opening fire, a horizontal maze of blue and red fire streaking through the air. Ahsoka and Anakin stood back-to-back, slashing and cutting at any who came near. They danced and spun, slashed and whirled, blue and green blades shearing through metal. Their blades sung a deadly song as Obi-Wan led his troops against the invaders. The clones shot, kicked, and shoved at their enemies, battling for their home and their brothers. Still, for every droid that fell, it seemed another took its place, and the Sontarans left charged fearlessly at the Jedi.
Meanwhile, inside the compound, the Doctor reached out to a screen and contacted the Sontaran battleship.
"What is it, Doctor?" gloated Skorrox. "Do you wish to surrender and plead for your life?"
"No, but I ask you to pull back your troops and move away from the planet," he said.
Skorrox smirked.
"You are foolish, Doctor. We will never do that. Turning to his troops, knowing that his words would also be broadcast to the Doctor, he snapped:
"All ships, move in!"
"In that case, I'm sorry," the Time Lord replied. He took a deep breath and pressed a key. The computer virus, created by him, boosted by the TARDIS's limitless power, and using the Sontaran tech he had grabbed, hacked into their nav computers. As the ships received the command to move forward, the virus mistranslated the order. Suddenly, as one, each and every Sontaran spaceship engaged its' hyperdrive and overshot the planet by roughly five hundred thousand light years. The Sontarans on Kamino were stranded. Stunned by a sudden lack of signal, the droids froze, their arms going limp. For a moment, both sides of the battle paused.
"Let's be civilized about this," Obi-Wan said, moving to the front. "You have one chance to surrender and throw down your weapons."
"Never!" snapped one of the Sontarans. He and his brethren moved into a defensive wedge. The Jedi Master sighed and exchanged a look with his allies.
"I gave them a chance," he said quietly. "They didn't take it. Come on!"
Ten minutes later, the battle was over.
Well, what did you think? I will be going on vacation for a while, but I'll work on the final chapter and have it up by mid-August, hopefully.
*Waves hand* You WILL leave a review. :P