(Hyperspace to unknown destination, Separatist cruiser Ravage)
Dooku and Cad Bane walked in the bridge around the cruiser.
"I take it you got the parts for our little construction effort?" said Dooku.
"Even better Count, a new reactor too," said Bane.
"Your services are indeed legendary. I trust it you had no difficulties getting them?" said Dooku.
"Except for a few bad injuries and some more tombstones, no," said Bane.
"Good, we have to make sure no one else knows about my plans," said Dooku. A battle droid walks up to the pair.
"My Lord, there's been a problem," said the droid.
"What is it?" said Dooku.
"The planet Fondor has been attacked by Republic forces. They broke into one of our security labs on the planet and took some of our files from there," said the droid.
"Which files?" said Dooku darkly.
"The ones that deal with our project," the droid said. Dooku's face contorted into rage.
"Cyneran, Kenobi, Skywalker, and that insufferable girl have gotten on my last nerves, especially Cyneran. I should have taken the boy out when I had the chance," he said, banging his fist on one of the bridge computers. "But I'll solve that problem."
"How do you plan to do that Count?" said Bane. Dooku smiled wickedly.
"Time and time again we have failed to get rid of that boy. Now we have another way to get rid of him," said Dooku.
"And how is that?" said Bane.
"By making sure he was never born," said Dooku. "I say we should pay a visit to one of his old family members. How long until we get it working?"
"We have about three hours until it's fully operational," said the droid.
"But does it work?" said Dooku. The droid nodded his head.
"Then we should use it now before the Republic comes to stop us," said Bane.
"Not yet, let the droids work out the bugs. I want to see the look on Kenobi's face wen he sees what happens to his Padawan," said Dooku.
"Taran and Ahsoka, up on the bridge now," said Obi-Wan through the loudspeaker. The two had just finished a practice duel in which they both had tied. They immediately wiped off their sweat with a towel and headed for the bridge. Once they got there they saw Obi-Wan, Anakin, Rex, and Cody waiting for them.
"Clone intelligence has just deciphered all the files. It appears that the Separatist's are working on a way to travel into time," said Obi-Wan.
"Is that possible?" said Ahsoka.
"I'm afraid it is. There are many ways to travel back in time, and the Separatist's have found one of them," said Obi-Wan.
"What are they planning to do?" said Taran.
"Sir, we have a ship in hyperspace hailing us," said a clone officer.
"Patch it through," said Obi-Wan. A screen on the bridge opened up and Dooku's face appeared on it.
"Hello Master Kenobi, and Skywalker. I here you have raided one of my intelligence sites and found out about something that I was planning," said Dooku.
"Yes, we know of your new toy Dooku, it won't work," said Obi-Wan.
"I'm afraid that it does work Kenobi, and I'll be testing it out very soon," said Dooku.
"And how will we know that you have?" said Anakin.
"You'll see when that boy (points at Taran) fails to exist," said Dooku. The message ended.
"What does he mean 'when I fail to exist?" said Taran. Anakin though about it, but then his eyes widened in shock.
"He's planning to go back in time and stop you from ever being born," said Anakin.
"What?!" said Taran and Ahsoka.
"He can do that?" said Rex.
"He can, and we have to stop him before he does. Admiral, where was that ship's last position?" said Obi-Wan.
"It was in hyperspace at the time, so we don't know," said Wullfe.
"I think I know," said Cody.
"How's that?" said Anakin.
"He said he was going to time travel and stop Commander Taran from being born. That means he needs to be at the planet where he has his roots at," said Cody.
"Which means he's going to Elementia," said Ahsoka, realizing what Cody meant.
"How far is Elementia from here?" said Obi-Wan.
"About twenty parsecs from here," said Wullfe.
"We'll be there in about three hours," said Obi-Wan. "By that time Dooku will probably be there."
"We can beat him there," said Anakin, "or get to him when he gets there."
"We need to travel with all haste. The Elementian Home Guard can buy us some time. I'll signal their commander to prepare his space forces to defend for as long as possible," said Obi-Wan.
"Right now, we should prepare all our fighter squadrons to prepare for battle. I want every fighter we have to be out there by the time weget out of hyperspace. Do we have anymore escorts?" said Anakin.
"Yes, the RSS Defense and Longevity are still in our area," said Wullfe.
"Signal their commanders that we're leaving and heading for the Elementian system," said Obi-Wan.
"Will do sir," said Wullfe.
"Taran, Ahsoka, Cody, and Rex, get ready in a shuttle. We'll be following you guys once the space battle has commenced. We need to board the ship and find out how to stop that thing," said Anakin.
"Yes sir," they chorused.
Taran readied the Twilight as hundreds of clone pilots around them readied their ships, loading missiles into them or refueling them for another fight. Rex and Cody were going to go on the Twilight along with a few picked men of Torrent Company of the 501st Legion and Ghost Company of the 212th Attack Battlion. Ghost Company, along with the 212th's, Phase II armor was stunning, the colors of their army, the 7th Sky Corps, striped along their armor. Taran wondered exactly what Torrent Company's armor would look like, since they were part of the 501st Legion. They would probably have blue stripes on theirs.
"So why would Dooku want to kill you so much?" said Ahsoka as she helped him get ready.
"I'll give you three answers. One: he hates me, Two: he hates me, and Three: he really hates me," said Taran.
"The question is, which family member is he going to target?" said Ahsoka.
"I don't know," said Taran. The first thought was his parent's, but that would seem too obvious. Then he thought about anyone from his family tree. The only people he knew on it were his parents and Long.
"One minute," said Taran. He went out of the Twilight, went to get something from his starfighter, and came back with a small tracking device.
"What is that?" said Ahsoka.
"It's a tracking device I made. it helps me to find anything I'm looking for," said Taran. Reaching up to his head he took out a piece of his hair and inserted it into a slot in the device.
"When I ask for it to find a family member, then it will show me," he continued.
"That's really ingenious," said Ahsoka.
"And it's sure to work if we have to find my ancestor, whoever he or she may be," said Taran. R3 rolled up to him, trying to go along with them.
"No R3, stay with the starfighter. It's too dangerous for you to come," said Taran. R3 whistled sadly.
"I have a feeling," Taran continued, "that I'm going to need your help soon though." R3 complied and rolled back to the starfighter. Then he positioned hhimself into the droid socket for astromech droids and went into standby mode. Rex, Cody, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Boil, Waxer, Gunny, and another clone trooper named Ripcord. Three men from Torrent and three from Ghost. It must have been one of those 'I bring as many men as you do' scenarios.
"Are you guys ready?" said Anakin.
"Most definitely," said Taran and Ahsoka. They all boarded the Twilight.
"Glad to see you back Gunny, but you know you didn't have to do this," said Taran.
"And what, leave you guys to who knows what kind of dangers. I owe you guys for getting me and the others out that damn prison. It's the least I can do," said Gunny.
"But Gunny, you can get killed," said Ahsoka.
"Better dying a soldier than a prisoner," said Gunny.
"So Ripcord, what do you specialize in?" said Taran.
"Demolitions," said Ripcord, showing them the bag full of detonators and satchel charges along with his standard issue DC-15A heavy blaster. All the clones but Cody were armed with the shorter DC-15S carbine.
"When do we come out of hyperspace?" said Ahsoka.
"In about two minutes," said Obi-Wan. "Does everyone have everything they need?" Everyone nodded their heads.
"Good, once we get into the ship we fight our way through to the time machine. Once there Ripcord will set the explosives to detonate and destroy it once we are off the ship. If Dooku gets into the time machine, me, Anakin, Taran, and Ahsoka will follow him through it while the rest of you cover us until we get back. And you three (motioning to the three Jedi) remember, the time period that we go to we must not tell them anything about the future. When you find Taran's ancestor, defend him or her with as much as strength as you possibly can. Any questions?" said Obi-Wan.
"Yes, if by chance we have to go back in time we cannot attack anyone or let Dooku kill anyone because it can mess up the timeline," said Taran.
"Good point too. Are we all ready?" said Obi-Wan. Everyone cocked or pulled out their weapons. Anakin and Obi-Wan got to the controls and got started the ship. Taran put his gloves back on and coated one hand with earth and the other with water. He had compacted the earth to fit into the rectangular folds of the gloves on the outside so that if needed to each socket would expand into a boulder if needed to. The other glove's sockets were filled with water, enough for him to defend from most attacks.
"We'll be coming out of hyperspace in thirty seconds. All men get to your ships," said Wullfe on the loudspeakers. The clone pilots rushed into their starfighters, putting astromech droids in their compartments and readying their ships for takeoff. The engines on the ship's groaned as the pilots readied to fly out of the hangar the minute they exited from hyperspace and the dorsal hangar doors opened.
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0," said the loudspeaker. The ship and the two other cruisers lurched out of hyperspace and their hangar doors opened. All the craft they possessed shot out of the doors into space towards the five Separatist ships already attacking the Elementian Home Guard in a space battlefield directly in front of them. They couldn't have arrived at a better time to save the beleagured fighters of the the Home Guard.
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