Days went by and defences were well under construction. Having made my delivery of blasters to Dagur earlier that day, I spent the rest helping Echo and Fives train the Vikings. Surprisingly, they only complained on rare occasions. At the end of each day, I trained Hiccup with the use of swords and bows. Lately, we have been practising more with bows, so to increase arm strength.
"Drawback the arrow and I want you to hold it there for 2 minutes." I instruct him. After those two minutes, we would rest for the same time. "I am planning on creating a Special Forces unit. You will likely be a part of it." I say.
"What equipment will we be given?" Hiccup asks.
"Unlike the laser blasters we have at the moment, we will get slug-rifles. They are similar to blasters, but instead of laser projectiles, they use metal projectiles. If modified in a specific way, these rounds can even pierce the armour we are making; due to the velocity they are released." I explain.
"Where would we get them?" Hiccup further questions.
"That is the problem. The only way I know to get them, is from my realm." I say solemnly.
"So, it may be a while before we can get them." Hiccup sums up.
"Unfortunately, but training new recruits would take too long, so for now, it will be just you and me." I say.
"What about later on?" Hiccup wonders aloud.
"Leave that to me. With dimensions merging, I will not be here all the time. I will help out the Jedi on some missions, but that means you would be one rider down during attacks." I explain. "Eventually, you will be in contact with an unlikely ally. Trust him, but still watch closely, in case they are an imposter."
"When will you be leaving?" Hiccup questions
"When basic training is complete for the village, which should be about two days from now." I say. "Rest time is over, let's get back to training." We get back to training.
When the Vikings had completed their training, I gave my farewells, and joined Echo and Fives for the trip back to the Resolute.
"What is our next mission?" I ask the ARC Troopers.
"General Piell has been captured by separatist forces and is being held at the Citadel for interrogation for the Nexus Route." Echo replies.
"In my point of view, this mission is suicidal." Fives jumps in.
"Unfortunately, I agree with you Fives, but sadly, we can't do anything about it." I say solemnly. After the mission briefing, we move to where we will be encased in carbonite.
"Never been carbon-frozen before general." Rex mentions to Anakin.
"Well, it will be the first time for all of us too." Anakin Replies uneasily.
"This is your idea? Carbon-freezing?" Obi-Wan questions.
"Hey, you wanted to shield us from the life-form scanners." Anakin replies.
"Are, uh, we sure this thing is safe? I don't want to end up a wall decoration." Fives asks, concerned.
"In all honesty, the worst thing that could happen is carbon-freezing-sickness. You would be temporarily blind if that was the case. But concerning the wall decoration, unless Jabba the Hutt decides to steal us, then you would be screwed." I say.
"Try to relax; we will be unfrozen as soon as we arrive." Obi-Wan tries to look positive.
"That ugnaught looks awfully pleased about this." I say, just before being frozen. When the shuttle landed, we were unfrozen. "Thank the Force, I was seriously worried about the pleasure that pig-face experienced when freezing us." I say to Fives.
"I have no idea if you were being serious about that." He replies uneasily.
"Hey snips." Anakin greets his padawan.
"Hey master." Ahsoka replies. I stifle a laugh. Anakin turns his head as he realises he never gave Ahsoka permission to join.
"I must have carbon-sickness because I swear that's Ahsoka." Obi-Wan replies with a confused smile.
"You're eyes are fine, its Ahsoka's hearing that needs help." He replies.
"Don't even bother trying to explain your actions Ahsoka, besides, I had a talk with Plo Koon, and we agreed to have Ahsoka as a back-up." I explain.
"Fair enough." Anakin says. I whisper to Ahsoka.
"You owe me a favour now." I smile. The group heads to our target, the Citadel. At visual, Anakin takes a pair of macro-binoculars and scouts the wall they were to climb.
"I see the entrance point." Anakin says.
"You were right; the wind conditions are too strong for jetpacks." Cody says.
"Yes, we will have to do it the old fashioned way; ascension cables and a steel grip." Obi-Wan smiles.
"I don't think so." Anakin says.
"What do you mean?" Obi-Wan asks concerned.
"Electro-mines." Anakin says coldly.
"Well shit, that puts a crimp in our plan. If we free-climb, I don't want to risk the clones falling and setting a mine off. Us Force-Adepts should get to the top, then use the Force to bring the rest up." I say. "I don't doubt your abilities, but we can't risk the chance."
"I have to agree, we can't risk it." Anakin says. "I have faith in our men, but if a rock comes loose, and someone falls…"
"The mission is compromised." Echo finishes.
"Exactly." I say. After an hour and a half of climbing, we reach the top and bring the troops up. "The damn door is ray shielded, Ahsoka, get through the ventilation ducts and open it up." I instruct Ahsoka. Just after we enter, the alarms go off.
"It seems they realised one of their ships failed to check in." Echo says.
"Well, they know we're here, lets get moving." Obi-Wan says. After walking through the hallways, we notice surveillance systems. "Take out those cameras." Obi-Wan orders. After the cameras were destroyed, hidden emplacements started shooting randomly. After those were also dealt with, a wall of electricity began advancing on us. Instead of losing a trooper, I use the force to clear everyone away from the danger.
"Next time something like this happens, I don't want to be the only one to use the force to save lives!" I whisper-shout to the Jedi. Once we reach the cell where Master Piell was being held, we charge in weapons blasting.
"Secure the entrance." Anakin says, entering the cell. He then sliced the energy bindings.
"Master Piell, are you alright?" Obi-Wan asks.
"Obi-Van, vat took you guys so long?" Piell asked in his heavily accented voice.
"At least your sense of humour is still intact." Anakin says.
"It take more than they got to break me, young Skyvalker." Piell replies. Obi-Wan hands him his lightsaber.
"So you have the coordinates for the Nexus-Route?" Anakin asks for confirmation.
"I got them alright. Half of them anyvay. My captin's got the second half." He says. "I erased the computers ven ve vere boarded and had both of us memorise part of the intel. That vay, if somehow I cracked, the information vould be useless vithout the other half." He says.
"Where is your captain?" Obi-Wan asks.
"Being held vith the other officers, I assume." He answers.
"We're gonna need a new plan for getting out." Anakin says darkly. Going through the passages once more, we go to save the officers. Suddenly, commando droids jump in our way.
"BLAST THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS!" I yell, getting in front of the men to deflect enemy fire. The droids jump around, dodging fire, and knowing how much time this encounter was wasting, I use the force to hold the droids in place while the clones shoot the hell out of them. "Next time, remind me to just deal with those things via the force." I say to Fives. As we walk further down, a high-pitched sound rings in our ears, while a magnet takes all our weapons, but before my lightsaber leaves my hand, I enable the lock for the switch, thus causing the blade to disable the trap. Our weapons are returned to us and we blast the droids as the come around the corner. "Fuck of Sobeck, I am not in the mood to play your games." I shout to the camera, before crushing it with the force.
"Bad day Vex?" Rex asks.
"When that piece of shit is involved, my day is never good." I explain. As we head out, rex covers our flank and shoots the camera. As we reach the detention cells. Opening the door and destroying the two droids, Piell greets his captain.
"General." Tarkin's own accented voice greets him.
"Captin Tarkin." Piell replies.
"Never thought I'd see you again." He states in an all too casual voice. "And you brought friends."
"Tarkin, this is Obi-Van Kenobi and Anakin Skyvalker." Piell introduces them.
"Now that you found us, how do you expect to get us out?" He asks. "If they've locked this fortress down, there will be ten squads on their way. It's going to be impossible to escape." He states.
"What if we split up?" Obi-Wan suggests. "My team will create a diversion while Anakin leads the others away. That way, if one of us gets captured, the enemy will only have half of the information. Not all of it."
"General Kenobi, I think its better if we stick together, a stronger force would have a better chance at protecting the information." Tarkin suggests.
"I am sorry Obi-Wan, but if we split up, I know what will happen, and it is not worth it. I agree with Tarkin on this one." I state, while giving Tarkin an 'I'll explain later' look.
"I understand your concerns Vex, but you are out voted." Piell says sternly.
"Then you will owe me ten slug-rifles and enough ammunition for them to arm a battalion for every trooper you lose, or you will no longer receive my help in missions that work like this one." I reply angrily; then storm off. "Tarkin, Anakin, Ahsoka, Fives, Rex, Echo, your with me." I state. While the droids are hunting for us, we wait for Obi-Wan's distraction. An explosion shakes the building.
"That's our cue to go." Anakin says. After doing a quick check on the outdated map, he cuts an opening to a small cave-like area. "Everybody in." He states.
"This is one of the original fortress tunnels." Echo states.
"The advantage of old archive data." Fives smiles under his helmet.
"Until we run into our next problem that is." I pipe in.
"The tunnel's clear!" Ahsoka calls back to us.
"Looks like Obi-Wan's distraction worked, things seem to be going as planned." Anakin says to Tarkin.
"It won't for long, at least now that you have said that." I cut in.
"Yes, it's when thing go wrong that I am concerned." Tarkin agrees.
"Its when things don't go as planned that we Jedi are at our best, trust me." Anakin counters, growing impatient.
"I reserve my trust for those who take action, General Skywalker." Tarkin explains.
"Let me remind you, we were the ones that rescued you, and I reserve my trust for those who show gratitude, Captain Tarkin." Anakin Replies coldly. The two ARC Troopers replace the wall that was cut, making it seem as though they were never there. Continuing along the ledge, Anakin contacts r2 and tells them to wait for them at the landing platform.
Obi-Wan and his group were in ducts, when they were spotted by a probe, which was swiftly cut down by Piell.
"Did you get it?" Obi-Wan calls out. His attention is averted to the security doors which were closing. "SECURITY DOORS! MOVE OR YOU'LL BE CUT IT HALF!" Obi-Wan shouts a warning. Sadly, one of the clones were not able to make it in time, and was sliced. Obi-Wan waits until Piell cut a hole between the doors separating them.
"Ve lost von. Looks like ve got some cutting to do." He states.
"We have to keep moving." Obi-Wan states.
While Anakin's group continued on, we destroyed a few probes.
"I'm beginning to admire the designs of this fortress." Tarkin states to no one in particular.
"How could you admire such a place?" Ahsoka asks, disgusted.
"He means it would be useful in the Republic's hands, 'Soka." I explain. As Anakin walks up to us.
"Vex, I need you and Ahsoka to lead the group, I'll catch up shortly, besides, someone has to watch our backs." He says, heading off to cover our tracks. As we walk along, we reach a wall.
"Set the charges on the wall, just beyond it will be our route." I say. Once the charges were set, we were interrupted by Super Battle Droids. "Shit, defend Tarkin, if he dies, the Nexus Route will belong to no-one." I say. Once the SB's were dealt with, I detonated the charges. Anakin jumps down to meet us, but close behind, were more 'Jumping Jack' Commando's. Using the Force, I sent them into the lava. "I hate those things." I say to no one in particular.
"Come on, lets keep moving." Anakin says while Ahsoka takes the lead. Once we reached the fuel pipe, we swiftly entered.
"Keep your lights off and lock your weapons, the slightest electrical pulse could blow us all to kingdom come." I warn.
"I hope someone told the droids that." Tarkin points out.
"If they weren't, and we clear the blast range, we can use it to our advantage." I state. After everyone was in, I closed the hatch behind us. Before I walk far, I crate a temporary force field and contact Sobeck. "Yo, Sobitch, can you at least keep the bodies of the troops you execute, and if we are all killed, please give them a proper burial. Cheers, General Fuck off, out." I turn off my comlink and catch up with the others. Ahsoka finds a way out and pops her head out to check.
"Looks, clear. But no sign of Obi-Wan or R2." She stops suddenly and two droid heads fall down the pipe.
"Everybody out. If we stay here, we are more likely to die." I say. Once we were all clear, we ran away from the blast zone, before I tossed a grenade into the hatch, causing a massive explosion. "I need to do this more often." I say to the ARC Troopers.
"Time for plan B. We meet them at the landing pad." Anakin says. Once we reach the landing pad, Obi-Wan and his group were already under fire from enemy forces. "Sorry I'm late." Anakin says to Obi-Wan.
"Nice of you to join us." Obi-Wan replies.
"The ship is surrounded." Ahsoka says.
"We need to launch a full forward assault, and take that shuttle." Tarkin states.
"We have a bigger problem, those turrets, they would destroy the ship before we could even take off." I counter.
"Whatever we are going to do, we need to do it fast." Anakin says, pointing at the incoming STAPS. After taking a few out, Anakin commandeers one of them to use against the droids. Piell soon jumps on his back to protect him from blaster fire.
"General Skywalker, one of those commandos are manning one of the turrets, he is going to blow up the shuttle sir." Echo notifies Anakin. As they try to take out the turret, they are shot down. "This is our only chance, we've got to stop him!" Echo says to his brother, while he picks up a shield and makes his way towards the shuttle in an attempt to save it.
"ECHO LOOK OUT!" Both Fives and I shout at the same time. But it was too late, the turret lands a hit on the shuttle, destroying it with Echo, as well as the turret. "ECHO!" Fives shouts again, while I lose my patience.
"THAT'S IT!" My voice becomes distorted and I begin to levitate. "I AM NOT LETTING THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!" The ground around me cracks and moves, the droids started to implode on themselves, destroying them, and the turrets still remaining combust. "THIS MISSION HAS BEEN A WASTE OF RESOURCES WHEN WE COULD HAVE JUST LAUNCHED AN ATTACK WITH OUR SHIPS, STOPPING THIS SHIT FROM HAPPENING AGAIN!" The world around me begins to collapse toward me. I then Unleash a shockwave that disintegrates the hostile forces infront of me. I then levitate towards the destroyed shuttle. I soon find what remains of Echo. "This shouldn't happen to anyone." My voice quietens down, as I begin to heal the ARC Trooper. Droid parts begin to levitate towards me, replacing the limbs that were lost, and I heal his major organs. By the time he regained consciousness, most of the droid fleet in orbit of the planet had been destroyed by my rage. I soon pass out from the over exertion.
When I awake, I found myself in a med bay. Sitting next to me were Ahsoka and Fives. As I turn my head, Fives notices and smiles.
"Good to see you awake Vex." He says warmly.
"Ugh, I'm not worried about me, hoes Echo?" I switch the worry.
"He is expected to make a full recovery." Ahsoka pipes in. "All thanks to you."
"I've seen to many brothers lost to this war, I guess that since I felt the death of 99, I didn't want to lose those who treated him like their own." I say, remembering the valour that the deformed clone showed during the attack on Kamino. "Speaking of, did they keep the bodies of the ARC Troopers who were killed?" I ask.
"I made sure they did." Ahsoka affirms.
"Good, when I am recovered, I should be able to bring them back." I state. "Fives, would you mind if I take Echo to be part of my Special Forces unit on Berk?" I ask the ARC Trooper.
"I take it he would have some fun there? I don't mind Vex, it is the least I can do for your help." He says.
"When your time is up, I will come and do the same with you, besides, you will understand why by that point in time." I say. I stay in the med bay for a week before I am released. The first thing I do is check up on Echo for myself. "How you holding up?" I ask.
"I wish I had my original limbs, but I'll manage." He replies.
"If you limbs had not been destroyed in the explosion you would. But I wasn't going to trade an officer's life to renew yours with your limbs intact." I say.
"Fives told me that you were going to put me in your Special Forces unit. Care to explain?" He asks.
"After the merging of dimensions, I began planning contingencies for if hostiles from other dimensions showed up. Part of them was an elite force that would complete missions that cripple enemy forces." I explain. "After the troops lost because we split up, Obi-Wan owes me a dozen odd slug rifles and enough ammunition for a battalion. I plan to use these because, unlike blasters, it is impossible to dodge the projectile." I point out. "After my home dimension is merged, I will travel to my birth place and try to obtain more weapons, while helping them set up defences."
"OK, who else do we plan on having in our unit?" Echo asks.
"So far, you me and Hiccup. Once I have enough strength, I will revive Havoc and Colt, and they will be part of it as well." I answer.
"Will you need me to do any specific training?" He further questions.
"No, most of the members will be ARC Troopers, Captains or Commanders so the training required will be minimal. I am planning on having you and Hiccup as my second in command. I have the two of you, so as we have a mixture of elements in assaults when I am unavailable." I say. We are interrupted by my alarm. "I have to head back to Ahsoka for a meeting. We will talk more later. Stay safe Echo." I bid him farewell.
Once I reach my room, Ahsoka is already inside waiting on the bed. I join her and we converse of future plans.
"What are you going to do next?" Ahsoka asks me.
"I think I will stay with you guys for a while. Berk should be fine at the moment, and they can contact me if they need help." I say. "But for tonight, I just want to be with you." I say, and we spend the night with each other.
A/N – Still not sure where to go after this. I may have Berk attacked by another enemy but from a different dimension, but I am not sure. If any of you have ideas, put them in a review and I'll get back to you. Nut Out.