After bringing the stunning news of the discovery of a new Galaxy the Prophet Hierarchs of the Covenant have decided to have shipmaster Atem' Radumee track down the humans he encountered. To ensure his success the prophets have seen fit to bestow upon his fleet the covenants most deadly warrior.
The Republic star cruiser, the Adamant, appeared from out of hyperspace. Its damaged form spoke for itself about the massive battle it had just nearly died at.
"What happened?" the jedi knight Argerin Sheras asked, "Why have we exited hyperspace?" She turned around to expect a response from her bridge crew. "General the generators were about to collapse on us if we didn't leave we would have been destroyed." The clone commander of the ship said.
Argerin sighed and rubbed her temples. "All right, give me a damage report of the ship and where in the name of hell is the Corulag?" Argerin asked. The clone commander went back to his terminal to find the information the general desired. "Miss the Corulag has been lost during the journey through hyperspace," The commander reported, "and our ship is barely maintaining power: our ships engines are pretty busted up, are cannons are offline, hyperdrive is offline, shields are barely holding at twenty percent, and the hull breaches have increased." "All right, get repair teams on working on the engines and the shields and prepare to send a message to Corusant." Argerin ordered. "We can't get comm. Signals out miss." "Why not?" "Comm. Array is working but without a sensor relay dish in the area we can't get a message to Corusant this far out." "Fergultz, all right is there any way to get a message to the Jedi temple any other way?" The commander scanned through the lists, in order to find any way to get a message out. After five minutes of searching he found what he was searching for. "General it may be possible for you to take your starfighter on its hyperdrive ring and deliver the message personally to the council." "Not a bad plan but I won't abandon you all in this time of need commander," Argerin said, "is there anyone else who could go?" "There aren't any clone pilots left and no else capable to fly your craft but maybe your astromech droid can pilot the fighter back to Coursant." "It seems the best course of action, I'll be down in the hanger to record the message in the meanwhile put the crew to work on the repairs, and we have to be prepared for the worst." "Yes sir."
With that the jedi went to the hanger-bay to prepare the message, while she was a grim frown appeared on her face. The force was telling her that the battle with the unknown hostiles was not yet over.
Meanwhile back at the same location in space where the fleet of Righteous Clarity first meet the human ships of the unknown organization known only as the Republic, the very same covenant fleet waited for the arrival of one last special ship.
On the bridge of the command ship Atem' Radumee clicked his fingers on the arm rest of his chair while his other arm and hand was on the right side of his mandibles. He is late, Atem thought to himself, I have been given a chance at redemption in the eyes of the prophets for my recklessness and the Arbiter dares to show up late. The Arbiter seems to have forgotten that his rank is no longer as prestigious a title as it used to be.
"Shipmaster," Arum said, "he is at long last here." About damn time that bastard came here. Atem thought to himself as he looked to the view screen to see the Arbiter ship come in from slipspace.
"Arum set up a link with the Arbiter's ship." Atem ordered. "Yes sir." A moment later and the Arbiter appeared on the screen. "What do you want?" the Arbiter asked with a stern voice. "You had better have an excuse for showing up late Arbiter," Atem said sternly, "not all of us have the opportunity to redeem ourselves in the eyes of the prophets." "Don't toy with me shipmaster," Ripa said with agitation, "you may have been given a chance to redeem yourself but remember this that I am in charge of this operation." "Then I assume you know the strategy?" "Yes, yes your ships move in and trap it and keep the unknowns ships trapped and offer no escape what so ever." "Indeed and your special operations soldiers invade the ships and try and find working navigation cores or databases." "Correct but this operation remains unofficial unless we know where they have gone." "Don't worry we have tracked them through their hyperspace wake, we know exactly where they have exited." "Excellent," the Arbiter said with a sangheli smile, "then by all means, what are we waiting for the prophets will been done."
With that the view screen went blank. "Rasum transfer coordinates to the Arbiter's ship and prepare tell the others to prepare to jump it is time we meet with these interlopers."
Back on the Adamant things were looking dire. The hyperdrive was still inoperable and engines were barely stabilizing. At least the shields were at a more defendable level Argerin thought to.
Her message had been sent she only hoped that the droid would get to Corusant intact. Meanwhile she had been helping with the surviving crew of the ship in any way and every way she could. After an hour had passed Argerin had decided to return to the bridge. The bridge doors opened up showing that even though it had suffered little damage was in as much chaos as every where else on the ship. Argerin walked up to the commander. The commander noticed her and stood with a salute, "General Argerin." Argerin smiled at him and replied, "Commander."
"Repairs are moving slowly as expected miss." "At least our shields are up and running; perhaps we can divert power to" "General," one of the clones at the tracking station said. "What is it soldier?" Argerin inquired. "We have something coming into our sector of space." Argerin was surprised, "Has the Republic already sent a rescue team?" "No they aren't reading Republic comm. Signs and their not reading CIS signals." "The unknowns scramble all the troopers and get everyone ready." "Miss the cannons are still offline." The commander informed. "Then draw some power to bring at least two of them online, we need to hold out for as long as we can."
The Righteous Clarity and her fleet came out of slipspace and began surrounding the crippled Republic cruiser. "Shipmaster the enemy ship seems to be holding position, its engines may be damaged." Arum said. "What of its defenses?" Atem asked. "It seems that the shields still work but the Arbiter Boarding craft should be more than capable of getting past them. Scans show at least one cannon on each side of the ship working." Atem smiled it looked like there was still some fight left in these mongrels. "Contact the Arbiter and tell him to hold position and launch the seraphs and several bombers." Atem ordered. "Shipmaster can we simply not just hit them with some torpedoes?" Arum inquired. "No, we can't risk any further damage that could potentially destroy the ship we need it intact but we can't send in the Arbiter without taking out their defenses." "Yes sir."
"General we have incoming fighters, we count six fighter squadrons." The commander announced. Fighters? Argerin thought why would they send in fighters why not just destroy us immediately? Something is amiss.
The seraphs came in with speed and precision. The turbolaser turrets fired at them openly but seraphs shields proved effective for most but several seraphs had a spot of bad luck and were destroyed in the fire. The seraphs were now in range and capable of firing on the cannons. The covenant fighters rained plasma fire down on top of the turrets taking out two of the three turbolaser cannons and damaging the third one to the point of no longer being usable. The seraphs flew past the bridge tower of the cruiser and then made a u-turn and took aim for the rest of the turbolasers. The other cannon tower tried to turn and fire upon the enemy but was to slow and unfortunately was destroyed along with the other two turrets on the right side. With that the cruiser was defenseless. The seraphs returned to their fleet in preparation of the next part of the operation.
"Arbiter the shipmaster has rendered the enemy vessel defenseless, we can begin our assault." The ship tactical advisor informed him. "Excellent bring us out of slipspace right on top of them we will land on the ship and kill every human bastard on board." the Arbiter exclaimed, the other sangheli and covenant races roar and growled in excitement.
"General the enemy fighter squadrons have veered off they're returning back to the fleet." The clone commander informed. This was becoming more and more strange first these unknowns encircle but do not fire and then they destroy the ships turbolasers, why? "General," said one of the clones at the tracking station, "Another ship coming in." "Another ship? Where?"
On command the new ship appeared above the Adamant. It was another unknown ship this one different however it was black instead of the silver the others had. Then little ships started coming out of what looked like hanger bays on the lower part of the ship. "What are those ships?" Argerin said pointing to them, "Are they fighters?" The clone bridge crew scrambled, finally one clone spoke up, "No sir there are far too many life signatures inside them, there boarding craft!" Boarding craft, they were going to invade her ship. Argerin rushed to the comm. Station. "All clone troopers this is a red alert status we are going to be boarded by unknown hostiles all available clone troopers report to the hanger bay immediately in the need of immediate defense of this ship." Argerin went off the comm. Channel then. "Commander you have the bridge prepare its defense." Argerin ordered. "Where are you going sir?" "To aid the troopers down below I feel they will need all the help they can get."
Inside one of the covenant boarding craft the Arbiter and his teams prepared. "Warriors as soon as the ship breaches the ship engage active camouflage," the Arbiter said as he prepared the plasma launcher he had taken, "Reveal you until only after I have fired the first shot." The troops nodded. The Arbiter counted the minutes until he felt it, the ship ripping through the ships hull and giving him and his men access.
The troops had set up defenses and prepared themselves for the fight. The boarding craft had landed and had opened their doors but no troops had come out as of yet, what were they waiting for?
These humans were prepared to fight but they were unaware of his or his warriors presence. Excellent, the Arbiter charged his plasma launcher. When it was ready he turned around, took aim and fired.
The clone sergeant saw blasts of blue lights come out of no where and stick to the crates that were being used as cover by his clone brothers. Seconds later the blue lights exploded and all hell broke loose.
These humans certainly did not know what a plasma grenade was if they did they would have moved. However they didn't and that worked in his favor. The unggoy split along with the sangheli down the sides whilst the kig-yar moved down the center with their shields. The humans were in disarray for the first few moments of the invasion but where now trying to fight back. The lasers they used like their ships cannons were strong but poorly accurate. The human dogs were capable of taking down a few grunts and a couple kig-yar but there were no sangheli deaths at all, until Ripa saw one of his own being shot down. It was then that he activated his active camouflage and activated his plasma swords and began to do the best part of his job.
The clones had finally killed eight foot tall monster. "That was by no stretch of the mile easy." A clone soldier said. "I didn't think anybody had personal armor shields." Another said. "Apparently these bloody bastards do. Come on we better get back to the battle the sergeant could use some hel-" the clone trooper tried to finish but was cut off as he was stabbed through by a pinkish blade.
The human had died quickly the other three took aim and fired at the Arbiter. Ripa' Moramee used the dead mans body as a shield and then tossed the laser filled body at one of the enemies and then got to work on the other two. First slicing the one on the left neatly in two and then slicing the other ones arm off followed by a stab straight to the humans chest. The third finally shoved the corpse of his friend off him only for the Arbiter to slice into his chest killing him instatntly. Proud of his work Ripa' Moramee turned back to the battle at hand.
Meanwhile at the engine room clone repair crews worked diligently on repairing them when a boarding craft appeared out of no where. The clones waited a few minutes for something to come out. What came out was startling, it looked like a large ape creature wearing red and black armor and wielding a large hammer. The clones tried to grab their blaster but the creature slammed its hammer into one of the clone resulting in the clone being slammed all the way into a wall into a gore filled mess. The creature then slammed his hammer into ground denting the metal and tossing the other clones in different directions. More of the creatures spilled out and began following their leaders path of destruction.
Back at the hanger things had turned worse for the clones, they were being pushed back. The order had to be sent. "All clones this is the sergeant fall back to the doors while there is still some of us left!" With that the clones began retreating to the main access hallway when the final clone was through the entrance the doors began to close. Unfortunately the clone who was last to enter was then shot through the head by enemy fire. Damn we only have about a third of our fighting force the clone sergeant thought. "Need some help sergeant?" The clone looked behind him to see the Jedi General Argerin. "Sir, with all due respect yes sir!" "Then let us ready ourselves this fight isn't over yet."
The hanger was secure and the humans were on the run. "Arbiter this is Jiralhanae chieftain Jaruk." Said the chieftain over the comm. Channels. "What is it Jiralhanae?" "We have taken what seems to be the engine corridor." "Good, scans of the ship show that the crew quarters are nearby take it and kill every human there." "Yes Arbiter it shall be done." The Arbiter then went back to the task at hand. "Arbiter we have examined some of the human bodies." One of the sangheli said. "And of what concern is this to me?" "The humans all have the same face, they are all clones." Clones these humans are either desperate or simply do not wish to waste lives of others. "Arbiter what does this mean?" Ripa smiled in smug satisfaction, "What else could it mean other than the fact that we now have more humans to kill and what better pleasure other than praise from the prophets is that?" The other covenant warriors laughed and growled.
"Now then what about these doors?" The Arbiter inquired. "The cowards have sealed the door and the door seems exceptionally strong." "Not strong enough bring up the Lekgolo will burn these doors to molten slag."
Back in the corridor the clones and Argerin prepared for battle. Their guns were trained on the door. They didn't think they would be able to knock down the doors; as if on command the doors started to glow an intense red orange, the doors continued to grow brighter until two long blasts of green fire blasted through. A blast of blue fire and the door was finally destroyed and in rushed two new breeds of unknown hostile. They were large had blue armor with various orange parts sticking out and spikes coming out their backs and carried a huge shield on their hands and guns on the other hands. The clones started firing in all directions.
The behemoths hunched down in a defendable position. No matter how hard they were firing on them there seemed to be absolutely no damage what so ever to the behemoths. Then the monsters guns began to carry a green glow. Then the guns fired a long burst of green fire. The blast from both creatures struck about three clones; what was left of them was some charred remains and a puddle of melted flesh.
The monsters also used their shields to slam other clones into the corridor walls; they mainly stayed back and let the other aliens charge in firing. The remaining clones tried to fight back against the enemy but the real game changer the clones had here was Argerin.
She moved like water. Slashing and moving past aliens that dared to come through whilst staying just out of reach of the blue armored behemoths cannon fire.
It was in this moment that the clone sergeant noticed another alien come through the blasted entry way. This one was different however, it was one of the eight-foot tall split jawed aliens but unlike the others with more mechanical futuristic armor this one had more intricate designed armor. In the next moment the newcomer drew what looked like two lightsabers and lunged at the jedi.
Ripa noticed the human female when he entered the corridor. She moved faster than the other warriors, like she was being powered by some unknown force. It mattered little to him though this human would fall to his might, for the sangheli were unmatched in sword battles. Ripa drew his blade and lunged at the human blocking her next attack. The human was a bit startled but quickly regained composure and continued to attack him. The human was fast; even Ripa was impressed by her speed. Ripa was actually going to enjoy this fight.
Ripa slashed up with his right sword at her head. She parried with her blade and the Arbiter brought his left sword up as he brought right sword down to move the female warrior's energy blade out of the way in a spinning move. She backed away just in time and Ripa began to charge at her when she raised her hands and the Arbiter felt something invisible push him back few feet. She turned away and started to run away, her soldiers did the same and started to retreat. Ripa' Moramee charged after her while cutting down any enemy soldiers whom were to slow to get out of the way. When what was left of her force was at her position more steel doors started to close but before the Arbiter could get through the door the female raised her hands and the Arbiter felt yet another blast of the same invisible force hit him backwards costing him the chance to reach the doors before they closed.
Ripa slammed his fist on the door in anguish. The Arbiter turned back to his warriors and the carnage that had in sued in the battle. He had lost some kig-yar and plenty of unggoy and a few sangheli, the lekgolo remained unscathed. "Lekgolo," The angry Arbiter said, "bring these doors down now! We have the mongrels on the run; let us not lessen the pace of the hunt."
The blast doors to the hanger bay corridor closed shut just in time, shutting out the invading alien forces. The clones stopped for a quick breath, while Argerin walked up to the clone sergeant. "Sergeant." "Yes sir! What are your orders." "We can't hold our position here any longer; we need to get to the bridge." Before she could finish a voice came from out of nowhere, "Check, check is anybody still alive this is CT-1435 calling in from the crew barracks we are under attack by unknowns we need back up repeat we need." The message ended there with a sudden burst of static. "There are still men there and there alive," the clone sergeant said, "we need to get there and save them all troops move out." "Hold on there sergeant," Argerin said. "Sir?" "The bridge needs all the help it can get for the coming battle, take your men there I'll move to the barracks and see if anyone is still there." "Yes sir, you heard her boys let's move to the bridge double time. With their conversation over Argerin left and sprinted towards the barracks.
The body of the human slumped down from the wall Jaruk's hammer had slammed it into. With the human dead the Jiralhanae chieftain left the small living quarter and stepped back into the carnage that was what was likely the ship's crew quarters. Jaruk smiled at the chaos, the humans had tried to fight in the face of his pack brothers but it was ultimately futile.
Then out of nowhere a new human appeared. It was of the female breed but this one did not wear the same armor the others had rather it merely had simple clothing on, she seemed of little threat. It was then that one of his pack brothers charged at her. Jaruk did not expect any opposition, but when his brother was in range the female pulled out a small metal trinket that suddenly ignited into something similar to the sangheli energy swords. The female dodged his brothers attack and she countered by slicing off his brothers arms and cleaving his cannon in two followed by a quick cleave to the head. The other pack brother that had followed Jaruk to this section of the barracks engaged the human; she noticed him and quickly stabbed his brother in the side. The human must have thought that the stab would kill his brother but the jiralhanae are not so easily beat. To prove it his brother aimed brought his spiker in a stabbing in a similar motion, his stab was aimed for her spine. The human however was fast and pulled out before his brother could kill her. His pack brother then fired at her at point blank range; though the human was fast and capable of blocking the spikes even she could not defend herself entirely. Sure enough the human was hit in the side by one of the spikes; his brother took the opportunity to charge at her. Despite the injury the human was able to dodge just in time followed by a slash to his pack brothers leg, followed by his brother swiping at her with his spikers blades. She ducked and slashed of his hand followed by cleaving off his head.
Jaruk roared in anger at his brothers death drew his war hammer and charged the human warrior.
Argerin pulled the now black spike out of her side just in the time for her to move out of the way of the final ape creature's path of destruction. The hammer he carried slammed into the way sending out a burst of gravitational power that crumpled the wall. The creature swung it around and brought it down on her location, again releasing a blast of gravitational force. Argerin ran away into the nearest crew room to try and find a med. Kit to try and patch up her wound. Thanks to help from the force she found one but before she could administer proper medical aid the ape creature came barging in swinging wildly with his hammer. She slid out from under his legs and ran out back into the hallway, opening the med. kit whilst running down the corridor. She found enough medical supplies to patch up the wound, using the force she healed herself up to the point of which she could continue to fight with the creature. She got up, but when she was fully standing a mace shaped object flew through the entrance and stuck to the wall, it gave off a hissing noise it took Argerin a moment to realize that it was an explosive. She ran out of the room only to turn and be smacked down onto the ground by the creature. Seconds later the bomb detonated and spikes were fired off mainly in the room, a few got into the hallway. The creature brought down the hammer but Argerin brought her lightsaber up in time to stop the hammer. She used the force to push the alien ape back and then she got up to her feet and back into proper fighting stance. The ape brought the hammer down in a diagonal swipe, only for Argerin slashed with her lightsaber cutting the hammer hilt in two. The ape stepped back in shock of his destroyed hammer but quickly regained composure and started swinging at her again. The hammer head was the main threat but the rest of the hilt that was being used as a club to beat jedi warrior back. Finally Argerin seized an opening and sliced off the arm that was holding the hammer head resulting in the alien dropping the hammer. The creature cried in agony and tried to smack Argerin with what was left of its hammer hilt. Tired of the creatures battle Argerin built up the force to the point of which she was able to blast the ape into a wall at the end of the corridor. The alien got up and started to move only for Argerin to blast it back with more energy; then when the alien tried to get up again the jedi blasted the creature with force energy causing it be buried in the wall. The alien struggled but came out of the wall roaring in anger. Argerin while keeping the alien suppressed with the force also used the force to pick up the hammerhead of the war hammer, aimed and fired it into the aliens head. A final loud boom was heard from the hammer before it fell to the ground with a thud. What was left of the creature's head a crumpled, caved in skull oozing red blood and slimy brain matter. The body of the alien walked forward slightly and then fell on its knees and then on it completely fell down dead, the battle was over.
Argerin expected the corridor and used the force to try and find any signs of remaining life in the barracks; however, there was unfortunately no survivors left here. Argerin decided to walk to the bridge since there was nothing left to salvage here.
"General this is the sergeant." The clone sergeant said over the comm. Channels. "Go ahead sergeant, what is your status?" Argerin said lumbering from the grogginess of her wound. She slumped down by a wall for a quick reprieve and used the force to further heal herself. "The aliens, the broke down the doors and pushed us back, lost a lot of men along the way," the sergeant informed, "We finally got to the elevators and shut them down but it seems their finding a way to get power back to them, we estimate less then twelve minutes until they reach the bridge." Argerin stood up, "I'm on my way there." "General the primary way to the bridge is to hot for access." The sergeant informed. "Is there another way to reach the bridge from my position?" "There is a service vent that should give you access." "Understood I'll get to the bridge as soon as I can sergeant." I only hope that I can reach them in time before these aliens kill them all Argerin thought.
The humans had fought well but were now pushed back to their ships bridge. Ripa' Moramee could taste their fear. "What is taking so long?" the Arbiter questioned. "We could move faster if we had a huragok here." The elite technician replied. "And I told you all ready that I won't risk any huragok so deal with it and get these god damn elevators running." The technician grunted and continued his work. The Arbiter turned around and took in all the warriors who were still amongst the living. Almost all the sangheli were still here, and the unggoy and kig-yar and suffered fewer losses then usual and unsurprisingly the lekgolo where still amongst the living. The battle ahead was as good as finished.
"Arbiter we have the elevators online." The technician informed. "Excellent," the Arbiter said with a sinister voice, "warriors in to the elevators the judgment of the humans of this ship comes now."
The surviving clones and the bridge crew had shored up the bridges defenses, and they had everything they could carry up from the armory. Now all we need to make an affective defense is the general, the clone sergeant thought. "Sergeant," the commander of the bridge said. "What is it commander?" "We're ready for the fight and the unknown hostiles have started coming up the elevators." "Let us hope we can hold out long enough."
The clones took their positions in preparation for the coming storm. The clones waited for what seemed like an eternity until the door began to glow with an all too familiar red-orange glow. It intensified until the doors finally burst open in an explosion of fire and smoke. The small creatures with the pyramids on their backs came in first, along with a few of the bird headed aliens carrying the energy shields and at least one of the split jawed aliens. The clones opened fired on the aliens; the fire was heavy but the clones held out. All the short creatures were downed with the first two minutes; the bird headed creatures lost a few soldiers and the single split jawed alien took cover.
Finally after several minutes the unknown hostiles sent in the walking armored behemoths and more of the split jawed aliens. "Rocket launchers now," the sergeant ordered, "fire on the left armored monster now." The clones did just that and with both shots from the only two launchers they could carry the monster fell down and died. The other creature noticed its friend die and roared in anger and charged forward at the clones. It smashed through the barriers and starting smacking clones around with its shield and slicing open any clones that were behind it with its spines. The clone sergeant and two other clones fired on the beasts back hoping to find a weak spot. To their delight they did, "Clones fired at the armored aliens from behind and at any orange spots you can find." The sergeant informed and ordered. Any clones that were still alive and behind the monster fired at its back; the fire on the armored alien was so heavy the armor on its back was destroyed and continuing laser fire burned into the monsters exposed back, it finally fell forward in death.
The battle was not going well for the clones, the enemy had smashed through the barrier and now they were flowing into the bridge. Clones were dying every where; the sergeant searched for the commander of the bridge but he was no where to be seen, likely he had been killed.
The clone sergeant stood alone now and was soon shot in the shoulder by one of the bird headed creatures and he fell backwards, his helmet falling off in the process. The clone sergeant lay on the floor, his head spinning, and falling in and out of consciousness. He lifted his head and saw the huge split jawed alien that wore the more ceremonial armor come into view. It activated its energy blades and stood over him raising his blades into a position that would impale the sergeant. The alien began to bring the blade down when suddenly the arrival of another blade deflected the alien's blade out of the way. The general had arrived, but then however the clone blacked out.
The warrior women had appeared in front of him with her blade in a battle raised stance. His sangheli brothers took positions in a circle around the Arbiter and this warrior. Ripa' Moramee charged at her and she rolled out of the way. She brought her blade up in a slash which he expertly blocked with his left blade and then stabbed downward at her with his right blade. She rolled out again and stood up and then charged him. He parried and then they went into a heated blade fight.
The sergeant slowly started to open his eyes. When they were fully opened he noticed that the general and the alien in the ceremonial armor. He turned his head to see one of his fallen clone brothers body next to him, in his fallen brothers hand was a small blaster. The sergeant reached over for the gun, grabbed it and began to stand up. He took aim for the alien, but before he could fire the blaster one of the other aliens shot the sergeant through the head. He dropped the blaster and fell to the side, the last thing he saw was the general turning around to see him topple to the floor.
The female became distracted by her soldier's death. Ripa took advantage of the moment and ran the warrior through with his energy blades. The warrior trembled slightly and then lowered her head in death. The battle of this ship was finally over with.
The other covenant warriors growled in victory over these humans. "The battle is over," the Arbiter said, "contact the other boarding ships and tell them that it is safe for the huragok to come aboard, have them scour this entire ship for any details or data about this Republics worlds." The other covenant warriors went to work on the Arbiter's orders.
Ripa could not help but smile, with this ships navi-computer data we can begin war on this pathetic Republic and kill every human heretic that has ever tainted this galaxy with their presence, this will become interesting.