Having suffered financial losses in the clone wars the denkoto corporation has in secret asked for a secret meeting with the Jedi over their colony world of Auguten four to discuss a treaty specifying the denkoto's terms for leaving the CIS and surrendering. Count Dooku however catching word of this peace talk had gone along with General Grievous in order to both surprise the Republic and destroy the traitors. Unbeknownst to both factions however a new faction is speeding towards the meeting site and their arrival will shake the very foundation of the Clone Wars.
Ahsoka stared out of the view port on the bridge in boredom. "You bored to?" the voice of her master Anakin asked. "Yes." "Can't say I blame you." Ahsoka turned to face her master, "So why are we out here everyone knows were both at our best on the frontlines." Anakin smiled and said, "Remember snips we're Jedi we may be fighting for peace but do not forget that we also strive to stop fighting." Ahsoka sighed and returned to the viewport. "Besides," Anakin said, "knowing Grievous and Dooku we might still get a chance to fight some clankers later." "Sure hope so skyguy." Anakin smiled at his apprentice's boredom, she mirrored him in so many ways. "Come on Obi-wan is just about done talking to the Denkoto president." Ahsoka stood up straighter, turned and followed her master to the briefing room. "Other than the fact that the tinnies would lose allies why is it important that we secure at least trade rights with the Denkoto corporation again?" Ahsoka asked. "Though they aren't the biggest suppliers of it the Denkoto corp. has control over many metal factories that produce a great deal of starship armor and they also have control over at least two gas giants that have trace amounts of tibana gas needed for strong laser fire." Anakin explained, "Taking them would go a long way in the war effort." "So how exactly do we secure trading with them?" Ahsoka asked. "The Denkoto's are business men and originally had a strong economy however the war has left them financially…" "Unstable?" "Indeed however if the Republic offers them the money they need in exchange for their supplies." "We secure allies, the tinnies lose allies, and we get more guns and ships for the war." Ahsoka finished. "Basically." Anakin answered.
The master and the apprentice continued to the communication room on the bridge. "And you're certain you wish for this chairman." Obi wan Kenobi said to the shimmering hologram of the Denkoto corp. "I'm sure you realize that once you leave there will be very great chances the Confederacy will not take you back at least not without harsh punishment given first." "We are aware of the risks master Kenobi," the chairman said, "we have given this great thought and we are agreed we shall rejoin the Galactic Republic." "And the Republic welcomes you back with open arms." "Thank you master Jedi."
The hologram ended and Kenobi turned to Skywalker and his padawan. "I assume that things went well." Anakin asked. "Indeed, the Dekoto's are serious about this, we now need only relay the information to the senate and they shall take care of the rest."
Meanwhile deep in hyperspace aboard a CIS capital ship.
Grievous paced around the bridge of the ship whilst Count Dooku sat in the throne like seat in the middle of it all. "Report commander, what is the status of our cannons?" the General commanded. "WE HAVE THE CANNONS AT FULL CHARGE AND ARE READY TO FIRE UPON YOURS OR THE COUNTS COMMAND AND OUR SHIELDS ARE AT FULL CHARGE." The droid commander reported. "Good when we get there the republic will be all but crushed underneath our iron heel." Grievous said. "General do not get over confident." The count said, "the republic will be least suspecting us but that does not mean they will not be prepared for the worst." Grievous laughed and turned to the count, "the Jedi will not be my first salvos attack count." "You intend to attack the Denkoto ships then." "indeed attacking them will cause the Jedi to attempt to protect them." Grievous explained, "and killing them will root out the traitors so that the present leadership can be replaced with more confederate sympathizers." "A sound plan general let us hope that nothing deters this plan." Count Dooku said. Grievous laughed again "if anything count I swear that that Jedi will not see that the Denkoto join, not alive anyways."
Meanwhile back on aboard the Jedi cruiser in the skies above Auguten four the Jedi on board felt a disturbance in the force. "Something's about to happen masters," Ahsoka said. "We know." Anakin said. Started to walk back to the rest of the bridge when a voice crackled onto the intercom system, "All ships, enemy ship signs appearing coming out of hyperspace at point vector zero-four-eight." The Jedi raced to the bridge viewport, upon arrival they saw what the voice over the intercom said was true CIS ships had appeared in the area.
Even before the last ship appeared the enemy began firing missiles at the republic. "Bring the defense systems online." Anakin ordered. "We don't have the time to get them online." One of the clones replied. The Jedi watched as missiles and turbo laser fire streamed towards the republic cruisers. Anakin saw his padawan close her eyes awaiting destruction.
The missiles struck and rocked the ship from stem to stern. "Admiral," Anakin yelled, "damage report!" The admiral went over to one of the computers to investigate. "Sir our shields our down by thirty percent." He reported. "How is it that we only took that much damage?" Ahsoka asked. "Because we weren't the main targets," Obi wan said, "What is the status of the Denkoto's ships?"
The admiral searched, "Sir the Denkoto's cruisers took the most damage their leaving in life pods." "What of the chairman's corvette?" Obi-wan asked. "It took a hit but nothing serious thankfully one of our ships was able to stand in the way preventing any serious damage to the chairman's ship."
"The CIS must have come here to destroy them." Ahsoka said. "Well we won't give them the pleasure," Anakin said, "Admiral get our guns online and tell every pilot to mobilize will send these clankers back to the scrap heap they belong in."
Grievous observed the carnage he had created with some satisfaction, not enough to appease his though. "Impressive general," Count Dooku said, "I await to see how you perform against Skywalker and his forces." "You can sense him?" the general inquired. "Oh yes he's mobilizing his forces for a counterstrike." Grievous walked over to the droid commander of the ship, "send out our fighters and destroy them." "YES GENERAL."
Anakin viewed the carnage that had been caused by the confederates. Every republic ship had only minimal shield damage, the only that didn't had lost power to its shields and was suffering from fires and hull breaches. The Denkoto ships were another story entirely, two of the three cruisers that were acting as escorts for the chairman had been destroyed, only one had managed to survive through sheer luck but its' weapons were offline, the chairman's corvette had managed to be only hit by one missile and few lasers thankfully the injured republic cruiser had taken most of the attack.
No time to worry about them for know, Anakin thought, its time to get ready for the fight. "You ready Snips" Anakin said. "Yes master." She replied. "Broadside you and shadow squadron ready?" "Yes sir, shadow squad and I have been itchin to get back into the fight." Anakin smiled at his devotion and fighting spirit. R2-D2 let out several beeps; Anakin checked his sensors for enemy activity. "Get ready everyone our old friends have come to give us the welcoming party, everyone tighten formation the second you have them in your sights let them have it."
The Jedi starfighters and their clone's starfighters raced forward into the fray while enemy vulture droids flew towards them at lighting speed. All at once the two forces engaged in combat. Though the droids fought with cohesion and accuracy the clones and their Jedi were faster and better.
Back onboard the republic capital ship one of the clones found something while scanning the sensors. "Admiral," the clone said, "I have some sort of anomaly on our sensors." "What is it?" the admiral asked. "unknown, it looks like it might be ships coming out of hyperspace but there is something different about it." The clone explained. "Master Kenobi can you make anything of this?" the admiral asked. "I sense that if we look over here things may clear up admiral." Obi-wan suggested.
The admiral walked over to viewport the general was standing in front of. For a few seconds nothing seemed to happen, suddenly space seemed to pulse and glow for a short second. Then it pulsed again, finally a bright flashing rift in space opened up that strange ships started to spill out of the rift. "Get me online to Anakin." Obi-wan asked.
Anakin strafed from left to right to keep from hitting any debris. He concentrated on the droid he was chasing, he focused and targeted and fired. The droid was struck on its central control head which caused it to explode.
"That makes eight snips." Anakin said over the radio. "Try not to get to cocky sky-guy," Ahsoka said, "you wouldn't want to get over taken by me now would you." Anakin snickered and said, "In your dreams kid." "Anakin we have company coming in system." Obi-wan said over the comm. "Reinforcements for our side or theirs?" "Neither it's better if you turn your fighter and take a look at them for yourself."
Anakin did as he was told and went wide-eyed. He saw strange new ships that looked like predatory fish from some sort of water world. "What makes those ships, masters?" Ahsoka asked. "We don't know; they might be a new species." Obi-wan said.
Another strange ship came out of nowhere. It drifted a few feet right up close to all the ships, then red dots began to glow on the ship and purple blue tinted balls of fire came out and zoomed off to the still living Denkoto cruiser. The first fireball splashed onto the ship and boiled the ships hull away, then the second destroyed the ship in a cloud of atoms. Anakin began to think that but then another one of the newcomers came in and opened fired on one of the CIS frigates. A similar thing happened to the frigate only this one tried to fight back before being destroyed.
"Master are they on are side or not because we just saw them kill the denkoto's last cruiser and take down that enemy frigate, so what happens?" Anakin tried to think when his master's voice came back on the comm. "Everyone this General Kenobi I want all ships to pull back to the ships and put up defensive positions." Anakin breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that Obi-wan had once again taken things ahead in difficult times. Anakin turned his ship and went back to the ship.
Back on the CIS capital ship Grievous was infuriated at these newcomers. "What the hell are those ships, where did they come from?" The general demanded. Dooku looked at the new ships with a sense of wonder and curiosity. Their weapons don't use laser fire; it must be some sort of plasma weapon. Dooku was to busy in thought to stop and talk to Grievous about tactical advice. "Bring us into attack formation, blow these foolish fools back to oblivion."
Anakin, Ahsoka and the remaining clone pilots had lined up in defensive position in preparation for any possible attack. "Obi-wan what's the status of the chairman?" Anakin asked. "Despite our assurance that he will be safe with us he has chosen to go to ground." Obi-wan replied. businessmen could always be problematic when it came to a fight. "Generals this is the admiral." "Go ahead admiral." Anakin said. "The CIS is moving towards the enemy fleet, were all waiting for orders as to who were supposed to hit first."
Back on the CIS flagship Count Dooku finally snapped out of his daze to see what Grievous was doing. "General call off your attack now!" "In case you failed to notice Count these upstarts just blew up one of our ships that gives me more than enough reason to blow them straight to hell." "Give me a chance to talk to these newcomers, if we can turn them we may gain valuable allies." Grievous halted for a few minutes. "You have three minutes Count."
Dooku scowled at Griveous's battle rage it would have to be dealt with later. "COUNT DOOKU WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ACCESS THEIR COMMUNICATION SIGNALS IN ORDER TO GIVE YOU AN AUDIENCE WITH THEM." The droid commander said. Count Dooku stood in front the hologram projector. After a moment an alien figure appeared, it wore armor unlike any other it was likely around the size of Grievous the count couldn't tell for the creature was sitting down. "Hello there I am Count Dooku of the Confederacy of Independent Systems we would like to extend are hand-
The creature turned its' head and said something to something unseen after which the hologram ended. "I assume that this means that negotiations have failed," Grievous said, "now we go back to my way, commander." "YES GENERAL?" the droid commander said. "As soon were in range blow them to hell."
The confederate ships edged towards the unknown ships. As per the generals orders when they came with in range they opened fire with all force. Their turbolasers struck the unknown ships, however the laser fire just appeared to dissipate on the enemy energy shields. The CIS still kept firing, however amidst the blaster fire the enemy ships appeared to begin to glow red along their lateral lines. Seconds later more hellish fire streaked out from unknown vessels straight towards the confederate fleet. The fire splashed against the CIS ships, their shields glowed from the impact before finally sputtering and dying out. What was left of the fire splashed onto the now exposed ships several ships were hit on their bows melting the forward metal horns of the frigates, those were the ones that were lucky; the few fire balls that were accurate struck the ships exposed bridge full force crippling the ships to no extent. Some others were stuck underneath, those that were had there hulls melt away.
Explosions rocked the general's ship as he saw his fleet being torn asunder. "Damage and causality report!" Grievous ordered. "FRIGATES RAXUS, PREDATOR, AND AGITO HAVE BEEN DESTROYED; FRIGATES TOTO, GALAR, RADUM, ECHO 6 AND CRUSIER OBLIVION HAVE REPORTED HEVAY DAMAGE AND CASULIATIES." The general was flabbergasted, he had lost ships before but never had he met such enemies that could take out fleets in mere moments. Though it often killed him to run from fights, with this amount of losses the general saw no choice. He grunted and said, "Have the Oblivion, Toto, and Galar line up and give us covering fire while we escape." The general looked back at the count expecting to see the usual look of scorn on his face whenever the general failed to complete his mission, instead however he found that the count had a look of mixed emotions. Grievous was no mind reader like the count but Dooku looked as though he had a sense of wonder, and fear of something. General turned around, clearly knowing he was not going to receive a response. For now he would have to worry about get out of this disaster.
Obi-wan watched from the bridge of the Resolute as the confederate fleet began veering off from the fight, or at least most of it anyways several ships remained behind to cover the rest of the fleets escape. To be honest with himselfKenobi was beginning to question himself as wither or not the CIS's decision to retreat wasn't such a half bad idea. Obi-wan had seen CIS ships and republic ships destroyed before but never with this much brutality. "Obi-wan were a little pressed for questions as to what we should do next?" Anakin's voice said over the comm. The republic needed to learn of these new invaders, the republic had to be warned. With that in mind despite the sickening feeling of what had to be done Obi-wan had to give the order. "Anakin we must warn the republic of this threat, pull yourself, your apprentice, and shadow squadron back to the Resolute." "Why are we retreating?" "We aren't retreating; I'm having us and the Resolute head for Corusant to warn the Republic." "What about the people on Augten four?" "We won't leave them without protection we'll leave the rest of the fleet to give them time to prepare a defense and get their people to safety."
"Understood master," Anakin said. "You all heard that?" acknowledgement lights blinked on his ships sensors. "Master this feels wrong." Ahsoka said over the comm. "I know Ahsoka, don't worry we won't live this down, will come back for them all, will finish this when we come back." Even though Ahsoka was in another ship her master could feel her uneasiness. Anakin had it too, if they had the firepower Anakin would fight these invaders head on, if they even had the time Anakin would at least evacuate the colony on the planet below but catching a glimpse of one of the few CIS ships still in space being blown up only weakened his morale to a lower level.
The republic fighter class ships under Anakin's command entered the hanger of the Resolute. With that the Republic capital ship veered off and prepared itself for hyperspace. The other republic ships toke up defensive positions in orbit above Auguten four. The Resolute entered hyperspace just as the last CIS ship was destroyed by the unknown hostiles.
Aboard the capital ship Ascendant Justice fleetmaster Thel' Vadumee chuckled at the sight of these new enemies his covenant had discovered. They already run from his fleets superior might. Well not all of them anyways, humans could always be willing to fight to the end if permitted to. These republic dogs seemed to want to defend their world to the last soldier, they also seemed to be at war with some form of confederates. It mattered little it would be dealt with later and with all due force. For now however the fleetmaster turned his attention to the planet ahead the remaining republic ships were being joined by various smaller ships from the planet. It would not matter, much like the UNSC of his galaxy his ships would burn the filth away until the enemy fleet was burned, and the taint that was upon their worlds glassed. He had played the thought many times in his mind Their destruction is the will of the gods, Thel' Vadumee thought, and we, we are their instrument.