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It must of been the third time Jake had to check himself over the red wetsuit he was given, seeing it was a good fit and wasn't hugging too much against his skin. It wasn't the first time he had put one these things on for combat purposes but that usually involved going down rivers and lakes, not an entire ocean. He supposed he shouldn't of been surprised that a species of aquatic creatures would have their civilisation underwater, though it was going to be strange experience to witness a war beneath the sea.
After boarding the cruiser to the squid and fish people's homeworld they received a call from Skywalker and Padme on Dac, telling them there was a very high chance the Quarren were going to attack the capital city, Mon Cala. When the transmission ended Fisto suggested Ahsoka give him the underwater SCUBA clothing he was currently wearing. She gave him the suit, swimming flippers and a underwater helmet that he described as a retro 50's style goldfish bowl.
Though she hadn't said any more on the matter Jake could see in her eyes and hidden attempts to hide her feelings she was worried about him, especially since his sickness remained a consistent burden. He still got muscle cramps and the nauseous feeling wouldn't go away, a couple of the clones soldiers and even Captain Rex noted to him of his bloodshot eyes and paleish skin. Just like he had with the kid he told them it was nothing, just a stomach bug or something but when he inspected himself there was no denying his skin complexion was tad more whiter than usual.
The big problem he had was if his stomach decided to empty what little contents he had left whilst he was underwater. It would be both embarrassing and disgusting if he chucked his guts up with the helmet on, swimming around with him since there will be nowhere to get rid of it without the little problem of drowning. The trip to the water world was over a few hours long so he managed to catch up with some of the 501st troopers who seemed happy to see him again.
He found out only a few of them would be joining the mission because most of hadn't as of yet trained in water combat. The other downside Jake found was he wouldn't be able to use his own weapons as they too weren't really designed for underwater warfare. I wish I had bloody needlegun with me, He thought checking over the DC-17 handgun he was given by Rex. The handgun was blocky and not overly different to a normal pistol like his Glock but he wasn't fan of energy weapons, they lacked the bite and impact a projectile weapon had. Then again if this went smoothly he wouldn't have to use it unlike what happened over Nubia.
The Royal Marine sat on the edge of one of the waiting LAAT's troop compartments, watching the activity around the hangar bay. Clone soldiers in armoured SCUBA gear were talking with the green alien over with Rex, going over last minute plans for the upcoming battle.
"All set?" He heard Ahsoka's voice to the right of him, walking over to him in a same designed wetsuit only she donned a mask rather then a helmet.
"That I am, you?"
"Ready as I'll ever be" She stepped aboard the dropship "Feeling better?"
"Yep" The marine lied standing up, ignoring the muscle pains in his limbs as he climbed aboard the aircraft. He saw the SCUBA clones coming over and begin boarding the other waiting dropships, along with Fisto who appeared to not have any sort of underwater apparatuses on him "Uh, ain't he going to get ready?"
"Nautolans are amphibious, Master Fisto doesn't need oxygen tanks and rebreather equipment like us mammals" She joked as the dropships lifted off the hangar floor and out to the large opening doors above. At the back he saw a mini sub of some sort facing outward. It's front was curved and had four tubes sticking out the front, two smaller one that appeared to be weapons but the other longer two he couldn't make out their function. The name 'Devilfish' was mentioned once or twice when people were fiddling around with it.
The compartment doors remained opened to the outdoor scenery, the dropships skimmed over the sea's surface causing water to splash into the troop bay as they awaited the order to dive.
"Are you the marine the guys in the 501st have been talking about?" He turned to a clone standing opposite to him hanging onto the overhead bar, a modified laser gun strapped to his side.
"Yeah I imagine so" Jake replied nodding to the trooper.
"Heard you captured a Sith. Pretty impressive stuff, do they train all troopers where you're from like that?"
"Only the best, mate. And the 42 Commando of the Royal Marines is exactly that" He smirked, not hiding an ounce of pride for his unit.
"Alright, alright cut the chatter" The young Commander next to him said stepping closer toward the open doors. A shadow cast over them as a larger ship sped out in front of them, taking up position as the lead ship.
The bleeping of Ahsoka's communication device on her wrist drew both his and the clones attention to the alien girl.
"Ready for deployment" A voice came from the other end, sounding distinctly like the Aussie/Kiwi accented voice of a clone.
"Blue Leader standing by!" Ahsoka replied back into the comm, followed by other team leaders giving their check names.
"All squadrons are in position, General Fisto"
"Commencing deployment" The Nautolan alien ordered over the comm "In three, two, one"
One by one Jake saw SCUBA troops dive out of the fast moving dropships, disappearing into the ocean below. He felt a hand tap his shoulder, finding it to be the alien teen.
"Ready?"
"Ladies first" He smirked at her. Once she had jumped the marine quickly followed suit after her, feeling his surroundings no longer controlled by air and now consumed by the blue water of the planet's oceans.
Almost immediately he saw the mini sub from before now a few feet below him with Ahsoka swimming over to the steering section. Swimming after her he held onto the side of the sub as she drove it down to the depths, grabbing hold of the laser pistol he was given. Searching all around them he saw dozens of clones troops and more of the same mini subs with both soldiers and Fisto steering them down to their destination.
They must of gone down to a depth of over a hundred metres when Jake saw the first natural made rock formation, followed by an assortment of alien fish and sea plants when artificial and natural light broke through below them. For a moment he was lost in astonishment at seeing a real, honest to God underwater city for the first time. At first he was expecting something you see on television on what the Lost City of Atlantis may of looked like but it really was breathtaking.
Spires, tall buildings, tubes of some kind and other structures dominated the landscape. These Calamari are certainly good builders, he thought only it would of been a hell of a lot better if it didn't have a battle commencing within it's limits. Blasts of red and blue energy were exchanged between the fish people and the squid aliens being assisted by robot belonging to the Separatist lot, charging into the defenders.
The clones and the Jedi started unleashing their fire down at the attackers with the mini-subs inbuilt guns, hitting a fair amount of squids and robots in the first salvo. With their arrival the battle didn't waste time in turning in their direction with forces from the opposing side breaking off their main attack and targeting anyone who wasn't metal or had tentacles growing out their face.
"Shit!" The marine cursed as a red laser blast just skimmed past him.
"Hold on Corporal, things are going to get a little crazy around here!" Ahsoka warned him, steering the sub away from enemy fire.
"And here I thought it was going to be peaceful" Jake said firing off two rounds at approaching squid man, both slamming into his chest where the heart and lungs would be if it were human. He'd only been in the battlefield for a mere few minutes before somebody started shooting at him, meaning he was yet again a combatant observer to his annoyance.
The tight gripping of his hand on the side of the mini sub sent another unpleasant painful sensation of cramp creeping up his arm again, causing him to wince involuntarily at the contraction of his muscles playing up. Ignoring the pain he focused back on to the battle, avoiding the red energy blasts and carried on being chauffeured by the kid shooting away and ramming into a robot who thought he could get the jump on them.
The machine had a crooked oval shaped head and a flashing red eye in the centre of it, it's white metallic body broken in half from the force of the sub crashing into it. They went passed a squad sized unit of the Calamari who were shooting at an approached small sized unit of mixed robots and the Quarren aliens, using staff shaped and equally long weapons. Four blue energy shots from their end took out at least two but he didn't see the results since they were moving too fast for them to check.
Searching around the warzone he spotted amongst the gunfire the telltale signs of one the lightsabers and with it Ahsoka's Master.
"Hey kid, isn't that Skywalker?" He pointed the handgun below them to the fighting figure.
"Yeah, look's like he's in trouble" No sooner had the alien teen's words left her mouth a trio of Quarren advanced over to him. He cut down the first by slashing his blue coloured saber across the sea alien's torso but one snuck behind him, grabbing onto his oxygen helmet whilst the other one tried impale him with the spear tip of his gun. He managed to bat it away slicing it in half and striking the attacker across the belly but unfortunately his helmet came off during the tussle with the one still latched onto him.
"Come on!" She called out, sending the sub into a nosedive with little warning for the marine to regain proper balance. Letting Ahsoka chase down the falling helmet, Jake carried on watching Skywalker struggle to both breath and fight trying to reclaim his only way of breathing underwater. Another squid man this time came along on a mini sub smaller and less stylish than theirs, firing volleys of red that came hair raisingly close to destroying the oxygen helmet until he brought the sliced the would be killer's sub in half and him spiralling along with it.
The marine could see he was struggling to hold his breath in before the waters around him would drown him and to make matters worse, a pair of robots appeared before him. That problem was quickly solved by the kid blasting them both away with the subs mini cannons, catching the helmet before it disappeared to the depth far below.
The sub then rose up again with her bringing it over to her suffocating Master, tossing his lifeline over to him.
"You called for backup?" Ahsoka said to him, if Jake wasn't mistaken as a teasing tone. Pulling the helmet back on he decompressed the water out, coughing as air was reintroduced back into his lungs.
"I said I had it under control, Snips" He said between coughs, smiling as they exchanged the light banter.
"Looks like it" The marine mumbled, keeping cautious for any encroaching dangers. The little reunion was cut short by a panicking, familiar feminine voice coming from the Jedi's comm link.
"Anakin, it's Senator Tills. I need help getting her to safety, we're toward the base of the palace and hurry!"
"Ahsoka, take Corporal Matthews and protect the Prince. I'll get the Senators" He ordered, swimming away before any of them could object.
"Got it Master"
"You know I'm here as an observer Commander, not a combatant?" Jake kindly reminded her.
"I know, you're just getting a proper close up" He could see the smile tugging at her face as she directed the underwater vehicle.
All around them he saw the battle rage on with the Republic troops now joining with the Calamari in attempting to drive back the invaders, sections of mixed troops engaging in close combat. A glass tube like conduit cracked and bent inwards after being struck by a wave of fire, collapsing in half and falling above their heads. Before it could hit them and bring the pair down with it Jake tightened his grip from Ahsoka accelerating the sub, missing the structural collapse by mere inches.
"Bloody Hell!"
"There he is!" He heard her announce, seeing the person they were searching floating above a dome building shooting away at near by enemy soldiers. It was a Calamari, dressed in clothing resembling that of formal wear used by the British Royal family only in a different colour.
In the corner of his eye the marine saw something new swimming toward their target, bigger than that of the Calamari and the Quarren. Upon further examination he saw it to be another humanoid fish except it had a head of a scaled down shark.
"We're not the only ones searching for the Prince" He pointed over to the newcomer. Seeing that she spotted it too the young Jedi made a beeline for the Prince, as the shark creature swam at amazing speeds to reach the royal first who was blasting away at the approaching threat.
Jake heard a low snap hiss behind, the green plasma blade from her blade unsheathed and holding out not from from his body whilst she tried driving the sub at the same time. The chase to the Prince was a tight one, the shark creature looking to be the one slightly closer ahead to them. The Prince shot several volleys to it but then stopped, appearing paralysed at his closing fate from certain death by the snarling creature.
Lucky for him a glancing blow from the kid's lightsaber dazed the shark alien.
"Grab on" She instructed to the shocked royal.
"Good idea" Jake saw him clinch on to the other side of the sub. Looking behind them the Corporal saw the shark man shake his head from the strike, snarling again giving chase to his prey.
For only a few exceptions in his life, Jake felt the adrenaline rush through his aching body taking over the pain and sickness from the heart pounding pursue. He shifted to one side and fired four rounds at the alien managing to get one shot to clip his shoulder, which only seemed to make it angrier and gave him deathly stare. He suddenly felt the sub twist around into a 360 degree spin, passing through friendly and enemy fire as well as smaller structures.
"Get us out of here!" The Prince shouted, avoiding the pursuers attempts to apprehend him.
"Hold on!" She called back just as the shark man came alongside them on his side. It was the first time he had a proper look at the creature, it's face, eyes and teeth freakishly so much like a shark bearing down on him and the other two. Seeing it about to strike Jake thought fast and hoped the truth about hitting a shark in the eye would fend it off was true, swinging his pistol around and slammed the butt of the gun into it's closest dark eye.
The impacting solid metal bottom end of the pistol caused the shark alien to slow down, holding it's eye from his agonising strike helped in giving them a lead ahead. Concentrating back to the front Ahsoka brought them down a hole going down to one of the glass tubes, catching sight of the Prince slipping off the mini sub and grabbing on to the Jedi teen's lower torso.
For only just a second the marine thought they were safe until the knocking from outside the tube from the shark creature again put doubt to that hope. It persisted to keep hitting itself against the glass like a thoroughly pissed off animal trying to capture the offender of his anger. So far to Jake's relief the glass remained intact from the attacks but still gave the trio a good jolt from the impacting hits.
"I'm slipping!" The Prince said in panic, his grip to Ahsoka lessening down to her legs.
"Grab my hand" The marine ordered to the worried royal, sliding down the sub outstretching his hand to the Calamari. As he tried doing so without pulling Ahsoka off the steering of the water vehicle Jake saw the youngster's eyes widened.
"Look out, they're coming right at us!" On cue he and the Jedi stared ahead to see a squad of water robots swimming toward them. Jake heard Ahsoka gasp from the new danger, still driving right at the crimson eyed machines at top speed.
"I'm letting go!" She announced, giving them all only a split second to let go off the fast moving sub before it went like a raging bull into the machines. The high velocity it continued on course colliding into the robots with great force, severing each one of their mid sections turning them into floating battleground debris.
The violent shaking of the tube brought them back to the assailant outside still trying to make his way inside, literally charging head first into the thick glass. It roared as it clashed against the structure repetitively sending a shockwave of bubbles down the tube, hundreds of the little bulbous things rushed past him and the youngsters.
"Don't worry, as long as we are in tube we are safe" The Prince assured them. The shark alien then changed his tactic and began hitting against one spot just in front of them, causing the whole tunnel shake more violently from the attacks.
"I wouldn't be so sure" Jake said pointing his handgun at the spot the creature kept hitting on, noticing the unwelcoming sight of cracks appearing more and more from each impact. On the last one the weaken area of glass it kept targeting eventually cracked open and the ugly, vicious head of the alien broke through, snarling and roaring like a beast.
The force of the impact sent all three of them back watching as it's open mouth revealed the shark man's razor sharp, serrated teeth as it roared through the new opening. About to open fire the marine heard the whine of laser fire and peered up to see a small group of Calamari troops bearing down on their position, aiming at the aggressor. A couple of blue coloured energy rounds hit the back of the alien but did little other than annoy it, making him grunt at the new threat to his person then swiftly turned around and engaged the native troops.
Unfortunately to their dismay each one didn't stand a chance against it. One by one it tore through them, slicing one poor soldier through his stomach using it's powerful jaws and another had his throat ripped open with little to no effort. The scene before him was something you'd see in a nature documentary, not on a battlefield. The expression of shock and disgust wasn't lost on the other two either, both their faces looking on at the horrid scene of barbarity.
"Come on hurry" Ahsoka commanded, letting the Prince take point down the rest of the tube. Jake swam behind them both checking to see no other lingering threats were around to cause trouble.
He felt an odd tingling sensation in his hands and several other parts of his body. It felt like pins and needles only it immediately numbed all those area quicker than usual to a point where he could feel his hand grip on to his gun. For the time being he ignored it and carried on swimming, hoping the excess movement will eventually rid the strange numbness.
"Could someone please tell me what on Earth that thing was?" He asked the pair of them keeping a cautious eye on their surroundings.
"That was Riff Tamson, ambassador of the Separatist Alliance sent to cause trouble for my people and the Quarren"
"He's a Karkarodon, his people are aligned with Separatists" Ahsoka explained further "They are an aggressive species from the planet Karkaris"
"Great, talking sharks" They came to the end of the tube, the rest sheared off and laying ruin down on the seabed below. Taking right and the Jedi Padawan taking left he searched the area for the 'Karkarodon' but instead found the battle dying down around the underwater city.
The robotic troops and squids were falling back down to the corals beneath them, leaving only a few exchanges of fire from parting shots by the invaders. The Prince again took the lead as they searched for the remaining Republic forces, taking up his right flank whilst Ahsoka went to the opposite side keeping a wary eye out for stragglers. On the way he felt his stomach clamp up much like his arms and legs had, only this felt more painful than the other ones had. It felt as if somebody was holding onto his stomach muscles and pressing down in vice like grip.
"For God sake" He moaned in low voice as he stopped with the natural reaction of bringing his hand up to the area suffering from pain. His eyes closed wincing as he fought through the discomfort.
"Jake what's wrong?" Ahsoka asked in concern. Peering up and doing his best to hide the evident pain he was experiencing he swam over to the waiting duo.
"Nothing, pulled a muscle let's get going"
"Now we are safe, I would like to know my saviours" The Prince asked swimming around and floating in front.
"I'm Padawan Ahsoka Tano and this is Corporal Jake Matthews of Earth" She introduced them to the thankfully Calamari royal. Jake raised a brow over the way he addressed him to the alien, like he was an actual representative of his homeworld in this conflict.
"You have my thanks Padawan Tano, for the Jedi and Republic for answering our call for help" He bowed to the kid in gratitude.
"With respect your Highness, now isn't the time for praise. You should wait until this battle has ended"
"You are right Corporal. Come on, they shouldn't be far away" They continued on following the young royal over to a cluster of gathering troops from the remainder of native soldiers and SCUBA clones.
Hundreds of them were crowding around a huge rock covered in a variety of coral and tiny fish, facing out to the disappearing opposition. Amongst the crowd he picked out Skywalker and the Senator to which they all swam down to meet up with for the next course of action.
"Prince Lee Char" A feminine voice rang out as they approached.
"Senator Tills, glad to see you're safe"
"You must prepare to dictate terms for a Quarren surrender" The Calamari woman told him, clenching her fist in determination.
"Surrender?" The bewildered Prince quizzed over the Senator's bizarre declaration.
"Not so fast Senator!" Another Calamari butted in, saying what all the others were no doubt thinking over the bold statement.
An debate ensued but the marine suddenly lost focus and his bearings around him, their voice becoming nothing more than echoes as his vision blurred. He could hear a faint whistling in his ears, his head going funny as his sight went hazy from the strange feeling. His automatic reaction was to place his hands on his head but thanks to the goldfish bowl on his head it wasn't possible, since it was the only thing beside the oxygen tanks keeping him breathing in the ocean depths.
Shaking his head and blinking rapidly Jake suddenly felt the dizziness fade away and his eyes were clearing up again. Jesus what's wrong with me, He thought, glad no one was seeing his present state.
"...I sense the real battle is about to begin" Skywalker's voice was the first to clear up in his hearing. There was a sudden chill creeping up his spine but it wasn't caused by whatever it was affecting him physically, it was the feeling he got when a something was about to happen.
On cue a new noise echoed around them like a faint moan from an approaching animal. A eerie yellow light lit up their dark staging area, lighting corpses of Calamari, Quarren and clones alike along with wrecks of the robots. Jake joined the others in watching the sickly yellow light brightened up and reveal the source to be of all things, giant jellyfish.
"We have no defence against those" Prince Lee Char said, looking at the Jedi with understandable worry.
"This isn't gonna be easy" Skywalker agreed turning to the shocked royal.
"Talking shark soldiers and now giant jellyfish, great. All we need now is a kraken to complete this bloody nightmare" The Corporal got his handgun at the ready, wishing to himself he had something with a better punch to it. All the troops around him readied themselves clutching tighter on to their weapons, waiting for what the new threat had in store for them.
Looking down he saw the Prince pick up a staff gun grabbing on to the base as he glanced to his troops. Jake had to give him his due, for an inexperienced lad he had guts to stand with his people on the battlefield to defend their home.
"Do not fire until the Prince gives command" The same Calamari from before ordered, the marine guessing he must of the been the Commander of the native soldiers "Steady, steady"
The monster jellyfish drifted closer and closer, their yellow bodies flashing at them and what Jake could of sworn was electrical charges coursing up and down the creature's' tentacles. Snap hisses and guns cocking repeated around the defenders awaiting for the command to attack. For the marine there was no turning back. What was supposed to be another observation turned into another drop right into the mayhem. There was no way he was going to be killed by some brainless fish.
"Now your Highness" The Commander turned to the Prince.
"Attack!" He finally gave the order, a torrent of blue laser fire was unleashed on the creatures within a second from his command. Clones, Calamari, Jedi and a lone Royal Marine fought the monstrosities, firing everything they had. Despite the limitations his DC-17 had Jake still pulled the trigger blasting at the closest jellyfish, seeing in the corner of his eye Senator Padme doing the same and taking down two sneaky water robots.
Skywalker's got one hell of a woman, He smiled to himself as his respect for her rose. Machines and Quarren came swimming at them through the gaps of the jellyfish, blasting crimson red laser bolts at them from all directions. Since their fire was doing little if not nothing to halt the creatures advance he switched to shooting the more easier targets, catching one robot with a burst into it's chest metallic torso.
A red bolt whizzed past from a squid, charging at him with the spear tip intending to impale him. Moving swiftly to the side he grabbed the spear gun and blew a bolt between the Quarren's eyes.
"Cheers mate" He took the weapon off the dead enemy, placing the handgun in the holster then used his new weapon. Seeing the trigger by the base he lined the gun up like an old musket, firing round after round at any sneaky bugger attempting to get him.
The clones and the Jedi went mostly for the machines whilst the Calamari went for their aggressive neighbours, obviously going for the enemy they each knew best. He pulled the trigger twice and added yet another robot amongst the floating debris of its brethren but the threat of the jellyfish still remained. Above him were a pair of Calamari troops shooting at one of them, getting a glancing hit from one of its tentacles frying them with an electrical charge.
"Shit, get away from them now!" He shouted at the others, all of whom did as he suggested. An unfortunate SCUBA clone was the next victim of the monster, piling him in with the other casualties
"Ahsoka, find us a way out of here!" Skywalker ordered to his apprentice. Doing as she was ordered he watched her swim over to the Prince. It appeared she was asking him of a route out of here but he looked reluctant to leave. The native Commander then swam over to him intervening, showing his agreement with the Jedi over a withdrawal.
The Prince then nodded beckoning the remaining forces to follow his lead.
"Come on boys and girls, follow the Prince and don't stop!" Jake ordered giving covering fire to the retreating allied forces. He fired a five bolt burst at a sub close by sending the driver rushing upwards into one of the jellyfish, exploding against its thick hide and killing the squid.
He saw in the reflection of his helmet Skywalker swimming beside him, deflecting away shots from the Separatists.
"Corporal go with the others, I'll wait for Master Fisto"
"Yes sir" Jake obeyed, swimming down with the others further down the depths of the planet's oceans. He dodged past one of the creature's tentacles and joined up with a squad of SCUBA clones down to wherever the Prince was taking them.
After what must of been 10 minutes he reached a complex of caves where the others were waiting, native troops standing guard at the entrances.
"...thanks to you Padawan Tano and to all these brave troops" He heard the Prince congratulate the people around him "I wish I could of done more for my people, maybe then we could of been spared all this. The illusion that I could actually lead in my father's place"
"Your father would be proud of you" The Calamari Commander told him with conviction.
"Proud?!, we lost"
"It is the hardest lesson you have to learn, to fight and live another day" The armoured alien assured him with wise words, words he heard before and lived by. To his irritation he felt his body react again to the unknown cause to his sickness, giving him a small coughing fit he tried to mask but caught the attention of Padme.
"Are you alright Matthews?" She asked him in concern, swimming over to him.
"I'm ok Senator" He assured facing her, only to see her eyes widened.
"Ok?" The word was alien to her but she obviously got it's meaning "Matthews your eyes, why are they red?"
"Senator it's nothing, we have more important things to worry about" He tried to swim away.
"No" She grabbed his arm stopping him from going anywhere "Are suffering from something?"
"I was sick yesterday but I'm fine now. Probably just a lingering side effect" He shrugged, hoping she would just drop it now that his ire raising. That was another problem he had. His temperament was shortening to a degree he wasn't happy with since leaving the Temple.
"We're moving out, come on" Fisto announced, followed by everyone going to the new destination. Jake caught up with Ahsoka and the Prince as they headed out to their next destination. On the way he looked back to see Padme talking with Skywalker, both not so subtly glancing over at him as she was most likely telling him of his now blatantly physical illness.
He was now starting to think maybe it was best to of stayed behind.