And we are back to Star Wars – The Clone Wars- Into The Darkness!
Last time, Ahsoka was getting ready to get to Saleucami. I hope you are just as interested as before!
Enjoy!
War in the outer rim! Anakin Skywalker and his men of the 501st land on the planet Saleucami to support Jedi Master Kit Fisto who was alone with his men holding the line against Droid forces attacking a final Republic base! While they hold their line, Anakin's fleet is destroyed by the Invisible Hand, leaving the Republic Troops on the surface trapped against unlimited Droids! But, during this assault, Ahsoka Tano, the welcome back Jedi is coming with the rest of the 501st, to save their skins!
501st Fleet:
Ahsoka's fleet to Saleucami was almost at it's destination. Ahsoka got a head count of each Cruiser and discovered that she had twelve Venators. It was clear that she had an advantage over the Droids. She had admired the Venator Turbolaser were very reliable against Fighters and Cruisers.
Commander Appo was checking the transmissions to the ship, making sure that they didn't miss anything. Ahsoka just looked out the window to blue space. In the middle, it looked like a white never ending wormhole just spinning clockwise. It was almost hypnotic when she stared intoit for minutes that seemed to never end. Ahsoka was easily distracted by this light.
Appo, who was at the main computer saw that they were just seconds from the planet. He is going to need to warn his Commander.
Appo had a weird feeling calling someone his Commander. He was at the rank of Commander and he was th same rank as Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano. He'd have to live with this for now.
"Commander?" Appo asks to the back of his Commander.
Ahsoka was very distracted by the light seen in front of her vision still. It was a good way to ignore everything, specially when it is basically dragging you into that state.
"Commander Tano?!" Appo asks more loudly and in a more noticeable voice.
Ahsoka then instantly left her distracted position and turned towards the Commander ranked Clone.
"Yes, Commander Appo?" Ahsoka replies instantly.
"Saleucami will be in range in thirty seconds." Appo says.
"Yes, thank you for the information Commander." Ahsoka says.
Within the thirty seconds of waiting, Saleucami and the Droid fleet appears. The Invisible Hand and the escorting frigates then tuen to face the second Republic fleet. Then Vulture Droid Fighters suddenly went to attack to new ships that had arrived to Saleucami. They were mainly focused on the bridges of the ships? As Droid fighters blast on Ahsoka's commando Destroyer, she and her standing Soldiers fell due to the blaster impact.
Ahsoka stands and looks at the Droid fleets again to see the ships getting ready to attack.
"Appo, launch all Fighters!" Ahsoka commands.
"Right away sir." Appo says heading for a console.
"All fighters, get ready to launch. We are going into deep heat!" Appo calls a warning to the mic of the ships.
In a minute, Tano sees the Droid Fighters being scrapped by both Turbolaser and Clone Fighter blasts. The Clone Fighters were ARC-170s and Y-Wings. The Droids didn't stand one chance at all. What was the real problem was frigates and the main Cruiser.
Ahsoka knew that she needed to get into her Starfighter. But she didn't know if there was a Jedi class Fighter on board. Maybe Appo will know?
As Ahsoka looked towards Appo, he was leaning against the holo able looking at a virtual map of the battle.
"Appo, is there a Jedi Starfighter on this ship?" Ahsoka asks hoping he would say yes.
"Yes Commander." Appo replies. "But what can you do? One Jedi isn't enough to win this battle."
"You'll be surprised Appo." Ahsoka says. I'm keeping the bridge under your responsibility for now. Good luck."
Thank you, sir." Appo says in return.
The 501st Commander stares at the Jedi Padawan until she leaves in the Turbolift.
501st Venator Hanger:
Ahsoka arrives into the hanger ans sees some Y-Wing Fighters lifting of from other ones and heading right into the space battle. Ahsoka would soon do the same.
The Starfighter she was in was a black one. It had some silver detail sides on it and it looked like it was very new. The paint was new by looks and as each ship has joined the fleets, the appearance of each Fighter seems to get more dirty.
The Jedi ship lifts off from the hanger's metal surface and exits the energy shield into the battle against the Droid ships.
As Ahsoka was outside of the Venator ship's interior she checked what the battle looked like from her area. It seemed like an even battle with both Clones and Droids blowing up from the laser fire of one another.
Y-Wings and ARC-170s went hunting for the Vulture Droids and Droid bombers. The Droids responded not differently.
Banking Clan ships turn their attention the Republic Star Destroyers coming to Saleucami. Their main ships would be the goal for making them lose.
Ahsoka knew that the Cruisers needed the most protecting. Without the capital ships support, the Fighters would be taken down the the Invisible Hand and the CIS forces.
What could be a real threat was that General Grevious was in the battle. She had been out of the front lines for half a year and now she was coming back to space battles. She didn't need to worry about on foot training, but space battles was gonna be a big test for her. She hoped that the Jedi Starfighter controls hadn't changed since even as a Jedi, she could still get blown away from enemy fire. She started moving the Fighter slowly into battle and went to start a dogfight challenge with a group of Vultures.
Ahsoka's flying skills had amazingly didn't get the more rustier since her leave, but it was annoying that she had to go into battle right after she had returned. And the Jedi Council didn't even offer her the rank of Jedi Knight again. Why? Was her leaving choice some sort of punishment given to her to tell her she made a bad move denying the reenlistment back into the Order? This wasn't making any sense.
Ahsoka had then discovered that she was too distracted thinking about her return to the Jedi, that the group of Droid Starfighters she was fighting managed to get behind her ship and blast it a few times. Good thing for Ahsoka was that this newly constructed model was built to stand against normal Droid Fighter blasts. She then did a draw back roll to counter attack the Droid Fighters and fired her lasers at them. The lasers were actually quite strong against the Droids and Ahsoka got interested in them because they shot with a black color. It was very hard to see in black space but it was a very deadly type to have. She didn't have the slightest clue of where someone would have gotten this idea, but it was awesome for our little Snips.
"Wow, that's awesome..." Ahsoka commented about her Fighter lasers.
"Commander Ahsoka Tano." A voice calls on the ship's communicator. It was Appo's voice projecting in the ship.
"Yes Commander Appo? What is it?" Ahsoka asks.
"I've been given a special message about the Fighter you are using. It requires further testing as a battle product for Jedi to use. The Council has requested that you use it." Appo explains.
"Seems rather pointless to tell me right now, doesn't it?" Ahsoka asks.
"The Jedi said they wanted you to get a better feel from the ship. Such as handling, weapon fire and strengths." Appo says
"Oh, well thanks Commander Appo." Ahsoka says with gratitude for the loyal 501st Commander.
She starts her Starfighters engines again and send them into the max speed. The Jedi Fighter was actually a good investment if it costed a lot. It felt safe to fly and it was a formidable opponent against other CIS craft. This was gonna be fun for Snips.
The Invisible Hand's laser cannons aimed for the Jedi Starfighter that Ahsoka currently was using. The cannons fired at her and attempted to destroy her. Too bad for the Seps, as they couldn't get a proper aim due to her speed and size. If her Fighter was any slower, it may have been an easy target to take down. But that wasn't the case at this point. Once her Fighter had gotten into firing range, she let her black laser weapons all out against the Cannons and they were easily destroyed. An entire row of defenses were destroyed.
On the command bridge, Grevious gets shot right out of his chair. He lands where a B1 Battle Droid once stood, now destroyed due to the heavy and crippling weight of the General. Grevious struggles to get up because of the fast impact, but he remained hardly injured, just rattled up a bit.
"What was that?!" Grevious demands.
"Uh sir, there is a Jedi Fighter that's destroying our outer defenses. Our cannons can't get a direct lock on them. It is some new Fighter." A Battle Droid says.
"You idiots better keep shooting at them! I don't like quitters, especially from a Droid!" Grevious says.
"Roger, roger." The Droid says getting back to shooting at the Jedi Fighter.
"You better shoot it down." Grevious says threatening to smash the Battle Droid's head right off his shoulders.
Ahsoka had taken her Fighter and declared control of a squad of Z-95 Headhunters shooting at the Banking Clan Frigates bombarding the Venator-Class Star Destroyers. Ahsoka's men had already destroyed all but one. There were fourteen Headhunters that had followed what their Jedi Commander did, and went to go for another bombing run against the last Frigate. The turrets to the Banking Clan Frigate attempted to shoot down the Headhunters. Three got hit while the last eleven managed to avoid being blown to pieces. The wave decided to hit the bridge and ignore the sides as the bridge had complete control of the Frigate's defenses. Once the Headhunters fired at the bridges, blue lasers hit at the bridge and tore through it swiftly. The Frigate explodes and rips in half from the middle. Ahsoka smiled in success from this destruction her group had caused. It wouldn't be long before she could get to the surface and once again see her Master Anakin again. All she had to do was get past the Invisible Hand and get to the surface to safe Anakin's skin with more of the 501st platoon.
"Appo, the Frigates have been eliminated. Please prep me a large squad of Gunships immediately." Ahsoka says contacting her Commander.
"Right away Commander Tano." Appo says back to his... Commander.
Saleucami Surface:
STAPs were being sent in by the Droid Leaders to do some hit and run attacks on the Clone Walkers defending their positions. While the STAP was a weakly armed bike machine, it had it's proposes for dealing with targets very quickly and were hard to hit dude to speed and shape. The STAPs had gotten into waves of five and launched heavy wave fire upon AT-TE Walkers in grouped lines. Four were destroyed from the wave and the explosions had done quite a lot of damage to other machinery in the area.
Anakin who was in the base ares with some of his men saw the STAPs causing trouble and went out of cover. He holds his Lightsaber behind his body and flashes past his men in high hopes in destroying the speeding enemy bikes. He aims for one of the AT-TE's in his view and jumped on top of it. He jumped from that one to another and repeated his action to get up to the front. Some Clones in seats of the main guns took their time to watch their fearless General jump right into the heat of battle. Anakin had gotten to the closest of the AT-TE's at the front and waited for the STAP bikes to go around for a second pass. He saw the five blue metallic blurs charging with their engines wining loudly in the open area they flew in.
Anakin was patient about this for once. He knew that doing a charging run at his enemies would be suicide since their weapons were questionably powerful and fast to shoot with. Once the bikes were close enough, Anakin jumped at them with his blue Lightsaber aimed above his head and heroically sliced through the first one closest to him. The Droid and the bike with it explode as Anakin flies past it to the last four. Anakin dives at his second and third targets and before he even knew it, they were gone. The last two were going to present a small problem as they had a clear aim at the 'Hero with no Fear'. When the two STAPs shoot at the General, Anakin almost didn't see it and quickly swings his Lightsaber fast and bounced the red lasers at the Droids heads. The two remaining STAPs went forward with no riders and Anakin slashed at them. The two blue metal bikes explode from his Lightsaber attack and the parts fell to the ground dragging in the dirt.
Anakin lands on the ground in a crouching position and he deactivates his blue blade. He then slowly rises from the brown dust settling on the ground and looked back to the lines of AT Walkers holding their ground. But Anakin couldn't stand there for a little bit because a large group of Super Battle Droids started settling onto his position and fired their repeating wrist Blasters at the General. Anakin had reactivated his Lightsaber and deflected the attacks back into the Droids with style. Anakin counts about twelve Super battle Droids aiming for him. Twelve Droids with repeating lasers wasn't something he could stand against for long. Anakin then ran up to the Droids and he threw his Lightsaber at a group of five. The Lightsabers flies to one of the Droids and flings at four more. After that, it went back directly to it's rightful Master. Before Anakin knew it, the group of Droids was scrap piles and he quickly went back to the base.
When Anakin had gotten past the groups of big AT-TE Walkers, he had gotten back to his Captain Rex who was with his trusted men Fives, Jesse, Kix and Tup. Kit Fisto had his green Lightsaber snap back red Blaster shots at B1 Droids and smiled as he took off some head and the powered bodies just turned to shoot at each other before falling to death themselves.
"Master Fisto?" Anakin calls to the green Council member. "What is the point of defending this base if we are just getting extra tired and keep losing more men? This battle is pointless!"
"Calm down Skywalker." Kit says calmly. "I sense we might not have to wait any longer. I can feel the upper hand is on our shoulders and not that of the enemies."
"I thought we didn't have any other Jedi to spare for us." Anakin says confused.
"We shouldn't. This battle is one of many being fought for in the galaxy between the Republic and Separatists. Every platoon of Clones has been sent out to the war to fight Droids." Kit says.
"There's still my other half of Torrent waiting for a Jedi General to lead them for help here." Anakin says. "But I doubt they would do that that after the General Krell incident."
"We'd still have to give them another leader even if they had fallen victim to a mad Jedi with special Lightsabers." Kit says.
"It isn't fair to them if they don't like it." Anakin says.
"This is war young Skywalker. Risks are what we are taking with each and every step being done to avoid total calamities. You should understand the concept of war." Kit says.
"I've won many battles by taking risks only upon myself before..." Anakin says. "...and lives aren't always pointlessly lost because of my risks."
"But do your plans always succeed in no sacrifices?" Kit asks finally.
"Truthfully no, but my ideas are always the better when people basically keep trying to 'send in the Clones' to fix all our problems." Anakin replies.
"Once this war is over Anakin, then the Clones will finally live in peace, and all the losses we've faced with each man on the field is always a face to praise and remember hen the war is finally over and peace is spread through out this galaxy." Kit says quietly.
"I see..." Anakin says thinking about the Master's words. "But I do think there are alternatives to losing soldiers for pointless reasons."
"Of course there are, but we don't always have that opportunity to face those choices." Kit says.
"We could at least try to avoid a lot of deaths." Anakin says.
"If we can, we will." Kit says.
Anakin looks at the Master with a blank look and then directed his attention back to the battle as both he and Kit bounce back with the Blaster fire hitting their blades, driving back and sparking off the blue and green energy lines.
Saleucami Orbit:
Ahsoka's Gunships were sent out of the hangers and went on a dangerous path to get beyond the Invisible Hand. it was really tricky since she knew the weapon systems on the ship were a lot more advanced then the Banking Clan Frigates. The Invisible Hand was known to cause a lot of havoc with ship to ship combat. A fully armed Venator-Class Star Destroyer would still be easy prey for for monster of a vessel. It was General Grevious' prize for fighting in the war. He might have earned the right to have it.
The Gunships speed through the space around the vessel and avoid as much of the gun systems by flying beneath the Cruiser. While the weapons would not be able to hit them from underneath the ship, Vulture Droids were always a worry. While every Frigate of this fleet was destroyed, there was still many Vultures in outer space that were hunting against the Republican Fighters. Ahsoka had assigned ARC-170s to guide the LAAT Gunships out of the war zone going off in orbit. Ahsoka was no longer needed in the skies and needed to get to the ground to support Kit and her restored Master.
Ahsoka was in a Gunship with five Clones. Commander Appo and four others were standing like frozen men in ice with their hands in the air. In reality, they were just standing silently listening to the sounds of explosions going off outside the transport. They were echoing loudly and quietly as they heard the sounds of Vulture Droids and ARC-170 blasts hitting targets. It was hard to describe how the battle sounded like. After all, the explosions were going off everywhere judging by how everything was sounding like explosions, other than the Gunships sounds and the clones sounds of breathing.
Ahsoka looked directly into the helmet of the 501st Commander who was facing back at the Jedi Ahsoka. He nods directly back at the Jedi Padawan with a respectful look behind his metal bucket.
"Commander Tano." Appo says.
"Please, it's Ahsoka. Do you mind if I speak with you for a bit?" Ahsoka asks.
"Of course... Ahsoka." Appo replies. "What is this about?"
Ahsoka takes a few seconds to speak. She was feeling awkward about speaking about what she would speak of next.
"I've been away from the boys of the 501st for such a very line time. I haven't even seen Master Skywalker either. I'm just a little worried about the state everyone is in." Ahsoka says. "How has the 501st been?"
"We've been through a lot Commander. We've lost over 5,000 soldiers in only a few battles. General Skywalker has been in a lot of medical bays several times since you had left the GAR. He has been distracted and was the main reason why we would have always won the battles with less than high deaths." Appo says.
Ahsoka looked at Commander Appo with shock in her eyes and turns around facing the floor in darkness. Had her leaving the Order and GAR been the reason why the 501st had been taken to very large edges of near defeat? It was hard to think of both her not being to blame and hr being to blame.
"Sir, are you alright?" Appo asks the Jedi Commander.
Ahsoka looked back at the Commander of the 501st instantly. She knew that being in this battle, her zoning out would be a bad decision and choice. It was unlike her to do such a thing, but she had noticed she began to do this since she had left the Jedi and started working the Ventress. This zoning out had to stop.
"Yeah, Appo.." Ahsoka replies softly. "Just fine...".
"You sure, sir?" Appo asks again.
"Don't worry Appo. I just have a lot of things on my mind at the moment and I's really like to get this battle sorted out and over and done with." Ahsoka says.
"Of course, sir." Appo says turning to his own men. This ride was literally annoying to everyone for some reason. it felt like prison duty with no respected personal space of movement to each man all around each other. Each expansion of Clone engineering and training recently had made Clones more different than before with the next methods of creating Republic soldiers. The 501st soldiers on each Gunship was experienced with that train. But except Commander Appo. He was a long running Clone who even once lead under Captain Rex as a Sargent. Now, he's second in charge of the 501st and he pretty much was even with Commander Tano, were it not for her being a Jedi.
"So...?" Commander Appo says awkwardly starting a new conversation to his leader. "Are you ready to face your Master again, sir?"
Ahsoka's heart jumped a bit after Appo asked that question. It wasn't that she wasn't thinking about Anakin, it was just that she didn't know how she should react to seeing Anakin again in person. The closest she got to seeing in the last few months was by watching footage of him on Coruscant when the holo-net news would come on and she would watch would the ex-Sith Ventress. It was normally battle recorded film with Anakin giving Battle Droids some wicked smashed. She did even notice his sloppy Lightsaber handling when he was battling in the video, but she didn't know what had caused it. Her, Dooku, Droids, maybe the Jedi Council? Anakin never attacked like he did unless he was displeased about something. It would be soon that Ahsoka would be with Anakin and maybe he'll act differently.
Saleucami:
Anakin was busy covering a group of Clones containing Rex, Fives, Jesse, Kix and Tup. It was hard to protect the Clones since he was getting the direct attacks. Super Battle Droids went closer to the Jedi Knight and got power over him as a shot had rained directly past his Lightsaber and hit his shoulder. Anakin flinches after getting the direct impact and falls back towards his Captain. Rex, who had his twin Blasters aiming at Battle Droids saw from the corner of his eye that his General was falling backwards and he reacted quickly by dropping his weapons and grabbing his arms onto Anakin's back.
"General, are you alright?!" Rex asks loudly.
Anakin groans as he uses his left hand to rub his right shoulder. His Lightsaber was still in hand but his shoulder was numb from the blast. He checked it and he was lucky to find it mostly unscathed. Anakin then tries to turn to his second and replies. "Yes Rex, I'm fine. I just need to get back into action."
"First General, let's get Kix to check your arm." Rex says turning directly to his blue armored friend with a red cross on his shoulder. "Kix, check the General out."
The 501st Medic nodded looking at the General and Captain and jogs up to them carefully and releases his equipment pack from his back by putting the straps off from his shoulders and dropping his bag onto the dusty ground next to the two leaders. He pulls out a medical band aid from the bag and went to do work on his General. He went to dismember the metal armor from his shoulder and buried into his leather looking for the wound. Anakin cringes in his men over looking him instead of focusing on the battle going on just feet away. But then the three Clones Fives, Jessie and Tup went to the front of the other three fighters and held their ground with a hard defense questionable in dealing a big blow to the Droids. Anakin hides a smile as he sees his men holding their bravery expertly.
"C'mon Jessie, Tup, the General is counting on us!" Fives says firing his Rifle at waves in a line.
Jessie and Tup nod and fire away just as their ARC Trooper friend had said to do.
As Anakin had watched his men bravely fight the waves, he senses something coming from the west in the distance. He directs his attention to the presence he felt and looked directly into the problem. A large dust storm tornado was coming their way. While it literally was far off from hitting them, they couldn't move since they were in a heavy battle that was desperate in ending this half of the 501st legion and ending the platoon of Master Fisto's squad.
"That's not good." Anakin says, ignoring the stinging pain from his shoulder. Rex looked at his General in worry and looked at the area he was facing. When Rex caught what the General have spotted with his own eyes, his heart had shifted into a worried feeling.
"A dust storm?!" Rex asks. "We need to leave, now!"
"With the Droids sending a lot of heat after us, I doubt we'll be able to hold with our numbers. We keep losing our Walkers with each wave. This battle was pointless from the start." Anakin says. Anakin then reaches to his communicator with his left hand still mobile and contacted the green Master Jedi Fisto. "Master Fisto?"
The Jedi master was defending the east with his green Clone legion. he had taken down five Destroyer Droids that had lacked the formation of shield generators implanted within them. He knew that his communicator was going off with Anakin's, which had to indicate that something was terribly wrong. He knew he had to answer it. He raises his left hand with his glove communicator traveling to his head area and his right hand using his green Lightsaber blade to defend against Droids. "What is it young Skywalker?"
"We've got a dust storm coming our way and it isn't that far off. We need to leave." Anakin says.
Kit bites his lip as he hears the new bit of news from the Jedi. It was a hellish battle from the start and now a storm was going to be able to take away their chances of victory. He literally cursed in his head as he felt a difficult challenge stinging his brain from around the corner. Or maybe it was the Force calling to his will. Either way, it would end badly now, even with reinforcements coming along the way. Abandoning the mission and base would be the only way to survive the encounter. He knew the Jedi Council and the Republic would not be pleased with this faulty rescue defense mission failing. But blast it, this was not worth sending a few thousand troops to when there is clearly more Droids than Clones by a fair mile.
"I see... Normally I wouldn't agree to such a suggestion, but you are right. Staying here is just a fools task. When our reinforcements arrive to support us, we'll make haste to clear out and wait for the storm to settle." Kit says.
"Yes Master." Anakin says.
The connection between the two Jedi disconnects and Kit draws his men and himself back. The Commander of this legion gets to Kit's side, asking him a question.
"Sir, are you sure this is the best idea?" The Commander asks.
"Yes Commander. With our forces drawing down to our last reserves, we cannot risk losing many more men to these machines. We need batter cover and to make matters worse, a storm is approaching." Kit answers.
"I understand sir." The Commander says, drawing back to the main base with the final troops there.
Back on Anakin's side, his men were far better off, but were still under heavy danger already. This side was the most stable, but it was slowly crumbling and it was falling faster by the minute. Kix had finished checking over Anakin's shoulder and replaced the armor back in it's original position as intended. However, Anakin was unable to use his arm for anything. It may have not done much damage besides skin burn, but the intense heat affecting it caused it to go numb. While Anakin could still move, he had no idea what it was doing when turning away. His visual guidance was all that the arm could be relied on now. Kix looked back at Captain Rex with a serious look. It wasn't full of concern, but he knew that Skywalker was the reason for winning battles. His look was given no source pf attention, as Rex couldn't see beyond the Medic's armored helmet.
"Sir, while only sensitive skin was affected during the blast, it has affect all feeling in the arm. It shouldn't be long before he has complete control, but he'll need to get checked for internal injuries when we get to the closest medical bay." Kix says.
"I understand. Good work Kix." Rex says back.
Anakin heard the conversation clearly and wasn't slow to deny his place on the front lines.
"No Kix, I can still lead." Anakin says, and tries to get up. But Rex was behind his General still and held the top of his shoulders to stop his General from raising off the brown dusty ground. Anakin looked back at his Captain in surprise. He never did this before.
"I'm sorry General, but it's under medical orders in the GAR that you mustn't participate in further conflicts until all injuries sustained are in well healing performance." Rex says.
"Sorry Rex, but I have to fight. We are losing and we can't risk losing." Anakin says. he tries to get up again but is then again pushed back down. he starts getting annoyed at his second in command and looked at Rex again. "C'mon Rex I'm serious. Drop it."
"No General. You have to follow procedure. It's against all our orders to let you fight in this condition." Rex replies.
"Do you want this legion to fall and this battle to be lost Rex?" Anakin asks. "If not, I suggest you let me battle."
Rex was skeptical at first about letting the 'Hero With No Fear' back into battle. His right arm was less than useless for the moment. But then again, he's seen the General have a fair share in battle with his left arm instead of the right. Maybe it would be best to let him doing his heroic things.
Rex releases his grip on his shoulders and Anakin raises from the ground. The General looks back at the Captain and gives a nod of thanks before replacing the Lightsaber hand with his non-Droid like human one. The blue blade begins to grow long and it grows brighter with the effects. He then places his position right next to the three Clones already defending the position and deflected the red Blaster bolts back at Droids coming to them. Rex just shakes his head and raises his twin weapons from his holsters and went forward to battle next to his leader again. This was the only way to ensure nothing worse would happen... or anything fatal.
Ahsoka's Gunship:
The ride was nearly up. LAAT Gunships were only forty five seconds from the drop off and the reunion of Master and Padawan. Ahsoka's heart was racing. She was hoping that Anakin wouldn't sense it through the Force. Then again, the battle that she had heard Anakin was in sounded like something that would keep the bond between them silent when distractions are riddling throughout the Force. It was reasonable for such tremendous situations.
"OK boys, it's time to get ready for action. Get your helmets, weapons and gear active." Appo says to the men on the Gunship and on communicator through to the other Gunships soldiers.
Ahsoka looked at the 501st inside the Gunship. They looked like they were ready for a lot of heavy action. It was a wonder why these Clones needed a leader when it seemed like that they would be able to finish the job with heavy equipment. The Clones had Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannons and Rocket Launchers. They had the standard choice available on their transports, but went against it this time. Ahsoka was worried about any mistakes being made by pulling a Launcher's trigger. With the other Gunships carrying a lot of heavy weaponry, it could end up in a final fireworks display to the Clones and two Jedi on ground before dying.
Ahsoka's thoughts had stopped when she had realized her thoughts. It was pretty negative to have those thoughts and she didn't like it. Before she knew it, the doors to the sides of every Gunship opened and the thick Saleucami dust had entered the Gunship, going into Ahsoka's eyes. But it didn't really affect her a lot. Not much went into her eyes.
Looking around the area of the field being used. Ahsoka looked from the right side of the Gunship and saw fallen bodies of blue armored Clones and multiple Droid bodies of the standard models. There was remains of Super Battle Droids and Destroyers, but they were few in numbers. The expense of the CIS forces was understandable at times, but having more planets under direct control made it seem questionable as to why they would create an army with weaker units unless they were very lazy.
LAATs had Clones on the edges firing Z-6 Cannons and Rocket Launchers from the sides. Ahsoka looked at what they were shooting at. The Chaingun users were firing at complete squads of Droids and the Rocket Launcher users fired at Spider Droids approaching the base. The Droid casualties were greatly higher with the heavy weapon Clones on the job. Ahsoka looked more further and focused in the battle and got a good look at their destination. She saw the base from the distance and saw the side with the 501st guarding it. As she looked at the front, she saw the defense was being lead by...
"Master..." Ahsoka says.
From the distance Ahsoka sees Anakin's ear twitch a bit and Anakin directed his looks towards the approaching LAATs. Ahsoka quickly dived back a bit and bumped into Appo. Appo was facing the left side before getting hit and looked back behind him to see Ahsoka had fallen against him. His arm was on the wire at the top, so he didn't fall forward outside the gunship.
"Careful Commander Tano." Appo says looking back. "Gunships are dangerous sometimes."
"I know Appo." Ahsoka says. "It was just a clumsy fall."
"I see." Appo says. Anyway, we should get down now before something big comes-"
Multiple red blasts hit the Gunships and Clones fall from each of them with yells of panic coming from the fallen soldiers. About six were lost when the lasers hit. Appo looked from his end to see what hit them and saw STAPs charging towards them.
"Pilots, close the sides!" Appo yelled over the radio.
The Gunships did what the 501st Clone Commander had asked like as if it would be a voice command. When the sides had been closed up, the Gunships had to destroy the STAPs on their own. Ground support infantry would have been very useless against such speedy small targets from the distance they were in.
The LAAT Gunships went nose head against the STAPs and fired their lasers at them. The STAPs had no advantage against the Gunships since they weren't covering the pilots and the stand on Speeders were easy to destroy due to their bulky forms. Their size was the issue in hitting them. In the end the LAATs got the best of them as they had taken the quick way out by firing their twin Missile Launchers at the targets. Since they had lock on abilities the Missiles couldn't miss the STAPs.
Anakin was on the ground and looked at the Droids in the air become destroyed by the Gunships and smiled, thinking help had arrived. The LAATs then went to continue their path to the base and bombed a big wave of the Droids walking and mounting vehicles to pieces. The Gunships then hovered past the air above Anakin and his men, and landed down deeper with in the base. Anakin was glad there was the large amount of Gunships there to assist them. But he felt something... something he hadn't felt since...
"C'mon. We need to greet these reinforcements quickly." Anakin says with Rex and Fives following closely behind. There was one last Gunship that descended onto the ground slowly and Anakin saw by the markings that resembled a Commander painted Gunship. (There isn't one normally.)
As Anakin, Rex and Fives stood at the side of Gunship, the side metal plates open up slowly. Anakin first saw what he unexpectedly knew was the 501st Commander Appo. But then he saw a different figure shorter then the Clones. As Anakin got a glimpse at this person for less than half a second, even he couldn't believe it.
"Ahsoka?" Anakin exclaims in a shocked yet excited voice.
Ahsoka was more shocked really. She was thinking about this moment since she had been sent out onto the mission by the Jedi Council. Now she was at that moment and now was the time to act. She couldn't help but feel glad that Anakin had been more than excited for her return.
"Master!" Ahsoka exclaims back to her Master. Ahsoka run from the Gunship's metal floor to the surface with Appo eyeing her, not expecting a Jedi to act excited. Ahsoka jumped into Anakin and wrapped her arms around him. Anakin almost fell back but returned the embrace his former Padawan have given him. He didn't even realize his right arm was mobile and forgot he even found it disabled before.
"Oh Ahsoka, I'm so glad you're back! I-I didn't think I'd ever see you again. I'm just so happy you decided to return." Anakin says trying to think of things to say.
"I know Master. But I now realize where my true place is." Ahsoka says backing away and softly removing each others arms from each others bodies.
"What do you mean Ahsoka?" Anakin asks curious of the Togruta's choice of words.
"While I know the Council just pushed me away, I know that their opinion doesn't matter anymore. I've been lost from my true path as a hero fighting for the Republic when I was away from my religion of the Jedi. I don't care about my trail anymore. It's over." Ahsoka says.
Anakin smiles at his former Padawan. "I'm so proud you can move on Ahsoka. I'm glad you are back." Anakin says. "But maybe they could push you around less. It wasn't a fair trial."
"Never mind, Skyguy." Ahsoka says. "What's our situation?"
Anakin wanted to talk more to Ahsoka about everything else, but he decided that it was best for when they aren't in this position. "Right now, we've been fighting Droids for hours now and we've lost a LOT of men just trying to protect this base. However, since a big sandstorm tornado is coming this way, I'm pretty sure our efforts are now in vain."
"Well, that's a problem." Ahsoka says. "I'm a little surprised we didn't notice that before."
"I don't think differently, Snips." Anakin says agreeing with Ahsoka.
"Snips. My nickname. I didn't know I'd miss it this much..." Ahsoka think to herself. "Well the good news is that I'd seen the waves of Droids from above. There isn't that many left."
"Finally!" Anakin shouts. "These Droids have been a pest all day."
"I heard enough to make me sick of everything, Master." Ahsoka says.
"Still calling me that, Snips?" Anakin asks.
"Actually, when the Council handed me back my belongings, they have pretty much restored me to my former self and assigned me back to you. I hope it isn't any trouble." Ahsoka says.
"NO, no, it's no trouble Snips. Why would it be? It hasn't been the same without you." Anakin says.
"I'm glad you're happy with that, Skyguy." Ahsoka says back. "Now, about making a plan?" Ahsoka reminds Anakin of the situation again.
"Oh, right." Anakin says. "Well I was thinking-"
"You forgot about me, Master Skywalker." A calm voice said.
Ahsoka looks at where the voice came from and saw Master Fisto.
"Ahsoka, I'm so glad to see you." Kit says.
"Thank you Master Fisto. You too." Ahsoka says.
"You may continue, Skywalker." Master Fisto says.
"In about an hour, a sandstorm mixed into a tornado will be heading here. We've been here defending this place for probably half a day. More for Master Fisto of course." Anakin says with Kit nodding in improvement for adding him to the circle. "But now we have to leave and we have a lot of wounded that really needs out help. We need to load them on to the ships. Get to it." Anakin says.
Everyone there accepts Anakin's orders and do their work. The Clones at the boarders of the field finish the rest of the Droids off and Anakin gave orders for the battlers to rest while Commander Appo's units took care of the rest of the work. The three Jedi also decided to work as well.
Anakin and Ahsoka worked together to help the wounded up and lift them into the transports. While doing so, Anakin had a lot of questions to ask his restored Padawan.
"So Ahsoka, what's been going on recently?" Anakin asks.
"Master, is now really the time?" Ahsoka asks.
"Please Snips, I just really want to know." Anakin says with a serious voice.
Ahsoka sighs but decides to answer him. "Fine. When I had left the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, I felt like my life was over. I had no one left by my side and I was desperate for Credits. Living life on a full city planet is a serious matter, specially when you have no source of income. It was a though life."
"You seem alright now." Anakin says. The two Jedi then lay down a Clone on a stretcher on the metal floor of a Gunship. The Clone was out cold.
"I'm only on my feet right now because I had to work with someone I'd normally never work with, but I did live an interesting life when I left. I got a dangerous job that would normally get people killed." Ahsoka says.
"Go on." Anakin says carefully as they both walked inside the base glowing white with lights as they walked past Jessie and Tup carrying a stretcher with another Clone.
"I was so desperate to find Credits that I made a deal with Ventress." Ahsoka says while walking into a room with a lot more stretchers. "She actually came to me first and she asked if I wanted to help her with the Bounty Hunting she did."
"And what was the deal?" Anakin asks. They both pick up the next stretcher and they continued their path. "It's a dirty business."
"The deal was that we'd only do Republican Bounties and bring in the suspects alive." Ahsoka says. "She didn't like it, but we came to a reasonable understanding."
"I'm glad you didn't turn out bad in the end then. You sure must've chosen your moral points expertly." Anakin says complementing Ahsoka's motives.
"I learn't from you Master. It's only because of your seriousness with helping people that I know when a deal needs to be done or not." Ahsoka says.
"I'm glad my teachings have actually taught you some useful skills Ahsoka." Anakin says. They both put another Clone on the transport and stand for a moment.
All the wounded were cleared from the base quickly as Appo's group was very big. Many Clones had gotten through the halls and they had found it hard to put each soldier on the ships one at a time. Anakin had sent all the Walkers to head to an area free from any storms. They would be retrieved later.
Soon, everyone was just about ready to leave. The storm was only twenty minutes away and it was time to leave. Anakin had given specific instructions on where they would meet up before joining the other crews and getting off planet. Admiral Yularen and Delta Squad went inside Kit's Gunship. All expect Anakin's left. He, Ahsoka, Rex, Fives, Jesse, Kix and Tup would still be looking around the base for anything that could be important to the Republic.
Everyone checked carefully and made sure they didn't miss anything or they'll have to retrace each and every step along the way. Anakin checked by himself in some lab room full of unknown chemicals in glass tubs. There was lots of them stored with blue and green liquids that Anakin didn't seem to have much interest in. He looked at the shelves and glass protective covers on them and noticed for himself that a number of them were gone. The Clones who worked in here must've thought some were necessary to keep. Anakin then just assumed there was nothing to be gained here.
Ahsoka looked in the mess hall with Jesse and Tup. Ahsoka looked around the table for anything. Datapads, notes or devices found useful.
Tup and Jessie looked around for stuff in the area where food was made. Tup looked carefully around the openings of draws and compartments where food was located. He searched slowly to make sure he didn't miss anything. He was working like a pro.
"Hey Jesse, how are you going? Found anything?" Tup asks.
He could hear Jesse, but what he could hear was an actual sentence. He turned around behind him to look at his friend who had been eating out of a pot.
"Jesse, what are you doing?!" Tup asks.
"Don't worry, this stuff never tasted good." Jesse says with a smart attitude.
"You're supposed to be looking for anything important, not finding an excuse for a meal!" Tup reminds the trooper with the big Chaingun.
"Oh relax, Tup." Jesse says.
Tup just sighs and smacks his hand into his face. This Clone sure didn't take things as serious as they really were.
Ahsoka smiled at the conflict between the two and just continued to do her part.
Rex and Fives look around a barracks for Clones. Judging by the lights refusing to come on, it was a sign that damage to the base had affected the power in certain places.
"Fives, you check the left bunks, I'll check the right." Rex says.
"Right..." Fives says.
Both Clones equip their night vision gear and their bright lights on their helmets shine on the bunks they looked at. Rex check on the double racks going up and down in zigzags. Fives did the same on his end. Both Clones didn't find anything as they went to the end. There was the bunks opposite from the doors they had come from and followed all the way down to the middle. Since they were going at the same speed, they met up in the middle of the bunks by hitting each others helmets.
Both Clones grunt in reaction and looked into each others helmets, shining light in them. The light made them cringe and back away a bit.
"Found anything, Fives?" Rex asks.
"Nah, the place has been cleared out. No way someone would ever consider hiding important stuff from the enemy in a barracks." Fives replies.
"Let's get back to the meeting point." Rex says.
In the medical labs, Kix walked around with his Rifle hung over his back. He walked slowly to stay focused on the goal. He wanted to not only find important information for the Republic, but he wanted to find something else to heal his brothers. He had been very low on medical equipment after the battle had finished and he wanted more to find. He check desks and and looked around cabinets. He kept them open so he knew he wouldn't be repeating his actions in the same spots. This room was very dark. Computers, lights and even emergency lights were dead. Not a thing in the room was powered other than his head gear.
As he looked around he found some medical bandages on a small desk with chairs around it. He dis-attached his bag from his back and dropped it on the table in front of him. He leaned his Blaster Rifle of the DC-15A model right on a chair. His bag didn't sit it on the stuff he wanted as he put the bag past the bandages. He picks up the medical band aids carefully and drops them into the bag carefully. He nodded in his success in gently putting the small patches in his bag. And put his bag back on.
As Kix had put it on, he hears glass shatter on the floor right behind him and his heart races instantly as he heard it. He quickly reached for his Rifle and aimed at where the sound came from. The light on his head was useful at looking at the spot, but he only saw brown booted feet. He slowly looked back up and a pale shaded face just bent back due to the blinding light hitting the face.
"Whoa, whoa, easy Kix. It's just me." The voice said.
Kix sighs in relief, knowing he wouldn't die. "Sorry General, I thought I was going to get killed by a Droid, or spy."
"It's alright Kix, I see you're just fine." Anakin says. "You found anything?"
"Nothing mission related sit. I just found medical bands that I believe will ease the pain of some of the wounded." Kix says.
"I'm pretty sure we'll have that covered on the ships, but I do admire your open heart Kix." Anakin says. "I couldn't find anything in the labs, so I'll just help you."
"Thank you sir. I really appreciate your help." Kix says trying to sound as best with loyalty as possible.
"You don't have to thank me Kix. Helping people is what I do." Anakin says.
Both the General and Medic look around for medical equipment. They split up in the medical room looking for stuff to use. Anakin activated his Lightsaber and used the hard to miss glow in the dark to look around.
"I see your arm has gotten full control again sir. I'm only a little surprised it healed that quickly." Kix remarked.
"It only happened when I saw Snips. Her return seemed to have made it better." Anakin replied.
"She's a good leader sir. I trust her a lot. Even during the trial." Kix says.
"Thank you Kix. She has grown since then. Even when she had left, she was more of a Jedi than everyone else could ever be." Anakin says.
"I couldn't agree more sir." Kix says.
Anakin had found some sedatives in a draw and looked them over. They looked like they weren't damaged and touched much. There was quite a lot of them in it so instead of trying to carry them all, he pulled off the draw. Kix didn't have any luck and walked to his General.
"You found some sedatives." Kix says observing the drawer Skywalker had in his arms.
"Yes. Want me to put them in you bag?" Anakin asked suggesting his assistance.
"If you wouldn't mind sir, I'd appreciate it." Kix replies.
Anakin get's the field Medic to turn around and he puts the medical needles into the bag carefully as Kix had with the other supplies.
"Alright. We're all set. C'mon Kix. We've got to leave." Anakin says.
"Yes sir." Kix says and the two hurry back to the Gunship.
Outside, the others were waiting for General Skywalker and Kix to return. Once they did everyone boarded the Gunship. Once the sides of the LAAT shut and he leans against the them.
"How long until the storm hits us, Snips?" Anakin asks.
"Five minutes if we don't move it." Ahsoka replies.
The crew hear the engines to the transport starting... starting... BANG.
Anakin knew that judging by the sound of the bang and where it came from, it wasn't good.
"Oh no..." Anakin says.
"General, the belt to the engines has snapped, we can't get this thing going without it." The main pilot says.
"Where is this belt located?" Anakin asks.
"Right between the twin Missile Launchers on the roof. There are spares right in the emergency box in the back of that space you are in." The pilot says.
Anakin looked around for the box in the back and found it instantly. He opened it to find a belt. A really long belt.
"Oh, this is going to be difficult..." Anakin says trailing off.
"I assume you've got what you are looking for, now look at the top of the ceiling and you should see an opening with a lock on it." The pilot says.
Anakin looks up at the ceiling and sees a rectangular shaped hatch. "I see it. Now what?"
"You need to open it somehow. These openings are usually only opened when being fixed on Cruisers." The pilot replies.
Anakin just looks at the lock for a second and just grabs his Lightsaber and does a quick swing at the lock, making the hatch fall open. Once it did Anakin saw the snapped belt just looking like it was tied in deep. Just by looking at it, he could tell how it worked due to his engineering skills.
"So now you-" The pilot says before getting cut off by the General.
"Don't worry. I got this." Anakin says.
Anakin uses the force to grip the broken belt from the hatch and pulled it with the Force, making it fall out of it's tangled state and and falling onto the floor. He then used the Force on the undamaged belt and flung it into the joints by going around carefully and not breaking anything up top. One thing he noticed about the belts was that they were greasy... very greasy. The belt was around the important pieces and Anakin welded it shut using his Lightsaber to melt the metal in place. It would have made an annoying noise if not done.
"OK, it's fixed. Now let's get out of here!" Anakin says loudly.
"About time. The storm is less than a hundred feet away and if we don't launch now, we'll be in for an interesting ride." The pilot says.
"Then go!" Anakin shouts.
"Oh, uh right." The pilot says, and the engines slowly start to run again. This time however, they were actually working. The engines worked smoothly like how Anakin remembers it and he knew he did a good job. But then he felt something gripping the Gunship. The pilots were the first to react.
"Dammit, this tornado had got us sucked in! We are trying as best as we can to avoid an accident!" The Pilot says.
"Just do your job, you can do this!" Anakin says for a moral boost for the pilots.
"We'll try, but no promises." The pilot says.
The tornado was putting up one good fight. The pilots were at their limits when this monster of a storm started attacking their ship. Then it happened. The LAAT suddenly lost all control and the storm decided to stop playing with it and it threw it away. The LAAT went flying for literally ten minutes and breaking the LAAT max speed limits. The Gunship started sinking and soon it hit into a dirt are and burred deep into a field. It took minutes before any of the crew had been able to get up. The last bang had hurt literally everyone on the ride.
Anakin get's up first and everyone else is on their arms and knees. Anakin looks at Ahsoka for a second and attempts to help her up.
"You okay Snips?" Anakin asks reaching out to her hand.
Ahsoka rubs her hand and moans before replying. "Yeah, nothing to worry about Skyguy..."
"Rex, everyone, you alright." Anakin asks after Ahsoka.
"Yeah, we've been through worse..." Rex answers for everyone. Ahsoka crosses her arms and smiles to that answer.
"Well I know we'd want to sit around and stuff, but we really need to get off this thing and go look for shelter before we can get help." Anakin says.
"Alright, General." Rex replies.
Anakin uses the Force to open the large layer of metal wall in front of him and opens it. Anakin, Ahsoka and the Clones jump out and land in a dirt filled field. Rex, Kix and Jesse got a strange vibe from standing there. Like there was a familiarity with this spot.
"This feels familiar..." Jesse says.
"Yeah..." Kix adds.
"Uh, I think we might've been here before Jesse, Kix." Rex says.
Rex then looked to his right and saw an escape pod. It was then that something had clicked into his head. And that very instant, he knew where they were. Then something pointy poked his head.
"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" A voice says.
Rex smiles under his helmet with that voice being revealed.
"Well, I didn't think I'd see you again, Cut..." Rex says.
"How do you know my name?" Cut asks.
"What is going on here?!" Anakin's voice could be heard.
Rex turn to his right and knew by the facial look that this was the man he met two years ago. Now Cut was aiming between the two. More now because more Clones came. But Cut refused to reveal his identity.
Rex then removed him helmet slowly and looked at Cut in the eyes. Cut's facial expression was shock, surprise and excitement contained into one. Cut then smiled and gave Rex a hug and chucked heavily. Rex smiled back and returned it. Anakin was more confused since he was never around when Rex met Cut.
"You wanna explain this, Rex?" Anakin asks.
"Uhhhh sir, well..." Rex says awkwardly. But Cut instead smiles and answers for Rex. "Hey, don't worry about a thing, I welcome you as my guests of honor. Follow me." Cut says happily.
Rex then looked at the back of his friend moving through the hill and instead of making a fuss, he just told his General to follow.
"Please sir, I'll explain everything later. Just trust him." Rex says pretty much sounding like pleading.
Anakin knew that he didn't want to do something stupid, so he just went with it.
"Alright Rex." Anakin says.
The pilots had trouble walking since they got an interesting impact and had to reply on Kix and Tup to hold them.
The thought on Anakin's mind right now was that this was indeed an interesting situation to be in. He wanted it to be over ASAP.
End of Chapter:
I hope you waited patiently and didn't decide to hate this. After all, I recon I worked hard for this chapter and I hope you all agree. But really, everyone is entitled to their own opinions.
I may not have the next chapter up for a few months, but I at least try to get even with you all. So sorry for the waiting though. It's not something I like myself either.
Hope you liked it. Please leave a good review! :)
~SaintsOfAllSaints01