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Star Wars AU The Triumph of Darth Plagueis: Episode Nine – Clones Wars Part 1 Driod Factory

By

Celgress

Geonosis

"The Jedi are sending a strike team to destroy your factory Archduke" the holographic image of Darth Plagueis said simply. "Furthermore the four person team will be arriving within less than half a standard solar day."

"This is terrible news. We must not lose our primary driod production facility. Such a loss might very well cripple our military!" Poggle the Lesser chattered. "I fear I do not possess the forces required to repel such an attack. Is there anything that can be done?"

"Have no fear Archduke I will handle the Jedi slime" said the towering form of General Grievous. Stepping out of the shadows the General unfurled his gray clock. Along the cyborg's waist were four, long hilted, lightsabers. "I will enjoy recycling more Jedi lightsabers."

"Ah I see my agent has arrived" said the hologram of Darth Plagueis. "Never fear Archduke the General will protect you and your factory from harm. Remember your orders General." The hologram of Darth Plagueis continued turning it's hooded gaze towards Grievous. "You may freely slay Kenobi and Tachi if you wish, however Skywalker and his Padawan Tano you must not slay or maim in anyway. One day I foresee they will make powerful allies. Always remember General the force powers you possess are an added bonus of your transformation due solely to my generosity, do not make me regret bestowing these gifts upon you. Do I make myself clear!?"

"I understand my Lord" Grievous said bowing low before the hologram. "Rest assured I will under no circumstances permanently injure either Skywalker or Tano."

"Good, now go defend the factory" ordered the hologram of Darth Plagueis before blinking out of existence.

"Come Archduke" Grievous gestured. "Show me what defenses this complex has. Hurry our time grows short." After a long moment of hesitation, which earned the Archduke a stare which could freeze the glaciers of Hoth from the cyborg, Poggle followed Grievous out of the control room

Ahsoka Tano was excited. It was her first off world mission. She had dreamt about leaving Crousant ever since she was a youngling. Finally her dream had become a reality. Ahsoka was well aware that being sent on such an important mission while still a padawan learner was a great honor, one which the Council seldom bestowed. Ahsoka thanked the Force that she was one of the lucky ones. She only hoped the mission would present her with an opportunity by which she could impress her new master, Anakin Skywalker.

Ashoka was painfully aware that Anakin had not chosen her as his padawan. Anakin felt as a one year knight he was not yet ready for an apprentice, Grand Master Yoda however felt differently. It was Yoda who assigned Ahsoka to Anakin. In spite of Yoda's best intentions so far Ahsoka was miserable. Her new master ignored her for the most part preferring the company of other full rank Jedi, such as his own former Master Obi-wan Kenobi, which greatly annoyed the Togruta girl. The only bit of attention Anakin had showed Ahsoka had been maddening in its' own way. Her master had recently given her the unwanted nickname of Snips! Anakin called her it every chance he got. Ahsoka for her part absolutely despised the name. She made no bones about her displeasure at the new moniker which only seemed to egg Anakin on.

The four Jedi had been dropped about two km away from their target by a small stealth ship. Carefully the four made their way to the factory. Upon dispatching a half dozen automated sentry platforms the four made their way into the primary structure. After disabling several commando driods Obi-wan ran down the plan of attack.

"Using the blueprints provide by the Crousant Intelligence Service, Anakin and I will go after the control room while you Siri and Ahsoka will disable the generator plant. We will rendezvous back here in four hours. Please synchronize your chronometers." The two groups then went their separate ones.

Over an hour later Siri and Ahsoka were still navigating their way through the massive production plant. Everywhere around them machines clanked and banged as km long conveyor belts turned out an endless supply of battle driods. The two were carefully picking their way between the equipment and newly constructed driods when a familiar shape loomed up before them. The two Jedi instinctively activated their lightsabers and feel into defensive stance.

"Is the mighty Republic running low on Jedi? Perhaps my comrades and I have slain more of your friends than I realized, mmmm Jedi filth?" Grievous mocked. "Why else would they send a child to destroy such an important facility?" Grievous pointed at Ahsoka with one of his skeletal figures before laughing.

The Togruta girl growled raising her lightsaber defiantly. "Don't" Siri warned physically inserting herself between Grievous and Ahsoka. "I shall deal with him, you complete the mission go now!" Reluctantly Ahsoka did as she was told.

Grievous barely activated one of his blood red lightsabers in time to meet the determined strikes of Siri's violet blade. Exchanging a series of rapid, yet savage, blows the two warriors circled each other neither backing down. Grievous suddenly lunged forward tossing his lightsaber into his free hand while doing so slashing upward in a wide arch. Siri leapt over and landed behind Grievous. The upper body of Grievous rotated around pivoting on his waist. Siri almost didn't parry the incoming strike in time. Wobbling on her feet Siri was now on the defense as Grievous slashed and stabbed at her in an erratic but high velocity fashion. Siri found it increasingly difficult to counter Grievous' latest flurry of unpredictable offense. Slowly backing away from the cyborg the Jedi knight was painfully aware of losing more ground every second. Grievous continued his random hacking, slashing attack, every now and then tossing his lightsaber back and forth between his hands further randomizing the angle of his thrusts. Noticing he had nicked Siri's robe not once but two, Grievous ceased his assault.

"You should surrender Jedi. Do so I will slay you mercifully with a single, clean, blow. If not I will take you apart, a piece at a time. The choice is yours, die a slow, painful death or die a quick, easy one. Which will it be Jedi?"

"A death with honor" Siri said with a battle cry she jumped forward swing her purple blade.

"So be it Jedi fool" Grievous said easily blocking Siri's latest attack. "I will take great pleasure in recycling your lightsaber after I display it on the holonet so the entire galaxy can witness my latest triumphant."

Siri knew Grievous was likely the best duelist in terms of blade work the Sith had. The fact that thus far Grievous had refrained from utilizing two, or more, blades didn't bode well for her immediate future. It was painfully obvious that the cyborg didn't see her as a real threat. If anything he had been toying with her during the first round of their 'duel'. Armed with this knowledge Siri knew there was only one course of action still open to her. She must trip Grievous up using the Force.

Leaping away from her opponent onto one of the huge conveyor belts Siri waited for Grievous to give chase which he did. The instant Grievous' metallic toes touched the belt Siri used the Force to throw a large number of half constructed super battle driods at Grievous. Using his own force powers Grievous was able to deflect the barrage away from himself. By the time the driods had been displaced Siri had vanished! Grievous bellowed in rage, releasing a force wave that destroyed dozen of driods around him as well as damaging the section of the production line he currently occupied. Surveying the extensive damage around him Grievous knew both Grand Master Plagueis and Archduke Poggle the Lesser would be most unhappy with him.

Elsewhere near the control room, Obi-wan and Anakin were facing their own challenges. The two Jedi knights had fallen into a trap set earlier by Grievous and Poggle. They were trapped in an otherwise empty, medium sized, room filled with two dozen IG-100 MagnaGuards! It was the first time either had faced the MagnaGuards in battle. Neither was having an easy time dealing with the MagnaGuards' electrostaffs. Both had been shocked several times before landing a blow on the specialized driods.

"I swear master these things are tougher than droidekas" Anakin groaned parrying yet another blow from an electrostaff.

"While I wouldn't go that far, I do agree they certainly are difficult enemies" Obi-wan said cutting one of the MagnaGuards in half, "until one gets the hang of dealing with them."

"Master" Anakin said with a frown decapitating one MagnaGuard while slicing the legs out from under another. "Sometimes I think you enjoy life threatening challenges, the harder the better."

"Anakin, Anakin, Anakin" Obi-wan said while dispatching two more of the mechanical menaces. "Haven't I taught you anything? While I do not as you put it 'enjoy life threatening challenges' I do recognize that as Jedi we always face unforeseen dangers. One must simply be ever vigilant."

Rallying themselves it wasn't long before the pair had dispatched the MagnaGuards and entered the control room. Surprisingly the control room appeared both undefended and abandoned. Searching the room pair found nothing.

"Something is wrong here" Obi-wan said examining the control readouts.

It was then that both Jedi saw it. On one of the monitors was a scene that made their blood run cold. Ahsoka was sneaking towards the generator plant when the padawan found herself in the iron grip of General Grievous! The two watched in horror as Grievous lifted Ahsoka off the floor by her throat. In a flash the two were gone from the control room.

Outside the generator plant Grievous gloated over his prize. "What do we have here, hmmm? A Jedi youngling poking around where she doesn't belong, didn't anyone ever tell you how dangerous unbridled curiosity can be?" Grievous ignited one of his lightsabers. The crimson blade mere inches from the girl's terrified face.

"Let her go monster!" yelled Siri. "Face me, or are you a coward afraid of a real challenge!?"

Grievous whirled around flinging Ahsoka aside. "Ha a 'real challenge' that wouldn't be you."

Once more the two engaged in combat. Grievous' red blade answering Siri's purple blade strike for strike, parry for parry. With renewed vigor Siri fought against her relentless challenger. Over time an odd thing occurred Grievous started losing ground. At first Siri feared it was a trick. When Grievous activated a second lightsaber and engaged in duel blade fencing her doubts were erased. Grievous wasn't feigning disadvantage he really was feeling the pressure of her new attacks. Her confidence boosted by this knowledge Siri redoubled her efforts, pressing home the advantage. Without warning Grievous' upper body, minus his head and neck, started rotating around in a counter clockwise motion. Faster and faster Grievous' upper body spun. The result being his blades turned into a horizontal wall of blinding, deadly, fiery light. Siri tried her best to defend herself from this new maneuver. Within seconds her lightsaber was knocked from her hand and she was sitting on her butt, starring death in the face. Siri closed her eyes the whirring sound of the buzz saw of light approaching her. It never reached her.

The giant spinning top that was Grievous went off careening into the far wall courtesy of Anakin and Obi-wan. "Are you alright Siri?" Obi-wan asked helping her up off the floor concerned evident in his eyes.

"I'm fine Obi-wan" Siri answered. "If you two hadn't shown up when you did, I doubt I would have been for much longer."

"Where is Ahsoka?" Anakin asked looking around for his padawan.

"Right here" came the chipper response of Ahsoka. All eyes turned towards the generator plant. Ahsoka walked out of the structure toward the group. "The charges are in place. I suggest we get out of here now."

"Not so fast Jedi scum" Grievous said getting back to his feet. He was still brandishing his two crimson sabers.

"You can't possibly expect to defeat us all General?" Obi-wan said in disbelief.

"We'll see" Grievous answered with a roar his arms spilt in two. The Jedi looked with a combination of stunned amazement and abject horror. Grievous was now armed with four red lightsabers!

All four Jedi simultaneously activated their lightsabers. Within moments the chamber was aglow with the clash of lightsabers upon lightsabers. In spite of their superior numbers and varying techniques Grievous was able to stale mate the Jedi. The group only managed to escape by using their combined force power to push Grievous clear into the generator plant, where he got tangled in a patch of high voltage cables which temporarily shorted out his primary motivator.

Having dealt with Grievous the four Jedi made their escape. Poggle observing what was happening from the relative safety of a hidden secondary control room activated all the driods which were already assembled. Poggle's action made the Jedi's escape anything but easy. Cutting and smashing their way through the legions of driods the Jedi eventually made their way back to the surface. Once at a safe distance from the factory Anakin did the honors and setoff the high yield explosive charges Ahsoka had planted. The factory shook as it was rocked by a series of explosions pillars of black smoke billowed from the shattered structure into the night sky.

"You did good Snips" Anakin said smiling at Ahsoka.

"So did you Skyguy" Ahsoka said beaming a thousand watt smile back at her master.

"Hey wait a minute" Anakin began to protest.

"It is only fair master, you gave me a nickname and I give you one" Ahsoka said with a wink.

"She has a point Anakin" Siri said leaning against Obi-wan for support.

"Indeed she does" Obi-wan said in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess" Anakin grumbled causing the others to burst into laughter.

It took General Grievous three days to climb his way out of the remnants of the driod factory. Grievous vowed no matter what may happened he'd get his revenge on the four Jedi who had humiliated him. He didn't care if it took years. He didn't care what Plagueis allowed or didn't allow. Someday he would make those four Jedi grovel at his feet!

To Be Continued