Exterior: space, Outer rim, Ojoris sector, Taris.
Interior: Kota's flagship's bridge.
Kota said, via viewscreen, "Galen, it's nothing personal. I'll admit they're quite formidable in their own right."
"Then what is it?"
"With all that engineering, I feel they're too limited, and lack the same spirit as enlisted and voluntary soldiers.
Forced obedience isn't earned loyalty.
And no simulation can prepare you for the horrors of war."
"How long have you been going through those horrors?"
"They were my earliest memories, and you know exactly how that feels.
Also, what right do I have to lead these Mando clones, after Galidraan? And yes, I still feel guilty about that."
Interior: Venator-class star destroyer, bridge.
Galen folded his arms, "Moving on, you haven't actually told us who we're up against."
"An adult male with blue skin and hair, bright red eyes, and one helluva brilliant tactical mind.
I can't brief you on what I don't know, but I know the location, and it's a complete suicide mission, as usual for people like us."
"Oh, that's helpful," sighed Galen, "At least we know we're up against a Chiss."
"How about this: you lead your troops, and I'll lead mine. Deal?"
Behind his helmet, Galen raised an eyebrow, "Mine?"
Kota appointed, "You're in charge of any and all clones they try assigning to me, General Marek of the 107th Clone legion,"
The young Mandalorian Jedi asked, "Gonna Knight me, too?"
"Don't push it, boy," chuckled Kota, then they got an alert.
"Kota? What's going on?" asked Galen.
Kota sighed in frustration, "Alderaan is under attack."
"What? But Alderaan has no defences. They'll be slaughtered."
"Which is why they're under attack. I'll handle that while you handle Taris.
May the Force be with you," said Kota, and ended the transmission before his non-clone militia's fleet jumped to hyperspace.
Via PA, Galen stepped up, "All hands prepare for battle.
Shields up. Bridge, transmit our coordinates to the nearest Republic fleets just in case.
All pilots and copilots to your ships.
Infantry to your transports and artillery," before being hailed by the enemy fleet's commander.
Via hologram, a male Chiss in a white uniform asked, in surprise, "What's this? A boy? The Republic sends a boy to face me in this theatre of war? Fascinating.
This shall of course have a tragic ending like so many other productions in theatre."
Galen exhaled, "Thrawn…"
"I see my reputation precedes me. Yes, I am Mitth'raw'nuruodo of the Chiss Ascendancy," confirmed Grand Admiral Thrawn with a small bow, "And soon, I suspect, I may be the orchestrator of your demise."
"I didn't realise te Jetiise had pissed off the Ascendancy, unless he's independently working for the Separatists." thought Galen who greeted, "Su'cuy, Mitth'raw'nuruodo.
I am General Galen Marek of the Mandalorians.
And I'm giving you one chance to stand down and clear out."
"Oh, I don't think so, General.
There is no escape, and your forces are badly outnumbered.
I want you to know failure. Utter defeat.
And that it is I who delivered it crashing down upon you.
Now, let us proceed." declined Thrawn as he ended the transmission, and deployed his massive blockade's fleet.
Galen's fleet (3 Venators, 3 Acclamators, 4 corvettes, and 3 frigates.) deployed their fighters, interceptors and bombers.
Exterior: space, Taris sector.
From the cockpit of his Jedi Starfighter, Galen said, "May the Force be with us," then ordered, "All wings lock s-foils in attack positions,"
"Look at the size of that flagship," commented Red 2.
"Cut the chatter, Red 2."
As the space battle began, several fighters and bombers on both sides were taking heavy fire.
"Tri-interceptor coming in at Mach 3."
"Copy, Red Leader, I'm on my mark." acknowledged Red 4, in an ARC-170, who fired a barrage but had no effect, "What the? It has deflector-shields." before being shot down by a Tri-defender.
"Oh, scrag!"
An hour later.
Several GAR gunships and troop carriers landed on the surface, but a few of them had been shot down.
Then an additional 6 enemy dreadnaughts came out of hyperspace and deployed all of their squadrons to reinforce the blockade whilst one of the Republic cruisers was caught off-guard and under heavy fire.
"Ah, karabast!" exclaimed Red 3.
Taking evasive action, the Gold Leader asked, "They're everywhere! What do we do, General?"
"If we can break through the blockade, we can give our ground forces some air support."
Sensing something imminent, Galen ordered, "All craft pull up! Now!"
As the flagship, Chimaera, fired a large circular energy pulse disabling every ship caught in its path, Thrawn watched from his observation deck, "This boy has lasted far longer than I'd anticipated. Though not unexpected for a Mandalorian, and a Jedi if the lightsaber on his belt is more than a trophy.
I wonder what he has planned. Perhaps he has no plan, and is simply improvising and letting the Force guide him.
This is a danger I cannot anticipate the actions of."
As Galen and a trio of bomber and fighter squadrons got out of range of the pulse, he ordered, "Bombers, new target, hit those giant rings on the flagship's port and starboard.
They're some kind of ion cannons.
Fighters protect the cruisers that were caught in the ray.
Hopefully their systems are just rebooting."
Then he navigated past and destroyed several turbolaser towers with 4 Y-wings in a tight formation, "We also need to blow up that supply ship. And all five of those droid control ships.
Make a run for the main reactors, from the inside."
"Sir, most clankers don't need a control ship anymore."
"Every little bit helps, vod."
As the Captain of the heavily damaged cruiser made contact, they said, "Sir, my crew's evacuated. Weapon systems are disabled, but I can give you an opening."
Then altered their trajectory, diverting all power to their forward shields and engines, and flying into one of the enemy capital ships.
Aboard the Chimaera, Thrawn noted, "The meagre remains of their fleet are splitting into trivial smaller groups. Commander, focus our deflector shields to the bridge.
The primary target of the boy's squadron in their two-pronged attack formation will be our bridge."
Getting an alert via scanners, a technician said, "Admiral, the enemy ships we disabled have reactivated."
"Very good, now you may open fire upon them as well." permitted the Chiss before his ship was suddenly rocked by explosions on both sides and alarms began blaring.
"Sir, we just lost both of our ion cannons, and our gravity wells."
"Well played, General Marek. You knew we'd predict the bridge to be your primary target and strengthen our defences accordingly.
Then you struck where we'd left vulnerable." said Thrawn, as if Galen was in the room, while watching the battle.
As he went for the main reactor of one of the control ships with his wing-men, gold 5 said, "Hit those shield generators next to the main reactor.
We wouldn't want ray shields messing up our run."
Then Gold squadron hit the target, but gold 7's stabilisers took a hit causing him to fall behind and be caught in the explosion on the way out.
Interior: Taris, atmosphere.
Upon being shot down by 30 Tri-defenders which focused fire on him in the upper atmosphere, Galen quickly jumped out of his starfighter and destroyed them with lightning whilst sending an energy pulse destroying all nearby droid starfighters.
Superhero landing in the middle of several thousand clankers of various models with an accompanying lightning strike destroying them and nearby heavy CIS artillery, Galen stood tall, and ignited his lightsaber's bronze blade.
One of his troopers exclaimed, "General!"
Galen asked, "Commander, what's the situation?"
"The enemy has multiple pockets of ally forces pinned down.
If we can get to each other, we'll stand a better chance.
Every damn clanker platoon has its own TD, and there's these things that look like baby Rancors."
As 13 masked warriors appeared, their leader drew a red lightsaber.
Galen turned to his troops, "Commander, I'll handle this.
You find and gather what's left of our forces."
As the troops went to reinforce the pockets of resistance, an elder Jedi, who emerged, said, "Kento, I'll reinforce the soldiers while you handle this."
Though surprised to be called by his late birth father's name, Galen nodded and took a reverse Shien grip.
Galen asked the darksiders, "Who're you supposed to be?"
Ren answered, "We are the Knights of Ren."
Gracefully blocking and parrying powerful slashes from Ren, Galen asked, "We couldn't have done this another time?"
"No time like the present, right?" asked one of the Knights.
Not caring to answer, Galen went on the offensive before disarming, then stabbing Ren in the chest, and saw the other Knights back away before killing them, and taking off their masks, revealing they were all fallen Jedi he'd grown up with, "Nooooo!"
Shortly thereafter.
Whilst the two Jedi fought their way through thousands of foes, Galen asked, "Who are you, anyway? And I'm actually Kento's son, Galen."
"I'm Master Roshi."
As the two Jedi reached the rendezvous, a trooper said, "Good to see you, General," then informed, "We have friendlies pinned down on every level."
"What kind?"
"Local security, gangs and mercs.
Also, there's several dark Jedi and Noghri running around."
"Oh, great… let's go."
"Yes, sir."
2 hours later.
As the GAR forces fought their way through the enemy, and reached some allies whilst protecting civilians, a trooper pointed to a large building, "We need to reach that comms tower, and call for help."
Casting lightning, Galen cleared a path for the troops whilst deflecting hundreds of blaster bolts and shooting back with a westar-35, with Roshi's help, and being provided with cover fire by his troops. Then the offending clankers shut down as the last control ships were destroyed.
As they neared the command centre, they were ambushed by Durge, a full division of dark Jedi, commando droids, Noghri, Magna Guards, EG-5s and N-K Necrosis'.
"Shit!" exclaimed a trooper, "Is that an army of Grievous replicas?"
"General Krell has a fleet nearby.
Maybe he can reinforce and extract us." suggested another trooper.
Roshi said, "Fall back and call your reinforcements. We'll hold them off."
Galen nodded to his troops who did as instructed.
As he simultaneously countered and parried strikes from several clankers and dark Jedi, Galen asked, "What now?"
While fending off multiple foes, Roshi replied, "You must trust yourself, and trust the Force, for it is your greatest ally.
We must master the art of peace in addition to the art of war!" before Durge stabbed him through the chest, then he dropped his now inactive saberstaff and fell to the ground.
"Nooooo!" shouted Galen who fiercely attacked, dismembered, struck down, and completely incinerated Durge with lightning, then performed a repulse destroying every nearby hostile, and rushed to Roshi's side.
"The Force will be with you, always," weakly said Roshi before his body disappeared, becoming one with the Force.
As it began to rain, Galen saw all of the nearby dead bodies around him before hundreds of thousands of additional enemy forces came marching towards him.
Standing up, he felt his heart pounding, blood boiling, and electricity surging through him as he ignited his saber and fiercely roared like a Krayt Dragon.
With his eyes burning fiery blue, Galen unleashed untamed Force fury and cut down every single one of them with his saber and Roshi's saberstaff before his comlink beeped.
Via comlink, a trooper informed, "Sir, our evac request was denied by Krell. He's left us to d-" then the comms went static.
As he emitted a white light whilst joining his forces in the next wave, Galen tapped deep into the Force, reaching out to the fighting spirit of his allies on the ground and in space.
Re-energising them and soaring their morale as they fought with unprecedented unison and precision.
"Every soldier knows that war is more than arms and armor. Every warrior carries an image of impending victory in his heart." said a strong, disembodied, reassuring voice, "When the image shatters, to be replaced by defeat, he is beaten."
Leading the charge on the ground, Galen rallied all allied forces across the planet to fight in unison, as one.
"But sometimes a warrior receives assistance from an unexpected source. An in-rush of light, blasting away his fear and despair, releasing new inner strength!
Yes, a war is much more than arms and armor."
Exterior: space, Taris.
The Republic fleet began swiftly countering each and every one of Thrawn's strategies by the first step of execution, with unprecedented unison.
Interior: Thrawn's flagship, the Chimaera, bridge.
Thrawn watched in curiosity as the Republic's fleet were suddenly winning the space battle, "Fascinating." most interested and curious by the events unfolding before his eyes.
Exterior: Taris, surface.
"Half of every conflict is the will to win. We must recognize that the will to win, and the power of war, are given sometimes by the dark side." continued the disembodied voice as Galen's battle meditation turned the tide whilst he led the GAR towards victory.
Upon Thrawn's fleet unleashing an orbital bombardment on his position, Galen, without breaking battle meditation, created a Force barrier to protect the surface while using Force freeze to stop several of the larger blasts.
After 5 minutes of relentless bombardment, the blasts stopped and Galen sent all the blaster bolts back at the fleet, destroying most of it, including the Chimaera though Thrawn had evacuated.
"And sometimes, as dawn throws back the night, victory is given… by the light!" finished the disembodied voice.
As the victorious Republic troops and civilians took a sigh of relief and let out cheers of victory, they celebrated too soon as Galen sensed something wrong.
The skies of Taris turned crimson red before being shrouded in darkness.
Its core, atmospheric, seismic, and magnetic and gravitational fields destabilised causing cataclysmic destruction in their wake whilst pulling remaining ships and debris into the planet.
Millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror before only absolute silence fell.
Every living thing, sentient, non-sentient and flora alike, except Galen, was utterly drained of all traces of life and presence in the Force.
Within the darkness, Marek faintly saw a shadow in a white skeletal mask, then the planet's sun went supernova and exploded into a nearby maelstrom which was drawn in with everything else.
Feeling the accompanying disturbance and wound in the Force while being caught in the blast, he was hit by the full power of the planet's explosion, supernova and maelstrom.
Yet he also absorbed it before it could spread any further.
In doing so, energy flowed through him as he was encased in a golden aura of pure Force energy.
Shortly thereafter.
Exterior: Kamino, Tipoca city.
Coming out of hyperspace inside the atmosphere and rapidly falling from the sky like a meteor, Galen was both glowing and covered in flames.
Interior: Kamino, Tipoca city, medical centre.
As he suddenly crashed through the ceiling, he startled several clones, medical staff and Shaak Ti in the process.
The flames were extinguished before the Padawan was carefully laid down upon a medical bed.
Once Shaak Ti removed Galen's all but destroyed helmet, his glow faded.
Nala Se examined Galen's vitals which flatlined whilst his heart stopped, "He's… dead."
Disembodied, Kreia's voice whispered, "Awaken."
As Galen's eyes suddenly shot open, he sat up and let out a panicked scream, "Ahhh!" startling everyone, again.
Registering intense physical strain on his body, he sharply groaned in excruciating agony as he lay flat on his back.
"Just like the simulations," joked Galen, making some of the nearby clones chuckle, "Ok, I'm getting the feeling Thrawn really was trying to kill me. Also, everything hurts.
And I can't feel my legs."
"I find that last part ironic given you told us everything hurts, only moments ago," noted Shaak Ti.
With a sharp gasp of pain, Galen tried and failed to move his legs, "That's not good."
After several examinations, tests and x-rays, Nala Se learnt 60% of his bones were broken.
He had a massive concussion.
80% of his body from the shoulders down was covered in what should've been lethal burns and scars.
And his armor, except the helmet, had melted onto his flesh.
Then Galen underwent an extremely painful surgery to extract the melted metal from his body before being prepared for a bacta tank.
"I need to tell you something very important, Shaak.
Come closer, please," Galen softly said before the Togruta leaned in close to him.
Upon gently kissing the Togruta on her lavender lips, much to her surprise, he endearingly smiled at her, "Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum, Shaak Ti. I love you."
The Togruta Jedi Master appreciatively beamed, "Awww, I love you too, Galen." and kissed his temple before he lost consciousness.
A nearby trooper asked, "Did- did he just kiss you?"
"He did, but I'm not sure he'll remember it.
He has a considerable concussion as well which probably didn't help his decision making.
And he may be having outbursts of affection as a psychological result of what happened to him."
"So he may be a bit… unstable?"
Nala Se chimed in, "That remains to be seen, though it wouldn't be surprising given the state he's in."
Shortly after being lowered into the tank, Galen fell into a meditative, hibernative state of self-repair, tensile strengthening, spiritual healing and cellular regeneration whilst glowing.
Every injury he'd ever had was rapidly healing, correcting and repairing itself.
Nala Se's eyes widened in fascination, "Curious… very curious."
Several hours later.
Whilst monitoring her patient, Nala Se suggested, "Perhaps something different is in order for him, next time.
Our experimental meta-human unit, the 99th legion, is almost ready.
And we can put him in charge of the Special Forces Brigade."
Kal Skirata chimed in, "I'll unleash the Null-ARCs under his command as well."
Cautious of the suggestions, Shaak Ti replied, "It's unclear whether he'll be in any condition to walk anytime soon. Let alone fight, or lead troops into battle."
"Well, maybe we can ask the Force for a miracle recovery… assuming that's not what's already happening."
Feeling a disturbance in the Force surrounding Marek, Shaak Ti noted, "He's grown far stronger in the Force than he was only hours ago. Something inside him has awoken.
His presence also feels lighter."
Kal smirked, "That's what we Mandalore do, cyare.
What doesn't kill us makes us stronger."
Nala Se inquired, "Could this be a deeply hidden latent potential unlocked?
A spiritual state accessible only in time of great need?
Or a genetic mutation?"
"Perhaps. And this has been quite a trial of the flesh." answered Shaak Ti, "I also suspect part of his display of affection was due to the concussion and my being the first person he saw when he woke up, albeit briefly."
As his hologram appeared, Kota cautiously asked, "Master Ti, have you by any chance heard from or seen Marek?" and nervously admitted, "I seem to have misplaced him."
TI's smile faded as she folded her arms, "That's an understatement. Galen's here on Kamino, in a critical condition."
Kota's eyes widened in horror, "Dank farrik! What in the blazes happened?"
"Someone named "Thrawn," happened."
Kal chuckled, "His father's not going to like this."
Kota replied, "Skirata, believe me, Fett's not who I'm terrified of right now.
Hell hath no wrath like Aayla Secura's when it comes to her boy. Unless it's his when it comes to her or anyone else he cares about."
"For once, I agree with you, aruetii."
"What the hell does aruetii mean?"
A fortnight later.
Interior: Coruscant, Jedi temple, halls of healing.
Abruptly waking up in the middle of the night, a completely healed and energised Galen called one of his lightsabers to him, ignited a cyan blade, and blocked a strike from Mace Windu's purple blade before pushing him back.
The sudden clashes echoed through the previously silent halls, alerting several guards and meditating Jedi.
As well as waking and scaring the hell out of other patients, including younglings who screamed.
Bursting in, accompanied by Temple Guards, to see Windu and Marek fiercely dueling, Che, Kota, Qui-Gon, Plo, Luminara, Aayla and Depa ignited their sabers, "Stand down!"
Disarming Windu, Galen blasted him into a wall with electric judgement, and deactivated his saber.
Windu got to his feet and regained his composure before a furious Aayla punched him in the face, knocking him out cold.
"That's one helluva right hook, Secura." praised Kota.
After a brief pause, a confused Galen took in his surroundings, "What the hell happened?" then regretfully informed, "Taris is dead… completely dead."
Kota mentioned, "Your mum and I spoke to the Council."
Galen cautiously asked, "Where's this going?"
"If it's alright with you, you'll be reassigned to Kenobi.
Plus, you'll get to hang out with Skywalker, who's quite a loose cannon without you around."
Having an idea, Galen turned to the Kel Dor, "In that case, Plo, since you're going to be too busy between your duties as a General and Council member, perhaps the Council could assign Ahsoka to Anakin as his Padawan?
They'll make a perfect team, and he'll learn to be more responsible.
Not to mention Ahsoka's optimism and light side aura will be good for him."
Ahsoka, who was sitting by Galen's bedside, innocently looked at her fellow Jedi with an adorable expression.
"I concur, Ahsoka will do well with young Skywalker training her in my stead." agreed Plo before getting a hug from the young Togruta.
Galen chuckled, "And I know exactly what Ani will think about this.
He'll say, 'a Padawan will just slow me down.'."
Qui-Gon pointed out, "Taking things slower makes you more aware of your surroundings.
Your path is clearer when you can see the path ahead." then Ahsoka adorably smiled at him so he smiled back.
Depa mentioned, "Galen Marek, you have survived your Trial of the Flesh.
Having passed your Trial of Skill when you defeated Count Dooku.
Your Trial of Insight when you saw through the illusions of Exar Kun.
And your official Trial of Courage when you rose to the challenge of leading your first military campaign, you're close to consideration for Knighthood."
"That makes four out of however many there are now." replied Galen, "And I honestly thought facing Kun's ghost in general might've qualified as multiple Trials at once."
"Perhaps if you were older at the time, we'd have deemed that so."
Windu wasn't impressed, "If you want my opinion-"
"We don't!" interjected everyone in the room, in unison.
Mace continued anyway, "The boy's clearly unstable.
We shouldn't let him anywhere near a battle."
"Try and stop me, aruetii." dared Marek, but Windu made no move.
"I can sense the darkness rising.
And everywhere I look, I see innocence harmed… death and destruction.
And knowing I have the power to do something about it, I won't let it all burn down around me." strongly said Galen, "Ti ra without the Council's support, I'll fight par te adate.
Not for the Chancellor, corporations or Senate. Par te adate o'r te Jetiise. I'll do it my way.
So either help me, or stay out of my way."
Yoda noted, "Of the Revanchist, remind me, you do."
"It runs in the aliit, bal Ni 'cuy Starkiller."
"Gave you that name, Volfe Karkko did.
Use it now, why would you?"
"Why not? It's just a name, and I'm going on the offensive."
"Do, what, will you?"
"I'll let the Force guide me to the battles it wills me to fight in.
Every day this war wages is another day the Jetii fail as peacekeepers.
Every day the war escalates, the dha side grows stronger.
Too many people have died already."
Depa nodded, "Agreed."
"Also, leaving the Republic's not a crime.
Neither's wanting autonomy from a government you believe is corrupt.
Te Jetiise is meant to be a democracy, after all. A free and equal society."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Marek stated, "The CIS aren't the real fight… there's something else out there… something terrible… something truly evil.
Something the Council's been too blind to see."
Kota mentioned, "I think you'll like your new units and fleets, Galen.
Plus, some of my finest officers volunteered as personnel for your divisions.
And that friend of yours, Iden, has finished her training, so she's ready to help you."
Turning to her, Marek closely embraced and kissed his precious Ahsoka.
Noticing the mixed looks they were getting, Galen asked, "Hey, I almost died. Can you really blame me for kissing ner cyare?"
"Careful with your feelings and attachments, you must be.
Give you great strength, they can. But a weakness, they can be, also."
"At least I know in ner heart what I'm fighting for, and it's not politics." said Galen who stated, "I'm gonna need my own Basilisk war droid."
Luminara interjected, "Many still fear such artillery from the Mandalorian Wars."
"I want the right tools for the job.
I'm a Mandalorian, so some of the classics are a must."
"Indeed."
Turning to Yoda, Galen added, "Since Kota's adamant that he won't lead clones, I'll continue as General of the 107th to save everyone the headache of arguing with him.
But I'll use whatever equipment I see fit.
And no orders from Palpatine to me or my troops."
"Allow this, against my better judgement, I will."
Marek gestured to a nearby Dume, "I have something to say regarding Caleb."
"Be, what would it?"
"I won't tolerate him being turned into a child soldier.
And if he does, I will hold the Council, the Senate and Palpatine accountable if he gets hurt, and especially if I have to bury my vod'ika, low-key ad'ika."
Depa chimed in, "I agree."
Caleb smiled at Galen, "Love you too."
Mando'a translations.
Su'cuy - hello.
Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum - I love you.
cyare - beloved.
aruetii - outsider.
par - for.
te - the.
adate - people.
Jetiise - Republic.
Aliit - clan/family.
Ni 'cuy - I am.
Ner - my.
vod'ika - little brother.
ad'ika - son.