(Hey everyone, how was your winter/break? I am so sorry it took me this long to write and get my chapter up for everyone to read, but I have to deliever some bad news to all of you who are reading my story, because of how busy my next semester looks to me at the moment, I am still going to be on a writing break to make sure I do not fall behind on my school work, especially with thesis.
But until then I hope you all continue to enjoy my works of writing and enjoy this first part of the Ryloth trilogy based on the Clone Wars episode, "Storm over Ryloth". Now that the Decepticons have joined the fray, the clone wars have been put into an upheaval, only by working together can the Republic and Autobots be able to free the enslaved citizens of Ryloth from the evil Wat Tambor's iron fist.
Disclaimer: I do not own either Transformers (Of any franchise/continuity) or Star Wars the Clone Wars, they are the property of their respective owners.
Now without a further a due, please Read, Review, and Enjoy.)
The Nemoidian captain, Mar Tuuk sat in his control chair as the hologram of the Techno Union Foreman, Wat Tambor, recently made Emir of Ryloth, appeared before him.
"Captain are you prepared?" Wat Tambor asked.
Captain Tuuk, feeling confident, reported, "Our blockade is impenetrable."
Leaning to the side he added, "When the Republic attacks they will get quite a surprise."
"I'm counting on you, Captain. We cannot allow the Republic to invade this planet." Tambor reminded, before ending communications with the blockade captain.
Mar Tuuk sneered a bit, knowing exactly the meaning behind Tambor's adamant behavior. And people say that Nemoidians were greedy.
He turned to another hologram of a mechanical humanoid with the most advanced appearance and weaponry the captain had ever seen.
"Everything prepared on your end, commander Dirge?" Mar Tuuk asked.
The Decepticon nodded, "Indeed captain, my squadron is ready."
Mar Tuuk nodded in satisfaction. Unlike the quick to judge Viceroy, Tuuk knew a powerful ally when he saw one.
"Be ready to decimate the enemies when we reveal our surprise on them." Tuuk advised, letting the Decepticon nod before ending communications.
As they traveled through Hyperspace, many of the Autobots had to hold on for dear life. There wasn't enough room, for the bots that couldn't sit around in vehicle mode were gravitized and holding onto the outer hull of the cruisers. A lone bot called, "Commander… I'm not feeling well…"
"Steady soldier… we'll make it there soon." Silverbolt said, holding on to the hull.
The bot who spoke held a hand to his chassis, feeling like he's going to upchuck some of his Energon reserves.
Wing Saber, however… "WHOOO-HOOOO! THIS IS SCRAPING AWESOME! Who wants to go again?!"
Looking over at the aerial specialist like he had lost his processor, Air Raid and Fireflight briefly conversed amongst themselves about the Aerial specialist.
"He's a wild bot."
"How has he lived this long?"
The exhilarated, yet nauseous, feelings some of the bots were experiencing ended as soon as Anakin's ships exited out of Hyperspace.
From inside the hanger, Ahsoka Tano was prepping her personal Starfighter in response of hearing Admiral Yularen's orders to prepare to launch. Her astromech droid, an R7 series, was inserted into the craft's body while whistling.
Looking over to her little droid friend, Ahsoka answered, "This is my first time commanding a squadron, R7."
Faltering in her smile, Ahsoka said, "Let's make a good impression."
Turning his head to look to the Padawan, R7 beeped something to her, causing her to exclaim, "Of course I'm not nervous!
"Hey snips, this is it, your first command." Anakin Skywalker said, approaching his Padawan. He was in the presence of a human male, two or three years older than Anakin, walking to her with the silver, yellow, and dark grey colors on his uniform. Red Autobot symbols on his shoulders as his green eyes shone through his messy silver bangs.
"Don't be so nervous, snippers. The other bots and I got your back." The holo-form projection of Wing Saber assured, leaning against the side of her Starfighter.
Looking away, Ahsoka exclaimed, "I wish everyone would stop saying that!"
The two shared a brief look of confusion before Anakin conveyed words of wisdom to his nervous Padawan, "The men you're commanding are depending on you with their lives. As are our allies, who you will need to keep an eye out for, in case they got bogues on their six."
"Thanks. That takes the pressure off." Ahsoka added dryly before turning to look straight out of her fighter. before she added, "If I wasn't nervous before, I sure am now."
"Hey, I have faith in you. I wouldn't be sending you out there if I didn't think you could handle it." Anakin assured her.
Wing Saber placed a hand on her shoulder, "No sweat. We got your back."
Ahsoka smiled at the reassurance that the Autobot and her master gave her as she got her ship ready to launch. Wing Saber's holo-form disappeared and Anakin walked towards the lift that led to the bridge.
He stopped and bid, "May the Force be with you."
As he walked away, Ahsoka said, more to herself, "I won't let either of you down, I hope."
The lid of her cockpit closed as Ahsoka opened the comms to her squadron, "Okay, you boy's ready?"
Outside, Wing Saber's optics flared to life. He thanked the two bots who made sure his bod didn't drift off the cruiser when he noticed Silverbolt approaching him, asking, "How is she?"
"Ah she'll be fine. Besides remember how you were when you were picked by Optimus to be the leader of the Aerialbots?"
"Says the bot that got mad at Optimus one time and attacked him." Silverbolt reminded. Wing Saber winced at that, sure what Optimus had done that led to that situation was the major factor in his being in confinement for seven solar or seven stellar cycles. It was only because of how good Wing Saber was that he got a light sentence instead of being tossed in the brig for striking his SO.
Looking back, Wing Saber quipped, "Well, at least I don't have three know-nothing kids who think the Decepti-creeps are so cool and well organized compared to us."
It was Silverbolt's turn to wince at the comment. Even after shooting down as many Vehicons as they did, the three additions to his personal team still aren't fully commit to their cause. Their admiration for the cons or that of Zeta Prime what caused Superion to have less of the same processor strength as Defensor's.
Clearing his throat, Silverbolt however said, "Anyway, we better get in formation."
Looking to his men, Silverbolt cried, "Okay, Aerialbots, Transform and Take Off!"
All of them transformed and flew in formation as soon as they spotted Ahsoka's squadron heading out of the cruiser's hanger. Silverbolt then ordered through his comms, "All units find a partner and get them through this vulture storm so the bombers can take it out."
"Commander!" Tuuk called, once he got the report that the Republic fighters were heading his way.
"Yes, captain?" The Battle droid with the commander paint job asked.
"Launch all fighter." Tuuk ordered. The droids on the bridge sent the signal, telling the Vulture droids that were clamped on the outer hull of the Trade Federation battle ship to convert into flight mode and flew towards the incoming enemy fighters.
Wanting to know more as the battle continued outside, Tuuk ordered the identification of the ship leading the assault against him. Once the hologram and information appeared. Mar Tuuk rubbed his finger against his chin as he recognized the name and said, "That is General Skywalker's flagship."
The two holograms of Dirge and another Decepticon with the same body frame type as Dirge were watching with the Nemoidian captain. The red and light grey Decepticon asked, "So?"
"He is leading this attack." Tuuk told his Decepticon allies.
The red and light grey Decepticon shrugged. Dirge, however, shook his head at the dimwittedness of his comrade, and explained, "What he means, Ramjet, is that Skywalker's not your typical Jedi. Especially when we got reports that menace to air superiority, Wing Saber, and the Aerialbots, are with him."
"Oh, yeah… Forgot about 'em." Ramjet admitted before grinning widely, "Can't wait to cause some mid-air collisions."
"Sirs! Their fighters are closing in." A droid reported.
"Well what're we wait'n for? Lets get 'em!" Ramjet shouted, wanting to remind his enemies how brutal he could be.
"Patience, let's see what trickery the Jedi have planned for us." Tuuk told his droids and allies. Ramjet looked to Drige, but got a shaking of the head as an answer, meaning for Ramjet to be patient a little longer.
Back outside, the battle was proving as an advantage in the Republic's favor, especially with the Autobots advanced and superior firepower.
"We got their fighters occupied." Ahsoka reported to her squadron, allies, and the bridge.
"This is easy compared to the cons!" Wing Saber commented while firing his two spinning digit machine-gun, before firing a barrage of missiles at multiple droids.
Silverbolt however cautioned, "Something's not right… where are the Decepticon forces that were reported to being on Ryloth?"
"They're probably off somewhere instead of this dump of a planet." Slingshot suggested, shooting all he liked at the droids, seeing them as nothing, but target practice.
"Or maybe they're making the lives better for the Twi'leks." Fireflight suggested, reading up on the planet. He thought the Twi'leks were overreacting due to how harsh and deadly Ryloth is compared to some of the other planets in the galaxy.
"The day I see a Decepticon 'making lives better' for anyone, is the day that I kiss that Aquatic femme-con." Air Raid shot back as he kept firing and helping the clones take out the droids that were on their six. He couldn't believe how some of his squadron were still star struck of the Decepticons even though they were told about what they did to Cybertron.
"Easy boys, lets focus on the droids in front of us and not on each other." Ahsoka said to the arguing Autobots, wondering how they could be on the same team if they had different views and argued at times. It's a wonder they could combine at all.
Before anyone said anything, Ahsoka called, "Axe, time for us to make a run for the battleship. Silverbolt keep those droids off us as long as you can."
"Roger that commander Tano." Silverbolt said through the comms.
From where Slingshot was, he muttered, "Who does that organic think she is, ordering us around like we're those stupid droids."
"Not now, Slingshot, focus on getting rid of these things before you're blown out of the sky." Skydive sniped back, wanting to survive before talking to his best friend about the smallest flyer's political beliefs.
Slingshot gave his friend a "Feh!"
Before he flew off to get rid of more droids before they could destroy the fighters that were needed to bomb the battleships.
Things appeared to be going well, until four more frigates came out of Hyperspace near the battle ship.
"Admiral, four more cruisers have joined the blockade, and two of them have Decepticon signatures with them." A clone bridge ops reported, seeing the energy signatures of the Decepticons onboard the enemy cruisers.
Looking over to the Jedi, Admiral Yularen exclaimed, "We've got to warn those fighters."
Standing on the bow of two of them were the two Seekers, Dirge and Ramjet. They looked back to those under their command and shouted in unison, "Decepticons! Transform and Rise up!"
The flyers and droids with them changed and flew over to destroy the enemies in front of them.
Ramjet led the assault while Dirge hung back for reasons unknown to the inhabitance of this galaxy.
"Commander, we've been caught in a trap!" Yularen warned Ahsoka through the comms.
Ahsoka, listening more to her confidence than heeding the warning, said, "You're overreacting, Admiral. I can get us through."
She then ordered, "Blue squadron, stay on course."
"We're all set, Blue Leader." Axe radio, back. Putting his trust in the Jedi Padawan's judgement.
"They have Decepticons with them!" Silverbolt shot back as some of his men were being shot at by the Vehicon Seekers.
"I'm ordering you back to the ship. We're going to need your help." Yularen called through the comms to get Ahsoka to listen to reason.
"Ahsoka, it's too risky! Get your pilots out of there!" Anakin called to his padawan. She however ignored her master's orders and kept flying.
Silverbolt picked up on his sensors that Wing Saber was still firing while he heard what was going on through the comms of his men.
"Oh Primus, its Ramjet!" An Aerialbot cried out before he screamed. Everyone, who was able to hear, heard the sound of something bashing its way against metal before the flyer's signature went dead.
"Hey Silverbolt, Dirge's here too! Up to his old fear tricks, again." Air Raid called in, avoiding being hit by one of Dirge's fear emitting weapons. He then engaged the seeker in a dogfight. If he was in his true form he would be gritting his dentures. Those two Seekers had been known as the most brutal if not despicable of the Seekers under Starscream during the war for Cybertron.
One of the Vehicons was with a Vulture droid, chasing after one of Ahsoka's Clone pilots before firing, destroying the Starfighter completely.
Back where the Republic cruisers were, many of the Vehicons and Vulture droids began breaking the defensive lines and attacked. This caused the Autobot forces that were to guard the cruisers to stand on full alert, firing at all the enemies they could.
Even though they were efficient in dealing with the droids, the problem was trying have them explode before impacting the cruisers. Especially when they weren't able to see a Vehicon taking pot shots at them.
The turrets on the cruisers were shooting down as many as they could, but there were just too many of them.
One of the shot Vehicons was making a Kamikaze run towards the cruiser's bridge as he shouted for all to hear, "For the glory of Megatron!"
Everyone tried to get out, but the con hit the window causing the systems to overload and Admiral Yularen to fall unconscious, due to some injuries. Anakin grabbed him and ordered, "Get those fighters on board and prepare for Lightspeed."
He then used his comm. device to relay orders to Silverbolt.
Silverbolt was firing and trying to stay alive at the same time, which was hard to do with the sheer number of droids and the cons that wanted to see him dead.
Anakin called, "Silverbolt, get your men out of there and help get our pilots back, immediately."
"Doing what I can, Skywalker." Silverbolt called back. Looping around the con that was on his flank, the commander of the Aerialbots called to all remaining bots, "Aerialbots, fall back to command."
"Roger that." All remaining bots said as they broke off their attack and flew back to the cruisers.
Silverbolt saw Wing Saber flying past them to deliver another barrage of missiles at the cons and droids as he said, "What? You expect me to not provide cover?"
Air Raid laughed, finally having lost Dirge, before commenting, "You're a real piece of work, Wing Saber."
"Ya know it!" Wing Saber shot back playfully before they got serious and they tried to provide support to the three cruisers.
Slingshot flew with some of his squad. Two of them broke off formation to help get some pressure off Axe. Still not having a good view on Organic species, Slingshot ordered, "Leave it, we gotta keep going or we're stuck here!"
"No way! We can save him!" One of the Aerialbots cried back, attempting to shoot down the droids to save the clone. But they, as well as Axe, were then shot down by the Decepticon.
Slingshot, muttered, "Scrapping drones. Should've listened to orders."
The rest of the Aerialbots got close enough to the cruiser that Ahsoka and her two remaining pilots were heading towards. As soon as they were inside, all the remaining bots transformed to make room for their brothers-in-arms.
"Close up the hanger doors… we're home…" Ahsoka stated, her tone dejected by the loss of her men.
A few seconds later, they all felt them entering hyperspace; they had escaped.
Transforming into his bipedal form, Ramjet looked back at the battle ship where he and the other Decepticons received orders to let their enemies go. He then activated his comms, and asked, "Why aren't we going after 'em?"
"Relax, my friend. We let them wallow in their failure before allowing fear to suffocate them." The collision-centric con heard the Nemoidian tell him, "But when they try another feeble attempt we will crush them with our overwhelming forces."
Before Ramjet could speak, Dirge cut in, "Understood. We're returning for rearmaments and refueling."
Looking back to his blue and dark grey counterpart, Ramjet heard Dirge's reason for complying with the organic captain's orders, "Fear is a powerful weapon, Ramjet. It is what allowed our forces to be on the advantage before that Prime infected them with that despicable hope."
Ramjet shuttered when hearing his fellow Seeker speak this way about fear. Dirge's always been a freak about fear as long as Ramjet had known him. But as long as it hadn't been used against him, Dirge was a dangerous enemy. They both transformed and returned to their assigned frigates, getting ready for the next attack.
When they got to a safe sector, everyone was ordered to do a damage report and count of the troops they lost in the attack on the blockade. After telling the soldiers to do the head count, Anakin turned and glared at his despairing Padawan. Silverbot's holoform, a near human species with Autobot symbols on his shoulders looked her way and felt sympathy for her.
"Ahsoka… I am very disappointed in you." Anakin said, sternly.
"Skywalker… maybe you should…" Silverbolt began, trying to calm the human down.
Looking back to the Autobot, Anakin said, "I'm sorry commander, but please stay out of this. Not only did she disobey the admiral, but she also disobeyed me. Costing in the lives of not only her men, but your own too."
Silverbolt remained silent, but then he said, "You think I don't know that?"
Feeling even guiltier, she said, "I thought I could knock out those battleships so when Master Obi-wan arrived he can get through."
"We know you meant well Ahsoka-" Silverbolt said, trying to comfort her from feeling so down on herself. Someone as young as her shouldn't have to deal with the pressure and negative side of command.
"But there's a bigger picture that you're not aware of." Anakin stated, interrupting the Aerialbot commander. Looking down at his Padawan, Anakin recited, "First rule of war: Listen and obey your superiors."
Silverbolt got up and said, "She's a child. She's not like you or me, general. War isn't something she should be exposed to."
"She stopped being a child when she became my Padawan." Anakin snapped back, causing the two of them to glare at each other.
Before anything could happen, Wing Saber's holoform appeared and pushed them apart, "WHOA! Easy there. As much as I like to see you guys duke it out, save it for my birthday."
However, not even Wing Saber's attempt at humor could help bring a smile to Ahsoka's dejected face. So turning to Skywalker he asked, "Don't you think you're being alil harsh on her? Even I've been known to get carried away."
"So have I, but that means we know what she's going through." Anakin said, his anger now gone. Ahsoka looked up at those words.
Signing she said, "It doesn't matter… I failed."
Kneeling down to be at the same eye level as the Togurta, Wing Saber assured, "It was a trap, snippers, we couldn't have guessed that they had Dirge and Ramjet leading the space forces here."
When Ahsoka looked at him, Wing Saber smiled and said, "It wasn't you're fault."
Looking down, Ahsoka said, "I've lost so many of my pilots…"
Moving for Anakin to be the one now in front of his Padawan, her master said, "Take heart, little one. That's the reality of command."
Silverbolt and Wing Saber nodded with the human's words. They had both lost men on their various missions before entering this galaxy. Ahsoka hung her head as she let these words solidify in her memory.
Rex came up and said, "General, we're approaching our staging area."
Turning his head, while still looking to his Padawan, Anakin said, "Very good, captain."
"Master Windu is requesting a report on our progress." Rex added, causing Anakin to react and repeat, turning to his commander.
"Our progress, huh?" He asked, before accidently letting slip, "Well we haven't made any progress yet."
"I'll tell him, sir." Rex said, thinking that was the report. But Anakin stopped him and said, "No Rex. I'll tell him myself, thank you."
Rex nodded while hearing his general say, "As soon as we tend to our wounded, get me a damage report."
While neither of them were looking, Ahsoka took this time to move herself along. Wing Saber attempted to go after her, but he was stopped by Silverbolt who shook his head. He thought that the Padawan needed time to reflect on recent events by herself.
"Right away, sir." Rex said, as he left to carry out his orders.
Anakin, however, began, turned to his apprentice, "Now snips, I'm gonna need you to…"
Only to find his Padawan nowhere to be seen. He looked to the two Autobots nearby who shrugged before deactivating their holoforms to save power and tend to their own wounded.
Back in the orbit of Ryloth, the Emir, Wat Tambor, made a call to Tuuk and requested an update. To which the captain stated that their enemies had fled their system with their ships in flames.
"I assure you, Emir. Our blockade is very much intact thanks to the power of the Decepticon forces aiding our own." Captain Tuuk said, surprising the two Decepticons that the Nemoidian was giving them credit instead of taking it all for himself.
Wat Tambor looked at the two holograms of the Decepticon officers stationed to guard his ruling of Ryloth, "Congratulations are in order then Captain, Commander Dirge & Ramjet."
Looking back to the Nemoidian, the Skakaon warned, "Do not underestimate the Jedi."
"Ha! The ones you need to not underestimate are the Autobots, those squishes of theirs don't look all that dangerous." Ramjet said, laughing at how something so small could be dangerous to them.
The Emir however looked to the seeker and said, "Tell that to your comrades who were lucky in surviving an encounter with a Jedi."
Before anything else could be said, the Emir ended his communications with the commander of the blockade. Thinking about what was said previously, Tuuk looked towards his commander battle droid and ordered, "Commander, bring me the archive data on General Skywalker and the ones leading the Autobots space forces."
"That sorry excuse of a flyer, Silverbolt, and his team, along with that arrogant showboat, Wing Saber." Dirge informed the battle droid on who it was supposed to bring up for its organic master.
"I need to learn more about our opponents." Tuuk continued, taking in what the blue and dark grey seeker said about the ones leading the Autobot forces in space.
"Roger, roger." The droid stated before heading off.
Turning to his mechanical comrades, Tuuk asked, "Now then, tell me more about these flyers."
Back with on his flagship, Anakin gave a report of their failed approach to Ryloth. Not taking the news well, Obi-wan asked, "How many men did you lose?"
"We lost a cruiser, the Redeemer. And over a squadron of fighters. And almost half of our Autobot back up." Anakin reported.
Silverbolt picked up the report by saying, "Those who survived the encounter are in stasis lock until they can return to First-Aid for repairs."
Obi-wan nodded as he heard the commander of the Aerialbots report on the survivors. He turned back to his former Padawan and asked, "And your Padawan?"
"No, Ahsoka is fine." Anakin stated, assuring his master that he had not lost his Padawan to the battle, "She's just recovering from the battle. Losing her squad was hard to take."
"Among other things…" Wing Saber breathed as he looked away.'
"Give her time, but, Anakin, you will need her help if you're going to get through this." Obi-wan reminded the knight.
Anakin looked back to his former master and said, "I know."
"Your forces have been cut in half, Skywalker." Mace Windu stated, bringing his thoughts to the discussion, "If you can't break that blockade before the next planetary rotation, we will have to postpone the invasion."
Silverbolt stared in shock as he said, "But the Twi'leks can't wait forever. General Windu. We NEED to help them. The longer the Techno Union and the Decepticons control Ryloth, the harder it'll be to free them or to save their people."
Mace Windu looked at the holoform of Autobot and said, calmly, "I understand your compassion in helping others and agree with you, commander Silverbolt, which is why we don't have much time."
The two jedi nodded before ending their communications with Anakin's ship.
Looking to Rex, Anakin ordered, "Rex, see if you can find Ahsoka."
Rex nodded as he left with Silverbolt, who deactivated his holoform once more.
Outside of the ship, Silverbolt's optics flared back to life as he moved his body.
Air Raid, seeing his commander was back, got up and reported, "Most of the men have suffered a lot of Energon loss and have gone into stasis lock. Those who weren't so lucky…"
He paused as they saw two carrying one of their deceased brother's body into a drop ship to be transported for funeral services back onboard the Ark. Silverbolt sighed, "I'm getting tired of good bots paying for fighting the good fight…"
"Then why're you even having us be a part of this crummy war of theirs?"
Both of them turned to see Slingshot there. Feeling annoyed, Silverbolt said, "Not now, Slingshot."
"Then when?!" Slingshot shouted as he stomped over and grabbed his commander by the shoulder, "I'm sick and tired of having those organics treat us like we're like those dumb droids of theirs when we are sacrificing our lives for them!"
Looking back to the other Aerialbots, the smallest flyer cried out, "They should be serving us! Not the other way around! Why should we die for them when we're the most advanced beings they have ever seen? We lost even more of our own, thanks to that stupid organic."
"Slingshot, that's going too far! It was thinking like that which caused the war for Cybertron." Air Raid stated, causing some of the flyers to agree with the red and silver flyer.
"No! It was glitches like Megatron and Optimus who ruined everything for Zeta Prime's vision of Cybertron." Slingshot shot back. It caused an uproar amongst those present, and they were angered by Slingshot's shortsighted comments.
Seeing how a fight would've broken out, Silverbolt shifted his arm to his default blaster setting and fired away from the ship, getting everyone's attention, including Slingshot.
"You wanted out of the war? You got it." Silverbolt said as he went, grabbing Slingshot, getting him in stasis cuffs and tossing him into one of the dropships, "You're confined in there until we reach Ryloth's surface."
Slingshot looked back, surprised, and said, "Hey… what about Superion? You'll need me if you need to combine!"
"I think we can manage." Silverbolt said, and locked the small flyer in the dropship.
"SILVERBOLT!" Slingshot shouted, enraged, as he banged against the wall of the dropship, trying to get out.
As the commander walked away, Sky Dive approached and said, "Silverbolt. I know you're still upset about the how bad the first attack went, but to lock Slingshot in there until we reach the planet? Isn't that much if we do need to combine into Superion?"
"We'll have to make do." He said before he got a comm. from Anakin, "Yes General Skywalker?"
"Silverbolt. Have your men aid the men from the Defender to evacuate. It's beyond repairs and these men and bots need aid." Anakin said through the comms.
Silverbolt looked until he saw the Defender; and seeing that the flames were not going out, he nodded, "Understood."
He and his remaining forces detached themselves from the cruiser's hull and transformed, flying to provide aid and transport from the Defender to the Resolute.
Doing this sort of thing helped Silverbolt forget his anger with the kid in his group. He couldn't believe that even after the years since Zeta Prime's death that Slingshot hasn't gotten over him. Even when Perceptor found the secret files from Zeta's private data terminal listing the many crimes against the rare Cybertronians with organic alt. modes, due to his severe phobia of organics, which he had them "relocated" and many other crimes against those who spoke out against his rule.
"Commander Silverbolt."
"Yes, Skywalker?" Silverbolt asked, looking back to the enflamed cruiser.
"I'd like for you and the best of your men to come and join me for a mission to take down the battle ship." The Jedi said, making Silverbolt look confused as a shuttle flew from the hanger to the damaged cruiser.
Emir Wat Tambor, appeared to give Captain Tuuk a report, and as leaders of the Decepticon forces, Dirge and Ramjet were there for the meeting, "Count Dooku has assured me the Republic forces are stretched thin in our sector. They should be unable to mount a counterattack. Any attempt to do so would be suicide."
Tuuk wasn't convinced as he spoke in a way that confused the foreman, "Still, I am certain this Skywalker will return. He's ultimate defeat shall be my greatest victory."
"You admire Skywalker?" Tambor asked, surprised by the tone in the Neimodian's words.
"As a general, yes; his record shows he is a great warrior." Tuuk stated, not really disclaiming the accusation given to him by his superior, before finishing, "And I want him to know it is I who has beaten him."
The two Decepticons looked at each other as Ramjet, hearing this before from other cons who thought the same way about Optimus Prime, let slip, "Famous last words."
"In all the galaxies apparently." Dirge concluded, though internally agreeing with his comrade.
Tuuk, ignored his two associates speaking about him as if he wasn't there. He then continued, "And the records provided to us by the Decepticons show the determination that the Aerialbot commander has in completing missions where life-forms are threatened. He will, as well, come back."
"And that's when we show General Obsidian how to utilize our talents better." Ramjet said slamming his fist into his awaiting hand, grinning savagely under his battle mask.
"Well… I have to say this plan is questionable." Rex said, after hearing the new plan to take down the blockade. Air Raid, Wing Saber, Fireflight, Sky Dive, and surprisingly Slingshot, were there through hologram projectors provided by the astromech droids in the room.
"Yeah, but with their general destroyed along with their battleship, the droid commanders will be in chaos." Ahsoka told them, knowing from personal experience about the droid commander's mental capabilities.
Fireflight turned to the Padawan and said, "But that'll only be temporary."
Rex then added, "And there's still General Skywalker and Commander Silverbolt's squad to find in all that mess."
Slingshot, however, huffed when he heard that, still not forgiving the silver bot for locking him up in that drop ship. If it wasn't for him taking the flyers who weren't that seriously injured or who avoided being injured, they would've left Slingshot in confinement.
"I know, but-" Ahsoka said, starting to explain more.
That was when the Bridge Op reminded, "Our first attack had three fully armed cruisers and we failed."
"Hey it's no problem, while they're confused we'll swoop in and blast em." Wing Saber said smiling, "The cons and clanks won't know what's coming."
Rex looked down and said, "I wish General Skywalker had discussed this plan with us. The odds are very much against us."
"Finally an organic who sees reason." Slingshot commented, earning glares from Air Raid and Wing Saber.
Ahsoka looked down as she said, from personal remembrance, "They always are."
"Yes but normally we'd have General Skywalker to lead us in-" The Bridge Op began before hearing someone clearing his throat.
He turned to see Wing Saber, glaring at the clone before nodding to the surprised Ahsoka. The bridge Op looked down ashamed of himself for his previous remark and said, apologetically, "I meant no offense, commander."
Ahsoka looked down and said, "None taken."
"Well I think it's a brilliant plan." Wing Saber said grinning widely. He knew that spirits were down, and right now they need to go with plans that'll surprise the enemy, not just outsmart them.
"Sir, an enemy ship is emerging from hyperspace." A battle droid reported to Tuuk, pointing to the inflamed ship.
"See, I knew he'd return." Mar Tuuk said, giving that "I told you" tone to the Decepticons as he watched the cruiser approaching, still in flames.
"There is an incoming transmission, sir." The droid said pointing to the communications
"Put it through." Dirge ordered, as he wanted to hear what attempts of resistance the Autobot's and their allies have planned.
The liquid metal like plate straightened to show the image of Anakin Skywalker's face on it, "Greetings, Captain. I'm Anakin Skywalker, general of the Grand Army–"
"We know who you are, Skywalker." Tuuk interrupted, not interested in formalities now that he was close to claiming victory.
"My reputation precedes me, then." Anakin remarked, almost like he enjoyed that. He continued, "I've been ordered to surrender myself, the entire crew of this vessel and my ship in exchange for safe passage of food and medical supplies to the people of Ryloth."
"A noble gesture, Jedi. It's as nauseating as an Autobot's sense of nobility." Ramjet said through the hologram provided by a droid, where Tuuk said, "And your capture would make me the envy of the Separatist fleet."
"Well, I'll take those as compliments." Anakin said, still smiling confidently to them.
Dirge, narrowing his optics, ordered a battle droid, "Scan his vessel and report its stasus to us immediately."
"Roger, roger." A battle droid said, heading over to the scanning station to carry out its order.
Dirge looked to the Neimoidian and said, "I'm heading over to your station to personally see the transaction."
His hologram deactivated.
"Sir, even if Skywalker and Silverbolt are successful and destroys the battleship, how will we stand up to the combined firepower of the remaining frigates and all those Decepticons?" The Bridge Op asked, after hearing what their general planned to do with the starship that the Jedi left in.
"I thought about that, and, well, I have an idea." Ahsoka said as she seemed to be slowly losing the confidence needed to persuade the troops.
"Go ahead, Tano." Air Raid said, wanting the Padawan to know she had their support.
"If we took the Resolute and angled her hull against the incoming frigates, the bridge and hangar deck would be relatively safe from their attack." Ahsoka explained as she programmed it into the holo-table. The miniature holograms of the Resolute angled itself so the bottom hull would be against the firepower of the approaching frigates.
"We could draw them in and then use the bombers to outflank them. The bombers would be too fast and they would be trapped." As markers of the fighters exiting from the hanger deck to the frigates.
Sky Dive nodded, as he thought about this plan; he then turned to the Togurta, and asked, "What about some of our forces who are still willing to fight but can't fly?"
Ahsoka turned to the Aerialbot and said, "Those who are still able to fire their guns can be positioned on both starboard and port sides of the ship, firing at the guns of the frigates as well as any Decepticons providing guard support for each of the frigates. However, due to the chance that their Energon reserves are in the same dire situations as our own, their commander would call a retreat to prevent any more loss of life and firepower." As dots appearing on both sides of the now vertical ship firing at the guns and cons, showing the con's icons fleeing the frigates.
"I'm not sure about this, Commander." The Bridge Op said, still not confident of this plan of hers.
Sky Dive however stated, "It's a bold plan but it's all we got at the moment."
"I… I think…" Ahsoka began, her voice shaking.
Rex began to speak his own mind about the plan, "If we were certain the shields would hold."
"I got a better idea why not just give up on this planet and return with the rest of the invasion fleet?" Slingshot suggest.
Air Raid, however, turned on the small flyer and asked, "And leave those people at the hands of the Decepticons?"
"We don't even know that the Decepticons are really that cruel to the Twi'leks." Fireflight said, still not convinced.
Wing Saber shook his head, "Have you lost your processor?! The Decepticons are not charitable misunderstood Rescuebots!"
"Perhaps a different strategy. We need to take more time and plan." The Bridge Op suggested, wanting to come up with a better plan that would depend less on chance.
However, Ahsoka have had enough, "No! We don't have any more time! Master Skywalker needs me now!"
Looking at those staring at her from her outburst, Ahsoka corrected herself, "He and Silverbot needs us now."
"The Commander is right."
All eyes and optics turned to see Admiral Yularen, who was unconscious from their first attack, walking into the bridge with a bandage around his head. To say that they were surprised to see him up and about was an understatement, "I know this strategy is very bold, but these circumstances call for drastic measures."
"Then, the strategy will work, sir?" The Bridge Op asked, looking to the Admiral.
Yularen looked to the Padawan and asked "Well, will it?"
Ahsoka was silent for a moment. Before she looked up at them and saying with her confidence restored, stating, "Yes, it will."
A battle droid came up to his captain, "We have completed the scan of the enemy ship."
"And?" Tuuk asked, expecting to hear what was promised to him by the Jedi. Not even suspecting a trick like his Decepticon allies.
The ship is heavily damaged. All power is diverted to the forward shields. There is only one life-form and several En-signs onboard."
"What?!" the two of them asked, Tuuk was more surprised than the Decepticon.
"The ship is heavily damaged. All power is-" The Battle droid began to repeat his
"No, you scrap for brains!" Ramjet shouted angrily, annoyed at how dumb the droids were.
Tuuk turned back to the transmission of the Jedi, "Skywalker, what treachery is this? You have nothing to bargain with."
Anakin took this news as though it wasn't that surprising. He scoffed, "In that case, I'll be going."
He walked away from the communication stations as he told them, "Oh, you can still have my ship. I'm sure that my friends will keep you entertained."
Captain Tuuk turned back in horror as the seemingly empty ship was still heading towards the battleship. Ramjet looked and exclaimed, "Dirge's still out there!"
His hologram disappeared as he went to retrieve his comrade. Another battle droid came up and reported, "Uh, Sir? There's a second Republic ship entering the system."
Captain Tuuk looked stunned by that, unable to comprehend how he was outplayed by the Jedi.
After seeing the Resolute arriving from Hyperspace, Anakin exclaimed, "She made it!"
Anakin then told Artoo. "Boost the engines and let's get outta here."
The astromech did as he was told and boosted the engines. Activating his comlink while running in to an escape pod, Anakin said, "Silverbolt, get your squad ready to blow the hatches."
"Roger that." Silverbolt said as he and his squadron appeared ready to get out and take out any cons and weapons on the ships that would provide too much trouble for their comrades.
"When those two ships collide there'll be chaos. We need that time to get General Skywalker's pod into the tractor beam." Ahsoka explained, as the hologram on the table showed the plan. It did the Autobots who supported Ahsoka good to see her full of confidence again.
Rex nodded, "Right, Commander."
Ahsoka then left the holo-table as she said "I'll man the fighter squadron. Wait for my signal to begin our attack."
"Yes, sir."
Exiting out of the frigate housing him and his troops, the collision crazy con flew as fast as possible to pull his fear-armed counterpart out of there before it was too late.
"All canons, fire! Fire!" Tuuk ordered inside of the battleship, growing more fearful as the cruiser came close.
"We can't stop it!" the commander battle droid stated before asking, "What should we do?"
Tuuk got up and began walking away. He said, "You stay here. I'll be back."
"That's great." The commander complained, watching as the Neimodian left.
Back inside the Defender's hanger, Silverbolt nodded to the two Aerialbots who were holding the hatch doors closed, to let the doors open. All the Aerialbots inside transformed, flew out and began firing at the enemy, rallied by the cry of their commander ordering, "Autobots, Attack!"
If they had visible faces, there would be the definition of surprise on the faces of the cons when they saw not only the cruiser heading for them, but also the Aerialbots flying out of their hiding places with guns blazing. Dirge and his guards attempted to fight back, but the surprise attack made short work of his men while Dirge's fear weapons were damaged, causing a backlash that caused Dirge to cry out in horror as he hid from the Autobots. The once fearsome con was now quivering, scared at his own specialty being used against him.
It didn't help his fears a bit when the republic cruiser crashed into the battleship's control sphere as planned.
"See, I told you it would work." Anakin told Artoo, who beeped and whistled in agreement after seeing the two ships crash.
"Approaching your position. Standby for retrieval." Ahsoka said over the comms. Even as four Aerialbots came and floated around Anakin's escape pod to guard it from any Decepticon attack.
Anakin smiled as he said to his apprentice, "Right on time, Ahsoka."
The Resolute positioned itself for the bottom of its hull to receive the brunt of the attack, but so far nothing happened. Meanwhile in the hanger, Ahsoka was getting the Y-wing ready for take-off when she heard over the comms.
"I don't think they're going to attack."
"Guess we'll have to retreat."
"No! Wait!" Ahsoka cried out, before reminding her friends, "Remember, they are droids. They're just a little slow. They'll figure it out."
She then went back to prepare her Y-wing.
Back at the battleship, the commander droid was sitting on the captain's chair while several holograms of the multiple droid commanders appeared in front of him, he reported, "I think the Captain left."
"Who's in charge?" One commander asked, confused.
"Not me." Another stated.
"Not me." A third pipped up.
"Has anyone heard from the super droids?" A commander asked, still not understanding how Cybertronians could be a species without someone to build them.
"Don't look at me."
"I haven't."
One of the droids at the helm looked back and asked, causing the commanders to turn and look at it, "What should we do?"
"Begin attack." The commander ordered, as the commanders of the frigates relayed their orders. Seeing that the droids were simply firing away, despite it looking like an obvious trap, the Decepticons took off to transform or begin firing at the republic cruiser.
"The enemy is attacking, sir." Rex reported even though everyone could feel the attacks as the ship began bouncing from the impact.
"Commander, on your order. Commence flanking maneuver." Admiral Yularen stated through the comms.
"OK, boys, here we go. Follow my lead." Ahsoka said, pulling her Y-wing out. She flew it out of the ship's hanger to begin the bombing/flanking maneuvers.
"On your six!" Air Raid said as he, the others in his team, and those who were able to fly all took off and transformed to provide support. Their combined firepower would be enough to take down the frigates.
Wing Saber turned to the Autobots who were using the ship's sides as shields and cried out excitedly, "Alright boys, fire away!"
He and his fellow gunners began open firing at the enemy cruisers and the Decepticon Seekers, causing those who decided to try and fly to hit the bridge.
Outside, Ramjet arrived and began firing. He looked for his comrade, "Dirge!"
Looking around Ramjet called out, "Dirge where are you?!"
"R-Ramj-j-jet?"
The collision fanatic con turned and found Dirge shaking like a scraplet after Oil Slick got through with it during one of his experiments. Seeing his brightly colored comrade, Dirge went and cried out, "There's too many… too many Autobots… We-We need to get out of here!"
Ramjet narrowed his optics. Normally he'd abandon Dirge and the others, but since coming to this galaxy and allying with the Separatists, Obsidian made it clear that all forces were to return to base due to their lack of getting a good amount of Energon and numbers from other Decepticon commanders throughout their own galaxy. So, transforming, Ramjet let Dirge grab onto him and rocketed back to the frigate with orders for all Decepticons to fall back to their ship.
"That-a girl, Ahsoka." Anakin said, watching the frigates erupt in flames and the Decepticons retreating.
After getting Dirge to the ship's hanger with several cons to hold him down, he activated a hologram to get answers about that dumb frontal attack.
In the remains of the battleship, Ramjet's hologram appeared where he found the Emir and the commander droid talking, "Where's that fragging Captain?"
"Commander Ramjet, what is going on up there?!" Emir Wat Tambor asked, surprised to see the Decepticon so agitated.
Ramjet however snapped, "Tell me where that coward went!"
Scared of the anger in the Decepticon's voice, the droid replied, "He's… in an escape pod."
"You tin plated scrapping idiots! You're blockade's broken! I'm getting us out of here." Ramjet snapped as his hologram disappeared.
The droids looked at each other and the commander sitting on the chair said, "Uh Oh…"
Knowing that they lost their superior allies, the droids began to panic. As one cried out, "Where are those escape pods?!"
"We're all gonna die!" Another cried out running frantically, before the battleship began losing power and began leaning towards the side.
Ahsoka watched as the Decepticon housing Frigates fled the system back to the Separatist home world. Even as she heard, "Commander, the invasion fleet is coming out of hyperspace."
The Togurta turned in the direction that her master's fleet came from and saw Obi-wan's landing fleet arrive from hyperspace, as she heard the Jedi Master say from the Comms., "Ahsoka, this is Obi-Wan, may we begin our landing?"
"Yes, Master. You're cleared for ground assault." Ahsoka stated as she was glad to have broken through the blockade before the
"I won't even ask where the rest of Anakin's fleet is, or why he's in an escape pod." Obi-wan said in a voice that made Ahsoka answer with, "That's probably for the best."
"Rex, that reminds me, send a shuttle to pick up Master Skywalker." Ahsoka said, sheepishly, as she and her squadron continued to destroy the frigates. The Aerialbots went on patrol to find any cons to be captured as prisoners or for their remains to be laid to rest back onboard the Ark.
Rex, piloting a shuttle exited out of the Resolute's hanger and flew peacefully towards the escape pod where his Jedi general was awaiting, watching the scenery from his seat.
Rex then asked, through the comms, "General, are you still there?"
"Yep. I'm just sitting here watching the show with my buddies." Anakin said grinning to the Aerialbots who carried Anakin's pod over to be magnetized to the bottom of the republic shuttle that Rex was using. The six of them flew back to the Resolute.
Meanwhile, Ironhide contacted Silverbolt who reported what happened.
Ironhide, sighed at the report and said, "Slingshot is really asking to be put into the brig for this…"
Silverbolt however said, "But he is right. Without him, we can't combine into Superion and the medics who gave us that ability are either with Optimus or somewhere in the universe. And I think my team and I are needed here incase more seekers show up or if Devastator's on Ryloth."
"News flash bolt, there're seekers everywhere in this galaxy… well where ever the seps need 'em the most." Ironhide reminded grimly.
Silverbolt however, said, "General Windu's a Jedi Master, correct?"
"Yeah?" Ironhide said, not really getting where Silverbolt was heading with this. Silverbolt however assured his friend about what would be done until they landed, but right now they needed to go and prepare for the liberation of the planet Ryloth.
(The units of time that I'm using for this series and hopefully what is being used for the Aligned continuation as a reference is the following, "Nano-klik" – a second, "Cycle" – a minute, "Mega-cycle" – an hour, "Solar cycle" – a day, "Deca-cycle" – ten days (or a week), "Orbital cycle" – a month, "Stellar cycle" – a year, Century (same as humans), Eon (same as humans).
You know just in case they may say one of their units of time any everyone gets confused as to which continuity's units of time I am using. I really hope everyone can remain patient and faithful until I am able to give my writing the attention it deserves.
So until then, "Happy New Year's everybody!")