Have no fear, Grubkiller is here.
This is my latest chapter. I'll sometimes be taking a break from the Ahsoka side to focus on other perspectives and locations. Anakin/Obi-Wan and the war effort for example.
Please be sure to leave your thoughts down in the review section.
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Cato Neimoidia, Colonies.
Darkness was encroaching on Cato Neimoidia's western hemisphere. Although, exchanges of red and blue turbo laser fire, high above the beleaguered world, ripped the looming night to shreds.
Well under the fractured sky, in an orchard of manax trees that stubbled the lower ramparts of Viceroy Gunray's majestic redoubt, companies of clone troopers and battle droids were slaughtering each other with bloodless precision.
A flashing fan of blue energy, belonging to the lightsaber of Obi-Wan Kenobi, lit up the undersides of a cluster of trees.
Attacked by two Super Battle Droids, Obi-Wan stood his ground, twisting his upraised blade right and left to swat blaster bolts back at his enemies. Caught midsection by their own salvos, both droids came apart, with a scattering of their alloy limbs.
Obi-Wan moved again, dodging and deflecting blaster fire.
He saw Neimoidian harvester beetle.
A large five-meter long beetle with a flat head, three pairs of legs, and a set of cutter jaws. It could carry 5 times its own weight and were a source of wealth for the Neimoidians. And now, Obi-Wan was sliding under the seemingly oblivious creature's segmented thorax to dodge a volley of blaster bolts, and a spray of shrapnel from an explosion.
He then sprang to his feet and raced forward again.
From off to his left, he heard the sounds of whining and clicking servos. But off to his right, he heard a hushed cry of warning.
"Down, Master!"
Obi-Wan dropped into a crouch before Anakin's lips formed the final words, his lightsaber pointed down into the ground to keep himself from impaling his charging former apprentice. A blur of blue energy passed over his head, and seconds later, the head of a commando droid clanked onto the ground at his feet. Obi-Wan pivoted on his right foot to turn around, just in time to see the rest of the droid's body, with its vibrosword in hand, falling back onto the ground.
He then looked at Anakin, somewhat wide-eyed, and finally came to his feet. "You nearly took my head off."
Anakin's eyes flashed with amusement. "Sorry, Master, but your head was where my lightsaber needed to go."
"I suppose I should be grateful that your lightsaber needed to go there, rather than desired to."
Anakin's grin turned into a full-fledged smile, "Last time I checked, We were still on the same side, Master."
"Still, If I'd been a moment slower. . . "
Anakin gave the dead droid a kick with his booted foot. "Your fears are all in your mind, Master."
Obi-Wan scowled. "Without a head, I wouldn't have much mind left, now, would I?" He swept his blade in a flourishing pass, gesturing in the direction of the main fortress. "After you."
They resumed their charge, moving with supernatural speed and grace afforded by the force, their cloaks swirling behind them.
Victims of the initial bombardment, scores of battle droid lay sprawled on the ground, nothing but scorched limbs and torsos. Others tangled from the branches of trees that they were blasted into, some of which were on fire.
They cut and pushed their way through many more battle droids, urging their men to advance with them.
Eventually, after fighting their way through the leafy canopy, they came up to a broad irrigation canal, fed by a lake that surrounded the main fortress on three sides. In the west, a trio of Venator-class Start Destroyers hung in the gray clouds above. But to the north and east, the rest of the sky was in chaos, filled with explosions and turbo laser fire. Separatist warships held firm, firing on the Republic navy, supported by anti-ship defenses just outside the fortress's shield dome.
The Citadel rose from the peninsula, with a design that was inspired by the command towards on the tops of Trade Federation Core Ships. And somewhere inside this citadel, trapped by the Republic's siege forces, the Trade federation elite was inside.
With his home-world under siege, and other Separatist worlds in the Colonies all but devastated, one would think that Viceroy Gunray would flee into the Outer Rim like the rest of the Confederate leadership was doing. But rational thinking was never a Neimoidian's strong suit, especially where valuable possessions were concerned. So now, Gunray, with a Separatist battle group in support, he was determined to loot his own fortress for all that it had.
But the Republic had been waiting, With Space forces under the command of Master Kit Fisto were blockading the planet, while Obi-Wan and Anakin went in with their respective clone units to swoop in and finally capture Gunray - thirteen years overdue, so say many.
Burning gunship wreckages lay across the fortress grounds just outside the shield, surrounded by the corpses of clones who tried to infiltrate the fortress earlier.
Obi-Wan then heard movement coming from the far side of the canal. But Captain Rex was the first to point out the source of the noise. "There's the commander."
A gunboat glided into view from downstream, carrying several clone troopers with white and orange armor. Among them, was Clone Marshal Commander Cody, who stood on the bow of the boat. When it hit the shore, he gave a series of hand signals to his men to form a perimeter, before walking up to the Jedi generals.
"Sirs, I have the latest from airborne command." He said.
"Show us," Anakin said.
Cody dropped to one knee, his right hand activating a small comm device built into his left gauntlet. A cone of blue life emitted from the device, and showed a holographic image of the task force's commander, Jan Dodonna.
"Generals Kenobi and Skywalker, provincial recon unit reports that Viceroy Gunray and his entourage are making their way to the north side of the redoubt. Our forces have been hammering the shield from above, and from points along the shore, but the shield generator is in a hardened site. Gunships are taking heavy fire from turbolaser cannons in the lower ramparts. If your team is still committed to taking Gunray alive, you're going to have to skirt those defenses and find an alternative way into the palace. At this point we cannot reinforce, repeat, cannot reinforce."
When the hologram faded, Obi-Wan looked at Cody, Anakin, and Rex. "Any suggestions?"
Cody made a few adjustments on his holo-device, and a 3-D model of the fort's schematics appeared in midair. "Well sir, assuming Gunray's fortress is similar to other Neimoidian structures of this scale, then the underground levels will contain fungus farms and processing and shipment areas. There will be access from the shipping areas to the midlevel grub hatcheries, and from the hatcheries to the upper levels."
Obi-Wan and Anakin studied the images carefully, but were still stumped.
"I agree that we can probably reach the upper levels, Cody," Obi-Wan said at last. "But how do you propose we reach the fungus farms to begin with?"
Cody stood up, turned around, and pointed at the leafy canopy that Anakin and Obi-Wan had just fought through. "We go in with them."
Anakin and Obi-Wan looked at where Cody was pointing, and saw the massive harvester beetles from earlier, who were marching towards the fortress with their fungal cargo.
Anakin smiled. "Okay, let's saddle up." He said before he slapped Obi-Wan on the back as he walked by.
But as the clones began to mount up, Obi-Wan just scowled.
"Oh, just wonderful."
Fungal farms, interior of Gunray's redoubt.
Deep in the bowels of Gunray's fortress a group of battle droids were watching over a nest of harvester beetles. The path they took in and out of the fortress was heavily mined in order to keep the hive in check, and to discourage the curious.
But then, they heard the rumbling of several large objects coming their way.
"What's that noise?" One asked.
"Probably the last shipment. Open the hatch and let them in. And then we're getting out of here."
"That sounds great," one droid said as he went to go and open the door. When the large hatch slid open, he saw several beetles on the other side. But instead of the fungus they were meant to carry, the droid saw two robed men, and several figures wearing white armor. "Hey, you're not authorized-"
Then came the snap-hiss of two lightsabers being activated, and the clicks of several rifles being activated.
"Oh no!" The droids exclaimed depressingly, before he was blasted apart by every clone in sight.
Then several beetles, carrying unauthorized cargo, came stomping into the nest, startling the rest of the hive. Several mines were set off, rocking the whole fungal cavern. As the Jedi and clones climbed off of the beetles and started firing, one droid went to raise the alarm while his metal comrades engaged the Republic strike team.
He pressed a button and spoke into the comm device. "Security to the fungal farms. We have Jedi and clones attacking the-" The droid said before he was cut off by a blaster bolt that put an end to his career quite suddenly.
When the droids were cleared out, a clone ARC trooper, named Echo, used his cybernetic enhancements to access the door controls, and he began to override the controls.
As the Jedi, Cody, and Rex walked over, the rest of the clones were setting up a perimeter.
"Alright Echo, can you get us through?" Rex asked.
"Gah, it's gonna take a little while. This security is tight." Echo said.
Suddenly, the cave was filled with a loud buzzing noise, and seconds later, a hundred STAPs slew into the cavern, and started swarming over the Jedi and their men. Cody and his men aimed up at the flying weapons platforms and started firing. They managed to down several of them. But for every one they destroyed, ten more took their place.
That's when several Droideka snipers appeared on several different vantage points, and began to pick off the clones, who were forced to take cover behind the Jedi, who used their lightsabers to deflect the oncoming shots.
Meanwhile, the beetles were going absolutely insane. They continued to stomp around, ramming into the walls of the cavern, and stepping on the very mines that were meant to discourage them from wondering off.
One of the beetles stomped over to the Jedi and their clones, who tried to dive out of the way of its imposing presence. But one clone was caught in it knife-like pinchers. He screamed in terror as he was slowly being crushed by the massive bug. But then, Anakin slid underneath it, and slashed his blade up through the bug's pinchers, freeing the injured trooper.
Anakin carried the man over to cover, where Obi-Wan and the clones were still trying to hold off the oncoming droids.
But then, as the mines continued to explode and large beetles continued to slam into the supports, they noticed that the ceiling was about to cave in, threatening to bury everyone inside.
"Anytime, Echo!" Obi-Wan called out.
That's when the door finally slid open. "Got it!" The ARC trooper exclaimed.
"Everyone inside, now!" Obi-Wan shouted, as large boulders began to fall down from the ceiling, smashing flying STAPs, crushing beetles, and setting off the remaining explosives.
Anakin and a Clone Medic specialist, named Kix, helped the injured trooper inside first. Then Cody, Rex, and the others went through. And finally Obi-Wan, after deflecting a few more blaster bolts, jumped through the door, just as the cavern was completely buried.
The Jedi had once again infiltrated a Separatist stronghold.
And just as Subtle as always.
Viceroy Gunray's Redoubt, Cato Neimoidia.
As the cavern continued to collapse, Cody urged his men into the fort's entrance. Anakin and Kix carried the injured trooper inside. Then Rex and most of the clones rushed inside, while Cody, Boil, and Jesse laid down covering fire on the remaining STAPs, which continued to dodge falling boulders and harass them.
But then Obi-Wan, deflecting laser bolts as he moved, dashed passed the clones and jumped through the door. Cody and the others followed, with Boil punching the door controls, slamming it shut as a large bolder slammed against it, and dented it inward.
"Scray, that was close!" One of the clones exclaimed.
"Is everyone alright?" Cody asked as he began to check on his men, and then ordered them to secure the corridor.
When two clones rushed towards the end of the hallway to make sure that the coast was clear, Obi-Wan and Rex went to check on Anakin and the wounded trooper. Kix carefully removed the trooper's damaged torso unit, while Anakin pulled the dented helmet off of the trooper's head.
Obi-Wan looked down at the trooper's face. A face that he would never forget. Or rather, one he couldn't forget. The face of Jango Fett. The bounty hunter who served as the clone template.
'An army of one man . . . but the right man for the job.' The Clone Army's rallying cry.
The trooper's armor was crushed inward from that beetle's pinchers. The skin was intact, but the bruising was severe, and the pain was to the extent where Kix had to inject the trooper with fast-acting painkillers.
"What do you think, Kix?" Anakin asked.
The clone medspec shook his head. "Can't do much for him here, General. But if we can get an FX-7 down here-"
"We don't need a droid," Anakin interrupted, before kneeling next to the trooper. He then placed his hands over the trooper's injured abdomen and used a Jedi healing technique to keep the clone from going into shock.
When the trooper's condition was stabilized, Anakin stood up and went to talk to Obi-Wan and the clone officers.
"Sirs," Echo started, "Provincial recon reports that the Viceroy and his entourage are heading for the launching bays. But there are alot of droids between us and them."
"Sounds like fun," one trooper said, getting several clones to chuckle, before Rex silenced them with a brisk order to 'cut the chatter.'
Anakin turned to Obi-Wan. "One of us has to divert those droids."
"One of us?" Obi-Wan repeated. "Haven't we been through this before?"
"The beauty of our partnership, Master. You distract the droids, while I capture Gunray. It hasn't failed us yet, has it?"
Obi-Wan compressed his lips into a thin line as he stared at Anakin, who was failing to contain a smile.
"From a certain point of view," he said under his breath. "Fine. Me and Cody will take the majority of the clones and distract the droids by attacking the shield generator. That should allow our communications to be reestablished and get reinforcements in here."
Anakin nodded before he turned to Rex. "Rex. I want you, Jesse, Echo, Coric, Wrecker, and Crosshair to follow me. We're going after Gunray." Anakin ordered. Rex nodded, before Anakin turned to the squad's medspec, who was still caring for the wounded. "Kix, and want you and those two men to stay here with the wounded," Anakin ordered, pointing at the two clones who kept the hallway secure.
Kix nodded and went back to bandaging up the injured clones and injecting painkillers into their bloodstream.
When Obi-Wan and Anakin gathered their men, they gave the order to move out.
The clones shouted in unison, "Sir!", before they marched to the end of the corridor before splitting off at the intersection.
"Now Anakin, I know that you have a score to settle with the Viceroy, but don't make it personal. We need him alive." Obi-Wan said.
Anakin put his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "Don't worry about me, Master. Now, good luck being the bait again," Anakin said with a grin before he took his men to go and capture Gunray.
But Obi-Wan looked at him walking away and shook his head.
"In my experience, there is no such thing," he said before he went to go join Cody and the others.
Redoubt Upper levels, near the landing bay.
As Anakin and his men stepped into the elevator, heading to the upper levels of the fortress, he couldn't help but think of what Obi-Wan had just said, about not making it personal.
But for Anakin, it was personal. It was personal because of what Nute Gunray tried to do to Naboo thirteen years ago. It was personal because he hired bounty hunters to assassinate his beloved Padme, whom he was secretly married to. And finally, it was also personal because of what happened on Geonosis.
The mock trial, the sentencing, the executions that were to have taken place within the arena that day.
And plus, it was just common sense. The Viceroy had aligned himself with Count Dooku, and was using his vast wealth to create war machines that were ravaging the galaxy, and the fact that he hadn't been brought to justice yet made Anakin's blood boil.
Anakin was brought back into reality when he heard one of the clones speaking to him.
It was Echo, who was listening in on the enemy comm chatter.
"The seppies are testing escape vectors for the shuttle, by lowering the defense shield and launching probes," Echo said quietly. "Turbo-laser fire from the Redoubt's perimeter have allowed several decoys to make it past our blockade."
The muscles in Anakin's jaw bunched up tightly. "Then we have to move quickly."
When the elevator came to a stop, the doors slid open and Anakin took point position, with Rex and the other three clones moving close behind, moving vigilantly through a maze of elegant corridors, abandoned in a rush it would appear, strewn with belongings dropped during flight.
Approaching an intersection, Anakin made a halting gesture with his left hand.
He listened for a moment, and could hear the telltale servo whines and clanking footfalls of super battle droids.
Rex nodded in confirmation, then extended a finger-length holo-cam around the corner and then activated his holoprojector. Noisy images of Nute Gunray and his entourage of elite officers formed in midair. Hurrying down the corridor, tall headpieces bobbing, rich robes aswirl, safeguarded front and rear by droid escorts.
Anakin motioned for silence, and was about to step out into the corridor when a banged-up silver protocol droid appeared from across the hall, raising its hands in delight surprise.
"Welcome, sirs!" it said loudly. "I can't tell you how good it is to find guests in the palace! I am TC-16 and I am at your service. Nearly everyone has left - because of the invasion, of coarse - but I am sure that we will make you most comfortable, and that Viceroy Gunray will be most pleased- OH MY"
Before the droid could carry on, Wrecker and Jesse yanked the droid over and flipped its power switch off, shutting the droid up and off.
But it was too late.
Anakin leapt around the corner in time to see the Neimoidians set off at a run, with the red-eyed and flat-nosed Gunray throwing a nervous glance over his shoulder, while the droid did an about face and began to march down the corridor. Catching sight of Anakin, they elevated their arm cannons, and the corridor filled with blaster fire.
Shield Generator Complex.
Qui-Gon Jinn had never believed in baiting, Obi-Wan thought as he and Cody's men rode the turbolift to the fortress's lower levels. Baiting implied a certain amount of advanced planning, and Qui-Gon had had no patience for that. He took situations as they came.
Unlike his old master, Count Dooku, who was a consummate planner, and a consummate dueler.
And now a Sith.
Obi-Wan shuddered to image the fact that the mastermind behind this whole war was not only a Jedi, but his former master's former master. But in a way it made sense. The desire to control and dominate were major qualities of the Sith, something that Anakin dabbled in from time to time.
He was worried about Anakin. Ahsoka leaving the order had made him push himself even further than before into this path, blaming himself for her departure. And ever since then, the gap between Anakin and the orthodox members of the Jedi Council was becoming wider and wider.
So Obi-Wan, being his oldest friend, a wise mentor, and his staunchest defender to the council, found himself more by his side than usual, especially in this war. He felt that he had to be by his side.
This made them brothers. And as the older brother, he had to be sure that he would nudge "The Chosen One" down the right path, promising that one day, he will indeed become the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy.
And in this friendship, Obi-Wan learned to trust Anakin's instincts. . . . On occasion.
He wouldn't be able to go on playing bait, otherwise.
"The next stop is ours, General," Cody said from behind Obi-Wan, ripping him back into reality.
Obi-Wan turned, and watched his men slam new blaster-packs into their rifles, hearing the familiar whine of the blaster powering up. Reflexively, Obi-Wan felt himself putting his thumb over his lightsaber's activation button.
"How do you want to handle this, sir?" Cody continued.
"You're the master of warcraft, commander. I'll follow your lead."
Cody nodded, perhaps grinning behind his helmet's faceplate, before he turned to the others. "Alright boys, our mandate is a simple one: as soon as that door open's kill as many of the enemy as possible."
As his men prepared for battle, Obi-Wan began to wonder what Qui-Gon would have thought of the war, having criticized the council for being too authoritative. He then recalled Dooku's taunt on Geonosis, that Qui-Gon would have joined his former master, and championed the Separatist cause.
But then the turbolift came to a rest, and then two of Cody's men, Boil and Trapper, tossed two concussion grenades through the opening door and into the corridor beyond. Right and left, battle droids were blown against the walls and ceiling.
The corridor quickly became a torrent of blaster bolts.
Obi-Wan and his men threw themselves into the horizontal hailstorm. Repeating blasters roared to life. Staccato bursts of blaster fire made short work of any droid or Neimoidian guard that got in the way, but more reinforcements were getting in the way.
Two more troopers fell to blaster fire, while the rest of the team continued to fight their way through the corridors that led to the citadel's shield generator complex.
"Looks like they've taken the bait, General!" Cody said while he, Obi-Wan, and the rest of the squad fought their way into the generator room, which had two massive power conduits, one on the ceiling, and the other on the ground, and both connected by a plasma field.
"Another successful action," Obi-Wan said as two of the clones started planting charges on the power conduits. "Now we just have to survive it."
"Already on it," one clone said as he detonated the charges, which took out the power cables that transferred power into the shield generator. The plasma conduits powered down, and the light of energy that connected them ceased to exist.
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Outside the fortress itself, Master Kit Fisto and a fleet of Republic warships were still fighting against the fleet of Trade Fed warships that had come into the system with the viceroy.
The battle was slowly tipping into the Republic's favor. But their luck on the ground was a different story.
Suddenly, the shield dome over the complex, flickered out and disappeared, leaving the complex unprotected.
Kit Fisto did a double take, surprised by the success of the two Jedi Knights inside. 'Then again, this is Skywalker and Kenobi, we're talking about,' Kit thought to himself before he flashed his signature smile, and spoke into his Jedi fighter's comm device. "Captain Dodonna, the shield is down. Commence ground assault."
As Kit flew his fighter towards the fortress, with dozens of fighters and gunships in tow, the trio of Republic Star-Destroyers began to pound away at the fortress, making little red-orange flowers of fire blossom across the facade.
The CIS turbo-laser batteries unleashed a maelstrom of plasma and flak, that gave Fisto's forces a hard time.
But it was only a matter of time before they would eventually break through.
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Meanwhile, back inside the fortress, Obi-Wan's men continued to blast any droid that came into the room, but were quickly being overrun.
Obi-Wan himself ran through the columns of battle droids that were flowing into the room, slashing through every droid that got in his way, and using the force to swipe other droids aside.
But then, one blaster bolt that he deflected hit a shipping canister filled with some kind of unknown gas. Suddenly, a gauzy-white substance began to cloud around him, leaking from the blaster mark in the shipping container.
He realized instantly what the substance was.
Poison gas
Taking one hand from the hilt of his lightsaber, he reached for his utility belt, looking for his rebreather pouch on his belt. But he was horrified to see several tiny holes ripped into the leather pouch. He then ripped the rebreather out and saw that it was severely damaged, possibly due to shrapnel from a nearby explosion.
He then covered his mouth with his sleeve.
'Star's End!, he cursed to himself as he started to feel woozy.
In another part of the fortress, just outside the main hanger bay, Anakin and Rex's men were in a firefight with Viceroy Gunray's guards and droids, who were trying to flee.
Anakin used his sword to deflect oncoming blaster bolts, and used the force to pull many targets toward him, making it easier for him to slash away at them. Rex and his men advanced behind him, blasting away anything in their path.
"Keep pushing forward! We've almost got him." Anakin called out to his men.
But when the last droid fell, the blast doors slammed shut.
"NOOO!" Anakin shouted as he ran up to the door, slamming his fist against the durasteel.
Rex and his men started to stack up on the door, when Anakin started to plunge his blade deep into the door, melting it and carving a hole into it. But when he was but a quarter of the way through, one of Rex's men received a transmission.
"Sir, urgent message from Commander Cody. They're pinned down in the shield generator complex."
"Droids?" Anakin asked, withdrawing his blade from the melting door.
"Lots of them apparently. And Cody says to bring an extra rebreather."
Anakin cocked one eyebrow over the other. Then he dropped his head and sighed. "Uhh, fine. Contact Admiral Yularen, and tell him to send my fighter and my droid down to the surface. And you guys go after the viceroy. I'm going to rescue Obi-Wan and the others."
"Copy that, General," Rex said as Anakin took off down the debris-littered corridor. The clone captain then turned to point at the blast door. "Blow it."
Shield Generator.
Anakin rushed through the corridors of the citadel, with his rebreather in his mouth, and followed the sounds of battle. He relieved Cody's men of their predicament, and eventually came upon the room, in which Obi-Wan held his own against better than fifty droids, all of which lay scattered about the room.
A weaving, shuffling, staggering Obi-Wan was dealing with the last of them when Anakin entered. When the last droid collapsed, Obi-Wan aimed his lightsaber casually toward the floor and stood swaying in place, breathing hard, but almost grinning.
"Anakin," he said. "How are you?"
He then promptly collapsed in Anakin's arms, dropping his still active blade to the ground. Anakin caught it and deactivated it, before putting the spare rebreather in Obi-Wan's mouth.
A little while later, as Obi-Wan began to regain consciousness, and his breathing stabilized, Anakin leaned against a wall with his arms crossed, and had a smug grin on his face.
"You know master, I think you invented a new lightsaber technique." He said, prompting Cody's men to burst out laughing.
"Ha. Ha. Hah, very funny. I'm glad my near-death experience was so amusing to you." Obi-Wan said sarcastically. "Now, did you get the Viceroy?"
Anakin's smug grin quickly disappeared. "Uhhmmm, yeah, funny story about that."
Obi-Wan scowled at him. "Anakin!"
Nute Gunray's shuttle.
The Viceroy of the Trade Federation, attired in red robes and sporting a tall, helmet-like miter, was the first to step onto the ramp of the Sheathipede-class shuttle that was patiently waiting for them, with the engines powered on. Suddenly, a loud explosion scattered flaming debris across the hanger bay floor, before a hail of blue blaster bolts flew out of the dust cloud that had yet to subside.
Droids and guards fell, and clones wearing white armor with blue markings filled the room, and started pummeling the shuttle with small-arms fire.
"Get us out of here!" The Viceroy's long-time assistant, Rune Haako, exclaimed, as the last of the Neimoidian entourage stepped onto the shuttle.
The ramp disappeared into the ship and the doors closed, before the shuttle took off, and shot out of the hanger bay with several other shuttles and an escort of Vulture droid star-fighters, leaving behind a fortress that was quickly falling to the Clone Army. They flew up into the embattled skies above, before passing through the atmosphere, losing a couple of their ships to the Republic blockade.
A Neimoidian pilot stepped into the passenger bay, where they were watching a hologram of the space battle nearby, which the Separatists were now losing. "Viceroy. We're clear of the Republic Blockade. We just need to enter the hyperspace coordinates before we make the jump to hyperspace. In a matter of moments we will be able to join your peers in the Outer Rim." He said, referring to the other members of the Separatist Council.
"Let us hope so," Gunray said as a holographic version of a damaged Separatist dreadnaught spun out of orbit, and crashed into a massive supply ship, causing a powerful blast the rocked the ships around it.
Rune Haako walked with the Viceroy, who was inspecting the droids and the diplomatic officers, who were unloading the valuable items they managed to escape with.
"Do you think there will be a chance to return and reclaim what we had to leave behind?" Gunray asked.
"Not a chance," Haako said flatly. "The Republic controls our purse worlds, and they seem keen on driving us out of the galaxy."
"This is just a temporary setback. The Republic has yet to see the face of its real enemy. And once the war is won, we will reclaim what is rightfully ours." The Viceroy declared confidently.
Haako hunched slightly at the indirect mention of Darth Sidious. "But will even he be enough, Viceroy?" He asked.
Gunray said nothing. All he did was think about everything that has happened since Naboo, Geonosis, and up until now.
And when he went back to inspecting his liberated riches: Everything from costly robes and headdresses, resplendent jewelry, priceless works of art. But then, a sudden chill went up his spine. His eyes bulged out of his head, and his jaw quivered.
Something was missing.
"The chair! Where is the chair?!" he exclaimed.
Haako looked at him like he had two heads. "The what?"
"The Mechno-chair! It's not here, anywhere!"
Haako's eyes widened when he understood what he was talking about. "Surely we couldn't have overlooked it."
The Viceroy paced back and forth. "I must've had it moved. Yes, I had it moved to the hanger bay before launch. But in the rush to escape, and those clones came in-"
"But surely you armed it." Haako said, before Gunray looked back at him. "Tell me you remembered to arm it."
"I thought you did."
"I don't even have the codes! And what could the Republic possibly do with it?"
The Viceroy began to calm down. "Of coarse, you're right. It's just a chair." Gunray thought.
It's just a chair. A chair with a hyper-wave transceiver. A transceiver that was given to him fourteen years ago by-
"What if he should learn that we left it behind?"
"Darth Sidious?"
"No."
"Count Dooku?"
"Are you brain dead?! I'm talking about Grievous!" Gunray nearly screeched as he grabbed fistfuls of Haako's robes. "If the Republic use that device, they could track Separatist communications. We have to ensure that device's destruction. Can we still arm it from here?"
"We may be able to communicate with it, and instruct it to arm itself."
Gunray pushed Haako out of the way and grabbed a communications console.
That's when the pilot came back in. "Sir, we're ready to make the jump to hyperspace."
"You will do no such thing." Viceroy said.
The pilot was taken aback. "But sir, we can't stay here. The Republic navy-"
"-Is the least of your concern!" Viceroy said, shutting the pilot up quickly. The Viceroy then looked at Haako. "You will never speak of this to anyone." He warned, before he signaled his mechno-chair.
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Redoubt Hanger Bay.
Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Kit Fisto were in the main anger, talking to holograms of Mace Windu and Yoda, while Rex and his men inspected the treasures that were left behind, with R2-D2 and the protocol droid from earlier.
Elsewhere, Commander Cody and his men were mopping up the last pockets of droid resistance.
"Lost the viceroy, have you?" Yoda asked.
"Unfortunately, yes master." Obi-Wan said.
Mace and Yoda looked at each other. "See what you can find in the palace, and report back to us when you find anything of note." Mace instructed.
The three Jedi masters bowed, before the holograms disappeared. "Well let's go see what the viceroy left us," Fisto said.
Artoo and TC-16 were arguing about something. "Oh, you astromechs think so highly of yourselves, simply because you can fly star-fighters." TC-16 said in response to R2's beeping and whistling.
"Don't pay Artoo any mind, TeeCee," Anakin said. "He's been spoiled by another protocol droid."
The little blue astromech toddled in response, before scanning the items that were piled up nearby for inspection.
"What do we have, Captain?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Not much sir. Just some artwork, jewelry, and that machine-chair." Rex said.
Obi-Wan studied it even further. "I think I've see this model before. Back on Naboo, 13 years ago, after the Viceroy was arrested."
"I don't remember seeing it." Anakin said.
"Well, you were probably still excited after destroying the control-ship."
Anakin smiled, remembering the looks on the other pilots faces when they realized that their best pilot was a nine-year old.
But then, seconds later, the chair started to beep and lock its legs into place. The lights on the chair started to blink red.
"What's it doing?" Master Fisto asked.
Artoo plugged into the chair, and beeped alarmingly.
"Sirs, he said that the chair has armed itself to self-destruct." TC-16 said.
"Everyone, step back!" Obi-Wan called out, prompting Rex and his men to jump back and observe from a safe distance.
Then Anakin rushed in and started tampering with it.
"Anakin, what are you doing?" Obi-Wan asked.
"There is definitely something in this chair that no one wants us to have. We need to know what it is." Anakin said, before he pulled out a set of wires, powering the chair down. "See? No problem."
"Nice one, sir." One of the clones said.
"What can I say? I have a way with machines." Anakin said.
Obi-Wan crossed his arms. "You mean, you guessed?"
Anakin shrugged. "Yeah, but it was an educated guess."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "Anakin, sometimes I think you're doing to be the death of- LOOK OUT!" He exclaimed before force pushing him away from the chair, just as a cloud of white smoke sprayed out of the chair.
"What was that?" Anakin asked, as he was helped by Jesse and Coric.
"It's Dioxis. Why do we always run into poison gas?" Obi-Wan asked.
"It must be in high demand," Kit joked.
That's when Artoo rolled up to the device and plugged in. He whistled when he found something.
"What is it Artoo?" Anakin asked.
The astromech, while still plugged in, turned his head, and used his holo-projector to display a tall, life-sized hologram of a mysterious hooded figure, which everyone could see.
And to the hooded figure, the voice of Viceroy Gunray could be heard in the background of this recording.
"Yes, yes, of course. Trust that I will see to it personally, Lord Sidious."
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Well folks, that was part one of this story. Hope you enjoyed.
Part two will be up soon.
Stick around until then.
Until next time, as always, this is Grubkiller, over and out.