The gunship maneuvered through the canyons as it headed east, towards the battleship. With the bulk of the droid army still occupied fighting the clones on the ground, there was little chance they would be discovered as they sneaked past the enemy formations through a gap in their artillery coverage that was just big enough for a lone gunship to pass through.
"We're approaching the drop-off. Two minutes," the pilot called out.
The lights inside the gunship's main hold turned red as the Mandalorians inspected their blasters one more time. Odefi stayed still, trying to focus on the Force with limited success. His baptism by fire had been full of death and destruction, yet the Mandalorians in front of him acted like it was just another normal day for them.
"Alright, here's where we're at," said Hamar before activating the holoprojector in his gauntlet and he explained the pictures it depicted. "Our main target is retrieving that data disk before the Separatists can get to what's in it. The admiral's fighter squadrons have managed to neutralize some of the battleship's point-defense cannons, creating an opening just big enough for us to land in one of its outer hangars. From there we'll push our way into the ship and head towards level 34. That's where the datadisk is located inside the ship's communications center. Any questions?"
"There are thousands of battle droids aboard that ship," Odefi noted, still not fully on board with the plan. "How exactly do you plan to reach the datadisk without getting killed?"
"The droids may outnumber us, but we outmatch them," Karel remarked, pointing between his father and himself. He then turned his attention to his blasters, and as the battleship came into view he holstered his right blaster after changing the power pack for a new one. At the same time Hamar sheathed his axe, meanwhile the battleship's point-defense cannons tried to shoot down the gunship that was outside their range of fire.
"Thirty seconds!" the pilot announced, and the Mandalorians knelt by the left side opening of the troop bay ready to get out at a moment's notice.
The battleship dwarfed the lone gunship as it approached one of its hangars at full speed. Even before it reached the hangar it was being fired upon by the droids inside, but their blaster fire proved ineffective against the diminutive gunship. As soon as it crossed the hangar's door the pilot stopped suddenly and put the transport on a harsh turn to the left, facing the side of the hangar. The gunship's right troop bay door remained shut, shielding the Mandalorians and General Odefi from blaster fire as they jumped out of the gunship from the other side of the transport and landed in the middle of the hangar. The gunship turned away and flew out of the hangar, once again evading shots from the battleship's point-defense cannons.
Even before they touched the ground the small strike team was met with overwhelming blaster fire from the droids in the hangar as they stood in the center of the hangar. General Odefi faced the door that led deeper into the ship with each one of the Mandalorians standing to his side and trading fire with a squad's worth of battle droids. But they were no match for the pair of Mandalorians and the Jedi Knight, and they were quickly disposed of. As Odefi deflected a droid's blaster bolt back at it the door in front of him closed, seemingly trapping the strike team in the hangar.
Without missing a beat, Karel rushed to the panel next to the door, inserted a computer spike into the scomp link and began slicing into the ship's computer. Hamar then instructed General Odefi to cut through the blast door using his lightsaber, to which the General obliged without hesitation.
"Forty nine minutes until the Admiral begins his attack. Karel, where are you on the ship's plans?" Hamar asked impatiently.
His deep voice and focus of a predator was intimidating to friend and foe alike as he took command of the situation immediately, but his daring leadership and rock-solid reputation were the true reason why he had earned the respect of those under him and the trust of those above.
"I'm working on it..." was Karel's blunt reply.
The data stream filled the Master Chief's visor as he attempted to break into the ship's computer. The security was formidable, but not enough to delay the young Mandalorian for too long. A satisfying beep confirmed he had sliced into the ship's systems and his HUD promptly showed the shortest route to the battleship's communications center.
"I'm in," Karel announced just as the Kel Dor was finished cutting through the blast door. "There's a turbolift four hallways to the left that will take us straight to level 34. From there the comms center is four hundred meters away."
"Good, lead us there," Hamar said.
Odefi used the Force to push the carved out section of the door away and, with the way now clear, the small strike headed deeper into the battleship, Karel taking point as he led the way. The unfamiliar interior of the Separatist warship put General Odefi on edge as they ran through the empty corridors. Commands shouted over the ship's loudspeakers only served to fuel his anxiety as the two Mandalorians ahead of him advanced with their blasters drawn, finally reaching the turbolifts.
"How much time do we have left?" Odefi asked as Karel called an elevator to their floor.
"Thirty five minutes and twenty seven seconds," Hamar replied as the turbolift arrived.
Karel aimed his blasters at the opening doors, but to their relief the turbolift was clear of battle droids. The strike team entered it in haste, and as soon as the doors closed the turbolift began ascending to level 34 and the Mandalorians took advantage of the brief lull in the battle to inspect their equipment.
"Fortitude, we've infiltrated the battleship and are closing in on the comms center. What's your status?" Hamar asked through the comms.
Back in orbit, the Fortitude began to enter the atmosphere of the planet, followed closely by its two sister ships, Courageous and Endurance. The three Star Destroyers were the hammer that would deal a decisive strike against the Separatist war machine, bringing victory to the Republic in Gyndine.
"We are preparing to attack on the General's orders. As soon as you give us the all clear, we'll be there to finish the job," the admiral replied, speaking with his thick Coruscanti accent as he analyzed the battlefield using his holotable. Once the heavy artillery cannon had been destroyed the battle quickly turned in the Republic's favor as victory grew ever closer.
Chaos reigned across the Fortitude as all hands were ordered to man their battle stations. The crew of the port bridge worked tirelessly to coordinate the other two capital ships and their forces on the ground, all the while maintaining contact with their counterparts on the starboard bridge who were tasked with coordinating all starfighter activity. Commands were being shouted across the bridge and through the comms as the Admiral ordered every starfighter at his disposal to the planet surface. Within seconds squadrons of Y-wings and V-19s were pouring out of the ship's hangars, then dived down towards the planet surface as the clone pilots went into the fray without hesitation.
"Solid copy, Fortitude. We'll do our part."
The turbolift came to a halt as it reached level 34 inside the Separatist battleship. Once again Karel led the way, guiding them through the maze of hallways and doors that they found themselves in.
"It's too quiet here. What is going on?" Odefi asked the pair of Mandalorians as they rushed through the seemingly empty corridors of the ship. Eerie alarms and a dangerous presence in the Force warned the Jedi against proceeding, a decision which was no longer in his hands.
"What do you think is happening, Jedi?" Karel shouted sarcastically to the Jedi Knight. He then turned right on a corner, and his father and the Kel Dor followed him.
"They're setting up an ambush," Hamar added. "The data disk is the perfect bait and they knew we'd try to get it back, but they were probably expecting a larger group."
"You knew this was an ambush, and yet you still decide to walk right into it?" Odefi asked the older Mandalorian. His usually serene tone was replaced by one of confusion and, to a lesser extent, anger.
"You got a better idea?" Karel asked, looking back at the General, who found it hard to come up with a logical argument. "This is it, the data disk is just on the other side of that door."
They arrived at a large blast door over two meters tall and painted in the same dull grey as the rest of the ship's interior. In its center was the seal of the Confederacy, which split in two when the doors would open.
"Open the door General, we'll cover you," Hamar ordered.
Odefi immediately began cutting through the blast door as the two Mandalorians turned their backs at him and scanned the hallways for any battle droids that might approach. It wasn't until now that he truly believed they might have a chance at succeeding on their mission and he focused completely on cutting through the blast doors, the sound of his lightsaber cutting through the metal door drowning the situation around him.
An eerie sound filled the hallways and it quickly became louder and louder, as if a large avalanche grew closer and closer with each passing second.
"Better hurry up, General. We're sitting mynocks here!" Karel shouted, instantly recognizing the sound that sent a shiver down his spine.
The Master Chief scanned his surroundings as he looked for the source of the sound, which echoed through the hallways. His gaze flickered between the hallways in front of him and to his left, while his father guarded the opposite side.
Then, just as the Kel Dor finished cutting through the blast door and pushed it open, three droidekas rolled into view, coming from the hallway directly in front of the blast door.
"Destroyers!" Karel shouted, and he and his father opened fire with their blaster pistols, barely making a dent in the droids' bronzium armor as they activated their shields and began laying down volleys of blaster bolts with their own blaster cannons.
As he turned to face the destroyer droids, General Odefi was hit square in the chest. He was dead in an instant and his lifeless body fell to the floor, still holding his lightsaber in his hand.
"Get him inside!" Hamar shouted as he kneeled in front of the General's body, returning fire with his blasters and shielding himself and his son with the personal shield equipped in his left gauntlet.
Karel picked up the lightsaber and dragged the body of the Jedi General inside the communications center and his father followed him in. As soon as they were inside Karel punched the control panel in the wall. The doors closed shut and Karel hit the control panel again, this time with his gauntlet. Sparks flew off from the panel as the Mandalorians were now effectively trapped inside the communications center. With no time to waste, Hamar quickly took command of the situation and gathered himself.
"Fortitude, this is Phoenix One. Do you copy?" he called into the comms as he kneeled next to the Jedi's body while Karel began looking for the data disk.
"Come in, Phoenix One. What's your status?" Zvit replied.
"Found it!" Karel shouted, holding up a data disk in his right hand that he then stored in one of his belt pouches.
"We have good news and bad news, Admiral. Good news is we have found the data disk. Inform Commander Tamm we have the intel in our hands."
"And the bad news?" Zvit asked tentatively.
"The intel came at a price. General Odefi was killed in action and we're trapped inside the comms center surrounded by a thousand battle droids programmed to shoot us on sight."
"I see," the admiral said after a moment. He had only worked with the Jedi Knight for a few weeks, and as such his death was not an emotional loss to him as much as it was a strategic one. However, he quickly realized that the lieutenant colonel he was talking to was much more qualified to lead them in this battle. "What are your orders, Colonel?"
"Continue with your attack as planned. You have your orders whether we find our way out in time or not. Phoenix out." Hamar ended the call and took a thermal detonator from his belt and handed it to his son, who kneeled on the opposite side of the Jedi's body. "Let's leave them a little surprise."
Understanding what his father meant, Karel took the explosive and programmed the dead man's trigger, then placed the device between the Jedi's hands and turned his body over so it was lying face down.
"Done. That should buy us some extra time", said Karel as he stood up.
"Can you find a way out of here in the ship's plans?" Hamar asked.
Karel scanned through the plans using his HUD, but frustratingly the set of plans he had obtained were of limited use as they omitted most technical details of the ship. Frustrated, Karel turned to his father and replied, "Negative. We'll have to find another way out of here."
Hamar for his part was facing a wall as he looked for a way out of the comms center, too focused to say anything as he noticed a series of pipes that led from the computers in the comms center and to the wall.
"What are you thinking?" Karel asked, confused.
"These computers must generate a lot of heat, and they are liquid-cooled. There should be a service tunnel with heat pipes leading away from this room."
Hamar banged on the wall a couple of times and after hearing a hollow sound behind the wall he knew he had found what he was looking for. He took a step back and, without warning, buried his axe into the wall. He then split it open using the axe as a lever, and he and his son headed into the network of service tunnels inside the ship.
As blasters were of little use in such close quarters, Hamar held his axe in his right hand and activated the hidden blade on his left gauntlet and Karel did the same with his knife and hidden blade, also on his left gauntlet. The two Mandalorians traveled for some time through the maze of tunnels as they followed the steam pipes, all the while remaining aware of the urgency of the situation.
"How did you know about these tunnels?" Karel asked.
"Once, when I was working for MandalMotors, Rseik Hullspace outsourced the manufacture of an order of shield generators and we got the contract. I was tasked with delivering the order to Rseik, who just happened to be part of the Trade Federation," Hamar explained as he led them through the maze of service tunnels running through the ship. "They offered me a ride on one of these, and during the journey I had to find something to keep me busy."
"Like what, carrying out industrial espionage?" said Karel, matter-of-factly, as the two reached a crossroads and turned right.
"I was just taking a tour of the ship," Hamar responded, shrugging him off. "What? You didn't think you got your curiosity from your mother, did you?"
"That explains it", Karel replied, mostly to himself.
They had been walking blindly through the hallways for a long time, as the steam in the air messed up with their thermal vision. The steam and claustrophobic space, however, were the smallest of their problems as Karel saw the chronometer in his HUD and realized with dread that they had exactly 12 minutes left to escape from the ship.
Hamar suddenly stopped, signaling to his son to stay quiet by raising his left hand in the air. He moved closer to the wall on the left and rested his hand on it, feeling for any vibrations that might come from conversations or machinery on the other side of the wall. Then, without a warning, he buried his axe into the wall once more and forced his way inside, followed by his son.
"You better find a way out of here soon or we're going down with this ship," Hamar warned his son.
"Follow me," Karel replied with a smirk after looking at the plans for a moment.
The two made their way through the hallways once more, all the while avoiding droid patrols until they reached a large set of doors. They opened in front of them, revealing a vast hangar on the other side. Ahead of them were only a few crates of supplies, but to their relief there were no droid units that would attempt to thwart their escape.
Hamar called Admiral Zvit through the comms. "Admiral, I'm sending you the coordinates for our extraction as we speak. Have you commenced your attack?"
From the bridge of the Fortitude, Admiral Zvit could see the enemy battleship in the distance growing closer and closer as the Republic ships advanced towards it at full speed. Fighter and bomber squadrons flew ahead of the main force to soften the enemy's defenses, and the enemy in turn launched its own fighters to intercept them.
The admiral received the coordinates and immediately ordered a gunship to be sent, then he returned to his call with the colonel and said, "We just did, Colonel. We're heading towards the enemy as we speak and-"
"Clankers!" Karel shouted as a blaster bolt zipped past his head, narrowly missing him as it hit the crate next to him.
Squads of B1 battle droids rushed inside the hangar and opened fire at the Mandalorians, who immediately scrambled for cover behind the nearest crates of supplies. The droids fired wildly in the general direction of the Janseks, forcing them to keep their heads down as more and more battle droids poured into the hangar.
"We're pinned down," Karel shouted, before peeking out of cover and unloading an entire power pack at the droids. "Where the hell's our evac?"
"We have bigger problems than that," Hamar replied, looking at the dogfights that were being fought outside the hangar between the hundreds of clone pilots in their V-19s and the vulture droids. One V-19 scored a direct hit on a vulture droid's engine, engulfing it in flames and sending it hurtling towards the hangar at full speed.
"Incoming!"
The Mandalorians rushed out of the way of the incoming fighter as it loomed closer and closer, ignoring the droids firing at them as they stood in the middle of the hangar. The stricken vulture droid crashed right through them, turning most of them into scrap metal as it came to a halt near the doors to the rest of the ship. The hangar quickly filled with smoke from the burning wreck, blinding the droids as they fired wildly in all directions. The Janseks stood up in haste, then rushed into the cloud of smoke and began tearing through the remaining droids in the ensuing melee.
"Colonel Jansek, this is gunship UH-144. We are arriving at the extraction point. Can you hear me?" a clone pilot called over the comms.
The gunship appeared from the side of the smoke-filled hangar and headed towards it. In the cloud of smoke, the two Mandalorians worked in perfect unison as they cut through the battle droids with ease. Karel used the repulsor in one of his gauntlets and fired it at a trio battle droids. They were thrown against a wall and the smoke simultaneously dissipated, revealing the two men standing amidst the destroyed battle droids.
Hamar turned to his son, and after seeing he was unharmed he replied in the comms, "We copy, 144. Make it quick because we're not planning on dying today."
The gunship passed through the hangar opening and turned in the air to face the way it came from as it descended, hovering just above the ground as the Janseks boarded the passenger bay.
Gunship 144 then rushed out of the hangar as the Republic fleet approached the Lucrehulk-class battleship in a wedge formation. Fortitude led the way with Endurance and Courageous on its port and starboard side respectively. Between the three Star Destroyers were the two light cruisers Zertoria and Vanguard.
Hamar looked back at the enemy vessel as they flew away and said, "Fortitude, this is Phoenix One. We're out of the enemy vessel and you're free to engage."
"Copy that, Phoenix One," a clone officer replied. "Be advised, all ground units: capital ships are inbound, and a weapons-free command has been issued."
"That much firepower for a single battleship?" Karel asked his father as they looked at the Separatist battleship.
"One way to get their attention. Hold on!"
At that moment the entire Republic fleet opened fire at the enemy battleship with everything they had. From point-defense turrets to turbolasers and proton torpedoes, everything was thrown against the battleship's shields, which could simply not withstand the combined fire of the KDY ships and quickly gave out. Several explosions appeared on the surface of the vessel as the Republic cannons focused their fire on the core ship, pummeling it with everything they had in a very one-sided duel that ended as quickly as it had begun. Systems began failing and soon enough the vessel's engines and repulsors failed, bringing the ship down to the surface of Gyndine. As it crashed against the ground the dust it lifted blocked sight of the wreck, but the Republic ships kept firing as their attack turned into the execution of a helpless enemy.
But before the Republic could claim victory on Gyndine, a single shot from a turbolaser was fired from orbit at the bridge of the Fortitude. It landed right on target, causing an explosion that destroyed the dual bridge and left the cruiser headless, and the ensuing chain reaction caused a series of secondary explosions along the hull as Fortitude began to plummet towards the ground.
"Multiple enemy contacts in orbit!" an officer on the Endurance's bridge cried out.
"No. No! Somebody tell me this ain't happening!" Karel shouted in disbelief.
"Fortitude, do you copy?" the pilot of the gunship called through the comms.
"Fortitude is dust! We need to get out of here, now!" Hamar shouted to the pilot.
The aft section of the Fortitude exploded and the forward section crashed to the ground. The Mandalorians looked up and shivered with fear at what they saw as the gunship flew away from the engagement zone as fast as possible.
A Separatist dreadnought and its two escorting destroyers and four frigates cut through the clouds as they rained down death and destruction on the Republic fleet. The light cruisers were destroyed in a matter of seconds as the larger Separatist fleet obliterated them with just a few shots from their turbolaser. Courageous was the next to fall and Endurance was now at the mercy of the Separatists. It too was torn apart by their relentless attack, but in a final act of defiance a single shot was fired from the doomed ship before a catastrophic explosion tore the ship in half.