Chapter 29
That my path in this life had seen fit to put me here gave me both the oddest sense of deja vu mixed with coming full circle. Old memories of another life bubbling to the surface, that served as an odd mix of catalyst and anchor, allowing that connection in the Force to bring forth 'echoes' of what had happened in the distant past.
This was a skill known to the Jedi, in areas where extreme emotion had occurred or even people had died, they could actually 'experience' what had happened. It was as if the event had left a fingerprint on the Force itself.
Postcognition was something of a latent skill that was actually quite common amongst all Jedi. It was one of the techniques Jedi masters used in foundling missions to find younglings gifted in the Force, as their volatile infant emotions combined with their power in the Force left very telling imprints. It was quite easy for a majority of Jedi to be able to postcog an hour or so into the past. The true rare gift though was to be able to push years or even decades into the past of an object or area. Master Quinlan Vos was the most talented with it in the Order currently.
Reaching those lofty heights was probably beyond me, but it was hard to argue with what I was experiencing.
It had started the moment the Azure Star and its battle group had entered orbit of our new staging area.
It was home to the headquarters of the Republic's 10th Army, the primary force responsible for the sector and holding the line of this part of the Hydian Way.
It was the galaxy's second most well known ecumenopolis.
It was Taris.
I found the closest transparisteel viewport near the bridge, a small observation deck on the upper portion of the command tower and just stared at the city world below with its oddly pink tinted atmosphere.
That the world was fully rebuilt and thriving again was giving me the oddest feeling of jubilant victory. An almost vicious, fist-pumping sense of 'fuck yeah' satisfaction.
That after everything this world had endured; the devastation brought by Darth Malak and his fleet, then to still be fought over as the Republic tried to rebuild it and the old Sith Empire sought to stop them, just to spite and prove to the galaxy that it couldn't be done.
Here was a shining beacon of victory that it was possible to win against the darkness.
The Force 'signature' around Taris was difficult to describe with words. It was like I was sensing the tenacity of life itself. I saw the darkness come for the world time after time and yet, even in seeming defeat, life gave darkness the middle-finger eventually and rose again.
It spoke to me on a level that was like balm to the heart and soul.
"Ahsoka, you okay?"
I took a deep breath, turned my inner eye and let all my emotion pass through me.
Naturally, Anakin had sensed my rollercoaster of emotions and was understandably curious how just looking at Taris could cause something like that. The worry and concern I also sensed and saw etched on his face was heartening.
"No problems here, master," I gave my best reassuring smile to him. His only reply was to give me a skeptical raised eyebrow. Given how we weren't in a completely secure environment I turned to thoughtspeak. "Fine, it just seems there are certain places in the galaxy where I'm getting strong postcognition."
"Taris does have an interesting feeling in the Force," he acknowledged. I reached back with an open hand to him, inviting him to take it without words. "You want to show me something?"
I simply nodded. It wasn't strictly necessary to hold hands but it helped. He stepped forward and grasped my left hand with his right. At that moment I started pushing my perceptions to him.
A fleet of ancient starships raining fire down onto Taris - the death cries of hundreds of thousands as the city world writhed in fire and pain.
The old plague, writhed and fueled by the Dark Side, that slowly twisted the people it infected into carnivorous monsters. The bitter war against the rakghoul, as the Republic defenders grimly fought what was once the settlers of the planet.
The centuries of struggle, effort and blood to reclaim and rebuild the world.
Anakin pulled away with a gasp and winced, rubbing his forehead in a sudden headache. "That's… that's intense."
"That's just scratching the surface of what's truly here, Skyguy."
He wanted to say something in reply but his comlink interrupted with a chirp.
"Yes?" he asked with a bit of annoyance.
"General, you asked to be notified when General Kenobi's shuttle arrived? It's on approach to the port hangar bay."
"Yes, thank you, Skywalker out."
"Finally, we can get this thing started." The last three weeks on the Azure Star was an experience that I wouldn't soon forget. It felt like I was some bizarre combination between a drill sergeant, commanding officer and teacher. Not to mention the times I sensed quite a few 'couples' getting together during the voyage.
Republic Navy rules on fraternization was not something that was really considered as the modern navy was only envisaged as consisting of male clones and while the Kaminoans had left their 'sex drives' alone, their accellerated training and environment was tailored to direct them away from anything that could 'distract' from their roles and performance. Axum Guard rules were also very lax, as long as it didn't happen within a direct chain of command.
Anakin led the way out of the observation deck and I noted that he felt confident enough in his memory and direction sense that he didn't even bother to summon an MSE droid. We had both gotten quite familiar with the layout of the dreadnought, but it was still really easy to get lost.
We arrived in the cavernous bay just as the Nu-class shuttle slipped itself from the void, through the magcon field and into the expansive interior space. Most of the ready fighters being worked on were Torrents and to my annoyance ARC-170s. There had been just not enough time at Kuat to make significant changes to the embarked fighter wings.
So if I had to live with the blasted thing, I had decided to order some significant changes to be done by the clone crews and engineers servicing them. Foremost was changing the controls for the pilot so that there was no need for that stupid idea of co-pilot right behind who's only real job was to fire the big cannons. Added to that was also removing the rear gunner, and giving his job to the astromech.
The embarked squadrons of ARC pilots had a very subdued hissy fit behind their cloned poker faces but that ended when I reassigned every co-pilot and gunner into full pilot slots with their own ARC. There weren't enough fighters to go around, but with hot-seating and sharing that wasn't really a problem.
The shuttle smoothly landed and crews swarmed it in its post-flight mode and the embarkation ramp opened.
Obi-Wan Kenobi walked down the ramp with a wry smile on his face at the sight of Anakin and I.
"You're late," Anakin accused severely.
"I wanted to leave earlier but the Geonosians had other ideas," Obi-wan shrugged nonchalantly. "Nice ship you have here."
"It's a luxury liner pretending to be a warship and is as slow as a Hutt with indigestion." I winced at that mental image. "How were things when you left?"
"The laser net is complete and all efforts are now on building the Golan station, keeping them contained is going to be a constant worry."
"Really Obi-Wan, you haven't seen your former padawan in weeks and this is how you greet him? All business?"
The teasing, pleasant female voice belonged to Master Adi Gallia, who walked down the ramp to stand at Obi-wan's side.
"Master Gallia," Anakin and I bowed to the Tholothian Jedi Master.
Adi Gallia was a Master of the Council who I thoroughly liked. She and Obi-wan were peas in a pod with regards to their sense of humor and she was aggressive in the face of any threat. Her cynicism was what unfortunately sidelined her for the most part in being a more influential voice in the council.
"Fun can come after we've both finished playing bait for the Illusive General, Master Gallia," Obi-wan declared nonchalantly. "Now, why don't you show us what you've managed to achieve with this monstrosity of a ship."
We led them to the flag admiral's deck, discussing the improvements and showed off what we could on the way. Our true destination was what we had both worked on in conjunction with the Azure Star's engineering department. They had long since improved the internal defenses around key areas of the ship and had needed something to do that wasn't just routine. So I gave a minor idea to Anakin, we both refined it further and then presented it to the engineers.
The result was a large section of the unused deck was converted into space that to most looked like a domed room lined with spheres all along the walls. In the center was a circular scanner pad with a small podium and a number of controls.
"What is this place?" Gallia asked with open curiosity.
"This is a fleet command room," Anakin answered, stepping onto the scanner pad, which lit up automatically in his presence. "You might want to step close to me, this can be a bit disorientating for the uninitiated."
The two masters shrugged and walked closer.
Anakin tapped a few buttons on the podium, the room's lighting dimmed slowly until we were in complete darkness. Then there was a brief flash as every holoprojector started up at once and suddenly we weren't safely ensconced on the flag deck of the Azure Star, but rather standing openly in the void of space in orbit of Taris.
Neither Obi-wan or Adi flinched in alarm as many senior officers who had tried the room had done, but their eyes did widen slightly in astonishment. Especially when the sensor overlay began to be projected, showing the position of every ship in the battle group and the distant tags of civilian ships going in and out of orbit or burning towards the Skorrupon hyper point.
Anakin then tapped a few further controls and now even holo user interfaces began popping up around him, which his hands began tapping and interacting with.
"This room is just the interface point for a command, coordination and control network that's now linking every ship in the battlegroup. If I do this for example," he engaged a simulation mode, then holographically manipulated the interface to smoothly order four Acclamators to burn to a new position relative to the fleet on the left flank, z-positive by four kilometers. "The captains of those ships receive the data and holos that gives them enough information to do exactly what is projected here."
"Fascinating, how have you managed network security?" Obi-wan queried while stroking his beard.
"Point to point directional links for when the fleet is in close formation and encrypted hyperspatial beyond 2 light second range from the Azure Star, which will cycle every twenty minutes. Even the best slicers would take a week of dedicated time to break each cypher."
"Well, I can certainly see the advantages of this," Master Gallia declared. "These holoprojectors aren't exactly cheap though."
"No, most of the ones in this room are actually taken from spares for the projectors in use all around the ship. Axum didn't hold back on the budget or technology used for their dreadnought."
"How easy is it to learn to use?" Obi-wan asked and stepped out into the projected space and idly waved his hand through an 'Acclamator', whose holo blurred slightly due to the disturbance of his passing fingers.
"That is something I'm working on," Anakin admitted with a sheepish grin. "At first I programmed the interface in ways that seemed normal to me, but Ahsoka quickly corrected me there."
"If you're a Jedi and a technical savant on the level of Skyguy, it's a perfect operating system," I grinned teasingly at Anakin. "I got him to simplify things to the point where at least a Jedi with our cognitive abilities would be able to pick it up with a few days of instruction. An ordinary person would be rather overwhelmed and even streamlined to that level, I'd still imagine it's a long training cycle."
"Does it still allow for more traditional vocal orders?" Adi queried as she politely yet firmly pushed Anakin off the scanner platform and took his place. I could feel her calling on the Force, probably some internal technique as she began to hesitantly poke the holo controls and move them.
"Of course, the fleet commander's voice can be heard by every captain, at a squadron level, individual ship level, you could even filter it down to speak to an individual fighter pilot if you wanted to," Anakin explained gesturing at the floating holo interface that controlled radio comms.
"It'll certainly take some getting used to," Adi said absently as her hands began moving with slightly more confidence.
I'd tried to 'dumb' down the interface and minimize the use of iconography or acronyms, but it was a tough balancing act.
"Well, it'll be an interesting diversion for our trip to Bandomeer. What is the status of the fleet?"
Adi smirked and with a twirl of her hand, a fleet order of battle status was projected ahead of us.
With the Azure Star as the center, twelve Acclamators; most of which were focused on being warships as opposed to troop carriers, six Venators and twenty-four light assault cruisers, which was a highly upgunned Consular class that would focus on anti-fighter duty.
"Well, General Skywalker, this is your show," Adi stepped off the platform, allowing Anakin to return to his spot.
With a few taps and twirls of the interface, I saw how he opened a channel to the entire fleet, "All units of Battlegroup Spear, proceed at best speed to Bandomeer hyper." He traced a rendezvous point and formation that was quickly projected towards the distant hyper point.
Naturally, nothing happened instantly. The entire fleet had been on standby readiness, waiting for the Jedi Masters' arrival. Only now would orders be disseminated through each ship, engines warmed up and engaged.
It took a few minutes, but the fleet and the Azure Star broke orbit and steadily burned towards the hyperspace point.
The fleet had to limit itself to the Azure's acceleration if they wanted to maintain formation and since this wasn't under combat conditions there was no reason to push the engines of the dreadnought. A general easy acceleration for the ship was about 1500G, with a redline 'pedal to the metal', at 2000.
Four minutes later the entire fleet was in formation and steadily cruising forward.
"Fleet, confirm hyperdrive sync," Anakin ordered.
Every captain had to confirm at this point and did so in the network, their ship icons steadily turning from a neutral white to blue.
"Hyperdrive in three, two, one."
The Star of the Azure and its battlegroup was on the way at last.
For the first time since before the Ruusan Reformation, a star dreadnought was going to be used in anger by the Republic.
Bandomeer was a star system with four inner planets and two outer gas giants, with the fourth being the only world of real interest in the system, due to its general habitability and the fact that it was a mineral export world as its primary source of income. Its secondary use was as an agri world that fed Taris.
With the onset of the war, Bandomeer had become a bone between two dogs and Taris had to quickly diversify its food purchases.
The Republic fleet presence was on one side of the system, mostly centered on the gas giants, whose extremely long orbits had placed them on that side. Gas mining and fuel refining could be conducted locally as a result and so significantly eased the logistics of the front line fleet.
The CIS, on the other hand had control of the inner planets and Bandomeer III itself. It was steadily apparent that they were shifting the mined resources and food back towards CIS space.
The system was also home to numerous debris fields that were steadily being strung out by gravitational conditions and marking the spots where bloody clashes had taken place between the two combatant fleets. Whereas normally the fields would've been cleaned up to an extent and salvaged by the victor, that was not the case here. It was simply too dangerous and early attempts had just resulted in minor skirmishes erupting as both sides fought with fighters and light cruisers to prevent the sensitive intel materials from ending up in the other's hands.
Battlegroup Spear emerged from hyperspace in a manner befitting its codename, arriving straight into a high orbit of Bandomeer.
The Azure Star opened immediately with an alpha strike of all its guns that could fire into its forward arc.
The Lucrehulk battleship that was its first target simply erupted into an expanding sphere of liberated energy, brief fire and debris. Dozens of patrolling droid fighters, shuttles and other ancillary craft died in the expanding storm. It was one of six such battleships that were in orbit of Bandomeer, overseeing orbital security and supervising the plunder of the planet's exports.
The squadron of Republic 'Gun' Acclamators, not to be outdone, opened fire as well. Six focused fire on a single Lucrehulk and the squadron needed just three alpha strike salvos to reduce another two Lucrehulks into expanding spheres of radiation and debris.
From hyperspace six squadrons of ARC fighters emerged with pinpoint precision thanks to the sensor feeds of their brethren already in the battlespace.
High yield proton torpedoes dropped from their wings and streaked towards their targets with blue trails of particles that glittered in the light of the local bright yellow star.
The droid and computer controlled point defense of the targeted Lucrehulks opened fire instantly, turning space into a cacophony of bursting plasma charges and lasers around their hulls.
The first battleship either had internal problems or the evasive courses of the torpedoes were just lucky, but thirty three torpedoes reached the shields and utterly battered them down, leaving the trailing salvo of torpedoes free to impact directly onto the port side of the battleship. The resulting explosion caused only half of the Lucrehulk to remain as a contiguous piece and it spun off into an erratic orbit, trailing debris and further secondary explosions and munitions inside cooked off.
The next two targets proved the efforts of the increasing drive to improve point defense on the part of the CIS. Only fourteen and sixteen torpedoes reached them respectively.
It was still enough to utterly reduce their shields to relative ineffectiveness and left the Azure Star open shots, where the giant dreadnought could split its main guns to fire on both.
A single salvo from the dreadnought and the Gun Acclamators resulted in the Lucrehulks joining their fellows in adding to the considerable debris field after two massive explosions from breached hypermatter reactors.
The AA lasers on all the Republic ships now got to work on mop up operations as they began targeting the surviving droid Vulture fighters.
Very few Hyena bombers had made it out into space and the thoroughly drilled AA crews swatted them out of space with extreme prejudice, with only a few torpedoes being launched by them that were equally swept aside before they could even touch the shields of any Republic ship.
Inside the fleet command room, even Anakin was stunned at the sheer power of a fully unleashed star dreadnought.
"Sensors, any reaction from the main enemy fleet?"
"Not yet, General. They're still just sitting around the Botajef hyperspace point."
"Not all of their ships have droid commanders, Intel did indicate a high likelihood of a Neimoidian fleet commander here and even if they were warned of the battle group's arrival and composition… it's one thing to know and another to actually see and experience something," I pointed out.
"Well, they're giving us time, let's make use of it," Anakin smirked. "All ARC's retreat into hyper and rearm. Venators, ready more bomb runs." His hands began to move, reorienting and positioning the battlegroup to receive the incoming enemy.
It took a bit and I could begin to see his thinking taking shape as the Republic fleet responded to his commands and began maneuvering.
Three assault cruisers to each Acclamator, one half squadron of Acclamators formed into a wall formation on the Azure Star's left flank, while the same was mirrored on the right flank. Then he gave them all a course that would burn and send the battle group to fifty thousand kilometers from Bandomeer - clearing the fleet of any potential obstruction or interference from the debris fields.
This happened over the next ten minutes until the sensor operator shouted, "Enemy fleet just jumped to hyper!"
"Probably a jump that they had precalculated for ages, only question is now did they spend some time to refine it to target us properly?" I wondered aloud.
"We're about to find out, Snips, here they come."
Stretching and blinking into existence from hyper, the Bandomeer CIS fleet appeared just beyond the mass shadow of the planet, about twelve thousand kilometers from the Republic battle group.
"We have a cautious opponent it seems."
Anakin nodded as his eyes took in the enemy.
The CIS fleet here was organized around a core of seven Lucrehulk battleships, with eight Recusant destroyers screening them in formation. Around this was another layer of twelve Munificent star frigates and for the first time, in my own experience, six Fantail class destroyers.
The Fantail-class was a Corporate Alliance designed ship - it had a large teardrop shaped main hull with a 'blade' section that jutted out from underneath and a visible single engine nacelle hanging from it. It was a ship that just screamed 'designed by committee'.
It said something about the battles for this system that this is what currently held the line for the CIS along the Hydian Way. Intelligence indicated that there was a much larger fleet in Botajef and possibly a Subjugator was being pushed forward to meet the Azure Star's advance. I personally thought that the CIS might even throw the dice and send one of their own Providence class dreadnoughts to intercept us.
The Republic's own Bandomeer fleet was a squadron of Venators and Acclamators that had run circles around the CIS for months and that was even before it started using Yularen-Tano doctrine. Now the stalemate for the system was being decisively broken.
"Do you sense the main guest of this party, master?"
Anakin frowned for a moment before shaking his head, "No, he isn't on that fleet."
I frowned in annoyance. Perhaps the Illusive General was not as relatively easy to control as Grievous had been for Dooku or Palpatine. The Sith had to just dangle Jedi for that murderous cyborg to hunt down and he'd pretty much do as asked. Was the Illusive General showing us exactly what we expected to see and about to pull the rug out from under us?
And why did…
The two fleets reached extreme weapons ranges.
Anakin had his entire left flank target a single Munificent, while his right flank began firing salvos of proton torpedoes that spiraled in towards multiple targets. The CIS fleet opened fire a moment later.
Ships on both sides began dying.
From hyper multiple squadrons of ARC fighters and Z-95s emerged directly onto the rear elements of the CIS fleet and produced a missile massacre of proton torpedoes that destroyed multiple Munificients.
The enemy launched their fighters in turn.
"Master," I said flatly. Despite the chaotic battle that had developed, my emotions and tone hit Anakin and he turned his attention to me. "I need to take over."
He knew me well enough and drew the correct conclusion, "What have you seen?"
"We're about to have an uninvited guest join us on the flag deck. If I confront her alone trying to protect you, the odds aren't good."
"Who is it?"
"Ventress."
"How… no, that's not important." He stared at me hard. "I sense it too."
I rushed forward and took his place in fleet command. He drew his lightsaber and stepped towards the exit of the room.
"Master, I suggest you don't kill her, if at all possible," I said as my final word and began to immerse my mind in the chaotic puzzle of the fight, my hands moving the holographic ships and designating primary targets.
Anakin nodded and left the room.
The door to fleet command closed and using the Force, Anakin crushed the internal mechanisms on the door.
It wouldn't really stop either Ahsoka or Ventress from coming or going, but it would slow both of them down.
He strained his perceptions through the Force and again his own precognition, as neophyte and pathetic in comparison as it was, again confirmed Ahsoka's.
Yet every other metaphysical sense showed nothing out of the ordinary.
There were times he wished he was more of a Consular Jedi than a Guardian, and this was one of those occasions.
He looked to the right down the hallway, then left…
His lightsaber was ignited and blocking the spinning blade of a thrown red lightsaber, halting it in its tracks.
Before he could even think of metaphysically competing with the owner over possession of said lightsaber, it zoomed away and into the hands of Asajj Ventress, who had emerged from a ceiling panel, landing nimbly on the floor.
She stood and lit her second lightsaber, staring at Anakin with a savage glee.
"Ah, so the master comes to protect the padawan, how very Jedi," she sneered. "Hope she's up to the heavy burden of so many lives resting on her shoulders."
The white skinned Dathomirian woman was dressed in an utterly black dress, with slits up on both sides that exposed her legs that were covered in thigh high ribbed leggings, leaving strips of her upper thigh alluringly bare. She also wasn't that bothered with showing some cleavage up top either. She would be clinically quite beautiful if she wasn't sporting that awful expression, the tattoos from the sides of her mouth and didn't stink of the Dark Side. He sensed…
Interesting, it was there… buried under the hate she armored herself with, a small glowing kernel of truth and light. He might have missed it completely before Ahsoka's training but now…
"She'll be fine, Ventress," he said with nonchalant confidence. "I think you should be more worried about yourself at the moment."
"Oh, are you going to bring me to justice?" she mocked.
"No, I'm going to beat you down into unconsciousness, stop you from messing up the fleet coordination or… no, you want to take this ship? Really? How are you going to pull that off? Of course, you're not alone… the Illusive General himself is on this ship as well, I sense him… you were shielding him, but our little confrontation has rattled your focus a bit. You were expecting to fight and kill Ahsoka… "
Anakin's blade surged up and blocked her left blade in the middle ring of defense.
She was fast, much faster than their last little spat on Cato Neimoidia.
Immediately he was on the offensive, batting her left blade away, stepping into her with Force empowered speed, his own blade stopping her offensive right blade and releasing a Force Push with his elbow into her chest.
She was blown backwards, flipped and controlled her momentum to land on her feet again, skidding backwards and using the friction of contact to slow herself.
Anakin was already there, falling on both her blades with a Falling Avalanche, which she had to deflect desperately to the side, as its sheer strength threatened to drive her own blades directly into her own body.
As his lightsaber was pushed aside, his right leg came around and forced Ventress into a blurring rear somersault.
He pulled his foot back in the next moment and released another Force Push from it that caught her in mid air.
She clearly didn't like fighting on the defensive.
Her hands gestured and panels from the walls and ceiling started streaking towards him, edge first.
It did enough that he was forced to stop his advance and hold a TK shield, the projectiles simply bouncing off and falling to the floor with clatter.
Ventress had gained enough breathing room though to find her feet again and stood with her blades in ready posture, seething with anger and frustration.
She blurred and slashed at both his crotch and neck simultaneously.
A single step back, and sweep of his own blade batted the attacks aside.
They both fell into a rhythm of attack, defense and counter-attack. Her blades probing at every angle, his single blade meeting them and blurring movements to sidestep, dodge and strafe, utterly negating her double blade advantage. It really helped when you had a very creative, unconventional padawan with two blades as your primary sparring partner.
He suddenly broke the rhythm, bolstered himself with the Force, pushed forward, giving a forward stabbing flick left and right with his lightsaber. Both of her blades were pushed aside, his lightsaber was now in his left hand, letting him bury his artificial right hand curled into a fist, straight into her stomach.
She practically folded over, the breath gone from her lungs.
He knew she was no push-over, a little punch like that… nope, she was faking it.
She abruptly brought her arms together, seeking to stab him right in the back with both blades.
Only to be Force Pushed off his fist to smash directly into the ceiling overhead.
He reached out with his TK and with a grunt of effort powered through her defenses and brought her down to the floor.
She growled in pain and anger in front of him. Then he sensed her pulling on the Dark Side even more, yet it wasn't really taking hold. Despite everything, he could tell that her heart wasn't in the fight.
She batted aside his control, restoring her defenses and leaped straight into another attack, seeking to stab him with both blades through the stomach.
He took one step back, presenting his right side to her, and locked both seething red blades with his own, stopping the thrust in its tracks. He pushed forward, keeping the blade lock and brought the blades around.
She moved with the blades adding to their speed, instead of trying to resist. This managed to break the screaming lightsabers from the lock.
She dodged back to just barely to avoid his blade from slicing her through the stomach and brought her weapons around and down on his head.
He waited until the last possible moment and blocked horizontally, catching the blades, then pushed forward powerfully with a step and brought up a knee towards her midsection.
She blurred backwards, throwing a Force Push directly into him.
It definitely had more impetus than in their first duel on Cato Neimoida, but a burst of will reinforced his defenses and the Push was parted around him, all the kinetic energy went off to the side and significantly dented the walls of the corridor.
Ventress now stood ten meters away and breathing heavily, her hands visibly straining on the grips of her curved lightsabers. Her emotional mix was fluctuating wildly on the surface, anger, fear and now desperation.
The Force screamed and flexed around her, the corridor warping and rattling around her.
At that moment, he could see why Ahsoka had sent him out here. His padawan could've probably given a good account of herself against Ventress, but the level of strength on display here was not something any padawan of her age should face.
Then the energies of the Force rippled in a very distinctive way and Anakin found himself rather surprised.
Ventress screamed and brandished her hands forward.
Sickly electric blue lightning snaked through the air, surging straight for his chest.
He called on the Force and using his lightsaber as a channel, pulled the Force Lightning directly into the blade. The energies competed and he poured his strength into the technique. He lifted his lightsaber up and swung.
The Force Lightning was now redirected and surged straight back at Ventress in an eyeblink.
She screamed in pure pain and lost concentration as her own attack writhed over her body. The lightning faded and she collapsed to the floor. Her body twitching and her teeth gritting with pain.
She was no Dooku. Her control over that Dark Side technique was not skilled at all. The Count of Serenno would've been able to simply redirect the returned lightning into the ground or simply absorb it and return the energies back into the Force.
For all that she was seemingly defeated, if there was one thing Ahsoka had hammered into his head, was that there was no true defeat when it came to Dark Siders or Sith. Not until their head was separated from their body and their brain destroyed. Even now he could tell that while Ventress was definitely in a lot of pain, she was ready and waiting to take advantage the instant he dropped his guard, using the pain to further fuel her strength in the Dark Side.
"Stop play acting, get up."
To encourage her he reached out with the Force, battered through her passive defenses and lifted her into the air.
She screamed again and shrugged off his control, falling to the floor on her feet.
Both her lightsabers were now in the air, spinning madly and surging straight at him at neck and knee height.
There was no time to wrest control of the weapons from her.
A wall panel from the corridor exploded from its bolts and intercepted the spinning weapons from the side. The madly spinning lightsabers bit into the panel but the mass and momentum transfer was enough to deflect them beyond Ventress' control.
It forced her to pull the weapons back lest they be crushed.
Her true objective was accomplished though as she gained enough room and time to leap in a blur into her original entry point, with her lightsabers zooming after her.
Ventress' promptly vanished from his senses after breaking visual contact.
The corridor's lighting changed abruptly to now flash red in a specific pattern.
'All hands, ship has been boarded, set condition beta.'
Anakin cursed and tapped his comlink, "Obi-wan, come in."
"Little busy right now."
His old master's voice was particularly strained. The sound of blaster fire, a lightsaber slashing through the air, all told Anakin that things were more than a little busy. He pushed his senses through the link and gained a picture of Obi-wan's surroundings and situation.
"Just be aware, I had to fight off Ventress from the flag deck. She's retreated though."
"Good, stay there and protect your padawan. That is an order!"
"I'm fully aware of Ventress' tricks, master."
Just a dozen meters from the main bridge blast door of the Azure Star, Obi-wan and an entire company of clones battled for their lives.
The CIS had clearly not skimped on this infiltration mission because he had never seen so many BX commando droids at once.
His blade smoothly and efficiently swept around his body, deflecting two blaster bolts that found the heads of two BX droids and killed them instantly, whilst in the same movement intercepted the vibrosword of another droid that had leapt at him, trying to cleave his head off.
A quick gesture levitated the droid and a backward swipe decapitated it.
One clone trooper advanced, picking up the rotary blaster of a fallen heavy trooper and resumed firing with it.
The corridor was a chaotic mess of a firefight, blue and red energy bolts streaked back and forth. He resumed doing his best to send the blasts of the enemy back down their throats. The main problem being that BX droids were well built and armored. The DC15S carbines of the clone troopers were having trouble doing significant damage. The BX droid's own E5 blasters also struggled to penetrate and only headshots were a guaranteed one hit kill.
He had at first been tempted to advance and go on the counteroffensive, but both the Force and his instincts distinctly warned against going all out.
The reason for this warning turned a corner down the corridor and stepped into view.
Someone looking at it would be forgiven for assuming that it was some new form of giant, three meter tall, silvery armored droid. Then it smoothly and organically walked forward and things became clear.
Obi-wan could sense life and an utterly alien mind in that armor, but like nothing he ever experienced before.
The being strode forward with an implacable, confident menace and was seemingly uncaring about the blue blaster bolts that streaked through the air around him and eventually sought to hit him.
The reason why became apparent when two disc shaped red energy shields sprouted from the forearms and batted away any threatening blast with contemptuous ease and reflexes that were on the level of Jedi.
How something that big could move so fast and easily was astonishing, including the fact that this being was not using the Force actively at all.
Then it pulled out two blaster pistols from holsters on its hips, that while appropriately sized for it, might as well have been heavy blaster rifles to anyone else. Its hands blurred and began firing.
The clone troopers hunkered behind their cover and the first to be hit…
The resulting blast and concussive force released was so powerful it sent the trooper's smoking body flying backwards to collapse dead in the middle of the corridor.
The only thing that Obi-wan could vaguely compare it to was the effect of a Wookiee bowcaster but fired as quickly as this being could pull the trigger on his 'pistols'. What made this even worse was that he could spot more weapons, holstered on its back and integrated on the armor's gauntlets.
It was like an old Mandalorian's armor, scaled up to an extreme.
His mind raced for an idea as he knew that between this threat and the BX droids that the company would be swiftly overrun and routed. Obi-wan divined that this being would even make short work of him if things didn't change fast.
The Force embraced him and he reached out to every trooper that was either dead or alive.
Seven thermal detonators zoomed through the air, summoned at first toward him then, with careful bursts of TK, their yield adjusted, then with a mnemonic push of his hand was shot down the corridor.
He took a deep breath and pushed both hands outwards, forming the strongest shield he could.
The detonation rang through the floor and his TK shield did enough to deaden the worst of the concussion and explosion, limiting its deady effect to less than a meter in front of the lead trooper.
He winced at the strength he had to expend for that but it was a worthy price to pay to destroy all the BX droids at once.
The effect on the armored alien being, seemingly the newest recruit to the Seperatist cause, was even more alarming.
It had simply knelt, holding its energy shields on either side of its head and weathered the explosion with its armor only losing its shine and being significantly torn and dented around its legs.
It stood and it's clear survival even in the face of so much force, shocked the clones to the point where even they didn't immediately open fire again.
Then it began laughing.
It was a deep, throaty and guttural sound that seemed like it was reaching into your ears and cutting at the fine soft tissue there.
"Well done, Kenobi," the rolling, almost gurgling wet voice seemed to reach down into a primal part of Obi-wan, triggering an instinctual fear, which he banished with annoyance. "I expected the usual boring lightsaber antics from a Jedi master, but that was almost impressive. I must thank you though."
"Oh, for what? And to whom do I have the honor of speaking?"
"Ah yes, courtesy and niceties is a thing you generally respect, even in the face of an enemy. Very well, my name is Durge and I thank you for destroying my metal companions because they were killing clones."
Obi-wan frowned in confusion, "Is that not what you brought them for?"
"My employer insisted but I can see you lack context, no, killing clones is something I want to reserve for myself alone. This galaxy is infested with them and things would be better for everyone, especially me, if they were all rotting in the ground."
Obi-wan nodded in understanding, "Thank you for that explanation. You understand why that is something of a problem."
Durge just laughed, "No need to be so subtle with the hand signals you're using behind your back, Kenobi. None of you will surprise me."
All twenty surviving clone troopers opened fire at Durge.
If he'd been fast before, he was truly quick now, practically dancing as he dodged, deflected and advanced.
Some actual hits were scored though and did little to hurt or impede Durge at all.
Obi-wan charged forward to intercept the alien, but the enemy reached two clones and in the blink of an eye both were dead. They had been completely bisected by Durge using the edge of his arm shields. Making it worse was that the shields had no cauterization effect, leading to blood and viscera spilling all over the floor.
He reached Durge an instant later, having to spare a moment of concentration to create a minor TK effect on his feet that would keep him from slipping on all the blood. He led with a probing attack aiming straight for the enemy's 'head'.
As Durge was so tall the angle of the blade was far from ideal.
The being slapped his blade aside with his left shield and from his right arm produced a nasty looking spiked flail that surged outward and sought to reduce the Jedi's head to a pulp.
He barely dodged the alien's weapon, the razor sharp spikes on the flail's head whistled through his hair.
A burst of the Force to propel him away and riposting with his blade to attack with a slash from below, seeking to cleave his enemy lengthwise. He noticed instantly that the shields, despite being seemingly effective against blaster fire, did not do so well against a lightsaber.
Durge's left shield had held, but it was now flickering once, twice, and re-established itself.
The right shield now came down and blocked his slash. Obi-wan tried to push forward and keep his blade in contact, but Durge simply dodged back with one big step.
The flail surged forward again and as an experiment Obi-wan attacked it with his lightsaber.
Both spiked ball and the chain abruptly crackled with the violet energy that was identical to the energy staffs of Magnaguard droids.
The lightsaber screamed as it competed with the force and energy, but could not cut through.
He dodged, deflected and took his own steps in retreat.
Durge didn't relent and advanced, but instead of further competing in melee combat, he sheathed his flail and pointed his fists forward.
Obi-wan's eyes widened as his precognition kicked in and he released a pin-point Force Push in defense, just as Durge's gauntlets belched small tongues of flame with ear splitting noise.
The fragmenting slugs from the machine guns integrated into the gauntlets were slowed enough that they did no more damage than a few scratches and cuts on his armor and robes.
Durge's head tilted and Obi-wan was left with the distinct impression the alien was smiling.
"I've fought many Jedi in my lifetime, Kenobi. Those who were quick and strong enough to survive that attack at this range were few."
In the next instant the gauntlet shields and flail was back out and Obi-wan sank into the defense of Soresu. Using the absolute minimum of movement and energy to achieve the deceptively simple goal of staying alive.
With every swing, dodge, deflection and movement, he steadily analyzed his opponent's unconventional weapons and style.
It spoke of vast experience and brutality.
The sheer reflexes and speed of Durge threatened to send Obi-wan's mind into a dangerous tunnel vision, robbing him of his greater awareness.
Lightsaber and flail moved and sang through the air with such speed that Obi-wan was almost brought back to that awful day on Naboo, fighting Darth Maul. It got to the point where he was using the Force internally on his arms to reinforce them, as Durge's strength was monstrous.
"Ah ha, two Jedi, how fun!"
Adi Gallia was there, her charge into the fight stalled as Durge swung his flail to attack Obi-wan's legs, while his right gauntlet came to face her and released a sustained belch of flame.
He was always grateful for assistance, but her presence meant that there was now no one guarding life support.
Adi whirled and dodged the blast of flame, using her Jedi cloak as a medium to slap away the flame and a sudden blast of Force Push to smother it.
"At last! Took you Jedi long enough to learn to counter that!"
His left shield stopped her lightsaber strike, but she had to hurriedly duck and retreat when a massive armored boot swung out and threatened to smash her head in.
Obi-wan had to contend with that blasted flail again and suddenly Durge's movements and style changed.
His attacks and defense were like he was the eye of a storm. The alien used energy shield, flail and legs to defend and attack almost in the same breath.
Far from being disadvantaged by fighting two on one, it seemed to invigorate Durge all the more and make him more effective. The way his balance was shifting around also didn't make sense and seemed to fly in the face of conventional physics.
The alien never ceded the initiative and it was all both Jedi could do just to stay alive.
Durge brought the flail around and forced Adi to roll towards Obi-wan to escape the deadly weapon.
Her stoic eyes met his and he got her message.
They turned as one released the strongest Force Waves they could generate in such a short space of time.
The energies merged in their purpose, becoming one and even attenuated into the visible spectrum as the very air molecules compacted with the sheer kinetic force being exerted.
Durge, despite his mass and size, was hit with the equivalent force of a Coruscant industrial air train barreling straight into him.
He was carried down the corridor, completely bowled over and flailing in the wake of the massive Force Wave. His gurgling scream of fury fading into the distance, his helmet caught on the ceiling with a crunch and only now did the ship's artificial gravity come into play. Durge slammed into the floor, rolled uncontrollably, then hit the wall of the T-junction so hard that he ended up deforming an entire section of the wall and the bulkhead collapsed on top of him.
Adi shook her head, "By the Force! Who was that? I sensed you were in trouble…"
"And thank you for coming, dear Adi, but this is far from over."
The torn and collapsed bulkhead was abruptly flung off by one of Durge's arms, its weight seemingly no problem for the alien.
He began laughing again, his deep voice easily carrying the distance. "That was good. Very good. Really got the old blood flowing and the synapses firing. This was fun, but that annoying young commander of yours has the fleet on the run." He reached to his back and dropped a device that unfurled and began blinking. "This is a directional motion sensitive proton charge. It won't kill the ship but if it detects any movement from any of you, you die. Do send Tano my regards."
Durge bowed his head slightly in goodbye and rushed down the corridor, disappearing from view.
"Just great," Obi-wan mumbled carefully, freezing his body to absolute stillness and checking on the clones. Thankfully, it seemed they got the message as well.
"Think you can still contact Skywalker through the Force?" Adi whispered through gritted teeth.
He could, but Obi-wan could just imagine the smug look on Anakin's face that he had yet another item to add to the list of times he'd saved his old master's life.
My hands lowered from the holo interfaces and I leaned on the pedestal for support. My exhaustion was not physical though.
It felt like someone had put my mind through an old tumble dryer. Never before had I pushed so hard into prescience and sifting through probability lines, then altering the positioning of the fleet and assigning primary, secondary and tertiary targets based on that.
I otherwise let the individual captains handle the fight and only took that in hand when I wanted time on target barrages to coincide with bombing runs from fighters.
"You did as well as can be expected, Snips," Anakin declared, looking around at holo projected space around us.
"They're learning, their AA and intercept systems are greatly improved."
The fourteen remaining CIS ships, in various states of damage and repair, but with still functional engines, stretched and vanished into hyperspace. It made me really wish I'd had an interdictor to drop on their heads, but a part of me was grateful they were leaving.
I'd started the fight with thirty-five ships in the battlespace originally and was now left with seventeen.
Eleven light assault cruisers, dead.
Seven Acclamators, dead.
Twenty nine ARC-170s, dead.
The only bright spot of the entire affair was that the six Venators didn't have a scratch but I had been forced to call them in from hyperspace and use them in a gun platform role.
The Seppies had also learned to not be in the Azure Star's gun range. The big dreadnought just had too much mass and not enough acceleration in comparison, it couldn't really chase down the enemy.
Two new contacts popped up on scanners for a moment, separating itself directly from the Azure Star's ventral hull.
The computer took a moment to identify them as model Corellian YT-1200 light freighters.
"Sa'darra tog'na ki!" I cursed and slammed my fist on the podium as the freighters vanished with cloaking devices a few seconds later before any Ion cannons could even hope to track them.
Anakin winced, "Language, Snips. Well, at least that answers how they got on board."
With a few gestures I brought up the Azure Star's internal sensors and conducted a sweep, then delved my perceptions into the Force with a focus on technometry. I hadn't had any attention to spare to focus on the internal battle for the ship.
BX droids were notoriously hard to detect due to their physical internal armoring that lined their chassis, but that couldn't hide them from me.
I tapped on my gauntlet comlink, "Rex, there are still two squads of commando droids hiding on deck 49 near the engineering section, between bulkhead 67A and 68B, check the crawlspaces."
"Understood, commander. I'll take care of it."
"Most likely hoping to at least sabotage the Azure Star, if all else fails," Anakin commented.
I next accessed the ship's database and internal security feeds, and brought up the conflict that had occured for the bridge. Then paused on the image of the massive armored being.
The first thing that stood out was the helmet that flanged on the sides and integrated into the shoulders of the armor. It gave the thing an almost Samurai-like profile. Then the prominent symbol in blue, painted on the chestplate. It was Mandalorian in overall style but with nuances that clearly indicated personalization to either a single group or even individual.
"You sensed the Illusive General on board, master?"
"Definitely, and he left on those freighters. You think this is him?"
"I'm not sure yet…"
I watched the fight again, but with audio this time.
"So his name is Durge, never seen or heard about him, you'd think someone with those skills and appearance would be pretty notorious and infamous in the criminal underworld," Anakin mused.
I felt a distinctly sinking sensation in my stomach as I interfaced with the Republic database and the Jedi Archives. It took a few moments for my query to come through but the eventual result was minimal at best. There was a single report from a Jedi stationed near the Mandalore system about the death of the current Mandalore - more than a hundred years ago, by a hunter calling himself 'Durge'.
Then I fed the visual image of the Mandalorian symbol into the database.
The result astonished me.
It was so old that it dated to the Old Republic and the New Sith Wars. The only reason the Jedi Archives had it, was because it was sourced from both the ancient Mandalorian records and the Corellian Green Jedi.
It was the personal symbol of a near-legendary Mandalorian training master, called Jiang. It jogged my mind enough that I was also able to recall something else. Then realize why this was happening…
Truly the butterflies were surely flapping now. In the timeline that was, Durge had already revealed himself months before and had tried to attack one of Naboo's moons alongside Ventress, using a newly developed chemical gas. Only this time…
I was so tempted to type in further searches but didn't dare.
"Whether he's actually the strategic and tactical mind behind the CIS Navy at the moment, I doubt it," I declared.
"I know what I sensed, Snips."
"I'm not doubting you, Skyguy. Durge is, however, filling the role that Grievous had. A smokescreen and obvious bloodthirsty antagonist. Someone that people in Intelligence, the Senate and most everyone in the galaxy can latch onto as the 'ultimate bad guy'."
"Another machination of the enemy?"
"Yes. As much as the CIS has been achieving by it's strategic mind being veiled, the enemy couldn't afford for that to continue indefinitely. The chances of Republic Intelligence and others looking in the wrong place and time is too high for his liking. With Durge now revealed, and his obvious mysterious past connected to the Mandalorians, everyone's eyes will now be focused there, freeing the enemy to move more easily."
"And we're left with no choice but to fight this Durge and let the enemy lead us by the nose," Anakin voiced with frustration.
"Openly, yes. He's an enemy we will have to kill, there's no question about it given his hatred for the clones. Actually doing it is another matter given his obvious skill, experience, the technology of that armor and there's the little matter of his species."
"You've figured something out?" he asked with interest.
"He's a Gen'Dai, a very obscure race that likes to keep to themselves, extremely isolationist much like Yoda's race. They're difficult to trace because they're essentially formless. That armor of Durge is there as much to give him shape as well as protect him. Their physiology is essentially just a mass of nerve bundles and muscles, topped with a general humanoid head that provides its senses and access to nutrition, the brain can move around anywhere in the mass and there's no real vital organs."
"Therefore even if you could get through the shields and armor, there's not a single point you can attack with certainty?"
"Correct," I nodded. "His brain could've just as well been in his stomach or foot, you just don't know. He also has impressive regeneration and will recover from any wound that is non-fatal."
"How does one even begin to fight that?"
"With a plan," I shrugged and smiled.
"And you have one?"
"To kill him, yes, but getting to that point is the big problem."
Anakin sighed wearily and rubbed his face. "Okay, let's deal with the aftermath of the battle first, then you can tell me of this plan. Obi-Wan and Master Gallia are in a bit of trouble at the bridge and I doubt the people on the planet below will appreciate a rain of starship debris crashing down on their heads."
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Sa'darra tog'na ki! - Shadow 'snake'.
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