The forested planet of Muunilist lay before the fleet. A destroyed separatist fleet hung before them.
"Are they always this late Master?" Kye Kast asked. The low hum of the bridge computers and staff surrounded both master and padawan.
"Yes it appears so. A symptom of working with Skywalker I fear." His master mused aloud.
A moment more passed before a sensor chirped. "General, the open circle fleet has arrived." A deckhand called.
"Ah, right behind schedule. Prepare a shuttle." His master ordered.
Their clone commander was waiting by the shuttle with the battalions two arc troopers.
"Commander Ajax, Vandal, Coil." His master greeted, as the boarded the shuttle for the Resolute.
"Now, Kye." His master began. "Be respectful, hold your tongue. Usual Jedi protocol."
"Yes master." The young mandalorian brushed off.
"Hey, Kid." Ajax called over to him, his deep purple helmet resting on his knee. Kye looked over at him.
"Just make sure you're better than the other padawan yeah? You're repping the 203rd shock remember." He smiled, garnering a smirk from the padawan.
His master only shook his head as the shuttle touched down, the ramp opening. Master Ordo took point, Kye falling in in his left whilst the troopers took right.
Before them stood a Jedi master, a Jedi knight, another padawan and an Astro mech.
"Master Kenobi, Skywalker." His master greeted, coming to a stop in front them.
"Master Ordo. It's been too long." Master Kenobi greeted, as the two shook hands.
"Indeed it has Obi-Wan. This here is my padawan, Kye Kast." The young mandalorian bowed in common Jedi courtesy.
"Well, please meet Anakin's pupil Ahsoka Tano." The togrutan bowed in return.
"Well, let's get this planning underway." Key's master ordained, as the group turned to the bridge.
The master took point, whilst the padawans and clones followed behind.
"So how's it been Rexy?" Kye heard Ajax begin.
"Not too bad, picked up a couple stragglers from Rishi." The blue painted captain said.
"I read that report, those commando droids are slippery."
"Yeah. Lost a few good men that day."
"Coping well under a commander?" Ajax prodded.
"Coping well, but you know what I say." Rex returned.
"Experience outranks everything." Ajax repeated in a jest. "In that case I'd say commander Kast outranks you Rexy."
"Is that so?"
The exchange garnered the attention of the two padawans, who traded a glance before listening in.
"Oh yeah, I've never seen the kid lose." Boasted Ajax, to the support of Coil and Vandal.
"Well, I think a detour to the training rooms is in order then?" Rex spoke.
"Whad'ya say commanders? Because my money is on the Beskar boy here." Vandal said, shaking Kye by the shoulders.
Ahsoka grinned and traded a glance with Rex. "I'd say you better be ready to cough up some credits."
The clones around chortled in laughter as they made their detour, Coil was talking into his comm.
By the time they made it to the specially outfitted Jedi training room, a gaggle of blue decorated clones were already waiting, excited muttering and exchange of credits taking place.
Rex and Ajax took up positions in the tallest most position in the room.
"Alright boys," The captain of the 501st spoke. "We have an official competition between the 501st and the 203rd." The clones of the respective legions let out various hoots and banter at the naming of their respective legions.
"The first round will be a spar from the respective Jedi commanders." Ajax confirmed, as the two padawans stepped into the impromptu gladiator ring, before the area sunk into the floor creating a pit.
"Rules will be standard to those in the temple. Sabers set to training mode, three strikes."
The Togruta locked eyes with the human, dialling down her twin sabers as she ignited them, taking a ready position of Jar'Kai.
Kye took his own stance, toning down his sabre and igniting it. The flat, white blade was an archaic design, and the lightsaber assembling droid aboard the crucible, Huyang, had compared it to that of the legendary Tarre Viszla.
The hilt was rectangular, and emitted an old style flat blade shape, rather than the usual cylinder. He took his form 3 stance.
"Begin!"
The two immediately began circling. Kye spun his saber lazily whilst they held eye contact.
Ahsoka was the first to break, pushing off the wall behind her and launching herself towards Kye.
He stood his ground, and brought his saber up in a heavy strike to deflect both her and her attack. She bounced off and landed on her feet, immediately beginning the attack.
Kye met strike for strike, backtracking around the arena much the amusement of the 501st if the jeering was anything to go by.
She swung low and high, to which Kye met the lower struck and crouched under the high one.
Ahsoka threw herself at him, rolling over his back and swiping up at it, landing first strike of the match.
The 501st erupted into cheers, and credits quickly changed hands.
The both returned to their ready positions and went again. Kye barely stood still for a moment before he was flying through the air towards Ahsoka, who scrambled to the side to avoid the lightsaber wielding missile.
He was upon her instantly. A messy clash of lightsabers ensued, forms all but forgotten.
The white blade struck the hilt of Ahsoka's shoto blade, ejecting it from her hands. Kye gripped it and swung at the half disarmed padawan.
She yelped as she ducked down, then kicked out at his knee, dropping him from his stance. He rolled with the momentum and brought his saber down to her stomach, making contact.
The cheer from Vandal filled the room, before he started jeering at the clones in blue.
Kye limbered up as the padawans prepared for the third round. Ahsoka resumed her stance but Kye changed up, adopting a traditional mandalorian stance.
Ahsoka dashed towards him, taking the offensive. Kye feinted left. Ahsoka, unfamiliar with the style, fell for it. Kye doubled back right and tripped her, making swift contact to her wrist.
The immediate cheers of Coil and Vandal were heard, as Ahsoka punched the floor in anger at such a quick defeat.
The fourth round was tense. Both junior Jedi stood across from each other. As Kye moved forward, Ahsoka used an unprecedented tactic.
She threw her shoto blade at him.
Kye panicked, and raised his saber to deflect the flying weapon, which allowed Ahsoka to close the distance and swing at him with two hands.
Kye caught the blade with his vambrace, the green blade sparking viscously as it contacted with Beskar. Ahsoka kneed him in the stomach and he doubled over, twisting sideways to avoid the follow up strike.
Ahsoka pressed her advantage, and landed another kick on Kye.
The disoriented boy stumbled back again but was unable to dodge the lightsaber strike that connected with his shoulder.
Kye groaned as he gathered his bearings. Ahsoka looked over at him cockily.
Kye switch stances again, as the fight began. Ahsoka again tried to rush him, but was met halfway by a heavy swing from Kye.
The two entered into a hard blade lock, Kye's superior strength winning over.
Knowing she wouldn't win in strength, Ahsoka twisted her blade down to the hilt of Kye's saber. The blade sparked against the metal, and he dropped his saber.
Cutting at him with her second saber, Ahsoka sought to end the duel. What she wasn't expecting, was for her opponent to catch the blade with his forearms.
Kye lashed out in attack, a fist catching her chin.
An oooh was heard from the clones as Tano stumbled. She tried to swing again but was spear tackled to floor, losing her saber in the process.
She kicked him off, launching him across the arena. He pushed off the wall and landed a fly kick on her as she reached for her saber.
She grunted in pain, before lashing out with her own strikes. She landed a kidney punch, which garnered an oomph from the mandalorian boy.
He retaliated with a punch, and pulled his lightsaber over to him. As he went to finish the fight, his blade locked in the air, the force congealing around it.
Kye looked up, seeing the three jedi masters standing around the rim of arena, his own master with his hand outstretched.
"A very entertaining duel padawans, I must say." The voice of master kenobi rang throughout.
Kye flicked his sabre of as the floor rose, helping Ahsoka up.
The clones stood around, Vandal shot Kye a wink and a thumbs up, most likely as a thanks for the betting money he had won.
"Now, if you're quite done we have an invasion to plan." Anakin snarked.
Both padawans fell in line behind their masters as they proceeded to the bridge, lightly shoving into eachother along the way.
The holotable in the bridge command centre showed a map of the planet surface, laden with cities and buildings.
"The main separatist command centre has been identified within the banking clan facilities in the city. Preliminary scans show the residents have been evacuated so we able to be more lenient with weapons." Master Ordo began.
Kye noticed that the captain and commander stood with them.
"Expect fierce resistance from confederacy forces, it is unlikely they will give this planet up easily." Skywalker chimed in.
"The separatist also have many factories across the planet, and whilst we control the space, they won't be receiving any raw materials, we can presume they will have enough stocked to keep production ongoing." Obi-wan closed out.
"Have we decided a landing zone yet generals?" Cody inquired.
"Not yet. But no matter how we do it I think we will have to be fighting through the city." Ordo replied.
"What about this area here?" Kye spoke up, pointing to a clearing 3 klicks south of the city. "Gunships can land on the border of the city proper, and this space is clear enough as to where we can bring an acclamator planet-side for a faster deployment of walkers."
"It's not a bad idea." Anakin agreed. "A faster deployment of walkers and armour will better equip us to make incursions into the city and start knocking out factories."
Ajax slapped Kye across the shoulder in support.
"If there are no objections then." Ordo said, to which he received none. "Kye, as it was your idea you can command the acclamator and see it to surface."
He hid his disappointment at not being on the front lines.
His master continued. "Masters Skywalker, Kenobi and I will lead a three pronged attack into the city, with the goal of securing the centre."
The bridge aboard the acclamator was silent as they descended into the atmosphere. Radio chatter was hectic, the droids had kept some fighter wings in reserve and were harassing the gunships.
Dropping beneath the clouds, Kye could see the flak fire lining the perimeter of the city, the flock of gunships that descended into the city were being mauled by the vulture droids that strafed them.
Kye chewed his lip in nervousness. "Get us down quickly." He ordered.
The clearing they were designated to land at was just ahead, and the ships slowly lost altitude.
A warning alarm grabbed his attention. "Sir! There's an underground facility right beneath us! Anti-ship artillery is locki-" The crew chief was cut off as the ship shuddered at the impact of cannon fire.
"We've lost the deflector shields!"
"Get us out of here!" Kye ordered, but it was useless under the surprise attack.
"Engines are hit!" Another deckhand called out.
"Lock down the magazine!" A flurry of movement followed his orders.
The ship shook at another critical hit, and began dropping out the sky.
"Engines are gone! Brace for impact."
Kye held into a console as the ship dived into the terrain beneath them, the hull creaked and crumpled under the impact.
The ship shook before it settled into the ground.
"Open all doors you can, disembark all personnel. Raise any distress signal you can." Kye ordered, standing and walking over to the viewport.
Looking out, most of vision was obscured by smoke and fire that surrounded the ship following its crash. Where he could see through, droids and AATs were emerging from hidden entrances in the floor.
Igniting his saber, he swung at the viewport and shattered it, leaping through the opening and down into the hull of the ships, sliding down to a maintenance port and hopping through.
He sprinted through the slim tunnels before making it to the main hanger, where he dropped in.
The hanger lay in utter chaos, climes had been thrown by the impact, tanks had been damaged in the landing and the main door wouldn't open.
"Commander!" An unmarked clone called out. "Your orders?"
"Get that main door open, we're being surrounded as we speak. Activate those reserve tanks." He ordered.
"Sir yes sir!"
He watched the clone run to the control room, as the rest of the clones began helping eachother up.
"Set up a triage in the corner. Get to your tanks." He ordered, turning to the large door as it began to open.
Red laser fire poured in immediately, the droids relentless in their assault.
The clones responded in kind, and those capable of fighting raised hell from their positions in the hanger.
Kye deflected what bolts he could, but such a skill had never truly been his forte. It wasn't made any easier by his flat blade, but he made do.
It took a moment before the thunderous fire report of an ATTE main gun filled the hanger, destroying a separatist tank that was coming around.
"We need to get out this hangar, let's move!" He ordered.
"Copy commander. AT-TE 316 online."
He slowly pushed through towards the great door, as more clones and tanks began gathering behind him.
Stepping outside, the force prickled his neck in warning. He looked to see a flak cannon turning to bear.
"Flak cannon at poi-" He didn't even finish before a gunner had fired at it, its shot hitting the ammo stockpile next to the gun.
The explosion of 30 flak shells simultaneously detonating shook the ground, but they pressed their advantage.
A rocket screamed overhead and struck the leading walker, but it was luckily at a bad angle and hit in a glancing blow.
Ahead, the floor opened to reveal a ramp down into the underground facility where another contingent of separatist tanks were emerging.
"Fire on those tanks! Keep that door open." He ordered over the hectic fray of blaster fire.
Following his order, a shot fired from a main gun of a walker penetrated the front armour of the closest AAT, knocking the vehicle out right in the seal of the door.
"Good shot, press forward into the facility." He ordered. "Bridge, see if you can contact the fleet."
Their response was cut off as a droning noise slowly became more apparent, Kye looked up in horror to see a vulture bomber wing diving towards them.
"Bombers! Spread out!" A clone yelled.
The bomber wing split, with four of the twelve banking to hit the downed acclamator, the remaining lining up on the loose formation of republic tanks.
Explosions rang throughout the formation, one tank a manger to score a hit on the wing of a bomber, successfully downing it before it could complete it's run.
The remaining bombers pounded the formation, clones dived into ditches in the rough terrain to avoid the shrapnel of the bomb. One impacted close to Kye, who was thrown through the air and landed hard in the dirt of the planet.
Dark spots danced over his vision, and his hearing faded. His head pounded.
"-Mande-"
"Comm-er"
"-mander!"
Kye choked as dust filled his lungs. A hand grabbed his shoulder and rolled him over. The helmet of a clone filled his vision, the white armoured soldier thrust Kye's lightsaber into his hand and hauled him up.
Chaos reigned over the republic forces. Craters lay all through the clearing, the tank closest to him had been split in half by a seeming direct hit.
He turned to the trooper who had picked him up.
"Sitrep, soldier."
"Enemy bombers have waived off, we lost a few tanks and a lot of men, those bombers were packing high explosive sir. Though the strike has broken through into the separatist facility below us." The clone reported.
Kye nodded, assessing his options. Before him, the acclamator burned. Smoke reached into the atmosphere.
"Do we have any long range communications?"
"Negative sir. The walkers were stripped down prior to the campaign."
Kye nodded. "Split the division up. Each team takes an entrance to the facility beneath us."
"Sir yes sir."
Throughout the clearing, clones assembled their rappelling gear, fixing it to the edges of the breaches. The previous entryway, the ramp, had been sealed after a hit by the airstrike.
He moved over to the closest breach into the underground facility, joining a team of clones. Peering down into the gap, it appeared to lead into a hallway. He looked at the other troopers and nodded, dropping in.
Electrics sparked, and the lights flickered. The clones descended and landed around him.
"Lets move."
They paced down the hallway, and turned into a control room. The window infront of them showed a massive assembly line, droids moved on conveyers along the ceilings, a clone team was pinned down in a circle of crates, taking fire from all angles.
The clones around him immediately joined the fight, ambushing the attacking droids.
The robots turned on the spot to return fire, blaster bolts impacted all around them.
Kye ignited his saber and jumped down into the fight. With the extra support, the clones cut down the remaining droids quickly.
Kye looked at the new group, identifying a sergeant among them. "Sergeant, have the men plant demolition charges throughout the facility."
"Yes sir." Came the response, as he quickly began relaying it throughout the facility.
"Scans indicate a control room just ahead sir."
Kye walker up to the sealed blast door. Igniting his saber, he plunged it into the centre. The door was maybe a metre thick, if the resistance of his saber was anything to go by.
He rested his sabre as it began to melt away at the locking system, the clones took positions surrounding the door.
The factory floor behind them clanged as commando droids were activated and fell from the production lines, bringing their weapons to bear.
Kye yanked his blade free and began deflecting the blasts. The deafening fire rate between both sides hurt his head.
The noise was so intense, the group didn't notice the blast door behind them slide open, revealing a hulking super battle droid.
It levelled its wrist blaster at the back of the closest clone and blasted him. Kye felt the burst of pain in the force and turned to see the droid turn its blaster to him.
He ducked down and swung his saber, slicing the new droid in half. As he turned his back, the optics of one of the commando droids locked onto his back, and loosed a shot from its E-5.
The laser bolt was just wide, and struck the young Jedi in the shoulder blade, rather than through his heart.
Kye cried out in pain as the high powered laser burnt through his shoulder, he felt his left arm go limp at the damage.
"Commander!" One of the clones cried out, upping their fire down the hall.
Kye seethed in pain, cursing out the anger as he stuck his arm out and threw the droids into the wall with the force.
The fighting lulled as the droids became one with the wall, the impacted panels sparking.
The white helmet of a clone filled his shaking vision.
"Hold still sir." The medic peeled away his robe to inspect the wound.
"No major damage sir, a bit of bacta should sort it all out." The medic explained as he applied a bacta spray and a patch, redressing him and helping him up.
"We need to keep moving," Kye panted. "Let's get into the control room."
In the time he had taken a hit, the separatists had managed to close the doors to the command centre, however the larger blast doors had jammed open as a result of Kye's earlier attempt to breach, meaning it would be a lot easier this time.
Another squad joined up with them as they opened a hole in the door, rushing in an seizing control, the tactical droid promptly disabled via laser bolt to the head.
Kye slumped down into the command chair as the clones took up positions in the control room.
"Disabling the communications jammers sir." One called out.
"Good, make contact with the generals." He ordered, tiredness catching up to him.
The hologram fizzled up in front of him, the three generals appeared a second later.
"Padawan, it's good so see you." His master began, relief evident.
"You too master. The transport was shot down, the clearing had an underground factory with anti air guns. I've taken control of the facility with what forces remain." He explained.
"Good work Kye. I regret to inform we have not been as successful, droid resistance in the city has been fierce. We are occupying what outlier districts we can, but are bogged down for now." His master explained.
"We were hit by a bombing run too, I have only a few tanks remaining. Lost a lot of men too." Kye added somberly.
"Well, we knew the price would be high when we decided to attack. The separatists won't let such a significant planet fall easily." Obi-wan chimed in.
"The 501st is exhausted, we've been fighting tooth and nail since we landed." Anakin interjected.
"It's possible we need a new perspective." Master Ordo began. "Padawan, I'm dispatching a gunship to your location. Tell your current forces to hold that position, I believe you might be able to see something that we cannot."
"Yes master." He replied.