Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. All rights are reserved by Disney, Lucasfilms, and whatever nebulous and faceless legal team might wish to skewer me with a Cease & Desist.
A/N:
On the twenty-second of June, 2023 this story cleared 100,000 views. Granted, I doubt most of those read all the way through, I am still very thankful for everyone who has taken the time to read this little story of mine.
The Reprisal of the Force
Chapter 9
Perspectives:
Commander Anakin Skywalker
Bright green and red lances of turbolaser fire were exchanged across the vast emptiness of space, the only sign of an ongoing battle visible to the naked eye. Each lance traveled thousands of kilometers before impacting on the shields or hulls of their targets, erupting as the magnetic mold the plasma conformed to burst under pressure.
Anakin stared out the transparisteel viewport of the Republic cruiser's bridge, arms at his back as he pondered his next course of action. Before him, the defensive fleet and his own flotilla battled. The former sought to avenge the miners they believed dead while the latter was buying the commanding officer time. Yet, despite claiming the command bridge of the vessel, Anakin had not yet finished capturing the ship entirely.
He sighed, tapping at his wrist for a moment before the commotion behind him drew his attention once again. Anakin turned to observe the bridge.
His droids and DeeBee the Droideka kept close watch over the prisoners, or most of them in any case. The last of their number, the now former Admiral, was at the holotable. Under blaster point, he was forced to give over his access codes to remotely control the ship. Of course, overrides were available for rankings officers at locations of interest. Three were accounted for, the Clone Commander was among the prisoners alongside the Admiral. The Jedi officer was dead and her code cylinders were claimed by Anakin, dangling at his hip. However, other officers were still scattered across the ship and represented threats to Anakin's tenuous hold over the vessel. Coordinating with the remainder of their forces on the ship was paramount, which was why they needed the Admiral's access.
Anakin walked towards the battle droid and its prisoners, his eyes scanning the crowd of prisoners sequestered to one corner of the bridge as he went. Many of the Clones glared back balefully, but Anakin was searching for one form among the group. Still unconscious on the deck, behind the crowd, was the still unconscious Twi'lek Padawan. She lay on her back, facing the ceiling near the helmetless Clone Commander. At Anakin's glance, the Clone officer shuffled a bit closer to his incapacitated compatriot.
The droid at the holotable turned to face Anakin as he approached, its blaster attached to its back. The Admiral, a portly fellow with a still untamed mustache, had cleaned himself up somewhat and appeared at least somewhat more dignified now that his death was not imminent. Anakin did nothing to dissuade the man from that illusion, figuring that constant fear about imminent death might make him desperate enough to do something foolish.
Still, the droids Anakin had brought this far were ordered to keep a close eye on the man lest he did something foolish like ordering the engineering deck to overload the reactor.
"We have established control over the ship communications and with the remaining strike teams." The droid announced as it handed over the Admiral's code cylinder. With it as well as the cooperation of the officer, they would ostensibly have free run of the ship. On older vessels, Darth Vader would have used that level of access to vent the ship of its atmosphere and kill the crew that way. However, not only was that no longer part of Anakin's mode of operation, but the number of failsafes on a ship of this size and importance made such a tactic impossible.
Still, holding the command bridge was a boon all the same. Looking across the gap separating the command bridge and communications bridge, Anakin could see the remaining crew over there scrambling to maintain control of the communications. If the situation became dire enough, they might try to order the rest of the fleet to fire on them and destroy Anakin and the vessel. Alas, Anakin had a plan.
"What are their situations?" Anakin asked as he clipped the cylinder alongside the others on his hip, keeping it separate from his personal identification codes.
"Teams Besh and Cresh have been destroyed but were successful in destroying large ammunition stockpiles for Republic bombers. Destruction of enemy craft and personnel was minimal. Team Dorn has successfully secured the main reactor and power control station. They have begun planting charges and overriding access points."
At the word 'charges', the Admiral perked up. His face was one of immediate concern, considering that cracking a fusion reactor with explosives was universally viewed as a bad idea. Still, Anakin would not sacrifice this vessel if he didn't need to. A nostalgic part of him wanted to make it his new flagship as both a call back to his past life and as a powerful propaganda piece, but alas logistics would remain his enemy. Not only did the vessel require unique parts produced on by the Kuat Drive Yards, but it also needed to be completely refit for Confederacy-standard ships and crew. The cost of which was not something Anakin was able to cover. Even if he could, one powerful vessel would not make up for the shortcomings of the fleet.
"It is possible that the remaining security forces on the ship may target the reactor. Order Dorn to begin locking the area down by any means necessary. We cannot allow it to fall back into the Republc's hands."
"Roger, roger," The droid droned, turning back to the holotable and opening a connection. As the orders were transmitted, Anakin turned his attention to the Admiral, whose worry had not abated.
"I assume you do not intend to scuttle ship while... you are still aboard, Master… err… Jedi?"
Obviously, it was not Anakin's health that the man was worried about. While it was not Anakin's attention to destroy the ship with its crew aboard, the possibility was not going to be entirely ignored. This assumes that the Clone crew themselves did not try to destroy the ship with Anakin onboard.
"Rest assured, Admiral, that I do not intend to butcher you or your men. Cooperate, and you shall be shown mercy," Anakin waved over a droid which brought the man back to the rest of the prisoners, leaving him and the droid once again.
"The orders have been relayed, Commander. Team Dorn has begun securing the reactor and control station. However, the ship Admiral's clearance codes were unsuccessful in bypassing the center's security. It appears the Chief Engineer successfully locked the system down."
"Am I to assume that the Chief Engineer was not found within the reactor or control station?"
"Team Dorn was unable to find the Chief Engineer. There is no consensus on where they are at this time," The droid responded tonelessly as Anakin grit his teeth. They could slice through the security terminals, but that would take time - time they did not have. Even if the communications bridge was unsuccessful in seizing control of the off-ship comms, Anakin's fleet was not capable of winning this battle alone. The numbers sent to chase them off were far greater than expected, and Anakin was under no illusion that his ships could fight on equal footing. They needed to move and send a signal to TX-0013 to have the squadron retreat.
"Order Dorn to begin slicing into the security, focus on routing power to the engines. I will deal with the communications tower."
"Alone?" The droid asked, causing Anakin to look over the bridge of droids. The security and engineering droids that had followed Anakin were outnumbered by the Clone crew. Their chances of victory were low even if they were armed and the Clones were not. DeeBee the Droideka represented the only force equalizer outside Anakin himself, capable of mowing down the entire bridge if the Clones tried anything. Pulling some of the droids away would make it easy for the Clones to retake the bridge, something Anakin could not allow.
"Alone," Anakin said after a moment, removing the code cylinders from his belt and handing them over, "Keep the elevator locked down until I signal from the communications tower. Should the Clones resist, terminate them."
"Roger, roger," The droid intoned, accepting the cylinders and magnetically attaching them to its own hip. With a slight flick of his fingers, the clasp of his cape came undone before he cast it onto a chair at the holotable. He walked across the bridge towards the command room, passing DeeBee as he went. The droideka remained in its deployed stance, sans shield, and made a hobbling turn as Anakin approached. It chirped in its alien tongue, its tentacle-like eyes twisting and turning in some non-verbal body language that Anakin did not understand.
"Keep an eye on things here," Anakin ordered, "I expect you to keep the crew under control."
The droid chirped again and hobbled back into the middle of the bridge, its twin-linked blaster cannons pointed threateningly toward the crowd of Clones. Some watched warily as a few of the battle droids sent to guard them subtly stepped aside, moving out of the direct firing path of the droideka.
Anakin entered the elevator back down, unlocked by the security droid posted nearby. It was quick, the sense of brief weightlessness pressing up on him. Anakin unclipped his lightsaber and gave it a few experimental flourishes, readying himself for combat.
For he sensed lifeforms at the base of the elevator.
Ding!
The door had not finished sliding open before Anakin, calling on the Force, raised his gloved hand with a palm-up claw. Three Clones, two engineers, and a standard grunt, were lifted up into the air from their position in front of the elevator door. Anakin wasted no time in throwing them back into their fellows, knocking over two more in the process.
The pair of remaining Clones were quick to raise their blasters and let off twin bolts of blue, both of which were deflected back. One took a bolt to his chest, a cry of pain briefly freed from his lips as he collapsed. The other dodged to the side, avoiding the returning bolt. He was not given time to recover as Anakin was already upon him, lightsaber swinging at head height.
His body did not have time to hit the floor as Anakin fell upon the remainder, blue blade slashing through armor and blasters alike.
It had been a small group, Anakin realized, attempting to regain control over the elevator to the command bridge for reasons unknown. Their comms remained inactive, either due to the confusion of the ship's internal communications or because the crew was keeping strict radio silence. Whatever the reason, Anakin would not find his answers here.
Nearby was the elevator up to the communications tower, separate from the command tower elevator but mirroring it all the same. It opened at Anakin's prompting, but when he tried to make the elevator go up it refused to respond. Evidently, the communications bridge was prepared for the boarding party attacking them.
Anakin looked up to the ceiling, where an access panel sat. With an inward sigh, he began the climb. Handholds were few and small, considering the elevator only had two entry points at the top and bottom. Each tight crevice and narrow corner threatened to send him tumbling back down to the elevator box itself.
In his previous life as Vader, Anakin typically used a facsimile of flying to move greater distances and to act partially as an intimidation tactic. However, that was typically falling either directly down or gliding short distances. He had never mastered the sort of levitation Master Yoda or even Sidious used to such great effect, partially due to a lack of need as his cybernetic legs were never tired.
Now, as his arms burned in protest, Anakin lamented never at least trying.
Halfway up and fifteen minutes later, a small hatch on a higher ledge opened. From within, a small maintenance droid appeared, whistling to itself as it crawled out onto the ledge. Its small whistles ceased as Anakin reached a few paces below it, panting at the effort as he balanced himself on another thin ledge. The pair noticed each other at approximately the same time, with the former Jedi merely continuing his climb and the droid shrieking in alarm. It retreated as quickly as it arrived. Only when Anakin's hand reached that level did the droid return, small arms digging at his fingers to upset his grip. Anakin opted to ignore it for a few moments as he tried to find a foothold until it attempted to stab his hand. Anakin gritted his teeth and, with a pull of the force, dragged the droid from its perch and sent it careening down. Its shrieks ended as it hit the elevator, the sound ringing up and down the shaft.
That, it seemed, finally warned the communication towers' occupants that someone was coming for them, as not a minute later the door at the top opened and two helmet-bearing heads appeared. Neither of the Clones called out warnings, drawing their blasters and firing down at Anakin. With a growl, Anakin ignited his lightsaber and, while still dangling with one hand, batted at what bolts go near to him. Unfortunately, the distance made it a challenge to accurately return fire and the Clones were quick to duck back into cover if ever a bolt did get close enough to hit them.
This stalemate held for a time. Anakin could not advance nor could the Clones put enough fire down the elevator shaft to force him back. It was merely a matter of when Anakin's endurance would run out. A minute of this passed before his communicator chirped to life.
"Commander Skywalker. Strike Team Dorn has successfully obtained access to the control station. However, the secondary command center is refusing orders to activate the engines. We are unable to identify under what level of credentials these orders are being given, but the present hypothesis indicates the Chief Engineer."
"Do we have… ship schematics? Where's the… center?" Anakin panted out, gritting his teeth as he continued to deflect away blaster bolts. There was a momentary pause as the droid searched for that information, as it responded soon after.
"Schematics indicate that the secondary commander center is the communications bridge, which you are currently assaulting, sir."
Familiar with more modern Imperial vessels, Anakin hadn't considered that this Venator lacked an internal secondary bridge like Imperial-class Star Destroyers or even later variants of Venator. The lack of a protected secondary bridge would work in Anakin's favor, it seemed.
Now he just needed to reach it.
"Can… reroute power to the elevator?"
Another pause, and then a whine came from below. Anakin looked down for a moment to see the elevator shooting back up the shaft. Anakin looked back up to see one of the Clones dip back into the bridge, replaced by a third that picked up the earlier rate of fire. Using the elevator shaft as his jumping-off point, Anakin gracefully flipped onto the speeding elevator and through the open access hatch. His knees buckled, but he remained standing.
No sooner had he landed when Anakin was forced to move aside and avoid the accurate blaster fire following him in. No doubt, the Clones were racing to shut the elevator back off with the Chief Engineer's credentials, but it would be too late.
When he felt the elevator begin to lock up and slow down, he moved back beneath the access hatch and - with the help of the Force - leaped up the elevator hatch. The elevator had allowed him to cover most of the remaining distance to the bridge, and the Force allowed him to cross the rest.
The pair of Clones were pulled down as Anakin threw himself up, their muffled screams and shouted curses passing him by as Anakin landed more gracefully on the bridge elevator doorway.
His strategy earned him no stunned silence, and Anakin activated his lightsaber no sooner than he had landed on the bridge deck plates. Blaster bolts fell upon him, several being returned to their source. Armored Clones and uniformed crewmembers alike fell yet their resolve remained unbroken. Alas, valor and courage could only help them so much against a force of nature such as Anakin Skywalker.
The effectiveness of their firing lines lasted only as long as it took Anakin to reach them, and soon destroyed blasters and severed limbs joined the deflected blaster bolts. From the command center to the main observation deck, Anakin cut his way through the defenders with ease. While he had not identified the Chief Engineer, Anakin could reasonably assume that he was somewhere among the group of dead.
"Watch you- Argh!" The second last Clone fell, a glowing slash across his chest. Anakin swung his lightsaber back, deflecting a blaster bolt from the last and returning it to the face of the man's helmet. He crumpled without a sound, and Anakin was soon alone.
He took in a breath, eyes closing as he deactivated his lightsaber. The storm of the Dark Side called to him, but Anakin resisted with all that he was. The stench of death and burning flesh kept him grounded in the here and now, and soon the temptations and muttered voices fell silent.
Anakin opened his eyes, observing his handiwork with a critical eye. Some of the Clones were still alive, either knocked unconcious by the force of blaster bolts to armored parts of their bodies or in shock over losing limbs. All-in-all, it was effective - albeit bloody - practice.
Walking to one of the transparisteel windows, Anakin looked over to the main command bridge, noting the droids still wandering around. Some were watching Anakin in turn, though their inability to showcase emotion gave Anakin no indication as to their thoughts on his slaughter.
Anakin raised his communicator to his mouth, speaking with some breathlessness from his workout.
"Redirect power to the engines and burn at full speed to our lines. I will communicate with TX-0013 and inform him of our success."
"Roger, roger."
"Impossible." TX-0013 droned again from its seat in the Neophyte's meeting room, "Your survival in the boarding action of the Republic flagship was a statistical anomaly, alongside successfully capturing the vessel with limited casualties. However, your current plan has an estimated success rate of eighty-three thousand-to-one. I must protest in the strictest of terms."
Anakin let the words fall over him as he ate, having brought a meal from the mess hall to the meeting room. His uniform had since been fixed after the battle, returning him to some level of propriety, but Anakin's eating habits ruined such an image. Then again, as a Jedi and as a Sith, decorum while eating had never been a habit taught to him.
"I have to agree with the droid," Colonel Trunkud responded, bobbing his head as he spoke, "Most of our forces are tied up in pacifying the Republic cruiser. Even if we could call on our entire ground-based complement, the Republic maintains space superiority. Our best course of action is to wait for Gardeen and his forces."
"I will not allow you separatists to turn my homeworld into a meteoroid-blasted rock!" The foreman, seated in a far-too-large chair, snapped.
"You allow nothing, meerian," Trunkud drawled, "You are here because the Commander has need of your revolutionaries, nothing more."
"My people stand against all oppression, neimoidian!"
"And a fine job they're doing of it." Trunkud shot back, leaning back in his chair with the neimoidian equivalent of a sneer. Anakin had learned more about neimoidian expressions in the last half year than he had throughout his entire previous life. Given that they didn't move their upper lips much, neimoidian expressions could be found mostly in the eyes and in slight movements of their lower lip. The scrunched squint Trunkud sent toward the foreman portrayed considerable disdain and was perhaps the most emotion Anakin had seen the Colonel show thusfar.
TX-0013, either unaware of or uncaring about the tension between foreman and officer, spoke.
"The usage of 'meteoroid' insinuates that the destroyed fragments of Bandomeer's moons would not survive entry into the planet's atmosphere," TX-0013 turned to the meerian, "I calculate this to be unlikely. The air density of Bandomeer's upper atmosphere is-"
"We are getting off-topic," Anakin spoke up, pulling balled napkin from his lips, "As I said, I don't intend to initiate a full ground invasion. We just need to rile up any dissidents on the planet enough to distract the Republic."
"The 5th Agamar Irregular Squadron does not have any assault transports." TX-0013 countered.
"We also had no boarding craft," Trunkud offered.
"... Correction, the 5th Agamar Irregular Squadron does not have landing or infantry transporting vehicles that could survive a violent entry into the atmosphere of Bandomeer," TX-0013 said, "Nor any that could survive breaking through the remaining Republic vessels."
While Anakin had managed to steal the strongest vessel in the Republic forces over Bandomeer, their losses in the brief engagement had been limited. Most of the meerian home guard were wiped out, but the majority of the cruisers and frigates sent to scare Anakin's forces off now held position among the planet's defense grid.
The heavier landers were too slow and fragile to break a blockade, and the majority of their freighters couldn't survive entry without a controlled descent. Anakin had taken to learning his fleet front to back and found most of the ship lacing in a planetary assault.
With one noteworthy exception.
The Citadel-class cruiser line was a specialized classification of yacht, with the ability to be refit for low-intensity combat situations. Its designation as a cruiser was not due to its size, but its shield strength relative to its size. Old and ill-suited for combat situations though it was, the oversized yacht could survive long enough to crash onto a planet's surface, as an example.
Anakin voiced as much to his company of three and received varied responses. The foreman was the most unaffected by Anakin's plan, likely lacking context for how insane an idea it was. Trunkud choked, having not considered the idea of crashing a ship onto the surface of a planet as survivable or a "good idea". TX-0013, as always, considered the chances of survival.
"Survival odds of an orbital deployment and crashing on Bandomeer's surface are markedly lower than boarding the Republic cruiser. However, of all vessels in the 5th Agamar Irregular Squadron, the Citadel-class would have the highest survival rate."
"The crash rating for a Citadel is not high enough for planetary collision," Trunkud countered, "There would need to be a special kind of pilot just to survive entry, little more than keep the vessel intact enough to survive landing."
"I shall pilot the ship," Anakin said, waving a dismissive hand before turning to TX-0013, "Have the ship stripped of any weapons it doesn't need and emptied of as much fuel as possible while keeping it functioning.
"It will be done, Commander," TX-0013 responded and left immediately, leaving the three other members of that little council.
"Prepare a strike squad of riflemen and whatever passes for marine equipment in this fleet," Anakin ordered. The usage of droids could be detrimental to stoking a planetary uprising, given the reputation they were already building. Granted, a collection of Neimoidians also painted a bad picture, but between merciless killing machines and a species perceived as greedy and double-dealing?
"I'll see what we have available, but a small strike team can't take a planet."
"They won't need to," Anakin turned to look at the quiet meerian Foreman, who seemed to straighten when the other pair of eyes found him. The meerian blinked a few times before straightening his back.
Anakin continued, "You mentioned that your former leadership is interred within the capital, correct?"
"Aye, or whatever's left of them. We've not had any news this far out, so I couldn't tell you who's left." The meerian agreed slowly. Trunkud was quick to catch on as he returned his gaze to Anakin, the barest frown set on his face.
"You think you can incite a rebellion?"
"Revolution, Colonel," Anakin corrected, leaning back in his seat as he thought, "If what our friend here says is correct, then the former leadership could be our key to throwing out the Republic."
"The Republic must have accounted for that. For all we know, the former government leaders could be dead. Or off planet at least."
"And make martyrs of them? Even if they're dead, they may still serve to stoke the populace into an uprising."
Trunkud remained unconvinced, though Anakin noted his disdain seemed to center around the words "revolution" and "revolutionary" rather than any issue with the operation itself. While Anakin knew enough about non-verbal Neimoidian communication, he was woefully unlearned about their culture.
"You would need a way into the city," Trunkud tried instead to discourage Anakin by poking holes in the plan's execution, "Even a small strike team would be easily identified attempting to enter the city."
At that, Anakin turned to the meerian once again. He had already considered that issue, alongside many possibilities for entry. Aerial deployment was possible, not while the Republic enjoyed total air superiority that close to the planet. A ground assault would be nigh on impossible if Anakin wanted to maintain a level of secrecy, doubly so if the Republic forces were put on higher alert following his arrival on-world.
That meant sneaking into the city, and manner by which they would accomplish that task fell upon the Foreman, whose bemused expression warred with worry over the attention he was receiving.
"Bandor has an internal waste treatment plant, same with all other cities," The Foreman explained at Anakin's prompting, "To keep them functioning if ever there were a mining disaster, I suppose."
"That would have endangered the mining operations, no doubt," Trunkud pointed out, "What about subterranean mining tunnels?"
"Most mining tunnels were closed or collapsed ages ago," The foreman said before appearing thoughtful, "But there is the underline."
At Anakin's prompting, the Meerian explained. The underline were a series of underground and ancient trains, reliant on rail lines instead of magtrains or sleds. While they had been universally closed and replaced by more modern methods, the lines remained mostly untouched due to a lingering possibility of needing a safe mode of transportation in a worst-case scenario. While there was some question on whether the underground tunnels would survive the destruction of Bandomeer's moons, they were still connected to the cities.
"A strike team could use the tunnels to infiltrate the capital and make contact with the previous leaders," Anakin explained to Trunkud. Despite his clear misgivings, the Neimoidian nodded along slowly.
"I doubt there will be a heavy Clone presence, and sneaking past Enforcers or meerian loyalists would not be an issue. You would need a guide on the planet, though. And someone to showcase the good intentions of the Confederacy."
At that, two pairs of eyes - human and Neimoidian - turned to the meerian Foreman.
The speed at which the strike team was put together and the vessel was prepared was impressive. The efficiency of droids was something Anakin was still not used to, having spent decades dealing with the delay in action even among the most efficient Imperial crews. Though a part of Anakin wondered how the Empire would have fared if it used Neimoidians, for Trunkud was not far behind his mechanical counterparts in procuring a trooper detachment and marine equipment. Many things could be said about Neimoidians, but being tardy or lazy was not among them.
The squad Anakin had been given was not pulled wholesale from a platoon but rather piecemealed from a dozen different squads to cover any situations the team might find themselves in. Medics, engineers, grenadiers, anti-tank specialists, designated marksmen, and even a heavy weapon specialist armed with a massive twin-barrelled blaster cannon. The squad had ballooned from the typical eight-man structure to twelve strong if one did not count the other five occupants of the vessel. The need for a dedicated special operations section became all the more evident as the hastily constructed unit desperately standardized call signs and familiarized themselves with each other.
Anakin sat in the pilot's seat at the head of the bridge alongside a blue-marked droid co-pilot. While Anakin would be taking control of the ship on entry, the droid would take over piloting during the operation. In the center of the bridge, stood atop a raised dais, was a yellow Commander droid, manipulating the wall of monitors in front and around it.
The last, covered in the heavy-duty welding armor from his station, was the rapidly paling meerian Foreman. Despite being an especially pale species to begin with, the Foreman had now adopted a sicklier pallor.
"Begin preparations for in-system jump," Anakin ordered, powering down the sunlight engines as the Citadel pulled away from the fleet.
"Roger, roger," the Commander responded from behind Anakin, "Coordinates received. Powering down shields."
While the droid ran through the pre-jump checklist, Anakin turned his attention to the Foreman. Buckled into his seat as he was, the diminutive alien could not get out of the chair. Despite this and the ship's lack of movement, he was still hanging onto the seat with all the strength he could.
"I've changed my mind," The meerian squeaked out, "This is a horrible idea."
"No revolution has ever succeeded without an element of danger, Foreman."
"I'm not a revolutionary, I'm a work foreman!"
Anakin gave the slightest smirk, keeping their earlier conversation on the mining rig in mind. Still, the Foreman served a purpose in this operation and his compatriot from the second station they took still proved unwilling to dedicate herself to their side.
Even if the Foreman proved useless in stirring up some sort of "revolutionary fervor", he could at least showcase Anakin's good intentions. No doubt Captain Gardeen would arrive soon. Hopefully, he would be less inclined to attack while friendly assets were on the planet and endanger the Ionite mines.
"We are ready to make the jump to hyperspace, Commander," The droid officer announced finally, sitting down on the chair at the dais and buckling itself in.
"Very well, launch on my mark," Anakin swiveled his chair and secured his own safety belts, "Launch."
The inertia dampeners cut most of the sudden acceleration, but even still Anakin reflexively leaned back in his seat. The glowing tunnel of hyperspace flowed around them for all of fifteen seconds before they left it just as suddenly.
The Republic vessels were already responding, their sensors picking up the Citadel before it had even left hyperspace. Anakin careened the vessel out of the path of a crimson turbolaser bolt, narrowly dodging a second blaster cannon in the same move. What followed next was an exhilarating dance as the Citadel cruiser raised for Bandomeer's atmosphere. Fighters were quick to give chase after the comparatively slow-moving Citadel-class, but the report of the turreted point-defense turret on top told Anakin that they were at least being dissuaded from getting too close.
Exiting hyperspace and pushing the engines to full had already earned Anakin an orchestra of sound and alarms, but entering the atmosphere had thrown the ship computer into a total panic. Typically, larger ships like the Star Destroyer classes would drift down, using air friction and their massive engines to keep them in a controlled descent. It was a fuel-expensive maneuver and typically done only in extenuating circumstances as it was difficult for vessels of that size to escape back into the void.
Snub craft, on the other hand, had to dance the line between too steep an angle and too shallow a one. It was the deciding factor of whether a vessel evaporated in entry, or was easy piercings for ground-based anti-air turrets. The Citadel, given its size, favored the latter over the former. Escaping towards a planet while pursuers were on one's tale was typically not a pilot's first choice.
But Anakin was not a typical pilot. He danced the line between fiery death from either going too slow or too fast. The ship screamed in protest, and the bridge shook violently as the dampeners failed to keep pace, but Anakin's focus remained all the while.
And when it seemed the vessel would break apart in the descent or its engines would give out, they had made it. The Citadel skimmed along the surface of Bandomeer, its hull glowing with the heat of entry and its engines whining with the strain they were put under, but they had made it.
And then they crashed. It was controlled, Anakin had cut significant speed and deployed what passed for airbrakes on the vessel, but they needed to be grounded sooner rather than later. The Republic pilots had given up the chase or slowed their own descent, but soon they would realize that Anakin and his team had survived. So, Anakin found an open and less rock-strewn field and downed the craft.
Despite his earlier disparaging of the Citadel-class, they were not poor-quality civilian vessels. They existed solely to protect their wealthy or powerful owners and could take a significant beating if the need arose.
They slid a significant distance before finally coming to a rest, battered but alive. The droids were the first to orientate themselves and immediately set about checking the operability and integrity of the vessel. Anakin followed closely after - this was not his first nor would it be his last crash - rising from his seat and adorning his cape once more. As the Foreman was still looking rather shell-shocked, Anakin opted to check on the rest of their company.
The door to the bridge opened and revealed the cargo bay. The length of the walls had been refit with crash-rated seats and securing straps, tied to the Neimoidian strike team Anakin had been granted. Their armor was similar to that of the standard ground teams, albeit refit with enclosed faceplates and rebreathers in the event of the cabin depressurizing.
A few were already rising to their feet and securing their weapons. The rest were prompted into action at Anakin's arrival, rising to salute their commanding officer before hastily preparing. Anakin nodded to the Captain of the unit before approaching the loading ramp. It protested activation, but the ramp soon lowered and revealed the barren Bandomeer landscape. Jagged mountains of stone cut across the cloudless sky, with gutted ravines or barren flats in between. It was a world that had been ravaged by mining operations, what farmland remained was incapable of feeding the world, if reports were to be believed.
Anakin lifted a hand and patted the smooth plate head of a still-folded DeeBee, the droid strapped to a wall to keep it from bouncing around and injuring the other occupants. A smirk played on his lips as he already began to feel some connection with the strange droid, like a military-inclined R2-D2. He even had a stubborn and combative pseudo-Padawan in Sev'rance Tann, if one stretched the definition of "padawan". Now he only needed a second-in-command on ground missions and the image would be complete. Yet thoughts of another life's Clone Wars dashed Anakin's amusement just as quickly as it came. Unbidden, memories of a past life flickered through his mind - with even the most positive tainted by decades of bitterness and anger. He had spared Obi-Wan and Ahsoka little thought in the previous few months. Whether that was an active choice on his part or a subconscious reaction to separate his past from his present, Anakin couldn't tell anymore. He would never train Ahsoka Tano, see her grow from a naive but brave little girl into the force of nature she would become in her later life. He would never develop the camaraderie and brotherhood with Obi-Wan that had kept them both sane and alive through even the toughest battles and harshest trials.
It was all for the greater good, Anakin thought to himself, but whose greater good? The son that would never be born, the woman that would never love him? All this to defeat Sidious, only for the galaxy to fall back into the quagmire that it was before?
No. Anakin denied that notion, as difficult as it was. Lofty ideals made for poor companions, but it was all he had left.
The beep of his communicator drew Anakin from his stupor, glancing down at the flashing device on his wrist. Bringing it to his lips, Anakin spoke.
"Skywalker here."
"Commander Skywalker. The Venture is still at 87% operability." It was the droid commander, or one of the battle droids still aboard the bridge. Its high-pitched, emotionless voice was indistinguishable from its fellows.
"Damage report?"
"The right aileron has suffered considerable damage and is inoperable. The prow of the Venture has been damaged, we are unable to identify if the sensor suite was rendered inoperable in the crash. One ion cannon has been rendered inoperable. The concussion missile tube has been rendered inoperable."
"Then she is still atmosphere capable?"
"Without the right aileron, the Venture's in-atmosphere maneuverability has been reduced by 13%. If the sensor suite is inoperable, the combat capability of the Venture will be reduced by an additional 25%."
"Once the strike team is clear of the vessel, get airborne and attract as much attention to yourself as possible. Avoid combat if possible."
"At peak operability, the Venture would not be able to outpace standard Republic atmospheric interceptors."
"They're likely century-old interceptors," Anakin said, his eyes turning slightly as the strike team began to file out of the vessel, "Figure something out."
Anakin lowered the comm as the familiar grinding shriek of a droideka rolling drew his attention, the sound causing the slightest shiver up his back. That sound had been the harbinger of an annoyingly resilient opponent even as Darth Vader, and so it was a challenge to reorientate his brain into accepting it as friendly. Still, when DeeBee reached the packed dirt below, the sound was reduced somewhat. A few of the Neimoidians gave the droid a wide berth as it kicked up loose gravel and dirt.
Finally, the meerian appeared, his appearing to have regained its usual color - limited though that difference was. He seemed oddly large in the engineering suit he was wearing, but as the fleet lacked the armor of a proper size for him, that would need to suffice.
"Give the ship some room!" Captain Srata barked, his voice modulated by the faceplate of his helmet. The neimoidians were quick to move, getting away from the closing boarding ramp. A brief gust of wind accompanied the engines roaring back to life before the Venture was airborne and racing towards the horizon. There was no time to waste watching it disappear, Anakin turned to his motley assortment of troopers.
"Move out. I want to reach Bandor by nightfall."
It would be a tough pace to keep - at least for the Foreman and the armored neimoidians - but they needed to move quickly before the Republic could throw security forces at the group. Out here, they were exposed and without support.
Despite the comparatively small population of Bandomeer, the nature of its mining operations meant that the vast, vast majority of the population resided in cities where air could be properly cycled. Unlike Coruscant, Bandomeer simply did not have the means to deploy massive air scrubbers to make anywhere outside the cities tolerable. Even with his rebreather - for Anakin had foregone the damnable Neimoidian pressure suit - the air stung at his lungs and made his eyes water to the point of near blindness.
Bandor was a reflection of like Bandomeer, tall walls of rugged grey durasteel standing as a barrier between the fate of their world and what aspects of Meerian society survived on it. Anakin had, in his later years, traveled to Eriadu - a world in a similar situation as Bandomeer albeit over several centuries rather than a few decades. The damage the Eriadans had done to their world in their race for industrialization had made their people into a utilitarian and harsh society, and Anakin had to wonder how long it would be before the Meerians followed suit.
Still, focusing on the city itself, Anakin was… mildly disappointed at what he saw. Though the walls were high and clearly dense, there appeared to be a total lack of defenses on the parapets. No openings to shoot at invaders from - at least to Anakin's experienced eye - nor heavy proton cannons to repulse enemy armor. While walls had long since been made irrelevant in modern warfare, the mere fact that no attempt was made to modernize the defenses was concerning. Anakin voiced as much to his meerian companion, who explained.
"Bandomeer was always close enough to the Core and had enough corporate attention, that no one would want to risk attacking us. The walls were built to keep out wildlife, which there isn't much of anymore."
While the meerian's words did make Anakin consider taking the easier route and just scaling the walls to enter the city, he decided not to risk it. While the local meerian security forces would likely not have a well-armed army, there was no telling what the Republic had placed in their stead.
Anakin crawled back down from the hill he and the Foreman had been using to observe the city, the last light fading into night. Once they were safely out of sight from anyone who might look out from the wall, both rose. The trek back to camp was tricky, the Meerian landscape was as hostile up close as it had appeared in the distance, but eventually, they rediscovered the ravine where they'd made base. A small fire illuminated the collection of neimoidian shock troopers, DeeBee rolled up nearby to conserve power. At Anakin's approach, one of the younger neimoidians - or Anakin assumed him to be younger, neimoidians didn't show their age from what he could tell - quickly rose to salute. He was stopped by another, who pushed his neighbor back into his seat.
"Rest tonight, tomorrow night we will infiltrate Bandor. I expect you all to be ready by nightfall."
The gathered neimoidians gave their affirmations in a variety of ways, but Anakin left them to their devices. Captain Srata would organize them in his absence. He stopped the meerian from joining the shock troopers, his expression stern.
"Show me these tunnels."
"Right…" The meerian muttered, exhaustion evident in his voice. They left the soldiers behind and returned up the ravine, taking a different path this time. The barren landscape of Bandomeer stretched before them, interrupted by jagged rocks and sudden ravines. It reminded Anakin of the Mandalorian flats - a world in which the natural beauty had been destroyed, reforged by organic hands into some dark and ominous. Even Tatooine seemed to hold more life than this landscape.
"It might not look like much, but it's home." The meerian grunted as they walked, his voice slightly breathless as he had to keep pace with Anakin's much longer stride. Anakin glanced down at him before looking up.
"Home indeed, but it was beautiful once, Foreman."
"LinWos." Anakin blinked before looking down at the stone-faced meerian, his eyes set forwards as he panted now to keep pace.
"Pardon?"
"LinWos. My name. Your plan doesn't work if you just keep calling me Foreman."
"...Foreman LinWos it is, then." Silence returned again as they climbed a hill, the hobbling meerian slowed by the heavy equipment he was still wearing. Anakin's boots dug into the loose stones easily enough, though he pulled his cape up to keep it from dragging along the jutting rocks. Once they were going back down the hill, LinWos continued.
"There isn't a meerian alive today that remembers what Bandomeer looked like before. Most never visit what reserves are left. Still, this is our home, and we'll not let the only Bandomeer we've ever known be ripped apart by you separatists or the Republic."
"A good mentality, it is unfortunate that war rarely gives us that choice."
"Well, it seems to be serving Mandalore alright…" LinWos muttered.
"Mandalore is a radiation-blasted dust ball in the middle of nowhere. Bandomeer is a world that is rich in rare minerals and situated between major industrial worlds for the Confederacy and Republic."
"Point, I suppose. Eh, I'll leave the politics to you and the higher-ups if it's all the same, Commander. I'm just glad to have Meerian soil under my feet and to breathe in that Meerian air."
Anakin chuckled softly at LinWos's words, allowing a more companionable silence to return as they trekked. It took the nearer part of an hour before the duo reached the covered access tunnel.
"Alright… Here we are. Used to use this to smuggle goods into the city." LinWos said as Anakin pulled the cover off, wincing as it loudly shrieked.
"I thought you were a mining Foreman?"
"A foreman has his vices, and the union-allotted substances only go so far."
The pair lowered themselves into the darkness of the Underrail, the creaking of the rickety latter echoing along the obscured walls. When their feet were flat on the ground, Anakin activated his lightsaber, raising it high to grant them some light. The walls curved upwards into a large semi-circle, with three sets of large, evenly spaced tracks. Rust had claimed the sections where putrid liquid leaked into the cavern. Despite the damage, the rails appeared to have remained untouched by organics since the last these rails were traveled. Dust and cobwebs clung to the wall - clearly, this tunnel had not been traveled in some time.
"Look like they've shut down the smuggling rings, at least down here," LinWos noted absently, his milky eyes scrutinizing the walls and rails. Anakin closed his eyes, casting his senses up and down the tunnel. From what he could tell, there wasn't anything alive - barring the odd insect - throughout a significant portion of the railway.
"This tunnel feeds directly into the city?" Anakin asked as he opened his eyes, returning to the dank with a blink. LinWos seemed to think for a second before shaking his head.
"No, the entrance is blocked off, I think. But there are access points similar to these in the city. We'll have to see if my old hideaways are still hidden."
The two began moving along the tracks, following the dull blue light of Anakin's lightsaber as they went. The only sounds were the hum of the blade, their boots on the rugged ground, and the constant dripping of liquid from the ceiling. The faintest odor of iron and gas permeated through those tunnels, and the stench of still water gathered in cracks and imperfections.
The pair passed many ladders, some still in one piece and others wrenched apart by time and disuse. Eventually, they reached whatever ladder LinWos was looking for, still in one piece albeit clearly rusting. The meerian walked up and rattled the ladder, sending the creak of metal up and down the tunnels. Yet despite the clear lack of care given to the ladder, it seemed to be built sturdy enough.
"This ladder feeds into a street near my old Union headquarters," LinWos announced, staring up into the dim light above. He turned his skyward gaze from the dark ceiling to Anakin.
"There's no way to get the droid up, however."
"We'll manage," Anakin dismissed LinWos's concerns, grabbing onto the side of the ladder and placing his boot onto one wrung. It appeared to support his weight well enough, but Anakin was not the heaviest of their number. It would be a question of whether the ladder would support the weight of a heavily armed neimoidian marine. Anakin stepped back down, the hard soles of his boots echoing as they met the ground once more.
Anakin closed his eyes, casting his senses up to the cover and beyond, onto the street above. He could sense the minimal presence of the meerians and possibly other organics, yet the street itself appeared clear of all life. Curfew probably, or maybe because it was late at night.
"Don't you want to go take a look?" LinWos asked after a moment and Anakin could feel the perturbed gaze of the diminutive foreman on him. Anakin did not answer at first, keeping his focus on the Force. He had never been the most precise in how he utilized the Force, doubly so during his two-decade-long time as a Sith. Even so, Anakin managed to focus on the emotions of the countless meerians and other sentients above. Fear reigned supreme, but among that was apprehension and helplessness.
"Not necessary. The meerian population… They're fearful, I can sense it."
"Well, there are two foreign fleets nearby," LinWos muttered though Anakin could also sense the lingering fear of the meerian at the thought that Anakin could so easily read others. Anakin merely grunted in response, well aware of the threat posed just beyond the orbit of the planet. No, this fear was different, not of a direct danger but festering and ever-present - it was one Anakin was directly familiar with. On worlds where the Empire had a large and involved peacekeeping force, the citizens remained in a perpetual state of fear - fear of their neighbors, of their family, of anyone who could be an agent of the Empire. Yet, it was a tactic that brought to mind something a fierce woman once said.
The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
A people perpetually afraid of the government were liable to rise against it at the first sign of weakness, something Wilhuff Tarkin did not live to appreciate. It was a tactic Anakin could use now, but that would require the assistance of the former Bandomeer government.
The night passed quickly, but the day that followed was slow and meandering. The neimoidian riflemen could only check their equipment so many times, and they all knew the plan down to the word. Unfortunately, a collection of neimoidians and their human commander would stand out too much to infiltrate Bandor during the day - during the night was hard enough. So, with little else to occupy his time, Anakin returned to monitoring the city. A single day was not sufficient to gain an in-depth understanding of patrol patterns, but he did notice certain aspects of how Bandor was divided. The inner districts of the city were patrolled mostly by taller humanoids - judicial enforcers no doubt - but it was also where the majority of the heavier military hardware was deployed. E-Web positions, armored personnel carriers, and large bipedal walkers reminiscent of the AT-ST from the Empire. While Anakin felt only the vaguest familiarity seeing that last group, it was likely that they filled a similar role to the later walker variant. The lack of anti-tank options in Anakin's small strike team made avoidance the better option over confrontation.
Air support appeared lacking unless Bandor had some airspeeders hidden away, not that it was likely they would deploy such vehicles in the city. Air defense was relegated to large, quad-barrelled cannons pointed skyward.
The outer districts, and the rest of the city in general, were handled by local Bandomeer security forces and former corporate enforcers. It was a healthy mix of meerians and non-meerians, with limited to nonexistent support options outside the blasters they carried. Unfortunately, it was likely that the former planetary leaders and union bosses were located in the heavily defended regions rather than the common habitation blocs. Stealth would be the only option going in - Anakin was not so arrogant as to think he could take the city with so small a force.
Plans were made, orders given, and weapons made ready. The revolution would begin that night.
Review Responses:
Stars90 - The addition of Fay was more-or-less inevitable, though the part she played in the chapter evolved over the year I spent writing that chapter. I have plans for her, though they aren't as solid as I would have preferred.
As for Ikrit, he was a spur of the moment addition. I don't remember what led to me finding him - I never read the books he was in, to my detriment - so I'm not sure how accurate to his actual personality this is. His lore will come in later, as his escapades on Yavin are still at the forefront of his mind.
RedBloodedMoon - I was of two minds with the Jedi, namely the Council. On one hand, I could keep the Order more-or-less as is and be vague about what happened on Geonosis. I wouldn't need to keep in order who is where or who survived the battle. However, given a major aspect of this story are the waves created by Anakin changing his path, I felt that would be a cop-out. My plans for the council aren't set in stone, especially since the MC of the story will have fairly limited interaction with most of its members.
Jango's survival was also something I hadn't even considered until I was writing out the Geonosis stuff. Having him, Cad Bane, and Durge all alive and active in the same galaxy is a recipe for disaster.
The Jedi going to Tatooine are going to be a pair of familiar faces and will set at least one of them down an interesting path. The plot line was one of the few things I had planned out when I first started writing this story, and I'm sticking to it. Won't spoil who yet, nor do I know when I'll write that chapter. After this chapter, we'll be having another Sevrance chapter, then a Raxus Secundus chapter following an OC, and then either the Tatooine chapter or an important battle. The timeline will be a bit screwy, as several of these events will more or less be happening at the same time.
Ryan1017 - Fortunately for Obi-Wan, his collection of friends are mostly alive by this point of the AU war. Unfortunately, Anakin is a speeding bullet train who cares very little for these people. We'll have to see how that plays out.
My long-term plans on how the Padme/Anakin relationship will play out are up in the air. They aren't going to meet for a long while yet if the present plans stay as it is.
Crawl56 - As much of a CIS apologist as I am, I disagree that the CIS could have won the war that fast. Win at all? Probably, the deck was stacked pretty heavily in their favor from the start. However, the Republic has at its back the most powerful shipwrights in the galaxy, martial and industrious planets like Eriadu and the Core worlds, and a significantly larger population to pull on for soldiers. The war was always going to be a slog, but it was manipulated just enough to be a slog that favored Palpatine.
As for "Knight of the Force", I have not. I'll need to check it out at some point.
DS2010 - Fay is more-or-less the embodiment of Qui-Gon's understanding of the Force with none of the arrogance of Dooku. Even in her present state, she represents a strong balance for Obi-Wan to center himself on.
DannyPhantom619 - Oh boy, Ahsoka. Just you wait. She's still a few chapters away, but she will enter the story in typical early-war Ahsoka fashion, don't you worry.
Rasberry Joe - The environment of the Jedi Temple and Order lends itself well to fearmongering. For Anakin Skywalker to defect out of the blue and be publicly critical of the Order's role in the Republic? Why, that might just get some minds a-turning.
Smuk - This issue that I'm having with Barris is that we don't really know when the switch between her being a good Jedi and a terrorist happens, at least in the Clone Wars show. We have to remember that under the bombings and televised rants, Barris truly believed that what she was doing was just. She's a moral crusader taken to the logical extreme, but in the OTL there was no out for her. The CIS was just as bad if not worse than the Republic, where would Barris go? In the AU, well there might just be that moralistic out Barris needs.
E - Oh boy. There is a lot I agree with in your reviews, and these are the same things I'd say to myself three years ago when those chapters were written. Hopefully, I can keep to your high expectations and remain on the straight and narrow.