AN: To answer a few questions and clarify about Veil's actions on Kamino and Eriadu in the last update:
Veil's headspace is all right. He simply looks at the situation from different angle. Back on Kamino? That was him looking for the best bet for short term survival because his worst case scenario included the next transmission from Coruscant being his arrest or kill order. An order the Clones in the fleet would have obeyed.
Now on Eriadu? Three points. First, Ti did ask him to spare the Jedi. Second, simply killing them when it became clear that even one of them wasn't ready to play ball would be a waste of resources. It wasn't like he could turn one or two and have the rest follow him of their own free will. The Jedi on Eriadu were a package deal. And third - what he did gave him expendable minions to throw in the next convenient meat-grinder, though it would be good if they live long enough to die taking out CIS aligned Jedi.
Veil always was a Villain with capital V. However until the end of RK, he was constrained by the Jedi Order and Sidious. Now that they took out each other he can move much more freely.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Star Wars. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with commercial aim. I make no money from it.
Phase 4: Welcome back to the war
=RK=
Part 1
Corellian cruiser Freedom
Hangar A-1
"General on deck!" Rex snapped.
The tattered remains of the 501st augmented by hand-picked Kamino survivors so they could be up to full strength were gathered in parade formation in one of Freedom's biggest hangars.
"Rex, its good to see you back on your feet." I smiled at the Clone. "Men, Kamino was an eye-opener. We were betrayed by the Jedi. They not only turned against the Republic and assassinated the Chancellor, many of those knaves joined the Separatists. They mercilessly cut down our brothers and sisters in the army. It was their actions that led to the destruction of your home!" I waved a hand for emphasis.
The best thing? Everything I was saying was true. It was the Jedi and their coup who forced my hand into destroying Kamino instead of merely ensuring that world's fall to the enemy.
"Today a few of them will be making it up to you all." I pointed out to my four newest minions who were glowering at my back. "Master Madorin and his colleagues volunteered to play OpFor as I train you to take out rogue Jedi." I beamed at the Clones. If their grins were anything to go by, they loved the idea.
The same couldn't be said about my minions. They were expendable anyway so kriff them.
I began walking up and down in front of the gathered troopers.
"The first thing to know about hunting down Jedi – elaborate plans don't work. The longer you plan, the more complex your plan is the bigger the odds of miserable failure and death. First, the tools of your trade!" I stopped in front of a stack of crates full with various beautiful implements of mayhem. I pointed at the top one and it opened to reveal its contents, which flew up until they floated between me and the Clones.
"Firs, we have various sonic weaponry – blasters, grenades, screamers, the works. Their purpose is to break a Jedi's concentration which makes the Force much harder to us and thus softens up your target." I waved a hand and the sonic tools flew back into their case.
"Those are good old fashioned flame weapons – incendiary grenades, flamethrowers, plasma charges the works. While a Jedi could deflect fire, that requires concentration. Flames could be used either as a distraction or to finish off the target when they're busy dealing with another threat." Off you go.
"Next – cluster rockets, artillery, air-strikes, orbital support. It can work if you can pin-down the Jedi in a given area." I sent more toys back in the box. "Now, blasters. Using them is sub-optimal. Expect many, many shots to get deflected back at you though our new armors and shields help with that issue. Remember, engaging Jedi with blasters is a last resort. If you absolutely have to do it seek open terrain. Swarm them, surround them and shoot them from every possible side. It's going to be ugly but that's your best options. Only a handful of Jedi could survive a few hundred blasters firing at them at the same time from multiple directions. Overwhelming numbers and firepower is the name of the game if you have to take them out with blasters"
"This leaves mines – they could be quite effective either as an ambush tactic if the Jedi don't pay attention so you could lure them in or either as an area denial or to buy you time. Remember, most Jedi love to fight hand to hand – they will charge you, jump, run over walls, and generally make a
nuisance of themselves. Last and potentially least – gas attacks. It might work. I stress this point, might. Some Force Adepts could make themselves either temporally or permanently immune to most toxins you could get your hands on. As a general rule, gases that work through skin contact and attack the nervous system are much better than anything that needs inhalation to be useful. If nothing else works a Jedi could hold their breath for quite long even when they're in the middle of a fight. It would be even better if you have something corrosive to use – getting their skin dissolved before the toxins are absorbed by the bloodstream is your best bet." I stopped to take a breath and give the Clones some time to digest my lecture.
"You must have noticed a theme – distraction, misdirection. This is your best bet. Confuse the Jedi. Attack from multiple angles in multiple different ways. Take and keep the initiative. Create an opening, exploit it and make damn sure your target is dead."
The glowering at my back intensified. If my minions looks could kill I would be a steaming pile of ash on the deck right now and I wasn't done yet.
"A situational technique that works against typical Jedi is to exploit their pacifistic and self-sacrificing nature. Target civilians they might be compelled to protect, as long as said people aren't Republic citizens. Doing so might give you an opening. Point of order," I pointed a thumb behind me, "It won't work on those reprobates over there."
"Most of that is common sense, sir." Rex pointed out.
"You will be surprised, Commander. You've been working alongside Jedi since the war began. Given the number of soldiers in the army and the limited amount of Jedi to go around, most of our troopers haven't had such opportunity. Once I deem you all proficient Jedi hunters, I want you to train the rest of the infantry in the fleet how to do it. You can do that for me, right 501st ?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" The thunder of thousands of throats answered me.
"Good! One thing that I'll be teaching you is how to shield your minds from the Jedi. The basic is simple – you need to be feeling strong emotions while thinking about something else. Guilt, lust, fear, love – generally anything that won't broadcast you're about to shoot the kriffing bastards in the back. It works on most Sith too, with emotions they usually don't use or like – love, mercy, regret, empathy so to speak. I'll begin teaching the first group of you, while the rest practice anti-Jedi tactics on my friends over there." I turned to wave at my minions. "Rex get me a hundred of your best men for personal training, the rest of you – have at them." I jabbed a finger at the Jedi.
=RK=
Part 2
=RK=
Flag bridge
Republic cruiser Freedom
High orbit above Eriadu
"I hope everyone enjoyed their brief vacation, because we're back in business people!" I exclaimed after my small command staff gathered.
Half-hearted noises came from Joanna, Wilhuff and my aide Firmus whom I just got back after leaving him under Holt's tender mercies after Kamino. Which reminded me…
"Before I forget, Piett, after the meeting check where did we misplace Veers. The last time I recall he was back on Geonosis and about to pull back with the Caamasi."
"I'll make a not of it, sir." Firmus tapped it into his pad.
It turned out that admiral Tenant, the nominal GAR commander at Eriadu didn't survive his injuries from the battle and perished while we were on our way to Kamino. That's why I left Vex in charge of the contingent we would be leaving here – consisting of our damaged ships. We more than made up for it by picking up twenty of the new Venators with their battle groups along with fifteen brand new local cruisers making up one of Gideon's Theater Fleets.
"Good man. Joanna, status of the fleet? Do we have a final disposition?" I asked.
"While we got out a lot of ships from Kamino, many suffered various amount of damage. Between Tarkin, Vex and me we were able to reconstitute a formidable force which we could take with us." Holt called an order of battle to the main holotank.
The Freedom blinked on top as the Flagship. Below her spread division after division of Venators. Fifty nine of them. They were joined by the local cruisers and then Acclamators chock full with troopers to give us a decent sized ground force just in case. Then there were the escorts – light cruisers – just eighty three we could take, though that number was made up by the frigate packs: three hundred thirty seven of them.
In order to take this many ships without torpedoing my deals with the locals, there were some hoops I had to jump through first. Before we could head for the Core, we were going to raise hell in CIS space and make sure the Separatists would be too busy to mount a proper offensive in the Western Sector for the time being. First we were going to chose one of their staging grounds which doubled as supply depots and raze it, then we would go to Naboo, relieve the siege there and ensure the enemy attention in the region would be divided. Only then we would chose the best way to either Coruscant or Mandalore, whatever proved practical.
Nevertheless the total ship numbers were impressive. Most impressive.
"You two outdid yourselves. Logistics?" I praised my subordinates.
"Everything should be loaded by noon today. We need to chose destination." Tarkin answered and called up the galaxy map, then zoomed down to Eriadu and the surrounding sectors. "Intel suggests Triton, Sullust and Darkknell as enemy staging areas. They estimate a Sector fleet spread out among those locations for repair and resupply."
"Sullust and Triton are the primary staging grounds for attacks against Eriadu while Darkknell is a major way-point towards the Core. It is one of the jump off points for assaults on Naboo." Joanna added.
"Darkknell." I pointed at the Knel'char system. "From there we can jump directly to Naboo. It lessens the chance we would be intercepted or outraced by enemy response."
"Objectives?" Wilhuff asked.
"We make a point." I put up on display the preliminary assault plan for that system. "We will exit hyperspace six light hours from the triple star, send in scouts and then execute tactical insertion. Joanna, I want the Freedom and her battle-group for something special." I zoomed in on the only inhabitable or real planet in the system. Darkknell. became huge and her orbital defenses appeared as angry red symbols.
"That's audacious." Joanna glared at me.
"Your ship is build to take and dish the necessary punishment. She'll be all right."
Holt grumbled but didn't argue.
"Wilhuff, you'll be commanding the second part of the fleet. Once we're in position and everyone focuses on us, you'll jump in and hit them from behind. We'll be laying waste to everything in that system ASAP then once the fleet reforms either in system or at one per-determined staging points, we'll head off to Naboo."
"If there's third to a half of a Separatist Sector fleet there we should be all right. If we don't waste any time." Tarkin interjected.
"We can take the whole thing if we have to, however we'll suffer casualties I would prefer to avoid at this time. Besides, they're likely to come after us anyway. I would rather fight them at Naboo alongside whatever friendly forces are in that system."
"After Naboo? All hyperlanes leading into the core will be heavily monitored and we know what will wait us in the end of the route if we go there directly." Joanna asked.
"I lean towards striking through the Separatist's Mid Rim territories, hit targets of opportunity as they present themselves and break out into the west part of the galaxy. Once there we'll have many more options. However, that's just a goal – we won't be finalizing any plans before Naboo and getting any and all intelligence our people there could give us." I told them.
"That's settled then. Let's refine the plan for Darkknell. and get some contingencies ready." Tarkin said. "How big a part of the fleet do you want for the direct assault on the planet?"
"No more than a third. We want them to come after us, not to run." Joanna answered.
"I agree. We'll be taking all Block II Venators with us. Their improved Guardian might prove quite useful."
"You're going to have every small craft in system coming after you." Tarkin nodded. "You don't need to leave any for me."
"I'll take it under consideration. Firmus any thoughts? Is there anything in the plan that strikes you as particularly idiotic?"
"Eh? Sir!" Piett stammered and looked like a fish freshly plucked out of the water.