Here is Chapter 8 of the Mandalorian Maverick. The battle for Geonosis continues planet side as Ahsoka feels belittled by Anakin's lack of trust in her. Luckily, Will and the Bad Batch give her a chance to prove herself. Unfortunately, taking the planet leads to some shocking discoveries and the reveal of the true leader of the Geonosians. After the success of the invasion, General Grievous strikes back giving at the Jedi which leads to an unique encounter on Saleucami. Then a surprise Mandalorian bounty hunter brings him and his master to the planet of his people where he meets the New Mandalorians as well as the ones who stick to the old ways but to an extreme. He also meets his uncle and it's not the peaceful and happy reunion he thought it would be. Enjoy!

The Mandalorian Maverick: Home is where the heart is

21BBY: Geonosis

The final surge. Having learned of warlord Poggle the Lesser's plot to rebuild a Separatist droid foundry on Geonosis, the Republic launched an invasion onto the planet to stop his efforts before more droids can be produced. Thanks to the efforts of a strike team lead by Padawan Will Vizsla, the Republic invasion force has landed with minimal resistance.

Now, the invasion force led by Jedi Generals Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ki-Adi Mundi march onward. Their mission: destroy the factory at all cost. Anticipating stiff resistance, the Republic forces prepare for the lengthy siege while preparing any potential plans to end the battle quicker. But times runs short for our intrepid heroes as the dreaded droid mill nears completion.

The first part of the invasion of Geonosis was off to a good start. The Republic forces managed to land on the planet with no casualties thanks to the efforts of a taskforce sent onto the planet ahead of time. It was led by Commander Will Vizsla in command of the Bad Batch, ARC Captain Fordo and the Muunilinst 10. They snuck onto the planet and disabled the shield generator protecting the landing zone while also disabling several Anti-aircraft guns so the clone army could land.

With their full force and army of tanks, the Republic pushed past the destroyed shield generator to the main droid factory. They encountered some Geonosian resistance every now and then but they were able to handle it. Mostly using the AT-TE walkers and their mass driver cannons. They stopped about a klick from the factory to set up their heavy artillery cannons and plan out the logistics of pushing forward. Ahsoka had the privilege of handling the mission briefing with R2 providing holographic visuals.

"This bridge is our first waypoint. Focus your fire on the gun emplacements here and here because it's only—"

"Because it's only after we neutralize the guns that we can push into the factory." Anakin interrupted.

"I was—yes. We can push for the factory." Ahsoka stated as some of the clones chuckled seeing her briefing getting taken over by her master. Obi-wan saw this as well and shook his head in disbelief. "Now expect stiff resistance from—"

"And don't forget to top off your energy cells and ration packs. Once we leave, we're not sure what could happen so it's best if we're prepared." Anakin told them. "Anything else, Ahsoka?"

"No. I think you've pretty much covered everything…in my briefing." Ahsoka hinted.

"Very well. Squad dismissed." Anakin ordered and the clones walked away but Obi-wan, Captain Fordo, and Ki-Adi Mundi stayed behind. "Ok, what's next?"

"You know, master my briefings might go better if you didn't interrupt me every time I try to—"

"I wasn't interrupting. I was trying to help you." Anakin pointed out but ended up interrupting her again.

"Which I would appreciate if you didn't interrupt me to do it. I just think maybe you don't trust me to give the briefing." Ahsoka told him.

"It's not about trust. It's about getting the job done right." Anakin reminded her.

"Ah, so you don't trust me to get the job done right. I knew it!"

"Snips, I've never said—"

"No, it's ok. I understand. I'm the Padawan. You're the Master." Ahsoka replied and the two continued their argument.

Will returned with the Bad Batch from scouting ahead and walked over to join his master and the others. That's when he saw Anakin and Ahsoka arguing again while Obi-wan, Ki-Adi Mundi, Captain Rex, and Captain Fordo watched. "They're arguing again, aren't they?" Will asked.

"Yup." Captain Rex replied.

"Are they always like this?" Captain Fordo wondered as the argument between the two picked up.

"…I wouldn't have to be this way with you if you just listened to me." Anakin scolded her.

"Well, if you don't trust me maybe you should send me back." Ashoka suggested.

"Oh, don't tempt me, Snips." Anakin warned her.

"If you two are quite done." Obi-wan interrupted their argument before it went on for hours. Anakin and Ahsoka stopped speaking but sent stink glares at one another as Obi-wan took control of the conversation going forth. He started by having Will report on the scouting mission. "Padawan, I hope your recon mission with the Bad Batch was productive."

"It was. We learned a lot. Tech, if you wouldn't mind." Will had him lead the briefing while BD-8 projected a holo-image and layout of the droid factory and surrounding area.

"The Separatists have their droid factory in a superior position across a massive chasm approximately 300 meters across that stretches for miles. The only way to cross said chasm is via a single bridge. It's narrow and wide enough for two walkers to cross at a time so it would make the traversal to the factory itself difficult. All of this is on top of the shield generator protecting the factory that stretches across the chasm." Tech explained. "The moment any forces pass through the shield, they will be fired upon by several artillery cannons places along the ridges here and here."

"Whatever Tactical droid is behind this defense clearly learned a thing or two. Crossing that is gonna make us instant targets." Anakin stated.

"Or the Geonosians could easily destroy the bridge and leave us trapped on the other side." Ki Adi-Mundi added. "Our losses will be high and due to the shield we won't have aerial or artillery support. The first walkers to cross the bridge will be made easy targets."

"If there no other way to cross to get to the factory?" Obi-wan asked.

"No. The chasm is massive and stretches for miles so any kind of deviation or flanking maneuver would take us out of the way and by that time that factory could spill out battle droids. But Tech did find something that we might be able to use." Will answered and BD-8 brought up the holographic images which were of a series of tunnels beneath the factory.

"Every Geonosian building has a series of catacombs beneath it that run deep underground. It's where the Geonosian's hid after the first battle for Geonosis and is how their workers are able to get into the factory." Tech then highlighted a tunnel that reached the side of the chasm on the factory side. "There is a tunnel close enough to the wall of this chasm that could be used as an entry point. Once inside, we take the tunnels and head inside the factory. Find the main reactor of the facility and plant some chargers—"

"Then make it go BOOM!" Wrecker interrupted Tech but basically made the same point.

"It look more like a way to get lost if you ask me." Anakin pointed out.

"Perhaps but I've been running various scans and with the aid of BD-8, I believe I can successfully navigate a path through the catacomb tunnels and into the factory with a success rate of 86.79%." Tech stated, fidgeting with his goggles for a moment.

"Better than nothing I suppose." Rex admitted but he still felt the plan was risky.

"I'll admit…the plan isn't exactly great. I've been through tunnels like that before during the first battle of Geonosis and it's not something I'd care to repeat." Will said, recalling his harrowing experience with his deceased master. "But with all the options we have, it's the one that gives us the edge. If we don't destroy the factory then we'll have literal armies of battle droids and this battle will just drag on."

"Even if we were to try using the catacombs, how do we keep the Geonosians occupied while someone else is setting the bombs?" Ahsoka asked.

"Good point, Snips. If whoever's going in there is going to be successful, we'll need to create a diversion." Anakin suggested.

"Then that task will be carried out you and I along with Master Mundi and our army while the destruction of the factory falls to the Padawans and the Bad Batch." Obi-wan planned out.

"Whoa, who decided that? Walking into that factory could be suicide for the both of them." Anakin warned him, showing genuine concerned but mixed with an equal amount of condescension.

"Not if we are able to do our task and keep the droids and Geonosians focused on us." Obi-wan corrected him. "Padawan, do you believe you, Ahsoka, and the Bad Batch can handle this assignment?"

Will gave him a nod in response. "We can. Sneaking onto the planet was difficult but I'm confident that we can handle it and adapt if the situation evolves. But that's just me. Hunter?"

"We can handle it, sir." Hunter assured him as Tech ran some numbers.

"If you and the main army are successful in keeping Poggle's attention focused on you at the bridge then we have a 92.75% chance of successfully navigating through the catacombs." Tech stated.

"Master, I can do this. I've had riskier assignments." Ahsoka reminded Anakin.

"But you aren't prepared for this mission." Anakin reminded her.

"None of us are but when was the last time any of us were really prepared for anything we would face out here." Will pointed out, channeling a bit of Obi-wan wisdom.

"My Padawan speaks truth. All the planning and preparation in the world never survives the battlefield. Our own experiences should be testament to that." Obi-wan said to the group and they all acknowledged that. Obi-wan smiled at Will, glad to see that some of his wisdom was rubbing off. "Rest assured, Anakin. Will has proven himself dependable and miracles due tend to happen around him."

"See? Dependable Will is gonna get us through this. Don't worry, master. As you well know, I can follow orders." Ahsoka told Anakin, with a fairly blatant undertone in her voice.

"It's decided then." Ki-Adi-Mundi stated.

"I guess it is." Anakin relented.

"We'll monitor your progress on these chronometers." Obi-wan handed one to Ahsoka and Will who placed them on their wrists. "Sychronize on my mark. Three, two, one, mark."

They synched their chronometers together so the Padawan's progress could be monitored and kept track since using comms would be too risky. "All right, we'll stock up on explosives and then head out." Will said before he left with Ahsoka, the Bad Batch and Captain Fordo and his squad.

Anakin watched them leave and was worried about their success, something that Obi-wan could sense and see on his face. "You feel that Ahsoka is not up to the task." Obi-wan told him.

"I never said that." Anakin pointed out.

"What is it, then?" Obi-wan wondered.

"It's nothing. Let's prepare the men." Anakin told him.

"Don't worry, Anakin. They'll be fine. The Bad Batch are the best clones in the entire Republic army and Ahsoka and Will are the two finest Padawans the order has. If anyone can accomplish this task it's them." Obi-wan assured him with complete confidence in his voice. "Will has done many great things since becoming my apprentice and has come far in the time we've had together. Perhaps Ahsoka will make similar progress like him if you focused more on teaching and guiding her and less on trying to control her."

"You know, Ahsoka, Obi-wan. If I don't control her then she does something reckless. And I've tried teaching her but she doesn't listen to me. It's like she listens to every other thing I say. You have no idea how hard it is to train someone so unyielding." Anakin stated only for Obi-wan to chuckle.

"Yes, an agony I could only imagine." Obi-wan remarked, finding it quite funny that Anakin was in the same situation that he was once in when they were younger. A new master training a Padawan that was equally as skilled as they were troublesome.

Anakin then realized the subtle undertone in Obi-wans remark and what he was inferring. "Whoa, hang on a moment. I was not that bad as Ahsoka when I was younger."

"I'm not so sure about that. Great potential and skill but is hampered by an attitude of being cocky, stubborn, reckless, and a bit impulsive yet with a good heart and head." Obi-wan listed off, pretty much matching Ahsoka's personality with that of Anakin's when he was a younger Padawan. Thankfully he had matured a bit as he got older but those parts of his younger self were still around and came up every now and then. "Need I go on?"

"Hang on. Why are we talking about how reckless I am or Ahsoka is when your Padawan is probably the most reckless?" Anakin pointed out. "I can count the amount of times I've seen you lecture or pull back your Padawan when he was too reckless on one hand with fingers leftover while I wouldn't have enough fingers or toes to count the amount of times you've done it to me. Is he your favorite or something?"

"I'll admit that having Will as a Padawan has been an interesting and novel experience yet it would be impossible for me to pick a favorite between you two." Obi-wan admitted, only getting a stink eye from Anakin in response. "But your wrong in saying that I don't lecture or pull Will back when he does something reckless. Only difference is how I'm able to get the lesson across to him and how he responds. Unlike you, my lessons tend to stay in his head but I can't take all the credit for how he has turned out. He had another master before me. I'm more surprised that Will has managed to keep a cool enough head on Geonosis considering what happened the last time he was here but perhaps that's why."

"To try and prevent something like that from happening again." Anakin surmised and Obi-wan nodded in agreement. "Did you know his old master?"

"Not that well. I've met Ur-Sema Du in passing several times at the temple. She was a gifted Jedi, well trained in the force, with a good heart and keen mind but did enjoy the thrill of combat or missions. Something Will definitely picked up on before he came to me." Obi-wan added. "He is much like you, Anakin. He's has a good heart, a good head on his shoulders and cares deeply about the people close to him. And he has the occasional snark or impulsive side. Only difference is that he has managed to keep it in check and I think that has to do with one factor that no one else in the Jedi or the Republic can probably know."

"You mean the fact that he's Mandalorian?" Anakin asked and Obi-wan gave him a nod.

"That and the fact that he was raised by one. I didn't know his mother but she clearly did a good job in raising him. Especially considering she was likely someone shooting at me when I was on Mandalore years ago." Obi-wan remarked.

"The point?" Anakin wondered, wanting Obi-wan to just say what he wanted to say.

"The point is that a good master recognizes what he sees in his padawan and does his best to nurture and guide it in the best way possible. When I look at Will, I see the best parts in you as well. Someone with great potential and a good heart but what I also see is wisdom and knowledge beyond his years. Something I wish I saw in you." Obi-wan quipped earning a dry look from Anakin. "But I can't take credit for all of that wisdom. Granted, I have done my part in teaching him and my lessons but a good chunk of that wisdom and maturity was there long before he was my student. I've just helped nurture it. And I don't condone or encourage his reckless behavior because his reckless behavior tends to be accompanied by solid plans backed up with logistical facts and evidence."

"And mine don't?" Anakin pointed out.

"Well, even before the war most of your plans tended to end in aggressive negotiations with our sabers." Obi-wan reminded him. "Will's plans are more logistical and thought out, bringing to mind tactical strategy since that is one thing he has trained that the rest of the order hasn't. Will is smart enough to know what he knows and what he can handle along with what he can't. Something I believe Ahsoka could use your help in figuring out."

"Well, if you think you could do a better job with Ahsoka then maybe we could switch Padawans for a bit?" Anakin suggested. "I could use some of Will's strategic thinking and I think he and I could do some real good on the battlefield together."

"I believe Ahsoka is with the master she needs, Anakin. I'm, of course, happy to assist in Ahsoka's training and tutelage when I can and you are happy to assist Will in his but I believe the right students are paired with the right master. Ahsoka has had her issues with her recklessness before but she is doing much to try and make up for that. She's a lot like you so in a sense, it is trying to train yourself but have you given any thought to the best way to teach her? Which training would you benefit from better? One where you're told what not to do because your master doesn't trust you…or one where you're told what not to do and your master shows you why?" Obi-wan suggested in his typical wise Obi-wan way that only he could deliver, giving a lot for Anakin to think about.

"I still think I could show Will a few things." Anakin relented earning a chuckle at Obi-wan. It was funny to see his former Padawan struggle with what to say when his usual wisdom rendered him the winner in a conversation.

"I don't doubt that you could but he may surprise the both of us with what he has to teach us. I've learned just as much from him during our time together. He's a rather fascinating young man, being only the second Mandalorian ever admitted into the Jedi order. When he told me of his heritage I did some research into the archies on the only other Mandalorian inducted. There was a lot to read about his ancestor Tarre Vizsla." Obi-wan told him.

"What did the archives say?" Anakin wondered.

"A lot but then again a lot of things happened a thousand years ago during the wars against the Sith Empire that weren't dissimilar from now. His story is much different as he was already working as a Mandalorian mercenary during the war that occasionally had him work with the various Sith factions but most of his work had him on worlds that the Republic had withdrawn from. From the ways the archives tells it, he was an exceptional warrior with uncommonly fast reflexes and skilled with a blade probably due to his force sensitivity. On one mission, some Jedi he encountered explained to him his unique circumstances and invited him to join the order." Obi-wan recounted and that last part earned a genuine look of surprise from Anakin.

"He was invited into the order even though he was older than the younglings?" Anakin asked and Obi-wan nodded.

"It was a different time and the enrollment was not restricted to just infants." Obi-wan explained. "He was one of the most skilled combat trainees they had and one of the few padawans with viable military experience. Upon his ascension to Knighthood, he became one of the finest duelists of his generation and one of the most promising Jedi guardians as well. His unique background and skills as a warrior had him service the Republic Military on the frontlines of the New Sith Wars and by all accounts, he was one of the finest Jedi and soldiers to serve. He earned plenty of recognition and praise although he wasn't without his detractors. Many of his ancestors often were contracted alongside the Sith so some in the order were suspicious of him being there. But then the stories got interesting during the turn to the Republic's dark age."

"I remember learning about that. The Sith Wars nearly saw the collapse of the Republic and most of the galaxy had to look out for itself." Anakin remembered his lessons on that. It was indeed a dark era for the galaxy.

"And the Jedi were pushed into an evermore present role in combating the Sith and protecting the galaxy. Many knights and masters were left protecting entire planets in the wake of the Republic collapse. Tarre Vizsla took it upon himself to undertake as many missions as possible and help undefended worlds, even as far as Sith-occupied space when he rallied the clans of his home world and expelled the Sith from that sector. He led them through victory after victory and even took up the title of Mandalore, the leader of the Mandalorian people. He served both his people, the Republic, and the Jedi with honor…even putting his life on the line to fight the Brotherhood of Darkness before his passing. It's a shame that most people tend to focus on the history of Mandalore when they were enemies of the Republic and the Jedi." Obi-wan said.

"He's got an interesting ancestor but history doesn't tend to repeat itself." Anakin stated but Obi-wan didn't share his friend's belief.

"I'm beginning to believe that this war is proving that belief false." Obi-wan muttered.

Will, Ahsoka, the Bad Batch, and the Munnilinst 10 and gotten everything they needed including two large bags of explosives that Will and Ahsoka would carry. Hunter and the others made sure their ammo was maxed out before they went ahead of the army. Since the army would be taking the cleared main road to the factory, they would stick to the flanks to avoid being seen. They cleared a ridge to see the large chasm and bridge that led to the droid factory and large shield that was protecting it. Small but powerful enough that it was able to shrug off orbital bombardment.

"Looks like they don't know we're here yet. That's a good start." Will said, using his electrobinoculars to try and spot anything out of the ordinary but nothing. "Crosshair, you see anything I'm not."

Crosshair was using his sniper scope and rangefinder to scan the perimeter but no droids. "No. It's clear." Crosshair replied.

"Oh, man. If that shield wasn't there I'd just charge right in and take down those clankers like it's a party." Wrecker declared, amped up to fight as he pat his DC-17m blaster.

"Easy, Wrecker. Tech, you ready?" Hunter asked Tech who had just finished synching his system to BD-8.

"Just about finished." Tech replied.

"Mando, are you sure this is such a good idea? I mean, sneaking up on the factory is smart but there's a still a chance we could get lost in there." Ahsoka asked. She just wanted to make sure that their plan was solid.

"If we were just going in with Tech's scans alone then sure but that's not all. Hunter's tracking skills and senses will be able to help guide us through and paired up with Tech's smarts then we have more than a solid chance of getting through the tunnels and finding the factory." Will assured her.

"Hunter was engineered with heightened senses. Even if the factory on top of the vast Geonosian tunnels, Hunter can feel the electromagnetic frequencies. Maps and scans can sometimes be wrong. Hunter never is." Tech explained, finishing his synch with BD-8. "I'm done. I've synched up BD-8's scanner with my data pad so everything he sees and scans I'll be able to filter through my database, giving us a better picture of the tunnels. That combines with Hunters senses improve our odds of getting through the tunnels to 96.52%."

"And in the off chance we're in the unlucky part of that percentage?" Ahsoka wondered.

"There is a contingency plan that could work. If we are somehow discovered and cannot make it to the factory, several charges placed in certain parts of the tunnels if destroyed would cause a possible crack in the foundation that could cause the factory to collapse on itself." Tech explained and showed them a partial simulation.

"That's why we brought the extra charges. We'll place them along the tunnels as we make our way in but its our backup. If we can at least get inside and plant the charges then we're golden." Will told her.

"If we can't make it back, then we've got enough droid poppers to even the odds. And we could always use Wrecker as a battering ram." One of the clones suggested and Wrecker chuckled before bumping the clone on the shoulder.

"Just thought of everything, haven't you, Mando? It's kind of refreshing. With my master it's more think up of a plan as the thing is happening." Ahsoka told him as they kept moving to the edge of the chasm.

"You know me, Ahsoka. Always thinking." He remarked.

Line Break xxxxx

Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ki-Adi Mundi led their infantry and tanks towards the droid factory with their artillery cannons parked from a safe enough distance. The armored walkers flanked the platoons and companies of clones as they saw the protective shield dome and droid factory in sight. In order for the infiltration team to have the highest success rate, they needed to bait the Separatists into diverting all their attention at them. To do that, they needed to show up in full force so it looked like they were going to march past the shield and head into the factory.

It seemed to have worked as the main gates of the factory were opening. "Here come the droids. Everybody steady. Steady. Keep marching." Anakin told them.

"The Padawans should have made it past the bridge by now. Now, it's up to us to make sure they have the time." Obi-wan said. Will, Ahsoka, and the others were indeed climbing down the chasm where they saw a large army of battle droids and super battle droids marching across the bridge to meet the Republic army but they stopped short of passing through.

"That looks like a lot of droids." Anakin stated.

"Well, it is a droid factory." Ki-Adi Mundi reminded him.

"All right, Cody. Move your men into position." Obi-wan ordered.

"Yes, General. All companies, fall in!" Cody ordered as Obi-wan, Anakin, and Ki-Adi Mundi activated their lightsabers.

"GO!" Anakin ordered and they charged towards the shield barrier. Once the three Jedi got close, they did a combined force push that sent the first hundred battle droids flying back. Many of the droids were pushed into other droids while the rest were sent off the bridge down the chasm below. They passed through the shield and began blocking or deflecting blaster fire back at the droids. The first few clone troopers who passed through the shield threw droid poppers down the bridge, taking out clusters of the battle droids and then the clones behind them threw down more. This gave the Jedi leading them some breathing room and a chance to move up. Obi-wan was in the middle doing several saber spins, twirls, and rotations to act as a literal blaster shield while Anakin and Ki-Adi Mundi covered his flanks and deflected blaster fire back at the droids. More and more clone troopers entered the shield and threw more droid poppers down the bridge which gave them more breathing room and momentum to move forward. That's when some Geonosians flew out of the rocky structures surrounding the droid factory and began attacking them from the air. Some clones were taken out by their sonic blasters and while the Geonosians had the advantage of being able to fly, the increased volume of fire by the growing number of clones let them shoot down most of the flying bugs. Some heavy clone troopers entered the shield barrier and used their rotary guns or rocket launchers to take out the remaining Geonosians. That's when Commander Cody had the remaining troopers with rocket launchers take aim at the ridge where the Separatists artillery was waiting for their walkers. Once they had a lock they fired and took them down.

While all the fighting was going on above, Will, Ahsoka, and their group had made it to the bottom of the chasm and crossed it to the other side. Now Tech was using his scans to find the right place to make their entry. "Here. Make a hole approximately 5 meters in diameter." Tech pointed at the wall so Will used his saber and cut a big enough hole through the rockface. Once he finished cutting the hole, he used the force to lift it out and they saw the entrance into the catacombs.

"Nice work." Ahsoka remarked as she stepped in when Will grabbed her by the shoulder and stopped her.

"BD-8, Hunter, and Tech should go in first. They're our guides." Will reminded her and she nodded. BD-8 climbed down Will's shoulder and walked into the catacombs first followed by Hunter and then Tech. Everyone then moved in after and stayed in a single file while being as quiet as possible.

BD-8 took lead since he would be able to scan every pathway, corridor, entrance, and exit in the tunnels which were then fed to Tech's scanner and gave him a better 3D outline of the catacombs and helped them plot their best path. That combined with Hunter's sense ensured they were heading in the right direction. Hunter had to remove his helmet so nothing interfered with them. He sense something up ahead and everyone heard some chittering sounds so they hugged the walls to hide from two Geonosian soldiers up ahead.

The two bugs didn't seem to notice anything and walked away. Once they were out of view, Hunter ushered everyone to follow him. Will was the last one because he took out a demolition charge and placed it on the ceiling. BD-8 continued walking down the tunnels when he was suddenly brought to a stop. Hunter signaled the others to halt and the reason they were stopped was because there was a whole nest of Geonosians sleeping in a pathway up ahead. Will quietly made his way up to the front to see what the holdup was. With all those Geonosians sleeping and the narrow size of the pathway, they'd never make it through undetected.

"Logistically speaking, this way is the fastest." Tech told him, showing him on the scans of the catacombs and tunnels. That's when he, Hunter, Will, and BD-8 turned to look at Wrecker. Soon everyone did as well and they all realized that there was no way he was gonna fit through the narrow pathway without alerting one of the sleeping Geonosians.

Wrecker noticed everyone looking at him so he turned around, thinking they were looking at something behind him but there was nothing there. "What?" Wrecker asked.

"Find us another path." Will told Hunter who nodded and led them away from the sleeping hive. Ahsoka placed a demolition charge in a corner before following the others. They detoured a bit which took them some extra time but Tech, BD-8 and Hunter managed to lead them in the general direction of where they were supposed to go. They entered a junction that was a small hub for a dozen tunnels and pathways through the catacombs which force the group to sit around in order to figure out the correct path. "Tech, talk to me."

"This junction will lead us on the right path. One moment to calculate the next route to take." Tech told him. "One miscalculation and we'll end up lost in these tunnels."

"Lost in a Geonosian hive surrounded by bugs. Sounds great." Ahsoka muttered sarcastically.

"Bring them on. I'm itching for a fight." Wrecker boasted, wanting to fight when Will put a hand on his shoulder.

"Easy, Wrecker. Hunter, how's it looking?" Will asked him.

"It's close. I can feel it." Hunter walked over and placed his hand on a wall to feel the faint vibrations coming from the factory along with the electromagnetic fields put in the air. That's when he sense the new vibrations coming from up above and saw a tunnel that went up. BD-8 looked up and scanned the tunnel, giving Tech the data that he needed.

"I have our next heading. Up." Tech pointed up at the tunnel in the ceiling.

Captain Fordo fired an ascension cable up through the tunnel until it was snagged on something. BD-8 climbed up the cable first followed by Hunter, Tech, and then the others. Will was the last one and made sure the bring up the cable with him as he climbed up. Once he got into the tunnel through the ceiling, he placed a demolition charge in the tunnel before he kept climbing.

BD-8 was the first one up through the tunnel since he was the nimblest and fastest followed by Hunter and Tech. They looked around and didn't see any Geonosians when they saw BD-8 pointing up with one of its legs. They heard the sound of metal cranking and looked up through the hole to see hundreds of battle droids moving along assembly lines. The others had climbed out and saw they had arrived near the droid factory.

"Whoa…that is a lot of droids." Ahsoka muttered as Will placed demolition charge on the wall.

"All right, let's keep moving." He told them as Tech and Hunter continued leading the group. They eventually arrived at a service hatch that led to the main reactor of the droid factory.

"This is it. We're here." Tech told them.

"All right, let's do this quickly. Start setting the charges." Will ordered and Ahsoka took her backpack off before handing out some explosive charges to everyone. They placed them all around the reactor and reactor room while Will placed one by the service hatch just in case before joining the others. That's when he saw Hunter's head perk up because he sensed something. "Hunter, what is it?"

"Droids and Geonosians. And they're coming." Hunter told him. "They know something's wrong."

Captain Fordo rushed over to the service hatch and opened it to see a lot of Geonosians scurrying around in the tunnels below like they were organizing. "Exit's blocked." Captain Fordo reported.

"Now what?" Ahsoka asked Will who wasn't sure what to do. This threw a wrench in their plans and with their exit cut off, they'd probably have to fight their way out of the droid factory.

"Ascension cables to the ceiling. That'll buy us some time to let me think of something. Crosshair, plant a surprise for any intruders." Will ordered and the clones nodded. They each fired an ascension cable to the ceiling and hid in the rafters. Crosshair threw some silver disks on the ground and walls before firing a cable up. Ahsoka took out a cable and shot up to the ceiling but Wrecker was the only clone who hadn't done so.

"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea. I'll stick around here. I've got a thing with heights." Wrecker said so Will grabbed his blaster and angled the ascension cable to the ceiling before firing the cable and hooking the blaster to his belt.

"Sorry, Wrecker." Will apologized as Wrecker was pulled up into the air by his waist. Will heard the doors opening so he fired his grapple cable and ascended up just as four battle droids and three Geonosians entered the room.

The Geonosians spoke in their usual chitter speech as the droids looked around. One of the battle droids walked over to the reactor and saw an explosive charge stuck to it. "Looks like the motion sensor alerts in the reactor room were right. Someone was here. It's sabotage."

"Search out and find the trespassers." A droid ordered and they began looking around while the Geonosians took the bombs placed on the main reactor. Will realized this was a problem so he needed to stop them. He gave a nod to Crosshair who lined up his scope at one of the disks he placed on the wall before pulling the trigger. The sniper bolt shot out of the barrel and hit one of the metal disks where it was bounced off and shot one of the droids on the ground. The bolt kept traveling and ricocheted off another disk where it took out a second droid and then rinse and repeat for the third and fourth. Will disengaged his grapple hook and dropped down from the ceiling, activating his lightsaber mid-fall before slicing two Geonosians in half. The third raised its sonic blaster at him only for Crosshair to shot it in the head.

Will gave him a mock salute and Crosshair gave him a nod back as he and the others descended back to the ground. "So, this throws a wrench in the plan." He stated.

"That's putting it mildly. I'm picking up increase activity in the catacombs so our initial exit strategy is compromised." Tech reported.

"Even with all of us I don't like our odds of fighting in those narrow tunnels." Ahsoka pointed out.

"And you shouldn't. It a trap waiting to happen and we'll be overrun or get lost and separated." Will said, realizing they were kind of screwed. Even if they could still blow up the reactor then they had to figure out how to get out of the factory alive. "Tech, plug into a terminal and get everything you can, especially layouts of the factory. And disable the motion sensors. Ahsoka, seal up all the service hatches."

Tech plugged into a nearby terminal and downloaded everything he could find after disabled the security system. Ahsoka and some of the clones used small plasma torches to seal up the service hatches to prevent any Geonosians from entering. BD-8 plugged into the terminal by the main door and kept it locked shut until they could figure out their next move. "What's the plan, sir?" Captain Fordo asked Will.

"Thinking. We still need to stop this factory but our exit strategy isn't viable anymore." He answered, pacing back and forth to think up of another solid substitute.

"I say we just plant the bombs and go back down the tunnels. We can handle a few bugs." Wrecker proudly declared as he punched his hands together.

"Correction. It wouldn't be a few bugs but an entire hive and statistics show that a Geonosian hive could be a small as a hundred or as large as a few thousand." Tech corrected him to put their odds into perspective.

"I appreciate your optimism and enthusiasm Wrecker but heading down there where they live is a bad idea. They have the advantage and in those cramped conditions we'd be easy targets." Will told him, thinking things through. "Our only other option is to head straight through the factory to the front and blow the charges."

"Yeah, because heading straight through a droid factory is a better plan." Crosshair's sarcasm was pretty evident in his dry delivery which was accompanied by his usual chewing of his toothpick.

"Well, unlike the catacombs we'll have more space in the factory and know exactly where to go if Tech can get the blueprints. We could also use some of the extra explosives we have to cause explosions in the factory and draw the droids attention away from where we need to go." Will planned out. "It's a factory and I'm sure a lot of things here can go bad if a simple wire is crossed."

"Ha! When we get through with this place, it'll blow sky high!" Wrecker exclaimed.

"Hopefully without us in it." Hunter pointed out. "Tech, did you get anything?"

Tech adjusted his glasses before he projected a holographic image of the factory and highlighted their position in the reactor room. "I've managed to extrapolate 3D blueprints of the entire factory. Here is our current position in the main reactor room. I have charted a path to the main entrance which is approximately 450 meters away." Tech highlighted the main entrance to the factory and then the path they would need to take.

"That's a long run through a droid factory." Captain Fordo stated as Will looked at the blue prints. It was going to be a long run through the factory to get to the main entrance with the possibility of running into stiff resistance. But this was a factory which meant that a lot of this space was taken up by assembly lines and production areas where the droids and weapons were made. And like he said, stuff that could go wrong or explode if a wire was crossed or something was out of place in the right area.

"Ok, I think I got an idea." Will said so everyone gathered around to listen. "We leave a few charges here on the main reactor. Enough to cripple it but not completely destroy it and bring the factory down on our heads. We then head out to the exit as far as we can go without being detected and when that's no longer a possibility, I'll detonate the charges I placed in the tunnels. It's not enough to bring the place down but plenty so that it's a massive pain for the Geonosians and it'll draw the factory's attention."

"Once those charges go off then the entire factory is gonna be on alert looking for us." Hunter told him.

"I know and we'll be running like hell to the exit when they do but to help even the odds we'll make use of the explosives we have left." He began handing out charges to everyone. "Place these wherever you think they'll cause a big enough explosion or the most damage, especially near the production areas."

"If things around the factory start going sideways then everyone will be more focused on that." Ahsoka deduced.

"That's the hope. This factory is important so if something starts going wrong then they'll be more focused on fixing that and we can use those distractions to get as close to the exit as possible. Then we blow the main reactor." Will laid out the final details of his plan and the clones thought it over. "It's not perfect or ideal but given the circumstances and this group, I think we can pull it off."

"You've managed to pull crazier stunts before, Mando so maybe you'll get lucky again." Ahsoka told him, putting her vote of confidence in him.

"We managed to sneak onto the planet, take out the shield generator and make way for the rest of the invasion. That plan was a little unorthodox but we pulled it off. I'm in." Captain Fordo stated and his team nodded.

"We've dealt with bad odds and worse numbers in horrible situations but this one might have a chance." Hunter remarked.

"I'm calculating a 52.56% chance of success in this plan." Tech stated.

"Bah! Who cares! Just let me start smashing and destroying!" Wrecker shouted and Will nodded.

They placed a few charges on the main reactor before the rest were handed out. Everyone readied their weapons as Tech opened up the door to the reactor room and they began making their way to the exit. They moved as quickly as possible but avoided being seen or making too much noise. Will and Hunter led the group through the foundry's hallways and made it about 50 meters from the main reactor when they saw a droid patrol of four turn the corner.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be here." A battle droid told them only for Will and Ahsoka to activate their sabers and leap forward. They cut through the four droids quickly and kept moving.

They continued down a hallway to a corner where they hugged the wall as they heard a lot of movement nearby. Will peaked his head around the corner and saw some droids standing at a terminal. He took a droid popper and used the force to levitate it over. It went off and took out the droids so they moved up to see the droids were working on a terminal for part of an assembly line in the foundry. Part of the wall had glass on it so they could see the massive droid factory with rows and rows of automated assembly lines building everything from battle droids, cannons, and tanks.

"There must be a hundred thousand battle droids here." Ahsoka muttered.

"137,294 battle droids in production at the moment but several thousands of those completed were marched out to engage the forces on the bridge." Tech informed her.

"Tech, plug into the terminal and get everything you can. Everyone else…" Will used the repulsor on his gauntlet to break open one of the glass windows on the wall. "Let's cause some real damage."

They all synched up their charges and threw them into the factory. Once Tech got everything he could from the terminal he blasted it to cause some problems before they kept moving. They encountered a random droid patrol every now and then but were able to take care of them swiftly and quietly, making it so they were about 200 meters from the exit. That's when an alarm sounded in the factory because of some mechanical issues going on in the foundry production area.

"Looks like they're on alert now." Crosshair stated.

"Then it's time to give them something to worry about." Will took out a detonator and pushed the button. Deep in the Geonosian catacombs, the four charges he had placed began to beep repeatedly but soon picked up pace. Some nearby Geonosians were drawn to the sound but when they saw they were explosives they ran away in fear. The charges then exploded, taking out the Geonosians who were nearby and caused parts of the tunnels in the catacombs to collapse. Then the charges thrown throughout the droid foundry went off. Those that were stuck to conveyor belts or assembly lines destroyed them while others took out electrical conduits that then started to short-circuit and cause other explosions.

Will and the others felt the small rumbles from the explosions in the foundry and soon a louder alarm went off. "All right. Let's hope our distraction works. Move!" Will and the others continued to head to the exit.

A group of battle droids turned the corner and saw the two Jedi and clone squad. "Halt!" The droid ordered only for a blaster bolt to take its head off. The rest opened fire so Will and Ahsoka activated their sabers to deflect and block their blaster bolts. Will jumped into the air and tucked into a flip before landing behind the droids and force pushed them into Ahsoka who sliced them to pieces.

They kept running as there were some more explosions that rumbled through the foundry, likely caused by the damage done in the production area which is when they entered a giant hangar being used to build and house Separatist droid tanks. Will fired the rocket from his gauntlet and blasted a group of droids. The explosion created a small cloud of smoke that obscured the droids view when blaster bolts came through and blasted them.

"Make a hole!" Wrecker shouted, blasting some droids with his blaster before he just tackled through a group with brute strength.

Hunter unsheathed his vibro-blade and stabbed a droid in the back before throwing it into another one, then slashed a third in the chest and turned to stab a fourth in the side before blasting a fifth one in the face. Tech ran around 5 battle droids, sticking small charges on them before pressing a detonator which made the charges go off and electrocute them. Captain Fordo slid forward and knocked a droid off its feet before blasting it in the back of the head and then blasted six more in quick succession. The other clones blasted some droids while staying nimble to avoid getting hit. One clone hit a droid with the buttstock of his DC-15A blaster rifle and knocked it to the ground before blasting it in the face and then rolled forward to blast three more. Another clone threw a droid popper at a large group to take them out when some super battle droids entered the hangar but they were taken out quickly by precise blaster bolts to their face plates. The shots came from Crosshair who had jumped onto a droid tank and used the position to snipe any droids that entered the hangar.

Wrecker picked up a battle droid by the leg and used it like a bat as he swatted away two droids when one of the droid hover tanks was activated and it aimed its cannon at them. That's when Will came from the side and jumped, slicing the main gun in half while Ahsoka jumped on top of the tank and sliced open the hatch. Tech ran by and tossed her a thermal detonator which she tossed in before jumping away just as it exploded. Four destroyer droids rolled into the hangar but one of them was sniped by Crosshair. The other three were blasted by Hunter and Captain Fordo before they could unfold and deploy their shield generators. Will sliced the last droid in half and stomped on its face before he looked around to see there were no other droids in the hangar.

"Aw, is that all? I could do with some more! Come on, come out and fight!" Wrecker shouted but there were no other droids in the area.

Will deactivated his saber when he saw some new model tanks that he hadn't seen before. "Tech, what are those things?"

"Prototype Separatist Super tanks. With new heavy armor that is ray shielded and equipped with twin blaster cannons, turreted twin laser cannons and a set of twin-warhead launchers. The armor on these tanks are capable of deflecting shots from an AT-TE walker and even our artillery cannons." Tech explained. "The vehicle is still in its prototype phase but 12 have been completed and outfitted."

"But there are only two here." Ahsoka told him.

"My best guess is that they are currently being used against the encroaching Republic forces at the front of the factory." Tech suggested.

"If these things can stand up against our artillery cannons then we need to take them out. Hop on. We've got our ride out of here!" Will told everyone and climbed onto Super tank. "Wrecker, make sure that last one doesn't go anywhere."

"Gladly." Wrecker walked over to the super tank and ripped open the hatch before throwing an explosive in the cockpit. He then got in the super tank and they headed to the main exit when the explosive went off and destroyed the remaining super tank from the inside.

Back outside with the main force of the Republic army they had managed to clear the bridge to the Separatist side with minimal causalities after taking out the army of droids sent out to meet them. The artillery cannons placed on the ridge were taken out and the Republic forces had managed to cross the bridge. Their victory was short-lived when they saw two columns of new droid tanks slowly come out of the factory at them. One of the AT-TE walkers on the bridge lined up its mass driver cannon and fired at the tanks but its ray shielded armor shrugged off the blast.

"All rocket launchers fire!" Commander Cody ordered and a huge volley of rockets were fired at the tanks along with more fire from the walker but the tanks heavy armor shrugged it off. "Sir, our rockets did nothing."

"That's not good. It would appear the Separatists have a new toy." Obi-wan remarked.

"Those tanks must be ray-shielded." Anakin stated before looking at his chronometer which hadn't changed since Ahsoka and Will left. "Something's wrong. They should have made it there by now."

The armored covering on the first two super tanks folded back and a volley of warheads were launched into the air before destroying a walker and killing some clones. "Fall back!" Obi-wan ordered and the clones began to fall back.

"Master, Master can you hear me?!" Obi-wan's comm device went off with a communication from Will.

"Padawan, is that you? Did you make it inside the factory?" Obi-wan asked him as he and the others rushed back onto the bridge.

"We did but ran into some unforeseen complications and obstacles in the original plan. We're heading out the front. The Separatists have a new super tank and its ray shielded." Will reported as the super tanks outside the factory fired another volley while the Republic forces kept running for safety across the bridge to the other side of the shield barrier.

"We know! They've just sent some out as a welcoming party!" Obi-wan told him.

"Roger that. We're coming up behind them, now!" Will told him as their super tank exited the factory to see the other ten firing at the clones.

"Target those thanks!" Ahsoka ordered and Tech hit a button, firing a volley from the twin warhead launchers. He concentrated fire on the two tanks in the back of the armored column and the combined firepower of the warheads managed to punch through the ray shielded armor and destroy one of the tanks while crippling the other. "Reload."

The clones in the back quickly reloaded the warhead launchers as fast as they could. Will unslung the backpack he was wearing and opened it. "Give me all the explosives and droid poppers we have left." The clones gave them what he had before he put it on his back. "Once you've finished reloaded let me know and I'll get clear."

Will jumped out of the cockpit and ran to the super tanks up ahead. Two of the tanks stopped and had slowly turned around to see what happened to the other tanks so Will needed to stop them before they lined up a shot. He used the force to increase his speed and jumped on top of a tank before using his saber to slowly cut a hole through the cockpit hatch.

The droids in the cockpit looked up when they saw the hole cut through and saw the Jedi up above. "Hey."

Will took out two thermal detonators and armed them. "Sorry." He tossed them down before jumping onto the next tank. The detonators blew up and crippled the super tank from the inside. He repeated this with the second tank and destroyed it, making what was once eight super tanks now six.

"Next volley is ready." Tech radioed in so Will jumped off the tank and ran to the side before another warhead volley was fired and dwindled the number down to four. "Reloading."

Will ran to the rest of the super tanks which had started to turn around as well and fired at him. He activated his saber to block and parry a few blaster bolts before leaping into the air and landing on top of a super tank. He cut open a hole in the hatch when he saw Obi-wan, Anakin, and Ki-Adi Mundi land on the last three.

"We couldn't let you have all the fun." Obi-wan told him as they finished cutting their holes so Will tossed them each a thermal detonator which they threw in the super tanks before jumping clear. The explosives went off and the super tanks were dealt with so Will took out the detonator tied to the charges placed on the main reactor.

"Tick-tick boom." He pressed the button and the charges on the main reactor exploded. It wasn't enough to cause a massive overload explosion and bring the factory down on itself but it was enough damage to the reactor and render it useless. With it taken out of commission, the entire foundry had no power and production was halted. "Tech, how's it looking in there?"

Ahsoka and the others got out of the super tank and joined Will with Obi-wan, Anakin, and Ki-Adi Mundi. "All my readings show the factory is no longer functioning. Our charges on the main reactor did their job of shutting it down without causing a combined explosion that would cause a structural collapse and kill us all." Tech reported.

"I take it that things didn't go as planned then." Ki-Adi Mundi said.

"Not exactly. Some unforeseen variables came into play that required us to change up the plan. We couldn't exit through the tunnels so we caused enough destruction for us to sneak through and the factory is out of commission." Will reported.

"Unforeseen variables and obstacles are unavoidable no matter how well you plan. But it does show how you were able to act under pressure to ensure the missions success as well as the safety of your team. I'm glad you're all right, Padawan." Obi-wan told him with a proud smile on his face and Will smiled back.

"Thank you master but I had a good team with me. And Ahsoka did a good job as well." He replied.

"Good to know. Anakin, anything to say?" Obi-wan wondered as Anakin sent him a look before walking over to Ahsoka.

"Guess I managed to get the job done, huh master?" Ahsoka pointed out and Anakin chuckled a bit.

"I guess you did, snips. Nice job." Anakin praised her and she nodded.

"Helps that I've learned from the best and had a good team leader." Ahsoka stated, looking over at Will and sent him a wink. "Who knows. Maybe I'll be as good of a leader as he is one day."

"Don't get ahead of yourself there, Ace. You did good but you're never gonna be as good as me." Will boasted and she just punched his arm. They began organizing teams to head into the factory and safeguard the location. This was another big win for the Republic and another step closer to ending the battle for Geonosis. All that was left was to get the Geonosian leader Poggle the Lesser. Only the Republic would soon find out that he wasn't the true leader and reported to someone else.

Line Break xxxxx

Geonosis

Victory on Geonosis. After a massive planetary siege, the Separatist forces on Geonosis have finally fallen. Key weapons factories have been destroyed. Now, Jedi Master Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ki-Adi Mundi begin a cleanup of the planet. They launch an intense campaign to find Separatist Leader Poggle the Lesser and bring him to justice.

After the destruction of the main droid foundry on Geonosis, all that was left standing were the remaining Geonosian resistance and Poggle the Lesser. With the foundry destroyed the Separatist Super Tanks weren't able to be produced and since the factory wasn't destroyed, Republic Intelligence was able to get information from any terminals that hadn't been destroyed from the various explosions placed around. That and the information Tech gave them would be a benefit in not only designing weapons to take down any future Super Tanks they might encounter but the other data he was able to recover was a gold mine as well.

A new fleet of transport and carrier ships arrived along with several CR90 Corvette ships to drop off new troops and supplies. Will had gotten some food, water, and reoutfitted his gauntlets. He was now overlooking the factory as Republic forces were still doing an inventory of the factory. Obi-wan walked over and joined him.

"A hard-won victory." Obi-wan told him.

"It was. And it could have been a costly one if things went bad." Will pointed out and Obi-wan agreed. "Any sign of Poggle?"

"Nothing. We have Clone squadrons spread out all over the area but no hits yet. Anakin's checking the southern sector and Master Mundi is checking the east which leaves the western and northern sector to us." Obi-wan informed him.

"All right. I'll head out with a squad and see if I can pick up a trail." Will suggested as he started heading over to his ship.

"There's no need. I'm sure the Clones can handle this." Obi-wan told him

"Every single person we have out there looking for him can make this go faster. Poggle's too important to leave behind. I'll take the Bad Batch and Captain Fordo's squad on some speeder bikes to check things out and report back." Will told him.

"Very well. Be careful, Padawan." Obi-wan cautioned him.

"Always." Will gave him a mock salute before heading over to the Tempest which was parked near some LA-AT transport ships. He walked onto the ship and headed over to the sleeping quarters on the ship and entered the room that was designated his. He hadn't had any reason to use it yet but when he had renovated and built the ship back up he made sure that his room was nice and comfortable which included a comfy bed, blanket, and pillow. And there were some mementos, keepsakes, and items from his childhood that he didn't keep at his room in the Jedi Temple. Things of a more personal nature like old photos or holovids of his mother and his time living on Coruscant. Things that he had hid when he joined the Temple. Plus, for convenience he had another charging station for BD-8.

He saw BD-8 was still only at about 15% so he decided to leave him there to finish charging and get him back later. He headed for the cargo hold and grabbed the case holding his solar board before exiting the ship and walking away where he joined up with the Bad Batch and Captain Fordo's squad who were waiting by some speeder bikes.

"What's that?" Hunter asked.

"Something I designed myself." Will opened up his case and took out his solar board, extending the solar sail so it could start absorbing solar radiation.

"Interesting." Tech, being the usual technical expert, walked over and examined the new one of a kind device. "You've taken a solar sail concept for starfighters and configured it to power a hover board."

"Fast, nimble, and it's more fun." Will got onto his solar board and powered up the engines. "All right. We're heading west to assist in the search for Poggle. We find him and where he's going then we can end this conflict."

"Sounds good." Captain Fordo said as everyone got on their speeder bikes with some clones riding as passengers. Some of Captain Fordo's men who didn't have certifications to drive speeders were sat behind clones that did. Same with Wrecker and Crosshair who had Hunter and Tech drive respectively. Will took out some goggles from his belt and wrapped a piece of fabric over his mouth while the clones put on their helmets and they proceeded heading west in search of Poggle.

Geonosis was a very dry and harsh planet with the only thing on the surface being desert sand and rocky terrain. It was a lot of open area to cover but they needed to cover it and find Poggle in order to really end the threat of the Geonosians.

A few hours later…

Obi-wan walked onto the bridge of an Acclimator-class assault ship where he met Master Mundi looking over the star charts and planetary maps of Geonosis. "Master Mundi, how goes your search?" Obi-wan asked him.

"No sign of Poggle yet but they have had some small encounters with Geonosian fighters around these areas." Master Mundi pointed on the map and several areas in the northern hemisphere of the planet.

"It would seem that Poggle's forces come from the Northern Hemisphere but a check-in from my Padawan indicates that Poggle is heading west." Obi-wan pointed to the area of the desert west of the conflict zones Master Mundi highlighted. "He says that Hunter's sense picked up his trail but there's nothing out there according to our latest intel. Either Poggle is running in circles or heading for something that we don't know about."

Back with Will…

Will and his group had taken up a higher position on a hill to get a better layout of the area. They had been heading west and while it seemed like they were just scouring the massive desert aimlessly, they were on Poggle's trail. Even if they were in the massive desert with nothing for miles, Hunter's senses were still sharp enough that he could pick up the faint difference in the sand from a hover craft moving through the area.

Crosshair was using his sniper scope to scout the area when he picked up something in the sand. "Found something." He announced so Will adjusted the gaze with his electrobinoculars.

"Where?" Will asked.

"150 klicks southeast. A container of supplies." Crosshair told him.

"That could be the lucky break we need. Let's go." Will and the others headed down there to check it out and it was a munitions box. The sand around it was too fresh for it to be debris so it was left in the area recently. Hunter checked out the area for any other markers or tracks he could pick up while Tech began running calculations for nearby places Poggle might go. Will took out his communicator and called Obi-wan who was with Master Mundi on the ship's bridge.

"Padawan, do you have anything new to report?" Obi-wan asked him.

"We found something in the desert. A munitions container. The sand around it hasn't piled up so it's fresh and there were no battles in this area so it's not debris. My guess it was part of a supply caravan Poggle was hauling and it came loose. Instead of risking staying around to be seen he left it behind." Will reported. "Hunter, Tech, anything?"

"I've got small indents in the sand. Battle droid indents along with small grooves from a hover tank. Came through recently." Hunter told him.

"According to my data and taking into consideration all the variables in play, the most likely course Poggle could be taking would be at 11 mark 72 northwest. A few klicks in that direction is the Progate Temple." Tech announced.

"That makes no sense. Nothing in the temple could have survived the munitions we used in the first wave of our attack. Why would he risk exposure to go there?" Master Mundi questioned.

"It could be there's something at the temple he needed or perhaps it's another avenue of escape. There could be catacombs in the temple that could lead to a possible escape path." Will suggested when Anakin walked onto the bridge of the ship with Obi-wan and Ki-Adi Mundi.

"Padawan, I'm tracking a sandstorm that's heading your way." Anakin warned him but Tech had already picked it up on his scanner.

"I've picked up the sandstorm coming in from the south at 200 knots but we can make it to the temple before it hits this area and stay there for cover." Tech suggested.

"I'd advise against it. You could get lost in the storm." Master Mundi cautioned.

"Then we'd have to find both you and Poggle." Obi-wan added.

"With respect Generals, I've calculated the time frame for the sandstorm to make contact with the position at the Progate temple and our time of arrival. We'll make it there with approximately 4.5 seconds to spare if we leave immediately." Tech stated.

"We can make it. We'll head to the temple and take cover from the sandstorm. Master, head to the Tempest and get BD-8 to fly to our location. The ship can handle the storm and it might make things easier." Will told him.

"Very well, Padawan but be careful." Obi-wan warned him and Will nodded before ending the communication.

"All right, let's go before that sand storms hits." Will and the others got on their speeders and drove through the desert as fast as they could with Tech's speeder taking lead since he had the coordinates. The sand storm was coming in from the south and they could see the giant wall of sand heading for them but judging by the droids left behind in the sand they passed by, they were getting close. They eventually passed a Separatist hover tank and stopped their speeders outside of a ruined temple.

Will got off his solar board and retracted the sail before taking out his saber as a precaution. Hunter looked around and could sense something was nearby so he took out his blaster. "Poggle was definitely here." Hunter said when Captain Fordo saw the sand storm closing in.

"With 4.5 seconds to spare." Tech stated as they walked into the wrecked temple for cover. The temple had seen better days but it provided good cover from the storm although with the creepy Geonosian heads on pikes and weird murals on the walls it was a matter of a opinion if it was worth it.

"This place gives me the creeps." Crosshair took out his sniper rifle in case something came at them.

"And that's saying something." Wrecker poked one of the Geonosian heads on a pike with curiosity. "What is this place?"

"The Progate temple. Republic knowledge of this place is limited but apparently it was a place of worship for the Geonosians and many believe that it is the home of the Geonosian queen." Tech answered.

"A Queen bug? Not something I'm looking forward to dealing with if it really is here." Will could help but shiver given how creepy temple was. He cracked his neck and pulled out his communicator. "Master, we're at the temple and it looks like Tech was right. We found the hover tank Poggle used to get here but the place is empty. It's like he disappeared."

"Go no further until we can send support. The storm is making things difficult. We can barely read your transmission as is but your ship is on its way to your position so stay there until we can join you after the storm lets up." Obi-wan ordered.

"Roger that, Master. Let's just hope that storm ends soon. This place is making my spine shiver." Will told him.

"Are you sure he went into the temple?" Master Mundi asked Will.

"I believe so, Master Mundi. The trail of droids and the tank lead right to the temple but there's nothing here. My guess is that there are some catacombs nearby."

"Those catacombs go on for miles. I fear we may have lost him. Get yourself out of there when your ship arrives." Obi-wan told him.

Hunter walked around the temple with a blaster in one hand and his vibro-blade in the other. He senses could pick up something nearby but he wasn't sure exactly what it was. That's when he heard a small clatter and looked to see a large ornate stone covering for the catacomb tunnel entrance on the ground. It was barely covering the tunnel but large enough for something to get through and his hearing picked up something.

[Sharp whistle]

Hunter let out a sharp whistle to get everyone's attention and pointed to the stone cover so they aimed their blasters at the tunnel. Will walked over and stood ready, activating his saber which Obi-wan and the others noticed.

"Padawan, what is it?" Obi-wan asked him.

"There's something here." Will told him when his signal to them cut out.

There was a moment of silence as everyone waited to see what was coming out. Fingers were set on triggers and Will had his saber at the ready. Hunter slowly walked back to the others when something leapt out of the tunnel at him but Crosshair fired a sniper bolt and hit it. It fell to the ground and they saw it was a Geonosian.

"Nice shot, Crosshair." Hunter praised him.

"Oh, it's just a bug. I thought it was gonna be something scary." Wrecker remarked when Will saw the hand of the Geonosian twitch. Soon it wasn't just the arm that twitched as its entire body slowly got up and back on its two feet despite the blaster bolt hole in its head. But what was more shocking besides the blaster bolt in its head was the white eyes it had that clearly showed this Geonosian had been dead for a long time.

"What the hell…" Captain Fordo muttered. He and his men had seen a lot of things but never had they seen anything like that.

The dead Geonosian clambered over to Hunter who fired another blaster bolt at its head. It's head was knocked back by the force of the hit but then popped back forward so he could see that his shot made contact, it just didn't kill it. Crosshair fired another shot but this time hit it in the right leg so it fell to the ground where Hunter then stabbed it in the head with his vibro-blade. When he pulled his blade out to his and the others shock they saw a large worm crawl out of the wound before heading back into the Geonosian's body and again, get back up despite the several blaster bolts and knife wound to the head. The dead Geonosian lunged at Hunter but Will threw his saber and cut its head off its body. The body and head fell to the ground and Will's saber flew back into his hand as they waited to see what would happen but to their relief the Geonosian wasn't able to get up from having its head cut off. That's when the worm in its head crawled out and slithered over to Hunter only for him to blast it right there and kill it.

"Dank farrik…" Will muttered as he and the others walked over to the dead Geonosian and dead worm. "That wasn't a regular Geonosian bug."

Tech knelt and scanned the Geonosian's corpse to get any kind of data he could on what just happened. Wrecker cautiously poked at its head to see if it would do anything but nothing. "There's no way the bugs are tougher then me. How did it do all that?" Wrecker wondered.

"My guess would be on the worm that Hunter shot. My scans show that the Geonosian has been dead for well over a dozen planetary rotations. If I had to wager a guess, I would suspect that the worm is somehow able to override the hosts brain chemistry and control it. Even in a dead host, it is able to control its movements which is why all the attacks did nothing." Tech explained.

"So…if that thing had gotten into Hunter then…"

"Then Hunter would have been ensnared by the worm's mind control." Tech finished Will's sentence.

"We need to get out of here." Will activated the tracking beacon on his gauntlet so BD-8 knew exactly where they were before he tried contacting Obi-wan but his comm unit wasn't able to get a signal due to the sand storm. He managed to connect to the Tempest when they heard more movement coming from the tunnel and two more dead worm controlled Geonosians crawled out. "BD-8, hurry with the exfil! We've got an emergency!"

"Mind control or not, I can handle them! Charge!" Wrecker charged forward and tackled them back.

"Wrecker, get back!" Will ordered but Wrecker just picked up one of the Geonosians and threw it into the wall when the other jumped on his back. He grabbed it by the back and slammed it onto the ground before ripping its head off and tossing it over to the tunnel where it hit another Geonosian. That's when they saw more and more dead Geonosians climb out of the tunnels and then the stone door at the other side of the temple opened up and more Geonosians came stumbling out.

"That's not good." Captain Fordo began shooting with his twin blaster pistols with the rest of his men joining. They landed headshots, body shots, and limb shots on the dead Geonosians but all that did was slow them down. The worm in the Geonosian that Wrecker killed crawled out of its host and slithered up his leg only for Will to rush forward and slash it with his lightsaber.

"Fall back. Establish a firing line. Slow them down with limb or body shots!" Will ordered as he used his saber to decapitate or dismember the Geonosian zombies which was pretty much the only way to stop them. He slashed one Geonosian in half from the top of the head through to the body and then turned to cut one in half by the waist. One Geonosian tried to grab him from behind but he ducked into a leg sweep to knock it on its back and then cut its head off.

The clones kept firing their blasters at the slowly growing number of Geonosian zombies and while their shots slowed them down and made them stagger they just kept coming. Will slid forward and slashed three in half at the waist before he threw his saber like a buzzsaw and cut through four more. When his saber returned to his hand he forced push the group of zombies back to the tunnel.

"Thermal Detonators!" Captain Fordo ordered and everyone threw a grenade at the bug zombies, blowing many of them to pieces but many of them got back up with just legs or arms blown off.

"Tech, thermal imploder!" Will shouted.

Tech took out two thermal imploders and armed them before tossing at the Geonosians. The imploders went off, compressing and heating the surrounding atmosphere around the charges which turned red with head, creating a small vacuum that sucked in the Geonosians before they imploded. Will covered his mouth from the dust and smoke as everyone waited to see if that did it and to their relief they saw dead Geonosians on the ground. And the worms were likely dead from the heat of the imploders. The clones reloaded their blasters and stood ready as they heard more groaning and shambling. To their horror more Geonosian zombies began to come out of the tunnels. "You've got to be kidding me."

"These things just don't stop." Hunter blasted one in the head and Crosshair shot another in the leg when Will used the force to lift several of them into the air and then force pushed them into a wall before using his saber to cut down more zombie bugs.

"Use whatever explosives you have and toss them down that tunnel! Blow them to pieces!" Will shouted, slicing another bug in half before force pushing four more back.

"Now, you're talking!" Wrecker changed his DC-17m into grenade launcher mode and fired three grenades at the tunnel. Two of them missed and just detonated, killing some zombie bugs but the third managed to go in and explode. The clones began throwing more and more explosives at the tunnel and doorway with some managing to go in while others hit the Geonosian zombies and exploded outside of the entrances.

Will was out in the front since his lightsaber was the only real weapon that was able to take down the Geonosian zombies. The clones provided fire support and used what explosives they had to try and stem the tide of the zombie wave. The growing pile of Geonosian bodies was reaching over a 100 and that alone was disconcerting but it also meant they were running out of space. Will had been taking small steps back during his melee combat against the zombies as the Geonosian bodies became obstacles he had to adjust for. He kicked one zombie in the head and turned to slice two in half before spinning his saber around to slice the arms and heads off of four more. He then jumped into the air and released a force repulse wave and sent the Geonosian bugs flying back.

He landed on the ground and took a few deep breaths as this constant fighting was starting to wear on him. Wrecker fired another volley of grenades from his DC-17m, killing a few more bugs but when he reached to get more he saw he was out. "I'm out of grenades!" Wrecker shouted, blasting one zombie in the head, body, and leg repeatedly.

"Same here!" Hunter shouted, blasting one Geonosian in the head before kicking it back and then using his vibro-blade to cut its head of just as Tech threw his last thermal imploder.

"We're running out of ammo and space here, Sir!" Captain Fordo reported, reloaded his blaster pistols as Will force pushed another group back but more just kept coming. He then lifted up some nearby stone debris and hurled them forward, crushing some of the bugs and creating some obstacles.

"Get ready to head back out to the speeders!" Will threw his saber and used the force to spin it around so it sliced through a dozen Geonosians before it returned to his hand.

"But the sand storm!" Hunter told him.

"We'll have better chances out there then here where we'll be overrun!" Will shouted before he force pushed the Geonosian bugs back again. Between the fighting and using his force powers he was started to get tired and knew that if the Geonosians kept coming they'd be overrun. A beep from the commlink on his gauntlet drew his attention and he looked outside the temple to see the lights and outline of the Tempest hovering through the sand storm before touching down and the ramp opened up. "We've got our exfil, get on the ship!"

Captain Fordo and his men rushed out of the temple and briefly toughed through the sand storm before making it onto the ramp. With the absence of blaster fire, the Geonosians had crept up more and more on their position. The Bad Batch kept up the fire support as Will cut through Geonosians left and right before he charged the force in his hands and released a charged force push that sent the zombie bugs flying back. He then raised his hand to the wall and concentrated as parts of the stone structure started to crack and crumble. It shook violently before a large part of the wall came down and flattened a large collection of the zombie bugs and made some cover. Unfortunately, since Will took down part of a wall in the temple it meant that the sand storm had a opening to come through which began to obscure everyone's vision.

"Fall back!" Will shouted. He and the Bad Batch make it outside the temple and through the sand storm when several Geonosians jumped onto Wrecker and knocked him to the ground.

"Wrecker!" Hunter shouted as he raised his blaster and shot one in the head.

"Get off!" Wrecker got up and threw one off but then two more jumped out of the temple and climbed onto him. That's when Will rushed over and used his saber to cut them all to pieces quickly. "Thanks."

"Move!" Will used his saber to kill the Geonosians that had made it out of the temple. Wrecker and the Bad Batch made it onto the ramp with Tech rushing into the cockpit to pilot. He started to hover the ship into the air but had to work overtime to keep it steady in the sand storm.

"Commander, hurry!" Hunter shouted as he, Wrecker, Crosshair, and Captain Fordo blasted at the Geonosians but there were too many.

"GO! GET OUT OF HERE! GET THE OTHERS!" Will shouted, motioning them to leave him as he slashed another Geonosian in half when three jump on him and he fell to the ground.

"Take us down!" Wrecker shouted when the sand storm picked up intensity and more of the temple began to fall apart with some of its rubble hitting the Tempest causing a rocky ride. "We can't leave him!"

"If we stay here we're dead!" Crosshair held Wrecker back from jumping out of the ship.

"Tech…get us out of here." Hunter ordered with a heavy heart as the Tempest flew away from the temple. Every one of the clones hated that they had to leave Will behind, especially since he sacrificed himself so they could live. It should have been the other way around. Tech piloted the Tempest as fast as it could go through the sand storm to regroup with the Republic Forces and return with backup.

Dead or not…they'd get Will back.

Line Break xxxxx

About half an hour later, the sand storm had let up so the Tempest flew back to the temple along with three LA-AT gunships. They arrived at the temple to see it was now partially in ruin. Guess when Will brought down one of the walls it affected the structural integrity. With the Bad Batch and Captain Fordo's Muunilinst 10 were Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka who had BD-8 on her shoulder along with an entire platoon of clone troopers including Rex and Commander Cody. With the regular clone troopers were heavy munitions troopers carrying grenade launchers and heavy rotary blasters.

Obi-wan walked out of the gunship and over to a dead Geonosian corpse buried in the sand. It's head had been cut off from its body but it wasn't the only one there. Everyone could see there were at least two hundred dead Geonosians on the ground. Some were covered by sand while others weren't but they were all dead either having been cut in half or blown to pieces. Hunter walked over to where there was a large space in the sea of dead Geonosians near some rubble.

"He was here. This is where we last saw him." Hunter told Obi-wan and Anakin. BD-8 looked at the impression on the ground and let out a sad droid moan.

"It's ok, BD-8. I'm sure he's fine." Ahsoka assured him.

"He's still alive. Stay alert everyone." Obi-wan told his men.

"Spread out and look around for any sign of him." Anakin told Rex and the others so the clone troopers began searching the area. "Will's alive Obi-wan. We'll find him."

"The Commander did the brave thing trying to get his men out safely. Especially against these odds." Commander Cody stated as he and the others saw Hunter walking around the area trying to pick up tracks or any kind of scent. "Sergeant. Anything?"

"The sand storm muddled the scene but he was captured." Hunter walked through the area over to the tunnel that led to the catacombs. Ahsoka took out a light to illuminate the tunnel where they saw more dead Geonosians. "They took him down there."

"But why? And what exactly happened to these Geonosians? I don't remember facing things like this when we were first here." Anakin pointed out.

"My guess it's something new. Perhaps that." Obi-wan pointed to a carved mural on the wall that some kind of regal looking Geonosian.

"That is one ugly bug." Wrecker remarked.

"We've never encountered one that looks like that before." Anakin pointed out.

"I don't think anyone has. It could be the Geonosian queen." Obi-wan told him.

"The bugs have a queen?" Anakin questioned.

"With an insectoid species like the Geonosians, a queen or mother creature responsible for the spawning of all its kin is most probable. And with our recent encounter here at the temple, whatever creature that lives here appears to use a sort of hive-mind like parasite in order to control the Geonosians." Tech theorized. "It would also explain why our weapons were ineffective in stopping the incoming horde other then complete dismemberment."

"But that's impossible." Ahsoka said.

"Impossible or not, Hunter and Captain Fordo's men encountered such creatures and they have Will. Most likely they took him down into the catacombs to meet the leader whether its Poggle or this Geonosian Queen we've never met." Obi-wan rubbed his beard as he looked down the entrance by the mural that they would need to go through.

Crosshair looked around when he saw something underneath a dead bug so he moved its body to see what it was. It was a lightsaber with two long metal covers by the emitter that protected it and next to it was a beskar gauntlet that had a beeping light. "Found his saber and his gauntlet." Crosshair announced, holding up both objects.

Obi-wan walked over and took his saber while Anakin took the gauntlet. "Where's the other one?" Ahsoka asked.

"Just that one." Crosshair told her.

"He wouldn't have left this behind." Obi-wan took the gauntlet to look it over and knew what the glowing light meant. "He activated the tracking device."

"Tracking device?" Anakin was confused.

"When he became my apprentice, Will explained the significance these gauntlets had to his mother and his culture. He walked me through its uses and features. One of them was a tracking beacon placed inside both gauntlets." Obi-wan explained so Tech took the gauntlet to get the tracking beacon's signature.

"He left behind one of his gauntlets on purpose so we could track him to wherever the bugs took him." Hunter figured out.

"That's the Mando I know. Always thinking ahead." Ahsoka remarked when Tech finished his scan.

"I have the tracking signal and can lead us to where he is. He's currently being taken deep underground." Tech stated before opening the pack he was carrying and took out new thermal imploders only these ones didn't have red energy cores but instead had blue ones. "And in the certain likelihood that we encounter more of those Geonosian hive minds we have these."

He proceeded to hand them out to everyone. "And what are these things again?" Wrecker wondered.

"I managed to do some analysis on the worm creature before our escape and there is a possibility that the creatures have a increased sensitivity to cold temperatures. So, I've constructed these to release a pressurized blast of sub-zero temperature coolant. If my theory holds weight then these will immobilize the Geonosian zombies and our jobs will be much easier." Tech explained.

"Good work, Tech. It's best that we're not caught unaware." Obi-wan thanked him.

"Where did you get the coolant to make these?" Ahsoka questioned.

"Given the circumstances and the need to return and rescue the commander, I had to make due and use the coolant system on the Tempest." Tech answered. "The commander might not like that but we can deal with that after we rescue him."

"Fair enough. Let's go." Obi-wan ordered so Hunter and Tech led the rescue team down into the catacombs.

The Jedi used their sabers to light the path and the clone troopers activated the lights on their helmets to help. Hunter and Tech led the group since Tech was tracking Will's signal and Hunter's senses would let them know if something came up. Everyone was on alert for any kind of sign of activity but their traversal into the catacombs was met without any resistance or problems for the first hundred meters. That was either a good sign or a bad one.

Tech checked his data pad before putting his visor down over his helmet to find a new path since there was a dead end up ahead. Unfortunately, the only path forward was through a narrow tunnel that would lead to a new corridor. "This way." Tech pointed to the tunnel so Obi-wan led just to be safe followed by Anakin, Hunter, Tech, and then the others.

They emerged from the cramped and small tunnel to another corridor although they had to push Wrecker so he'd fit and kept moving down further into the catacombs. The signal from Will's tracking beacon was coming in clear but what worried them was how many Geonosian zombies could be waiting for them…and whatever Queen or lead bug was really in charge.

They continued moving down the corridor when BD-8 let out some alarming beeps and Hunter's senses picked up something. "We've got company." He announced as they shined their lights forward to see a large group of Geonosian zombies stumbling towards them.

That's when they heard more screeching and saw some Geonosian zombies come from behind to cut them off. "We're cut off!" Cody shouted.

"Use the cold bombs!" Obi-wan ordered so Hunter and Tech threw their coolant bombs at the group in front of them while Wrecker and Fordo threw their bombs at the group in the back. The explosives broke open and released a large mist of cold blue air that began to fill the corridor and changed the temperature dramatically. The Geonosian zombies began to react violently to the cold temperature. They thrashed around and let out horrifying screeches before they began to drop one by one.

"It's working!" Ahsoka shouted in glee as everyone saw the Geonosian zombies couldn't handle the cold. As they dropped to the ground one by one the parasites inside them slithered out of their mouths and attempted to crawl away.

"Don't let those worms get away!" Anakin ordered so the clones began blasting the worms that fell out of the dead Geonosians to make sure they were extra dead. One managed to crawl away from its dead host and fight through the cold temperature to the warm bodies of the Jedi and the clones only for Wrecker to raise his large boot and squash it, staining the ground and the bottom of his shoe with its green blood.

"HA! Not so tough now, are you?!" Wrecker boasted, wiping his boot on the tunnel walls.

"Good call with the coolant bombs, Tech." Hunter thanked him.

"Don't thank me, thank the facts. We had a 75.27% chance that they would work as designed." Tech stated.

"And if they didn't work?" Ahsoka wondered.

"Then our odds of making it through these tunnels would be much lower. This way, please." Tech continued leading the way, stepping over the dead Geonosians while Ahsoka, Rex, and Obi-wan looked at him in shock.

"He bet our success down here on a hunch?" Ahsoka reiterated.

"Don't take it personal. Tech's always like that. Luckily for us he's never wrong." Hunter remarked as they kept moving down through the catacombs.

With Will…

Will was slowly regaining consciousness after fighting off the Geonosian zombie bugs and making sure that the others got away safely. Things were a bit of a blur after he was knocked to the ground by three bugs but he remembered getting back to his feet and fighting more of the bugs before he was overrun and captured. He knew that he was going to be captured so he left behind his saber and one of his gauntlets with the tracking beacon activated before he was knocked out and they dragged him away. He had no idea where he was or how long it's been, he just hoped it was long enough for the others come with backup.

He felt his arms and limbs splayed out to his side and he couldn't move. His vision cleared up to see that he was captured in a ray shield and was suspended off the ground. He saw more of those dead Geonosian zombies walking around and he also saw Poggle holding his other gauntlet but what got his attention the most was the smell. It smelt like a rancor pit after two years of no cleaning and it was pungent. He managed to turn his head to see some of the dead Geonosians moving what looked like eggs and placed them together on the ground.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" He muttered as he struggled to get free but he was trapped.

Tech and Hunter managed to lead everyone through the catacombs and were very close to the tracking signal from Will's other gauntlet. That's when they all felt the sudden increase in heat and the smell that perfumed the air. "Oh, what's that smell?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yeah, that's not good. And coming from me that says something." Wrecker shook his head and tried to seal up his helmet to filter out the smell.

"Quiet. We're close." Hunter told him as he hugged the wall and peaked his head out to see a lot of Geonosian zombies gathered around an area with Will suspended in the air. Hunter signaled to the others to shut their head lights off and fan out. They did and stuck to the shadows as Obi-wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka peaked out from behind to rock to see Will suspended in the air in front of the Geonosian Queen who was attached to a giant birthing sack on her throne.

"That must be the queen." Obi-wan surmised. "Any sign of Will?"

"He's there suspended in front of the throne. Doesn't look that injured." Hunter answered.

"Perfect. What about Poggle?" Anakin asked.

"He's speaking with the Queen." Hunter told him.

"Ok. Use the coolant bombs to take out the soldiers, we'll take the queen." Anakin planned out.

"Must you always rush into things?" Obi-wan pointed out.

"Wait, you don't actually want to talk to it, do you?" Anakin asked him.

"Matter of fact, I do. Anakin, don't you wonder why they took Will captive instead of killing him?" Obi-wan questioned.

"As a hostage or to infect him with one of those worms. Something we should stop." Ahsoka reminded Obi-wan.

"And we will but we need more information and this could be our once chance. Cody, set the men up around the perimeter. These creatures live in darkness so the lights from your helmets should blind them temporarily. Turn your lamps on at my signal. They should create enough confusion for us to get Will out of there. Then throw what Coolant bombs you have remaining." Obi-wan instructed him.

"What happens if the bugs pursue us?" Cody asked him. Ahsoka looked up and noticed the stone pillars around the area they were in.

"We could bury them." Ahsoka suggested.

"Good idea, Snips. Shoot out the support pillars and this whole place will collapse." Anakin added and Obi-wan agreed with that plan.

"Let's go. Ahsoka, stay here with them until it's time." Obi-wan told her while he and Anakin walked towards the throne. Ahsoka and the clones spread out and readied themselves.

When Obi-wan and Anakin walked into view the Geonosian zombies growled and snarled at them and Will felt a great sense of relief. "A rescue party. Better late then never." Will remarked as the Queen let out a loud screech.

Obi-wan and Anakin kept walking and neither of them were attacked by the zombie bugs. "How did you know they wouldn't just attack us?" Anakin asked him.

"Because I make observations while you think with your lightsaber." Obi-wan reminded his former Padawan.

"Well, that quick thinking of mine is usually needed when your observations get us into trouble. Or when someone we know is strung up and ready to be killed." Anakin pointed out.

"Anakin, the queen took Will hostage. If she wanted to kill him then she would have done it before. She wanted a Jedi and now she has three. I want to know what she's after." Obi-wan told him.

"Well, when this doesn't go as planned, which it won't, I'll be ready." Anakin promised.

"That is so reassuring." Obi-wan quipped with his usual sass as they walked up to Poggle who was in front of Will and the Queen.

"Boy am I glad to see you Master. I don't suppose you can speed this up and get with the rescuing now." Will urged him on with a hopeful smile on his face.

"In a moment, Padawan. Your master wants to talk things out first." Anakin told him and Will looked at Obi-wan like he was crazy.

"You!" They heard the Queen screech out in Galactic basic. "You…are the creatures that attacked Geonosia. Why have you…come before me?"

"Your Majesty, it is a pleasure to finally meet you." Obi-wan said to her.

"Yeah, it's not really a pleasure. Get with the rescuing now!" Will pleaded.

"Patience, Padawan." Obi-wan said to Will. "I am Obi-wan Kenobi and this is Anakin Skywalker and you're already familiar with my Padawan Will Vizsla. It is our sad duty to inform you that your rule is at an end."

"You not dictate to me, Jedi. My empire is forever."

"I'm afraid it does not appear that way, your grace. You shall release my Padawan and submit to Republic law." Obi-wan ordered and her response was a loud, high-pitched screech.

"I no submit!" She shouted and two of the Geonosian warriors aimed their sonic blasters at the Jedi. Anakin activated his saber but Obi-wan held him back.

"No, Anakin, patience. Wait." Obi-wan told him and the two Geonosian soldiers took their sabers and Will's to give to Poggle. "Majesty, destroying us shall only make the Republic's judgement of you harsher."

"No, Jedi. No! I no destroy you. I devour you. I control you. I had but one Jedi before young Poggle bring me. But now…I have three! Now, watch as my child enters your jedi friend. And once inside, his mind becomes my mind." The Queen spoke as one of the Geonosian zombies walked over with a small egg like bulb that had a hive-mind worm. Poggle took the worm and reached over to put it in Will. "His thoughts, my thoughts."

"We were right. It's a sort of hive-mind control. She thinks she can possess us." Obi-wan whispered to Anakin.

"Great. Find out everything you wanted to know yet?" Anakin asked him.

"No, wait. I want to see how it works." Obi-wan told him.

"I don't think Will wants to see how it works." Anakin pointed out.

"No, I really don't." Will moved his head back as Poggle reached over closer and closer. "Please, start with the rescuing now!"

"I'm curious. The more we know the better." Obi-wan stated.

"I'm in a position to disagree!" Will leaned back as Poggle put the worm on his shoulder.

"So do I." Anakin told him.

"Come now. The nose or the ear, which do you think it will enter?" Obi-wan asked him as he rubbed his beard with intrigue.

Anakin sighed in annoyance. "I think the nose."

"I don't want to find out!" Will leaned his head back as the worm crawled up his neck and the side of his face. "Master, I swear by the force if this thing actually infects me then you'll be the first one I kill! GET ME DOWN!"

"As you wish. Cody, now!"

Commander Cody and his men walked out of their cover and activated their head lights. The sudden influx of bright light blinded the Geonosian zombies and the queen giving the rescue team their chance. Obi-wan force pulled his saber back into his hand and killed one of the Geonosian soldiers while Anakin pulled his and Will's. He activated the sabers and cut through the Geonosian soldier and a nearby zombie. Obi-wan force pulled the worm away from Will's face when a blaster bolt hit the ray shield restraint holding up his right arm. The bolt came from Crosshair's sniper rifle who then lined up a shot on the other restraints and Will dropped to the ground where he punched the Geonosian leader to the ground and grabbed his gauntlet. He slipped it back on as Anakin handed him his saber which he pointed at Puggles' head.

"You're coming with us, Poggle." Anakin put a pair of binder cuffs on him and dragged him away.

The Geonosian zombies began to fight back against the clones who blasted any that got close while Ahsoka used her saber to cut through some. Some of the clones threw out coolant bombs to keep them back as Anakin and Will cut through the zombie bugs to regroup with Obi-wan. That's when Will saw a worm in his hand. "Master, look out!"

"Wha…Will, no!" Obi-wan's plea was too late as Will raced forward and cut the worm in two before using his gauntlet's flamethrower to incinerate it. "What are you doing? I was going to study that!"

"It's better this way! Let's go!" Will shouted as he cut through another zombie before standing beside the others. "Glad to see you guys again."

"Good to see you in one piece, sir." Hunter told him before throwing another coolant bomb to take out more Geonosian bugs as they slowly backed up to the exit. "Wrecker, take out those supports!"

"With pleasure!" Wrecker threw some thermal detonators and blew the support pillars to pieces causing the ceiling to cave in.

"Let's go!" Obi-wan shouted and they all raced back through the tunnels as the ceiling caved in and crushed the queen while also providing some obstacles for any surviving zombie bugs. The rescue team rushed through the tunnels back to the surface but now they had a whole horde of Zombie bugs coming at them. Tech threw the last coolant bomb as they kept running and began climbing up the tunnel to the surface.

"Let's move!" Hunter shouted as the catacombs began to collapse. They climbed up the tunnels as quickly as they could and managed to get out before they collapsed but then had to run out of the temple so it didn't come down on their heads. The temple was destroyed and the catacombs down below were either collapsed or crushed.

"All things considered…that went better than I expected." Anakin remarked.

"I wish we could have gotten one of those worms. Knowing how the queen controls her minions could have proven valuable." Obi-wan said only for Will to slip on his other gauntlet and walked over to his master.

"As someone who was almost a slave to that thing, it'd better off that she and the rest of them are dead." Will stated before he pointed a finger in Obi-wan's face very angrily. "And next time, don't use me as a test subject."

"You were perfectly safe, Padawan." Obi-wan assured him only for Will to swat away his hand.

"I was dangling from the ceiling in front of a queen bug with a WORM IN MY FACE!" Will shouted in annoyance and Obi-wan recoiled a bit. "The next time you find yourself in a bad situation or at the mercy of a creature that either wants to control your mind or eat you…remember this as the reason I don't help."

Will walked off in anger as BD-8 followed along with the Bad Batch and Captain Fordo. Anakin walked over to Obi-wan as they watched Will walk onto his ship. "I actually thought he'd be more upset." Anakin pat Obi-wan on the shoulder.

They called in more Republic forces to the area that took Poggle into custody while Republic backup blocked off the area. Having experienced what those Geonosian zombie bugs were like as well as those hive-mind worms, they didn't want to take any chances and had all the clones troopers stay away while flame troopers stood at attention with orders to burn anything that came out of the rubble. At least until the clone engineers finished with delivering the coolant tanks that they would then use to pump the freezing liquid into the wreckage to make sure all the worms were dead.

One of the worms managed to slither out of the rubble and scurried on the ground to try and find a host only for a blaster bolt to kill it. Said blaster bolt came from Crosshair who saw it escape the wreckage and shot it with his sniper rifle. "And down goes another one." He remarked, chewing on his toothpick.

"Nice shot, Crosshair." Hunter praised him as he walked over with Tech, Wrecker, Captain Fordo and Will.

"What he said. Nice shooting saved our lives plenty of times. Thanks." Will told him and Crosshair nodded back.

"You all right, sir?" Captain Fordo wondered.

"Despite almost have a worm shoved into my mouth and turned into a mind-controlled slave, I'm all right. The sooner those coolant tanks get here and we can make sure those things are dead the better. The rest of the Republic army was informed of what happened and they're on extra alert. These mind worms could be the reason we lost Geonosis so easily the first time. We need to make sure that doesn't happen again." Will stated.

"You think the queen could still be alive down there?" Hunter wondered and got a shrug in response.

"My guts says now. All that rubble coming down and she wasn't exactly in a position to escape. But there could be more of those mind worms down there that survived." He pointed out as Crosshair blasted another one that crawled through the wreckage. "One less now. The sooner we can flood the catacombs with coolant and make sure, the better."

"And that would be the last threat on this planet. With Poggle captured and the Queen deceased, Geonosis is technically now secured. All that remains is dealing with the hive-mind worms." Tech pointed out.

"Aw, is that it? I want more bugs to smash." Wrecker complained.

"Don't worry, Wrecker. Something tells me all of you will be heading out to your next assignment soon enough. The others will thank you soon enough for all you've done but I wanted the first one to come from me." Will told them. "I can't thank you enough for your assistance in the siege of Geonosis. Without your help I think taking this planet would have gone a lot worse. You're a credit to clone troopers everywhere and it was a pleasure to fight by your side and lead you all."

"Thank you, sir. It was a pleasure working with you again." Captain Fordo shook his hand. "If you ever need help just send word. My men and I are always happy to help."

"Thank you, Captain Fordo." Will shook his hand before Hunter walked forward and they shook hands.

"It was nice working with you, Commander. This was our first assignment working with a Jedi…and I've got to admit that it's gonna be one we won't forget soon enough." Hunter admitted with a smile on his face.

"You're probably the one Commander I'd be ok taking orders from." Crosshair remarked as he chewed his toothpick.

"That is likely the nicest thing I've heard come out of Crosshair's mouth but it has indeed been an exciting and interesting adventure." Tech added.

That's when Wrecker grabbed a hold of Will and put him in a big bear hug. "Ugh…that's tight…" Will gasped as Wrecker jumped around and laughed in joy mixed with revelry.

"It was so much fun. We ought to bring you on more missions. Greater chances for us to blow stuff up!" Wrecker exclaimed in glee as Will managed to reach his hand up and tap him on the arm.

"Wrecker…air!" He wheezed out so Wrecker put him on the ground and let him go allowing Will to breathe. "Thank you. And that sounds like fun. If only to see who here could get the most kills."

"HA! I'll take that bet and I'll win. No one smashes and destroys droids better than I do! I'll outscore you all!" Wrecker boasted only for Crosshair to blast another worm that was partially obscured by the rubble from the temple.

"Don't think so, Wrecker." Crosshair propped up his sniper rifle against his shoulder and playfully flicked his toothpick at him.

The Bad Batch were a good group of soldiers and working with them on Geonosis was an experience that Will is not going to forget anytime soon. Once things on Geonosis settled and they managed to flood coolant fluid into the temple ruins to make sure all the hive-mind worms were dead, Republic forces began a cleanup. Will and Ahsoka packed their things to assist Master Windu. They were heading to get supplies from the medical station on Ord Cestus and then deliver them to Dantooine. The Bad Batch and Captain Fordo and his men went their separate ways but he would see them again before the war was over.

Line Break xxxxx

Kuat Drive Yards, Kuat

Located on the planet of Kuat was the Kuat Drive Yards or also known as Kuat Engineering which was the largest military shipbuilding corporation in the galaxy. Housed in the orbital shipyard ring around the planet, they've built ships for the Galactic Republic as far back as the days of the Old Republic. It wasn't just large capital ships they built as they had divisions that dealt with everything from civilian vessels for planetary defense forces and speeder bikes to starfighters and capital ships. Kuat Engineering was the company that developed the Delta-7 interceptor for the Jedi Order and were now responsible for repairing and building new starfighters and capital ships for the Grand Army of the Republic. With it being the primary shipyard for the Republic in the core worlds it was vitally important that it was protected at all cost and it always had three Venator Star Destroyers standing guard over the planet.

After the second battle of Geonosis and medical supply run to Dantooine, Obi-wan and his Padawan were sent to Kuat for a small protection detail until someone else could take up their shift. Separatist Leader Poggle the Lesser was taken to Coruscant were Republic intelligence began debriefing him to get any kind of information they could out of him that would be vital for the war effort. The Bad Batch were called away to another mission as were Captain Fordo and his men.

Even though taking down the Separatist droid foundry on Geonosis and capturing Poggle the Lesser was a big win for the Republic, per usual, it wasn't enough to completely turn the tide of the war. The Separatist Droid Army still vastly outnumbered the clones and General Grievous was out there in the Outer Rim causing chaos. The Republic didn't have the numbers to stop the Separatists advances in the Outer Rim. At the moment, they were just playing a game of catchup.

Will was with Master on the bridge of Obi-wan's flagship the Negotiator. They were looking out the window at the orbital shipyards that were busy repairing damage cruisers and Star Destroyers while building new ones. The Negotiator's crew was doing a little bit of maintenance and making sure all their supplies were full if they were called away. Will was still kind of sour after nearly being used a bait for those Geonosian mind-worms, something that Obi-wan apologized several times over for but just to mess with him he would bring it up every now and then.

"Interesting sight, isn't it Padawan." Obi-wan remarked.

"It is. I bet these orbital shipyards haven't been this active since the time of the Sith Wars during the old Republic." Will pointed out as he saw several ships move turbo lasers onto a new Venator-Class Star Destroyer being built. "Hopefully this war has the same good ending as it did all those years ago."

"Indeed. And we'll need all the ships we can get if we're really gonna stop Dooku and General Grievous." Obi-wan walked over to a holo-table that had some star charts displayed.

"Still no word on his current position?" Will asked and Obi-wan shook his head no.

"Republic Intelligence last spotted him somewhere near Felucia heading south but that was days ago so he could be anywhere. Grievous is smart but his pride and ego will lead him astray. Once he pops his head open then we'll be ready." Obi-wan told him and Will nodded. That's when the door to the bridge opened and BD-8 walked in, quickly scurrying over and climbing onto Will's shoulder where he said something in a happy tone. "What is it?"

"He said we've got a Republic shuttle from Kamino dropping off fresh soldiers. Not sure why he wants us to check it out." Will commented as he and Obi-wan headed down to the hangar to see what BD-8 wanted them to see. They walked into the hangar to see all the starfighters, shuttles, and walkers being tended to by mechanics and nestled in a nice spot was the Tempest which Will had fixed up and replaced the coolant system after their incident with the zombie bugs on Geonosis.

They saw the Republic shuttle pilot into the hangar and land before the ramp opened up and out walked some new clone troopers joining the 212th Attack Battalion. They all seemed like normal clone troopers until the last three clones disembarked. They were wearing customized Phase 1 ARC Trooper armor which consisted of new Phase-2 Clone troopers helmets and the usual Phase 1 ARC trooper plastoid armor suit worn over a form-fitting bodysuit. The ARC trooper armor had heavier armor on the forearms, thighs, and chest and the new helmet came equipped with a hardened long-range commlink and rang finder. They had armored pauldrons on their shoulders, Kama battle skirts around their waists and new belts with more pouches and containers for supplies. Each of their armor was unique and modified for their own personal use but one thing they all had was the Shriewk-hawk symbol which was Will's clan symbol. It was an indication as to who they reported to and Will knew who they were.

The three ARC Troopers walked up to Will and Obi-wan and stood at attention. "ARC Troopers Fives, Echo, and Hevy reporting for duty, Commander Vizsla." Fives announced as he, Echo, and Hevy gave them a salute. Will saluted them back and couldn't help but show the smile he had on his face.

"And by Mandalore is it good to see you three again. Rathtar Squad, at ease."

Hevy, Fives, and Echo relaxed and removed their helmets. Their hair had grown a bit but kept tight in the military style buzzcut. Hevy had a new scar over his cheek and Fives had a beard growing but all in all, the three clones who left for ARC Trooper training returned with new armor and vigor in their steps. "Good to see you, Commander." Hevy told him.

"Man, is it good to see you three again." Will and Hevy did a quick handshake before bringing their arms up and bumping forearms. He did the same handshake and forearm bump with Echo and Fives. It was something of a personal thing the three did and a sign of respect and brotherhood they had formed.

"General Kenobi. Good to see you again, sir." Fives and the others stood at attention with their helmets tucked under their arms.

"At ease, gentlemen. Good to see you three again as well. I take it your ARC Trooper training went well and you passed with flying colors." Obi-wan pointed out.

"Of course, they did. They're the three best Clones in the Grand Army of the Republic." Will said with a smirk on his face.

"It true that when we got there we were a bit better off then the other clones there for ARC training." Echo admitted.

"A bit better off? That's an understatement." Hevy joked. "Sorry we didn't get back sooner, sir. Heard we missed of a hell of a fight on Geonosis."

"It was…interesting to say the least but don't worry boys. Something tells me that we'll have another battle before we know it." Will remarked. "So, I hope you got good stories to go with our new armor."

"That we do, sir." Fives promised as the three walked over with Will to the Tempest where they caught up on what they missed. Obi-wan let his Padawan go and spend some time with his men. Getting to know them again before their next deployment was a smart idea and it was nice to see Will smiling again. Hevy, Echo, and Fives returned from Kamino after completing ARC trooper training in their new Phase 1 ARC Trooper armor but like their old armor they kept the thin layer of Commando droid metal underneath. Other then that, their new armor had some unique changes.

Hevy's armor was the traditional clone trooper white with blue but had the addition of black highlights and streaks throughout. Hevy had a double-sided pauldron on so it covered both shoulders and on his right forearm was a ripcord cable launcher. He had a DC-17 blaster pistol holstered on his right thigh and had a bandolier of assorted grenades on his chest ranging from thermal detonators, thermal imploders, gas grenades and emp grenades. He had more grenades and explosives around his waist and put in a small pack he had on his back with a portal missile launcher over one shoulder and like always he had his signature Z-6 rotary blaster cannon just without the attached backpack generator. From appearance alone, he looked slightly bigger then when he left which might have indicated that he had improved his physical strength at the training. Most likely to help carry the heavy weapons and supplies.

Echo's armor was clone trooper white and blue but with the addition of green highlights and streaks added throughout. He had the same ripcord launcher on his forearm and the double-sided pauldrons on his shoulders but attached to one was an ammo pouch for his DC-17 blaster pistol holstered to his leg. He had his DC-17m Interchangeable Weapon System blaster and attached to his belt and back were some scanners and data pads along with extra supplies. He also kept the stained handprint on his chest that he first got from Rex back on Rishi Moon.

Fives's armor was clone trooper white and blue but had red highlights and streaks throughout his armor. Same kind of armor set up as Hevy and Echo but on his helmet he had a small red painted Rishi eel that ran down from the top of his helmet and two X marks on his shoulder to pay homage to his two dead squad mates on the Rishi moon. He had double-sided pauldrons on his shoulders with an attached ammo pouch and other supplies on his belt next to his two DC-17 blaster pistols. What was new was the attached supply backpack he was wearing and the DC-15A blaster rifle.

All in all, it was good to have them back. Rathtar squad was back together and they would soon have their next mission. General Grievous struck again.

A few days later…

Diabolical defeat! Though Republic victories outnumber their losses, the Jedi have been unable to stop Separatist advances in the Outer Rim. The ever-elusive General Grievous stays one step ahead of his opponents. With thousands of droid armies at his command the Jedi can never predict where Grievous will strike next, until now.

Jedi Temple, Coruscant

The Jedi had received word that General Grievous had launched a surprise attack and captured Jedi Master Eeth Koth, an Iridonian Zabrak who was not only a master but a member of the Jedi High Council. Will was with his Master and the other Jedi in the communications room when they received the transmission from Grievous to boast about his victory and antagonize the Jedi.

"Greeting, Jedi. It would seem, once again, one of your order has lost his way. And even better, a leading member of your Jedi Council." Grievous taunted them as he picked up Eeth Koth by the neck. The high-ranking Jedi Masters in the room looked at each other with unease. "Listen to me, Jedi, I do not care about your politics. I do not care about your Republic. I only live to see you die!"

That's when an IG-100 MagnaGuard droid came into the view and began shocking Master Koth. Eeth Koth shouted in pain as the younglings in the room covered their eyes and turned away in fear. What was a regular tour of the temple turned into something they weren't ready to see. The droid continued shocking Master Koth so it wasn't trying to kill him. This was just Grievous torturing everyone by making them watch as he hurt one of their own.

"But death will not come so easily for Master Koth. I will make him suffer endlessly because I know that is more painful for you all. HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" Grievous maniacal cackle was the last thing they heard when the transmission ended and everyone muttered about the kind of monster the cyborg general was.

"Away with the younglings. Much there is to discuss." Yoda ordered so Ahsoka and Barris Offee led away the younglings in the room.

"It's time somebody finally put an end to that monster." Anakin said in anger. Everyone in the room agreed with that sentiment, especially Will who had a personal reason for wanting him taken out.

"Agreed on that, we are. How to find him, the question remains." Yoda postulated when Will saw Commander Wolffe walked into view in Plo Koon's hologram and whispered something to him.

"After engaging Grievous, we lost contact with Master Koth. He could be anywhere." Obi-wan told them.

"Commander Wolffe has found a message in the holo transmission. Play back the message." Plo Koon suggested.

The message was played back and they had to watch the shocking again which is when they saw Master Koth doing something with his hands. "It's military hand signals." Will said, walking forward so he could get a better look.

"Do you know what he's saying?" Obi-wan asked him.

"Saleucami System, sector J-19. Zero-eight, zero-five, two-fine." Will translated for everyone in the room.

"Saleucami? But intelligence reported Grievous has no ships near that sector." Master Adi Gallia pointed out.

"Yes, but so often inaccurate our intelligence is." Yoda reminded her.

"I will go." Obi-wan volunteered.

"So will I." Anakin stepped forward.

"And I." Master Adi Gallia finished the group undertaking the rescue mission. They quickly assembled a small cluster of ships for the rescue mission which included Anakin's three Venator-class Star Destroyers commanded by Admiral Yularen, one Arquitens-class light cruiser and three Consular-class cruisers. The three Jedi met in small meeting room to discuss the plan and Will was asked to wait outside while they finalized the details. He sat against the wall with BD-8 next to him while he levitated his saber up and down in his palm.

When the door to the meeting room opened, Will shot up to his feet as Anakin and Adi Gallia left before Obi-wan joined him. "Is there a particular reason I was asked to wait outside?" Will wondered.

"Partially yes and that reason pertains to your involvement in this mission plan." Obi-wan told him as he and his Padawan walked through the temple to the hangar. "In order for this plan to work, we must first ensure that Grievous is still in the Saleucami system as Master Koth said he was and hasn't left. I'll be taking the rescue fleet with me to ensure his coordinates."

"The second he sees the fleet then he's gonna have Master Koth locked down tight. Getting him is not going to be easy." Will pointed out.

"Something we all understood which is why this mission requires some subterfuge and misdirection. We'll draw Grievous away from his ship and onto mine, allowing the rescue team to sneak onto his ship and rescue Master Koth." Obi-wan explained.

"Makes sense. So, we'll have to hold off Grievous while Master Skywalker and Master Gallia sneak onto his ship." Will put into simpler turns but Obi-wan shook his head no.

"No. I'll face off against Grievous alone." Obi-wan corrected him and Will looked at his master in confusion and concern.

"Master, this is General Grievous. He's killed countless Jedi since this war started. He'll have an army of droids and probably a few of those IG-100s. Fighting him by yourself is suicide."

"I can handle Grievous long enough to give you and the others times to rescue Master Koth. You and your team will be assisting Anakin and Adi Gallia in the rescue mission." Obi-wan ordered.

"Is this out of concern for my well being or because you're afraid of how I'll act when I see him again?" Will wondered.

"Both." Obi-wan answered. Will let out a sigh of frustration and Obi-wan pat him on the shoulder. "You've come far in our time together, Padawan. You have intelligence, courage, tactical awareness and are the most skilled Padawan currently in the order but there is still much for you to learn. The last time you saw Grievous you acted rather rashly."

"I have a reason to hate him." Will muttered.

"And I understand that, better than most but that is the reason you are not going with me. I truly understand how you feel and Grievous will one day pay for the lives he has taken, including your former master but anger is not what is needed in this situation. One rash action and this whole plan could fall apart. And Grievous knows that which he could use to provoke you. If you were in my situation then you would know that this is the right call. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack." Obi-wan said, imparting some much needed wisdom and reason into this situation.

Will understood there was nothing he could do to dissuade his master in this situation so he reluctantly let it go. "Yes, Master."

"Now, get your team and the Tempest ready." Obi-wan told him and Will nodded before he left. Master Yoda then walked out of the meeting room, indicating that he was there the entire time and listened to their conversation.

"Powerful and strong young Will is but much anger I sense. Anger towards Grievous." Yoda said.

"Was I any different when Qui-Gon was killed?" Obi-wan asked and Yoda looked at him.

"Carefully watch over your padawan, you must, Obi-wan. For anger is a path to the dark side. And easier then ever is it for the Jedi to lose their way. The dark times, the clone wars are." Master Yoda told him, unaware how right he would be proven when the war would near its end.

Line Break xxxxx

Coruscant

The rescue mission for Master Eeth Koth was assembled and leaving Coruscant space. Obi-wan was taking lead in the light cruiser with the others ships following behind. With the fleet of ships was the Tempest which Will was piloting. Inside his ship was Anakin, Adi Gallia, Rathtar squad, Captain Rex, and a few other clones from the 501st. Will was moving the ship into position when Obi-wan radioed in.

"Are you ready?"

"Ready and waiting." Anakin told him.

"Fuel is topped off, stealth system is powered up and hyperdrive is ready and awaiting coordinates." Will added, hitting a few switches while BD-8 gave them an affirmative beep from his droid slot.

"Good. I shall engage the Separatist fleet and send you the coordinates of Grievous' command ship."

"Just make sure you get it right." Anakin told Obi-wan.

"I always do."

"How do you plan on getting Grievous aboard your ship?" Adi Gallia wondered.

"Not to worry. The good general and I have a history. I'm sure he'll want to even the score face-to-face."

"Meanwhile, we'll jump in undetected and board the command ship." Anakin said.

"If Master Koth is still alive, we will find him." Adi Gallia promised Obi-wan.

"Hopefully by the end of this mission, we will have saved Master Koth and captured General Grievous."

"Be careful, Master." Will said and Obi-wan gave him a nod back.

"I will."

The transmission cut out after that and he let out an uneasy sigh. Something Anakin and Adi Gallia noticed. "Don't worry, Padawan. Obi-wan can handle Grievous. Let's just hope that he's actually there." Anakin told him.

Will nodded and now all they could do was just wait. Obi-wan's fleet arrived in the Saleucami system and after a little back and forth, his fleet engaged Grievous' ships. The Star Destroyers stayed back and provided fire support while the more maneuverable and faster cruisers began doing strafing runs and engaging the rest of the ships. That left Grievous in the Recusant-class light destroyer against Obi-wan's light cruiser and as Obi-wan predicted, Grievous was coming at him to settle this match in person.

BD-8 let out an alerted beep. He picked up a transmission from Obi-wan. "Got it. Punching in the coordinates now." Will put them into the navigational computer.

"How close do you plan on arriving to Grievous' ship?" Adi Gallia asked Will.

"Close enough. Everyone better strap in. We might make some sharp turns." He announced and everyone buckled up in their seats.

"This is where the fun begins." Fives muttered and the clones chuckled as Will pulled the hyperdrive lever which instantly sent his ship flying through space at lightspeed.

The trip took a few minutes and when the Tempest came out of hyperspace, it flew past the Republic ships at breakneck speeds and headed towards the Separatist fleet, right at Grievous' ship. He made a quick nose dive at the front of the ship and turned the ship into a quick barrel roll to avoid hitting the bottom before he accelerated up the side and then stopped the ship at the maintenance hatch in the empty skeletal-like internal space towards the rear thrusters. "Docking clamps and topside anchor points are locked on, topside port hatch is standing by and primary systems are powered down." Will announced.

"Nice flying, Padawan." Anakin praised him. Coming from the best pilot in the Jedi order it was a big compliment.

"Indeed. But any closer to the ship and we'd be flying down hallways." Adi Gallia joked.

"Maybe next time." Will quipped. "BD-8, stay with the ship in case something happens."

BD-8 gave him a nod and the group made their way to the topside hatch to make their way into the ship. They made their way through the narrow maintenance tunnels before Anakin used his saber to cut a hole through an exit. Anakin got out to make sure there was no one around. "Coast is clear." Anakin whispered so Adi Gallia, Will, and the clones got out of the maintenance tunnel. "Rex, stay here with the others and guard the entrance. This may be our only way out."

"Hevy, Echo, Fives, leave a few surprises for the battle droids but be on standby." Will told them and they nodded.

"Skywalker, Master Koth is located on the bridge. This way." Adi Gallia led Anakin and Wil down the halls of the battleship just as Grievous has pulled Obi-wan's light cruiser in with a tractor beam and began boarding. Obi-wan and his men held off the commando droids as before Grievous arrived with two MagnaGuard droids.

Anakin, Will, and Adi Gallia continued down the halls and were closing in on Master Koth's signal at the bridge. They took down a small patrol of battle droids but other then that they didn't have any problems until they arrived at the bridge. The door opened and Anakin force pushed a slashed Super Battle Droid in as he, Adi Gallia, and Will entered to see Master Koth suspended in a ray shield with a Tactical droid keeping watch.

"Surprise." Anakin announced as they readied their sabers.

"Not exactly." The tactical droid told him and ten commando droids dropped from the ceiling or jumped up from the floor below and surrounded them. Some were carrying blasters while others were wielding their vibro-blades.

"Well, at least they're not destroyer droids." Anakin pointed out.

"Way to look on the bright side." Will remarked, subtly touching the communicator on his gauntlet.

"The General's description of your tactics have been 100% accurate today. Very impressive, even by my standards." The Tactical droid informed them. It then touched a button on its arm and Master Koth received an electrical shock to his body. The Jedi tried to help him but the Commando droids raised their weapons. That's when Will noticed the tactical droid touch the button on his arm again and the shocking stopped. "One more step, and your friend will die. Ha-ha-ha."

"Thanks for the tip." Will fired his ripcord launcher and snagged the tactical droid in the neck. He then pulled and ended up ripping the droids head from its body. Master Gallia took out the two Commando droids behind them while Anakin deflected the blaster fire from one droid and then cut off its leg before slashing it in the chest. Will hurled the tactical droid's head at one of the commando droids that tried to slash Adi Gallia, staggering it, and allowing her to cut its head off. Will blocked and parried the Vibro-blade from one of the commando droids before cutting its arm off and kicking it to the ground where he stabbed it in the chest.

"Get down!" They heard and the three Jedi ducked before a barrage of blaster bolts flew over their heads and gunned down the five remaining commando droids.

Anakin and Adi Gallia looked up to see the commando droids taken care of and then turned around to see that their saviors were Echo, Hevy, and Fives. "Someone call for backup?" Hevy asked, hefting up his heavy rotary blaster.

"Nice timing." Will told them as Echo gave him a mock salute and Fives spun his dual blaster pistols on his fingers before holstering them. Will got up and walked over to Master Koth, using his saber to destroy the ray shield generator and freeing him. He caught him before he hit the ground as Anakin and Adi Gallia walked over.

"I see you got my message. Where's Grievous?" Eeth Koth questioned.

"If everything's gone according to plan, he's onboard Obi-wan's ship." Anakin replied.

"He's been captured?" Koth asked.

"If we can cut off his escape, there's a good chance of that." Anakin stated so he and Will carried Eeth Koth down the hall when Obi-wan radioed in to them.

"Anakin, I hope you've rescued Master Koth, because Grievous is heading back to his ship!"

"You should go. I'll make it back. I'll be fine." Master Koth told them but he wasn't looking that good.

"I'll have to disagree with you on that one." Anakin told him. "Master Gallia, you take the Padawan and the clones and cut off Grievous. I'll head back to the ship."

Will felt a bit of relief and personal excitement in the thought of getting Grievous but then saw the pain Master Koth was in and realized he needed to get to safety. He needed to help him more then he needed to kill Grievous so he made a personal decision. "No, Master Skywalker. You and Master Gallia should go. We'll take Master Koth back to the ship. Hurry before he gets away." Will told him.

"All right, Padawan." Anakin held Eeth Koth's arm up and Hevy took his place to support him.

"May the Force with be you, Padawan." Adi Gallia and Anakin ran away to head off Grievous at the docking port while Will and Rathtar squad took Master Koth back to the Tempest. They took it slow since Master Koth was seriously injured.

A squad of battle droids came down the hallway and saw them. "Surrender clones!"

"Not gonna happen." Fives and Echo blasted the droids down one by one in quick succession, covering Will and Hevy as they kept moving. A destroyer droid rolled down the hall from behind but Fives blasted it in the leg causing it to unfold onto its back and Echo tossed a droid popper, disabling it. More droid reinforcements were coming down the Hall so Will grabbed ahold of Master Koth. Hevy could unsling his rocket launcher and fired a rocket. It exploded and took out the droid reinforcements.

"It feels good to be back." Echo quipped.

"Your clones are well trained." Master Koth told Will as Hevy got back and helped carry him.

"That they are." He replied. They continued heading through the ship until they arrived at the maintenance tunnel hatch where Captain Rex and the others were waiting for them. Will went in first and Master Koth was gently lowered into the maintenance tunnel before the clones followed and they made their way back to the Tempest.

With Grievous, he had managed to make it through the docking port after dealing with some clones and Obi-wan and was about to shut the docking port hatch. "Until we meet again, Kenobi!" Grievous cackled when he heard two lightsabers ignite and turned to see Adi Gallia and Anakin charge at him. He activated two sabers and fought against them both, giving time for Obi-wan to climb up when the damaged docking port broke open and everyone began to get sucked into the vacuum of space. Anakin, Adi Gallia, Grievous, Obi-wan, Commander Cody, and his men held onto whatever they could to avoid getting sucked out into space. Grievous' cybernetic body let him escape the suction force of space and he crawled away like the coward he was to an escape pod. Adi Gallia and Anakin managed to pull themselves up over onto part of the door and used their cable launchers to save Obi-wan and the clones from experiencing explosive decompression. Once they were safely through the docking port, Adi Gallia shut the door and normalized the pressure.

"Hurry. We can still catch him." Obi-wan told them.

"Obi-wan, your padawan is leaving. We'll be trapped on this ship." Adi Gallia informed him and realized she was right. If Will left on the Tempest then they'd be trapped.

"She's right, Obi-wan." Anakin added and Obi-wan agreed.

"Padawan, come in." Obi-wan radioed in. Will and the others got back to the Tempest and buckled in. BD-8 ejected a stim vial and Fives gave it to Koth to help with the pain while Will started the ship up. "We're in a bit of a spot and we need a way off this ship."

"Scans are picking up a large hangar near your position. Make your way there and I'll pick you up." Will responded, piloting the ship away while Obi-wan and the others hurried to the hangar. Throughout the Separatist ship, the droid army were getting into the landing craft to head to the surface of Saleucami. Will flew the ship past the still attached Republic light cruiser which was on fire when the main reactor exploded and the ship blew up into pieces with one of them damaging a droid landing ship heading to the surface. Will flew the ship into the hangar and picked up Obi-wan and the others and then hit the accelerator. "Hang on!"

He flew them out of there as fast as possible to the Star Destroyers. Adi Gallia tended to Master Koth who was in the main living room of the ship while Anakin and Obi-wan went to the cockpit. "Padawan, get me Admiral Yularen." Obi-wan ordered.

"Connecting." Will activated the communication's array and connected them to Admiral Yularen.

"General Kenobi. Several craft detached from Grievous' ship and attempted to land on Saleucami."

"Then we'll have to land and follow them. Prepare the tanks." Obi-wan requested.

"Yes, sir."

"There's got to be several landing sights. It may be hard to locate the good general." Anakin elucidated.

"You'll have to command the space battle while Rex, Cody, Will and I head to the surface." Obi-wan advised.

"You sure you can handle this on your own?" Anakin wondered.

"I think I can manage." Obi-wan assured him.

"Yeah, because this time it went so well." Will joked making Anakin and Obi-wan chuckle. He piloted the Tempest into the hangar of a Star Destroyer where a medical droid was waiting for Master Koth.

"I'll get Master Koth to a medical frigate." Adi Gallia told Obi-wan and Anakin.

"You all took a great risk rescuing me." Master Koth stated.

"You're welcome, Master Koth." Obi-wan replied.

"Since you divided your forces, Grievous is still at large. I would have gladly given my life if it meant bringing that monster to justice." Master Koth told them.

"Well…today he didn't get what he wanted. Guess that's a victory in of itself." Will commented and the masters agreed.

"Well said, Padawan." Obi-wan told him as Adi Gallia, Eeth Koth, and Anakin left for their respective duties. "Well done, today Padawan."

"Thank you, Master." He responded.

"Anakin told me that instead of you assisting Master Gallia, you suggested he go instead." Obi-wan informed him and Will took a deep breath.

"It was the smart decision to make. Master Skywalker has more experience then I do so him going to assist Master Gallia instead of me was the right choice to make…despite how much I wanted to go." He answered and Obi-wan smiled as his padawan's smart and mature decision. "Besides, only real person I feel confident piloting my ship is me or BD-8."

"Still, I'm proud of you and I'm glad your taking my lesson to heart. Now, get ready with the others to head down to the planet." Obi-wan told him and Will nodded.

Line Break xxxxx

Saleucami

Fugitive! Though the Republic has won many decisive battles against the Separatist army in the Outer Rim the Jedi have failed to capture the elusive General Grievous. After specifically targeting members of the Jedi Council a trap was set. But following a fierce confrontation, the droid general managed to escape to the surface of the planet Saleucami.

Now the chase is on as General Kenobi and his Padawan leads a squadron of clone troopers and closes in on his desperate target.

Anakin continued the space battle against the Separatist fleet while Obi-wan led the ground invasion to find General Grievous. The Acclimator-Class assault ships landed on the planet with clones and walkers piling out and grouping up for the search. Obi-wan and Will walked through the surrounding area with Captain Rex and Rathtar squad while Commander Cody got the army ready to move. Considering the area and the need to find Grievous, they brought an abundance of speeder bikes with them to make traversal and scouting easier.

"Instead of scattering our troops looking for all the escape pods we shall head towards the wreckage of the landing transport first." Obi-wan suggested so they began moving out.

The crashed landing transport was a few klicks away so they needed to hurry. Obi-wan was standing on a walker with a pair of electrobinoculars and saw the crashed landing ship in the distance.

"General Kenobi!" Obi-wan turned and saw Rex come over on his speeder bike. "Sir, the cruisers have return to the fleet. Any sign of Grievous?"

"I believe we've found Grievous' ship." Obi-wan told him to they headed to the crash site. The Separatist troop transport didn't so much as land as it crashed, probably from damage is suffered from disengaging from Grievous' ship. It didn't look like anything survived the impact as they saw hundreds of destroyed battle droids all over the place. Will and some of the clones headed inside the ship to get a better look.

"Thermal housing intakes are still warm." Commander Cody reported. "This couldn't have happened too long ago."

Obi-wan nodded and saw Will climb out of the ship with Hevy, Echo, Fives, and Rex. "How is it inside?"

"A mess." Will replied.

"The crew compartment's almost entirely destroyed." Rex added.

"We'll split into teams. Will, take your men along with Rex, Jesse and Kix and search those wetlands." Obi-wan ordered.

"Yes, sir." Rex replied as they made their way off the wreckage.

"Cody, you, Crys and I will pick it up from here. And Will, if you get a visual of Grievous contact us before you engage. That's an order." Obi-wan told him.

"Yes, master." Will nodded as everyone got on their speeder bikes while he got on his solar board and they began heading out to search. They headed east to the wetlands and kept their eyes and scanners open for any sign of droid activity. Unbeknownst to them, a pair of Commando droids were set up in the distance on a small hill. One had a pair of electrobinoculars while the other was using a sniper rifle and was lining up a shot on the approaching enemies. The commando droid took aim at the Jedi leading the group but couldn't line up a clean shot since the solar board was in the way so it decided to adjust its aim and take out the hover board. It lined up the shot on the board engines and fired.

Will sensed something was wrong but wasn't sure where it was coming from. His warning came too late as a sniper bolt hit his board. The engine shut off and the sudden stop threw Will forward where he and BD-8 crashed onto the ground.

Rex, Hevy, Echo, and Fives immediately swerved to a stop when they saw Will fall down. "Commander, are you all right?!" Rex shouted, unaware he was in the crosshairs of the Commando droid's second shot and got hit in the chest where he was knocked off his speeder bike.

"Hevy, Echo, protect them!" Fives shouted as he, Jesse and Kix drove after the Commando droids which were running away. The droids were fast but they weren't going anywhere as the clones used the blasters on the speeder bikes to destroy them. "Pieces of scrap."

Hevy checked on Will while Echo checked on Rex. BD-8 managed to survive the crash with nothing serious and Hevy turned Will onto his back. He was bleeding from some cuts on his face and was breathing although it was labored. "Commander, are you ok?" Hevy asked him as Will groaned in pain before he tilted his head and spit out some blood.

"How's the solar board?" Will asked before he let out a pained snicker. He was talking so Hevy took that as a good sign before he looked over at the solar board that had a blaster bolt in it and the sudden stop caused it to crash so it would need some maintenance.

"We can worry about that later. Don't move." Hevy told him as Fives, Jesse and Kix returned. Echo removed Rex's helmet and to his relief he was still breathing but unconscious. Kix rushed over to Will and took his medical kit from his speeder bike before doing a quick check up. He gently touched Will's right shoulder making him recoil in pain so Kix moved to his right side and he equally jumped in pain.

"Looks like you've got a few broken ribs and your right arm is dislocated." Kix told him.

"We can't stay here. Those droids might have called for backup. We need to move." Will said, trying to stand up but Hevy and Kix made him stay.

"Hang on, sir. You shouldn't move." Kix told him.

"Just pop my shoulder back into place and then check on Rex." Will ordered. "Do it, Kix."

"Right sir." Kix grabbed a small branch off the ground and put it in Will's mouth for him to bite down on. "This is gonna hurt, sir. Hevy, hold him still."

Hevy held onto Will's less injured side while Kix grabbed his dislocated arm. "On three?" Hevy suggested.

"Right. On three. One…two…three!" Kix popped Will's shoulder back into its socket with a sickening crunch. Will bit down on the branch in pain and let out some garbled yells and curses before Kix quickly used some gauze to create a makeshift sling for his arm.

"Thanks, Kix. Check on Rex." Will told him. Kix did a quick check up on Rex and Hevy helped Will back to his feet. His body felt sore and other then the radiating pain from his right arm and ribs, nothing else hurt as bad. Guess he landed on his arm and it took the brunt of the impact. BD-8 shot out a stim which Hevy caught and injected it into Will's uninjured shoulder to help with the pain. "How bad is he, Kix?"

"Pretty bad. I need to remove his armor to see the full extent of the damage." Kix replied.

"Those snipers might have called for backup before we blasted them. We can't risk staying here." Fives stated.

"Fives is right. It's too risky staying here. We need to find cover first." Will told them when Jesse noticed the nearby Eopies grazing on grass. They were quadruped mammals with pale skin and long snouts and known to be used as farm animals for milk or their meat.

"Wait a minute. Those critters are domesticated." Jesse pointed out. "I think we're on farmland and where there's a farm there's usually a farmer. Let's find this homestead."

They deployed the stretcher on two of the speeders for Will and Rex. Hevy picked up the pieces of the solar board and Fives connected Rex's speeder to his before they left to find this farm. They followed a trail further east which is when they arrived at farm fields and eventually saw a small house and barn. They drove up the farm where a purple-skinned Twi'lek with a 6-2Aug2 hunting rifle walked out of the home and aimed her weapon at them.

The others raised their hands to show her they didn't want to fight. "We want no trouble here." She told them.

"Easy with that weapon ma'am." Fives removed his helmet so she could see he was a clone trooper and not a droid. "We need your help."

"State your business." She ordered.

"Our captain and commander have been hurt. We need—"

"I'm no doctor." She interrupted Echo before he could start.

"We have a medic, ma'am. We just need a place to tend to them overnight." Fives told her when they heard footsteps and two Twi'lek children, a boy and a girl walked out.

"Mommy, who's—"

"Get back inside, both of you." She told them and they groaned in annoyance before doing what they were told. "Look, there are some benches out back in the barn. It's the best I can do."

"That'll be fine, ma'am. Thank you." Fives replied as they moved Will and Rex to the barn. They placed Rex on a table where Kix could remove his armor and check the extent of the damage. Luckily the armored pauldron Rex wore provided an additional layer of protection so that the sniper bolt just managed to pierce his armor into his chest but not go through it. Still, the concussion of the blast dealt some serious internal damage but Rex would make it.

Kix applied a bacta-patch to Rex's chest when he started to come to. "What…what happened?" Rex muttered.

"Glad to see you're alive, Captain." Will told him. "Commando droid sniper team. After they took a shot at me you got hit. It missed your heart by two inches to the left. You got lucky."

"I can't move my arm." Rex told them.

"You have some nerve damage." Kix explained as Rex managed to lift his upper body and sit up despite the pain he was in.

"Understood. Now, patch me up and let's get moving." Rex ordered.

"Sir, you and the commander are in no condition to continue on. Your injuries will heal but it'll take time." Kix told Rex.

"We're getting under way, Kix. That's an order." Rex said to him.

"Sir, as the team medic when it comes to the health of the men, including you I outrank everyone. So, I respectfully order you, sir to get some rest." Kix informed him.

"He's right, Rex." Will interjected. "You have serious internal injuries, nerve damage in your arm and some broken ribs while I managed to escape with a dislocated shoulder, internal bruises, broken ribs and a minor concussion. We got lucky. If we head out there now then our injuries could get worse. Get some rest, Captain."

"Ahem." They heard and saw the Twi'lek woman walk in with a plate of some fruit. "If there's not enough—"

"Oh, that's plenty, uh…" Hevy stopped as he didn't know her name.

"Suu." She introduced herself when they saw a small hover ball enter the barn followed by Suu's daughter. "I told you to stay in the house."

"I couldn't help it, mom. It got away." Her daughter told her as she picked up her ball when she saw Rex. "You look like my daddy."

That made the others look at Rex funny. "Shaeeah. Don't bother the soldier. Now get inside with your brother." Suu told her.

"Yes, mom." She begrudgingly did as she was told.

"My husband is away delivering our first harvest. Do you require anything else?" Suu asked.

"No, this is more then enough, Suu. Thank you." Will told her and she smiled before leaving. He managed to press the communicator on his gauntlet and contacted Obi-wan. "Master, can you hear me?"

"I can hear you, Padawan. How goes your search?"

"We ran into a little problem with that. A commando droid sniper team. Rex and I were hit."

"Are you all right?"

"We're fine now. Kix patched us up and we found some shelter but he and I are in no condition to continue on until we rest up some more. I'm having the team head back to the convoy." He told Obi-wan.

"Change in plan. Grievous is on the move. We're headed to the west. Have them swing around and meet us at the final escape pod. We're going to need all the firepower we can muster."

"They're on their way." Will shut his commlink off and the others began packing their stuff. "You guys better get going. We'll catch up in the morning."

"Right. Take care, Commander." Fives said as the others bid them farewell and took off on their speeders, leaving behind the one Captain Rex drove for their ride back in the morning. Right now, all Will and Rex could do was heal. Will made himself comfortable on another bench and they both got some rest.

A few hours later…

The sun had set and the two managed to fall asleep while BD-8 shut down to conserve power. The Eopies in the barn were asleep as well and there was nothing but the sound of bugs and the occasional gentle breeze of cool night air. That's when there were new sounds of dirt crunching under a boot and someone entering the barn. Captain Rex opened his eyes when he heard the noise but didn't move, not wanting to let the intruder know he was awake. He heard the intruder slowly walk over to him so he quietly moved his hand to the blaster pistol next to him before he took aim only for a wooden spear to knock it out of his hands.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The intruder asked when a lightsaber was ignited and it was held at the intruder's neck, curtsey of Will who was awake. His arm was still in a sling but he used his other hand to hold the intruder at saber point.

"We could ask you the same question." Will remarked as BD-8 came back on line and shined his light into the barn to reveal the intruder was a clone like Rex but was wearing civilian farmer clothes and had brown hair.

"You're a clone." Rex stated and Will deactivated his blade before hooking his saber onto his belt.

"So…I see the war has finally made its way out here. And I guess I can expect a visit from some droids soon." The clone commented.

"What's your number and rank?" Rex ordered.

"Heh. My name is Lawquane, Cut Lawquane and I'm just a simple farmer." Cut introduced himself.

"You're a deserter." Rex said in disgust.

"Well, I like to think I'm merely exercising my freedom to choose: to choose not to kill for a living." Cut walked over and put his spear back which actually wasn't a spear but a farming tool.

"That is not your choice to make." Rex reminded him when he groaned in pain.

"Easy, Rex. Don't pop a blood vessel." Will calmed him down a bit. "How long have you been here?"

"A long time. Shortly after the battle of Geonosis our troop transport got caught between two Separatist gunships. They fired at us with everything they had. We crashed. Most of us were either dead or severely injured. So, whey they started working their way through the wounded killing us off, I knew there was no hope. I ran. It still haunts me." Cut recounted, the pain evident in his voice.

"I'm sorry." Will said.

"It's the day I felt my life didn't have any meaning. Everyone I cared about, my team, was gone. That's when I ran into Suu and my whole world changed. Does that count or do you still plan to turn me in?" Cut asked Rex as BD-8 turned on the lights in the barn.

"Do I have a choice?" Rex pointed out.

"Daddy, you're home!" They heard as Shaeeah and her younger brother Jekk ran into the barn with Suu right behind them. Cut knelt and hugged Shaeeah close while Jekk held up a picture.

"Look what I drew you, dad!"

"Well, well, well. That's great, Jekk." Cut pat him on the head.

"I see you have met our guests." Suu pointed out.

"He looks just like you, daddy. I told him." Shaeeah told Cut.

"Ah, you did, huh? I was just making our guests Captain um, what's your number?" Cut asked.

"Rex. I also have a name, believe it or not." Rex told him. "And this is Jedi Commander Will Vizsla."

"Commander." Cut gave him a nod.

"They were injured. Their men brought them here. I told them they could stay just for the night." Suu told Cut.

"Of course, he can. We never turn away those in need, do we?" Cut asked his kids.

"No, we always help anyone we can." Jekk said.

"Right. You two look hungry." Cut stated.

"Uh, no. We're fine. We'll stay here." Rex assured him.

"No, you have to eat with us. Please? Please?" Jekk and Shaeeah begged.

"They're never going to stop till you say yes." Cut indicated.

"All right. Dinner sounds fine." Will told him and the kids cheered. Will and Cut helped Rex up and they put on his body suit before heading inside Cut's house for dinner which was some vegetables and a roasted nuna. A small bird/quadruped animal which was commonly raised for its meat.

Everyone sat down at the table with BD-8 standing on a small spot on the table next to Will. Cut began cutting up the nuna to serve everyone. "Yes, well, Rex, you and I may be clones but we're still individuals. You have a name rather than a number, Captain. Why is that?" Cut wondered.

"Perhaps our leaders feel it's a more efficient way of distinguishing us." Rex answered.

"More efficient than a number? Hmm. I doubt the Kaminoans think that way. Still, a name has to make you feel unique especially in an army where everyone looks like you and talks like you—"

"Actually, I've never really thought about it." Rex stopped him from going on.

"Yes, you have." Cut corrected him.

"Well, how would you know?"

"Because I'm as close to you as any-life form can be." Cut reminded him. "I've seen how you look at my family, our home. Come on, Rex, admit it. You've thought about what your life could look like if you were to also leave the army and choose the life you want."

"What if I am choosing the life I want?" Rex asked him. "What if I'm staying in the army because it's meaningful to me?"

"And how is it meaningful?" Cut questioned.

"Because I'm part of the most pivotal moment in the history of the Republic. If we fail, then our children and their children could be forced to live under an evil I can't well imagine." Rex stated with a hundred percent conviction and belief in what he just said.

"If you were to have children, of course but that would be against the rules, wouldn't it? Isn't that what somebody programmed you to believe Captain?" Cut wondered.

"No, Cut. It's simply what I believe." Rex corrected him. "It doesn't matter if it's my children or other people's children. Does that meet with your approval?"

"Perfectly. To each his own. That's what I always say." Cut said.

"What does that mean, daddy?" Shaeeah asked.

"It means you can do anything with your life that you want to." Cut answered as he and Rex looked at each other.

Will had sat back and listened to the two talk and it was interesting. Both are technically the same person yet couldn't be more different. Each had a strong sense of duty yet for different things that were both important and Will could find himself agreeing with either one of them. Cut's point on being unique made Will think. It's true that the clones were copies of Jango Fett but with certain changes like the enhanced growth cycle and changes in personality to follow orders like soldiers yet they weren't just copy and pasted copies of one another. Every single one of them was unique and had their own identity that could be seen in some more obvious ways while others were more subtle. The nicknames for one thing. It wasn't a method to make them easier to distinguish but a way for each of them to feel like their own person. And the more obvious was in their personalities. They looked and sounded like each other but every clone was different. Hevy, Echo, and Fives were perfect examples of that. Three clones who were no different than Cut or Rex on a genetic level yet were their own unique people. Their armor and own preference for weapons was one thing but their personalities? Hevy was the sarcastic and kind of hot-headed one of the group and from what he heard before during training had a tendency to go and follow his own path. Echo was the follow the rules clone who spent his downtime reading manuals and was probably smarter then Hevy or Fives. Fives was his second in command and had the biggest heart.

They may be clones but that didn't mean they weren't their own person. And every person needed to make their own choice. You didn't have to agree with it but they deserved to have their own voice.

"You all right, Commander Vizsla? You've been awfully quiet." Cut told him. "Something to say?"

"Just thinking. Besides, I think that's enough deep conversation for one dinner." Will replied.

"Agreed. Let's eat before the food gets cold." Suu told them and they continued their dinner. After helping Suu clean up, they relaxed in the living room where Will and Cut played a hologram game of Dejarik. Cut was good but Will was better and had expertly moved his pieces into position to win.

"Nicely done, Commander." Cut told him.

"Thanks." Will replied, rubbing his injured shoulder a bit to ease the tension.

"How's the shoulder, sir?" Rex asked.

"Still stings but is getting better." Will assured him. He looked at the holograms and then at Suu and her children. "Cut, if that ambush hadn't happened, if you never ended up here…do you think you still would have deserted?"

Cut looked at Will before looking over at Suu and her children. They were part of the reason he was ok with leaving his old life behind. "I'm not sure but…maybe. That day, it was one of the most horrible days of my life. It's the day I felt my life didn't have any meaning. Everyone I cared about, my team, was gone. I was just another expendable clone waiting for my turn to be slaughtered in a war that made no sense to me. But meeting Suu and the kids…they gave my life new meaning. If it hadn't happened…I'm not sure what I would have done, Commander but I wouldn't undo anything I've done that led me to this point. I hope you can understand that Commander."

"And Rex. If you were in Cut's position…what would you have done?"

Rex thought about it for a moment before he rubbed his arm. "I've been in countless battles and lost many brothers. They were my family. My home. I'm not sure what I would have done either…but I think I would have tried to make my way back." Rex answered and Will nodded.

"Thank you both. Your answers have given me a lot to think about. I think the Kaminoans didn't do exactly what they set out to do but that's ok." He said.

"What do you mean, sir?" Rex asked.

"Well, you and Cut were cloned to be soldiers. Clones from Jango Fett's DNA so you're both better trained and naturally more gifted then a regular soldier or even a battle droid. But my master told me that the Kaminoans did things to the procedure to make you and Cut less like him. Bounty Hunters don't make great soldiers. They did their job but they didn't turn you into mindless battle droids and instead made you each your own person even if they don't know it. You may have the same face and sound like each other but every clone I've ever met has been unique." He told them.

"Not sure the Kaminoans would be glad to hear you say that." Cut pointed out.

"A part of me wonders if they've noticed. You and Cut both had a strong sense of identity yet it couldn't more different. Same with Hevy, Fives, and Echo. You all may be genetically the same but each of you through whatever you've experienced has made you your own person. Not a clone but an actual person. And Cut's right. Every person needs to make their own choice at one point in their life." He said. "You don't have to like or even agree with it but that's the point."

Rex and Cut weren't expecting the commander to say that but he did make some good points. Generally speaking, the two should really be more alike but they couldn't be more different. If it weren't for the fact they had the same DNA then they could be different people.

"Daddy, we finished our chores. Can we go outside and play?" Shaeeah asked.

"Please?" Jekk added on.

"Ok, only for a few minutes. And keep the house in view." Cut told them.

"We will." Shaeeah replied as she and Jekk ran out of the house.

"You have wonderful children." Rex told Cut.

"I know you think I'm a coward, Rex but believe me…I'll fight to my last breath to keep them safe." Cut promised. "Guess when it comes to fighting for what we believe in…we have that in common."

Cut and Will started another game of Dejarik with Will again showing some serious strategic thinking when BD-8's head perked up. "What's wrong with your droid?" Suu wondered as BD-8 spoke in droid speech with an urgent tone.

"He's picked up some nearby droid signatures." Will told them.

"RUNN! MONSTERS!" They heard the kids scream in terror so they rushed outside and saw Shaeeah and Jekk run from the fields to the house.

"Shaeeah, Jekk, what's wrong?" Cut picked up Shaeeah while Suu picked up Jekk.

"Monsters. They're chasing us." Shaeeah answered.

"What monsters? Honey, where?" Suu asked when they saw something moving in the nearby field.

"They hatched from the big egg in the field!" Shaeeah told them so Will picked up BD-8 and put him on his shoulder to get a better look. BD-8 zoomed its lens on the field and saw what was coming.

"Commando droids. At least 20." Will told them.

"That's not good." Cut said.

"Must have been a droid pod nearby." Rex figured. "What are they doing?"

"Nothing good. Get inside." Will told them and they did with Cut locking the door.

"Suu, take the children upstairs." Cut told her and she quickly took them upstairs. He then removed a panel in the wall to reveal the hunting rifle Suu used along with a DC-17 blaster pistol and a DC-15A blaster carbine. He took the hunting rifle and blaster rifle and gave Rex the blaster pistol.

"We can catch them in a crossfire." Rex suggested. "You take that corner."

"With respect, Captain you're not in charge here. And you're injured with only one good arm." Cut told him.

"But I can fight." Rex assured him.

"So can I. Rex, I need you to be the last line of defense for my family." Cut pleaded and Rex nodded.

"I'll take care of them." He promised.

"Thank you. You should go up with him, sir." Cut said to Will only for him to remove his sling. BD-8 popped out another stim shot and Will injected it into his injured arm which helped dull the pain to the point to where he could move it.

"Sorry, Cut but I'm not one to sit out a fight. Besides…" Will's saber shot up off his belt and he grabbed it. "I'm better now."

"Fair enough, Commander." Cut shut the lights off and locked the door before he aimed his rifle at it. Will stood next to him, holding his saber and ready to activate it. They heard the floor creak and saw a shadow move along the bottom when the back door was knocked down and in walked three Commando droids who fired their blasters. Will activated his saber to block and deflect blaster bolts giving Cut the chance to score three headshots.

Cut took cover on the left side of the opening while Will took cover on the right, waiting for the next attack when commando droids broke through the side of the house and grabbed them from behind. One droid grabbed Will and pulled him out of the house while Cut headbutted his droid and used the blaster carbine to blast it in the face. BD-8 climbed onto the back of the Commando droid and zapped it with its scomplink, causing it to freeze up and allowing Will to break free and cut it in half. BD-8 landed on the ground and rushed back into the house when another Commando droid dropped down from the roof of the house at him.

He moved back and dodged as the Commando droid used its vibro-blade to try and kill him but he blocked and parried its attacks. It swiped at his leg and he blocked it before slicing its left leg off and then cutting it in half at the waist. Another commando droid dropped in from behind and kicked him to the ground where he saw three Commando droids come up in the house from the basement. Cut blasted one and then dove to the side so Will threw his saber and speared one in the chest. That's when a Commando droid picked him up by the back and threw him into an animal pen. Will groaned in pain as his ribs still weren't completely healed. The stim shot helped him but it wasn't a miracle worker. He quickly rolled to the side to avoid getting stomped on before grabbing a piece of the wooden fence and hit the droid in the back of the head. It responded by grabbing him by the neck and squeezing so Will activate the forearm blade in his gauntlet and cut one of the droid's arms off before stabbing it in the other arm so it let go. He then used his repulsor to knock it to the ground and as it got up, he just stabbed it in the face.

Cut blasted another droid but a random shot from one of the others hit the ceiling and caused a beam to fall on his legs, trapping him. "Rex, they're coming up!" Cut shouted and Rex got ready. He took cover by the door and blasted two droids in the face while Cut managed to get free and used a chair to bash one of the droids in the back. He punched another but it just grabbed his head and wrestled him around only for BD-8 to jump on its back and zap it. That gave Cut the chance to kick it back and pick up his blaster, shooting it in the chest three times. Rex took cover from the third droid and when it came at him, he managed to blast it in the head but it fired a shot at the ground and sent him crashing down to the floor below with Cut. The last commando droid raised its blaster at Cut and Rex only for Will's saber that was still impaled in a commando droid to fly through the air and cut its head off. Will walked into the house and caught his saber as he, Rex, and Cut saw no more commando droids.

"Da-daddy? Daddy?" Jekk called out.

"I'm ok. It's over." He assured them.

The morning…

Will and Rex helped Cut fix his home and got rid of the commando droids. By morning, they had recovered enough to get going so they loaded their gear and some extra food from Suu on the speeder bike. With their being one, they'd have to ride together.

"All right, that should do it." Rex finished tying down everything they had.

"Commander…are you going to turn in my husband?" Suu asked him and Will looked at Cut and his family.

"I'm supposed to turn in a rogue clone trooper…not a farmer just trying to protect his family." Will answered before looking at Rex.

"I'm sorry, Suu. It's my duty. But in my condition, I probably won't remember any of this." Rex told her.

"Thank you, both." Suu hugged her husband in relief.

"You're still a deserter, Cut but you're certainly not a coward. You have a good life here. Keep it safe." Rex told him when Will's commlink went off.

"Padawan, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Master. I can hear you. Rex and I are on the mend and on our way." He told him.

"That's good news. We certainly missed you at the party."

"Sorry, Master…we had our own party to deal with." He informed him.

"Can't wait to hear about it. We're standing by."

"You could stay here, Rex." Cut offered.

"This is your home, Cut. My family is elsewhere." Rex told him and Cut nodded.

Will and Rex got onto the speeder and powered it up. "Take care, Cut. Hopefully if we ever see each other again…it's under good circumstances." Will suggested.

"Take care, Commander. And if last night was any indication, those droids don't stand a chance." Cut praised.

"Good bye!" Shaeeah and Jekk waved goodbye and Will and Rex drove away. An end to an interesting adventure…but a memorable one as well.

Line Break xxxxx

Coruscant

Will was on Coruscant for a little bit and fully recovered from his injuries but his solar board still needed to be fixed. Since he was staying at the temple he got some extra training in with Master Cin Drallig in Form-Six Niman. Currently he was on his way to Qibbu's Hutt because Qi'ra said she had some information. He got out of his land speeder with BD-8 crawling out of the spare seat and up his shoulder before he walked through the place like normal to the back area where he took the elevator to her floor and her office. One of Qibbu's men was standing outside so once he saw Will he opened the door. He walked in to see Qi'ra signing some stuff that she gave to Protocol droid.

"That'll be all." She ordered and the droid nodded before leaving and her guard closed the door. "Thanks for coming. I've got something you're gonna want to hear about."

"What is it? Your transmission was kind of vague." He told her.

"I figured this information was better discussed in person." She took out some data pads from her desk and got up to show him. "Remember the last time we met I told you about some stuff going in Mandalore space? Well, I managed to confirm some of it."

"And?" He wondered.

"Well, part of this stuff you probably know. Duchess Satine is ruling leader of Mandalore and leads the Council of Neutral systems. She wants nothing to do with his war after the last one but rumors have been going around about people in Beskar armor so I had some contacts do a little digging. It's not the Duchess but there are some more Mandalorians out there." She handed him a data pad so he could see for himself. "Other then Duchess Satine's new Mandalorians, there are the warriors who were exiled to Concordia. Now, there are some Mandalorians still working in the area like the Protectors. They control the air space in the Mandalore sector in their Fang Fighters and protect the Duchess."

Will found an image of a Fang Fighter and the pilot in him would like to get in the cockpit of one. "Nice ship."

"I know, right. Mandalmotors. Anyway, besides the Protectors there is another group. The group of warriors who left Concordia sort of retired to the old ways as bounty hunters. They're out there doing work and Qibbu's even hire one for a bit. They're just working in the galaxy as mercenaries or bounty hunters. If they're working for pay, maybe you should try contacting them and get them to work for you. Since your Mandalorian, maybe they'll be more open to you." Qi'ra pointed out and Will kept scrolling when he saw a Mandalorian mercenary in full Beskar'gam or Beskar armor. The armor was red with orange on the shoulders and the symbol on the chest was a variation of the Mythosaur symbol for Mandalorians but with horns instead of tusks.

"I recognize the symbol. It's Clan Awaud. Said to be one of the best hand-to-hand clans among Mandalorians." Will remembered his mother telling him about them. "Thanks for the information, Qi'ra. I owe you one."

"Oh, I'm marking the IOU's already and I'm not afraid to cash them in when I need to." Qi'ra warned him and he chuckled.

"Well, when you do then I'll honor it to the best of my ability." Will promised.

"Good enough for me. Stay safe out there." Qi'ra gave him a hug and wished him luck.

Will got back onto his speeder and headed back to the Jedi Temple, unaware that Ahsoka was out in the lower levels of Coruscant dealing with her own personal issue of losing her lightsaber. When Will arrived back at the temple he planned to head back to his room to look over the data pads but that was gonna have to wait as his commlink beeped. "Yeah?"

"Padawan, meet me in the communications room." Obi-wan told him.

"I'm on my way." Will replied, heading to the Temple's communication room. When he arrived, he saw Obi-wan with Anakin and via hologram Master Plo Koon. "You called for me, Master?"

"Yes, please come in." Obi-wan said and he walked over to the communications table. "Something has come up that we could use your expertise on."

"What happened?" He wondered.

"A Separatist saboteur snuck onto one of our Republic cruisers on the Corellian Run and attempted to destroy the ship. He was caught but a fight ensued and he killed 22 troopers before he could be stopped. This is the attacker." Plo Koon sent over video footage of the saboteur so they could see and it was a man in full Beskar'gam or in full armor from helmet to boots. They watched the footage and saw the assailant move through the halls of the ship firing his blaster carbine at the clone troopers before rolling forward to avoid getting hit. He got back to his feet and fired at a clone trooper behind him before firing the rocket from his jetpack and turned to quickly disarm a clone trooper and blast him in the face before firing a ripcord cable to snag another one. A blaster bolt managed to hit him in the chest but the Beskar armor absorbed the hit and he was able to keep fighting.

"Where's the prisoner now?" He wondered.

"He took his own life instead of surrendering. The only thing he had on him was his weapons and his armor." Plo Koon answered. Will walked forward to get a better look at the hologram and rewound the footage to watch it again. "Given your knowledge and background, Obi-wan suggested that you might be able to see something that we can't."

The masters watched as Will slowed the security footage down at half speed so he could observe every minor detail possible. He watched the assailant's movements, how he handled his weapon, and his close-quarters fighting. He stopped the footage on the part when the assailant took a blaster bolt to the chest but kept fighting. "This wasn't a droid and definitely not some common Separatist soldier. This was a real deal Mandalorian." Will stated.

"How can you be so sure?" Plo Koon wondered.

"His movements, how he handles his blaster and how he fights. It's how my mother trained me when I was young." He answered before cleaning up the image to get a better look at the armor. "And with how it took the blaster bolt to the chest, only Beskar can do that and the only people who have Beskar armor are Mandalorians."

"Could be that he got it from a Mandalorian?" Anakin suggested.

"Possible but doubtful. That armor is custom to him and his body shape. My mother told me that everyone's Beskar'gam or Beskar Armor was made for them personally to fit their body and were then passed through the generations to their kin. That armor doesn't look new so its been worn before. The more likely possibility is that it's a Mandalorian Mercenary." Will suggested.

"Like Jango Fett or Kal Skirata and the others on Kamino?" Obi-wan asked and Will gave him a nod in response.

"Similar. Kal and the others were contracted by Fett to train the clones. Kal and some of the others stayed behind the lead those they trained but they were essentially paid to do that. Qi'ra recently told me that besides the pacifists on Mandalore, there is a group of Mandalorians out there that hold to the old ways. Not the violence in trying to overthrow her but more that they haven't abandoned their warrior culture and are working as bounty hunters and mercenaries." Will handed Obi-wan one of the data pads that Qi'ra gave them. "It's possible that the Mandalorian was working for the Separatists because he was paid to. She told me that Qibbu even hired one for some protecting some of his business enterprises."

"I thought all the Mandalorians were peaceful after the Civil war?" Anakin pointed out.

"Only the ones who follow the Duchess. Those that didn't were exiled to the moon of Concordia or left to hold onto their ways." Will corrected his assumption. "She may rule the planet Mandalore but it doesn't mean that speaks for all of us."

"And how do you stand on this issue, Padawan?" Plo Koon asked as Anakin and Obi-wan looked at him.

"I'm a rare exception to the common Mandalorian. I've only been told of my home planet and my people but I was raised here on Coruscant by my mother. A hardline extremist in her younger years but…she got wiser with age and didn't hate the fact that the Duchess wanted peace for her people and an end to the bloodshed. Abandoning what makes us unique as a people was another matter but she raised me to understand the good and the bad my people have done." Will answered and the masters smiled at the mature point of view the Padawan took, especially considering these were his people.

"Hearing all of that is good news, Padawan." Obi-wan told him. "Apparently rumors have begun to spread in the senate that there's a possibility of the Duchess building her own army but knowing that this might just be a mercenary could dispel their worries."

That's when Will noticed something on the Mandalorian's chest so he cleaned up the image and zoomed in to see a sigil on left side of his armor. It was a shriek-hawk claw and he knew exactly who this Mandalorian was. "Actually, Master…I don't think you can say that for certainty yet."

"What is it?" Anakin asked.

"This wasn't a member of Clan Awaud or any other clan that could be working as a Mercenary. I recognize the symbol he's wearing on his chest…" Will then held up his necklace to show them the symbol of his house. "Because I'm wearing the same one."

"So, this Mandalorian is a member of your house?" Plo Koon asked.

"Yes, he is. And if he's not actually a member of Clan Vizsla then he's someone who belongs to Death Watch." He answered.

"Death Watch? I thought they were disbanded years ago." Obi-wan told him.

"What's Death Watch?" Anakin was confused.

"Death Watch was a Mandalorian splinter group formed years ago by Tor Vizsla. They rose up in defiance against the rule of the Supercommando Codex put in place by Mand'alor Jaster Mereel. They were a group of radicals who opposed his change in conduct and wanted to return to the old ways when Mandalorians were galactic crusaders and more savage warriors. Return to the old ways when they felt they were invincible and the Galaxy feared them. Suffice to say that didn't work in their favor." Will explained. "When Death Watch was organized they used Clan Vizsla's symbol as their own."

"Whether or not this saboteur was just a mercenary or is in fact part of this Death Watch group, we need to know for sure." Obi-wan stated before looking at Will. "We're going to Mandalore."

Line Break xxxxx

Diplomacy or deception? The Council of Neutral Systems speaks for over 1,500 worlds who want to stay out of the war. But rumors have reached the Republic Senate, suggesting that the council's new leader, Duchess Satine of Mandalore, is secretly building her own army to fight for the Separatist cause. Now, Jedi Master Obi-wan Kenobi and his Padawan Will Vizsla have been sent to Mandalore to discover the truth behind these claims.

Mandalore Space

The Tempest came out of lightspeed into Mandalore Space at the edge of the border between the Mid-rim and the Outer Rim territories. Since Mandalore was a part of the Council of Neutral systems, it meant that the thousand worlds in Mandalore space were neutral or not part of the Galactic Republic and the Clone wars. The system laid on the Hydian Way which provided a direct path from Coruscant and the inner worlds to the Outer Rim.

Will piloted the Tempest through space to the planet of Mandalore. He saw it in the distance with its desert sand-like color planet surface visible even in space. He wasn't really sure how to feel. Here he was coming to his birth planet for the first time since he was born but it was completely foreign to him. He was Mandalorian and raised by one but how should he feel? Glad to see his home planet? He didn't feel glad…he felt…indifferent at the moment.

BD-8 brought him out of his little mental battle as they were getting a communication line. "Unknown Corellian freighter identify yourself."

Will and Obi-wan saw two Fang Fighters approach them on both sides as they flew to the planet. It was the Mandalorian Protectors who were charged with protecting Mandalore Space and protecting the royal leader of Mandalore. "This is Master Obi-wan Kenobi of the Jedi Order. I'm expected on the planet of Mandalore by the Duchess." Obi-wan radioed to them.

"One moment…" There was a bit of pause as the Mandalorian Proctors checked to see if they were expected. "Yes, Master Kenobi. We have you on our logs. Go ahead."

The Fang Fighters pulled away and Will continued piloting them down to the planet. The surface of the planet was nothing but a lifeless desert which happened because of the years of war that ravaged Mandalore. That made its surface unsafe for life which is why the people resided in domed cities. The Tempest flew to the domed capital city of Sundari and landed in the docking yard. Will, BD-8 and Obi-wan walked out of the ship to see a Mandalorian Protector in his ceremonial guard waiting for them in a hover transport. "The Duchess awaits you, General Kenobi."

"Far be it for me to keep the Duchess waiting." Obi-wan and Will got onto the transport and were taken into the city. This gave Will his first real look at his world. The city itself was jammed packed and condensed like on Coruscant which made sense given that the population had to live in the domed cities for safety. Obi-wan looked at his Padawan and could see him looking around. "How does it feel to be here?"

"Is there a word to describe the feeling of being a complete stranger in a place that should feel like home?" Will wondered.

"I'm sure many Padawans and Jedi have felt as you do, Padawan. I know I did when I was younger." Obi-wan admitted, giving Will a reassuring pat on the shoulder as their hover transport arrived at the palace. They walked in and saw the incredible glass work and architecture that was unlike any other culture.

"Ok…this is impressive." Will admitted when Mandalore Prime Minister Almec met them.

"General Kenobi."

"Thank you for meeting with me, Prime Minister Almec." Obi-wan greeted and shook his hand.

"I welcome you as a servant of the people, but I am troubled by the false rumors that brought you here. Mandalore would never turn against the Republic. The Duchess Satine values peace more than her own life." Prime Minster Almec assured him.

"Oh, I'm aware of the Duchess' views." Obi-wan remarked.

"Master Kenobi, Mandalore's violent past is behind us. All of our warriors were exiled to our moon, Concordia. They died out years ago." Almec told him.

"Are you certain? I recently encountered a man who wore Mandalorian armor, Jango Fett." Obi-wan informed him.

"Jango Fett was a common bounty hunter. How he acquired that armor is beyond me." Almec stated.

"And you're positive of that?" Will pointed out. "With all due respect, Prime Minster, I believe your own beliefs and information isn't exactly accurate."

"Excuse me?"

"I've met plenty of Mandalorians who knew Jango Fett and they assure me that he was as much of a true blood Mandalorian as you and the duchess. And all of our peoples warriors didn't die out. Many of them are still out there. Or is it preferable to just ignore them?" Will wondered, with some subtle insinuation in his voice that Almec wasn't exactly fond of. That's when he noticed his Beskar gauntlets.

"And you're one to talk. Jedi are supposed to be peacekeepers yet you wear the stolen Beskar gauntlets of people who fought against the your kind." Almen said and Will moved forward to punch him in the face for that remark but Obi-wan stopped him.

"These aren't stolen. They belong to my mother and her family before her." He corrected him.

"Your mother?" Almec was confused.

"I am Will of Clan Vizsla, son of Pio Vizsla of Mandalore." Will proudly introduced himself.

"A Mandalorian Jedi?" Almec was not expecting that.

"Indeed, a Mandalorian Jedi and one who's experience and knowledge has been most helpful. And my Padawan does have a point, Prime Minster. I fear your information may be a bit out of date and biased." Obi-wan informed him.

"Well, Master Kenobi…" They heard as Duchess Satine Kryze walked into the room with her body guards and Senator Tal Merrik of the Mandalore planet Kalevala. "My shining Jedi Knight to the rescue once again."

"After all these years, you're even more beautiful than ever." Obi-wan told her. That earned a confused look from Will. He wasn't not expecting that to be his introduction to the Duchess.

"Kind words from a man who accuses me of treachery." Satine remarked.

"I would never accuse you of personal wrongdoing, Duchess. However, a Separatist saboteur attacked one of our Republic cruisers. A Mandalorian saboteur." Obi-wan took out a commlink and showed them the recorded footage.

"You must be mistaken. No Mandalorian would engage in such violence. Not anymore." Almec assured him. "Where is this prisoner now?"

"He took his own life rather than submit to questioning." Obi-wan answered. "I know these commandos fought in many wars, often against the Jedi."

"Every one of my people is as trust worthy as I am." Duchess Satine stated with complete belief.

"But you don't exactly speak for all our people, do you Duchess." Will said as he walked forward. "And not all of our people chose to follow your ways."

"And who are you to say such things?" Satine asked him.

"Duchess Satine, allow me to introduce to you Padawan Will of Clan Vizsla." Almec introduced him to her and she was shocked.

"You are Mandalorian? I wasn't aware that one of my people had joined the Jedi order." Satine corrected the Prime Minster.

"I am son of Pio Vizsla of Mandalore. She left for Coruscant after I was born but I am as much a Mandalorian as you are." Will proudly declared.

"A Mandalorian who has never step foot on this planet or knows his people." Senator Merrik pointed out.

"One who clung to the old ways judging by those gauntlets you wear." Duchess Satine added.

"My mother was a proud warrior yes, and I wear these with pride but she was also someone who understood the mistakes our people have made in the past to find a real balance. One that didn't involve completely turning her back on what her people were." Will revealed. "Just because the people here follow your rule doesn't mean that the rest of our people have done so and it's arrogant to assume that you control them."

Obi-wan grabbed his padawan by the arm and pulled him back. "Excuse us for a moment." Obi-wan pulled him away so the two could speak in private. "What do you think you are doing?"

"What are you talking about? I'm doing what we discussed." Will whispered to his master. "You play the good guy and I play the bad one to get them off them balance."

"Yes, I remember the plan but don't you think you might be doing too good of a job?" Obi-wan whispered back.

"It's working. They're off balance and that works to our advantage to find out what's really going on." Will assured him.

"Maybe but I have some other ideas that could work. Follow me lead." Obi-wan whispered back before the two separated. "Apologies for my Padawan's…proud declaration but he does make some valid points as I said to Prime Minster Almec. Can you speak for certain that every one of your people truly follows your beliefs."

"If this was a Mandalorian and that is a big if then their actions were not sanctioned by me or anyone in power. And don't think that this ruse hides your intentions, Master Jedi. Clearly your investigation was ordered because the Senate is eager to intervene in our affairs." Satine accused him.

"Our investigation was ordered by the Jedi Council." Obi-wan corrected her and she backed down a bit.

"I stand corrected. General Kenobi, perhaps you'd like to join me in a walk through the city?" Satine asked, holding her hand out. Obi-wan wasn't sure why she asked that but he walked over and took her hand. The two then walked out of the palace with Will and the Duchess' guards following. They took a walk around a pavilion near the royal palace away from the Prime Minister and Senator. "It's…good to see you again, Obi-wan. Despite the circumstances."

Will and BD-8 looked at one another in confusion. Clearly there was something going on between the Duchess and Obi-wan.

"Your peaceful ways have paid off. Mandalore has prospered since the last time I was here." Obi-wan said.

"Not everyone on Mandalore believes that our commitment to peace is a sign of progress. Your padawan was right in that regard. I may lead and speak for my people but not all of them believe in what I do. There is a group known as Death Watch." Duchess Satine informed. Obi-wan glanced back at his Padawan and the two shared a knowing look. Will's instincts were right that Death Watch was back. "They were the primary force against my peaceful change in our way during the civil war. I thought they were all gone but clearly they've come back. I imagine these are the renegades you're looking for. They idolize violence and the warrior ways of the past. There are those among us, certain officials who are working to root out these criminals. It has been an ongoing investigation."

"How widespread is this Death Watch movement?" Obi-wan wondered.

"It's hardly a movement. It's a small group of hooligans who choose to vandalize public places, nothing more. We shall soon have them in custody. We have tracked them down to our moon, Concordia." Satine said with confidence. She was either right that it was just a minor movement or she didn't understand the gravity of her situation yet.

"I hope your right, Duchess." Obi-wan told her.

"With respect, Duchess…I don't think you understand the gravity of this situation." Will informed her and the group stopped walking so they could talk. "If Death Watch is involved then it's not just a group of hooligans wanting to cause unrest."

"And you know this how?" Duchess Satine asked.

"Because my mother was one of them." He answered, earning genuine looks of shock from both Obi-wan and the Duchess.

"Padawan, why didn't you say something before?" Obi-wan questioned.

"Because it's not something I'm proud to admit. It was a black mark on her past and something she told me she came to regret getting involved with." He admitted. "She told me stories of Death Watch and her past. These are hardlines warriors who want to return our people to the ways of the past galactic crusaders and aren't above using any violent means to get their way. She did that a lot of things that she ended up regretting during the course of that civil war…and it wasn't until she had me that she decided to leave it all behind."

"That still doesn't mean this group is the same as that one." The Duchess pointed out when an explosion went off in the park they were in. Obi-wan had covered the Duchess from the explosion but they were fine with no injuries. They rushed into the bomb site to see several Mandalorian citizens dead with more injured. Will helped carry an injured man to the side while others did the same and helped however they could.

"My Padawan was right. Hooligans couldn't have arranged an attack of this scale." Obi-wan told her.

"Then this has to be the attack of an off-worlder." Satine persisted when a holo-image appeared at the blast's epicenter.

"Are you sure of that?" He asked, pointing to the holo-image that was projected. It was the symbol of Clan Vizsla or more commonly known now as the symbol for Death Watch.

"The sign of the Death Watch." Satine whispered in horror. Will grabbed his necklace and felt nothing but horror for what happened quickly followed by anger. Anger that his clan's symbol, his mother's symbol, was being used by a terrorist. He walked over and quickly stomped on the image projector, shutting the holo-image off.

"This is a political statement against your government and against you. You're not safe here. I'm taking you back to the palace." Obi-wan led Satine away while Will looked around for any sign of the bomber. That's when he saw someone in the crowd. A man who looked nervous and when he saw Will staring at him he ran away, knocking some people over.

"STOP!" Will chased after him, jumping over the people who were knocked down and vaulted over a destroyed podium.

"Padawan, wait!" Obi-wan rushed after him while the Duchess was protected by her guards. The bomber ran down some stairs and kept running with Will right on his tail but soon ran into dead end in the form of a balcony.

"Surrender!" He demanded so the bomber took out a WESTAR-35 Blaster pistol and fired. Will rolled to the side and took out his saber to block and deflect the yellow blaster bolts before he managed to deflect one back and knock the blaster out of the bomber's hand. The bomber then charged him so he sheathed his saber and kicked him in the gut before blocking a punch and landed a jab to his side. Will followed that up with an elbow block to the side and punched the bomber in the face, caught his right punch and broke his wrist before doing a hip throw. "Stay down. It's over."

Obi-wan and the Duchess arrived on the scene which gave the bomber the distraction he needed so he ran for the balcony and stood on the railing. "Calhava bru'chun dralshye'ran!" (Long Live Death Watch!)

He then leapt off the railing to his death but Will rushed forward and fired his ripcord launcher at his feet, catching him before he hit the ground. "Chu'vo nor'asd mora'gotho." Will said back. (You don't get to be a martyr.)

Will and Obi-wan pulled him back up over the railing where Will quickly headbutted him in the face and knocked him out. "Was that necessary?" The Duchess asked.

"It was. Now he can't try to escape again." Will pointed out as the Duchess' guards took the bomber into custody.

"What was he saying?" Obi-wan asked Will.

"He was speaking Mando'a. He said, long live Death Watch." He answered.

"No one speaks Mando'a here. They only speak that on our moon, Concordia." The Duchess informed them.

"I think it's time we visit this moon, Padawan." Obi-wan stated and Will nodded in agreement.

"The Concordian moon is a province with its own governor. You'll need me to escort you." Satine told him.

"That won't be necessary." Obi-wan replied.

"Actually, it will. You won't make much progress without me there. But your Padawan might." Satine said which drew looks of confusion. "The governor of Concordia is Pre Vizsla."

"A member of your clan?" Obi-wan asked Will.

"My uncle." He answered.

"Someone who turned away from the warrior ways of the old. It'll be quite a first meeting." The Duchess remarked as she and her guards walked away.

"But did my uncle have the same sense of hindsight as my mother did? That's the question." Will muttered to himself.

Obi-wan and Will went to the docks where they sent a quick message to the Temple to inform them of their progress while they waited for Duchess Satine to arrive. They waited outside the ship, watching dock workers and such walk by as they kept to their jobs. Since it was just the two of them it felt like a good time for Will to ask Obi-wan about Satine.

"So…you and the Duchess know each other?" Will asked.

"I did. A long time ago." Obi-wan answered. Will might not have been as observant as Obi-wan was but he had picked up a few things to know that his master wasn't telling the whole truth. "I was here in Mandalore space during an extended mission when I was younger. Master Qui-Gon and I spent a year on Mandalore protecting the Duchess from insurgents and the other factions in the civil war."

"So, it's fair to guess that my mother might have taken a shot at you once or twice." He pointed out.

"Indeed. We were always on the run, living hand-to-mouth, never sure what the next day would bring." Obi-wan remembered.

"Sounds…romantic?" Will told him only for Obi-wan to give him a playful look. "Hey, I'm not saying anything. This is when you were my age and a little less…I don't want to say uptight but it seems like the right word."

"Fair enough." Obi-wan admitted. "As you know, the civil war between your people caused countless deaths on both sides. Satine would say pointless deaths. When she returned, she took on the difficult task of rebuilding her world alone."

"You didn't stay to help her?"

"That would have been problematic. My duty as a Jedi demanded I be elsewhere." Obi-wan told him.

"Sure, but it's clear that you had feelings for her. Especially if your introduction and little back and forth is any indication. I'm young but I'm not an idiot." Will pointed out. "Didn't that affect your decision?"

"Oh, it did. I live by the Jedi Code but as you know Master Yoda tells us that a Jedi must live without attachments. Only he usually leaves out the undercurrent of remorse." Obi-wan said as the Duchess and her group arrived, ending the master and Padawan conversation for now.

Line Break xxxxx

Concordia

Will, Obi-wan, and the Duchess flew from Mandalore to Concordia aboard a Mandalmotors shuttle. They neared the moon which gave Obi-wan and Will their first look at it had seen better days. "I thought Concordia was an agricultural settlement." Obi-wan said to Satine.

"Before the end of our wars, they turned it into a mining base. Concordia was one of the planets that Beskar was found on. The sheer number of mining facilities here nearly destroyed our forest. They're finally growing back." Satine explained.

They flew down to the moon and arrived at its main city which was an old mining facility that had been retrofitted for living. The shuttle flew down and landed in the hangar where two guards and Governor Pre Vizsla were waiting for them. Obi-wan, Will, Satine and two of her guards walked out of the shuttle over to Governor Vizsla. This gave Will a good look at his uncle. Tall, strong, well built but in a formal outfit fitting that of a politician which he wore with an aura of pride.

"Duchess Satine, you are most welcome." Pre Vizsla welcomed her.

"Thank you, Governor Vizsla. May I present Master Obi-wan Kenobi, representing the Jedi Council. Governor Vizsla is one of the officials I spoke of. He has been working to find the members of the Death Watch." Satine introduced Obi-wan to Pre Vizsla and the two shared pleasantries.

"I take it you've heard the rumors about Satine, about how she's supposedly leading Mandalore into an alliance with the Separatists." Pre Vizsla said to him.

"My only instructions are to seek the truth." Obi-wan assured him.

"And the man responsible for bombing the park?" Pre Vizsla wondered.

"In captivity. Apparently, he was a member of Death Watch." Obi-wan told him.

"A worrisome prospect. But I can assure you Master Jedi that I will get to the body of this. Like many of my kin, we've had enough violence for one life." Pre Vizsla assured him. "Forgive me, Master Jedi but when we got the notice that you were coming, I wasn't aware that you were so well-versed in Mandalorian history and culture. Many aren't aware of Death Watch's past during the civil war except for those that were there."

"Well, I've had some help in that regard by someone you should meet." Obi-wan stepped aside and Will stepped forward.

"Governor Vizsla, allow me to introduce Padawan Will of Clan Vizsla. Your nephew." Satine introduced the two.

"Nephew?" Pre Vizsla was confused and not expecting to hear that. "I'm afraid you're mistaken. I don't have a nephew."

"Actually, you do. I am Will of Clan Vizsla, son of Pio Vizsla of Mandalore." Will pressed a button on his gauntlet to project the identification marker encoded in them. It was a type of code that contained the biographical information of the individual who owned the gauntlets. In this case it contained Will's since they were his now but they also contained the information of his mother, Pio Vizsla since they used to belong to her. "She encoded her gauntlets with this ID marker. She said all Mandalorians used to do that."

"She did…and this is hers." Pre Vizsla muttered as he looked at his nephew and could see the resemblance to his sister. "I looked for her after I found her armor and the note. What happened?"

"I was born 16 years ago towards the end of the civil war. Once she had me, she left for Coruscant to start a new life and raised me until she passed away when I was eight." Will told him, remembering the moment when she died.

"How did…" Pre Vizsla muttered.

"She contracted Bloodburn working as a mercenary. She fought it as long as she could but…eventually it took its toll." He answered. "After she passed away, I was recruited into the Jedi order but she was always hopeful that I could meet you one day. And she was sorry for how things ended."

Pre Vizsla walked up to Will and Obi-wan cautiously moved his hand to his saber. But his fears were unwarranted as Pre Vizsla grabbed his nephew by the shoulders and smiled.

"You have her eyes and I can tell from them that you have her spirit. And you wear her gauntlets with pride. I may have lost my sister but I have gained a nephew and you are most welcome here." Pre Vizsla said to his nephew with all the joy and pride when someone met a new family member. "Come, let me show you around."

"Go ahead, Padawan. I'll be with you shortly." Obi-wan told him and Will nodded as he was escorted away by his uncle. Satine moved to join them when Obi-wan pulled her to the side. "I need a favor from you. Please keep Governor Vizsla occupied for a while."

"Where are you going?" Satine asked him.

"Just for a look around. I'd like to see one of these mining facilities for myself." Obi-wan told her.

"You mean you want to determine if they're still operational." Satine corrected him.

"I hope to determine they're not." Obi-wan said before taking out a small communicator and an earpiece. "I want you to have this ear piece in case you run into trouble while I'm gone."

"I feel as those this endeavor is something you should include your Padawan in." Satine told him.

"Oh, he knows the plan." Obi-wan assured her.

Flashback to a few minutes ago…

Obi-wan pulled Will aside on the Duchess's shuttle heading to Concordia so the two could have a moment to talk. "I truly hope that your uncle isn't involved in this Death Watch movement, Will, I truly do. But we have to assume the worst." Obi-wan reminded him and Will agreed.

"I know. From what my mother told me about my uncle she said he was the greater staunch defender of the old ways then she was and willing to cross lines that needed to be crossed to win." He told Obi-wan. "I'm hoping this is nice family reunion so I can have at least one familial member that isn't bad but I'm also ready to face reality if that isn't true."

"While we're on Concordia, I'll do some investigating at the mining facilities while you talk with your uncle and keep an eye on the Duchess." Obi-wan took out an earpiece from his belt and put it deep in his ear. Will did the same, taking an earpiece from his belt and they both synched them to their commlinks. "I'm not sure what we'll find but it's best that we be ready."

"Understood." He replied.

End of Flashback…

Obi-wan walked over to a nearby speeder bike and powered it up. "Remember that you are here under my protection." Satine reminded him. "Please try not to cause problems where none yet exist."

"Think of me as searching for solutions." Obi-wan said to her.

"I have to tell you I'm opposed to all of this." Satine stated.

"I'd be disappointed if you weren't." Obi-wan quipped before he left.

Will was escorted into a room in the Concordian building while his uncle went to handle some business but would return shortly. He stayed in the room and looked around, finding nothing out of the ordinary but was drawn to a large painting on the wall. It was of a Mandalorian warrior wielding a black-colored sword with shining sun behind him, standing amidst a sea of other people. Judging by the style of the helmet and painting it was likely inspired by the old Mandalorian garb from back during the old Republic. He heard the door hiss and in walked his uncle.

"Apologies for leaving. I had to write a letter to the bomber's family to inform them of what was going on as well as my promise to get to the bottom of this." Pre Vizsla told him.

"Of course, uncle." He understood. Pre Vizsla noticed his nephew's gaze lingered at the painting and walked over so he stood at his side.

"An interesting piece, isn't it? Painted during the time of the Old Republic in honor of our ancestor, Tarre Vizsla. The only Mandalorian ever inducted into the Jedi Order. Well, it would seem we can't say that anymore." Pre Vizsla joked and Will chuckled.

"I remember the stories about him my mother would tell me growing up. One of the greatest warriors our people have ever known and wielded a lightsaber unlike any other." He recounted.

"Yes and lost to history after the countless wars and such that followed. Things were much more chaotic then." Pre Vizsla said.

"I doubt that. If anything, we just don't know all the finer details of what they did all those years ago. I imagine if we did then the wars back then and the Clone wars now are not that different. Just different people fighting but for the same reasons." Will perceived.

"An interesting point of view." Pre Vizsla commented before he pat him on the shoulder. "I imagine you must have differed greatly from the other Jedi in your order."

"I did. Growing up at the temple and training there…it was a unique experience. One that had its own problems." He admitted, hinting to his uncle, and trying to gauge his reaction.

"I can only imagine. Our people were never that well looked at by the Jedi, even when one of our own joined them. Still, I'm glad in the circumstances because they have led us to meet and I am most pleased to meet you, nephew. We have much to talk about. I wish to know more about you and I'm sure you wish to know about me and what stories I have of your mother when we were younger." His uncle told him.

"Stories I'd be glad to hear." He said with a smile when Duchess Satine entered.

"Apologies for interrupting. Master Kenobi will join us shortly. He said he needed to meditate." Satine told them.

"Sounds like my master. He often finds himself retreating to meditation to keep himself center." Will remarked as they sat down at the table.

"No matter. We can talk while your master is busy. There is much I would like to know." Pre Vizsla got them some water and they all sat down. "We still hear tales of the Clone Wars in Neutral space and there have been whispers of a Mandalorian Jedi fighting against the Separatists. At first I thought they were nothing more than rumors but I'm glad to know I was proven wrong. I'm sure you have many interesting stories."

"I've gotten into the occasional unique situation during the war." Will admitted and decided to tell them the stories of his adventure stopping a minor war between Pantora and the Talz on Orto Plutonia and then fighting during the invasion of the Planet Ryloth. Despite the fact that this was essentially him distracting his uncle so Obi-wan could go sneaking around, it was kind of nice to interact with his uncle after all these years.

Despite that…he knew there was something wrong with this place and his uncle had to be involved. One of the benefits of being a Jedi was a sense of foresight and precognition. And he knew in his gut to expect this unease the second he saw the Death Watch symbol.

An hour later…

After Will had regaled his uncle and the Duchess with his stories, earning praises from Pre Vizsla for how well he has handled himself in the war, the conversation turned to Death Watch going after Satine.

"Someone is feeding misinformation directly to the Republic senate, saying that the Death Watch is taking over Mandalore. Who stands to gain from these lies?" Satine pondered.

"Death Watch, of course." Pre Vizsla told her.

"They could not have engineered this. The problem has clearly grown much larger than we thought. And I suspect some external force helped it along." Satine suggested.

"It's not that hard to believe. During the war I've seen and heard stories of how Count Dooku and the Separatists get other worlds to their side through nefarious and underhanded tactics. I've seen them do such a thing on Rodia." Will told her.

"My nephew is right. It has to be someone at the highest level of influence in the Separatists." Pre Vizsla told her.

"But why target me?" Satine questioned.

"You lead the Council of Neutral Systems. Thus, you threaten the Separatist goals. Take it as a compliment. Someone very powerful is working towards your downfall." Pre Vizsla told her before taking a sip of his drink.

"If you'll excuse me for a moment. I need to use the bathroom." Will said as he got up.

"Of course. Down the hall and it's the second door on the right." Pre Vizsla told him. Will nodded before walking out of the room and down the hall. He double checked to make sure there was no one around and he didn't see anyone so he decided to do some snooping…after he went to the bathroom.

After he relieved himself, he snooped around to see if he could find something. He peaked his head into one room to see it was an office but wasn't just a regular office. He walked in and turned the lights on to see a desk, computer, and such but what drew his attention was the set of Mandalorian armor on display in a glass case. He walked over to get a closer look at the armor. The helmet, shoulder pauldrons, knee-pads, thigh, and shin guards were colored a dark blue while the breastplate was a dark grey and boots were brown. The helmet had a rangefinder attached and there was a belt of supplies and ammo with a single WESTAR-35 Blaster pistol. On the chest was the symbol for Clan Vizsla but most noticeable on the display was that the armor didn't have the vambraces. Will glanced down at the ones he was wearing and noticed the similar color scheme to the armor.

"I see you got a little sidetracked." Will heard and turned to see Pre Vizsla walk in.

"Sorry. I was coming back and saw the door was open. I guess my curiosity got the better of me." He admitted as his uncle walked up next to him. "Is this…is this what I think it is?"

"It's your mother's armor. I kept it safe here after I found it. There was one part of the armor that was always missing but I understand the reason now." Pre Vizsla motioned to the vambraces Will was wearing. "In our culture, these armors were passed down from generation to generation, going back thousands of years. I imagine if things had gone differently she would have wanted you to have this."

"And it would have been my honor. Although it wouldn't exactly…fit me." Will pointed out and Pre Vizsla chuckled.

"No, it wouldn't which is why we probably would have had it reforged for you." His uncle informed him. "I've noticed that your master's meditation is taking a rather long time."

"Well, my master has never done anything unless it was strict to code. Jedi often found themselves in meditation for as long as it suited them." He answered.

"I'm curious about something. My sister raised you on Coruscant but you've never spoken about your father. Why is that?" Pre Vizsla wondered.

"Because I don't know anything about him. She never told me anything about who my father was." He answered, technically speaking the truth. His mother never said anything about his father and he only learned the truth from Obi-wan but decided to keep the fact that Count Dooku is his father to himself.

"Interesting. My sister and I were close but she never spoke of anyone enough that she had feelings for. Perhaps now that you're here, this won't be our only meeting and we can find the identity of your father. Among other things. There is much I wish to tell and show you, Nephew." Pre Vizsla told him.

"And I'm eager to learn them, Uncle." He replied, seeing the smile on his uncle's face as a good sign. That's when his earpiece went off.

"Padawan, Satine, can you hear me? Please acknowledge." Obi-wan radioed in.

"We should get back to the Duchess." Pre Vizsla told him and he nodded. They walked back to the meeting room and Will managed to touch his commlink without his uncle seeing.

"I'm in a bit of an awkward spot. I'm being held by the Death Watch. Track my signal due east of your location and come get me."

"If you'll excuse me, uncle. I'll go see what's keeping my master. Perhaps I can rouse him from his meditation so that we can eat dinner." Will suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea." Pre Vizsla told him so Will walked to the hangar while his uncle went back to the meeting room.

"I'm on my way." Will radioed back.

"Take a speeder, it's rough terrain." Obi-wan told him.

"Roger that." Will rushed back into the hangar and powered up a speeder before driving away. He tracked Obi-wan's signal east which took him a few minutes before arriving at the entrance to a mine. He saw another speeder bike which meant he was on the right track. "Master, where are you?"

"Listen for the loud metallic clanging sound. That would be the machine about to smash me into bits." Obi-wan told him. Will saw a nearby emergency panel so he used his saber and sliced it half which set off an alarm before rushing down the mine tunnel. The two Death Watch Mandalorians watching Obi-wan headed down the tunnel and Will popped out behind cover before heading into the processing facility. That's where he saw Obi-wan trapped in a ray shield on a mine conveyor belt. "Well, it certainly took you long enough."

"I seem to remember you hanging out and talking while I had a hive-mind worm in my face so don't get snippy with me." Will warned him as he jumped up onto the platform with the factory controls.

"Yes, no need to remind me of that." Obi-wan remarked.

"I did say I would leave you on your own if you ever got yourself into a situation like this so don't start. Now be patient and give me a second to shut this thing down." Will told him as BD-8 climbed down his shoulder and plugged into the machine.

"I happen to be a bit short on patience right now. Will, turn the machine off!" Obi-wan shouted as he saw he was getting closer and closer to getting crushed. BD-8 managed to stop the machine just before he did and shut the conveyor belt down. "Phew. That was close."

"Your welcome." Will jumped down from the platform and activated his saber to cut him free but quickly turned to block and deflect blaster fire from one of the Death Watch Mandalorians. He blocked and deflected the dual blaster fire but force pushing some nearby crates at the Mandalorian who activated his jet pack to get to safety. That allowed Will to throw his saber which spun through the air and sliced the back of the Mandalorian's jetpack before it returned to his hand. The jetpack went haywire and caused the Mandalorian to crash into the wall. Will used his saber and cut Obi-wan free, helping him back to his feet.

"Drop it!" They heard as they saw the second Death Watch Mandalorian walk out, holding Satine at gunpoint.

"What are you doing here?" Obi-wan asked.

"Answering your distress call. You did call me as well as your padawan." Satine reminded him.

"I said, drop it!" The Mandalorian ordered so Will deactivated his saber and held it up.

"Ok, I'll drop it." Will held it up and saw the Mandalorian's gaze linger on it. "Catch!"

He tossed it at the Mandalorian who grabbed it with the hand he was using to hold Satine. That allowed Will to fire his cable at the guy's arm and pull him forward. The pull yanked him off balance, allowing Obi-wan to disarm him of his blaster and throw him into a wall, knocking him out. Will force pulled his saber back into his hand and the three got into the nearby mine shaft elevator to leave. That put him in the unfortunate position of being in the middle of Obi-wan and Satine and whatever they had going on.

"For a man sworn to peace, you take an unseemly pleasure in the injuries of others." Satine said to Obi-wan.

"For a woman sworn to nonviolence, you don't seem troubled that I could have been killed back there." Obi-wan said back.

"But you weren't. And yet I still haven't heard any thanks for coming." Satine pointed out.

"Well, you certainly haven't changed much and if anyone deserves the thanks its my Padawan for rescuing me as well as you." Obi-wan corrected her only for Will to let out an annoyed groan.

"By the Force. Can you two save whatever kind of weird flirty mess you have for when I'm not here?" He pleaded and they both stopped talking but sent each other looks. The elevator doors open and they saw a Death Watch Mandalorian standing there. He quickly landed a kick to his left leg, knocking him to one knee before punching him in the armpit and then delivered a punch to the throat before grabbing him by the helmet and slamming him face first into a nearby boulder to knock him out.

"This is not the way we came in." Obi-wan said and they were right. They had taken the elevator to an old quarry further into the mine which was now set up as the Death Watch's basecamp.

"Look there! It's the Jedi!" A Death Watch Mandalorian pointed at them. Will tried to get the elevator to close but it wouldn't which is when Death Watch opened fire at them with their GALAAR-15 blaster carbines. Obi-wan, Will, and Satine quickly took cover by the boulder which was a good thing as the blaster fire hit the cables holding up the elevator and caused it to drop down the elevator shaft.

"We'll have to stand and fight. Or in your case, just stand." Obi-wan said to Satine and she just glared at him. Obi-wan reached to get his saber on his belt but it wasn't there.

"Guess I'm gonna have to be the one to fight." Will unclipped his lightsaber and picked up the blaster carbine from the Death Watch Mandalorian before handing it to his master. "Try not to get shot."

"Padawan, there are too many of them." Obi-wan warned him and he was right. That's when Will saw the jetpack the unconscious Mandalorian had with the rocket attached and got an idea.

The Death Watch Mandalorians kept shooting at the Jedi. "You three, stop him!" One of them ordered three men when they saw a rocket fly from the boulder straight at them. "Take cover!"

They all ran and dove for cover as the rocket blew up one of their Kom'rk-Class ships which rained down debris and shrapnel. Will looked at the jetpack in amazement. "I've got to get me one of these." He put it down and activated his lightsaber. "Stay here and give me cover fire. BD-8, you stay with them."

BD-8 climbed down Will's shoulder before he ran out from cover and force jumped into the quarry were he blocked and deflected blaster fire while moving through the air.

"Kill him!" One of the Death Watch shouted as Will landed in a roll and then moved into a butterfly twist, blocking, and deflecting blaster fire before he force pushed three Death Watch warriors back. He flipped through the air and landed next to a group, quickly slicing and destroying their blaster carbines. One tried to grab him from behind but he spun around and sliced his jetpack before kicking him into his friend. This caused the jetpack to go off which sent the Death Watch flying away. He slid forward and knocked one Death Watch off his feet before kicking him in the chest and turned his saber behind to deflect a blaster bolt back at a Death Watch warrior. He force pulled one Death Watch to him and sliced his jetpack causing it to explode and then force pushed two more into the side of the quarry. He quickly rolled to the side to avoid getting caught in a cable before firing his wrist rocket at a group.

One of the Death Watch Mandalorians, the leader judging by the unique design of his helmet and the cape he was wearing, watched with intrigue as the Jedi fought against all his men. Obi-wan peaked out from the boulder and shot at the Death Watch who were more focused on Will then they were at him. Some of the Death Watch activated their jetpacks and took off into the air, firing down at Will from above. He deflected their blaster fire or just moved out of the way. Will utilized Form-Four Ataru to increase his speed and agility and given that he was well-versed in the form and knew how Mandalorians fought, he knew how to use it. He rolled forward and then side flipped over a blaster shot when he saw three rockets flying at him so he used the force to redirect them to the side, hitting the ground and knocking some Death Watch away.

Will spun his saber in front of him and then behind his back, blocking blaster fire before force grabbing one of the Death Watch and throwing him at a Death Watch who flew straight at him from behind. He saw another Death Watch fly at him so he jumped into the air and hit him with side kick to the chest, knocking him to the ground. Will flipped forward and blasted one Death Watch with his repulsor, staggering him before slicing his arm off and force pushing him away. Two Death Watch flew straight at him with their jetpacks and fired their ripcord launchers only for Will to backflip so they missed. He then threw his saber into the air and sliced their jetpacks, causing them to crash to the ground. One Death Watch drew his vibro-blade and lunged but Will blocked his arm, kneed him in the gut and jabbed him in the armpit where the armor didn't cover him. That caused the Death Watch to stagger back before Will hit him with a roundhouse kick and then force pulled his saber back into his hand as he saw more Death Watch close in to surround him. He force pushed the ground and sent out a thick cloud of sand to obscure their vision and make them cough before he jumped into the air. He brought his limbs close and pulled the force into his body, distorting the air around him to build up power before releasing it.

"RAH!" He unleashed a charged force repulse wave that sent the Death Watch around him flying back. Those that were closest flew back with immense force and crashed into the ground or the quarry walls with one even getting knocked into the side of one of the ships. Those that were furthest away were just knocked onto their backs by the sheer concussive force he emitted.

Will landed on one knee and took a deep breath to slow his breathing before he stood up. Obi-wan, Satine, and BD-8 peaked their heads out of the boulder to see the fighting stopped and Will was still alive. They cautiously got out and walked forward, joining him. One of the Death Watch members managed to get up and raised his blaster at Will who was ready to keep fighting.

"STOP!" They heard and the Death Watch member did as he was told. The Death Watch warriors slowly got back to their feet, some quicker then others depending on how hard they were hit or how badly injured they were. That's when Will saw four more Death Watch walk into the area. One of them had a cape and three spikes on his helmet like a trident. That coupled with the fact he was walking ahead of the others indicated he was the leader. The leader walked past a Death Watch warrior that had his arm cut off and took out his blaster pistol. "Failure."

He then shot him square in the stomach where the Beskar didn't protect him. The leader and his men walked forward as Will readied to fight, noticing Obi-wan's saber hooked onto his belt. They watched as the leader removed his helmet and reveal himself to be Pre Vizsla. The Governor of Concordia and Will's uncle was leader of Death Watch.

"I figured." Will muttered, expecting this to be a possibility. He made some hand signals to BD-8, telling him to start recording everything and he did.

"Governor?" Satine was not expecting that.

"Impressive fight, nephew. My sister trained you well and your time with the Jedi didn't dull your combat sense." Pre Vizsla praised him.

"Not sure how to take that compliment." Will stated.

"Governor Vizsla. What is the meaning of this? Satine asked him.

"I think it's fairly obvious. My nephew and I come from a long and storied clan in Mandalorian history. For generations, our ancestors fought proudly as warriors against the Jedi. We have fought to protect our way of life until the Duchess. Now, you tarnish the very name Mandalorian." Pre Vizsla stated.

"And you working with the Separatists is any better?" Obi-wan asked.

"A temporary partnership. They aid me in ridding the Duchess and her weak peace-loving government and in exchange we assist in them in assignments only a true Mandalorian could handle." Pre Vizsla explained.

"Falling into work with the Separatists, especially Dooku is just repeating the mistakes of the past that led us here, Uncle." Will corrected him. "Dooku and the Separatists can't be trusted."

"I don't but he is a means to an end. The Duchess is here now and so is my long lost nephew." Pre Vizsla said with a smile. "At first, I was worried to hear you belonged to the Jedi but seeing you in combat for myself…I can see that your mother trained you well in our ways. Join me, Nephew. Rid Mandalore of that weak, peace-loving fool and rule Mandalore by my side. I know your mother would be proud to see the two of us finish what she and I couldn't all those years ago."

Will looked back at Satine and then at his uncle. "Padawan, don't listen to him." Obi-wan told him.

"Be quiet, Jedi. I know my Nephew's heart. A Mandalorian will never truly be accepted by the Jedi. Your kind have always feared us and with good reason. Our last ancestor who joined the Jedi ruled Mandalore and now, we can do the same." Pre Vizsla held out his hand to welcome his nephew with open arms. "You know what the right choice is, nephew. Your mother understood that."

There was a moment of silence in the quarry as all eyes were on Will to see what his decision would be. Obi-wan and Satine had small looks of worry that he didn't immediately say now to his uncle's offer.

"Your right, she did." He admitted and Pre Vizsla smiled. "And she would not want this."

"You would dishonor her memory?" Pre Vizsla asked in anger.

"No, I will honor her memory as the woman who raised me and taught me everything I know. Yes, she was much like you when she was younger but she had changed during her time on Coruscant. She had time to look back on the things done during the war and many of them haunted her until the very day she died. And seeing what you've done using our clan's symbol breaks my heart as much as it did her." Will held up his necklace to show him their clan's symbol. "This symbol used to feared because we were great warriors and now all we'll be remembered as is terrorists! Warriors fight their opponent head on! Not plant a bomb to kill innocent people and then try to commit suicide and be a martyr! That is not a True Mandalorian, that is a coward!"

Will spoke with complete passion and belief in his words and what he said seemed to struck nerve with some of the Death Watch nearby. "You have no idea of what you speak, nephew. It would seem your time with the Jedi have made you soft as I feared they would." Pre Vizsla spat in disgust.

"No, if anything they have made me stronger because I can see things with an open eye. Can you all not see our cycle of repeated destruction? Centuries of fighting to try and cling to the old ways of being galactic crusaders that were possible when the galaxy was younger but times have changed! The rest of the galaxy has understand that but we're too stubborn and ignorant to change with them and it has cost us! Our planet! Our people! And repeated wars that leave us doing the exact same thing over and over again to where we are right now! I may not agree with the Duchess's view of our people or what she has done but she is not weak to want the best for our people after the centuries if not millenniums of death and misfortune that have plagued us! And I'm not the extremist you are uncle but I will fight for what I believe in and this is wrong! Torr Vizsla was nothing more than a warmonger and sociopath who wanted violence and built Death Watch as such." Will stated. Obi-wan smiled at his padawan's speech as did Satine. She may not agree with it but it was passion filled and unbeknownst to them, it had struck a cord with the Death Watch.

"So be it, Nephew. If that is what you believe then you can die with the Duchess and your master." Pre Vizsla said before he turned and walked away. "Finish them."

The Deatch Watch raised their blasters to shoot them. Obi-wan stood in front of Satine to protect her and Will was ready to fight with everything he had to stay alive. BD-8 looked around at the numbers and was worried they would make it out alive. So, he said something to Will in droid speech and offered a possible way out of the situation alive. Will heard BD-8 and remembered what his mother had taught him and it could work.

"I invoke the Mandalorian right of single Combat!" He announced, stopping the Death Watch from shooting him and caused his uncle to stop and turn around. "I am Will of Clan Vizsla, Son of Pio Vizsla of Mandalore and I challenge you! One warrior to another! And only the strongest will lead our clan!"

"Can he do that?" Obi-wan asked Satine.

"It's our most ancient code. An invocation to settle all disputes via one-on-one combat." She explained as the Death Watch members looked at their leader for his response.

"A last gamble, nephew?" Pre Vizsla wondered.

"Maybe. But I stand by it. If you want to lead Death Watch into another pointless cycle of violence then fine. But I will do everything I can to stop you. It's what my mother would want." Will swore and Pre Vizsla sneered.

"Very well. Defend yourself." Pre Vizsla told him and Will held his saber in front of him. Pre Vizsla took a blade hilt off his shoulder and pressed a button, causing a black-colored blade to come out. He was holding the legendary Darksaber, the lightsaber forged by Tarre Vizsla who was a legendary Jedi Knight of the Old Republic and eventually became Mand'alor of their people. "This lightsaber was stolen from your Jedi temple by our ancestors years ago during the fall of the old Republic. Since then, many Jedi have died upon its blade. If one of our own clan must be the next then so be it. Prepare yourself to join them. For Mandalore!"

Pre Vizsla charged and leapt into the air, bringing the Dark Saber down with an overhead slash that Will blocked before he pushed back. He leaned back and blocked a slash to his right before parrying it to his left and then jumped to avoid a slash to the leg. He blocked his uncle's slash at his leg and then two strikes to his body before backing up to avoid a slash and responded with his own to his side that was blocked. He caught his uncle's arm when he came down with a single overarm slash but then moved his head to avoid the punch from the other arm. He pushed him back and then kicked him in the side before backflipping to avoid a spinning slash to the leg.

Will charged with several quick strikes to the leg and chest that were blocked before he shoulder bumped his uncle to knock him back and swiped at his chest but the Beskar deflected it. Pre Vizsla backed up as Will did a leaping lunge that he parried and then threw out an slash to the head that he ducked and spun around to gain some distance. Pre Vizsla pulled out one of his WESTAR-35 blaster pistols and fired a shot but Will raised his hand and used Force Stasis, freezing him and the blaster bolt just as it was starting to come out of the barrel. Pre Vizsla struggled to move but couldn't and Will struggled to keep the force stasis active before he slashed the blaster out of his uncle's hand. Pre Vizsla came down with a giant overhead swing so Will rolled to the side and back to his feet before bringing his saber down with an overhead swing. Pre Vizsla blocked it and did a leg sweep that was avoided before doing a slash at the right that Will blocked and parried to his left before pushing him back and landing a hook kick to the side of his head that dazed him.

Obi-wan, Satine, and the Death Watch members watched the fight. They saw Pre Vizsla stagger a bit from the kick to the head as he and his nephew paced around one another. Will's breathing was bit a labored as was his uncle but both weren't done yet. "You're getting slow, old man." Will quipped, trying to get keep him off balance and angry. Angry fighters tended to make mistakes.

Pre charged forward and did a spinning slash attack that was blocked and left him open to a knee to the face that knocked him back. Will then kicked the Darksaber out of his hand, making Obi-wan and Satine think this was it over only for Pre Vizsla to slug him in the gut with a right jab. He then grabbed Will's saber arm and kneed him in the stomach before knocking him onto his back with an uppercut. Pre rushed over and picked up the Darksaber before jumping into the air, with his jetpack giving him a boost, to deliver a powerful overhead strike.

Will rolled backwards back to his feet to avoid getting hit and pulled his saber back into his hand to block the quick and powerful slashes to his sides, legs, and head. He blocked a slash to his left and pushed him back before throwing out a spinning hook kick that his uncle ducked and then blocked a lunge to the stomach. That allowed him to close the distance and landing a rising knee strike to the side of the head and knock him back. The Death Watch members watched with intrigue as they saw Pre Vizsla on his back before using his jetpack to get into the air and avoid his nephew's ground stab. He pulled out his remaining blaster pistol and fired a few rounds that Will blocked and dodged before landing back on the ground and doing an overhead slash. He blocked it and parried his sword into the ground, allowing Pre Vizsla to elbow him in the face but Will didn't let that deter him and headbutted him back. He then blocked a slash to his right and backflipped to dodge a spinning slash to his body and landed safely a few feet away. Pre Vizsla fired a few more blaster bolts that Will blocked before using his flamethrower that Will countered with his flamethrower.

When their flame duel was over, Will did another leaping lunge but Pre Vizsla just flew into the air with his jetpack to gain some distance. Will rushed forward to keep up with him as Pre Vizsla threw down some grenades. He jumped to the side to avoid some of them but then Pre Vizsla threw one down next to him and it knocked him onto his back. Obi-wan was worried as he saw Will do a kip-up back to his feet before spitting out some blood in his mouth to continue the fight. He blocked his uncle's slash to his leg, ducked a slash to his head and parried a downward slash before push kicking him back. Pre Vizsla staggered so Will followed that up with a jump spinning hook kick that hit him right in the face and knocked him onto his back. Pre Vizsla got up and took a few deep breaths before quickly firing a pair of razor darts from his gauntlet. Will ducked at the last second, saving his life but they skimmed and cut his right cheek and some of his hair. He wiped some of the blood away and charged forward with several quick slashes, stabs, and lunges that his uncle managed to block but just barely. He blocked his last lunge into a saber lock that Will used to shoulder push him again and knock him back. Pre charged away with two slashes to the stomach before throwing out his elbow but Will blocked it with his hand and pushed him back before firing his repulsor which knocked him face first into the dirt. Pre Vizsla got back up as Will charged forward and flipped over him, throwing out several slashes that were blocked before continuing his attack with more powerful swipes and cuts. He blocked his uncle's lunge and countered with a powerful strike to his side that was blocked but knocked him back. Will charged forward so Pre hovered into the air with his jetpack. Knowing what he was going to do, Will jumped into the air and dropkicked his uncle in the stomach and knocked him back to the ground.

Will hit the ground on his back but quicky got back to his feet as his uncle got up and had to remove his damaged jetpack. Everyone watched with intrigue as without the jetpack it made the fight much more even. Pre Vizsla ran at Will, dragging his saber into the dirt and flung it forward into his nephew's face. Will's vision as momentarily obscured, allowing Pre to fire his cable around his legs and tie them up but Will just sliced the cable off. Pre then blasted Will's saber out of his hand and left him defenseless so he charged.

"ARGH!" Pre Vizsla charged like an animal with the Darksaber held high. Will held his hands in front of him and got ready, managing to catch his uncle's sword arm only to get punched in the face three times. But he took the punches before elbowing his uncle in the jaw and maneuvered his saber arm over his shoulder and bringing it down hard causing him to shout in pain. He then isolated his wrist and knocked the saber out of his hand before throwing him over his shoulder into the ground and kicking him across the face. Will fired his ripcord launcher and caught his uncle's arm before pulling. Pre tried to pull for dominance but Will quickly wrapped the cable around his wrist and pulled harder. Pre was pulled forward into Will who put him in a headlock and kneed him in the gut twice before throwing him over his hip to the ground and threw out another punch across the face.

Pre Vizsla groaned in pain as he scrambled back to his feet and pulled out his vibro-blade. He put it in his right hand and did some quick lunges and swipes that Will dodged before doing a slash to his left. Will raised his vambrace to deflect the blow and grabbed his wrist. His uncle threw out a punch that was blocked and then Will punched him across the face before he backhanded him in the jaw. Will then tightened his grip on his uncle's wrist and locked his arm before throwing out another punch and backhand. Pre Vizsla staggered as Will followed that up with three more devastating punches to the face that knocked him to the ground. That allowed him gain leverage on his arm and break his wrist before knocking his vibro-blade away.

"AGH!" Pre Vizsla shouted in pain before he was kicked back. He cradled his broken wrist and crawled away, his men watching their once fearless leader crawl away from his opponent in fear to get back to his feet. That's when Will landed a kick to his face, a punch to his jaw, a spinning elbow to his nose and then brought his face down onto his knee.

Pre Vizsla was knocked on his back in shame. His wrist and nose broken, his face bloody and beaten while his nephew was standing on two feet the victor. Will could feel the adrenaline of the fight still coursing through him as he fought less like a Jedi and more like the Mandalorian his mother trained him as. He stood over his uncle before force pulling the Darksaber into his hand and activating the black colored blade. "Like you said, Nephew…only the strongest…shall rule." Pre Vizsla muttered, managing to get to his knees.

"Padawan, stop!" Obi-wan ordered. "You've beaten him. It's over."

"He's right. Governor Vizsla needs to be arrested and stand trial for what he has done." Satine added and Pre Vizsla let out a pained laugh.

"There's only one way this fight ends. He dies or I do." He muttered. "I can take some solace. I may die…but a stronger Mandalorian will lead our clan. Do it, Nephew."

"Padawan, don't do it. This isn't the Jedi way." Obi-wan reminded him.

"No, it's the Mandalorian way. And no matter what you Jedi have taught him he is one of us. Do it, nephew." Pre Vizsla urged him on as the other Death Watch waited to see what would happened. Will looked down at the Darksaber in his hands, feeling the power course through the blade and into his hand before gazing at his defeated uncle. "Rise up and take my place. Be the better warrior then your mother and I were. End it!"

"Padawan, don't do this! This isn't the Jedi way. You're better than this! He's just baiting you." Obi-wan pleaded.

"You'll never truly be accepted among the Jedi, nephew! You know what you have to do! END IT!" Pre Vizsla shouted and Will raised the sword high above his head.

"Padawan, no!" Obi-wan begged.

"RAHH!" Will brought the saber down with everything he had and sliced through his uncle where the sickening squish sound and sizzle of a lightsaber meeting flesh was heard.

"ARGH!"

Pre Vizsla fell down and cradled his side in pain as his right arm had been cut off at the shoulder. It laid on the ground next to his body and all that remained was a cauterized hole where his arm used to be. Obi-wan and Satine breathed a sigh of relief as they saw Will hadn't killed his uncle. He stood there with the Darksaber in his hand, his breathing heavy and labored from the fight and what he had just done. "You don't get the easy way out, Uncle." He told him.

"I…I knew it. You're too weak." Pre Vizsla said to him.

"I didn't kill you because I'm weak. I didn't kill you because I'm not making you a martyr. No, instead I'm making you an example." Will kicked him across the face, knocking him onto his back and aimed the Darksaber at his face. There he could see the pained and defeated look his uncle had before he looked at the rest of Death Watch.

"Look at your fearless leader now. Defeated and disgraced. He gave you power and led you here resting on past laurels of a time long past. A time where Death Watch felt they were invincible. A time, uncle, where I'm sure that you were taught savagery and that mercy is weakness. I was taught differently. My mother taught me a different lesson…fighting for us on the streets of Coruscant to survive without the protection of her armor. She taught me to learn from the mistakes of the path yet never give up on what makes me who I am. And that is a true warrior. I may not have been raised on Mandalore but I am Mandalorian as she was but she was able to learn unlike you. It has her and the Jedi who taught me it's strength and honor to defend and aid those that can't protect themselves by people who would see to do them harm. People like you. And I'm the one who beat you." Will grabbed his uncle by the chest and pulled him close. "That's why I didn't kill you. I want you to remember this moment. I want to remind you to stay out of my way. In all the years to come in your most private moments…I want you to remember the one man who beat you."

Will then knocked out his uncle with a headbutt and pushed him back to the ground. Obi-wan gave his Padawan a nod of approval to show restraint but he wasn't sure about that little speech. Will force pulled his lightsaber into his hand and hooked it onto his belt before he looked at the Death Watch members standing around. "Now what say you?!" He asked them, waiting for any of them to take a chance and attack him.

No one seemed to move before one of the Death Watch Mandalorians walked forward. Will was ready to fight when he saw the Death Watch Mandalorian take a knee and bow his head. Then, one by one, the rest of the Death Watch Mandalorians walked up and took a knee, bowing in reverence to his victory. He defeated his uncle, the leader of Death Watch. He spared his life but he was victorious and now wielded the Darksaber. By all means, he was their leader. A new Mand'alor? Uncertain but he now lead his Clan and by extension, led Death Watch.

Will had no idea what this meant for his future but at the moment, it didn't matter. He just raised the Darksaber while the other Mandalorians bowed their head in reverence.

Things just got complicated.

DUN…DUN…DUNNN!

End of Chapter 8

1). Tarre Vizsla's story is taken from Star Wars Legends.

I hoped you guys liked the chapter. A lot has happened here. We finished up Geonosis, Rathtar squad is back now as ARC troopers and they'll have more prominent roles going forward. We've rescued Master Koth from Grievous, Will and Rex met with Cut on Saleucami and now Will has been introduced to Mandalore and his people. Things are going to get complicated from here on out which is par for the course. And don't worry, Will not killing his uncle doesn't mean he's going soft. Isn't it more devastating to a guy like him to not be afforded the mercy of death and instead be humiliated? That's probably a matter of opinion but Pre Vizsla will return to cause some trouble later in the war. Still, with the Darksaber in his possession and now control of Death Watch…what does this mean going forward?

For the Pre Vizsla and Will fight. I took some inspirations from the fights in the Clone Wars like Obi-wan vs Pre Vizsla and Maul vs Pre Vizsla but added in some other things. The final devasting combo from Will was taken from the Batman (2022) trailer where he beat that goon. Can't wait for it to come out on March 4th.

Coming up, the situation with Death Watch and Mandalore still needs to be handled. With Pre Vizsla taken care of, the Duchess and everyone thinks it's done but Mandalore's problems are far from over. Only Brightside is that Will now leads the violent Death Watch and it's up to him to figure out what to do with them as well as what he should do. What is his role gonna be going forward? Leader of Clan Vizsla. Leader of Death Watch? The New Mand'alor? Well, he better figure it out and get some armor too. Until next time.

Updates for March. The Perfect One and Omniverse-Earth-38 for this month. Until then, everyone stay safe.

Will Vizsla, Son of Pio Vizsla, nephew of Pre Vizsla and Mandalorian by birth. Padawan Jedi.

Birthdate: 38BBY-Age 16

Padawan Apprentice to Obi-wan Kenobi, Former Padawan of Ur-Sema Du, Son of Pio Vizsla. Nephew of Pre Vizsla.

Appearance: Dylan O'Brien from Maze Runner: The Death Cure. With Padawan braid. Scar on his right cheek from Razor Dart wound.

Clothing:

Dark blue Padawan robes and combat boots. Combat belt with Cyan Blue lightsaber.

Ancestral Mandalorian Beskar armored combat gloves and forearm guards with weapons. Necklace with symbol of Clan Vizsla.

A black shirt, black jacket, and blue pants (Casual/Undercover)

Darksaber

Personality: Kind, caring, quick-witted and smart. Able to adapt to situations very easily. Prone to quips to distract or enrage his enemies. Can be a bit of a smartass yet humble and works well with others. Extremely proficient in tinkering and building with electronics. Excellent pilot and mechanic. Knowledge in warfare and weapons from extensive self-tutelage at the Jedi Temple and Mandalorian training by Pio Vizsla. When triggered, can be aggressive and unhinged to a point.

Skills and Powers

Force Powers:

Force speed, Force sight, Force empathy, Force Jump, Force Stasis, Force Pull/Push, Force Throw, Force Barrier, Force Repulse, Force Precognition, Animal Bond, Mind Trick, Levitation, Lightsaber throw.

Combat Skills:

Specialized in Form 2 Makashi-Lightsaber-to-Lightsaber combat, Form 3 Soresu-Blaster counter/Defense, Form four Ataru-combines speed, strength, agility, powers, and the force for to aid in movement and combat. Training in Form 6 Niman which includes training in Form 5 Djem So and Shien. Basic Stance is Samurai Chudan or Middle stance

Adept at hand-to-hand combat.

Mandalorian gauntlets with repulsor, grappling line, wrist rockets, flamethrower, laser splicer, retractable wrist/forearm blades, shield projector, and built-in communicator and holovid.

BD-8 companion droid

Rathtar Squad: Echo (Tech/white, blue, and green ARC Trooper Armor), Hevy (Heavy Weapons/white, blue, and black ARC Trooper armor), Fives (Second in command/white, blue and red ARC Trooper Armor)

Leader of Ghost Company of 212st Attack Battalion

The Tempest: A Black and Orange Corellian XS stock light freighter armed with 2 dorsal and 2 port laser batteries with torpedo launchers and modified ion launchers. Built with 2 powerful sub-light engines, heavy armored plating, and a modified/powerful hyperdrive system, making it powerful yet agile and extremely fast. Equipped with a modified stealth system that can bypass almost any scanner. Built-in cloaking system to turn the ship invisible.

XR: Modified and hacked Separatist Probe Droid

Solar board: Home-built solar powered hover board. Agile, fast, with small twin front blasters and capable of excellent maneuverability.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Star Wars or above-mentioned properties; all rights belong to their owners.