The entry into the main building was slow and methodical. Richard was in the lead, his active camouflage online and already obscuring him pretty well as the main bulkhead door creaked open. The Spartan pushed through first, his VISR Night Vision mode activating as he scanned each nook and cranny. Behind him, the Jedi and Clones pushed through into the already-cleared area, though the Clones still kept their eyes open.
Blue Team and the UNSC contingent remained outside, as ordered, with the AirDef already having activated their radars and keeping the sky clear of any possible Seppie dropships or surprise attacks. If anything was left, it had to be inside the building itself, everyone thought as they pushed through. A platoon of Marines followed the Clones inside, as well, using their flashlights to sweep the darkness and their VISRs to keep tabs on friendlies, which the Clones were now tagged as.
Ahsoka trailed behind Richard, keeping her lightsaber clipped to her belt as the two pushed forward, with the Spartan commenting in a murmur, "Bad feeling..." while pressing forward, rifle raised. Ahsoka could barely make out the rifle's barrel extension, the silencer, due to the active camouflage disrupting most of the guy's form. She had to get herself an armor like that, she thought.
"I get you..." She replied quietly, then looked back to her Master, concerned. Skywalker offered a nod and gave a motion of the hand to the Clones. Rex nodded to the man, then rallied a few of his boys around him and took cover in the darker areas of the massive hallway of the monastery. The Marines gave nods to their newfound Clone comrades as they pushed through, thumbing off their flashlights.
Both Richard and Ahsoka lifted their balled fists at the same time, showing the group to halt. Richard looked to Ahsoka and urged her to cover with a tilt of his head, before taking cover himself. The Marines followed suit, with Skywalker joining the Spartan opposite Ahsoka's position, hand clasped around his deactivated lightsaber. He tapped the boy on the shoulder and felt a slight energy surge, courtesy of both the active camo and the energy shield, presumably.
The boy noticed the tap and raised three fingers in front of the man's face. Maybe thirty droids, Skywalker realized as he heard the thumping of metallic feet against the stone floor, muffled by the walls, but echoing all the way to them from up ahead. The Spartan pulled something off his utility belt and clicked it on. A small red light, unnoticeable even in the darkness, flashed on as the boy slid it down the hall ahead.
Confused, Skywalker was about to ask what it was when the first droids appeared around the corner. Super Battle Droids marched in formation, overlaying their arcs of fire and opening up. Scarlet bolts lit the hallway, catching one clone in the helmet and a pair of Marines that were changing cover in the chest and leg. The one that took a hit in the chest swore as she jumped into cover, while the one who was hit in the leg let out a shrill scream of pain and hefted his assault rifle. The MA40 started its incessant chatter, spent casings clinking on the floor.
The two platoons began opening fire together, the Clones overlaying their blaster fire with the Marines' rifles. Sparks flew off the machines' armor as they continued their advance, with Richard firing sporadically at them and keeping an eye on what the Jedi General soon assumed was a mine of some sort. Drawing his lightsaber in unison with his Padawan, then brandishing it, the man started deflecting the bolts back toward the machines, while Ahsoka did much the same.
The Spartan disengaged his armor's active camouflage and seemed to redirect power to shielding, stating, "Stay behind me if it makes you feel safer, sir!" dry-and-cut, keeping his rifle pointed at the enemy and letting it cough bullets their way. Sparks flew as AP rounds punched through the lighter armored sections of the mechs, before the Spartan was forced to duck into cover as the SBDs swiveled about and focused fire on him.
His shields flared and nearly died before he ducked into cover, plasma melting the stone-and-steel wall he'd taken cover behind, with Skywalker managing to deflect some of the blaster shots and the Marines and Clones now pushing up, undeterred. The Droids also continued their advance, Richard keeping an eye peeled on it. He slung his rifle onto his backside mag lock, then drew his pistol and aimed.
Dipping down as the first droids reached the 'mine', the soldier put a .50 SAPHE round clean through it. A burst of light and a heatwave filled the room. The droids had been shattered, chunks of them thrown all around the place, with one's arm sliding all the way in front of a Clone. The Spartan lowered his pistol as the smoke cleared and called out, "Area secure..."
He stood up, slung the pistol into its holster, then looked to the General, Rex and Ahsoka and told them, "I'm honestly underwhelmed," which caused Rex to snort. Ahsoka, too, grinned, crossing her arms to her chest after shutting her lightsaber off and clipping it to her belt. Anakin gave a nod of approval to the Spartan, who led the way forward once again as pointman.
"Underwhelmed, huh?" Ahsoka chuckled, "Would you have been 'whelmed' if you didn't have that bomb?"
The boy shrugged, "The C12 sure helped with the underwhelming feeling, yes..." as they advanced. Ahsoka kept up close to him, drawing her lightsaber with the motivation in her mind that the enemy already knew they were inside, now, obviously, so why hide? And her master seemed to understand this belief, keeping his own lightsaber drawn as they slowly pushed into the darkness.
Richard waved a few Marines down and told them, "Keep the door open, boys... We'll probably have to make a run for it if my gut feeling's right..."
"Gotcha, Spartan. Deek, Tom, Iacob, you're staying behind," The female Lieutenant of the Marine Corps, one Lieutenant Lee of Chinese descent, told her men. She was scarred, much like everyone else in a certain group of Misfit Marines. Skywalker looked to Rex, who nodded and assigned three of his own men to keep the spot clear as the group advanced.
The architectural strangeness of this place was not lost on the group. It mostly consisted of various massive hallways and multitudes of side rooms and the likes. Anakin commented off-hand, "This place looks like Jabba's palace... The Hutts must have a thing about using old Monasteries as their palaces..." which garnered a short chuckle out of Lieutenant Lee.
She pushed up next to the Spartan and Ahsoka, before pausing and tapping her com. She hummed and reported, "The Battle Group is approximately an hour out from Teth. Means we'll be getting a little more of an extra escort than we bargained for out there..." much to the surprise of the other Marines, the Clones and the Jedi themselves. They stayed silent for now, considering it better to wait and see.
"Hutts ain't gonna like a massive fleet popping in," Anakin quipped as they advanced. A flight of stairs led down and another, up from the massive main hall of the place. Despite the comment, Richard simply turned to ask which way to go, getting a tilt of the head toward the way down, into the dungeons. The troops continued their descent alongside the Jedi.
"Take it they're not very fond of people intruding on their territory, sir?" Lee inquired as they descended. She felt as if that was a little obvious, considering the Hutts were, from what little context most of the UNSC troops got from the Clones, criminals running an empire of crime. She sighed deeply when she saw the General give a nod, before replying, "Well, not much they can do now. Least they'll see we're serious about delivering their little slug baby home..."
"Heh. That's one way to look at it," Ahsoka chuckled as they entered the dungeons. The group grew silent as they advanced, a pair of Marines bringing up rearguard while the officers kept up the advance with the Supersoldier in the lead. The Spartan showed them to halt, before listening for a moment... Then once again moving. Ahsoka looked to him, confused, but keeping her lightsaber close. He shook his head and marched down a few cells, before stopping in front of the last one.
He called up two Marines to take positions on the other side of the door, then hit the button as soon as they were in position. The trio pushed into the cell and did a three-point scan, each calling out, "Clear!" before Richard said, "Area clear... VIP located..." which was punctuated by the whine of a small toddler creature. The group all looked at the small, brown-colored slug with arms that stood before them. It looked up at them with two big, googly eyes, then seemed to extend its hands toward Richard.
"Aww," Ahsoka chuckled, "I think he likes you, Buckethead."
"Shut, Tails..." He replied, then took a knee in front of the Huttlet. He sighed deeply, then murmured, "Good god, are you ugly..." as he picked it up. It seemed to giggle at the Spartan, who turned to Ahsoka. The Jedi chuckled, turned to her master and saw him with a slight frown. Lee, meanwhile, maintained rearguard and a perimeter with the other Marines and the Clones.
Rex told her, "This is gonna be a long mission, isn't it?"
"Oh, yeah..." The girl replied, "We've had worse, though," and she looked to see the seeming confusion in the Clone's body language. Turning, she clarified, "Well, there was Earth, where me and several of my good friends were stuck in the rainforests in Africa, actively being hunted by oversized monkeys with weapons made to maximize torture of the target over killing power, plus other cannibal aliens..."
If Rex's face would've been visible, the man would've shown the sheer fearful look of a dumbfound man. Another clone murmured, "I'm suddenly starting to be glad we never got to meet their enemies..." with a bunch of his brothers replying affirmatively, each sharing the feeling. Rex himself gave a nod of affirmation to his brother, before looking to the woman with Asian features. She chuckled, then turned to see that they'd packed the little Huttlet in a backpack and Ahsoka was carrying him.
"We ready to move, General?" Lee then asked Anakin.
"Should be good, yeah. Status on the Fleet?" He replied with a question. Sam took a moment to listen in, then frowned, to which Anakin sighed and said, "Let me guess. Trouble..."
Sam nodded. She told them, "We just got the word. About a dozen CIS ships just jumped into orbit. The Acclamators were told to get out and our Navy's starting defensive combat operations, so I'd expect a few more suns to flash up above soon... Though they may be heavily outnumbered. Main Fleet's ETA is about one hour out. Man, they're really looking to kill the little Hutt, aren't they?"
"They don't want us gaining any sort of tactical advantage," Rex sighed, "I'll get back upstairs and organize with the Marines and our boys, General. You folks hold up in here and keep the Huttlet safe."
"I'll join you," Lee stated, "Baker, Watts, you two stay with the Spartan and the Jedi..." She then ordered two more of her men. The Clones and Marines then rushed upstairs, weapons at the ready. Richard let out a sigh, drew his rifle and showed them to take cover as he started preparing various traps, including EM and HE mines to soften any possible attacking unit up. The Marines, meanwhile, set up arcs of fire and started praying...
"Well," Ahsoka sighed, "This'll be a fun one..."
"Heh. You haven't seen the worst of it, yet, Snips," Skywalker replied...
In Orbit, aboard the UNSC Pass Me The Ammo
The UNSC captain, a young woman with platinum-blonde hair, stared down the arriving CIS fleet as her shipboard AI calculated targeting solutions... Captain Aada Heikkala glared at the advancing enemy fleet as it came into weapons range, demanding, "ETA to MAC?" and receiving a brief answer. Ten seconds. She smiled knowingly, brows furrowed with the glare, before ordering, "Fire ARCHER Pods! All UNSC vessels, prepare for Ship-to-Ship combat! Enter RED ALERT!"
The shipboard alarms of the Cruiser began to blare as a dozen missiles lanced out of the LS Tubes mounted on its sides and angled armored hull. The explosive tracking warheads of the Anti-Ship Missiles locked onto the leading CIS ship, one of their supposed Frigates, before lancing through the void toward it and slamming into the two protruding top hull portions at the front.
Armor cratered and secondary detonations occurred inside as the enemy frigate and her sisters came into range of their main, bow-mounted turbolaser battery. A flurry of scarlet beams shot out and touched the leading UNSC ship, shields flaring a tangerine-orange under the combining beams of light. The UNSC's reply to this riposte was about six Longswords, two of which had nuclear-tipped anti-ship missiles already mounted.
The volley of missiles launched from the bellies of the craft that had returned from CAP, before all of them veered off to engage the swarms of Vulture droids that now barreled down on the fleet. The fighter craft tracked the enemy vessels with their secondary autocannons, letting loose volleys into the line of enemy craft. Several squadrons refocused on the UNSC's own CAP, a storm of scarlet plasma stabbing at the craft ad they danced miraculously well for massive delta-wing fighter-bombers.
Nuclear missiles made contact with two enemy ships flanking the leading Munificent, a Recusant and another Munificent. The subsequent detonations lit up in bright secondary and tertiary suns. The bow of the Recusant had completely vanished under the blast, while the Munificent's main battery had ceased existing in itself, leaving only a few smaller turbolasers that were now firing at the UNSC picket.
Frigates shot out from their escorting positions, their CIWS and point-defense targeting the CIS's fighters, while a squad of Broadswords flew out from within the cover of the second hangar of the Autumn-class cruiser. Heikkala demanded, "We got that solution!? You said ten seconds!" before receiving a thumbs up. With a manic grin, the UNSC captain barked, "MAIN BATTERY, FIRE AT WILL!"
In unison with its escort's, the cruiser's main battery let out a thunderous roar that shook its very mounts. The ferrous tungsten round lanced out and struck the leading Munificent amidships, piercing through its maw and out of its rear while having hit a coolant line. The vessel flashed and detonated, splitting in two as the overpressure and secondary explosions made way through its hull.
Heikkala grinned and nodded, "Good kill! Helvetin hyvä tappo! Switch to burst-fire mode and let's rock the rest of these Confed pricks!"
"Shields are falling, ma'am! We're down to fifty-three percent!" The engineering liaison spoke. Heikkala waved it off.
She told them, "We can't let them get to the Ground Teams... We stand and fight until the Infinity arrives!" then ordered, "Authorizing STRIKE ONE! Fire SHIVA Tactical at leading enemy vessel, orbital grid position 029-022-001!" pointing toward what seemed to be a Lucrehulk-class starship in the rear, "And get me a firing solution on it!" just as the ship started to shake under the barrage of plasma battery fire.
The Frigates swept in again, MAC Guns roaring. One of the escorting ships managed to score a strike on the other leading enemy ship, following up with a slew of Archers from its pods. CIWS systems raked squadrons of Vulture droids, swatting multiple away like they were mosquitoes, all while the Cruiser itself aimed and fired its main nuclear Torpedo.
The Shiva Warhead was a variable-yield nuclear armament loaded onto a missile that could be guided into any target of the gunner's or AI's choosing, with an easy ability to course-correct mid-flight if required. Currently, the loaded warhead was at 20 Megatons of nuclear power, so something that should've been more than enough to shake the enemy command ship apart, if not give it a nice, bloody nose.
To obscure the nuke's movements, a second volley of Archers was launched at Captain Heikkala's orders, followed up by the famed 'burst-fire' capability of an Autumn's modified MAC. Three slugs left the barrel of the MAC at lower power than normal, gutting one of the ships in the way of the Nuclear weapon. Two were enough to destroy another Munificent, but the third followed the Nuke in.
When both the bomb and the slug connected, the Lucrehulk seemed to stop dead in its tracks, the bright flash of the nuclear fission reaction presumably blinding optical sensors, if the EMP didn't manage to knock the damn things out already. The Pass Me The Ammo, meanwhile, started taking the heat. Its shields flared scarlet, then collapsed, only for the next few volleys to cut into the armor.
Gashes and craters pockmarked the black hulk of Titanium now. One of its Rampart turrets was struck, the mount destroyed by a turbolaser blast. Heikkala swore to herself aboard, demanding, "Status?!"
"CIWS battery twelve is down!" The gunnery officer reported, "We've got no cover on our left!" and the ship shook under a barrage of fire, "Lost batteries thirteen and fourteen! Venting atmosphere in compartment six and we've got confirmed Casualties on Deck 3!"
"Fuck...! Return fire with any and everything we have and get me my goddamn shields back!" The Captain barked, "Call the Frigates back before they get swarmed and tell them to go suborbital! Provide a second layer of air defense to the Monastery! If we get sunk, they'll have to take the brunt of the enemy's orbital assault! Deploy what's left of our troop contingent to-"
The entire group paused as space behind the CIS fleet tore open into a black whirlwind. The first ship to emerge from the storm was the hook-bowed form of the CAS-class carrier, Shadow of Intent. A direct com ping reached the UNSC's leading ship of the picket, with Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum, the half-jawed Alien, appearing ahead of the captain. He spoke, "Apologies for being late, Captain."
"Heh! It's good to see you, Shipmaster!" Heikkala grinned, "You arrived just in time!"
"Good to know, then. All weapons, fire at will. Break the back of the enemy!" The Shipmaster ordered in his usual, grandiose tone. Before the Confederate fleet could even react, great balls of plasma and scarlet laser beams shot out through the void and into their backs. The Lucrehulk itself was cut apart by the lasers, its shields presumably focused forwards now to attempt to stave off any other future projectile strikes.
Plasma melted through the rears of Munificents and Recusants, while Seraph fighters launched from the bays of the warship. Twin plasma cannons tore into CIS Vultures that tried to swivel about and counter them, with the remaining UNSC Pilots joining in the mop-up operation, cannons roaring. Heikkala slumped down into her seat, letting out a sigh of relief and taking her cap off, before ordering, "Get repairs underway to all damaged systems... And tell ground teams we're all clear up here..."
... One hour later, back on the planet, the UNSC and Clone Forces watched as a Pelican began its touchdown sequence. Richard sat with Blue Team, away from the Jedi and the others as they watched the vehicle gingerly touch down on the pad. Ahsoka looked to him and offered a smile, which he replied to with a thumbs up. She turned back to facing the dropship, then warily asked, "Master... Do you feel something strange...?" as the Huttlet on her back started giggling. She pat its head gently.
"... Yeah," Anakin replied, arms crossed. A touch in the Force, something almost ethereal. It felt empty, but somehow vibrant at the same time. As if an entity that was unlike the overall Null population of the UNSC had come into being. The duo of Jedi and Rex, who now joined them, gazed upon Commander Palmer disembarking from the Pelican. She saluted the Jedi, who gave her a nod in return, before both of them paused, eyes growing wide.
The armored figure of a young Jedi woman dismounted from the Pelican next, her equipment old, worn, battered. Clipped to her belt was an ancient-looking lightsaber, her demeanor denoting calm, but her minute body language telling of someone who had lived long and seen a great deal many things. It was only when the two's gazes settled onto the beautiful blonde's smiling visage that they realized who it was.
Or, well... Presumed?
Ahsoka started jumping on the spot, giddily calling out, "Master, is that who I think it is!?"
"Impossible..." Anakin said, wearing a smile showing more confusion than joy. The Jedi woman smiled at them, pushing a strand of her blonde hair out of her eyes with a huff, before she stepped forward and extended her hand. The 'Chosen One' started, "I've... Never seen you before around the Jedi Temple..." before gripping her hand. As he started into her blue eyes, the man knew what he saw.
He saw what her old master had seen. A void. The Death of the Force...
"Because I haven't visited in a few years," She quipped, "Good to finally meet you, o' Chosen One of the Force. I'd've thought you're just a rumor," then she turned to Ahsoka and said, "Ooh, and they gave you a padawan..." as the girl giggled and started jumping from one foot to the other. The blonde chuckled, then said, "I see she's also very ecstatic. Reminds me of me during the good old days, as well."
"Ma'am," Rex nodded to her, deciding to be the sane man, "If you don't mind us asking, what's your name?"
"Meetra Surik," She replied, which stunned both Jedi.
"I knew it!" Ahsoka called out, smiling widely, before grabbing onto Anakin's arm, "Master! It's her! The Exile!"
"Heh. I lost that title a while ago, I think," Meetra replied, crossing her arms to her chest. Rex was confused, honestly. Though he could tell his general was just as, if not more so, considering the man seemed to stare at this Surik woman as if she was the living dead brought to life. Honestly, for all the Clone Captain knew, that might as well have been the case.
"How...?" Anakin asked, completely stunned, "You lived 4,000 years ago..."
Meetra smirked, "Trade secret. We can talk more when the Huttlet's back with his ugly father," and she patted them on the shoulder before turning back to the gunship. The group of Republic military members looked to one-another, then to Meetra and watched her step away, Ahsoka still incredibly giddily jumping up and down, presumably having gotten to meet one of her heroes. Richard had watched this from afar and had to admit, it was sort of adorable, seeing someone geek out so much. He would have done the same when he met the Chief and Spartan-B312, had he not been trained to somewhat contain those outbursts.
It was still kind of cute, for lack of a better term. He would never espouse those views to her, though.
Ever.