AN:To stave off possible complaints with this upcoming chapter, I will openly state now that I based the Grievous we see in my fanfiction off of the Grievous we see in the 2003 Animated Clone Wars show, meaning a more menacing, silent cyborg that is terrifying to fight rather than the complete goofball we see in TCW and "The Revenge of the Sith". He'll still have moments of comedy, but not so many.
With that out of the way, we proceed...
With Crimson...
The Spartans and the millennia-old Jedi pushed forward as alarms blared. Ecklund commented, "So much for stealth, eh, sir?" from beside the Lieutenant, who huffed in agreement as they ran. Meetra brandished her lightsaber when the first line of Droids appeared up ahead and switched places with Six. Deflecting several blaster bolts, the woman then aimed her own pistol and snapped two shots off at the Droids, destroying a pair before coming into close quarters contact with them.
She swung her saber, vivisecting another pair, then swung again and cut the head off of another droid. Spinning, she thrust the blade forward, tip-first, and pierced two more droids before executing a third with her pistol. Six and the Crimsons opened fire on reinforcements, ther droids' shells sparking and leaking oil and coolant as they collapsed, painting the floor black.
Six slid in, drawing his knife and pistol himself, then sliced a droid across its metal chest, cutting out the CPU and stabbing another through the top of the head. Meetrta stowed her pistol and started using her Lightsaber two-handed, throwing heavier swings that cut Droids completely in half, including Super-Battle Droids that had come to reinforce their thinner, frailer and dumber brethren. She swept low, removing the legs off of three SBDs and cutting them open.
The Crimsons finally got into range as well, Ecklund slamming into one of them and pinning it to the floor before putting the barrel of her rifle against its chest and firing, spraying herself with its innards and some sparks that caused her MJOLNIR's shields to flare. She looked over to her partner, who drew his large knife and cut a Droid in half at the midsection with a deadly swing.
Meetra thrust her sword forward again, clean through the midsection of another pair of droids, before showing the group to follow her. Deflecting blaster bolts into the walls and right back at droids, Meetra beamed. She was still really able to fight. Well, almost, as a blaster bolt slipped past her defenses and singed her coat and hood. She sighed, keeping the robes on, then shot her hand forward.
A shockwave of Force energy blasted through the corridor ahead, sending several Droids flying back and scrapping a good chunk of them. The Spartans fired at the few droids in the pile that weren't destroyed, then proceeded forward. Six reloaded his DMR and complimented, "Not bad for an old lady!" as he grabbed a Droid by its scrawny neck, bent said neck and tossed it into some of its comrades in a side tunnel.
Meetra laughed, as did the rest of Crimson, then replied, "Oughta give you a piece of my mind later for calling me 'old'!" but she knew he was right. There were slip-ups here and there. Still, when her hand shot out again, she immediately turned it around, bent it back and utilized Force Pull, bringing a trio of droids to her that she immediately cut in half with one swing. She deflected more shots, drew her pistol and opened fire as they continued the forward assault.
The Spartans' shields took a few hits from blaster bolts. Droids waited in ambush in side corridors, but were gunned down in return by the Special Forces Squad currently busting down the doors to reach their target. Six radioed, "Crimson to Blue, ETA to target is thirty seconds!" before looking to their explosive carrier and nodding to him. The Spartan started priming the bombs mid-run.
"Dinh's really getting into it!" Laughed Ecklund as she reloaded her rifle. Six nodded his approval, then threw a fragmentation grenade to the left. Several droids screamed, then exploded with a thump as they rushed forward. Ahead, the group saw the hall suddenly grow into a massive room. Stopping by the doorway, Ecklund and Six swept the place with their gazes and saw the massive Hyperdrive system of the ship, a large core with glowing lines and connections leading to a central circular calculation supercomputer and some sort of particle field generator that aided in entering Hyperspace. FTL travel logistics were beyond their Paygrade, Six thought.
"Jesus," Ecklund murmured, "I think we gotta fastball the bombs, El-Tee. That's too big a jump to make without jetpacks," as she surveyed the massive chasm ahead of them and the various hundreds of large and small pipes leading all around the ship and into the Hyperspace Drive itself. They couldn't make it to the main drive itself in time and the battalions of droids advancing on the two other catwalks across from them weren't gonna make it easy.
"Agreed," Six replied, "We'll cover. You throw'em..." then he looked to Meetra, who grinned and at the wolf-faced Dinh, who nodded in approval, clearly giddy at the prospect of demolition. Six sighed and murmured, "Reminds me a little of the engine room on a freighter..." before turning about as the thunder of metal footsteps echoed from behind them. He bluntly said, "Seems we're surrounded, Crimsons... Good thing we can shoot in every direction. Retreat?"
"HELL!" The three Spartan-IVs called out.
"Retreat?!" The Lieutenant demanded from his team again.
"HELL!" They cheered again, racking the bolts of their weapons.
The man nodded in approval, looking to the grinning Meetra before stating, "Ecklund, get as close as you can and throw that stuff. I and the General will cover you. Dinh, you and Linea cover this place. It's our escape route. Execute!" and he, Ecklund and Meetra sprinted forward. The Spartans fired their weapons at the advancing enemies, Ecklund now carrying the bombs.
Blaster bolts hit Six's shields, draining them in bits, while Meetra deflected and shot. Ecklund held the container with the C12 charges in one hand and fired her Magnum with the other as they surged forward. Arriving at the center console on the T-shaped catwalk, Meetra and Six took positions by Ecklund's flanks, obscuring her from advancing Battle Droid battalions. Blaster bolts and bullets were being exchanged as the woman fully primed the charges, cocked back her hand and hefted them.
The long-arm throw caused them to arc as they headed for the center of the target. To nobody's surprise, though, Ecklund's throw was dead center of the device. She then threw several more around the core's various intersects and pipes, even dropping one from height onto the largest pipe. She gave a red light, signaling she was winchester on ammo, which meant it was time to pull back.
The group was about to head back and rally up with Dinh and Linea, but paused as the thrum of two Lightsabers igniting filled the air. Dinh flew back toward the Spartans, skidding across the catwalk and nearly falling off. He scoffed and aimed his pistol at the machine that had walked in. It stomped forward, one of its hands gripping Linea by the throat. It spoke, its voice deep and menacing, "... Truly a surprising set of creatures, you newcomers..." before tossing Linea over toward Ecklund, who was charging to try and save her.
Both of the women fell upon the impact, nearly falling off the edge of the ramps as more Droids advanced behind the hulking, hunchback behemoth. The Spartans all stood to their feet, watching the Hunchback cyborg approaching. His amber eyes glared at the Jedi among them and said, "And you... I expected Kenobi to be the one joining the raiding party when I heard Skywalker was with the ones in the Hangar."
"Sorry to disappoint," Meetra shot back, then aimed her pistol and fired. The creature raised his hand and deflected the bullets off of his armor plate. They left dents, however, with the cyborg huffing. It sounded like a combination of a cough and a revving engine, but Meetra wondered why he didn't use the lightsabers he had on hand. She spoke, "Fancy blades... Where'd you get them?"
"Your kind," He replied menacingly, "Easy kills..."
"You'll find I and these guys are way tougher," She shot back, twirling the blade. She leaned toward Six and whispered, "He's bad news... Jedi Hunters are hard to come by. Last I've seen were the Mandalorians..." to which the Spartan nodded. He raised his DMR and fired three rounds, but the monster raised his hands again. The bullets stopped, but pierced the strange white metal protecting his arm. The Cyborg scoffed.
"Pest..." He growled, then gave a wave of his hand to his droids. The machines opened fire again, forcing Meetra and the Spartans into a defensive posture. They returned fire, kinetic rounds sparking and detonating some of the machines with direct hits. Meetra herself deflected shots and fired her pistol, then gasped as she saw the monster stomping his way toward them.
Six swiveled about, drew his combat knife and pistol and charged the monster back. He ducked under a swing from the half-machine, half-alien, threw two grenades as he slid between his legs that took out a chunk of the platoon supporting the monster, then stood to his feet and started firing his pistol at the creature's back. Shots pierced the cape he wore, but the monster ditched it and charged the Spartan, swinging his plasma blades straight toward him.
Six fired his pistol, backing away with full awareness the blades could probably punch through his armor. Dinh tried to support him by attacking the hulk's back, but was kicked away by the heavy, claw-like feet on its bow legs. The Spartan tried to aim for its joints while Meetra and the others staved off the Droid assault. He pulled out another EM grenade which he rolled back toward the remaining droids to his rear and let it detonate.
The monster swung his blade at the Spartan and the tip clipped his shields, causing them to flare. The Spartan dropped his spent magazine and aimed again, this time for the monster's head, but he was close enough to swat his hand away with he hilt of the blade and try to swing for his chest with both blades. The Spartan's shields flared and almost died due to the heat of the green and blue lightsabers, but he managed to dodge it.
He decided to take the advantage, charging the monster and slamming into him with all his weight. He staggered him, then delivered a kick to the stomach of the beast that dented the plate around his gut. The creature huffed angrily, then stowed one of the blades, grabbed him by the Helmet and lifted him up and off the ground, preparing to stab him as he squeezed the helmet.
Meetra's hand shot out and a Force-laden shockwave impacted the back of monster, causing it to stagger. Six grit his teeth, pushed himself off the beast's leg and kicked as he spun backward. Landing on his feet, the Spartan charged forward again, but stopped in front of the monster and ducked under a swing, kicking up and off the ground and launching himself over his foe. Spinning, the Spartan fired his pistol from up-close, damaging the monster's armor further. He landed behind, then turned to Meetra and gave her a nod of thanks, before pulling back to help Dinh, Ecklund and Linea hold the line.
Meetra switched up places with Six, raising her Lightsaber to parry the monster's own. She flashed a grin as she looked the machine in its amber, slit eye, their blades sparking as they made contact, then teased, "Sorry, but that's my dance partner. Go back to Kenobi," only to then use Force Push to send the monster skidding back again. The bastard huffed and huddled up as the roar of Droidekas filled the room. Three rolled in and reassembled, activating their shields and firing their blaster cannons at the Jedi, who began deflecting them.
She was pushed back to the Spartans as well, stating, "We might wanna tell Chief we'll be late! Time!?"
"Ten minutes left!" Six replied as his shields flared and began to die under the whittling droid barrage. He looked over to the bombs on the Hyperdrive and then to meetra, who nodded. He showed the detonator's handler to touch them off, which they did... And a dozen staggered explosions filled the room, causing the catwalk below to buckle. The Spartan barked an order and the five-man team broke into a sprint, jumping or running past the leader of the ship as alarms began to wail across the entire vessel...
With Blue Team
As they approached their infil-exfil point, Blue team felt the ship's hull rumble, then heard its superstructure groan. Another rolling blackout darkened the halls, followed by the activation of red emergency lights and the wail of alarms filling their eyes and ears, respectively. Ahsoka looked to Richard and Chief and said, "I'm guessing they ran into trouble... Sounds like the Hyperdrive and Engines just got destroyed..."
Chief nodded and radioed, "CRIMSON, BLUE. Report."
"Engaged enemy commander. Cyborg. Bastard had us in his grasp, but we made it out with a little ingenuity. Might wanna get moving, sir, this ship's about to sink," Six replied as the sound of gunfire filled their ears. Chief checked the mission clock and saw they had five mikes left before the UNSC would promptly open fire on the ship and probably sink them with it.
He replied to Six, "See you on the Infinity. Blue, out," then looked to everyone and said, "Let's go!" as he led the way. Their Motion Trackers picked up hostiles just beyond the corner they were about to turn. Richard kicked the door proverbially as pointman, raising his rifle and opening up on the platoon of Droids guarding the entrance. Blue joined up with him immediately, while Ahsoka and Anakin deflected blaster bolts. Linda herself still carried Threepio.
The Spartans punched through the group of Droids like a MAC through armor, disabling or destroying them all and leaving little to no work for the Jedi, or Amidala. Padmé chuckled, looking at Anakin, then said, "If these are the folks I'm supposed to be an ambassador to, at least I know they're keeping you and Ahsoka out of harm's way..." and she shot a Droid that was still alive as they passed by.
As they reached the hatch, more blaster bolts filled the hallway, causing the Spartans' shields to flare. Chief opened fire toward the enemy unit as Linda popped open the Hatch and began the climb. Threepio complained, "My gyrostabilizer! I'm going to be sick..." as if droids ever got sick. Anakin also joined Chief, deflecting blaster bolts from him and his Spartans as they all boarded.
"You made him complain this much, sir?" Chief inquired. Skywalker laughed.
"Nah. Came with the personality matrix I found," The man replied, then used Force Push to send the forward Line of Droids into each-other, causing them to break apart from the impact. He gave Chief a pat on the shoulder, retracted his hand the moment the current of the shields coursed through his hand and said, "Ouch. C'mon, let's go!" And the Chief gave a nod.
The group quickly boarded the Calypso craft, strapping themselves in. Padmé looked around as Anakin sat down next to her and stated, "There's a lot of things I'm going to need to talk to your leaders about," as she saw the Chief give the Pilot the go-ahead. The Spartan then nodded to her, sitting down in front of her and Skywalker as his team sat beside him. The hatch at the bottom of the ship closed and pressure seals engaged, the CALYPSO taking off from the hull of the ship.
The pilot radioed, "This is CALYPSO-BLUE, we're away with the HVI. Awaiting CALYPSO-CRIMSON at RV point..." and he tracked the vessel at its hatch. The enemy dreadnaught had explosions rippling across its hull, but amidst the debris, the Calypso pilot detected a single starfighter leaving the hull, then jumping into hyperspace. He sighed, logged that in and looked back at CRIMSON's ship.
It was moments later that their pilot reported over Radio, "Crew aboard, objective accomplished! CALYPSO-CRIMSON EN-ROUTE to RV point!" And it detached, lifting off from the hull of the enemy warship. The Pilot of Blue Team's ship reported, "This is CALYPSO-BLUE. CALYPSO-CRIMSON and CALYPSO-BLUE at minimum safe distance. Command, fire at will, we wanna enjoy the Fireworks."
Screens inside the ship's hull turned on, the Pilot poking their head back in and stating, "Enjoy the show, folks. Time to watch the Malevolence sink..." only for UNSC and Republic vessels to move on up above, approaching the CIS Flagship and opening fire. Frigate, Destroyer and Cruiser-size MACs opened up, volleys of ferromagnetic slugs struck the bulbous vessel's hull, digging deep craters. Scant few enemy turbolasers swiveled about to meet the volleys, bursts of scarlet meeting the deep blue and the burning white of the Allied Fleet's guns. Two Venators overhead laid into the enemy ship's exposed midsection, causing flurries of detonations. Beside them, the Shadow of Intent's lasers pulsed and her plasma torpedoes washed over the cracking armor plate of the CIS vessel, boiling it.
The Infinity, aligned with the rear of the enemy vessel, fired its four main MACs straight down the center of the sputtering, fading engines of the enemy ship. The massive ferromagnetic slugs of the warship's four Super-cannons cut through the thinner plate of the rear, shattering four engine cowlings on impact and hitting what remained of the Hyperdrive and reactor. They punched through into the hull of the ship, stopping amidships as the vessel began to completely break apart, droids aboard be damned.
The Senator and Jedi gasped as they saw the ship's reactor go critical, detonating in an almost blinding flash that lit the hold of the ship like a second sun, the shockwave causing a ripple through the Nebula's clouds. The two Calypso craft flew back toward the Infinity, the pilots communicating with the ATC for landing. As they touched down and the groups exited, the Senator was surprised to see that UNSC Navy officers, clad in pure white uniforms, had come to greet her.
Lasky snapped a salute and said, "Senator Amidala. Welcome to the UNSC Infinity. Apologies for the bumpy ride."
She smiled and said, "Thanks to your soldiers, it was far less bumpy than it could've been, but we did lose our ship on the trip over," while looking back at the Chief, Blues and the Jedi descending from the ramp. The Admiral chuckled and nodded. He dismissed the Spartans with a nod of approval and a quick 'job well done' before looking to CALYPSO CRIMSON's craft and giving a salute and nod to Six, his team and Meetra.
The group replied in kind, then stepped off toward medical to heal up. Six seemed to have a pair of superficial plasma marks on his armor's breastplate, while Dinh looked banged up and Linea, like she'd been through hell. Meetra was the calmest out of the lot, really, simply strolling beside Six with a smile. Lasky nodded approvingly at that, then looked back to the Senator and offered, "General Skywalker, Commander Tano and I will lead you to your accommodations, if you want."
"Thank you," She bowed, then looked to Anakin and a smirking Ahsoka. As they began the walk, with Threepio in tow, Padmé looked around at the ever-active hangar bay of the UNSC vessel. She watched the allied naval fighters, large delta-wing starcraft, touching down to be refueled and repaired, while the Frigates outside formed up with the massive, 5km long warship to provide it escort. She spoke, "If I read the briefings correctly, Admiral, your fleet came here by random chance?"
"Appeared over Christophsis, where the Seppies shot at us," Lasky nodded, "Aye, ma'am."
"Lucky break for us, we were looking for reinforcements," Anakin joked, smiling. He told her, "Their first unit came down in drop pods, too."
"... Didn't the Republic military theorise about that and say they were a little too dangerous, or am I misremembering," Padmé asked, a little horrified at the reveal. Anakin shrugged, while Ahsoka was playing catch with Richard as they walked behind BLUE. Catch as in:She was throwing a grenade with its pin on at him and he was throwing it back. There was something inherently stupid and dangerous about this, but 'stupid and dangerous' were Anakin's middle names and hence, Ahsoka's to a degree. Like Master, like Padawan.
Lasky tried to ignore the sight much like the rest of Blue Team, continuing, "The Orbital Drop Shock Troopers perfected the method of jumping out of a perfectly good ship in a metal egg in order to kick the enemy's behind in via surprise attacks. ODSTs are the best non-Spartan troops we have at our disposal, most of them acting as heavy and assault infantry. Shock troops, exactly like the name says."
"Can't imagine the shock of your enemy suddenly appearing from above like a meteor shower," She replied to that, smiling awkwardly, "I know I wouldn't dare try something like that... Then again, I am a politician, less of a soldier. I know how to use a blaster just as well as I know to use a pen, though, if the need arises..." and the group entered the tram station of the hangar. A tram arrived and they all entered, sitting themselves down face-to-face.
"We can tell, ma'am," Lasky nodded, "I'm sure you'll also find your stay aboard the Infinity enjoyable, considering we do have amenities no military ship really has. An entire atrium dedicated for recreation sits atop the ship, so if you wanna go there to relax from the daily woes, feel free. We'll also provide you with a map of the ship and its tram system so you may more easily navigate it."
"Thank you, Admiral," She smiled, then looked to Anakin and said, "Y'know, I probably should've called ahead, huh?"
Anakin shrugged, "Everybody likes a surprise, but... Yeah, maybe call next time you're aboard an enemy dreadnought. We'll be quicker on the uptake to save you," then he smirked. The Admiral and Ahsoka looked to one-another, snorted and continued watching the two flirt. It wasn't long, however, before they reached the civilian habitation area of the Infinity, where Contractors, scientists, non-military engineers and the likes stayed.
Lasky had shown the woman her room, a rather luxurious, apartment-looking place that more-so openly resembled one of the fancier lounges in Coruscant. Two-person bed, separate bathroom, a small kitchenette and the likes. Threepio also had a small charging station installed near by the central screen that acted as a television, com system and just white noise. There was also an armored window showing the outside, where UNSC ships and Republic ships gathered for their departure. After bidding goodbye to Anakin and the others, she sat down on her bed and smiled. It was a thankfully cozy place...
"I think we're gonna enjoy it here," She smiled, looking to Threepio as he settled in his charging station.