Hallo everyone, yes I know I know I took forever with this update but I hope you guys like it and if not oh well. Thanks again to Mustard and the guys in the discord server for helping me with this. I'm also taking commissions so if you do want one pm me and ill send you the lists.
Let us begin
The Statesman had left Coruscant immediately, and the entire fleet that had accompanied it had left alongside, jumping to hyperspace.
The Large fleet was well on its way to Ryloth, other units calling in and acknowledging their orders as the warships made their way to help end the siege. Battalions of Naruto's own Household guards were preparing themselves for combat within the barracks of the Stateman and her fellow battleships, the Sangheili and other troops were practically chomping at the bit to meet action.
Naruto stood at the bridge of the warship, watching the stars and shapes of planets pass by within the dimension that was hyperspace, beside him stood the still-helmeted Fulgrim. Around them, the bridge crew were in a flurry preparing the battleship and fleet for combat now and then one would give a report to their Mandalore, usually getting a nod of confirmation. Naruto had changed out of the armour of his ancestors, instead wearing dark blue under armour with his family's sigil painted on the left of his chest, his lightsabers strapped to his hips.
"Fulgrim, what can you tell me of this Grievous Dooku has on his side? I know the bare minimum of what my spies and such have told me but I wish to hear from someone who has actually fought him." He asked the masked female beside him, lifting his helmet and placing it under his arm as he did so.
She turned to him, her helmeted head stopped any emotion from peeking out however Naruto could still see some slivers of weariness. "He is a former Kaleesh, immensely strong and terrifying to fight. Countless Jedi have fallen to the hands of that monster."
Naruto nodded at the information, putting it away for later, "How does he fight?"
"Like a spider. But leave him to me, I've got a grudge to settle with that monster." With that cryptic phrase, she left. Naruto watched her leave, her hips slightly swaying as she did so. That damned woman.
While he could've asked Ventress the assassin was being interrogated back on Mandalore. this was a precaution they had to take, the woman was too slippery to keep anywhere else. The prison she was kept in was created to hold stronger force users than her. Immensely strong force users from the Golden age of the Sith and Jedi. The Mandalorians showed both sides that they were nothing to be trifled with. This was proven by the halls of the fallen. A massive hall filled with ancient lightsabers stripped from the bodies of the force users.
Naruto was struck from his reverie by the ship's subtle ejection from hyperspace, the slight rumble of the engines as they re-engaged. Naruto stared ahead at the ongoing battle that met his forces.
The Expeditionary fleet had been engaging the Separatists intermittently for the past couple of days. The much larger separatist force had been cut up and dealt with piecemeal however even so the smaller sections still outnumbered them almost 3 to 1. However, the sheer skill of the Mandalorians gave them the edge allowing them to outmanoeuvre their enemies. The dumb droids couldn't keep up with the vaunted Lotara Sarrin.
"Deploy the destroyer screens, and tell the cruiser captains to offer any support they can. Tell the Vengeance and Twilight to follow us through the gap in the enemy fleet on the left." Naruto's orders rang out through the bridge as the warships began to move, breaking off to fulfil their orders.
The Statesman Cut through the thinning Separatist lines, her sister ships followed her through the gap the three warships eviscerating anything that tried to block their path.
"Sir We're getting a signal from the capital."
"Good head for that signal and aid any troops on the way."
On Ryloth
Daylight was coming soon.
The fourth Combined Mandalorian army corp had been locked in heavy fighting with the Separatist forces for at least 3 planetary weeks, the veteran forces were taking ground but were taking numerous casualties; however, with every Mandalorian that fell at least 20 droids fell with him. However, these odds were still dire for the Mandalorians as the droids had dug in tight.
Major Stracken looked up, hearing the low hums of basilisk war droids as they flew overhead. The Totenkopf division had been key in the army group pushing forward, their low-flying yet absolutely monstrous droids tore through anything that flew through the skies, usually hunting Hyena bombers and gunships.
Their bright missile and Laser strikes tore through the already dying night, cascading those who prepared for combat in hues of bright golden yellows and blues, then as they banked off it began.
Horns and sirens began to blare as Mandalorians stood to attention their arms and armours already prepped, walkers and hover tanks began moving forwards.
The capital itself stood one klick away from their position, however, the droids had already started launching flack in their way. It was only the shields that kept their troops from being annihilated by the Separatist's dug-in position.
Behind their advance, their own artillery began to open fire, and the heavy thrums of the massive guns shook the ground, combined with their ordinance striking true, the fortress that was the capital shook and parts even collapsed but the defences remained strong and continued to fire upon the advancing armies.
The Mandalorian rocket artillery opened up sheering through the air with screeches of white-hot fury. The sound did nothing to the droids however the rocket barrage was not for nought, while most were explosively charged others were EMP rockets that short-circuited multiple droid companies however they did not yield merely stiffening their defences.
As the Mandalorians began to close the fire from the separatist positions began to get more accurate, and those who hadn't already taken cover did so by hiding behind their advancing vehicles and parts of the terrain.
Major Stracken called for a halt, he couldn't advance his men into the enemy's shields without supporting air cover, they' torn apart by the fire from the droids.
The Major turned to one of the senior communications officers. "Munashi, send a message to the squadrons. Ask for as much support as we can gather to burst the shields." the said signalman saluted and returned to his console tapping away at certain buttons and symbols.
He felt the command tank shudder as it once again began to move, the AT-TE sat towards the middle of the large column of vehicles, ensuring that while he wasn't in directly in combat he could join it immediately if necessary.
"Major Stracken." his eyes turned toward the voice that had called him, one of the signalmen had turned toward him. "Sir, Commander Nasrei has responded. He said they're deploying a destroyer to our combat area." the Major nodded knowing that they could finally assault the city in force.
Above
The Ascension pushed through the light separatist fighter screen, the modified Arquitens light cruiser now turned light destroyer swiftly pushed toward the position it had been given to support the ground forces.
The warship cut through the atmosphere, its shields taking the brunt of the re-entry. Behind it vulture and Hyena bombers chased, aiming to try to cut off the destroyer before it could aid its allies.
Lasers lit up the day as they flashed out from the destroyer, its point defence working overtime to hold back the horde. The Arquitens's engines burned brightly as they started to speed up, its armoured hull keeping away most of the damage.
The City itself lit up like a candle, Anti-aircraft batteries flashed brightly their guns focussing on the approaching warship, Heavy laser cannon batteries fired off the chorus of thunders causing any civilians still within the city to cover their ears.
The Ascension took the brunt of the fire across its bow, the ship shook and shuddered as it pressed on unconcerned as pieces of welded-on armour fell away. The Destroyer banked toward the left, allowing the top-mounted turbolasers to fire.
Which they did.
The top dual-mounted turbolasers fired, and the green-yellow bolts of energy slammed into the shield. The ship continued to angle however as soon as its arrival had raised the hopes of the Mandalorian soldiers it was dashed against the rocks.
One of the anti-air guns tore the left engine block from its housing.
The ship began to careen sideways, yet no escape pods launched. The ship continued to fire even as fires exploded aboard, the shield weakened but did not fall. The Ascension began to fall but it continued to fight its laser cannons continuing to fire.
Finally, the shield broke, the Ascension had given the ground forces the time they needed however the ship itself stood no chance and crashed to the ground behind the massive city. Major Stracken watched on in grim horror as the warship careened into the ground just out of sight, the massive explosion which followed practically shook the planet.
The crew within the tank remained silent for a couple of moments allowing the sudden deaths of their comrades to pass over them. Major stracken turned to the locker which was positioned to his left, slamming the doors open he removed a white and blue helmet.
"Prepare all units for combat, we're going in."
Linebreak
Naruto had seen the Ascension's downfall, he let out a small prayer for those who had been lost aboard. However they had done their duty as they had promised when they first joined the Mandalorian army, and as such had died heroes in their own right. Naruto turned away and began walking towards the elevators, the bridge crew watching intently as he did so awaiting their next order, even as the space battle still raged around them.
"First officer, you have command, Makesure Fulgrim has all they need to make it to the enemy flagship." He ordered the standing officer.
The man saluted giving no verbal response.
"Prepare my gunships."
They had a war to end.
Linebreak
The Hangar doors of the Statesman rumbled open as the flagship began to bank towards the planet's surface, A large group of gunships and bombers with fighter escorts. Vulture droids and tri droids swarmed towards the group only to be stemmed by the Mandalorian's own vulture droid forces.
The group entered Ryloth atmosphere practically unmolested, they flew low grazing over the head of the Army as they attacked the city. They gained cheers and whoops as the Mandalorians recognised who it was that had just flown over their position.
The Pegasus Airlift squadron. The Mandalores personal Airlift squadron. The Mandalore had joined the fight it seemed.
The pilot for Naruto's personal gunship scanned the large spires of the city, he knew that the air defences weren't completely destroyed so they had to be somewhat careful, but that was what the wild weasels were for.
His eyes narrowed somewhat as pings started to return from his sensor suites. "We got SAM and AA positions, Wild weasels do your jobs." He said into the comms, as he repositioned himself behind the fighter screen, the other gunships following his lead.
The modified Arc 170's dove towards their targets, the large ships moving somewhat swiftly compared to what their size entailed. There were only a few of these larger attack ships within the Mandalorian fleet but they were enough, powerful and fast the heavy fighters began to draw fire their way.
A large number of discord missiles were launched toward the fast-approaching group, the missiles locking onto the heavy fighters rather than the transports.
Precisely what they wanted.
"Sir the fighters are holding up the air defences the next phase can begin when ready." The pilot reported to Naruto.
Naruto within the gunship nodded, he returned to his communicator and spoke out. " Gunships 1 through five move to staging point two, Gunships 6 through 10 follow us."
The large group of ships split into two, one heading straight towards the centre of the city, while the other maintained its position, the troops within jetpacking into the city. Naruto's portion of the group continued to make its way through the semi-large spires weaving through gunfire and buildings alike. The pilots maintained a scary level of calmness throughout the entire flight, whooping and cheering every now and then when they'd avoid certain death.
The insane flight came to an end a couple of moments later as the small group came across an open square roughly a kilometre the Ryloth parliamentary building, a large brownish building which served as the HQ for the Separatists.
The Gunships landed in a circular formation, the doors to the centre of the circle opening quickly. The Mandalorians leapt from their Gunships, a mix of Sangheili, clones and normal Mandalorians populated the strike force. Naruto leapt from the central gunship his usually golden armoured bodyguards jumping down with him.
He looked around counting the number of soldiers he currently had at his disposal. About 100 men altogether, that would be enough to get the job done. Naruto signalled to the two lieutenants that he had with him. One Sangheili and the other a Mandalorian, both kneeled as Naruto brought out a holo map of the city.
"We're going to clear out the main command centre. Dooku is going to be there and most likely some of the highest concentrations of droids we've fought in a long time so prepare yourselves and the men we move out in 5." Naruto finished as the two officers saluted.
After a couple of minutes of checking gear and such, Naruto and his men moved out, clearing streets and buildings, and making their way quickly through the upper parts of the city. They moved in small fire teams of Ten, each section covering their differing avenues and gunning down multiple squads of droids that they came across.
After about 20 minutes of continuous travel and the odd bouts of combat, they came before the Parliamentary building. The Mandalorian forces had remained behind some cover ensuring that those defending the building wouldn't be aware of their presence. Speaking of the defences, parliament was protected by a large detachment of droids and other mixed troops.
Naruto looked over the overturned hover-car he was hidden behind, his helmet's visor scanning over the strong defences outside the building, a hover tank and numerous laser-cannon emplacements as well as about 200 mixed droids, some being the infamous Commando droids whilst others were almost as dangerous B2s. with them surprisingly was a small force consisting of twenty Twi'leks, from what he could see these weren't slaves, they all held weapons and were working somewhat with the droids.
Naruto would have to investigate further.
He signalled the start of the assault.
One of the Clones moved past him, and on his shoulder sat a high-powered Proton rocket launcher. He tapped the man on the other shoulder and signalled to his pair who stood on the other side of the street.
Both men leaned over and took aim.
"FIRE"
There was a fwoosh sound as the twin rockets flashed forward, one slammed into the tank's turret. This shattered the barrel and cause the tank to tilt, the other rocket slammed into one of the Machinegun nests causing it to burst into flames and throwing the gunner and his droid companion from the nest.
Naruto roared as he leapt over the hover car, his blaster lighting up two commando droids barely giving them time to rush him, behind him his Mandalorians followed suit, leaping from cover and lighting up the defences.
One Mando in the centre Unfurled a massive standard waving it high as the combat began to intensify. Naruto rolled to one side firing again on a B2 that pressed him, weaving around the droids burning husk a Sangheili covered his back grabbing an Airborne commando and tearing it limb from limb. Naaruto briefly thanked the large alien before moving on all the while firing at any droid that caught his eye.
The Mandalorians were advancing quickly pushing back the defenders, even as more droids exited the large double doors of the Parliamentary, they refused to yield. The Mandalorian forces got close enough to enter true hand-to-hand combat, some took to the air gaining a height advantage whilst others used the vibro-swords and knives theyd equipped themselves with, out of the corner of his eye Naruto spotted a Mandalorian Corporal going absolutely crazy with a modified combat shovel, the man swung it with such finesse that it practically sawed through the droids he was fighting.
He made a mental note that if that man survived the battle he would be promoted.
However, the battle began to die down. they'd reached the base of the parliamentary building, however, the slow reopening of the doors had caused the pause. A hundred more battle droids exited however they did not open fire, merely forming a crescent shape in front of the Mandalorians almost as if they were guarding something.
The hairs on every single man and alien began to rise as if a predator greater than anything they'd faced before had arrived.
Lightning erupted from the dark corridor striking a number of Mandaloirans that were closest and sending them tumbling away, another storm of lightning struck a Sangheili warrior and flung him high and away slamming into a building.
Naruto dived in front of his men as a third bolt circled towards a medic who'd rushed over to help the fallen, flicking the hilt of the darksaber into his hand he activated the black blade deflecting the lightning to one side. Slight tingles vibrated up his arm as he did so.
Out of the shadows came a cloaked and hooded figure. tall, easily taller than Naruto and most of the Mandalorians around him bar the Sangheili.
The figure removed his hood revealing it to be Count Dooku in all his dangerous glory.
The Count simply stared down at the Mandalore, his dark brown eyes staring through the man's helmet and deep into his soul. Dooku threw off his cloak, revealing a black set of battle robes etched with silver and a set of matching boots. Drawing his curved hilt the older man took a fencing stance.
Naruto motioned for the Mandalorians around him to step back, he drew his second lightsaber activating the vicious purple blade, however curiously he shortened the blade slightly taking a slightly more open stance he decided to throw a comment at Dooku.
"Let's get wil…" Naruto didn't get to finish.
Dooku had practically disappeared from sight, reappearing immediately in front of the younger man. The swiftness at which he swung his blade caught Naruto off guard, the boy quickly raised his off-hand sabre barely blocking the blow and the follow-up.
Dooku sneered. "Your form is pathetic, you've been fighting lesser beings for so long that you've forgotten what it is like to fight an enemy who is above you." He struck again, taking long quick swipes towards Naruto, the other man trying his best to keep up.
Dooku flicked his wrist sending arcs of poisonous sith lighting streaking towards his opponent, Naruto absorbed the lightning with his secondary sabre and struck with the Dark sabre twirling the black blade and swinging down upon the Count, who counted easily striking upwards and meeting his blade mid-air and forcing it away following up with an extraordinarily powerful force push.
Naruto was sent rolling away, the power of the force push being mitigated somewhat by his Beskar plates.
The Count quickly force dashed and appeared next to the rolling Mandalore. He stopped him and lifted his body with the force, staring at him in disdain.
"Have you finally stopped jabbering child? The mere fact that you are here is because I let it be." Dooku said his voice imperious and dangerous. He held Naruto upright lightning coiling off his hands.
Confusion rolled off the younger force user.
"What…. Do you..mean." the choke hold that the count held upon him made it difficult to speak.
"Do you not understand child? You and I are kin. My sister, I didn't care much for her to be honest however it seemed that her useless line could bare some fruit. You descend from an Ancient line of Serennian Lords and infamous warriors. Your chronicles speak of a sith do they not? A certain Emperor."
Naruto cast his mind back to the chronicles that he'd read many moons ago, the Dark Emperor who had only been beaten by a coalition of Ancient Mandalorians and an Outlander. "Vi..tiate." he managed to mumble.
Fear and anger flooded his being. The fear of losing everything he had come so far in achieving, the fear of losing those who had become so close to him.
That fear turned to anger. The pure red hot anger at what this man was doing, all that he had done.
"It's good that you at least know something of our shared history child. It's unfortunate that I now have to once again become the last of the House of Serenno," He began to close his hand, slowly crushing the Mandalore in his almighty grip.
"Too bad your weakling of a father couldn't have been swayed, it would've been good to have a competent pawn." Dooku dismissed his family with barely a second thought.
Naruto's mind began to cloud over his vision quickly darkening as he slowly began to lose consciousness.
"NO…. I will not yield here."
"I will not die."
"Not today."
"Not here."
"NOT NOW"
Dooku watched in curiosity as the Almost dead Mandalore stiffened, Dooku Narrowed his eyes. His force grip was starting to be wrenched open, that shouldn't have been possible for such a young whelp.
Naruto started to tense up his body, he felt so much stronger. A veil of shadows covered his mind, it was as if he were stuck on a sea in turmoil, his body still yet his mind a raging storm. Around the two fighters, rubble began to rise, small pebbles at first but soon after large blocks and even pieces of entire buildings began to rise.
A dark smile tore across Dooku's face as he watched the changes unfold, " FInally child, your showing off our lineage. Now let us see if you can back up the power you're so boldly showing off."
Lightning Arced up and around Dookus's forearm, taking on a bright blue colour as his eyes began to turn a sickly yellow. Pointing a single finger at his floating nephew he allowed his dark thoughts to take control.
Thick strands of lightning leapt from his finger akin to that of a hungry baying hound. The loud crackling could've stirred the gods themselves as he struck. Lashing out with the coiled lightning.
However, to his surprise, the bolt was stopped dead in its tracks.
The lightning coiled around Naruto's open palm, akin to that of a loving serpent. It did not, however to dookus astonishment it began to grow darker, the charge growing stronger and stronger.
The ambient static in the air began to raise the hair on his neck.
There it was.
It was only Dooku's knowledge in soresu that saved him, the force screeching to defend himself from an almost imperceptible blast of lightning. This forced him to let go of the formerly limp Mandalorian.
He watched in morbid curiosity as he stood, almost unphased by the former attack. But something was different, Dooku could feel it, it was almost as if he were before his master once more.
Naruto activated both lightsabers, the purple and black plasma setting an eerie tone reflecting off his damaged helmet.
Dooku once again took his stance. He was given a moment of reprieve before the storm arrived.
Naruto leapt at him, the force enhancing his speed too but a blur. Dooku evaded the first strike and blocked the second, however, the speed and power that the boy now contained had practically tripled. Dooku blocked another strike, weaving around the two that had taken its place.
The Mandalore was practically feral, every strike and movement was uncontained yet powerful nonetheless, Dooku continued to block and defend drawing his grand nephew as far back as he could. And an opening finally showed itself.
Naruto had jumped diving upon the dark Count, the man had responded with an enormous force push sending him careening into a building. Dooku followed up, dashing towards his enemy he raised his crimson lightsaber aiming to end the battle there and then.
He missed.
The black blade of the Darksaber barely deflected the crimson tip, however, this hasty defence had forced the two into a blade lock, and the two struggled for a couple of moments.
"No cheeky comments boy? Struggling?" the Count wasn't given a response, only a mere grunt.
Naruto made to break the lock, he swung his offhand lightsaber up aiming to take off the Count's face in one fell swoop. The older man left the lock, stepping away to gain some distance.
His senses screamed again, he deflected a second bolt of almost imperceptible lightning. "How are you doing that, your lightning is fast yet needs some refinement." Dooku lectured as if he were training any other padawan.
He responded in kind, replying with a storm of lightning, the spinning hurricane of electrical currents lurched from his hand, but this did nothing again to slow Naruto's progress. The Mandalorian had practically cut the stream in half taking some damage but nothing debilitating.
There was a short lull in the fighting. Dooku stood tall, a number of cuts and burns littered his form and he breathed somewhat heavily, the fight was taking its toll on the older man but it barely showed.
He was the better off.
Naruto's body was in ribbons of burnt and crushed flesh. His armour had been crumpled to his form crushing many of his ribs, blood leaked from his mouth. His organs were pulverised it was only a miracle that he was still alive.
"We will finish this now boy. You have been an amazing opponent I must admit however the end is here, and one of us will die." Dooku finished, breathing heavy and laboured. It had been an age since anyone had pushed him this far and it was showing, his body wouldn't be able to keep up if they kept up this frenzied combat.
Naruto once again didn't respond, whatever trance he was in had forced him to continue the fight.
He raised both lightsabers, lengthening the purple blade to that of a broadsword. The purple blade cackled and flashed violently almost as if it were reacting to the broiling emotions of its master.
They charged at one another, the sheer potency of energy that was gathered in this spot had practically summoned a massive bank of clouds and thunder.
It was over within moments.
Dooku's lightsaber had cut straight through the gaps in Naruto's beskar armour slicing straight through his arm and almost bisecting him. He collapsed to his knees blood practically gushing from his helmeted face.
Dooku had not come out unscathed, the older man collapsed his body cut through and his already punished organs giving out on him.
Neither stayed Conscious long enough to see the arrival of a Mandalorian gunship and the numerous teams of medics who had exited…..
Fin.
This was long overdue and I apologise. however, I hope this will see you through till the next update. I've got some things coming up that I hope you will enjoy.