29th day of Month 14 ABG
For someone who is supposedly as good as dead, General Grievous sure feels very much alive as he stalks through the shadows of Selbar's hazy downtown alleyways. It is true that things have gone almost entirely downhill for him in the three weeks since his raid at Obroa-skai, and they now may be stuck in a single town with the Republic on all sides, but a world of hurt awaits his enemies if they intrude so much as a centimeter into his territory.
The sun has dipped beneath the horizon, and the faint orange hue from the streetlights above struggles to penetrate the smoggy air.
In addition to their natural night vision which aids him now, Kaleesh boast excellent predatory instincts, and those animalistic impulses dominate the cyborg's mind as he creeps about the shadows. The hunched-over General, covered by a dark cloak in order to better blend into the darkness, keeps one of his lightsabers ready in his right hand while leaving the other hand free. Despite the occasional patches of ice on the frigid permacrete, his powerful mechanical toes have little trouble finding purchase, creeping closer to the target step by step.
Likewise, the three IG-100 MagnaGuard droids who trail him demonstrate an equal degree of confidence. Closest behind is IG-121, whose black coating was given to indicate its specialist programming in stealth and infiltration. IG-122 is on Grievous's left, with gray coating to indicate its additional practice in melee combat. Finally, IG-124 is blue-coated with specialty in ranged weapons.
All three have been given white capes, headwraps, and mumuu markings, a constant reminder that Grievous put in place to remind himself that these automations are what Dooku thought would be sufficient to replace the eight Izvoshra.
They are not.
Blocks away, squads of battle droids (who are even less cunning than the MagnaGuards) openly patrol the streets, but they are only a barrier to prevent his prey from escaping. Grievous had considered leaving them out of the mission entirely, but he brought them along at the insistence of the droid analyst B9-Z4, who seemed to greatly overestimate his general's chances of being outmaneuvered.
Battle droids have their uses when it comes to overrunning clone troopers by sheer numbers, and in circumstances such as these, he will need them for future battles. His prey was able to destroy eight of them before they could even call for help, so involving them now would be a needless waste. It is best to spare them by doing the job myself.
The droid analyst had also suggested that an even better approach would be to send members of Babteer Pil, the Meerian militia that fights alongside him, as they could blend in better and more easily ambush the two mercenaries who they are searching for, but most are recent recruits, and far from lifelong soldiers. Using them would be just as costly as with the droids.
Furthermore, what B9 fails to grasp is that Grievous needs to keep his skills sharp, and that he relishes these opportunities to fight the adversary directly. Far too much of the past two weeks have consisted of sitting in conference rooms with WanThir and the droid, arranging my forces on holographic maps as if we're dejarik players.
It is one thing to let droids do his work when he faces Jedi by the day, the kills so frequent as to become tiresome. It's another when he has gone eight days without having to use his lightsaber outside of practice.
The town of Selbar was an easy choice for his headquarters: It sits above a sharp cliff that makes attacks from the north and east difficult; walls guard the south and west sides; and a shield prevents orbital bombardment. Not to mention, the populace completely despises the Republic, which handed over their planet to offworld mining interests.
It is safe to the point of being almost boring. The Republic does not dare come in with a large attack against such a formidable bastion. But conversely, it would be suicide to leave it since the Republic controls the surrounding territory. So, both sides do nothing but sit around and only fight minor skirmishes at the edge of the shield. Although rational parts of his brain tell him that the thought is rather improper, part of him can't help but think that it is almost a good thing that two mercenaries managed to smuggle themselves into Selbar.
It all started when the Republic sent out a light freighter, which they made to look like a CIS-operated smuggling ship with supplies. Grievous has no way to send or receive secure communications from offworld, so it was completely plausible for one to show up without warning. A few such ships have occasionally attempted to reach Selbar, but the Republic has air superiority, and he doesn't want to waste his tiny reserve of operable ships by sending them beyond the safety of their shield.
As such, only two supply ships so far have been able to reach Selbar, and this was one of them. It got close enough before the Republic's surface-to-air turbolasers shot it down that it crash-landed in the southern part of the city, plowing into a home. Initially, it seemed that the pilots died in the crash, but Babteer Pil still excitedly looted some of the cargo, which included canned food, weapons, and power cells.
All seemed well until a day later, when a squad of B1 battle droids reported in saying they were investigating suspicious activity around the shield generator. They were found demolished on the streets by the time help arrived.
So, the investigation began, and everything from the crash became a prime suspect. The food, which had been placed into storage for eventual use, was opened to reveal various toxins upon a close chemical analysis. The power cells and weapons were no doubt sabotaged as well. A forensics expert investigated the ship and found that the "pilots" were dead bodies that were just along for the ride. Genetic analysis pointed to Feeorin passengers, which narrowed down their search by a significant amount.
It didn't take long to find that two Feeorins had recently begun squatting in an abandoned apartment complex downtown, and so now it is time to end their threat. Whether they are gathering intelligence or preparing to sabotage something, it matters not. They need to be taken into custody.
Grievous's excitement builds as he nears the complex from its west side, and he carefully watches a small airspeeder zoom past before deciding that it is probably not related to the Feeorins. Unfortunately, there is a pedway across the street and above him, which he knows provides a potential avenue for them to sneak out along. With Selbar being as multi-level of a city as it is, it will be difficult to cover every potential lane of escape, but he is confident that his keen eyes will be able to spot them if they try to go west.
The droids stationed along the other directions should lead them right out toward me, and I will certainly be their doom. He sticks to the sides of the street, peering upwards and beside him in search of motion.
Meter-high humanoid shadows dart across the street one block ahead, most likely Meerian and far too short to be Feeorin. A dumpster rattles with the sound of rodents scavenging through it. A brief flicker of motion passes through the skyway above, but there's nothing to be found once he takes a closer look. Just before he passes underneath the skyway, he hears footsteps from ground level scampering around the corner to his right, but once he reaches the intersection, they are nowhere to be found. There is a support pillar in that direction, so he turns to check behind it.
Hiding behind the pillar is just a Reenit, a common species of canine in this part of Bandomeer that's often a pet. That's what I expected, but it didn't hurt to check. Just before he turns to go back the other way, he hears the sudden zap of blaster fire. It hits him in the back, through his cape, and into the one of the bone-white armored plates that protects him. It isn't powerful enough to penetrate the thick metal, but it packs enough of a punch to send him reeling forward, definitely more so than an average blaster pistol.
Instantly, he activates the green lightsaber in his right hand and rotates his neck 90 degrees in the direction of the threat. He does so just in time to see a thermal detonator dropping down in his direction as well. Perhaps intentionally, the aim is not exactly towards him. It's behind him, which means that the MagnaGuards there are doomed, and he is effectively caught between the detonator behind him and the building in front.
In the span of less than a second, he darts forward, getting as far away as he can, and once he collides with the wall, he grabs a windowsill to pull himself sideways, behind the pillar. Thanks to his quick reaction, he is shielded from the direct blast, but the wooden pillar is split in two, and the bottom half smashes into him. Again, the thick armor keeps him alive, allowing him to watch IG-124 leap away from the blast and into a somersault. That's the last he can see before the balcony above collapses onto him. The rubble temporarily cuts him off from attacks, so he takes a few seconds to process.
It was certainly one attack from each of his mercenary targets, both of whom are likely in the skyway above. That gives them high ground and excellent cover. We went underneath them without knowing it, and they were skilled enough to time up their attacks while still being silent enough to stay unnoticed.
They're by no means perfect - had the detonator been a second sooner, or the blaster shot a second later, he might not be alive right now. As is, his right arm has been disabled, and his metal armor is no doubt singed, but his internal organs seem to have again been protected.
A droid's voice chimes in over the conflict embedded into his mind's cybernetics: Incident detected. Should units close in?
The droids are already set up at choke points where the Feeorins would have to jump down onto street level in order to escape, but if they come closer, their targets could potentially sneak past them through Selbar's skyway network. Not to mention, the massive task force of unsubtle B1s was probably what alerted the Feeorins in the first place and robbed Grievous of his element of surprise.
"No, maintain the defensive position," he replies. "We will finish this here."
Grabbing his lightsaber with his left hand, cutting away the rubble above, and pushing with his feet, he quickly frees himself from under the debris and sprints across the street before his adversaries can launch another attack. At this angle, the mercenaries would need to lean out and shoot nearly parallel to the skyway that they're in, which means I have some deal of protection.
IG-124 has found cover and is providing suppressing fire toward the skyway, which has done nothing but shatter transparisteel so far. Hopefully, it discourages the Feeorins from looking out and shooting him.
He quickly climbs up the side of the building, grabbing the sides of the brick with some of his spare fingers, and then he jumps sideways to grab the top of the skyway before breaking one of its few intact transparisteel windows with his feet. Almost immediately after swinging in, he hears another blaster shot from his right, but he is simply moving too fast for the mercenary to track, and it ends up well behind him.
It looks like a powerful shot that would have come from a slower-firing sniper rifle, which gives him a second to turn left and find the other mercenary. He's a big Feeorin, as expected, wearing gray padded armor. This one, who presumably threw the grenade during the initial ambush, had been running away toward the end of the hall, apparently not expecting Grievous to enter so quickly. He is in the process of spinning around and firing a blaster pistol in Grievous's general direction. The first shot misses high.
The two are separated by a respectable distance, and Grievous is between them, so no matter who he chooses to attack, he'll be vulnerable to the other one. Grievous chooses to focus on the one on his left, noting that he has another thermal detonator on his belt. He plants his right foot and leaps, holding out his lightsaber as he does so.
Grievous closes the ten-meter gap and arrives at his destination well before anyone can get off their second shot. The Feeorin holds up his arms near his face as if to protect himself from the killing strike, but as Grievous sails past, he provides little resistance. It is only after the general lands and turns to look at his handiwork that he notices something truly bizarre.
His lightsaber has short-circuited.
Could he have somehow disabled the weapon?
Now, the unarmed Grievous has two Feeorins pointing blasters at him, the pistol next to him and the sniper rifle from a distance, while his last MagnaGuard is apparently still trying to find his way into the skyway.
If I can grapple this Feeorin, the other one will have a tough time getting off a clean shot. He steps closer and reaches out to grab the adversary's weapon hand with his large, six-fingered hand that still also grasps a lightsaber. The Feeorin is clearly very old, as they get stronger with age, so he provides much more resistance than most humans would.
Grievous's strength is greater, though, and he spins them both around while pushing the blaster pistol upward. A shot from the mercenary at the other end goes wide, with Grievous now using the closer Feeorin as a living shield. Apparently less than thrilled with this role, the mercenary uses his other hand to reach for a vibroblade. Maybe he is not the best shield after all.
Grievous has no way to dodge without letting the pistol free, so he splits his left arm and uses one half to reach at his enemy's other wrist. Not wanting to have his hand restrained, the Feeorin pulls the vibroblade away. That leaves him defenseless for Grievous to suddenly reangle his arm and throw a punch directly at his face. It makes solid contact, knocking out some teeth and giving him a bloody nose while his neck is snapped backward with a painful crack. Grievous takes advantage of that distraction to dislocate the arm that he still holds, violently twisting it toward the Feeorin's back. The pistol drops to the floor, and Grievous finally lets go.
The Feeorin swings his vibroblade again, but he's clearly in too much pain to focus, and Grievous ducks under it almost casually before swinging his powerful foot into the poor mercenary's abdomen. He reels back, still clutching the vibroblade.
Now it is time to end the fight.
He grabs another lightsaber from out of his cloak, and once again the Feeorin raises his arms. This time, Grievous makes note of a unique-looking gauntlet. Could it be cortosis? With that in mind, he prepares a heavy overhand zone 1 strike. As soon as the Feeorin raises his arms to block, Grievous redirects, avoiding the gauntlet and curling his lightsaber around to bisect the enemy through the chest. As the Feeorin falls, Grievous expects to see the other behind him at the end of the hallway, but it seems the other one was smart enough to abandon his doomed comrade.
At last, IG-124 climbs into the skyway, looking briefly satisfied at the damage. "Has the sector been cleared of hostiles?" it asks in its deep, mechanical voice.
"We have one more left to kill," Grievous explains.
"Should the B1 squadrons be summoned for reinforcements?"
Either the other one now runs away into my droids on the streets, or he is in the building ahead. If it's the former, they need to stay put. If it's the latter, I've survived their first two salvos, and I've now cut their strength in half. And so, he responds, "No, you and I shall continue the chase until he runs into the droids or stands to face us." With that, he begins running across the skyway, the MagnaGuard closely behind.
"Use non-lethal force, if possible," Grievous adds.
What presumably was once a locked wooden door is at the end of the hall, busted open by the Feeorin's raw strength to enter in what is apparently a department store. It's dark inside, with clothes hanging neatly on display. An alarm blares due to the forced entry, but this fight should be long over by the time any police arrive.
They can see well in the dark too. So, he knows that- Grievous scans the room briefly, -the other exits would be the main entrance that is blocked by metal bars and the door behind the counter, which probably goes to an office.
He couldn't have too much time to hide, which means he's probably…
Suddenly the Feeorin pops up from behind the counter, his blaster at the ready. Grievous quickly sidesteps and advances, but the Feeorin hesitates and readjusts his aim. For a moment, Grievous can see right down the barrel, but he leaps up before the trigger can be pulled. The shot sails cleanly between his legs, and with the weapon's limited rate of fire, the Feeorin only gets one shot before the cyborg can close the distance between them and swiftly sever both of his enemy's arms at the elbows.
He can be interrogated before his execution, but it's unlikely that he'll have anything useful to tell. And so, the Republic's incursion has been stopped, but as he looks down to his defunct right arm, he can't help but wonder: At what cost? Grievous always has spare parts on hand, but they are finite. If I lose another arm, it may not be able to get repaired until we can get back to Separatist space. A tiny voice at the back of his head adds one simple correction: If we can get back to Separatist space.
