Chapter 19

The high speed journey to Devaron was frantic in terms of preparation. The five ship task group of Acclamator class cruisers, consisting of Thunderbolt, Requiem, Judge, Pathfinder and Vigil, were all newly commissioned with equally green clone crews manning them. The ships were so new that I could still smell the fresh paint in my temporary quarters aboard Thunderbolt. The only experience the group had was the 501st Legion, who dearly wished they could engage in a bit of good natured ribbing and hazing of the rookies, but as the rookies were in the Navy, it prevented it mostly beyond a bit of razzing and teasing in the mess halls.

The issue in planning for the coming battle was that we weren't sure if we were facing a ground action on Devaron, a space battle or boarding action. Here we ran smack first into the problem of logistics and the hasty nature of the entire operation. The cruisers had been due to leave the Coruscant shipyards to travel on their shakedowns and pick up their full complement of LAATs, AT-TEs, SPHA-Ts and other auxiliary craft at Kuat. There was just no time for the detour and the process of loading everything. It would've taken at least a day just to go to Kuat and another two for full loadout and stowage to be done to proper standards.

So we had to cannibalize whatever we could from the ships in repair at the Coruscant shipyards, which saw us launching with only twelve AT-TEs spread out amongst each ship, no heavy artillery, no LAAT gunships and carriers. The only thing that was in full stock amongst the fleet, was the 74-Z speeder bikes.

This left the task group with the options to either slap the enemy quickly with fast cavalry but taking no ground or very slowly stab them in the guts. It left me to make the only suggestion that could fill the gap in our force mix if it came down to a ground battle.

"Are you serious?"

Anakin stared at me with a severe expression.

"The only way we can deploy those tanks is to land our ships," I explained, pushing on the controls of the briefing holotable on the bridge on the Thunderbolt to demonstrate my point. "Where they turn into mobile bases that can look after themselves, but utterly useless otherwise. The instant those tanks leave that umbrella with no artillery support…"

I simulated a standard CIS artillery barrage and fighter attack, easily destroying the AT-TE's with no air or artillery support of their own.

"To counter this with what we have, we need at least three cruisers in the air after delivering their tanks and hovering over our advancing tank columns. Acting as both air support with their point defense cannons and direct fire counter-artillery with turbolasers."

"Commander, that's using capital turbolasers on a planetary surface," Rex pointed out.

"I know, but it's the only solution I'm seeing to the problem with what we have. If you're speaking technically, the prohibition is against orbital bombardment, razing a planetary surface with no chance for the world below your guns to defend itself. This is not what we're doing here. We're talking precision fire against any droid army and armor concentrations from within the atmosphere, where we're still capable of being shot by the enemy."

Anakin nodded in thought, "I see the point you're trying to make, Snips. We'd need to fire them de-linked, using just a single barrel with each shot to moderate the damage. The only problem is, I can just imagine the neat propaganda coup we'd be handing to Count Dooku in the process. No, if it comes to ground battle, we'll use the point defense laser cannons in the counter-artillery role as well. I know it won't be ideal, but we have to think of Devaron as well. As much as they would want the Seppies off their planet when they come, they also don't want us leaving massive craters in the landscape."

"In an atmosphere, we'd need to be within about twenty kilometer range to effectively engage with those point defense guns."

"So the cruisers will be taking hits from the artillery, better on our shields than on the tanks," he declared.

"Then have you figured out anything regarding a potential boarding action with no gunships yet?"

"What are the chances of that?" he questioned in return.

"Master Yoda's prediction indicates that a CIS breakthrough will have to happen at the Bestine defense line for any enemy units to make it to Devaron or a fast flank through the worlds of Thyferra and Fondor. If we arrive too late to help the Devaron garrison and Master Ropal is already captured and on board the CIS ships, then a disable and boarding action is on the cards."

"I see, well, in that case I think it's time for a bit of improvisation."

The other bit of preparation that had to happen was for HK to drill alongside me and Rex's Alpha company. It didn't take long for the droid to slot into operating on such a level. HK's most experience was in small unit tactics and as a lone wolf assassin with surprise and initiative. Revan had never really used the droid on a straightforward battlefield. A tactic that was quickly pioneered was for HK to use his deployed droideka shield as a bulwark for advancing under fire, allowing a double line of ten troops to use it as mobile cover. Essentially a technological version of what I did for the troops. The difference being that HK was slaughtering the targets shooting at him with remarkable efficiency.

While HK's usual comments and disparagement of 'meatbags' didn't really endear him to anyone, he soon won a lot of respect from the 501st for his performance.

"Commander, if we had at least a squad of HKs attached to each company…" Rex gave me a significant look as we observed the exercises in the small firing arena.

"That would be a sight to see," I agreed. "Unfortunately, if there is one way to get yourself onto HK's bad side, then it would be to suggest making copies of him."

Rex looked back to the droid. Just in time to see HK delivering quick precise short bursts from his Z-6 rotary cannon that scored 'kill' shots on three simulated B2s within less than four seconds.

"I think I'll pass, Commander."

I gave a glance at my chrono and with a few button presses disabled the arena and engaged the speaker system, "Okay, Alpha company, good work. Get to your bunks and rest. More drills tomorrow, 0800 sharp. Dismissed."

The entire arena came to attention, saluted, "Sir, yes sir!" before steadily filing out. Rex gave his own perfect parade salute and also left. I locked down the arena before leaving the control booth and heading down to HK who was now securing and servicing his weapons.

"Nicely done HK."

"Statement: Thank you, master."

"So what do you think of the 501st?"

"Statement: They are adequate enough, master. The troopers of the Old Republic were all volunteers, natural born, utterly devoted to their cause and professionals. Even the old enemy feared them. It is truly a tragedy that their legacy has not really survived the last thousand years."

I tried to imagine a modern Havoc Squad special operations division at my command and was left with slight awe at the idea. Those men and women had the durasteel plated balls that saw them engaging without flinching entire squads of lightsaber and sorcery wielding Sith. Not to mention using their personal shields to get in close and detonate explosives right in the enemy's faces.

"I agree."

I reached behind my back and grabbed a hold of my little presents to HK, before guiding them with the Force to hover in front of the droid.

HK stopped the fiddling with the Z-6 and lowered it to the ground. Before promptly grabbing the pair of very basic, unadorned, utilitarian cylindrical lightsabers out of the air. The droid wasted no time in lighting them and red blades erupted from the hilts. They had started life as simple training sabers, which I had requisitioned, then reworked with synthetic kyber.

"Statement: Master, you realize that while I am extremely proficient in combat with vibroswords, I can demonstrate to you only a fraction of the prowess that Revan or Meera Sutrik was capable of with a lightsaber."

"I understand, but that is more than anyone has seen for thousands of years and I need every edge I can get. I also want you armed with them because I want you at least capable of engaging any minion of Dooku you might encounter, if they manage to get in close. We can get a vibrosword for you later."

"Eager anticipation: Good, Master. Are you ready?"

My own lightsabers were lit and I was in a ready stance a moment later.

HK held his own blades in a stance that prickled at a distant memory; the left blade forward and horizontal, while the right blade angled and high. "Explanation: In lieu of my being unable to use any Force attacks, I will enunciate when generally it would happen in our bout, Master."

"Understood." I rushed forward with Force enhanced speed and sought to stab HK straight through the torso with one blade, while swiping at his legs at the same time.

Machine reflexes had his left blade swat aside the stab, while a riposte stopped the swipe at his legs and had me dodging a step back.

It was quickly apparent as the duel continued that if HK had even a fraction of Force talent then I felt very sorry for any Jedi or Sith of the current era that crossed blades with him. He couldn't do any fancy Ataru or Force agility acrobatics, but stood as strong as a mountain, and from that solid base batted aside my strikes in ways that almost reminded me of Luke's duel against Vader on Bespin, only with less fluidity.

I stopped myself from using any TK attacks, this session was about the blade only, but I would point out to HK when I could've used them.

This was as much about getting HK up to speed on what he could face if he ever crossed Ventress in the future or any other dark force user employed by Dooku or Sidious.

We went on in this fashion for about two hours and it was quite nice to have a tireless partner to practice bladework with. I had definitely benefited from incorporating a few of Revan's blade techniques, which I would have to practice further.

"Evaluation: Revan would still likely bend you over his knee, Master, but you would make him work for it… for a few minutes."

I tried to keep that image out of my head without success, while breathing deep in a quick recovery mediation. "Thank you for that glowing praise, HK."

"Statement: I'm here to serve, Master. May I be excused? The shield is rather energy intensive. There is a recharging station with my name on it. "

"Off you go."

There was a bit of intelligence housekeeping to do in the arena anyway that I didn't want HK to be aware of.

The fleet emerged in Devaron with shields up and bristling for a fight right out of hyperspace. Word had reached us that a group of six CIS Munificents had indeed managed to flank the defense line and slip through. The math of navigation and travel time meant that the Separatists had six hours of free reign to attack Devaron. More than enough time for Bane to work with.

Our emergence from hyperspace caused the enemy fleet to turn around and burn towards us, clearly intending to engage in an all out battle.

"That was quick," Anakin commented. "They're not even hanging back to retrieve any forces they may still have on the planet."

My mind's eye was pushing forward using Farsight. I had never sensed Master Ropal before but finding anyone with the strength in the Force of a Jedi Master among a sea of lifeless droids was relatively easy, especially as I definitely could sense Bane as well.

"Master Ropal and Bane are on the frigate designated delta, Master."

"Well done, Snips. This is General Skywalker to all commands, open fire but disable delta only. Repeat, disable delta."

The battle opened with the Acclamators cycling their four heavy torpedo launchers in rapid succession. Unlike the old style of just firing off torpedoes in a long continuous line and relying on the torpedoes to do the evasive maneuvering, these launchers imitated the rotary gun principle. The torpedoes also didn't immediately light off their drives either, instead just hovering for a moment and coasting forward with the advancing ships. Only when thirty torpedoes were in space, was the signal given and they blasted off with maximum acceleration.

150 heavy torpedoes shot forward in what could be called a shotgun blast.

Thankfully for the Republic, I was not the only military theorist and designer who could think outside the box at Kuat Drive Yards. Analysts in their thousands were pouring over the records of battles being fought and delivering their results to the GAR, KDY and everyone who had the clearance to read. The first obvious conclusion they reached was in defeating CIS point defense, you had to swamp the defender's systems with targets and your torpedoes had to be fast.

Sixty torpedoes bracketed one enemy frigate.

The Munificent fired everything it had to survive, even using its Vulture droids to aid in the point defense. That was a nice trick, that had to have been linking the Vultures directly into the frigate's targeting computers to work properly. Despite this the oversaturation of targets worked and twenty seven torpedoes made it through to first utterly pop the shields like a soap bubble, before the tail-end charlie missiles rammed themselves directly into the enemy hull. The resulting damage and detonation saw the frigate practically cracked in half and spiraling off into the erratic orbits, trailing debris.

The second targeted frigate fared much better, with only twenty torpedoes hitting her shields. It still brought them down, and caused considerable damage but only mission-killed the enemy ship.

The remaining thirty torpedoes had been sent as an afterthought to a third frigate, who only managed to intercept twelve torpedoes, before the remaining weapons wrecked her shields.

Vigil, as the lead ship in the Republic formation, at this moment reached extreme gun range and unleashed all of her twelve quad turbolaser turrets on the floundering frigate. The giant energy bolts had no impediment and slammed into the frigate, focusing on the bridge superstructure and the deadly dual heavy turbolasers it carried.

Something critical was hit, maybe a power linkage to those heavy guns, as the frigate suddenly erupted into a tiny sun of liberated energy and debris.

With the odds now five versus three and both sides reaching gun range, the enemy now turned into a fighting retreat, making best speed for the hyperspace point.

The command frigate was naturally in the lead, with the other two behind to screen it.

"I want another torpedo salvo for those two," Anakin ordered immediately.

This was another tricky maneuver. The torpedoes had to stay within the Acclamator's shield, otherwise risk being blasted into nothingness by the competing turbolaser fire. The navigators of the Republic cruisers held their nerves though and kept a steady hand.

120 torpedoes lit their drives and shot forward.

Given that we were in a chase situation, the enemy had a much easier time calculating solutions to shoot down the torps. The problem was that they had much fewer aft facing point defense batteries and the Vulture droid numbers were being steadily whittled down as they were utterly incinerated by turbolaser fire seeking to batter down the shields.

Thirty-two torpedoes made swift work of one, whilst thirty-nine managed to make it through the dwindling point defense fire of the remaining frigate. Two small very brief artificial suns erupted, as the fusion and hypermatter confinement failed, leaving the command ship alone.

This left the gunners easy solutions to focus fire from three of the Acclamators to batter down the aft shields of the surviving Munificent, before sending timed and precise turbolaser fire that wrecked its engines.

Its acceleration stopped and the hyperdrive was completely offline… it wasn't going anywhere.

The news wasn't all good, however.

"Master Ropal just died," I declared heavily, my throat constricting with emotion and I pushed away a tear from my eye.

"What? Are you sure?" Anakin asked with hints of anger.

I nodded, you couldn't see such torture and not be affected deeply. "I tried to get through to him, encouraging him to hold on, that we were coming. The torture was just too much though. He'd been drugged, fitted with pain pulsers and given mind suppressants. He couldn't use Tutaminis well enough to shield his heart. They were trying to force him to open the holocron."

"Then our mission has already partially failed," Anakin declared, his fists bunching together and relaxing as he worked to shed his anger. "Navigation, bring us to a stop directly above that ship."

The trick to boarding a ship when you had no LAAT gunships was to get very unorthodox and creative. Modifying the speeder bikes to actually work in space would take too long, as their repulsors, designed to work against a planet's gravity, would need to be deactivated - which wasn't a standard procedure and required tinkering that would take too long.

In this case, the solution Anakin devised was to use the AT-TEs and drop them from the lower debarkation bays of the Acclamators. The tanks could pressurize themselves for fighting in any atmosphere or lack of atmosphere that they encountered. They also had magnetized feet, which when engaged would allow them to not only clamp onto the hull of the enemy frigate, but also attract themselves to it, with very low acceleration, but it was acceleration nevertheless. My own twist on the plan was to vent the air from the interior of the tanks, to give another push.

It felt distinctly weird standing on an AT-TE that was about to be dropped into space. It was one thing to be in the cockpit of a fighter, with the knowledge that you had control. Now we were relying on the navigators keeping perfect station above the frigate and classical Newtonian physics.

The tanks were packed to the brim and with more troopers latched onto the hulls, for a total of three companies of the 501st taking part in the boarding action.

"We're in position, General."

"Do it."

The massive doors opened below us and my stomachs lurched in a brief bout of fear.

The utter silence of EVA and full vacuum was distinctly unnerving. The only sound coming from my own breathing.

I kept my eyes on the hull of the tank, then beyond that the slowly approaching horizon of metal that represented the 426 meter wide hull of the enemy frigate. The fleet's navigators for being rookies had done a superb job getting us to within spitting distance of the enemy. It still meant crossing sixty meters of open space in nothing but a tank and a prayer.

Twelve seconds later the six AT-TEs clamped onto the dorsal hull of the Munificent, right between the main forward armor plates and eighty meters away from the forward facing bridge. Their legs flexed to absorb the impact easily.

The tank crews wasted no time and started blasting with every gun at their disposal, firing towards the B1 droids doing repair work and the surviving Vulture droids crawling along the hull.

"Statement: Eat hot efficiency, you substandard excuses for war droids!"

HK unleashed his Z-6 cannon with utter glee from his position on the tank next to me, while I had to contend with deflecting fire back at the droids and defending my tank as it crawled forward slowly over the uneven blocky 'terrain' of the frigate hull.

A half squadron of Vulture droids came flying around the ship and landed eighty meters away, folding into their awkward walking forms. They could fire in this manner just as well.

The tanks shifted their main mass driver cannons to target the droids. Anakin saw the danger and abruptly shot himself in a Force leap that in the zero gravity of the environment saw him easily make the jump to land right next to the Vultures. I had no choice but to follow him, using the mag soles on my feet and the Force, also making a similar jump. Leaving a complaining HK behind.

Anakin and I were frantically weaving through the legs of the Vulture droids. Slicing them as we went, deflecting fire from them and when the opening presented itself, slashing them straight through the middle.

Fighting in zero g like this was actually quite fun and gave my burgeoning Ataru skills a nice workout.

Another few frantic minutes of fighting passed and the tide turned, with more troopers managing to emerge from the tanks and adding their fire to the battle.

Finally, the last B1 was killed by a pin point shot from Rex's blaster pistol leaving the way clear for the infiltration of the ship to begin.

"R2!"

The astromech droid in question flew itself across the intervening space from the Thunderbolt using its leg jets, homing in on Anakin's position with precision.

The experienced droid plugged itself into an interface port near an auxiliary airlock, which allowed maintenance crew access from inside the hull. It took less than a minute for the droid to succeed.

I keyed my radio, "HK, do remember the plan, don't get too enthusiastic."

"Agreement: Very well, Master, I will attempt to moderate my joy and satisfaction."

"Oh, and if you happen to come across Bane first…"

"Statement: I will keep to the plan, Master."

That was the best I could hope for really from HK.

Anakin gestured downward to me and we both pushed ourselves into the artificial gravity of the ship beyond the airlock.

That this ship had most of its volume pressurized would alone indicate that Bane was on board. With R2's slicing, we were soon charging through the ship, along with a company of clone troopers and fighting our way through it towards the bridge, where I was sensing Bane.

"Everyone, prepare for variable gravity fighting. Master, keep your helmet on," I grunted as I sliced through two B1s before jumping forward and rolling, swinging my blades to bisect a B2.

"What are you thinking, Snips?" Anakin deflected fire before bringing his blade around and fileting a number of B1s as he powered his way forward.

"Bane is a very cunning bastard and with command of this ship's systems at his fingertips I can see him using everything he can as a weapon."

"Understood," Anakin grunted, Force pushing a B2 to smash against a wall, before slicing it in half with his saber.

Breaching onto the bridge of the frigate was quite easy with a very motivated Anakin Skywalker as your battering ram. No need for fancy directional charges or even lightsabers, when a Force Push from him turned the durasteel reinforced doors into scrap.

The clones opened fire on the B1 droid crew immediately and Anakin advanced left, whilst I took right, slicing and dicing through the B1 security contingent. HK advanced straight down the middle with an engaged shield and brought his cannon into play. R2 took advantage of HK's shield as well to roll in on our heels.

Finally there were just two B1 droids left and the one painted with the yellow decals of a commander frantically pointed at his surviving fellow, shouting in its painfully nasal voice, "Don't shoot, I'm not the commander. He's the commander."

HK decided to head off the painfully pathetic misdirection attempt, by unleashing a burst of fire from his cannon that scrapped both B1s.

"R2 get yourself plugged in and give me a status report," Anakin ordered, whilst giving me a significant look. R2 bleeped an affirmative and rolled forward to interface with the closest computer logic port.

'Bane escaped the bridge through a hidden exit somewhere, Master,' I broadcasted along our bond. 'He seems to be heading aft, to rally war droids in a counterattack.''

R2 blurted in alarm and brought up a status display of the frigate using his internal holo emitter, along with further details.

"The ship's memory banks are completely erased and there's a self-destruct timer running," Anakin stared grimly at the schematic of the ship with a lot of places highlighted in red, including a countdown timer currently standing on 56 minutes and 12 seconds until the ship would detonate its own scuttling charges.

'I managed to reconstruct one holo log that was still in the comm buffer," R2 reported.

A holo of Bane appeared in miniature. "...one authentic Jedi holocron and the memory crystal I was after…" The image froze with the duros bounty hunter holding both items in question with dark satisfaction to whoever he had been speaking to. His brown wide-brimmed hat, combined with the alien features of solid red eyes and breathing tubes gave him a subtly discomforting yet intimidating appearance. The brown long coat and leather clothing underneath, which most likely hid a pressure suit, along with the holsters for two LL30 blaster pistols and armored tech gauntlets completed the look of someone that was not an opponent to be taken lightly by most of the galaxy.

"Rex, send squads, lock down the hangar bay and wreck all the escape pods, no one gets off this ship," Anakin ordered immediately.

"Yes sir," Rex saluted and began gathering his sergeants.

I felt an abrupt shudder through the deck of the ship at this point, "R2, report."

The droid brought up the ship status holo and a new ear on one of the aft engines was highlighted in red, "One of the aft engines just exploded."

"Any indication of the cause?" Anakin queried.

"70% certainty of accumulated system failure from battle damage."

"If that failure bleeds into other systems, the self-destruct won't matter. Our timeline just accelerated. Ahsoka, get a team together and head to the detention level for Master Ropal. I'll begin working my way aft to track down Bane."

The journey to the detention level of the frigate was done at a pace I would call 'cautiously quickly'. We only ran into the odd squad of B1 damage control droids, which we would blast to pieces in short order - though not always. We had to take another route to avoid a droid DC team working on a vital system that my prescience told me would be a very bad thing to interrupt.

On the detention level itself, I set one team to check the port cells, whilst I went with another on the starboard side. It was the typical CIS setup of recessed cells that always gave the 'low ground' to the prisoner. The cells were identical externally throughout the whole level, giving you no clue if it was an interrogation cell or a simple holding area.

I sensed no life at all in the cells, though I was rather surprised to be picking up on the 'Force residue' or emotional essence of those who had been housed in them. It was especially strong in cells where prisoners had died.

It was naturally my luck to find the body of Master Ropal.

I recognized the energy containment cell from my Farsight vision immediately. The rodian Jedi Master's body was left sprawled in front of the confinement emitters, his head turned awkwardly with tongue spilled out of his conical face.

"Sergeant, get a stretcher from a medic and detail a four man squad to carry the body to the hangar bay."

"Yes commander," the clone sergeant hurried off.

I reached out with the Force, and the body floated off the ground and it was the work of a few moments to arrange it into a more dignified pose, including gently pushing the conical tongue back inside the mouth. There was no point in staring at the body or speaking to it, so I pushed my words into the Force itself around the cell.

"You will soon not care at all as you become one with the Force. Your death would be seen by most as a pointless waste of life and potential, the end of a Jedi Master and all that you've achieved. But you died protecting not yourself, but thousands of young innocent lives. You died protecting their potential and I can only hope and strive with all my strength to do the same and continue protecting them."

Any further words were interrupted by the return of the sergeant with four clones, two of which had a collapsible stretcher, onto which Master Ropal's body was laid and carried out.

It wasn't long before I was now leading the clone sergeant with the squad now reduced to seven men, heading towards the aft sections of the frigate.

As we were walking down a central corridor along the main spine, I felt a shift in the Force.

"Sergeant," I prompted the clone.

"Yes, commander?"

"Mag boots now!"

My order came just in time as artificial gravity failed.

It was just a moment of pressing a button, it was a moment of distraction.

Just as the clones had their feet attached to the decking again, suddenly gravity turned back on.

Not to the standard gravity most humanoid species referred to in the Corusca galaxy as 1G, which was actually about 0.9 of old Earth's but instead we were hammered with a crushing five gravities.

I could hear and feel quite a few clones cry out in pain as their ankles broke. Only three had managed to react well enough to not suffer that fate, but they were still rammed into the deck with five times their own body weight dragging them down.

My own precognitive reflexes had spared me a similar fate, in combination with applying a truly horrendous amount of Force 'self-buffing' to fortify my strength. My lightsabers were lit automatically and in my hands as I straightened myself with a titanic effort to regard my coming adversary.

Cad Bane had walked casually out of a door ahead and was staring at me with no small amount of astonishment. It was immediately apparent from the way his jacket and hat fell that he was in a zone of standard gravity he had made for himself. Then he smiled and gave a small clap of applause.

"Remarkable, little padawan, I'm impressed you can even stand up," he commented in his grating alien voice. "But I'm afraid we have no time for talking."

Both his blasters pistols were drawn with reflexes and speed that to a normal human and most other species in the galaxy, was just a blur of movement. That had to be both talent and cybernetic augmentation in play. It was only my own precog that allowed me to deflect the rings of stun energy by the barest of margins… it felt like I was moving in a pool of molasses despite everything I had done to fortify myself against the hellish gravity.

It also meant that there was no way I could generate the blade angles fast enough to deflect those stun bolts straight down Bane's throat - which was precisely why he had set this trap. He also kept firing, giving me not an inch of breathing room to attempt any other Force technique.

He was clearly trying to wear me down. Eventually I would tire and make a mistake and a stun bolt would hit.

Suddenly Bane stopped though and dodged down a side corridor, just in time to avoid the awkwardly aimed yet accurate shots from the downed clone troopers who had finally managed to bring their weapons to bear on him.

I dearly wanted to know how the bastard had managed to elude Anakin hunting him in the first place, but we were still trapped in the gravity field.

"Thanks guys," I gritted out.

"You're… we… welcome, Commander," the clone behind me strained the words.

"Hang on."

With the clones now watching for Bane, I could spare the concentration to plunge my awareness and telekinesis into the decking beneath us.

The gravity plating holding us twisted and deformed under my will until…

The 5 gravities went instantly to zero and the clones who had unbroken ankles breathed in relief and began sucking in air greedily. Their injured fellows managed to power through their own pain and got their bearings again.

With a brief Force Push I sent myself to land in the zone of normal gravity, "Sergeant, get your men sorted, I'm going after Bane."

"Are you sure that's wise, Commander?"

"It's not, but it's necessary, get cracking Sergeant."

"Yes, sir."

Tracking down Bane in the bowels of the frigate was both easy and difficult. I could sense him in a general direction and distance, but navigating the corridors in such a way that would let me intercept him was another matter entirely.

The bastard had control of the frigate's systems from his wristcom and he was making it very difficult. He could also use those same systems to keep track of me. To add a further wrinkle he was also plunging areas I occupied into darkness by turning off the lighting.

It was a stupid psychological tactic that was meant to sucker me in. Anyone even slightly knowledgeable of Jedi knew that they didn't need their eyes to perceive the universe around them. He wanted to induce me into arrogance.

He also liked throwing down random blast doors to lock me out of using certain routes in the pursuit. Occasionally he even threw another gravity trap in my way. These ones were set to the highest levels the plating could produce, at 8Gs. It was hard to imagine, but there were species in the galaxy that could exist in those conditions.

The chase couldn't go on forever and both Bane and I knew it. Eventually, the ship would explode and both of us didn't want to be on it when it happened.

It was why I eventually caught up with him.

He was at one end of a corridor with a closed blast door and waiting.

Bane was breathing rather heavily from the run, his blaster pistols in hand and staring me down.

I walked forward and was not surprised at the blast door that closed behind me.

"You're a real piece of work, Jedi."

"Where's the condescending tone suddenly, Bane?"

The duros narrowed his red eyes, "You might hold the title of padawan, Jedi, but there's nothing minor about you. In everyone I fight, I can get the measure of them while it happens. You…"

Bane's arms snapped up and shot at me, not with stun, but the orange bolts of kill shots. My lightsabers moved in defense, sending the bolt straight back to him.

It hit him right on his left pistol, wrecking and twisting it painfully out of his hands.

Walking into this trap, was gonna suck.

I charged into range and attempted to take his head off. With his cyber reflexes saving his life he twisted out of the way and rolled past me. He came up and swiped a kick into my right side that was expertly targeted, knocking my lightsabers together into a blade lock. His follow up jab straight into the gap in my armor underneath my armpit was painful enough that I had no choice but to drop my blades and let their safeties kick in.

I spun around with the momentum, working internally with the Force to soothe the pain in my ribs and lungs, getting inside Bane's guard. He tried to bring his remaining pistol to bear, but it was trivial at this range to dodge, grab the offending limb and use leverage to push it in a way nature never intended.

Bane growled in anger and pain as his elbow broke, then lost all the air in his lungs as my elbow strike hit him in the sternum and sent him tumbling to the floor.

I reached out with the Force to my lightsabers, turning as if on automatic reflex, using the typical mnemonic gesture.

Bane desperately pounced on the opening, grabbing my foot from the floor.

My neophyte Tutaminis thankfully proved equal to the challenge, protecting my consciousness and nervous system, conducting the electric energy through my body. I was still sent sprawling backwards and I really hope my acting was on point as I screamed in pain.

I shrunk my awareness down, going into the early stages of a healing meditation.

My sense of time and place unfortunately wasn't the greatest in this state but I was aware of what my own body was going through and prescience was filling in the blanks.

Bane was dragging me muttering curses in his native language under his breath. Being reduced to one functioning arm was not fun. He had to drop me at every door and awkwardly use his wristcom to control it.

Finally we arrived at our destination, an airlock on the port side of the frigate.

I was dumped inside and then he pulled off my belt, examined it for a moment then attached my own lightsabers to it and dumped it to the side in the preceding chamber. Next he tried to remove my helmet, but was quickly left frustrated in how to actually do this. There were no obvious latches or external means of achieving it. Unluckily for Bane, I had brainstormed a scenario like this and my armor had certain integrated systems which would kick in when it detected I was unconscious and there were no Republic units or troopers nearby. The general method of how the helmet was released was known to only Anakin when it was in this emergency mode. You had to use the Force to manipulate a hidden control on the helmet interior.

Bane eventually released a grunt of frustration, gave up and bound my wrists with cuffs that felt very energetic to my senses. Then proceeded to give me a kick in the ribs.

"Wake up!"

I obliged him and with a surge I emerged from my partial trance.

This allowed me to see that Bane was now supported by two B2 SB droids towering behind him. I sat up, then scooted backward to support my back against the airlock wall. The two B2s unfurled and lowered their arms and aimed at me automatically but did not fire. With interest I examined the cuffs on my wrists.

"Careful. Those bindings are specifically designed for Jedi. The more you struggle, the tighter they get. Struggle enough and your hands will pop right off." Bane suddenly winced and reached into his coat, producing a stim that he held against his broken arm. It discharged with a hiss and Bane visibly regained a measure of comfort. "You hit hard, little lady Jedi. It's rare that I need bacta after a mission."

Speaking in banter or small talk to Bane was not on the cards. He was literally in direct contact with Sidious and the bounty hunter would report back on anything significant or odd that happened. Nothing I had done so far would really stand out, except for my resilience and strength in the face of the gravity trap, but that was not a standout in the realm of Jedi abilities.

So I merely settled for glaring at Bane briefly before I felt the ship shudder with another series of internal explosions.

"Whatever your plan, you better hurry, this ship doesn't have long," I advised him.

"We have time," he stated with confidence. "The bond between a Jedi teacher and his apprentice is strong and I need your master's… cooperation and presence. As you correctly pointed out though, time is not on any of our side."

Bane touched a button on his gauntlet.

Despite knowing it was coming, nothing prepares you. I was being keenly watched now by Bane and knew I couldn't risk using Tutaminis and giving a bad acting job now.

So I endured.

The pain thundered through me, originating from the cuffs and charging along my nerves like a liquid fire flowing all over me. Then my muscles started agonizing waves of contractions. Screams burst out of my mouth briefly before I was robbed of even that release.

The length of the torture was not something I could really remember. It might've been only thirty seconds or three minutes or an hour…

All I knew was that it was over, my body was twitching and I ached in places I didn't even know I had.

The Force was with me though and I immediately set it to work.

This allowed me enough control to at least sit up and move into a kneeling recovery meditation.

Anything Bane might've said in response was interrupted by a beeping from his wristcom.

"Sir," a B1 droid's trembling electronic voice came through, "a Jedi is coming. He looks very unhappy."

There was the distinct humm of a swinging lightsaber, the droid gave an electronic screech before silence fell.

Bane tapped a few buttons on the airlock controls and a visible force field sprung into life, separating me from the rest of the ship. Now only an airlock door was between me and the vacuum of space.

"It seems your master has got the message," he smirked at me.

I continued to ignore him and just kept working with the Force inside me on recovering from the torture.

The door to the main airlock chamber opened and Anakin emerged with his lightsaber lit and ready. The expression on his face and his presence in the Force was one I could only describe as thunderous righteous anger that he was working very hard to maintain control over.

"Nowhere left to run, bounty hunter, no more tricks," Anakin declared.

"Let me worry about that, Jedi," Bane retorted as the B2 droids turned their gun arms on Anakin. "If I activate this control," the bounty hunter held a finger near the gauntlet control of his lame right arm. "The outside airlock will open and suck your padawan into oblivion."

"Go ahead, she still has her helmet."

"Yes, she wont die from the vacuum of space, Jedi. But note she doesn't have her belt on, which I notice contains her locator beacon and magcon field. She'll live for however long air she has in her suit, but in the process will get a lethal dose of radiation. So, do you think you can kill me and save her before she's pulled out? It's a horrible way to die and besides, isn't negotiation the Jedi way?"

I kept my pose, betraying nothing of my feelings or intent.

The B2 droids took two menacing steps forward at Bane's prompting.

Anakin eventually extinguished his lightsaber, "What do you want?" he gritted out between his teeth.

Bane pulled from a pocket in his back the reason for nearly all of this and held it up. The blue holocron glowed eerily, in defiance of the bright lighting of the chamber.

"This carries information I've been paid to collect. I can't unlock it, but you can. The last Jedi who had it, wouldn't open it… I hope you don't make the same mistake."

Anakin narrowed his eyes at the bounty hunter and visibly wrestled with the decision. I could even feel him trying to ping me along our bond, but I kept the door closed.

"I remind you we also don't have much time. The battle in the aft section gunnery deck has left things in a precarious state, the internal force fields can only hold back so much. When the cascade reaches the ship's main magazine…"

Anakin relaxed from his stance and dropped his lightsaber. "Very well, we'll do it your way, bounty hunter."

Bane smiled with satisfaction. "There, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Anakin didn't answer but held out his hands. "Holocron and crystal."

He glared at Anakin in response, "My employers briefed me on what to expect, Jedi. No funny business."

Anakin nodded and accepted the holocron in his right hand and the memory crystal in the left. He then knelt down and placed both items a certain distance apart.

Thankfully, my meditation was deep enough that I allowed no sense of triumph to reach me or betray any reaction on my body.

Anakin began his own meditation and I felt him reach out with the Force and his will towards the holocron and memory crystal.

It took barely a minute before the first signs of life emerged.

The holocron flared brilliantly, rising up into the air and seemed to blossom with triangular facets and open its delicate internal mechanisms, spinning and orbiting each other in a breathtakingly complex dance. The memory crystal, made from the same kyber that went into a lightsaber, rose into the air and merged into the dance. Then the holocron flared again and contracted, taking on a new shape, instead of a simple square, now a dodecahedron with triangular facets linked around it.

Bane stepped forward and eagerly cupped the now complete holocron in his hands, "My employers will be most pleased."

He had barely finished the sentence before Anakin burst into action with the speed of a battle hardened Jedi Knight.

His lightsaber was summoned into his hand and burst to life. My own lightsabers shot through the air, activating under his TK and slashed both B2s into pieces.

For my own part I surged to my feet in a wide stance and lashed out with my own TK, using it like a tractor beam to grab hold to either side of the airlock walls.

Bane used his own reflexes to push the button.

The airlock snapped open and the void eagerly began gobbling up the air, but I held fast against the rushing gas.

Anakin directed one of my lightsabers to precisely cut at the controls.

The forcefield winked out and now yet more air rushed past.

Bane was yanked off his feet as his attempted retreat was foiled, but only briefly.

His boot jets engaged and he surged out of the airlock chamber, closing the door behind him.

Anakin twirled in the surging air, finally loosing his own footing and managed to grab hold of the side airlock bulkhead.

I didn't have the concentration to spare to attempt using the Force to manipulate the controls, but my intent got through to Anakin and he did so.

The airlock door shut.

I let out a gasp of relief as I could finally let go, but managed to keep on my feet.

Anakin was there in a moment and used one of my lightsabers to carefully cut the cuffs off me.

'The ideas you come up with, Snips,' his wry thoughts echoed down our bond.

I shrugged in response and summoned my belt, clicking it on and took back my lightsabers.

"Come on, Snips, double time."

I nodded and using the Force we blurred with speed and charged away through the corridors of the frigate, heading towards the main hangar bay.

Our speed was even further encouraged when we could feel shudders running through the deck as more explosions occurred in the ship.

In the main hangar, we caught the tail end of the battle for it as the survivors of the companies from the 501st poured into commandeered CIS shuttles. HK was standing on the ramp of one and blasting away with abandon.

"Statement: Die, useless scrap, die! Urgent exclamation: Hurry master!"

We didn't need to be told twice.

We even saw Bane's last hurrah. The bounty hunter had clearly also wanted to find a ship, but was caught by a clone sergeant and they were wrestling over a blaster carbine on an upper level of the hangar. The sergeant won and pulled the trigger right into Bane's chest, sending the duros flying over the railing where he fell dead with a nasty crunch.

I lost sight of the body as I rushed into the shuttle.

The other shuttles zoomed off into space, but our shuttle hovered up and moved slowly forward. The pilot had seen the sergeant stranded on the upper level and directed the back of the shuttle to face the clone, allowing the wounded trooper to jump onto the rear gangway and be helped up by Anakin.

"The holocron master?" I pointed at Bane's body.

"No time, better destroyed than in enemy hands. Get us out of here!"

The shuttle rear doors snapped shut and I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the engines whine into a max power burn.

The massive surge and blossom of energy I sensed just twenty-two seconds later, heralding the death of the last Munificent that had breached Republic space, showed just how close we had cut it.

After all the post-battle formalities and debriefings I was back in my temporary quarters on Thunderbolt, dressed in gym shorts and a boobtube, it was now technically the only thing that could be easily adjusted to fit in my wardrobe at the moment. I picked up the chestplate of my armor and stared ruefully at it.

The door to my quarters opened and Anakin entered, still in his typical combat outfit but the shininess and the hint of sheen on his hair betrayed that he had gotten a shower and new outfit.

He closed the door and secured it, before holding out a tiny scanner for a few seconds and staring at the results. He then twisted a button on it and I sensed the electronic white noise blanketing the room.

"Something wrong with the plate, Snips?" he gestured to my armor piece.

"Both fortunately and unfortunately, depending on your point of view," I nodded with amusement and sat back from my desk and gestured vaguely at my chest.

His eyes zoomed reflexively down and just as quickly locked on my face again, "Oh, I… uh hadn't noticed."

I snorted with a suppressed laugh and rolled my eyes, "Skyguy, you're male, you noticed."

"Yeah, I suppose I did," he admitted. "Not enough room there anymore?"

"Growth spurts have been hitting me, I thought it was muscle gains causing it to feel so tight when I put it on this morning… but yeah, can't comfortably wear this anymore. Gonna have to redesign the plate."

I had effectively gone up a cup size to a high B, in old Earth measurement. Changing the chest plate would not be so simple as changing a part in an engine. The entire set had not only a certain aesthetic but also integrated systems that made them vacuum rated. Might as well go for a full redesign at this point, but perhaps some inspiration could be drawn from the armor of old Republic special operations troopers issued to female soldiers. That'd actually result in an increase in protection and thickness over the old plate, coming at the disadvantage of more weight, but I was much stronger these days than when I had first donned my armor, it wasn't such a problem anymore.

"Well, let me know if you need any help with the fabber droid," Anakin nodded. "So how is the Republic's newest trooper doing?"

I laughed, "Inventing every excuse in the book to not take off his helmet and probably figuring out a way to steal one of the CIS shuttles."

"Are you sure we shouldn't help that along?"

"Yes, the escape has to look and feel genuine to him. I saw you managed your part nicely."

"Of all the skills I had to learn as a child slave, never imagined using this again." Anakin lifted his left hand and dexterously flipped and slipped the real kyber crystal through his fingers before closing his hand on it and opening it again, only for it to have seemingly vanished.

I clapped silently with my fingers in my palm in appreciation at the display of prestidigitation.

"And the holocron?"

"I managed to push an imprint of myself in it, with just enough knowledge to do what is needed."

"Well done, Skywalker, glad my instruction helped you, it did."

I turned my head to face another holocron, sitting innocently on the table. It flared and soon a ghostly ephemeral hologram of Master Yoda came into being.

Convincing the Grand Master of the Jedi Order to part with his own partially completed holocron and smuggle it away from Coruscant was a feat that I was still sure would rank in my top ten ideas for quite a few decades. There was no better way to get advice and instruction from 'Yoda', whilst still remaining covert.

In this manner, we bypassed Sidious' various intelligence sources in the Temple and on Coruscant. Eventually, the holocron would be smuggled back and Yoda would be able to 're-sync' with it, so to speak. In the meantime, both Anakin and I could consult freely with the Yoda holocron on our efforts to fight Sidious.

"Thank you, Master Yoda," Anakin nodded. "I have to admit… I don't really like these deceptive spy antics."

"Evolved the old enemy has, Skywalker," holocron Yoda explained. "The job it was of the Jedi Shadows to oppose them in this manner. Find their hidden plots, places and artifacts, destroy them. Their teachings and numbers have dwindled to a mere handful. My mistake for allowing it to happen. Now it falls to us to learn and grow to fight this war in the shadows as much as we fight in the light."

"With the modified list soon to be in the hands of the enemy and your own holocron-self working behind the scenes, he'll move to acquire some of the children," I explained to Anakin. "I hope you will make things easy on us and give Bane names that won't send us running all over the galaxy."

"Hey, I did my best," Anakin shrugged. "Just how sure are you that the enemy will keep using Bane?"

"The enemy, to Coruscant, will not want the activated holocron to return," holocron Yoda argued. "Its power clear to the Council, even with the Shroud."

"So now the question becomes how does my holocron-self warn us of which names he's given to Bane?"

"He cannot," Yoda stated. "Up to the Council it is to pierce the Shroud and sense which children are in danger."

"There can be no hint given to the enemy that the list is 'fake', Skyguy. He has plans for these children that stretch into decades ahead. Those that he sends Bane after in the next few weeks are, I'm sorry to say, expendable research subjects."

"Worrying this Sith Lord is," holocron Yoda mused. "Violating the Rule of Two, he is. As shown by Ventress, now trying to kidnap force-sensitive children, indoctrination into the dark side, only possibility."

"So what's the next step?"

"Role we must continue to play," Yoda declared. "Hunt Bane with all our strength and resources. Retrieve the holocron and any children lost. Convince the enemy of our deception, in case the information is copied."

"Very well, Master."

The holocron image of Yoda bowed to us and faded away.

"Oh, something that's been bothering me, just how did Bane manage to elude you, so he could ambush me?"

"Same way in essence he faked his death to us in the hangar bay," Anakin shook his head with a rueful expression. "He was right there in the gunnery deck, but in the chaos of the fight and focusing to stay alive I lost sense of him, then he at some point activated a pre-prepared B1 droid with a holosheathe of himself. He also used the gunnery deck explosion as further cover."

"So in the hangar bay he took on the armor of the clone sergeant and dressed the clone into a fake Bane for us to see being killed," I mused, trying to figure out the sequence of events. "He must really be being paid well for the job to be so cavalier about his equipment, high grade holosheathes aren't cheap."

Anakin nodded, then picked up a datapad from the table, "Now let's see what armor ideas we can come up with."