"Battlecarriers have been the main force of capital ships of the Terran Systems Alliance Navy for most of its history. Whilst many have decried the use of a ship that combines the roles of a carrier and a battleship, with many considering construction of vessels designed for each role to a superior tactical and strategical option, similar such vessels on the design boards of the Galactic Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems, though not officially and instead only for the numerous corporations across the galaxy such as Kuat Drive Yards, and the limited amount of ships the TSA had to call upon in the years leading up to the Clone Wars would lead to many to decree that a at least a small scale version of such a ship should be attempted.
As such, design work on what would eventually be known as the Valkyrie-class began in early 1992 Terran Calendar (23 BBY) in Kuat Drive Yards, primarily under the care of designer Walex Blissex. Starting out at only a length of four hundred and twelve meters with a width of one-hundred and twenty-four meters, this small vessel came packed with an array of armaments. These included a mixed battery of eight C4RT medium coil-guns and six C2RB light coil-guns and a smattering of 40mm M82 'Static' CIWS and R133 'Rooster' Missile Defense Systems whilst being able to carry a maximum of thirty-six starfighters. However, its small size led to comparably thin armor and its engines and shielding were considered subpar. As such, the ship returned to the drawing board.
After several further variants and iterations, the final design, E4, would eventually be six-hundred and forty-nine meters long and two-hundred and twelve wide at its widest point. Armament was revised to ten medium coil-guns and now included eighteen of the newly developed RYH 'Axe' missile pods, sixteen Rooster MDSs, and twenty-six Static CIWS. The ships dual hangers were separated from the main body on pylons, which would eventually be known as 'flight pods', and could hold a combined sixty starfighters. The ships powerplant had also been completely redesigned and was now three R1B Fusion reactors, which produced enough energy to power the also redesigned shielding and engines as well as all other ship systems with energy to spare for future upgrades.
The first ship of the class, TSS Valkyrie (CCV-1), was laid down on February 12, 1993 (22 BBY), with her sister ships Titan and Determination following five months later. By the time of the Sol Campaign in August of 1994 (21 BBY), Valkyrie had been in commission for only two months but would prove the merits of her design by destroying eight CIS vessels over the course of the campaign, though not without suffering severe damage. She would be repaired by the time her sister ships entered service in October and would form a powerful bulwark in defense of Earth along as flagship of the Terran Home Fleet for the early part of 1995 (20 BBY).
Thirty-four ships of the class were planned, but only twenty would be completed, with four of the ships lost over the course of the Clone Wars. In the war's aftermath, the remaining vessels would see service in many anti-piracy patrols and other smaller actions against Separatist remnants but would never again be the center piece of the Terran Fleet, the mantle of which would be taken on by the quartet of the much larger Zeus-class of battlecarriers."
-Starships of the Galaxy: 1324th Edition, published by New Republic Naval War College in 2045 A.D./30 ABY.
"Rex! Droid on the roof!" Anakin ordered as he blocked a pair of blaster bolts sent his way, which was quickly followed by another pair of bolts blasting the offending droid's head off.
"These should be the last droids in this sector!" Rex said as he continued to fire his dual pistols.
"Good, we need to find out where the rest are hiding," Anakin said. His commlink then suddenly burst to life.
"General Skywalker! Several Separatist frigates just exited hyperspace!" the voice of Admiral Immich called out from the Jedi's comlink. "They used themselves as shields for a large formation of droid insertion pods! They're already entering the atmosphere!"
"How large?" Anakin asked.
"Estimates say around two hundred! Separatist fighters have also engaged our planet side combat air patrols. We're already diverting several wings of fighters to intercept them."
"Impact points for the pods?"
"Their drop zones are scattered all over the city, with seemingly no rhyme or reason to them."
"Why would they do that?" Ahsoka asked as she walked up to them. "That just makes them easy to pick off."
"Not if they use it to sow chaos behind our lines," Rex noted. Anakin thanked the admiral for the information before disconnecting the call.
It was then that the first of the pods impacted ahead of them, quickly dispelling its complement of super battle droids who began to advance on them, firing all the way.
The Jedi quickly returned the favor, rushing at the droids and deflecting their fire back at them before dicing droid after droid into pieces. Over and over the cycle repeated as master and apprentice worked in sync, until at last the final droid fell, bisected along its torso by Ahsoka's lightsabers.
"Rex! Did Admiral Immich send you the coordinates of the pod's impact zones?" Ahsoka asked.
"Yes sir!"
"Where's the nearest one?"
"Four streets over, north-northwest."
"Then let's get a move on, we've got droids to scrap!" Anakin ordered, which was met by a resounding 'Sir, yes sir!' from his men.
Back in the subway, the ground continued to shake, dust falling from the ceiling with every impact.
"Sounds like someone is dropping the entire sector's supply of explosives out there," Pris said. His statement was quickly followed by what sounded like an extremely large explosion which shook the entire tunnel.
"Yeah, I think the droids finally decided to play ball and someone chose to drop the hammer on them. Good," Mers replied with glee.
Traveling nearly three and a half kilometers to the hatch had taken longer than they'd expected, with the explosions beginning only a few minutes before. They didn't know what was going on, given that they were still in the jamming field, but they hoped the battle was going better than how the numerous sounds of missiles, proton bombs, and even what sounded like the occasional orbital strike, which was an even worse sign given that they were here precisely, would seem to indicate.
"The hatch out of here should be just in here," Trax called out as the group approached a hallway which broke off from the main tunnel. Making their way down it, they eventually came across a door labeled 'Maintenance personal only'. Thomas then opened the door to reveal a ladder at the end of a small corridor.
"There should be a keypad near the top of the ladder. The passcode to unlock the hatch is 5368. Then you just turn the handle, push up, and we're free," Trax instructed. Thomas climbed up the ladder and did as he was told, Sarah and Grex aiming their rifles up at the hatch in case anything tried to come down, whilst the others kept an eye on the tunnel they'd come from. He then turned the handle and pushed the hatch slightly to only partially open it before peering outside. He heard the distant sounds of artillery fire and aircraft, but the street seemed completely deserted. He continued to stare, waiting for anything to reveal itself.
Still nothing.
"The coast seems clea-" he began to say when a insertion pod crashed barely twenty meters away. He quickly yanked the hatch back closed and fell down several bars before grabbing another, yankinh his pistol from its holster and quickly aimed it at the hatch as a series of explosions sounded out, quickly followed by a roar blaster and gunfire.
"Never mind," he deadpanned.
After roughly thirty seconds the sounds stopped, and Thomas began to hear voices barely audible over the roar of what sounded like a tracked vehicle.
Distinctly human voices.
Holstering his pistol and peeking through the hatch again, he spotted several Clones and Americans finishing off the already crippled B2 droids that had clearly come from the pod, which now had a massive smoking hole in its side, as a Bradley moved past them.
"We got friendlies up here," he tells his fellows before throwing the hatch open and climbing out. He then puts his fingers to his lips and lets out a shrill whistle, immediately grabbing the soldier's attention.
"Hey! We've got wounded over here!" he yells out as Sarah and Grex finish climbing up. The pair then turned around and helped Tark off the ladder as a small squad of clones made their way over. However, just as everyone but Mers was out, blaster fire erupted from below.
"Droids!" Mers called out as she fired back, slamming the door to the hatch corridor shut before she turned and desperately began climbing up. Just as she crested the top, a pair of B1s managed to get a few shots off but missed. Grex and Thomas immediately fired at them, knocking them back but not destroying them. Grex then primed a thermal detonator and threw it down the hole as Thomas slammed the hatch back shut. The clones and Terrans then quickly dove away from the hatch, which somehow managed to contain the explosion, though not without visibly warping and letting smoke out from its weakened seals. Thomas looked up from where he lay on the ground at the billowing smoke, shaking his head in frustration.
"How many times am I going to have to run, dive, or something else to get away from shit in this damn war!?" he thought to himself.
"You seem to be making a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time Wilson," a voice called out from behind him. Thomas turned to see Denal offering a hand up, which he accepted.
"It's not like I plan on doing it sir," he replied as he noted the militia members as well as Grex and his men being tended to.
"What's going on up here? The jamming field has kept our comms down since before we entered the subway."
"Seppies decided to drop a bunch of drop pods across the city, alongside deploying what remains of their starfighters," Denal said as Sarah joined the pair. "Their main force is also trying to advance, but they're being held back for now. Our current orders are to secure the area around the headquarters complex."
The complex in question was the central information hub of the Serinia Shipyards. Containing the various schematics and logistical offices needed to keep a shipyard running, it was vital to the continued construction of various ships and vehicles. If the CIS managed to destroy the headquarters, and the records contained along with it, it would take weeks for Kuat to send in replacement shipbuilding schematics and months to regather and organize all the lost data, which would delay the use of the yards even more than the damage the drydocks proper had already sustained.
"Wilson! Addie!" Will's voice called out as he approached, flanked by Mei and Beau and two other soldiers who Thomas recognized as Ryan Driver and Paul Settle.
"Good to see you're still in one-piece guys," he said as he grasped Thomas's hand in a muscular handshake.
"Not for their lack of trying," Sarah replied.
"You good to go?" Beau asked.
"Ready to rock, though could use some more ammo," Thomas replied.
He then paused.
"And a chicken sandwich if you got one."
Will then burst out laughing.
Ahsoka grunted as she cut a super battle droid in half.
"This should be the last of them in this sector," she told Anakin.
"How many is that now?" he asked with a grin. "I'm up to two-hundred and forty."
"Two-hundred and forty-three," Ahsoka replied with a grin.
"What?" Anakin said in surprise. "How are you beating me?
"Underdog's luck I suppose," she said teasingly.
"Yeah, very funny."
A beeping sound then caught their attention. Anakin quickly activated his commlink and brought it to his mouth.
"Skywalker here."
"General, reports are coming in that most of the insertion pods have been neutralized and the Separatists are on the run," Admiral Immich reported. "We're pushing into their staging points to finish them off."
"Good to hear. Hopefully we'll have the droids mopped up by the end of the day."
"That's not all sir, and this isn't as good news. We have reports of unknown Separatist agents operating near the Headquarters Complex. At least one agent was spotted wielding a pair of red lightsabers, and another wielding only one. They've already taken down several squads of troopers."
Anakin's face hardened at this news. Only one agent that he knew fit the former description.
"Ventress..." he growled.
"We believe that their objective is the datacenter, but we don't know specifically what's in there that they're after. This scattered attack was most likely an attempt to distract us from their efforts."
"Get me a gunship down here! We must intercept them before they get whatever it is they're here for."
"It's already on the way sir."
Anakin then turned to face Ahsoka, who'd heard the whole conversation.
"Agents? As in plural?" she asked. Anakin nodded in reply.
"Don't know who the other could be, but they can't be anything good."
He was right of course. Asajj Ventress almost always worked alone, with the recent attack on Kamino where she worked alongside General Grievous being one of the few exceptions. If Dooku's favorite assassin had brought in back up, it meant that whatever it was that the Separatists wanted out of the datacenter warranted an insurance of the mission's success.
"Then we better find them fast," Ahsoka said. "I'd hate to miss out on my rematch with Ventress yet again," she finished with steel in her gaze.
Seconds later the gunship arrived, and the pair of Jedi alongside Rex and a squad of clones jumped. Their ship was quickly joined by two others as they set course for the headquarters.
Gadaan landed on a landing pad in a crouch, the Force rippling through the air as he used it to cushion his fall. His droid companions quickly joined him, their metallic peds clanking loudly as they hit the ground. The dark acolyte scanned his surroundings with the Force, struggling to sense any would be interlopers. Finding none, he gestured to the droids to follow him.
The Serinia Shipyard's headquarters was a massive complex. Dozens of floors, filled with a mixture of offices, board rooms, management centers, and recreational areas all geared towards the singular purpose of managing the massive shipyard and vehicle factories that surround the complex. At its height of operation over 20,000 beings would spend their days here, working to bring the best military equipment that the Republic could muster to be deployed against the ever-expanding front lines of the war.
None of this was at the forefront of Gadaan's mind however, as he walked past the bodies of the clones left to defend the complex, their bodies covered in lightsaber marks with several missing limbs and, in some cases, their heads. His commando droids took up positions near windows and balconies whilst his Magna guards continued to follow him. Making his way to the building's datacenter housed near its zenith, he walked in to see Ventress already at one of the consoles, a pair of transfer drives already inserted into it.
"You're late," she stated as she continued to work on the console.
"It takes time to travel across an entire city," Gadaan replied. "If our pods had hit the headquarters directly as originally planned-."
"Then they would have known what we were here for all the sooner," Ventress interrupted. "Better to infiltrate after the fact whilst the Republic's forces are divided."
Gadaan grunted, acknowledging her point.
"Have you found the files yet?"
"They are already transferring. These schematics will provide us a major edge over the Republic and bring the war to a swifter end."
"And an end to the Jedi," Gadaan growled out.
Ventress turned to glare at him. "I had believed that I had hated the Jedi more than any other Gadaan, but you continue to prove me wrong. I do not know where Dooku found you but as I said before, their end will come. Save your rage for you when you engage them."
Gadaan growled again before yanking his lightsaber from his belt and igniting it before pointing it at his fellow Dark Acolyte.
"I will direct my anger at any I choose to Ventress! The Dark Side is the realization that to restrain emotion is to restrain yourself, and I will not be chained by anything ever again!"
Ventress rolled her eyes before turning back to the console and removing a now filled drive before tossing it over to him.
"You only prove my point. Your lack of restraint leaves you as a beast to be unleashed, and nothing more. You would do well to remember that."
It was then that a commando droid with white markings, indicating his rank as a captain, approached the pair.
"Mistress, three Republic gunships are approaching from the south. Reports claim there are Jedi aboard," it told Ventress.
The assassin smirked. "It seems they finally figured it out. Deploy the rocket team. Blast them out of the sky," she ordered.
Out on the landing pad a quartet of commando droids raised rocket launchers onto their shoulders, took aim at the approaching gunships and fired, the rockets quickly began to zone in on their targets. The gunships quickly deployed electrochaff and activated their onboard jamming suites in response. The countermeasures managed to fool three of the rockets, but the fourth slammed into the third gunship in line and obliterated its left wing, its pilots ejecting as the burning hulk spiraled towards the ground.
The second gunship in line quickly burst ahead of its remaining companion, launching a pair of missiles at the droids on the ground before following up with a burst of fire from its two chin mounted laser cannons and pair of side mounted composite beam turrets. The droid positions on the landing platform were almost instantly annihilated, their shattered remains strewn in every which direction. The survivors had barely regained their footing before the other gunship landed and disgorged its complement of Jedi and clones who immediately tore the remaining commandos apart before proceeding inside the building proper.
All of this was witnessed by Ventress and Gadaan via security cameras from the safety of the data center.
"Skywalker never likes to waste time, does he?" Ventress asked rhetorically.
"Mistress, Terran ground forces are approaching from the southeast," the Commando captain reported.
Ventress frowned. "We still need more time for the files to download. Gadaan, see to it that the Terrans do not disturb us. I will handle the Skywalker and his brat."
Gadaan nodded and made his way out of the room.
Meanwhile, Anakin, Ahsoka, and Rex lead Torrent Company into the fray, commando droids seemingly coming out of every nook and cranny to challenge them as they made their way deeper into the complex.
"These guys just keep coming!" Ahsoka said as she blocked the bolts sent her way.
"General, me and the boys can handle these clankers! You need to get to the center before Ventress escapes!" Rex said whilst blasting a commando in the head.
"Good thinking Rex," the Jedi acquiesced despite not wanting to leave his men. "Ahsoka let's go!"
The Jedi burst forward, slicing apart another pair of droids as they ran past them. The master and apprentice then used the Force to increase their speed even further, their forms appearing as nothing more than blurs if anyone had been around to witness it. As they finally approached the data center properly, the doors slid open to reveal their target.
"Hello again pet," Ventress said to Ahsoka, the Jedi activating their lightsabers as a pair of magnaguards walked out behind her whilst the door closed. "It has been quite some time, hasn't it?"
"Not long enough you, harpy" the Padawan replied as the magnaguards activated their electrostaffs.
"I'd recommend you surrender, Ventress. You have nowhere to run" Anakin said as he glared at the Sith Assassin.
"Oh, but why would I run? After all, I only have to defeat you Skywalker."
"What, did you gain selective memory or something?" Ahoska asked sarcastically, referring to the fact that Ventress apparently 'forgot' she was present.
"Oh no, no. It's just that with an associate of mine currently going to handle your little Terran friends downstairs, someone might want to go stop him, before he tears them all apart piece by piece. It wouldn't be the Jedi way to leave those young men and women to die now, would it?" Ventress said with fake empathy as the Jedi's eyes widened.
They had been caught in a catch 22. If one of them didn't go and intercept the Acolyte, their troops would be massacred. Normal soldiers just couldn't hold a candle to even semi-capable force users, not if they didn't understand what they were facing and prepared accordingly. It didn't help that the Terrans came from a world that didn't even know about the Force, leaving them even more vulnerable. But splitting up also had the risk of one of the pair being killed or at the very least crippled, leaving whoever remained to be ganged up upon by the two Dark Side warriors.
Anakin ran their options in his head before deciding on a plan that anyone that knew him would have seen coming.
"Ahsoka, get down there now! I'll deal with Ventress," Anakin ordered whilst not taking his eyes off said assassin.
The Togruta looked at Ventress with anger in her eyes before turning around and running back from where they came.
"Yes, young one, go save your friends whilst your master dies. I'll be sure to send you his head when I come for you next" Ventress taunted as she disappeared around the corner.
"You'll be lucky if I don't take yours," Anakin threatened as he adjusted his stance.
"Such promises. Let's see if you can keep them!" Ventress said as she ignited her lightsabers and lunged at him.
The rotor blades of a UH-60 Blackhawk whooshed through the air as it flew above Thomas's Humvee as it, alongside several more Humvees, speeders, and an M2 Bradley, approached the headquarters building whilst fighters continued to duel overhead as missile trails crisscrossed the sky.
"All right let's move!" Denal ordered as the vehicles screeched to a halt in front of the entrance to the building and the troops began to disembark.
"Charlie squad set up on those hovercars," Denal continued. "Beta squad secure the entrance. No one gets past these doors without going through us."
Thomas, Will, Sarah, Driver, and Settle set themselves up near the door, accompanied by one other soldier as they stacked behind each other on either side, the former three on the left, the latter on the right, whilst Mei and Beau remained further back.
"Alpha squad with me," Denal ordered as he made his way towards the entryway.
There was suddenly a loud screeching noise from above them. Thomas's eyes snapped towards the source of the sound and spotted the Black Hawk that had escorted them in.
A Black Hawk whose tail had been severed and was now spiraling out of control towards them.
"Oh shit..." he thought as his eyes widened.
"SCATTER! MOVE! MOVE!" Denal screamed. The vehicles quickly threw themselves into reverse while the ground troops threw themselves behind any cover they could find. The Black Hawk then crashed on top of a pair of parked Humvees and exploded, sending shrapnel all over the area.
"Contact three o'clock-AHH!" a voice called out before screaming in pain. Thomas lifted himself from the ground and spotted a warrior clad in black wielding a blood red lightsaber, the body of his victim sprawled out behind him, now missing one of his arms.
"Blast him!" someone shouted. Thomas honestly couldn't tell who. The CIS assassin burst forward, blocking all the fire sent his way as he dashed from soldier to soldier and cut them down one after another. After his sixth kill he picked up a piece of metal debris and threw it at a Humvee. The near meter long jagged edge impaled itself in the front end of the vehicle, nearly flipping it over due to its forward momentum and sending its gunner flying.
The Bradley then chose to get in on the action, its 25mm cannon beginning to spew round after round at their assailant.
All of which missed as Gadaan seemed to turn into a blur before he suddenly appeared next to the Infantry Fighting Vehicle and jabbed his lightsaber into its treads before dragging it along its length, completely shredding the suspension. He then back flipped over the top of the Bradley and sliced off the barrels of both the 25mm cannon and its coaxial machine gun, leaving the vehicle completely disarmed and immobile.
Landing back on the ground, he turned and blocked another cascade of gunfire, this one from Sarah and Ryan, before picking the two up and throwing them against a wall.
Gadaan noted that he was beginning to be surrounded, having to block fire from multiple directions as the Allied troops tried, and began to succeed, to pin him down. Growling in anger he pulled the force into himself before releasing it with a roar, the Force Repulse sent every remaining Terran and clone either into the air or the pavement. Thomas in particular landed under a small sheet metal structure which then collapsed on him.
Will quickly lifted himself up from the ground, groaning in pain as he heard the voice of Paul yelling out in utter rage. He looked up towards the sounds, only to watch in horror as Gadaan yanked Paul's rifle out of his hands and sliced it in half, before yanking the soldier himself in turn and gutting him on the spot.
"Bastard!" he screamed as he switched his rifle to full auto, took aim, and fired. Gadaan blocked the first few rounds before pulling the rifle from his hands. Having already lost his pistol, Will pulled his knife from its sheath before he charged. Gadaan merely smiled in amusement as he deactivated his lightsaber and put his hands behind his back as the Terran approached. Will slashed and jabbed at the man who had just murdered his friend, only for the warrior to effortlessly dodge every attack before sweeping Will's legs out from under him and pinning him down with both the Force and his boot.
"Such heroic nonsense," he said with mirth as he reactivated his lightsaber for the kill.
As this was happening Thomas managed to crawl out from the collapsed structure and saw his best friend at the mercy of that... monster.
He then felt a surge of energy from within himself, the power seemingly flowing through every vein in his body, begging to be used.
Subconsciously recognizing it as the same energy he had felt back in Charleston when he had saved Sarah from the sniper, he instinctively channeled the energy to his hands, before letting it all loose with a single word.
"NO!"
The energy wave rushed forward, smashing directly into Gadaan and sending him back several feet whilst simultaneously throwing him off Will. Gadaan directed his full attention to Thomas. He used the Force to grab him and pin him to a wall.
"Well... that was certainly interesting," Gadaan said as he threw Thomas onto the ground before approaching him.
"Such raw power is quite rare... but you are no Jedi little soldier," he continued as he raised his lightsaber. "And you never will be," he finished before he slashed downward...
Only to be intercepted by a pair of green and yellow-green blades. He looked up to see Ahsoka standing over Thomas, a fierce expression on her face.
"But I am," she said before she shoved his saber back and slashed at him. Gadaan barely blocked the attack before backing up as Ahsoka kept him on the defensive.
"Finally! A challenge!" he stated with glee as the two entered a saber lock. Ahsoka grunted as Gadaan used his superior physical strength to ever so slowly push her lightsabers down. Disengaging from the lock the pair continued to duel, Ahsoka's much lighter and swifter movements a stark contrast to Gadaan's heavy strikes.
"You will die today, Jedi, with your master soon to follow!" the Sith Acolyte said.
"Yeah, I've heard that before. It still hasn't happened yet," Ahsoka replied.
"Then allow me to be the one to make it happen," Gadaan growled before he intensified his assault, quickly managing to put Ahsoka on the defensive instead.
Ahsoka struggled to keep her opponent at bay, the Dark Side Force user clearly having a massive experience advantage over her. But where had he been trained and how was it that this was the first time the Republic had encountered him, despite the war having been raging for nearly a year and a half now?
Such questions remained at the back of her mind even as Gadaan continued to push her to her absolute limits. As the pair entered yet another saber lock, Ahsoka knew she was losing and needed a way to turn the tide back on her opponent. It was then she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. It was a Terran fighter, an F-16 if she remembered the name correctly.
An F-16 that was burning out of control and heading right for them. Thinking quickly, she used her remaining strength to push Gadaan back and kicked him in the chest before following up with a Force push, sending him skidding back. She then grabbed Thomas, who had remained on the ground, with the Force and pulled him into cover as Gadaan finally noticed the incoming fighter right before it smashed into the street, sending debris and shrapnel in every which direction.
Lifting her head once the sounds of warping metal had stopped, Ahsoka tried to sense for any trace of Gadaan, only to turn up nothing. He had completely vanished.
Turning to face the remaining soldiers, she spotted several picking themselves off the ground, though many remained motionless.
"Everyone sound off!" Ahsoka ordered. A chorus of groans and cries of pain was her answer. Yet before she could even begin to offer help, the sound of clashing lightsaber blades caught her attention.
Then Ventress dropped down barely twenty yards in front of her, before force pushing a pair of clones that had just gotten back on their feet back onto the ground. She then dashed forward and jumped on a Republic speeder, quickly followed by a commando droid jumping into the sidecar, before shoving the throttle down and sending the speeder rushing forward, just barely avoiding a lightsaber strike by Anakin as the Sith assassin sped away.
"Ahsoka come on!" Anakin yelled as he too jumped on a speeder bike, this one a more common single seat variant, and boosted after her.
"Denal! Grab two of your men and follow me!" Ahsoka ordered as she began to run towards more two seat speeders, whilst several Humvees arrived to help secure the scene.
Denal quickly took stock of his squad. Only three were still alive. That other Sith bastard had killed the rest. Rooks had a broken leg, so he wasn't going anywhere, Kix was currently tending to one of the injured Americans, so he was unavailable, and Ridge was trapped under a section of debris which was currently being lifted off him, though incredibly slowly.
He then looked at the Terrans. Those who were currently alive anyway.
Mei, like Kix, was also tending to another fallen soldier, Beau was nursing a broken arm, whilst Sarah and Settle were only barely conscious after being thrown into the metal wall. Which left...
"Wilson, Tipton, with me!" the clone Sergeant ordered. The two army grunts, though slightly startled after barely regaining their bearings, quickly fell in line.
"Get in the sidecars. We can't let Ventress escape!" Ahsoka said.
Thomas hopped into the sidecar attached to Ahsoka's speeder, while Will took the one with Denal.
"But ma'am, we don't know how to use these things!" Will protested even as they did as they were ordered.
"Then it's time you got a crash course," Denal said as the speeders powered up. They blasted off in pursuit of the escaping assassin. Unbeknownst to all, a piece of rubble nearby shifted as something struggled underneath it.
"Alright, twin antipersonnel laser cannon. Push that big button on the right side, then flip those two switches just above it," Denal instructed. Thomas did as the Sergeant instructed and the weapon hummed to life.
"You have about 4,000 rounds in that so don't let up once you have her in your sights."
"With pleasure sir," Thomas replied.
The pair of speeders followed the dust trails of Anakin and Ventress' own speeders, until they finally caught up with them and pulled up next to Anakin.
"She has a drive containing several ship schematics. If she gets away the whole fleet is at risk," the Jedi Knight said. "Ahsoka, head west, Denal and I will funnel her toward you."
"Got it" his Padawan replied as she broke off from the group. Her and Thomas's speeder rushed through the ruined streets, occasionally spotting their fellows firing at Ventress from the alleyways between them.
"All right here we go. Feeling confident enough to hit her?" she asked Thomas.
"It's a machine gun. I'd be extremely disappointed in myself if I wasn't," the Terran replied.
Anakin then gained on Ventress and slashed at her with his lightsaber whilst Will sent blaster bolts into the back of her speeder, causing it to start to smoke. She then banked hard right onto another street.
And right into Thomas's crosshairs. He pulled the trigger, sending over a dozen rounds of super-heated plasma directly into the vehicle's side. The speeder burst into flames, though somehow continued to keep hovering and stay ahead of them.
"Oh, come on, give us a break!" Thomas thought in frustration as he continued to fire as opportunity allowed.
"Keep it up! We have her on the ro-" Ahsoka began to say before her senses screamed a warning at her. She instinctively yanked the speeder left, barely managing to dodge the lightsaber which would have cut the speeder in half. She turned and found Gadaan glaring at her from the seat of his own commandeered speeder, his armor covered in scratches and dents and missing its shoulder pad.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Thomas rhetorically asked as he turned the gun towards the Sith Acolyte. Gadaan however was faster as he then rammed into the side of the speeder and cut the gun in half before attempting to bisect him, only for Ahsoka to block his blade and began to duel him while still driving the speeder. Gadaan then flipped his speeder over theirs and attacked from the driver's side. Thomas pulled out his pistol and took potshots at Gadaan as the two Force users continued their dance, the radical movements of the speeder making it nearly impossible to hit anything, even as the parade of speeders made its way into a massive battle where the last of the droids in the city were making their final stand against the Serinia Militia.
"Hang on!" Ahsoka told him as she drove under a building that was beginning to collapse from a missile hit, forcing Gadaan to break off.
"Holy shit!" Thomas yelled in a panic, raising his arms to protect his face as debris fell around them.
This was completely insane!
Ahsoka then regained sight of Ventress as the pair burst past the rain of concrete and durasteel, her burning speeder beginning to at last lose its ability to hover as it approached a plateau that ended via a sheer cliff face. The Sith Assassin jumped off her speeder as it finally gave out, its burning frame practically disintegrating as it impacted the ground.
Anakin quickly seizes upon the opportunity, firing his speeder's blasters to keep Ventress off balance before jumping off his own speeder and beginning to duel with her.
It was then that a roar from Ahsoka's left regained her attention as Gadaan once again charged them. This time her speeder wasn't so lucky as Gadaan managed to slice its forward engine block with a glancing blow, which was still more than enough to cause the front of the speeder to be covered in flames.
"Thomas, get ready to jump!" Ahsoka yelled.
"Jump?!" the Terran exclaimed.
"Trust me!"
Thomas hesitated for a moment, then his face hardened before exhaling.
"Okay! Do it!" he said.
Ahsoka yanked the steering vanes to the left and began to drive up a small sand hill, its engine whining in agony, before launching the speeder into the air.
"Jump!"
Thomas leaped from his seat, screaming as he fell. Ahsoka then used the force to slow his descent and let him hit the ground 'relatively' softly before he rolled down the other side of the sand hill. She then quickly jumped off as well, the speeder subsequently exploding behind her as she landed.
"Die!" Gadaan's voice called out as he launched himself off his speeder and into Ahsoka, knocking her down onto her back and attempting a heavy downward strike which she blocked. Thinking quickly, she used the downward momentum to throw the Sith Acolyte over her head with a force enhanced kick, sending him sprawling behind her. Rising to her feet, she activated her second saber and rushed him, determined to end it here and now.
Meanwhile, Thomas spat out the sand in his mouth as he rose to his feet. He looked up to see the Jedi and C.I.S. agents mixing it up, their multi-colored blades creating a series of bright explosions of light as they clashed. But he then realized something...
"Where is the commando droid?" he thought, only for that thought to be interrupted by a series of red bolts impacting next to him. Quickly taking cover behind a dirt mound and yanking out his pistol, he followed the bolts back to their source and spotted said commando droid, its frame sparking as it continued to shoot at him. Taking aim, he fired several shots at the droid. Most of them missed, but two impacted, one in its arm and the other directly into the side of its rifle. The droid examined its smoking weapon, and then tossed it aside and pulled a sword off its back before beginning to charge Thomas, its frame moving clumsily, yet quickly despite its damage. Thomas continued to fire at the droid as it ran at him, nailing it in the chest plate several times yet it kept coming.
Then his pistol clicked empty when the droid was only twenty feet away. Despite internally panicking, his training caused him to instinctively put the pistol away and draw his knife. However, just before the droid was about to force him to put his CQB skills to the test, a hail of blue laser fire ripped into the droid, blowing off its legs and the arm which held the sword, causing it to fall at his feet.
It wasn't offline however, its glowing white eyes still flickering as it attempted to grab the sword with its intact arm.
It wasn't to be.
Thomas grabbed the sword off the ground, raised it over his head and with a yell stabbed it directly into the droid's cranium, its eyes brightening one last time before they went out.
Looking over he then saw Denal and Will approaching on their speeder, the barrel of its sidecar's laser cannon still smoking.
"You got guts kid; I'll give you that," Denal said as the pair dismounted and got into cover alongside him as he started to reload his pistol.
"I'm starting to wish I didn't. It seems to only lead to me dealing with more bullshit like this," Thomas replied whilst gesturing with his empty magazine towards the dueling Force users.
"Do we have any sort of game plan here?" Will asked.
"Not really. If we try and get into the middle of that, we'll be more of a hinderance than help," Thomas replied as the combatants' switched opponents, with Ahsoka now fighting Ventress and Anakin battling Gadaan.
"We need more firepower. A few rifles and pistols just aren't going to cut it," Denal growled.
"More firepower..." Will muttered under his breath. His eyes then widened in sudden realization.
"Sir, I think I know where we can get at least a few more rifles," he told Denal.
Ahsokawas finally getting her long-awaited rematch with Ventress, and it wasn't going as well as she hoped.
Ventress seemed to have learned from their last encounter well, deftly parrying and blocking her strikes with her twin blades, seeming to put up very little effort with her Jar'Kai method of dueling while trying to exhaust Ahsoka, who relied primarily on the Shien technique of Form V.
So far it seemed to be working well for the acolyte.
"Seems like you're not up to the task anymore, little pet," mocked Ventress as Ahsoka barely managed to parry a strike from her.
"Still more than enough to beat you, hairless harpy," Ahsoka spat back. She gritted her teeth, however. She could not afford a prolonged fight with Ventress – her priority was the hard drive dangling on the hip of the Dathomirian witch.
She decided on a different strategy. It was risky and might leave her open for a counterstrike, but as her master always said, the best strategies were always the craziest ones. She chose to bring her emerald blade down on top of Ventress' head, who blocked the sword with both her crimson ones, creating sparks and flashes of brilliant light.
There!
Finally spotting an opening, Ahsoka yanked the drive off Ventress's belt with the Force, sending it spiraling into the dirt behind her.
In a burst of anger Ventress intensified her assault, breaking through Ahsoka's guard and shoving her to the ground with a Force push. With a grin, Ventress pulled the drive back towards herself.
But halfway there, a gloved hand snatched it clean out of the air.
Snapping her head to the side, she saw Will, flanked by Denal and Thomas, standing nearby with a nearly imperceptible smirk on his face.
"Hi there," he said as he put the drive away and aimed his rifle at her as dozens of members of the Serinia militia crested the hill.
Gadaan skidded next to her, Anakin having shoved him back. The two observed the massive formation of soldiers, all of which glared at them from behind their sights and scopes, as Ahsoka got back to her feet and was joined by Anakin.
"This seems familiar," Anakin said knowingly in reference to his and Ventress's previous encounter on Kamino.
"And it will end the same way as well" she replied.
"I don't think so," Anakin said.
Gadaan scoffed.
"Jedi," he said. "Always so arrogant."
He then clenched his fist, which was followed by the sound of concrete cracking. Anakin followed the sound, only to see a nearby spire falling over, its damaged center section having been clearly crushed. Anakin and Ahsoka caught it with the Force before it could impact the Serinians, but Ventress followed up with a massive Force push which sent most of the soldiers to the ground before the pair turned and ran.
As sporadic blaster and gun fire trailed them the two Sith reached the edge of the cliff, from beneath which a C.I.S shuttle rose to meet them.
Lifting his head from the ground for what seemed like the tenth time that day, Thomas sighted the pair just as they climbed on their ship's ramp.
His face contorted with rage, the weeks of near constant fighting and the loss of several of his friends finally boiling over.
Those monsters would not escape!
With a furious roar, he opened fire. Gadaan, sensing the incoming danger, raised his lightsaber and blocked several shots as he backed towards the doorway, but despite his valiant defense one round cut into his right cheek, causing him to grunt in pain as he cleared the threshold.
He locked eyes with Thomas, the Terrans eyes filled with nothing but unfiltered hatred which he returned. The door then closed, forcibly breaking their sight of each other. Gadaan wiped his cheek with a gloved hand, the appendage returning to view utterly covered in blood.
"Heh, heh, heh" he chuckled with dark amusement at the wound. The last to draw his blood had been someone of much greater skill and power than any other mortal being, and yet that pitiful soldier, barely more than a boy, had managed it.
"Well played Terran. Let us see what becomes of you now. I'll be waiting" Gadaan thought with sadistic glee, before his eyes dropped to his pockets on his waist, the second hard drive protected within one.
"Then again, perhaps not well played enough. Master will be pleased" the acolyte mused.
As the ship activated its booster engines and accelerated way, Thomas continued to fire his pistol.
"Bastards!" he screamed as the Jedi released the spire onto the ground behind him, his pistol clicking empty, the sound repeating as he continuously pulled the trigger. "Get back here and fight!"
"Admiral Immich! The assassins are attempting to break orbit in a shuttle! Get some fighters to intercept!" Anakin ordered into his commlink.
As the Admiral responded, Will walked up behind Thomas and put his hand on his shoulder.
"At least they didn't get what they were after," he said. "We'll puta bullet in the bastards next time."
Thomas barely registered the words at the back of his mind as he continued to watch the shuttle gain more and more altitude, his expression unchanging. He closed his eyes and took a breath before nodding at Will.
His eyes then slightly widened as he fully remembered what he had done at the headquarters building and raised his hand to stare at it in confusion, which Will saw.
"What was that back there?" he asked, not needing to specify what he was talking about.
"I... I don't know" Thomas replied with uncertainty and a tinge of fear.
"We do," a voice said.
The pair turned to see Anakin and Ahsoka standing beside them.
"That... was the Force," Ahsoka said. "The thing that gives Jedi our powers."
"And if what my Padawan described is true," Anakin continued with a smile. "You are much more in tuned with it then most."
As Thomas stared in shock, he could not have foreseen that many years later, Gadaan would wish that he had simply struck him down on that fateful day.
'Peaks around the corner of the page'
Uhhhh... hi!
'Doges tomatoes and various other things'
Are we done?
'Ducks under what seemed to be an entire main battery turret of a battleship'
Okay! Alright!
So yeah, life happened alongside going through like three different revisions of this chapter. I'm too much of a perfectionist and trying to both keep things simple enough for most people to understand whist also combining the very different things that are Star Wars and real-life military tactics, strategies, and mannerisms is quite difficult, and I'm still not sure I did it right. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please leave your thoughts in the reviews as I read every single one to figure out how to improve on the story. Also, the wiki still exists if anyone wants to check it out, where you'll be able to find sneak peaks of things that haven't yet been posted on FFN yet. Feel free to edit some pages to add information, just be sure to use proper grammar when doing so please.I also have a discord server, with the link located on the wiki's main page, so feel free to join.
Just search for Sol Defense Initiative on google and it should be the first result.
Now on to the reviews:
Comet9: Thank you.
Many Faced Mage: We might see some others or not, depending on what I come up with. Yeah, slavery is going to be a big factor in especially Thomas's story, though that's story for another day.
Dankuser: Well... most people got out in one piece lol.
Peter HK: Terran weapons will be used in some circumstances, but they will not be widespread. It simply doesn't make sense for the wider galaxy to do so as blasters are so much more common.