Chapter 25
Anakin held onto the overhead handle in the passenger bay of his gunship as it sped through the dry Geonosian air. The seemingly endless mountains and valleys of this part of the planet was the only thing that served to differentiate it from the world of his birth. Otherwise it was a world of orange and dull browns with hardly any vegetation to speak of.
The gunship's engines whined into a higher pitch and he felt the craft flare into its landing cycle.
A slight shudder reverberated throughout the hull as it thumped onto hard crumbling earth and its expansive side doors opened.
He walked out onto a scene of orderly chaos as the 41st Legion's staging area was revealed.
As much as all clones were trained in the same manner on Kamino, even when it came to the logistics of war, it was inevitable that differences started to creep in. It wasn't just a matter of the influence of the Jedi General, but merely that a legion's quartermasters began to quickly develop their own style and what they found worked best in practice.
Theory might say that an AT-TE squad must be parked in a certain way, the ammunition dump located a certain safe distance from the troops and so on, but each planet added a new spin and challenge to the game of logistics.
His ears managed to pick out the thumping clanks of metallic feet despite the ambient noise of the staging area.
"Salutation: Greetings Jedi."
HK-47 had clearly taken some water to his own chassis to clean off the dust from the last battle. It had done a passable job but the droid definitely needed a proper oil scrubbing back on the Resolute.
"Hey HK, what happened to calling me meatbag?"
"Answer: When a meatbag has proven himself to be capable of rising above the limitations of their sloshy form and other mental deficiencies inherent. My programming causes a preferential order adjustment in my target assessment matrix, as a result designations are reassigned."
Anakin folded his arms, "That's a really long winded way of saying you're beginning to like me."
"Statement: You may choose to believe that Jedi, if you wish."
"And why am I in your target assessment matrix? That's part of your assassination function."
"Explanation: An old function of my original programming, Jedi. All Force sensitive organic meatbags are automatically loaded into my assassination protocols as potential targets."
Anakin felt a sliver of alarm going down his back. HK's programming was dense, complex and very difficult to make sense of, with elements that left even him baffled. Messing with or changing it, was something he had quickly given up on. Pulling even one string of code or altering a desired variable in simulations had resulted either in nothing happening at all, the code compensating and correcting itself or a cascade which resulted in the simulated bit of HK's code deciding that it was not content with being poked and swiftly destroyed the simulation computer - at the expense of it's own 'life' in the process.
It meant therefore that somewhere in that mass of coding, the droid was developing ways to kill every Force sensitive it encountered. He struggled to imagine the circumstances which could've led Revan to develop and build such a droid. The man, fallen to the Dark Side, had clearly become so paranoid, that he seemingly wanted a plan to kill everyone he ever met, even his fellow converts to the Sith cause.
"I see, so what are you doing here? Your master is up on the Resolute. Shouldn't you be by her side? Protecting her as she sleeps?"
"Answer: Normally I would be, Jedi. Clarification: She contacted me and instructed me to remain at your side and assist you for the remainder of the battle for this world. Otherwise she feared you would and I quote," HK voice modulation shifted and suddenly Ahsoka's voice emerged from its vocabulator grill, "'He'd probably get his fool head blown off doing an insane stunt, if there wasn't someone watching his back.'" The voice returned to its usual cadence and rolling masculine tone. "I also think she doesn't want me to get bored watching over her, not when there is glorious violence to be had here. Commentary: She is a remarkably thoughtful master in that regard and seems to… care about me."
"What's so odd about that? Most long-time droid owners do develop a liking for their droids that goes beyond just ownership."
"Answer: Oh, I understand that, Jedi. You meatbags can invest your emotions into the strangest things. Recitation: I once had a master who fitted me with a recreation of a male meatbag's reproductive organ. Many a night she would…"
Anakin hurriedly raised his hands, even as he inwardly groaned at the amount of meditation he would have to do to get that image out of his head, "No, no need to explain that story further, thank you."
"Disappointment: Very well, Jedi. Suit yourself." Anakin could swear the droid's vocal tone was very knowing and even teasing him. "Explanation: As I was saying, my master seems to understand what I like very well, but sometimes lapses occur where she compliments me."
"Dare I even ask? You don't like being complimented?"
"Answer: No Jedi. Meatbag compliments are statistically very likely to be couched in falsehood, for fear of giving offense. Explanation: Therefore I prefer being insulted and even derided. Statements such as these are more likely to be accurate and truthful. It helps me to improve and I really like improving my code. Conclusion: Therefore I like it when meatbags insult my capabilities and performance."
Anakin felt a headache coming as he contemplated that logic train. He knew there were some cultures in the galaxy and even subcultures of humans that enjoyed the negative elements of life and found it arousing or likable, but seeing it in a droid was kriffing bizarre.
He promptly glared at the masochistic droid, "Okay, let's just get to Master Unduli."
"Statement: I shall follow, Jedi."
Unduli was conducting a briefing for her clone commanders on a nearby hill, in the shadow of a destroyed gun emplacement, which had a good view of the distant droid factory.
A small holoprojector planted in the ground, beamed a rendering of the terrain and the factory itself.
"Gentlemen, the bridge is our first objective. Close range scans have revealed numerous fixed defensive positions," Unduli explained, the holo began slowly resolving to show the repeater emplacements. "Once these guns are neutralized we can push for the factory itself. Do make sure as well that you have double war loadouts." The clones didn't react to that but their feelings were easily sensed. "It's not ideal, I know, but there's no telling what new toys the Separatists are making in there to throw at us. I don't want us running out of ammunition. We can't count on our logistical rear to be able to resupply us due to the dangerous uncertainty of what we're facing. Everyone understand?"
"Sir, yes sir," the clones chorused.
"Good, you are dismissed."
The commanders nodded, giving brief salutes before leaving.
"Knight Skywalker, it's good to see you again."
"And you, Master Unduli."
As usual, the Mirialan Jedi was in her conservative brown robes and headdress, even in this generally hot and dusty environment. He knew it was both a statement of her mastery of internal applications of the Force - being able to regulate her body's processes to ignore the discomfort at all times - and her race's conservative and spiritual culture.
"Welcome, HK-47," she turned to the droid. "I take it you are going to participate in the coming battle?"
"Answer: Correct, meatbag."
Far from taking offense, Unduli merely quirked a slight smile. "Your experience and capabilities will be most useful, I'm sure." Anakin was slightly surprised at the Master's attitude regarding the old droid. Naturally, Unduli picked up on that. "Unlike the rest of my colleagues on the council, Skywalker, I have a penchant for ancient history. They might've written off HK as the relic of a past best forgotten, but I knew instantly what an opportunity it was. I even consulted with some friends in the Green Jedi, who have more intact ancient historical records, which clearly mention HK and some of its exploits."
She smiled at the droid, "Do tell your master to expect some Green Jedi seeking an audience with her to obtain permission to interview you."
"Statement: Note recorded. I do hope the Green Jedi of this era are less onerous and annoying."
"You shall just have to wait and see, HK. Let us speak of both your roles." She gestured to the active holo and it zoomed in to focus on the bridge. "As you can see, a frontal assault is risky. Our losses will be high."
"Our losses will be even higher the longer we wait. The factory hasn't yet reached full capacity. Scans from orbit are showing there are still dormant assembly lines inside, which are being activated."
"Indeed, but there is an alternative, which is what I want you two to do." She made an upward gesture and the holo revealed a virtual hive of snaking and coiling tunnels underneath the factory complex, going deep into the earth all the way to the bottom of the 120 meter ravine. "Our close proximity has allowed ground penetration scans to be conducted. Every Geonosian building has a series of catacombs beneath it that run deep underground. As you can see, some of the tunnels run close enough to the cliff wall that you could cut your way inside."
"So infiltration and sabotage of the main reactor?" Anakin surmised.
"Correct. HK can download the exact scans of the tunnels and lead you straight there. After which you can extract before the reactor blows."
"Then there's just the small matter of remaining undetected. How many Geonosian lifesigns are down in those tunnels?"
"Scans are inconclusive, unfortunately. There are areas which remain opaque to our equipment, most likely due to shielding or interference. The most we were able to count was around ninety. It is highly likely that the true number is much higher, unless we are dealing with a mostly abandoned area."
"Statement: My own chassis has integrated lifesign detectors, I will be able to easily effect an infiltration. None of these meatboxes will know we're even there," HK declared.
"Meatbox?" Anakin couldn't help but ask and immediately regretted it.
"Explanation: These Geonosians have a non-flexible chitin exoskeleton and fleshy insides, Jedi. Meatbag is not an appropriate descriptive term."
"Didn't I hear you call them bugs?"
"Gentleman and droid, can we please focus," Unduli pointedly said. "To even the odds for you in the hive, I intend to attack with my legion across the bridge. Drawing off as many Geonosians as possible and focusing Poggle's attention forward."
Anakin sighed with worry, Ahsoka's warning ringing in his ears, "Do you have any air support?"
"If the bridge is to be a battlefield, we risk destroying it with air support, Skywalker."
"I'm thinking more of what Poggle can throw at us that we haven't seen yet. Anything they design since the war began will more than likely be made with our offensive capabilities in mind."
"I see your point," Unduli scratched her chin in thought. "Whatever it is we'd have to be a tempting enough target for them to use the new weapons on, and draw it out across the bridge."
"Where a Y-Wing bomb can handle it."
"Assuming that they haven't developed a countermeasure for that," she reasonably pointed out. She stared at her chrono. "Confirm time, 14:03 in three, two, one."
Anakin tapped his own chrono, "Confirm, we're synchronized."
"I plan to begin my assault at 14:30. Given the flight capabilities you both demonstrated, that should be more than enough time."
"We'll get it done, Master Unduli."
"Then may the Force be with you."
Anakin and HK entered the unsecured zone of about two hundred meters of land before the deep ravine. There was a substantial amount of cover to be had though and scans had revealed a number of hidden outposts in the tall plinth towers that the Geonosians still occupied. It forced them to take a meandering course from cover to cover.
HK's ability to be sneaky in the first place was quite impressive. His GU-chassis wasn't outright designed for it, but one of the things the droid had insisted on in his upgrades was cushioned joints and active sound canceling emitters that the droid could activate to negate any noise from its internal mechanisms. Even without that, the experience the droid showed was obvious. It had learned to run whilst pushing its center of gravity down, going at a full pace, even going down onto all four limbs of its chassis when necessary.
Finally, they reached the edge of the cliff and lowered themselves down, only climbing a few meters down before stopping.
He gave a few hand signals to the droid.
HK's reply was to simply let go, push off from the cliff face and fall.
He took a deep breath and did the same.
A mere four seconds later, he flipped in the air, extending his will outward and bled his momentum through the Force, landing with a slight squat into the ravine floor. HK was slightly slower, having to use his foot jets to slow down enough to hit the landing.
It was a shadowy, cooler world down at the bottom, with only reflected light from the cliff face reaching down. He was quite thankful for his helmet and its filters at this point - the air was very dusty as a result of their landing and he didn't want to know what microbes lived down here, nor did he want to breathe them in.
HK was already heading straight towards the cliff face in front of them, bringing one of his cannons to bear off his back. With one metallic hand, it scratched out the rough outline of a door shape in the rock in front of them.
Anakin drew his lightsaber, which snapped to life before he stabbed it into the cliff face at the indicated spots and began smoothly cutting.
A slight gesture of his finger was all that was needed for the large door shaped slab of glowing rock to pull itself out of the cliff and land on the ground.
HK instantly entered the moment the new door was out of the way.
Beyond was an even darker world that was only lit with the occasional globe of eerie green biological plant matter. The Geonosian tunnels were tall enough to stand in, and were clearly styled in their biologically inspired round architecture. These lowest levels were also definitely 'catacombs' as there were alcoves containing the empty exoskeletons of dead Geonosians. The sounds of distant chittering and occasional crumbling of rock was the only sound that reached their ears. It all combined to produce an area that was straight out of some nightmare.
Complicating navigation in the tunnels was that the builders assumed those using it would be Geonosians capable of flight. HK couldn't risk activating his feet jets, lest have the sound echo everywhere throughout the hive.
At the first junction requiring a direct upward traversal, Anakin Force jumped the height easily. Then using TK to levitate the droid up to join him.
It was amazing how the droid could silently express its disapproval at being 'Force handled' in this manner, using the 'eyes' of the GU-chassis to effect a glare at him.
Anakin merely gave him a hand signal to the effect of 'shut up, clanker and navigate'.
At the next junction they had to quickly hide as both of them sensed two lifesigns approaching.
Two Geonosians armed with sonic rifles were patrolling and chittering at each other in their near incomprehensibly fast language.
HK didn't have any problems with translating but only signed that it was the inconsequential babble of two bored soldiers.
They moved on without incident.
A look at his chrono confirmed that Unduli's attack had started two minutes ago.
The next junction required another jump upward, but HK signaled an immediate halt before they could even turn into the corridor.
The reason why was obvious when Anakin slightly peaked an eye down there.
It wasn't really a corridor.
It was the Geonosian equivalent of a barracks.
All down its length, Geonosians were hanging from their equivalent of 'beds', which were no more than a few rods and bars bolted into the ceiling to provide handholds for their many limbs, as they slept upside down. There had to be over a hundred in view in that single corridor.
Scans had missed this completely and even in the Force it was difficult to truly sense them. It was like they were tiny candles of life seen at a far distance. Their 'sleeping' was probably a natural form of hibernation as well, which made sense on a world like Geonosis, food and energy was precious and too many mouths to feed was a problem.
Anakin signaled a question, "Another way?"
"Only a long route, no time," HK replied.
The droid did its version of a crouch and began moving down the corridor. Anakin embraced the Force, holding a light TK shell around himself to absorb any sound he emitted that couldn't easily be stopped.
Things were going well until halfway down the corridor, when he sensed a Geonosian above him beginning to wake.
He didn't know what could've given the impetus for it, maybe the thing had to go to the bathroom for all he knew.
The problem was HK was moving ahead and didn't have its head turned so he could signal him silently. HK's own life sign sensor was simply the native police model the GU came standard with and couldn't pick up such sensitive minutia as the Force could.
He had to resort to a trick he had seen Ahsoka pull off once. He held his forefinger with his thumb and flicked it out, trying to use the most minute amount of energy he could.
It still resulted in HK's leg almost being yanked out from under it.
The droid barely managed to keep its balance and it turned to glare at him.
He merely pointed up in reply and signed.
The droid in the next moment, proved why it had the designation of an assassin.
HK moved with a frightening silent speed, reached up with the dexterous five fingered metal hand and clamped it around the neck of the waking Geonosian, then squeezed and twisted.
He could sense how the droid had used its anti-sound systems to cover the cracking of the bony exoskeleton, as the Geonosians head was twisted in an unnatural way, before being completely severed and pulled off. The alien's limbs also tightened in death, gripping its sleeping poles so it didn't fall and cause a racket.
Anakin breathed a sigh of relief and followed HK forward.
The droid curiously kept a hold of the severed head and only dumped it when they exited the corridor into the first darkened alcove they found.
It was only a few moments later that he puzzled out why the droid had done that. It wasn't to give a token effort at a funerary rite. More to hide evidence from the other sleeping Geonosians, in case they woke up too. Their eyes were pointed towards the floor, and if they opened them only to see a severed head… that would be rather alarming. It would take the immediate neighbors of the killed alien to turn their attention up and right to see their dead fellow.
The route forward had no more 'barracks' on this level and in this way, they made good time ascending through seven more levels, only having to avoid the occasional patrol.
The noise of machinery and grinding steel greeted them at last at the next junction and they looked up into many layers of distant conveyors that were carrying a constant flow of newly manufactured B1 battle droids.
HK didn't indicate an upward direction though, and merely continued moving forward and took the next right.
This led to the first metallic door seen in the hive so far.
The droid approached the logic port of the controls, made a fist with its right hand, and an interface probe shot out and was inserted.
It took barely four seconds for the spike to work and the doors parted.
It was a steel tunnel leading up with rung handholds every meter or so. A rather curious thing for a flying species, but clearly the Geonosians made provision for members who either couldn't fly or perhaps where flying was not an option.
HK began climbing and Anakin followed, subtly using the Force to reinforce his strength and stamina to just as tirelessly ascend through the tunnel.
Another twenty meters higher the tunnel seemed to dead end, but HK found another control panel which he hacked to disable an alarm and disengage the lock.
The droid effortlessly pushed the heavy lid aside and climbed out of sight.
Anakin climbed the last rungs and emerged from the tunnel into a very large, cavernous circular room.
Dominating the central area, jutting from the ceiling and floor, was the typical arrangement and machinery of a hypermatter catalyzed fusion reactor. The room was also lined with control banks and computers all along its perimeter. Just listening to the thing in operation was enough for Anakin to determine that the Geonosians liked running the reactor at the bleeding edge of performance, eschewing any idea of efficiency.
"Statement: Most curious, I'm detecting no security mechanisms or sensors. Not even a simple visual sensor. Conclusion: The Geonosians are overly confident no one would ever be able to infiltrate this deep into their hive factory."
"Let's make them regret that, shall we?" Anakin removed the backpack containing all their explosives. Thermal detonators with both timers and manual remote detonation.
They walked around the central stalk of the main reactor, placing and arming the charges as quickly as they could, in nooks and crannies that would make them as hidden as possible to casual observation.
"Exfiltration," Anakin ordered.
The droid returned to the tunnel entrance, only to swiftly close and lock it down.
"Statement: We have a problem, Jedi. Explanation: There is a Geonosian patrol moving up the tunnel. My sensors are also picking up increased lifesign activity. The Mirialan meatbag's attack has stirred the hive, our exfiltration route is no longer viable unless we wish to openly fight. Request: Can we please do that? I prefer that to all this sneaking around, Jedi."
"Is something faulty with your self-preservation protocols? That shield doesn't make you invulnerable. Massed sonic fire or a missile launcher is still bad news for you."
"Acquiescence: Very well, Jedi. The only other option is to go out the front of the factory."
"You do know how many droids and Geonosians there are between us and the door?"
"Answer: Acutely Jedi. However, when I interfaced with the computer system to override the locks, I managed to have a brief look at what they've been building here." HK rushed towards one of the main doors leading into the reactor room. "Encouragement: Come Jedi."
"Fine," he ran to follow the crazy droid.
They exited the reactor room just as the tunnel lid was opening again.
From there they were in the purely industrialized spaces, with none of the typical organic construction. Sneaking here was both easier and harder, due to the sightlines you could see pretty far down corridors, but the bulkheads provided handy hiding spots. The Geonosians clearly anticipated having to fight in these halls.
It was here that they encountered the first droid patrols, which forced Anakin to activate his lifesign dampener.
Luck was with them in this case, as the patrol was only a trio of B1s who dismissed the blip on their scanners as a glitch.
They arrived at their destination, which was a large processing area for the production from one of the main factory lines. A production line that was building a new kind of tank, which had to be the threat that Ahsoka had warned about.
It was a beast of a thing, nearly twelve meters long, five meters at its highest point, with a curved sloping hull, thick armor and hinging flange of armor that could move over that main hull. It had two twin blaster cannons mounted on the side and two turreted laser cannons in the nose. The coverage meant infantry could only safely attack the tank directly from the rear. The heavy weapons it had weren't visible, but he'd bet his lightsaber that it was directly under the hinged flange of armor.
Five B1s were clustered around it, doing checks and final inspection on the tank.
Anakin silently signed a question on what HK planned to do, though he had a pretty good idea of what the assassin droid had in mind.
In reply the droid removed his rotary blaster cannon, signaling that Anakin better not lose it or forget to bring it.
HK walked into the processing area like he owned the place and approached the B1 crew with unhurried steps.
"Hey, who are you?" The B1 with a blue colored stripe decorating the left side of its chassis, looked up in surprise from its datapad.
"Answer: I've been sent as a new supervisor, Tactical Droid T3491 calculates that this line could be more efficient. So he sent me to motivate you."
"Just one microsecond," the B1 objected in its annoying tinny nasal voice, "we have been perfectly efficient. There must be something wrong with T3491's processors if it calculates that we have been inefficient. What kind of droid are you, anyway? Scanning network… that's odd, you are not in the network."
"Explanation: If I was in the network, that would defeat my purpose. I am an assassin droid, you see." HK was now within less than a meter of the droid.
"Assassin droid? What use could this factory possibly have for you…"
In the next moment, HK had produced two lightsabers which ignited into red blades and with two efficient swipes sent the B1 supervisor falling to the floor in glowing chunks of metal.
The remaining B1s dropped their tools and tried to reach for the blasters clamped on their backs.
HK moved with the top speed of his chassis and had dispatched three more droids before the remaining three could bring their weapons to bear.
The droid easily anticipated the shots and weaved through the sightlines of the B1s, completing a circuit around the tank and efficiently rendered the remaining battle droids to the scrap heaps.
Anakin broke from his cover and rushed forward with HK's cannon carried by his right hand, while his lit lightsaber was ready to defend from his left.
The droid stowed his blades and accepted his cannon. "Statement: We have triggered an alarm in the network. A response squad of B2s are on the way." HK grabbed a datapad on the floor that had been carried by the B1 leader, a few taps on it and a hatch opened on the rear of the tank.
Anakin followed the droid inside and sealed the hatch.
Inside was a small walkway that spanned the length of the tank, with enclosed machinery and control panels. At a glance he could see the repurposed reactor that could just as easily have been placed into a starfighter or even a small freighter, but this wasn't the time to be distracted by his tech savvy.
HK led the way into the small forward control room and using the codes from the liberated datapad, started up the tank's systems.
Anakin dropped into the uncomfortable driver's seat and quickly familiarized himself with the controls. The steering was with a yoke arrangement, controlling turn and what little altitude the stupendously heavy repulsortank could attain, which was a maximum of two meters. He was somewhat impressed at the speed indicators given the mass - the tank would top out at 40kph.
"What's the main guns on this thing, HK?"
The droid was managing the gunner station like he'd already absorbed the CIS field manual on the thing, which in retrospect he probably had taken from the datapad as well.
"Indirect fire, variable warhead launcher - currently loaded with shaped baradium mortar projectiles, maximum range - 12 kilometers."
"At least we can outrange the thing, though this ray shielding makes me think it won't matter. Not even our AV7 artillery can penetrate this shielding."
"Analysis: This armor would also laugh at the current mass drivers on Republic AT-TEs. The indirect, arcing fire also makes taking cover and any form of trench line warfare pointless. Warning: Enemy approaching, charging weapons. Jedi, I suggest you move us with high speed along this interior route, take the first left turn, it will lead directly to the main entrance of the factory."
Anakin pulled down the visual periscope sensor and grabbed the yoke. The tank's repulsors hummed to life in a deep eerie rumbling. He pushed on the throttle at his feet and the tank lurched forward - smashing three B1s and a B2 to pieces.
He accelerated the tank to 35 kph, not feeling willing to really push the new tank to its limit as it was inevitable that there would be performance issues and he really didn't want to break down in the middle of a hostile droid factory.
The tank's guns spewed laser and plasma at everything that moved in their forward and side arcs. HK even managed to slice Geonosians out of the air with the turreted lasers.
He had to throttle down for the turn as the momentum on the tank was considerable, even with the limited inertial dampening systems on-board.
He still underestimated it, however, and slammed the right side of the tank into a wall, utterly crushing unlucky battle droids which had been charging forward and firing ineffectually. Even B2 repeaters and rockets just bounced off the shielding and hull.
He pushed the throttle to extricate the tank and breathed a sigh of relief when it smoothly pushed any debris aside and got up to speed again.
The bright light of the giant main entrance was a mere eighty meters ahead and was wide enough to fit three tanks moving abreast.
Zooming in with the pericope optics he could see the main battle still being fought outside in the distance with a squad of 10 CIS tanks and the Republic was in clear retreat.
There was the wreckage of two tanks that had been hit with air strikes, but with their advance between the spired, craggy terrain, it had become impossible to get accurate locks from the air, not to mention that the clone troopers were too close to the enemy tanks at this point.
The light ahead began to dim, as the giant main doors were beginning to close.
"Statement: You must go faster, Jedi."
"This thing's acceleration is not good, I've got it floored."
"Calculation: At this rate, the doors will close in front of us. Deduction: We will need to improvise. Readying the main weapon."
"Are you sure that'll work?"
"Statement: The weapons will destroy the door with no problem, it remains to be seen if the structure around the door will handle it. Admission: I have no data on Geonosian building standards."
"We've got no choice at this point. It won't take them long to begin security sweeps of critical points and our bombs will be discovered. Do it."
"Acknowledgement: Very well. Calculating optimal trajectory and firing pattern. Opening weapon flange… firing."
Anakin stared anxiously as the door completely shut, plunging the entire exit tunnel into darkness. The tank reverberated from its launcher cycling rapidly. He vaguely saw bright orange globes flying through the darkness and quickly shut off the periscope.
They were so shielded and protected that the only indication that something had happened at all was the tank lost forward speed slightly.
"Statement: Doors destroyed, recommend you turn by four degrees to port in two seconds."
Anakin turned on the yoke, using only instrument readings to judge the turn.
The tank abruptly lost speed again and an awful screeching sound echoed throughout the hull.
"Instruction: Maximum acceleration."
Anakin floored the pedal, the engines and repulsors whined into an extreme pitch.
There was a lurch that translated through the inertial dampeners and suddenly the tank was moving smoothly forward again, building up to its top speed.
He pulled his periscope down again and had to hurriedly turn right on the yoke, to avoid the tank potentially tumbling into the ravine.
"Instruction: Set a course for the enemy tanks. Calculating trajectories."
"You think the main weapons can take them?" Anakin asked as he drove the tank onto the bridge.
"Answer: Yes. It seems that the CIS took into account the possiblity of the tank being used against them. A direct strike on the aft armor with the main weapon should destroy them."
"We better hurry before they send another tank on our tail then."
He pulled the detonator for the bombs from his belt, flicked the cap and pressed down hard. He got a green light from the device, but turned his periscope view to focus on the factory building behind them.
They were halfway across the bridge when multiple secondary explosions began bursting from the tall Geonosian structure.
Then a larger one suddenly erupted from the base of the building that sent out a visible shockwave that pulled dust and earth with it.
The tall spires toppled and began falling, creating a rapidly expanding cloud of earth that quickly engulfed all sight of the factory.
Their own tank was across the bridge and to relative safety, but the cloud of dust had completely blinded standard vision from being able to make out anything.
"Statement: Switching scanning modes."
Anakin did the same and turned the yoke to avoid a rock spire and followed the path that the other tanks had taken.
"Report: First target in sight. Firing."
His attention was diverted when his com link began beeping.
"Skywalker, I sense that's you in that awful tank," Master Unduli's relieved voice echoed across the radio.
"Yes, Master. HK and I managed to commandeer one. Do tell the fighters waiting overhead that there is a friendly CIS tank on field."
"Will do and my congratulations to you both. Ah, I see they're not so invulnerable to ground weaponry after all."
"A demo pack slapped on their rear armor should also do the trick, as should repeated hits from AT-TEs, but getting them in a position to do so is the problem."
"Make sure you keep that tank in good condition, Skywalker."
"I'll do my best, Master." He cut the com link. "HK, let's get rid of these things."
"Glee: It will be my considerable pleasure, Jedi."
I walked onto the bridge of Resolute savoring a large cup of caf. Nine hours of sleep and a very hearty breakfast had done wonders for my recovery. Only once before had I flirted with excessive Force usage, a week or so before my padawan trials. There wasn't any real comparison or metaphor that could be used to explain it to a layman. The condition any Jedi found themselves in afterward usually depended on many factors; age, body mass, species, their 'strength' in the Force and others, some of which was only theorized and couldn't be empirically measured, such as an individual's 'enlightenment'.
I knew more, but only because of acausal metaknowledge.
Which basically indicated that it was actually a first step into discorporating and retaining your consciousness into the Force itself.
My own manifestation was bone weary exhaustion and falling into a long, literally uninterruptible sleep. You could have an air raid siren blaring directly into my montrals and I wouldn't even twitch.
The command chair turned at my approach to reveal Admiral Yularen, who immediately stood.
"Commander, welcome back. I trust your recovery is proceeding apace?"
"Morning, evening, afternoon whatever, and yes, it's proceeding, report?"
"The weapons factory was successfully destroyed eight hours ago. Recovery and intelligence operations are proceeding forward with no resistance. Aerospace operations are ongoing, we're keeping the Geonosians underground and unable to muster any significant force concentration. Masters Kenobi and Mundi are spearheading airborne elements to attack what industrial installations can be identified." He handed me a datapad.
I placed my caf on the armrest of the command chair and began speed reading through the various reports.
"Ah, this is a nice surprise, we actually managed to capture an intact… are we seriously calling this thing a 'supertank'?"
Yuralen's mustache twitched in amusement, "The term originated from among the clone troopers and it's stuck, I'm afraid. We can expect a suitable reporting name from Intelligence within a few days."
"Which will probably be swiftly ignored. No word on Archduke Poggle?"
"None, though last I heard Master Unduli was leading a small recon squad in pursuit of him. He fled the instant the alarm was sounded by General Skywalker's infiltration."
"Which for Poggle is quite as simple as opening the nearest window and flying away," I said wryly.
"Indeed, though our operations on the planet have hit a bit of a snag," he gestured towards the forward transparisteel viewports.
"Oh, that's a rather big sandstorm."
Geonosis' entire northern hemisphere, the bit that was facing Resolute currently, was engulfed in a broiling brown mass.
"The last word we had was that General Unduli had tracked Poggle to the Progate Temple, apparently a place of religious observance for the Geonosians. Something rather odd, because it was a place bombed already due to the unusually high concentration of enemy stationed there. Most communications are currently affected by the storm."
"Do we still at least have data links to the staging area?"
"Yes, powerful enough transmitters can cut through the interference."
It said something about Unduli's commitment to end the threat of Archduke Poggle, that she would continue her pursuit in the middle of a sandstorm.
"Well, whatever happens, we have to wait for the weather to clear up, there's no flying into that mess. Do we have any scans of the 'supertank' yet?"
"It's one of the last reports, commander."
"Good, some light reading to look forward to. Troop casualties?" I braced myself for the answer.
"Across all four legions, currently standing at thirty one percent, fatalities at twenty seven."
"The sonic weapons?"
Yularen nodded, "Very few troops survive getting hit with them. Their armor just isn't really built for resisting such exotic weaponry. Making it worse is that sonic blasts have a splash radius, which means even inaccurate shots that hit the ground near a trooper can be debilitating and cause casualties."
It was a sad fact that even if every clone had the late-war Phase 2 armor right now, it wouldn't have made a difference. Even if you built armor that could resist or stop a sonic blast, it would simply be too specialized and would never see widespread adoption.
"No sign of possible reinforcements from the CIS?"
"No reports from our scouts on the Trellius Route and Crystal Passage so far. Either the Separatists have adopted a wait and see approach for the outcome of the battle or they are merely delayed. I hesitate to make this prediction, but given their predilection for mercantile behavior I don't think we have to worry about them sending a rescue expedition."
"Better to cut their losses and not incur more, fighting an already lost battle," I stepped forward and finally took my seat. "Resolute's status?"
"All systems nominal, commander. All fighter wings are on board for repair and maintenance. The storm's actually been a blessing in that regard."
"Good, thank you Admiral. I have the bridge."
"The bridge is yours, commander."
That little ritual of command done with I began reading and getting caught up with events in the greater galaxy that was coming through the comm channels.
The most significant of which was the successful occupation of Onderon by the CIS. It meant that the Separatists now had control of a significant chunk of the Lesser Lantillian hyperspace route, which would now be a key route towards the south and the core of the galaxy from their space. It would mean the CIS had created yet another possible invasion avenue that in turn needed to be locked down by the creation of yet another battlefront.
It rather made me feel extremely grateful that I was not saddled with the headache of the greater strategic decisions of the war.
Another report coming in detailed the successful defense of Dantooine by Mace Windu and his assigned legion of clone troops. It made for suitably dry reading for a military report, but I knew it belied the sheer grit and strength in the Force shown by Windu in the battle. His forces had been outnumbered by five to one and they still managed to carry the day by careful use of the new PLX personal missile launchers and what had to be a level of Force Wave that I was a long way from even attempting, let alone claim mastery of.
There was a reason Windu had been able to come within a hair's breadth of killing Palpatine and the Defense of Dantooine was a perfect demonstration for why.
My personal com link started beeping for attention.
I flicked a button on my gauntlet with slight annoyance, "Yes, HK, what is it?"
A holo of the droid appeared in front of me, "Greetings: Hello Master. Inquiry: I just want to confirm whether you still want me to remain with Jedi Skywalker?"
"Yes, what's the situation down there?"
"Report: The vexing sandstorm is starting to clear and it's predicted that flight operations will be able to resume within the hour. The meatbag Unduli also seems to have encountered resistance at the Progate Temple and contact has been lost with her."
"You are to stick to my master like glue, HK and make sure you use lightsabers first when engaging, understood?"
"Acknowledgement: Understood master. Is there anything else?"
"No."
"Very, well. Signing you off."
The holo vanished. There was no way we could allow any Jedi to be controlled by that bloody Geonosian queen and her brain worms, that went doubly so for Anakin.
A few hours later, to get over my worries about the potential for disaster on Geonosis, I was down among the 501st Legion's parked ranks of AT-TEs. The area set aside for it was roughly half empty, with most having been carried down to the planet by gunship carriers. With me was one of the legion's quartermasters and engineers, a clone with the name of Gritt.
It was simply inevitable that clones would end up with personal adopted names that repeated themselves - there were just too many of them and in similar professions among the army. Usually, it wasn't the case within a clone legion, but when legions came together for a major operation, then things could get confusing and humorous.
"Okay, let's walk through the main gun on the AT-TE. It's an electrothermal system? Power vaporizes propellant to create a plasma that creates the pressure?"
"Correct commander," Gritt answered with a slight frown on his face. The man was only wearing half his typical Phase 1 armor set, with this top being a set of red overalls with many, many pockets filled with pads, the occasional tool, code cylinders and so on.
"What velocity are we talking about? 2.5 kilometers per second?"
"That's the manufacturer's specs," he shook his head. "In practice it will vary depending on the planet you're on, atmospheric pressure, local gravity and so on. Down on Geonosis we're getting anything from 1.9 to 2.2. That's a typical variance because the guns and their barrels are at different points in their maintenance cycles."
"Have you got any of their ammo I can look at?"
"Nothing live up here, commander. It's all down in the stowage as per safety regulation."
"As it should be, I was more looking for a shell, the business end of the thing that hits the enemy. You can also please relax, this is not an inspection."
"Oh, sorry commander, it's just we rarely see top ranks down here." Gritt scratched the back of his shaved head awkwardly. "Right, shell, this way, commander."
He led me off to the side and towards a small office workshop that was clearly his little domain, with all sorts of typical knick-knacks, souvenirs of campaigns and the planets he'd been on. The place was still perfect according to regs, but with the personal bits layered on top.
With no effort at all he lifted a tank gun shell that was about as tall as his leg and handed it over.
Manufacturer specs put its weight at about six kilograms, fifty-five millimeters in diameter and it was shaped in a typical rifled 'bullet' fashion.
"Durasteel?"
"Yes commander, that's the standard piercing shell shot from these Firefront 04 Mass Drivers."
"Are there others?"
"Yes, but they don't really see much use. There's an explosive shell, they're awful for going against Seppie tanks, but they do see occasional use if a tanker has to clear out a bunch of weak clankers to stop them swarming. Most don't like loading them because if there's an ammo explosion - well, then your chances of survival are even lower."
It really boggled the mind, the energies I was dealing with here, but when you looked at it from an interstellar civilization standpoint, it was pretty standard. That the CIS had developed armor that could bounce off a round like this… it was delivering over seven hundred thousand joules or 15 kiloNewtons to target every 3 seconds! When you dealt with energies like this it was no wonder that no one worried about much more than speed performance when it came to mass drivers.
"You're aware of the new tank the Seppies threw at us down there?"
He nodded grimly, "Monster of a tank that. I can tell you commander, there's some grim talk coming from the tank crews at the idea of facing more of those in the future."
"Whether the CIS can actually fund them into widespread use is open for debate, it's also a prototype and it might turn out that they're just a testbed for other technologies. It's what actually brings me down here." I handed over a datapad.
Gritt tapped it and began reading, "Armor piercing, fin stabilized, discarding sabot?"
I opened my mouth to explain but my com link beeped for attention.
"Yes, Master?"
"Ahsoka, we've got a problem down here. I need you to order a full quarantine of Geonosis," Anakin declared grimly. "Stop everything. No more ships coming down. We've already stopped our traffic from going up."
My brain seemed to struggle to get in gear for a moment.
"Ah- at once, Master."
I frantically changed channels. "Admiral Yularen, FC officers, all ships in space are to return immediately. Geonosis is hereby quarantined. Any ships that are in-atmosphere and haven't landed are cleared to return. Ships that have broken seals and landed are quarantined."
"Understood, Commander."
"Master, what happened?"
"We've captured Poggle, but we've discovered how the Geonosians managed to keep such a high level of resistance going, despite everything they've endured. They have a queen that can create a parasitic creature that essentially controls the individual Geonosian, even if that individual is dead. She can also do the same to other species."
It was crazy from a medical standpoint but if the parasite could act as a substitute brain of sorts and have enough energy to at least fire off the nerves of the dead body - yeah, zombie town.
"Has anyone been infected down there?"
"We're not sure. HK has run scans and the strike team that went to the temple is clean. It was a close thing though, Master Unduli was nearly taken over. The parasite worms are capable of fast movement on their own and it's entirely possible that some may have abandoned their hosts upon 'death' and entered the clones after the battle, when their helmets were off."
"None of the wounded have been shuttled to the star destroyers thankfully."
"It's our one stroke of luck, yes, but we have to be sure, Ahsoka. I want you to carefully approach the med chief on Resolute, sense his thoughts and body, if he's clean then inform him. Get a team together and calibrate the ship's internal scanners to see if any are aboard. Then do the same for the other destroyers. I'm sending you the data we've gathered on the parasite."
My armor's internal computer pinged that it had received a file. "Got it. I take it we can't politely ask the queen to remove the parasites?"
"No, not unless she can survive tons of rock falling on her."
"Figures…"
Prescience and instinct had me dodging to the left to avoid the grappling hands of the quartermaster, who suddenly seemed very intent on wringing my neck.
My armored knee drove into his midsection in the next moment, along with a Force Push, sending him crashing into the shelving of his office.
Gritt recovered immediately and he literally growled at me, pulling out a hyperspanner from his belt.
"Nope."
TK had him off his feet and quickly I began stripping him of anything that could be used as a weapon.
His growl turned to a hiss and he opened his mouth wide… a yellowish worm began poking its head out, twisting and preparing to jump towards me.
"Mistake."
The parasite worm was yanked out and I used the Force to crush it from all directions.
All the fight left Gritt and his body became limp.
I put a hand on his brow and carefully sensed…
"You'll live, but I don't envy your headache when you wake up, Gritt."
I lowered the clone to the floor.
If the clone quartermaster on Resolute was infected… then there was really no telling how far it had spread.
I plunged my senses into the probability streams and tried to find the answer, only to come back with a rather grim conclusion.
The lack of any defenses in space was the key.
The Geonosian queen wanted the Republic to land and fight on the ground. She had instructed Poggle to do the usual defensive campaign, all the while she had sent her zombiefied warriors to fly in among the living Geonosians, waiting for the opportunities to quietly infect the GAR.
Geonosis was in fact, one giant trap on a level I hadn't expected.
If the entire task force, including Jedi were infected, it could potentially lead to catastrophic consequences.
Nothing of the original timeline had hinted at this. It had only been an accidental exposure then, which resulted in a single medical freighter being infected.
My mind had been so preoccupied with trying to improve the awful battle plan and countering the new weapons the CIS were producing here, that it had never occurred to me that the brain parasites would be the true danger that we would face here.
Gritt had been infected when he'd gone down to the planet to attend to the damaged vehicles of the 501st.
How many more on Resolute and the other destroyers? If this got out of hand, we could end up having to fight our own troops.
"Well, time to fix your fuck up, Ahsoka," I grumbled aloud to myself.
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