I generally need to give my muse a break on this story every three chapters, letting me work on another fic which I'm writing concurrently. Variety is the spice of life after all.
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Star Wars: The Force Wills (SW SI)
- Thread starter Keiran Halcyon
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I generally need to give my muse a break on this story every three chapters, letting me work on another fic which I'm writing concurrently. Variety is the spice of life after all.
Is this story already posted somewhere? Because I honestly love your writing and would love to read more of it.
I generally need to give my muse a break on this story every three chapters, letting me work on another fic which I'm writing concurrently. Variety is the spice of life after all.
Take your time, make sure you're having fun writing and not turning it into a chore, and go with whatever flow you find best.
If you ever need to take some time off for whatever real life personal reasons, do what you feel is best.
This story is already large enough I'm thinking of holding off on reading any new updates for a bit so I can do a reread.
Chapter 82
A/N: Welcome to this week's chapter... A galaxy of thanks to Patrons and Super Patrons for helping make this possible. New art is also up on the Patreon.
Chapter 82
If there was one thing I could say about King Grakchawwaa at my first meeting with him, was that he had little patience for pomp, ceremony or speeches.
In the Force, he was a burning bonfire of frustration and anger that barely tolerated the walking pace of inspecting the parade company of clone troopers.
Grakchawwaa himself was a towering wookiee, easily clearing 2.4 meters. He wore similar armor to many of his warriors with the only extra ostentation of his station being a leather circlet set with a single clear jewel on his head. His fur was a deep chestnut brown and was braided around his shoulders to form a stylized 'beard'.
My own attention was somewhat caught by his 'shuttle'. It was a traditional wookiee ship made of wroshyr wood and the sheer artistry was breathtaking. It blurred the line between functional secure transport that could carry someone of Grakchawwaa's position and a work of installation art that could stand in a museum. The shipwright had started with a saucer shape as the base and built it outward, using flaring organic shapes inspired by wroshyr leaves. Yet I could see they managed to integrate a lifting body design in the base, clearly giving redundancy in case the engines, shields and repulsors failed in the atmosphere. The exterior hull also had elaborate relief carvings that depicted ancient wookiees and various stories from their history.
"General Skywalker, as much as I know what protocol dictates should come next, I have little time," Grakchawwaa said.
"Certainly highness, we'll head to the fortress immediately then."
The king had arrived with a guard of eighteen armored wookiees, who looked almost ready to fight an entire ship's company of droids or clones, given how heavily they were armed. Four of them remained at the king's side as we headed into the turbolift.
The lift hadn't even gone a few seconds in its journey before Grakchawwaa said, "I understand you rescued one of my people from those butchers before they could hunt him."
"That's correct, highness. Though my padawan was primarily responsible."
I heard Grakchawwaa's nose subtly pulling in more air.
He turned and speared me with questing eyes, "I trust you will not abuse the honor, young Jedi."
That he had deduced already spoke of a very shrewd and clever king, including a very sensitive nose. I had no doubt that Chewbacca's scent was on me, especially my left hand.
"No, majesty. I know the significance of the debt and the responsibilities it bestows on me."
"Good. The life debt tradition of my people has been abused in the past, on many occasions by aliens. Some had even caused the very events that put the wookiee's life in danger, only to swoop in and 'save' them. Two thousand years ago, we instituted a law that the king at his own discretion may evaluate and void a life debt if necessary."
"Prudent and wise, majesty. Do you want to speak to Chewbacca?"
"I trust the Jedi of Yoda, but in these turbulent times…" he trailed off. "I will set aside five minutes to speak to him."
Our tour of the Ubrikkian fortress proceeded uneventfully for the most part, but I had to admire the self-control of Grakchawwaa. When he set eyes on the wookiee pelts and the stuffed wookiee statues on prominent display in a trophy room, it looked like he was about ready to pop his claws and go on a rampage of anger on everything. His bodyguards were less circumspect and they let out low audible growls. He also paused to examine the trophy remains of other species, seemingly paying his respects for each life lost.
"Skywalker…" Grakchawwaa mused, before his eyes lit in realization. "You were in the Battle of Alaris?"
"As a padawan, yes majesty."
"And here you are, a knight with a padawan of your own. Where does all our time go? We wookiees have potentially so much of it compared to most other races in the galaxy. There's so much we can do in a lifetime, yet in this room we see centuries of it squandered. Reduced to be nothing more than displays for the vanity and pride of short lived lizards. Becoming no more than ephemeral numbers to appease their goddess!"
"Then they would throw in their lot with the soulless Separatists, buy their weapons to hunt and kill more of my kind. What's next? A full scale invasion of Kashyyyk?"
"They would have to break through the Republic lines at Boonta to mount such an invasion."
"It's just three major systems between Boonta and Kashyyyk, General Skywalker. Not to mention if the Separatists manage to infiltrate and steal the Claatuvac maps, then Republic defenses and trade routes in the east will be under dire threat. Now we have trandoshan 'renegades' armed with their weapons and hyperspace capable fighter bombers. If war comes to the Kashyyyk system, our vigilance on those maps may wane, it will drain the strength of my people."
"No doubt this is by design."
"The Royal Council and myself have kept our people as neutral as possible in this conflict, General Skywalker. War is in no one's interest but our enemies."
"So you will remain on the defensive."
"Our fleet is built for that."
"You lost two ships to just four squadrons of fighters. You'll need more ships."
"Please General, we know the odds. At a base level, the trandoshans reproduce faster than we do. Their population outnumbers ours by orders of magnitude. They can easily afford to throw bodies at a problem and if it should ever enter their heads to cooperate properly beyond their laughably token government, their industrial capacity would also outstrip ours."
That was another aspect of how peace was kept between the two races. The trandoshans were by their nature fierce individualists and seekers of personal glory. They only held true loyalty to their own families and genetic lines at best. Even kin killing was known to happen if a bad enough rivalry between clutchmates existed. Their government was the very definition of minimal and had little real power. It was another reason why they didn't have a senator on Coruscant.
In retrospect, that someone had managed to organize forty-eight trandoshan pilots into squadrons and for them to perform as they had in the battle, was very odd. By all rights, it should've broken down into an easy turkey shoot as all the individual trandoshans tried to score kills with very little coordination. This was a fact that was clearly not lost on King Grakchawwaa.
"So the best we can do is keep any fighting in space and keep our crews as small as possible."
"Majesty, you know that sooner or later, the Separatists will come to you and offer the choice they've given to many worlds," I said pointedly.
"I will climb that tree when the day comes, young padawan. I will fight to postpone that day for as long as possible. Hopefully, long enough for the GAR to finally bring this war to some resolution, one way or the other." He turned to one of his bodyguards, "Rhil, scan the remains and organize for their retrieval, we can finally bring some closure to the tribes and families. Now come, Padawan Tano, show me to Chewbacca."
Chewie's talk with the king wasn't something I could be anywhere near, but it was at least interesting to see briefly how social strata worked in wookiee society. There was no bowing or elaborate ceremony or special language. It was a simple bow of the head, crossed arms with hands exposed to show that his claws were properly sheathed and that was it.
I left the docked fortress for the Clarity's bridge only to find Anakin standing at the tactical planning holotank, looking thoughtfully at a massive fleet arrangement and starmap that could only be one thing.
"Snips, take a look," he invited.
It didn't take me more than a few moments, "We've secured Mossak."
"And Arcan, we've completely cut off the Salin Corridor from Separatist control and influence."
"Good news."
He nodded, "Unfortunately, as with everything in this war, bad news comes as well." He swiped his hands through the holo and the full galactic map appeared. "Our momentum in the south has stalled."
"Again?" I asked incredulously.
"Resistance was stiffer than expected and the Separatists have begun fielding tri-fighters in larger numbers. Our own reinforcements for the south were delayed due to many factors, but the main one is that KDY is struggling to meet the demand. They're increasing the number of yards dedicated to the Venator and making changes as we need them in response to the lessons learned in the war, but that is slowing production down. Clones and crew are for once, not the problem. Kamino has released a new cadre and there is some talk of a new armor for them being designed as well."
Was this the genesis of Phase 2 armor?
"The siege of the Techno Union's Foerost Shipyards has also shown no further meaningful progress." The holo changed to a core world sector.
If there was one thing that could help Venator and warship production in general, then it would be recapture of that shipyard. Unfortunately, the shipyard's defenses were formidable and when the TU had turned to the CIS, they'd quickly turned the guns on anything Republic. That siege had begun at the beginning of the war and after more than a year, there was no sign of that changing any time soon. The TU were deep behind enemy lines but Foerost had been built up precisely because it had been captured so many times in the history of the Old Republic. It was specifically built to act as a bastion system behind which the Republic could rebuild an offensive force in a worst case scenario.
"That siege takes too long and I bet anything the Union is going to emerge from there with a warship fleet crewed by droids that we're going to struggle to defeat."
Anakin shrugged, "The ships required to punch through those defenses just aren't there yet."
Same story, there were just too many demands on the GAR. Yet, if we could flip those massive shipyards, then it would go a long way to easing up production shortages and be a significant tide turner in the war.
"Anything else?"
"No, every other front is static, we put most of our effort into Mossak and everything will be focused on holding-"
The holotank flashed with an alert, the galaxy map vanishing to be replaced with the Jedi symbol and 'Incoming transmission' boldly written underneath.
Next the hugely rendered torso and head of Master Plo Koon appeared.
"Master Koon?" Anakin frowned.
"Skywalker, Ahsoka, well done on your rescue of our missing padawans and the resolution of matters in Kashyyyk. I'm afraid that we have a new problem." His holoform abruptly shrank and now he was sharing the connection with someone else.
A venerable Mon Calamari, bedecked in organic golden armor, with a thorny crown and shroud covering his conical head. His bright blue eyes with huge black pupils conveyed a sharp intelligence, whilst his mouth was thinned in a grave expression. His shiny orange skin had a slight distortion that I could just make out and I quickly realized that he was actually underwater as the holoscanner captured him.
"This is King Yos Kolina of the Mon Cala."
"General Skywalker, Commander Tano, a pleasure to meet you both," said King Kolina with a slight burble accenting each of his words.
We bowed our heads.
"The pleasure is ours, highness. What seems to be the problem?" Anakin asked.
"The situation in the Mon Cala system is grave. Long range scans have detected a Separatist fleet approaching via the Overic Griplink hyperlane." That was a hyper route known for being the furthest major lane on the very outer reaches of the galaxy in the north-east. Another holo appeared above showing the scans in question. "It's a fleet centered around a Providence carrier variant and twenty three Munificents in close escort. However, there is a vanguard that will arrive sooner."
"No doubt to soften and test your defenses," I mused. My mind was not preoccupied with logistics and what assets we could throw at the CIS, however. The Force was flicking my montrals, to butcher the expression.
"Undoubtedly. My people remain loyal to the Republic, Generals. We do not have the strength to resist this force in space. Our only hope is to force a conventional confrontation underwater."
The days of the giant Mon Calamari Star Cruisers being the backbone of the Rebel Alliance were not here yet. In fact, I was witnessing the first impetus that would give rise for the Mon Calamari to retool their famous underwater shipyards, which they used currently to construct the best passenger liners in the galaxy.
"Clones are trained for underwater operations and have the equipment, the specialized legion for that is generally held in reserve on Kamino, do we have the time?" Anakin asked.
"Even if you could mobilize them immediately, they wouldn't arrive in time to make a difference. Kamino is nearly ten days away using the Trellius Route and some of the hyperlanes on the southern interface near Mon Cala cannot accommodate large ships like the Venator. The only approach still open to you is via Junkfort station at the northern reaches of Hutt space."
Anakin closed his eyes briefly, the Force shifted and I vaguely felt him reach out to Padme.
"What of the gungans?" he proposed. "Naboo is relatively closer given the better hyperlanes we'd be working with. The gungan army has modernized to some extent and is the only other readily available aquatic force in the Republic."
"Any reinforcement would be welcome at this point, General," King Kolina said emphatically. "The Mon Calamari Guard has expanded greatly since the war began, but the Separatists know that."
"Yet they are coming anyway," Master Koon folded his arms. "That means they must have some kind of combat droid unit capable of underwater operations now."
"Think Republic Intel can be persuaded to reveal any information they have?" I asked wryly.
"They better or else I think a personal visit from Master Yoda will be in order," Master Koon grumbled.
I stared at the galaxy map around Mon Cala, "Have we asked the question of why?"
"Their objective, you mean, commander?" Kolina asked.
"Yes, highness. Is it simply conquest to secure their flank against a future scenario where Mon Cala is being used by the Republic as a stepping stone into the heart of the Separatist north or is it for some other purpose? You're only two days away from Raxus Prime. Your shipyards perhaps?"
Kolina fiddled with the fleshy small 'tentacles' under his mouth. "Perhaps. The Mon Cala Shipyards yoked to the Separatist war machine would be a nightmare this galaxy doesn't want to see."
"If they want to capture the industry and shipyards of Mon Cala intact, that does give us some room to maneuver," Anakin pointed out.
"It would depend on how many aqua droids they have to use, we can also bet they'll use cloaked Trident class assault ships again."
Master Koon nodded in agreement, "We must all make best speed to Junkfort. We'll gather our forces from the local garrison, including reinforcements from our bases in northern Hutt space, creating a task group. Skywalker, contact Senator Amidala and relay our request for reinforcements from the gungans using the fastest ships they have access to."
"Yes, master."
"Thank you, Generals. You give this old king hope."
"We'll be there as soon as we can, highness."
"May the Force be with us."
As much as I wished the Clarity would stay in Kashyyyk, it threatened the wookiee's non-alignment too much. It was no surprise then that King Grakchawwaa formally thanked us for stopping the 'rogue elements', rescuing the victims, repatriating the remains of the killed wookiees, rescuing Chewbacca and in the most diplomatic manner possible, told us to get the star destroyer out of his system immediately.
Anakin and I commandeered a Nu-class military shuttle from the Clarity, loaded all the surviving ARC troopers and Blades aboard, including my new royally approved life debtee.
Chewie boarded the shuttle now properly looking like he was ready for war. He had visited Kashyyyk for a few hours, sorted out affairs with his own family, donned wroshyr armor, his own personal bowcaster, a Heartlance - a spear-like vibro weapon for keeping enemies at a distance, and a Spiritblade at his hip - a wookiee vibrosword essentially.
He sat down heavily next to me and gave me a pointed look. "You have a standing invitation into my tribe's home for a visit, to be done at your earliest convenience. My wife and son especially want to meet you."
I looked up at him and shook my head, "Sorry, wife and son? What's their names?" Of course, I knew Chewbacca had an immediate family, but to already have offspring? He therefore was clearly older than I had imagined and I just sucked at telling a wookiee's true age from appearance alone. I probably should've used the Force, but I had been so focused on sheer survival that such a trivial detail had escaped me. I focused on that now and immediately sensed that I was a spring chicken in comparison. He was definitely over a century old, maybe even 150. His relative skinniness was because he had not reached his 'prime', which was somewhere around two centuries for wookiees or maybe that was just his nature. It also helped that he was now properly groomed and cleaned, his fur gave a lot of volume and created the impression he was bigger, the armor also helped a lot with that.
"My wife's name is Mallotobuck and my son's is Lumpawaroo."
"I'll remember that. I hope she wasn't too hard on you."
"Our lifetimes are long, Ahsoka. Separation is painful but it's accepted in times of war and strife. She understands well and is grateful to you beyond measure for saving my life. Though I warn you that Lumpawaroo will be a pest with every question under the canopy for you."
"How old is he?"
"Twelve standard years," Chewie said with a forlorn tone and I sensed a sorrow in him. "He will be ready to take the Krrsihr in a month and I know I will not be there for it. Sorry, it's the coming-of-age ritual all wookiees take at that age. They have to enter into the wilds alone and return with silk fibers from a syren plant."
Given that more than half of every plant on Kashyyyk was some flavor of carnivorous with all manner of methods of luring prey and even moving in a limited fashion, this was clearly not as simple as picking a flower in a field.
I would not dishonor the life debt and apologize for this, as the blame rightfully belonged with the original trandoshan who had abducted Chewie and who had already died by my hand.
The shuttle rumbled and whined as its repulsors pushed it off the bay deck and barely a few seconds later was clear of the exterior hangar doors of the Clarity.
"Chewie, question, how comfortable are you swimming?"
"Very comfortable. We train as pups, though it is something avoided as we grow older. Freshwater is agreeable, but saltwater is awful on our fur."
"What about under the water?"
I felt Chewbacca's immediate dread at the very thought. He looked at me with wide, intent eyes. "Why do you ask?"
I patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll be able to train on our way to Mon Cala, after we fit you up with some SCUBA gear."
He just shook his head rapidly, "No, please… anything but this."
"Can a bowcaster fire underwater by the way?"
His mouth opened and what looked like an aghast expression on his wookiee features, "Ahsoka!"
It was a three and half day journey to Junkfort.
It got its name from the only thing of real interest in the system, a very ugly space station that orbited the local star where a second planet usually was. Only in Junkfort's case, there hadn't been enough stellar material left over from the star's formation and the system only featured a single barely habitable rock that was only used by locals for mining.
Its other notable reason for existing was simply its position and status as a prime smuggling route from Hutt space directly into what had been Republic space in the Outer Rim. Spice from the Kessel mines flowed through here.
Junkfort station itself was an agglomeration of large starships and modules cobbled together to form a far greater structure. It was large enough even to act as a shipyard in its own right, but usually just served to upgrade and modify the starships of smugglers with all sorts of systems and parts that were illegal in Republic space.
Then the advent of the Clone War and the Treaty with the Hutts had hit the system and its denizens like a meteor.
Junkfort was now the primary staging system of the Thirteenth Sector Army of the GAR, which had added a Golan Defense Platform into a low orbit of the only planet and a Haven class medical station. Navy ships of every description and role arrived and departed to support the current battlefront in the Boonta system, which was just 9 hours away in a coreward direction.
The smugglers of Junkfort kept their heads low for the most part and got on with their business. Those who were stupid didn't last long in the smuggling business, so they knew not to mess with the clones who could wipe out their little space station with a few volleys from a star destroyer. In the same vein, the Republic couldn't really mess with the smuggling because that would jeopardize the treaty with the Hutts. So a live and let live paradigm had quietly developed between the men of the 13th Army and the smugglers who made Junkfort their home and waystation.
Waiting for us near the Golan station was Master Koon's own brand new flagship Venator, the Judgment and two others, Hammer and Vigil.
It was nice walking onto the bridge, because it almost felt like the Resolute. The Judgment had all the same incremental improvements but these had been built in from day one. My correspondence with Lira Blissex at KDY was bearing very interesting fruit indeed.
Behind me I felt Chewie looking around with naked interest at everything around him. For all his diverse skills developed over many years, being an excellent shot, a pilot, the big wookiee was at heart a techie and he was clearly taking mental notes.
He wouldn't ordinarily have been allowed here, but I had neatly solved that problem by effectively deputizing him in the Jedi Order. A fact visibly demonstrated by the Jedi symbol pinned onto his armored bandoleer and giving him a brevet rank of a Lieutenant in the GAR. He'd have much to learn on the job, as I had.
"Welcome to the Judgment," Master Koon greeted, standing next to the command chair.
"Nice ship," Anakin conceded.
"That it is, Skywalker. I'm afraid further pleasantries must be postponed. I need you to remain in Junkfort to take command and finish assembling the task group for the eventual battle on Mon Cala. Ahoska and myself must make the best speed towards the target system in the meantime with what we've already assembled. The vanguard of the CIS fleet has increased speed and we need to stop them. The Mon Cala has other infrastructure and colonies in their system and this vanguard will be able to wreak havoc before our task group arrives."
Anakin clearly didn't like the idea, but saw the necessity of it.
"I'll plant my flag on the Golan until the Resolute arrives then. Senator Amidala and a gungan army division is on its way as well."
"Interesting," Koon mused. "Is she in command of them?"
"Yes, Boss Lyonie insisted it as a condition for them coming."
"I hope they are not delayed on the way. I've already begun training the troops we have here on the Judgment as best as we can to simulate underwater battles and we will be at a disadvantage. A single normally non-lethal hit on a trooper is usually enough for an instant kill, as their suit integrity is compromised and the ocean does the rest."
"I've been thinking about that and I think the gungans have something that will definitely help there," Anakin smirked.
"Good, Ahsoka, Chewbacca, get yourself some quarters on board, we leave within the hour."
The push to the Mon Calamari system took a further two days of navigation through the weaving hyperlanes of the sector. As much as it slowed down our approach it's also what kept the door open to enter the system from the south.
There were eight significant celestial bodies in the system, four planets and four 'ice worlds'. Essentially minor planetoids that were primarily used as resource extraction colonies, with their primary export being the freshwater ice and other minerals that were then shipped to Mon Cala which sat in the second orbit around the star.
Mon Cala, or Dac, as it was known in the local tongue, was a world of 95% ocean, with the only landmass being minor islands and thin archipelagos. It was currently home to 27 billion sentients and two species, the Mon Cala and the Quarren. The former having evolved in the shallows of the planet's oceans, whilst the latter in the deeper depths. This naturally led to conflict, but those wars were so ancient, it had been over long before even the Old Republic had made first contact. The Mon Cala and Quarren had already been united under a single monarchical government and spacefaring with primitive hyperdrives, when Old Republic explorers had found them.
"Any updates from Mon Cala?" I asked Master Koon as we both stood over the primary bridge holotank, displaying the full extent of the system to us.
"Not since their last contact a day ago," Koon shook his head. "I think that we're going to find the Separatist vanguard has beaten us here."
He walked off to his command seat, sat down and opened a comlink. "All ships, battlestations. Set condition one. Prepare for a combat emergence from hyper."
The effect was immediate as combat alarms wailed and the bridge lighting changed to a dim blue. Bridge crewmen strapped themselves into harnesses and donned helmets and sealed the bodysuits under their uniforms to potential vacuum rated conditions.
I threaded my lekku and montrals into my helmet, sealed it up and strapped myself into a nearby seat.
My mind reached out and I double checked that Chewie was managing to get into his own vac suit. He had decided to make himself useful in the Judgment's engineering spaces, neatly fitting in under the command of the chief engineer down there.
Soon enough…
"Emergence in 3… 2… 1…"
The three star destroyers burst into existence in normal space at the extreme edge of the Mon Cala system, a million kilometers beyond the outermost orbit of Iceworld Four.
I glared into the holotank as passive sensors pulled in data and rendered it as fast as it could.
The good news, no enemy ships were within any weapons range out here. The bad, a wolfpack of four Munificent frigates and one Recusant was around Iceworld Three and already laying siege to it.
Iceworld Three was currently in a south-easterly position around the star, giving it a distance from the Republic vanguard of about 97 million kilometers.
"What do you think, Ahsoka?"
I pulled up the database stats for Iceworld Three.
"Four thousand people work and call that place home, Master. Their automated defenses are unmanned ground turrets and satellite based. They won't hold for much longer. We have no choice. We use a micro jump, launching everything at them as we come out."
My hands reached into the holotank and designated an emergence that would put us ten thousand kilometers z-positive over the enemy.
It sucked to use the new tactic now and not against the main enemy fleet, but it was either this or watch as everyone down there died.
Master Koon fully understood the dilemma. "Very well. Nav, plot a jump."
"Plotting a jump, General."
Using the full power of three networked navcomputers between the Judgment, Hammer and Vigil, with dozens of astromechs, the jump was plotted in just under eight minutes.
"Engaging hyperjump."
For all that it had been tested with as much secrecy as possible, deep in the core worlds, it was still a butt clenching moment. It was only possible because of the next generation of hyper initiators fitted to the newest drives built in KDY. They still had the label of experimental attached to them and the chance of something going catastrophically wrong was there. The needs of war had pushed them through the decades of testing that would've been done in peacetime.
The view of space outside streaked and tore, the typical tunnel of hyperspace barely finished forming before it already tore apart and resolved into normal space again.
Iceworld Three's very small mass shadow really helped here and all three Venators found themselves a mere nine thousand kilometers above the enemy.
In any other situation, the jump would've been a nasty failure due to the inaccuracy.
"Open fire," Master Koon ordered evenly.
The Venators' ripple fired sixteen torpedoes each, even as they oriented to bring their noses down towards the enemy.
The clone gunners and computers had broad dorsal aiming profiles on the surprised enemy fleet.
Barely seconds later as the droid Tri-fighters and Vultures began peeling off the Munificents, the turbolasers of the Republic vanguard spoke.
The dorsal shields of a Munificent held for only a moment, before popping under combined onslaught, where a follow up salvo slammed into the upper hull armor, gouging out huge craters and sending flash fried atmosphere into space to be snuffed out.
The third salvo smashed into the rear engineering spaces and secondary explosions began ripping throughout the ship.
The torpedo assault arrived, also targeting only a single Munificent to saturate the point defenses.
Even so, 33 torpedoes were intercepted, leaving fifteen to slam into the shields of the unfortunate Munificent.
The first eight did the job of battering them down, whilst the last seven finished their attack runs, detonating directly against the hull.
A bright flash of light and an expanding shell of energetic debris heralded its complete destruction.
Hyena bombers now pushed themselves off the remaining Munificents, as the Vultures and Tri-fighters quickly closed the distance.
"Launch counter missiles," ordered Master Koon.
The space around Judgment, Hammer and Vigil was quickly turned into the most beautiful sight to my eyes, a near Macross style missile massacre.
All of which was aimed at the incoming enemy fighters.
Who in turn began firing their own forward cannons to saturate space in front of them.
Counter missiles died in scores but their development was the Republic's response to the game of numbers that the CIS constantly used.
In moments, over 140 enemy fighters were reduced to flaming debris and wreckage still coasting with their initial momentum.
The three star destroyer's point defense armament erupted as the ranges closed even further, targeting the survivors of the first enemy fighter wave.
The two remaining Munificents began orienting to bring their own spinal turbolaser armament to bear, whilst the Recusant began peppering the Hammer with its own turbolasers.
Hammer began retasking its defense, using its interceptors to slap away more and more turbolaser blasts, at the cost of letting more fighters go.
"Enemy target locks!" reported Sensors.
Twenty six enemy torpedoes launched into space and immediately started burning right for the Judgment.
"Retask next counter missile salvo. Time on Target barrage on Munificent Theta," Master Koon snapped.
"Theta, acknowledged," reported Guns.
The three Venators spewed counter missiles, torpedoes and turbolaser in a stupendous barrage of concentrated firepower.
The targeted Munificent shields barely mattered in the equation. They went down as it was still turning to bring its spinal armament to bear and took the salvos right on the chin.
Four torpedoes made it through the active point defenses and utterly obliterated the spinal turbolasers.
Secondary explosions visibly crawled along the length of the Munificent, its power system and reactor scramming just in time to prevent a catastrophic overload.
It immediately began listing in an uncontrolled manner as it simply obeyed the laws of motion and all turbolaser and cannon fire shut down.
Whether the droid crew could save the ship at this point was made moot, when the Republic vanguard released another barrage.
The third bright flash of light lit up the void as Munificent Theta became a huge spherical eruption of energy, fire and debris.
"I want a maximum barrage of counter missiles, point defense to prioritize Hyenas."
It took a nerve-wracking half a minute for that to happen.
Master Koon had also clearly foreseen what was going to happen when the CIS vanguard was on its last legs.
The last Munificent was shattered when suddenly every remaining enemy fighter began going on suicide runs, becoming missiles themselves instead of programmed droid fighters.
Space around the Republic vanguard turned into a chaotic maelstrom as the Venators emptied their counter missile launchers in a huge wave, every erg of energy pushed to the interceptors and point defense cannons.
Even the Recusant turned and redlined its engines, aiming itself to ram the Vigil.
Vultures, tri-fighters and Hyenas died en-masse.
So dense was the counter fire that enemy fighters simply ceased to exist, their debris being hammered by laser, plasma and immolating proton hammers from counter missiles.
I felt a shudder through the bridge deck as a Tri-fighter managed to weather the storm and slammed itself into the ventral shields of the Judgment.
A Hyena and Vulture ended their existence on the ventral shields of the Hammer.
"Time on target barrage, get that Recusant out of my battlespace," Master Koon grumbled, as Vigil also took hits.
My concentration peaked as the Battle Meditation fell on every soul in the vanguard.
I didn't want to pull this technique on every battle I was involved in but this was insane!
The Recusant's shields died, turbolaser blasts hit and hit, gouts of fire erupting from the forward hull, yet the thing kept spiraling in. It's shifting narrow front profile absorbing all the incoming fire.
"Full torpedo launch, attack its engines!" shouted Master Koon.
48 torpedoes were ejected into the maelstrom of fire that the Venators were projecting outward.
Such was the chaotic nature of space around the ships at the moment, that only 28 of them survived getting through the inner defensive perimeter.
Yet the Recusant's active defenses were still up around the rear quarters of the ship.
Five torpedoes survived to enter their terminal attack runs.
Space flashed as the rear engine modules of the ship vanished in a blue liberation of energy.
What was left of the Recusant was physically propelled forward as if it was a nuclear pulse detonation ship.
"Evasive action!"
The Vigil's captain had already taken the initiative to do so.
The moment the wreckage of the Recusant became uncontrolled and predictable, every bit of propulsion the ship had was engaged to evade.
Turbolaser blasts slammed into the wreckage and debris.
Vigil's tractor beams joined in the effort in repulsion mode.
The Venator's shields blossomed into visibility as the wreckage just scraped off its port side.
The entire Republic vanguard let out a breath in relief.
With the orbitals secure, just under an hour later I found myself inside a LAAT gunship alongside Chewie and Commander Wolffe of 104th Clone Battalion.
Fifteen companies of troops were huddled inside the gunships, which were in close formation with carrier ships hauling a full squadron of TX-130 Saber tanks. Z-95 Headhunters ranged around us in escort formation, whilst more squadrons went ahead to secure the airspace over the small industrial colony of Iceworld Three.
Our attack had caught the deployment of the Separatists to the colony completely flatfooted.
A number of C9979 landing craft were unloading war droid companies and the beginnings of a battle had already started.
The colony was primarily situated underneath the massive ranging glaciers, with huge domes sticking out of them that allowed the weak sunlight into the colony and air to circulate. The domes had primarily automated defenses on their perimeter, with large laser and plasma turrets that would pop out of the ice.
It was all meant to deter piracy and large scale raids, as the Mon Cala knew that help was hours away at best speed from the homeworld.
I looked grimly into the small gunship holotank across from Commander Wolffe.
The clone commander was distinguished by a large scar across his right eye that slashed vertically down. The souvenir of a direct hand to hand fight with a BX droid that the commander had won. That eye had been replaced with a milky white cybernetic, that gave the man a rather fearsome countenance. In this case, it was not without merit and the outside was now merely reflecting the temperament of the clone.
"It's like the Seppies threw their entire catalog of equipment at these Mon Cala; B1s, 2s, BX, STAPs, DSD1s, Persuader tanks and AATs. Hyenas for air to ground bombardment. What for? It's overkill," he said with a sneer. Then we saw one of the defensive emplacements open fire and it utterly obliterated an AAT with a single shot. "Oh, nice."
"Little known fact commander," I said with a small smirk. "The Mon Cala has a high level of technology. In some areas of high energy physics they're more advanced than the general galactic standard and they've been very good at obscuring it. My personal wish is to one day refit the Resolute with Mon Cala built turbolasers and chuck the Taim & Bak guns into the bin."
"That'd be a sight to see, commander." An eager light entered his eyes. Yes, this clone really liked his guns and explosions.
"So, the enemy position has definitely forced our hand somewhat here. Our hovering Saber tanks make the glacial terrain not as much of an obstacle, but traction for troops is going to be problematic, even with their cold gear. We're going to have to land directly in the action as close as possible." I tapped the positions I had in mind on the holo.
Wolffe looked at the holo and nodded in agreement. "If we didn't have air cover, I'd say it'd be suicide, but the Z95s doing some strafing runs and landing ground ordinance will be just what we need. The gunships will definitely have to help as well."
I nodded, "Let's get it done, commander. We need to evac this entire colony before the main force of Seppies arrive."
"Are we going to be repeating this dance at the other Iceworlds?"
"Unlikely, at that point the word of the invasion will have spread and the Mon Cala will be able to do it themselves with those big ships of theirs. Chewie," I turned to the big wookiee. "No matter what, you stick like glue to me. Understand?"
He nodded his shaggy head.
"Good, let's be about it."
In over a century of life, Chewbacca had fought many beings for his life and survival in the forest of Kashyyyk. He could even say he'd fought the Trade Federation before, fighting alongside his father and leading an entire tribe of wookiees to claim the rediscovered moon of Alaris Prime for his people. A time when the soulless corporation still only had the B1 droid and the AAT in its arsenal.
The doors to the gunship opened onto the icescape below and he knew immediately that the 'battle' for Alaris was barely a skirmish in comparison to what he was about to experience.
The local sun barely illuminated the terrain, giving a stark contrast to blasts and beams of plasma and laser that scythed across the battlefield from both sides.
He felt his heart race in fear and his eyes widened as he took in the scene. Yet somehow, that fear had no restraint on his actions at all. There was no doubt, there was only surety.
The gunship thumped as it landed and he fell in awkward steps behind Ahsoka as they all spilled out onto the ice.
He felt the hard spikes of his hastily built 'shoes' bite and gain traction.
Wookiees made it a point of pride to never cover their big feet with anything. The soles of their feet hardened naturally through rigorous exploration of the forests, but there was some terrain that the wookiee foot couldn't conquer.
Ahsoka's lightsabers burst into life angrily and began an eye-catching, beautiful spectacle around her.
His mind barely took it in though as he roared a challenge into the dim day of this world, shouldered his bowcaster and got to work rendering these droids into scrap.
His first shot of the day didn't miss as it speared through two B1s standing behind each other, hurling both backward and knocking over three others.
The cacophony of battle washed over him.
He saw Z-95s screaming overhead, their cannons sending streams of bolts scything through droid formations.
Saber tanks side strafing to avoid missiles from B2 rocket droids, before their dual heavy laser cannons retaliated, sending ice and droid wreckage flying upward.
Ahsoka deflecting blaster shots straight back at the enemy, before suddenly kneeling, hands against the ice.
Then things began happening that seemed straight from wookiee myth.
All along the Republic line of advance, the ice itself seemed to heave upward, forming barriers of cover behind which the troops could take shelter from the fire of the enemy.
Chewie barely kept his astonishment from overtaking his reason, firing the final shot from his bowcaster; destroying a B2.
As the tallest person on the battlefield, he kept himself low in a running crouch behind the lightsabers of Ahsoka as she rose again and resumed her advance.
He slapped home a new magazine for his bowcaster and immediately marked in the distance an AAT with a boxy droid sticking its head out.
He counted his blessings and fired, a moment later the droid had no head.
'Nice shot, Chewie, one tac droid down.'
He understood how valuable being able to speak on a battlefield was. Through the Force, it wouldn't be affected by distance, jamming or conventional technology, but Ahsoka's thoughts coming directly into his head was rather creepy on a visceral level.
Their advance had reached another point where she had to use the Force to generate more cover for her troops.
She did so but this time didn't stop there.
A multitude of ice chunks almost two meters large also rose into the air and shot themselves forward at great speed.
They bowled into the droid formations wrecking and burying scores of droids.
As much as she was doing to help, the tanks destroying scores of droids, the Headhunters scything the ground, Chewie could see they were also leaving behind many bodies as troopers were inevitably hit by droid fire.
Ahsoka ducked into cover behind her own ice redoubt, her breathing was harsh and deep, her eyes closed.
He knelt next to her in concern, but she immediately patted his shoulder in reassurance.
"I'm fine, just a bit winded."
A line of Saber tanks advanced, launchers popped out of their hulls and sent missiles streaking into the sky to shoot down a squadron of Hyena bombers that had been attempting to make a run on the advancing Republic troops.
She took a deep breath in and out before her sabers seemed to move with their usual speed again and stepped out from behind the redoubt and into the fire again.
Chewbacca followed and unleashed his bowcaster.
His perception of the battle narrowed, there were only targets, taking the shot and keeping himself low behind Ahsoka.
More carrier ships made combat drops behind them, letting go of the AT-TE tanks, who immediately began sending mass driver rounds into the opposing enemy AATs.
The onboard Repeaters scythed across the enemy lines.
Missiles arced straight towards Ahsoka from the Persuader tanks in the rear of the enemy lines.
Chewbacca had no time to feel fear at all as she made sweeping gestures of her hands, causing the missiles to either veer wildly off course to detonate among the enemy or even send it straight back to the tank who had fired.
DSD1 spider droids rapidly crawled forward on their legs, sending blaster cannon shots that destroyed a number of advancing Saber tanks.
Z-95s swooped in on a fresh run, sending scores of concussion missiles that hammered them from above.
Then Chewbacca heard an annoying whine cut across the air as a swarm of STAPs with B1 droids piloting them descended on the battlefield.
Their Repeaters forced the advancing troops to either seek cover or be cut down from above.
The AT-TE's turned their own Repeaters skyward on their ball turrets and started to retaliate against the STAPs, sending numerous of the flying vehicles to spin out of control and crash.
Ahsoka blurred and sent a bolt that had been going for her head back into the distance, one of her green blades now permanently orbited him.
'Commando droids are sniping into the battlefield,' she commented.
Chewie felt a mental itch and traced it to his left, he raised his bowcaster, flicking the button that raised the integral scope out of its housing.
He sighted on the two BX droids on a glacial hill just over three hundred meters away.
He felt invisible hands gently guide the bowcaster, adjusting the aim slightly.
'Now,' Ashoka thought.
Chewie pulled the trigger.
The hybrid plasma bolt took less than a second to cross the distance, then cored straight through the prone BX's head, continued through the majority of its body before exiting out between its legs.
He fired again, sending its partner into digital oblivion.
Ahsoka raised an ice redoubt in front of her, ducked behind and gestured for him to join her.
He did so and was surprised when he regained some situational awareness.
They had gone as far as they could, the majority of the enemy B1s and B2s were destroyed and left as wreckage behind them. The colony domes were looming ahead.
All that was left was the tank battle between the remaining Separatist forces.
The Republic spearhead had succeeded in driving a wedge straight through them, dividing the enemy into two camps.
Ahsoka projected a holo from her palm showing the battlefield in detail, then began tapping into it and issuing orders over the radio.
Saber and AT-TEs split their advance, turning left and right.
Whilst new carriers arrived and dropped more Republic tanks on each flank of the divided enemy, completing an envelopment that Chewie couldn't help but feel in awe of at how smoothly and professionally it was done.
"Nicely done, Chewie, nineteen kills," she said over the radio, even as she adjusted and worked with the holo in her palm.
"Really?" he asked in surprise. He checked his ammo pouches and had to concede her observation as having merit. "It's certainly only because you shielded me that it was so easy."
"I helped there, yes, but many clones can say the same thing. It's why I'm here. Your performance under fire was excellent nevertheless for someone who's never experienced a battle of this scale."
Z-95s streaked overhead, launching another volley into the trapped enemy.
"What now?"
"Now we begin the hard part, convincing people to leave behind their homes."
"Ahsoka, come in," said the voice of Master Koon.
"Ahsoka here, what is it, master?"
"We've determined the cause of the silence from the Mon Cala. King Kolina has been assassinated."
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Chapter 82
If there was one thing I could say about King Grakchawwaa at my first meeting with him, was that he had little patience for pomp, ceremony or speeches.
In the Force, he was a burning bonfire of frustration and anger that barely tolerated the walking pace of inspecting the parade company of clone troopers.
Grakchawwaa himself was a towering wookiee, easily clearing 2.4 meters. He wore similar armor to many of his warriors with the only extra ostentation of his station being a leather circlet set with a single clear jewel on his head. His fur was a deep chestnut brown and was braided around his shoulders to form a stylized 'beard'.
My own attention was somewhat caught by his 'shuttle'. It was a traditional wookiee ship made of wroshyr wood and the sheer artistry was breathtaking. It blurred the line between functional secure transport that could carry someone of Grakchawwaa's position and a work of installation art that could stand in a museum. The shipwright had started with a saucer shape as the base and built it outward, using flaring organic shapes inspired by wroshyr leaves. Yet I could see they managed to integrate a lifting body design in the base, clearly giving redundancy in case the engines, shields and repulsors failed in the atmosphere. The exterior hull also had elaborate relief carvings that depicted ancient wookiees and various stories from their history.
"General Skywalker, as much as I know what protocol dictates should come next, I have little time," Grakchawwaa said.
"Certainly highness, we'll head to the fortress immediately then."
The king had arrived with a guard of eighteen armored wookiees, who looked almost ready to fight an entire ship's company of droids or clones, given how heavily they were armed. Four of them remained at the king's side as we headed into the turbolift.
The lift hadn't even gone a few seconds in its journey before Grakchawwaa said, "I understand you rescued one of my people from those butchers before they could hunt him."
"That's correct, highness. Though my padawan was primarily responsible."
I heard Grakchawwaa's nose subtly pulling in more air.
He turned and speared me with questing eyes, "I trust you will not abuse the honor, young Jedi."
That he had deduced already spoke of a very shrewd and clever king, including a very sensitive nose. I had no doubt that Chewbacca's scent was on me, especially my left hand.
"No, majesty. I know the significance of the debt and the responsibilities it bestows on me."
"Good. The life debt tradition of my people has been abused in the past, on many occasions by aliens. Some had even caused the very events that put the wookiee's life in danger, only to swoop in and 'save' them. Two thousand years ago, we instituted a law that the king at his own discretion may evaluate and void a life debt if necessary."
"Prudent and wise, majesty. Do you want to speak to Chewbacca?"
"I trust the Jedi of Yoda, but in these turbulent times…" he trailed off. "I will set aside five minutes to speak to him."
Our tour of the Ubrikkian fortress proceeded uneventfully for the most part, but I had to admire the self-control of Grakchawwaa. When he set eyes on the wookiee pelts and the stuffed wookiee statues on prominent display in a trophy room, it looked like he was about ready to pop his claws and go on a rampage of anger on everything. His bodyguards were less circumspect and they let out low audible growls. He also paused to examine the trophy remains of other species, seemingly paying his respects for each life lost.
"Skywalker…" Grakchawwaa mused, before his eyes lit in realization. "You were in the Battle of Alaris?"
"As a padawan, yes majesty."
"And here you are, a knight with a padawan of your own. Where does all our time go? We wookiees have potentially so much of it compared to most other races in the galaxy. There's so much we can do in a lifetime, yet in this room we see centuries of it squandered. Reduced to be nothing more than displays for the vanity and pride of short lived lizards. Becoming no more than ephemeral numbers to appease their goddess!"
"Then they would throw in their lot with the soulless Separatists, buy their weapons to hunt and kill more of my kind. What's next? A full scale invasion of Kashyyyk?"
"They would have to break through the Republic lines at Boonta to mount such an invasion."
"It's just three major systems between Boonta and Kashyyyk, General Skywalker. Not to mention if the Separatists manage to infiltrate and steal the Claatuvac maps, then Republic defenses and trade routes in the east will be under dire threat. Now we have trandoshan 'renegades' armed with their weapons and hyperspace capable fighter bombers. If war comes to the Kashyyyk system, our vigilance on those maps may wane, it will drain the strength of my people."
"No doubt this is by design."
"The Royal Council and myself have kept our people as neutral as possible in this conflict, General Skywalker. War is in no one's interest but our enemies."
"So you will remain on the defensive."
"Our fleet is built for that."
"You lost two ships to just four squadrons of fighters. You'll need more ships."
"Please General, we know the odds. At a base level, the trandoshans reproduce faster than we do. Their population outnumbers ours by orders of magnitude. They can easily afford to throw bodies at a problem and if it should ever enter their heads to cooperate properly beyond their laughably token government, their industrial capacity would also outstrip ours."
That was another aspect of how peace was kept between the two races. The trandoshans were by their nature fierce individualists and seekers of personal glory. They only held true loyalty to their own families and genetic lines at best. Even kin killing was known to happen if a bad enough rivalry between clutchmates existed. Their government was the very definition of minimal and had little real power. It was another reason why they didn't have a senator on Coruscant.
In retrospect, that someone had managed to organize forty-eight trandoshan pilots into squadrons and for them to perform as they had in the battle, was very odd. By all rights, it should've broken down into an easy turkey shoot as all the individual trandoshans tried to score kills with very little coordination. This was a fact that was clearly not lost on King Grakchawwaa.
"So the best we can do is keep any fighting in space and keep our crews as small as possible."
"Majesty, you know that sooner or later, the Separatists will come to you and offer the choice they've given to many worlds," I said pointedly.
"I will climb that tree when the day comes, young padawan. I will fight to postpone that day for as long as possible. Hopefully, long enough for the GAR to finally bring this war to some resolution, one way or the other." He turned to one of his bodyguards, "Rhil, scan the remains and organize for their retrieval, we can finally bring some closure to the tribes and families. Now come, Padawan Tano, show me to Chewbacca."
Chewie's talk with the king wasn't something I could be anywhere near, but it was at least interesting to see briefly how social strata worked in wookiee society. There was no bowing or elaborate ceremony or special language. It was a simple bow of the head, crossed arms with hands exposed to show that his claws were properly sheathed and that was it.
I left the docked fortress for the Clarity's bridge only to find Anakin standing at the tactical planning holotank, looking thoughtfully at a massive fleet arrangement and starmap that could only be one thing.
"Snips, take a look," he invited.
It didn't take me more than a few moments, "We've secured Mossak."
"And Arcan, we've completely cut off the Salin Corridor from Separatist control and influence."
"Good news."
He nodded, "Unfortunately, as with everything in this war, bad news comes as well." He swiped his hands through the holo and the full galactic map appeared. "Our momentum in the south has stalled."
"Again?" I asked incredulously.
"Resistance was stiffer than expected and the Separatists have begun fielding tri-fighters in larger numbers. Our own reinforcements for the south were delayed due to many factors, but the main one is that KDY is struggling to meet the demand. They're increasing the number of yards dedicated to the Venator and making changes as we need them in response to the lessons learned in the war, but that is slowing production down. Clones and crew are for once, not the problem. Kamino has released a new cadre and there is some talk of a new armor for them being designed as well."
Was this the genesis of Phase 2 armor?
"The siege of the Techno Union's Foerost Shipyards has also shown no further meaningful progress." The holo changed to a core world sector.
If there was one thing that could help Venator and warship production in general, then it would be recapture of that shipyard. Unfortunately, the shipyard's defenses were formidable and when the TU had turned to the CIS, they'd quickly turned the guns on anything Republic. That siege had begun at the beginning of the war and after more than a year, there was no sign of that changing any time soon. The TU were deep behind enemy lines but Foerost had been built up precisely because it had been captured so many times in the history of the Old Republic. It was specifically built to act as a bastion system behind which the Republic could rebuild an offensive force in a worst case scenario.
"That siege takes too long and I bet anything the Union is going to emerge from there with a warship fleet crewed by droids that we're going to struggle to defeat."
Anakin shrugged, "The ships required to punch through those defenses just aren't there yet."
Same story, there were just too many demands on the GAR. Yet, if we could flip those massive shipyards, then it would go a long way to easing up production shortages and be a significant tide turner in the war.
"Anything else?"
"No, every other front is static, we put most of our effort into Mossak and everything will be focused on holding-"
The holotank flashed with an alert, the galaxy map vanishing to be replaced with the Jedi symbol and 'Incoming transmission' boldly written underneath.
Next the hugely rendered torso and head of Master Plo Koon appeared.
"Master Koon?" Anakin frowned.
"Skywalker, Ahsoka, well done on your rescue of our missing padawans and the resolution of matters in Kashyyyk. I'm afraid that we have a new problem." His holoform abruptly shrank and now he was sharing the connection with someone else.
A venerable Mon Calamari, bedecked in organic golden armor, with a thorny crown and shroud covering his conical head. His bright blue eyes with huge black pupils conveyed a sharp intelligence, whilst his mouth was thinned in a grave expression. His shiny orange skin had a slight distortion that I could just make out and I quickly realized that he was actually underwater as the holoscanner captured him.
"This is King Yos Kolina of the Mon Cala."
"General Skywalker, Commander Tano, a pleasure to meet you both," said King Kolina with a slight burble accenting each of his words.
We bowed our heads.
"The pleasure is ours, highness. What seems to be the problem?" Anakin asked.
"The situation in the Mon Cala system is grave. Long range scans have detected a Separatist fleet approaching via the Overic Griplink hyperlane." That was a hyper route known for being the furthest major lane on the very outer reaches of the galaxy in the north-east. Another holo appeared above showing the scans in question. "It's a fleet centered around a Providence carrier variant and twenty three Munificents in close escort. However, there is a vanguard that will arrive sooner."
"No doubt to soften and test your defenses," I mused. My mind was not preoccupied with logistics and what assets we could throw at the CIS, however. The Force was flicking my montrals, to butcher the expression.
"Undoubtedly. My people remain loyal to the Republic, Generals. We do not have the strength to resist this force in space. Our only hope is to force a conventional confrontation underwater."
The days of the giant Mon Calamari Star Cruisers being the backbone of the Rebel Alliance were not here yet. In fact, I was witnessing the first impetus that would give rise for the Mon Calamari to retool their famous underwater shipyards, which they used currently to construct the best passenger liners in the galaxy.
"Clones are trained for underwater operations and have the equipment, the specialized legion for that is generally held in reserve on Kamino, do we have the time?" Anakin asked.
"Even if you could mobilize them immediately, they wouldn't arrive in time to make a difference. Kamino is nearly ten days away using the Trellius Route and some of the hyperlanes on the southern interface near Mon Cala cannot accommodate large ships like the Venator. The only approach still open to you is via Junkfort station at the northern reaches of Hutt space."
Anakin closed his eyes briefly, the Force shifted and I vaguely felt him reach out to Padme.
"What of the gungans?" he proposed. "Naboo is relatively closer given the better hyperlanes we'd be working with. The gungan army has modernized to some extent and is the only other readily available aquatic force in the Republic."
"Any reinforcement would be welcome at this point, General," King Kolina said emphatically. "The Mon Calamari Guard has expanded greatly since the war began, but the Separatists know that."
"Yet they are coming anyway," Master Koon folded his arms. "That means they must have some kind of combat droid unit capable of underwater operations now."
"Think Republic Intel can be persuaded to reveal any information they have?" I asked wryly.
"They better or else I think a personal visit from Master Yoda will be in order," Master Koon grumbled.
I stared at the galaxy map around Mon Cala, "Have we asked the question of why?"
"Their objective, you mean, commander?" Kolina asked.
"Yes, highness. Is it simply conquest to secure their flank against a future scenario where Mon Cala is being used by the Republic as a stepping stone into the heart of the Separatist north or is it for some other purpose? You're only two days away from Raxus Prime. Your shipyards perhaps?"
Kolina fiddled with the fleshy small 'tentacles' under his mouth. "Perhaps. The Mon Cala Shipyards yoked to the Separatist war machine would be a nightmare this galaxy doesn't want to see."
"If they want to capture the industry and shipyards of Mon Cala intact, that does give us some room to maneuver," Anakin pointed out.
"It would depend on how many aqua droids they have to use, we can also bet they'll use cloaked Trident class assault ships again."
Master Koon nodded in agreement, "We must all make best speed to Junkfort. We'll gather our forces from the local garrison, including reinforcements from our bases in northern Hutt space, creating a task group. Skywalker, contact Senator Amidala and relay our request for reinforcements from the gungans using the fastest ships they have access to."
"Yes, master."
"Thank you, Generals. You give this old king hope."
"We'll be there as soon as we can, highness."
"May the Force be with us."
As much as I wished the Clarity would stay in Kashyyyk, it threatened the wookiee's non-alignment too much. It was no surprise then that King Grakchawwaa formally thanked us for stopping the 'rogue elements', rescuing the victims, repatriating the remains of the killed wookiees, rescuing Chewbacca and in the most diplomatic manner possible, told us to get the star destroyer out of his system immediately.
Anakin and I commandeered a Nu-class military shuttle from the Clarity, loaded all the surviving ARC troopers and Blades aboard, including my new royally approved life debtee.
Chewie boarded the shuttle now properly looking like he was ready for war. He had visited Kashyyyk for a few hours, sorted out affairs with his own family, donned wroshyr armor, his own personal bowcaster, a Heartlance - a spear-like vibro weapon for keeping enemies at a distance, and a Spiritblade at his hip - a wookiee vibrosword essentially.
He sat down heavily next to me and gave me a pointed look. "You have a standing invitation into my tribe's home for a visit, to be done at your earliest convenience. My wife and son especially want to meet you."
I looked up at him and shook my head, "Sorry, wife and son? What's their names?" Of course, I knew Chewbacca had an immediate family, but to already have offspring? He therefore was clearly older than I had imagined and I just sucked at telling a wookiee's true age from appearance alone. I probably should've used the Force, but I had been so focused on sheer survival that such a trivial detail had escaped me. I focused on that now and immediately sensed that I was a spring chicken in comparison. He was definitely over a century old, maybe even 150. His relative skinniness was because he had not reached his 'prime', which was somewhere around two centuries for wookiees or maybe that was just his nature. It also helped that he was now properly groomed and cleaned, his fur gave a lot of volume and created the impression he was bigger, the armor also helped a lot with that.
"My wife's name is Mallotobuck and my son's is Lumpawaroo."
"I'll remember that. I hope she wasn't too hard on you."
"Our lifetimes are long, Ahsoka. Separation is painful but it's accepted in times of war and strife. She understands well and is grateful to you beyond measure for saving my life. Though I warn you that Lumpawaroo will be a pest with every question under the canopy for you."
"How old is he?"
"Twelve standard years," Chewie said with a forlorn tone and I sensed a sorrow in him. "He will be ready to take the Krrsihr in a month and I know I will not be there for it. Sorry, it's the coming-of-age ritual all wookiees take at that age. They have to enter into the wilds alone and return with silk fibers from a syren plant."
Given that more than half of every plant on Kashyyyk was some flavor of carnivorous with all manner of methods of luring prey and even moving in a limited fashion, this was clearly not as simple as picking a flower in a field.
I would not dishonor the life debt and apologize for this, as the blame rightfully belonged with the original trandoshan who had abducted Chewie and who had already died by my hand.
The shuttle rumbled and whined as its repulsors pushed it off the bay deck and barely a few seconds later was clear of the exterior hangar doors of the Clarity.
"Chewie, question, how comfortable are you swimming?"
"Very comfortable. We train as pups, though it is something avoided as we grow older. Freshwater is agreeable, but saltwater is awful on our fur."
"What about under the water?"
I felt Chewbacca's immediate dread at the very thought. He looked at me with wide, intent eyes. "Why do you ask?"
I patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll be able to train on our way to Mon Cala, after we fit you up with some SCUBA gear."
He just shook his head rapidly, "No, please… anything but this."
"Can a bowcaster fire underwater by the way?"
His mouth opened and what looked like an aghast expression on his wookiee features, "Ahsoka!"
It was a three and half day journey to Junkfort.
It got its name from the only thing of real interest in the system, a very ugly space station that orbited the local star where a second planet usually was. Only in Junkfort's case, there hadn't been enough stellar material left over from the star's formation and the system only featured a single barely habitable rock that was only used by locals for mining.
Its other notable reason for existing was simply its position and status as a prime smuggling route from Hutt space directly into what had been Republic space in the Outer Rim. Spice from the Kessel mines flowed through here.
Junkfort station itself was an agglomeration of large starships and modules cobbled together to form a far greater structure. It was large enough even to act as a shipyard in its own right, but usually just served to upgrade and modify the starships of smugglers with all sorts of systems and parts that were illegal in Republic space.
Then the advent of the Clone War and the Treaty with the Hutts had hit the system and its denizens like a meteor.
Junkfort was now the primary staging system of the Thirteenth Sector Army of the GAR, which had added a Golan Defense Platform into a low orbit of the only planet and a Haven class medical station. Navy ships of every description and role arrived and departed to support the current battlefront in the Boonta system, which was just 9 hours away in a coreward direction.
The smugglers of Junkfort kept their heads low for the most part and got on with their business. Those who were stupid didn't last long in the smuggling business, so they knew not to mess with the clones who could wipe out their little space station with a few volleys from a star destroyer. In the same vein, the Republic couldn't really mess with the smuggling because that would jeopardize the treaty with the Hutts. So a live and let live paradigm had quietly developed between the men of the 13th Army and the smugglers who made Junkfort their home and waystation.
Waiting for us near the Golan station was Master Koon's own brand new flagship Venator, the Judgment and two others, Hammer and Vigil.
It was nice walking onto the bridge, because it almost felt like the Resolute. The Judgment had all the same incremental improvements but these had been built in from day one. My correspondence with Lira Blissex at KDY was bearing very interesting fruit indeed.
Behind me I felt Chewie looking around with naked interest at everything around him. For all his diverse skills developed over many years, being an excellent shot, a pilot, the big wookiee was at heart a techie and he was clearly taking mental notes.
He wouldn't ordinarily have been allowed here, but I had neatly solved that problem by effectively deputizing him in the Jedi Order. A fact visibly demonstrated by the Jedi symbol pinned onto his armored bandoleer and giving him a brevet rank of a Lieutenant in the GAR. He'd have much to learn on the job, as I had.
"Welcome to the Judgment," Master Koon greeted, standing next to the command chair.
"Nice ship," Anakin conceded.
"That it is, Skywalker. I'm afraid further pleasantries must be postponed. I need you to remain in Junkfort to take command and finish assembling the task group for the eventual battle on Mon Cala. Ahoska and myself must make the best speed towards the target system in the meantime with what we've already assembled. The vanguard of the CIS fleet has increased speed and we need to stop them. The Mon Cala has other infrastructure and colonies in their system and this vanguard will be able to wreak havoc before our task group arrives."
Anakin clearly didn't like the idea, but saw the necessity of it.
"I'll plant my flag on the Golan until the Resolute arrives then. Senator Amidala and a gungan army division is on its way as well."
"Interesting," Koon mused. "Is she in command of them?"
"Yes, Boss Lyonie insisted it as a condition for them coming."
"I hope they are not delayed on the way. I've already begun training the troops we have here on the Judgment as best as we can to simulate underwater battles and we will be at a disadvantage. A single normally non-lethal hit on a trooper is usually enough for an instant kill, as their suit integrity is compromised and the ocean does the rest."
"I've been thinking about that and I think the gungans have something that will definitely help there," Anakin smirked.
"Good, Ahsoka, Chewbacca, get yourself some quarters on board, we leave within the hour."
The push to the Mon Calamari system took a further two days of navigation through the weaving hyperlanes of the sector. As much as it slowed down our approach it's also what kept the door open to enter the system from the south.
There were eight significant celestial bodies in the system, four planets and four 'ice worlds'. Essentially minor planetoids that were primarily used as resource extraction colonies, with their primary export being the freshwater ice and other minerals that were then shipped to Mon Cala which sat in the second orbit around the star.
Mon Cala, or Dac, as it was known in the local tongue, was a world of 95% ocean, with the only landmass being minor islands and thin archipelagos. It was currently home to 27 billion sentients and two species, the Mon Cala and the Quarren. The former having evolved in the shallows of the planet's oceans, whilst the latter in the deeper depths. This naturally led to conflict, but those wars were so ancient, it had been over long before even the Old Republic had made first contact. The Mon Cala and Quarren had already been united under a single monarchical government and spacefaring with primitive hyperdrives, when Old Republic explorers had found them.
"Any updates from Mon Cala?" I asked Master Koon as we both stood over the primary bridge holotank, displaying the full extent of the system to us.
"Not since their last contact a day ago," Koon shook his head. "I think that we're going to find the Separatist vanguard has beaten us here."
He walked off to his command seat, sat down and opened a comlink. "All ships, battlestations. Set condition one. Prepare for a combat emergence from hyper."
The effect was immediate as combat alarms wailed and the bridge lighting changed to a dim blue. Bridge crewmen strapped themselves into harnesses and donned helmets and sealed the bodysuits under their uniforms to potential vacuum rated conditions.
I threaded my lekku and montrals into my helmet, sealed it up and strapped myself into a nearby seat.
My mind reached out and I double checked that Chewie was managing to get into his own vac suit. He had decided to make himself useful in the Judgment's engineering spaces, neatly fitting in under the command of the chief engineer down there.
Soon enough…
"Emergence in 3… 2… 1…"
The three star destroyers burst into existence in normal space at the extreme edge of the Mon Cala system, a million kilometers beyond the outermost orbit of Iceworld Four.
I glared into the holotank as passive sensors pulled in data and rendered it as fast as it could.
The good news, no enemy ships were within any weapons range out here. The bad, a wolfpack of four Munificent frigates and one Recusant was around Iceworld Three and already laying siege to it.
Iceworld Three was currently in a south-easterly position around the star, giving it a distance from the Republic vanguard of about 97 million kilometers.
"What do you think, Ahsoka?"
I pulled up the database stats for Iceworld Three.
"Four thousand people work and call that place home, Master. Their automated defenses are unmanned ground turrets and satellite based. They won't hold for much longer. We have no choice. We use a micro jump, launching everything at them as we come out."
My hands reached into the holotank and designated an emergence that would put us ten thousand kilometers z-positive over the enemy.
It sucked to use the new tactic now and not against the main enemy fleet, but it was either this or watch as everyone down there died.
Master Koon fully understood the dilemma. "Very well. Nav, plot a jump."
"Plotting a jump, General."
Using the full power of three networked navcomputers between the Judgment, Hammer and Vigil, with dozens of astromechs, the jump was plotted in just under eight minutes.
"Engaging hyperjump."
For all that it had been tested with as much secrecy as possible, deep in the core worlds, it was still a butt clenching moment. It was only possible because of the next generation of hyper initiators fitted to the newest drives built in KDY. They still had the label of experimental attached to them and the chance of something going catastrophically wrong was there. The needs of war had pushed them through the decades of testing that would've been done in peacetime.
The view of space outside streaked and tore, the typical tunnel of hyperspace barely finished forming before it already tore apart and resolved into normal space again.
Iceworld Three's very small mass shadow really helped here and all three Venators found themselves a mere nine thousand kilometers above the enemy.
In any other situation, the jump would've been a nasty failure due to the inaccuracy.
"Open fire," Master Koon ordered evenly.
The Venators' ripple fired sixteen torpedoes each, even as they oriented to bring their noses down towards the enemy.
The clone gunners and computers had broad dorsal aiming profiles on the surprised enemy fleet.
Barely seconds later as the droid Tri-fighters and Vultures began peeling off the Munificents, the turbolasers of the Republic vanguard spoke.
The dorsal shields of a Munificent held for only a moment, before popping under combined onslaught, where a follow up salvo slammed into the upper hull armor, gouging out huge craters and sending flash fried atmosphere into space to be snuffed out.
The third salvo smashed into the rear engineering spaces and secondary explosions began ripping throughout the ship.
The torpedo assault arrived, also targeting only a single Munificent to saturate the point defenses.
Even so, 33 torpedoes were intercepted, leaving fifteen to slam into the shields of the unfortunate Munificent.
The first eight did the job of battering them down, whilst the last seven finished their attack runs, detonating directly against the hull.
A bright flash of light and an expanding shell of energetic debris heralded its complete destruction.
Hyena bombers now pushed themselves off the remaining Munificents, as the Vultures and Tri-fighters quickly closed the distance.
"Launch counter missiles," ordered Master Koon.
The space around Judgment, Hammer and Vigil was quickly turned into the most beautiful sight to my eyes, a near Macross style missile massacre.
All of which was aimed at the incoming enemy fighters.
Who in turn began firing their own forward cannons to saturate space in front of them.
Counter missiles died in scores but their development was the Republic's response to the game of numbers that the CIS constantly used.
In moments, over 140 enemy fighters were reduced to flaming debris and wreckage still coasting with their initial momentum.
The three star destroyer's point defense armament erupted as the ranges closed even further, targeting the survivors of the first enemy fighter wave.
The two remaining Munificents began orienting to bring their own spinal turbolaser armament to bear, whilst the Recusant began peppering the Hammer with its own turbolasers.
Hammer began retasking its defense, using its interceptors to slap away more and more turbolaser blasts, at the cost of letting more fighters go.
"Enemy target locks!" reported Sensors.
Twenty six enemy torpedoes launched into space and immediately started burning right for the Judgment.
"Retask next counter missile salvo. Time on Target barrage on Munificent Theta," Master Koon snapped.
"Theta, acknowledged," reported Guns.
The three Venators spewed counter missiles, torpedoes and turbolaser in a stupendous barrage of concentrated firepower.
The targeted Munificent shields barely mattered in the equation. They went down as it was still turning to bring its spinal armament to bear and took the salvos right on the chin.
Four torpedoes made it through the active point defenses and utterly obliterated the spinal turbolasers.
Secondary explosions visibly crawled along the length of the Munificent, its power system and reactor scramming just in time to prevent a catastrophic overload.
It immediately began listing in an uncontrolled manner as it simply obeyed the laws of motion and all turbolaser and cannon fire shut down.
Whether the droid crew could save the ship at this point was made moot, when the Republic vanguard released another barrage.
The third bright flash of light lit up the void as Munificent Theta became a huge spherical eruption of energy, fire and debris.
"I want a maximum barrage of counter missiles, point defense to prioritize Hyenas."
It took a nerve-wracking half a minute for that to happen.
Master Koon had also clearly foreseen what was going to happen when the CIS vanguard was on its last legs.
The last Munificent was shattered when suddenly every remaining enemy fighter began going on suicide runs, becoming missiles themselves instead of programmed droid fighters.
Space around the Republic vanguard turned into a chaotic maelstrom as the Venators emptied their counter missile launchers in a huge wave, every erg of energy pushed to the interceptors and point defense cannons.
Even the Recusant turned and redlined its engines, aiming itself to ram the Vigil.
Vultures, tri-fighters and Hyenas died en-masse.
So dense was the counter fire that enemy fighters simply ceased to exist, their debris being hammered by laser, plasma and immolating proton hammers from counter missiles.
I felt a shudder through the bridge deck as a Tri-fighter managed to weather the storm and slammed itself into the ventral shields of the Judgment.
A Hyena and Vulture ended their existence on the ventral shields of the Hammer.
"Time on target barrage, get that Recusant out of my battlespace," Master Koon grumbled, as Vigil also took hits.
My concentration peaked as the Battle Meditation fell on every soul in the vanguard.
I didn't want to pull this technique on every battle I was involved in but this was insane!
The Recusant's shields died, turbolaser blasts hit and hit, gouts of fire erupting from the forward hull, yet the thing kept spiraling in. It's shifting narrow front profile absorbing all the incoming fire.
"Full torpedo launch, attack its engines!" shouted Master Koon.
48 torpedoes were ejected into the maelstrom of fire that the Venators were projecting outward.
Such was the chaotic nature of space around the ships at the moment, that only 28 of them survived getting through the inner defensive perimeter.
Yet the Recusant's active defenses were still up around the rear quarters of the ship.
Five torpedoes survived to enter their terminal attack runs.
Space flashed as the rear engine modules of the ship vanished in a blue liberation of energy.
What was left of the Recusant was physically propelled forward as if it was a nuclear pulse detonation ship.
"Evasive action!"
The Vigil's captain had already taken the initiative to do so.
The moment the wreckage of the Recusant became uncontrolled and predictable, every bit of propulsion the ship had was engaged to evade.
Turbolaser blasts slammed into the wreckage and debris.
Vigil's tractor beams joined in the effort in repulsion mode.
The Venator's shields blossomed into visibility as the wreckage just scraped off its port side.
The entire Republic vanguard let out a breath in relief.
With the orbitals secure, just under an hour later I found myself inside a LAAT gunship alongside Chewie and Commander Wolffe of 104th Clone Battalion.
Fifteen companies of troops were huddled inside the gunships, which were in close formation with carrier ships hauling a full squadron of TX-130 Saber tanks. Z-95 Headhunters ranged around us in escort formation, whilst more squadrons went ahead to secure the airspace over the small industrial colony of Iceworld Three.
Our attack had caught the deployment of the Separatists to the colony completely flatfooted.
A number of C9979 landing craft were unloading war droid companies and the beginnings of a battle had already started.
The colony was primarily situated underneath the massive ranging glaciers, with huge domes sticking out of them that allowed the weak sunlight into the colony and air to circulate. The domes had primarily automated defenses on their perimeter, with large laser and plasma turrets that would pop out of the ice.
It was all meant to deter piracy and large scale raids, as the Mon Cala knew that help was hours away at best speed from the homeworld.
I looked grimly into the small gunship holotank across from Commander Wolffe.
The clone commander was distinguished by a large scar across his right eye that slashed vertically down. The souvenir of a direct hand to hand fight with a BX droid that the commander had won. That eye had been replaced with a milky white cybernetic, that gave the man a rather fearsome countenance. In this case, it was not without merit and the outside was now merely reflecting the temperament of the clone.
"It's like the Seppies threw their entire catalog of equipment at these Mon Cala; B1s, 2s, BX, STAPs, DSD1s, Persuader tanks and AATs. Hyenas for air to ground bombardment. What for? It's overkill," he said with a sneer. Then we saw one of the defensive emplacements open fire and it utterly obliterated an AAT with a single shot. "Oh, nice."
"Little known fact commander," I said with a small smirk. "The Mon Cala has a high level of technology. In some areas of high energy physics they're more advanced than the general galactic standard and they've been very good at obscuring it. My personal wish is to one day refit the Resolute with Mon Cala built turbolasers and chuck the Taim & Bak guns into the bin."
"That'd be a sight to see, commander." An eager light entered his eyes. Yes, this clone really liked his guns and explosions.
"So, the enemy position has definitely forced our hand somewhat here. Our hovering Saber tanks make the glacial terrain not as much of an obstacle, but traction for troops is going to be problematic, even with their cold gear. We're going to have to land directly in the action as close as possible." I tapped the positions I had in mind on the holo.
Wolffe looked at the holo and nodded in agreement. "If we didn't have air cover, I'd say it'd be suicide, but the Z95s doing some strafing runs and landing ground ordinance will be just what we need. The gunships will definitely have to help as well."
I nodded, "Let's get it done, commander. We need to evac this entire colony before the main force of Seppies arrive."
"Are we going to be repeating this dance at the other Iceworlds?"
"Unlikely, at that point the word of the invasion will have spread and the Mon Cala will be able to do it themselves with those big ships of theirs. Chewie," I turned to the big wookiee. "No matter what, you stick like glue to me. Understand?"
He nodded his shaggy head.
"Good, let's be about it."
In over a century of life, Chewbacca had fought many beings for his life and survival in the forest of Kashyyyk. He could even say he'd fought the Trade Federation before, fighting alongside his father and leading an entire tribe of wookiees to claim the rediscovered moon of Alaris Prime for his people. A time when the soulless corporation still only had the B1 droid and the AAT in its arsenal.
The doors to the gunship opened onto the icescape below and he knew immediately that the 'battle' for Alaris was barely a skirmish in comparison to what he was about to experience.
The local sun barely illuminated the terrain, giving a stark contrast to blasts and beams of plasma and laser that scythed across the battlefield from both sides.
He felt his heart race in fear and his eyes widened as he took in the scene. Yet somehow, that fear had no restraint on his actions at all. There was no doubt, there was only surety.
The gunship thumped as it landed and he fell in awkward steps behind Ahsoka as they all spilled out onto the ice.
He felt the hard spikes of his hastily built 'shoes' bite and gain traction.
Wookiees made it a point of pride to never cover their big feet with anything. The soles of their feet hardened naturally through rigorous exploration of the forests, but there was some terrain that the wookiee foot couldn't conquer.
Ahsoka's lightsabers burst into life angrily and began an eye-catching, beautiful spectacle around her.
His mind barely took it in though as he roared a challenge into the dim day of this world, shouldered his bowcaster and got to work rendering these droids into scrap.
His first shot of the day didn't miss as it speared through two B1s standing behind each other, hurling both backward and knocking over three others.
The cacophony of battle washed over him.
He saw Z-95s screaming overhead, their cannons sending streams of bolts scything through droid formations.
Saber tanks side strafing to avoid missiles from B2 rocket droids, before their dual heavy laser cannons retaliated, sending ice and droid wreckage flying upward.
Ahsoka deflecting blaster shots straight back at the enemy, before suddenly kneeling, hands against the ice.
Then things began happening that seemed straight from wookiee myth.
All along the Republic line of advance, the ice itself seemed to heave upward, forming barriers of cover behind which the troops could take shelter from the fire of the enemy.
Chewie barely kept his astonishment from overtaking his reason, firing the final shot from his bowcaster; destroying a B2.
As the tallest person on the battlefield, he kept himself low in a running crouch behind the lightsabers of Ahsoka as she rose again and resumed her advance.
He slapped home a new magazine for his bowcaster and immediately marked in the distance an AAT with a boxy droid sticking its head out.
He counted his blessings and fired, a moment later the droid had no head.
'Nice shot, Chewie, one tac droid down.'
He understood how valuable being able to speak on a battlefield was. Through the Force, it wouldn't be affected by distance, jamming or conventional technology, but Ahsoka's thoughts coming directly into his head was rather creepy on a visceral level.
Their advance had reached another point where she had to use the Force to generate more cover for her troops.
She did so but this time didn't stop there.
A multitude of ice chunks almost two meters large also rose into the air and shot themselves forward at great speed.
They bowled into the droid formations wrecking and burying scores of droids.
As much as she was doing to help, the tanks destroying scores of droids, the Headhunters scything the ground, Chewie could see they were also leaving behind many bodies as troopers were inevitably hit by droid fire.
Ahsoka ducked into cover behind her own ice redoubt, her breathing was harsh and deep, her eyes closed.
He knelt next to her in concern, but she immediately patted his shoulder in reassurance.
"I'm fine, just a bit winded."
A line of Saber tanks advanced, launchers popped out of their hulls and sent missiles streaking into the sky to shoot down a squadron of Hyena bombers that had been attempting to make a run on the advancing Republic troops.
She took a deep breath in and out before her sabers seemed to move with their usual speed again and stepped out from behind the redoubt and into the fire again.
Chewbacca followed and unleashed his bowcaster.
His perception of the battle narrowed, there were only targets, taking the shot and keeping himself low behind Ahsoka.
More carrier ships made combat drops behind them, letting go of the AT-TE tanks, who immediately began sending mass driver rounds into the opposing enemy AATs.
The onboard Repeaters scythed across the enemy lines.
Missiles arced straight towards Ahsoka from the Persuader tanks in the rear of the enemy lines.
Chewbacca had no time to feel fear at all as she made sweeping gestures of her hands, causing the missiles to either veer wildly off course to detonate among the enemy or even send it straight back to the tank who had fired.
DSD1 spider droids rapidly crawled forward on their legs, sending blaster cannon shots that destroyed a number of advancing Saber tanks.
Z-95s swooped in on a fresh run, sending scores of concussion missiles that hammered them from above.
Then Chewbacca heard an annoying whine cut across the air as a swarm of STAPs with B1 droids piloting them descended on the battlefield.
Their Repeaters forced the advancing troops to either seek cover or be cut down from above.
The AT-TE's turned their own Repeaters skyward on their ball turrets and started to retaliate against the STAPs, sending numerous of the flying vehicles to spin out of control and crash.
Ahsoka blurred and sent a bolt that had been going for her head back into the distance, one of her green blades now permanently orbited him.
'Commando droids are sniping into the battlefield,' she commented.
Chewie felt a mental itch and traced it to his left, he raised his bowcaster, flicking the button that raised the integral scope out of its housing.
He sighted on the two BX droids on a glacial hill just over three hundred meters away.
He felt invisible hands gently guide the bowcaster, adjusting the aim slightly.
'Now,' Ashoka thought.
Chewie pulled the trigger.
The hybrid plasma bolt took less than a second to cross the distance, then cored straight through the prone BX's head, continued through the majority of its body before exiting out between its legs.
He fired again, sending its partner into digital oblivion.
Ahsoka raised an ice redoubt in front of her, ducked behind and gestured for him to join her.
He did so and was surprised when he regained some situational awareness.
They had gone as far as they could, the majority of the enemy B1s and B2s were destroyed and left as wreckage behind them. The colony domes were looming ahead.
All that was left was the tank battle between the remaining Separatist forces.
The Republic spearhead had succeeded in driving a wedge straight through them, dividing the enemy into two camps.
Ahsoka projected a holo from her palm showing the battlefield in detail, then began tapping into it and issuing orders over the radio.
Saber and AT-TEs split their advance, turning left and right.
Whilst new carriers arrived and dropped more Republic tanks on each flank of the divided enemy, completing an envelopment that Chewie couldn't help but feel in awe of at how smoothly and professionally it was done.
"Nicely done, Chewie, nineteen kills," she said over the radio, even as she adjusted and worked with the holo in her palm.
"Really?" he asked in surprise. He checked his ammo pouches and had to concede her observation as having merit. "It's certainly only because you shielded me that it was so easy."
"I helped there, yes, but many clones can say the same thing. It's why I'm here. Your performance under fire was excellent nevertheless for someone who's never experienced a battle of this scale."
Z-95s streaked overhead, launching another volley into the trapped enemy.
"What now?"
"Now we begin the hard part, convincing people to leave behind their homes."
"Ahsoka, come in," said the voice of Master Koon.
"Ahsoka here, what is it, master?"
"We've determined the cause of the silence from the Mon Cala. King Kolina has been assassinated."
888888888888888888888888888888888
I like the chewie povs it gives nice presctive over ashoka from someone new.
Got some battle of Geonosis vibes from this chapter.
- Location
- Germany
Palpatine & Canon.
These are some fearsome obstacles to be in the way.
Chapter 83
A/N: *Ominous Sith Music* A Local Galactic Cluster of thanks to my Patrons and Super Patrons, whose help allows me to keep going with this.
Chapter 83
"Be reasonable, senator. The core worlds are by far the largest tax contributors and are doing the heaviest lifting with regards to the war effort. Surely their voices must be heard."
"You are unbalancing the scales of democracy with this bill. Now just because one planet's bank account is larger, they'll have a greater say in the Senate."
"We are passing laws critical to the survival of the Republic. Laws which could be potentially stopped by a single senator from an Outer-Rim sector!"
"If that Outer-Rim senator's sector will be negatively impacted by said law, then that is fully within their right and it's their duty! That's the whole point of the Republic and this system. This bill is nothing more than outright disenfranchisement. It's playing right into the CIS's hands."
Sheev Palpatine sat in his armored lanthanide alloy chair behind the desk in his primary office and regarded the two arguing senators with a patient paternal smile. On the first guest chair sat Prince Bail Organa and next to him, Senator Ask Aak of Malastare, doing his best to raise the blood pressure of the Alderaanian noble.
Aak was a very useful puppet and one Sheev often trotted out to beat the drums of the Senate, when necessary. Two further qualities that made him useful was his bitter criticism of how the Jedi were commanding Republic forces and he had a special enmity for Jedi Master Oppo Rancisis. All because the gran senator perceived that the latter had failed to protect Aks Moe, his predecessor, from assassination.
Sheev inwardly chuckled. He had not even arranged for the assassination to happen, yet the dirty past of Aks Moe had caught up with him and without lifting a finger, Ask Aak had fallen right into his hands. It was amazing sometimes how the Jedi could create enemies for themselves, just by acting according to their precious Code.
"Senator Organa has a point there, Senator Aak," Sheev looked mildly at the gran senator. "This bill could drive more worlds straight into the arms of the Separatists."
"If they are that fickle in their loyalties, then we'd be better off without them muddying the waters. The GAR will then settle matters in the long run. I would also question the Senator on why he's referring to these terrorists by their own name. They are not a government-"
"Are you listening to the words coming out of your mouth?" Organa practically sneered at his colleague. "The Republic has failed these Outer Rim worlds for a long time and now when presented with a viable alternative in their eyes, you would punish them two fold. Doomed to be neglected by us and then when they dare to turn their backs on us, we ram the dagger of the GAR into it."
"Rightly so, they must know their place," he huffed.
"Senator Aak," Sheev said flatly, letting his eyes shoot a mild glare of warning. "These are citizens of the Republic, we must strive to be better than our forebears in addressing the problems of the Outer Rim."
"Precisely," Organa agreed, leveling a harsh stare into the stalky three eyes of the gran.
"However, Senator Organa," Sheev swung his gaze the other way. "The Core Worlds are soon to be contributing military assets and even volunteers for the war effort, not just financial support. Statute 312b aims to rightly recognize this contribution and therefore they deserve some say in how those assets are going to be used. Applying a greater weighting to their votes is the simplest method of achieving that. The Senate must become more agile in the responsibilities it has."
Organa couldn't refute the latter fact. The War Bond Act would've long been passed had it not been for the Senate's dithering - which was clearly sponsored behind the scenes by the Banking Clans. Sheev had to grudgingly give credit to Organa for that idea. The long term plan of financial deregulation and bringing the levers of finance completely under executive control was a very delicate thing. Now, Bonds stood as a worthy second tool to maneuver the Republic's finances.
"Now, this meeting has been running a little long. Thank you both for coming and I trust you'll find a way to make 312b happen," he stood authoritatively.
Organa and Aak also stood as he walked off to the side door and into the more private areas of the Chancellery office.
Vice Chair Mas Amedda stood there dutifully waiting at the entrance to his private office. The chagrian's eyes were buried in a large datapad and tapping on it.
"Chancellor," Mas said with a proper level of wary respect, as befitting of the only other soul besides Dooku who knew he was Darth Sidious.
"Yes, my friend, what brings you here?"
"Two things, firstly, I've been researching the next step, 121b."
The doors to his private office opened with a near silent hiss and he sat down in the recessed seat, surrounded by a multitude of displays, both physical and holographic. Amedda entered and stood in front of the desk.
Sheev tapped and keyed the primary controls, dimming the holograms so that he could properly make eye contact with his deputy.
"And?"
"It's feasible and there is even historical precedent, though we have to go back to the Old Republic for it."
"Few remember those times and the histories that do exist are too obscure to appeal to, Mas."
One only had to walk into his public office to see that fact. It never failed to amuse Sheev to have multiple Jedi Council members walk past the ancient Sith statues time and time again. Not even Yoda had seen the statues for what they were. It was sometimes awe inspiring to think how thoroughly the Line of Darth Bane had succeeded in pulling the Sith into shadows, where they had always belonged.
"We would perhaps need a suitable demonstration of the necessity for 121b."
Sheev nodded considering it as he lightly pushed on his foresight. "Yes, that should work neatly. A small military blunder, a communication failure as two neighboring populated systems with local defense forces are attacked, forcing the GAR to intervene and take command."
"We still need to select suitable candidates that can be ready when the time comes."
"That is the easy part, Mas. The problem remains getting this through the Senate, another task for the good Senator Aak."
"Any preference on who, Chancellor?"
Sheev smiled, letting just a hint of darkness emerge from his eyes to spear into the psyche of Amedda, "Those who are only there because of me and upon whom we have suitable leverage." It didn't escape Amedda's notice that he also fell into that category; good.
"Understood Chancellor," Amedda said, his eyes retreated down to the datapad and the chagrian shivered, even though he hid it outwardly. "The second issue I need to raise with you is that COMPOR has sent through a proposal. They wish leave and funding to form a subsidiary that is aimed at adolescent sentients of the Republic."
Sheev folded his hands on his stomach, visibly considering the idea even as he plunged the future through the Force.
He liked the idea. Catch them young, when their minds were still malleable, setting the foundation for future political thought - which would all be in line with his New Order. The next generation would then build on the ashes of the Republic… an empire of order to last for tens of thousands of years, which he would rule as an immortal emperor. Something the Old Sith Empire could never even dream of achieving.
"Granted," said Sheev simply with a ringing finality. "What is this subsidiary going to be called?"
"They're still bouncing around names, but the current working title in their proposal is SAGroup - Sub-Adult Group."
"That is rather… uninspired."
"I shall convey that sentiment to COMPOR," Mas nodded.
"Good, now leave me."
Amedda bowed his head and strode swiftly out of the door.
Sheev tapped the keys of the panel in front of him to restore the holopanels and began reviewing the data and intelligence feeds.
As usual he began with the political situation; reviewing conversations between senators that his system had flagged as potentially important. For all that they tried to keep secrecy, many forgot and overlooked the simple things - such as the myriad of cleaning droids, small and large that moved through the Senate halls. Not to mention the biogenically engineered plants that subtly reacted to sound, scattered at key points throughout the Senate.
That done with everything well in hand, he moved on to his surveillance of the Jedi Temple.
For two hours he listened to the audible speech of the old enemy. Only rigid discipline kept his own temper in check, though he was slightly intrigued by the slowly growing reformist faction of the Jedi. The pressure of the war was having a marked effect, as expected. Perhaps the remote possibility of a full fracture in the Jedi was there? His foresight was rather uncertain, giving him a fractured Order and a weakened yet cohesive one as future possibilities.
With a thought and pull of will he sank into the Force, reaching out through the Dark Side, straight to the bowels in the forgotten sublevels of the Jedi Temple.
The ancient Sith shrine, the dark angry concentration of hatred that pulsed like a heart, fed with the negative emotions of every sentient on Coruscant. The Shroud, empowered by the shrine, was still doing its job.
His awareness flitted through the halls of his enemy, carefully, silently.
It was possible that one day, a rare talent among the Jedi would emerge, who could sense this obscure ancient technique, but Sheev was confident he'd have plenty of warning. He made sure to observe all the younglings for the past ten years and no one had ever shown any reaction, even involuntarily.
He pulled back and was in his office once more and night had fallen.
The Dark Side answered his demand immediately as he empowered himself to renew his energy and drain away the mental fatigue.
The computer drew his attention with a warning tone and indicated that a monitoring program had been tripped with key words and that it had come from a primary person of interest. Sheev tapped the interface and brought the details to the primary holoscreen.
A familiar, handsome human face appeared.
Senator Seti Ashgad.
The Golden Tempter himself and the other man who had been most likely to become Supreme Chancellor after Valorum had to step down. His foresight had thankfully alerted him in time to that potential for Ashgad to make a move and so Sheev had successfully outmaneuvered the possibility.
Ashgad was a rare charismatic talent, easygoing and very good at playing the political game. He was also very intelligent; a former hyperdrive engineer and the man who had designed the Z-95 Headhunter when he had worked for Incom. The fact that his fighter was now seeing a massive surge in popularity and use in the GAR had certainly helped raise his star to greater heights.
Sheev did not need foresight to know that if he died, Ashgad would be one of the first to raise his hand for the nomination to Chancellor.
These facts alone meant that Sheev took the threat that Ashgad represented very seriously and as such dedicated considerable resources to having the man watched closely.
He tapped the audio log and began listening to the smooth, deep voice of the senator.
"Unacceptable. The Senate is already bristling with armed security and surveillance, now he wants to install roving cam droids in the name of further 'security'?"
"Senator Ashgad, surely you remember how this building was attacked? Not to mention the blackout?" Now speaking was Senator Craorte D'rec from Devaron.
"The cam droids wouldn't have helped in either scenario. No, this is Palpatine just seeing what else he can get away with."
"My dear Senator, you are being overly paranoid."
"You aren't being paranoid enough. I'm an engineer and scientist at heart - so do you know what I see? I see a weld here, a tightening there, removing small things, adding others that seem inconsequential, easily dismissed, until the next thing you know, the ship around you is crashing."
"Senator, now you've lost me."
Sheev had heard enough. He closed the file and a few taps later his secure communication system was powered up and he sent out a call.
It didn't take more than a few seconds for it to connect and the holographic rendering of one of his primary agents appeared.
The man was in his late twenties and possessed the looks that would see women and even some men eating out of his hand. Piercing blue eyes, broad dimpled chin, strong jaw, dyed white hair styled flat back over his head that hung to his neck, a slightly parted auburn robe framing a chiseled muscular body that was both hidden and tantalizingly on display by the black body glove beneath.
Sarcev Quest immediately bowed his head, "Chancellor Palpatine."
Sheev reached through the Force and carefully pushed his senses around, feeling if Quest was in the company of anyone. The spy was at his Coruscant home and he felt the presence of a sleeping woman nearby. The rich courtier was plying his trade. It also meant that the man was actually unclothed and had put an overlay over the transmission.
"Quest, I see you've been dutifully observing your charge."
"As you instructed, to the letter, Chancellor."
"The time has come to end the assignment."
The spy narrowed his eyes, "Very well, Chancellor. In what manner should it end?"
"Your charge has begun to make dangerous conclusions and has expressed concerns. A permanent ending will draw too much attention and be suspicious. He is therefore in need of a permanent resettlement."
"Understood, Chancellor. I'll begin making the arrangements immediately."
Sheev pushed his senses onto the spy next, testing his defenses. "You've been training, good."
"As you instructed, Chancellor," Quest repeated, but with a smirk, his eyes glittering with the Dark Side behind his Force Mask.
Sheev sometimes wished he could send a thank you letter to Yoda. So much potential was being thrown away by the Jedi when they sent 'failed' adepts to the Agricorps. Yet it made for fertile ground to find carefully picked acolytes for his New Order.
While the Inquisitorius would one day be his visible closed fist, wielding the Force and lightsaber, Quest and his acolytes would be the invisible hidden hand.
They would never touch that damnable weapon, but their impact would be far greater, moving the destinies of entire planets from behind the scenes according to Sheev's design.
"Keep that up, my friend. Two years, maybe three and all will be ready."
Quest bowed his head. The man didn't know of Sheev's true nature as the current Sith Lord, nor that he was within the Banite Order. Just that Sheev Palpatine was a powerful Force Sensitive, who had not fallen in with the wasteful, corrupt Jedi Order and had successfully risen to the Chancellery and would mold the Republic into a better form. Quest was thoroughly Palpatine's man in that respect.
"What will my next assignment be, Chancellor?"
"A brief return to Byss is in order, at least a month, Sly Moore could use some assistance in her duties."
"I'll leave first thing in the morning."
"Good."
Sheev ended the call and finally addressed the last item of his daily agenda. A few taps on the interface and a gesture brought up the latest reports of young Anakin and Ahsoka.
An abrupt mission to Kashyyyk in the middle of a major offensive push and it seemed the trandoshans were beginning to cause trouble with their hunting traditions.
He would have to have a word with Dooku on the wisdom of arming those lizards. If their hunts couldn't be controlled or at least usefully directed then measures would need to be taken.
The after action report also made for somewhat thrilling reading, especially the tactics used.
Anakin had come a long way from that small boy standing on the steps before the Theed Palace at the victory parade against the Trade Federation
Now even Anakin had a pupil and one who was proving to be just as powerful, in other respects.
They worked well together, that was obvious.
It would be a shame when that partnership would have to end.
A Sith Lord could only have one apprentice after all.
Yet, that did not mean that a talent like Ahsoka had to be disposed of. No, merely redirected after she fell to the Dark.
For all that Anakin's talents and power would make him a superb apprentice, his place in the New Order would be visible for all to see. Yet Ahsoka could carry his will between the stars, commanding his fleets and destroying all enemies of the Empire who would walk there.
Yes, he laughed inwardly as his foresight delivered to him the vision of it.
He made a final note of where they were now…
Oh, Mon Cala?
Sheev recalled the Plan and he let a small smirk adorn his face.
The death of the current king of those aquatics.
Necessary for the long term plan. Those shipyards were wasted producing passenger liners.
If the CIS won, they'd be retooled immediately. If the Republic GAR won, the old guard would've died in the war and the impetus in the survivors would lead them to build warships. Either way, the plan carried on.
Yet the small nagging doubt saw fit to return at that moment.
The number of contingencies he'd had to activate was becoming unsettling.
It pointed to a greater problem that he did not want to contemplate - that his foresight's reliability was decreasing.
It should be impossible. The Dark Side was ascendant, it was his tool and it served him.
He plunged his awareness into the Force; no problems. Everything as it should be.
His hand thumbed the standby button and all the screens around him faded and shut down.
He rose from the chair and headed deeper into his private apartments.
Already he was beginning his meditation, drawing on his anger, fear and hatred, yet careful to keep it within the boundaries of his Mask, empowering the Shroud further in the process and keeping him completely invisible from the damnable Jedi.
Everything would proceed as it should. It was an inevitability.
"I'm afraid that things have gotten complicated down here, Master Jedi."
Plo Koon nodded at the hologram of the current de-facto regent of the Mon Cala government. "There is a succession crisis?"
Captain Gial Ackbar of the Mon Cala Knights, swiveled a webbed hand, "The quarren led by their current chieftain, Nossor Ri, has dissolved the authority of the throne over them. This has in one stroke brought us to the brink of a civil war. They refuse to accept Prince Lee-Char as the rightful heir to the throne. Instead they wish to secede and form their own government on Dac."
"Aren't the quarren part of the monarchial government anyway?"
"They are, it's been this way for thousands of years. Yet now suddenly, they declare this Quarren Isolation League as the true representatives of the quarren people. It has caused great strife and confusion as no one knows who to trust anymore. It's a quagmire, some quarren actually denounce the Isolation League as terrorists and traitors, but Nossor Ri was their trusted leader and highest ranking quarren in the government. He was a close friend to the late king. There is no one else at the moment among the loyalist quarren who can step up and challenge him."
"That this happened now is no coincidence, the CIS Fleet has halted their advance at the Mon Cala hyper point in the Ruisto system," reported Ahsoka, looking up from a large datapad displaying a scan readout. "A civil war would be just the thing to weaken the aquatic forces of Dac, so that the CIS would have an easier time conquering the place with their much more limited aqua droids. They don't have the advantage of numbers here, so they seek to equalize the scale."
Ackbar nodded, his eyes looking impressed, "Quite correct, commander. The problem is that Nossor doesn't see it that way. He imagines a Dac that is dominated by quarren rule, as an equalization of the scales of history. He also has no love for the distant Republic and would rather see us under the banner of the CIS."
"What are you and the Prince planning to do?" Koon asked.
"In matters of dispute such as this, a Grand Conclave will be called that will bring all parties together to debate the matter."
"How soon?"
"Two local days from now."
"The Republic Task Group will be in-system by then. I'd like to ask whether it would be acceptable for Senator Amidala to attend as a Republic representative."
"For someone of her reputation, I'd gladly sponsor her attendance."
"She will naturally have a bodyguard as well."
"Normally I would vouch for her safety on Dac, but the fact that our own sovereign was assassinated doesn't speak highly to that. Very well, she may bring one."
"Thank you, Captain Ackbar."
The mon cala bowed and his holo vanished.
Koon keyed his command chair into the bridge com loop. "Nav, plot us a microjump to a polar orbit of Dac beyond their mass shadow. Pull us inside the shadow for standard shielding procedures."
"At once, General."
Out of the corner of his shielded eyes, he spied Ahsoka looking with a grim and frustrated countenance into her datapad, even as her hand tapped, swished and manipulated the data she was seeing.
It still hit him at the oddest times that she was just short of adulthood by togrutan standards now. A time hastened by her exposure to that Celestial artifact. What small manner of youthful optimism and innocence she'd had was gone completely. It seemed to actually suit her more, as if her outward appearance was properly beginning to mirror the truth of her old soul.
His mind recalled the youngling that had barely reached above his knee all those years ago, those big blue eyes staring at him intently. Even as the villagers told him of the Jedi imposter that had tried to snatch her before he had arrived.
The fate of that imposter was both alarming and hilarious, in that it showed just how devious, cunning and strong a three year old Ahsoka was in the Force. She had always carried a bag of smooth river pebbles with her since she could walk for self-defense from the wildlife of Shili and could even use the Force to empower her throws.
Ahsoka simply began pelting the imposter with pebbles.
Any true Jedi would've halted the pebbles with the Force or seen it coming and dodged every time.
The village descended on the imposter and by the time the Shili police was called into the village, the disguised bounty hunter had to be hospitalized for weeks and was currently still residing in prison on the togruta homeworld.
"Master Plo," her voice brought him back to the present.
"Yes, Ahsoka?"
"I've been reviewing performance studies of how the DC-15 weapon series will perform underwater at various depths."
"And?"
"The 15A long rifle will actually experience an effective range increase in the shallows, which is borne out by our own limited testing on board the Judgment. You could fire out to 13 kilometers with a calibrated scope and stable surface to support the weapon."
"The latter of which will not be abundant, unless we're fighting in the Mon Cala cities."
"The problem comes with the 15S carbine. It starts to malfunction at any depth below five meters, it's just not designed for this."
"We shall just have to make do then, we have enough of the DC-12U and SCUBA combat gear for six companies of troops currently and will have to make up the shortfall with the 15-A's. Your master will be bringing more."
Judgment, Vigil and Hammer, flung themselves briefly through hyperspace and afterward the bright blue orb of Dac dominated the forward view, growing closer and closer.
"Flight, I want a cloaked scout dispatched to Ruisto immediately, all ships to remain at Condition Three indefinitely," Koon ordered, standing from the command chair. "Come Ahsoka, I feel like stretching these legs and a spar between us in order."
Her eyes twinkled in amusement at him, "Certainly, Master."
Anakin tugged his Aegis armor into a more comfortable position, checked the charge of the variety of devices on his belt, then double checked the seals on his helmet. In retrospect, Ahsoka's insistence that the Aegis be capable of underwater operations with minimal additions made some sense now.
Change the boots to support flippers and underwater repulsors and you were almost ready to go.
His attention was also being thoroughly distracted by Padme. The way the diving suit clung to all the right spots on her was a feast for the eyes. The integrity supports also framed her hips, buttocks and clung to her bust beautifully, with complementary coloring of golden yellows and purple. Trust the Naboo to also have alluring and fashionable underwater gear.
Her helmet was a more civilian style sphere of aquatic rated transparisteel and she turned to give him a knowing look.
'Anakin, mind on the job,' she thought, her eyes giving a hint of warmth and her mouth twitched with amusement.
'Yes, dear.'
The airlock of the Consular cruiser opened and the reflected noise of repulsorlifts and engines bouncing off the surface waters of Dac hit them.
He led the way, stepping awkwardly with the flipper boots, before diving forward into the open air.
His folded hands pierced the ocean water efficiently like a blade, cutting off the deafening noise of the cruiser.
The world changed to a bright vibrant blue and distant sounds carried by the water reached the exterior noise pickups of his armor, some were powerful enough to even conduct through the helmet itself.
A quick check showed that the rebreathers and oxygen tanks on his back were working properly as expected.
The impetus of his dive ended and he let his legs orientate down towards the aquatic city below.
Padme smoothly came out of her own dive a meter to his right.
"Everything working, Senator?" he asked over the radio.
She consulted the vambrace controls of her own suit for a moment, "All systems go, Anakin."
It was a twenty meter dive down to reach the shallowest of the buildings and out of the gloom the capital city of Dac emerged - Coral City.
They could only see a fraction of the vast city and despite that it was very impressive considering the challenges that water pressure put on any construction. He would've loved to just have a day to spend picking the brains of a Mon Cala engineer.
They were predominately organic shapes; curving cylinders that tapered at points, using specially alloyed durasteel that was rust proof. The use of transparent materials was also abundant, set into the structures with elegant curves that were almost artistic in nature. Among and above the buildings large transport tubes wreathed the city, which pumped water through them constantly to allow the users to cross greater distances through swimming and do away with the need for submersible vehicles clogging up the waterspace.
The capital alone held nearly a billion sentients of mon cala, quarren and a small percentage of other species as well.
From the nearest transport tube, a mon cala emerged clad in the white uniforms of their army. With efficient easy strokes he streaked through the water, rising up to meet them.
Anakin tapped his own vambrace controls to activate the small exterior speakers that would carry his voice into the water.
This mon cala had mottled brown skin color with huge orange eyes and he smoothly came to a stop, bowing to Padme and Anakin.
"Senator Amidala, Knight Skywalker, I am Regent and Captain Gial Ackbar. Welcome to the waters of Dac."
"A pleasure to be here, Regent Ackbar," Padme smiled and bowed much more awkwardly.
"If only under better circumstances, Senator. Come, follow me to the tube, I'll escort you to the Grand Conclave. It's due to begin within the hour."
They dove deeper to the transport tube and it was then that Anakin noticed that there was a distinct lack of people using it. Through the Force, he could also sense an undercurrent of fear that permeated the entire city. There were small groups of people swimming to and fro in the distance, hurrying between buildings as quickly as they could.
"Have you declared martial law, Regent?"
Ackbar could only nod, "And a curfew, the last thing we want is for hostilities to break out and innocents being caught in the crossfire. Now, the best technique for land dwellers in these tubes are both feet together when doing the swimming stroke. The acceleration can be disconcerting for first time users."
Ackbar gave a smooth pulling stroke with all four limbs and was swooped away by the current in the tube.
Padme took the initiative to go next and was practically bowled over, swept away down the tube, then reoriented herself to a proper position.
"Oops," she muttered over the radio.
Anakin chuckled and with the smallest profile possible inserted himself into the artificial current and began swimming with it.
The feeling of the speed was amazing as they followed Ackbar through the tube network. Floating buildings large and small flitted by at what his armor indicated was a speed of nearly seventy kilometers per hour.
The HUD indicated that they had traveled for eighteen kilometers before Ackbar dove out of the tube at the next exit.
They emerged to a huge complex of Mon Cala buildings that was nearly six hundred meters in height, the bulk of which plunged into the depths below. The deepest the Aegis armor could go on its own, whilst still keeping its wearer alive was 200 meters. Padme's suit was rated for 120 but thankfully they would have the building itself and its systems protecting them if they had to go deeper.
Ackbar gestured for them to follow and they swam directly to a very thick looking circular door set in an auxiliary building, guarded by two squads of Mon Cala Guard.
They wore almost no armor beyond their pristine white uniforms, whilst they were armed with a staff weapon that had a large hybrid stabbing and cutting blade on one end, whilst the other had the barrel of a blaster. It was clearly optimized for close engagement even with the blaster, as there were no evident scopes on them and the trigger assemblies were meant for webbed hands.
The squads all 'stood' to attention by moving into a line formation on either side of the large door and holding their weapons vertically forward. Ackbar gave casual salutes as he swam past them.
Anakin and Padme entered the building and had to immediately adjust to the interior design of a Mon Cala building where there were six valid directions to move in. Holograms were in use everywhere to indicate destinations and valid paths to swim in thankfully. The hallways were vast and wide, with soft white, aquamarine and violet colors in use, which were using patterns inspired by the underwater flora of Dac.
They let Ackbar lead the way into the confusing mess and it was only his Jedi abilities that let him keep a sense of direction. He could already tell that Padme was lost and just keeping her eyes fixed Ackbar's swimming form.
They entered a turbolift that was also far larger than what they were used to and it plunged deeper into the building with a surprising speed, clearly indicating that the tube it was using was in a complete vacuum. Anakin made a few mental calculations of the pressures involved and what the materials of the tube would have to handle.
Impressive, he thought.
The turbolift stopped nearly four hundred meters down and they emerged into a hallway that showed no visible difference at all, despite their new depth. It was only when they passed an exterior transparisteel window that the darkened ocean outside hinted at the new depth.
They now approached a massive door guarded by more Mon Cala troops, which swished open smoothly to reveal a huge circular multi-level space. Four levels of ringed seating surrounded the space, the center of which was dominated by a large alloyed disc suspended in place with a visible energy field.
Mon cala and quarren were seated haphazardly, but there was one slice of the circular chamber that was clearly dominated by only quarren and the level of contempt and anger radiating from that spot was rather intense. There was also another sentient in the room that was shining with cunning and a controlled malevolence.
Ackbar stopped his movement and held up a hand to pause their swim, "I should warn you that the Separatists have a representative here as well, brought by Nossor. His name is Riff Tamson from Karkaris."
He pointed to the upper level of the Grand Conclave and lazily swimming on the perimeter, there was a tall sinuous figure clad in a form fitting white and blue partially armored outfit. Anakin only knew of karkarodons from his studies and by reputation. Hailing from a water world in the Nilgaard sector in the heart of the Separatist north, it was a place that was fiercely hostile to non-aquatics and stories of what happened to ships and their crews that were unlucky enough to crash on that world were the stuff of nightmares.
Karkarodons had smooth hydrodynamic heads and rows of razor sharp teeth that were set in a mouth that constantly showed them off to everyone.
"How long has he been here?" Anakin asked with as low a volume as he could.
"He was seen in Nossor's residence two days before the king's death, they're 'friends'," Ackbar answered casually and his large eye speared Anakin with a pointed look. "The murder weapon used in the king's death was a large dagger made from Dac coral but in a pattern that is not native to the planet. There are some who argue it's a Karkaris pattern."
"But it's not definitive?" Anakin asked dryly.
"Yes, our records on the Karkarodons are not the best, given their xenophobic nature, but I know in my heart that you are looking at the king's assassin. That dagger was plunged into the late king's back, no fight was given."
"How was it managed? Was there no security or bodyguards or cameras watching?"
"He was in his office, all records of that day were purged from the system. The king had asked for some privacy. I was just down the hall when it happened."
Anakin could feel the anger and guilt weighing heavily on Ackbar. He clearly blamed himself for not being there, even though realistically he knew that nothing would've changed had he been in the room, besides also getting a dagger in the chest.
Ackbar swam off before another word could be said and led them to seating on the second highest ring of seats.
The moment they were settled, Anakin reached across the Bond to Padme.
'What do you think?'
She scanned across the room, 'Ani, I don't need the Force to know that we're in a very precarious position. We know the CIS 'playbook' as Ahsoka would say. Fomenting a civil war is exactly their style. They would've promised Nossor the throne after the war is over to get him on board, but really, all that would happen is he'd either become a puppet or he'd be disposed of for a leader of Count Dooku's choosing."
Anakin looked up at Riff Tamsen, 'It's so brazen and obvious to us, but not to the mon cala or quarren. The general populace here is largely isolated from the war, they know about it and see it on the Holonet, but consider it merely as non-aquatics fighting and killing each other.'
The Grand Conclave began soon after the crown prince Lee-Char entered the chamber. He was personally escorted by Ackbar and a dozen Mon Cala Knights brandishing their blaster staves.
"This Conclave is called to order!" shouted the regent. "We are here to resolve, as has been done for thousands of years, an existential problem for our society-"
"Your society!" shouted a quarren.
"Our society," Ackbar repeated calmly. "The king was murdered and his son is too young to ascend to the throne-"
"A throne we no longer recognize," Nossor spoke up for the first time.
"You've all prospered under our rule," retorted mon cala official.
"The prince's rule has been preordained!"
"We no longer want this monarchy!"
Anakin looked at the prince and the young mon cala with his smooth gold skin and blue eyes was quite striking. His dark blue and yellow regal uniform sat well on him and he looked outwardly calm as he observed his people in turmoil. In the Force, it was clearly another story. He was frightened nearly out of his wits and felt helpless in the face of his people tearing themselves apart.
"We'll defend our right for a Mon Cala King!"
"We want a quarren king!"
"Down with the Mon Cala!"
"Power to the quarren!"
It was the final impetus for the prince though. Anakin felt the young mon cala rather impressively push aside all his emotions, for it to be replaced by a focused determination. The prince pushed himself off his seat and his voice was instantly given priority in the sound system used in the room.
"I am dedicated to serving the quarren as well as my own people with fairness as it has been done for thousands of years-"
"Silence!" Riff Tamson hovered closer, practically shoving his snout into the prince's face. The Mon Cala knights' spear blasters immediately rose in defense, causing the Separatist to back off. "You have not earned the right to speak at this gathering. You are not on the throne-"
Ackbar swam forward glaring with his right eye towards Tamson. "You have no say in the matter, Ambassador. You are only here as an observer for the Separatists."
Tamson gave one stroke of his legs and was immediately in Ackbar's face as well. "Do not forget. I am here at the request of the quarren, because you, Captain, demanded the presence of the Republic."
The karkarodon swam off to continue his circling of the room, but with clear agitation visible in his body language.
"Such a disgrace," muttered Ackbar, his anger rising to the surface. "By rights he should be ejected from the conclave-"
Anakin pushed off his seat and floated over to put a calming hand on the regent's shoulder.
"That would be what they want you to do."
Chieftain Nossor Ri swam into the center of the chamber, "Prince Lee-Char will bring this planet to ruin. The boy has neither experience nor the knowledge to lead." The quarren 'leader' was dressed quite conservatively in an almost elegant black and gray suit, and like all of his kind had four tentacles dangling from their sharp toothed mouth, with dull gray eyes adapted to the lower depths of the planet.
"And now you're going to tell us you do?" Padme pulled out of her seat and gave the chieftain a sharp stare. "So you would do away with thousands of years of history and achievements in art and science that your people, united with the mon cala, have achieved?"
"You see that, but I only see thousands of years of oppression under mon cala rule."
"How convenient and I'm sure that you speak for every quarren on Dac then?"
"I am Chieftain of the quarren, their voice flows through me! Besides, this is an internal matter and the Republic is only here at the behest of the mon cala."
"Who asked you?!" shouted a quarren on the upper ring.
"The Republic has no place here!"
"Down with the Republic!"
That seemed to set off all the quarren who began to chant similar sentiments.
Nossor raised a hand and everyone fell silent. He floated down to face Lee-Char. "We refuse to support the coronation of another Mon Cala King. I am sorry, prince. Ambassador?"
Tamson should've been shouted down by every mon cala in the room, but it was not in their nature.
The Separatist swam higher and brought his full height of over two meters on display. "In my opinion, the quarren have no further business here."
He gave a powerful stroke of his legs and headed to the massive doors, and as if it had been rehearsed, every quarren delegate followed in his wake to the cheers of agreement.
The mon cala watched with outward stoicism as their one chance for peace on the water world evaporated.
"Come Regent Ackbar," Anakin said in the silence that followed. "We need to inform Master Yoda and the fleet."
In a secure conference room in the Mon Cala government complex, the holograms of Yoda, Windu, Plo Koon and Ahsoka appeared.
"This civil war, inevitable it is?" Yoda asked.
"Sadly so, Master Yoda," Ackbar nodded. "I had thought there would be greater resistance from the quarren to the idea of secession. Unfortunately, their community leadership seems completely in formation with Chieftain Ri. Much like us, it is not in quarren nature to stray from a path once chosen. Whatever dissent there is, it will not be acted upon until it is clearly demonstrated to be foolish. I also think the younger generations of quarren are enamored of the ideal of racial independence."
"An independence that will be swiftly taken by the CIS the instant they are in power on Dac," Ahsoka declared.
"Can't really argue with you on that one," Anakin sighed. "Tamson had the quarren marching in lockstep down here."
"It also seems inevitable that the quarren will formally withdraw from the Republic," Padme reported.
"The Mon Calamari system is still part of the Republic and this planet must not fall into Separatist hands. Master Koon, Padawan Tano, what is the situation there?" Windu asked.
"Our scouts in Ruisto have observed the Separatist fleet launching Trident assault ships in the last few hours," Master Koon rumbled. "It's safe to say that these ships are already in the system under cloak and delivering aqua droids into Dac's waters. The majority of our Task Group is holding beyond the system's Oort Cloud, whilst a three ship vanguard is in orbit of Dac."
"If the Separatist Fleet advances you are cleared to intercept them with the full force of your command," Windu said forbiddingly. "Send what SCUBA forces you have on hand to support the Mon Cala Guard immediately. Captain Ackbar, assemble your troops."
Yoda and Windu's holograms winked out.
"Skywalker, I will keep space and the orbitals secure. Ahsoka will lead the SCUBA troops to reinforce your position."
"What about the SCUBA troops in the task group and the gungans?"
"They will come later, Skywalker. We must first gain the measure of the enemy. I doubt quarren militia and limited numbers of aqua droids are the only cards Tamson has to play."
"How's that?"
"Much better," said Chewie, wriggling his shoulders within the confines of his brand new, very large, custom Aegis armor with oxygen tanks attached to its back. It looked very intimidating given its sheer size, painted in Republic white and red with the Jedi symbol prominent on the pauldrons. The fabricator droids on the Judgment had finally finished it, with additional tinkering that Chewie had done himself, with a few contributions from me.
His wroshyr armor might be adequate on land, but would not work in an aquatic environment.
"Good, now remember to think of it as vac fighting in space."
The big wookiee nodded and started nervously fiddling with his bowcaster, which also had some tinkering done to allow for underwater functionality. Mostly in terms of its cooling systems, which had relied on air and venting, but now had a module that allowed for water to do that job.
My lightsabers had also required an adjustment to their blade containment fields to allow for smooth operation in an aquatic environment. Otherwise ambient water pressure pushed right in and switching on a saber would have water flash vaporizing constantly around it, not to mention heating up the immediate water around it to scalding temperatures.
Opening up the Darksaber to make that adjustment had felt like sacrilege and I could sense the sentient kyber inside was not happy about it.
I gave a last look around at the clone troopers in their SCUBA armors in the gunship, before turning to interface with the Devilfish submersible scooter. Well, if a scooter was two meters long, armed with dual laser cannons and two mini-torpedoes mounted in the nose.
"M8, is everything okay with this contraption?"
"All systems are nominal, mistress."
I reached into the hull storage compartment and hefted my own requisitioned DC-12U.
It was a relatively heavy weapon compared to the DC-15A, with double barrels to compensate for the slower fire rate imposed by the extra internal sealing, shielding and cooling systems. Its trigger was duplex firing; pulled once it fired a barrel, let go and it fired the second barrel.
I felt the Force ripple and tear.
'Snips! The attack's begun. Dive immediately the moment you're over the capital city,' Anakin thought.
'On my way, master.'
I stood and keyed the trooper's squadron frequency, "Troopers of the Wolfpack! We are going in hot. The quarren and mon cala are already fighting in waters below. There will be aqua droids there too. Keep your formation, you get separated, just like a lone starfighter, you will die. There is no land here for me to generate cover for you. Follow my lead, trust in your training and we will live to see the sky again! Ready?!"
"Ready!" They shouted in chorus.
I covered all of them with the light blanket of Battle Meditation and willed the gunship doors open.
'Commander, over the drop zone in five,' reported the clone pilot.
The gunships of the 104th flared a few meters over the oceans of Dac.
"Go! Go! Go!"
A slight Force Push aided me as I dived with the Devilfish sub and into bright blue waters.
My montrals was inundated with the ripple of bubbles and water, splashes of troopers diving, and the eerie hum of gunship repulsors through the shallow water. My vision cleared to the underwater world of Dac and in the distant city below, we could already see the flashes and bolts of criss crossing blaster fire.
I double checked everyone was getting into formation, before pushing the Devilfish over for a dive and engaging its engines.
Aiming straight for the heart of battle.
88888888888888888888888888888888
Chapter 83
"Be reasonable, senator. The core worlds are by far the largest tax contributors and are doing the heaviest lifting with regards to the war effort. Surely their voices must be heard."
"You are unbalancing the scales of democracy with this bill. Now just because one planet's bank account is larger, they'll have a greater say in the Senate."
"We are passing laws critical to the survival of the Republic. Laws which could be potentially stopped by a single senator from an Outer-Rim sector!"
"If that Outer-Rim senator's sector will be negatively impacted by said law, then that is fully within their right and it's their duty! That's the whole point of the Republic and this system. This bill is nothing more than outright disenfranchisement. It's playing right into the CIS's hands."
Sheev Palpatine sat in his armored lanthanide alloy chair behind the desk in his primary office and regarded the two arguing senators with a patient paternal smile. On the first guest chair sat Prince Bail Organa and next to him, Senator Ask Aak of Malastare, doing his best to raise the blood pressure of the Alderaanian noble.
Aak was a very useful puppet and one Sheev often trotted out to beat the drums of the Senate, when necessary. Two further qualities that made him useful was his bitter criticism of how the Jedi were commanding Republic forces and he had a special enmity for Jedi Master Oppo Rancisis. All because the gran senator perceived that the latter had failed to protect Aks Moe, his predecessor, from assassination.
Sheev inwardly chuckled. He had not even arranged for the assassination to happen, yet the dirty past of Aks Moe had caught up with him and without lifting a finger, Ask Aak had fallen right into his hands. It was amazing sometimes how the Jedi could create enemies for themselves, just by acting according to their precious Code.
"Senator Organa has a point there, Senator Aak," Sheev looked mildly at the gran senator. "This bill could drive more worlds straight into the arms of the Separatists."
"If they are that fickle in their loyalties, then we'd be better off without them muddying the waters. The GAR will then settle matters in the long run. I would also question the Senator on why he's referring to these terrorists by their own name. They are not a government-"
"Are you listening to the words coming out of your mouth?" Organa practically sneered at his colleague. "The Republic has failed these Outer Rim worlds for a long time and now when presented with a viable alternative in their eyes, you would punish them two fold. Doomed to be neglected by us and then when they dare to turn their backs on us, we ram the dagger of the GAR into it."
"Rightly so, they must know their place," he huffed.
"Senator Aak," Sheev said flatly, letting his eyes shoot a mild glare of warning. "These are citizens of the Republic, we must strive to be better than our forebears in addressing the problems of the Outer Rim."
"Precisely," Organa agreed, leveling a harsh stare into the stalky three eyes of the gran.
"However, Senator Organa," Sheev swung his gaze the other way. "The Core Worlds are soon to be contributing military assets and even volunteers for the war effort, not just financial support. Statute 312b aims to rightly recognize this contribution and therefore they deserve some say in how those assets are going to be used. Applying a greater weighting to their votes is the simplest method of achieving that. The Senate must become more agile in the responsibilities it has."
Organa couldn't refute the latter fact. The War Bond Act would've long been passed had it not been for the Senate's dithering - which was clearly sponsored behind the scenes by the Banking Clans. Sheev had to grudgingly give credit to Organa for that idea. The long term plan of financial deregulation and bringing the levers of finance completely under executive control was a very delicate thing. Now, Bonds stood as a worthy second tool to maneuver the Republic's finances.
"Now, this meeting has been running a little long. Thank you both for coming and I trust you'll find a way to make 312b happen," he stood authoritatively.
Organa and Aak also stood as he walked off to the side door and into the more private areas of the Chancellery office.
Vice Chair Mas Amedda stood there dutifully waiting at the entrance to his private office. The chagrian's eyes were buried in a large datapad and tapping on it.
"Chancellor," Mas said with a proper level of wary respect, as befitting of the only other soul besides Dooku who knew he was Darth Sidious.
"Yes, my friend, what brings you here?"
"Two things, firstly, I've been researching the next step, 121b."
The doors to his private office opened with a near silent hiss and he sat down in the recessed seat, surrounded by a multitude of displays, both physical and holographic. Amedda entered and stood in front of the desk.
Sheev tapped and keyed the primary controls, dimming the holograms so that he could properly make eye contact with his deputy.
"And?"
"It's feasible and there is even historical precedent, though we have to go back to the Old Republic for it."
"Few remember those times and the histories that do exist are too obscure to appeal to, Mas."
One only had to walk into his public office to see that fact. It never failed to amuse Sheev to have multiple Jedi Council members walk past the ancient Sith statues time and time again. Not even Yoda had seen the statues for what they were. It was sometimes awe inspiring to think how thoroughly the Line of Darth Bane had succeeded in pulling the Sith into shadows, where they had always belonged.
"We would perhaps need a suitable demonstration of the necessity for 121b."
Sheev nodded considering it as he lightly pushed on his foresight. "Yes, that should work neatly. A small military blunder, a communication failure as two neighboring populated systems with local defense forces are attacked, forcing the GAR to intervene and take command."
"We still need to select suitable candidates that can be ready when the time comes."
"That is the easy part, Mas. The problem remains getting this through the Senate, another task for the good Senator Aak."
"Any preference on who, Chancellor?"
Sheev smiled, letting just a hint of darkness emerge from his eyes to spear into the psyche of Amedda, "Those who are only there because of me and upon whom we have suitable leverage." It didn't escape Amedda's notice that he also fell into that category; good.
"Understood Chancellor," Amedda said, his eyes retreated down to the datapad and the chagrian shivered, even though he hid it outwardly. "The second issue I need to raise with you is that COMPOR has sent through a proposal. They wish leave and funding to form a subsidiary that is aimed at adolescent sentients of the Republic."
Sheev folded his hands on his stomach, visibly considering the idea even as he plunged the future through the Force.
He liked the idea. Catch them young, when their minds were still malleable, setting the foundation for future political thought - which would all be in line with his New Order. The next generation would then build on the ashes of the Republic… an empire of order to last for tens of thousands of years, which he would rule as an immortal emperor. Something the Old Sith Empire could never even dream of achieving.
"Granted," said Sheev simply with a ringing finality. "What is this subsidiary going to be called?"
"They're still bouncing around names, but the current working title in their proposal is SAGroup - Sub-Adult Group."
"That is rather… uninspired."
"I shall convey that sentiment to COMPOR," Mas nodded.
"Good, now leave me."
Amedda bowed his head and strode swiftly out of the door.
Sheev tapped the keys of the panel in front of him to restore the holopanels and began reviewing the data and intelligence feeds.
As usual he began with the political situation; reviewing conversations between senators that his system had flagged as potentially important. For all that they tried to keep secrecy, many forgot and overlooked the simple things - such as the myriad of cleaning droids, small and large that moved through the Senate halls. Not to mention the biogenically engineered plants that subtly reacted to sound, scattered at key points throughout the Senate.
That done with everything well in hand, he moved on to his surveillance of the Jedi Temple.
For two hours he listened to the audible speech of the old enemy. Only rigid discipline kept his own temper in check, though he was slightly intrigued by the slowly growing reformist faction of the Jedi. The pressure of the war was having a marked effect, as expected. Perhaps the remote possibility of a full fracture in the Jedi was there? His foresight was rather uncertain, giving him a fractured Order and a weakened yet cohesive one as future possibilities.
With a thought and pull of will he sank into the Force, reaching out through the Dark Side, straight to the bowels in the forgotten sublevels of the Jedi Temple.
The ancient Sith shrine, the dark angry concentration of hatred that pulsed like a heart, fed with the negative emotions of every sentient on Coruscant. The Shroud, empowered by the shrine, was still doing its job.
His awareness flitted through the halls of his enemy, carefully, silently.
It was possible that one day, a rare talent among the Jedi would emerge, who could sense this obscure ancient technique, but Sheev was confident he'd have plenty of warning. He made sure to observe all the younglings for the past ten years and no one had ever shown any reaction, even involuntarily.
He pulled back and was in his office once more and night had fallen.
The Dark Side answered his demand immediately as he empowered himself to renew his energy and drain away the mental fatigue.
The computer drew his attention with a warning tone and indicated that a monitoring program had been tripped with key words and that it had come from a primary person of interest. Sheev tapped the interface and brought the details to the primary holoscreen.
A familiar, handsome human face appeared.
Senator Seti Ashgad.
The Golden Tempter himself and the other man who had been most likely to become Supreme Chancellor after Valorum had to step down. His foresight had thankfully alerted him in time to that potential for Ashgad to make a move and so Sheev had successfully outmaneuvered the possibility.
Ashgad was a rare charismatic talent, easygoing and very good at playing the political game. He was also very intelligent; a former hyperdrive engineer and the man who had designed the Z-95 Headhunter when he had worked for Incom. The fact that his fighter was now seeing a massive surge in popularity and use in the GAR had certainly helped raise his star to greater heights.
Sheev did not need foresight to know that if he died, Ashgad would be one of the first to raise his hand for the nomination to Chancellor.
These facts alone meant that Sheev took the threat that Ashgad represented very seriously and as such dedicated considerable resources to having the man watched closely.
He tapped the audio log and began listening to the smooth, deep voice of the senator.
"Unacceptable. The Senate is already bristling with armed security and surveillance, now he wants to install roving cam droids in the name of further 'security'?"
"Senator Ashgad, surely you remember how this building was attacked? Not to mention the blackout?" Now speaking was Senator Craorte D'rec from Devaron.
"The cam droids wouldn't have helped in either scenario. No, this is Palpatine just seeing what else he can get away with."
"My dear Senator, you are being overly paranoid."
"You aren't being paranoid enough. I'm an engineer and scientist at heart - so do you know what I see? I see a weld here, a tightening there, removing small things, adding others that seem inconsequential, easily dismissed, until the next thing you know, the ship around you is crashing."
"Senator, now you've lost me."
Sheev had heard enough. He closed the file and a few taps later his secure communication system was powered up and he sent out a call.
It didn't take more than a few seconds for it to connect and the holographic rendering of one of his primary agents appeared.
The man was in his late twenties and possessed the looks that would see women and even some men eating out of his hand. Piercing blue eyes, broad dimpled chin, strong jaw, dyed white hair styled flat back over his head that hung to his neck, a slightly parted auburn robe framing a chiseled muscular body that was both hidden and tantalizingly on display by the black body glove beneath.
Sarcev Quest immediately bowed his head, "Chancellor Palpatine."
Sheev reached through the Force and carefully pushed his senses around, feeling if Quest was in the company of anyone. The spy was at his Coruscant home and he felt the presence of a sleeping woman nearby. The rich courtier was plying his trade. It also meant that the man was actually unclothed and had put an overlay over the transmission.
"Quest, I see you've been dutifully observing your charge."
"As you instructed, to the letter, Chancellor."
"The time has come to end the assignment."
The spy narrowed his eyes, "Very well, Chancellor. In what manner should it end?"
"Your charge has begun to make dangerous conclusions and has expressed concerns. A permanent ending will draw too much attention and be suspicious. He is therefore in need of a permanent resettlement."
"Understood, Chancellor. I'll begin making the arrangements immediately."
Sheev pushed his senses onto the spy next, testing his defenses. "You've been training, good."
"As you instructed, Chancellor," Quest repeated, but with a smirk, his eyes glittering with the Dark Side behind his Force Mask.
Sheev sometimes wished he could send a thank you letter to Yoda. So much potential was being thrown away by the Jedi when they sent 'failed' adepts to the Agricorps. Yet it made for fertile ground to find carefully picked acolytes for his New Order.
While the Inquisitorius would one day be his visible closed fist, wielding the Force and lightsaber, Quest and his acolytes would be the invisible hidden hand.
They would never touch that damnable weapon, but their impact would be far greater, moving the destinies of entire planets from behind the scenes according to Sheev's design.
"Keep that up, my friend. Two years, maybe three and all will be ready."
Quest bowed his head. The man didn't know of Sheev's true nature as the current Sith Lord, nor that he was within the Banite Order. Just that Sheev Palpatine was a powerful Force Sensitive, who had not fallen in with the wasteful, corrupt Jedi Order and had successfully risen to the Chancellery and would mold the Republic into a better form. Quest was thoroughly Palpatine's man in that respect.
"What will my next assignment be, Chancellor?"
"A brief return to Byss is in order, at least a month, Sly Moore could use some assistance in her duties."
"I'll leave first thing in the morning."
"Good."
Sheev ended the call and finally addressed the last item of his daily agenda. A few taps on the interface and a gesture brought up the latest reports of young Anakin and Ahsoka.
An abrupt mission to Kashyyyk in the middle of a major offensive push and it seemed the trandoshans were beginning to cause trouble with their hunting traditions.
He would have to have a word with Dooku on the wisdom of arming those lizards. If their hunts couldn't be controlled or at least usefully directed then measures would need to be taken.
The after action report also made for somewhat thrilling reading, especially the tactics used.
Anakin had come a long way from that small boy standing on the steps before the Theed Palace at the victory parade against the Trade Federation
Now even Anakin had a pupil and one who was proving to be just as powerful, in other respects.
They worked well together, that was obvious.
It would be a shame when that partnership would have to end.
A Sith Lord could only have one apprentice after all.
Yet, that did not mean that a talent like Ahsoka had to be disposed of. No, merely redirected after she fell to the Dark.
For all that Anakin's talents and power would make him a superb apprentice, his place in the New Order would be visible for all to see. Yet Ahsoka could carry his will between the stars, commanding his fleets and destroying all enemies of the Empire who would walk there.
Yes, he laughed inwardly as his foresight delivered to him the vision of it.
He made a final note of where they were now…
Oh, Mon Cala?
Sheev recalled the Plan and he let a small smirk adorn his face.
The death of the current king of those aquatics.
Necessary for the long term plan. Those shipyards were wasted producing passenger liners.
If the CIS won, they'd be retooled immediately. If the Republic GAR won, the old guard would've died in the war and the impetus in the survivors would lead them to build warships. Either way, the plan carried on.
Yet the small nagging doubt saw fit to return at that moment.
The number of contingencies he'd had to activate was becoming unsettling.
It pointed to a greater problem that he did not want to contemplate - that his foresight's reliability was decreasing.
It should be impossible. The Dark Side was ascendant, it was his tool and it served him.
He plunged his awareness into the Force; no problems. Everything as it should be.
His hand thumbed the standby button and all the screens around him faded and shut down.
He rose from the chair and headed deeper into his private apartments.
Already he was beginning his meditation, drawing on his anger, fear and hatred, yet careful to keep it within the boundaries of his Mask, empowering the Shroud further in the process and keeping him completely invisible from the damnable Jedi.
Everything would proceed as it should. It was an inevitability.
"I'm afraid that things have gotten complicated down here, Master Jedi."
Plo Koon nodded at the hologram of the current de-facto regent of the Mon Cala government. "There is a succession crisis?"
Captain Gial Ackbar of the Mon Cala Knights, swiveled a webbed hand, "The quarren led by their current chieftain, Nossor Ri, has dissolved the authority of the throne over them. This has in one stroke brought us to the brink of a civil war. They refuse to accept Prince Lee-Char as the rightful heir to the throne. Instead they wish to secede and form their own government on Dac."
"Aren't the quarren part of the monarchial government anyway?"
"They are, it's been this way for thousands of years. Yet now suddenly, they declare this Quarren Isolation League as the true representatives of the quarren people. It has caused great strife and confusion as no one knows who to trust anymore. It's a quagmire, some quarren actually denounce the Isolation League as terrorists and traitors, but Nossor Ri was their trusted leader and highest ranking quarren in the government. He was a close friend to the late king. There is no one else at the moment among the loyalist quarren who can step up and challenge him."
"That this happened now is no coincidence, the CIS Fleet has halted their advance at the Mon Cala hyper point in the Ruisto system," reported Ahsoka, looking up from a large datapad displaying a scan readout. "A civil war would be just the thing to weaken the aquatic forces of Dac, so that the CIS would have an easier time conquering the place with their much more limited aqua droids. They don't have the advantage of numbers here, so they seek to equalize the scale."
Ackbar nodded, his eyes looking impressed, "Quite correct, commander. The problem is that Nossor doesn't see it that way. He imagines a Dac that is dominated by quarren rule, as an equalization of the scales of history. He also has no love for the distant Republic and would rather see us under the banner of the CIS."
"What are you and the Prince planning to do?" Koon asked.
"In matters of dispute such as this, a Grand Conclave will be called that will bring all parties together to debate the matter."
"How soon?"
"Two local days from now."
"The Republic Task Group will be in-system by then. I'd like to ask whether it would be acceptable for Senator Amidala to attend as a Republic representative."
"For someone of her reputation, I'd gladly sponsor her attendance."
"She will naturally have a bodyguard as well."
"Normally I would vouch for her safety on Dac, but the fact that our own sovereign was assassinated doesn't speak highly to that. Very well, she may bring one."
"Thank you, Captain Ackbar."
The mon cala bowed and his holo vanished.
Koon keyed his command chair into the bridge com loop. "Nav, plot us a microjump to a polar orbit of Dac beyond their mass shadow. Pull us inside the shadow for standard shielding procedures."
"At once, General."
Out of the corner of his shielded eyes, he spied Ahsoka looking with a grim and frustrated countenance into her datapad, even as her hand tapped, swished and manipulated the data she was seeing.
It still hit him at the oddest times that she was just short of adulthood by togrutan standards now. A time hastened by her exposure to that Celestial artifact. What small manner of youthful optimism and innocence she'd had was gone completely. It seemed to actually suit her more, as if her outward appearance was properly beginning to mirror the truth of her old soul.
His mind recalled the youngling that had barely reached above his knee all those years ago, those big blue eyes staring at him intently. Even as the villagers told him of the Jedi imposter that had tried to snatch her before he had arrived.
The fate of that imposter was both alarming and hilarious, in that it showed just how devious, cunning and strong a three year old Ahsoka was in the Force. She had always carried a bag of smooth river pebbles with her since she could walk for self-defense from the wildlife of Shili and could even use the Force to empower her throws.
Ahsoka simply began pelting the imposter with pebbles.
Any true Jedi would've halted the pebbles with the Force or seen it coming and dodged every time.
The village descended on the imposter and by the time the Shili police was called into the village, the disguised bounty hunter had to be hospitalized for weeks and was currently still residing in prison on the togruta homeworld.
"Master Plo," her voice brought him back to the present.
"Yes, Ahsoka?"
"I've been reviewing performance studies of how the DC-15 weapon series will perform underwater at various depths."
"And?"
"The 15A long rifle will actually experience an effective range increase in the shallows, which is borne out by our own limited testing on board the Judgment. You could fire out to 13 kilometers with a calibrated scope and stable surface to support the weapon."
"The latter of which will not be abundant, unless we're fighting in the Mon Cala cities."
"The problem comes with the 15S carbine. It starts to malfunction at any depth below five meters, it's just not designed for this."
"We shall just have to make do then, we have enough of the DC-12U and SCUBA combat gear for six companies of troops currently and will have to make up the shortfall with the 15-A's. Your master will be bringing more."
Judgment, Vigil and Hammer, flung themselves briefly through hyperspace and afterward the bright blue orb of Dac dominated the forward view, growing closer and closer.
"Flight, I want a cloaked scout dispatched to Ruisto immediately, all ships to remain at Condition Three indefinitely," Koon ordered, standing from the command chair. "Come Ahsoka, I feel like stretching these legs and a spar between us in order."
Her eyes twinkled in amusement at him, "Certainly, Master."
Anakin tugged his Aegis armor into a more comfortable position, checked the charge of the variety of devices on his belt, then double checked the seals on his helmet. In retrospect, Ahsoka's insistence that the Aegis be capable of underwater operations with minimal additions made some sense now.
Change the boots to support flippers and underwater repulsors and you were almost ready to go.
His attention was also being thoroughly distracted by Padme. The way the diving suit clung to all the right spots on her was a feast for the eyes. The integrity supports also framed her hips, buttocks and clung to her bust beautifully, with complementary coloring of golden yellows and purple. Trust the Naboo to also have alluring and fashionable underwater gear.
Her helmet was a more civilian style sphere of aquatic rated transparisteel and she turned to give him a knowing look.
'Anakin, mind on the job,' she thought, her eyes giving a hint of warmth and her mouth twitched with amusement.
'Yes, dear.'
The airlock of the Consular cruiser opened and the reflected noise of repulsorlifts and engines bouncing off the surface waters of Dac hit them.
He led the way, stepping awkwardly with the flipper boots, before diving forward into the open air.
His folded hands pierced the ocean water efficiently like a blade, cutting off the deafening noise of the cruiser.
The world changed to a bright vibrant blue and distant sounds carried by the water reached the exterior noise pickups of his armor, some were powerful enough to even conduct through the helmet itself.
A quick check showed that the rebreathers and oxygen tanks on his back were working properly as expected.
The impetus of his dive ended and he let his legs orientate down towards the aquatic city below.
Padme smoothly came out of her own dive a meter to his right.
"Everything working, Senator?" he asked over the radio.
She consulted the vambrace controls of her own suit for a moment, "All systems go, Anakin."
It was a twenty meter dive down to reach the shallowest of the buildings and out of the gloom the capital city of Dac emerged - Coral City.
They could only see a fraction of the vast city and despite that it was very impressive considering the challenges that water pressure put on any construction. He would've loved to just have a day to spend picking the brains of a Mon Cala engineer.
They were predominately organic shapes; curving cylinders that tapered at points, using specially alloyed durasteel that was rust proof. The use of transparent materials was also abundant, set into the structures with elegant curves that were almost artistic in nature. Among and above the buildings large transport tubes wreathed the city, which pumped water through them constantly to allow the users to cross greater distances through swimming and do away with the need for submersible vehicles clogging up the waterspace.
The capital alone held nearly a billion sentients of mon cala, quarren and a small percentage of other species as well.
From the nearest transport tube, a mon cala emerged clad in the white uniforms of their army. With efficient easy strokes he streaked through the water, rising up to meet them.
Anakin tapped his own vambrace controls to activate the small exterior speakers that would carry his voice into the water.
This mon cala had mottled brown skin color with huge orange eyes and he smoothly came to a stop, bowing to Padme and Anakin.
"Senator Amidala, Knight Skywalker, I am Regent and Captain Gial Ackbar. Welcome to the waters of Dac."
"A pleasure to be here, Regent Ackbar," Padme smiled and bowed much more awkwardly.
"If only under better circumstances, Senator. Come, follow me to the tube, I'll escort you to the Grand Conclave. It's due to begin within the hour."
They dove deeper to the transport tube and it was then that Anakin noticed that there was a distinct lack of people using it. Through the Force, he could also sense an undercurrent of fear that permeated the entire city. There were small groups of people swimming to and fro in the distance, hurrying between buildings as quickly as they could.
"Have you declared martial law, Regent?"
Ackbar could only nod, "And a curfew, the last thing we want is for hostilities to break out and innocents being caught in the crossfire. Now, the best technique for land dwellers in these tubes are both feet together when doing the swimming stroke. The acceleration can be disconcerting for first time users."
Ackbar gave a smooth pulling stroke with all four limbs and was swooped away by the current in the tube.
Padme took the initiative to go next and was practically bowled over, swept away down the tube, then reoriented herself to a proper position.
"Oops," she muttered over the radio.
Anakin chuckled and with the smallest profile possible inserted himself into the artificial current and began swimming with it.
The feeling of the speed was amazing as they followed Ackbar through the tube network. Floating buildings large and small flitted by at what his armor indicated was a speed of nearly seventy kilometers per hour.
The HUD indicated that they had traveled for eighteen kilometers before Ackbar dove out of the tube at the next exit.
They emerged to a huge complex of Mon Cala buildings that was nearly six hundred meters in height, the bulk of which plunged into the depths below. The deepest the Aegis armor could go on its own, whilst still keeping its wearer alive was 200 meters. Padme's suit was rated for 120 but thankfully they would have the building itself and its systems protecting them if they had to go deeper.
Ackbar gestured for them to follow and they swam directly to a very thick looking circular door set in an auxiliary building, guarded by two squads of Mon Cala Guard.
They wore almost no armor beyond their pristine white uniforms, whilst they were armed with a staff weapon that had a large hybrid stabbing and cutting blade on one end, whilst the other had the barrel of a blaster. It was clearly optimized for close engagement even with the blaster, as there were no evident scopes on them and the trigger assemblies were meant for webbed hands.
The squads all 'stood' to attention by moving into a line formation on either side of the large door and holding their weapons vertically forward. Ackbar gave casual salutes as he swam past them.
Anakin and Padme entered the building and had to immediately adjust to the interior design of a Mon Cala building where there were six valid directions to move in. Holograms were in use everywhere to indicate destinations and valid paths to swim in thankfully. The hallways were vast and wide, with soft white, aquamarine and violet colors in use, which were using patterns inspired by the underwater flora of Dac.
They let Ackbar lead the way into the confusing mess and it was only his Jedi abilities that let him keep a sense of direction. He could already tell that Padme was lost and just keeping her eyes fixed Ackbar's swimming form.
They entered a turbolift that was also far larger than what they were used to and it plunged deeper into the building with a surprising speed, clearly indicating that the tube it was using was in a complete vacuum. Anakin made a few mental calculations of the pressures involved and what the materials of the tube would have to handle.
Impressive, he thought.
The turbolift stopped nearly four hundred meters down and they emerged into a hallway that showed no visible difference at all, despite their new depth. It was only when they passed an exterior transparisteel window that the darkened ocean outside hinted at the new depth.
They now approached a massive door guarded by more Mon Cala troops, which swished open smoothly to reveal a huge circular multi-level space. Four levels of ringed seating surrounded the space, the center of which was dominated by a large alloyed disc suspended in place with a visible energy field.
Mon cala and quarren were seated haphazardly, but there was one slice of the circular chamber that was clearly dominated by only quarren and the level of contempt and anger radiating from that spot was rather intense. There was also another sentient in the room that was shining with cunning and a controlled malevolence.
Ackbar stopped his movement and held up a hand to pause their swim, "I should warn you that the Separatists have a representative here as well, brought by Nossor. His name is Riff Tamson from Karkaris."
He pointed to the upper level of the Grand Conclave and lazily swimming on the perimeter, there was a tall sinuous figure clad in a form fitting white and blue partially armored outfit. Anakin only knew of karkarodons from his studies and by reputation. Hailing from a water world in the Nilgaard sector in the heart of the Separatist north, it was a place that was fiercely hostile to non-aquatics and stories of what happened to ships and their crews that were unlucky enough to crash on that world were the stuff of nightmares.
Karkarodons had smooth hydrodynamic heads and rows of razor sharp teeth that were set in a mouth that constantly showed them off to everyone.
"How long has he been here?" Anakin asked with as low a volume as he could.
"He was seen in Nossor's residence two days before the king's death, they're 'friends'," Ackbar answered casually and his large eye speared Anakin with a pointed look. "The murder weapon used in the king's death was a large dagger made from Dac coral but in a pattern that is not native to the planet. There are some who argue it's a Karkaris pattern."
"But it's not definitive?" Anakin asked dryly.
"Yes, our records on the Karkarodons are not the best, given their xenophobic nature, but I know in my heart that you are looking at the king's assassin. That dagger was plunged into the late king's back, no fight was given."
"How was it managed? Was there no security or bodyguards or cameras watching?"
"He was in his office, all records of that day were purged from the system. The king had asked for some privacy. I was just down the hall when it happened."
Anakin could feel the anger and guilt weighing heavily on Ackbar. He clearly blamed himself for not being there, even though realistically he knew that nothing would've changed had he been in the room, besides also getting a dagger in the chest.
Ackbar swam off before another word could be said and led them to seating on the second highest ring of seats.
The moment they were settled, Anakin reached across the Bond to Padme.
'What do you think?'
She scanned across the room, 'Ani, I don't need the Force to know that we're in a very precarious position. We know the CIS 'playbook' as Ahsoka would say. Fomenting a civil war is exactly their style. They would've promised Nossor the throne after the war is over to get him on board, but really, all that would happen is he'd either become a puppet or he'd be disposed of for a leader of Count Dooku's choosing."
Anakin looked up at Riff Tamsen, 'It's so brazen and obvious to us, but not to the mon cala or quarren. The general populace here is largely isolated from the war, they know about it and see it on the Holonet, but consider it merely as non-aquatics fighting and killing each other.'
The Grand Conclave began soon after the crown prince Lee-Char entered the chamber. He was personally escorted by Ackbar and a dozen Mon Cala Knights brandishing their blaster staves.
"This Conclave is called to order!" shouted the regent. "We are here to resolve, as has been done for thousands of years, an existential problem for our society-"
"Your society!" shouted a quarren.
"Our society," Ackbar repeated calmly. "The king was murdered and his son is too young to ascend to the throne-"
"A throne we no longer recognize," Nossor spoke up for the first time.
"You've all prospered under our rule," retorted mon cala official.
"The prince's rule has been preordained!"
"We no longer want this monarchy!"
Anakin looked at the prince and the young mon cala with his smooth gold skin and blue eyes was quite striking. His dark blue and yellow regal uniform sat well on him and he looked outwardly calm as he observed his people in turmoil. In the Force, it was clearly another story. He was frightened nearly out of his wits and felt helpless in the face of his people tearing themselves apart.
"We'll defend our right for a Mon Cala King!"
"We want a quarren king!"
"Down with the Mon Cala!"
"Power to the quarren!"
It was the final impetus for the prince though. Anakin felt the young mon cala rather impressively push aside all his emotions, for it to be replaced by a focused determination. The prince pushed himself off his seat and his voice was instantly given priority in the sound system used in the room.
"I am dedicated to serving the quarren as well as my own people with fairness as it has been done for thousands of years-"
"Silence!" Riff Tamson hovered closer, practically shoving his snout into the prince's face. The Mon Cala knights' spear blasters immediately rose in defense, causing the Separatist to back off. "You have not earned the right to speak at this gathering. You are not on the throne-"
Ackbar swam forward glaring with his right eye towards Tamson. "You have no say in the matter, Ambassador. You are only here as an observer for the Separatists."
Tamson gave one stroke of his legs and was immediately in Ackbar's face as well. "Do not forget. I am here at the request of the quarren, because you, Captain, demanded the presence of the Republic."
The karkarodon swam off to continue his circling of the room, but with clear agitation visible in his body language.
"Such a disgrace," muttered Ackbar, his anger rising to the surface. "By rights he should be ejected from the conclave-"
Anakin pushed off his seat and floated over to put a calming hand on the regent's shoulder.
"That would be what they want you to do."
Chieftain Nossor Ri swam into the center of the chamber, "Prince Lee-Char will bring this planet to ruin. The boy has neither experience nor the knowledge to lead." The quarren 'leader' was dressed quite conservatively in an almost elegant black and gray suit, and like all of his kind had four tentacles dangling from their sharp toothed mouth, with dull gray eyes adapted to the lower depths of the planet.
"And now you're going to tell us you do?" Padme pulled out of her seat and gave the chieftain a sharp stare. "So you would do away with thousands of years of history and achievements in art and science that your people, united with the mon cala, have achieved?"
"You see that, but I only see thousands of years of oppression under mon cala rule."
"How convenient and I'm sure that you speak for every quarren on Dac then?"
"I am Chieftain of the quarren, their voice flows through me! Besides, this is an internal matter and the Republic is only here at the behest of the mon cala."
"Who asked you?!" shouted a quarren on the upper ring.
"The Republic has no place here!"
"Down with the Republic!"
That seemed to set off all the quarren who began to chant similar sentiments.
Nossor raised a hand and everyone fell silent. He floated down to face Lee-Char. "We refuse to support the coronation of another Mon Cala King. I am sorry, prince. Ambassador?"
Tamson should've been shouted down by every mon cala in the room, but it was not in their nature.
The Separatist swam higher and brought his full height of over two meters on display. "In my opinion, the quarren have no further business here."
He gave a powerful stroke of his legs and headed to the massive doors, and as if it had been rehearsed, every quarren delegate followed in his wake to the cheers of agreement.
The mon cala watched with outward stoicism as their one chance for peace on the water world evaporated.
"Come Regent Ackbar," Anakin said in the silence that followed. "We need to inform Master Yoda and the fleet."
In a secure conference room in the Mon Cala government complex, the holograms of Yoda, Windu, Plo Koon and Ahsoka appeared.
"This civil war, inevitable it is?" Yoda asked.
"Sadly so, Master Yoda," Ackbar nodded. "I had thought there would be greater resistance from the quarren to the idea of secession. Unfortunately, their community leadership seems completely in formation with Chieftain Ri. Much like us, it is not in quarren nature to stray from a path once chosen. Whatever dissent there is, it will not be acted upon until it is clearly demonstrated to be foolish. I also think the younger generations of quarren are enamored of the ideal of racial independence."
"An independence that will be swiftly taken by the CIS the instant they are in power on Dac," Ahsoka declared.
"Can't really argue with you on that one," Anakin sighed. "Tamson had the quarren marching in lockstep down here."
"It also seems inevitable that the quarren will formally withdraw from the Republic," Padme reported.
"The Mon Calamari system is still part of the Republic and this planet must not fall into Separatist hands. Master Koon, Padawan Tano, what is the situation there?" Windu asked.
"Our scouts in Ruisto have observed the Separatist fleet launching Trident assault ships in the last few hours," Master Koon rumbled. "It's safe to say that these ships are already in the system under cloak and delivering aqua droids into Dac's waters. The majority of our Task Group is holding beyond the system's Oort Cloud, whilst a three ship vanguard is in orbit of Dac."
"If the Separatist Fleet advances you are cleared to intercept them with the full force of your command," Windu said forbiddingly. "Send what SCUBA forces you have on hand to support the Mon Cala Guard immediately. Captain Ackbar, assemble your troops."
Yoda and Windu's holograms winked out.
"Skywalker, I will keep space and the orbitals secure. Ahsoka will lead the SCUBA troops to reinforce your position."
"What about the SCUBA troops in the task group and the gungans?"
"They will come later, Skywalker. We must first gain the measure of the enemy. I doubt quarren militia and limited numbers of aqua droids are the only cards Tamson has to play."
"How's that?"
"Much better," said Chewie, wriggling his shoulders within the confines of his brand new, very large, custom Aegis armor with oxygen tanks attached to its back. It looked very intimidating given its sheer size, painted in Republic white and red with the Jedi symbol prominent on the pauldrons. The fabricator droids on the Judgment had finally finished it, with additional tinkering that Chewie had done himself, with a few contributions from me.
His wroshyr armor might be adequate on land, but would not work in an aquatic environment.
"Good, now remember to think of it as vac fighting in space."
The big wookiee nodded and started nervously fiddling with his bowcaster, which also had some tinkering done to allow for underwater functionality. Mostly in terms of its cooling systems, which had relied on air and venting, but now had a module that allowed for water to do that job.
My lightsabers had also required an adjustment to their blade containment fields to allow for smooth operation in an aquatic environment. Otherwise ambient water pressure pushed right in and switching on a saber would have water flash vaporizing constantly around it, not to mention heating up the immediate water around it to scalding temperatures.
Opening up the Darksaber to make that adjustment had felt like sacrilege and I could sense the sentient kyber inside was not happy about it.
I gave a last look around at the clone troopers in their SCUBA armors in the gunship, before turning to interface with the Devilfish submersible scooter. Well, if a scooter was two meters long, armed with dual laser cannons and two mini-torpedoes mounted in the nose.
"M8, is everything okay with this contraption?"
"All systems are nominal, mistress."
I reached into the hull storage compartment and hefted my own requisitioned DC-12U.
It was a relatively heavy weapon compared to the DC-15A, with double barrels to compensate for the slower fire rate imposed by the extra internal sealing, shielding and cooling systems. Its trigger was duplex firing; pulled once it fired a barrel, let go and it fired the second barrel.
I felt the Force ripple and tear.
'Snips! The attack's begun. Dive immediately the moment you're over the capital city,' Anakin thought.
'On my way, master.'
I stood and keyed the trooper's squadron frequency, "Troopers of the Wolfpack! We are going in hot. The quarren and mon cala are already fighting in waters below. There will be aqua droids there too. Keep your formation, you get separated, just like a lone starfighter, you will die. There is no land here for me to generate cover for you. Follow my lead, trust in your training and we will live to see the sky again! Ready?!"
"Ready!" They shouted in chorus.
I covered all of them with the light blanket of Battle Meditation and willed the gunship doors open.
'Commander, over the drop zone in five,' reported the clone pilot.
The gunships of the 104th flared a few meters over the oceans of Dac.
"Go! Go! Go!"
A slight Force Push aided me as I dived with the Devilfish sub and into bright blue waters.
My montrals was inundated with the ripple of bubbles and water, splashes of troopers diving, and the eerie hum of gunship repulsors through the shallow water. My vision cleared to the underwater world of Dac and in the distant city below, we could already see the flashes and bolts of criss crossing blaster fire.
I double checked everyone was getting into formation, before pushing the Devilfish over for a dive and engaging its engines.
Aiming straight for the heart of battle.
88888888888888888888888888888888
Better hope the Gungans have weapons with them compared to the show.
I imagine Chewbacca speaking in a British accent as shown in behind the scenes of A New Hope.
The underwater battle has begun and this is gonna be awesome.
I wonder if the events of The Wrong Jedi have been butterflied away.
Ahsoka is much more respected by the other generals, she's more likely to not break out of jail, and now we see Palpatine wanting her alive and serving the empire. And you can't forget that she has an understanding with Yoda.
Ahsoka is much more respected by the other generals, she's more likely to not break out of jail, and now we see Palpatine wanting her alive and serving the empire. And you can't forget that she has an understanding with Yoda.
- Location
- Askew to the British Isles
And here we see proof of the efforts Ahsoka has managed to fly under Palpatine radar has been working as even with him having to deal with more contingencies than he expected he is yet to believe that it is deliberate actions against him. Not to mention that the amount of control she had to not react to the shroud in any way to alert Palpatine to her awareness of the trap is phenomenal. His sureness of the trap not being sprung not realising that the other hunter leaves the trap intact and works around it. Palpatine's imagining of Ahsoka working in the shadows to Anikin's visible presence is amazing if not scarcely accurate to what she is already doing against him.
Too bad he is starting to catch on though as I can't see his self assurance remaining once he starts looking deeper.
Too bad he is starting to catch on though as I can't see his self assurance remaining once he starts looking deeper.
I wonder what lever Palpatine plans to use to cause ahsoka's fall? She's not currently in a romance like Skywalker, but she habitually spreads her mind into a network of clones, clones which would, if their chips remained, be vulnerable to mind control. Could Palpatine try to use an enchantment in conjunction with order 66 to send corrupting darkness to all jedi melded with their clones?
If it were that easy, Palpatine would have done it.
- Location
- Upstate NY, USA
- Pronouns
- Fjf
(Chewie sits in a leather club chair, elegantly crosses his legs, and takes a precise sip of an expertly prepared gin and tonic)
"Mmm. Quite"
Powerful as Palpatine is, he's not invinsible, otherwise he would never have ultimately lost in canon.
Part of the fun of what Ahsoka has been doing against him is opening the way for other individuals or groups to interfere with Palpatine's plans, even if most of them have no clue what is really going on yet.
Take the recent chapters with Even Piell. In canon he should be dead now. Here, Ahsoka managed to gain the Jedi Master a new lease on life. Plus she also made a somewhat good impression on Wilhuff Tarkin in the process.
Every day Even Piell is alive now is something that Palpatine, or at the very least one of his trusted lieutenants, has to continue taking into account. How many battles or less high profile missions across the galaxy might change having even a single extra Jedi Master present. For that matter, how many situations that might have just needed but a single experienced Jedi but didn't get one will end up having a Jedi show up now, either because Master Piell is the one that shows up, or butterflies of him being alive possibly result in one or more additional Jedi eventually surviving various events that in canon would have killed them and being able to keep going.
Speaking of butterflies given that one of the early changes Ahsoka brought about was an early death of General Grievous, that to my knowledge means that Mon Calamari Jedi Nahdar Vebb may or may not be alive right now, as Ahsoka likely prevented the events which led to his canon death, unless he's suffered a different death "off screen" here at some point and I missed it or it wasn't relevant to the story. He was partnered with Kit Fisto at the time of his canon death, and Kit Fisto was involved in the canon Mon Calamari campaign.
Part of the fun of what Ahsoka has been doing against him is opening the way for other individuals or groups to interfere with Palpatine's plans, even if most of them have no clue what is really going on yet.
Take the recent chapters with Even Piell. In canon he should be dead now. Here, Ahsoka managed to gain the Jedi Master a new lease on life. Plus she also made a somewhat good impression on Wilhuff Tarkin in the process.
Every day Even Piell is alive now is something that Palpatine, or at the very least one of his trusted lieutenants, has to continue taking into account. How many battles or less high profile missions across the galaxy might change having even a single extra Jedi Master present. For that matter, how many situations that might have just needed but a single experienced Jedi but didn't get one will end up having a Jedi show up now, either because Master Piell is the one that shows up, or butterflies of him being alive possibly result in one or more additional Jedi eventually surviving various events that in canon would have killed them and being able to keep going.
Speaking of butterflies given that one of the early changes Ahsoka brought about was an early death of General Grievous, that to my knowledge means that Mon Calamari Jedi Nahdar Vebb may or may not be alive right now, as Ahsoka likely prevented the events which led to his canon death, unless he's suffered a different death "off screen" here at some point and I missed it or it wasn't relevant to the story. He was partnered with Kit Fisto at the time of his canon death, and Kit Fisto was involved in the canon Mon Calamari campaign.
Yay
Chapter 86 has launched a massive attack at the Patreon.
Chapter 84 will release onto the Holonet, on Sat, 6th April.
Chapter 84
A/N: Now the continuation... Thanks to Patrons and Super Patrons for their continued support and making this possible.
Chapter 84
In the annals of his people's history, of all the words said by the kings and queens of Dac, Prince Lee-Char knew that he would probably forever go down in history as the perfect example of foolish naivety. Not to mention the monarch with the worst timing in the galaxy.
How else would you explain the first shot of the Dac civil war happening the instant after he had said: "I do not believe the quarren will attack."
It was a bitter fruit to taste.
It was made even worse as he beheld so many mon cala knights taking cover behind the spires of the government complex and firing their blaster spears in defense of him. Every moment he blinked, he saw a knight jerk and begin floating downward in death.
Attacking the complex was a massive formation of quarren and aqua droids - he couldn't even count the number of people who had been subjects of his father just last week, now doing the unthinkable.
Here he was, floating in the cover behind the central spire's roof and he didn't even have a weapon in hand. What kind of king was he? He technically didn't even have the throne yet, but every mon cala already looked to him for leadership.
The only thing that was letting him keep his own composure, was the fact that he at least had Captain Ackbar, Jedi General Skywalker and Senator Amidala at his side.
A torpedo detonated nearby and Lee-Char cursed inwardly as everyone ducked behind their cover. The hammer blow of expanding water caught two knights on the edge of the building and he forced his eyes to remain open and take in the grisly sight of their remains settling and dropping off the side.
The sizzling singing of distant blaster shots was briefly muted as the shockwave of the water reclaiming the void washed over them. He had to briefly pull off his organic gill, to regain equilibrium in his ears, before reattaching it.
"What are your orders, highness?" Ackbar muttered in the aftermath, keeping his voice low. It was doubtful that the sound of his words would travel far in the chaotic battle, but he understood the necessity. All it would take would be a quarren with a sensitive acoustic sensor listening from range…
Lee-Char looked into the battle.
He was not trained for this. Even the knights had only ever fought in simulation!
The only thing he could immediately see was that the mon cala had a definite advantage using the complex buildings as cover, whilst the qua- no, whilst the enemy had to charge forward in the open water. They were much easier targets and the number of their dead floating downward was far greater. The problem was he could already see that the number of knights who had been on hand when the attack started meant they were effectively outnumbered.
Attack would give up the only advantage, retreating might be possible, but that would be exposing their backs to the enemy.
"We hold the line, captain."
"If I may make a suggestion," Skywalker looked to Ackbar. Lee-Char wasn't the best at reading alien expressions, but the Jedi was clearly unhappy. "It is one thing to have a commander, general or captain in the front line, but your monarch and head of state is an entirely different story. The prince needs to be in a safe position with a command holotank."
Senator Amidala, who had her own Naboo blaster in hand, coughed for some reason and gave Skywalker a complicated expression, which caused him to roll his eyes.
"I understand the practicality, general," Ackbar stated, with his own blaster spear raised above his head, floating next to Lee-Char. "That decision is up to the prince."
Lee-Char might not have any training in the knightly arts, but he was merely a young adult and not a child. He knew politics, leadership and how important the 'voice' of the Throne was. His decision and course was obvious.
"The morale of my people is shaken, general. If they see me retreat from battle, they will lose heart. I have to stay here with my people. Captain Ackbar, keep our troops in defense-"
General Skywalker moved so quickly through the water that he nearly left a void in his wake, his lightsaber ignited in his right hand, whilst his left hand made a clenched fist.
Five torpedoes that had been streaking towards their position in the central spire, which would've been enough to utterly destroy it and kill everyone, detonated in the distance.
The hammer blows of hydro compression shot outward in a large sphere, killing many surprised quarren attackers and wrecking numerous aqua droids. The ocean reclaimed the voids hungrily sending shockwaves outward that threw the attackers in disarray, but the mon cala knights among the spires were also buffeted and some pulled out of cover.
The knights rushed back, but most were quickly cut down by the storm of blaster bolts.
Lee-Char struggled to keep his composure at witnessing such a clear feat of the Force in action.
"If they're smart they'll stop using torpedoes after that at least," General Skywalker floated back down.
"Captain Ackbar, how long can we keep this defense going?"
"As things stand now, long enough for the Republic to arrive, then we go on the offensive. If they capture this complex we lose much of the infrastructure of government and defense." Ackbar turned to the line of knights shooting in front of them. "Watch your upper quadrants, they get close enough they can shoot down on us!"
A problem that quickly turned to reality.
General Skywalker hovered back upwards, staying above Senator Amidala and began deflecting bolts that were shooting into their cover from aqua droids and quarren.
The senator swam up to grab hold of the general's waist, literally using the Jedi for cover as she fired her Naboo blaster at the enemy from under his arms. It made such an odd, disturbing noise in the water, sounding almost like a mon cala infant briefly screaming.
He wished he had a blaster spear. He had at least trained in their use for self-defense. Yet that would complicate things for his defenders, who would have to divide their focus. He watched as Ackbar used his own body as a shield for his prince, shouting orders to the knights nearby and over the radio. He would also fire his weapon occasionally into the distance.
The thumping boom of exploding torpedoes rippled through the water.
Lee-Char watched in horror as an entire building spire on the left flank collapsed, along with many dead knights, reduced to charnel and blood in the water, falling into the deeps.
The enemy tried again to fire torpedoes from their water speeders at the central building.
General Skywalker had to teach them the error of doing that again to them.
The water began to visibly stain with blood.
The general dove back down, bringing the senator back into cover.
Lee-Char was about to ask why when three aqua droids and five quarren popped into view, right in front of the defending knights.
How they had gotten there he couldn't understand at that moment. Ackbar pushed him down against the roof.
He saw only snippets of the fight as he struggled instinctually against his captain.
The Jedi general twirling in the water impossibly, his lightsaber cutting two aqua droids in half, then deflecting the shot of a quarren straight back.
The quarren's head flash fried and exploded.
Ackbar stabbed another quarren through the chest, firing the other end to hit an aqua droid, which Amidala finished off with multiple shots from her blaster.
A mon cala knight beheaded a quarren, only for an aqua droid's left claw to grab the knight's head and squeeze.
The general was there and his blade sizzled through the droid's arm, then torso.
The beleaguered knight pulled off the dead droid arm, his eyes wide with fright and thanks, before grimly shooting another quarren sticking their head over the edge of the building.
The general made a pulling gesture with a closed fist, causing three quarren to uncontrollably find themselves surging through the water towards him, before his blade gave one long slash that relieved all of their heads from their bodies.
Lee-Char could only stare in horror as one of the quarren heads landed within arms reach - the gaping expression of surprise and fear forever captured on its face.
Everything became strangely distant and his ears seemed to just not work properly.
It was as if that quarren head had some spell and Lee-Char couldn't find any will to move or even look away from it.
Those milky gray eyes screamed in judgment at him.
If only he had found the right words at the Grand Conclave, maybe this wouldn't have happened.
Why didn't he find them? If they were so crucial to his people mon cala and quarren alike, why had those words not come to him?
Now they were dying in a war that had seemed so distant just yesterday. It was a land walker's war, they had said. It would never reach the pristine waters of Dac.
Yet here they were, dying in a civil war that Lee-Char had considered utterly ridiculous and impossible just yesterday.
If there was this much discontent among the quarren, why had his father hidden it from him?
"Majesty!"
Where was Ackbar? Hadn't he been right above me? Lee-Char thought dazedly.
He looked around, finally managing to tear his eyes away from the dead quarren. Instead, it was General Skywalker above him, his form moving through the water in a way that seemed impossible for any land walker. His lightsaber left trails of blue in the prince's eyes as it defended and cut down in equal measure with a breathtaking economy of motion.
Then he saw Captain Ackbar, who was lying down against the roof, both his big eyes wracked with pain from a spear wound, whilst Senator Amidala was grimly performing emergency first aid with one hand, whilst her other was still occasionally shooting.
No.
He'd be damned to the deeps if he just laid here and stayed stupefied at his own failure for the entire battle.
He found the will to move from somewhere, a place he couldn't even define. He rolled over and his hand closed around the hilt of Ackbar's fallen spear blaster.
He aimed and fired without even thinking, the blast catching a quarren climbing onto the roof.
Lee-Char pushed off the roof, giving a double kick against the water and surging his spear into the back of a quarren that had just been about to deliver the killing blow against a surprised knight.
He kept the now dead body impaled on his spear and twisted through the water.
The dead quarren took the blast from an aqua droid, before Lee-Char's momentum carried him around and he fired the blaster end of his spear. The droid took the shot just below its rectangular optical sensor. It created enough delay for Amidala to shoot it as well, then Skywalker was there, cutting the entire droid lengthwise in two.
Lee-Char pulled his weapon free and just began shooting.
The world narrowed as the decision was made.
There was only the enemy, his weapon, moving, aiming and shooting.
He was only broken from the battle haze when he felt the hand of General Skywalker suddenly on his shoulder.
He belatedly realized he was pulling in oxygen through both his organic gills and mouth - the latter of which was quite uncomfortable to do for most mon cala.
"Easy highness," Skywalker said and his words seemed to ripple through Lee's being somehow. Which was good, because the impulse had been there to stab the spear behind him in reflex. "You did good, we managed to repel the immediate assault on this spire, look." He pointed upward.
Out of the sun shining through the shallow waters, diving directly on top of the battle was what looked like hundreds of figures.
They moved in a perfect formation, among them, some were being pulled by armed subs.
They opened fire.
Blue blaster bolts streaked down like rain on land, onto the backs of the enemy.
The Republic was here.
The clone troopers fired with amazing accuracy from such a long range. It was a rather astonishing feat for land walkers in such an alien environment.
Many torpedoes launched from the Republic formation. They moved so fast, the vacuum left in their wake boiled the ocean and they detonated among the clustered formations of aqua droids still approaching the government complex.
Lee-Char couldn't count how much wreckage fell into the depths from just that attack.
"Argh," Ackbar coughed water in pain. He fumbled for the radio link, "All knights, break from cover and attack! For the Prince!"
"FOR THE PRINCE!"
The shout echoed through the entire area and would definitely be heard for many kilometers.
Lee-Char watched as his people burst into the open waters all over the complex, their spear blasters firing as they swam with speed into the enemy formations. The clone troopers closed range into the enemy from above and there he could see another three Jedi lightsabers in the distance, two green and one black?
What an odd color, he thought. He'd never known those legendary weapons could be like that.
The battle raged and raged.
Clone, mon cala and quarren bodies began being claimed by the deep.
The ranges had now shrunk to melee range between the combatants and it was taking a terrible toll.
Spear blade met spear blade.
The clones had vibroblade attachments to the underside of their rifles and Lee-Char could hear the distinctive rapid ripples of those weapons in water.
They sunk into quarren flesh and cut through droid steel.
Out of the melee a Republic sub charged straight through, firing its laser cannons. It headed straight for the central spire. It was the Jedi.
Lee-Char could see that he had been mistaken. The three blades belonged to a single Jedi.
The green blades supernaturally swinging and twirling through the water above their back, whilst only the black blade was in their hand.
Any blast was deflected and any droid or quarren who came close didn't even have time to realize the Jedi was there, before they were cut down.
The sub came to stop above them.
The Jedi gave a few pulling strokes, diving down straight towards Ackbar.
"You're late," Skywalker chastised the Jedi, but there was humor in his tone.
"Sorry master," she said lightly, turning off her blades.
She hovered to a stop next to the injured knight captain and placed her armored hands directly on his wound.
Ackbar immediately breathed easier, no longer pulling in oxygen so harshly. "A pleasure to meet you, Captain Ackbar. Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano at your service and I'll be healing you today."
"The pleasure is mine, commander… thank you." Ackbar wheezed slightly.
Tano nodded at the Senator. "Thank you for keeping him stable long enough for me to arrive."
Amidala nodded, placing a companionable hand on the Jedi's shoulder.
Lee-Char gave one last check of his surroundings, a small squad of knights had remained behind to keep their Prince and Captain safe, despite Ackbar's order. Skywalker was also staying vigilant with the knights, and talking over the radio with the clones.
He swam closer to Tano and Ackbar.
"Will he be alright?"
"Yes," Tano said with a distracted air. "He had some internal bleeding, that's closed up now." She pulled out a bacta patch from her belt pouch and another device that almost looked like a tiny blaster. It was poked directly into Ackbar's wound before an odd substance squirted out, which blossomed into greater volume and sealed it. The patch was slapped down and it glowed blue as it made a permanent seal on the captain's abdomen. "Now Captain Ackbar, you'll soon be feeling as if you're still fighting fit, but that's a combination of painkillers in the sealant and the Force. You are only destined for a medical bay in the next few minutes."
"Nonsense, my place is with the prince," Ackbar objected immediately.
"This prince will order you to sickbay if you persist, captain," Lee-Char threatened with his best attempt at a stern voice, which didn't really land well. "If you die…"
He didn't really want to contemplate what would happen in that case.
Tano swam upwards slightly to gain a look at the battle. "Master, we're pushing the enemy back."
"Yes, but at a heavy cost. This underwater fighting is as brutal as we feared," Skywalker commented grimly.
"THE ENEMY IS RETREATING!"
A loud cheer echoed through the water.
"Captain Ackbar, should we pursue?" came the audible question over the radio.
The captain leaned his head wearily against the edge of the roof. He looked at Skywalker, then Lee-Char, "No, hold at the complex perimeter. We've won this round. We need to see to our wounded and regroup, buy time for more knight companies to arrive from other cities."
"Assuming that those companies aren't bogged down with fighting as well," Tano pointed out.
"Indeed, Commander. Indeed."
"This is not going to be easy," Anakin said as we stared at a holo of Dac with every major and minor population center across the planet.
"We'll be able to fight for the capital, but it will be up to the mon cala to secure the other contested cities." Nine cities had an angry red halo around their icon, denoting some form of active fighting occurring. I tapped one such city called Ukemgab, the holo promptly brought up live scans and visual feeds of the fighting.
It really made me appreciate how nice we landlubbers actually had it on a ground based battlefield.
Cover on Dac was only given by buildings and in the shallows where there might be underwater mountains and slopes, but those were few and far between, given where both species had preferred to create their cities. Battles in the water inevitably turned into a decision of when you would commit to closing range and engaging in close quarters combat with blaster spears.
It generally began with sub scooter launched torpedo duels taking the place of artillery.
Both sides would then mass fire their blasters to take out these torpedoes before they could detonate. That there was no dedicated anti-torpedo point defense sub was simply because the people of Dac had never had to fight on this scale underwater for thousands of years.
They were getting a very bloody lesson and relearning it before my eyes.
Torpedoes also generally forced the battle into close range, since you didn't want your enemy to take long range pot shots at you constantly. They had to intermingle their lines to make those weapons impractical to use in many cases.
The other tactical decider of many battles was the use of the transport tubes in cities.
Both sides had initially kept to an unspoken rule that they were never to be targeted and fighting would only occur on the exits or entrances to the system.
That had barely lasted for the first day of the battle.
It wasn't long until reports began to circulate of quarrens placing proximity mines in the tubes.
This slowed everything down further as neither side could now risk using them. The mines weren't smart enough to distinguish between species as that would make them too expensive to deploy en masse or there would be too few of them.
Now the only way to get anywhere was to swim and there were just too few subs and scooters to go around. It further locked down the civilian population, including the flow of food and supplies.
"It won't be long until we get civvies pouring out of the cities to hunt for food," I said.
"The tube network is the only thing that connects them to their aquaculture centers," Anakin swiped the holo to bring up a 2D representation of Coral City. "They do have large intercity passenger subs, perhaps those can be retasked for food delivery."
"Could work, but we'd be making them prime targets for attack."
Currently the government complex and every building within a nine hundred meter sphere was designated as 'friendly secured territory', with the mon cala knights and clones manning the perimeter. That was all our current numbers allowed us to secure without diluting our strength to unacceptable levels. In comparison to the rest of the city it was a frighteningly small volume.
Beyond that was a 'neutral zone' of three kilometers, which meant that sensors and sonars of various types, that were carried by mon cala, could reliably detect any active noise or movement source. That was deceptive though, the local thermocline sat at a depth of forty meters in the city, meaning anything deeper than that was essentially invisible to a sonar sensor above it.
The rest of the city was assumed enemy territory, but the government complex had hardline sensor feeds from there which would at least give plenty of prior warning of an imminent attack.
I tapped the controls of the holotank, initiating a connection to Master Koon.
"General Skywalker, Commander Tano, good to see you survived that battle. The reports are rather harrowing."
"It was, thankfully the mon cala are able to treat our wounded down here as well. What's the situation in space?" Anakin asked.
"They're still holding in Ruisto, but their Trident assault ships are very busy going back and forth, both in number and frequency of trips."
"More aqua droids, the number they had at the first battle was rather pathetic to be honest," Anakin manipulated the city holo to a 3D format and twisted it around, looking at it from different perspectives.
"Master, how many more SCUBA troopers are ready?"
"One battalion can be dropped to reinforce at any time, the question that remains is where?"
The doors to the large briefing room we had been assigned by the mon cala opened and Lee-Char swam inside, followed by four knights and Chewie, who was looking more comfortable in the deep water with every passing hour.
The big wookiee had achieved many kills with his bowcaster, but his size had made him an attractive target for the quarren. His Aegis armor had thankfully saved his life from the blaster shot that had tagged him in the chest.
"Master Jedi," Lee-Char greeted. "On behalf of my people, thank you for your assistance in the battle."
"You're welcome, highness," Anakin smiled. "There's going to be plenty more battles before this is over though."
"No doubt," Lee-Char sighed sadly. "Whilst Captain Ackbar is in recovery, it falls to me to command the knights. I would please request that a liaison be assigned to me so that our forces can better coordinate."
"My padawan would be more than happy to fulfill such a role."
I was very tempted to needle Anakin in the ribs, but maintained my professionalism.
"It'll be my honor, highness. Just to inform you, Lieutenant Chewbacca here is part and parcel to me."
Lee-Char smiled, "I've already talked to Chewbacca on the way here from sickbay. It's the first time I've ever seen a wookiee and could never imagine one visiting us down here. He fought for my people and risked his life, therefore he is always welcome on Dac."
Chewie thumped his chest in thanks.
"Is there anything else, highness?" Anakin asked.
"Yes, we've received some disturbing intelligence. We believe we've located where the Isolation League and Separatists are staging from." He swam forward and inserted a data chit into the holotank. The blue marble sphere of Dac appeared and it zoomed into a region roughly under eighty kilometers south-east from Coral City and a depth of 170 meters. "These are the Nuxz kelp forests. The density of the foliage and animal life make it an ideal place for keeping your acoustic signature low and hidden at long range. It's also below two thermoclines. Scouts sent back these images."
At that depth, sunlight was quite diminished, giving everything a dark green hue. On the ocean floor was a large ugly structure that was far removed from the graceful organic lines of mon cala architecture. These were two saucer shaped structures, a larger one acting as the base for a smaller, interlinked with struts and supports that gave me the impression that someone had taken an edgy Goth aesthetic and applied it to an underwater construction.
Three battalions of aqua droids were assembled here, hovering in perfect formations in front of this base.
"How old is this intelligence?" Master Koon asked.
"Five hours," Lee-Char answered. "Captain Ackbar believes this force has one goal - the capture of the Star Coral Shipyards."
The holo changed to show an overhead tactical view of the famous underwater shipyards. Its scale was truly gargantuan, it might as well have been a city in its own right, measuring upwards of thirty kilometers by twenty four in surface area, but given that this was underwater, it also had the third dimension to play with. Most of the industrial facilities were clustered on the ocean floor at a depth of two hundred meters, with the living and administrative spaces staying above the more comfortable thirty meter mark, all of it contained within a natural valley.
These shipyards were forty three kilometers northeast of the capital city and a lot of the shipyard workers made their home here.
"Do we have any word from the shipyard itself?" I asked curiously.
"Yes, it seems the Isolation League had recruited a fair number of key quarren workers beforehand. When the war began, they used their privileged access to lock the shipyards down into a security mode and scramble code access. What few automated defenses there were immediately turned on the mon cala. The fact that we're able to communicate with the shipyard administrator alone is a miracle. She was between meetings and the League tried to capture her for her primary access codes. They failed because she simply took a trip to the Refresher and wasn't where they'd thought she'd be."
Lee-Char gestured to the holo and a number of perimeter positions lit up. "These are defense towers that project a shield around the shipyard. They also have laser cannons and mass torpedo launchers. They're old but well maintained, built for anti-piracy measures only. They're currently online and remain under the control of the administrator."
"So as long as she remains out of hostile hands it'll stay that way. What's her current position?"
"The mon cala have fortified a manufacturing building in this south western sector of the shipyards. She's being protected there and apparently they're working on an idea they think will help with the crisis. They didn't elaborate."
"Not even to their prince?"
Lee-Char fiddled with the barbels on his chin in a mon cala gesture of annoyance. "They respect the throne, but I'm technically not on it yet. They're also concerned about communication security."
"This clearly presents a problem for the deployment of our forces," Master Koon said. "The capital city is just as strategically important. If we secure the shipyard but lose the capital in the process our foothold in the waters of Dac will be very precarious. I'm sorry your highness, but we must first secure the capital, the shipyard will still be there even if it falls to the Separatists."
The prince nodded, "I understand, Master Jedi."
"We'll be launching reinforcements within the hour-"
I felt the currents of probability shift and even Anakin raised a hand to his head as his own senses picked up on it.
"Master Koon, launch now. Whatever is ready, we need it," he said grimly.
Plo Koon frowned but eventually nodded, "I sense it as well. Force be with all of you."
His holo winked out.
Anakin tapped his comlink, "All units, go to combat alert."
I swam forward to the holotank controls and pushed my senses far and wide, using the sensors to further augment it.
There!
The holo changed, focusing downward to the ocean floor of Coral city, more than eight hundred meters down. The only reason we could get readings was the hardlined sensors present down at those depths. The sea floor was churning and kicking up the sand to visually obscure what was happening, other sensors compensated.
Something big and hot was boring through the earth down there.
The computer profiled it quickly.
"A tunneling machine," Anakin frowned. "How were its seismic disturbances not detected before now?"
"They probably were, but the quarren had free reign until just a few days ago, sensors were probably hacked and reprogrammed to ignore it."
"What is that?" Lee-Char pointed at large saucer shaped heat signatures that were now emerging from the new tunnel.
"Incoming enemy droids! Northern sector!" was announced over the radio.
The prince whirled through the water to grab his spear blaster.
"All units hold the line!" Anakin shouted into the comlink, powering towards the door.
"Let's go Chewie."
We emerged from the central spire directly into combat.
There were no quarren this time, only aqua droids and they had already punched a hole straight through the perimeter and were splitting into two columns that intended to flank and wrap up the defenders.
I didn't even have time to use my comlink, instead pushing my thoughts directly to Padme.
'Padme, grab the mon cala senator, Ackbar and flee in the direction of the shipyards, now!'
Her shock was palpable across the bond, 'On our way!'
My lightsabers burst into life in the water, in time to deflect bolts that would've cut Lee-Char in half.
The origin of the attack was from below and it was then that I first laid eyes on what the Separatists had thrown at us through the tunnel.
Rising out of the depths was an entire formation of ninety three, green tinted bioluminescent saucers, propelling themselves with dozens of twenty meter long tentacles that powerfully undulated through the water. I sensed they were a clear merging of the mechanical and biological.
"M8, full scan, are those shielded?"
"Confirmed, mistress. No weapon currently being wielded by either Republic or Mon Cala troops will drain or disrupt them. Torpedoes will, but only in great number."
Mounted on the perimeter of the saucers were rapid fire cannons that were sending large bursts of beam lasers cutting through the water.
Even as we watched many dozens of mon cala and clones were lost.
Fire from the DC-12Us just splashed off the shields of these monstrosities.
"No Skyguy, we can't take this. All our remaining Devilfish's torpedoes are not enough to make a dent in this!" I said with a grunt as my blades defended against more blaster fire.
Anakin visibly gritted his teeth as he swam in evasive circles cutting through a number of aqua droids that had reached us.
Chewie roared in defiance, his accurate bowcaster shots taking out droid after droid. He even tried shooting at the jellyfish like war machines to no avail.
"All troops, fighting retreat for the shipyards!" Anakin ordered. "Master Koon, I'm giving you new coordinates for the drop."
We began swimming for our lives.
A long column of six hundred mon cala knights and clones swam out of the Coral city outskirts as if the hounds of hell were on their heels.
In the midst of this desperately fleeing formation Padme, Chewie, Ackbar and Senator Meena Tills of the Mon Cala were clutched on the railings of a Devilfish sub, whilst I was piloting it. The remainder of the subs we had were sprinkled throughout the formation, giving the tired clones a chance to rest.
Anakin and Lee-Char along with most of the mon cala knights were acting as a rear guard, firing behind them at the tirelessly pursuing aqua droids.
We were lucky that the CIS combat jellyfish craft were quite slow and none had even set off in pursuit.
I desperately wanted to join the rear guard as losing Lee-Char at this point would be disastrous, but I had to trust that Anakin was doing his job and sticking to the monarch like glue and defending him.
After two kilometers of desperate travel, swimming and fighting, more and more clones had to grab hold of the subs. It got to the point that there weren't enough hand holds and troopers had to grab onto each other's legs, forming human chains that were dragged through the water. Never let it be said that they were content with that, as they continued to aim their weapons behind them and fire into the pursuing enemy formation.
Even Chewie was hooking his leg onto the sub's railing, aiming and occasionally firing with his bowcaster using the pop-up scope, when he was sure of a shot.
My own energies were spent protecting Padme and Tills, keeping the spirits of everyone buoyed with Battle Meditation and steering the retreat.
"How… much- longer?" Padme gasped with closed eyes. She was trying to spend as little time clutched on the sub's railing.
M8 displayed the answer immediately on my HUD. "Four hundred meters, three minutes at this speed," I eventually answered whilst my lower body undulated against the water in a 'dolphin stroke', the Force constantly aiding my stamina.
Even Senator Tills was making use of the sub to rest as the mon cala wasn't exactly in the prime of her life anymore.
"Curse these droids!" Chewie roared as he missed a shot, rapidly reloading his weapon.
The three minutes that followed would be remembered by many of the survivors as the longest moments of their lives.
Even as we were retreating, we were leaving the dead in our wake as the aqua droids kept up their attempt to rout us completely.
At last, I felt them entering my awareness and fifteen meters above us, a huge number of splashes were seen as 550 clone troopers and forty-eight Devilfish subs plunged into the oceans of Dac.
All of them dove for the rear of our retreating formation with all the speed they could muster.
A storm of blaster fire rained onto the pursuing droids from the reinforcements. Torpedoes soon followed, wrecking a multitude of droids with every detonation among their formation.
Wrecked aqua droids began steadily floating into the depths below.
With the tide somewhat turning, the reinforcements merged into the retreating formation.
It did wonders for morale and I was left with much less metaphysical weight to carry in the Battle Meditation.
Another volley of torpedoes ranged outward, their detonation and implosion effects finally broke the back of the enemy, as the droid numbers were now too few. Yet it seemed Riff Tamsen wasn't content with that and kept the surviving droids doggedly on our tails.
We covered another three kilometers of distance before the last droid was cut apart by Anakin's lightsaber.
I let out a relieved sigh into my helmet as I surveyed our numbers.
933 mon cala and clones.
Anakin used his armor's propulsion and the Force to streak through the middle of the formation, carrying a rather disgruntled Lee-Char and grabbed a hold of the Devilfish sub.
"I hate this," the prince declared.
"Better to live and fight another day, your highness," Ackbar said with a wince. He had to be strapped to the sub and was in no condition to actually swim. "You did everything you could. Your father would be proud of you."
Lee-Char closed his eyes in heartfelt pain, "I'd rather he be alive and with us. He wouldn't have lost Coral City."
"Not even he would've foreseen the enemy bringing those karkarodon monstrosities to our waters, your highness. We would need starfighter cannons to practically destroy those."
"I suppose," he admitted. "I feel like I… barely did anything."
"Valor is not counted in how many droids or quarren you defeat, highness," I pointed out. "You are the crown now, the hope and sovereign of your people. As long as you live, they will endure and live to see the new day."
"We'd need a whole new army group to take back the capital, even if we could counter these new weapons."
"That army will come, highness. We at least now know what the CIS have brought to the table and we can work with the scientists and engineers at the shipyards to find a countermeasure. Take heart Prince Lee-Char, we are far from defeated. Think of this as merely a tactical repositioning of our forces."
"Tactical repositioning?" Ackbar chuckled despite himself. "I'll have to remember that one, Commander Tano."
It would take almost two and half hours to reach the shipyards.
We probably could've used the travel tube that linked it to Coral City, especially when scouts reported that not a single soul was using it, nor that any CIS droids were traveling through it towards the shipyard. The problem was what would happen when we reached our destination through it. The tube could squirt us out directly into a prepared quarren ambush, literally a 'fish in a barrel' moment.
So we had to be content with traveling the hard and slow way, sending scouts ranging outward on Devilfish subs. We also had to be worried about our depth as the seafloor terrain changed. If we poked our heads above the shifting thermocline, the chance that we could get droids dropped on top of us increased greatly.
The CIS definitely knew where we were headed and the fact that they hadn't sent more aqua droids to destroy us was very worrying. Either they were too busy consolidating their hold on the capital or they just didn't care about pursuing us. They knew we would have to retake the capital eventually. It would all depend on just how many aqua droids had been produced for this campaign. Fighting on aquatic worlds was somewhat of a niche endeavor, I could use my hands to count the amount of worlds it would be useful on.
That was a strategic problem though and I had a nasty feeling we could not count on the CIS running out of droids for this specific campaign.
As we neared the shipyard we began hugging the sea terrain as much as possible. It was far more hilly and even mountainous in this direction, but the shipyard was situated in a huge valley called Jumdu.
The clones switched their SCUBA gear to rebreathing mode a kilometer out. This allowed for a more stealthy approach so we didn't spew out bubbles into the ocean above us and throw out the underwater equivalent of smoke signals.
We paused at the crest that looked down on the valley and looked down on the stupendously large shipyards.
Sure it was speck to the KDY Ring shipyards, but it was the largest singular shipyard in the galaxy that was down a gravity well. Some Corellian yards came close, but those were smaller and distributed across most of that planet.
In immediate view was a yard that held the skeleton of a Mon Cala passenger ship that was easily 1.5 kilometers long, 120 meters high and 300 in width at its widest point. I could definitely see the future MC80 Star Cruiser being developed from the bones of the massive starship in front of me.
The perimeter towers were angled, elegant and curved, seemingly growing out of the ocean floor. The dim overhead sunlight flickered yellow on the nearly invisible shield that was stretched over the perimeter like a giant energetic fence. There were no yard workers of either mon cala or quarren in immediate view, the place was eerily deserted.
"Senator Tills, if you'd be so kind," Anakin prompted graciously.
The Mon Cala senator nodded and held up a comlink which flickered with the small holo of a female mon cala who had definitely looked like she'd seen better days. Numerous scratches on her curved head were plastered up and one of her bulbous eyes was covered up with a black medical patch.
"Administrator Pombe, we've arrived," Tills said sternly.
"Finally… relay me your coordinates and I'll open a gap in the shield."
Tills tapped her comlink's pad.
"Received, signal me when I should close it. Now hurry and deal with these League blutfish. Pombe out."
"She's friendly," Anakin said dryly.
"Pombe is a devilsquid, but she's good at her job and has no patience for fools, which is what lets her ride herd so well on the largest collection of scientists and engineers on the planet," Tills huffed with amusement.
Below us the closest section of the curved shield wall began flickering before disappearing entirely.
"Go, go, go!"
I pushed on the throttle of the Devilfish sub and crested it over the edge and down into the valley at top speed.
"Head on a swivel everyone, fire only when fired upon. Not all quarren here are the enemy," Anakin warned.
The Republic and Mon Cala forces streamed into the shipyard.
We passed the skeleton of the first cruiser, beyond which was an empty yard and beyond that a much more complete ship, still missing large portions of its outer hull.
It did also show that there was a lot of modularity to mon cala shipbuilding as well, even to the extent that those modules could act as ships in their own right.
On our left the first buildings began to appear, the function of which I could only guess at from exterior appearance alone, though I could sense enough people taking shelter inside that it could've been a dormitory for workers.
It would take another seven kilometers of winding through the yards and buildings before we'd arrive at the administrator's position.
It was a building under siege.
It spanned nearly four hundred meters in length, and twenty in height, a curved cylinder laid on its side.
The League quarren had massive squared containers dumped all around it for cover and was trading blaster fire with the defenders inside, who were firing out of every available window that looked outward.
We outnumbered them two to one at least and so Anakin gave the simple order.
"Attack."
I left the controls of the Devilfish sub to Padme and surged ahead with Chewie at my side.
The clones and mon cala opened fire, catching the enemy flat footed because every defender in the building had gathered their attention and no one had been watching their backs. It was a rather rookie mistake.
In those critical moments, it was a turkey shoot and it cut down the League by almost half their number before they even turned around to return fire.
My blades began dancing in defense as Chewie roared, firing his bowcaster to blow a hole through the chest of a quarren, slamming him back into his own own cover.
I boosted through the water along the enemy line, the Darksaber swinging in my hand - cutting through three quarren on the trot.
A quarren tried to surge forward to stab me in the back.
I didn't bother turning around and willed my right blade to relieve the enemy of his arms, before twirling it to send his head tumbling off his body.
My left blade was spinning rapidly, defending from the fire of four quarren, sending blaster bolts randomly back in their direction.
Chewie shot one, whilst I closed the distance with rapid dolphin strokes, where the Darksaber did its grim work.
A quarren on their version of a scooter began shooting at me with its mounted cannons.
A brief jet from my boot propulsion had me dodging left, whilst my hovering blades managed to send the bolts straight back into the scooter.
It blew up rather satisfyingly, killing its rider with the concussive hammer of compressed water and shrapnel.
With that a gap was created in the League siege line and Republic forces split up and began enveloping the building, wrapping up the enemy in the process.
At some point the commander of the enemy must have been killed, as the cohesion of the enemy broke.
Dozens of League quarren began trying to flee, dropping their weapons in the process.
"Let them go!" Lee-Char ordered.
Ackbar, who was only able to move around thanks to a handheld scooter, looked at his sovereign with severe eyes, "Are you sure, your highness?"
"This madness will one day end and how I conduct this war will be judged. They've relinquished their arms and fled. Killing them now will just be butchery. I do not want unwilling subjects, Captain."
Anakin nodded in understanding, "All units, hold, do not pursue," he ordered into his comlink.
The prince looked around at the works of his people and then addressed the mon cala knights that were nearby. "We must leave the door open for our people to be reunited! The wounds of this conflict must heal when this is over. Everything here was built by the people of Dac! Mon cala and quarren working united in purpose for thousands of years. I will not be known as the sovereign king who undoes that legacy in a few days."
"The prince has spoken!" said Ackbar. "What say you knights of mon cal?!"
The shout of affirmation carried for kilometers in the water. "FOR THE PRINCE! LEE-CHAR!"
"LEE-CHAR! LEE-CHAR! LEE-CHAR!"
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Chapter 84
In the annals of his people's history, of all the words said by the kings and queens of Dac, Prince Lee-Char knew that he would probably forever go down in history as the perfect example of foolish naivety. Not to mention the monarch with the worst timing in the galaxy.
How else would you explain the first shot of the Dac civil war happening the instant after he had said: "I do not believe the quarren will attack."
It was a bitter fruit to taste.
It was made even worse as he beheld so many mon cala knights taking cover behind the spires of the government complex and firing their blaster spears in defense of him. Every moment he blinked, he saw a knight jerk and begin floating downward in death.
Attacking the complex was a massive formation of quarren and aqua droids - he couldn't even count the number of people who had been subjects of his father just last week, now doing the unthinkable.
Here he was, floating in the cover behind the central spire's roof and he didn't even have a weapon in hand. What kind of king was he? He technically didn't even have the throne yet, but every mon cala already looked to him for leadership.
The only thing that was letting him keep his own composure, was the fact that he at least had Captain Ackbar, Jedi General Skywalker and Senator Amidala at his side.
A torpedo detonated nearby and Lee-Char cursed inwardly as everyone ducked behind their cover. The hammer blow of expanding water caught two knights on the edge of the building and he forced his eyes to remain open and take in the grisly sight of their remains settling and dropping off the side.
The sizzling singing of distant blaster shots was briefly muted as the shockwave of the water reclaiming the void washed over them. He had to briefly pull off his organic gill, to regain equilibrium in his ears, before reattaching it.
"What are your orders, highness?" Ackbar muttered in the aftermath, keeping his voice low. It was doubtful that the sound of his words would travel far in the chaotic battle, but he understood the necessity. All it would take would be a quarren with a sensitive acoustic sensor listening from range…
Lee-Char looked into the battle.
He was not trained for this. Even the knights had only ever fought in simulation!
The only thing he could immediately see was that the mon cala had a definite advantage using the complex buildings as cover, whilst the qua- no, whilst the enemy had to charge forward in the open water. They were much easier targets and the number of their dead floating downward was far greater. The problem was he could already see that the number of knights who had been on hand when the attack started meant they were effectively outnumbered.
Attack would give up the only advantage, retreating might be possible, but that would be exposing their backs to the enemy.
"We hold the line, captain."
"If I may make a suggestion," Skywalker looked to Ackbar. Lee-Char wasn't the best at reading alien expressions, but the Jedi was clearly unhappy. "It is one thing to have a commander, general or captain in the front line, but your monarch and head of state is an entirely different story. The prince needs to be in a safe position with a command holotank."
Senator Amidala, who had her own Naboo blaster in hand, coughed for some reason and gave Skywalker a complicated expression, which caused him to roll his eyes.
"I understand the practicality, general," Ackbar stated, with his own blaster spear raised above his head, floating next to Lee-Char. "That decision is up to the prince."
Lee-Char might not have any training in the knightly arts, but he was merely a young adult and not a child. He knew politics, leadership and how important the 'voice' of the Throne was. His decision and course was obvious.
"The morale of my people is shaken, general. If they see me retreat from battle, they will lose heart. I have to stay here with my people. Captain Ackbar, keep our troops in defense-"
General Skywalker moved so quickly through the water that he nearly left a void in his wake, his lightsaber ignited in his right hand, whilst his left hand made a clenched fist.
Five torpedoes that had been streaking towards their position in the central spire, which would've been enough to utterly destroy it and kill everyone, detonated in the distance.
The hammer blows of hydro compression shot outward in a large sphere, killing many surprised quarren attackers and wrecking numerous aqua droids. The ocean reclaimed the voids hungrily sending shockwaves outward that threw the attackers in disarray, but the mon cala knights among the spires were also buffeted and some pulled out of cover.
The knights rushed back, but most were quickly cut down by the storm of blaster bolts.
Lee-Char struggled to keep his composure at witnessing such a clear feat of the Force in action.
"If they're smart they'll stop using torpedoes after that at least," General Skywalker floated back down.
"Captain Ackbar, how long can we keep this defense going?"
"As things stand now, long enough for the Republic to arrive, then we go on the offensive. If they capture this complex we lose much of the infrastructure of government and defense." Ackbar turned to the line of knights shooting in front of them. "Watch your upper quadrants, they get close enough they can shoot down on us!"
A problem that quickly turned to reality.
General Skywalker hovered back upwards, staying above Senator Amidala and began deflecting bolts that were shooting into their cover from aqua droids and quarren.
The senator swam up to grab hold of the general's waist, literally using the Jedi for cover as she fired her Naboo blaster at the enemy from under his arms. It made such an odd, disturbing noise in the water, sounding almost like a mon cala infant briefly screaming.
He wished he had a blaster spear. He had at least trained in their use for self-defense. Yet that would complicate things for his defenders, who would have to divide their focus. He watched as Ackbar used his own body as a shield for his prince, shouting orders to the knights nearby and over the radio. He would also fire his weapon occasionally into the distance.
The thumping boom of exploding torpedoes rippled through the water.
Lee-Char watched in horror as an entire building spire on the left flank collapsed, along with many dead knights, reduced to charnel and blood in the water, falling into the deeps.
The enemy tried again to fire torpedoes from their water speeders at the central building.
General Skywalker had to teach them the error of doing that again to them.
The water began to visibly stain with blood.
The general dove back down, bringing the senator back into cover.
Lee-Char was about to ask why when three aqua droids and five quarren popped into view, right in front of the defending knights.
How they had gotten there he couldn't understand at that moment. Ackbar pushed him down against the roof.
He saw only snippets of the fight as he struggled instinctually against his captain.
The Jedi general twirling in the water impossibly, his lightsaber cutting two aqua droids in half, then deflecting the shot of a quarren straight back.
The quarren's head flash fried and exploded.
Ackbar stabbed another quarren through the chest, firing the other end to hit an aqua droid, which Amidala finished off with multiple shots from her blaster.
A mon cala knight beheaded a quarren, only for an aqua droid's left claw to grab the knight's head and squeeze.
The general was there and his blade sizzled through the droid's arm, then torso.
The beleaguered knight pulled off the dead droid arm, his eyes wide with fright and thanks, before grimly shooting another quarren sticking their head over the edge of the building.
The general made a pulling gesture with a closed fist, causing three quarren to uncontrollably find themselves surging through the water towards him, before his blade gave one long slash that relieved all of their heads from their bodies.
Lee-Char could only stare in horror as one of the quarren heads landed within arms reach - the gaping expression of surprise and fear forever captured on its face.
Everything became strangely distant and his ears seemed to just not work properly.
It was as if that quarren head had some spell and Lee-Char couldn't find any will to move or even look away from it.
Those milky gray eyes screamed in judgment at him.
If only he had found the right words at the Grand Conclave, maybe this wouldn't have happened.
Why didn't he find them? If they were so crucial to his people mon cala and quarren alike, why had those words not come to him?
Now they were dying in a war that had seemed so distant just yesterday. It was a land walker's war, they had said. It would never reach the pristine waters of Dac.
Yet here they were, dying in a civil war that Lee-Char had considered utterly ridiculous and impossible just yesterday.
If there was this much discontent among the quarren, why had his father hidden it from him?
"Majesty!"
Where was Ackbar? Hadn't he been right above me? Lee-Char thought dazedly.
He looked around, finally managing to tear his eyes away from the dead quarren. Instead, it was General Skywalker above him, his form moving through the water in a way that seemed impossible for any land walker. His lightsaber left trails of blue in the prince's eyes as it defended and cut down in equal measure with a breathtaking economy of motion.
Then he saw Captain Ackbar, who was lying down against the roof, both his big eyes wracked with pain from a spear wound, whilst Senator Amidala was grimly performing emergency first aid with one hand, whilst her other was still occasionally shooting.
No.
He'd be damned to the deeps if he just laid here and stayed stupefied at his own failure for the entire battle.
He found the will to move from somewhere, a place he couldn't even define. He rolled over and his hand closed around the hilt of Ackbar's fallen spear blaster.
He aimed and fired without even thinking, the blast catching a quarren climbing onto the roof.
Lee-Char pushed off the roof, giving a double kick against the water and surging his spear into the back of a quarren that had just been about to deliver the killing blow against a surprised knight.
He kept the now dead body impaled on his spear and twisted through the water.
The dead quarren took the blast from an aqua droid, before Lee-Char's momentum carried him around and he fired the blaster end of his spear. The droid took the shot just below its rectangular optical sensor. It created enough delay for Amidala to shoot it as well, then Skywalker was there, cutting the entire droid lengthwise in two.
Lee-Char pulled his weapon free and just began shooting.
The world narrowed as the decision was made.
There was only the enemy, his weapon, moving, aiming and shooting.
He was only broken from the battle haze when he felt the hand of General Skywalker suddenly on his shoulder.
He belatedly realized he was pulling in oxygen through both his organic gills and mouth - the latter of which was quite uncomfortable to do for most mon cala.
"Easy highness," Skywalker said and his words seemed to ripple through Lee's being somehow. Which was good, because the impulse had been there to stab the spear behind him in reflex. "You did good, we managed to repel the immediate assault on this spire, look." He pointed upward.
Out of the sun shining through the shallow waters, diving directly on top of the battle was what looked like hundreds of figures.
They moved in a perfect formation, among them, some were being pulled by armed subs.
They opened fire.
Blue blaster bolts streaked down like rain on land, onto the backs of the enemy.
The Republic was here.
The clone troopers fired with amazing accuracy from such a long range. It was a rather astonishing feat for land walkers in such an alien environment.
Many torpedoes launched from the Republic formation. They moved so fast, the vacuum left in their wake boiled the ocean and they detonated among the clustered formations of aqua droids still approaching the government complex.
Lee-Char couldn't count how much wreckage fell into the depths from just that attack.
"Argh," Ackbar coughed water in pain. He fumbled for the radio link, "All knights, break from cover and attack! For the Prince!"
"FOR THE PRINCE!"
The shout echoed through the entire area and would definitely be heard for many kilometers.
Lee-Char watched as his people burst into the open waters all over the complex, their spear blasters firing as they swam with speed into the enemy formations. The clone troopers closed range into the enemy from above and there he could see another three Jedi lightsabers in the distance, two green and one black?
What an odd color, he thought. He'd never known those legendary weapons could be like that.
The battle raged and raged.
Clone, mon cala and quarren bodies began being claimed by the deep.
The ranges had now shrunk to melee range between the combatants and it was taking a terrible toll.
Spear blade met spear blade.
The clones had vibroblade attachments to the underside of their rifles and Lee-Char could hear the distinctive rapid ripples of those weapons in water.
They sunk into quarren flesh and cut through droid steel.
Out of the melee a Republic sub charged straight through, firing its laser cannons. It headed straight for the central spire. It was the Jedi.
Lee-Char could see that he had been mistaken. The three blades belonged to a single Jedi.
The green blades supernaturally swinging and twirling through the water above their back, whilst only the black blade was in their hand.
Any blast was deflected and any droid or quarren who came close didn't even have time to realize the Jedi was there, before they were cut down.
The sub came to stop above them.
The Jedi gave a few pulling strokes, diving down straight towards Ackbar.
"You're late," Skywalker chastised the Jedi, but there was humor in his tone.
"Sorry master," she said lightly, turning off her blades.
She hovered to a stop next to the injured knight captain and placed her armored hands directly on his wound.
Ackbar immediately breathed easier, no longer pulling in oxygen so harshly. "A pleasure to meet you, Captain Ackbar. Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano at your service and I'll be healing you today."
"The pleasure is mine, commander… thank you." Ackbar wheezed slightly.
Tano nodded at the Senator. "Thank you for keeping him stable long enough for me to arrive."
Amidala nodded, placing a companionable hand on the Jedi's shoulder.
Lee-Char gave one last check of his surroundings, a small squad of knights had remained behind to keep their Prince and Captain safe, despite Ackbar's order. Skywalker was also staying vigilant with the knights, and talking over the radio with the clones.
He swam closer to Tano and Ackbar.
"Will he be alright?"
"Yes," Tano said with a distracted air. "He had some internal bleeding, that's closed up now." She pulled out a bacta patch from her belt pouch and another device that almost looked like a tiny blaster. It was poked directly into Ackbar's wound before an odd substance squirted out, which blossomed into greater volume and sealed it. The patch was slapped down and it glowed blue as it made a permanent seal on the captain's abdomen. "Now Captain Ackbar, you'll soon be feeling as if you're still fighting fit, but that's a combination of painkillers in the sealant and the Force. You are only destined for a medical bay in the next few minutes."
"Nonsense, my place is with the prince," Ackbar objected immediately.
"This prince will order you to sickbay if you persist, captain," Lee-Char threatened with his best attempt at a stern voice, which didn't really land well. "If you die…"
He didn't really want to contemplate what would happen in that case.
Tano swam upwards slightly to gain a look at the battle. "Master, we're pushing the enemy back."
"Yes, but at a heavy cost. This underwater fighting is as brutal as we feared," Skywalker commented grimly.
"THE ENEMY IS RETREATING!"
A loud cheer echoed through the water.
"Captain Ackbar, should we pursue?" came the audible question over the radio.
The captain leaned his head wearily against the edge of the roof. He looked at Skywalker, then Lee-Char, "No, hold at the complex perimeter. We've won this round. We need to see to our wounded and regroup, buy time for more knight companies to arrive from other cities."
"Assuming that those companies aren't bogged down with fighting as well," Tano pointed out.
"Indeed, Commander. Indeed."
"This is not going to be easy," Anakin said as we stared at a holo of Dac with every major and minor population center across the planet.
"We'll be able to fight for the capital, but it will be up to the mon cala to secure the other contested cities." Nine cities had an angry red halo around their icon, denoting some form of active fighting occurring. I tapped one such city called Ukemgab, the holo promptly brought up live scans and visual feeds of the fighting.
It really made me appreciate how nice we landlubbers actually had it on a ground based battlefield.
Cover on Dac was only given by buildings and in the shallows where there might be underwater mountains and slopes, but those were few and far between, given where both species had preferred to create their cities. Battles in the water inevitably turned into a decision of when you would commit to closing range and engaging in close quarters combat with blaster spears.
It generally began with sub scooter launched torpedo duels taking the place of artillery.
Both sides would then mass fire their blasters to take out these torpedoes before they could detonate. That there was no dedicated anti-torpedo point defense sub was simply because the people of Dac had never had to fight on this scale underwater for thousands of years.
They were getting a very bloody lesson and relearning it before my eyes.
Torpedoes also generally forced the battle into close range, since you didn't want your enemy to take long range pot shots at you constantly. They had to intermingle their lines to make those weapons impractical to use in many cases.
The other tactical decider of many battles was the use of the transport tubes in cities.
Both sides had initially kept to an unspoken rule that they were never to be targeted and fighting would only occur on the exits or entrances to the system.
That had barely lasted for the first day of the battle.
It wasn't long until reports began to circulate of quarrens placing proximity mines in the tubes.
This slowed everything down further as neither side could now risk using them. The mines weren't smart enough to distinguish between species as that would make them too expensive to deploy en masse or there would be too few of them.
Now the only way to get anywhere was to swim and there were just too few subs and scooters to go around. It further locked down the civilian population, including the flow of food and supplies.
"It won't be long until we get civvies pouring out of the cities to hunt for food," I said.
"The tube network is the only thing that connects them to their aquaculture centers," Anakin swiped the holo to bring up a 2D representation of Coral City. "They do have large intercity passenger subs, perhaps those can be retasked for food delivery."
"Could work, but we'd be making them prime targets for attack."
Currently the government complex and every building within a nine hundred meter sphere was designated as 'friendly secured territory', with the mon cala knights and clones manning the perimeter. That was all our current numbers allowed us to secure without diluting our strength to unacceptable levels. In comparison to the rest of the city it was a frighteningly small volume.
Beyond that was a 'neutral zone' of three kilometers, which meant that sensors and sonars of various types, that were carried by mon cala, could reliably detect any active noise or movement source. That was deceptive though, the local thermocline sat at a depth of forty meters in the city, meaning anything deeper than that was essentially invisible to a sonar sensor above it.
The rest of the city was assumed enemy territory, but the government complex had hardline sensor feeds from there which would at least give plenty of prior warning of an imminent attack.
I tapped the controls of the holotank, initiating a connection to Master Koon.
"General Skywalker, Commander Tano, good to see you survived that battle. The reports are rather harrowing."
"It was, thankfully the mon cala are able to treat our wounded down here as well. What's the situation in space?" Anakin asked.
"They're still holding in Ruisto, but their Trident assault ships are very busy going back and forth, both in number and frequency of trips."
"More aqua droids, the number they had at the first battle was rather pathetic to be honest," Anakin manipulated the city holo to a 3D format and twisted it around, looking at it from different perspectives.
"Master, how many more SCUBA troopers are ready?"
"One battalion can be dropped to reinforce at any time, the question that remains is where?"
The doors to the large briefing room we had been assigned by the mon cala opened and Lee-Char swam inside, followed by four knights and Chewie, who was looking more comfortable in the deep water with every passing hour.
The big wookiee had achieved many kills with his bowcaster, but his size had made him an attractive target for the quarren. His Aegis armor had thankfully saved his life from the blaster shot that had tagged him in the chest.
"Master Jedi," Lee-Char greeted. "On behalf of my people, thank you for your assistance in the battle."
"You're welcome, highness," Anakin smiled. "There's going to be plenty more battles before this is over though."
"No doubt," Lee-Char sighed sadly. "Whilst Captain Ackbar is in recovery, it falls to me to command the knights. I would please request that a liaison be assigned to me so that our forces can better coordinate."
"My padawan would be more than happy to fulfill such a role."
I was very tempted to needle Anakin in the ribs, but maintained my professionalism.
"It'll be my honor, highness. Just to inform you, Lieutenant Chewbacca here is part and parcel to me."
Lee-Char smiled, "I've already talked to Chewbacca on the way here from sickbay. It's the first time I've ever seen a wookiee and could never imagine one visiting us down here. He fought for my people and risked his life, therefore he is always welcome on Dac."
Chewie thumped his chest in thanks.
"Is there anything else, highness?" Anakin asked.
"Yes, we've received some disturbing intelligence. We believe we've located where the Isolation League and Separatists are staging from." He swam forward and inserted a data chit into the holotank. The blue marble sphere of Dac appeared and it zoomed into a region roughly under eighty kilometers south-east from Coral City and a depth of 170 meters. "These are the Nuxz kelp forests. The density of the foliage and animal life make it an ideal place for keeping your acoustic signature low and hidden at long range. It's also below two thermoclines. Scouts sent back these images."
At that depth, sunlight was quite diminished, giving everything a dark green hue. On the ocean floor was a large ugly structure that was far removed from the graceful organic lines of mon cala architecture. These were two saucer shaped structures, a larger one acting as the base for a smaller, interlinked with struts and supports that gave me the impression that someone had taken an edgy Goth aesthetic and applied it to an underwater construction.
Three battalions of aqua droids were assembled here, hovering in perfect formations in front of this base.
"How old is this intelligence?" Master Koon asked.
"Five hours," Lee-Char answered. "Captain Ackbar believes this force has one goal - the capture of the Star Coral Shipyards."
The holo changed to show an overhead tactical view of the famous underwater shipyards. Its scale was truly gargantuan, it might as well have been a city in its own right, measuring upwards of thirty kilometers by twenty four in surface area, but given that this was underwater, it also had the third dimension to play with. Most of the industrial facilities were clustered on the ocean floor at a depth of two hundred meters, with the living and administrative spaces staying above the more comfortable thirty meter mark, all of it contained within a natural valley.
These shipyards were forty three kilometers northeast of the capital city and a lot of the shipyard workers made their home here.
"Do we have any word from the shipyard itself?" I asked curiously.
"Yes, it seems the Isolation League had recruited a fair number of key quarren workers beforehand. When the war began, they used their privileged access to lock the shipyards down into a security mode and scramble code access. What few automated defenses there were immediately turned on the mon cala. The fact that we're able to communicate with the shipyard administrator alone is a miracle. She was between meetings and the League tried to capture her for her primary access codes. They failed because she simply took a trip to the Refresher and wasn't where they'd thought she'd be."
Lee-Char gestured to the holo and a number of perimeter positions lit up. "These are defense towers that project a shield around the shipyard. They also have laser cannons and mass torpedo launchers. They're old but well maintained, built for anti-piracy measures only. They're currently online and remain under the control of the administrator."
"So as long as she remains out of hostile hands it'll stay that way. What's her current position?"
"The mon cala have fortified a manufacturing building in this south western sector of the shipyards. She's being protected there and apparently they're working on an idea they think will help with the crisis. They didn't elaborate."
"Not even to their prince?"
Lee-Char fiddled with the barbels on his chin in a mon cala gesture of annoyance. "They respect the throne, but I'm technically not on it yet. They're also concerned about communication security."
"This clearly presents a problem for the deployment of our forces," Master Koon said. "The capital city is just as strategically important. If we secure the shipyard but lose the capital in the process our foothold in the waters of Dac will be very precarious. I'm sorry your highness, but we must first secure the capital, the shipyard will still be there even if it falls to the Separatists."
The prince nodded, "I understand, Master Jedi."
"We'll be launching reinforcements within the hour-"
I felt the currents of probability shift and even Anakin raised a hand to his head as his own senses picked up on it.
"Master Koon, launch now. Whatever is ready, we need it," he said grimly.
Plo Koon frowned but eventually nodded, "I sense it as well. Force be with all of you."
His holo winked out.
Anakin tapped his comlink, "All units, go to combat alert."
I swam forward to the holotank controls and pushed my senses far and wide, using the sensors to further augment it.
There!
The holo changed, focusing downward to the ocean floor of Coral city, more than eight hundred meters down. The only reason we could get readings was the hardlined sensors present down at those depths. The sea floor was churning and kicking up the sand to visually obscure what was happening, other sensors compensated.
Something big and hot was boring through the earth down there.
The computer profiled it quickly.
"A tunneling machine," Anakin frowned. "How were its seismic disturbances not detected before now?"
"They probably were, but the quarren had free reign until just a few days ago, sensors were probably hacked and reprogrammed to ignore it."
"What is that?" Lee-Char pointed at large saucer shaped heat signatures that were now emerging from the new tunnel.
"Incoming enemy droids! Northern sector!" was announced over the radio.
The prince whirled through the water to grab his spear blaster.
"All units hold the line!" Anakin shouted into the comlink, powering towards the door.
"Let's go Chewie."
We emerged from the central spire directly into combat.
There were no quarren this time, only aqua droids and they had already punched a hole straight through the perimeter and were splitting into two columns that intended to flank and wrap up the defenders.
I didn't even have time to use my comlink, instead pushing my thoughts directly to Padme.
'Padme, grab the mon cala senator, Ackbar and flee in the direction of the shipyards, now!'
Her shock was palpable across the bond, 'On our way!'
My lightsabers burst into life in the water, in time to deflect bolts that would've cut Lee-Char in half.
The origin of the attack was from below and it was then that I first laid eyes on what the Separatists had thrown at us through the tunnel.
Rising out of the depths was an entire formation of ninety three, green tinted bioluminescent saucers, propelling themselves with dozens of twenty meter long tentacles that powerfully undulated through the water. I sensed they were a clear merging of the mechanical and biological.
"M8, full scan, are those shielded?"
"Confirmed, mistress. No weapon currently being wielded by either Republic or Mon Cala troops will drain or disrupt them. Torpedoes will, but only in great number."
Mounted on the perimeter of the saucers were rapid fire cannons that were sending large bursts of beam lasers cutting through the water.
Even as we watched many dozens of mon cala and clones were lost.
Fire from the DC-12Us just splashed off the shields of these monstrosities.
"No Skyguy, we can't take this. All our remaining Devilfish's torpedoes are not enough to make a dent in this!" I said with a grunt as my blades defended against more blaster fire.
Anakin visibly gritted his teeth as he swam in evasive circles cutting through a number of aqua droids that had reached us.
Chewie roared in defiance, his accurate bowcaster shots taking out droid after droid. He even tried shooting at the jellyfish like war machines to no avail.
"All troops, fighting retreat for the shipyards!" Anakin ordered. "Master Koon, I'm giving you new coordinates for the drop."
We began swimming for our lives.
A long column of six hundred mon cala knights and clones swam out of the Coral city outskirts as if the hounds of hell were on their heels.
In the midst of this desperately fleeing formation Padme, Chewie, Ackbar and Senator Meena Tills of the Mon Cala were clutched on the railings of a Devilfish sub, whilst I was piloting it. The remainder of the subs we had were sprinkled throughout the formation, giving the tired clones a chance to rest.
Anakin and Lee-Char along with most of the mon cala knights were acting as a rear guard, firing behind them at the tirelessly pursuing aqua droids.
We were lucky that the CIS combat jellyfish craft were quite slow and none had even set off in pursuit.
I desperately wanted to join the rear guard as losing Lee-Char at this point would be disastrous, but I had to trust that Anakin was doing his job and sticking to the monarch like glue and defending him.
After two kilometers of desperate travel, swimming and fighting, more and more clones had to grab hold of the subs. It got to the point that there weren't enough hand holds and troopers had to grab onto each other's legs, forming human chains that were dragged through the water. Never let it be said that they were content with that, as they continued to aim their weapons behind them and fire into the pursuing enemy formation.
Even Chewie was hooking his leg onto the sub's railing, aiming and occasionally firing with his bowcaster using the pop-up scope, when he was sure of a shot.
My own energies were spent protecting Padme and Tills, keeping the spirits of everyone buoyed with Battle Meditation and steering the retreat.
"How… much- longer?" Padme gasped with closed eyes. She was trying to spend as little time clutched on the sub's railing.
M8 displayed the answer immediately on my HUD. "Four hundred meters, three minutes at this speed," I eventually answered whilst my lower body undulated against the water in a 'dolphin stroke', the Force constantly aiding my stamina.
Even Senator Tills was making use of the sub to rest as the mon cala wasn't exactly in the prime of her life anymore.
"Curse these droids!" Chewie roared as he missed a shot, rapidly reloading his weapon.
The three minutes that followed would be remembered by many of the survivors as the longest moments of their lives.
Even as we were retreating, we were leaving the dead in our wake as the aqua droids kept up their attempt to rout us completely.
At last, I felt them entering my awareness and fifteen meters above us, a huge number of splashes were seen as 550 clone troopers and forty-eight Devilfish subs plunged into the oceans of Dac.
All of them dove for the rear of our retreating formation with all the speed they could muster.
A storm of blaster fire rained onto the pursuing droids from the reinforcements. Torpedoes soon followed, wrecking a multitude of droids with every detonation among their formation.
Wrecked aqua droids began steadily floating into the depths below.
With the tide somewhat turning, the reinforcements merged into the retreating formation.
It did wonders for morale and I was left with much less metaphysical weight to carry in the Battle Meditation.
Another volley of torpedoes ranged outward, their detonation and implosion effects finally broke the back of the enemy, as the droid numbers were now too few. Yet it seemed Riff Tamsen wasn't content with that and kept the surviving droids doggedly on our tails.
We covered another three kilometers of distance before the last droid was cut apart by Anakin's lightsaber.
I let out a relieved sigh into my helmet as I surveyed our numbers.
933 mon cala and clones.
Anakin used his armor's propulsion and the Force to streak through the middle of the formation, carrying a rather disgruntled Lee-Char and grabbed a hold of the Devilfish sub.
"I hate this," the prince declared.
"Better to live and fight another day, your highness," Ackbar said with a wince. He had to be strapped to the sub and was in no condition to actually swim. "You did everything you could. Your father would be proud of you."
Lee-Char closed his eyes in heartfelt pain, "I'd rather he be alive and with us. He wouldn't have lost Coral City."
"Not even he would've foreseen the enemy bringing those karkarodon monstrosities to our waters, your highness. We would need starfighter cannons to practically destroy those."
"I suppose," he admitted. "I feel like I… barely did anything."
"Valor is not counted in how many droids or quarren you defeat, highness," I pointed out. "You are the crown now, the hope and sovereign of your people. As long as you live, they will endure and live to see the new day."
"We'd need a whole new army group to take back the capital, even if we could counter these new weapons."
"That army will come, highness. We at least now know what the CIS have brought to the table and we can work with the scientists and engineers at the shipyards to find a countermeasure. Take heart Prince Lee-Char, we are far from defeated. Think of this as merely a tactical repositioning of our forces."
"Tactical repositioning?" Ackbar chuckled despite himself. "I'll have to remember that one, Commander Tano."
It would take almost two and half hours to reach the shipyards.
We probably could've used the travel tube that linked it to Coral City, especially when scouts reported that not a single soul was using it, nor that any CIS droids were traveling through it towards the shipyard. The problem was what would happen when we reached our destination through it. The tube could squirt us out directly into a prepared quarren ambush, literally a 'fish in a barrel' moment.
So we had to be content with traveling the hard and slow way, sending scouts ranging outward on Devilfish subs. We also had to be worried about our depth as the seafloor terrain changed. If we poked our heads above the shifting thermocline, the chance that we could get droids dropped on top of us increased greatly.
The CIS definitely knew where we were headed and the fact that they hadn't sent more aqua droids to destroy us was very worrying. Either they were too busy consolidating their hold on the capital or they just didn't care about pursuing us. They knew we would have to retake the capital eventually. It would all depend on just how many aqua droids had been produced for this campaign. Fighting on aquatic worlds was somewhat of a niche endeavor, I could use my hands to count the amount of worlds it would be useful on.
That was a strategic problem though and I had a nasty feeling we could not count on the CIS running out of droids for this specific campaign.
As we neared the shipyard we began hugging the sea terrain as much as possible. It was far more hilly and even mountainous in this direction, but the shipyard was situated in a huge valley called Jumdu.
The clones switched their SCUBA gear to rebreathing mode a kilometer out. This allowed for a more stealthy approach so we didn't spew out bubbles into the ocean above us and throw out the underwater equivalent of smoke signals.
We paused at the crest that looked down on the valley and looked down on the stupendously large shipyards.
Sure it was speck to the KDY Ring shipyards, but it was the largest singular shipyard in the galaxy that was down a gravity well. Some Corellian yards came close, but those were smaller and distributed across most of that planet.
In immediate view was a yard that held the skeleton of a Mon Cala passenger ship that was easily 1.5 kilometers long, 120 meters high and 300 in width at its widest point. I could definitely see the future MC80 Star Cruiser being developed from the bones of the massive starship in front of me.
The perimeter towers were angled, elegant and curved, seemingly growing out of the ocean floor. The dim overhead sunlight flickered yellow on the nearly invisible shield that was stretched over the perimeter like a giant energetic fence. There were no yard workers of either mon cala or quarren in immediate view, the place was eerily deserted.
"Senator Tills, if you'd be so kind," Anakin prompted graciously.
The Mon Cala senator nodded and held up a comlink which flickered with the small holo of a female mon cala who had definitely looked like she'd seen better days. Numerous scratches on her curved head were plastered up and one of her bulbous eyes was covered up with a black medical patch.
"Administrator Pombe, we've arrived," Tills said sternly.
"Finally… relay me your coordinates and I'll open a gap in the shield."
Tills tapped her comlink's pad.
"Received, signal me when I should close it. Now hurry and deal with these League blutfish. Pombe out."
"She's friendly," Anakin said dryly.
"Pombe is a devilsquid, but she's good at her job and has no patience for fools, which is what lets her ride herd so well on the largest collection of scientists and engineers on the planet," Tills huffed with amusement.
Below us the closest section of the curved shield wall began flickering before disappearing entirely.
"Go, go, go!"
I pushed on the throttle of the Devilfish sub and crested it over the edge and down into the valley at top speed.
"Head on a swivel everyone, fire only when fired upon. Not all quarren here are the enemy," Anakin warned.
The Republic and Mon Cala forces streamed into the shipyard.
We passed the skeleton of the first cruiser, beyond which was an empty yard and beyond that a much more complete ship, still missing large portions of its outer hull.
It did also show that there was a lot of modularity to mon cala shipbuilding as well, even to the extent that those modules could act as ships in their own right.
On our left the first buildings began to appear, the function of which I could only guess at from exterior appearance alone, though I could sense enough people taking shelter inside that it could've been a dormitory for workers.
It would take another seven kilometers of winding through the yards and buildings before we'd arrive at the administrator's position.
It was a building under siege.
It spanned nearly four hundred meters in length, and twenty in height, a curved cylinder laid on its side.
The League quarren had massive squared containers dumped all around it for cover and was trading blaster fire with the defenders inside, who were firing out of every available window that looked outward.
We outnumbered them two to one at least and so Anakin gave the simple order.
"Attack."
I left the controls of the Devilfish sub to Padme and surged ahead with Chewie at my side.
The clones and mon cala opened fire, catching the enemy flat footed because every defender in the building had gathered their attention and no one had been watching their backs. It was a rather rookie mistake.
In those critical moments, it was a turkey shoot and it cut down the League by almost half their number before they even turned around to return fire.
My blades began dancing in defense as Chewie roared, firing his bowcaster to blow a hole through the chest of a quarren, slamming him back into his own own cover.
I boosted through the water along the enemy line, the Darksaber swinging in my hand - cutting through three quarren on the trot.
A quarren tried to surge forward to stab me in the back.
I didn't bother turning around and willed my right blade to relieve the enemy of his arms, before twirling it to send his head tumbling off his body.
My left blade was spinning rapidly, defending from the fire of four quarren, sending blaster bolts randomly back in their direction.
Chewie shot one, whilst I closed the distance with rapid dolphin strokes, where the Darksaber did its grim work.
A quarren on their version of a scooter began shooting at me with its mounted cannons.
A brief jet from my boot propulsion had me dodging left, whilst my hovering blades managed to send the bolts straight back into the scooter.
It blew up rather satisfyingly, killing its rider with the concussive hammer of compressed water and shrapnel.
With that a gap was created in the League siege line and Republic forces split up and began enveloping the building, wrapping up the enemy in the process.
At some point the commander of the enemy must have been killed, as the cohesion of the enemy broke.
Dozens of League quarren began trying to flee, dropping their weapons in the process.
"Let them go!" Lee-Char ordered.
Ackbar, who was only able to move around thanks to a handheld scooter, looked at his sovereign with severe eyes, "Are you sure, your highness?"
"This madness will one day end and how I conduct this war will be judged. They've relinquished their arms and fled. Killing them now will just be butchery. I do not want unwilling subjects, Captain."
Anakin nodded in understanding, "All units, hold, do not pursue," he ordered into his comlink.
The prince looked around at the works of his people and then addressed the mon cala knights that were nearby. "We must leave the door open for our people to be reunited! The wounds of this conflict must heal when this is over. Everything here was built by the people of Dac! Mon cala and quarren working united in purpose for thousands of years. I will not be known as the sovereign king who undoes that legacy in a few days."
"The prince has spoken!" said Ackbar. "What say you knights of mon cal?!"
The shout of affirmation carried for kilometers in the water. "FOR THE PRINCE! LEE-CHAR!"
"LEE-CHAR! LEE-CHAR! LEE-CHAR!"
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"Prince Lee? HE IS A CHAR!" - SI Ahsoka Tano probably
Great chapter by the way.