46 Of war and politics

Part 1

Near Cache 42

Hoth

In the middle of a hilly, frozen covered plain, a single unmarked APC took shelter in a secluded ravine. It was battered by freezing winds, which picked up snow and twisted it in a rather convincing rendition of a blizzard. A large cargo-hauler droid sat behind it.

Inside, the four occupants shivered despite their thermal armor, the APC's weather conditioner and a few additional heaters. There were two dozen full power cells neatly stacked in a corner within the troop compartment, to supply the soldiers for however long their mission took.

The passengers kept busy with small talk, bemoaning their chilling assignment.

"How are we supposed to find that place anyway?" C4312, more commonly known as Cifor asked. The Clone, who most definitely wasn't a Republic trooper or in any way associated with the GAR, asked his brothers, who weren't part of the army either. No sire, and they had the documents to prove it too. They were even legit.

"That's why we brought the recon droids." Sergeant Hall answered, while huddling next to the heater in the back of the APC.

"Anything left here undisturbed for the past four thousand years would be under few meters of ice at the very least."

"More." The Engineer in their group, Kal, muttered, without tearing his eyes from the terminal monitoring the scout droids.

"What the gear head over there said." Cifor nodded.

"At least we aren't getting shot at by clankers." Eltee, the driver quipped.

"Instead we're freezing our asses on this forsaken ice ball." Cifor grumbled.

"It's a nice place to stash up a cache for a rainy day." The Sergeant shrugged. "What are the odds that someone actually stumbled on it in this wasteland?"

"With our luck?" Cifor, looked incredulously at the NCO.

There was a beeping sound from Kal's console.

"You had to open your mouth, didn't you?" The Engineer grumbled. "We hit pay-dirt. Oh, and there's a storm coming too."

"Well, kriff. Once it's over, you're volunteering to lead setting up the equipment, Cifor." Kel shook his head. "You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?"

"Hey! The storm isn't my fault! Tell him guys!"

"Totally is." Eltee smirked.

=RK=

"I didn't think that the time would come when I would enjoy working with clankers." Cifor nodded sagely. He was inside the APC, keeping warm, while seven construction droids were busy assembling the excavation equipment, that needed to cut through ten meters of ice and frozen ground.

"We're getting out to check if everything's set up all right." Eltee gave his brother a dirty look.

"You're the gear-head!" The trooper whined. "I'll only slow you down."

"He might jinx it, buddy." Kal added from his comfortable seat in the front.

"How many times should I repeat myself?! The storm wasn't my fault!" Cifor groaned.

"What about that mess on Geonosis?"

"What?! You can't pin that on me! Tit was those Commando maniacs who brought that clanker battalion on our heads!"

"Uh-huh. The baby rancors in that pirate base we hit last month?"

"They were kinda cute..." Cifor muttered quietly.

"I knew it! It was totally your fault!"

"Enough. Just get out and check the gear. It should be assembled any minute now."

"What about you, sarge?"

"I'm feeling merciful today so I'm not sending you on a recon out there just to spare myself a headache. Move!" Hall glared at his brothers, wondering who he pissed off to be saddled up with this bunch of jokers.

=RK=

"Uh, sarge... How are we supposed to get down there?" Kal asked. For a change the driver had dismounted too and was peaking at the rather steep and smooth hole leading to the upper part of a metal door. The rest was still buried under a loot of damp, half-frozen soil.

"We have climbing equipment as well as a few grav-harneses, like those used by the Shock Troopers."

"Damn. You expect us to use something certified by those lunatics?!" Cifor winced under his tightly sealed helmet. So far his thermal armor was working as advertized so he hadn't started freezing. Yet.

"You're volunteering to test them."

"Nah, I'll pass."

"That wasn't a suggestion."

"What did I do to deserve that?"

"Where should I start? Go get kitted." Hall pointed at the nearby cargo hauler.

=RK=

Four lost droids and a lot of improvisation later, the Clones entered the underground complex. On a first look, it looked like a bust. Just a damp, dead end corridor. That didn't deter Hall, who following his instructions went half-way to the end, turned right and tapped four specific places on the wall.

For a few seconds nothing happened. Then a cringe-worthy grinding sound echoed in the small space. A panel slid up, revealing a camera and pair of bulky sensor pods.

"Identify yourselves."

"Sigma-four-beta-niner-24143-56141-Gamma-Delta-Omega." The Sergeant carefully pronounced each word and number.

"Code accepted. Password is Eldar."

"Farseer."

"Password accepted. Insert key." A small opening appeared in the end of the corridor.

"Here goes nothing." Hall muttered. The sergeant retrieved a tiny black box from his belt and inserted it in the key hole.

A few tense seconds of waiting followed, until a wave of static washed over the clones. Then they heard the unmistakable sound of magnetic clamps releasing and the blank wall slid back revealing dimly lit, gray corridor.

"Our target's in the far end of the facility. Another team will be checking for anything else of use." The Sergeant muttered as they walked between two rows of sealed doors until they reached a massive blast door at the end of the second corridor.

"Additional authorization required to access Omega class items."

"TK-0152-6642-5123-6553-D. Code-phrase Cherry Blossoms."

"Authentication successful. Releasing Omega cache into your custody. Have a nice day."

The armored door, which looked like it could shrug off multiple turbolaser shots, opened with a quiet hiss only to reveal a small room with four metal containers placed on a plain table.

Hall had expected something grander from a chamber supposedly containing superweaons.

He went to the containers and looked over the inscription on their tops. Three of them meant nothing to him. The fourth however was his target.

It was a simple thing. Two letters and two numbers.

CN-12

Just to be sure, the Sergeant carefully unlocked the box and looked inside. Yep. Two rows of chips within a stasis field as well as a pair of ancient data pads. He sealed it again and waved to Kal and Cifor to pick it up.

They were done with this frozen waste.

=RK=

CIC

Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

First Assault Fleet Flagship

High Orbit above Objective Alpha

Geonosis

"Admiral on Deck!" One of the troopers guarding the cruiser's nerve center shouted when Yularen stepped out of the turbolift.

"Carry on." The Admiral snapped, while anyone without something important to do was busy standing to attention. "Commodore, give me a status report."

Pellaeon nodded and pointed at the main screen. "Infiltration units are in position. We're conducting Ion strikes all over the AO, while simultaneously bombarding all know enemy positions which could be used to reinforce Objective Alpha. The assault on the HUB is in progress." The Commodore pointed at a rather large mountain near the primary target. There were multiple friendly icons all around it. "The diversion force is at the jump off position and the units tagged for the main assault are ready to exploit any opening."

"It will have to do. Air dominance?"

"We have a third of our remaining small craft on call as well as six frigates for close orbital support."

"It's time to see if the General's latest brainstorm is going to work."

"It'd better. He's down there too."

"Bring the fleet to condition two and launch the reserve fighters. I want us ready for any surprises. Cut off the bombardment at my mark and keep scanning for any enemy concentrations approaching the AO. I want any local dumb enough to show his head vaporized." Yularen ordered. "Mark!"

The rain of Ion bolts hammering the shields over the CIS's new droid factories and the desert around them suddenly cut off. Once the last one slammed into the ground, three divisions launched smoke grenades to cover their advance towards the Separatists' defensive trenches. At the same time, five infiltration teams slipped behind enemy lines with their newly-issued active camouflage and headed for the theater shield generators.

What Yularen hoped to be the final act of this invasion had began.

=RK=

Part 2

In the vicinity of Objective Alpha

Geonosis

Thick bolts of Ion energy slammed into the landscape before us, ravaging any electronics they could reach. Shields sparkled as they absorbed and reflected the power raining upon them, further saturating the surrounding area.

The wild energy released upon the helpless desert took the form of a terrible lighting storm. Blue forks slammed into the ground, discharging themselves into the soil and incidentally burning anything without a strong defense. Minefields either detonated with hellish explosions or simply fused into dangerous lumps of melted metal and no-longer stable explosives. Automated turrets became ugly ornaments as their internal components were melted into slag. The droids and locals caught in the open suffered similar, gruesome fates as they were fried by the Ionic storm ravaging the countryside.

It was beautiful sight.

When the pyrotechnics finally ended and the lighting storm dissipated, it was time. The divisions assigned to the diversion roared to life and plunged headlong into the enemy defenses, thick smoke from hundreds of grenades and ECM obscuring their approach.

That was our cue too. A predetermined signal from my comm sent a platoon moving, with myself at the vanguard. Our light armors were already running in a stealth mode, making us invisible to most sensor and the good old Mark One eyeball. The movements of the armored division attacking the enemy positions would ensure that any seismic sensor in the area would be less that reliable even before the other Force Adepts and I started working our particular brand of "magic".

We moved through the smoke like ghosts. Little more than the odd shimmering outline heralded our passage. On our right flank, the battle was just beginning, with the enemy firing blind in the artificial darkness. A few tanks and APCs were torn apart by hostile artillery , before the leading elements passed the shield threshold.

Then the mutual slaughter began. The first tanks died under concentrated barrages of heavy weaponry within seconds, but a few lived long enough to pop additional smoke and ECM. The mad brew created by our engineers started spreading within the protective bubble, giving a fighting chance to the second wave of armor.

The battle was stating in earnest when we passed through the shields and jogged towards a large boulder, which was anchoring two enemy trench lines. When we got close, I enhanced myself with the Force, something that was finally starting to be less painful and reached the top in a single jump.

The squad of locals who were using the place as a forward observation post never saw me coming. I landed on the nearest one , crushing him beneath my boots. Moving faster than the Geonosians could follow, I slammed my right fist in the head of the nearest still living Separatist. The vibro blade built in my gauntlet extended and pierced his skull without even slowing down. In the same time I had raised my free hand and directed the Force to choke the life from his partner.

The remaining pair of locals had enough time to click in surprise and start raising their weapons, before I telekinetically picked them up and slammed them into the rust colored rock.

There was no time to waste. The observers death was going to be noticed any moment now.

I went to the edge overlooking my platoon and pulled them up with the Force. They wasted no time and jumped down the other side of the rock formation, relying on the grarv-harnesses I insisted everyone carry. I was the last one to hit the ground,

The impact made me stumble, and all that preventing my helmet from kissing the sand was Boil's helpful arm.

Kriff, using the Force to conceal us all in addition to everything else was a murderous after the stunt I pulled earlier with the Battle Meditation.

I forced the pain and dizziness away, straightening up. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep this level of Force use for much longer, though I really needed it until we were past the front line.

"Go. We need to keep moving." I hissed and followed my own order.

If it wasn't for the Force shenanigans I was pulling out, we would have undoubtedly have been noticed the moment I dispatched those observers. The sheer strain brought me to a near collapse, but we did get behind the front-lines, a and into a small crevice that as far as we could tell wasn't under active observation.

Then I allowed myself to release the concealing technique and fell to my knees.

"General! Are you all right?!" Waxer sprinted to my position when he heard me fall.

"Do I look all right?" I managed to croak, while I was patting my harness for the last dose of the drug I brewed a few days ago. It took my shaking fingers a couple of attempts, but I finally twisted off the cap, then I put the bottle down and wrenched my helmet off, becoming visible.

The next thing I know was the alchemical concoction sliding down my throat, scalding my insides.

A few seconds later, the shacking subsided and I could feel myself being rejuvenated. I took a deep breath of the hot desert air and put my helmet back on, before reactivating the active camouflage.

"Let's go." I ordered after using the force to further cloak our movement. Hopefully the rest of the strike teams were handling their tasks better than us, because I didn't think that our luck would hold much longer. It was a miracle that the enemy wasn't already looking for us.

=RK=

"This might have gone better!" Ahsoka grumbled. The young Togruta was busy deflecting blaster bolts, while her command unloaded shot after shot in the ranks of the Droids closing in on her unit.

The Force clearly hated her. That's the only way she could explain the ground falling away from behind her platoon to reveal a tunnel chock full of killer robots. The only good news was that the droids were as surprised as the Clones who fell in their midst, allowing Ahsoka to save a few of her men thanks to some fast thinking and the Force. Even then, three people were shot before they could react to finding themselves surrounded by the machines.

The fact that the tunnel was sealed moments later by a thermal detonator didn't help Tano's strike team. Their cover was blown and now they were being swarmed by what suspiciously looked like a whole kriffing battalion.

"Left flank!" The Lieutenant usually in charge of the platoon shouted.

"Of course. This is getting better and better…" Ahsoka grumbled and glanced in the relevant direction. Sure enough, there were at least a score of SB droids taking them in the flank.

That simply wouldn't do. Ahsoka hissed in anger, glaring after a near-miss. It wasn't enough that her master went a bit mad and get a lot of people killed, before landing himself into a bacta tank.

Nope. That had to reflect on her too, making many Jedi Masters question her integrity. If it wasn't for Obi-Wan taking her under his wing, she might have ended into the agri-corps or something just in case if that conversation between Master Kenobi and the Council she had accidentally overheard was anything to go by.

As if all that was not enough, now a bunch of kriffing clankers were killing her men! She not only saw, but felt them get hurt and die.

People under her command. Clones whose well being was her responsibility.

"No!" Ahsoka hissed.

Bursts of blaster fire popped the light shield of another soldier, before simply hammering enough firepower into him to burn through his armor. Another was blown to bits by a tiny missile.

"NO!" Tano growled.

The Force hummed around her, as if it was feeding by the anger she was feeling. The Jedi knew what she was supposed to do – crush her feelings and simply disregard feeling how her men were dying around her.

Once upon a time she would have tried her best to do precisely that, even if it meant more people were going to die.

Instead, Ahsoka forced her will over the Force, grappling it with mental fingers and channeling her will. Sparks danced in front of her eyes as she felt an incredible wellspring of power all around her.

"NO!" She shouted a third time and waved her free hand at the SB Droids flanking her position… and the Force eagerly jumped to obey her. A single bolt of crackling lighting jumped from her palm and slammed at the closest machine, frying it internals, before blasting the droid off its feet and burning out the one behind it. Ahsoka swept her hand left and right, disabling clanker after clanker.

Once the last one of the flanking force was gone, Ahsoka finally cut off her attack and smiled.

Then her eyes rolled back and she collapsed.

"Medic! The commander's down!" One of the Clones shouted before darkness claimed Tano in her sweet embrace.

=RK=

Part 3

In the vicinity of Objective Alpha

Geonosis

It was different this time. She could feel it all as if she had been blind up to this point.

Death screams. Fear. Desperation. Determination. Anger. Terror… and so much more.

The Force itself was alive with the emotions of the countless people fighting and dying all around her. It was supercharged by them, almost made tangible… and finally, Shaak Ti understood. It was so obvious. So easy to lose oneself in the malestorm surrounding her. So enticing.

The Jedi Master smiled as she let the downpour of emotions wash over her, using it to focus the Force around her into a weapon.

The time for stealth was over anyway. The Togruta and her platoon were just a few hundred meters from their prize and they had to cut through two mechanized companies to reach it.

There were six dug in tanks, at least ten APCs she could see and about two hundred assorted droids and Geonosians blocking the way.

"Prepare grenades. Mix of EMP, frag and Thermal detonators." The Jedi Master whispered.

The invisible troopers behind her complied, each of them removing explosives from their harnesses. Shaak Ti took a deep breath and let her mind expand outwards until she could sense each grenade, then she pushed even more and her consciousness flew over the enemy lines. She could feel the locals' alien minds as they huddled in their trenches, the cold, uninviting presence of the Droids and the dull shapes of the vehicles. The Jedi fixed that image in her mind and she picked up the grenades. The EMPs flew first, streaking towards every concentration of droids. They were followed by frags aimed at the locals and the Thermal detonators dashing under the vehicles.

The enemy saw what was coming, shouting and pointing at the raining explosives. A few had the presence of mind to try shooting the incoming ordinance, while most simply stared in disbelief. That feeling was suddenly replaced by shock and pain as the CIS position were claimed by fiery death. Scores of Droids fell down with their their electronics burned out. Dozens of the locals died from the explosions or were cut down by flying shrapnel. In the same time, tanks and APCs were consumed by fusion fire, that melted anything unlucky to be close enough.

"GO!" Shaak Ti shouted and surged forward.

The Jedi's lightsaber flew into her outstretched hand, igniting in mid-air. Her stealth field cut of and the energy was automatically dumped into the shield forming around her as she sprinted forward. The Clones followed her, shooting at anything that moved.

A few of the shocked survivors from the surprised attack tried to fight back and were gunned down for their trouble.

The Republic soldiers were almost through, when additional defenders sprang from around the generator. They were a mixture of SB Droids and Geonosian warriors, led by a pair of massive locals, who looked closer to walking tanks than to their lesser brethren.

Shaak Ti deflected the few blaster bolts sent her way and jumped in the midst of the closest enemy group. She reflected a handful of shot while flying through the air and sent a telekinetic blast forward before she hit the ground. Her attack threw the droids off their feet, leaving them easy prey for her flashing blade.

Meanwhile, the Clones were hammering shot after shot in the last line of defense, cutting down the locals one after another. Grenade launchers spoke, shattering the enemy flank farthest from Shaak Ti, while the center simply melted under the relentless barrage of blaster bolts.

That left the Jedi to deal with the pair of giant locals sprinting her way. They opened up with blasters built into their right arms, while long vibroblades extended from under the left. A squad of Clones tried to take Elites down before they reached their General, yet their accurate bursts blaster fire splashed harmlessly over the tough armor of the overgrown bugs.

Shaak Ti shook her head at the men charging her. The Force was still singing all around her, begging to be used. The Jedi raised a hand and pointed at the nearest enemy. She picked him up and slammed him into his buddy, sending them both tumbling through the sands. The Jedi Master picked up the same Elite and used the Force to crush the life out of him.

The Togruta frowned when she felt the life deserting him. Her instincts howled in victory. She felt sick, sweet satisfaction at taking a life through the Force. It made her feel exhilaration, yet at the same time.. it felt somehow wrong, off.

Her sudden confusion almost let the remaining Elite surprise her as he found his footing and sprinted at her, waving his vibroblade like a madman.

Shaak Ti got out from her stupor just in time to roll away from a vicious swing. She wasted no time and riposted with her lightsaber. Her emerald blade caught the alien's right hind leg at the joint and the insectoid stumbled with a cry of pain. The Jedi gave let him no time to recover and jumped on his back. She thrust her blade at the base of his skull and held it there for the few seconds it took to melt through the armor, despite the Geonosian's attempt to shake her off.

The armor yielded and the local died when the laser sword boiled his brain.

"Set the charges and let's get out of here!" Shaak Ti ordered. She glanced at the troopers and smiled. The demo experts were already half-way to the generator.

Now if only they could hold on until reinforcements arrived…

=RK=

"Ma'am, why aren't we attacking the generator?!" The Lieutenant commanding her assigned platoon asked Aria after ducking under a sonic blast.

"We're a distraction." She deadpanned and threw a frag downrange.

"That's those division's job, not ours!"

"We've got an insane killer Droid on our side." The Sith apprentice spoke just as her grenade detonated, tearing apart a couple of the insects.

"You could have mentioned this before!"

"Need to know. Besides, this way's more fun!" Aria chuckled.

The ground shook and a massive explosion washed over their heads, throwing a pair of clones who weren't hugging the low cover off their feet.

A few moments later, once the echo of the massive detonation subdued, the Clones could hear heavy blaster fire and explosion coming from behind the enemy lines.

Aria peeked up from the small ravine she and the LT were using for cove. HK was over there, having fun with a heavy blaster. He was throwing the odd Thermal detonator too, obliterating the enemy groups that had survived the destruction of the generator.

"Well done, platoon. It's time to find something else important to break!" Aria waved her men forward.

=RK=

"You've got to be kidding me!" I decapitated a droid and stared at the familiar figure striding towards me, followed by a company of the locals and someone in heavy Mandalorian armor. "Waxer, get two fire-teams and slag the generator. Everyone else, with me!" I ordered and sprinted towards the new arrivals.

The woman leading the enemy reinforcements could have been Aria's twin sister. So she was either another clone, or the original.

The enemy opened fire a moment after I used the Force to create a shield between us. Dozens of blaster bolts and sonic blasts slammed into the invisible wall of energy, giving a nice opportunity for my men to take aim and let lose. The first rank of the locals were turned into smoking piles of burned meat, though the Chiss woman deflected anything that came her way. The huge Mandalorian behind her simply shrugged off anything that hit his armor.

I grit my teeth and let the shield fall. I simply didn't have the strength left to maintain it any longer. Not if I had to face off against a Dark Jedi.

Before the defensive screen dissipated I rolled around a nearby rock, neatly avoiding a bunch of the green stuff that the locals loved to shoot at us. That gave me a few moments to catch my breath, before I sensed the Dark Jedi closing on my position.

"I'll deal with the Force Adept, you take care of the rest!" I shouted.

As I jumped form behind my cover I saw one of my men catching a sonic blast with his face after losing his shields. He fell to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut. The damn thing probably liquified his brain. I needed a way to protect against that.

Two of the overgrown insects flew at me, shouting something ineligible on their language. Probably cursing our existence and the hell we were unleashing upon their world.

I cut the first one in half and blasted the second with a concentrated bolt of Sith Lighting, before turning to face the Chiss woman. I could feel fear mixed with excitement coming from her as she strode confidently towards me.

=RK=

Part 4

In the vicinity of Objective Alpha

Geonosis

"Any ideas, sir?" The sole still living NCO of Obi-Wan's platoon shouted over the roar of the firefight.

"We need to get out of here." Kenobi remarked dryly while deflecting blaster bolts.

Their part of the mission had gone without a hitch up to the very end. Slipping through enemy lines and units rushing to reinforce the front was quite interesting though with some liberal help from the Force it was actually doable. Neutralizing the three platoons guarding the generator had proven more of a challenge, but a surprise attack had taken out a third of them before the enemy knew what hit them and the advantage given by the new armors was sufficient to make the assault go smoothly.

Their luck ran out while a squad was busy explosives to the generator. A reinforcing mechanized battalion had turned up to check on the commotion and now had them pinned down in the ravine housing their target.

That left the Jedi Master and his troops in a bind, because they really didn't feel like blowing themselves up, but with the every moment the damn generator remained intact, more Republic troopers were dying. Not to mention that simply disabling the damn think would prompt the Seps to rush their position and they had the numbers and firepower to overrun it.

"I need two squads of volunteers. The rest of you take the wounded and make yourselves scarce. Then blow the generator once we're all clear of it. Sergeant, you're leading the platoon out of here. And don't forget to pop up smoke!"

"Yes, sir. It's been a honor."

"We're not dead yet." Kenobi muttered. Still it felt nice to be appreciated by your troops. Sergeant Wind actually meant it.

Obi-Wan let the Force flow through him, emptying his mind. He felt calmness descend upon him, any misgivings he might have had for his Anakin-style plan dissolving. There was only him and what had to be done.

"Follow me men!" Kenobi spoke just loud enough to be heard and jumped from his cover.

A handful of smoke grenades sailed in front of the Jedi Master and once they released their contents, the Clones followed.

Obi-Wan's perception shrunk, leaving just him and the blaster bolts heading in his direction. His lightsaber moved by the will of the Force, intercepting every single shot that would have hit him and reflecting most of them back. He was only vaguely aware of the Clones racing on his heels and unloading their weapons at the enemy.

However he did notice when the explosives detonated and blew the shield generator to pieces. Kenobi simply couldn't miss the blast-wave that threw him face first in the sand.

=RK=

"Brave but foolish." I quipped at the approaching woman.

"You're the one causing so much trouble to my Master." She narrowed her eyes at me. "I'm so not impressed." The Chiss hissed in fury once had time to study me through the Force.

Ouch. That stung considering that right now I was scrapping the barrel as far as how much Force I could channel before burning myself out.

While taking her out, preferably for later questioning would be ideal, simply remaining in one piece until the shields were down and the backup arrived, would do too.

At least this promised to be fun.

The Dark Jedi dashed at me. Her lithe body movedwith ease and grace that belittled what my apprentice was capable of. She blurred, enhancing her speed with the Force and suddenly was in my face. I deflected a stab aimed at my chest and had to stop a telekinetic push that would have sent me off my feet by slamming my own in it.

The two attacks exploded against each other, bathing us with raw Force energy and pushing us away from each other. That didn't deter my opponent, who immediately went on the offensive.

Facing something actually proficient in Makashi, when she was faster than me, was… troublesome. Oh, I was enhancing my speed too, though not anywhere near to my usual capacity. As it was, my nerves screamed as the energy coursing through my body scrubbed them raw.

That left me in a bind. The woman was simply dancing around me, probing my defenses with swift jabs and slashes, melting like water from my counter-attacks. I gritted my teeth, forced myself to ignore the pain that wracked me with each movement, and assumed Soresu stance.

As she attacked again, I started pulling back, trading distance in an attempt to mitigate her speed advantage. I parried a shallow slash, ducked under a rock the Chiss hurled my way and took a step back as she lunged, letting her lightsaber overload my shields, while I deflected shots from a local who thought flanking me was a splendid idea. I rewarded the idiot by grabbing him with the force and throwing him at the Chiss.

She jumped, landing on the flying body and used him as a spring board in a move that should have been suicidal, though in fact it turned out to be anything but. While in mid-air she sent another Force blast my way, forcing me to counter it or find myself on my back, open for a Coup De Grace. Her attack did its job, staggering and keeping me in the same position as she descended upon me.

I roared in pain and anger as I gathered the dissipating energy around me and sent it at the Dark Jedi just before she could slam her saber into me. She was thrown back like a leaf picked up by a gust of wind, though that didn't stop the Chiss from throwing her lightsaber at me. I battered the blade aside, swaying on my feet. Accessing the force was turning from touching a live wire into something akin to molten metal running up and down my veins.

I had obviously underestimated how much I had recovered from the stunt with the Battle Meditation.

The smart play here would be to call a retreat and kill the kriffing woman another day.

I was too pissed off and enraged by the pain to contemplate running away. Instead I pulled the closest of the locals towards me and before the insectoid could react, I grabbed his face. The Force surged through me as I drained his life force, giving myself a brief moment of respite. The soothing caress of the stolen energy was a cool balm over my raw nerves.

The Chiss recovered, while I took a brief time-out to rejuvenate myself. She reclaimed back her weapon too and was sprinting towards me. I threw the desiccated corpse of the Geonosian I was holding at her and swiftly followed it. The Dark Jedi simply plowed through it by surrounding herself in the Force, turning it into little more than dust and chunks of brittle bone.

She was upon me a second later, trying to cut my throat with a precise strike. My blade barely deflected the attack. In the same time I trust my palm at her and channeled as much Force as I could into a lighting bolt. I saw red and screamed in agony, while the woman was bowed back under the onslaught, her screams merging with mine.

The Force was shouting too, though I simply couldn't respond in time to the warning. Blaster bolts hammered down my shield and slammed into my side, interrupting my attack. The armor barely held, though the thermal transfer seared my skin below it. A stream of liquid fire followed, though I was somehow able to gather enough Force to start pushing against it. The flames curved around invisible barrier, though even then they licked around it blackening my armor.

Using the last vestiges of the Force I jumped back just in time to avoid being turned into a human torch. I landed badly and only the armor locking in place prevented me from twisting my ankle.

I hissed in pain and triggered the prototype medical system that was built in my and few of the other armors. Seconds later, a cocktail of painkillers and stimulants filled my bloodstream. They were strong enough to raise the dead as the sudden surge of energy I felt could testify.

That done, I looked around. The man in Mandalorian armor was carrying the Chiss away and the remains of the locals were busy covering them while they were pulling back too.

I frowned. There were a lot of them. Retreating simply made no sense.

Then I heard the unmistakable whine of Ion engines. Very many of them.

I glanced up and grinned like a loon. The sky was chock full with fast approaching dots. I could barely made the hundreds of torpedoes and missiles racing down in front of them.

=RK=

Part 5

In the vicinity of Objective Alpha

Geonosis

You got to love air support. It makes for a wide variety of sins. It had saved his skin more than once, while he was soldier for hire for various local governments.

Unfortunately for the man known only as Forge, this time all the bombers and orbiting ships belonged to the enemy and that indeed made up for a lot of "miscalculations" like infiltrating a heavy fortified area with just a handful of platoons, while whole divisions were busy expending themselves against the fixed defenses.

The thing was, it kriffing worked. Oh, Forge's current employer, who he had incidentally just carried into the small cave in which he was taking cover, had planned for such an eventuality. There were at least couple of platoons securing each generator, with QRF stationed nearby. When the Republic attacked, Sev'rance personally led a platoon of the locals to secure the closest objective.

Initially the plan appeared to be working. They received reports that all enemy incursions were being engaged, half of them before reaching the generators.

Then, to his utter lack of surprise, the plan fell appart, because the enemy did have a vote in the matter. Duh. After that, there was no more time for thinking things through. The Republic force was in sight and it was time to earn himself a bonus

That didn't go according to plan either. Forge managed to take out a few Clones, which was surprisingly hard. The combination of their much better than expected training and new kit, made them unpleasantly resilient targets. Instead of dying under his modified blasters, they tanked the shots long enough to seek cover and return fire.

It was all right. A few custom grenades solved that problem nicely. One of the Clones was immolated by a nice incendiary cocktail, another ended up as a ice-enclosed statue and a third got his organ liquified by a heavily modified sonic grenade.

Forge was just starting to have some fun, when he saw his employer get into trouble. The Sith apprentice had been dominating the battle with her enemy counterpart up until that point. Then the other Sith, fallen Jedi or whatever the new Republic general was, got pissed off and started frying her with lightning shot from his hands.

The Mandalorian thought that trick was neat and idly wondered if he could replicate it after a few days in the shop, while he sprinted towards the Force users. He unloaded half a dozen shots in the enemy's side, which only staggered him, though that at least made the man stop with the lightning show. It also allowed Forge to close in and unleash his flamethrower on the Republic officer.

For a moment the Mandalorian thought that he got the bastard, though that notion was almost immediately dissuaded when a soot-streaked figure leaped out and back in a feat impossible to emulate without a jet pack or rocket boots.

That's when the shield generator blew up, making Forge aware how screwed his side on Geonosis suddenly was. He glanced up, saw the deflector shimmering and moved like a man possessed. He grabbed Sev'rance and sprinted back, looking for a nice secluded hole to hide.

The shield above them dissolved, leaving the entrenched CIS forces to their fate.

Forge could already hear the banshee's song of diving bombers. The ground started shaking as the orbiting fleet jumped the gun. The Mandalorian saw the small entrance of a cave and dashed in before the world outside ended.

What just a few minutes ago was a deadly series of interconnected trenches, bunkers and dug in armor, all manned by tens of thousands of CIS troopers and droids simply ceased to be under the relentless pounding of the Republic forces.

A few minutes later, when the bombardment subdued, Sev'rance was showing some signs of life after Forge hooked her up on as much stimulants as he dared. The woman groaned and her eyes fluttered open.

"Wha? What ran me over?"

"That man who had been giving the Confederacy so much trouble lately."

"I was kicking his ass!" Sev'rance frowned in thought and pouted a moment later.

"From what I saw, you were. Until he got pissed off." Forge shrugged. "We're in trouble."

"How bad?"

"The shields are down. Enemy air power and orbital support are finishing gutting the army around us. That only leaves the factories themselves."

"Even with their own shield, they won't last long." Tann groaned.

"That leaves us in a bind." Forge nodded. "Unless your friends dislodge the fleet in orbit in the next few hours, we're kriffed."

"There won't be a counterattack here. Not anytime soon."

"Usually I would be all for running the blockade, but there's awful lot of metal in orbit." The Mandalorian mused.

"Getting captured isn't really an option."

"I'm not going for a last stand or something. I guess we could try slipping away and hiding in the desert until most of that fleet leaves. However..." Forge shrugged.

"I know. With the CIS presence done for, the locals would want our heads after that mess with the Queen."

"I've got an idea..." Forge muttered.

"I'm all ears."

He told her.

"Are you insane?! That's… Words fail me!" Sev'rance spluttered.

"It would make no difference in the end, though it might get us out of here. Besides we did accomplish our mission..."

"Kriff it. Call the rest of the crew and set things up. I just hope that my master won't be too displeased. I don't look forward to explaining this to him..."

"Don't look at me. I'm just a hired gun."

The Chiss woman snorted.

=RK=

Four hours later

Republic FOB

Former CIS staging area

Geonosis

The former sep command center was little more than a cave, which still bore the fresh scars of battle. The enemy equipment had been torn down and sent back for the Intel corps to look over and our engineers had rigged our toys in its place. We even got a few stools, courtesy of our CIS friends, something that my back was rather grateful for.

"General, we've pulled back our mauled units. Two fresh divisions will be ready to move on Alpha within the hour." Colonel Pell reported. The man looked flustered and far from happy. One of the divisions, which led the assault was a Caamasi one, thanks to the very nice tanks they were equipped with.

They had suffered heavy casualties during the diversion, though an order of magnitude less than our own armored formation, that accompanied them. At least I had a proof that our allies tanks were as good as suspected and hoped that they would soon enter mass production to replace our walkers in the dedicated armor role.

"Good. Send my compliments to the commander of Third Armored. His boys and girls did great."

"I will, general."

"Do we have word about the rest of the infiltration units?" I turned to Shaak Ti, who had arrived a couple of minutes ago. She looked a bit tired, though I could feel the satisfaction simply oozing from her.

"Kenobi, while battered, should be all right. Your apprentice is in one piece as well as that crazy droid of yours. There's still fighting in Ahsoka's sector. No word on her or her men's status yet. All I can feel is that she's alive."

"Send additional units to that sector and keep a med-evac ready. The assault on the transport hub?" I turned my head towards Piett, who had been running various important errands lately. He did make a good aide.

"We've secured the upper levels, though so far no unit has reported a successful breach in the transport network below."

"Sir, we've been just contacted by a CIS officer, a Sev'rance Tann. She want's to make a deal."

"That name does ring a bell." I muttered. The Chiss from whom my apprentice was cloned and the woman who almost handed me my ass not too long ago. "Patch her through, though bounce the connection. I don't want them pinpointing this location."

=RK=

Part 6

Republic FOB

Former CIS staging area

Geonosis

"I'll offer you a different deal." I spoke quietly. "Shut down the shields, deactivate as many droids in this AO as you can and I'll alloy you and your Mando buddy to leave Geonosis unmolested. One hour. If it's not done by then, we're taking down the factory complex the hard way and we'll have a chat when we get you. I do have some questions for you."

There was silence from the comm unit.

"Consider it done." An unfamiliar male voice, one distorted by a helmet, spoke half a minute later.

"Then we have a deal. I don't need to explain to you what would happen if you're fucking with me, do I?" I smiled and cut off the comm. "Continue preparing for the final assault. Even if the shield goes down, proceed with extreme caution and look for any nasty surprises they might have left for us."

"Understood. Are you going to let them go, sir?" Colonel Pell asked.

"Of course. Not doing so would simply insure that any reasonable enemy commander in a similar position would fight to inflict us as many casualties as possible before going down. If it works, we'll neutralize the kriffing factories a bit cheaper than otherwise. At any rate, we won't be getting them intact. Make sure that the engineers go first if the whole complex isn't leveled when we reach it. I'll bet you whatever you want that the place will be rigged to blow."

The main part of the Campaign on Geonosis ended with a whimper instead of one last titanic clash.

Tann held up to her word and forty minutes later the shield shut down along with a third of the droids protecting our objective. Orbital and air strikes shattered the last enemy defensive lines, letting an armored thrust break through with no trouble to speak off. The locals on site offered fanatical, but futile resistance and were crushed by tanks supported by two infantry battalions kitted with our new equipment.

The fact that Shaak Ti, Aria and HK led the troopers sure helped mop them up faster.

I was right about the charges too. The whole factory complex blew up before our leading elements could reach it.

"Well, that's done. Sit rep on our other offensive and what's happening with the transport hub?"

"Sir, our forces are ten kilometers from the industrial area and report heavy fighting. We have units two kilometers from the nearest shield generators, but they're bogged down."

"Start shifting our reserves to the active offensive." I interrupted Piett and addressed one of the comm officers in the CP.

"Willco, sir."

"Continue."

"There's heavy fighting above the HUB, though our forces continue to gradually push the enemy back. They've requested heavy infantry support."

"Shift General Ti and Commander Astra's units to that operation. Anything else I need to know right now?"

"Negative, sir."

"Good man. Carry one. Comm, I need secure line to Coruscant, GAR HQ. Patch me to General Valentra." I ordered and relaxed in my chair. We kriffing did it. With a bit of luck I was going to get out of this dust ball soon. There were only the small issues of compiling the never sufficiently kriffed up AARs and dealing with the Skywalker fiasco.

A few minutes later, the holo-projector showing my forces disposition in the AO shimmered and changed into three figures.

Kriff. One was Valentra all right. He was looking unusually chipper in his Class One uniform. Next to him was Palpatine, who was grinning at me, damn him, and Yoda, who in turn appeared to be less than cheerful.

"Chancellor. General Valentra, Master Yoda." I greeted them in turn.

"General Veil, good to see you again. I understand that you have a report to make?"

"Our primary objective on Geonosis has been completed. The experimental droid factories are gone. Our forces are within ten kilometers of the primary industrial zone on the planet and pushing hard. We're also attacking various transport hubs to disrupt troop and material movements."

"This is a great news! I want to be the first to congratulate you and your soldiers for a job well done!" Palpatine beamed at me.

What the kriff got him so cheerful, damn it?

"Good job, Veil. It's good to see you still in one piece." Valentra smirked.

Yoda stared at me for a long moment. "Good news, this is. Disturbance in the Force we felt. Glad we are, that affect you it did not"

I had to use all the tricks I knew not to smirk at the Jedi… or burst into a fit of laughter.

"General Veil, achieving your primary objective on Geonosis at this time is a great news, especially in light of recent events." Palpatine spoke gravely. He was suddenly looking very concerned. "I know that you could use a bit of rest, but the Republic has a need of you as well as General Kenobi."

"What's the issue?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral.

"The Mandalorians." Valentra stated. "They're about to receive a Separatist's delegation."

Well, isn't that interesting. I wondered what my Mandalorian "friend" has been up to while I was stuck on Geonosis. I was about to find out soon.

"You want me to negotiate their entrance in the war on our side?" I asked.

"Neutral they must be. Or allies." Yoda muttered.

"What Master Yoda said." Valentra nodded.

"Your reputation would help with any negotiations and General Kenobi is friend of their current leader." Palpatine added.

True enough. That would also keep me from kicking separatists assess on the battlefield for the duration, something that Sidious probably wanted. However, it wasn't like I could refuse. Besides I planned to go to Mandalore sooner than latter. After all, I wanted them on my side.

"Once we've wrapped up the situation ground-side and Kenobi is cleared to travel, we'll be ready to leave. Is our arrival at Mandalore cleared up?"

"We've negotiated to send a delegation." Palpatine nodded. "Call us when your ready to depart. What happened to General Kenobi?" I could almost believe that his concern was genuine.

"He was wounded while leading a strike team to neutralize a shield generator." I shrugged. "He's expect to recover withing the week."

"Good." Yoda sighed. "Lost too many Jedi we have."

I have to give that to Sidious – he didn't show any reaction at the comment, though I knew that he had to be cackling inside at the thought.

"Speaking about Jedi..." I sighed. "Skywalker." I spat the name, displaying much more anger than I felt at the idiot.

Valentra winced and Yoda's ears drooped. Even Palpatine placed a regretful expression on his face.

"That's one ugly situation." My fellow general muttered. "He's going on trial for that."

"I couldn't agree more." I snarled. "When is the investigation starting?"

"I've dispatched a team and it should reach Geonosis in couple of days. They will interview you, Kenobi and whoever you'll take with you to Mandalore first."

"Good. I hope that the Jedi Order has no objections?" I stared at the Grand Master.

I was surprised that Palpatine hadn't broken out his favorite alternative to popcorn and cola as he watched the show.

"A trial must be held." The regret in Yoda's voice was clear. I could feel it even across all the light years separating us.

After the debacle with Windu, Skywalker's kriff up was going to shatter most of the credibility the Jedi had left. That was an something I couldn't have done better if I planned it… even if it messed up some of my other plans. With Padme still out and with no indications if she would recover, that left me lacking in the department of close political allies outside the military, even if the Senate liked me for now.

That only underlined how important it was going to be getting the Mandalorians on my side.

"One will be held." Valentra growled. "The idiot destroyed a whole battle group worth of cruisers and got most of their crews killed!"

"Peace, General! We've discussed the issue before. He will be tried." Palpatine played the peacekeeper. "Once the situation has been properly investigated of course. We can't afford a miscarriage of justice after all."

"Of course, Chancellor." Valentra nodded.

I wondered what game Palpy was playing. If I was him, I would ensure that Skywalker gets broken by the trial, left without any support, before I swooped to the rescue. Not to mention, that it would be a great opportunity to practically destroy what reputation the Order had left.

Apparently, Anakin was chosen to destroy the Jedi Order one way or another. Talk about misunderstood prophecies...