14 The Fires of Ryloth

Part 1

Senate Building, Coruscant

It was almost over. I could feel thousands of beings dying. Part of me felt a pang of guilt. Perhaps there was a way to save more of the senators. But the cold, calculating piece of my mind that was the General whispered that the price would have been too high. It was almost a given that Palpatine would have tried to cut a deal, probably by releasing Grievous. That was unacceptable. The cyborg was a butcher who could rival some Sith. A few thousands senators' lives were small price to pay for keeping him contained and sending the message that the Republic won't negotiate with terrorists.

While I didn't really care for the Republic as a government, or its senators, that didn't mean that I wanted to see whole worlds full with innocent people held as hostages, something that the CIS was bound to do if their gambit here worked.

The clones below me were trying their best to drag as many senators as possible from the gray gas which was engulfing the chamber. Around me, the remaining commando droids were unloading their weapons at the advancing troopers, determined to sell their synthetic lives dearly.

I felt a danger through the Force and ducked under a blaster shot. The woman was back up. She was ignoring the gas and sniping at me. I deflected her next blaster bolt and frowned when I let my sensed wash over her. She was Force sensitive and had at least some rudimentary training.

I waved at a nearby group of clones who just finished blasting apart a commando droid and pointed them at the sniper. She had to duck under a rain of blue blaster bolts.

I used my last reserves of the Force to dart her way. I vaulted from pod to pod until I was able to jump at the woman's sanctuary.

She met me with few well placed shots from a hold out blaster, most of which I battered away with my lightsaber. Whether it was her skill or my weariness, two shots slipped through my defenses and hit me in the chest. However the blaster bolts splashed onto my armor, blasting small craters in an alloy which was created to handle much greater punishment.

Our eyes met and I saw comprehension dawning on her as my scarlet blade descended and nailed her to the floor of the battered pod she used as a fire-base.

A soft gasp fell from her lips. She tried to whisper something, but there was not enough air in her ruined lungs. I watched dispassionately as her eyes glazed over and felt the spark of life leaving her body. Once again I sensed a tiniest piece of Force energy rushing from a woman as she died to join with me. I frowned when it made me feel refreshed. What in the name of the Force was that?!

I acted on instinct and turned to the right. My blade snapped up and met a the dark edge of a vibro blade of a one armed commando droid. The machine chassis was battered and blackened from glancing hits. It stumbled in my direction and swung wildly and relatively slowly. My lightsaber shot forward, scrapping the outer edge of the robot's weapon, before cutting through the metal fingers gripping it. My next move slammed the tip of my blade between the photoreceptors of the droid, destroying its cybernetic brain. I withdrew my weapon and turned around, letting the neutralized machine to fall to the floor in a clatter of metal hitting upon metal. I scanned the chamber, searching for more threats, but aside for the gas which was still raining from the ceiling there were none left. I gazed at the clones busy removing the senators from the chamber and shook my head.

I knew that the galaxy had changed today. It remained to be seen whether it would be for the better or worse. I glanced at the Force sensitive woman I killed, wondered what could she have become in the timeline that would never be. It did not really mater now. Her path was extinguished by my blade, as so many others. Yet, I knew that what had happened so far was at best the end of the beginning of the Clone Wars.

For a moment I stared at my hands, wondering with how much blood would stain them before it all was over.

=RK=

Chancellor's Office, Senate Building, Coruscant

Palpatine grimaced when he felt hundreds of clones approaching the Senate. He had hoped that the CIS troops would dispose of the Senators, particularly those that opposed him before the GAR cleared up its act and rode to the rescue. No matter. Most of his political opponents should be held as hostages in the Senate's main chambers. A bit of negotiating and he should be able to not only ensure Grievous' release, but a favorable outcome of the mess in the building. Favorable for him of course.

He smiled like a kind, elderly gentleman, when the thick glass behind him exploded and a squad of clones rappelled in. Palpatine nodded at the officer in charge.

"Thank you captain!"

A LAAT with open doors appeared next to the shattered window.

"We need to go, sir!" stated the clone captain. "We do not know what else the separatists have in reserve. It is not safe here."

Palpatine glanced at the dead comm built into his desk and nodded. As he was cut off from all communication in his office, he was for all intents and purposes removed from power. Something the Sith Lord loathed.

"Right..." the Chancellor's next words were cut off by the Force screaming at him with a warning for immediate danger. Palpatine's eyes widened.

He needed to get out of the office. NOW!

Sidious raced between the clones, surprising them. He began gathering the Force around himself as a shield, but doing it subtly so that Veil and the young Jedi who he felt approaching wouldn't sense him. He was about to jump towards the LAAT, with an agility that would be the envy of a man half his age, and the consequences be damned, when the office behind him, as well as the clones were engulfed in a wave of fire and shrapnel.

Palpatine was thrown away by the blast wave, which struck the gunship and nearly sent it out of control. The Chancellor survived only thanks to the Force which was shielding him. However the energy field protecting him at that moment was not even close to what was needed to keep him unscratched, which in hindsight turned to be a good thing.

Sidious found himself flying through the air and passing through the open doors of the LAAT which, moments later, was spinning, with its pilots fighting for control. Palpatine's arms snapped to the side and grabbed the edge of the gunship's floor.

The Sith used the Force to reinforce his limbs and pulled himself into the wildly shaking machine. He hissed in pain. His robes were smoldering and he could smell the stench of burnt human flesh. His own. The back of his right hand was a ruin of torn blisters and cooked tissue. He could feel the hot burns on the right side of his face too.

The Dark Lord of the Sith swore an eternity of pain to the fools within CIS who had tried to assassinate him! HIM! Their future Emperor!

His fury was whipping around him, causing the force to act up and trash random items within the troop compartment. The Sith swore. He could not allow himself to be revealed right now. If it happened, it was foregone conclusion who the Jedi would blame and it was sure that Veil would use such a golden opportunity to move against him. Such a thing may very well spell disaster for his plans.

But there was a silver lining to his pain. If he played his cards well, he could emerge from this debacle like a hero, with his wounds as a proof, which would give him even more power. That thought cheered him up.

The pilots regained control over the LAAT and Palpatine ordered them to take him to the nearest command post where he wanted a doctor waiting. He started plotting a gruesome revenge upon the people who had dared wound him.

=RK=

Temporary GAR Headquarters, Cruiser Requiem, High Orbit over Coruscant

I slumped heavily in one of the few free chairs in the conference room which acted as a headquarters for GAR until the clusterfuck down on the planet was unfucked. I felt naked in my green general's uniform. My armor was in engineering when after an even more thorough decontamination, it would be fixed after the shots it had tanked earlier today.

Below us, Coruscant was still under a full lockdown, while the remains of the CIS forces on the ground were hunted down. However, after a brief meeting with Palpy, who had part of his face and right hand melted when apparently, separatists agents who did not know about his later ego tried to blow him to kingdom come, confirmed me as acting commander of GAR until we found out what happened with High Command. They were still under lockdown and heavy jamming.

That in turn meant that I could no longer act as little more than a common trooper. Not when the immediate crisis was mostly resolved. Besides, the prudent thing to do was to get out of sight of the surviving senators. Right now I was not their favorite person even if some of the saved hostages did agree that the CIS agents planned to kill them all anyway. So I designated my flagship as a temporary GAR headquarters.

I wondered if the Chiss woman I saved knew something about that. I added questioning her about it to the growing list of things I would ask her about when she awoke.

Meanwhile I was sipping from a steaming mug of caf and overseeing the supposedly organized chaos in the room. Various officers, both natural born and clones were busy making sense of the mess on Coruscant, and across the galaxy.

I stood up and smiled tiredly when Obi-Wan and Ahsoka entered the madhouse. After the debacle of the temple and my new, temporary promotion, Kenobi was sent as a liaison between the Jedi and the GAR. The kid was already on board. She had came up on the LAAT bringing the Skywalkers to the med bays of the cruiser. Considering that Coruscant was a long way from being declared secure, I had ordered them taken to my flagship for treatment.

"Obi-Wan, I am glad to see you," I said. "Ahsoka." I nodded at the kid. "How are Skywalker and the Senator?" I asked.

"The doctor swears that Padme will make a full recovery, but she'll have a mean scar. My Master should be awake sometime tonight. "

"What happened with Anakin and senator Amidala?!" exclaimed Kenobi.

I gave him the bare-bones of what senator Iblis told me. He shook his head at Skywalker's latest stunt. I nodded in commiseration, praying that my apprentices wouldn't give me so much grief.

"Have the Separatists executed other attacks, banking on us being preoccupied with Coruscant?" asked my fellow general.

"None that we've heard about so far. However they seem to have reinforced most of their armies engaged with our forces." I answered. "Then there is what RI agents uncovered about the CIS actions on Ryloth." I spat. If I had anything to say about it, that would be my next destination as soon as the mess here was more or less cleaned up.

"Oh?" inquired Obi-Wan.

I could sense that he was wary from the anger I let slip through my shields when I thought about what those confederate bastards were doing on the Twi'lek homeworld.

"It appears that our Huttese "friends" have cut a deal with the separatists. They would support them for some concessions. One of which is slaves. That is one of the primary aims of the invasion of Ryloth."

"The CIS are participating in slavery?!" exclaimed Ahsoka.

The horror was on her face, clear for all to see.

"Its unclear if that is the official position of the Sep government or if someone cut a personal deal with the Hutts, but it does not really matter. It's the CIS leaders responsibility anyway." I spat.

Kriffing slavers! I couldn't wait to get my hands on those bastards!

I took a deep breath.

"Unfortunately, we can't do anything about it until Coruscant is reasonably secured. With the attacks on Naboo and here, we are stretched almost to the breaking point." I whispered.

Ahsoka looked incredulously at me but Kenobi only nodded gravely. I looked at the girl. As a mere commander, she was not briefed on the overall strategic situation. Which was that for the moment the Republic was loosing the war. If we could hang out for about a year or so, until the clone army was fully mobilized and the next couple of naval construction cycles were completed, we would have a very good chance to turn the tide. That and hopefully after the attacks on Coruscant, some of the systems which declared their neutrality in this conflict would come to our side.

"What exactly happened at the senate?" asked Kenobi.

"Ah. That." I muttered.

The gas deployed by the separatists was called something that I could not pronounce. It was also known as the Gray Death. It killed outright nearly three thousand senators with almost as many who were not expected to make it. The preliminary reports were saying that if I had not pulled my stunt, the damn thing would have wiped them all out. Not that most of the survivors appeared be of the same opinion. There was already grumbling heard that I risked their lives instead of negotiating.

I smiled viciously at that thought. After speaking with Palpatine and before heading for the Requiem I had a brief chat with few chosen reporters. I didn't really have to manipulate the newsies. I just mentioned that few ungrateful senators would prefer to make all their constituents targets for terrorists and the CIS butchers in order to save their own skin.

For once the media was helpful and was already tearing those politicians apart.

"The two bases hit with Blue Shadow..." I continued to brief Kenobi.

=RK=

Part 2

Med Bay, Republic Cruiser Requiem, High Orbit over Coruscant

I entered one of the compartment of the Med Bay, where the bacta tanks were situated, and walked next to Anakin. He was standing still in front of a cylinder which was holding his wife. Padme was floating peacefully within, submerged into green colored bacta.

After few minutes of silence I asked, "How are you holding up?"

Skywalker turned his haunted eyes towards me.

"I kriffed up!" he hissed angrily.

"That is a big steaming pile of bantha poodo and you know it!" I scoffed. "You got your wife alive out of that damn killzone as well as most of the other hostages. You did well, Anakin."

"Then why is she in there!" he shouted, pointing at the bacta tank.

"Its war. Shit happens. People get hurt. It's a messed up age we are living in." I fixed him with a cold stare. "Despite everything the universe has thrown your way, your wife is still alive. So be glad that she'll recover, and train so you can do better the next time our dear Senator gets herself into trouble."

"Padme won't..." he winced and trailed off.

I shook my head at the poor bastard. If he believed that Amidala will stop putting herself in danger, or finding herself in sticky situations anyway, I had some prime farm land to sell him. Smack in the middle of the dune sea on Tatooine...

"She would." he grumbled.

"Well, I doubt that you would have married an obedient wife, who would stay safely at home waiting for you." I quipped.

"It would be much easier on the nerves..." he muttered.

"Just don't let her hear you saying that. You'll sleep on the couch for a long time."

Anakin gave me a small smile, before growing serious.

"You didn't come here just to check up on us. Not with everything that happened yesterday," he stated.

"Unfortunately not. There is a meeting of the ranking GAR officers who are present in the system. Its in fifteen minutes. Conference room Sigma Three. There will be some changes in High Command. We have three generals and an admiral dead with two more who would be out of commission for months thanks to complications from the Blue Shadow cure."

"That's bad." muttered Skywalker.

=RK=

Conference room Sigma Three, Republic Cruiser Requiem; High orbit over Coruscant

When we gathered for the meeting, which would decide where the GAR would be going on after the debacle on Coruscant, there were only six people present in person on the cruiser. Yoda, Kenobi, Skywalker, Pellaeon and General Telar Valentra and me. Valentra was the only one who had survived the attack on High Command, and was the only one of the high ranking officers there lucky enough not to be infected. It was thanks to his habit to be in his armor while on duty, with his helmet always nearby. The aging Zabrak male possessed a healthy dose of paranoia.

Around the large, round table which dominated the room, could be seen multiple pale holographic projections of Jedi generals as well as that of admiral Yularen. In total it was a small number, which represented those of us who were both healthy enough to participate in the meeting and not present into an active combat theater at the moment, in order to mitigate the possibility of the communications being intercepted. I knew that it would be a futile effort with Palpy being our commander in chief, but that was no reason to slack on the security protocols.

One of them was glaring daggers at me. I smiled nervously at master Shaak Ti, who was overseeing the training of the clone troopers on Kamino.

"You can't stay out of trouble for even a week, can you?" she grumbled.

I shrugged. It wasn't like I goaded the CIS into doing insane operations!

"Blame the Separatists. I've only done my best to clean up the mess that they did on Naboo and Coruscant."

"Speaking about the capital, what is the status of the Senate?" interjected Master Secura.

General Valentra's expression became grim.

"Six thousand eight hundred and thirty one Senators are either dead or not expected to make it after the attacks. That's about sixty percent of them all. Those number does not include all the aides and attaches, most of whom were simply gunned down in the Senate halls." he declared in a grave voice. "We do not have complete number for them but there are more than twenty three thousand confirmed dead in the Senate building alone. That is before units under General Veil's command assaulted the building."

The generals who didn't yet know the numbers stared at the old Zabrak in stunned disbelief.

"Grave blow this is," stated Yoda. He looked me in the eyes. It was obvious that he disapproved the way I handled the Senate business.

I stared back calmly and wondered what would have happened if a Jedi was in charge of that mess. Would they have negotiated with the mercenaries, despite the consequences of such actions?

"What would you have me do in such circumstances? Negotiate with the terrorists? Meet their demands, which would have seen the CIS taking whole worlds as hostages? It would have been a disaster for the Republic, even greater than what happened yesterday." I stated dispassionately.

"Yes. Our duty is to save lives!" snapped Ayala Secura.

"As a Jedi, that might be the case, Master Secura." I answered with the same calm tone. "But, as a General, your duty is a bit different. It is tragic, but often we have to decide which course of action is best for the Republic as a whole and stick to it. As GAR officers, which all of us are, our oaths are to the Republic as a whole and the people that make it what it is, not only to the Senate and the individual Senators, despite them being the civilian leadership we answer to."

I was really not surprised to see General Valentra and Admiral Yularen nodding in agreement while most of the Jedi glared at me.

"In a war people die. Our duty is to spent the lives of our subordinates wisely, not to waste them pursuing impossible objectives." I added.

"If someone had not only negotiated with the hostage takers, but actually met their demands... The consequences would not bare thinking about..." grumbled the Admiral.

"That's right. Besides, you are obviously assuming that they wouldn't have killed the Senators anyway." added Valentra. He patted a data pad which laid on the table in front of him. "The preliminary reports from the Senate Chambers show that the commando droids had remote control over the charges and the gas."

"General Veil had no way to know that." declared Master Adi Mundi.

"I suspected it. The elimination of the Senate would have been the best outcome for the Separatists. Even with a partial success they now have a huge advantage. We'll have huge political problems." I said.

"Finding out a way to deal with the aftermath is one of the main reasons for this meeting," added General Valentra.

Moments later one last figure appeared, projected over an empty chair. That was the Chancellor who was in an undisclosed location on the plant below us. Palpy resembled a mummy with the thick bandages covering the right side of his face.

That earned him a lot of sympathetic looks. The poor fella. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

"Let's get this meeting started." said Palpatine with gravel voice. "After yesterday, it is clear that the Confederation of Independent systems is a clear and present danger for the very existence of the Republic. In light of that, our strategic aims in prosecuting the war have to change. A peaceful settlement of this conflict, aside from the Separatists unconditional surrender is no longer acceptable!" declared the Chancellor with conviction ringing in his voice. "They have proven themselves as murderous criminals who could not be trusted! The use of biological and chemical weapons on Coruscant itself can't go unpunished!"

Most of us, even a lot of Jedi agreed with the last point. The WMD genie had to be nipped out in the bud as soon as possible. There were more than enough, mostly conventional, ways to wipe out a planet anyway.

I had to suppress a smirk. This was probably the first time since the war started when Palpy was saying the truth. Besides I was ready to bet that what really irked his Royal Sithiness was that he was actually hurt. By what was supposed to be his own people. I found it hilarious.

"Because of what happened, I am under tremendous pressure from the remains of the Senate for immediate action." said Palpatine. "In order to secure the support needed for further expansion of the GAR, we must restore the faith of the public and Senate into the Army. Ladies and gentlemen, we need a victory. Soon."

"With the hit taken by GAR High Command, we have few critical jobs that need to be filled." said General Valentra. "We are hardly at a position to produce a major victory soon."

"There is a possibility," whispered commodore Pellaeon.

We all looked at his direction.

"Speak, Commodore." ordered Yularen.

Gilad straightened in his chair.

"Yes, sir. I heard some disturbing information from Republic Intelligence. It concerns Ryloth."

"I've have been pressured by the Senate to liberate that world for the past few weeks," stated Palpatine. "However, I was told that we didn't have the assets needed for such an operation."

"The blockade there is too strong. We can't spare the starships for a successful attack there without critically weakening other fronts." confirmed Yularen.

"That is a supposition based on incomplete information." said Pellaeon. "At least that is what the RI agent with whom I spoke believe."

"Please enlighten us, Commodore Pellaeon." Palpatine waved at the man.

"Yes, sir. Big part of the blockade consists of Droid command ships, which would usually imply a huge number of Munificent frigates as escorts. That is not the case. Those ships are there as transports. It appears that the Separatists had cut a deal with the Hutt cartels. In exchange for looking to the other side where their activities are concerned, the damn worms wanted slaves to accept the deal. That is one of the primary reason for the invasion of Ryloth. It is unclear whether the last part is the CIS official policy or one of their leaders is being opportunistic, but there are millions of Republic citizens turned into slaves and shipped to the damn Hutts."

The silence that descended upon the room after that information came to light, could be cut with a vibroblade. Yularen and Valentra were looking horrified at the Commodore, while the Jedi had gobsmacked expressions on their faces. They could scarcely believe it, or so it seemed.

However, what I sensed from the man to my left, resonated with the fury rising within my heart. All the shit they pulled was not enough! The accursed CIS had to become a bunch of kriffing slavers too! I fumed silently. I spoke before I could think things through.

"I volunteer to lead a force to liberate Ryloth." I declared.

"I'll go!" exclaimed Skywalker.

We spoke simultaneously. We looked at each other and chuckled, an act that diminished the rising tension in the room.

"You two will still need a lot of additional forces for such an operation. General Veil's fleet is far from ready. Besides most of the assets under his command are tied down at Naboo." General Valentra dashed our enthusiasm.

"What happens on Ryloth is not something we could let continue." said Shaak Ti. "There are a few fresh formations that would be ready before the end of the month, as well as various groups of clones designated as replacements of combat losses..." she started thinking aloud.

"That's a possibility." I muttered.

Many heads turned my way. I frowned, thinking.

"Sent the green troops to enforce the quarantine on Naboo. Then we could pull out the veterans from that mission and use them as the heart of a liberation force. But we'll still need more ground troops and ships to retake Ryloth. As well as enough equipment for the infantry and armor formations."

"I'll lit a fire under our logistics corps and see what we can provide. The cupboard is a bit empty right now." said General Valentra.

"It is decided then. The GAR will liberate Ryloth as soon as possible." despite his mellow tone, Palpatine's words were an order. "Now, what about the casualties suffered at GAR headquarters?"

That was thorny question. A lot of high ranking officers were either dead or incapacitated for the near future.

"Sir, I have a proposal for changes in the GAR leadership, that I believe would serve us well in view of the casualties taken yesterday..." said General Valentra.

Hours later, when it was finally over, there were some changes made in how the GAR was run. High Command on Coruscant was left with the strategic planning of the war as well as the most important job of them all – handling the unholy mess that were the logistics of a galaxy spanning conflict. General Valentra was confirmed as overall military commander of the circus that was the GAR, with only the Chancellor over him. Me and most of the Jedi were relegated as Direct Action Command – read the field commanders of the army, which became a separate branch of the Republic armed forces. That came with something that I liked very much. The members of the DAC had command authority even if there were higher ranking officers from other branches of the GAR in any given war theater. No more REMFs in charge of combat troops. Yay!

Another thing that was discussed was a proposition to pass the commanders of the GAR through a review commission of their peers, to confirm that they actually deserved their current ranks. Most Jedi were against such a thing, believing that it was aimed against them. Which it was.

For now the suggestion went nowhere, but I hoped that it will come to pass at later date. While a lot of Jedi did become good field commanders, a lot of them were barely passable or worse. That was something that could have been at least partially solved if they had at passed through rudimentary officer training.

When the meeting was over, Valentra gathered me, Skywalker, Kenobi, Yularen and Pellaeon, in order to start planning the liberation of Ryloth. I wanted to speak with him about some changes in the standard infantry equipment and ship designs after that as well.