26 Turning Point [Continued 2]

Part 3

Krayt Company positions, Alpha Site, Ryloth

I glared at the woman. This stunt with the overgrown bugs turned into living bombs was too creative for the run of the mill CIS imbeciles, while being exactly what a Mandalorian would do. For fun, amongst other things. I wondered if her armor was just for show or if she was the real thing.

The female I was keeping suspended in mid air shrugged. "It seemed a good idea at the time."

"Indeed." I muttered.

If those things had reached our lines and detonated, my men would have suffered severe casualties. Anything less than missile strikes was pretty useless at taking down the animals.

"What is your game, I wonder?" I thought aloud while studying her armored form.

I liked what I saw. Heavy armor, enough weaponry to make Boil and Waxer drool... She could fit right in with the Empire's Mandalorian auxiliaries from my past. Not to mention she had curves in all the right places...

I shook my head in an attempt to get my mind out of the gutter. It wad too damn long since the last time I had gotten laid. I didn't have time to act like a hormonal teen.

"Like what you see?" she asked.

"Oh, my! Definitely!" shouted one of my soldiers.

"Waxer! If you will." I snapped.

Metal striking metal sounded from behind me.

"Ow! What did I do this time?!" grumbled Boil.

Numa, who was near those two clowns, giggled at them.

"Thank you, Waxer." I quipped.

I swear I could hear Cat muttering something about idiots and the nastiest assignments he could find for them.

A bit of telekinetic manipulation and a soft clicking could be heard as the seals holding her helmet popped open. I waved my fingers, and it lifted revealing a beautiful face framed by a crop of shoulder length fiery red hair. I blinked at her.

I knew her! Ironically I remembered more bits from the later seasons of the Clone Wars than the first few, and all things considered, that was information that was already mostly useless. With the changes that occurred, it was highly unlikely that most things that I could recall would happen in a similar way, if at all.

The first time I had any recollection of this woman was while reading RI intel briefings. Granted, those things were largely a work of fiction with only hints of reality mixed in, but they had her name and possible allegiance.

"Bo-Katan Kryze. Fancy meeting you here." I smiled under my helmet. "How's your sister nowadays?" I quipped.

For few seconds her face was a mask of utter shock before she schooled it back in a cold mask.

"We need to have a chat," I declared. "But I am curious. You are supposed to be one of the best amongst the Death Watch. So, lets put that to the test. I want to see if this age's Mandalorians are anything like the ones I had the honor to fight side by side with during the Great war.

"Captain Cat, give us some space and don't interfere." I ordered.

I released the Bo-Katan, floated her helmet so it was in front of her and smiled cheerfully at her.

"A challenge, eh?" she gave me a lopsided grin, before snatching her helmet and putting it on.

"I accept!" she declared and drew her blaster pistols.

=RK=

Ghost Company, Gama Site, Ryloth

"They are flanking us!" shouted a clone.

His voice came over the roar of battle and was barely heard by his comrades.

"Of course they are..." grumbled Cody.

He blew off the head of an irritating B1 droid, before snapping out orders: "Send in what's left of the reserve to the right flank!"

"This could have gone better." muttered Kenobi.

The Jedi was anchoring the center of the clone lines, which were under a heavy assault by at least two companies of Super Battle droids and a horde of B1s.

He and his men had managed to break through the outer perimeter of the village and take the first two rows of buildings, before the CIS forces counterattacked. The battle had been raging ever since.

Obi-Wan felt his men falling one after another. By now, over a third of the clones were down, and the droids showed no sign of relenting in their attacks. Ghost Company simply didn't have the firepower necessary to stop the onslaught.

From the corner of his eye, Kenobi saw a trooper have his chest perforated by a long burst of blaster fire. The man slumped back, never to move again.

Obi-Wan glared at the machines. They had to reach the cannons and disable them. Every minute they delayed meant more people were dying all over the planet.

=RK=

Torrent Company, Beta Site, Ryloth

"Master! Is this your whole plan?!" shouted Ahsoka.

She was back to back with Anakin, in the center of a large intersection. Nearly a hundred droids were advancing towards them from four sides, constantly shooting at the two Jedi.

"Pretty much!" he answered with a confident grin on his lips. "Just about now! Wait for it..." he trailed off.

Even more droids were joining the onslaught, straining the Jedi's ability to deflect blaster bolts.

"Wait for what?! There are more clankers coming!"

Anakin frowned. He used telekinesis to activate his wrist mounted comm. "Rex! Where are you?! We can't hold them for much longer!"

Couple of seconds later, the Captains voice came back.

"We are a bit busy here, sir!" screamed Rex, so he could be heard.

Two hundred meters away, most of Torrent company was pinned down by two platoons of Super Battle droids, which came to reinforce their metal brethren.

"Those B1s are trying to flank us, sir!" someone shouted.

"Send Echo squad to stall them!" snapped Rex. "General, we won't be able to make it in time. A platoon of SB's just got between us, sir! We don't have the firepower to dislodge them any time soon! They are taking defensive positions and trying to contain us!"

Anakin cringed. "Snips, we've got a problem."

"You think!?" she deadpanned. Ahsoka could see a couple of droidekas rolling towards them.

=RK=

Part 4

Krayt Company position, Alpha Site, Ryloth

I sealed my helmet and brought my lightsaber back to life. I did it just in time to deflect a burst of fire from the red-haired woman. Her blasters were snapping shots at meas fast as she could pull the trigger.

She apparently had trained to fight against Force Adepts, because her blasterfire was targeted at my blade, near the hilt. That increased the chance of my saber being blasted out of my hands from the force of the shots, and made it much harder to reflect her weapons fire back at her. Or that was the theory, anyway.

I used the Force to strengthen my grip and my smile grew. Bo-Katan could prove to be a challenge.

She jumped in the air on jets of flames coming from her rocket-pack. She made a motion with her left hand I was closely familiar with and a rocket flew my way.

I smirked and slapped the weapon away with a telekinetic wave, then I returned the favor. I sent two stun darts from my the launcher built in my left armguard. At the same time, my blade continued to deflect the blaster fire from the airborne mandalorian.

The rocket struck the ground to my right and detonated, showering me with pieces of rock and soil.

Bo-Katan twisted gracefully in the air and my dual shots missed her, spending their electric charges at the wall behind her.

She shot two thin discs from a device on her right hand at me. I met that attack with a Force push, which threw the metal slips back at her accompanied by an invisible sphere of energy.

Kryze flew up, ascending over the reflected attack, which smashed through the wall behind her. She rotated in mid air, so the missiles mounted on her back were pointing my way.

Her heavier weapon roared my way. Perhaps she thought that I would have a problem thanks to its greater weight and speed. It was time to dissuade her from such notions.

I pushed at the missile with both hands and the guided weapon stopped two meters from me. Then I used telekinesis to turn it so it pointed at the woman and released it, before rolling away to avoid a hail of blaster shots.

She plunged down, trying to evade her own missile, but I used the Force to guide it after her. Bo-Katan didn't let that slow her down. She turned around, so she flew backwards, and shot two yellow energy bolts, from her left armguard. One missed, but the second struck the missile pursuing her and detonated its warhead.

The explosion sent shrapnel in all direction. It also threw the mandalorian woman skidding across the ground. She landed hard, and stopped only when she struck the wall of a nearby building.

I used her temporally distraction to pluck out of her hand the blaster she managed to keep during her crash landing.

It didn't slow her for even a moment. Kryze sent two of the yellow energy bolts my way and while I deflected them, she launched a metal cord which darted towards my hands, followed by a single metal disc.

I used the Force to sent away the projectile but the rope snacked around my sword arm. Bo-Katan wasted no time and she flew up, dragging me with her. If it wasn't for the Force enhancing my body, her move would have dislocated my right shoulder. If I was lucky...

I cursed as I headed towards an inconveniently placed building. I twisted my body so I hit the wall feet first and leaped from that surface in a Force assisted jump. My still ignited lightsaber connected with the metal line, cutting through it and I switched it off before smashing in the woman and grappling her.

The time appeared to slow down for me.

Our midair collision threw away her attempts to control her flight with my additional weight. We spun through the air in uncontrolled fall.

She smashed her armored head in my face, which combined with our tumbling through the air was mildly disorienting. However thanks to the Force I was well aware where exactly we were and of our distance from the buildings and the ground.

I returned the favor, rattling her head within her helmet and twisted us so she'll take the brunt of our fall. I used the Force to slow down a bit our headlong plunge to the ground but it wasn't enough to let either of us get away from that stunt unscratched.

We landed hard. I could hear the unpleasant sound of cracking bones. I could feel pain exploding in my left arm and hand, which was under Kryze's body when we hit the ground.

Son of a bitch! That kriffing hurt!

=RK=

Ghost Company, Gama Site, Ryloth

"Cody! Ion grenades! I'll guide them so they'll have maximum effect!" shouted Obi-Wan.

He darted behind a half-demolished wall and nodded to the Commander.

The Jedi closed his eyes and concentrated. He let his senses fly over the battlefield, noting the positions of his men and the ghostly signatures of the machines.

A nearby soldier took out a grenade, primed it and threw the sphere at a group of droids. Kenobi picked up the weapon with the Force, and guided it so it would have maximum effect.

It detonated, releasing a pulse of ion energy which fried the electronics of fifteen machines.

Obi-Wan repeated the process, wiping out robots left and right, until his men ran out of grenades. By then the droids assaulting them were decimated.

Five minute later, the forces attacking Ghost Company were obliterated, and the path to the cannons and the final defenses around them was clear.

Half of Kenobi's men were either dead or wounded by that point.

=RK=

Torrent Company, Beta Site, Ryloth

"This way!" shouted Anakin.

Skywalker sent a concentrated beam of telekinetic energy at the wall of a nearby house, blowing a large hole through the stone. He grabbed his apprentice and darted inside, using the Force to move faster than humanly possible.

It was almost enough. A shot from a droideka's cannon, smashed into his arm, blowing the porsthetics in two. He grunted as shrapnel and few stray blaster bolts struck his armor. It held admirably.

Ahsoka was not that lucky. She wasn't wearing an armor. The blaster bolts which managed to hit her during their brief flight to temporally safety, seared wounds across her left thigh and shoulder.

She shouted in pain and sagged in Anakin's grip.

Skywalker cursed venomously. His lightsaber was still outside, gripped by the fingers of his severed artificial hand. At least it wasn't the good one.

He glanced at Snips, who was in no condition to move on her own. At least not fast enough to matter.

Anakin could hear the metal feet of the machines clattering over the rock covered ground outside. They would be all over them in moments.

=RK=

Couple of hundred meters. It could as well be miles.

Rex threw an Ion grenade at a group of Super Battle droids, which danced under the energy discharge before falling to the ground into a smoking heap. The damn things weren't heedlessly throwing themselves into his men's blasterfire. Instead the droids were taking cover, and were simply content to pin him down.

The Captain knew why. If the machines managed to take out the General and Ahsoka, he and his soldiers would be easy to dispatch. Kriff it all, the damn things didn't really need to directly kill the clones. If their commander found it practical, the robots could simply keep them under siege and starve them out.

It wasn't like he had a bunch of tactical options as he and his men were armed only with blaster carbines and Ion grenades. Besides, the latter were running out...

=RK=

Krayt Company, Alpha site, Ryloth

I submerged myself deeply in the Light side of the Force. It stung as it passed through me and interacted with the tendrils of darkness still clinging to my being. As usual, I had used the Dark side during the battle, and the both sides of the same coin, so to speak, didn't like playing nice with each other.

The Force energies were like a cool balm, extinguishing the stabs of pain in my left arm. I felt the cracks in my bones knitting together, until only a light, dull ache remained.

Good enough.

I turned my attention to Bo-Katan, who lied dazzled on the ground. The crash had made a number on her. Broken and bruised ribs, a bit of internal bleeding, concussion, broken arm...

I placed my hands on her chest and let the Force energies use me as a conduit and flow through me and into the wounded woman.

The Force could be a wondrous things. Injuries which would take hours spent in a bacta tank to heal, were mending moments later under my ministrations.

=RK=

Bo-Katan grunted in pain as the pieces of a broken rib shifted within her chest. She felt woozy and her eyes weren't working right. She blinked and stared. Over her, a blurred image of two men were kneeling. They had their hands on her chest.

She frowned and tried to slug the bastards but her right arm exploded in pain and refused to obey.

Broken. Her mind dutifully supplied the explanation.

Kryze froze. She could feel her broken rib shifting and then... knitting back together. It was not by any means the only strange sensation passing through her body.

She could feel... Liquid? Draining from her lungs. There was a pinch within her chest and Bo-Katan somehow knew that an internal injury had just been sealed by a patch of healthy flesh.

Soon her right hand followed. The bones under her skin moved like they were alive, but it didn't hurt.

No, that wasn't right. There was the pain, but it was distant, as if it was behind a wall of light, which was not only acting as a painkiller, but it made her calm. That thing, whatever it was, was the reason she felt unusually calm, given the circumstances.

Her right hand twitched as the bone was regrowing in the correct way. Around the bone, injured tissue was healing at an astounding rate.

At last, Bo-Katan could feel a warm stream passing through her body, washing her headache away. Her eyes focused and now there was only one man kneeling over her. It was the general she fought with. Her eyes trailed down his arms and she frowned. His left had was laying in the valley between her breasts and his right was over her heart, with its palm cupping part of her left breast.

Bo-Katan's right eye twitched and she put her freshly healed right hand to the test. She slugged the armored head of the man standing over her. Hard.

He just took it and tilted his head to the left.

"If you've got it out of your system, we need to talk." he said calmly, as if she hadn't hit him hard enough to crack someone's jaw.