Calm Before The Storm

Calmly walking out of the hangar, he looked at the 4 immense Acclimators floating in the sky with the Venator Star Destroyer towering over them.

Narrowing his eyes, he noticed multiple other Star Destroyers enter the atmosphere.

"It seems Yoda has arrived."

Silas counted 1 Venator-class Star Destroyer and 14 Acclimator-class Star Destroyers as they slowly decreased in altitude. The Acclimators split up as they paired up and landed at the different facilities filled with clone troopers, just like Silas's. The Venator itself simply hovered beside the other Venator.

Silas watched as the top of the newcomer Venator opened and hundreds of Laat Gunships quickly exited, landing at the other facilities. The Volunteer pilots would quickly exit, while the clone troopers would enter.

One particular Laat Gunship headed toward Silas's empty hangar, he crossed his arms as he watched it slowly land in front of him.

The slight breeze pushed past him as the Gunship's door slid open, and two individuals walked out.

Yoda wore a light brown cloak and brown outfit underneath, with a brown staff, and right behind him was a young Togruta girl, wearing a brown tube top, brown skirt, and leggings.

'Hmm? Ashoka huh?' Silas recognized the girl, and calmly waited as they approached his figure.

"Greetings, General Raven." Yoda greeted as he looked up at Silas's black helmet.

"Master Yoda, it is a pleasure to meet you." Silas nodded toward the short Jedi.

"Indeed it is. This young one, Padawan Ashoka Tano, she is." Yoda remarked as Ashoka stood beside him.

"Nice to meet you." Ashoka smiled as she spoke to Silas.

Silas simply nodded back as he didn't have time for pleasantries.

"Troubled, you are?" Yoda questioningly stared at Silas.

"Indeed Master Yoda, I believe it is necessary for me to leave now for Geonosis, my men, and vehicles are all ready and prepped inside the Star Destroyers. I fear that if I wait for your men to be prepared many Jedi will perish."

Silence ensued for a few seconds until Yoda finally replied.

"Correct, you are. Lead them yourself, you should."

Silas slightly raised his brow at Yoda easily agreeing.

"I'll be waiting for you there Master Yoda."

Yoda simply nodded at Silas's words.

"Meet with the Kaminoan Prime Minister, I will." Yoda suddenly muttered as he started to walk toward the Hangar.

"Wait! Master Yoda, please reconsider allowing me to go to Geonosis with you!" Ashoka exclaimed as she stared at Yoda's back.

"Stay in Kamino, you will." Yoda stated as he continued to walk away and entered the hangar.

A frown adorned Ashoka's face as she watched Yoda's disappearing figure.

"What seems to be the problem, Padawan Tano?" Silas questioned as he and Ashoka were the last two outside.

"*Sigh* A Jedi named Master Plo-Koon is one of the 212 Jedi participating in the battle and I'm worried for him. I asked Master Yoda to bring me but he only allowed me to come with him to Kamino and said that I would have to return back to Coruscant soon after. But I'm not a kid anymore, I can take care of myself." Ashoka sighed as she explained.

"I see." Silas understood where she was coming from but also understood that she was far too young to participate in such a battle.

Silas glanced up as he noticed a Gunship landing a few meters ahead of him and Ashoka.

"It seems my ride has come, I'll see you later Padawan Tano." Silas said his goodbye and walked past Ashoka toward his Gunship.

"Wait! General!" Ashoka suddenly called out from behind as she jogged toward him.

Silas turned around as he glanced at Ashoka who suddenly closed the distance between them.

"Since you're a General, doesn't that mean you technically have an equal status to Yoda?" She questioned with a whisper.

"Haha, so you wish for me to take you to Geonosis with me?" Silas chuckled as he replied.

"Please General..." She looked at Silas with pleading eyes.

Silas stared down at her inquisitively.

'If I choose to bring her, she could possibly die and I'll have to be the one who opens her eyes to the cruelty of war. And while she has killed many beasts before, compared to killing living beings who she can actually communicate with that's something else entirely, I myself am lucky that my instincts are ingrained into me. Plus she's young.'

'But at the same time, introducing her to war earlier could also prove to make her stronger earlier. If I remember correctly she seemed to have no problem in her first battle at Christophsis, which was her first appearance and that is only a couple of months from now. And in a universe such as Star Wars, age doesn't really matter when it comes to battle.' Silas finished his thoughts as he finally spoke.

"Are you sure? War is something even the most experienced soldiers struggle with. The blood, death, and weariness you'll feel will be something you've never felt before." Silas narrowed his eyes under his helmet.

Ashoka's expression hardened.

"I know that I have lots to learn as a Padawan, but in order for me to grow, I need experience, and being cooped up inside the Jedi Temple isn't giving me any experience."

Silas nodded as he laughed, "Haha! Agreed! If that's the case, I don't mind you coming with me."

Ashoka's eyes widened in surprise, "Really!? What about Master Yoda?"

Silas simply smirked as he replied, "I'm a General of the Grand Army of the Republic, Master Yoda holds no authority over me, the only person I report to is the Chancellor himself."

Ashoka couldn't help but smirk back, "Now that's what I'm talking about."

"But you need to stick beside me the entire battle, agreed?" Silas added.

"Of course!" Ashoka eagerly nodded.

"Alright come on, we've already wasted enough time." Silas remarked as he jogged off toward his Gunship with Ashoka behind him.

They both quickly entered and held the handles above them.

The Gunship quickly started to rise in altitude as it sped towards their Venator.

"While I am grateful, why did you agree so easily?" Ashoka questioned curiously.

"Let's just say that I can relate to my freedom being restricted." Silas replied as the Gunship would slightly shudder.

Ashoka nodded in understanding and they both then stayed silent for the remainder of the ride.

After a minute or two, Silas could feel the Gunship lowering altitude as they entered from the opened roof of the Venator, which promptly closed soon after.

Once feeling the Gunship landing, Silas slid open the door as he and Ashoka exited.

Inside the hangar of the Venator, hundreds of Gunships and Star Fighters could be seen inside, with clone troopers loitering around them.

"Come on, follow me." Silas spoke as he walked past all the ships with Ashoka behind him.

Clones would occasionally glance toward them with a nod before returning to whatever they were doing.

Reaching a door at the end of the Hangar, Silas pressed the button on the side of it, promptly opening the door.

As they traversed the gray metal hallways, they eventually entered the Command Center filled with clones and one certain Admiral at the center, who approached them.

"You must be General Raven, my name is Admiral Yularen, and I am the temporary Admiral for these ships sent by the Chancellor." The Admiral extended his hand outwards as he greeted Silas.

"I see, and this is Padawan Tano, but let's skip the pleasantries... Are all the ships ready?" Silas shook the Admiral's hand as he introduced Ashoka and continued speaking.

The Admiral nodded toward Ashoka as he slightly smiled at Silas's battle-ready attitude.

"Yes General, all the ships are ready for take-off. But if I'm not mistaken, weren't we supposed to go with Jedi Master Yoda's ships also?" Admiral Yularen questioningly looked at Silas.

"Since Master Yoda will take time, we decided we will go on our own first, he'll meet us there later." Silas explained as all three of them walked toward the front of the Command Center and stopped.

Yularen nodded in understanding as he quickly commanded the crew, "We're leaving now for Geonosis! Inform the rest of the ships!"

The clones all around the Command Center quickly got to work once they heard Yularen's voice.

"I'll leave you to it, Admiral." Silas remarked once noticing the Venator and the other 4 Acclimators slowly rising in altitude.

Admiral Yularen nodded as he looked back forward.

Both Silas and Ashoka simply walked toward another part of the command center, at the corner, where there was a hologram table.

"Actually I have a question." Ashoka suddenly spoke.

"Hmm?" Silas questioningly looked at her, indicating for her to continue.

"I sense that the force is powerful within you... Are you a Jedi in clone armor or something?" She questioned.

Silas smirked, "I'm simply a special clone trooper."

"As if that answered my question." She rolled her eyes.

Silas ignored her as he seemingly tapped the holographic table a few times.

Ashoka curiously looked at him, "Uh, what are you doing?"

Silas glanced toward her before continuing, "I'm bringing up a map of Geonosis so that I can create an attack plan."

Silas stopped tapping the hologram table as he tapped his comlink a few times.

"All available Commanders, report to the Command Center." Silas stated as he spoke into his comlink, before focusing back on the table.

Tapping it a few more times, eventually, the map showed Geonosis and all known locations of the enemies there.

Soon after, two troopers in different colored armor approached Ashoka and Silas.

"Sir you've called for us?" The navy blue colored clone spoke as he stood side by side with a green-striped clone.

"Commander Bang, Commander Zephyr, where are the rest of the Commanders?" Silas questioned.

"Sir the rest of the Commanders are spread out among the other 4 Acclimators in order to ensure everything goes smoothly." Commander Bang explained.

"I see, we'll simply have to formulate a plan now and inform them later." Silas muttered.

The other two nodded in agreement.

"Okay! Time to create a plan!"

****

Like this, a few hours passed, and the planet of Genosis was finally in sight.

Silas, Ashoka, and the Admiral were at the front of the command center as they stared at the brown planet.

"Ashoka, go down to the hangar and make sure all the men are ready, wait for me there, we'll get on a Gunship together once we're low enough in the atmosphere." Silas uttered as he continued to watch the planet.

Ashoka nodded as she turned around and walked out of the command center.

"You know what to do Admiral, once all designated ground forces exit the Venator, you're to go back up into space and make sure anyone that escapes us, is stopped by you." Silas remarked.

"With all due respect General, let me lead these ships while you lead the ground forces." Admiral Yularen replied with a helpless smile.

"Understood, good luck Admiral." Silas had a smirk under his helmet as he turned around and started to walk away.

"Same too you General." Admiral Yularen watched as Silas's figure disappeared behind the metal door.

As Silas walked through the metal hallways, he glanced down at the handle on his utility belt.

'I'll finally be able to see this bad boy in action.'

Before shaking his head.

'I don't have time to think about that, it seems the battle will soon begin.' Silas thought inwardly as he walked toward the hangar.

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