C3P13

Subjugator-Class Heavy Cruiser Nox Amuleus

As the cone of ionic energy enveloped the entirety of the Sector Fleet and it's command ship, I reclined on my command throne, preening.

My gamble had paid off spectacularly. The entire enemy fleet's overwhelming firepower began to taper off dramatically as the pinkish wave of ionic energy passed over their hulls. My ship was battered and scarred, but it had effectively defeated an entire fleet of warships by itself.

Now, of course, came the hard part.

Boarding every single ship would be too costly for my current unit count of battledroids, even if I included and armed the maintenance bots.

I would need to be surgically precise in this. Mentally, I ordered the remaining stocks of BX-Commando Droids to begin slicing into the command towers of the Mandator and her escorts. They were to take control of the command towers and hack into the command cores in order to gain access to the ship's auxiliary systems.

From there, things can only get edgier.

An alert popped into mind and I turned my attention to the Kamino Defense Fleet. The few remaining capital ships were regrouping on the far side of the planet, every fighter and corvette was making their way to them.

It was worrying, but for the moment, they would be affecting repairs and, presumably, planning for a final assault on my extremely battered fleet.

Dozens of minor alerts told me all I needed to know about my own fleet's status.

The battle between Kamino's defenses had taken it's a toll on my fleet. I had started out with well over three dozen Munificent-Class frigates and Recuscant-Class Light Destroyers each; only ten Munificents and eight Recuscants remained, more than half sporting extensive damage to their skeletal frames.

I still had my Lucrehulk-Class battleships, however, even if one was simply ready to fall apart at the seams. A handful of my Providence and Recuscant dreadnoughts still remained, forming the core of my battlecruiser squadrons.

My own command ship was suffering catastrophic hull damage along the bow, the superstructure was holding, but the Ion Cannon was almost inoperable; firing it might result in a chain reaction that might shatter everything in the front half.

I elected to leave that as a last resort.

Glancing at the time, I knew that this was going to be close.

-

"This is going to be close!"

Anakin held onto the joystick with a deathgrip as his fighter plummeted through Kamino's upper atmosphere at breakneck speeds.

The screen on his left showed working systems in green, damaged but working systems in orange, and inoperable systems in red. Right now a lot of it was in the red.

"Artoo, can you get the stabilizers back up?" He asked, flipping switches as the fighter shook violently through the clouds.

The droid replied with an affirmative as sparks flew and the stabilizers suddenly returned to partial functionality.

He worked as fast as could, forcing the damaged fighter to level out slightly. Several alarms stopped shrieking and Anakin felt himself breathe a little easier.

Then the computer screen on his right exploded.

"Gah!" Anakin turned his face away from the sparks, reflexively throwing a hand up to shield himself from shrapnel, causing his fighter to slip and bank down to the left. A familiar sound of whirring, buzzsaws, and drills made him grimace in frustration.

Oh come on!" Growled the Jedi as a buzzdroid emerged from the destroyed screen, chittering menacingly. It leaped at him, only to halt a foot away from his head.

It made a confused noise as the canopy opened and it was hurled by an unseen force in front of the fighter.

Anakin pulled the trigger and a laser burst vaporized it completely.

"There," he said with relief. "Nothing more to worry about."

A soft 'whump' shook the fighter as the stabilizers went into the red and exploded, sending it plummeting back down towards the ocean.

"Dammit! The Force really likes proving me wrong, doesn't it?!" Shouted Anakin as he punched the afterburners. The engines practically exploded, propelling the falling fighter towards the familiar city of Tipoca.

Even at the speed he was falling, he couldn't help but admire it from the distance. Even as explosions and towers of smoke rose from every platform as the fighting continued. Spotting where the fighting was heaviest, Anakin forced the dying fighter to turn and pushed the engine as hard he dared.

Artoo twittered in askance, warbling worriedly at the sight of it's master's determined face.

"Hold on Artoo! This is going to get very messy!" He shouted as the engine sputtered dangerously.

The droid beeped once before the winds carried it's scream away.

-

Rex ducked as a heavy bolt meant for an artillery vehicle buried itself into one of Kamino's many domed platforms, throwing a gout of smoke, fire, and debris into the air.

Even with the fighting inside the wards began to favor the native clones, the outer wards were securely labeled 'Clanker Territory'. He had long abandoned the use of his pistols, instead of taking ahold of a heavy repeater someone had dropped.

He must have destroyed hundreds of droids, but they kept pushing relentlessly, edging closer and closer under the cover of destroyed supports, their own barricades, and the dismantled bodies of their comrades.

Worst, they brought tri-droids. Gigantic three-legged artillery that shrugged off what ordnance they had left, while dozens of them slowly trudged forwards.

At least three boasted a modification that chilled the clone to the bone.

Instead of boasting three heavy artillery cannon, they had flak turrets. And with that huge bulbous head free of belt ammunition, someone decided to stick a shield generator into it.

It was when those things deployed their mobile shield generators did they begin their slow advance.

Unless a miracle happened, Rex was certain that he and the rest of the troopers would have to pull back and let the bastards take more of Kamino for themselves.

"Again! Fire!" He roared, defiantly.

A slew of rockets fired from a collapsed tower, slapping uselessly against the azure shield. Several tri-droids fired artillery rounds into the building, reducing it to rubble...and taking a few more good men with it.

"Dammit," growled Rex as watched the metal army grow ever closer.

He looked upwards to the sky, in search of hope...when he spotted a speck trailing black smoke.

"Private, gimme that!" Shouted the Clone captain, tearing the binoculars right out of the poor clone's hand. He peered through it and maximized the zoom-in function as far as it could go.

That...that was General Skywalker's fighter! He almost breathed a sigh of relief until he realized that it was practically on fire...and it was accelerating.

"What the hell-"

The fighter fired it's heavy laser cannons repeatedly into the shield, weakening it as a scattering of missiles shot out from underneath it's blackened wings. Missiles exploded against the shield, but some managed to slide through, impacting against several of the massive droids.

The entire centerline shield collapsed as the fighter crashed into a tri-droid, igniting it's an entire load of explosive artillery rounds a tremendous explosion that shook the entire platform.

Droids were scattered and the artillery droids stumbled as the clones watched in utter amazement as a familiar rod of light shown through the fire and smoke atop a tri-droid.

"Open fire!" Shouted Rex, eagerly. "They're distracted! All units, fire now! Rockets! Tanks! Mortars!"

Almost immediately, a sea of blaster fire filled the space between the tattered remnants of the clone army and the scattered ranks of the droids. An AT-TE, immobile and shattered, came to life as it's mass driver turret began firing rounds into the confused Tri-Droids.

Rockets were fired, leaving hundreds of trails in the air, amidst the dull popping of mortars throwing explosive rounds up and into the suddenly vulnerable droid army.

But the Jedi was not idle. His saber flashed as it cut through droids like a plasma knife through Corellian butter; dismantling dozens of droids, even as they dodged and fired at him, even with their limbs and bodies slagging apart.

With their forces falling apart and their support burning, the droids began to withdraw, laying down coordinated fire as they let their forward-most brethren be dismantled.

As the fighting died down, the clones cheered as their Jedi General emerged from the smoke, grinning. "Rex."

"General," said the captain with a grin in his voice. "You are really something, sir."

Anakin's smile faded as he took in the devastation. "What's the situation?"

"Not as bad as it looks as of now," Rex said. "We've lost most of the outer wards; but with that stunt you pulled, you just took out all their heavy support. Last report we hard from the inner wards; Grievous was sighted going after Senator Amidala, but Cody took him out of the air with a rocket. No idea since. Comlinks are spotty with all this jamming. Though I reckon enough were taken out by your little kamikaze."

"Learned from the best. But alright, situations bad up there," said Anakin with a grimace. "The Pride of the Core came in with a full sector fleet of Tectors."

"Whoa! Pride of the Core? That's a big ship, sir!" The clone paused. "How's that bad?"

"Turns out the Ion Cannons we destroyed were just fakes," growled the Jedi, hands clenched. "It took out the Pride and all her escorts in one blast with the real one."

Every clone in the vicinity froze. Rex pulled off his helmet and put a hand to his dazed face. "...Shit."

"But there is good news. That stunt did the enemy fleet in upper orbit a /lot/ of damage," Anakin continued earnestly. "I want every pilot still alive to grab a fighter or gunship and take it up to reinforce our own fleet. Both sides barely have any fighter support left; so whatever we can send up right now will give us a major advantage."

"Yessir!" Chorused the clones, snapping quick salutes as they hurriedly began their work.

Anakin stiffened, his forehead wrinkling as his expression turned dark. He turned to Rex. "Contact the Senator."

Rex frowned slightly before nodding. "Yessir, right away."

A comlink lit up and a miniature of his beloved appeared. Padme's face brightened as she saw him.

"Anakin!" She exclaimed. "Good to see you've been keeping busy. I assume that little shockwave was your doing?"

"I had help from Artoo."

"Speaking of, where is that blasted droid?" Asked Rex.

"He may or may not be behind enemy lines," said Anakin grinning. "In a control room opening and closing doors."

The clone grinned. "Nice."

"Anakin- eh, General Skywalker, Ventress has gotten a hold of Jango Fett's primary DNA sample, right now she's making her way to a landing pad, Obiwan and Shaak'ti can't seem to pin her down. The landing pad is in the North-East Outer Ward, so it is under heavy by separatist forces."

"I'm on it," said Anakin, nodding. "Stay safe."

Padme smiled widely. "You too-"

The sound of screeching and tearing metal shook the image in the comlink. Both Rex and Anakin watched in horror as a mangled, pockmarked, but ever familiar clawed foot stepped into view before crushing the link on the opposite end.

"Rex, take some men to help Obiwan and Shaak'ti," Anakin ordered, "I'll go save Padme!"

Rex couldn't get a word in before the Jedi jumped several stories up the side of the dome and began running faster than any human had any right to.

"If only we were all Jedi," murmured the clone with a sigh as he watched Anakin disappear within seconds. He shook his head before shouldering his rifle. "Feh, it'd be too easy."

Turning around, he began barking out orders. But in the back of his mind, Rex wished Anakin luck.

Because Grievous sounded angry.