Turning Point [Continued 4]

Part 6

Krayt Company, Alpha Site, Ryloth

Cat had lost twenty two men, dead and wounded before calling in the retreat. Most of them were taken out by the damn tanks.

The Captain glanced behind his back once he had slid behind a new cover. Half a dozen tanks were moving in pursuit, followed by two companies of Super Battle droids. Behind those, four more tanks, the last that were supposed to be in the region as well as more droids are moving in to defensive positions in the chokepoint.

So far everything was going according to the plan. If the damn woman kept her part of the deal with the General, that is.

A loud roar revebratted through the canyon, almost deafening Cat. An overpressure wave slammed at the rock he was using as cover, shaking it. He glanced over it and smiled.

The tanks, while unharmed from the blast-wave, were moved out of their precise formation. Most of the droids were on the ground, thrown off their feet.

So she came through.

"Fire at will!" ordered Cat and followed his own order.

A moment passed before eight missiles streaked at the six CIS tanks which were pursuing the clones and the machines infantry support. The warheads slammed into the CIS armor, blasting through the tough composite. Once the tank's defenses were breached, the inside of the machines were engulfed into a hellish storm of plasma, molten metal, and shrapnel. In two cases, something truly critical was damaged, and the machines blew up, sending their turrets sailing through the air. The rest of the tanks died less spectacular deaths, but were nonetheless left laying on the ground as expensive sculptures of modern art.

=RK=

Bo-Katan was almost impressed by the clones tenacity. They had kept up their mock attack until nearly a sixth of their company's total numbers were down, then executed a flawless fighting retreat, taking their fallen with them.

Only to lead their pursuers into an ambush, which Kryze sprung when she blew up the charges planted by the CIS at the chokepoint. By that single action alone, she buried a third of the droids protecting the proton cannons, as well as their remaining tanks.

The blast wave sent a lot of the machines into disarray, something she took advantage of. The Mandalorian warrior activated her rocket-pack and jumped from behind the boulder behind which she too cover. She strafed a mauled platoon of Super Battle droids, raining blaster fire and missiles at the machines.

Only on her third pass any of their counter-fire came anywhere close to her and by that time only three B2's were still relatively intact. On her last pass one of them even managed to hit her, but its shot splashed over her Mandalorian steel forged armor, melting off some of the tough alloy but leaving her unharmed.

There was nothing left standing to warrant a fifth pass.

=RK=

I led my chosen strike team through the sewers, with Numa trailing off at the back of the column with Waxer and Boil. According to Bo-Katan, there were at least few remaining scout droids hunting for stragglers through the village. All of them armed, so I decided that the kid was safer with us as long as she stayed underground while we dealt with the robots.

When we were at the exit leading to the plaza with the cannons and the hostages, I stopped for a brief moment. I drew the Force to me, drinking deeply from it.

Pale Ionic energy danced around my left hand, ready to be unleashed.

"Check your targets, we have civies spread amongst the clankers. Cover each other and don't get killed. That's an order!"

A round of brief chuckles answered me.

I levitated the hatch barring our way. It turned out to be well oiled and opened without a sound. I exited first, with my sword at the ready, but inactive.

There was a droid in front of me, with its back turned towards me. It was busy clearing up a nearby cage. Probably where the now filleted animals were being kept. I sent the energy engulfing my arm at it, which struck it soundlessly. The droid froze, giving off a soft buzz/hiss sound and fell like a puppet with its strings cut.

I caught it with the Force, gently placing it on the dirty floor, so it won't clatter.

Behind me, my men were quietly exiting and taking positions near the walls of the tunnel.

We were in time. There were twenty seven seconds before the agreed attack time. Cat would be executing his part of the plan any minute now.

I waited patiently until the counter reached zero, despite the battle lust racing through my veins, feeding off the Dark side energies I was using to empower myself.

An explosion sounded not too far away. I could sense a lot of droids heading that way.

I waited while my men attacked the CIS forces as a diversion. I waited as they fought and died, sensing each one of them passing away.

Fourteen of my soldiers died to give us an opening to destroy our targets and save the locals.

Explosions, strong enough to shake the ground echoed overhead and darted forward. A Force enhanced leap led me in the middle of the plaza, where I landed feet first over the torso of a B1. The flimsy machine's torso caved under my weight and momentum, wrecking it.

The one which was next to it was bisected by my blade, while I sent an energy bolt resembling a thin, pale bolt of lightning at one of the robots controlling a proton cannon.

That machine died with its internal components slagged.

I was on the move, not stopping for more than a moment in order to sent an ionic bolt at an artillery droid.

My men surged from the tunnel, taking aimed shots at any droid that was moving.

Two of them were carrying missile launchers. The troopers turned their weapons on the enemy cannons, which were trying to reorient themselves and target us. Their armor caved in when hit by warhead designed to take out dedicated tanks, leaving only two operational cannons.

"Take out the left!" I shouted an order to my AT troopers and ran straight at the one to the right. Its gun was almost pointing at me.

If it shot now, I was likely a goner as well as a lot of civies.

I threw my lightsaber at an annoying Super Battle droid which flew backwards, impaled with my blade. The Force surged through me as I commanded and molded it to my will. My arms were covered by a ghostly sheer of energy which became concentrated enough to blur their outlines.

I used this energy to grab the artillery emplacement that was my target and pick it up. I wrenched it upward. The gun barrel tore from its chassis split second after sending a proton shell at the heavens.

I left the two pieces fall to the ground and they smashed two Super Battle droids which were shooting at me.

Crimson blaster bolts scorched the chest-plate of my armor, its composite leaking in half molten streams down my torso. I winced at the heat which fought with the environmental controls of my armor in an attempt to sear my flesh. I felt stinging sensation over my chest before the armor managed to regulate the internal temperature and cool down to acceptable levels.

The ancient piece of equipment saved my life once again, but was mostly ruined. I hoped that I'd be able to patch it up to an acceptable condition before I entered in my next battle.

Replacing my armor with something giving me equivalent protection would be possible only when the first variants of light power armor were operational in few months. At least the exoskeletons would be ready for combat testing earlier...

A stray shot which passed too close for comfort brought me back to the present. Damn it all! I had spaced out in the middle of combat! A great way to get oneself killed.

I rolled under a long burst sent my way by a SB droid and fried it with an ionic bolt, before summoning my sword.

The plaza was battered by a blast-wave as two missiles blew up the last proton cannon, before it could bear on any of us.

After that, moping up the few still active droids which were nearby was easy.

"LT! Get a couple of squads to start releasing the hostages. Two more squads with me. We are going to hunt down the remaining droids. The rest of you establish a perimeter and secure it." I ordered.

Before we headed for the pass, to deal with the enemy stragglers I checked the casualties. Five of my men were hit during the melee. Only two of them would recover.

Eighteen Twi'lek were wounded. Ten died before the Acclamators landed and we could provide them with adequate medical assistance.

Four of them were children.

=RK=

Bo-Katan flew through the canyon, towards the artillery position. On her way she strafed few droids, most of which were the almost harmless and useless B1s.

Half a click from the plaza, she found a single tank driving away from the rock-slide she had caused. Kryze grinned when she recognized the droid whose upper body could be seen from the open commander's hatch. It was the Tactical one responsible for the defense of this village.

That sick clanker had been irritating her since the moment she met it.

She dived towards the ground and released her single remaining heavy missile. It struck the tank in the lesser rear armor, punching through like a heavy turbolaser through defenseless freighter. Bo-Katan must have hit something vital, because the armored vehicle erupted in an impressive pyrotechnic conflagnation, which sent the half melted and shredded upper torso of the Tactical droid high in the air.

The woman chuckled and sent few blaster bolts at the failing piece of scrap. It was demolished even further and pieces of it rained all over the canyon.

Soon after that, Bo-Katan met Veil, who was leading ten men against the last remaining droids. He was deflecting the machines shots and frying them with wide arches of lightning emanating from his left hand. No one seeing him at that moment could mistake him for a Jedi.

He fought with ferocity that could be envied by many a Mandalorian.

She licked her lips and smiled like a predator who had just scented its next meal.

Down below, the General stopped his progress and stared straight at her.

Bo-Katan smirked. She was going to have so much fun with that clueless man!

=RK=

Torrent Company, Beta Site, Ryloth

Rex ducked under a missile launched by a B2 droid, which was soon taken down by burst of blaster fire sent its way from three clones. One of those men was cut to pieces by the concentrated fire from no less that fifteen machines.

The Captain threw his last grenade at a pair of Super Battle droids which had missile launchers and were preparing to use them.

The energy blast fried the circuits of the machines as they tried to fire their weapons. One warhead blew up in the barrel of its launcher, making the robot attached to it into so much steel fillings.

The other was marginally "luckier". Its missile launched clearly and promptly struck a nearby building, tearing up its facade.

Three more droids were taken out with well aimed burst of fire, then another trooper fell after being hit in the head. An Ion grenade dropped a quartet of B2s which were bunched close to each other.

For first time in his life, Rex felt totally helpless. He had committed his reserves, his men were pinned down and encircled, with no room to maneuver, while the enemy was picking them one by one.

The Captain emptied the last few shots remaining in the power cell of his left hand pistol, demolishing a particularly troublesome Super Battle droid and went behind the low wall he used for cover to reload. He was wracking his brain for anything that could permit him to save at least few of his brothers but there was nothing he could think of.

Even worse, he had lost contact with the Jedi and any attempt to raise them was met with static.

Another clone died – the cover he was kneeling behind was demolished by a missile, and the blast-wave hurled the man's body was hurled into a nearby wall.

Rex opened fire at the machine that just killed one of his soldiers and didn't go back under cover before the damn thing was down.

The Captain blinked in confusion. He was feeling hot, very hot. Rex looked down and stared at the smoking ruin which was the piece of his armor that was supposed to cover his gut.

Ah. That explained it. At least he didn't feel pain. Which was not supposed to be a good thing. Right?

He grunted and shot off the head of a B1 which was trying to advance despite the fierce resistance of his men.

Kriffing clankers!

=RK=

Anakin was standing in front of his wounded apprentice who was leaning on the wall behind them and using her lightsaber to deflect the shots coming from the advancing droids.

"I'm sorry, Snips. I kriffed up." he muttered.

"We can't win them all, Master!" she chuckled with dark humor. "You should get away while you still can, Skyguy." she added in a somber tone.

Anakin smiled sadly and shook his head. If he ran, and abandoned Ahsoka as well as Rex and rest of his men, he had a chance to make it out. Small, but it was there.

He glanced Ahsoka's way and gave her a reassuring smile, which both of them knew for the lie it was. Their only chance for survival was an immediate airstrike at the proton cannons, followed by a wing of LAAT's taking apart the droids before the clankers could blast them to pieces. But even if the gunships left in that precise minute, they would be too late. The LAAT's that brought them down, which were the closest Republic assets, were three minutes away.

In less than a half of that time the droids would have his position demolished and overran.

Anger aimed at his own self, at his overconfidence and the arrogant way he had carried out this mission raged within Skywalker.

He knew it in his heart. It was his own mistakes that got them all killed. While he could sense about a third of Torrent company still fighting, the clones under Rex's command were blinking one after another from Anakin's perception. Even the Captain was slowly becoming less bright to his senses.

Rex was wounded. Badly.

Another clone died. A man he was responsible for.

Anakin shouted in anger and frustration. He gave voice to all his bottled feelings, his anguish and failure.

Skywalker scream revebratted through the Force, resonating with dark power.

The half-demolished wall through which he had brought Ahsoka in their short lived redoubt was shattered to grain sized pieces as a visible ripple passed through the air. It continued after smashing the stone and released its power outside, tearing apart the droids in its path.

Anakin panted, gasping for air. At least a hundred droids lied in pieces.

He stared at the devastation he had somehow wrought before he was brought back by Ahsoka's shouting: "Skyguy! This is your chance! Run!"

Skywalker glanced at his apprentice for a moment, uncomprehending. She gazed back, straight at his yellow tinted eyes.

He shook his head, grabbed her and used the Force to blast open a hole in the wall at the back, while no one was shooting at him.

Anakin disregarded Ahsoka's protests and dragged her deeper in the building.

'Skywalker! What the hell are you doing? Why can I hear you even over here?!'

Anakin was startled as Delkatar's Voice sounded in his head. He glanced at Ahsoka who looked back with her huge eyes.

"Did you hear that, too?" he wondered aloud.

The padawan nodded her head and winced as her wounded leg hit an upturned table. Her attempts to suppress the pain through the Force weren't working as well as she hoped.

'We are in deep banta shit!' Skywalker thought aloud.

'That we are.' mentally answered Ahsoka.

'Explain! Now!' snapped Veil, through the bond he shared with Skywalker's padawan.

Her eyes widened. She was connected through the Force with both men and Delkatar was using her like some sort of conduit to speak with her and her master!

'We are in trouble, Delkatar. Master lost his prosthetic arm, I'm wounded and Rex and Torrent company are getting cut to pieces. We won't last much longer!'

=RK=

Krayt Company location, Alpha Site, Ryloth

I closed my eyes and frowned. If Ahsoka's and Anakin's situation was as bad as I felt thanks to my strange bond with the kid, then I had no planet bound asset that could make it to their position in time.

Fighters or bombers from orbit wouldn't cut it either. I felt that they had only few minutes. At best.

An orbital strike would wipe them out. They were too close for such a thing. The space ships weapons were too powerful for danger close strikes. Or were they...

Ion cannons. But those that could effectively hit ground targets from orbit were the heavy guns on the Venators. At least couple of those were still operational, but even at low power they had very high chance of frying unprotected people on the ground. It was the reason why I didn't use them to take out the cannons and had to proceed with the ground attacks.

I ran to a nearby trooper who was carrying a laser comm system. It was a foolproof way to connect with our orbital assets despite the enemy ECM, which was death to long range comms.

Despite having dealt with the droids in our immediate vicinity, there was at least one ECM emitter hidden nearby which was keeping us in the dark, so to speak.

It took one long minute, in which I could feel echoes through my connection with Ahsoka. Anakin's soldiers were dying.

"Sir, I've got the Admiral on the line."

I grabbed the comm set from my man.

"Admiral, Yularen. I need immediate Ion cannon strike in the vicinity of Site Beta. Minimum safe distance and power. Skywalker's being overran as we speak." I ordered and snapped the long string of my identification code for the day.

"Immediately, sir!" he answered crisply.

=RK=

Republic Fleet, High orbit over Ryloth

It took nearly another minute for the frantic orders to pass through the chain of command. The Victory had to rotate so her sole surviving Ion cannon could bear on the surface, while targeting solutions were crunched by her computers.

Then she fired, sending columns of Ion energy at a certain spot on the planed below. They struck one point two kilometers behind the Proton cannons which were Skywalker's target. That was about two and a half clicks from where Torrent Company and the Jedi were making their last stand.

The Ion energy, which is so deadly for any machine usually had mild effects on organic life. A pulse of a grenade could give a light shock, perhaps cause mild burns.

The main cannons of a Venators were of entirely different league. And while they could dial up and down their power, those weapons were never meant to be fired where an unshielded beings could be hit.

A tsunami of ion energy washed over the village. The power surged around and through the buildings, often discharging itself in the form of lightning bolts.

Droids burnt and melted. Some even exploded.

The artillery park was engulfed by an ion storm which shattered the cannons and some of their shells, wiping out everything in the plaza and hundreds of meters around.

The Jedi and the remnants of Torrent Company were lucky. The blast-wave was stopped by the buildings of the village short of them.

Those same dwellings did nothing to even slow down the energy surges, powerful enough to fry an adult humanoid with a single strike. Both clones and droids were electrocuted by torrents of power.

Nearby, in a half demolished building, Anakin sensed a warning screamed at him through the Force. He tossed Ahsoka in nearby corner and jumped over her, covering his apprentice with his body.

Skywalker raised over them the most powerful anti-radiation shield he could and prayed to the Force that it would be enough.

Bolts of Ion energy arched through the house and struck Anakin's barrier. Skywalker felt as if his entire body was on fire and he screamed hoarsely until he blacked out.