Casualties of War

Master Norcuna stood in the senate embassy that was in the centre of the once bustling city of Jabiim. He stood before a great glass window watching as the nationalist forces bombarded the city shield with artillery, the battle had begun, but with his stratagem in mind, he would not lose. He had covered every exit to the city, the enemies could not get in without taking heavy fire from them. He brought his communications device up to his face and turned it on "Captain Duster do you read me," he spoke. He got nothing but static in return which made him fear the worst for the men, he tried to reach out into the force to sense the lives of his men but he quickly drew back in. There was so much pain and suffering in the city, that it was difficult to move through it to find what he was looking for.

"Commander Dex, can you reach any of the men stationed on the northern front?" He asked, the clone commander in question stood by a holographic table of the city that had all the troop placements.

"I'm afraid not General, I'm not sure why, the enemy isn't jamming our short-range communication and the signal booster is stable," Dex replied.

"Which means they have all perished or they are not responding to our communication," Master Norcuna finished. Their positions were still marked on the holo map, but that wasn't entirely accurate, with the storms raging overhead they'd only be able to detect mass movement. The lag between each update also made it unreliable.

"Sir! A large number of our forces are moving from their positions and heading towards the Northern Sector," Dex informed him as multiple dots were moving from the eastern, western and southern fronts.

Norcuna whipped his head around and approached the table "What is the meaning of this, they know their orders, what reason have they to move," he said.

"Contact them immediately," Norcuna commanded.

Dex tried but they didn't answer "Sir there is no answer, I can only imagine they have turned off all communication equipment," he theorised.

Norcuna stroked his chin as he tried to come up with some sort of explanation for what was happening, he then brought up his communicator "Companies Beta, Psi and Gamma, explain your movement," he instructed, however like before he got nothing in return.

"Padawan Enwandung-Esterhazy respond, give me your coordinates," Norcuna tried again. His frustration bubbled deep within him, but he wouldn't allow his emotions to run free. 'Only peace,' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes. Once he opened them he turned to Commander Dex.

"Take a squad to the northern front, scout and report back, if you can make contact with the one in charge and find out what's going on, we need to—"

*BOOM*

Norcuna turned and saw blaster fire and large explosions occurring north of the city, it was easy to ascertain what was happening 'The enemy has broken through into the city.' He turned to Dex.

"Go."

"Right away Sir!" Commander Dex responded.

———————————————————-

"Blast them!" Duster shouted as they took cover behind large pieces of rubble, they shot at the droids as soon as they came into the bubble but that didn't stop them, they fired back and they kept coming. Scout with her lightsaber ignited deflected as many bolts as she could back at the droids but even she had to take cover at certain points lest she be overwhelmed.

"Squads 2, 4 and 8 retreat another 20 metres!!!" Duster shouted and the clones made haste the follow his orders while the remaining squad provided suppressing fire. Further down the road, the main force was setting up the main fortification; Jaden, Aubrie and Zule all helped move the rubble into strategic locations, they covered the tanks as much as they could to prevent them from being destroyed —they were their lifeline at the moment and they couldn't afford to lose them until reinforcements came.

"Sir charges are set," one of the clone Sergeants said as they ran up to Jaden.

"Good, how long should it take for the rest of the clones to get here?" He asked.

"It's hard to say, sir, the destroyed buildings have made a labyrinth out of the city, we might be overrun before they ever get here," the Clone Sergeant replied.

Jaden cursed but nodded "Did they follow orders and turn off all communications?"

"Yes sir," The Clone responded.

"Good, now continue setting up the defence," he commanded.

Jaden had managed to get into contact with the other companies in each sector, they had been surprised when he told them to reinforce the northern sector as it went directly against Master Norcuna's orders. He wasn't the ranking General but he was still a General so the Clones readily followed his orders, the only issue would be if Norcuna contacted them to counteract his orders which he didn't have time for. The time he would take trying to convince the fool of the error of his plans the enemy would've already broken through and taken the city.

Jaden looked around satisfied, they had made a good temporary fortification in a short time, but it wouldn't matter if they didn't get reinforcements. Once the enemy got far enough into the city Jaden would blow all the buildings and collapse them onto the streets, if they could take out a large chunk of their forces then it would be unlikely for them to be able to mount another offensive. 'I'll win if I can just hold out,' Jaden thought to himself as he shrugged off his robe and drew his lightsaber.

"Padawan Wyn command the back line, Padawan Xiss come with me," Jaden instructed as he ignited his lightsaber. Both Padawans nodded and Zule ignited her lightsaber while carrying a blaster rifle in her cybernetic arm. Jaden's heart was beating through his skull as he rushed down the road to the retreating line, he slid and jumped over rubble with Zule at his side. The sounds of explosions and blaster fire increased and they both started deflecting stray blaster bolts. They could both see the blue lightsaber of Scout as she stood at the forefront deflecting blasters and sending thrown thermal detonators back to where they were thrown.

Jaden flipped over the front line sending two blaster bolts straight to two droids —destroying them. "Master I have this, I don't need any help," Scout insisted, but as she said that the droids started to concentrate their fire forcing her back. Jaden shook his head before speeding next to Scout grabbing her by the colour and throwing her behind cover. Zule screamed as she shot her heavy blaster rifle at the droids, she was quite impressive for a Padawan as she was able to both deflect and shoot without being pushed back at all.

Jaden rolled back over a piece of rubble before drawing his hand back and force-pushing the boulder-sized rock crushing several droids.

"Spiders!"

Jaden heard Duster shout, it was difficult to see through the storm and he didn't have the benefit of the vision granted by a clone helmet.

*BOOM*

Jaden saw several clones being blown apart into a mess of blood and limbs, he felt the warm liquid mix in with the coldness of the rain as it hit his skin. Jaden brought the communicator up "Delts open fire!" He commanded.

"Get down!" Jaden shouted as heavy tank rounds started firing from the fortifications straight at the enemies on the other side, the first spider blew up but the second managed to return fire. Jaden and the others were now pinned down as both forces armoured vehicles exchanged fire. Between reloads Jaden commanded the clones to start firing, hundreds of destroyed droids lay on the ground, but more kept coming and they were still being pushed back much to his dismay.

The more enemies that came through the shield, the more enemies that were firing and the quicker their forces were pushed back. Jaden looked as if their line was slowly being torn apart, no matter how many bolts they deflected. Soon he would give the signal and they'd blow the entire street, they were so close to winning this battle they just needed to hold out a little longer. "Start pulling back!!!" He shouted.

"Yes sir!"

"Yes, master!"

Jaden covered them as they ran, but as he did he saw something which formed a pit in his stomach. 'No... it can't be... there's no way,' he thought to himself, he blinked a few times hoping what he was seeing wasn't true but it was useless. The building had people inside of it, it wasn't just a few people either, he could see a couple dozen in the section he was in.

He deflected one last bolt before running back towards the retreating line. The Clones along with Scout and Zule were taking a breather before rejoining the main force, Jaden slid over a barricade and grabbed Captain Duster.

"Where are the people who lived in this city! Where did you relocate them!" He shouted at the clone hoping he was going crazy and that what he saw was just in the heat of battle.

"Sir?"

"THE PEOPLE WHERE ARE THEY!" He shouted again. Everyone looked at them as they watched Jaden shout at the clone captain, Scout looked concerned as it wasn't very Jedi-like behaviour.

"They never left sir, they had nowhere else to go so General Norcuna didn't evacuate them," Duster said in a clear tone.

Jaden let go of Duster and stumbled back in disbelief. This was an active Warzone and Master Norcuna thought it would be okay to keep the civilians inside. 'He must've thought he could defend each direction of the city and prevent them from even entering,' Jaden thought to himself.

"What a fool..." he said as he ran his hands through his hair trying to think about what he should do next.

"General all the charges are synced, ready to blow on your command," Delts said through the comms device.

Everyone looked to Jaden to see what he might do, even Jaden didn't know what to do. His mind told him to blow the street, sacrifice the people here and save everyone else in the city. A few months ago he would've made this decision without a second thought but now he hesitated 'What's wrong with me!' He chided himself. His heart wouldn't let him kill so many people especially since he could now sense their life force in the buildings.

"General! What are your orders!" Delts shouted again through the comms.

His hand shook as he struggled to say the words he needed to 'Blow the charges,' that's all he needed to say.

"Standby Commander, provide suppressing fire with the artillery," Jaden responded.

"Captain take four squads and start evacuating the civilians out of the building, Scout, Zule go with him," he commanded.

"Yes Sir!"

"Master! I would be more of use here," Scout said.

"Indeed I would be wasted evacuating people," Zule hissed out.

"Follow my orders, now go!" He simply said before walking passed them and igniting his lightsaber again.

*BOOM*

He covered his eyes as the republic tanks started raining down on the enemy again blowing up bits of rubble and dust. "Go! Go! Now!" Jaden ordered and the clones all moved with reluctant Jedi in the back.

"Lock are you in position?" Jaden asked over the comms.

"Aye, sir..." Lock responded from atop a building, he was wielding a heavy sniper aimed right towards the enemy.

"Open fire!"

...

"Commander have you reached the Northern sector yet?" Norcuna asked as he stood by the window watching the intense battle unfold.

"Not yet General, we are having difficulty navigating towards them, our electronics are going haywire in the storm," Commander Dex responded.

"Update me when you arrive," Norcuna said before putting down his comms. His grand stratagem was falling apart and he needed to know why, clones were mindless beings who only followed orders so they must've been ordered to go to the northern sector. 'But by whom?' He questioned himself.

*BOOM*

*ALARM*

The whole building shook unbalancing those within, Norcuna turned around "Status Report!" He shouted.

"We have a proximity breach on the southern side of the building, a group of enemies have broken in and are making their way up the eastern stairwell," the Clone responded.

Norcuna ignited his lightsaber "We will hunt down these enemies and restore peace to our sanctuary, now let us go!" He shouted and the clones in the room all picked up their weapons and followed him out of the command centre.

Downstairs Alto Stratus led a group of his Nimbus Commandos into the enemy base. He had decided to lead this mission personally as he didn't want anything to go off plan; his anger had only risen since the start of the battle and the only thing that could cool him was the blood of Jedi. He grabbed a thermal detonator before throwing it up to the top of the stairwell where one of his men shot it and it exploded. The screams of clones being blown to pieces soothed him, he ran ahead of his men and activated his rocket boots gliding above the stairs and reaching the top where he drew his blaster rifle and unloaded it on the remaining clones.

Alto spat on their corpses, they were nothing but a mockery of life, they could never compare to his men. "Split off, engage any republic trash you come across, get to the roof and get the job done," he commanded. Without a word, his men split off and went about doing their assigned tasks. Alto stood there for a moment before heading down a large corridor, if their intelligence was correct then this would lead him to their main operations room.

Alto raised an arm and activated a small energy shield which dissipated a blaster bolt which had just been shot by an emerging clone. Alto rushed towards the clone at an inhumanly fast pace, the clone tried to engage him in CQC but Alto grabbed the trooper by his helmet and slammed him through a wall. More clones poured around the corridor and Alto dragged the clone back and used him as a shield before throwing him at his comrades. He drew his blaster pistol and started shooting the clones, he shot the energy storage on one of their rifles blowing it up and taking two of them out at once.

He connected his foot with one of their chests launching them back straight into a wall. He drew his blade and bisected a clone before throwing it and pinning another to a wall. Alto Stratus was created to be a weapon of war; Genetic manipulation, cybernetics, hellish training. He was the peak of what a soldier could be and he proved this by effortlessly carving through clones. He was stronger, faster and smarter than all of these creatures and he would kill them all for even thinking they were on the same level as him.

He had just finished beheading the final clone when the person he wanted to see came around the corner with his lightsaber ignited. His blood started to boil again and his breathing started to get heavy "I have been waiting for you..." he growled out to Master Norcuna.

"I sense much pain and anger in you," Norcuna said as he calmed himself.

"You will be feeling much pain before I am through with you," Alto said as his grip around his sword tightened.

"There is no pain... only the force," Norcuna responded.

"RAAAAAAH!!!" Alto charged at Norcuna who lifted his hand to grab him with the force. Alto used his rocket boots to boost him and he managed to reach Norcuna before he could fully concentrate. He had learnt this weakness in the Jedi after his first encounter with them; they had to concentrate if they wanted to use the force, those few seconds may as well be hours on a battlefield.

Norcuna deflected Alto's blade as it aimed to decapitate him. However Alto wasn't playing around like he was outside with that Padawan, he wouldn't hold back this time. He swung again and again, Norcuna was able to efficiently dodge and block his sword, but Alto used his boot to boost him up which sent a knee right into Norcuna's face.

Norcuna recovered quickly and went on the attack bringing his lightsaber down on the enemy commander. "You will lose Alto Stratus, you will lose because you fight for all the wrong reasons," Norcuna said as he pivoted around the man hitting him with the hilt of his lightsaber as he did.

"How could a man who has nothing know what it means to fight for anything," Alto hissed back as he drew his pistol and started firing close range. Norcuna deflected them all apart for one that managed to scrape his shoulder; Alto took advantage of that and attacked on the opposite side forcing him to block with his injured shoulder.

Norcuna winced as he struggled against the larger man "I fight to maintain peace..." he breathed out as he pushed Alto back.

"You fight because you are told to, you are no better than the clones you order," Alto said before he rushed back in, he swung his sword with great strength forcing an opening when Norcuna tried to block it. He kicked the Twi'lek in the chest sending him through one of the walls. The Jedi Master rolled backwards and managed to stand as he was sent through.

Alto went to follow him in but stopped as he received a call from his communicator. "It's done Commander, we need to evacuate," One of the Nimbus Commandos said.

Alto growled but nodded "I wish I could finish you off myself Jedi but it seems I'm not so lucky," he said as he activated his rocket boots.

"Enjoy the consequences of Republic Peace," he said he he shot off out of the building.

Norcuna rushed out of the room only to see him disappear down a hallway. "Status report!" He called through his comms only to get silence in return. He rushed back to the command centre —passing the corpses of clones as he did. When he reached the command centre all of the clones were dead and the equipment had all been destroyed.

He reached the main viewing window and saw how much more intense the fighting was starting to get. 'I should signal for reinforcements,' he thought to himself, but in his heart, he knew it was too late.

*BOOM*

The building shook again, Norcuna for the first time in a very long time felt fear creep into his heart as he saw the city shield start to dissipate leaving it defenceless. Enemy bombardment had stopped a while ago as they must've seen the futility of it, but now Norcuna could see an ocean of red lights rising up from the ground and touching the sky.

"There is no pain... only the force."

...

Jaden was on the ground holding his shoulder in pain as he hid behind a piece of rubble by the main fortification, Aubrie was close by trying to get to him but the firing was too intense. He had done his best to hold off the enemy so they could evacuate civilians but they were soon overwhelmed and pushed back to their temporary fortification.

"Master!!!" He heard Aubrie shout.

"What do we do!?" She asked.

"We need to hold out until reinforcements come!!!" He shouted back. If they could only hold out until then they would be able to push the enemy back.

All of a sudden the enemy stopped firing and actually started to withdraw. Jaden peaked his head over and saw all the droids withdrawing at an incredibly fast pace; the clones started to cheer and shout in victory but Jaden knew something was off. Fear crept into his mind when he saw the city shields start to dissipate and the enemy bombardment fills the sky.

Their objective had never been to take the city, they just wanted to annihilate all republic forces. 'I was playing a different game this whole time,' Jaden thought to himself.

"RUN!!!"

(AN: So the middle chapter of Chaol is done and the last one will be coming up. I made Alto Stratus a bit better in this, think of him like Khan from Star Trek. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.)

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