Christophsis
After having to live through several days of seeing this idiots' gloating satisfied smiles, I had decided enough was enough and it was time to return back to the clone war. At first I was assigned to accompany Master Ti to Kamino in order to assist her in overseeing the development of the next generations of clones. However after managing to have a meeting with several council members, the primary two being master Yoda and Mace Windu, I had argued strongly against this. Geonosis had acted as the equivalent of a filter for combat talent and my survival proved that I was needed on the battlefield.
Hell they were already sending several younglings to immature knights to become padawans, if that wasn't the most reckless decision I've ever heard of I don't know what is. They probably would've pushed a youngling onto me if I wasn't younger than most of them. I managed to convince the council to let me join Kenobi and Skywalker and act as a voice of reason between the two.
After the war broke out, the galaxy had become the equivalent of a screaming match, with the new confederacy of independent systems(CIS) proclaiming the clone army to be the equivalent of slavery and extremely unethical, while their droid army in contrast avoided the unnecessary loss of life. The republic proclaimed the clones as saviors and protectors of democracy in contrast and almost all politicians had to put in their 2 cents one way or the other over the entirety of galactic society at that moment.
Thousands of worlds even proclaimed themselves neutral right from the onset, the main leading world behind these neutral parties being Mandalore. Goddam peace loving hippies….I can't wait to invade that planet…
How such a noble warrior culture fell from glory was beyond me, but I promised to squeeze greatness out of those people one day. Long time till that day happens.
Count Dooku didn't waste any time either, he had started dozens of small conflicts throughout the galaxy in order to spread our force thin, a move that proved to work as clone legions had been spread far and wide with barely any Jedi to support them.
At the moment I was flying through space in my personal Delta-7, having missed the space battles over Christophsis. After Obi wan and Anakin managed to break through they managed to provide supplies to the native inhabitants as well as finally establish a ground force to contend for the planet with. I was to join them and act as assisting general along Skywalker from here on out. Planet in sight I promptly landed in an empty spot among a vehicle lot of gunships and ATTEs.
*sighhhh* it's back to the headbashing war…
*swoooshh*
Canopy opening, I began climbing out my delta-7. Where a pair of clones saluted me in greeting. Not just any pair, the duo themselves commander Cody and Captain Rex. that was weird, I'm almost absolutely certain Skywalker would've come himself.
"Sir! We're glad to have you, we have a bit of a situation on hand."
Finally planting my feet on solid ground I stared at the two back and forth. The tall...clones staring down at me slightly.
"What's the problem? And where are Kenobi and skywalker?"
"The commanders went to investigate the source of an information leak, this is actually what we hope to get your help with sir, we had just happened to pick up a strange communication signal before your arrival."
"Communication signal from where?"
"The barracks under platoon sergeant Slick Sir, we're hoping you'll come along and help us interrogate the men"
slick…SLICK! Suddenly the events of season 1 of the clone wars gently floated into my memory, a traitorous clone who sabotaged his own brothers for their freedom??? Was I remembering that right? Because I'm pretty sure he got them gunned down throughout the battle…
"Sir?"
Cody interrupted my thoughts, I was slightly startled by the name, I almost felt bad already knowing the culprit to be fair how could anyone be surprised a guy named slick was a traitor though. Despite that I needed to focus on saving the resources we had in order to lessen future losses
"A traitor here??? Gentleman. ARE YOU INCOMPETENT!"
"si.SIR?" they were confused
"IF THERE'S A TRAITOR AMONGST US, OUR EQUIPMENT MAY BE SABOTAGED! Quick! Have the other platoons search all vehicles for tampering! Isolate the suspicious platoon from escape!"
"YES SIR!" Rex saluted before turning around and speaking directly into his communicator.
"Commander Cody, lead me to this platoon for interrogation!"
"Yes sir." bringing his com up to his mouth. "Sergeant Slick, gather your platoon into your squadbay"
We had walked steadily toward the barracks in question, an out of breath Rex catching up and joining us, slowly troopers rushed out into the vehicle lot and began inspecting everything.
"Commander I'll observe quietly while you and Rex interrogate the men"
"Aye sir, is there anything we should do to prepare?
"Have the men strip off their armor, leave only the body sleeve on. We have to be prepared for a runner."
4 B1s appeared out of thin air with a wave of my hand, and began guarding the barracks exit as we strolled through.
"Can we trust those things sir?" Rex asked skeptically
"I've reprogrammed them, better they get shot then your men. Right? "
"Rigghht…"
We walked into a squadbay with the platoon lined up before us. Armor spread across the room piled in a way that attempted to be neat, as if scared for an inspection. The sergeant, Slick, stepped forward.
"Sirs…what is this about?"
Commander Cody stepped forward and began pacing around the room. I decided to lean back against a wall
"Take a seat gentlemen"
The clones began sitting in their beds, taking a moment to get comfortable, then an interrogation reminiscent of the show began.
"We have a turncoat in our midst, and we think it's one of you?"
—
Cody and Rex interrogated the boys one by one, until they had finally begun questioning the last clone of the platoon, Chopper. Chopper had recused himself to a corner of the room and had this loner look about him. Strange how these identical beings turned out so differently…
"Where were you before you went to the mess Chopper"
"Nowhere. Walking around"
"Son, you know we're gonna need a better answer than that"
He sighed * "i was hiding, at the south exit…I didn't want anyone to see me string these together"
Chopper pulled out a necklace of Battle Droid fingers. Leaving Rex and Cody confused, but his brothers began standing up as if appalled.
"I always knew there was something DEFICIENT about you" one said
I found that comment quite amusing, very reminiscent of an irken talking down to another. Just as the conversation seemed to be about to take the turn toward a lecture i leaned off the wall
"ENOUGH" some of the boys paused, others went to attention. All listened
"....I look around this room and I see good men" I walk toward Chopper "Good soldiers, willing to follow orders." face to chest I gave him a small smile before turning toward the other men.
"But you're people, capable of having your own interest, your own hobbies, your own..identity"
"You all deserve that respect…well all except one you. The investigation is complete. I've confirmed who the traitor is."
The boys all looked toward Chopper who stepped back in apprehension.
"LISTEN UP!
ARREST SERGEANT SLICK"
The men froze up, but before anyone could respond Slick had suddenly bolted to the door. He almost exited the room when his feet suddenly lifted off the ground. Clutching his throat as he floated through the air I turned him around. I wasn't expecting him to be so decisive, but he probably realized as soon as we investigated his personal storage we would find some piece of incriminating evidence.
"GET HIM!" Cody yelled out, the platoon of clones suddenly grabbing Slicks limbs before I dropped him to the ground
*COUGH COUGH*
"Why'd you do it?" Rex asked, Still slightly shocked but looking saddened
"I DID IT FOR–"
"AH no time for monologuing take him away"
The boys just nodded slightly exasperated before taking Slick away, the man angrily scowling at me with eyes that could kill.
Rex and Cody approached me looking slightly embarrassed
"Sir, How'd you know it was him?"
"The force told me" I lied. Causing the pair to have this dumb look on their faces "Now quickly show me to my quarters I need to meditate" –
~LATER~
An hour or so later the clones would discover many hidden explosives aboard several of our gunships and ATTEs, which they promptly disarmed. This led to several rechecks of our equipment to ensure safety.
Anakin and Obi wan had eventually returned with news of a massive droid force on the attack. Despite the tragic news however Skywalker had this dumb happiness to him, no doubt being a freshly married man still had him in the honeymoon phase of things.
After doing our best to suppress knowledge of a traitor in the legion, the three of us held a strategy meeting. General Whorm Loathsom was our opponent, to be honest he had quite the military background and was a tried and true strategist. It is unfortunate to mention that despite getting captured several times he was always traded back to the separatist at least to my knowledge.
The goal of our meeting was to put up a solid defense, to hold our ground against the force Whorm was gonna push against us. Our biggest concern was being heavily outnumbered, I had summoned approximately 500 B1s to join the battle, keeping a handful for myself as well as a few dozen B2s just in case…
Anakin himself came up with the suicidal idea of keeping several jetpack troopers hidden in the nearby buildings, and to have them jump onto the enemy force if necessary. A suicidal plan that nearly had me ignite my lightsaber. I had to remind him that with our ATTEs we could more simply take cover behind our own armory and carefully focus fire on the enemy. Instead of sending some poor clones to their early deaths.
I had to constantly remind Skywalker that while our clones were expert marksmen and had good combat skills, they lacked the superhuman speed which we Jedi had.
"Skywalker the goal is to keep our men far enough away from the enemy as possible, they're much more efficient if they survive"
"I know that! But won't we just pointlessly prolong this battle? They're are other worlds that need our help?"
"We can't help them if we're dead."
"We won't die then!"
"Enough" Kenobi rubbed his temple "no plan survives contact with the enemy. Let's rest for tonight, the clones are preparing for the assault tomorrow. I've allowed Cody the liberty of making tactical decisions as long as he informs us of them with reasonable explanation"
"Obi wan, I feel we haven't done everything to make sure as many men survive as possible" I frowned
"You're probably right. But we need to sleep and keep our heads clear for the battle"
"I…I don't sleep…"
"....."
"....."
"....."
"..oh..Then you can remain in the command center and ponder over the battle while the two of us rest" he added sheepishly
"Ok"
Obi wan turned to leave and Anakin gave me a look before shrugging and walking behind him. Welp looks like I'm head honcho now
Just had to plan something….
~Tomorrow~
"You guys really think it's a good idea to bring a child soldier to a battle? Scratch that all the clones are child soldiers"
"I'm a bit conflicted about it, does seem kind of wrong" anakin added
"I spoke to Master Yoda about it, you two should request your own padawans, you'd both make great teachers"
I frowned and Anakin chuckled softly "no thanks"
That got me to start laughing, knowing what was coming next.
Imagine my delight when in the next morning a dropship had appeared on our doorstep dropping off a youngling. Ms.I am no jedi herself, Ashoka Tano. I felt a strange feeling of excitement and disappointment simultaneously at this pleasant announcement. I loved Ashoka but god damn was she god awful initially.
The three of us approached the dropship as it was landing ramp slowly coming down. Anakin and Kenobi continued chatting about responsibility and padawans when Ashoka approached us.
"Annddd who are you supposed to be?"
"Hello, I'm Ashoka, Master Yoda sent me, I was told to tell you to return to coruscant urgently. Its an emergency"
"I'm not sure if you noticed but there's an emergency right here"
Anakin seemed to want to antagonize the poor girl as he began complaining and whining about our situation. A small tussle of words broke between the 4 of us eventually just deciding to contact the council for word. Which turned out to be quite the disappointing idea as the separatist had pushed our space support into hiding. Meaning we were to hold out on our own here on the planet until help arrived. Essentially no one was leaving
"My apologies young one It's time for proper introductions" Obiwan announced
I gave Skywalker a grin, something that seemed to confuse him slightly perhaps unnerve him
"I'm the new padawan learner. I'm Ashoka Tano"
"I am Obi wan Kenobi, your new master"
"I'm at your service Master Kenobi, but I'm afraid I've been assigned to Master Skywalker."
"WH–"
*HAHAHHAHAHA" I pointed at Skywalker's dumb face.
~LATER~
While Anakin tried to fight his responsibility, we eventually dropped the subject altogether as we had to focus on the approaching droid force. Loathsom had set up a mobile shield, protecting his armor and artillery while his droid force used their number advantage outside the shield. Anakin had created a plan for taking down the shield, one he would accomplish alongside his padawan. I had also created a plan… a plan to disorient the enemy…
Looking at the holotable before me a map showing the approaching enemy force, as well as our own position and forces was being displayed in real time. I had spent all night preparing for this fight and I was slightly excited to see my very first plan put to use. Soon the very first artillery battery fired from our side signaling the start of the battle.
I approached the front, lightsaber in left hand and blaster in right. Kenobi mirrored my position along the frontline. Our troops began opening fire on the approaching droid army, B2s surprisingly leading the advance. The B2s took enough hits to allow the enemy to actually gain some ground with minimal losses, it gave the B1s behind them a higher chance of survival. And with minimal B1s obstructing the path it allowed the B2s to fire their wrist rockets without the worry of friendly fire. They had actually managed to destroy some of our more well covered defenses. But as the enemy shield approached closer and closer with admiral Loathsome inside an AAT I had to resist grinning.
Kenobi seemed to want to be put to use and rush forward with his lightsaber, something that had my eye twitch at the sheer stupidity of the idea. Perhaps sensing my irritation he agreed with me and decided against it. I just followed the clones example and fired continuously behind cover. The small exp gains improving my mood.
Our defenses allowed for several unlucky clones to be pulled back to the medics for treatment. We had also slowly been retreating backwards, Our ATTEs provided us with the much appreciated accurate short range artillery to destroy the foremost B2s.
And as half an hour ticked by, it had finally happened. The shield had slowly moved over the trap…
Several AATs hovered along the street, safely within the shield. A large convoy of Snail tanks alongside them. There were destroyed buildings in the surroundings and hundreds of dead droids lined the street. Loathsom proudly stared forward. His ego being stroked with every inch his force conquered. He was gloating internally when-
"Excuse me! SIR!"
He looked down to the side, a B1 yelling for his attention.
"What is it droid!"
The droid pointed right to the otherside of the AAT, causing Loathsom to turn over and look. His mind simultaneously had barely realized that droid wasn't the standard Khaki color but instead a brown rusted color. Looking over he saw another brown rust droid
"Catch!"
The droid had thrown something at him, hitting his chest and falling into the AAT
"OH MY–
*BOOOOOMMMMMM*
Dozens of droids that had lined the street suddenly stood up blasters in hand and began climbing aboard the AATs, the snail tanks moving alongside the group was unsure what to do. All combatants were standard B1s confusing its programming. Before a few unlucky B1s could react they got shot and boarded by the enemy B1s. Replacing the former group as AAT drivers.
The entire droid army came to a halt, the leading members turning around confused before taking more blaster shots from the clones.
"Hahaha it worked!"
I fist pumped in joy. Smiling cockily toward Kenobi who just rolled his eyes. Several clones began cheering before their sargeants ordered them to continue firing.
Eventually the shield had gone offline, courtesy of Skywalker. Allowing all of our artillery to destroy the enemy tanks. I had to bite my lip as I witnessed my own artillery destroy the blood sweat and tears I had poured into repairing the B1s….
Overall the battle had ended in our overwhelming victory…
Morale was high, and our troops were chatting happily with one another. Kenobi, Anakin, and Ashoka had left to coruscant, leaving me in charge. Leaving me to ponder the battle.
The clones had brought me all B1s and B2s that could be repaired, they even brought me the dead clones something that they seemed to want to say no to but I merely had to order them to do it again before getting a yes sir from them. I stored everything in my inventory.
While I found myself proud of my abilities and practicality, I found myself disappointed with my general performance. I had a system…i should be a one man army, but instead i hide behind an actual army…
I didn't want to rely on my memories to win these battles, this isn't how I wanted to be remembered throughout this war. I wanted to be remembered as a force of nature…
And suddenly a thought occurred to me. A way to become overwhelmingly powerful….
Yes ... .I needed to conquer something… on my own.
And while I didn't know where my conquest would start, I knew a possibility of how it could.
And I once again left the star wars galaxy.