By Commander Crazyfoot

Chapter 12

Battle for Butcher Plains

Thom and his several hundred troops had marched for over three hours now, and Thom was starting to get impatient. He wanted to end this as quick as possible. He felt tired of fighting this war. He just wanted to return to his old duties as a peacekeeper. But knew that as a Jedi he was to do what he was told by the Council. Thom looked up when he heard something in the distance. It sounded like a high-pitched hum. He put his hand on his lightsabor, ready for anything. Suddenly, two speeder bikes zoomed over the horizon. Their riders were two scout Clones that he had sent out earlier.

They sped in and stopped in front of Thom. The one closest to Thom spoke up.

"Sir, the enemy HQ is right over the hilltop, and inside a valley with cliffs on both sides."

"Ok" replied Thom "report back to your squad."

"Roger" Then the two Clones sped off.

Thom ran up to an AT-TE that was converted into a command AT-TE. He jumped in an walked up to the Clone Commander in charge.

"Our objective is right over the hill and inside a valley with cliffs on both sides. Possible ambush."

"Right, um....we’ll send two flanking platoons on both sides of the cliff faces. But you may attack when ready."

"Tell all the troops were attacking immediately." Said Thom.

Back aboard the Kamino, Admiral Belont was awakened by a beeping noise coming from his person wrist communicator. He rubbed his eyes and hit the receiver button.

"Yes" said Belont with a yawn. A Clone’s voice came over the tiny speaker.

"Sir, Operation Overkill is about to go into effect."

"I’ll be right there." Replied Belont now more awake.

By the time Belont got to the Bridge, preparations had already begun. A Clone Captain approached Belont and bowed.

"Let me see the charts" Belont was led to a Holo table were he could see Thom’s force was only a couple standard miles away from the rather large structure. Although the pictures were all blue Thom could see that the valleys floor was all dirt and the building was all pure durasteel, it had no windows and the only things that differed from the rectangular shape was the large square door and a few bunkers that stuck out on all sides. But it still had to be over two hundred feet high and one thousand feet wide. It also stuck out of the cliff side only a few feet meaning there was an unknown length to the structure. Which meant that it could house possibly millions of troops. They would have to be careful.

"Sir" One of the clones finally spoke up "what are your orders?"

"Start the aerial attack immediately." Replied Belont. The Clone bowed and walked away.

Excitement started to grow in Thom as they got closer and closer. It was almost unbearable. All’s Thom wanted to do was charge foward now an attack. But he couldn’t. Suddenly dozens of V-19 fighters zoomed over their heads and fired their missiles. After what felt like forever, the missiles stuck the compound, It had begun. Gunships also joined in and fired everything they had onto the huge building. Thom and all the Clones watched in joy as the building came under more and more fire.

Thom heard a Clone joke.

"We don’t even need to attack, our flying brothers can take care of it." But he spoke to soon. Because as soon as he finished is sentence anti-air guns popped out from everywhere and started to rip apart the fighters and gunships. Thom didn’t care who was listing at that moment, but he started screaming into his wrist communicator.

"Pull out, All Fighters pull out, someone tell those Pilots to pull out now!"

Admiral Belont had never liked Clones to much, he had always felt that they were expendable and he always used that to his advantage. This was the reason why he had so many victories under his belt. He always sent his troops on the most suicidal missions. But it was always effective. He always had his objectives completed quickly and effectively. He didn’t care about the clones. He would always say that they were "An organic form of Droids". So when he heard Thom screaming over the speakers he simply terminated the connection.

"Damn it" muttered Thom. Thom watched as dozens of Republic ships were ripped from the sky. Thom could only think of one thing to do.

"CHARGE" Thom ran foward toward the enemy base. After a few seconds the Clones caught on and joined in. Thom was in a full run and had to start dodging debris from wreaked friendly fighters that either lay on the ground or still fall from the sky.

Thom knew he was far ahead of his troops but it was too dangerous to stop. Finally, debris stopped falling from the sky. He hopped that the remaining fighters had all been pulled and not just all destroyed. Thom felt it was safe to stop and see were he was. When he turned around he was shocked that his troops were only black specks in the distance. He heard a loud thump from behind and was surprised again to see the enemy headquarters only fifty yards away. But what was the loud thump that he had just heard? His question was answered almost immediately when the halves of the door started to part.

This was not good. Luckily, a downed gunship was laying right next to him. Thom quickly dove in and walked into the pilot’s compartment. The Pilot was dead but the Clone Navigator was alive.

"Are you alright?" Asked Thom

"Ya" replied the clone. "Sir, what’s going on." As he looked out the window and saw thousands of droids marching all around the gunship. Astonished, Thom replied,

"A Trap".

"Well, what should we do?" asked the Clone

"We do nothing. We are no match for that many droids."

"Well then, lets rejoin our lines and fight with our men."

"I think you bashed your head to hard on impact, were surrounded!"

"Sir, the gunship still flies."

"What?"

"Ya, the Pilot was just shot. Then I guided the Gunship in for a landing." Thom looked at the Clone with a wide smile on his face.

"Alright, lets do this." Said Thom.

Thom through the Pilots corpse onto the hold and jumped into the Pilot’s seat. He saw a Homing Spider Droid right in front of them. Thom grabbed the Joy stick and pulled back the trigger, duel missiles flew out of the top of the gunship. The force of the launching missiles pushed the Gunship back twenty feet crushing several droids. The missiles slammed into the Spider Droid and blew it sky high. Thom hit the thrusters and the gunship shot straight foward running over dozens of droids. Before he hit the wall of the fortress, Thom pulled back on the stick, and missed the durasteel wall by centimeters. All the anti-air guns turned at them and fired. But Thom was able to pull off a few maneuvers that he had seen the Padawan Anikan Skywalker do during the battle of Xagobah.

Thom headed at full speed for their own lines. Both army’s were getting close to one another and in another few minutes they would start to engage one another. Thom would be right on time.

As Thom flew over, both armies were firing their first shots at one another and the conflict was escalating. Thom said to the Clone Navigator

"I want you to turn and face the enemy and open up on them long enough to drop me off, then head back to Republic HQ. Got it? Good, You have the stick." Thom walked into the hold and pulled out his lightsabor. The Clone Navigator did exactly what he was told, Thom was able to jump off the gunship encountering little returning fire. Thom slumped under a rock and watched the Gunship disappear.

Thom saw the Republic getting closer and heard the Separatist also getting closer. A Battle Droid came around the rock and Thom chopped it in half. Several blasts flew over his head. There was no doubt that the enemy knew he was there.

Thom deflected shot after shot. He chopped at droids left and right. But the enemy continued to come. Thom ducked as a hailfire droid rolled over him, firing missiles at the Republic. Thom pulled out a Thermal Detonator and chucked it at the Hailfire Droid. It exploded over the center mass of the rolling droid. The explosion shoved the droid into the dirt, turning it into a heap of scrap.

The explosion also push Thom into the dirt. When he finally recovered he felt the blunt tip of a blaster touch the back of his head. Then heard a robotic voice say,

"Hands up" As Thom raised his hands, he through himself back to the ground. A red beam flew over him. Thom kick out his legs. Hitting the droid in the center mass. The droid stumbled back. Thom gripped his lightsabor and decapitated the droid.

When Thom looked around he saw that he was in the middle of a droid formation, and every droid in the formation was eyeing him with their weapons up. Thom could only say

"Oh Shit". What was there too do. Nobody could get out of this predicament. He was officially "screwed", well that was what his padawan would say.

5 years ago. Before this mess of a war, Thom and his padawan were on a mission for the council. Two royal families were fighting for total rule of their planet. A planet called Crustun. It was a old planet with plenty of bloody history. The race was humanoid, but they had superhuman strength and almost Jedi reflects. Which meant the only way for the Jedi to successfully complete the mission was for a diplomatic solution. Thom and Peat had flown from one side of the planet to the other, on a daily basis. They also had to complete challenging and dangerous task to be trusted by the Crustuns on both sides.

They had been on Crustun for over two months, when the Stoun family became impatient, and sent in a group of Assassins. They were sent to murder the Cru family. But it just happened that, that night, Thom and Peat were sleeping at the Cru fortress. Thom woke up, as he sensed two guards die, Peat had woke up at the same time, and they both ran together to the Cru Family chambers. As they arrived the Assassins were just entering the Cru Family Leader’s room door. Thom ran up behind the rear assassin and knock him out. Thom entered the room swiftly, the two men inside were about to eject the Leader of the family with toxin. Thom and Peat flipped on their lightsabors, that got the men’s attention.

The two Stoun assassins pulled their blasters out of their holsters expertly. Thom seeing this locked his mind around the blasters as the men brought the weapons up. Then with a quick twitch of his hand, the blasters were pulled from their master’s hands. The weapons flew across the room one coming toward Thom the other toward Peat. They had practiced this move many times with one another. It was the most affective way of disarming their opponents with out injury. In a quick instant Thom and Peat sliced the weapons into pieces. The Assassins were momentarily stunned. Thom used this to his advantage. He used the force to communicate to Peat a blunt but effective word

"NOW"

Peat ran across the room. At the speed he was running and the low light he was all but invisible. Thom stood in place to keep the eyes of the assassins on him. Peat shoved Cortois handcuffs on the first assassin then made a swift kick to the back of the knee. He crashed to the floor. The next assassin finally came to his senses when out of the corner of his eye he saw his partner hit the ground. As Peat came toward that assassin, he back handed Peat across the face. Thom quickly responded with a downward kick to the assassin’s head. This also sent this assassin down to the floor.

The family leader and his wife woke up from all the commotion. The leader could only see the black figures of two men. He hit his panic button on his wrist at the same time. Peat trotted over to the light switch and flicked it on. The Cru Leader and his wife were suddenly relived. Then 25 of the Royal Guards stormed into the room, Blaster Rifles raised and all pointing at Thom and Peat.

"Were Screwed!" said Peat. One Guard spoke up.

"DROP YOU WEAPONS, GET ON THE GROUND!" Thom and Peat did as told when the Family Leader got up and spoke.

"Let them go they were the ones who saved me." All the guards lowered there weapons and went to take the Stoun assassins into custody.

The next day, Thom and Peat went to the Stoun leader’s fortress to discuss the matter of the assassins that he had sent the previous night. Thom had also secretly brought with him a group of Cru Commandos. While Thom was in "Diplomatic" negotiations. The Cru Commandos were able to get into the armory and they sliced into the computer. They found the incriminating files about the assassination attempt. As soon as they all got back to the Cru Fortress they immediately sent a message to the Republic. Thom was able to speak to the entire Jedi Council plus Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Two weeks later four Republic Cruisers loaded with Jedi landed in front of the Stoun Fortress. The Jedi stormed the Fortress and took the Leader and the other head family members into custody. The next day the Cru family was given total control of the planet and Thom and Peat went back to Coruscant.

When the Clone Wars started, five years later, Crustun sided with the Confederacy, and after going public with their allegiance, the planet was immediately bombarded to rubble by the Republic Naval Forces.

Thom felt Peat through the force and heard the word "jump" As he heard it, he did it. His legs got a burst of Force energy that flowed through his legs and into the ground which propelled him upward. The droids fired shortly afterward. They fired right into each other. Thom got to the pinnacle of his jump then started falling back to earth. As he did he landed on a Republic Speeder Bike. A Clone Lieutenant piloted it.

"Nice catch" yelled Thom over the screaming engine and the havoc below.

"I’ll return you to the lines" yelled the clone back. The Speeder Bike started to bank right to make a U-turn back to the republic lines.

Thom was drooped off right next to the mobile Command Platform. He walked up to the Clone Commander.

"What is the current situation?"

"We are making great progress over the entire battlefield. We should reach the Sep. Base within the hour."

"Great, I will go to the front and join the battle." Replied Thom. Thom hopped off the Command Platform and jogged to the front.

The Clones advanced one step at a time. Making great progress against this aggressive enemy. Dead Clones, Dead Droids and other debre littered the ground around him. He dodged the occasional deadly red beams the streaked by but otherwise he felt save back here with his white featureless comrades. His ears ringed of the constant shooting, explosions, and the thunderous stomping of the Titanic AT-AT above him.

He saw an enemy MTT move up into no man’s land, firing its primary cannons. The AT-AT tilted its monstrous head toward the MTT rushing at them. The two guns under its chin fired its own red beam. The force of the beams recoiled the guns back. Thom traced the beam with his eyes. The two beams collided into the cumbersome MTT creating a one hit kill and a moral boast for the troops.

The Republic pushed the Sep forces back to their own base. Now with their backs up against the wall, this is were the battle would get the most furious. But it had to be done. With no were to go, the remaining Seps charged at the Republic’s forces. The Seps were able to break the Republic’s lines and a hand to hand battle ensued.

Thom had his lightsabor on before he hit the first droid with it. He cut apart dozens of Droids, and killed, incapacitated many other Mercenaries in the process. The area thick of enemies, and the lightsaber only attracted more. Most of the enemy forces, especially the mercenaries were constantly thirsty for Jedi Blood.

Thom switched off his lightsabor and looked for a new weapon. Which wasn’t a problem because weapons littered the ground (along with their previous masters). He instantly found what he was looking for. He force pulled a pair of DC-15 Blaster Rifles. A normal trooper couldn’t even hold 2 Blaster Rifles upright at the same time, let allow aim and fire them. But Thom was a Jedi, and Jedi could do anything. Especially a Jedi out for Revenge.

He back flipped onto the top of a Dead AAT, landing in a prone position. The enemy Mercenaries unbelieving eyes focused on him as he did the inhuman feat. A scream broke the stare of all the Mercenaries.

"KILL THE JEDI!" The enemy charged at Thom, opening fire. Thom switched the rifles for automatic firing and squeezed the triggers hard.

Blues flashes of light streaked out slamming into the stomach of an enemy. The next blast hit a man in his face cering it off. Thom stood defiantly on the smoking remains of the AAT. Enemy fire burned the air around him. The smell of Ozone soon overcame the smell of burning flesh. Enemy after enemy fell to Thom’s guns.

His pair of DC-15s finally ran out of ammo. He was back to being weaponless. Instead of finding himself another pair of guns, he used the ones he already had. He jumped down from his perch on the AAT, and cracked the butt of the gun into the face of another worthless enemy. The Gun snapped in half. The next Merc came out from behind a rock with a vibro knife in his hand. Thom dodged the jab and spun around to the back of the Merc. He then took the broken end of the Gun which was pointy and shoved it into the young man’s back. The Merc hit the ground and started shaking violently. He took the butt of the other gun and bashed the back off his head over and over again until the man stopped shaking and his head had caved in.

He dropped the gun to the ground, and hunted for more victims. A he saw a Clone Commander running at him with a DC-17 in hand. When the Clone got to him he stopped in horror.

"Holy Shit sir, are you ok?" Thom looked down at himself to find himself soaked in blood. He looked back up at the Clone and said puzzlingly

"Ya I’m ok." After eyeing Thom for another second he looked back up onto Thom’s Blood soaked face and said,

"All the enemy forces outside of the enemy’s HQ are destroyed. What are your orders now?"

"Get a Company together Commander, were going in."

Chapter 13

Thom and his battalion of troops stood one hundred yards away from the gigantic door, that leads into enemy fortress. Two AT-TEs closed in right behind Thom and his troops. Both giant mechs aimed their primary cannons at the door. They fired at the same time and two blue orbs collided with the door. Where the door once was, was now a huge fire ball. Wind blew from the explosion and the warm air blew sand and rock at Thom and his troops, but they stood defiantly. Thom stared down into the dark space that lay in front of him, for a moment he found himself frozen, his eyes fixed on the darkness. He hoped, he prayed that this wouldn’t end up like the last time he infiltrated a Sep base. After several minutes went by, a clone tapped him on the shoulder

"We better get going." Thom nodded then started to walk toward the gapping hole.

The passageway was pitch black but some of the clones had helmet lights which helped them see. To the normal person the place was completely abandoned but Thom could sense that something here smelled funny. They made it to the end of the corridor. In front of them stood a heavy durasteel door, only Thom’s lightsabor could cut through it. As the last of the Clones made their way to defensive positions at the end of the hallway, Thom ignited his lightsabor and shoved it into the thick door. He used all his might to cut through the door but progress was going to be very slow. Then Thom heard something overhead, It sounded like a blaster charging. He quickly pulled his lightsabor out of the door. As he turned around he saw the wall behind him suddenly shut, trapping them. Lights suddenly turned on from overhead. Thom brought his head up and saw dozens of automatic blaster cannons all pointing down. There was no time to yell but just enough time to bring his lightsabor high enough to block the first laser that came his way.

The Clones were being massacred. There was no cover anywhere. Thom blocked shot after shot but he couldn’t last long and he was about to take one hundred percent casualties, he would have to take out the guns. Thom ran toward and up a wall, still blocking shots. He cut the first two in front of him. Then more guns turned to him. Blocking and cutting was all he could do and if he thought of anything else he would be certainly killed, but after what he had been through over the last few hours he was not going to allow that to happen. Block left, cut right, block right, cut left was the only thing to do. Thom cut the second to last gun in half then the last gun turned on him, using his feelings on what to do he let himself free fall to the ground then as he did he blocked on more shot back into the turret, turning it inoperable. Thom looked around and found that all the Clones were KIA. A clicking from the door behind him started echoing around the interior of the room. The door opened with a squeal. He would have to complete the mission alone.

The room was gigantic. Thom saw tons of machinery and he recognized all of it from the droid foundries on Geonosis, there was no doubt that this was a factory for constructing some of the army for the Seps.

As he walked between the huge pieces of machinery he became more and more cautious, he peered around every corner before he walked through it. As he came near the middle of the giant room, he saw two normal battle droids standing guard outside what looked like a small control room. He ran up the wall and stealthily took them out. Suddenly, he heard a snap of unlocking locks. He looked up at the roof of the small room, and slowly he saw a metallic figure rising higher and higher. The light hit the monster’s face. Thom starred in awe at the face of The Sep general, General Grevious. A sense of hatred, anger and pure adrenaline surged through him. This.....thing was what killed his beloved padawan, and many other Jedi. That was the final straw, This Sep was DEAD. But just as he was about to attack the General spoke.

"Jedi Thom, you are foolish like all the rest of your pathetic kind that face me.....but you seem upset about something, like maybe the death of your padawan? But no, you can’t be upset, because to the Jedi Order that would be unorthodox. But I bet you don’t care well....oh no, that would mean a possible expulsion from the Order." Thom looked like he was taking it like a Jedi should, but inside his rage was building and this fueled his strength and passion for the dark side. Grevious continued. "Ha you are worthless, and the Republic and the Jedi are falling. I guarantee that both won’t last another full year and you and the Council will be dead. The war is nearing the end and the battles in the next few weeks and months will decide that fate of the war and galaxy. This battle will be a turning point in the middle and inner rims for whoever wins, and you think that it will be a victory for you and your scum comrades. Well I have a surprise for you and your Cloned friends. If you would turn your attention to the holoscreen." Thom looked to his left and saw the screen flicker and then show an image of three Republic ships in low orbit around the planet. Thom could see that the three ships were the Palpatine, Kamino and the Preservation. Suddenly, a dozen Separatist Dreadnaughts, Cruisers and TF Core ships appeared out of hyperspace. A complete surprise for the Republic fleet overhead.

Admiral Belont stood on the Bridge of the Kamino, looking down on the Holo table at three dimensional Republic figures that moved around on the post battleground of Butcher Plains. Although the battle outside the Sep base was over, the battle still raged inside, fighting a seemingly invincible enemy, the battle was still in doubt. Belont stood at the table thinking of what else to do. Then suddenly an alarm sounded. Belont turn to the nearest Commander.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Sir, the enemy has just jumped out of Hyperspace with exactly thirteen ships in total. Two Trade Federation Core Ships, seven Dreadnaughts and four Corporate Alliance Heavy Cruisers. What are your orders?"

"Turn the ship around and send all fighters at them NOW!"

"Sir, we only have twenty fighters left. The rest were shot down over Butcher Plains. Were not going to be able to hold are own against the hundreds of fighters that they have."

"Send all we can, I’m going to go out there too, prepare the Prototype, my standing orders are to charge all guns and shields. You are in command Commander." The Commander bowed and walked off. Belmont walked to the elevator and took it down to his quarters to get into his flight suit on, it was a normal clone pilot suit except for some personal modifications that he himself made. As he struggled to get it on by himself the whole ship shook throwing him back onto his couch that was in front of the large observation window. He looked out and saw droid fighter streak across the window, firing their blasters at a target unknown to Belont. He grabbed his helmet and took the elevator down to the hanger. The door slid open to reveal a Clone engineer.

"Follow me to your ship" replied to clone, Belont nodded and jogged off behind the engineer to his awaiting fighter. He came around a corner to find the Prototype, its designation symbol is ARC 170. It has six wings, two large that stretch out from the middle and four others about half the size of the bigger wings, then a long cockpit, Its foward guns were the biggest and heaviest Belont had ever seen on a fighter, in addition a rear gun sat in the back protecting its ass, fuel lines stretched from the underbelly of the fighter. The chief engineer approached him.

"The ship will be ready in a moment, it just has to finished being fueled, other than that its ready for takeoff." Belont nodded and started his pre-flight check. Most Clones didn’t need to do a pre-flight check because they trusted one another and had a brother-ship bond between one another. But Belont didn’t trust any of those freaks. Belont climbed the latter to his cockpit when the ship shook again. He had to grip the handle bars as hard as he could just to keep on the latter. He got his balance back and hopped into the cockpit, while another Clone Pilot jumped into the rear gunner seat, the Clone flight engineers helped him get into his seat belt. At the same time the engineers unhooked the fuel lines and closed the lids. Belont closed the cockpit and turned the engine on. The fighter lifted up into the air and hovered, he brought up the landing gear and brought the ARC 170 to the hatch that was sealed with a shield. Belmont said into his comm.

"This is PARC-170 asking for clearance for immediate exit."

"Clearance accepted" came a voice over the radio. Belont looked up at the deck window were he saw a Clone in a gray officer uniform with both thumbs up. Belmont gave him back a thumb up. Then a green light over the gapping hatch gave him the final go ahead. He pushed the accelerator and flew out of the ship toward his destiny.

"You and your forces are now trapped on the ground, you have no where to go, you are stuck and now and the Confederacy of Independent Systems will win the battle." Said Grevious. Thom started laughing, Grevious looked back at him puzzled.

"I don’t care about this war anymore, I don’t care about the Jedi, the Clones, the Republic. I just care about destroying you, all I care about is crushing your head with my own hands and letting your blood ooze between my fingers. All I care about is getting Revenge."

"I thought revenge was forbidden for Jedi?"

"Damn the Jedi!" replied Thom "The Jedi are nothing to me now. They are fighting for a lost cause, but before you jump to any conclusions and think I might be on your side, your gravely mistaken. If I had my way I would kill all the Senators and let one man rule the galaxy. But enough with my visions, lets get to the part were we fight and you DIE." Grevious gave a short laugh then lite a lightsabor in both hands. Thom brought his up to in front of his face and prepared for mortal combat. Grevious Jumped at him and the fight began.

Chapter 14

Admiral Belont and the fleet in orbit were fighting a losing battle. The Republic Fleet was outmatched five to one. Unless reinforcements came soon, they were done for. Belont whipped his prototype starfighter left, right, up and down trying to kill and not be killed at the same time. Suddenly, his comm came on with a moment of static,

"PARC 170 you have Sep birds on your tail bank left!"

As Belont turned, the Droid Fighters streaked by him, obviously surprised by this sudden maneuver. Belont felt the heat on his cheek as all three enemy fighters were killed.

"Thanks" replied Belont over his comm.

The battle in orbit above the planet of New Jamnin was only ten minutes old, and it had already made the Grand Admiral Belont sweat.

"Gold Squadron line up with me" said Belont over the comm.

He heard a Clone’s voice echo in his helmet.

"Sir, Gold squadron has been wiped out, and Green and Blue squadron are below half strength."

"Damn" replied Belont. "We need to take out those capital ships if we are to win this battle. Ok, this is a message to all Republic Navy ships, Fighters and Capital ships, head for the nearest Trade Federation Core Ship and destroy it no matter what!"

Another Voice suddenly echoed through Belont’s helmet.

"This is Admiral Mos Gearner of the Palpatine. What the hell are you trying to do Oze get the entire fleet destroyed? Attacking those capital ships with the limited amount of fighters we have would be suicide!"

"With all do respect, Mos" said Belont "We NEED to buy some time for our forces on the ground."

"When did you start caring about the Clones?"

"I don’t. I do care about winning the battle though."

"So your suggestion is to destroy the entire fleet just to give our forces on the ground another hour to destroy a few more droids, when they will be wiped out anyway?"

"No, I hope that we can push them back long enough to confirm the death on this enemy general, then reenforce ourselves for there next counterattack."

"Well, If I die because of this I am going to be pretty pissed." Said Mos. Belont let out a little chuck more to boost his moral then laugh at the horrible joke.

"All right all ships form up on me. Let’s kick some ass."

Aboard the Trade Federation Core Ship the Gunray. The Neimoidian Fleet Commander Houke Faulke sat in his Mechno-Chair sipping a cup of Turanxun tea thinking highly of himself for winning turning the tide of the battle with his surprise leap out of hyperspace right on top of the unsuspecting Republic Force. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. At first when given this task he was afraid but as the battle began to unfold he felt comforted and he knew he would be rewarded for his success. He might even get a per motion to Nute Gunray’s person war advisor or maybe even a seat on the Separatist War Council, "no, don’t get ahead of yourself" Thought the Neimoidian. He still couldn’t keep the thought out of his green head though. Then a cold finger tapped him on his shoulder.

"What is it?" snapped Houke

"Sir," came a metallic voice "The Republic fleet is charging toward us."

"What?"

"Sir......" The droid started repeating what he had just said.

"I heard you" Snapped Houke back as he scrambled out of the Mechno-Chair. Houke walked over to the droid in command.

"What is going on?"

"Sir, take a look for yourself." The droid pointed toward a window. Houke walked up to the window and saw the three Republic Capital ships and a few hundred Fighters racing toward his ship. Houke started to sweat and broke out into a nervous laugh.

"That’s it" said Houke, his voice shacking "You interrupted me from my important duties to show me a few enemy Capital Ships and a hand full a fighters. I’ll be in my chambers, take care of this nuisance." Houke started walking away when the ship shook violently sending Houke and a few droids to the floor.

"What was that?" two droid ran over to help Houke to his feet. He push the droids away then asked again. "What was that?"

"A Proton Torpedo Impacted into one of the lower decks, we have sustained Moderate Damage and there’s a hull breach on section 34 and 35." Calmly replied the Droid."

"I’ll be in my chambers." Said Houke his whole body shaking. Houke walked briskly to the elevators. Instead of pushing the button to take him to his chamber he hit the button to take him to the hanger. He walked out of the elevator and was almost clipped by a Droid Starfighter that was taking off into battle. A droid mechanic approached him. Houke snapped

"Prepare my ship for immediate departure."

"Roger, Roger" replied the droid and it ran off to Houke’s ship. Houke go into his ship and anxiously waited for takeoff.

Belont fired furiously into the Droid Starfighters that came his way. He had lost both wingmen and he was a few hundred kilometers away from the nearest friendly fighter. The only meaning of time Belont had was, how much longer was he going to survive. He broke through the last of the fighters and dove towards the enemy Core Ship. He opened up onto the Core Ship but he didn’t even leave a scratch, the shield was just too strong. The Assault Ships were the only ones that could have an effect on this thing. He spun the Prototype around and headed back for the fight when a blaster turret on the Core Ship targeted him and fired a volley into the stern. Belont was is a hard dive he was dead. Then he saw an of opportunity, the shields to the hanger were down to allow the Sep Fighters out. It was a long shot but if he could make it into the hanger he would be ok. Belont pulled back on the stick, the Prototype shook violently but held together. He led it into the Hanger an crashed it into one of the far walls.

Belont shook off his head ache and looked around the windshield was smashed but he could still see battle droids running over to greet him. He unbuckled his seat belt, and hit the emergency button. The hatch blew off with a loud bang and a crash. Belont took out two droids before others were able to fire at him. Belont slouched down into the cockpit seat to give him a little bit of cover. He saw movement over his shoulder and saw the rear cannon turn. The Clone Gunner was still alive and about to save both of their asses. The gun fired and when Belont looked up all the droids around him were down. He hopped out of the cockpit and took off the cumbersome Pilot helmet. The Clone Gunner smashed out the windshield and crawled out of the opening.

"Good Job" said Belont to the Clone

"Thanks Sir" Replied the Clone surprised. Belont could tell this Clone knew well of his hatred toward Clones but Belont didn’t give it a second thought.

"We need to find a way off this thing, and if possible find a way to destroy or disable it too."

"Sir, there looks to be some sort of transport over there that looks fueled and ready. But its surrounded by droids."

"Ok then lets go take it from them." Replied Belont. The two men jogged over and swiftly destroyed the group of Droids guarding the Transport. Belmont ran up the boarding ramp first on the small transport. He opened a door into the Passenger Compartment, and a Neimoidian sat in front of him eyes wide opened shivering with fear. The Neimoidian opened his mouth and started to plead for his life,

"Please don’t kil........" and Belont shot him in the forehead killing the Neimoidian instantly. Belont searched the rest of the passenger compartment for any more Sep Scum but found it empty. The Clone came back from the Cockpit.

"Sir, I took care of the two Droids in the Cockpit." Belont nodded. Suddenly there was a beeping noise coming from the communication console next to the remains of the Dead Neimoidian. Belont pushed the receiver button and a little blue image of a battle droid appeared on the console. The Droid Began,

"Commander Faulke, the Republic Naval Forces are falling back, what are your orders?" Belont looked over at the Clone standing next to him and mouthed "What should I do?" The Clone in returned whispered back,

"Play along, maybe they don’t get a receiving image." Belont shrugged his shoulders leaned over and pressed the talk button,

"Send a transmission to all allied ships in the vicinity to retreat back to base."

"Roger, Roger" Replied the Droid and Belont killed the transmission. Belont ran out of the little Transport and jumped into the ARC-170. He took out a bag from behind his seat, searched through the bag he finally pulled out a little silver object, then set the Prototype Starfighter for self destruct and ran away from it as it exploded. He took the silver disk and planted it into a ventilation duct.

"What was that?" asked the Clone

"A tracking device" replied Belont snickering.

"Oh" happily said the Clone. Belont and the Clone got themselves into the Pilot and Copilot seat. As the ship lifted off the floor Belont said,

"You know you Clones aren’t so bad after all."

"Thanks Sir" Replied the Clone. They flew away from the enemy Core Ship as it disappeared into Hyperspace.

Chapter 15

The air sizzled and smelled of ozone. Blue and Green steaks of lights flashed around the enormous Droid Factory. The battle went back and forth for over twenty minutes and Thom started to sweat, while the beast underneath its metallic armor only smirked.

Thom was about to be beaten but he couldn’t bear the thought of once again failing his padawan. He didn’t want it to end like that, if he had to die he just wanted to kill Grevious, that would make him happy. With that thought Thom leaped into the air and kick Grevious square in his silver face, sending him flying back several feet. Grevious stood back up and charged at Thom. Pure rage flowed through him was stepping deeper and deeper into the dark side.

As he meditated in his apartment in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Yoda could feel the rage flowing through Thom. Yoda knew at this point Thom could not be saved from the Dark Side he was too deep. But Yoda sent him words of wisdom through the Force any way to try and keep him from going any deeper. What was strange was that it felt to Yoda that the more Yoda spoke to him the more angry Thom got. Yoda felt a tear stream down his cheek when he felt Thom fully embrace the Dark Side, Thom was no longer a Jedi.

Thom blocked lightsabors coming at him in all directions there was no way to win but there was a way to stay alive which was to embrace the Dark Side and to push away all feeling. Suddenly, Thom was struck in the arm, pain flowed through him and so did the Dark Side. For a second he was more powerful than Geris had been and more powerful than Grevious. Thom went on a furious offensive with a series of jabs and slices.

Grevious back further and further, when there was no where else to go he leaped onto the ceiling rafters, Thom closely pursued. Thom felt stronger and stronger with each swing of his blade, Thom looked into Grevious’ eyes and did not see what he expected, what he expected was fear but he saw nothing, no fear, no pain, nothing. When he finally broke out of the stare he felt his strength diminish. He felt tired, his arms felt like sludge. Thom could see that Grevious saw he was weak and Thom knew now that Grevious would finish him. With a swift kick from Grevious, Thom was flung into the air and crashed onto the hard duracreat floor below. Blood ran from a gash in his head and a cut on his lip, his vision was blurry but he could make out Grevious’ silver body falling down and landing gracefully on the floor a few feet next to him. As Thom’s vision came back he saw Grevious walk toward him and step squarely on his chest. The weight on Grevious made Thom loose his breath.

As Thom gasped for air, Grevious only put more of his tremendous weight on Thom. Thom felt the rib that snapped during the fight with Geris break again but this time the rib tore through Thom’s lung, making it even more difficult to breath. Thom started to gasp more and more desperately for air. Grevious grabbed his blue lightsabor from his right hand and brought it up over his head, for some reason Grevious was going to give Thom a quick death.

As Thom’s last seconds were counting down he had a vision on the future of the galaxy but mainly the fate of the Jedi, he saw them all die, He saw the great Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, and his good friend Plo Koon all die. Would the order become extinct? He saw Anikan Skywalker the chosen one, turn evil and fall from a great distance on a planet that burned, then become a mechanized evil. He saw that Palpatine, the Sith Lord that the Jedi have wondered about for more than thirteen years now reveal himself and turn a once free Republic to a Monarchy. He saw the son of Skywalker training by Obi-Wan and Yoda’s side. He saw a Gigantic Space Station that was able to vaporize a planet, He saw the son of Skywalker turn his Evil father back to the Light then saw how he killed his Master Palpatine. He watched Anikan burn and saw his son rebuild the Jedi Order and make it stronger than it had been in Thousands of years. Suddenly his visions stopped and he came back to the present.

Everything was in slow motion, he watched Grevious’ lightsabor slowly lower toward his face. Instantly, a blue plasma bolt hit Grevious in the face. Thom watched as he stumbled back. Then heard a familiar voice

"SIR, GET OUT OF HERE!" yelled Strike

Thom got to his feet and clutching his side ran toward the exit. He heard Grevious scream in furry and heard the sound of the standard issue Clone Blaster Rifle firing down upon Grevious, but Thom didn’t dare turn back, he kept running as fast as his broken body could carry him. Thom kept running, he only stopped to jump over the dead bodies of the Company of Clones that had accompanied him in, but were killed by the automated defense turrets on the ceiling. As he rounded a dark corner he was blinded by sunlight shining through the blown open entry way. He limped out and he was instantly surround by dozens of Clone Commandos. He was rushed to an awaiting Gunship that immediately took off. As the medics worked on him he was able to get a glimpse of Strike running out of the structure and Republic Forces firing on a Separatist Gunboat. Thom realized that Grevious was getting away and he had failed not only the mission but had once again failed his Padawan. Thom rested his head on the hard floor and slept.

Thom awoke three standard days later in a Bacta Tank on board the Kamino. His wounds were gone but his scars would stay with him forever. As he laid on his bunk in his room the door opened with a swish and three men entered his room, the first was Belont, then came Strike, then Plo Koon. Thom was the first to talk,

"Strike, thanks I would of been dead if not for you."

"No problem sir only doing my duty."

"You three are to be commended." Replied Plo Koon "Thom you most of all, many Jedi can’t hold out against Grevious but you did a magnificent job."

"No, I have failed. My mission was to capture or kill Grevious and I can’t even do that."

"You were never expected to do either of those you were only meant to hold him there while we finished off his army. Then while you were fighting a CIS fleet arrived and if not for the courageous work of Admiral Belont here our forces would have been decimated and the planet would of still been held by the Separatist."

"Thank You, Admiral" replied Thom

The Admiral stood there and bowed.

"Were are now heading for Hutt space where another large Separatist base is hidden. But for now you shall rest, friend." The three men left Thom alone. A lump formed in Thom’s throat. It was hard for him not to warn Plo Koon of his fate but it was good for the Jedi and the Galaxy to let the Order reform every few thousand years to keep the Order strong. When Thom was to die he did not know, but there was no time for that now there was healing to be done to get ready for the next battle and hopefully another chance to face off against Grevious.

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