The last few minutes of the night were quickly giving way to the light of day as a new dawn arrived for the Galactic City. People on the surface of the metropolis would soon be waking up, ready to start a new day while the citizens who lived and worked beneath them were still hard at work. The Grand Army of the Republic would be ever vigilant, watching and waiting for anything that might pose a threat to the safety of the people. Yet even to them this day would be starting out like any other. Clones and their non-clone counterparts would be watching the skies through the lens of their scanners, carefully watching the incoming and outbound traffic. If a ship were to come up as suspicious for whatever reason, it would be flagged and escorted to the nearest station for examination. Everything was calm, tranquil even, until a series of explosions woke the city from their slumber.



Sliding his hand across his front, Clone Trooper CT-8498 swatted a rather large fly as his eyes scanned the screen before him. In front of him stood one of the many long range scanner stations located at the airfield, as well as across the planet, that was able to see in real time the ships entering the system through one of the many small hyperlanes that connected Coruscant to the outside world. On an average day Clone Trooper CT-8498 would watch as thosuands of ships, raging from a simple transport hauler all the way up to the mighty Republic Warships returning home from battle. His job and the jobs of hundreds of clones across this sector were to simply observe the traffic coming in. Often times he would see something that might be classified as suspicous, and have the veichle flagged for additional verification. Usually this happened once a day, if at all, and he would simply wait around for something to happen.

"Sir?" CT-8498 said as he looked at his screen, his eyes were greeted by the strange site of a Mandalorian Kom'rk class transport shuttle leaving hyperspace. Standing nearby was his clone commander CC-9915, who heard the trooper and was making his way towards the scanner station when a series of explosions in the distance shook the control tower, causing the power to go off and on again.

"Report!" The commander bellowed at CT-8498, rushing quick to his side as an alarm was set off, alerting the base that there was an attack on the planet.

CT-8498 was typing into the console at a fast pace, trying in a desperate attempt to retrieve the live feed from the long range scanner. His head slightly turned as he spoke "Sir! The scanners are offline." The Commander was beginning to walk away when CT-8498 spoke again. “I noticed something just before the feed went dead. A Mandalorian transport shuttle, a Kom'rk class, had just exited hyperspace seconds before the feed went dead.”

The commander quickly moved away from CT-8498, and opened up a communication link with General Kenobi, who answered in earnest.

"What news do you have to report, commander?" Kenobi asked as his form was projected outwards from the commanders gauntlet.

“Long range scanners are offline. Whomever set off those explosives knew how to blind us. We also recorded a single Mandalorian Kom'rk Class transport leaving hyperspace seconds before the explosions went off.”

The hologram of Kenobi looked completely shocked. “Commander, set off the alarm!” The hologram quickly cut off, and the commander set about alerting the forces scattered across the planet that an attack was inbound.



Charred, fractured chunks of metal twisted and danced through the cold, black vacuum of the space surrounding the lead Kom'rk class transport. The remnants of a battle long since fought, long forgotten by the minds of the average citizen of the Republic. Though they had been in system for less than a minute, Ardur could feel that every second that they stood idly by might spell disaster for their plans. Quickly moving from the cockpit to the midsection of the ship, he quickly opened a message that was being spread across the “The Coruscant Holo Net”. The news reports were live updates of a series of bombings that struck all across the planet, giving the current death toll and theories on who might have committed it. A smile crept across the face of the Mandalorian as he quickly grabbed his helmet, fixing it into potion on his head.

A voice to Ardur’s right piped up. “Sir, we intercepted an outgoing communiqué as we entered the system. They know we're here, their ships know we're here, but they only know of us and us alone.”

“Show me the message.”

The Mandalorian soldier quickly brought up a holographic image of the message currently being sent to all the ships in orbit around the planet.



“Report on the rest of our force.”

The Mandalorian soldier quickly brought up a another screen. “Sir, the other nineteen Kom'rk transports are all in system and ready, the fifty C-9980 landing crafts are ready as well and awaiting your orders.”

The Mandalorian Commander Ardur quickly opened a secure channel with the other craft in the fleet. “All ships move out, we're moving fast and hitting hard. Stick to my ass. Anything that get's in our way blast it out of the sky. If you get left behind I will find a way to turn around and blast you out of the sky. Pilots, engines to one hundred percent capacity.” The Mandalorian cut the feed as he finished speaking, before returning to the front of the ship. He sat down next to the pilot and looked out in-front of him. The mighty Venator class cruisers could be seen dotting the space far in front of them. The massive bulk of those spaceships grew ever larger as the small flotilla of ships crept closer and closer. It would only take a minute now for them to hit the atmosphere of the planet, yet Ardur still watched cautiously. His eyes ever cautious for the signs of any patrol craft.

From behind, he heard one of his Mandalorian Soldiers manning the communication terminal shout “Sir! Patrol crafts at ten o'clock high.”

Ardur quickly opened up another secure channel with the rest of the fleet “Pilots, if you have a shot take it but don't break off! C-9980's, your defensive guns are free to fire. I repeat, open fire if you have the shot.” Ardur quickly sat down in the copilots chair, and motioned for the pilot to give control of the craft to him. Things were about to get rough



The Jedi temple was alive with activity.

Knights, padawans, and even the civilian security force were all in a rush. The bombings that had awoke the city just moments earlier had forced the Jedi Council to prepare for an imminent attack. Anti-air guns could be seen activated on top of the temple, already scanning the air for targets. Master Obi-Wan Kenobi could be found in the temples main lobby organizing the soldiers into position. His attention was drawn by an all too familiar voice.

“Master Obi-Wan.” Anakin Skywalker said in a cheerful tone.

“Anakin?” He turned his body to greet his former padawan. “It is good to see you old friend.” He said as he gave his fellow Master a warm embrace. Moving backwards, Obi-Wan put his arms on the shoulders of his friend and continued “I had not been told you would be back today.”

“I wish it was under better circumstances, battle damage forced us back for repairs.” Anakin said as he flashed a smile. “What news of the attack?” He finished as the smile faded from his face.

Obi-Wan quickly removed his hands from the shoulders of Skywalker before placing his right hand on his chin. “Not much. The bombs targeted our long range sensors. We're thinking the CIS is making their move. What's more we are beginning to suspect the Mandalorians are involved as well.” Obi-Wan finished before turning his head sharply as a clone commander was rushing to them.

CC-1119 “Appo” hurriedly made his way to the generals, and after giving a salute, spoke in a rushed voice. “Sirs, twenty Mandalorian craft as well as numerous other transport craft have broken through our defenses. Their vector suggests they are targeting our staging airfield. Gunships were sent up but the Mandalorian craft were quite proficient at taking them out.”

“The Airfield?” Kenobi shout out in surprise. “If that falls, then we lose access to sending additional forces into space!”

After a second Skywalker countered. “No, they must be after the Imperators!”

“Whatever it is, get the 501st and make your way to the defense. Re-purpose any clone squads as you see fit!” Kenobi ordered and began to start off in a run. “I'll inform the council and send what Knights we have planet side to the defenses.”

“Sir! CIS fleets just exited hyperspace!” Appo shouted out.

“From which lane?” Kenobi shouted as he stopped in his tracks, sliding for a moment across the smooth floor.

“Numerous. They're coming from all directions. Our fleet is reporting numerous C-9979 and C-9980 transport class vessels as well as Droid fighters, bombers, and interceptors inbound. Current estimates put as many as eighty percent of the transports reaching ground.”

“Anakin, get to the airfield and get those Imperators in the air. We're going to need every ship possible.” Kenobi said as he took off again.

“On me Appo. You clones follow me!” Anakin spoke as he and a group of seven clones made their way to the Jedi Temple hangars, taking a gunship and leaving the temple. Trying to get to the airfield before all was lost.



The airfield was something of a marvel on a planet full of them. It was one of the longest airfields in existence within the Republic, stretching for well over twenty kilometers. On most days one could find tens of thousands of clones loading onto cruisers that would soon be space bound, ready to join the war all across the galaxy. Today was unlike those days, however. Where there was once clones and numerous Venator class cruisers sitting ready for take off today there were few. One could count seven Venator class cruisers and three Imperator class cruisers standing idly by as a few thousand clones rushed to prepare defensive positions. Hastily placed heavy gun emplacements as well as anti-air cannons could be seen dotting half the airfield.

“Sir” CT-8498 spoke as he rushed to the side of the clone commander. “Enemy ships inbound, flying fast and low.”

“How are our defenses coming.”

“Twenty percent and slowly rising sir.” CT-8498 said as he placed down a hologram projector. “We have four of our mobile air defense guns up already here, here, and here.” With each he motioned to gun emplacements. “Fifteen static turrets have been activated around half the field.” He quickly motioned around the image, pointing out a few of them. “Our forces have only secured half the airfield, we will try and get as many defenses up in the other half before they arrive.”

“Don't” Commander CC-9915 ordered. “Consolidate strength in these areas.” The commander pointed out a couple places on the holomap. “Keep what tanks we have back here.” He said as he pointed to the areas near the tower. “Keep them in reserve until we get reinforcements from other Army units.”

“Sir!” CT-8498 said as he began to leave when the air raid warning began to sing its alarm. One by one the defensive turrets began to fire out their defensive shots far into the distance. CT-8498 and CC-9915 both looked to the area at the far end of the airfield. Even at such a long distance, they were able to see the small silhouettes of the enemy craft approaching fast.

--------

Ardur still had control of the craft as he opened a comm channel with the rest of his squadron. “Droids, set down a quarter the way up the the airfield. Quickly set up your defensive shields and anti-air defenses; get our tanks and droids into combat."

“Roger, Roger.” The droid pilots chimed back.

“Kom'rk pilots, strafing runs on the clone positions.” He paused as he threw the throttle all the way forward. “Make two passes then quickly exit the area and head towards the rendezvous point.”

The Kom'rks' engines roared to life. The crafts quickly lowered their altitude till they were just ten or so meters off the ground. The lack of enemy craft on the airfield was unexpected, but was a welcome sight. The automated turrets could not train their guns low enough to hit them, leaving only the clone manned anti air turrets to threaten them, and threaten them they did. The skies in front of them were a combination of blue bolts and exploding flak shells, each seeming to come closer than then last. Ardur swerved his ship slightly left and right with each passing second.

Ardur squeezed the trigger on the flight stick and the twin laser cannons roared to life. He was not aiming for anything in particular, nor were the rest of the pilots.

Clones scrambled to find cover as the sheer number of indirect laser fire began ripping into their posisitons. Sparks shot out from the sides of the Venators, AT-TE's, and their hastily made defensivepositions alike. The AT-TE gunners quickly joined the barrage of anti-air cannons with their own shots, their six anti-personnel laser cannons and their mass driver cannons adding to the already massive volley.

Ardur slowly rolled his craft to the right and released his grip on the trigger. His HUD highlighted the AT-TE tanks that had begun to fire on him and he carefully lined up his cannons before opening fire.

The AT-TE that was at the forefront of the other tanks shook as the barrage of laser blasts began to impact its face. At first only sparks and large smoke clouds were the only effect. But after a few seconds of sustained fire, the front of the tank caved in. The laser bolts quickly began striking the interior of the AT-TE. After another second passed the back of the beast erupted in a flame filled cloud of smoke and fire, sending molten metal flying around in all directions. The tank's front legs buckled for a brief second before they collapsed, without power, falling into the ground with the flaming face impacting the ground with a solid thud.

The other ships shots found their homes in other targets as well. A few more AT-TE's fell victim to the well placed shots, while many clones that were caught out of positions were quickly dropped as the spray of laser fire raked their position. The crafts flew over the smoking Clone position below, allowing the aft gunners to take their own shots. The ships quickly pulled up sharply and rose back into the sky, anti-air fire following quick in their wake. A few shots landed true as smoke began billowing from the tail section of one of the Kom'rk.

"Damage report!" Shouted the pilot

"Critical engine damage." Shouted his copilot "Engine failure in at most thirty seconds."

The pilot reached for the lever that opened the drop floor beneath the Mandalorian soldiers. "Get ready to jump, soldiers! Jetpack as far away as you can and make your way on foot to the rendezvous point!" The soldiers all stood up and gave a "Sir yes sir!" before the pilot pulled the lever. The floor opened and the Mandalorians fell out of the ship. Their jetpack were ignited after a few seconds, slowing them down to a stop before they quickly flew away from the airfield. The pilot quickly turned the ship over and lined it up with one of the venators on the airfield before he pulled the ejection lever, causing the canopy above him to blow off and allow both himself and his copilot to escape with their jetpacks.

Soldiers all around scrambled to get clear of the Venator as they spotted the flaming Kom'rk barreling towards the cruiser at high speeds. The ground shook as the ship collided with the midsection massive cruiser. An explosion that could be seen for many miles around filled the air as the force of the impact forced clones off the ground. The Venator moaned and buckled under the impact, ripping apart in the middle, before both the front and rear end fell to the ground bellow with a deafening thud.

“Sir, craft five is down.” The Copilot spoke quickly as the message flashed across his screen.

“Casualties?”

“None”

“Good.” Ardur spoke as he pulled back on both the throttle and the flight stick, causing his craft to loop over until it was pointing back down on the airfield. Ardur threw the throttle forward once more and pulled the trigger. This time the laser strikes forced many clones to find cover underneath their cruisers.

“Flight of gunships! Four o'clock low!” His copilot shouted out as the warning message began blasting across the ship. “Missiles incoming, evasive maneuvers!”

Ardur threw the stick hard to the left, while reducing his speed. Once he leveled out he threw the throttle hard back to full speed. The gunships missiles had not targeted him fortunately, yet the same could not be said about the other craft. Many managed to evade the missiles through their defensive maneuvers, yet two were struck by them and smoke billowed from their mid section. The ball turrets on the gunships were quick to focus the wounded birds; with their lasers cutting through the wings of the ships, sending them falling to the ground below. One of the crafts crashed into the air control tower, causing it to collapse while the other fell straight into the ground, cartwheeling over the ground after impact before skidding to a rest near a group of clone troopers.

“They can't give chase, full throttle!” Ardur ordered as he pointed his bird towards the skyscrapers in the distance Looking over to his copilot he asked “Any survivors?” To which his copilot shook his head. The ships flew for a few minutes before they reached their destination, a series of skyscrapers near the far edge of the temple district. Ardur turned back control of the ship to the copilot. “Your ship now. Get the others back to the fleet, restock and bring us more soldiers!” He shouted as he pulled the lever that opened up the floor. Soon the skies were filled with a few hundred Mandalorian soldiers. Each would find good vantage points to cover the sector and await the arrival of their Blackguard commanders.

-------

The droid army had used the distraction caused to advance far up the airfield. The front lines of droids dove from downed spaceship to blast crater to whatever cover there was on that flat airfield as a constant barrage of blaster bolts from the clone positions constantly rained down. Some of the droids had packs that could be deployed to form a small sandbag looking fortification that they could hide behind. These were starting to sprout up everywhere. Their formation was scattered, and the number of destroyed droids was ever mounting. Behind them, however, the droids marched in organized lines. A few were being struck down by the blaster fire, yet they were thus far ok. On either side of their formation was a line of AAT tanks, that as they drew closer to the clone positions, began to spread across the width of the airfield. Their cannons always firing on clones and tanks alike. Even further back was the staging area for the droids. Thousands of droids were still pouring out of the transports, and a command center had been set up. Shield tanks and anti-air tanks were active in this area as well with the latter scattered around the edge of the shield. More transports were landing further back from the original group while ten fast moving small shuttles landed near the command center.

As the doors opened it revealed a group unlike the Droids. Each had their own attire, some ranging from durable battle armor to simple robes. Yet each carried one item that made them a unit, a lightsaber. They were the Dark Jedi, both former Jedi and power hungry Sith idealist that were recruited to fight the Jedi. They were led off their shuttles by nine Blackguard Wilder's and one Elite Wilder. The Elite Wilder quickly made his way to the command center and asked for a situation report.

“Clone troopers have halted our advance, commander.” The B1 droid spoke, with the one next to him adding in a “Roger, Roger.”

“It is of no importance. Have our first line of tanks charge forward. Once they are destroyed they should provide enough cover for our forces to move up.” He spoke as he looked at the battle far ahead. “Keep doing this until we have closed the gap enough for our forces to charge. We need to secure the airfield before more reinforcements arrive.” He moved over to the holomap and pointed to the streets surronding the airfield. “Three battalions on each side of the airfield are to move up and secure our flanks. Have them take cover in the buildings and set up barricades in the streets below. One tank each flank.”

“Roger, roger.” The B1's chimed back.

“Your move, Jedi.” The Blackguard spoke as he crossed his arms behind his back.

--------

CT-8498 dove for cover as the enemy AAT's shells began to slam into the position around him and the commander. The commander quickly joined him as he opened up a comm link with one of the AT-TE pilots. “Get your tank into cover behind the destroyed Venator. Peek just far enough out for your mass driver cannon to have shots.”

“Yes sir!”

“Sir, Gunships have arrived with Jedi Reinforcements.” CT-8498 said as he pointed to twenty gunships touching down at the rear of the airfield. Some dropped off additional AT-TE's while most were filled with a mix of clones and Jedi. The soldiers quickly followed the Jedi into cover all around the area.

“What a glorious battle we have here!” Shouted the Jedi Knight in a mocking tone. “Situation report.”

“Sir. Three AT-TE's knocked out of action, seven remaining. Their command post is shielded by a shield tank. Their strafing runs have done some damage but we can recover.” The commander ducked his head further into cover as more blaster fire hit his position. The AT-TE's mass driver guns could be heard once more as they opened up on the enemy tanks. Each hit sent a column of smoke into the air, followed shortly by an explosion that sent numerous droids flying. “Can our gunships assist?” The commander asked.

“Their anti-air defense is live, our gunships would get shredded.” The Knight responded quickly. “More of those Drop ships have broken through, the Gunships are better use taking out as many of them as they can before they reach the ground. Skywalker and the 501st are en-route to assist. We are to hold our ground until they arrive.”

“Sir yes sir!”



As Anora looked down upon the Galactic City , she felt what every soul experiences upon their first site of this city. Though everyone shared this experience, not all experience the same thing. Three people, each could be from the same or separate walks of life, upon seeing and overcoming the first feeling of breathlessness at the sheer scale of this planet, will be left with three different impressions. The first could be a poor person, who tries to sneak his way into the city to find a better life for himself rather than keep up the daily struggle for life where ever he came from, who sees this planet as a place of opportunity. The second could a trader, who travels along the many hyperspace lanes searching for cheap goods that he can mark up elsewhere, sees this planet as a place of security. The strict measures that the Republic imposes on all in the system make sure that his goods will meet the market here, without any fear of pirate attacks. But the third person, the third reaction would be that of Anora. As her eyes scan out the front window Providence class Flagship, her eyes being greeted by a massive space battle already in progress all around between the CIS and GAR navies in the skies above the world, she sees this planet as a symbol of oppression.

Her eyes focused on the orange planet while her mind focused on the situation down below. All over the planet both droids and mercenaries alike descended upon vast swards of the city. Intense battles were being waged between the the CIS and GAR forces, street to street and building to building . Every time the Droids would advance too fast and come under fire from clone troopers hiding in the massive skyscrapers themselves. Countless droids have been destroyed, many clones have fallen and even the civilian death toll is rising in the heated exchanges. Yet, at least to her and the Blackguard, the most important objective has not been touched. Nor has it seen any death since this invasion began a day prior. The Jedi temple still stood proud and her Jedi still clung to the walls and the streets surrounding it as if it were some bastion of hope. This was not by design, no one expected the Temple and Senate districts to have as much anti-air weapons as they did. Any troop transport trying to land and any star fighter trying to destroy them are met by a hail of fire, and quickly shot down. Though they had the numbers in space, if they did not secure this location, as well as the senate, the outcome might become to costly for their CIS allies to continue this assault. A soft laugh escaped her lips as the thought of these bankers and traders turned revolutionaries entered her mind. This battle would not be won by them, it would be won by the breaking of the defenders spirits.

Anora heard her name called from behind, and turning to see Vansk and the Blackguard's leader San'sii nearing a holodeck she realized it was time for her to act her part in the plan. As she began to walk towards the lift that would take her to the hangar of the ship, she gave the pair a nod as she proceeded towards the door. As she neared she heard the holo projector come to life, and as she was passing through the door she heard a phrase which made her smile. “Good evening, Councilmen. Are you ready to hear our demands?” It took her a mere moment to reach the hangar where five Neimoidian shuttles awaited her. Her strike force consisted of her and six blackguards plus around thirty Dark Jedi who were to join them in their assault. The mercenaries were easy to get involved and the Dark Jedi even easier, the mercenaries were promised money and the Dark Jedi the Sith Holocrons. Almost too easy if you asked Anora for acquiring meat shields.

The strike teams boarded the shuttles, and launched out of the hangar bay and into space where they met their escort fights and bombers. The swarm of fighters and bombers would prove to be a plethora of targets for the republic to take notice of the small, fast shuttles that broke through the Republic Blockade. Soon they would be planet side and the fun would begin.



“These terms are outrageous!” Spoke a slightly excited Mace Windu to Obi-Wan, as Yoda and the rest of the council listened on. “Give up the temple, place down our weapons and give up the Sith holocrons?” He was speaking in a hurried fashion, the surprise attack and the chaos that followed obviously caught both himself and the rest of the council off guard. Obi-Wan was quick to add in, yet spoke in a more controlled tone “They must have known we would have shot down their demands so quickly.” He paused as he rubbed his chin with his right hand. “What would they have to gain by wasting an hour and a half of our time?” Silence fell upon the room as the councilmen thought of an explanation. Minutes passed before Yoda, who until now was meditating, opened his eyes and spoke “They created a diversion, our attention from a potential threat drew away.” A new silence fell upon the room, though disbelief hung in the air. Yoda continued with “I sense a strange power nearby, powerful it is. Yes, hmmm.” Mace Windu was quick to respond “Who is it, the Sith?” His tone was very direct, and Obi-Wan's response more so “Impossible, you slew Palpatine before he could take Anakin as his apprentice. With Anakin with us, the Sith are no more.” He spoke as his right hand motioned in the air. Yoda raised a hand and commanded silence over the gathering. He thought for a second before continuing “The Sith, it is not. Presence it is, which I have not felt.” He paused as he looked at Mace Windu, before speaking “In danger, I fear we all are.” He paused as he raised himself out of his seat. He began to walk away as he spoke “To the outlying defenses send some Knights. Must not fall, the defensive guns.”

The Council quickly departed from their hole-projectors and Windu and Obi-Wan were soon left alone inside the Council Chamber. Obi-Wan began to walk out of the room quickly, though upon reaching the door he turned his head and spoke “I will task some Knights to gather some Clones and head to the defenses, but we must be ready in case they fall.” Windu nodded in agreement and Obi-Wan quickly departed the scene.

Willo Assay

Willo had spent much of the last few months in a state of emotional suspension, but for the first time in a long while she was excited. Sitting in the transport she felt her heart beating, her pulse racing blood through her veins. It was a purge of sorts, getting all of the exhilaration out now so that she could enter battle with a clean slate, and accumulate newer emotions as they became necessary.

The others who sat around waiting with her were not droids, but soldiers, some force-sensitive and most wielding lightsabers. Yet she could sense a weakness emanating, signalling her like a fire in the forest. Some were simply out for personal gain, but the more aggravating of the group sought knowledge of the Sith. They scuttled around beneath its banner as if it were their home, as if they had any right to say they lived by the Code. The temple's information would bring no reassurance, but it offered the opportunity to begin the new order, her order. That too brought a familiar grin to her face, bringing together the devious gleam in her eyes.

"Peace is a lie," she said, more to herself than those around her. "There is only passion."

She found herself wondering if any of the dregs aboard even knew the oath, or what it meant, what it truly meant. She had little faith, but perhaps one of them would show some promise. Amidst the ensuing chaos that was sure to come she would have to keep her eyes out for the strength of her allies, as well as her foes. Any could be shown the truth of the Code, light or dark it didn't matter, but only the strong could embrace it as it was meant to be.

Suddenly the ship came to a halt and they had landed. Willo took a deep breath to clear her mind, but the faint ghost of a smile remained upon her face. The doors opened and she saw that they were in the temple district. Perfect, the chaos would be right at their threshold, all they would have to do would be to push it to the temple itself. Whatever meager defenses the Jedi had seen fit to scatter this far out would not hold them back, and the fear she sensed in the streets outside told her that she wasn't the only one to understand that fact. It appeared as if their surprise attack had garnered some form of a shock advantage.

As she walked outside, Willo held her saber delicately. The black metal had been polished for ceremony, but she had only barely allowed herself to do that. It had not been cleaned since her master had died, and though she did not consider herself sentimental she had little interest in presentation and flair. Her sabre did not need to shine to instill fear, she only needed to wield it. The thing remained "sheathed" however, and would remain so until she needed to use it, be it to deflect a bolt or engage a Jedi.

While she waited she scanned over a few of her "allies", the ones who had naively brought her along under the idea that she cared for their attack. All variety of species and weapons, but so little potential among them. Finding suitable followers would indeed be difficult, but if successful they would be keystones in the rise of her order. So she watched, content for the time being to see what they did before she too dived into the chaos and headed for the temple, and it's precious archives.

On a normal day, the police stations of the Coruscant Security Force (CSF) would be busy with emergency calls, petty crime-solving, and responding to gang wars in the sub-levels of the planet. But today was not a normal day, for the CIS forces were making landfall on the capital city and the local authorities had to respond to emergency calls coming in by the dozen every minute regarding wounded people, destroyed homes, roads broken apart by crashed ships, and civilians caught in the crossfire between the Clones and The Droids. This station in particular was currently occupied by a battalion of clone troopers who had set up a base outside due to its proximity to the airfield that seemed to be where most of the fighting was concentrated. They were a good few kilometers away from the airfield.

GAR forces were setting up signal flares to contact friendly gunships and let them land on the station's parking space, and the clones themselves were arming themselves to be deployed to various sectors of the city, in conjunction with the police response. 2 LAAT Gunships sighted the flares and begun their landing. Inside one of them, 4 Clone Commandos stood inside. The gunship's co-pilot turned to speak with them. "Here's your rendezvous point. The airfield shouldn't be too far from here. Be careful down there boys, communications make it sound as if the place is a bloodblath." The clone said.

"So it's just like any other work day? Sounds great!" A commando with oil stains marked in random places around his armor said. He also had a drawing of a clone pilot's oxygen tank and pipes on his chest. "And just like any other day for us, we need to be on our toes, Cockpit. So try not to get too excited out there" The squad leader said. He had a red-colored third eye drawn on the forehead of his helmet. Me? Excited? Do you think I'm a Commando Droid in disguise here? Of course I'm gonna get hyped when we start blasting these clankers to the scrap pile!" Cockpit replied. "Spotter isn't saying you shouldn't get excited, Cockpit. He's just telling you to not get too distracted with the colorful explosions and forget to give him cover fire." A commando with a communications antenna on his helmet said. He also seemed to be carrying a lot of technical and comms equipment in his supply pack. "Really, Sig? Wow, I'm offended... It almost sounds as if you don't think I'm a professional..." Cockpit replied as the doors of the gunship opened and the 4 of them stepped outside.

A clone trooper greeted them with a salute as the squad of commandos saluted him back. Spotter, the squad leader, spoke first as the Gunship they rode began to depart to respond to other orders. "Kappa Squad of the Special Operations Brigade reporting! We're here to meet up with Jedi Knight Jovardo Zlee and bolster our forces at the airfield." He explained. "Understood. The Jedi general is waiting on the other side of the base with a squad of troopers ready to depart. Good luck out there." The plain white clone trooper said to them.

"You heard him Kappas, let's move! We can't afford to waste any more time." Spotter ordered as the four of them began moving quickly across the forward base. "Perhaps if 76 didn't spend so much time searching for his little souvenir we'd have been here sooner." The 4th member of the squad said in a flat tone. He had a bacta canister symbol on his left shoulder and a sniper crosshair on the right. "Come on Mech, that's my good luck charm!" Cockpit replied. "It's unnecessary." Mech answered. "Well I like to think it's one of the reasons I'm still alive right now." Cockpit retorted. "I've administered first aid on your wounds approximately Seventy-" "OKAY OKAY! I said it was ONE of the reasons... Sheesh..." Cockpit interrupted. "Put a lid on it you two! The Jedi is here." Signal said to both of them.

Before them stood a Rodian dressed in traditional Jedi robes, but with armor on its chest and limbs. A squad of plain white clones were also there, checking their equipment and waiting next to a Republic Police Gunship being occupied by a pilot and a gunner of the CSF, female and male respectively, both wearing light blast armor and helmets. "General Jovardo Zlee? We're Kappa squad. The Commandos assigned underneath you." Spotter introduced as he motioned for his squad to salute.

"At ease. We're needed at the airfield quickly so I'll make introductions quick. I'm Jovardo Zlee, Jedi Knight of the Order." The Rodian said as he led the commandos towards the police gunship. "Me and my squad of clones are a few of the forces that the Temple has sent to help secure the airfield. The CSF has given us a couple of their officers and a gunship to help get us there. Our mission is to link up with friendly forces at the field and then coordinate with whoever is in charge there as a flanking unit. Your squad has been assigned to me due to your exemplary skills in guerilla warfare. I will trust the reports, but you'd best earn my respect out there on the battlefield." The Jedi finished as he mounted the gunship with the clone trooper squad. The Commandos followed afterwards. "My squad and I are the best at what we do, sir. Just say the word and we'll have it done." Spotter replied.

Jovardo nodded and then turned to the gunship's operators. "We're ready to go! Let's get moving!" He shouted over the sound of the engines. "Yes sir! Lifting off now!" A female voice responded as the police vehicle began to lift above the parking area, shut the passenger doors, and flew quickly across the skyways of Coruscant towards the airfield in the distance, where various ships which were high above the cityscape could be clearly seen exchanging laser fire

Sesran awaited landing adjacent to the Command center, hidden among the Dark Jedi, anyone could fit in. It was more about your innermost beliefs, what you follow. Or what you understand, though the Sith code meant little to Sesran, similarities between his ideals and the Sith were too real. He used the dark side for personal gain, he would like to think that he serves no one, but aboard the transport cruiser masqueraded, he still served.

*Through passion, strength. And through it, power, and power leads to victory*

Such empty phrases muttered from others around him, perhaps dark Jedi who only attempted to meld with the dark side. Having similar wants or needs does not make it any better to follow blindly. Sesran knew where he stood. And prepared to drop. He had never fought with Jedi before, but slaughtering them would only bring him one step closer to his own victory. He would never be ecstatic. His emotion nearly stripped from years of torture.
He looked across the cabin to see a pale skinned, violet eyed Vahla girl, somewhat young for a mission as this.
He spoke from under his hood to her.

@Mcmolly
"What is it that you think about all these... 'Sith' here, some of these Sith in Jedi Robes. They may as well be Jedi with short fuses. Not to say they cannot be Sith, but their constant nagging of the code again and again. Would make one think they try to hard, and for nothing if they don't believe. What is it you believe?"
He waited for an answer.

(landing after inner conversation, or with anyone else.)

"There is no peace-" he said to himself before the transport landed. As he stepped to the ground below he spoke.

"Only adversity, and abhorrence-"

RC-0666 or Beast as he was known by his comrades was being investigated, his last mission should have been a cakewalk but it turned into a blood bath, three dead commandos, thousands of dead civilians, and the objective was half destroyed. Beast was confined to quarters until the investigation was over, he knew the result before it even started someone had to be responsible for the dead civilians. He was going to be executed for his 'crimes.' He slept through the explosions, if one couldn't learn to do that one most likely never slept, besides his service was at an end. Beast was awaken by a trooper. "Get your ass out of bed commando and go kill the ones slaughtering your brothers." Beast jumped out of bed and ran to the armory. He donned his armor and grabbed his weapons along with as much ammo as he could carry he then found a Wookie bandolier he stuffed that full of grenades and draped it over his shoulder. He exited the building and headed towards the sound of blaster fire and explosions.

Felicia and Talyssa were in the city when the fighting began. Felicia felt the presence of the Dark Side. "They will be heading for the Temple Talyssa, we must ensure they never reach their destination. Remember kill them before they can kill you. When the battle is over and the dust clears, leave none of them alive." Felicia and Talyssa raced towards the Temple. They ran into a group of clones along the way. Felicia took charge of the clones. Felicia's group came across a group of Mandalorian mercenaries and a heavily damaged building completely engulfed in flames. Keep them in the shadow of the building. Felicia and Talyssa concentrated their effort on toppling the building. When the building fell not all of them were crushed some managed to be in an area where the wall was destroyed but that only meant they burned to death. One managed to jump out of the way in time, Felicia activated one of her Lightsabers and threw it impaling him in the heart. Just as the Lightsaber returned to her hand they were joined by a Commando introducing himself as RC-0666. "We have to defend the Temple. It and whatever these animals want must not be seized. Once we are inside RC-0666 you are to ensure there is only one easy way inside, destroy all other entrances and exits, funnel the enemy into a kill zone but be on the look out for them to make their own entrance. I must consult with any masters left inside." Felicia leads the group to the Temple.

Willo Assay

The battle had begun to draw closer. There were sounds of explosions and firing in the near distance, and she could see --just faintly-- the nagging glow of the lightsaber spectrum. Many guardians, many knights, all so eager. A few of the dark Jedi had charged in their impatience, but Willo remained in the back, pausing when the presence of another voice caught her attention.

The man looked as most of the others did, and she spotted the two lightsabers at his hips. He showed at least some manner of constraint, that is until he began reciting "the Code". It made her grimace, and when he walked off of the transport she gave him an answer to his question.

"I believe in few things, but I believe the most pertinent would be this. 'Through power I gain victory'," she said, the words holding such refinement that would come with years upon years of ceaseless rehearsal. "I suppose we'll find out today which of these eager ones is worthy, and which ones will die in chains."

With that she began to walk on towards the temple, but not before throwing a look to him over her shoulder. Despite his butchery of the Code, she felt in him an inkling of that rare o' rare potential. "If you come with me, perhaps we can see just how capable you are of breaking your own chains."

Tucked away in a secluded room of the Jedi Temple, Vishara Aashtii was engaged in her daily ritual of floating meditation. She felt the Force channeling through her being, and allowed it to envelop her like a mother’s warm embrace. It was a soothing experience, especially on days where she felt the yearning of her Togruta heritage to be in a community of her own people. This longing was one of the few emotions she had yet to master, and although she knew it was biologically driven, it frequently challenged her confidence.

Being part of the Jedi was better than being in a Togruta community, she knew. Although that life had an appeal of simplicity, she could never fulfill her greatest goal there--to foster peace in the galaxy. She knew total peace was an impossible goal to constantly chase after, but no place other than among the Jedi could she pursue it effectively and actually have at least a small impact.

These thoughts began to melt away as she fell deeper into her meditative trance, and soon she was not thinking of Jedi or Togruta or even peace; Vishara was simply existing, at one with the Force.

But then, disturbing her tranquility, a strange sensation washed over her. The Force seemed to shudder for a brief, almost undetectable moment--but Vishara’s deep concentration allowed her to feel that something was wrong. Sensing immediate danger, her eyes snapped open and her hand flew to her lightsaber, but there was no other physical presence in the room.

Gently, she unfolded her legs and landed on the polished floor, her sandaled feet making a soft pattering sound as she stopped using the Force to suspend herself in the air. The strange sensation left her completely alert in the way only a Jedi could be--she tuned her senses to their maximum, assessing her surroundings in an attempt to understand the source of the Force disturbance.

Is it the Sith? she wondered. No, that is impossible, with Darth Sidious dead. Deciding that there was no immediate danger to her, Vishara allowed her senses to relax a bit as she left the meditation room and began heading in the direction of the Jedi Council chambers. Perhaps the Council knows what is happening. I must seek their advice.

Before she reached the end of the hallway, a loud explosion cracked through the peaceful ambience of the temple, followed by a violent rumbling. Vishara’s golden eyes flashed back and forth to witness Jedi bursting forth from rooms or stopping in the middle of conversations, confusion washing through them all. A moment later, another explosion followed the first, and as each Jedi looked to one another, they understood in an instant that Coruscant was under attack. Knights and Padawans alike began rushing toward the Council chambers to await instruction, and Vishara followed diligently, suppressing the spike of fear that threatened to overwhelm her.

-=Five hours later=-

Vishara, along with a few other Knights, had been ordered by the Council to guard their chambers, should any enemy Force users manage to slip inside during the confusion of the attack. Thusfar, none had--the temple defenses were keeping the direct perimeter of the area secure. She hoped they would be enough. She felt no fear, no panic, no anger at the situation--the only emotion nagging at the corners of her control was the longing, the urgency of loneliness that threatened to envelop her if the Jedi were eradicated this day. She knew she must do everything in her power to stop such a thing from occurring.

Just then, Obi-Wan exited the Council chambers and looked toward Vishara and the other Knights guarding the area, saying brusquely, “Knights. Report to the temple’s defenses immediately--they are in danger of failing, and they must not fail. There will be Clone troopers there to assist you. Remember--keep those defenses active, or the Temple will be destroyed!” With that, Obi-Wan departed, leaving the Knights to their orders.

Vishara glanced around briefly at the others, noting their names in her head as they all began sprinting to their new post. She would remember them, and fight for them as if they were blood family. None of them would die this day. The defenses would not fall. They could not fall.

Whit crouched behind a burned-out skeleton of a civilian airspeeder, the air filled to bursting with blaster fire. Around him the majority of Alpha platoon's third squad, nine clones spread around their side of a square, most of them returning fire across the quadrangle to their opposing sep number. Whit and the company had been on the outskirts of the base when the klaxons began blaring their shrill tones, and he'd received orders in surprisingly good time. It was a relief that the brass had their affairs in order, that at least directions could be given despite what Whit could only assume was a crippling explosive sabotage. He'd been given simple enough orders, at least: open up a new front and establish a strongpoint north of the hostile landing zone, clearing the way for heavy reinforcement inbound from the myriad other bases on the capital.

Unfortunately, simple orders did not necessarily mean easy orders, and as such he found himself in the shadow of a bunkhouse currently occupied by first and second squad, trying to push across a square with what was, in his mind, far too little cover for comfort. The enemy forces were putting up a good defensive fight, but while Whit caught his breath he wondered what their apparently slap-dash offensive effort was. He had been expecting to fight a rearguard action against a massed breakout force, hopefully slowing a mechanized spearhead sufficiently to counterattack when reinforcements arrived, orders be damned. What he had got was a slow trickle of ill-supported armor doing little more than driving forward and presenting a perfect target for AT troopers to dispose of. Maybe the enemy commander was incompetent, and didn't know the problems with armored warfare in city-fighting, but somehow he doubted that. What could the enemy gain from wasting tanks like that? All it did was litter the battlefield with good cover for defense and counterattack, and break up the city to force the enemies into close-quarters kill-boxes.

He paused in his musings to return fire, his breath recovered after his mad dash to the car that was currently saving his life. The droids hadn't had time to dig in properly, and with the barrage of fire those that had made it into the opposing bunkhouse were unable to set up and return fire. They would no doubt be preparing to repel intruders, but those measures would be hopefully easier to deal with than a dash across a square under a hail of enemy fire. Droids never were too good in melee anyways. He spotted yet another hovertank push its way past the debris blocking their current arena, and watched it explode into a magnesium-white fireball as fourth squad on fired a salvo of rockets from his left flank. He fired two score of shots at a heavy blaster crew trying to set up, reducing three of the bots to scrap and hopefully knocking the gun out of commission, before ducking back down to return to his thoughts.

He motioned to the NCO to advance, and pinged the other three squads to increase the volume of fire. It was right as the charging cry of 'For the Republic!' filled the air when the realization hit him. Jedi were cut down like any other troops in the open, but with enough cover they could close and wipe out whole squads. He hadn't fought dark jedi in the better part of two years, but in sufficient numbers, and with their enemies being caught unaware after an inefficient tank offensive, they could very well break out with ease. He opened comms to the four Lieutenants in command of his platoons. They were arrayed in a close line, each within supporting distance of the other, all advancing at a measured pace towards the airfield. The LTs reported minimal casualties, thankfully, and mirrored Whit's good progress, mixed with trepidation at the ease of the venture. He spoke after their reports.

"Lieutenants. Ensure your forces are kept spread out within easy range of supporting each other. Ensure at least half of your troops are in easily-defended positions that provide good support lanes for advancing troops. It'll slow our southward advance down, but I think Saber troops are on their way. Make sure advancing squads are able to disengage with defensive grenades. If one squad is running low, pull them into covering positions. Over."

The silence over the comms was clear indication of the disappointment at their slowed advance, but each officer in turn responded with acknowledgement. He noticed the platoon around him begin shifting their deployment, third squad slowing their advance, staying out of CQ while the other squads moved to better directly support them, the suppressing fire on what remained of the defending seps lessening somewhat. Whit poked his helmeted head around the corner for a brief moment, then carefully withdrew to a more fortified situation, eager to be away from the now-apparent danger. His conditioning rebelled at the perceived cowardice, but his training knew better. The chain of command could not be broken, no matter what he might think. Taking a seat against a pockmarked wall, he opened up a holo display and continued to survey the unfolding action.

=Just after Obi-Wan's Warning=

"Alright, gentlemen..."

Jedi master Varrik Tharn turned around to face the squad of clone troopers standing behind him. There weren't many, unfortunately, only six. Yet, he had nothing to complain about. Six was better than none. Under normal circumstances, he'd be leading the same squadron that he had in battles prior. They'd been caught in the attack at the airfield, however, and already had their hands full. These six men were the troops he had. The six men afforded to him when what forces were available were split amongst the Jedi. These six men were enough, and they had to be.

"Once we step outside these doors, we're securing as many defensive turrets as possible. We cannot afford to lose this battle; the temple stands at all costs. I'll be just up ahead, trusting that our Republic's finest -that's you- has my back. Stick together, cover each other, and cover me from behind. Remember that, and I'll be your best friend."

His last words were accompanied by a flourish of his unlit lightsaber, spun around his finger.

"Are we all clear?"
"Yessir!"

Varrik nodded, and pulled his hood up.

"May the Force be with us all... And good luck, men. Not that you need it. "

He grinned at the clones, prompting a cheer from them, though it faded almost instantly after he turned around. As cheesy as the line was, he needed to give them just that extra little something. A spark, a light, a something, of hope, or inspiration. Some last moment of positivity before they went into a battle that very well could be their last. He had a bad feeling about this one.

---

Securing the first turret was easy enough. It was one of the ones on the front side of the temple district's perimeter, one of the closest to their starting position, and one of the most useful. The fight hadn't completely escalated yet, so the travel was quick and not much trouble. A couple droid squadrons, but against a Jedi, let alone a Jedi with backup, they were simply cannon fodder. After securing the position, one of the Knights and their troopers occupied it and stood guard, leaving Varrik and his unit to move on. Not enough of the guns had been fortified yet, though, before the ships started rolling in.

Soon enough, the streets surrounding the temple were chaos. More droids than before, the occasional Mandalorian... Were the Separatists just throwing everything they had out at once? On the way to the second turret, Varrik started to sense something awful. He couldn't pin it to a certain cause, though. With everything happening all at once, and especially with him on a constant move, it could have been anything. But, suddenly, he saw it: some Jedi was bringing down a building. Was that Master Felicia?.. What was she thinking?! Though in a few seconds he figured that out; an oddly large group of Mandalorians had gathered in front of it, and surely enough, the building took them out. A million thoughts were flying through Varrik's head at that point. First of all, there were, without a doubt, civilians in that building who'd been unable to evacuate safely. He could sense it. Second of all, those had to be the most incompetent professional killers he'd ever seen. Third of all, who was the second Jedi following her? He'd never seen her before in his life.

"Did any of you see that?"
"Yessir. I don't know what to think, sir. Should we intervene?"
"Nothing we can do about it, now. Stick to the plan."

It was a tragedy, yes, but it would have to wait. Varrik's feeling of dread from before suddenly worsened, almost to nausea; it gnawed at his stomach and head while he remained clueless to the source. It couldn't have been the building, at this point. There had to be something else.

He arrived at the second turret, and stood against the back wall, letting his troops catch up. Varrik gladly used the opportunity to catch his breath. He'd almost never stopped his forward momentum since they started, and with Force Speed, the activity took its toll.

"Alright... That makes two turrets by ourselves. If the other Masters managed what we just did, then we're set.- HEY, OVER HERE!"

He flagged over a conveniently nearby Twi-Lek Jedi.

"I need you to hold this position. Where are your men?"
"Gone. Mandalorians had us cornered. I was able to finish them off, but..."

Varrik nodded, and looked to his own men.

"6249, 0998, I want you two to stay here and help him."

He pulled to the side. The moment was quiet, and it would be the best time for him to report. He stood against the back wall of the turret and opened his holocomm.

"Master Varrik Tharn reporting, we're secured points 14 and 15...

He looked up when one of the clones interrupted.

"S-Sir..."
"Hm? What is it, s-"

The trooper simply pointed. The dropships were coming faster than they could be shot down, that was to be expected, but the issue was with their contents. They weren't dropping any more droids or Mandalorians. They wore dark robes, some with armor, many with hoods. Varrik watched as several of them ignited red lightsabers and advanced onto the field; he was at a loss for words, and found himself grasping it straws. They were pretty isolated out here, and approaching would be suicide. He had no plans to make a move and get himself killed, but he drew his own lightsaber. It was off, for the moment, but that seemed prone to change.

--GAR Venator-class Star Destroyer "Krakatoa"

The morning seemed to creep ever closer as Kiana and Canderous sat in orbit above the planet. They were in her private chamber, both sat naked on the bed, looking out of the viewport, Canderous holding her in his arms as the sun began to creep over the horizon. Kiana squinted as the light flared from finally breaking the horizon and she smiled "No matter how many times I see it... It's always so beautiful." she said.

"I can think of several prettier things." said Canderous as he kissed her neck.

"Alright, lover boy, you know we can't do anything like that." she smiled pushing him away.

"I know... But sometimes, I just can't help it." Kiana then turned around to him and wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Well, maybe just a little." she then locked lips with him again, before suddenly her eyes shot open and she jumped back. Canderous was caught offguard.

"Gyahh, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I sense something..." she said, her back against the wall. "D... Danger... Impending..." she grabbed her robes and began to get dressed "We need to get to the temple." she gasped.

"You're Jedi senses tingling?" he asked as he began to pull on his armour.

"It's... It's like nothing i've ever felt before. Usually it's a nagging feeling, but this..." she pulled on the rest of her clothes. "We need to get to the Jedi Temple immediately." She opened her door and looked down the corridor, she had specifically chosen her room as it was in one of the only corridors of the ship to not have surveillance camera's. Nobody was there "Get going." she said, pushing him out the door, with his gauntlets not yet put on. She quickly kissed him on the cheek before she thrust his helmet into his chest and they each ran down the opposite ways in the corridor.

--Jedi Temple--

A Jedi Starfighter and Republic TIE Fighter touched down on the landing pad to the Jedi temple, just in time to look off into the distance and see explosions flare up. A Gungan Jedi ran towards them. "Yousa sensen it too?" he asked.

"Indeed. take my fighter, I think we're about to get invaded." she said to the jedi. He was Master Rak-Rel, a Jedi Ace and one of her friends at the temple, he had been also been apprentice to Plo-Koon, and had followed him in becoming one of the orders most celebrated pilots. The Gungun vaulted into the fighters cockpit and it began to lift off. She and Canderous then ran into the temple and too the briefing hall. The invasion was progressing at an alarming rate. ships now in orbit, as well as ships attempting to land and capture one of the airfields. She passed Skywalker as he headed to mobilize the 501st. "Master." she nodded to the council member as she passed him. She looked at the briefing table as she saw the hologram of the planet blanketted in red "Hostile" signals. "We're going to need reinforcements..." she growled. Unfortunately, most of the 139th were still in space, so mobilizing them to defend the airfield was out of the question. "Stay here." she ordered Canderous. "Provide orders to the fleet, i'll go with master Skywalker and defend the airfield." she said to him.

"With all due respect ma'am." Canderous began "But the Admiral can direct our ships much better than I can, you'll need as many bodies on the ground if 80% of those transports break through." he said.

"Orders coming in." said Appo "Mandelorian forces are attacking the Anti-Orbittal defense cannons. requesting reinforcements."

"I'm on my way." said Kiana.

"We're on our way." Canderous corrected.

--Present time--

Kiana and Canderous had just secured the third turret as the drop-ships poured through the clouds. "Is there no end to them?" she grunted, then watched in stunned silence as the hooded figures began their approach, she saw Master Varrik moving to intercept. "The fool, he'll be killed if he tries to take them all on at once. She saw another, large dropship moving towards the planet. She could sens that it was full of Mandalorians. She reached out her hand and could feel the mind of the pilot through the force, she began to concentrate harder than she knew she was supposed to, causing chaos in his mind, twisting and turning it, scrunching up his very thoughts. The pilot slumped forwad on the controls and the ship went into a nose-dive towards the ground, smashing and exploding violently. She hated performing such acts of Darkness, but it was to save another Jedi... She would bury her feelings for now.

"You need to do that more often." said Canderous as he grabbed a sniper-rifle and began to fire shots into the droids that approached.

"No I don't... Hold here with the men, I need to help Master Varrik." she said, running and jumping away.

"WAI- never mind... YOU HEARD HER, MAGGOTS, WE'RE CLONES OF THE GREATEST MANDO THERE EVER WAS, SO WE HOLD!!!" He roared to their small squad. There was a reply of horrah's.

Kiana, on the otherhand had made her way to the second gun before finally running to the side of the scar-ridden, human Jedi. "It's odd that we find ourselves back to back." she commented as they slowly advanced towards the dark Jedi "The two of us that have seen the Dark side of the force and both have rejected it. Let us hope that that choice served to extend our lives rather than shorten them." she said to the Grey Jedi.

The Police Gunship cut through the Coruscant skyways as it headed straight for the GAR-controlled side of the airfield. "We're getting close to our destination! By the force... It's absolute carnage out there..." The female CSF pilot said as the airfield came into view in the distance. Kappa Squad and the Jedi took a look outside the windows of the passenger compartment and saw what could only be described as a full-scale war being waged on the enormous stretch of land within the airfield. Blue and red laser bolts flew into opposite directions of the field as both clones and droids fell lifeless to the ground from the storm of blaster fire. Jedi Knights stood in between the clone ranks, deflecting blaster bolts and using the force on the debris in the field to provide cover for the soldiers behind them.

"An open field, little to no cover, clones behind Jedi with a swarm of droids on the other side... It's like Geonosis without all the sand..." Cockpit said. His statement sounded like a joke, but his tone was of worry. Spotter shared Cockpit's sentiments. The battle of Geonosis was infamous among many Clone Commandos for the amount of casualties the special units sustained due to the Jedi not using them properly, and sending them to the frontlines when they were meant for flanking and sabotage. "Don't worry, Pit. This time it's our capital they're invading. And we're not as incompetent as droids, are we?" Signal said, noting Cockpit's tone. "Heheh... Yeah. We'll show these guys the right way to defend a planet." Cockpit replied.

The Jedi, Jovardo Zlee began to close his eyes in deep concentration. And when he opened them he spoke immediately. "The disturbance I've been feeling since I was in the Jedi temple is becoming stronger than ever. I believe the source of it comes from within the ranks of our enemies. Stay alert once we're down there..." The Rodian Jedi said to the clones around him. The Jedi then put his fingers up to his communicator. "Yes master? ... How bad is it? ... I see... Alright, I will head there immediately with back up. Yes we're almost there. Good luck, master." Jovardo said as he shut off the communicator. "All of you, stay with me once we land. We're going to meet up with my master and help bolster the front that he and his men are holding. We are to hold that location until further orders." He commanded the clones aboard the ship.

"Yes sir!" was the collective reply.

Spotter turned towards his squad. "Final weapons check, Kappas. Make sure you're ready for contact as soon as we hit the ground!" He ordered as he fastened the locks of his DC-17 into blaster mode and slapped on the glowing blue magazine to ensure it was loaded. The rest of his team did the same. Signal adjusted his helmet and tightened it. Cockpit began stretching his neck. Mech carefully inspected his DC-17 and his sidearm blaster. The rest of the clones were making their own checks and adjustments.

"Mapping a descent path now. Landing in less than two minutes!" The pilot said. They felt slight turbulence as the craft adjusted course and anti-air rounds exploded on both enemy and friendly squadrons passing through their view. They felt themselves become lighter as the gunship slowly lowered altitude.

"Hey, are you boys from Kamino? Your armor looks like it's seen more action than most of the Spaarti cloned ones." Signal said, referring to the squad of clones in the ship with them. "Yes sir, my squad and I were shipped out around 6 months ago. We're reserve units so we don't have an official legion like most." The clone trooper who appeared to be the squad leader replied. "Then you should remember the Mandalorian marching song they taught us there... Signal then began a low solemn chant in Mando'an tongue, followed by Cockpit, Mech, and Spotter who started joining him.

"Kote...

Kandosii sa ka'rta, Vode An..." (Glory... One indomitable heart, Brothers All...)

"Coruscanta a'den mhi, Vode An..." (We, the wrath of Coruscant, Brothers All...)

"Bal kote...! Darasuum Kote..." (And glory...! Eternal glory...)

"Jorso'ran kando a tome..." (We shall bear its weight together...)

The last part of the chant was sung in unison by all of the clones aboard the ship

"Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, VODE AN!" (Forged like the saber in the fires of death, BROTHERS ALL!)

"Touching down now, opening passenger doors!" The pilot said as the craft suddenly stopped descending and the doors slid open. "Let's hit it, men! Move move move!" Spotter commanded all of them as the clones and the Jedi jumped off the gunship and planted their feet on the ground of the airfield. The squad of clone troopers proceeded to move forward and secure covered positions for them while Spotter lagged behind next to their Jedi general. "You clones can share quite the bond. I did not need to sense it while we were on the ship" Jovardo remarked. "At least the ones from Kamino, sir. Some of the trainers there teach old Mandalorian warrior traditions." Spotter replied as he turned towards his team and the squad of clones link up with friendly forces before waiting for the Jedi to lead the advance further towards the frontline. "I don't know if any of those greenhorn troops will live to see another day sir. But it's better to keep their minds off of that possibility. Better to give them a morale boost to prepare them for the nightmare up ahead." Spotter continued. "Even us Jedi do not know if we will live past this battle. So let's all do what we can to hurt our enemy before we fall." The Rodian said as he dashed forward quickly to join the fight with his fellow Jedi. "Sir, yes sir!" Spotter replied as he ran forward quickly.

"Kappa squad, on me! We'll stay close behind the general until we're at the objective location. Watch out for stray shots, use cover, and be on standby for further orders!" Spotter commanded his team as he joined them.

"Yes, squad leader!"
"Yes, squad leader!"
"Yes, squad leader!"

His team replied in unison as they followed behind him heading in the direction of the front lines.

Lenik gasped in pain as Vishara held on to his arm, studying the deep gash left there by the Droid that now lay dismantled at their feet. He was but a Padawan, a human born on Coruscant, and Vishara could sense his welling desperation.

He is fighting for more than the Jedi. He is fighting for his home, his family. His emotions will get the best of him, she thought. Battle was one situation that could spark many feelings associated with the Dark side, and Vishara worried that a seed of darkness may be planted in more than one Jedi on this day. She vowed to do what she could to prevent such a thing.

“Young Lenik, this is but a scratch. I will heal it promptly,” she stated as she began to mend the wound using the Force, while also secretly bolstering his morale using a subtle form of Battle Meditation. Her golden eyes locked with his blue, and she slowly saw the negative emotions melting away as she aligned her Force sensitivity with his, correcting the minute discrepancies between them; his eyes grew brighter, and she could feel his body become stronger--more confident. He nodded at the Togruta woman, understanding what she had done to calm him, and she sensed his gratitude with their newly shared bond formed of the Battle Meditation technique. It would fade with time, but for today she would be able to help keep Lenik centered and focused, even from a distance.

With his wound healed and his self-control restored, Lenik reactivated his lightsaber and leapt at a Droid group encroaching on their right flank, deflecting their blaster fire as he came down upon them; as he was deep in his dance, blue lightsaber flashing in all directions, Vishara focused on the group coming from their left. Watching them carefully, she sensed their movements with her hollow montrols on her head, which gave her that extra sense of echolocation. With each step they took, she could feel her montrols vibrate slightly, indicating their position, speed, size, and number; this was a natural ability of all Togruta, but Vishara had learned to apply her Force sense to her montrols, giving her the ability to essentially "see" everything around her without vision. Her muscles remained taut, her stance one of a Jedi Consular prepared for battle--giving the appearance of being serene or even being nonchalant, but ready to bend the Force to her whim with but a thought.

Blaster fire raced toward her, but she did not touch her lightsaber. That tool is for killing, not for fighting machines.

In that instant, she transformed into a whirling dervish, her long orange and white head-tails flying in the air along with her brown Jedi robes; using the Force, she deflected the blaster fire with blinding speed, sending most of the deadly lasers back to their sources, destroying the Droids with their own weaponry. She stopped spinning and regained her serene stance, focusing on the remaining Droids--there were only three now, closing on her fast. Lifting her hand, she began to probe the machines with the Force, and found the mechanism she was searching for. With a tiny flick of her fingers, she destroyed this mechanism, and the Droids fell to the ground, permanently deactivated.

Lenik was just finishing up with his group when he looked at her in wonder. “How is it that you are not yet a Master?” he inquired.

Vishara smiled knowingly and said, “We all have strengths and weaknesses, young Lenik. My strengths happen to be with the Force. My weaknesses prevent me from becoming a Master. It is a part of myself that I have learned to accept, and I hope that one day I will overcome my weaknesses, just as we all hope.”

Lenik nodded in understanding, sending her feelings of support through their temporary Force-connection before continuing to search for more approaching enemies, but found none.

With this defensive turret secured, Vishara began reaching out with the Force to see where she might be needed on the battlefield. She shuffled through the explosions, the blaster fire, the lightsabers, searching for any areas of weakness, but found that most of the turrets had been successfully defended for the time being. As before, the sense of foreboding lingered in the Force, something sinister--something she did not understand. She took a moment to quell the rising fear of the unknown. Fear will kill a Jedi faster than any lightsaber, she thought. Suddenly, she felt a larger ripple in the Force, and knew immediately that Dark Jedi were landing near the Temple grounds--a sizeable group, if she could sense the disturbance through all the chaos.

Her probing complete, she ordered Lenik to remain at the turret in case more Droids appeared, and then rushed off in the direction of the disturbance. She soon found Master Varrik and Master Kiana speaking to one another as a dropship landed before them. The transport opened, revealing many Dark Jedi with their red lightsabers activated.

Vishara made her presence known by stating, “Master Varrik, Master Kiana. I am here to support you,” and her hand grasped her lightsaber. She would need it for this battle, she knew.

Willo Assay

The Jedi continued to gather, but Willo would let the fodder throw themselves away into the front lines. There would be other ways into the temple, and she'd find them if she had to carve one out herself. Tossing one last look the the Zabrak, she cut to the side and transitioned from the open streets to the more confined quarters between sealed buildings. If he was going to follow, he would do so, if not she would just have to hope from a distance that he wasn't a failure.

The alleys provided ample concealment from the light of battle outside, with only the occasional blaster fired at such an angle flashing red into the shadows. It wouldn't get her inside perhaps, but close enough to find a way. Closer than the front-liners would get, anyway.

A sudden movement in front of her refocused her eyes, and she came to a steady halt in the dark, cramped alley. A man stood across from her, and for a moment she thought it to be another Dark Jedi with a similar idea to her own. However, a second glance to his light robes and wide, naive eyes told her that it was quite the opposite. They stood still for a few moments, he seemed unsure whether or not she was an enemy. Willo's lips pulled into an open grin, then the man reached for his saber.

For the briefest moment the alley was lit by a vibrant green light as his sword ignited, but Willo lunged forward like a snake. She grabbed his wrist and sent a quick jab to his face, which served as distraction enough to fling the blade from his hand. He threw a punch and she dodged, her natural Vahlan flexibility helping to clear the blow easily, then locked her shins against his before he could kick. Willo struck his chest and gut, and when he hunched from the blow she brought her knee into his nose with a sickening 'crack'. The man reeled back in pain, but she threw her weight into him and held him against the wall, one hand over his mouth, the other over his chin. It was just a flicker of power, the force pulsing through her veins and coalescing as powerful but contained emission that broke his neck before he could muster a counter attack. It was over.

Willo let go and he slumped to the ground, only then noticing the long braid slung across his shoulder.

"Your master should be disappointed," she mused, before continuing on through the alley. If the young man's master was indeed around, she didn't want to have to take another detour to deal with them.

By the end of the alleyway she was looking up at the temple from close by. Much of the hardest fighting was behind her in the streets, but here she could control her combat environment. Willo waited once again, this time for an ample distraction that she could use to find a way inside.

Sesran noticed the Vahla girl disappear into a nearby alley, he thought for a second to follow as she had hinted earlier, he did wish to gain some ally in the fray, however stubborn he was, and adamant that he could do this with sheer strength alone, decided not to follow her into the alley, but instead move close to one of the Dark Jedi.
"You-" Sesran spoke to the dark one.

"The Vahla is flanking them, perhaps she will come full circle through the Temple. We must do what we can do secure as safe zone within the wall, move in as soon as possible."
His words were firm. Sesran fled to the side of the Temple, opposite the Vahla's direction. Sesran could sense multiple Jedi, nothing of awesome power but just enough to kill the small squad of Dark Jedi alone.
"I am going to run and try to secure a spot within a corridor, after this if I am alive, you will follow-" He said allowed, but implied to the other party.
Sesran sprinted to the Temple entrance, all he could see was rubble. They blocked the only way in, clever strategy he thought.

He looked towards the other Jedi, motioned for them to come close.
"Alright, it seems they have destroyed the entrance, and any other possibilities. I am going to follow the Vahla through the alleyway, perhaps there are more entrances."
Sesran had no choice but to follow the girl.

He walked for a short time to find a dead Jedi, there were no saber markings. She killed him with her bare hands, he smirked.
*This is getting interesting*

“Commander Skywalker, twenty five gunships have joined our flight.” Appo said quickly.

“501st?” Anakin asked.

“Indeed sir. The boys are ready to play.” Appo joked as their Gunship soared between the massive skyscrapers before lining up a straight shot with the airfield, allowing the ship to begin accelerating to full speed. Behind them trailed twenty five additional gunships that had been sent up from the Cruiser Staging Area. They carried with them seven hundred and fifty clone soldiers of the 501st, with some soldiers from other battalions mixed in. This force was to act as the first of many reinforcement runs to bolster the airfields defenses. The gunships quickly closed the distance, and soon a red light filled the cabin.

“Sir, we have a landing area in sight.”Appo spoke as he and the ten other soldiers with him readied their weapons. “It's a ways back from the fighting but that's as close as we're going to get.” Appo spoke as he gripped his hand tightly around the overhead supports

“Take us down as-”

“Incoming!” The pilot shouted as a single red laser bolt slammed into the cheek of the gunships face. Half of the cockpit was blown apart in an instance, sending sparks throughout the consoles of the gunship and the copilot flying out of the opening. Off to the side of the airfield, about a kilometer away from the republic positions, stood a single AAT tank and a small collection of droids in escort.

“We hit one?” The commander droid surprisingly spoke. His glowing eyes watched as the Gunship billowed smoke in it's wake as it flew over the Republic Airfield“We hit one! Yay!” He gleefully said as the the droids around him began exchanging high fives and exited cheers. His head clicked back into position, watching the gunships and lining up a second shot when a certain site caught his attention“Uh oh.” The commander sadly said as one of the Gunships broke off from the flight and had begun to hover nearby. “Roger, roger.” Another droid chimed in. “Aim for the gunship, hurry!” The droid ordered as his voice broke. His hands had been placed firmly on his head as he sized up the enemy before him. The gun on the tank first turned horizontal, clanging into position before slowly rising vertically. The Gunship opened fire on the droids, with the pin point lasers cutting through the droids as a Mass-Driver missile slammed into the tank, sending an explosive cloud of fire and shrapnel raining down all around. The clones inside the gunship quickly rappelled down from the gunship, and made their way to defend the flanks.

“Sir! I've lost most controls, we're going down.” The pilot panted. A piece of shrapnel could be seen sticking out of his blackened side, blood gushing from the wound. “I'll try to set her down as softly as I can.”

The Gunship limped over the Republic position below as it slowly lost altitude. As it flew dangerously close to the Venators beneath it did the engines go out. The nose pitched hard towards the ground below, with the pilot using every last bit of his strength to keep it from nose diving any further. “Engines gone.” The pilot said as the sound of an engine spinning down was heard as they neared the last of the Venators. “We're going to hit the top of that ship.” He spat out, as a series of coughs stole his voice. Anakin's hand was thrown out quickly. His eyes closed as he began to focus. The front of the ship moaned as the force began to pull it upwards. The pilot watched with a cautious eye as their ship passed mere feet above the top of the Venator. A few seconds later they impacted the ground, aft section first.

Dirt exploded out in front of them as the nose slammed down into the ground. The nose of the craft dug deep into the ground causing a trench to be dug as they skid across the airfield. After a few moments skidding on the airfield, the aircraft turned to the side and flipped. The wing of the Gunship crumpled under the weight of the rest of the ship. A moment later the ship had came to a complete stop just two hundred meters away from their clone positions. While they were safe for now, the enemy was just three hundred meters away and ever gaining.

“Everyone ok?” Asked Appo as he stood up in the now sideways Gunship. “Master Skywalker?” He asked as he turned around to see the Jedi Master on the ground with his eyes closed.

“He's alive, sir.” A clone medic shouted. “Knocked out is all.”

"How?" Appo asked.

"Hit his head off my gun as the nose hit the ground, sir." A clone replied.

“Ok!” Appo shouted as he readied his weapon. “You clones, get outside and defend this gunship. Keep to cover.” He shouted as the clones readily made their ways up and out the open end. He tapped a few buttons on his wrist, causing a channel to be opened with the Clones nearby. “Mayday, mayday, this is Commander CC-1119. Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker's shuttle has been shot down and we are in need of imminent reinforcements.”

The clone soldiers were soon joined by Appo as they began to fire on the ever approaching CIS forces as they kept in cover behind their downed Gunship.

- - - - -

“The promised one was shot down?” The Blackguard commander spoke as a Droid present a holomap of the area in front of him.

“Roger, roger.” The droid chimed back. “We intercepted a message from a clone.” The droid informed the Blackguard Elite Wielder.

“Good.” He spoke as he moved towards the holotable. “How many Dark Jedi have landed thus far?” He asked.

“We have had several additional shuttles drop do-” The droid started.

“Not the shuttle count you useless piece of scrap metal.” The Blackguard Commander said as he balled his fists. “How many Dark Jedi?” He asked in a tone that removed all doubt.

“Around one thousand sir! Every time we try and count one kills another, so it can be dif-” The droid started.

“Good.” He spoke as he pointed with his right hands pointer finger towards the holomap. “Send two hundred down our left flank supported by commando droids. The right flank gets three hundred with Droidekas and Commando droids. Sent what ever mercenaries we have, especially the Gamorreans, down the right flank as well.” He said as he folded his arms behind his back once more. “I expect the enemy will provide quite the fight in the north.”



The thunderous sounds of battles being waged off in the distance were music to the ears of Anora as she slowly strode out of the shuttle and onto the ground. Being off the shuttle and out of the way of the anti-air cannons was a welcome relief for her. Her head sharply turned to the left, resting there for a second before it quickly turned the other way. After a moment her head slowly moved back to the front, and she began to examine the turret they had landed near. Her eyes fixated on the Jedi that stood at the guard. Beneath her mask her eyes closed, as she raised her right hand up and reached out with the force. She felt confusion, anxiety, fear but above all else she felt the hope that the Jedi's before her clung to. Her eyes quickly shot open as one of the Jedi near the gun felt different.

“Not many of those Dark Jedi made it, I was told to expect a small army on arrival.” She spoke. “Run off to play hero have they?” Her form move forward a few feet. Her head locked in on the Jedi, examining him in detail as best she could from this distance.

“Around thirty Dark Jedi have indeed run off, from reports many have perished while the remaining few are pushing on the temple as we speak.” One of her fellow Blackguards informed her.

“Tell the Mandalorians to keep their distance if they do get engaged.” She said as her face turned slightly to the left. “They are more valuable alive. If those Sith idealist draw the attention of the Jedi Knights before we punch a hole in their gun's then they're as good as dead already.” She finished by turning her head back towards the Jedi. A smirk crossed her face. He was different from the rest of the order, that much was certain, but how much so?

“Take the shuttles and execute the attack on the secondary grid.” She said as she turned towards her fellow Blackguard named Kham. “Have you got conformation from the Mandalorian named Ardur, is he and his forces in position?” She asked.

“We're in position, ma'am.” A voice over her comms spoke. “One kilometers out and high up. We got you covered.”

“Good.” She replied “Anyone closer?” She asked.

“Yes ma'am. Thirty Neo-Crusaders have been moved within five hundred meters and are to remain hidden until you call.” The voice responded.

“Good.” She replied once again. “Kham” She said as she looked at the Blackguard standing next to her. “Take what forces we have here, I would like to have a conversation with that Jedi.” She said as her head turned once more to face the Jedi with the short hair and rugged face. “I think we can have quite the conversation.” She said as she sat down on the ground.

“And if he refuses to listen?” Kham asked.

“Then I will kill him and his fellow Jedi, now go.” She said as she began meditating. Her body began floating off the ground as she embraced the force.

Willo Assay

The battle continued on and Willo saw that the Dark Jedi were thinned in number. Pitiful, the fight would be over if all they had to rely on were the droids. She remained hidden in the shadows, watching, concealing herself and her presence from any Jedi who might be snooping around with their senses extended. The temple looked sturdy, and many of the other entrances were shut off, but Willo could make do with a small hole or a thin opening. If she made it in she might even consider opening a few doors to help spread a little panic, draw attention away from the archives long enough for her to work her magic. She spotted a few cracks in the foundation, and from eyeball distance guessed that she could squeeze through.

Her attention was pulled to the sound of another's approach, and she peered down the alley to see not another Jedi, but the Zabrak. The grin returned, and she stepped from the shadows. "Well well, look who's here. Conceal yourself and come observe."

She turned back to the temple, eyes finding the crack in the wall once again. "The Dark Jedi are falling, I'd suppose whoever is supposed to be leading this attack is either dead or should be. I'm going to find a way inside, open a few doors and see if they can take use of the handicap. I trust you're competent enough to handle getting in once that's done?"

=Behind a Turret on the Edge of the Battlefield=
A collaboration between Nariata and Exodus

The situation was worsening. With the Dark Jedi only just starting to split up, Varrik would have to wait before he moved, otherwise they'd be easily outnumbered. Luckily, none of them had engaged him before he was greeted by a friendly face.

"It's odd that we find ourselves back to back."
"Master Kiana! A most fortunate surprise indeed. Though, not any more odd than any other two Masters meeting eachother."
"The two of us that have seen the Dark side of the force and both have rejected it. Let us hope that that choice served to extend our lives rather than shorten them."

He nodded once, suddenly understanding.

"... Indeed..."

Varrik made no secret of his use of both sides of the Force. The Force, light or dark, was a tool to be used. Using the dark side of the Force made one prone to corruption, yes, but so long as it could be kept under control, it could be used safely. He'd rather break the Jedi code and complete the mission rather than fail and die. That being said, his opinion on the matter was obviously that of the minority, and his behavior was tolerated, so he felt no need to fight the Order on it.

He was just about to suggest a plan of action to Kiana when another familiar Jedi appeared before them.

“Master Varrik, Master Kiana. I am here to support you."
"That was a well-timed appearance, Master Vishara. You're just in time to help us break back through to the temple. It would take more Dark Jedi than they've got in any one place to overwhelm the three of us together."

He scratched his beard as he formulated a plan.

“But we still don't want them to come running... So here's what I'm thinking... If we cut straight through, they'll notice, and then we'll get swarmed. Instead, we're going to skim along the edge, keeping a low profile. They're further in towards the temple than we are right now, which gives us just enough surprise to use to our advantage. Keep your lightsabers unignited, and they might not notice which side you’re on. The clones will cover us from behind, except for 3354, who I want here on recon. Keep us updated on new shuttles.”
“Yessir.”
“Alright. Let’s move.”

Before he started moving, he noticed a single Dark Jedi, a woman, sitting down on the field. She was meditating, and he could feel her strength with the Force. She was different than her peers on the field; more powerful. He wasn't going to sit and wait for her to make a move. Instead, he beckoned the other two Jedi with him, and started moving away. He hadn't noticed that she'd since lifted off the ground, nor had he realized he just put his own man in danger.

-----

Anora sensed that the Jedi were moving away as a group. She reached out through the force, though her connection with the Jedi dimmed with every passing second. A thousand ideas on how to procede filled her head, before she settled on a show of force to start.

"Ardur." She spoke "Do you have a shot on the clone trooper standing seven feet to the right of the turret?" Her eyes remained closed yet she could sense the clone soldiers determenation to hold his ground, standing out like a bright light on a dark winters night.

"I do." He replied.

Hesitating for a second, she responded with "Take your shot."

It took just a few seconds for the Mandalorian marksman to firet. In his possesion was a modified Corellian laser sniper rifle, sporting a much longer barrel, higher zoom scope as well as a more powerful energy cell. The beam from the laser would impact in an instant on the clone CT-3354. Without a sound being made, save for the gargled noises coming from the throat of the clone, the laser punched a hole straight through his armor. The beam was so powerful, in fact, that it burned a dark black scorch mark on the ground oppositie side of where it went through the clone.

"Have the Neo-Crusaders attack on my signal." She responded as he continuted floating.

There was no sound. Only a ripple in the Force, as a life was ripped away. Varrik stopped moving and confirmed his suspicions. CT-3354 was dead, and Varrik knew it was his fault... He started moving towards the temple again. The guilt would have to wait.

Anora reached out in the force once more, this time sensing the Jedi trying to run. "Cute." She spoke. She could feel the guilt in the Jedi's heart over an action he could not have predicited. "If you won't come willingly." She spoke as her eyes flew open. "Then I'll force you."

Her right hand quickly clenched into a fist, using the force to grab ahold of the Jedi. As her grip grew stronger around him, she felt his pace come to a stop and slowly did she pull him off the ground. A smile spread across her face as she forced her arm back, pulling the Jedi along with it. Her eyes carefully watched the Jedi as he flew backwards, before releasing her grip on him as he neared the ground.

He was caught off-guard when he was lifted and jerked backwards, hitting the ground with a roll and springing up in the same motion. Standing face-to-face with his attacker, he realized who it was: the Dark Jedi woman. Luckily, his lightsaber hadn't been knocked from his hand. He spun it in his hand into position, not breaking eye-mask contact, as he ignited the single yellow blade.

Anora still remained floating several inches above the ground as the Jedi rolled off the impact and ignited his blade. Levitating her body up high enough for her legs to reach full length, she slowly lowered her body down until her feet were once again on the ground. Her eyes never left the Jedi, however, and she was careful not to lose her guard so soon.

"Good afternoon, Jedi." She spoke in a emotionless tone. She extended her arms out to her sides, and open her palms up. Grabbing hold of her lightsabers with the force, she quickly pulled her blades into her hands. "You are unlike the other Jedi." She said plainly. She ignited her lightsabers, one at a time, before giving them a twirl in her hands. Her eyes caught sight of a male Twi-Lek Jedi rushing over from the tower. In one quick motion, she deactivated her right hands lightsaber and used the force to levitate it in the air. Pulling back her right hand, she focused and reached out with the force towards the Jedi. Her right hand shot with blinding speed, sending the Twi-Lek Jedi flying backwards towards the defense tower, impacting with a solid and audible thud.

As her lightsaber slowly decended back into her hand, she was annoyed by the attempted interuption. "Send in the Crusade." She spoke over her headset to her soldiers nearby.

In an instant, the Neo-Crusaders sprung from their hiding places. These soldiers were adorned with the armor of the Neo-Crusanders of old, think sloping armor being the common theme among them. Each carried with them a Blaster Rifle and a vibroblade, yet they were cannon fodder as far as Anora was concerned. Mandalorians too new to war to fight in the armor of the Mandalores Fist, yet driven by their desire to prove themselves in battle. A crude force, yes, but a easily motivated one.

"Since we won't be disturbed by your friends, may we have a chat?" She said as she pushed off the ground with the force, jumping closer to the Jedi while slashing out with her blades.

He kicked off the ground with his heel, using the force to slide backwards. His feet only moved about an inch off the ground, and his legs barely moved at all. Before he landed, he had a second lightsaber, this one with a purple blade, drawn and ignited. Her blades were shorter than normal; his saberstaff wasn't suitable.

"Sounds harmless enough," he retorted. "About?"

He waited for her to make a move. She had his full attention, now. He was ready.

"About the only thing that matters to us." She said as she twirled her lightsabers once more, spinning them at a blindly fast rate. "Balance." She said as she first threw out her left hand saber, before throwing the right hand one.

He stepped forward, making two quick motions. his left saber to the left, and right saber to the right, knocked both of his attackers' on the ground.

Using the force, Anora pulled on her lightsabers, forcing the twin blades back towards the Jedi.

Fully expecting the reaction, he pushed out with the Force on both sides, just enough to guide the two sabers around his body. He used the motion to wind up into two swings just as they returned to her hands.

Anora quickly caught her blades and in an instant met the Jedi strike with crossed blades above her head. The impact forced Anora down on one knee for a second. Using the force to assist her, Anora forced the blades of the Jedi off her own with a thrust upwards and force jumped backwards, geting some distance once more between the two. She twirled her sabers in her hands once more as she cautiously eyed the Jedi before her.

"You're very fast." She commented. She moved slowly to her left before charging the Jedi once more. At the last second her arms flung out to the sides, before being pulled back in towards the midsection of the Jedi.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've heard that," Varrick said suggestively, with a grin. He moved his arms in sync, slashing upwards with his sabers to knock the attack upwards and out of the way.

Anora twirled the blades in her hand, using the force of the deflection to flip the bade in her hands before lunging out with her right hand in a stab. He slid to his right to avoid the stab, and came down with his own right saber at her arm. Anora spun her body, both slashing once more with a backhand strike from her right hand saber while catching the strike with her left hand saber. Varrik leaned back out of the way of her right hand saber, before using the same kickback slide technique to put a couple feet between them.

"Who are you, and what do you want?"

Anora slowly brought back her arms close to her hips as she hesitated to speak for a second. "My name is Anora." She said as she deactivated her lightsabers, knowing full well she could activate them in an instant. She took a second to continue, prefering to let the sounds of the neaby battle drift over to their ears. "And I'm here to end your oppresive order."

Varrik kept his lightsabers lowered, but didn't retract their blades. He was waiting for the blaster bolt out of nowhere, or a surprise attack from behind. He started circling her as he spoke.

"The Jedi serve the people, not the other way around." He twirled the yellow blade around once. "... You singled me out. Why?"

"Because you think different, the Jedi who were with you felt like the others. Cold, distant, and confined." She twirled her deactivated lightsabers in her hand. "Tell me Master Jedi, are you like them? Do you believe in restricting the force like the rest of them? Or do you yearn to be freed from your shackles?"

"I'm guessing you already know the answer to those questions. But now, you tell me. Do you see shackles?"

"Indeed i do." She answered plainly as he raised her lightsaber hilt and pointed it at the Jedi. "I see the chains of an order that promises peace, but only brings ruin to those it's sworn to protect." Pausing as she ignited the blade. "Tell me, Master Jedi, would the monster Palpatine have existed if you Jedi denied the force in it's entirety?" Pausing as she deacivated it once more. "Ignorance breeds fear, fear breeds hate and hate breeds violence." Pausing as she brought her sabers close to her chest, crosing them a few feet in front of them before igniting them once and for good. "The Jedi Order is no better than the Sith."

He raised an eyebrow. 'the monster Palpatine?' She obviously had no Sith aspirations. Good.

"Palpatine wasn't born out of ignorance... No." He flourished the purple lightsaber as he spoke. "Power corrupts. It's as simple as that, and it takes extreme self-restraint to not seek more once you've got a taste. Some people can't help themselves. Although... I'd agree with you on the part about ignorance." He let the comment about the Jedi being no better than the Sith slide. He wasn't going to argue even deeper philosophy in a warzone.

"Master Jedi, we shall continue this talk another time." She said as an explosion echoed from the turret. Her Neo-Crusaders, while badly beaten, had managed to get an explosive device inside the gun turret causing it to explode in a ball of fire. "There is no light side, nor is there a dark." Her body shifted backwards, bracing for another force jump. "There is only the force." She spoke as she force jumped bacwards a few paces. "Until we meet again, Master Jedi." She started to run away from the scene as fast as she could. Nearby the sounds of a jetpack flying through the air could be heard as one of the Mandalorian mercanaries came flying in. Anora force jumped into the air, right hand stretched towards the sky. The Mandalorian grabbed hold of her arm, and began to carry her towards their next destination. As she flew away she kept her eyes locked on the Jedi.

Varrik watched her as she was carried away by the Mandalorian, and retracted the purple blade.

"... Anora..."

Whit received the message he had been dreading. The Major, his difficult-to-distinguish voice coming over the comms wreathed in static, crackled out of Whit's in-helmet speakers, speaking quickly and without interruption.

"Captain 7, you have new orders. General Skywalker's transport crashed near enemy lines, needs immediate extraction. Push forward ASAP, relieve the General. Expect heavy resistance and platoon-numbers of Dark Jedi. Once you engage the forces approaching the general, dig in and resist attacks. The Second and Fourth companies are on their way."

Map coordinates flashed on Whit's HUD, and after he flashed acknowledgement the Major's voice and the accompanying hiss of static cut off abruptly. He was filled with trepidation; he'd been given suicide detail, no doubt about it. He had a hundred and twenty combat-ready soldiers, and had been ordered to engage dozens of saber troops on the enemy's terms. Obviously, there was no thought of disobeying, but his indoctrination did not stop him from dreading the mission. He opened up communications to his Lieutenants.

"New orders from Battalion Command. We have been assigned to relieve the trapped troops of General Skywalker, on the airfield. Begin moving at double time, reduce covering troops to allow for greater speed. Avoid sep strongpoints, leave them for our reinforcing troops. We're tightening the front, delta platoon is to fold in and follow behind beta no further than seven minutes: you are to stay in reserve to reinforce engaged troops. Good luck clones."

Four lights blinked green, and he stood from his position on the wall and began moving out with Alpha. Alpha was the right-hand platoon, with Beta in the center and Delta on the left, Gamma swinging into a support position. His units were closing in slightly on each other, tightening their battle line to facilitate their double-time advance southwards, preparing to crash into the left side of the Dark Jedi. He was just over two miles from the airfield, and his hurried advance southwards. The quarter of an hour rush towards the south was a blur for Whit, his mind racing in preparation for his engagement with the formidable saber-wielding shock troops. He was vaguely aware of blasting at droids, pinning their forces for gamma to mop them up, his advance never stopping for more than a handful of seconds. His soldiers performed admirably, their charge not stopping for wounded or dead, which approached twenty clone casualties by the time the rush was over. To his immense relief, he ran across a small squad of clones, some lads from the 9th regiment who were separated from their unit, and he incorporated them into his weakened delta platoon, the foreign clones slotting into familiar roles as naturally as possible.

He could almost see the airfield, and could certainly hear the roar of heavy combat, when he engaged his first dark jedi. Six of them charging towards the left flank of Alpha, their lightsabers burning red down a wide avenue. They were out of position, clearly swinging wide due to a lack of discipline or cohesion, and they were fortunately unsupported by any large force of ranged troops. It could not be a more favorable engagement, to Whit. He was in a building at the end of the avenue, one with dozens of windows with excellent view of the wide street and, consequentially, the dark jedi, not suppressed by sip blaster fire and able to take full advantage of easy firing lanes. Whit sent the third squad down the road slowly, blasting at the dark jedi who were clearly pondering whether or not to engage. Their pride made their decision for them when they saw less than a dozen clones advancing towards them. The dark jedi dashed down the road, and before anyone could react the lead black-robed figure sliced a clone clean in two. Unfortunately for the rest of the sabers, they were not quite fast enough. Third squad rolled flash grenades and prepared to withdraw, and while the clone visors washed out the blinding magnesium light most of the dark jedi were not as well prepared. The building Whit occupied exploded in blue light as the rest of the platoon opened fire, the two heavy machine-blasers firing as fast as possible. Three dark jedi went down immediately: two caught blaster fire in the head or chest, large holes punched through them, killing them almost instantly. One was hit in the leg, and while the thin robed man fell to the ground he was hit again in the arm, taking him out of the fight. The three other dark jedi had not been as effected, or at least had been able to use the force to deflect enough blaster fire to get out of the line of fire, hiding behind the only real cover in the street, an overturned hovertruck. It must have seemed liked a good idea to them, to keep their cohesion and prepare a strike. Whit disagreed, and with a motion an AT trooped readied his weapon, preparing to fire HEAT at the potentially-explosive truck sheltering the three hostiles. Whether the dark jedi sensed the danger, or whether it was just a coincidence was beyond Whit, but just before the rocket troop managed to fire the overturned truck flew as though swatted by a petulant giant, hurling end over end towards the building. Whit managed to dive away from the point of impact, the shattering glass and stone missing him by more than a foot, but the rocket troop was not as lucky: his crumpled body was only kept in one piece by his armor, but his form was broken and twisted and very clearly dead. Any other, non-clone unit would have been too shocked to take advantage of the situation, but GAR troops were a cut above, and as soon as the truck cleared the ground the fire resumed, cutting down two of the remaining jedi, who were unprepared due to the extreme force exertion. Two fell to blaster fire after deflecting a few rounds, one managing to redirect a shot to kill another third squad soldier before dying to the overwhelming fire, spread over their entire body as doctrine demands, and the third and only combat-ready dark jedi, surviving by an impressive defensive display and a lighter load of fire directed towards her shorter twi'lek form, retreated with the same blistering speed that had been used at the charge.

It was a prodigious success. Common wisdom said one dark jedi on even terms equals a squad of clones at the very least. Whit, fortunately, with his perfect conditions, managed to dispose of five saber troops with only three deaths, supplemented by three lightly wounded clones who had been clipped by deflected blaster fire. Morale was understandably high, and as the advance continued he received reports of his other platoons gaining defensive positions, which Alpha managed too in a span of minutes, Whit preparing for the coming, likely extremely fatal, engagement with the dark jedi and droids he could see in the distance.

It took only a few minutes of sustained running for the Jedi, Kappa Squad, and the 5-man Clone Trooper team (which they figured out was named Tide Squad) to reach the location that Jovardo was speaking of. Red blaster fire was flying everywhere, both overhead and hitting debris. Clones went down as shots nailed their armor whenever they peeked out of cover and returned fire at the wrong time. The air was filled with the sound of the voices of both clones and Jedi as they ran through the raging battle.

"Stick to cover! Don't advance until the flanks have been bolstered!"

"'54 and '99 are down! I need new marksmen to take their positions!"

"I need some long range explosives here, they're setting up heavy gun positions!"
"Lambda squad is on the way, general!"

"Get that heavy turret reloaded, trooper!"
"We're down to our last 3 ammo boxes, sir!"

"Get the wounded behind cover, have another unit replace Phi Squad at their position!"
"Yes, ma'am!"

"We need a Medic over here, NOW! I've got a dozen hurt men and we're all out of bacta!

After passing through several Jedi and clone squads each holding different areas of the field, they reached a battle near the outskirts of the airfield and found a Mon Calamari Jedi leading a 20-man Clone unit, deflecting blaster bolts for them as the troopers fired upon the CIS army marching from the distance. The clones were armed with a mixture of DC-15S carbines and DC-15A long range rifles. The ones with the carbines had positions further up while the ones with the longer rifles had positions in the back, using debris as both cover and vantage points.

"Kappa lead, permission to use my air filter?" Cockpit asked. "Really, Cockpit? You have to do this, now?" Signal answered in annoyance. "What?! You can't deny that a Rodian and a Mon Calamari smell funny. Smelling two of them at the same time can be really distracting." Cockpit replied. "We've breathed through worse things, Pit. Permission denied. Now shut up before the generals hear you." Spotter answered. "Yes sir..." Cockpit answered in a disappointed tone.

"Master Bikarim!" Jovardo said. "Jovardo, glad to see you've finally joined the fight. Take position on our right flank and keep the blaster fire off of our men! They'll be in charge of picking off these walking scrap heaps." The Mon Calamari Jedi said as he deflected a couple of shots coming at him, right back at the marching droid line. A B2 Super Battledroid at the front stopped firing its wrist blaster, raised its arm and twisted it, and then aimed again to launch a rocket at the clone position.

"Incoming!" Shouted one of the riflemen. Bikarim lowered his lightsaber and put his left hand up as he manipulated the rocket, causing it to spin around in the air before reversing trajectory and heading back towards the Super Battledroid that fired it, causing it to exclaim a loud "NO!" and a fellow B1 to shout "You idiot! Why did you do that?!" before they were both blown apart.

"Keep firing! They can't advance as long as their frontliners keep getting shot down" Bikarim ordered. Jovardo took up his position in front of a few clones, but with some debris next to him in case he needed to retreat into cover. It was then that they saw it.

Dozens of robed figures began emerging from behind the droid lines in nearly all of the fronts of the CIS army. They donned black robes, hoods, facemasks, and a variety of armor that all gave off an ominous air. Then they drew lightsaber hilts from their robes and lit them up with red sabers as they started deflecting blaster bolts in the defense of the advancing droid army. "So this is what I've been feeling... Master Bikarim this battle just became much more difficult." Jovardo remarked. "Indeed it has, Master Jovardo... facing them head-on is not optimum circumstances either. This will be a challenge..." Bikarim answered.

"Kappas, set DC's to sniper mode and take up marksmen position at the following locations." Spotter ordered as he highlighted holographic waypoints on their HUD. "Eliminate priority targets with the following level of importance: Droid snipers, vulnerable Dark Jedi, unshielded Droidekas, and Heavy turret gunners. Leave most of the B1's and B2's to the rest to our troops. Save your ammo for the bigger threats." Spotter finished as he took up his own position behind the burnt fragment of a Venator's hull and began converting his DC into a sniper rifle. He glanced at his squadmates and saw that they were all in position already and the securing locks on their weapons. He then poked out of cover to search for targets with his scope.

The marching droid army could be clearly seen from any angle, but they weren't his concern. He scanned around the area swiftly (while glancing at the Dark Jedi up front to see if any of them had their guard down) until he saw a droid sniper behind the cover that they set up. He kept the crosshairs on his target as the B1 moved behind cover and looked around, constantly highlighting them with a red holographic x-ray view. And when they finally stopped, peeked out, and brought the scope of their gun up their head, Spotter took the shot. The sniper's head was shot clean off, causing the body to flinch backwards and fire the sniper rifle into the air before falling over, causing the red tracer shot to be visible from any angle.. "That ought to give away one sniper nest's position... Spotter thought.

He brought his DC down slightly and scanned the area with his own eyes. He saw the outline of what appeared to be three B1 droids setting up two heavy turrets near the frontlines, just behind a row of Super Battle Droids. Most likely intending to suppress their position. "We've got droids setting up heavy weapons over here, Mech help me take them out." Spotter said as he highlighted the turret position with a waypoint. "Yes, sir. I've got a shot on the gunner to the left." Mech replied. "Good. I'll take the one on the right. Shoot the turrets afterwards and put them out of commission" Spotter ordered as he aligned his crosshairs with the droid adjusting the tripod of the gun. "I've got a shot" Mech said. "Take it!" Spotter said as he pulled the trigger and the two droid gunners went down simultaneously. He lowered his aim towards the turret and saw the left turret erupt in sparks before he managed to fire at the right turret. "Mech always was quicker on the draw..." Spotter thought.

The 3rd B1 who was simply carrying ammo boxes to attach to the guns dropped the munitions and cupped its head in its hands in a panic before proceeding to retreat. Spotter was already searching for another target when he suddenly felt a rumble. He was in the middle of wondering whether it was an aircraft or a land vehicle when a battered Republic LAAT gunship came soaring overhead, smoke trail whizzing from the cockpit, or at least what remained of it as half seemed to have been blown off. It made a risky maneuver over one of the Venators in the field before crashing sideways into the middle of no-man's land. Spotter remained behind cover while seeing the spectacle unfold.

"Rolling heck! Did you guys see that?" Cockpit exclaimed on their comms. "We all saw that, Pit. That was a damn harsh landing. Think anyone lived through that?" Signal added. "I dunno. If anyone lived through that crash they'll get killed by the crossfire. It's not really our concern though, right squad leade-"

“Mayday, mayday, this is Commander CC-1119. Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker's shuttle has been shot down and we are in need of imminent reinforcements.”

"It wasn't. But now it might be. We're close to the crash site." Spotter said after receiving the distress call on the open frequency. "Well that's just typical... We're gonna jump into a meat grinder aren't we?" Cockpit replied. The squad's comm systems came to life "Kappa squad do you read?" a clone's voice said through the comm channel in between a few moments of static. "There's some static but it's minor. What is it, advisor?" Spotter replied. "New orders just came in from command. It is now top priority to recover general Skywalker. Several companies have already been redirected to draw fire away from his location and an extraction team is already mobilizing, but General Arligan Zey does not want to take any chances. Your squad is currently the closest one that we have, so you have been given this task. Gamma Company of the 3rd Infantry Regiment is reported to be attempting an insertion within the general vicinity to deny the enemy reinforcements, so hold position until then. I will mark their insertion point on your HUDs once they arrive. When they do, coordinate with their commanding officer and secure General Skywalker. More reinforcements are on the way but it is imperative that we secure the general ASAP. The Jedi Council will NOT tolerate failure. Good luck, squad." The transmission finished as it shut off. "Called it! We're going to the exact place we're most likely to die!" Cockpit remarked.

"Generals! We intercepted a distress call coming from that crashed Gunship. General Skywalker is there and they're requesting assistance. General Zey has ordered us to assist in his recovery once back up arrives." Spotter said to the Jedi through their comms. "Heard that loud and clear. We've also received orders from the Jedi temple to get to him as well until rescue arrives, so let's go together once our our reinforcements have started their attack." Bikarim answered as he deflected a couple shots "Alright! We get to be the brave warriors that save the Chosen One from the claws of death!" Cockpit exclaimed. "Your mood sure turned around fast." Signal commented. "I try to look at the bright side of things. Being negative a pain in the aft." Cockpit replied as he steadied his DC on the debris he was behind.

"Put a lid on it Kappas, and keep finding targets. We have to hold down this position until Gamma company arrives!" Spotter ordered as he started scanning the horizon for his next shot, which found its home in the chest of a Droideka that had just finished deploying.

@Mcmolly "The others were pinned, I had no choice, and believe... It was not my first, however I thought why not slaughter a few jedi, I'll be on your heels, less' you've any other plans." Sesran stared at the Vahla, he thought for a second.

"As well, I am Evidian, you may refer to me as darth, bestowed by my late master."