Nya was glad to have Morrin’s assistance, for their upcoming battle, she would need every hand she can get. From the looks of the situation, the enemy appeared to be well-equipped and had a clear plan. Compared to her own force, Nya could not help but feel a little overwhelmed. But there was no turning back, for she and her fellow defenders formed the last line between their foes and the Jedi Temple. The Separatist advanced assault was awfully close to her position, where the last pair of anti-air defense sat. They needed breathing room, they needed to push them back.

Nya quickly grabbed a blaster rifle from the nearby weapons crate, to supplement her pistol. The rifle was a KX-60 model, a popular weapon for SWAT units. This rifle was not a heavy duty weapon like the DC-15A, service rifle of the GAR. Instead, the KX-60 was lighter, better fitted for urban operations, and equipped with a variable power selector. It was capable of killing or stunning, depending on the user’s choice, a variety of aggressors from Wookies to battledroids.

Satisfied with her choice of rifle, Nya and her patrol also took inventory grenades. Being a law enforcement group, they had mostly stun and EMP grenades. But with the invasion and clone shock trooper reinforcements, a batch of thermal detonators and frag grenades also made their way into their arsenal. Both the non-lethal and lethal grenades would have they use, Nya noted. The stun grenades could help them capture enemy combatants for further interrogation, while the EMP grenades would fry the large stockpile of droids fielded by the CIS. The lethal grenades, however, would prove most handy. With the enemy wearing heavy Mandolorian armor, these explosives evened the odds.

Last piece of Nya’s kit was her baton, constructed from aluminum and reinforced with cortosis. The cortosis reinforcement was rare, something not standard issue and costed a good chunk of her salary. In addition to discharging a small current to shock anyone on the receiving end, the baton was also lightsaber proof, or so did the armorer claim. Even though she carried this particular piece of equipment to fend off any saber wielding attackers, Nya did not wish to test its capabilities. In fact, Nya hoped they would not even have to engage their enemies. She knew her enemy won’t just give up, not after destroying two, no, probably all four of the outer AA installations.

To tell the truth, Nya was actually a little frightened of the coming battle. The last 20 years of her life was spent dealing with criminals, not a group of elite commandos and dark jedis. She was unsure about the dark jedis in particular. Reports told that these saber swinging, force wielding warriors were more fearsome than all other CIS units. She wasn’t sure how Morrin kept calm, or at least, appeared so calm. Just do what you do best, Nya told herself, hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster.

Finally geared up and ready to go, her officers and the attached shock trooper squad stepped onto the two armored transports. “Let’s move out!” Nya gave the order. As the gunships departed toward the frontline, she moved to Morrin’s side. “I hope you’re ready, lets give ‘em hell.”

"I am ready madam, be careful of the Dark Jedi, there connection to the force allows them do things that are far beyond any normal being. I will try to keep them off of you and your troops as you engage the droids" he told Nya. He hoped that the temple security woman would heed his words, many soldiers have tried going up against force-wielders and have ended up dead. He was spending their ride towards the battle, gathering his focus and preparing himself for the fighting that was soon to come.

It was strange how fate would always find a way to turn something good into something bad. The Jedi Order thought that now Palpatine was dead and rule of two ended, the galaxy would finally be at peace. But now instead of peace, the Republic was on its knees and Speratists had aligned themselves with followers of the dark side. It seemed that the Jedi would forever be caught up between the conflict of light and darkness.

Isaac smiled as the Clones introduced themselves. Isaac shook Spotters hand, as he introduced the team. Radio, the communications expert. Cockpit, pilot and demolitions expert. Isaac smiled as the pilot-clone asked him what it was like to fly as a force sensitive. Isaac scoffed. “It's not like a weapons system. No, it's something more. When you're inside a spacecraft, controlling it's every movement, the force is a voice in the back of your head, that makes you aware of every little detail in your surroundings. It removes the pressure of being a pilot, and it guides you, always to safety. It's truly amazing.”

Isaac was about to move out, when he was interrupted by the somewhat shorter Padawan, Jason. Isaac looked the boy up and down, and then had a soft smile. “ If it's all right with Commander Spotter, you can come with, young Padawan. But remember. This is no game, this is real combat. These people are willing to lay down their lives for us. You will treat them with nothing but respect. You got that?” Isaac told Jason, his voice was serious, even if the knight himself was also something of a goof at times. He let out a light sigh, looking back at Jason.

“Stay close to me, and if the battle gets too hot. You run, back to the temple and await back-up. Master Kenobi or Windu.”

He turned back to the Commandos.

“Radio. Think you could check in with temple-security, try and give me details on Master Skywalker and his air force. We sure could use them.” Isaac asked with a soft voice.

“Read to move out when you are, Commander.”

“It's not like a weapons system. No, it's something more. When you're inside a spacecraft, controlling it's every movement, the force is a voice in the back of your head, that makes you aware of every little detail in your surroundings. It removes the pressure of being a pilot, and it guides you, always to safety. It's truly amazing.” Isaac said in response to Cockpit's question. The Commando nodded. "So... It's like a pilot advisor and automated flight system in one? Minus the annoyances?" Cockpit asked, half-jokingly. He chuckled and continued before the Jedi could answer. "In any case, thank you sir." He said with a nod. Another young man joined the group and asked to be part of their mission. Apparently, he was another Jedi, although a Padawan.

"Nice Deecee's. They the interchangeable or standard variant?... My bad, I should introduce myself. Padawan Jason Veritars. Pleased to meet you all." He said. Cockpit stepped towards him. "That's right, it's packing an Ion Blaster, Sniper, and Anti-Armor attachment; everything a Clone needs to turn a Droid Platoon into his own personal junkyard... A pleasure to meet a weapon connoisseur, such as yourself, as well " The Commando said.

Spotter also acknowledged the Padawan Jason. "You can come with us, but stay close to General Newgate and follow any orders given to you" He said to the young Jedi.

Isaac turned back to the squad and got Radio's attention. “Radio. Think you could check in with temple-security, try and give me details on Master Skywalker and his air force. We sure could use them.” He said. Radio nodded. "Not a problem, sir. I'll patch us through with the Temple in a moment." He said as he put his hand to his helmet and began accessing the different connections available for both the GAR and Coruscant Security. Eventually he managed to speak with a member of the Temple Security.

"This is RC-4211 of the Grand Army of the Republic. Special Operations Brigade. Can you read me?" He said out loud. "Good... May I know the status of General Skywalker and the 501st?" Radio continued. "I see... Right, understood.... Yes the 717th is preparing for a full assault, please notify him of that.... Also tell him to contact Commander Flash of the 717th before he moves against the airfield to coordinate the efforts." Radio finished as he shut off his comm-link.

"General Skywalker and a squadron of the 501st is getting ready to mobilize. There are also already elements of the 501st on the airfield and engaging CIS forces. They aim to assist them, along with General Shaak Ti." Radio reported in.

Spotter turned towards Isaac. "We'll move out once Commander Flash gives us the word. Until then we remain on standby." He said. Just as he said that however, Commander Flash approached the squad and the Jedis. "Kappa Squad, the Generals have given us the go-ahead for our plan. Gunship Triton will take your squad and land you wherever the defenses are weakest. With your supposed skills and a Jedi by your side, it shouldn't much of a problem." He said to them as a he pointed at a certain LAAT/i Gunship in the group of immobile vehicles. "Get moving, my diversionary assault force is about to move out. You will follow closely behind." Flash said. Spotter saluted. "Yes, sir." He said as he went towards the gunship, followed by the Kappas and the Jedi.

Meanwhile, Flash activated his comm-link. "Thrasher, the attack is a go. I repeat, the attack is a go."

"Yes sir!" Thrasher replied. He was seated inside one of the TX-130 tanks at the edge of the assembly area. He activated his own comm-link and spoke to his men. "We're rolling out, boys! Let's send some clankers all the way back to Raxus Prime!" He shouted from under his maroon Phase-II helmet. From outside the tank, the Clone division under Thrasher's command began shouting in affirmation as the TX-130's powered up and the Gunships ascended.
"Yeah!"
"Let's go, brothers!"
"Scrap them all!"
"For the Republic!"

It was quite a sight to see such a large force mobilizing. A row of four tanks led the way, backed by several squads of Clone Troopers walking briskly behind them. Another row of tanks moved behind them (each composed of four as well). Thrasher's tank was in the middle of the 2nd row, and he watched over them through the hatch on top of his TX-130. And behind the 2nd row was a single AT-TE. above the entire group were five gunships flying slowly to keep pace with them. And inside one of them was Kappa Squad, Isaac Newgate, and Jason Veritars. Kappa Squad looked down at the soldiers below them, and they all felt genuinely sorry for whatever enemy tried to get in the convoy's way.

As they flew, Spotter turned towards Isaac. "General Isaac, do you have any skills or weaknesses we should know about? So we can take them into account for our plans." He said with a pause, he then turned to Jason. "The same question goes for you too, sir." He finished.

"I'm not terribly strong in the force for anything outside of blowing doors open or knocking droids back. That's why I got my HUD. So I don't have to rely on the force to guide me. I'm good with a saber, and I operate like a commando. I was part of an op that went bad and my master at the time was killed. Spartan squad took me in and trained me on how to be a commando. So I could still handle myself in fight. Other than that, I can get pretty stubborn, so if you need to just pull me back from something stupid I'm about to do. Do it." He says to Kappa squad as they fly in. "Also, I bet my verpine can smash more clunkers than your DC's can while in sniper mode." The boy adds to his statement with a small grin. Then the padawan waits for isaac to speak next.

Isaac followed the Commandos, not saying a word as he got onto the ship. He wanted to clear his thoughts, it was just simply easier for him to handle war like that, it made him feel more connected to the force. Aboard the gunship, Spotter asked him about his strengths and weaknesses. “I'm an accomplished swordsman, held by Grand-Master Yoda and High-General Kenobi as one of the best in the order. My strength is duels against other wielders of lightsabers.”

“My weakness however, is multiple blasters being directed at me. You'd aid me best in covering me from blasters, and I'll protect you from the force sensitives of the dark side.” Isaac explained, calmly, as he shook his head again at Jason's remark. Kid's full of himself, isn't he.. He reminds me a lot of... Well.. Me.” Which was pretty strange for Isaac to think, as he only had a few years on the Padawan that say next to him, Isaac had only been a knight for a year and a half, after all.

"I'm not terribly strong in the force for anything outside of blowing doors open or knocking droids back. That's why I got my HUD. So I don't have to rely on the force to guide me. I'm good with a saber, and I operate like a commando. I was part of an op that went bad and my master at the time was killed. Spartan squad took me in and trained me on how to be a commando. So I could still handle myself in fight. Other than that, I can get pretty stubborn, so if you need to just pull me back from something stupid I'm about to do. Do it." Jason answered first.

Spotter nodded. "We'll see how you hold up in battle then." He said. "Also, I bet my verpine can smash more clunkers than your DC's can while in sniper mode." Jason added. Spotter grinned from underneath his helmet. The Commando then turned to Mech. "Mech, keep track of your kills in your DC's Sniper Mode." He said. Mech nodded. "Yes sir." He said flatly. Spotter turned back towards the padawan. "Mech will take up your challenge. But don't jeopardize the operation for any petty pride." The Commando said.

"I got dibs on his Verpine if Mech wins!" Cockpit added. Radio chuckled. "You're not even the one challenging him." He said. "So what? Mech doesn't mind. Right, buddy?" Cockpit replied as he turned towards Mech. Mech simply stared silently outside towards the cityscape. "See, he's totally fine with it." Cockpit continued.

Isaac spoke next. “I'm an accomplished swordsman, held by Grand-Master Yoda and High-General Kenobi as one of the best in the order. My strength is duels against other wielders of lightsabers... My weakness however, is multiple blasters being directed at me. You'd aid me best in covering me from blasters, and I'll protect you from the force sensitives of the dark side.” The Jedi Knight said. "We'll take care of the droids and other units then. Once we encounter opposition from Dark Jedi, we're going to have to count on you. We'll do what we can, but I don't know if our weapons will be able to do much, with our numbers." Spotter said.

Their conversation was interrupted with the sound of their comm-links activating. "Heads-up! We got contact up ahead!" A clone said.

Below them, the first row of TX-130's stopped and a clone popped out from the hatch of one of the tanks in the middle. He pulled down his rangefinder and looked at the droids approaching them. He could see B1's leading the force, backed by several B2 Super Battle Droids. And behind them was a row of Armored Assault Tanks, with possibly more soldiers behind them.

The clone put his hand up to his helmet and activated his comm-link. "Sir, we've got an entire battalion of B1's and SBD's up ahead, supported by armor. Orders?" He said. Thrasher, inside of his fighter tank, considered for a moment before speaking. "Company halt. We'll wait for those droids to get in our line of fire. Tanks, hold your position. Squads one through four, take up position behind the first tank row. Squads five through ten, head to the side of the street and get a vantage point from the buildings. AT-TE, you are to fire at will once they're in range. Gunships, pull back and await for my signal to move in" Thrasher commanded.

Like clockwork, the entire group of clones moved to their designated positions upon receiving their orders. Gunship Triton pulled away as well. However, Spotter activated his comms and spoke to Thrasher. "Sir, this is Kappa Squad. Requesting permission to take the gunship and flank the droid forces." He said. "I don't think that's advisable. This whole operation is resting on your squad's ability to sabotage them." Thrasher replied. "We can take care of ourselves. We'll eliminate any contacts we can while your company draws their attention." Spotter said. Thrasher paused.

"... Fine, but don't get yourselves killed out there. We can't afford to waste anymore time." He said. "Thank you, sir." Spotter replied as he shut off the comms. He then turned towards the pilot of the gunship. "Pilot, fly us to the right of the droid battalion, behind the cover of the buildings and land us in the first open area you see." He ordered. "Yes sir." The pilot replied.

With that, Gunship Triton separated from the pack and flew off into the structures of the city.

Admiral Synia stood on the bridge of his capital ship, the Hand of Fate. He observed the battle ongoing with the Republican Navy. It was more hectic than the First Battle of Coruscant. But suddenly one of the Radar Operators spotted something on his radar and spoke.

“Admiral, CNS Revenant is on a collision course with us.”

“What!? Get me the Commander!”

“Yes Sir!”

Admiral Synia waited for any kind of communication as he saw the Revenant spew flames out. This was not good. The ship could collide with others and every lost ship means a greater chance for the Republic Navy to win.

The Comm Operator spoke. “Admiral, I got communication with an Engineer. Patching you through.”

On the screen a nervous and sweating Human female spoke.

”Jedi’s and Clone Troopers infiltrated the ship. Guidance Computer compromised, the ship is-“

“Smoked… Damn Jedi and Republican Commandos” said Lyzander as a turbolaser broke the hull of the Revenant as he saw for a brief moment the Engineer in flames before losing communication. On his Comm Link Admiral Synia, spoke. “All ships in vicinity or near the Revenant, evasive maneuvers. And be prepared for any starship intrusion into your hangars. We got a Jedi and Commandos that could wreck our ships.”

Lyzander turned to his Comm Operator.

“I want 2 Lupus Class Frigates to fire a barrage of concussion missiles on the Revenant.”

“Roger that Admiral.”

The Comm Operator repeated the words of the Admiral “CNS Thoth and CNS Ryloth, brg Missiles towards the Revenant.” A barrage of concussion missiles would destroy the ship and prevent it from colliding with the others. Admiral Synia saw the the tight formation of the surrounding groups turn into a looser formation. This would allow much more breathing room for the CIS ships in combat.

A Collaberation between Rultaos and Hillan

Isaac listened in on what was said by the clones. It was a valid strategy, flanking the enemy with the Thrasher company taking the enemy forces head-on. Problem was that the droid outnumbered the clones several to one. The clones wouldn't stand a chance, so it was up to Kappa Squad and the two Jedi to turn the tide of this battle. Piece of cake, right? Isaac thought to himself, sitting in the gunship, meditating. "Jason. Sit down, you're making even me feel stressed. Take a few breaths of air, and calm down. Clear your head, the force will guide you. We'll complete our mission with full efficiency, if you focus. This is real battle, no time to make mistakes or run in half-cocked, like a chicken with it's head off." Isaac said, as he looked to the clones.

"Commander, what's our tactic for the flank?" Isaac asked Spotter, his legs still crossed and his eyes closed.

The Commando turned towards Isaac as he asked the question. "We're going to focus on taking out their vehicles. With the AAT's out of the way, the attack force will have no problem shredding through their infantry" The Commando replied.

The Gunship pilot began speaking to them. "I've got a good area to land in. It's a little far, but it's as close as I can get without getting detected." The pilot said. "Good enough, bring us down." Spotter said. The Gunship began lowering its altitude until it was floating just a few feet off the ground. "Let's go squad, move!" Spotter said as he gestured at his squad to follow.

They jumped off the Gunship, aiming down the sights of their DC-17's in blaster-mode. "Secure the landing area." Spotter ordered. Kappa Squad split up and began forming a circular perimter around the Gunship. "This side is clear." Spotter said. "Clear over here." Cockpit answered. "Clear as well." Radio said. "Area is clear." Mech spoke last.

"Alright, form up." Spotter said, turning to his squad and making a closing fist gesture with his hand. After the Kappas gathered around him, Spotter turned to Isaac and Jason. "Are you ready to move out, sirs?"

Isaac listened in as the Commandos revealed their plan, Isaac nodded. "As solid plan as any, I suppose." Isaac said, opening his eyes and climbing to his feet now. Dusting himself of the dirt on the floor. As Spotter turned to him, Isaac pulled up the hood on his robe over his face, and smiled. " I'm ready." He then turned to Jason.
"Remember, be careful, calm, and most of all, be thoughtful. Think before you act, or you'll end up terribly. You're responsible for protecting the rest of the team, just like we are." Isaac told the Padawan, trying to teach the Jedi something.

Spotter nodded as Isaac said he was prepared. "Then let's move out. Both of you stay close to the squad." The Commando said as they started moving out. "We'll stay here and wait for your return. Don't take too long, I don't know know how long we'll be able to stay undetected here." The Pilot said over the comms. "Roger that, keep us updated on your status." Spotter said as the group moved into an alleyway and started following it towards the general direction of the droid platoon.

"Eyes up, squad." Spotter ordered as he started scanning the towering structures that surrounded them as they moved through, keeping an eye out for CIS forces that may be holed up in them. He knew that being at the lower height during a firefight was a serious disadvantage, and they would need to duck into cover at the first sign of enemies above them. For a little while, they saw nothing and only heard the distance sound of blaster fire as the battle for the planet raged on. Suddenly, they heard a loud explosion nearby, and the comms of Kappa squad came to life. Thrasher's voice came through the speakers. "We're engaging the droid forces! What's your status, Kappa squad?" He said. "Near their location, we're going to try and take out some of their heavy weapons." Spotter replied. "Alright, watch yourselves, things are about to ugly over here." thrasher replied as he shut off the comms. "Move it, Kappas. Double-time!" Spotter said as the group began picking up their pace.

Eventually, the alleyway opened up into a main street. Scanning the area, the group saw that they were just behind the advancing droid forces. "Stay down. Don't attract any attention just yet." Spotter ordered. Upon closer inspection, they saw that there were at least four AAT's backing up the droids, however there was something even worse behind the AAT's; Droidekas.

"Blast... Sir, we got Rollers." Cockpit said. "We'll never be able to take out the AAT's with those things guarding them..." Radio added. "Agreed, we need a new plan of attack." Spotter replied. "Cockpit, do you have anything that can scrap those Droidekas?" Spotter continued. "Plenty, but we're not going to have enough explosives for our sabotage mission if we use them now." Cockpit answered. "Alright, then we're going to have to get creative..." Spotter said as he examined the enemies. He then proceeded to look around on the buildings "Cockpit... Do you know how to drive one of those tanks?" Spotter asked. "Does a clone look like Jango Fett, sir?" Cockpit answered. "Excellent. Here's what we're going to do. We'll head into that building across the street. It's got a balcony above where that AAT is holding position. Two will head inside to hijack the vehicle, while the rest will cause a distraction outside." Spotter said as he pointed to the structure.

"That's going to be me and Cockpit. Radio, Mech, the two if you will distract them from behind while we move in. Once we're in the AAT, we're going to blow the Droidekas into the next system. After we do that though, the other AAT's will take notice, we might be able to blow up one of them before they fire on us, but we'll need all of you to take care of the rest." Spotter explained as he pulled out some Thermal Detonators from his packs. "Take these." He said to the two Jedi with them. "Once we shoot the Droidekas, the two of you and the rest of my squad need to pop these Detonators into the hatches of the other AAT's. It'll take them out of commission permanently. But it needs to explode inside of them to do the trick. My squad can climb these tanks to do it, so either follow their lead or do it your own way. Just make sure you destroy them before they destroy the one we hijack." Spotter ordered.

"That's the plan. Are you all ready?" Spotter asked. "Yes, sir!" Kappa squad said in unison. Spotter then turned to the jedi. "If you two have any suggestions, speak them now. Every second we take is another casualty to the assault force." He said, waiting for their response.

Slim Shady said
After the initial shock-wave from Ciale slamming into the ground using the force, droids started to concentrate fire on him. With both lightsabers out, he relied on his Soresu to defend himself against the sudden barrage of blaster fire. Ducking and sprinting around, he switched to Shien as he began to slice open droids, darting in and out and deflecting blaster fire along the way. On a few occasions he would use the force to fling droids out of the way, into other droids, crush them, etc. Ciale was an extensive force user, both for offense and things like speed and agility. It was quite helpful, especially when you use it to crush battle droids into small hunks of metal and hurtling it towards another one. His motions were fluid, rapid, and unpredictable, which made him almost untouchable. At least, to things such as droids. After a few minutes it seemed that he had destroyed all the droids in his immediate vicinity, and the other packs of droids were busy with clones. "Well, that takes care of that... Now let's see how many more of these droids can take a beating." The jedi began walking towards the new shipment of reinforcements that had been deployed by the enemy forces before he sensed a dark presence coming forth from one of the ships... It was strong. And after a minute or two, he could see exactly who it was that caused this disturbance. Lady Noctis. "Lady Noctis... Glad to see you. I hope you put up more of a fight than these rust buckets. Or is this more of a formal occasion?" Ciale joked, making sure to state that he was calm abut the whole situation, even joking around with her. He had his sabers held in a reverse grip, looking at the dark-force user with crimson red eyes, staring down into her purple ones. "You enjoying it here? Once you get around the blaster fire and murder it's not such a bad place."

"Ya you get used to it you know? Anyway here is my simple proposal. Join the Confederacy and fight for the freedom of the Galaxy from this bureaucratic republic."

Staring down Ciale "Choose wisely" said Neomi with fervor.

---Anora's light brigade---

Location: Near checkpoint Alpha, a short distance from final interior defense gun.
Time: Thirty minutes from previous mission


Anora and her squad found themselves standing between a rock and a hard place. The tight spaces of the skyscrapers near the edge of the Temple district were opening up to the mostly flat nature of the ten kilometer grid surrounding the temple, while they could easily see threats ahead they would stick out like a Wookie in a clone trooper regiment if they attempted to reach the rendezvous across this area. Furthermore, if they were to double back the way they came the chance of being spotted was equally great. Anora suspected that by now the clones and Jedi were sweeping the area they had just assaulted, and were now on the hunt for them. Either choice was not something Anora liked, her squad was small and any conflict could be their down fall. They moved quickly, yet silently, through the empty street with no chatter to be heard. In the front and rear were the Mandalorians, at the front was a man named Spar and the rear his trusted friend Tobi Dala.

As they continued along their path, the Mandalorian Tobi Dala spoke for the first time since they made their plan aboard the shuttle. “Ma'am, I have been in contact with our Mandalore in squad two.” Anora turned her head just slightly to let him know her attention was with him. He took the sign and continued “He suspects that we could assault interior gun one if both our squads attack.” Anora quickly flipped through her arm guard till the secure comm channel to her squad was opened. “Hold position, keep an eye out.” She quickly spoke before the squad quickly stopped, Spar took up a position behind a small pile of ruble with her fellow Blackguard as Anora and the man named Tobi found cover elsewhere. Tobi aimed his gun behind him as he took a knee, while Anora slipped into the shadows. Anora turned off the chat to her squad and looked down the way they came. Not a soul was in sight, but she knew that could change at any moment. She spoke in a quick voice as she asked.“What is his plan and what is squad two's strength?”

“Ma'am, squad two has three of our Mandalorian warriors with one Blackguard. Casualties were very low.” He paused for a second for Anora to think that information over, three Blackguards plus five Mandalorians could in theory assault one of the guns. Tobi continued “Our Mandalore has scouted one of the interior guns, and based on his experience he suspects that if this one is not taken out then we can expect many more of the CIS ships to be downed well before the battle.” Anora was about to chime in but Tobi's voice came first. Anora was intriqued. She had heard many stories of how brilliant a tactician the Mandalore was. If he had a plan then it was worth the listen. “Tell me Tobi, what's your Mandalores plan?”

“Ma'am, a thirty minute march from the final gun is a downed carrier. That is where squad two is now, most of the droids are still operational they just need their signal from the command ship.” Anora eyes grew wide at the news. Depending on how many droids were still operational than this could be a piece of cake. Anora flipped through her arm guard until she began the process of opening an encrypted channel between her and Vansk. This would take a solid minute that Anora wished it had not, both sides were working hard to use their E-war against each other. And a secure channel was stable and secure. The minute passed and an image of Vansk appeared before her.

Vansk was quick to speak, “Anora, we see you've managed to destroy four of the guns. Good work thus far, we are advancing to phase three soon enough. What is it?” Anora quickly responded, in a slightly excited voice. “Vansk, we plan on assaulting interior gun two.” Vansk face went from normal to surprised to shocked in record time as she heard the news `”Anora, reports indicate you have only three fighters left in your squad, we suspect there's four times that guarding the gun.” Anora responded quickly, “We plan to meet with squad two. The Mandalore has suggested a plan and I think it will work.” Vansk folded her arms, it was clear she thought this might be a fools errand but she was easily tempted by the thought of one less anti-air gun. “What do you need from me?” She questioned in a serious tone. Anora smiled as she said “Activation of the droids in the downed carrier in grid” she paused as she looked at Tobi, he spoke quietly “four-four five” She returned her attention back to Vansk and spoke “Grid marked four-four five. Depending on the undamaged droids there we could launch an effective assault. Can you give us a count of how many remain?”

A crooked eye brow was her initial response before Vansk looked off screen towards someone, a few seconds passed before her face turned back to face Anora's. “We count around fifty or so still combat ready. When would you be in position to meet up with these droids?” Anora quickly turned her attention back to Tobi and asked “How long would it take for us to reach that point?” He took a second to think, he was looking at something on his HUD which Anora assumed was a map. He spoke in a quick voice, “We're ten minutes away from the flat part of the district, ten minutes after that we meet will find Squad two at the carrier” Anora relayed that information to Vansk who turned her head back off screen before giving some unknown figure the nod. She turned her head back to Anora before speaking. “Be quick Anora, the CIS fleet is planning it's major move now. Armageddon is coming” The image before her faded quick as Vansk disconnected, but it left Anora with a perplexed look on her face. “Armageddon?” She whispered, she took a quick trip through her mind trying to find any reference to Armageddon that may lay within the plan but she searched for no avail. She quickly brought her attention back to the present before she opened her squads comm channel. “We're moving out, we have our orders. I'll fill you in as we move.”

Her squad moved with a quick step, caution was thrown to the wind for that that twenty minutes. They met up with the second squad and began to move out, with their new droid army.

---They came marching in---

Location: Just in front of final anti-air gun
Time: Forty minutes from former recording

“Die Clone trooper die!” Spoke from one of the B1 battle droids as he stood up out of cover to fire off a couple shots at the seven remaining GAR troopers. His shots were erratic, and none found their home in any one of the Clone troopers. Yet the return fire proved to be far less kind, a blast from the iconic DC-15a blaster fired from one of the many clones found a home in the chest of the droid. For a split second the droid screamed out it's tell tale scream before it fell down to the ground. The uneven nature of the roof tops provided ample cover for the droids, the slight difference between two of these buildings allow them to have some cover in an otherwise open landscape. But their numbers were still thinning, out of the fifty odd droids they were already down ten droids to the one clone trooper knocked out of action. The clone position was well protected with barricades that only exposed a small amount of their frame when firing, surrounding the gun.

Anora and the now combined squad were at the front of their droid army. They ducked from what cover they could to the next, being mindful to never provide a clean shot for the sharpshooters. For five minutes the two forces clashed, five more droids and three more clones fell to the blaster fire. Anora and her Blackguard counted there was actually three Jedi opposed to the two suggested.

---The beginning of the end---

Anora began to ready everyone for their charge. She closed her eyes and recited the code of the Blackguard on an open frequency. Anyone listening would hear.

“There is no fear, there is misunderstanding,
there is no control, there is the illusion,
there is no mistake, there is learning
there is chaos, and in it we find balance.”

As she recited the last word her eyes opened to see the scene before her one. Her vision slowed as she focused. In the split second after she saw the blaster fire being exchanged. The Grand Army troops stood behind their barricades still, mostly protected by the solid meter and a half tall ring wall that surrounding the ten meter tall gun position. Blaster marks could be seen all over, from the walls of the gun to the ground in front of the barricades, not much was spared the directed indirect fire from the battle droids. Towards the right and side of her vision she could see the tell tale heads of the B1 droids and the sleek frames of the B2 droids all around. Here the blaster marks were more direct, just below or just behind where the droids heads were. Blaster fire was in a continuous stream, but on her order it would stop. If she were to pay close attention she would see everything her eyes was telling her. She could see the dead clone on the wrong side of the barricade, the littered droid parts scattered from blaster shots and grenade blasts and the massive anti-air gun aiming to shoot down another target. But her eyes remained transfixed on one thing, something that even she had not expected from the report. Time seemed to slow as her vision reached just over the barricade, her eyes trained on the familiar robe style of the Jedi order. The three mentioned earlier were all out, though they kept their heads low. She saw that they were all human, two male and one female. But it was the figure hidding just inside the turret that caught her attention. A fourth Jedi was braced against the wall just by the frame of the door. All that gave him or her away was the slight bit of arm in the doorway. The Blackguard were outnumbered, something she had not counted on. And as the slow state began to fade back to normal speed did Anora bellow her next order. “Suppressing fire!”

In unison all the droids stood up from their cover and unleashed a massive torrent of firepower on the barricade. The sound of all forty odd blasters firing in near unison was something that she had never before heard. The soldiers behind the barricade ducked down even more as the blaster shots tried to find a home. A few seconds after this initial torrent the two of the Mandalorians throttled their Jet-packs to take to the skies and they began to fire down on the troopers behind the barricade. The first few salvos came in unopposed, finding their place in the chest and head of two unlucky clone troopers. The Jedi's light sabers were drawn now, they slashed away at the bolts trying to return them to their sender. A mere second later one of the clone troopers had readied his blaster and started to return fire, the blue bolts of his DC-15 danced with the red bolts of the Mandalorian weapons for a brief moment before more clone troopers began to fire back. Another clone trooper was hit, but the Mandalorians in the sky were forced to dance around to avoid the same fate. One being hit center chest, sending him falling flying off in a random direction.It was at this moment Anora and her blackguard, plus the remaining Mandalorians, found themselves ready for their charge. She shouted her next order “Droids keep the pressure, everyone charge!”

Quickly jumping from the uneven cover to the mostly flat stretch between them and the barricade the group lowered their bodies closer to the ground, and moved as quickly as they could trying to reach the edge of the barricade. The four remaining Mandalorians spread out on the flanks, two on each side, rushing to the far side of the clone lines in an attempt to both draw fire and once they were in position fire behind the barricade. Mean while the Blackgurd rushed down the middle in a spear head rush, Anora running the front with both Blackguard on either side slightly behind. They were going to jump over the barricade and engage the Jedi. As the trio was about to force jump over, Anora shouted her final command to the droids for now “Cease fire, encircle.”

Anora leaped through the air, flying through the now blaster bolt free sky closing in on a spot just in front of the door. She needed to get in and secure the door as to prevent the Jedi from closing the structure. Her two blackguard would fight the Jedi outside while she made sure she took care of the fourth one. She made it inside, but she found herself staring down one of the three original Jedi in front of her.

As her other Blackguards enagged in the frantic meele just behind the duo, while the Mandalorians and Clones engaged in fierce combat, and even while the Droids were marching in unison around the structure, Anora found her self some paces away from her Jedi opponent. Her eyes pierced through her helmet and matched in a stare with those of the Jedi. She noticed a particular emotion in his eyes yet it took her awhile to figure out what emotion. He was not afraid, it seemed as he expected this gun to come under attack, no he stood calm in his defensive stance awaiting her first attack. He was not over confident either, in his eyes she saw the many years of hard training he had to endure to get to this point. He was skilled, she could tell, he knew how to use his form to his advantage and No, what she saw in his eyes was confusion. He had never seen a combatant such as her, her armor was elegant yet practical with a cape that was blowing in the wind and a mask that hid her face from his. He could not figure out to who Anora owed her allegiance, what she fought for and why she was here on Coruscant. She was an unknown for him, and that gave her all the advantage she would need to win this duel.

Anora began to walk a circular pattern around the Jedi, her eyes taking in both his style and the battle around. She looked at him for a hitch in his motion, a point where his defense would be weakest while watching the remaining clones and Mandalorians fall into a fist vs fist confrontation on the ground. Her Blackguards were fighting as a pair against the other two Jedi, and both were evenly matched for each other. Her attention was sudenly spurred from her observations when the Jedi asked her a question. “What are you doing here Sith?” Anora's walking slowed as the word Sith was spoken from his mouth, her head tilted slightly as she mouthed that word silently. SHE took a couple steps closer to the Jedi, making the distance between the two a short three meters. She kept her silence as she sped up her walk around the Jedi, keeping her Lightsabers at the ready in the remote chance he broke form. A few moments passed as the duel between the Jedi and Blackguard carried on, neither side scoring a decisive kill. Anora decided to speak for the first time, though not revealing who she was or who she fought for, rather question where that fourth Jedi had gone off to. “Before we engaged, there was a fourth Jedi I noticed. Where is he?” Her voice was void of most emotion, being carried by a sense of urgency more than anything. The Jedi chuckled “You're going to have to get through me first, and I promise I am no push over.” Anora knew that fourth Jedi must be one of their young Padawans.

Anora advanced with a quickness akin to her. She covered the distance between the two in a quick second, leading the way with a readied backhand slash from her right hand and her left hand trailing behind. She struck out with the first slash followed by the quick strike with her left hand aimed for a point lower than the torso of the Jedi. The Jedi easily dodged the first strike, leaping his torso and he met the second with his saber. The force of his block was enough to almost force her saber from her hand, she backed up trying to regain some distance to fix her stance but the Jedi took this as his chance to strike. Leading in with the blade over his hand, he struck down on Anora with a heavy strike. Anora twirled her right handed blade three hundred and sixty degrees so that the blade was now facing the rear. She had just enough of a grip on her second blade to bring it up with her right handed blade to block the attack. The force of this attack forced her down on one knee and forced her blade close enough to burn part of her cloak. She struggled for a second against his power.

Utilizing her knowledge of Trakata, Anora deactivated left handed blade and slashed in quick motion towards the Jedi. The attack nearly found home, slicing through the cloth robe and just burning a small portion of skin on it's way through. Anora quickly force pushed the man a distance away, his free hand immediately fell to the wound, and his face matched Anora's mask with a grin. He as well as Anora knew that a prolonged duel would be the end of him, but he still stood his ground. He resumed his defensive stance, and spoke once more. “The difference between us is that I know what I fight for.” He said as he braced for her next attack. Anora, knowing that time was not on her side, knew she needed to end this duel quickly. Reinforcements were almost here in all likely hood. “You fight to protect your young Padawan, yes?” The Jedi's guard lowered just enough as Anora continued with a menacing tone“You should be glad he's not around to see this.” Anora did a powerful force jump, bringing both her blades down in a powerful dual-strike. The Jedi raised his blade and braced himself but the horizontal force of the jump combined with the vertical slash easily over powered his blade, forcing from his hand, and cutting through the robe. The blades missed skin this time, but the Jedi was sent skidding across the floor and was now without his weapon. She noticed it on the ground, and before he had a chance to force pull it she brought her saber through the hilt destroying it.

She looked over to the Jedi, who was now weapon less. If he was good with force powers he was still a danger, but she judged that his choice of saber combat left little time to train. She began to slowly walk towards the Jedi and let a soft chuckle escape her voice. She spoke in a mocking tone, unaware that she had brushed the switch for her comm had accidentally opened it to any in the area. As she walked she spoke, her voice contained a slight hint of exhaustion after using all those force jumps “You called me a Sith earlier, why?” The Jedi was still on the ground, both arms supporting his back in an upright position. He tried to stand up, but Anora pointed her lightsaber towards his chest. “Don't get up, the duel is lost” She mocked “Now answer my question, Jedi Knight.” The Jedi grunted, looking directly at where her eyes were behind her mask he spoke in a tone filled with confusion. “You and your forces are slaves to the Dark Side, Sith.” He spat out “You bring Chaos in your wake, you're a monster.” Anora laughed at his comment, she stopped just before the Jedi. Her lightsaber was still pointed at the mans chest, ready in case he tried anything. But Anora simply let out a soft chuckle. She replied in the most serious tone she offered “You're right, I am a monster. My forces are all monsters, and your Order our creator.” The confusion on his face grew larger, yet Anora continued “But I am no Sit-” Her voice was cut by the sudden cry from a boy charging from some hiding place on her right. He swung his saber in an easily block-able swing. Anora raised her right hand saber and intercepted the saber and turned her face to the young boy. She looked into his eyes and noticed most emotions were present, anger, confusion, and fear. Her mind was suddenly taken back to that night when she was taken by Vansk, that man she killed had the same look. This provided enough of a distraction for the Jedi Knight to use a fear induced force blast which sent Anora flying out of the anti-air gun.

As she tried to ready to her feet, she saw the Jedi Knight at the door control, followed by the lightsaber proof door from closing. “No..NO!” She shouted as she lunged towards the door. She banged once with a force assisted punch before calming herself. Outside the last of the clones were dying and both Jedi were dead. She knew she had not enough explosives nor time to destroy the gun, but she could knock it out for a couple hours allowing a bombing run.

“Mandalorians, find a way to disable the gun.” She began to walk towards the barricade when one of the two shouted “Door's closed, can't open from here.” Anora quickly chimed back in an angry tone “There should be a power unit near the rear, disable that and we're still good.” As she finished, the sound of a transport nearing the gun could be heard. She knew that they took too long and they would be here in a couple minutes. “Everyone else, take up a position at the barricade. Once it's destroyed we fall back to the under levels.”

The group walked into an area much more well-kept than those around it. Kal was amazed that their was a place like this in the sublevels, on that showed little wear despite the fact that they were probably thousands of years old. Still, this WAS sublevel 25. It had been so long since he had been this far up that he wondered if he had just forgoten about it. "Why is this place so well maintained?" he asked Po'mali.
"These areas used to be used as warehouse space around one hundred years ago," he said in his native tougue. "Eventually, trade regulations made it less profitable to keep large stores of goods, and the lower levels were abandoned. Now, all that you'll find are a few shady entertainment facilities and shops up on sublevels one and two. This way, though, we're almost there."
Po'mali lead them to a pillar at least ten meters to the side in the middle of an open room. "This is the cargo lifter they used to move goods to these levels from the surface. We can use it to get to the surface. From there, if memory serves, we will only be a few kilometers from the Jedi Temple."
They opened the door and rode to the top, and when the doors opened, Briansk gasped in amazement. "I haven't been to the surface for more than a decade. I forgot what the sky looked like," she explained to the people looking at her.
"It's just a lot of open area that leads you open to attack." replied Kal. "That's why I like the sublevels. Zero chance of aerial assault in most of it."
"Well, I think it's beautiful. We need more light underneath."
"The additional illumination would make spotting targets easier." replied Aichkay, always thinking like a soldier.
Maybe I put a little too much military droid in him. thought Kal, but further thoughts on the matter were distracted by an explosion. "Where?" he asked.
"Due North, about a hundred and fifty meters." replied Tek. Knowing that Tek was usually right about such things, Kal signalled for silence and lead the group carefully towards the sounds of blaster fire and light-saber combat he now heard. When they had gotten as close to the commotion as they dared, they saw droids, Mandalorians, and Sith battling Jedi and Republic soldiers.
"Shouldn't we help them?" asked Po'mali.
"I need more intel first." Kal replied. "Without it we could easily become overwhelmed." He looked over at Aichkay. "Can you find the lead Sith and tell us what she's saying?"
"Yes,sir, though it will take a few moments to locate her and adjust my audio receptors to filter out the fighting."
"Do it."
"Yes sir." Over a minute passed in which Aichkay surveyed the battlefield, then he started speaking in a woman's voice. "You're right, I am a monster." the droid said, "My forces are all monsters, and your Order our creator. But I am no Sit-”
"What happened?" asked Tek.
Aichkay ignored him and continued “No..NO!”. A pause. “Mandalorians, find a way to disable the gun.” Another pause. “There should be a power unit near the rear, disable that and we're still good. Everyone else, take up a position at the barricade. Once it's destroyed we fall back to the under levels.”

"Poodoo," said Kal, quickly trying to formulate a plan, "Ok, everyone back in the lift." When they reached it and got in, Kal looked at Po'mali. "This is the only way in this area to get to the under levels, right?"
"There is another lift, almost four kilometers away, but yes, they will likely take this one."
"Good," He closed the doors. "Aichkay, reprogram the lift to only go down to sublevel 25 or return to the surface. And try to make it look like a corrupted program."
"Yes sir," said Aichkay, then walked to a dataport near the control panel and plugged his finger into it. A few seconds later he told them he was finished and Kal hit the button to go down one level. A minute later they arrived on sublevel twenty-five.
"Ok," said Kal, surveying the area, "When they come out of the lift onto this level, we'll ambush them. Briansk and I will hide behind the lift to flank them, and you three can hide there and attack them." He pointed to several duraplast crates twenty meters from the lift, slightly to the left as you walked out of it. "What do we have in the way of ordinance?"
"Four firebombs," said Tek, referring to an exothermically ignited oil-filled grenade that was standard armament for most sub-dwellers. "We also have a frag grenade and a few mines."
"Good, lay the mines to protect your cover, in case anyone tries to rush you and try their luck at melee. When the doors close, and they're all out, hit them with the firebombs, and grenade the strongest one left standing, probably the Sith leader. After that, Aichkay and Po'mali can take out the remaining droids and Tek, you take out the Mandos and any Sith you think will make easy targets. When you start firing, Briansk and I will come out and hit them from the rear. I'll take the SIth Lord if she survives the bombardment. Everyone got it?" When they finished acknowledging or clarifying their orders, Kal continued. "Don't anyone be a hero. If things get slimier than a Hutt's backside just get out of here. We'll meet up at Drask's." Drask was a cybernetics obsessed doctor who carried out illegal medical experiments on sublevel 32, but his place was only a few kilometers away and they knew they could trust him. He was a trade partner, after all, not to mention the one who had installed Kal's cybernetic implants.
WIth that, Tek set the mines up and they got into position, waiting for the retreating Sith forces to walk into their trap.

30 minutes after Nya and Morrin's departure...

---

What initially seemed like a good idea quickly turn sour. Nya thought they could get the jump on their foes, but apparently, the invaders had not only eluded their scan, but also managed to sneak columns of droids into their last line of defense. Her mind briefly returned to a tactical course she took twenty years ago, no battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy, the instructor told her. Well, except this time Nya didn't even meet her enemies and the plans already failed.

The two VAAT/e dropships are now heading back to their last battery, where an unexpected assault is taking place. The pilots flew at maximum speed, burning skyscrapers blew by their sides as streaked flashes. At the distance, Nya could see a smoldering shipwreck, a destroyed CIS starship. That's probably where they got their droids from, Nya pondered. Within their sectors, the destroyed ship was the only CIS presence.

"Commander Moire," the crew chief of the second gunship alerted her. This man is a clone commander, known by his code as CC-907, or his callsign, "Zed". He was diverted from the GAR to her ragtag defense group during the early stages of the invasion. Zed's dropship comprised entirely of clone soldiers, while Nya's dropship contained volunteer security officers and the Jedi Morrin Vulkas. "The AA battery is right up ahead, it is still operational but unknown contacts are trying to disable it."

"I see it Zed," Nya responded. Using the zoom function of her visor, she saw no friendly units near the AA gun. Switching to the common Republic military channel, she broadcasted into her comm system. "All republic forces, two friendly aircraft will be engaging enemy contacts near turret 6. If you are still alive, keep your heads down and avoid friendly fire."

The enemies appeared to have taken cover beside the turret. Their close proximity to the AA system meant that any heavy firepower from the dropships will cause collateral damage to the battery. The concussion missiles are definitely not an option then, as their blast will knock out the gun itself. The dropships heavy lasers however, can be used to a limited capacity, as suppressive fire. Just as long as they don’t shoot too close to the guns. As for neutralizing these hostiles, Nya and her troops have to get their hands dirty.

“Pilots,” Nya ordered both her aviation officer and the clone pilot. “Strafe the turret perimeters, don’t fire too close to the guns.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The pilots responded.

“All ground forces,”Nya shifted her command. “Get ready to fast rope into combat after the strafing run. Be prepared to engage heavy infantries and force sensitive combatants.”

The dropships slowed as their weapons came online. Nya’s aircraft took to the left side of the turret while the clone dropship closed in on the right. On her command, barrages of deadly bolts descended from the sky. The laser shots kicked up smoke and dust from the ground, obscuring vision and blocking line of sight.

“Go, everybody on deck now.” Nya waved. Ten security officers slid down their ropes from her dropship while on the opposite side, ten clone troopers did the same. Nya took a brief glance to Morrin, nodded her head in approval before taking her line and descending toward the ground.

Morrin was ready to get into action and protect the Jedi and the republic from the separatist and their dark side allies. He was surprised to see Mandalorians since he had thought the ancient warrior culture had become almost extinct and died long ago. Once again it seemed like the dark side had found allies with the Mandalorians. When the ship they were on came to the area by the anti-air gun, Morrin had his lightsaber in his hands. He listened to Nya give the orders to the men and watch them begin to slide down the ropes towards the ground. Morrin decided to jump straight from the airship and used his force powers to land easily on the ground.

He ignited his lightsaber and used his blaster deflection skills to deflect the energy bolts from the droids and Mandalorians. He used a powerful force-push to send several of the battle droids and Mandalorian warriors flying. Ever since he had accidentally injured a padawan, Morrin had focused more on his defensive lightsaber combat skills and his talent in Niman helped him utilize the defense aspects of the form. He moved in to disarm the Mandalorians and slice through a few of the droids. It had been a while since Morrin had experienced a battle and was making sure to keep his guard up since it was his job to protect Nya and the rest of the temple guard from the threat of force-users. He then turned his attention on Anora and the Blackguard, ready for her to make the first move. He would try his best to not injure the darksider too much and if he could he would try to talk her and her companions out of fighting otherwise there would bloodshed.

--Collab between Nariata, Gcold, and Unknown.---

Anora braced herself behind the cover of the barrier as the guns of the gun ships roared to life. Anora and her large strike force found themselves bracing their bodies against the barrier, praying to any number of forces that the Grand army built their barriers to survive this type of fire. Dust was kicked up into the air as the gunships fire slammed into the metallic surface of the building, all around Anora visibility dropped. What was once a simple destroy the gun mission had quickly turned south as they found themselves now pinned down. Anora flicked on her comm and spoke a quick order to her forces. "They will slow their fire as they start unloading their forces. On my mark fire at the gunships." Moving her body back Anora began to size up the force before her through the thick layer of dust which now hanged in the air. Though her vision was only greeted by the sleek frame of the gunship. She was prevented from seeing their army in it's full force making Anora estimate that this force was much larger than her. Their plan had a bravado feel to it. Rather than letting the troops unload from a safe distance they were unloading well within weapon range and without any cover. She assumed either there was many Jedi or even more clone soldiers on board. Fully expecting the former, Anora hoped for the latter.

Carefully watching the cannons cease firing, Anora's eyes began to dart towards the left hand side of the ship where several ropes could be seen falling to the ground. Patiently waiting, Anora counted the seconds before her eyes filled with an image the first of the soldiers beginning his decent to the ground. Anora knew that if she could catch even a few of the soldiers huddled just under the rope before they began their attack in force she would have an easier time surviving this encounter. Anora allowed her eyes to follow the first of the soldiers as he fell from his ship. Lower, lower, and lower still her eyes flowed with the man until he was a mere second away from touching down on the ground. "Open fire!" Bellowed from her lungs to which her team responded with a near unison rise over the cover and squeezing the triggers of their guns.

Halfway down her rope, Nya saw the barrage of blaster fire. Bolts of all colors whirled around her while she quickened her descend. Somehow, depiste the volume of fire directed at them, none of them found their way to her. A security officer below her was not as fortunate, the man took two shots to his chest and another to this head the moment he hit the ground.

"Spread out and move forward," Nya ordered as soon as she landed. Around her, most of the Republic forces have managed to land safely, with about only three casualties. The reason was because some of their enemies still focused their attacks on the gunships, hoping to neutralize her fire support.

"Ma'am" The pilot called out, "We're taking heavy fire, need to pull back."

"Copy that" Nya answered, she knew that the gunships are invaluable to their efforts, losing them means losing all possibilities of extraction. "Pull back to safe engagement distance and wait for my mark."

While the aircrafts took off to retreat, Nya's ground force inched forward.

"Fire and maneuver," She heard the clone commander, Zed, say. Adding to his command, Nya and her officers made similar attempts.

"Zed, put some grenades up there." Nya requested. Not waiting for the clone to respond, she reached into her grenade pouch and produced a fragmentation grenade. Pulling its pin out, Nya threw the explosive towarded the barricade.

"Frag out, get ready to push."

Anora stood behind the barricade using her dual lightsabers to deflect as many bolts as she could. She saw her Mandalorians do what they do best, placing well placed shot after well placed shot at their enemy. But she also noticed what the droids were doing, and with an angry tone she began barking a simple order "Droids, what are you- fire at the soldiers not the ship." A nearby B1 battle droid looked over to her and asked with it's annoying voice "But ma'am, what about the soldiers on the ship?" Anora was about to strike the droid done when she a small object caught her eye flying through the air. It took her a second to realize what it was, its round shape and flashing red light indicated that it was a grenade. Anora knew that if her eyes were any judge that the grenade was heading right towards her. With the chaos around she knew she could not focus on the small object and force it away. Pushing the small button on the grip of her lightsaber, the red blade disappeared from sight as she readied her right hand to use the force. She targeted not the grenade, but rather that B1 battle droid who dared question. The droid was quickly levitating just above the ground, his head and arms flailing from left to right as his speech descended into a confused "whaaaaat?" Throwing her right hand out, the droid soon followed suit as he began his intercept of the grenade.

The droid screamed in terror as he flew through the air. Nothing in his programing prepared him for this encounter. He was simply doing his job, to fight the forces of the Jedi and Republic when his own commander decided to use him as a droid projectile. The droid saw the grenade just inches in front of his chest and he prepared for the resulting explosion. But all he felt was a slight thud against his chest before he fell back planet side. After a softer landing than expected, the droid began to get up. The droid saw the enemy diving away from him, and this made him even more confused. His last words were "What the-" as the grenade that was at his feet exploding, send his parts and shrapnel flying around the area.

Anora reactivated her lightsaber as the explosion rocked the nearby area. A blue bolt from one of the trooper was it's first contact. Angeling the blade Anora tried to deflect it to hit a target but the round simply flew many yards away into the ground. A second round tried to make yet another hole in the chest of Anora but this too was deflected away into the ground. She noticed a Jedi among the troops as she blocked a third bolt. He had just pushed Spar and Tobi, as well as four or so droids, into the back of the wall. Seeing Spar quickly get up and resume fighting was comforting for her yet Tobi did not move. Anoras eyes quickly darted over to the Jedi to size him up and she was suprised to see him keeping his distance, body facing towards her. His defensive opening stance suggested he wanted the fight to go to him. Anora fancied the thought for a brief second before she blocked yet another pair of blaster bolts. She knew she would need to get out of here soon if she were to survive however that Jedi was not going to let them slip away. She shouted to the Blackguard near her "Fann, i need you to keep that Jedi busy." He responded in a quick voice "Ma'am?" Anora turned her head to face the many fully. "If any of us have any change to escape it is if someone stays back and provides a distraction." Her voice broke uncharacteristic as she gave him one final order "Should he win you know what to do." The man gave a nod with an easily seen reluctance to it. He turned his body towards the Jedi and force jumped towards him.

Anora quickly turned her body and began to run towards the area where the final Mandalorian soldier was working to find a way to disable the gun.

------Meanwhile in space-----

Vansk watched her screen as the reports of the Republic forces assaulting Anora's squad began to filter in. She could be seen barking orders to homever was was around. Asking one if any bombers could do a pass or if there was any word on any other forces that could be diverted to assist. The answer was always a resounding no. Vansk did not let her concern show, even though she cared for the young Anora she knew she volunteered for this battle. She knew Anora was capable, powerful and deadly. If she could make it through the roof Vansk knew she would be able to survive anything.

Vansk watched and would have watched until she was safe but was interrupted by an emergency broadcast from the CIS commanders. "Warning, all fleet commanders are ordered to fall back to safe zone Alpha-one one. Armageddon is delayed, i repeat Armageddon is delayed. T-minus twenty minutes to hyperspace jump."
Vansk felt a moment of breathless, whatever this Armageddon was it had turned the single greatest victory of the CIS to sheer ruin. Vansk knew that they would be dead in the water if they did not hurry, but she needed to send a message to her forces still on planet. She quickly moved over to one of the many people on the bridge and spoke in a very direct tone "I need a message sent to our forces still planet side. How long till you can send?" The worker turned from his console and replied in a shocked tone "Ma'am, with this ecm bo-" Vansk quickly interrupted "I don't care." She spoke in a threating tone "How long?" The man quickly responded with "Twenty minutes ma'am." Vansk began to walk away as she spoke "Good, we have just twenty minutes before we jump. Let our brothers and sister know what is happening."

Witnessing the destruction of the B1 battledroid, Nya couldn't help but smile. She always found the droids reaction amusing, especially prior to their destruction. It must something about their programming, probably humor designed to dampen the dreaded sense of defeat.

Beside some exploding droids, Nya and her allies also made good progress against their force wielding opponents. She saw a lightsaber wielding combatant, presumably the leader, falling back the AA gun. Nya took this opportunity to rally her squad. Waving her arm at the barricade, the republic forces charged forward. At the forefront of their charge, Nya briefly ducked behind a piece of debris while returning fire. After the short pulse, Nya took point once again. She ignored the blaster fire around her and made her way directly to the barricade, taking cover behind it, she saw that most of her squad have made it to the barricade.

"Commander Zed," Nya spoke and the clone crouched beside her. "How is your squad doing?"

"We have three dead and another wounded," the clone answered, "and you ma'am?"

"Two dead and two more wounded," Nya explained. It was impossible to have a casualty free battle, especially not against this kind of foe. They can always mourn later, for now they have to finish the fight. "Have you seen our Jedi?"

"I saw him charging off a moment ago," Zed stated, "he's probably engaging the dark jedis now."

"Ok, let him fight the darksiders." Nya replied. "We'll take out the rest of them. Over the barricade, attack!"

The Mandalorian at the rear of the gun had been working furiously with a plasma cutter trying to get to the center of the power conduit. The metal of the anti-air turret was made out of a thick shelled durasteel alloy and the plasma cutter need time to make a large enough gap for him to place the remaining thermal detonators in. He heard a quick moving figure nearby that had was missing the normal metallic tip tap of a droids foot. He quickly grabbed his side arm and aimed it towards what he thought was a clone, but quickly lowered it when the familiar form of the Blackguard armor came into view. He quickly lowered his gun and was preparing to return to finish making the hole but Anora was moving to do it herself. It took here one more minute to finish the cut before he force pulled the small circular block out. The Mandalorian quickly began to throw whatever Thermal detonator into the hole, and he linked it to his wrist guard. Anora prepared to begin the process the process of cutting a hole to escape into when the Mandalorian began firing his pistol.

Anora face and with it her eyes darted towards the direction he was firing and saw their enemies trying to vault the wall. The Mandalorians shots were accurate, sending a trio of clones falling to the ground with blaster holes in their chest. He spoke in a hurried tone, "Make us a hole, i will cover you." He said as he fired another shot, taking down another clone trooper. Anora flipper her right hand saber making it face the ground before plunging it all the way just below the hilt. She began pulling the saber in a circular formation right around her position. She was making the hole large enough even for the biggest of her squad.

A line of republic fighters vaulted the barricade on both sides of Nya, the remaining droids attempted to fire back but was quickly put down. Nya saw the non-droid foes were now falling back, their leader cutting the ground with a lightsaber. Suddenly a B2 battledroid appeared in front of her, wrist blaster moving to her direction. Without a second second, Nya lunged at the droid while drawing her baton the same time. The droid was surprised by her sudden assault, in the brief moment it had taken to readjust its aim, Nya brought down her cortosis reinforced weapon on its metal hull. The baton caught the droid in its full center, causing sparks to fly and stumbling the droid off its aim. Following her last hit, Nya slammed the tip of her baton into the B2's "head", where its controlling units were located. The cortosis top penetrated the control center, causing Nya's opponent to crumple in a pile.

Jumping over the destroyed droid, two Mandolorians caught Nya's eye. They were running back to their leader, who had almost managed to cut a wide circle on the ground.

"Concentrate fire on them," Nya pointed to the organic fighters. On her command, Nya's officers and the clones joined Nya's own blaster fire. The crosshair of her KX-60 found the chest of a Mandolorian, a barrage of light quickly followed as Nya pinned the trigger. The Mandolorian was knocked back the the first barrage but remained alive, moving closer to her target, Nya fired another burst, putting the commando out of his misery.

Her allies have now taken out the other retreating Mandolorian, in the distance, she saw what appears to be Morrin engaging another force-sensitive enemy. Two more Mandolorians and two dark jedis remained on the turrets side, with a couple of droid stragglers being cleaned up by republic forces. Nya shouldered her rifle once, pointing toward a commando nearing the turret's wall. However, her trigger finger was met with only a disappointing click, signaling the end of her rifle's ammunitions.

"Perfect time to run dry," Nya cursed. Her rifle was build for law enforcement, therefore lacked the capacity of common military rifles. While she carried extra power cells for it, switching to sidearm is always faster than reloading. Nya dropped the rifle and swapped to her custom DH-17 pistol, with the enemies fleeing, she took some quick shots without aiming.

As Anora finished cutting the hole in the roof of the building she quickly used the force to push the cut circle down and create a barrier. She called out over the comm link "Everyone fall back to my position, we're getting out of here. Droids covering fire." Her men began to fall back but the enemy was already on them. Spar and the Mandalore were quickly running through the droids that still stood fighting off those who had come. The security forces made a massive mistake by joining the fight without clearing out more of the droids. They would surely lose more members than they would have. The first to reach the hole was her fellow Blackguard who promply dropped down into the darkness below. Anoras eyes darted towards where the remaining three Mandalorians were running. She watched as a bolt blasted into the Mandalorian named Tobi, while it did not kill him right away she watched as the shooter finished him off with another bolt. The first Mandalorian to arrive was the Mandalore himself. He was limping heavily as it appeared he had been injured. Behind him was Spar, who was running through droids and troopers alike. The Mandalore jumped down followed by Spar, and as Anora was motioning for the last Mandalorian to jump down a blaster bolt tore into his leg. Anora was about to rush to his aid but he waved her off. "Get out of here, protect the Mandalore!" He shouted as he drew a secondary side arm and painfully dragged himself towards the wall of the anti-air gun. Anora looked back as the man shouted "GO" again. She hated to leave him behind but she needed to flee. And as fate had deemed so, a stray bolt fired from some random source glanced her shoulder. Though the wound was not bad, it affected her balance and as she landed she sprained her ankle in a most painful fashion. Her scream bellowed in the dark coridor as a Mandalorian came to her assistance.

---Meanwhile, back on the surface.---
"So this is how it ends" Thought the Mandalorian. His name was Sawyadi, a veteran of many armed conflicts throughout his long career as a Bounty Hunter and along side his Mandalorian brothers and sisters. His eyes were flowing from left to right as he scanned for the first clones to be unlucky enough to come in the sights of his dual pistols. His right arm was hung suspended in the air while his left coddled the detonator for the charges. His right hand was pointed to where he thought the chest area of the clone troopers was, granted it would only work if they came from his left hand side. Sawyadi let out a heavy sigh as the sounds of the battle began to falter as more and more droids fell to his enemy. He knew his life would come to an end in one of two ways. Either he would be shot before he could kill a clone or two and detonate the bombs with his last dying breath. He did not fancy going out like that, he fancied being able to empty every last shot he had before he detonated the bombs. He chuckled as the sounds of battle fell to one last hysterical screech from a B1 droid. A pair of clone troopers slowly made their way around the turn but were met with two blaster bolts to their chests and the sound of a clicking noise as Sawyadi's gun ran dry.

"Finally you betray me." He said as he held the gun up to his face mask. A trio of clones approached from the opposite side and ordered "put the gun down, now!' Sawyadi turned his face towards them and with a hint of sadness in his voice spoke "If you insist." Tossing the gun towards the nearest clone Sawyadi raised the detonator and planted his finger firmly on the detonator. One of the other clones quickly fired landing three shots into the Mandalorian. The detonator rolled out of his dying hand before a large explosion rocked the area as the detonators went off.

---Five minutes later---

Through the dimly lit and musky smelling hallway ran the remains of Anora's squad. Beaten and bruished, Anora ran with her left arm over the right shoulder of the Mandalorian named Spar. The injuries sustained from the fighting just a brief moment ago prevented her from keeping up with the group. The Mandalore faced a similar fate, his leg was injured much like Anora's and thus could not run as well either. Though she insisted they were to leave the Mandalore and her behind, a plan that the Mandalore accepted, her squad dragged their initally reluctant bodies along as they made there way to the nearest service elevator. As they neared, the Blackguard named Tash Dronos let go of the Mandalore and quickly rushed to the control panel. A look of relief would have been seen gracing his face as the elevator arrived quickly. As the doors opened, the surviving four members of a team which one totaled around thirty rushed inside before the quickly began their decent.

"They arrived so quick." Spoke an exhausted Mandalore "We lost so many good men in that fight." Anora responded in an equally exhausted tone "We did. Many of our comrades are dead or dying all over this pathetic district." Her tone changed near the end. She was growing angry as the injury in her right ankle and left shoulder began to send waves of pain through her body. The sudden stop of the elevator on the twenty fifth floor caused her ankle to send another torrent of pain coursing through her body. "Piece of shit." She spoke in a soft, angry tone. "Tash, why have we stopped. I thought you said this led to the sub level fifty." Tash was already on the controls of the lift, franticly trying his best to get it moving again. As he realized it was a lost cause, he turned his head slightly to the side and spoke in a somber tone. "Ma'am, the controls busted. Seems to be corrupted data. I don't think our enemies did this, the lift probably hasn't seen use in years." He spoke as he used his fist to strike the panel. "There's another lift some ways away, any luck we can make it there before the Republic comes looking." Anora grunted at the news, but knew she could not stay long. "Alright, let's move out."

The elevator door slid open as Tash pressed the button revealing a mostly empty, dusty and above all else, dark area. The Mandalorians turned on the flashlights on the sides of their helmets, allowing four bright beams of light to pierce through the darkness. Spar was the first one out of the elevator, followed by the limping Mandalore. Their guns were raised and their fingers were on the triggers. Slowly they moved their heads and guns around, the bright lights did not reveal any devils in the darkness and so they lowered their guns. "All clear ma'am." Spoke Spar as he returned back and offered his shoulder to Anora, who returned her left arm around his shoulders and spoke quickly. "Let's go."

Kal flipped the last card, a seven. Combined with the 13 already showing, that made 20. "Pure Pazaak" he said, scrapping up the credits on top of the crate. "I'm surprised I'm beating you," he said to the group's most avid gambler, Po'mali. "Usually I have to get pretty lucky to win against you.
"Sorry," said Po'mali. "I was just thinking about this area. With an elevator leading strait here from near the Jedi Temple, this would be a great place to set up shop. We could turn one of the warehouses into a salvage store and Pawn shop, and get rid of some of the salvage we have sitting back at the base, taking up space."
"You're right, it would make a good shop location." said Kal. "Didn't know you wanted to quit the salvage game though."
"I go wherever the credits go, and right now, I think there are more credits in selling salvage to the top-siders than there is in getting the salvage from the lower levels. Besides, when the shop starts to take off, the money the salvager's get for their finds will go up, and everyone will be better off.
Kal thought about it for a second. "Makes sense." he said, "but you're going to need quite a bit of starting capital to buy inventory and hire people to move all of that junk up here. Tell you what, I've got some credits saved up back at base. Mind if I invest five thousand in your shop, become your business partner?
"I've got some extra credits too. I'll invest two thousand." said Tek.
"And another thousand from me." said Briansk.
"I have no credits." said Aichkay, "only spare parts, and I'm not letting you sale those."
"Fair enough." said Kal, then looked at Po'mali. "We'll want something else here too, for your patrons and the salvager's that come up here with you. A club, maybe? You could move your games up here, including that old Pazaak table you fixed up. Make some money on the gamblers too."
Before he could get a response, the indicator above the lift started to show that it was moving to the surface. "Ok, people, get ready," said Kal. Everyone grabbed their stuff and stowed it, then went to their positions to wait for the enemy.
When they saw that the enemies had walked or limped out of the lift, and the doors had closed, Aichkay and Po'mali lobbed firebombs at them.

"Ambush!" Shouted Spar as he was the first to spot the make shift bombs in the beams of his helmets light. Anora quickly gave the man a gentle force push to free her good arm. Manipulating the force around the bottle with her left hand, she managed to slow the bottle down and bring it to a stop. Her eyes quickly scanned before her, trying to find where this bottle was sent from before noticing a faint bit of someones body sticking up behind the barricade. A mere second after catching it Anora gave the bottle a good force throw, sending it smashing into the front side of the barricade. The explosion and resulting fire engulfed the front side of their position. The explosion, and resulting fire, both illuminated the surrounding area in a bright yellow glow and sent molten fire flying over the top of the barricade. Tash tried to do the same but he could not get a good grip on the one heading his way, instead it was forced down to the ground a few feet in front of him and the Mandalore. The latter had the reaction time to avoid the moving form of the fire, the former was not so lucky. The fire quickly covered the bottom part of his legs as well as catching his cap on fire. The pain rocketed through his body like nothing he has ever felt before, resulting in a mad scream that echoed through the room.

Anora quickly looked over and saw his plight and knowing the Mandalore to have a Cyroban grenade, shouted as she drew her light saber "Put him out quickly!" Spar moved over to her side as the Mandalore quickly reached towards his belt. His reaction time was slower than normal due to the injury he sustained above but in a few seconds he had the grenade out. With one click of the round red button, which rested dead center of the Cryoban, the device came on line with a loud and noticeable beep. With a second push, and a second beep, the device was set to fire suppression mode. The Mandalore, with a quick turn of his body and a even quicker flick of his wrist, tossed the grenade at the feet of Tash. A loud cloud erupted, spreading out over a wide area around the target. The fire quickly died and disappeared from the body of Tash who fell over onto the ground as the sudden chill shocked his body. The Mandalore readied his weapon and rushed to the side of Anora.

Aichkay, Tek, and Po'mali ducked down behind the barricade to keep from getting burnt, barely being missed by the liquid that splashed over the barrier. Po'mlali thought quickly, however, and drew a fire extinguisher from his pack, spraying the flames until they went out.
Seeing that their enemies were injured, Kal motioned to Briansk, and they walked up to the their foes. As Kal neared the Sith Lord, he drew his vibroblade with his right hand, and his lightsaber with his left, bionic arm. Igniting it, he walked up to the woman. "Stop right there Dark Jedi. I can't let you hurt any more of my people."
Briansk drew her vibroblade as well, walking up behind the Mandolorian that had just rescued a dark Jedi. Though he was injured, he seemed to be the most formidable of the non-force users there.

The remaining three stood nearly back to back as their assailants began to approach. The Mandalorians were about to fire but a quick and near silent "Don't shoot" " could be heard escaping Anora's lips. The Mandalore and Spar quickly turned their heads ever so slightly, and let out a nearly unanimous "Ma'am?" "If they wanted to kill us they would have shot us by now. They're trying to scare us. Be ready for anything." "Tash, you ok?" He responded with a quick "Yeah" as he tried to raise himself up, but it was clear he was in a lot of pain as he fell right back down. She was about to speak again but her voice embraced the silence as she saw a man approach their position, vibroblade in one hand and a lightsaber in the other. He wore no robes of the order and firebombing was not their ways, Anora was at a loss for who he could be. Anora listened as he spoke and let out a clear laugh at the last statement. Keeping her opening stance tight, and ready for anything, she spoke

"Coming from the man who just happened to fire bomb us for no reason. State your business with us, you are no Jedi." Her tone was harsh, filled with a hint of anger and above all else carried a seriousness to it. It was clear she was not happy, and this man better be prepared to die if he made an attempt on them.

"You attacked us first." Kal responded. "Or are you denying that those were your droids that attacked the salvage team on sublevel 284?" Po'mali activated the section's overhead lighting, and Kal started moving slowly to the left, trying to reposition himself to avoid fire from Tek's heavy repeating blaster should it come to a fight.

Anora followed this man with her eyes as he began to move to her right. Her eyes flinched for a second when the overhead lights came on, but after they adjusted she began to take in the man standing before her. Behind her helmet her eyes scanned the man from head to toe, noticing everything that stood out to her. The bionic eye was the first thing she paid a second of attention to, this most likely allowed him certain advantages over her. Her eyes moved lower down his body, keeping her head still as she did it, noticng the bionic arm and the lightsaber. The arm most likely gave him tremendous power while the saber was something she had not expected. It was clear from his height, his weaponry and the additional parts that this man was neither republic nor Jedi. He was most likely some criminal or salvager, and judging by his concern for what the droids are doing on that level she suspected it to be the latter.

As she responded, her tone had not changed from before but now added a slight bit of surprise. "I deny your" she paused for a second before spitting out the final word "claim."

"Then maybe you can explain why four battledroids, four super battledroids, and four roller droids were that far down." He came to a stop, having moved out of the way of Tek's blaster. A purple tendril of energy ran down the blade of his lightsaber, from the base, almost to the tip, dissipating as it reached the end. "They have to belong to your group." he said, refuting her claim. "No one else would have access to CIS droids."

As the man continued his speech, Anora could not help her anger from building. This man was trying to defend their attack on her squad by using the actions of a droid who's intelligent was easily surpassed by most children over the age of five. Her head tilted ever so, while enough to be noticeable it was not a deviation from her opening stance. She let a moment of silence fall over the room as she stared into the mans eyes through her mask. If she were in better health, and not surrounded, she would have loved to bring the fight to him. A few seconds passed by and not a soul moved nor did one make a sound. With the tension rising quickly, Anora retorted in a quick and angry voice.

"Do you know what's happening right now?"

Kal responded to the Sith's question. "Your group, and its CIS allies, are attacking Corusant. The Jedi and the GAR are defending the planet, and have probably decimated your forces, forcing a retreat. Am I close?"

With a laugh quickly responded "Not even close." Pausing for a second as she used her head to motion up above them. She spoke in a very quick and blunt voice "Above us there are thousands of ships engaged in the largest space battle of the past century. Around us the surface plays home to countless battles spread over vast distances. You know what that means right?"

Kal thought a moment. "You are conquering the planet? Or at least trying. I doubt the Jedi and GAR will make it easy."

Anora began to slowly move to her right. She knew this would put their enemy more ill at ease but she needed to make her point. Spar quickly spoke in a near silent voice "Ma'am what are you doing?" to which Anora simply replied "Trust me." She continued the slow motion for a couple seconds until she found herself near the badly injured Tash. Looking down at his legs she could tell that whatever was in that fire bomb, it certainly did the damage. She saw that the front of the leg armor had spared the area underneath it from much of the damage, but the sides and rear of the legs were both covered in various sick colored burn marks. The damage spread as far as half way up the cape. She paused for a second.

"Not as easy as i would like, but we have a plan." She paused again as she looked at the man who seemed to be their leader. As she spoke again her tone was filled with a slightly mocking sound "My point being this; do you have any idea how many droids are at the airfield alone?"

Kal looked at the Dark Jedi. "Thousands, I would guess, maybe tens of thousands. But droids are easy to handle. I doubt you have enough Dark Jedi and Mandolorians to handle all of the Jedi. It would take a combined force the size of the GAR to do that." Kal paused, studying her movements. "The Jedi and the Republic aren't really our concern, though. If they want to go to war, it's their people that are being hurt by it. They never should have tried to stop the Seperatists from going their own way."

Anora listened to his response and his final comment calmed her down. It seemed many people were finaly understanding the point of the war. She spoke in a slightly less angry and blunt tone "Thousands upon thousands of drones alone. Many Dark Jedi and mercenaries are also there as well." She paused as she motioned her lightsaber towards the man slowly "Do you think i give the orders to each and every droid?"

"It doesn't matter if you are the Commander in Chief of the entire CIS military, or just a unit commander, though, based on the fact that the Mandalore himself is following your orders," he motioned with his head towards the injured Mandolorian, "I'd say that the first is far more likely. You are at least high enough in rank to be trusted with the assault on the Jedi temple, the most dangerous target on the planet."
"I only care about your people moving into my territory, killing my people. The CIS droids demanded that the salvager's they ran into surrender, called them Jedi dogs. When they refused, the droids attacked. If your droids can't tell the difference between salvager's and Jedi, maybe you need to fix their programming. That team did have a Gray Paladin with them, but that's not a Jedi, and it shouldn't be hard to program them to tell the difference."
"But as long as you leave us alone, keep us out of your war, I won't complain too much. If the Jedi or Seperatist leaders want to lead their people to their deaths, let the people decide what to do about it."

Anora felt the anger quickly return to her as he spoke. She listened to each word he said, and studied his calm demeanor as he spoke. She tightened her grip on her lightsaber as he finished. This man nearly killed her friend, obviously he was prepared to do the same to her and squad yet he talked as if he was a police man reminding a young kid not to break the law. He only showed emotion when he talked about what those droids did. In her mind this was repeated many times in a short span. He was justifying his actions that he took against her squad by what droids did. Droids! In her mind she began to desire charging this man down and sinking her saber deep into his chest. However, she knew her to be too weak right now and her injuries would only hinder it. So as she reluctantly spoke to the man, she began to think of what to do next. "We're only here for the Republic and her Jedi guardians. Civies are off limit for droid targeting. They only target those who have raised weapons or lightsabers. But you justify attempted murder by the actions of droids?

"Droids only follow their orders, and their programming. As their programming wasn't corrupted, and I saw their code themselves when we salvaged them, their behavior is the responsibility of their programmer and their CO. The salvager's may have raised their weapons in readiness, but they wouldn't have fired on them first. I had assumed that you ordered them to attack us, or to capture the sub-levels for use in your war. If they were merely scouts, then maybe both sides share the blame. If you can adjust their programming, however, or order them not to attack sub-dwellers except in self defense or defense of the organic members of your team, I think I can convince my people that they won't be attacked again. That should be enough to settle on a peace agreement between our two groups."
"We can't risk a battle between the two of us. Both sides would suffer heavy casualties. Besides, you won't do too well down here without a guide. There are too many risks, creatures, poisonous plants releasing deadly pollen, even things that thousands of years ago were humans, twilek, or the like, but are now more closely related to monsters from some holo-drama."

Anora did not like the idea of trusting this man nor his forces. But a surprise message suddenly appearing on her HUD quickly forced a shocked and worried look onto her face. It was from Vansk, it was a simple text message yet it drove home a newly formed hopelessness into her mind.

---That message from Vansk---

"Anora, Armageddon has been delayed. The CIS have ordered all ships to pull back to consolidate strength. We will return, go to fall back plan Delta one."
Delta one, Anora thought, hide in the sub levels and blend in until new orders came. A feeling of intense despair fell upon Anora as she looked towards Tash. He slowly returned her gaze, the Mandalorians whispered to each other "Delta one, what's that?" They all would have read the same message but Anora seems to be the one who was most struck by it. She had been on planet for only a couple hours yet the space battle had already been lost. What has happened?

She spoke in a quick voice, missing much of the Anger from before, being replaced by one of confusion. "My friends and I are injured. We have Jedi and GAR actively looking for us and we can't" She paused as she couldn't believe what she was about to say "turn away your help."

"From now own," he said, "We'll assume the sub-levels to be neutral territory between you and the Republic. We'll try and convince the Jedi to hold to that,but they can be quite stubborn sometimes." Kal motioned for his people to come out from hiding. "If you need to talk, we'll be setting up a trade center here to try and sale some of our salvage to the rich top-siders. Might have a club too. The people here will be able to get in touch with me. My name is Kal," he said, deactivating his lightsaber.

"And I'm Anora." She paused as she deactivated her lightsabers and the Mandalorians lowered their weapons. Spar quickly rushed to Tash's side and began to check on him. "If the Jedi and Republic learn we are any where down here, they will come in force. We will try and be out of your district before trouble arrives."

Kal walked over to the injured man. "There's a clinic on sub-level 32.," he said, looking at their injuries, "A man by the name of Drask. He's a bit crazy, and may want to give your people implants, but he's a good doctor, and the Jedi wouldn't think of going there." Kal looked at Po'mali "help Mandalore walk." Kal knelt down beside the burned Dark Jedi and held his hands over him, using the force to "scan" his body for damage. "Minor neural damage, second and third degree burns. Definitely needs Bacta. Unfortunately, that's a bit expensive down here." He stood up and looked at Anora, then signaled for Aichkay to pick up the injured Dark Jedi. "There's a Hutt not far from here, on sub-level 7, who sales Bacta and other medical supplies, including chems, to gangs and other criminals. I could take you there, let you buy the Bacta on your own and save some credits. It looks like you'll be down here for a while, and will need to stretch what credits you have as far as possible."

"You'd be surprised how long one can last when the CIS is backing you." She said. Her voice was quickly devoid of all emotion, the news had already hit her hard. She was unsure of her self for the first time in many years. She had learned to rely on the CIS for many things for this battle, the least of which being support. With "Im sure he could help." Her voice and her head held a hint of confusion.

"Aichkay, reactivate the lift, all levels." When he was done, they were able to use the lift to get to the other levels. As an added bonus, the Jedi wouldn't know which level they were on, which would delay them long enough to get the injured CIS troops medical help.

After the Jedi had taken the Thermal Detonators, Spotter and Cockpit emerged from their cover, and moved silently behind the droid forces. They kept their distance, and stepped lightly, so as not to set off the droids' noise and motion detectors. It took them no less than 30 seconds to cross the street and enter the structure.

The inside of the building wasn't very notable. It looked like every other apartment on the top-most levels of the planet. They had entered through the reception area, and made their way up the emergency stairwell. "Cockpit, you take point." Spotter ordered, having his squadmate advance ahead while he scanned the rear. They kept their eyes peeled and blasters ready as they ascended. There was no telling where they would find an enemy contact. Reaching the 2nd level of the building, Spotter gestured towards the door. cockpit nodded in understanding and burst through it, quickly scanning the room with his DC-17 as Spotter followed closely behind him.

"Clear." Cockpit said. They lowered their blasters and ducked down underneath a window that gave a view of the street. To their left was a door that led into the target balcony. Spotter put his hand up to his helmet as he activated his comms. "Radio, we're in position. We're going to drop down into the AAT underneath the balcony as soon as you give us the signal." Spotter said.

---

"Yes sir." Radio responded. Hiding near the street, he set his DC-17 to Anti-Armor mode as Mech did the same. Radio then turned to the two Jedi. "Sir, me and Mech will handle the distraction. Jump into the fray whenever you feel as if it's the right time. Just make sure to be ready to launch those Detonators into the AAT's once Spotter and Cockpit have finished their hijack." He explained. "Let's move out, Mech." He said as he turned to his other squadmate.

The two commandos headed farther behind the advancing droids, taking cover behind the smoldering wreckage of an ARC-170 starfighter. Radio and Mech leaned against the metal debris as they tightly clutched their weapons. Radio turned towards Mech and held up three fingers. He silently counted down. "3... 2... 1..."

He curled his hand into a fist. As soon as he did, both clones emerged from their cover and fired their Anti-Armor rounds into the Droidekas in ball-form, destroying at least four of them. The droids reacted quickly and shifted into their combat-mode as they slowly turned around with their deflector shields active.

Ducking back into cover as the Droidekas began firing a storm of blaster-fire at their position, Mech reloaded an Anti-Armor round while Radio activated his comm systems. "Sir! We have their attention. Go! Go!" He said as he began reloading his weapon.

---

The green B1 Battledroid commandeering the right-most AAT in their formation, observed the battle between the vanguard of their unit and the GAR unit ahead of them with his Rangefinder. It had its head sticking outside the hatch of the AAT's main cannon as it fired shells into the Clone forces. Suddenly, another B1 standing next to its tank turned around and shouted for attention. "Sir! We've got clones!" It said.

The green B1 put down its rangefinder and turned towards the droid. "Of course we've got clones. What do you think we're shooting at?!" It answered in annoyance. "No, I mean we got clones right behind us!" The regular B1 said as it pointed at the Droideka formation. The Droidekas were exchanging fire with two Clone soldiers hiding behind a destroyed ARC-170. The green B1 turned to the AAT blue Battledroid driver and began shouting orders. "Turn us around 180 degrees and prepare to fire!" It said. "Roger roger." The driver responded.

The large tank began turning around, and set its sights on the ARC-170. The green B1 began turning the main gun towards it. "Ready... steady..." The green B1 said as it aimed the cannons at the wreckage. Before it could press the trigger and give the fire order, it noticed a shadow cover them. "What the..." The droid said as it looked up. Before it could react, two Clone Commandos suddenly fell from above them, landing feet-first on the top of the main cannon as they fired upon the commander. "AAAGH!" The green B1 exclaimed as blue blaster fire peppered the droid. The two clones then jumped inside of the tank. "Uh oh!" The driver said as it turned around, and was subsequently shot.

The clones pushed aside the bodies of the droids and took their seats on the controls.

---

Cockpit took the driver seat while Spotter hopped into the main gun. "We're inside the AAT. Get ready with those detonators!" Spotter said as he locked onto the Droidekas. "Fire at will." He said. "Music to my ears!" Cockpit replied. Spotter fired the main gun into the middle of the Droidekas while Cockpit held down the trigger of the rapid blasters as he slowly turned the tank in order to sweep over all of the droids.. The deflector shields could not hold against the heavy weapons fire.

"Rollers are scrapped, sir." Cockpit said. "Good, because I think these droids are catching on to us." Spotter said as he saw the AAT next to them begin turning in their direction. Spotter quickly moved the main gun towards the enemy tank and fired another shell into it, stunning and damaging it, but not completely wrecking it. "Detonators, now!" Spotter said frantically into his comms, hoping that his squadmates and the Jedi could take out the tanks before they were blown apart.

Dai Yeelo was not happy. Not happy at all. He like Coruscant. It was a teeming hive, a web of information, and he was the spider. It was therefore a major annoyance when his favourite planet was attacked.

Unfortunately for the attackers, they were using droids. Droids with remote control units. With a snarl on his face, he contemptuously brushed aside their security measures and set about reclaiming his planet. In short order, he had several squads of what was once the enemy under his control, and a virus was spreading through the system. It was a masterpiece, subtle, almost undetectable, and able to completely override the core code, altering the infected droid's directives to protect Coruscant, the clones, the Jedi and their Temple, and to destroy any non-infected droids they came across. It would slowly worm its way through their systems, infecting ships, droids and automated defenses.

Then, he patched into the communications of the defense forces.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is Dai Yeelo. I doubt you've heard of me; I take pains to keep it that way. However, we seem to be under attack, so I will simply have to deal with the fallout from this at a later date. Anyway, I've hacked their systems, taken over a few squads of their droids - soon to be more - and planted a computer virus. My droids are having a die-face pattern painted on, so please don't shoot them, they're entirely under my control and on our side. I've got them sweeping up from the Undercity to catch our attackers unprepared. There'll be some coming to guard the Jedi Temple too. Any questions?"

Immediately after Anora’s retreat...

---

The force of the explosion threw Nya off her feet. Whatever the Mandolorians rigged had definitely did its job, as the turret went up in bright orange flames. Landing harshly on her back, Nya saw a large piece of metal debris flying to her. She inched back as much as she could while throwing up her arms to block the incoming object.

The debris never hit her. When Nya’s arms lowered again, she saw Morrin standing in front of her, using his force powered telekinetic to deflect the debris pieces. The Togorian appeared concentrated, his mind and body worked together to clear the battlefield. After a few force lifts, the debris of the turret now lies safely away from his allies.

“I owe you one,” Nya said as Morrin helped her to her feet. “Gotta ask though, where were you during the battle?”

“Dealing with an enemy combatant,” the Togorian answered, he pointed to the other side of the turret. “There was a particularly dangerous foe, he wielded a saber-staff and commanded powerful force attacks.”

“I assume you got rid of him?” she questioned.

“It was a difficult fight,” responded Morrin. “He was unwilling to surrender, even after being disarmed. I had to kill him.”

“I understand,” The Firrereo comforted, Nya knew what it was like to kill for the first time. She briefly called an instance 15 years, where she took the life of a kidnapper. The situation presented her no other choices, it was kill or be killed. “You had to do it, or else he would have done far more damage.”

Morrin did not respond, instead, he just nodded. Ever since his training accident as a padawan, the jedi feared for this day, a dreaded when his lightsaber meets flesh. But right now was not the time for philosophical thoughts, especially with some enemies still on the lose. Closing his eyes briefly, Morrin reached out to the force, using light side techniques to bolster his sprit and steeling his resolve.

“Err, ma’am” a man called out to Nya, this man is sergeant Erick Hemmings, Nya’s second-in-command. “You gotta take a look at this.”

“What is it,” Nya turned to face Hemmings, who was flanked by clone commander Zed on his side. “Your alright?”

“I’m fine, droids can’t shoot for crap,” Hemmings waved off, pointing the far side, he motioned for Nya to follow. “But these Mandos though, that’s another story. Hit one of them right in the face, walked it off like its nothing. If it were not for Zed here, I’d be Chandrilian cheese right now.”

“Mandolorian helmets are made of Beskar, the Mandolorian steel.” Zed said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Aim for the neck, no armor due restriction on mobility.”

“Yes,” Morrin chimed in. “That was how master Windu defeated Jango Fett.”

“Well then, good to know.”Hemmings nodded awkwardly, walking a few more steps ahead, he waved for the others. “Anyways guys, check this out.”

The group, now consisted from the Nya, Morrin, Hemmings, Zed and the surviving fighters, gathered around a hole. It was a couple meters wide, enough for a few humanoids to descend to lower levels.

“Lightsaber cut,” the jedi examined, “they escaped in haste.”

“Looks like a long way down,” the Firrereo mused. What seemed to her as a death fall was probably nothing to the force-wielders and jetpacking Manolorians. Grabbing a detached B1 droid’s arm, Nya tossed the scrap metal into the hole. Several seconds later, a faint thud resonated from the bottom. “At least 20 levels, definitely a no-go from here.”

“Perhaps we can find a lift down?” Zed suggested.

“Actually,” Nya returned, looking up from her datapad. The current battlefield showed CIS forces retreating, most of them trying to consolidate their position at the airfield. “I need you and your shock troopers to go to the airfield, friendly units need reinforcements there. Plus, a large force wouldn’t do us too much good in pursuit operations.”

“Indeed,” Morrin added, “such a large group would no doubt draw their attentions. The lower levels are dense, with many routes for escapes. We need the element of surprise if we were to intercept our foes.”

The clone commander nodded in agreement before snapping to a crisp salute. He rallied the remaining troopers and boarded their drop-ships. Within minutes, the clones were loaded on the aircraft, headed toward their comrades at the airfield.

“Ok, the rest of you head back to base and report to captain Pelik” Nya noted. “Sergeant Hemmings and specialist Yann, you two stay with me.”

“I will accompany you as well, if you don’t mind.” Morrin offered. “I think these force-wielders are no mere dark jedis. I sense strange auras in them, commander Moire.”

“Alright. And please, just call me Nya, there are no ranks between us.”

“Thank you, Nya. You may refer to me as Morrin.”

---

15 minutes later, in a lift headed down to Coruscant’s sub-levels...

---

The lift was a few blocks away from the destroyed turret. Thanks to specialist Yann’s guidance, the group completed their journey in short time. The lift itself, however, appeared damaged. Its metal frame was blackened from what seemed to be burn marks, but beside the surface damage, its controls were mostly intact.

“These don’t look like electric fire,”specialist Yann examined. Samira Yann was a female Zabrak, a technical specialist sent by the CPF. “They are similar to improvised incendiary devices from the Westside Riots.”

“Home made firebombs?” Nya asked.

“Probably, though I haven’t seen Mandos use firebombs. I mean, they have flamethrowers on their wrists.”

“Right," said sergeant Hemmings. "Chances are that the bottom dwellers weren’t so happy with their new guests.”

“And no reason to assume they’ll be friendly to us either.” Nya reminded him. In the next few brief seconds, the Firrereo took in her surrounding from the elevator window. As deeper they went, less sunlight illuminated their path. The lower levels were dark and gloomy, with a couple of rundown alleyways dimly lit by holo and neon lights.

“Morrin,” Nya suddenly remembered. Her squad managed to intercept a brief transmission from the CIS, some sort of creed broadcasted by the CIS field commander. “We got this from enemy comms.”

Morrin listened as Nya’s datapad played out the transmission. It was a code, similar to his own jedi code. “There is chaos, and in it we find balance.” Morrin contemplated, “Just as I sensed in our foes, they have both light and dark side energies. Could be grey jedis, I remember master Yoda’s lecture on the unifying force...”

He did not finish his thoughts before the elevator came to a sudden halt. The group stumbled by their abrupt stop and Nya almost lost balance. Looking out the small window, they have reached their deepest stop. Nya carefully pressed the green button, opening the door while shouldering her rifle. Beside her, Yann brought up her shotgun and Hemmings did the same with his sniper rifle. Morrin stood in the back, right hand on his lightsaber, ready but not activated.

Kal led the group towards a neon lit door an sublevel 32. "There's Drask's place" he said to the others. "I'll go tell him you're here. wait outside the door until I call for you. If he's heard the news from the surface, he might be a bit concerned about you guys showing up at his door. You're not really in a condition to fight his droid defenses."
Kal walked ahead and entered. "Hey Drask, I brought you some patients."
An old humanoid cyborg entered the room from the side. "I saw them." he said. "Mandos and a Dark Jedi. Interesting company you keep."
"I ambushed them, then agreed to let them pass through the sublevels freely if they don't start any trouble. They're badly hurt though. One of them will need a dip in your Bacta tank."
The old man smiled at the thought of the credits they would give him. Or, at least the closest to a smile he could produce, given that half of his face was now synthetic. "Well then bring them in."

Once they had settled on a price and the burned Mandolorian was in a Bacta tank, Drask asked "So, I assume you guys are part of the invasion force? I just got a report minutes before you entered that a giant Feline Jedi has entered the sublevels looking for you."