Prologue
The high council selected two hundred and twelve Jedi Knights and Masters to form a strike force in order to spearhead the Geonosian campaign.
Airven, a Mirialan Jedi Master, was a part of the follow-up force. He knew that he’d been appointed as a general because he was a Jedi Master and he’d also felt rather intimidated with the enormous responsibility that had been saddled on his shoulders. He was one of the youngest Jedi to be granted the rank of master, he was twenty-six, in galactic years.
The fleet navigated through the Corellian Run, a hyperspace shortcut, between Coruscant and Tatooine. The trip elapsed over the period of about eight hours. During which time most of the officers and Jedi aboard the Valiant, an Acclamator assault ship, were reviewing the schematics for the Geonosian droid factories they had collected. Airven joined them.
***
In low orbit around Geonosis there was nothing obvious for as far a sight carried, then several Acclamator assault ships and escorting frigates dropped out of hyperspace, descending on the planet below.
“The Jedi strike team have began their initial assault, General.” Captain Fordo informed Airven, who was kneeling in his meditation chamber aboard the Valiant.
“Then we should prepare ourselves…” Airven stood up, quickly grabbing his lightsaber from its stand and his cloak. The Mirialan Jedi strode out onto the command bridge, fastening the belt around his robes, the clones aboard saluting him as he passed. Over the last few hours he’d learned to deal with carrying the rank of general in the Grand Army of the Republic and the respect that it demanded, even if he didn’t want it.
Airven had been a Jedi for as long and as far back as his memory went. He’d grown up in the temple. He’d grown up learning that violence was never the way, that anger only lead to further conflict, that there was no emotion… only peace. From this, he could not conceivably understand the decision making that stood behind bringing the Jedi into the coming war…
The Jedi were peacekeepers, not warriors… The concept of making a Jedi into a military General was nonsense to Airven… but he understood the necessity of it - if peace was to be preserved then the war must be short. And the best way, at the Republic’s disposal, was to give the reins over to the Jedi…
***
Airven had left the Valiant with Captain Fordo to take command of their sector on the surface. He’d left command of the Valiant and the battlegroup to Colonel Lenrii Stakor. Airven grew to appreciate the man over the course of the last day and decided that it was a good move to trust him with command. There were a few officers of higher rank than the Colonel, but Airven had given him control regardless.
“General, Phalanx Battalion is on the ground awaiting your orders.” Fordo’s voice came over the com-link fastened to Airven’s ear. Otherwise there was no visual sign that the clone had been speaking to him. “You also have Tau squadron at your disposal.”
“Fordo,” Ariven spoke galactic basic with the accent expected from the more sophisticated races, similar to Obi-Wan Kenobi. “I’m going to leave Tau squadron to you. Take them and disable our objective. I’ll have the rest of Phalanx Battalion keep their forces distracted in conjunction with the rest of the Republic forces… And I’ll see about confronting Dooku.” The Count had, for years, been Airven’s mentor and friend. He’d learned what rudimentary knowledge of makashi he had from the much older and much more experienced Jedi Master.
Rumors said and ground reports confirmed that he’d turned to the Dark Side of the Force. And in turn he’d left all that the Jedi stood for, all of the teachings of peace and harmony, in favor of the teachings of passion-driven chaos. He wanted - nay - he needed to confront his old friend about his decision. Perhaps he was being naive, but Airven thought that he could talk some sense into him… even if it was a futile effort. Maybe it was a deeper need to confirm that the reports and rumors were in fact true… it was always a sad day when a Jedi turned Sith.
The gunship touched down near a control hub. There were several hundred clone troopers, filed in ranks near the portable building, their shiny new armor glinting in the daylight, the battle raged nearby. The influx of starships didn’t help the wind levels on the canyon-like planet and as a result, dust storms were raging through the battlefield.
“Commander Braine, sir!” A clone, donned in armor with red markings, saluted Airven as he and Captain Fordo stepped off of the transport. The Jedi didn’t return the gesture, but Fordo did, seemingly in his stead. “You have Phalanx Battalion at your command!” He spoke in an orderly shout. The sound of the raging battles could be heard near by. As he’d stopped speaking his arm lowered to his side again.
“At ease, Commander.” Airven said as he kept walking, making his way into the hub. Braine and Fordo followed him in. There were several men inside who all were identical to each other - clones. They all wore headsets and were barking orders into them as they directed portions of the battle nearby through comlinks. Soon they were going to be shifted to direct Phalanx Battalion.
The Jedi stopped at the one side of the holoprojector in the middle of the large room. Many miniaturized gunships flew around it while soldiers ran about the surface and starships were much higher in its sky. “As you know, our objective is to disable the droid factories here on Geonosis. I plan to have Tau squadron pursue that goal while the rest of the battalion keeps the attention of the majority of Separatist forces, away from their factories. It is my understanding that several commando squadrons are being deployed for different goals and ours, as wells as a few others, is to destroy this underground droid factory.” He pressed a few controls on the console and the image zoomed into an underground location not too far into the fighting where the schematics for a droid factory came on display.
