[IC] The Clone Wars

[Melkor]

The flight to Geonosis wasn't long. Hyperspace was a capability of Jedi fighters, after all. The high council selected two hundred and twelve Jedi Knights and Masters to form a strike force in order to spearhead the Geonisian campaign.

Master Arven, a Mirilan Jedi Consular, was a part of the strike force. He very much liked flying, but there was no joy expressed on his face as he and two hundred and eleven others approached what may be their deaths. Why would the Jedi council send two hundred Jedi to save three and investigate Geonosis?... "Hmm..." They know that even two hundred of us cannot take a planet... perhaps there is a deeper plan that we haven't been informed of...

The sound of blaster fire interrupted Arven's thoughts. He looked out of his cockpit and saw the vast space above Geonosis. He began whipping his head back and forth, he spotted them - perhaps forty droid tri-fighters, scattering. They had just shot down two of the thirty Jedi fighters escorting the two RTTs, or Republic Troop Transports which carried the rest of the Jedi. Arven maneuvered his fighter and fired his cannons, he'd hit a tri-fighter. It had continued for a time, fire grasping the fuel but sputtering out eventually because there was no more fuel to feed it. The tri-fighter stopped and it exploded after another Jedi fired at it.

The battle lasted only a few minutes, but the Jedi had already lost four of their own. Luckily the droid's distress signal was jammed by one of the RTTs. When the Jedi finally landed, they were met with resistance from the droid army. Mace Windu immediately sprang from his RTT and targeted the droid communication arrays.

Arven sat in a RTT with about one hundred other Jedi. They were instructed to not leave the transports, they didn't want anyone to know that Jedi were attacking, if Master Windu failed in destroying the communication arrays. Needless to say, Windu hadn't failed. He and Master Luminara Unduli piloted the two TX-130 saber-class tanks, which each RTT had carried in their respective cargo bay, they cleared a way for the Jedi to the Geonosian arena where they had tracked Skywalker and Senator Amidala.

Master Arven stepped out of his transport. They were being dropped off near the arena, each Jedi wore their cloak and hood in order to conceal themselves. Arven Geonosis was not a pleasant place. It wasn't quite as much of a desert as Tatooine but more of a canyon wasteland, there was no moisture anywhere, Arven could feel that much, his throat was instantly dry and became scratchy. All the same, he made his way into the arena. After traversing hallways and dark tunnels he was blinded by the sunlight. The arena was huge, it could seat quite a few thousand, and it did. Where are they... He spotted a balcony and could make out a few figures. One wore Mandalorian armor. That must be Jango Fett, the bounty hunter Obi-Wan told the council about... That man next to him... He spotted a tall man wearing black and a scarlet cape. It looks like Dooku... It must be him... Arven felt only pity for the former Jedi Master.

Arven sat in the crowd, cloak still over himself, he did his best to not draw any attention to himself, but he kept an eye on the balcony. He knew that Obi-Wan, his padawan, and Senator Amidala were in the arena, about to meet their execution, but he waited. Master Windu said that there would be a clear signal to reveal themselves. After a while of waiting, Arven saw the Geonosians bring out their beasts. There were three of them, an acklay, a nexu and a reek. They attacked the trio, Skywalker mounted his beast, Amidala climbed to the top of her post and Kenobi did all he could to avoid the acklay.

Arven saw Windu on the balcony, he drew his lightsaber, the purple blade distinguishable, even from this distance. Arven stood, threw off his cloak and drew his own green saber, the blade emitting a soft hum. He saw over two hundred other sabers of many colors ignite around the arena. Arven jumped into the air, high above the enemy and landed near Senator Amidala. There were already a multitude of droids pouring into the arena. The other Jedi did the same and within moments a full scale battle had erupted. Blaster fire came from every side, but Arven had mastered Soresu, he did his best to avoid blaster bolts and deflect them back to their shooter. He saw a Jedi jump to Dooku's balcony but was immediately shot. Arven made his way to the balcony and jumped to it. He was immediately met with blaster fire from Fett. Arven deflected it and used the force to snatch Jango's blaster from him, tossing it into the battle below. The bounty hunter dove after it.

"Ah, Master Arven..." Dooku's voice filled Arven's ears. The, now, Sith lord gave the Jedi his undivided attention.

"Count Dooku. It would seem that we are on different sides of the same battle, my old friend." Arven's voice gave off a cheerful tone, but his expression gave no such tone.

"I will offer you this once." He paused. "Join me, turn to the dark side of the force. Become my apprentice, together we can destroy the Sith Master."

"You must know that I would never turn to the dark side Dooku, so why ask?" So there is a new Sith Master... This is most troubling. If I make it back to Coruscant, I need to inform the Jedi council of this...

"Them you will die." Dooku's expression changed from neutral to anger. He stepped aside and super battle droids emerged from the hall behind him.

Arven drew his saber and began deflecting the droid's baster fire. He jumped over Dooku and landed in the midst of the droids, they didn't have enough time to react. Arven systematically sliced through them, after just a few seconds all that remained was a pile of parts.

Arven turned to Dooku, who was to be the only other on the balcony by this point, the separatist leadership must've fled. Arven decided to employ ataru for this battle, his second form. He skipped the opening stance and moved straight to the attack stance, saber held over his head, one leg outstretched toward his opponent, the other supporting his weight.

"Ah, ataru. I see Master Yoda has had a hand in your training." Dooku had clearly recognized the stance.

"Yoda has no hand in my training. It is Jedi tradition that Mirilan padawans have Mirilan masters. I have been learning ataru for many years, recently I have mastered it." With that, Arven launched himself forward and began his assault with short, coordinated saber strikes. Dooku's makashi form easily redirected each of Arven's slashes. Falling Leaf... Arven had learned the falling leaf technique recently. He outstretched his saber, brought in his other arm. Left foot... jump... spin... land on the right... repeat.

Arven and Dooku locked blades. "You have lost, my old friend - the Jedi are weak and losing numbers. Will you help them, and die? Or will you continue fighting me, and die?" Arven knew that the count was right on one account - he was no match for Dooku. Arven had made up his mind. But before he could flee, Dooku shot lighting at him.

Arven brought up his saber to absorb the lightning. Dooku used the force to take the saber from Arven's grasp, he tossed it aside. Arven held out his hands Yoda did teach me this... I lied to Dooku, but he was wrong... Yoda did not teach e my saber form... He has been teaching me tutaminis Energy absorption and deflection through the force. He shot his hand out and caught the lighting, he could feel it coursing through his whole body, but it didn't hurt. He was doing it right. Yoda had told him to think of it as though his hand was a rod, drawing in the lightning. He redirected the lighting and fled to the arena to aid the Jedi.

[KnightofTempest]

As his transport descended from the Skies above Geonosis, Kot looked for his target. Jango Fett, the man who had led his father to his doom, the man who had abandoned Mandalore when it needed him most, the man who abdicated his responsibilities, the man who abdicated his honor. Spotting his target in the arena as the Gunship was about to overfly it, Kot couldn't help himself. He was an advisor to the clones, and he'd like to think he had trained them weel. Their own officers could handle combat against the useless b-1 series droids well enough, and even Geonosian Warriors would be no match for them. His target, his vengeance, lay below, in an arena they were currently about to overfly in order to get to one of the more strategically valuable cities. Kot couldn't allow that. His orders didn't explicitly forbid what he was about to do either, and so he did the only thing he could.

Jumping out of the Gunship to the cries of the clones, he ignited his jetpack screaming forward towards where his Target lay. Firing his carbine in a series of 3 shot bursts to take out a pair of Geonosian Warriors guarding the Box. Jango ignited his own jetpack as soon as the bolts hit their targets and was flying off into the Sky.

"Jango Fett! You led my father to his Death on Galidraan, and you abandoned your people when they needed you most! For that, you will die!" Shouted Kot, firing at Jango, as he ducked and weaved through the sky, avoiding the deadly pistol bolts of his target. The Duel was on, two Mandalorians flying through the air on Jetpacks, firing at one another in a deadly game of tag, dodging each others shots. Jango fired a salvo that Kot had to dodge upwards to escape. Kot fired a burst that had Jango zig zagging out of the way. This went on for what seemed like forever, but couldn't have been more than a minute or two.

Kot let off another three round burst, bolts widely spaced in an attempt to Bracket his target, Jango flew low to the stands to avoid the shot, that's when Kot knew he had him, slinging his carbine and cutting his jetpack, Kot Fell to the stands. Right on top of Jango. It was a maneuver only the most suicidally brave would take, a mis-aimed drop could have easily broken his legs, and made him easy prey. As it was, Jango Broke His fall, and the pair began to grapple. Hold-counter-position, another few minutes passed with each trying to gain the upper hand on the other, Jango was skilled, perhaps more so than Kot, but he was beginning to tire in his old age. If the intel was right, Jango had been three days, evading Jedi on Kamino, battling with Jedi Kenobi before narrowly escaping in his Firespray Class Patrol ship and making his way to Geonosis through an asteroid field and Jedi Fighters, having to aid in the capture of Kenobi and Skywalker, and now this. It's no wonder the man was feeling his age.

Kot soon got in a good position, and gave Jango the old Keldabe kiss, a helmeted headbutt that sent the man's ears ringing. That and the fatigue Jango was feeling had allowed Kot to get in a good hold and break Jango's left arm. Jango Growled, kicking Kot away from him and extending his right arm to fire a Kaminoan Sabre Dart at Kot. Kot in turn extended his left, a whipcord reaching out, grappling around Jango's Arm and spoiling the older mando's aim. A tug sent Jango stumbling off balance, right into a punch by Kot's Gauntleted Fist. "Do you know what has gone on in Mandalore in your absence?" He grunted, as he hammered the older Mando mercilessly. "Satine's Peace Faction, and the Death Watch have been gaining more followers! The Death watch has started Skirmishing! The True Mandalorians used to be the middle ground! But you left! And For what? To get yourself cloned and play seperatist?" Another punch sent Jango Sprawling to the Ground. "You left your people at the mercy of Pacifists and Fanatics, I ought to put a bolt in your brain." Growled Kot. "Instead, you are coming with me to stand trial for aiding the Seperatists, and for the Attempt on Senator Amidala's Life." Grunted Kot, as he once again leveled his carbine and shot Jango with a three round burst of stun Bolts."

Seeing that the Jedi Transport was acting as an impromptu headquarters, Kot picked Jango up, ignited his jetpack and flew down to the transport. "Prisoner for you. This is the guy who tried to kill Senator Amidala, I imagine the republic wants him for trial. If he wakes up, stun him. I have to see to the clones." He said, depositing Jango at the feet of the Young Knight standing Guard before flying off.

[agentmanatee]

Ruhk had been patiently waiting for whatever Windu's signal would be. The flight to Geonosis had been quick, but not being the greatest pilot had put master Ruhk Pic in one of the RTT's, and despite his only average pilot skills wished he had control of his own fate. But he had faith in the pilots, and he was right to, they got through the dogfight virtually unscathed.

The quiet approach had been a bit nerve-wracking, but master Windu's abilities were never in doubt. Now all that remained was Windu's signal. Suddenly the bright purple Saber appeared on the balcony next to Dooku, "I suppose that's it" Ruhk chuckled as he threw off his cloak, jumped into the arena and activated his blue lightsaber, adopting a defensive Soresu stance, fully expecting blaster fire. Shortly Geonosians descended, and brought the fight he was expecting. Quickly switching to Juyo stances, Ruhk cut down three bugs that got a bit to close before charging a group of four or five more wielding there strange Geonosian blasters. Quickly dispatching them a larger group, ten or more of them, landed in front of Ruhk aiming blasters. Ruhk let out his force enhanced Ithorian screech, and shredded the Warriors like so much paper, seeing as it could shred plasteel the Geonosians didn't stand a chance.

Suddenly battle droids emerged, flooding the arena. Though easily destroyed their numbers were daunting, and Ruhk had to cut down quite a few, switching between Juyo and Soresu stances, chopping and deflecting blaster fire as was required. Suddenly the druids and Geonosians ceased fire. Dooku implored the surrounded jedi to surrender, which none would. Ruhk hoped there would be help very soon, and then the clones arrived.

[Melkor]

The droids stopped firing and the voice of Dooku resonated through the arena. He bid them surrender, something none of the Jedi were prepared, or willing, to do. Aren had been fighting for a long time, by this point, he had grown tired, but was not willing to surrender. He would rather become one with the force than fall so low. Arven, thought that there was no hope for their survival - then the gunships arrived.

There were thousands of clones arriving in drop ships. Master Windu must have taken out their defenses, that could be what kept everyone waiting. The gunships created a perimeter around the surviving Jedi, landed and flew them away to the battle outside of the arena. Arven shared a gunship with Masters Fisto and Mundi. No one spoke casually as they flew to the nearby battle.

The gunship landed in a cleared space, near a few tanks and other gunships. The three Jedi stepped out and were greeted by a clone in white armor with yellow markings. “Sirs!" The clone saluted, "I’m Commander Stone, we have three companies awaiting your command.” Aren and the other two went their separate ways.

[Skyrte]

"Twenty one minutes." A familiar voice spoke, it was his voice. CC-1313 sat in the LAAT/i gunship with about 29 other troopers. "I heard the about the hell you rose in the armory. A brave move, getting us those extra medical kits. You might get recycled for it."
"Shut it 2231, I know what I did, and the possible consequences." CC-1313 looked up at his fellow Captain, who lead the 2nd Company, 1st Battalion. "I want all of us to fly back to the RAS Valiant, those medical kits will help."
"You do realize that we're not all coming back?"
"I know. I'll do my best though." CC-1313 grumbled quietly, he went to checking the gun sights on his DC-15A.
CT-2231 stood silent, understanding the gesture. His Commander was a stubborn one, unrealistic. Yet, he felt compelled to help him, like his cause was noble. Despite everyone present being a clone of a single man, every trooper expendable, his Commander believed otherwise.

Another voice spoke, "24th Infantry Regiment, 142nd/94th Gunship Wing. You are green light." The garbled voice said. CC-1313 braced himself, he heard massive slabs of metal groan and creak, then roll open. The hangers opened and the hot Geonosian air filled the hanger. Eighty eight of his gunships flew out of that hanger, and hundreds more followed. His wings branched off to the west, going towards a cluster of CIS forces. A new objective appeared on his HUD, Destroy the cluster of three Droid Factories at Grid-22-4-56

CC-1313 stood up and yelled over the sounds of the engine, "Pilot, status! And tell me what you see over there!"
"Light enemy flak incoming. I see enemy armor and infantry near the objective."
CC-1313 turned on the communications channel to his group, specifically, his regiment and the two gunship wings. "94th Wing, drop your troops 700 meters south. Third and Fourth Battalion, you'll have to run to the objective. 94th Wing, then cover the 142nd's approach, target triple-A and armor, then EI, priority in that order. The 142nd will be hot-dropping First and Second Battalion 500 meters away from the objective, southern approach. First and Second Battalions are to hold position until the Third and Fourth arrive. Gunships, provide air support to our attack. How copy?"
The wing leaders repeated their orders back, then the battalion commanders. CC-1313 nodded in approval, "Good, commence operation."

He heard the gunship engines growl and the center of gravity shift. Soon after, the gunship doors opened and the orange sands filled his view. Dozens of LAAT/i's were around his, dodging flak fire. One group dropped their altitude and CC-1313 saw infantry pour out of the gunships below. That meant they were roughly 700m away from the factories, and below them was the Third and Fourth Battalions. Seconds later, his own gunship dropped in altitude. Stopping only about a meter away from the ground, he jumped out of the gunship and looked above. The 94th Wing flew onwards to the factories, their missile launchers firing HE and HEAP missiles at the targets he designated, their lasers blazed away at whatever they could fire at. He then looked at the area in front of him. Cover was decent, large rocks were everywhere. This was a relatively easy operation, CC-1313 thought. "Take cover!" He heard CT-2231 yell. CC-1313 ran and planted himself onto a rock when the gunships that dropped him off took off.

It took several hours, but the Regiment, with the air support provided, was able to successfully plant the charges and detonate them with minimal casualties. Destroying the factory. No new orders came in, instead they were put on standby. A superior opened a channel to CC-1313.
"Be advised. You and your regiment will be assigned a Jedi, this Jedi will be your superior officer."
CC-1313 stood dumbfounded for a moment, the only word he managed to say, was a loud and resounding, "What?!"
The thought of an inexperienced Jedi leading his troops struck dread into the Commander. Needless to say, he was not happy about this decision.

[KnightofTempest]

Kot landed where the fighting was thickest, taking out several of the spindly and poorly programmed B-1 Series Droids from above before aiding a group of clone troopers in storming a defensive position, laying down covering fire as the clones flanked the barricade manned by a pair of Geonosian Warriors who were previously firing an E-Web heavy repeating blaster cannon down the street at an advancing column of clone troopers. Kot's Carbine fire forced the Geonosian Warriors to duck and cover from the bolts, and soon a squadron of clone troopers had managed to flank the position and lay down grenades, splattering the two Geonosians across the barricade.

As the Column advanced, Kot Flitted from building to building on his jetpack, taking a sniper role as the Column continued to clear the series of barricades set up along the street. As they neared one of the large manufacturing spires, the B-1's became sparser and the Geonosians more prevalent, along with a few droidekas. The Droidekas were no problem for Kot though, do to his gauntlet mounted micro missile launcher. Most Mando's preferred a flamethrower on their right arm, said the micro-missiles didn't have enough punch. While it was true, that the Micro Missiles barely had the stopping power of your average grenade, That was good enough for Kot's Purposes. Besides which, he had a small flame projector mounted under barrel on his carbine if he needed heat.

Regardless, after a long intense fight, the Column finally managed to make it to the entrance of their first objective, one of the Many Droid Manufacturing Spires in the City surrounding the Arena. From here it was going to be hard fighting in tunnels, so Kot quickly took charge of the advance. Walking up to the Clone Captain in command of the Column. "Major Tal, Mandalorian Advisor to the 24th Infantry Regiment, this your show?" He asked. "Yes Sir, Captain CT-7567." Replied the Clone Captain, but Kot shook his head and said, "What do your podmates call you Captain? I don't much care for the serial numbers the Bureaucrats Give out, not a proper name." The Captian Nodded and said, "Captain Rex, at your service sir, we were supposed to be assigned a Jedi, but with the Fracas at the Arena Command hasn't gotten around to it yet." Kot nodded and replied, "Well, we'll see if we can't get you and your men some Glory before the Jedi go hogging it all. We're going to be taking out the Droid Factory in this spire, but we need to go through tunnels to get there, fortunately, it looks like we might have just enough firepower to make a decent go of it. Breach Procedure is in effect here captain, can't be too careful in a tunnel. I might be able to clear out the Geonosians with my flame projector, they burn just like everyone else, but the droids are a different matter. They don't burn, so we'll have to blow them up or take em down with blaster bolts. Just remember your training and do what I do, and we might just beat the Jedi to the punch here." "Yessir." Snapped the Captain.

A few minutes to check grenades and power packs, and form up went by, and then Kot and the Clones entered the Spire. Kot led the way, blazing with his flame projector, the air inside the tunnels acting as fuel for the large plume of flame that swept down the tunnel, incinerating the Geonosian Warriors stationed in the first stretch of tunnel. The Clones opened up with blasters as soon as the fire stopped, picking off the now supportless B-1 Droids as they advanced into the tunnels. It was a good entrance, but soon whatever passed for a commander for droids started changing tack, having the droids fire back and staging a fighting retreat further up the tunnels. A some of the clones were hit with bolts, but for every clone that died, five droids seemed to go with them. Soon, it seemed like the droids had stopped fighting. Kot held up his hand. "I smell a trap lads, give me a second to scope out the hallway. "Switching his optics to infrared and filtering out the background heat of the droid foundries took a few moments, but eventually Kot was able to discern the faint shimmer of laser tripwires. "Those freaking toasters laid down some proximity mines to cover their retreat. They're probably regrouping in the bottom floor foundry. Who's your demolition's expert captain?" Asked Kot over the Comms. "Scorch! Get your arse up to the front, the Major found something he needs you to take a look at." Shouted Captain Rex over the comm. Soon a clone trooper with the olive green markings of a Sergeant double timed it to the front of the column. "You see what I see Sergeant?" Asked Kot. The Sergeant let out a low whistle, "Yeah, those things might even have enough juice to collapse the tunnel if they all blew at once, good thing you spotted them sir." He said. "Can you defuse them?" Asked Kot. "Give me a few minutes and I'll have them disarmed and ready for replacement by our own troops, might as well give those toasters a surprise or two." Chuckled the Sergeant. "Get it done, Sergeant." Replied Kot.

A few minutes later and the mines had been disarmed and ready for redeployment. Scorch had even managed to rig up a detonator that would set them off in case they used up their ordinance in the fight in the main foundry. The Column was soon moving again, coming up on a large blast door. "I think I can hotwire this to open, but you men need to be ready to lay down some serious cover fire when they do. I don't doubt that the bulk of the droids in this spire are in that room and have regrouped, priority for grenades should go towards any Droidekas in there before B-1's or Geonosians, I open this door, you all chuck grenades at the best targets, then pick your targets as you need to. I'll be right there as soon as I can lock out the door controls." Replied Kot. A few minutes passed, as Kot buried himself in wires, before a spark lit off a pair of connected wires and the blast doors opened. Immediately, a volley of grenades were tossed down, blowing up Droidekas and some of the more opportune concentrations of B-1's, but the Droids got in a volley as well, and the front ranks of the clones were whittled down with blaster bolts. A firefight soon erupted as Clones, Geonosians, and Droids engaged in a running gun battle in the main foundry of the spire. Eventually Kot got fed up with trying to lock out the controls and put a bolt into the control panel before joining the firefight. Clones died, but many more droids and geonosians went down than clones, and soon Scorch was rigging ordinance on load bearing walls and support columns. He intended to bring the entire spire down. "Okay, we have five minutes to get out of range, let's move it!" Shouted Scorch as the last of the charges were set.

A mad dash back down the tunnels ensued as the Clones and Kot tried to clear the spire before the timer wound down, they managed to make it out at the 30 second mark, sprinting back down the street for the last 30 seconds before a muffled boom was heard and the spire began to topple over into the next closest spire, causing significant damage to that one as well and shooting up a huge plume of dust.

When the dust cleared, a message from command came through the comms, "CT-7567 you are to take your unit towards the Arena, your Jedi Officer will be there waiting for you." Kot, Sighed and said, "Well Captain it looks like that display at least got command's attention. We should probably double time it to the Arena. Can't have the New Jedi in Charge look bad by not having his troops, now can we?" Chuckled Kot. And soon the Clones and Kot were on their way to the Arena.

[agentmanatee]

Ruhk Pic had not expected the clones, but he quite enjoyed their arrival. As the gunships circled to extract the jedi Ruhk heard a new voice of his communicator,"Commander Pic, your regiment is on standby, awaiting your arrival and orders" Pic responded, "What is my regiments designation?". The voice, obviously a clone commander most likely at the forward base, quickly answered the jedi's question, "The 24th infantry regiment sir, led by clone commander designated CC-1313"Ruhk thanked the commander, and stowed his communicator, it would almost be time to meet his troops.

As the gunship landed and Ruhk disembarked he saw a clone in yellow lined gear and assumed that must be CC-13, "You, commander CC-13? I am Jedi master Ruhk Pic, your new general. I want a status report before we join the fighting again."

[Melkor]

Arven found his company, it had about a hundred and fifty men. When he arrived they stood and saluted. "Be at ease, gentlemen." Arven replied. "Who is the captain here?"

"That'd be me sir!" Arven saw a clone with blue markings on his armor. "I'm Captain CT-5252, if you prefer, our company refers to me as Fox." The clone stood still awaiting orders.

"I am Jedi Master Arven, I'll be acting as your general today." Arven looked around for a bit. "Captin, be at ease." The clone relaxed more. The rest of the troopers were just staring at Master Arven. Perhaps they've never really seen a Jedi up close..? Or perhaps they're nervous that I don't know how to command? "What are your currrent orders?"

"We are to repell the sepratist from their left while the rest of the army does this from their respective area."

"That seems simple enough, do we have tanks? Walkers? Gunships?"

"Yes sir, we have three RX-200 tanks, two AT-RT walkers and a LAAT gunship at our disposal."

"Good, then divide your men into teams, I need the beam tanks mounting an offensive from the rear with the walkers providing support. I will use the gunship as a command center and for support." Arven looked at the clone captain. "Do you agree with the plan? Do you have any ideas?"

"Yes sir. No sir."

"In that case, get to it." Captain Fox turned and began dividing his men into the teams Arven had specified. Soon there were six men ready to operate the tanks, two for the walkers and six, including Captain Fox, ready to operate and ride in the gunship. "Now everyone, make sure your comlinks are open! I will be using them to advise your movements from the air." With that Arven jumped into the gunship and they were off.

It didn't take them long to reach the droid front, it backed up very far, it was just droids - perhaps a few patches of geonosians, but it was a huge army. "Take cover, form a line and take cover." Arven spoke into his comlink. He saw the clones, like rats on the ground form a defensive line. "Tanks, take out their first line. Men keep in cover." The beam tanks swiped the line of droids, easily disabling them and several behind them. The droids were in disarray. "Clones, begin firing - do not advance. I repeat, do not advance."

"General! There's a hellfire tank." Captain Fox pointed it out. Arven saw the two wheeled tank approaching his men.

"Tanks! Concentrate fire on that hellfire. Everyone else, take cover!" The RX-200s turned and fired their beam cannons at the droid tank, it quickly exploded. "Continue the assult, do not advance until I say to do so. Keep firing." Arven remembered that the gunship had side mounted beam turrets. "Pilot, bring us in, lets use our beam turrets to take out some of their droids and anymore tanks." The clone pilot complied, the gunship hovered above Arven's men, facing the droid army. "Turrets, destroy what you can. Pilot, be prepared to take evasive maneuvers." Arven saw that the droids were falling back.

[Skyrte]

CC-1313 was rubbing his temples, but he was in a combat zone, so in actuality he was rubbing the front of his helmet. It was more symbolic than anything, to express his displeasure at the new change of leadership. It was only a short while after the orders that a lone gunship arrived, dropping off its passenger. It was the Jedi that was to be his new superior. CC-1313 had only glossed over the information about the Jedi, having never thought that the Jedi themselves would become officers in the army. He did read that in times of war, the Jedi did not shy away from armor. This Jedi though, did not wear any armor. The Jedi walked over to him and introduced himself,
"You, commander CC-13? I am Jedi master Ruhk Pic, your new general. I want a status report before we join the fighting again." He requested,
CC-1313 looked around at his troops and nodded, "We have just destroyed this droid factory. My troops are currently holding position with a secure perimeter. We have 2,534 battle ready Troops out of 2,640. The remaining 106 are WIA and are being treated, we have no KIA or MIA. We have been assigned two wings of 44 Gunships each as transport and air support, and we have no armor support."

[agentmanatee]

Ruhk Pic smiled, as much as an Ithorian could smile, "Well then commander or role is clear. Load each transport with troops, and have the pilots listen for stress points in the battle line. We will deeply either where the druids are about to break or where are forces need backup. We shift with the battlefield, a good idea no?" Ruhk began to first examine the ships, and once satisfied boarded one, "Well commander? Got rocks in your shoes our do you have tactical input?"

[Skyrte]

CC-1313 ignored the aliens' remark about rocks in his shoes. Yeah, he did have rocks in his boots, and sand. But sand and pebbles got everywhere, and they didn't bother him that much. He rubbed the chin of his helmet and nodded,
"Very well General, I'll call over the Battalion leaders to brief them on our plan. We shouldn't spread ourselves too thin." CC-1313 determined, he called over the Battalion leaders over, and in a few seconds they stood in a circle. CC-1313 explained the Generals' plan to them and they all agreed. "Alright, since we're all in agreement over this, I recommend that we deploy by Battalion." He said, looking at the Ithorian Jedi, "Each Battalion would have discretion over how many troops to deploy at a zone, as well as the ability to call for reinforcements from the other Battalions." He explained, "We'll go on your green light."

[Melkor]

"Don't follow them - they will break us apart. Hold your ground and continue firing." The air filled with dust and sand as one of the other teams of clones took out a separatist starship. Arven covered himself against the dust storm which was taking place. After it cleared, the Jedi saw that the droids were mounting another assault. "Captain!"

"General?" Captain Fox replied, he knelt down next to the Jedi.

"Take command, I'm going to help with the defense." Arven ignited his lightsaber.

"General, you shouldn't. There are thousands of droids." Fox had a tone of concern in his voice as he warned the Jedi against his plan.

"I will be alright captain. You take care of command, make sure that the men do not advance until we have a clear opening. Any questions?" Arven held onto the rails in the gunship, the wind whipped his hair and robes around him.

"You called us men."

"Pardon?" Arven was confused by the captain pointing out what the Jedi had previously stated.

"You called us men. No one has done that before, we're clones..." Captain Fox snapped back into his professional, military attitude. "Good luck general!" He saluted. And with that, Arven jumped out of the gunship.

The ground approached the Jedi quickly, but as he was about to hit it, he used the force to gently touch down. He landed near the clone troopers. "Do not advance!" Arven deflected a blaster bolt. "Defend the position!" The clones formed a line and began firing at the advancing droids. The sand and dust still filled the air. Arven deflected another few bolts. A pure white beam, originating from behind the clone lines, began slicing through the droids. The droids were in retreat. "Advance!" Arven heard his com link come to life in his ear. "Go! Go! Go!"

The troops around Arven advanced, he followed suit. Saber in hand, he ran alongside the clones, then they found the enemy. "Fire! Defend the position! Hold your ground!" Captain Fox ordered in all of their ears.

"Captain!" The Jedi called to the captain, through the com link.

"Sir?"

"I'm going to try to flank them. I'm going around."

"Alright sir! We'll cover you."

[mattmanganon]

Kiana had been there in the coluseum, awaiting the signal. When she saw the flash of purple up near Count Dooku, she knew that it was time to strike. Throwing her cloak off, she ignited her green lightsaber. The ensuing battle was a costly one, for every hundred droids they dismantled, 1 of them fell, but 100 was nothing to the droids numbers. 1 was everything to a Jedi. Each of them that fell hurt every other of them, until, eventually, they numbered just 14 in the middle of the arena, Master Windu ordering them to make this a last stand that would be remembered in the archives. She glanced over to her old master, Plo Koon. Words were not spoken, but they both knew that it was better that than to join with a power-hungry Dark Jedi like Dooku. She had been down the dark path before and had no wish to return to it. She readied her blade. For some reason, this felt right. She imagined joining with the Force to be a pleasant experience. She just hoped that they didn't shoot her in the face.

As a rule, Jedi don't believe in luck. What happened next, she considered the most lucky thing that had ever happened to her. Like flaming valkyries, gunships descended to the battlefield. At first, she was convinced that this was merely overkill on the part of the seperatists, but quickly noticed that the ships were attacking the droids. "So that wasn't just a bluff." she smiled as she felt the feelings of the soldiers aboard, all of them determined to rescue her and the rest of them.

As the ships landed and troopers in gleaming white armour poured onto the battlefield, a commander with blue stripes approached her. "Ma'am, we have to get you out of here." he yelled firing into the horde of bloodthirsty robots.

"Get everyone else aboard, we need to secure their escape." she ordered.

"Not happening, your safety is our first priority." he replied. Kiana could feel that one of their order was still alive on the battlefield, but playing dead for the robots.

"We have a man down and need to get him immediate medical attention." she ordered. She pointed into the crowd of droids. "Make us a path." she ordered. The Clone seathed beneath his helmet.

"Of course." he growled. This wasn't good, he needed to make sure that she was safe and now they were going to throw themselves into certain death? "Never wanted to live forever anyway." he mumbled "Pilot, we have a man down in sector 12" he said, tapping his helmet. No sooner had he said that, that the Gunship that he had landed on hovered around and opened fire into the crowd with all of its weapons. Kiana charged ahead through the explosions. The Clone ran with her, as did their men, providing covering fire as they ran. Eventually, Kiana found an injured Selkath Jedi lying on the ground, next to the dead Reek.

"Are you alright?" she asked him.

"I..." he coughed "I'll survive..." he said, breathing heavily. As she applied preassure to the wound, the gunship flew in behind her and the medic rushed to the Jedi's side. Kiana got up, just in time to deflect a blaster shot from a Droid. She looked over to the commander who stood over a decapitated corpse. He had rolled the corpse onto its back and crossed it's hand across its chest.

"We are leaving." Kiana yelled to him. He turned away from the body and ran to the ship, firing his pistol at the few remaining droids and vaulting onto the Gunship just as it began to lift off with them all inside. "Somebody you know?" Kiana asked him. The Clone didn't reply. They simply watched through the open hatch as the battle began to unfold beneath them. They landed in a staging area with the rest of the Jedi. She wasn't terribly confident in her ability to lead troops. 20 years ago, she had done so during the Stark Hyperspace war and it had ended... Less than desirably.

"General, the 312th are at your disposal." one of the Commanders said, saluting her. She was taken aback. She turned to the Clone that was with her.

"I don't believe we exchanged our names."

"Canderous, ma'am." replied the clone.

"Commander Canderous, I want you to direct these troops." she said "I believe that you are better suited than I."

"Very good, Ma'am." he replied and quickly tapped his helmet "312th, this is CC-0023, I am taking command. I want a contingent of Battle-Tanks and our ground troops protecting the MAC's whilst they focus their firepower on those Trade Federation vessels, I want every other heavy weapon targeting the Techno-Union ships." he ordered. He then turned to Kiana "Every ship we let escape into orbit will come back to hurt us later on." he explained.

"Very good, Commander." she said "We need to locate Count Dooku and the other Seperatist leaders, if we can capture them, then we can end this conflict before it begins."

"With all due respect, ma'am, we need all of our forces to deal with this threat." replied Canderous.

"1 Gunship will not make a difference to the overall result of the battle." She said, walking to the Gunship. Canderous seethed and followed her, jumping aboard with her. The ship took off and they began flying across the battlefield. As they flew past a Techno-union ship, Canderous moved up to the front of the gunship "Aim for the fuel tanks." he ordered.

"Roger." he said, as a pair of missiles were released from the missile bays atop the gunship. They flew and smashed into the fuel tanks, shattering them and igniting the contents, turning the techno union ship into a falling inferno. Flying across the battlefield, they spotted the retreating droids, falling back from a push, lead by a Jedi.

"Be safe." she nodded to him.

"Sir." the Pilot said. "We have just received orders from General Windu. They have located Count Dooku. Generals Kenobi and Skywalker are moving to intercept... Master Yoda is also on his way." he said.

"Very well, Dooku will be no match for all 3 of them. How long until we can get there." she asked. At that point, the ship was hit by AA fire. It rocked and began to lose altitude.

"Engines hit. I can't maintain speed and altitude... Current Intercept time would be 30 minutes." the pilot replied.

"Alright... Set us down there." she said, pointing to the Jedi. As soon as the ship set down, she and the Clone troopers jumped out, joining the push. Kiana managed to push her way towards the Jedi. "Master Arven. It's good to see you survived." she said. deflecting a blaster bolt with a flash of her green lightsaber. Canderous ran towards her as well, through a shower of red blasterfire. He spotted a squad of ARC troopers stood next to other Clone Troopers in the Jedi Generals Gunline. He shook his head at the sight, but then continued to fire back, as several Fighter-Tanks swooped past them and began to cut a swath through the droids lines.