Turning Point

TURNING POINT

A CLONE WARS FANFICTION

­­­

BY MICHAEL NAZARIO

Boss (male human clone)

Sev (male human clone)

Scorch (male human clone)

Fixer (male human clone)

Q'm Batee (male human)

Ala Venn (male Ithorian)

Chay'n Anaqua (male Gran)

TV-95 (tactical droid)

Chapter 1

2 years after the Battle of Geonosis

The height of the Clone Wars

"Gunships, prepare for the landing on Jabiim," Admiral Yularen's voice, from the bridge, boomed through the speakers of the Republic cruiser's main hangar. Clones put on their helmets, and pilots added on theirs' for breathing. The Delta Squad, an elite squadron of four Republic Commandos, raced to their gunship. Fixer, the pilot, climbed up into the gunship's dual cockpit. Scorch, Boss, and Sev, the other members of the Squad, got into the bay of the ship.

The cruiser, alongside others, was battling a Separatist blockade of about twelve. The long front of the ship opened up, and ten gunships and a Torrent fighter escort flew straight out. Fixer pulled forward on the steering while Scorch and Boss, the gunners, shot down incoming vulture droids. Eight other gunships were not as fortunate; they were shot down by the blockade or the vulture droids.

The two remaining gunships, the Delta Squad's being one of them, attempting to navigate past the line of defense of the Separatist cruisers. Their Torrent escort had been shot down, and so had the remaining gunship by the enemy cruisers' laser cannons.

"How're we going to destroy the Jabiim base with only four clones?!" Sev hollered. The others thought the same but carried on. From out of nowhere a vulture droid came up behind them and shot a spread of red laser bolts at the gunship.

"Fuel tank's been hit! We're going to run out real soon!" Fixer bellowed at his fellow teammates as Boss shot back at the enemy fighter. The green lasers pierced through the droids armor as it exploded in an inferno.

The gunship broke through the atmosphere and prepared landing on Jabiim. With the enemy base in sight, it landed behind a large boulder where they couldn't see them. The side doors opened up, and the Delta Squad ambled out.

Scorch crouched down and pushed his back against one of the Jabiim's rocks. He turned his head and looked at the large and heavily guarded Separatist base. He waved to Boss, Fixer, and Sev on with his hand, signifying to them the coast was clear. Soon they too crouched low and were then in the same position he was.

"Clankers?" Fixer inquired, cringing.

Sev took his macro-binoculars from his utility belt and looked through it.

"It's not gonna be easy," Sev continued, "Two commando snipers, two destroyers, and a bantha-size load of B1's. No doubt more commandos hiding."

"It's possible," Boss looked on at the base. "We've been through worse."

"What're we waiting for?" Scorch anxiously asked. "The Republic's given me some new weapons I'm anxious to try out." Then he took out his brand new HH-15 Projectile Launcher.

"All right. We lost a few cruiser trying to get here," Boss explained.

The team looked at the Separatist cruiser blockade above the Jabiim. Cocking his blaster, Fixer added, "Let's do this."

Boss looked at the Delta Squad. He probably smiled under his helmet, but it was almost impossible to see.

"All right, brothers. You know the mission. Acquire the data and leave," Boss informed. "Scorch," he paused, "don't blow it up."

Scorch frowned, but got over it quickly. Boss aimed his gun at the base. "On my word..."

The Delta Squad got ready.

"Now!"

The four commando troopers ran to blast them, one of them wielding a bazooka. Scorch stopped and kneeled down. His brothers ran ahead, knowing he had a plan. Scorch pulled his HH-15 from his back, rested it on his shoulder and pulled the trigger. The projectile blasted out from his gun, nearly knocking him over. The destroyer, shield on, was hit directly by the explosive projectile, and it's shield gave way, blowing up the droideka and some B1s. He got up quickly, pulled out  his grenade launcher, and ran to aid his clone brothers.

The commando sniper, in a tower, aimed his lethal weapon at Fixer. He was busy rolling a grenade at the droideka; an easy kill. It turned on the laser aiming of its weapon.

"Fixer, watch out!" Sev yelled at Fixer.

Sev's bullet hit the commando's sniper rifle, making the droid useless; or so it seemed. The commando front-flipped down, and pulled out a vibrosword in hand. Fixer rolled out of the way just in time. The commando's humming vibrosword landed where Fixer's neck was about a millisecond ago. He took out his blaster pistol and shot at the droid's head. It took three point-blank blows to the head to finally kill it.

The other destroyer was gone - Fixer's grenade had taken care of it. All was silent on the entranceway of the base. The team of Republic Commandos stealthily walked up to the camera in the gate.

"It's not like we're droids!" Scorch hissed, "They'll see we're clones and send a battalion of supers."

"Get a droid head and we'll pretend it's alive," Boss commanded, as if the answer were obvious.

Sev walked up and ripped off a dead B1's head. He paced up to the Delta Squad and kneeled so all the camera could see was the droid's head. Fixer stared at the camera, then activated it. Suddenly a coarse voice answered.

"What do you want?" The mechanical voice asked.

"I am running low on power. I need immediate recharge," Sev replied, doing his best to imitate the voice of the fallen battle droid.

The voice on the other side was silent for a while, then a button press was heard. The doors opened horizontally, then vertically. The entrance was clear.

"Thank you, sir" Sev complimented.

"Roger, roger." The Delta Squad surreptitiously crept into the base. A B1 walked through the front to change posts with the fake one Sev had used.

"Hey, you're not a-"

Scorch threw a vibroblade at the B1, causing it to collapse to the floor with a motorized groan. He retrieved his vibroblade and clipped it on to his utility belt.

The entrance way ended, and had three long hallways coming from it.

"Left," Boss informed his teammates.

The squad nodded and headed to the left corridor. They stealthily ran up to get to the main room, where the precious Separatist information-filled datapads and computers were. There was a battalion of commandos guarding it. They looked busy.

Fixer pulled out an pulse grenade and threw it to the commandos. One turned around and caught it in midair. It stared at it for a second; then screamed. Lightning shot out of the grenade and hit the droids. They dropped their weapons and let out a mechanical screech. Then they fell to the floor, deactivated.

Boss placed a chip into the main computer, retrieving the valuable Separatist data. He seemed pleased with the accomplishment: they got the job done, and with no casualties. The chip made a beep, signifying that all the information from the computer was in the chip. Boss pushed a key on the keyboard, telling him the chip was ready to come out. He then obtained it. The Delta Squad had won this battle.

*

On a long, sleek ship in Wild Space, a cloaked figure walked into his living quarters. It's head looked awkward; being that his head was very tall and the hooded outline poked out of the sides. It reached into his robe and pulled out a holo-projector. It clicked it on, and a blue figure came out."When does the Jedi Q'm Batee travel to Teth?" Count Dooku's words struck the       Ithorian former Jedi Master Ala Venn immediately responded. "You will be quite elated to hear he is in the Outer Rim, and, in addition, I have disabled his communications." He then managed to create a fake smile, though it was impossible to see because his mouths were on the side of his head. Venn stared at the hologram of the count. He just shook his head.

"Does he know about what happened with you and the Jedi Council?" Dooku asked intently.

"I disabled his communications, remember? He still believes I am the poor Jedi in distress at the B'omarr Monastery at Teth, in prison by the Iyra crime lords," at this Venn forced a laugh, as to seem casual. "He is running low on fuel, and will be forced to land on Teth anyway."

"Good... very good. I will send a Gran, Chay'n Anaqua, to get the datapad from you," Dooku sneered. It gave Venn a sense of insecurity.

"I don't think he sensed a disturbance in the Jedi Temple when I took the datapad," Venn said.

"I would hope he didn't either, Venn. For your sake."

Venn's hologram projector was turned off by the count, leaving him alone. He suddenly gasped in pain, then fell to the floor. He clutched his side, then called the medical droid over. He picked up some of his dark brown robe, revealing a hole given to him by a lightsaber.

"What is the problem, sir?" The grayish-blue medical droid asked intently.

"Give me more of that medication, idiot."

The medical droid pulled a shot from his side a struck it in Ala Venn's neck. He gradually felt less pain, until finally it was gone. Venn cursed the Jedi and lie down to fall asleep.

Chapter 2

"This is Master Batee. Calling any Republic units. Please answer. Please follow my current coordinates. Over." Q'm Batee turned off his communicator, losing all hope. He blamed his red starfighter, floating about in space. Someone had jammed his comm. He needed it in order to rescue the Jedi Ala Venn from the Iyra crime lords, because he was going to need credits... a lot of them. It had occurred to him to steal Venn away, but he figured the bounty hunters and gangsters in the monastery would kill him, hoping to gain some credits and respect from the Iyras. Nonetheless, he would be forced to land on Teth, for he was running out of fuel for his ship and fuel for his body. Reluctantly, Batee turned on his ship, clutched the steering, and made his ship move forward to Teth.

It was a full fifteen standard minutes before he reached the jungle planet. He reached the atmosphere and spied the landing pad of the B'omarr Monastery with his radar. He soon saw the landing pad with his very eyes. He landed his ship on it. The cockpit opened up, allowing the Jedi to get out. He walked out, being suspiciously being eyed by Aqualish and Snivvian mercenaries. Batee noted a Bith trailing him. He tried not to show that he noticed. He walked a little and reached the large opening to enter the throne room.

"You shall not pass," ordered two Weequay guards, their force pikes blocking the entrance.

"I need to speak with the Great and Mighty Yglon of Teth," answered Q'm Batee.

The Weequays looked at each other, nodded, then lowered their force pikes. The tall one called over a brown protocol droid, which came to Batee almost instantly. "Your weapons, please," the 4-LOM-series droid asked politely.

Batee hesitantly dropped his lightsaber into the droids metallic hands.

"This way, please."

The Jedi followed the droid into the throne room. Loud music boomed through the walls. Gamblers were playing sabacc, and bizarre species crowded the room. On the throne sat a being that looked a little like Aboreal Octopi. He was an Iyra, named Yglon. Yglon reminded Batee of the Hutts, being helpless without their protectors. Yglon turned his attention to Batee, staring at him with his countless eyes.

"Who are you and why do you wish to seek the council of the mighty Yglon of Teth?!" Yglon asked Q'm Batee in a deep voice.

"O Mighty Yglon, I am known as Jedi Master Q'm Batee. I seek you because you have one of my comrades, Ala Venn, in your captivity. I have come to ask you, why have you done this?" That wasn't really his motive, of course. He just wanted to know which cell he was in.

Yglon laughed. "Fool! He is far from your reach, Jedi!"

The crowd in the room laughed along, and the music stopped playing. Batee sensed danger. The laughter ended, and one of Yglon's fat tentacles landed on a button. Batee did a back flip and landed about thirty feet away from where he was. The ground he was standing on collapsed, leading to pit which Batee knew included a jungle rancor. The Jedi reached out his hand, and his lightsaber levitated to him from the protocol droid's hands. He grabbed it, and a blue blade protruded from it. Yglon roared at the Jedi and at his minions. The mercenaries shot at him; Batee was greatly outnumbered.

The jungle rancor ran out of his confinement where the crowd could see in the pit. The people tried to push Batee in the pit where he may be devoured by the rancor. He stuck his hands forward and used the Force. He pulled his arms back violently; pulling passerby into the jungle rancor pit. The rancor happily ate them, appendages falling from his gaping mouth. It glanced up and looked at the obese Yglon; he was quite large and would make a good meal.

The jungle rancor's colossal hands reached up and his fingers reached the throne room. Yglon frantically pressed the button to close the door to the pit, but to no avail. The rancor was now in the throne room. Yglon attempted to run, but was too slow. The rancor happily scooped him up and plopped the Iyra in his mouth.

Q'm Batee took the distraction and sprinted to his ship. Once he reached the ship, he could fly away and, hopefully, his comm would be back up. The Weequays turned around and faced their pikes at him. Batee reached out his hand and Force-pushed the guards off the edge of the landing platform, sending them plummeting to their demise. Batee looked to his left to see a rocket heading toward his starfighter. Batee skidded to a stop as his ship exploded before his eyes. It sent him flying back, and upward. He reached the top of the entranceway. His feet went flat on it, then squatted down, and leapt. He surpassed the end of the landing platform and was now falling down to the jungle below.

***

"This is Master Batee. Calling any Republic units. Please answer. Please follow my current coordinates. Over." The voice rung through the computers of the Jabiim station. Boss looked at the computer. Sev pressed a button, and the message played again.

"We've got to help that guy," rung Scorch, who decided to think aloud.

"Our mission was to receive this," Boss held up the chip containing information. "Not to help a Jedi. Plus, how do we know he's a Jedi anyway? Could be a Separatist code. Or just a joker trying to mess with the Republic." He felt he had made a good point.

Scorch argued, "His coordinates indicate he is on Teth! We could make it! I know he is a Jedi because it came from a Delta-7! No one else has those but Jedi!"

The rest of the Delta Squad agreed with Scorch, and a decision was made: The Delta Squad would go back to the gunship whence they came and aid "Master Batee" on Teth. They left the base (with the data chip) and headed toward the gunship. Fixer hopped into the pilot seat, set the coordinates, and flew off for Teth.

***

Q'm Batee was falling down, and fast. Right before he reached the ground, and possibly his death, he grabbed onto a branch on a tall, jungle tree. He swung off it, doing a somersault and landing on the ground. He turned off his lightsaber and clicked it on to his waist. He broke into a run, occasionally glancing up at the speeders searching for him above. He swung his arms

back and forth. He started sweating when he heard the speeders closer now. He listened to the harsh words of the gangsters and bounty hunters looking for him. This time he sensed another vehicle, about to reach him. He leapt into a bush and was unseen by some Devaronian bounty hunters on a blue and green speeder. They were right next to him, while he was hiding in a bush.

"I thought I saw him!" shouted one at the pilot.

"Well you didn't, and honestly, you were never that good at nav," the pilot sneered.

"Take it back!"

"Make me!" the pilot bellowed.

The navigator leapt up onto the pilot, throwing punches. The pilot fought back as their fellow bounty hunters cheered them on. Batee stood up from the bushes and stretched out his hands. The Devaronians flew off landing hard on the floor. The Jedi on the run bounded on the speeder. He sped away, ignoring the angry cries of the previous owners of the speeder.

Chapter 3

"Oh, no..." Fixer stared at the coordinates on the navi-computer. They were already deep in the Outer Rim, headed toward Teth.

"What is it? Separatists?" Boss inquired.

"No... worse. Batee's coordinates state he is on Teth alright. But he's at Yglon's place. That could be trouble," Fixer answered.

"At least it's not Jabba," Sev chuckled. He and Scorch were trading weapons, even though they only occasionally made a deal. Boss sat in the gunner's cockpit. He knew that Yglon was very capable of mass destruction. He probably took Batee prisoner, and wouldn't hesitate to do the same to them.

"Here we are!" Fixer yelled at his comrades. Sev and Scorch gripped their weapons and put them securely on their back. The duo stood up and grasped the handles on the roof, ready to enter the jungle planet's atmosphere. They did, and the gunship shook violently.

"What's with all the speeders?" Boss asked.

Seeing a Republic Gunship, the speeders fired at it, thinking Q'm Batee was in there. Boss fired back, screaming at them. A speeder was shot by Boss's assault and was sent falling down. It exploded, sending the surrounding trees crashing down. Scorch, not wanting to miss out on the action, leapt into the second gunner's seat. Fixer expertly dodged bullets from the enemies while Scorch and Boss shot them down.

"Hey, look on the ground! There's another one!" Scorch excitedly shouted at Fixer. He looked to his left to see a blue and green speeder, riding fast. Scorch fired at it, blowing it up. He gasped when he saw the pilot leap into the air over one hundred feet. He landed on top of the gunship. Sev, having nothing to do but stand around, ordered Fixer to open up the right door. He obliged, and Sev crawled out to reach the roof to take care of the figure on top of the ship.

Sev reached the top and was standing square with a brown cloaked figure. He took off his hood. He was clearly humanoid, and had dark brown hair dark brown eyes.

"I am Jedi Master Q'm Batee,"  he said, "I'm guessing you got my message."

Sev brought in the Jedi and introduced him to his fellow clones. They didn't do much out of the ordinary; they nodded and kept shooting down the speeders.

"We've got to get out of here! I need to get back to the Council," ordered Batee. His lightsaber was clearly visible, so the clones knew he truly was a Jedi.

"Ah, stang..." Scorch groaned, having to be deprived from shooting down speeders.

Fixer sighed and turned the ship around. It flew off out of Teth's atmosphere, out of the speeder's range. The bounty hunters, gamblers, and guards shouted and cursed at the gunship, losing chance of gaining any money from the capture of Q'm Batee.

Fortunately, this gunship was specially designed for the Delta Squad and was equipped with a small hyperspace engine. They would have to make a stop at Tatooine to refuel, however, due to the late vulture droid.

A while later, they reached Tatooine. They got into the atmosphere. Batee and the clones (besides Fixer) each reached one of their hands up to grab the handlebars on the roof. The gunship shook lightly. Once they reached the breathable atmosphere, Fixer opened up the vents, allowing fresh air and visible sight of the planet. The group looked at Mos Eisley, the spaceport.

"Getting ready to land," Fixer informed the team and Batee.

The landing gear emerged from the gunship and landed. The doors opened, and the beings inside could see the spaceport more clear. It was bustling with activity, with many figures walking about. Boss saw a few eye the gunship suspiciously, wondering why the Republic would be on Tatooine, far in the Outer Rim. He remembered the Republic's laws didn't exist out here.

Fixer got out of the cockpit. Boss said something to him through his helmet comm, meaning no one but the clones could hear him. Fixer nodded and looked at Batee.

"If you want to get out, put your hood on. Mos Eisley can be a dangerous place when it wants to," Fixer told Q'm Batee.

Batee nodded and put on his hood. He walked out, and the clones stayed behind to help refuel the gunship. He walked along, making sure to avoid drunk passerby. He stopped in his tracks; he sensed something wrong. He followed his instincts, ending up right in from of Chalmun's Cantina. He sighed and walked in.

Loud music played by a Bith band filled the room. He glanced at suspicious characters sitting and watching his every move. He stopped, closed his eyes, and concentrated. He muffled out the sounds of the loud music and drunks. Finally he heard something that caught his attention.

"I have it for you right here."

"Good. I will take it to my master. I suspect he will pay you handsomely."

Batee followed his senses. He walked to them through the cantina, side-stepping any confrontations with the drunks. He sat down at a table and concentrated on the Force itself.

"One hundred thousand credits?" The character's voice was odd, as if he were two people.

"Yes. Courtesy of the Separatist Alliance," said a voice sounding much like what could only be a Gran.

Batee walked slowly up to the table that contained and Ithorian and a Gran. It explained the two-voice sound, as Ithorians have two mouths. They spied him, and they now whispered. Batee ordered a drink, trying to seem as he wasn't eavesdropping. He covered his presence with the Force, wondering if the two were Force-sensitive. He focused on to hear what they were saying.

"Seventy-five thousand credits is too little. I risked my life trying to get it. I was expelled from the Council for doing this," the Ithorian said.

"Ninety," replied the Gran.

"One-hundred ten."

"Ninety-five."

"One-hundred," the Ithorian made it as this was his final offer.

"Here yah are," the bartender slid him his drink. The duo stared at him, watching to see if he was a phony. As a Jedi, especially a Master, he wasn't supposed to drink, but now seemed excusable. He clutched the glass and raised it to his mouth, chugging it down. He sensed a stronger Force surrounding the Ithorian.

***

"I not doing a hundred," said the Gran, Chay'n Anaqua. Venn stared at him with his large eyes.

"Well, I bet a junker would give a better deal." Ala Venn started to rise. The Gran shook his three-eyed head.

"Get back here, or you'll be losing a hundred creds," Chay'n admitted.

Venn smiled, though his mouths were covered by his cloak. He sat back down and asked for the credits right now. He made sure the suspicious character sitting on a stool didn't hear him. Venn felt he was Force-sensitive, though most of those don't know it unless another tells them. He eyed the stranger and searched him optically. He noticed something shiny on his waist.

It was a lightsaber.

Venn told Chay'n. He started to shake. He had been assigned by the Separatists to collect offers, not to confront Jedi. Nevertheless, he acted laid-back. If the Jedi knew that he knew he was a Jedi, the Jedi would kill him. So he casually got up and reached into his pocket. He searched it with his hand. He smiled as he pulled out credits. He put them on the table. The Ithorian happily scooped them up.

***

"That's half," he said.

"I know, mores' coming," the Gran replied.

He reached into his other pocket and pulled out the other half of the hundred thousand. He handed it to Venn.

Batee watched the Ithorian closely. Whatever he was giving the Gran, it was part of the Republic. He saw something in the Ithorian's cloak pocket.

It was a datapad, containing something locked with a password.

Batee started to walk toward them, causing the duo to stare at him. The Ithorian put the datapad deeper in his cloak pocket. He stood up, along with the Gran. Batee's hand hovered over his lightsaber.

"Hey!" the Gran said, pointing at Batee, "that guy cheated me at sabacc!"

The crowd raised and angrily shouted at Batee. They jogged up to him and laid fists on him. He ignited his lightsaber, burning a hole through an Ishi-Tib's hand. It screamed and ran off. The others backed away.

"I ain't never seen a sabacc-cheating Jedi. Now you get what you scum deserve," said a Duros. He pulled out a blaster. He shot at Batee, who deflected the laser shots. One bounced off his lightsaber and shot hit the Duros square in the chest. He let out a scream of pain and held his bruised chest.

Soon Batee had almost the whole cantina after him. He sprinted out of it, and into the roads of Mos Eisley. The angry drunks shot at Batee, one grazing his elbow. He reached up to the place the gunship was docked. He rounded a corner and pushed away a local Aqualish farmer. He saw the parked gunship. The clones waved at him happily.

"Get ready to leave, fast!" Batee shouted.

The Delta Squad was confused until they saw what he meant. An angry mob of armed drunks rounded the corner, shooting aimlessly at the Master Jedi. The squad quickly got to work, and the gunship lifted off the ground. The side door opened. Batee leapt up on the gunship, which had earned a few blaster marks. The door closed and covered the blaster fire, making the once-deadly bullets only the sound of innocent pats. Fixer flew off, leaving the armed cantina group on the sandy ground.

"Whatever happened to keep a low profile?!" Boss shouted angrily at Batee. He was sitting down, holding his knees.

"He had a datapad... It could have some info from the Republic on it. I sensed it," Batee whispered.

"Who?" Sev asked.

"I don't know. It was an Ithorian selling it to a Gran. The Gran said I cheated him at sabacc, but I wasn't even playing sabacc. But when he said it, the entire bar got angry and chased after me. They got away," Batee spat, "We need to go after them. I believe the datapad he had contains valuable Republic information." Sev thought of it as payback for what they did to the Jabiim base.

"Where did they go?" Boss inquired.

"Must be somewhere around Mos Eisley. I didn't sense anything to start a ship or speeder," Batee informed.

"This time," Boss said, and glanced at Batee, "keep a low profile."

Chapter 4

"The Jedi saw it. Being a fellow Jedi, I thought you'd sense that or something," Anaqua chipped at Ala Venn. The Ithorian kept walking.

"Where're you taking me?!" the Gran demanded.

"Somewhere there's no one to interfere," Venn sounded odd in his Ithorian dual voice. Being an Ithorian, he was an odd sight on Tatooine, for almost no Ithorians ever leave the lush jungles and herdships of Ithor.

Venn and Chay'n kept walking until they reached a small, mushroom-shaped house. They went in, and Venn demanded his credits. Anaqua dropped one hundred thousand credits, gold-colored tiny bars falling into a briefcase. Venn put his long-fingered hand in his cloak pocket and pulled out the datapad. It seemed to glow in his hands. The Gran immediately snatched it. Chay'n could feel the respect coming from Dooku, and even more, more credits, much more than one hundred thousand. Chay'n gave Ala Venn his best regards.

"This holocron contains the information to send down the blockade on Coruscant."

"The Clone Wars will be over soon, Venn. The Separatists will prevail."

Chay'n meandered out the door, three eyes darting back and forth.. Venn held the immense amount of credits in his hands. He was very content with his deal, a win-win. He got the credits, and he will get to see the Jedi destroyed. He was euphoric.

Fixer chose a good spot to land, Docking Bay 94. He hopped down from the cockpit, but not before opening the doors. The team stepped warily out of the gunship. Their feet made a satisfying sound on the sandy ground.

"We need to get better clothes," Boss said, noticing their white armor would stand out. The datapad thief would notice them in a split second.

"Batee, go down and get four sets of cloaks," Boss supposed. Batee nodded, and headed down to the market to get them.

"Can we trust him? What if he's like that whack Jedi, Venn?," said Fixer.

"I think. He seems, well... like he's hiding something," Scorch said.

"I-"

"Here they are," Q'm Batee rounded a corner and held some cloaks in his hands. They were simple brown clad. It would conceal the clones armor. The squad put them on and nodded. The men walked out of the docking bay and crept on the sands of Mos Eisley. Boss tossed a local Duros, the owner of the docking bay, the credits needed to pay for their gunship.

Chay'n couldn't contain himself. He put his hand in the pocket where the holocron was, and moved it around. It was close when they had the encounter with the Jedi, but Chay'n knew what would drive a drunken crowd angry: cheating. He walked up to Docking Bay 94, where his disguised Maxillipede Shuttle was landed.

Chay'n noticed five men huddled, and easily recognized one. He was the Jedi, and the men surrounding him were most probably high level clone troopers. Chay'n felt for his blaster and tried to slip by. The Jedi turned around, lightsaber (not ignited)  in hand. The clones pulled out blaster pistols.

"Stop right there, Separatist!" the Jedi's voice boomed. Bystanders ran off, not wanting to get hurt in possible crossfire. The Jedi stuck his lightsaber forward, and a long, blue blade protruded from it. Chay'n raised his hands in surrender.

"Where's the holocron, Gran?" a clone thundered.

Chay'n gnashed his teeth openly, which surprised the Republic group. Then he turned and ran to his Maxillipede shuttle, now with his blaster in hand.

"Set guns to stun! We need him alive!" the Jedi ordered.

The clones set their guns to stun and fired at Chay'n. He opened up a bridge to his Maxillipede. The door came down as Chay'n jumped up on it.

"Hello, Master Anaqua. How was your day?" a protocol droid stepped forward and asked him. Chay'n pushed it out of the way, causing it to fall out of the open doors and onto the sand. Chay'n closed the door to his shuttle and flew off; they noticed him go into hyperspace.

Chapter 5

"Why, that was quite rude," the gray protocol droid stood up near the Delta Squad and Batee.

"We almost had him. If only we knew what he had on that datapad, we could render it useless," said Boss.

"Why, how exciting. I wish I was more than a mere protocol droid," the droid said.

"Who was your master? Anooqua or something?" Sev asked.

"Chay'n Anaqua, Separatist espionage expert, and master of me, 7-LOM. He was here to get something, though I don't know what," said 7-LOM.

"Fixer's ready. While you were gone, we installed a hyperdrive with the creds we had. It might be a bit bumpy, but it'll be enough to get back to Coruscant and report this fine mess. If we did it on a comm, someone might intercept it. We need to fly there," Boss informed Batee.

"All right."

The clones, now with their white, battle-worn armor, stepped into the gunship.

"What about me? You can't possibly leave me on this dustbowl! I could be useful!" 7-LOM questioned. Batee reluctantly grabbed the droid by the hand and pulled him in the gunship. The blast doors closed as Fixer pulled the ship up and activated the hyperdrive, headed for Coruscant.

***

"I have the codes, Count," Chay'n sneered his sharp teeth at the hologram on his ship.

"Good... very good. I'm glad Venn was cooperative. He would have made a great Sith, but there may only be two. Once Sidious falls into my hands, I may take the Ithorian into consideration," said Dooku. His blue hologram buzzed.

"I am nearing Jabiim. Stand by," Chay'n told him.

Chay'n clicked off the hologram. He ended hyperspace and looked out into Jabiim curiously. His ship neared a base that had recently been raided, where Dooku was waiting for him. His Maxillipede landed on a platform. He jumped out of his seat, grabbed the datapad, and opened the door to the outside. The Gran walked out and noticed an imposing figure in dark robes. Count Dooku turned his head and was face to face with Chay'n.

"For three hundred thousand credits," Chay'n said. He could feel wealth in his body.

He held forth the datapad.

"It seems far-fetched, but if you think about it, I mean, to remove the blockade on Coruscant! This datapad contains the info to do that! It is well worth what I offered," Chay'n added.

"Here is your payment, you miserable being," Dooku told him.

Dooku raised an arm, and so did Chay'n's body. The Gran frantically clawed his throat, choking, and kicking his legs. He spat as he neared his final moments. Only a few seconds later, his body went limp. Count Dooku let go of his Force chokehold. Chay'n's dead body fell to the ground, eyes white and blood coming out of his mouth.

Dooku reached out with the force and picked up the datapad on the floor. He snickered as he imagined the blockade on Coruscant opening before him, allowing his cruisers to come in and destroy the Jedi Temple, nearing them to extinction. He would then hunt down the remaining Jedi, kill his master, and take on a new apprentice.

Dooku pulled out a handheld hologram projector and clicked it on. A cloaked, aged figure appeared.

"Lord Sidious. I have the code to call of the blockade on Coruscant. I suggest you 'take a visit to Naboo' to not get caught in the crossfire."

"Good... good. I will leave immediately," Lord Sidious said.

Chapter 6

"Coruscant is still a long way away."

Fixer looked back at the crew inside and put the ship on autopilot. 7-LOM stared at the clone as he stepped down from the cockpit and into the uncomfortable, small body.

"Oh! I know what Anaqua was after now! After all this time searching my memory banks! He commed me and told me!"

The team stared at the gray protocol droid in amazement. In unison they surround him, burning with questions. 7-LOM stumbled back and fell backward, and whispered a comment about being rude. He got up and told them what he had found out.

"Master Anaqua went to get a datapad containing the information to take down the cruiser blockade on Coruscant." Q'm Batee shoved his face in his hands. If the blockade was taken down, the enemy cruisers will surely take down the Jedi Temple and eliminate the Jedi, then go to take down the Chancellor and other Republic senators. He had failed them all.

The droid went on, "The cruisers are probably going to Coruscant right now to take it down, but if we catch them while emptying their garbage before jumping to hyperspace, we can board, if that would help."

Boss told 7-LOM he was a genius. "If we can get aboard one and comm the Republic, we can warn them. The comm on this gunship is short-ranged."

Batee gripped his lightsaber handle and nodded. Fixer got into the pilot seat again and searched the radar for other ships. "There's about twenty Separatist cruisers! Twenty to take down the blockade!"

Fixer looked at the twenty dots on the radar. "Getting out of hyperspace. Brace yourselves!"

"We are on our way to Coruscant, Count. My ships needs to empty out the garbage to jump to hyperspace," an unmistakable Kaleesh voice told a life-sized hologram of Count Dooku.

"Good work, Grievous. Do you have the data I sent you?"

A pilot droid searching for other ships told Grievous "Sir, there's a-"

"Silence, you stupid droid!" Calming his coarse voice, he answered, "Yes, my droids have intercepted it," with that, the cyborg shut the hologram and turned to the window of the bridge on the cruiser.

"Sir, there's another ship boarding us," the droid who had interrupted Grievous before spoke again. Grievous snarled and turned to the droid.

"Republic? or Separatist?"

"It shot down twelve of our vulture droids. General Grievous roared openly and ran for the docking bay where the gunship had boarded.

***

The gunship doors opened and the Delta Squad sprang out onto the floors of the docking bay of Grievous's command ship. Blue laser bolts shot out of their blasters, bulls-eyeing the droids working in the bay. Most barely had time to take out their blasters before they were blown to bits. Batee walked out of the ship and watched the massacre of the droids. He didn't even need to ignite his lightsaber before all the droids lay on the ground; robotic appendages laying everywhere.

He sensed Grievous before he saw him. The general was angry; he didn't want his plans destroyed at the hands of the Jedi.

"We must part ways. I need you and your team to go get to the bridge to comm the Republic about this," Batee ordered Boss. The leader of the Delta Squad didn't question him, he just told his men and they ran off to the elevator. Batee leapt up onto a railing about twenty feet up and sprinted forward through a corridor. It only took seconds to see a hulking, robotic figure looming in the distance.

"Grievous... It's a pleasure," Batee took his lightsaber from his belt, and a blue blade emitted from it.

"I only find pleasure in killing your kind, Jedi. I will be very pleased at the death of you, and of the entire council today," Grievous answered. He swatted his red cape off. His two arms split in half, and a hand came out of each limb. His four arms each took out a lightsaber and ignited them. He sprung at Batee and slammed his lightsabers furiously at Batee. Batee performed the Djem So parry perfectly, and blocked Grievous's attacks.

Batee struck at the cyborg's leg, but the Kaleesh blocked it. He thrust all four lighsabers at Batee, who back flipped in the narrow corridor. Grievous drove him to walk backwards as he ruthlessly condemned the Jedi, blocking Grievous's attacks with his lightsaber. Before long, the battle made its way back to the railing. Grievous held Batee in a fierce corpse-a-corpse. His robotic leg shot up and kicked Batee off the railing, plummeting down twenty feet. Batee hit the ground, satisfying Grievous with a loud snap.

"Get them!" The super battle droids voice boomed through the halls as the Delta Squad picked up their speed. The aimed their guns at the droids in front and pulled the trigger, expertly shooting down the droids. More backup on the droids came, however. Sev ducked behind a wall and shot at the incoming supers. The rest of the team also took for cover while Scorch threw a grenade at the droids. A loud bang echoed through the hall, but the explosion just ensured the attention of more droids.

Red laser shots burst through the smoke, and they could tell they were greatly outnumbered. Just as they turned to run, the doors leading to the exit shut. They were in grave danger, and knew that now they would surely die. But they would not die cowards. They would die, yes, but they will die fighting. The other clones knew this, and followed it. They shot down at the droids, killing some. Through the numbers, one shot at Fixer's leg. He howled in agony and clutched it. Through the pain he kept on shooting the droids when he got an idea. He shot at the window behind the droids.

The droids were sucked into the oblivion called space. The squad was hanging on the walls so they too wouldn't wind up with the same fate as the droids. Fixer didn't have time to hang on to the walls and was sucked into space, his white armor gleaming though darkness.

Chapter 7

"I only live to see you die, Jedi. I do not care about your politics," Grievous looked down at Batee, legs, arms, and ribs now broken. He jumped down to meet him, lightsabers now clipped to his back.

"Finish me then, you monster!" Batee answered.

"Honestly, I would much rather watch you suffer, but I have business to attend to."

With that, Grievous picked up Batee by the neck. Batee didn't resist as the Kaleesh held him up, his feet two feet off the ground. In the other hand, Grievous took out a lightsaber and put it on Batee's chest. A green blade pierced through the Jedi's body. Grievous threw the dead carcass on the ground, withdrew the lightsaber, and started toward the bridge.

"Fixer, no!!!" Boss mourned the death of his brother, and the others did the same. Boss took out a gun and shot at the blast door for the window, and it closed. The clones fell to the ground, for the suction was closed by the door.

They dragged on through the hall. Scorch shot at the squad of four B1s in front of them, and they all fell to the ground. They ran on past the fallen droids and entered the bridge. Unaware droids called to each other over an unresponsive chute of garbage. The three clones easily shot down all of them except for one tactical droid. It turned to face them. "Ah. Clones. You will be happy to know your Jedi friend is dead. Ha. Ha. Ha," it said in a robotic voice. Boss aimed his rifle and shot it's head off, and its body fell to the ground. The Delta Squad were saddened by the death of their friends. Boss pushed a red button on a holoprojector. He typed the necessary means in to get to Yoda.

"Destroyed, the base on Jabiim, is? Acquired the data, have you?" Yoda's stout figure was life-sized on the holoprojector.

"Something more important. The Separatist have a datapad containing information to remove the blockade on Coruscant! Prepare the cruisers, about twenty battleships will be heading your way," Boss replied, "Q'm Batee aided us in the long run, but was killed, along with Fixer."

"Unfortunate, this loss is. Tell the Council, I will, and the blockade," Yoda answered. The hologram fizzled out.

Just as they were making their way out, a pilot droid exited from the recharge station and into the bridge. When he saw the clones, he froze. Scorch raised his blaster, but Sev put his hand on it before Scorch shot.

"He could shoot some other cruisers before we leave. We'll get in the gunship and go while this droid shoots some other cruisers down," Sev told Scorch and Boss. They agreed and walked up to the droid. Sev took out a pistol and aimed it at the droid. He told him what he was to do, or else he would be killed. The droid reluctantly agreed and sat in the pilot seat.

Before long, the squad had already made its way to the docking bay. They respectfully walked past Batee's dead body and made their way into the gunship. The doors opened to reveal 7-LOM in the body of the ship, on the floor with multiple holes in his chest. They reverently left the body in the ship so they may try to rebuild him for saving the Jedi later. Sev piloted the gunship about thirteen feet off the ground and opened flew out.

"Shoot them down," Sev commed the droid in the cruiser. It silently obeyed, as they saw it turn around and cannons firing at the other cruisers. The gunship jumped to hyperspace, but not before they saw an escape pod shoot out of it and board another cruiser.

Chapter 8

"Those pilots must have been reprogrammed by those clones to shoot down the others," Grievous talked to himself in his escape pod. His escape pod landed on another ship. He commed the tactical captain of the ship he had landed on. "Make the jump to hyperspace! We will destroy the Jedi!"

After the cruiser with the pilot droid was shot down, the others made ready for hyperspace.

"We are going to repel an escape pod that has landed on us; then we will make the jump to light speed," the tactical droid informed Grievous. Before he could object, his escape pod was gently bumped off as he watched from the it the cruisers jump to hyperspace.

"The distraction worked. Let's get out of here," Sev, from the pilot seat, told the crew in the crammed body of the gunship. The only thing left in the area was them and a probably empty, malfunctioned escape pod.

"Wait... Scorch, Boss, get into the pilot seats. We're going to pick up something floating through space," Sev notified the ones inside. They obeyed and climbed up into the pilot cockpits. Sev opened up the doors and a white figure floated in. Boss and Scorch climbed back into the body to find Fixer's body on the ground. Boss carefully took off his chest armor and checked for a heartbeat. Under his helmet, his eyes illuminated.

Chapter 9

"Are the cannons fully charged?" the tactical droid inquired the droid in charge of the cannons. It nodded its robotic head.

"Yes, sir, and so are the shields. We are ready for the attack on Coruscant," the droid replied. The tactical droid complimented the cannons specialist and looked through the window, watching the stars whizz by, for they were in hyperspace. It adjusted its voice chip and turned it to sound exactly like the late bounty hunter Jango Fett, the human base of the clones. It regulated the comm to the command Republic cruiser blockading Coruscant. They were about thirteen standard minutes away.

"Permission to remove the blockade. Code number one one three eight," the tactical droid, in the voice of clone, continued, "Jango eleven."

"Permission granted," a clone pilot answered through the comm, "we are departing from position."

The tactical droid turned off the comm and laughed robotically. Things were going according to plan.

***

"Fixer! You're alive!!!"

Scorch immediately lit up. Boss kept his ear to Fixer's heart while Scorch hastily ripped the medpac from the ceiling, took out the breathing tube and seized Fixer's helmet and took it off. He immediately added the breathing tube to his mouth. He coughed loudly and sat up.

Fixer pushed his hands forward and swatted them around, and then noticed he wasn't in space anymore. Boss told Sev what had happened, and he put on autopilot and ran to meet him, which didn't take long judging by the size of the compacted volume. After the initial shock was over, Boss got serious.

"I warned the Republic, but twenty cruisers have a chance of destroying the blockade," Boss told the clones, "We should probably help."

"A single gunship's not going to do much except get blown up," Sev added.

"Preparing to come out of hyperspace," an OOM pilot droid informed the tactical droid, and the other pilots in the other nineteen cruisers said the same to their tactical droid captains. The tactical droid, TV-95, made sure everything was ready. Then the ship came out of hyperspace, and TV-95 could see the metropolis that is Coruscant. And it was... guarded!

The shock almost overwhelmed his wires. The datapad hadn't worked! The Ithorian must've lied, or the Republic had been warned. The cruiser blockade got ready to strike, and the large ships had already pre-charged their laser cannons and shields. Laser bolts shot out from the cruisers' and attacked the incoming, nineteen Separatist cruisers. TV-95, the captain of the now leading ship, commed Nute Gunray, the leader of the Trade Federation and biggest investor of the Separatist Alliance.

"We need reinforcements. The blockade had been waiting," TV-95's voice reached the holographic figure Nute Gunray.

"You better not blow up more of my ships, Ninety Five! I'll send you seven more, I have your coordinates. You better compensate me if I have any losses," Nute Gunray told the droid. TV-95 nodded his head and turned off the comm. He focused his attention on destroying the blockade and winning the Clone Wars.

Red laser bolts came out of the Separatist cruisers, and were facing about the same number of cruisers. TV-95 commed the other cruisers and they all concentrated their fire on one cruiser. In about ten seconds the ship was overwhelmed by the incoming assault that its body emitted fire and the cruiser then descended into deep space, with pieces of debris raining down on the metropolis planet called Coruscant.

They continued the Concentrated Fire tactic. TV-95 made sure to keep the other cruisers busy, so he sent out all his vulture droids. The other cruisers did the same, and the Republic's sent out Torrents and ARC Fighters. With little losses and reinforcements coming, it was obvious the Separatist were going to win.

"Coming out of hyperspace," Sev called to the clones in the back. Boss and Scorch were in the gunner's cockpits, and Fixer was co-piloting. They had agreed to aid the Republic in defending Coruscant. All their knuckles were white from clutching the controls of the ship. The white lines of hyperspace slowed, and suddenly the battle was seen before them.

Vulture droids formed a black cloud over the Republic's Torrents and ARC Fighters. Sev piloted the ship behind the incoming cloud and fired, along with Boss, Fixer, and Scorch. The sea of drones scattered and looped around to commence the same tactic they used on them. The gunship swerved to the left, up, and back around, confusing the droid fighters. They, along with the Torrents and ARC Fighters, finished off the first swarm. Unfortunately for them, vulture droids were the least of their problems.

Droid Tri-Fighters, more intelligent, elite dogfighters, descended from the Separatist ships. While the fighters fought, the cruisers did also. The Tri-Fighters neared the Republic fighters and fired, three laser bolts at a time. They ripped through the Republic's, but they wouldn't go down without a fight. Space turned to chaos as the fighters clashed in fury. The gunship held its ground and blasted away at the blue droids.

Fixer turned the comm to open network. The voices of clones dog fighting was loud.

"Delta Squad? Is that the Delta Squad in the gunship? Can't see the markings very well," one said, while blasting away at a Tri-Fighter."

"It's us all right," Scorch had opened his comlink to the network.

"AH! Get them off my tail!" another yelled, as three Tri-Fighters completely demolished his ARC Fighter. It exploded in an inferno as the Tri-Fighters swarmed over the Republic fighters.

Chapter 10

TV-95 stared out of the window of the window of the cruiser and watched the fall of the Republic. The Concentrated Fire tactic was working; resistance was at the odds of 3720:1. He knew the Tri-Fighters would overwhelm the Republic fighters.

He had hoped the attack would not end in a draw. Being so close to victory, TV-95 decided that if they used maximum fire power, they would completely decimate the blockade. The price, however, was large: they would have to lower the shields. The cruisers will go down so quickly under our fire, they wouldn't have time to destroy me, TV-95 thought.

TV-95 commed the remaining fifteen cruisers (fifteen because reinforcements had come) and told them his plans. The other tactical droids of the other ships, loyal under his superiority, agreed. The shields were lowered as the pilot droids increased the firepower and fired away at the blockade.

***

"Their shields are down!" Sev's radio wave signal had made known to him. The gunship, still defending itself from the elusive Tri-Fighters, attempted to break away from their iron grip. The clones on the open network had received the news. Already they knew to attack the bridge of the enemy cruisers, for that was where the weak spot of the ship was.

The gunship turned a barrel roll and evaded a Tri-Fighter's spray of lasers. It counter-attacked and destroyed the blue droid in flame. The leading ship was exposed, and the Delta Squad went for them first. Vulture droids and Tri-Fighters tried to stop them, but Fixer easily stopped them from killing them.

TV-95 deployed as many fighters as possible to keep the Republic's from destroying the bridge. Though near to victory, TV-95 knew the Republic already had something in mind. A gunship, or more formally known as an LAAT/i, was coming toward them. It had expert gunners and pilots; he would need some more fighters.

"Deploy remaining vulture droids and Tri-Fighters," TV-95 told the droid in charge of the fighters.

"Due to your previous orders, uh, sir, we have no more left," the droid responded. The gunship was coming closer now, and almost in range to shoot the bridge. TV-95 got twitchy.

"Raise the shields!" he ordered.

"The shields need time to recharge, sir," a battle droid answered.

The window of the bridge shattered and so did the controls near it. The ship tore itself apart in flame as it descended into deep space and eventually, mildly repetitively imploding.

"Yes! we did it!" all the clones happily shouted as they watched ARCs and Torrents also destroy the bridges of the other remaining Separatist cruisers. They all had the same fate as the first one as the Blockade of Coruscant finished them off. Happy shouts filled the open network. Through the cost of billions of credits worth of cruisers and hundreds of clone lives lost, the battle was won.

About the Author

[picture of me]

Michael Nazario is twelve years old and in the sixth grade. He likes to watch all of the Star Wars movies, play the piano, and is an expert on anything Star Wars. He has two brothers, Eric and Andrew. Michael wants to own a Star Wars costume store after he graduates.