Chapter Text
Log of 104th trooper RT-1302 Vendall Spadkud.
My first day as a Republic soldier for the Republic army in the 104th was a bit chaotic, I was one of the new Republic Natborn shinys as the Clones put it. One named Sinker toke me to the side and said that it was common for us to be called that until we earn our colors. I was surprised, the training that Commander 71 or Bark as the Clones call him now taught us that each color for each clone had a meaning of rank. I guess his mind that still applies until something else comes along.
But when it came to the few battles from Wroona to Bassadaro to Fondor, it was nothing the simulations trained me for. Okay it did trained me on terrains but when it came to the tactics the 104th used, that's when it felt like I was not prepared for this. Frankly I was amazed I made it though those first few hours, never mind the first day or the three planets.
But at the end I was taken aside and was given a bucket of paint was told that I was welcome as one of the Republic best. Even Master Plo Koon himself stopped by to congratulate us. Well lets just say I felt like I truly belong in the Republic.
End log.
Tronson yards near Fondor City, Fondor, 22 bby, 5 months after the battle of Geonosis.
Day 7 of the Hunt for the Malevolence.
“Alright move them out!”
“Cover fire! Cover fire!”
“Man down!”
“They’re coming in waves!”
“Hold the line!”
The sounds of battle could be heard as Republic troopers and Clone troopers of the 104th are standing their ground and fortifying their positions as AV-7’s fired from the back, blasting away any droid forces and vehicles coming up to them.
Wolffe in his phase 1 armor which was newly colored of grey to reflect the men he lost at Abregado Rae while having a symbol of a wolf to show his name, was shooting away with his pistols as he took cover as a AV-7 fired overhead and Wolffe gritted his teeth, his heart pounding with adrenaline as blaster bolts whizzed past him.
"Keep up the pressure!" he shouted over the din of battle, his voice barely audible amidst the chaos. With practiced precision, he squeezed off shots from his pistols, each blast finding its mark with deadly accuracy.
Beside him, his fellow troopers of the 104th fought with unwavering resolve, their courage undiminished even in the face of overwhelming odds. Together, they formed a stalwart defense, a wall of steel and determination against the relentless onslaught of droid forces.
As the AV-7 artillery units continued to rain down destruction upon the enemy ranks, the tide of battle began to turn in favor of the Republic forces, one of the troopers shouted out,“ROLLERS!”
Wolffe looked to see 12 droidekas coming towards them, quickly took cover and prepared to fire when they turned to the direction of where the droids were coming from and began to deploy to engage the droids. Causing confusion amongst the droids while the Republic troops halted fire for a few seconds to try and figure out why the droidekas were opening fire on the seps when a sound of a lightsaber activating could be heard as Jedi Master and general of the 104th Plo Koon appeared, jumping down from a cliff with a Yellow lightsaber in hand and began to assist the droidekas.
The Republic troops went out of their shock as they cheered for Plo Koon as they began to assist the Kel Dor jedi general and the droidekas against the clankers. Moving up besides Plo, Wolffe fired at a few droids while commenting, “So this what you meant by securing reinforcements!”
“Yes. It appears that the Techno Union is careless when it comes to taking care of their people, some of the natives of this planet told me where to find the droidekas and use the codes by them to turn them to our side,” Plo explained as he extended out his hand and unleashed golden lightning at a few droids coming close.
Wolffe still couldn’t get used to the Electrical Judgement as Plo Koon called it. It was a rare technique that only a few Jedi could master when calm and in control of their emotions and was forbidden to any Jedi knights. Useful when it came to droids to take them out full, although there are some limits as when used against flesh it is meant to stun, not kill. It was partly a good thing as they can knock out a person they want to capture like they did back on Ernac when they captured some Trade Federation guards.
What also was surprising was that Plo Koon had a Yellow lightsaber after his Blue one was lost on Geonosis. Some of the troops were honest saying that if they were called a different legion they would be happy to have the Yellow color like Plo koon, unfortunately for them the color Yellow was already taken by the 13th Iron battalion, and the 327 corps.
As soon as the last of the droids in the area were defeated, Plo Koon, Wolffe and the others halted fire as Plo spoke as he turned to Wolffe, “I'm going to secure the other landing zone, hold the line here and be ready to move on my signal.”
“Yes sir,” Wolffe said as he watched Plo go off to the west to secure the other landing zone in question.
After a few minutes, Wolffe began to see several dropships, two of them being vehicles transports landing down at Plo Koon’s position as he heard explosions and the sound of blaster fire in the distance. Seconds later Plo Koon got on the comms, “Commander! Have the Artillery fire at the bridge in front of us! The Techno union is sending several Octuptarra magna tri-droids our way!”
“Copy that General!” Wolffe responded as he turned to the gunners of the AV-7’s. “Thenta, Talo, Tren! Focus fire at sector 142!”
The AV-7’s turn and began unleashing a barrage against the Separatist forces, as Wolffe got out his binoculars to see the massive droid walkers and other droids being destroyed by the cannons as he spotted a group of droids coming their way. Putting his Binoculars away he turns to his troops and shouts, “Get ready people! They're coming again!”
The troops began themselves again while the droidekas turned their shields on again and they waited until the force group of droids appeared and then they leashed their firepower down upon the droids. The battle lasted a few minutes as the AV-7’s turned their attention towards the droid forces coming to them and began to fire again, taking them out. The battle lasted what seemed to be a few minutes as soon as Wolffe got a beep from his comms. Taking Cover he activated it as Plo Koon spoke, “Wolffe, on my signal we both moved forward into the plaza!”
“Yes sir! Alright, troops, be ready to move!” Wolffe ordered as the Troops got ready to move, getting in front of the droidekas to cover them as they transformed into their rolling modes. Wolffe waited for the rest as he could see a flare popping up in the sky. The signal to charge, just as they planned.
“FORWARD!” Wolffe called out as he went first followed by Stinker and Comet at his side, followed by a hundred or so Republic and clone troopers with the cannons behind them covering them as they opened fire at the droids.
As both sides began pouring into the plaza they droids began to panic as they tried to fight off two forces at once, but to no avail as they were being overwhelmed by the cannons that were firing plus the effectiveness of the infantry along with the AT-TE and the RX-200 Falchion-class assault tank with the latter using it’s weapon to stun a Octuptarra droid walker as the AV-7 cannons moved up and began to blast it to nothingness as they got deployed.
As soon as the last of the droids were defeated, the Republic troops got into defensive positions, all they needed to do was to take a key point and it could defeat the Techno union forces, and force them into surrender.
After the battle which saw victory, the 104th began moving Techno union prisoners as they checked to see if the shipyard hadn't been booby trapped by them.
Wolffe nods at a report from one of the troopers regarding the area as he turns to meet up with Plo Koon to deliver the report, “Sir the shipyards are fully secured and we’re all set to call for the reinforcements.”
“Good, with the reinforcements, we will be able to be able to hear the plan Admiral Tallon have in place for our assault on the war ship,” Plo Koon responds as he and Wolffe looks up to see a shuttle land and Tallon come out of it as he observes the shipyard in question.
“As always you are good and precise with your attacks,” Tallon commented as he made his way towards a part of the shipyard with Plo and Wolffe to inspect the area. He had heard of the shipyards of Fondor and its importances during the previous wars, including when the Techno Union took it after the Separatist gave it to them.
“Hopefully when the people of Fondor see this, we can get them as our allies and have another shipyard for the Republic,” Tallon says as he turns to them, “We need these people for the plan I made.”
“To attack the ship in question?” Plo Koon asks.
“Yes, that is why we needed to capture this shipyard,” Tallon explained as a holocommunicator ringed as he took it out and turned it on to reveal Cromhill.
“Tallon, Plo Koon, Wolffe, I hear that you took Fondor?” Cromhill inquires as Plo Koon nods his head for a yes, to which Cromhill responds, “Good. I am now sending the reinforcements your way. Also I have authorized Master Unduli and the 41st to assist both you and the 501st fleet in the hunt for the ship. They should be coming in a few hours, also expect a special ship to appear for this. I managed to secure one and send it your way.”
“Understood, once they all gather I will explain the plan against the ship, based on my analysis of it.” Tallon said as Cromhill took this in and nodded.
“Very good contact me once the plan has been said so I can go over the plan.” Cromhill’s orders as the hologram goes off.
Tallon turns to the others, “let's head back to the ship, the planning will require all of us to come over.”
Resolute, Fondor, 22 bby, 5 months after the battle of Geonosis.
Day 7 of the Hunt for the Malevolence.
Ahsoka watched through a window as a few more ships exited out of hyperspace hovering over the planet that had been conquered recently. 17 years old, and still she feels too young to be in this war, not that she was complaining. She needed to be in this war to defend the Republic from the Separatist forces, but she also knew that there were some Jedi who didn’t want to fight, a small number were her friends and decided to serve the Jedi Relief corps being led by Master Sian.
She couldn’t blame them, there were some times where she questioned the war and wondered if it was worth fighting, but she knew she couldn’t deny the fact that she needed to fight this war.
Her thoughts seem to have Anakin at attention as he came up to her, “You in deep thought. Something on your mind?”
Ahsoka frowned for a second before turning back, “As a Jedi, we were trained to be keepers of the peace. Not soldiers. But now, it feels like now, I am a soldier.”
Anakin crossed his arms in concern, he knew that Ahsoka needed him to be her teacher, so he tried to be just that when he began to speak, “Ahsoka.. No one wanted this war, no wanted to be soldiers in this war. But as a Jedi it’s our responsibility to hold this weight, Cromhill may not be a Jedi, but we both saw how he allowed Sian to make the Jedi relief corps. Before him it felt like we all had to hold the weight, but then he began to help hold it despite not being a Jedi.”
Ahsoka listened as Anakin went on, “Someday the war will be over, but until then, we all need to be strong and hold the weight. Follow Cromhill’s example, follow mine. Strength through adversity isn’t easy for everyone, we have seen in history where someone broke down. You did well in the war so far, I’m proud of you so far.”
Ahsoka felt a little teary eye as she smiled and nodded, patting her shoulder motions to the door as they heard a sound and turned to the window as their eyes went wide. Coming out of hyperspace war two Maelstroms and a Mandator.
“Looks like Cromhill ain’t sparing anything for this hunt,” Ashoka commented as she turned to Anakin and looked back. If Cromhill sent this Mandator out, then this mission was very very important. They heard some time ago that Cromhill made a deal with KDY and the planets that had these Mandators in return for giving them back and some other deals. Looks like that the deal went through.
The door opened to reveal Yularen as he entered the hallway the both of them were in, “Excuse me sir, but Admiral Tallon is requesting everyone to be briefed for this operation.”
“Understand well be there, come on Snips,” Anakin said as he went through the door following Yularen with Ahsoka following.
Heading the way up to the bridge they enter to see holograms of Plo Koon, wolffe, and Coburn for the 104th to the left, with Admiral Tallon being at the center, and finally, Master Luminara, Unduli, Commander Gree, Admiral Tennant, Admiral Maarisa Zinji of the 41st. While Rex, and Gentis were waiting for them.
“You’re right on time.” Gentis commented as Anakin let out a little smirk at what Gentis partly meant, but didn’t say anything as Tallon spoke up, “Now that we all are here, we can begin with the briefing.”
Tapping a few buttons on his end, Tallon projected Malevolence and began to speak, “We have concluded that while it may not be as massive as the Mandator, it was still dangerous and could weaken the ship with one good shot. But we have analyzed the ship well enough to recognize several weaknesses.”
As to show what he means he zoomed at the Ion cannon and the hangers of the Malevolence, “With the fact they have to use the Ion cannon, that means they are limited to how many fighters they can deploy. We can use that to our advantage. With the new Y wing bombers, we can use them to attack the ship and disable Malevolence by hitting the Ion cannon. Once the Ion cannons are down, this will allow our bigger ships with the Maelstrom, and Procurator battlecruiser and Secutor class carrier attack with the Mandator if possible while the bombers target other support ships and vessels.”
Another few presses a map appear, as a map of the sector they were in from Abregado Rae to Kaildia Nebula could be see with planets in between them the ones marked in blue everyone knew to be CIS, from Haruun Kal to Starafix, Thyferra, “If the Malevolence were to escape, then we will force it among this path, where other ships will be waiting for it, where the same strategy will be shown, however should the bombers disable one side of the cannon, then the Republic forces will engage from the side where the cannon is disabled. If both sides are disabled, then engage on both sides.”
The spots had arrows surrounding it with names for each arrow, “The 501st will take both Starafix, and Thyferra, the 41st will make sure Haren Kal is kept an eye on, and the 104th will lead the Charge on the ship itself. We disable the ship, we can defeat Grievous, we defeat Grievous, we can win this war. Any questions?”
“Why not send the bombers to the bridge? Saves our forces more time and with their leader, the droids could be off guard,” Anakin asked, this was something that had crossed several people in the room's minds as Tallon shook his head.
“Out of question, we have detected a lot of turbolaser and laser cannons on the ship, heavily guarding the bridge. Any bomber or fighter that tries to get close will be destroyed before they unleash their payload,” Tallon explained, making Anakin frown a little, but not much. Anakin did see what Tallon meant.
“Plus not all of us are Jedi.” Plo Koon added as the hologram of the Malevolence showed up again and a arrow representing a fighter speeded towards it and around the ship, “Even if we could get to the bridge, the other bombers could not be able to navigate the turbolasers with the speed and maneuverability we would.”
“Then it looks like our plan is sound Admiral, should we report this to the Supreme commander?” Zinji asked.
“I already have, and he has given me his approval. Orders from him are to brief this, then we begin our hunt,” Tallon answered as he looked around the rooms, “This ship must not be allowed to attack anymore of our ships, our stations, our planets, our people. Those were his words. May the Force be with us all.”
One by one the holograms turned off as it left the five in the room, Gentis turned to Yularen and motioned to see if he could be alone with Anakin for a minute, nodding Yularen made his way towards the view of the bridge.
Seeing Gentis wanting to talk, Anakin turned to Ahsoka and Rex, “How about you two get the boys ready, while I talk to Gentis? I joined in a bit.”
“Sure thing master,” Ahsoka responded as she and Rex left to leave Anakin and Gentis alone as Gentis spoke first, “I do commend you for suggesting the idea.”
Sighing Anakin knew no further words needed to be said from Gentis, when he was knighted Cromhill recommended Anakin to be paired up with Gentis to which at the time Anakin had only heard of Gentis about by reputation and how with 67 troopers manage to stop the Burning Embers division by himself, a feat Anakin was surprised to hear by, but was still confused as to why Cromhill recommended him to Gentis. It was during the time Anakin came to respect Gentis creativity and mind.
Whatever suggestion Anakin made, Gentis enhanced and made better without casualties, making the 501st one of the most elite units, with the skilled infantry and the known AT-TE’s with escorts of AT-XT’s and to attack and clear out the TX-130 tanks. Making them the expert of infantry and walkers.
Back at the moment Anakin sighed as he spoke up, “We all know that Grievous has been a danger ever since Severance Tann before she was killed. As long as he’s alive the war may not end. If we can take him while he’s on the ship, we can end the war.”
“True, but by destroying the Ion cannons we can use our ships to destroy the bridge Grievous is on,” Gentis countered, “Remember the focus determines our reality.”
Anakin barely kept the look of surprise as he remembers Qui gon telling him that when he was young? How did Gentis know those words, did he…
A question for another time he suppose. Right now, they had a battle to win as Anakin nodded and they began to make their way towards the hanger of the Resolute.
Cromhills office, Coruscant, 22 bby, 5 months after the battle of Geonosis.
Day 7 of the Hunt for the Malevolence.
“A thought you have?” Cromhill turned to face Yoda while facing outside, taking his hand off his chin.
“Hmm, just the report Tallon gave me on what his task force had planned when they engaged the Malevolence,” Cromhill answered as Yoda didn’t have to use the force to know that something else was on his mind.
“More to this than it seems,” Yoda said, which gave Cromhill quiet for a moment. Then the man spoke, “The thing about this is that we don’t know how big Grievous' support fleet may be, or where he may strike, or any other factors. We are dealing with what we can consider to be the dangerous ship the CIS have out of all of them. I don’t know if during the Nihli you or the jedi of that time dealt with any dangerous ships. We are always dealing with unknown variables here.”
“But bring us the success you have. Our troops are less, our tactics are not good, without you,” Yoda countered as Cromhill got up and walked towards the window in thought of what Yoda said.
“I don’t deny the victories, the changes and other things, but sometimes I wonder if I'm going too far with them,” Cromhill said as Yoda knew what he meant. Senator Ask Aak when he heard that Cromhill ordered Anakin and Gentis to take the bombers from follow senators threatened to remove him from command, however Cromhill’s war cabinet which included Bail Organa threatened in return to arrest Ask Aak for halting the war effort, and threatening who knows how many lives, while using the law of the Republic to prove their point. Essentially all efforts to try to get funding for projects meant going to Cromhill for approval.
“The right thing you did, knowing Skywalker was reckless on his own, was to take the bombers himself he would, but Gentis. Better he has been,” Yoda said, trying to assure him.
“Like how it felt the right thing when I left the senate after what happened years ago?” Cromhill countered to which Yoda said nothing as he closed his eyes. He couldn’t blame Cromhill for asking that question, for… That. The memory of how the Jedi were sent to stop what was thought to be a Kaleesh uprising turned to be the Huk’s being the actual aggressors, with the Kaleesh defending themselves, it made some in the Jedi wonder if it was a good idea to stay with the senate after that incident.
“A mistake that was, not knowing the full truth at the time we did,” Yoda answered after a few moments, Cromhill looked down to see troops moving about in the shipyards. His headquarters were still in the works, but Cromhill didn’t mind. He left more comfortable being out here with his own men when he wasn’t busy with reports and planning all the time.
Turning around Cromhill turned to Yoda and sat back down as he looked to Yoda, “There’s so many fine people out there including the Clones that I can’t help but wonder when this war ends what will happen to those people.”
“Uncertain all their futures are, but their fates control we do not,” Yoda answered as Cromhill shook his head.
“I know we don’t, but the thing about these people is that before this war, they had lives, stories, the Clones… I don’t know what will become of them all, but I know this truth. They are good people, good soldiers and they will see this war done,” Cromhill said firmly as Yoda nodded at this, he sort of missed these conversations, where unlike Palpatine or other Chancellors, this conversation was held with listening to both sides of concern.
Cromhills comms beat as the Supreme commander pressed it to reveal Tallon, Plo Koon, Wolffe, and Coburn appear as Tallon spoke up, “Sir we have secure Laakteen and are beginning our assault.”
“Understood, keep me updated on what is happening and know when you begin your ground assaults, we can’t let this ship escape. Good luck to you all. Avenge those who died from that monster,” Cromhill ordered as the four nodded and turned off. Cromhill leaned back as a thought crossed his mind, turning to Yoda he asked, “Remind me, does Plo Koon still have his Yellow lightsaber still?”
Yoda chuckled a little as he nodded his head.