Star Wars: The Rogue Knight

Republic Assault Ship Dauntless

near Rodia

Outer Rim

To my pleasant surprise Piett agreed to loan me couple of platoons and transports for my idea to go after Grievous who I felt was able to somehow reach the second Munificent. I was able to perceive his location in the last seconds before crashing on this ship but my mind was too busy at the time to consciously comprehend what I felt. But now, when I was not under the great strain needed to suspend the failing apart of my fighter I could feel the cyborg. His was a ghostly presence, not so different by the hundreds of droids manning the enemy frigates. Yet I could feel his general location. If my guess was right, the General had been on the Munificent that lost its aft section while I and most of CAP that came to our help were busy blunting the first fighter wave of the enemy reinforcements. Then, like the kriffing bugger he was, Grievous managed to get away from the crippled ship and fly to the one of the newly arrived frigates.

I wanted his metal hide nailed to the nearest conveniently placed flat surface so I came up with a plan to assault his new ship. Piett had agreed but refused to sent the LAAT's and the clones under his command until the enemy fighter strength was further reduced. As a result I was waiting with the two platoons which the ensign decided to loan me for the head clanker hunt.

I was with lieutenants CT-316 "Cat" of 36th Platoon and SNP-159 "Snape" of the 71st along with their senor NCOs. We were looking at a holographic image of Munificent projected by an emitter placed on a stake of crates. My plan was to disable the reactor of the frigate and thus prevent the ship from running into hyperspace or enacting a self-destruct. The fact that it would also cripple its shields and weapons was the icing of the cake. It also would mean that Piett would send additional forces to help secure the frigate. The Ensign was reluctant to deploy more of the forces he was responsible for before he was reasonably sure that the ship won't be able to either run or be blown away as a final act of spite. When you take into account that at the moment I was just a mercenary with no formal standing with the Republic I was glad that Piett had agreed to back the operation in the first place. After all as far as he was concerned I was an unknown variable. We were discussing what forces would be needed to achieve the secondary objective – capturing the bridge and Grievous if he did not come after us.

"Sir, unless we have more men or Jedi support, we won't be able to go after both targets. Not unless the Munificent is low on ground troops. Both platoons should aim to secure the reactors and only deal with Chief Clanker after additional troops are available." said Cat.

"That's why I said that the bridge is a secondary objective. If Grievous comes after us I'll deal with him. If not, we'll take the reactor and I'll go after him while you hold the engineering section. "I nodded. "I want at least half of the men coming with us to be carrying heavy weapons..."

=RK=

I was relieved when I sensed the presence of Shaak Ti and Ahsoka coming from an escape pod which was brought on board by a pair of LAAT gunsh.i.p.s. I ran to the escape pod before it had been placed on the deck, followed by a group of medics. The life boat was filled like a can of sardines. The only hale people were the Jedi Master, a single clone from Green company and couple of doctors. The rest were all wounded in one fashion or another, most of them critically.

Ahsoka, who had her leg splinted gave me a sad smile.

"Please tell me that the worm did not escape." she pleaded.

"Gunray is toast." I gave her reassuring nod. "Master Ti, I plan to go and board the frigate on which Grievous took refuge. The commander of this ship agreed and will provide me with two platoons of clones of this operation. Do you care to accompany me?"

The older Togruta woman gave me a surprised look.

"How do you know that he is present?" she asked, clearly not convinced.

"I felt his presence before landing here. Taking him out will turn this debacle into a disaster for the Separatists. They already lost a lot of hardware for nothing. With Grievous disposed of the Republic will have a strategic advantage in this sector. It may even be enough to slow down or even outright break the current CIS offensive."

"It's a bold plan." Shaak frowned. "But it has merit. You are correct in your assessment of the situation. You should know that the assassin Ventress was on the Tranquility but managed to escape. She might be able to make her way to Grievous."

"Even better." I grinned under my mask.

"Taking out both of them should be beneficial for the Republic." she said after a long moment of silence.

While we were talking, the medics were busy transporting the wounded to the med bay. Tano was arguing with them but shut up when I turned my masked head at her.

"Ahsoka, go get that leg fixed. Right now you are not up to a space borne assault. Go."

She grumbled quietly but complied, to Master Ti's amus.e.m.e.nt.

"She's a little handful, isn't she?" asked the older Togruta.

"Ahsoka is teenager. Nothing surprising there." I shrugged.

"This is Ensign Piett. The enemy fighter number are sufficiently reduced to allow for your plan, Veil. You are free to deploy at your discretion. Don't get my men killed."

"You heard the boss, boys. Let's go!" I shouted and ran to one of the waiting LAAT's.

"May the Force be with you, Delkatar." whispered Shaak Ti and headed to another of the transports.

=RK=

Six LAAT gunsh.i.p.s slid out of the forward ramp of the Dauntless and headed for the only one still intact CIS ship. They flew under the burning hulk of a Munificent frigate which was being pounded to pieces by the turbo-laser cannons of the Acclamator. Five Torrents flew as escorts for the boarding party. Their pilots were dividing their attention between visually scanning the surrounding space and watching the readings of their sensors. The two surviving bombers with their own escort were feinting an attack run at the targeted enemy frigate in order to divert the remaining unengaged enemy fighters and some of the flack cannon fire.

When the troop transports showed themselves under the superstructure of the mission killed Munificent that was the first target of The Dauntless, the Republic assault ship moved over the hulk and unloaded its guns at the side of the last enemy frigate. The targets were the flak cannons which could shoot down the LAATs. The enemy shields held under the first barrage, but the colossal energy discharge scrambled their sensors giving better chances to the clone pilots.

A flight of vultures pounced at the transports but it was shredded by the escorting fighters and the turrets of the gunsh.i.p.s. One of the LAAT's was unfortunate enough to run straight into a flack barrage and its passengers, a third of 71st Platoon perished in a short lived explosion.

The gunsh.i.p.s and Torrent fighters unloaded a barrage of missiles and laser fire at the shield generators mounted next to the open hangar bay in the middle of the enemy frigate. Small explosions blossomed as the defensive field struggled to disperse the energies assaulting it then failed with a bright flash of light. The generators were repeatedly struck by weapons fire and were annihilated in bluish explosions. The five remaining troopsh.i.p.s flew in the hangar bay from which the atmosphere was being vented with a soundless scream. Moments after the last LAAT was inside, massive blast doors slammed shut behind it. On of the gunsh.i.p.s strafed the distinct form of the personal fighter of General Grievous, which blew up spectacularly. The cyborg was not getting away that in it.

The first three gunsh.i.p.s flew in a triangle formation and sliced to pieces every droid and vulture starfighter on the deck while the other two landed behind them and disgorged ten heavily armed clones apiece. The side doors of the still floating LAATs slid open and cables were thrown out. Two figures jumped out and landed lightly on their feet followed by more clone troopers who descended on the lines.

=RK=

CIS Frigate Midnight Solace

Near Rodia

Outer Rim

My armored boots hit the deck over a pillow made from pure Force. It felt like I was stepping down the stairs instead of jumping from over six meter height. Behind me Shaak Ti did the same and we were followed by rappelling clones.

"Lieutenant Cat, I want a squad of your men as well as the LAATs securing this hangar. It's our exfiltration point. I believe that neither of you wants to check if this ship is equipped with adequate escape pods in case we f.u.c.k up."

"Yes, sir!" the clone in overall command of the two platoons snapped a crisp salute.

"Master Ti. Bridge or reactor?" I asked the female Jedi who had came to my side.

"Bridge. I've seen enough of reactors to last me a lifetime." she muttered.

"Suit yourself. Take the 36th platoon with you. Grievous is bound to be on the bridge. I'll deal with the rest." I turned to a clone who had his white armor painted in color signifying his NCO rank. "Sergeant I want the rest of 71st platoon with me."

"Yes, Sir!"

=RK

I found myself leading ground forces natural, reassuring. It was like slipping into a well-practiced role which I knew almost better than myself. It felt like its been too long since the last time I properly stuck it on the ground so to speak.

The clones were moving in two columns along the corridor walls. In the vanguard and rearguard of the group were squads of four men armed with blaster carbines. They were acting as escorts for the heavy weapons teams which were carrying heavy blasters, rotatory cannons and a single missile launcher. That may have appeared as overkill, but I wanted my men to have the firepower to deal with groups of droidekas and Super Battle droids easily.

I was moving at the head of the column with a blazing lightsaber in my right hand. The few B-1s we faced so far fell easily to blaster fire while I deflected their shots back at them. I knew that the easy run would be ending soon. Grievous could not afford to let us take the reactor. Whether we wanted to blow up the frigate or capture it was irrelevant for him. He'd be kriffed anyway.

The first signs of heavier resistance were the ten SB droids which waited for in a nearby side corridor. Their attempt to ambush us failed miserably.

They shot two missiles at us. The projectiles appeared to be something like micro proton torpedoes – after being launched by a launchers mounted in their left arms, they took ellipsoid forms which blazed with light purple flames. My left hand shot forward and I channeled a wave of the Force through it which deflected the projectiles back towards their senders. I jumped back and raised a Force shield between my forces and the group of droids. The missiles detonated behind the leading pair of enemy machines and obliterated two thirds of their numbers. Three of the droids in the back survived somewhat intact but were thrown off their legs. The clone troopers made a short work out of them.

"Deploy mines in this corridor." I ordered and one of the clones who was a demolitions expert and was carrying various goodies that go boom in a huge backpack nodded and hurried to booby-trap the side passage. Unfortunately we had neither the time nor the ordinance to do so with every side corridor on our way. The only reason I wanted those mines laid down was that I was hearing metal legs moving over the deck from that direction. And from the corridor that was leading straight to the reactor I could sense a dark presence approaching...