Chapter 9: Dual Attacks, Kamino and Kuat

After the destruction of a Republic outpost on the Rishi Moon, the path lay open for an attack on the planet, Kamino, home of the Republic's Cloning factories. Having realised the potential for an assault, the Republic dispatches Jedi generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to bolster its defence. But as the Republic gears up to defend its slave producing assets, Commandant Lelouch vi Britannia prepares a daring assault to cripple the vile Republic's Navy.

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“Any word from our spies?” Lelouch asked, the young teen feeling much more comfortable in a setting, and that was the bridge of a warship. One which, if all went well, he'll call his own.

"None, which could mean a few things," Kallen remarked as she leaned against the holo-projector, the windows showing nothing but the streaks of white and blue known as hyperspace.

“True, but with Grievous having decided to continue with his assault on Kamino despite the loss of the element of surprise, they’ll be more focused there.” Lelouch mused.

“Why did he go through with it? They’ll bond to send reinforcements, including Jedi.” Kallen asked.

“And that is why he went through with it. He’s obsessed with hunting and killing Jedi, but he’s too focused on making them suffer. Because of that, Eeth Koth still lives.” Nunnally responded, the girl dressed as she wished, now that they didn't need to worry about some diplomatic mission.

“Makes you wonder when his issues will outweigh his usefulness as he clearly doesn’t care for the cause.” Alice frowned, but Lelouch put a stop to such talk.

"I'm sure Count Dooku is keeping a close eye on him; this might just be a do-or-die for him, but I've discussed the plans with him; they're sound, if a little high risk." He conceded, which drew his sister’s attention as the droids around them silently went about their duties.

“That doesn’t sound like it would also be high reward.” Nunnally pointed out as Lelouch hummed.

Crossing his arms, he explained his concerns. "It is, thanks to the Kaminoans' financial investment and pride, they've refused to share their technologies with others, or moved their cloning off-world. If Grievous can take it out, even just deal serious damage, then it'll put a pause on new Clones for months."

Honestly, that favoured them as he would have forced the Kaminoans to move or share the techniques and equipment, spreading it across several core worlds. Of course, that would require him to have been fine with just creating slaves bred for nothing but war with no rights or futures when this war ended.

It burned him to know his…Charles would have taken great interest in such.

Before he could grow angry at nothing, he continued his concerns. "But what I'm concerned about was the size of the fleet he took; it was too small and might elicit some suspicion." Grievous by no means, it didn't take a small force, but when you were sieging a planet, one as important as Kamino, you couldn't afford to hold back.

He worried that the Jedi would figure him out because of that, and if Ventress was caught or killed before he could secure the Prime Clone DNA, it would be for nothing.

"There is also the fact that he'll no doubt kill anyone he can get his hands on, which includes young clones." Kallen reminded them, as she didn't like Clones-she didn't like the concept of being just being…made for a role, and forced to do it to be killed.

But that didn't mean she liked the idea of clone kids, kids who would basically be younger than 6 years old, forced to fight and die.

She was not the only one who had such sentiments. "Believe me, I'm aware, but I couldn't convince him to liberate them. So we can only focus on our own attack." Lelouch told her. As a matter of fact, he just didn't have that sort of pull as their commander.

Kallen frowned, but didn't push it as she kicked off the projector. "I've spoken with the pilots; they're eager to make a move, though some are shocked you knew this route."

Lelouch snorted as Alice looked at him, a knowing glint in her eye. "I didn't till recently, before I was banned from going out to gamble, I would meet with plenty of immorally dubious individuals with legally questionable business. When one lost and couldn't pay me what was owed, he offered me knowledge."

“And you call Grievous the gambler, this would be no doubt a hell of a lot harder for us to pull off, and it's not like we have that many forces. We called it every favour we could, if we fail our objectives…" Catherine, who was doing final checks on her new blaster, a Mandalorian design, spoke up.

Nunnally beat Lelouch to the punch. “We have a surprise, and a good battle plan. Besides, even if we take heavy losses, as long as the target is hit, it'll hurt the Republic a lot more than it does us, in more ways than one…" She smiled, as she was eager to get into things, as this…this would be a bigger battle than Geonosis, and unlike then, there was not going to be any interruption. She'll get her fun.

Shame a few…hundred clones had to die, but that was just war.

Timmy approached them, the droid as stiff as ever. “Commandant, we’ll be exiting Hyperspace in 10 minutes.” It addressed Lelouch, who nodded, a smile forming on his face.

“Understood, thank you.” He replied before he coughed to clear his throat and made his orders known. “All hands, move to level one battle stations. I repeat, all hands, move to level one battle stations, we’re less than minutes away from the target. All ships are to prep to fall to Rook 3.”

His words were broadcast not just across the bridge and ship, but to the rest of the attack fleet. “Roger Roger.” The B-ones around them shifted as they turned to get their deflector shield generators ready, charge their cannons, and prepare to shift into battle positions as soon as they exited hyperspace.

Grabbing a smaller holo projector and earpiece, Lelouch turned with a swish of his cape to leave. "You all should get ready as well. We each have our roles."

"Right, right-just make sure you don't die," Catherine smirked as she walked out, putting some sway in her hips, which no one could prove Lelouch saw as he followed after all.

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In war, a solid defense was just as important as a strong offense. When your opponent was the type that lacked the means to last in a prolonged conflict, it was even more important that you could defend vital locations and assets.

That was why, despite Kuat being a Core World far from the front lines, its shipyards could not go without proper protection. Protection that came in the form of thousands of clones, starfighters, and an orbital defence fleet numbering over 30 ships, including 8 Venators.

“General, you seem troubled.” An older gentleman, hair already having gone white and yet, styled to perfection, befitting a man who, even while in an officer's uniform, wore a monocle over his right eye.

The general he was speaking to was a member of the Jedi Council, Saesee Tiin. "I am, this assault on Kamino, it's a risky affair, but it could spark a crisis for the Republic."

Fleet Admiral Baron von Lichtsteiner hummed as he reached for his moustache. Pulling on it hadn't made official news. Still, he, along with other high-ranking officials, had been informed of the attack on Kamino, which had started.

"Only if the Separatists succeed, but with Generals Skywalker and Kenobi leading things, I doubt it would amount to much. I dare say sending both when the planet's almost as defended as here is overkill; they could be used in other theatres." He added, though the Jedi could detect the thick aristocratic tone in the Admiral's voice, considering he was from one of Kuat's most influential families, that was to be expected.

"When it comes to the safety of the cloning facilities on that planet, I would rather we overestimate the Separatists and Grievous instead of the other way around," Saesee murmured.

“I imagine it was also done for…political reasons?” The Admiral asked, missing the frown on the Jedi's face.

"I have not heard much from the Senate, but I would not be surprised if that was why, especially with the Mandalore issue." As he replied, the Admiral scoffed.

“Traitors are what they are. They refuse to join the war effort and have the gall to seek to trade with the Separatists? The same turncoats who kill thousands of loyal Republic citizens and clones every day." Baron did not snarl; he was above such, but the Jedi Master could fear the disgust in his words.

With how things had turned out on Mandalore, they had to deal with an attempt on the Duchess's life while she was travelling to Coruscant not too long ago, carried out by Death Watch. This group seemed to have powerful backers.

“Perhaps the new talks would open up trade and discussion once more. As neutral they may be, it’s not right to allow tens of millions to stave.” Saesee stated that, despite how chaotic things got, the fact that the Separatists were trying to gain deals with Mandalore and other neutral worlds,

“They wouldn’t-General?” He would have continued, but his Jedi comrade looked troubled, reaching for his forehead.

“I’m sensing a disturbance...danger is approaching," Saesee grumbled, as this…this wasn't what he had felt before. He couldn't describe it, but it didn't feel like the dark side, nor the light either.

The Admiral, old he might have been, was quick to reach his sidearm, his eyes moving around the command bridge of their Venator. “An assassin?” All around them were clones, but civilian technicians also operated aboard. Was one approaching to attempt something, a saboteur, like what happened with Endurance?

“No, far worse, Admiral, get the-!” Before he could finish, one of the bridge crew members manning the scanners sounded the alarm as Saesee and the rest bore witness to something which should have been impossible: a massive fleet jumping out of hyperspace.

“General, we’re picking up ships exiting hyperspace, over a dozen of them, all warship class.” The crewmember called out, and another crewmember immediately scanned them, trying to match the ships' distances to what they had on file.

We've confirmed the classes. 1 DH-O Support Vessel, 3 Recusant-class, 6 Providence-class, and 12 Munificent-class.” That second clone called.

“Scanners are picking up droid fighters, hundreds of them launching.” A third clone called out, as his scanners were going crazy as they picked up the swarm of vultures making their way for them.

"Send the word, all hands to battle stations. It would seem the Separatists are more desperate than I thought." Saesee immediately acted, the troops following his orders as the alarms sounded, calling for all crew to get to battle positions and for fighter pilots to get to their craft.

"Send word to the planet's capital, have the ground garrison made ready for any incursions. Also, evacuate all non-military personnel to the planet's surface!" Fleet Admiral von Lichtsteiner gave additional orders, as this couldn't he happening at a worse time, as their patrol starfighters had just been coming in, low on fuel. They'll need time for them to either finish refuelling or for those pilots to use other star fighters to get back into the air.

Time they didn’t have.

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In the calm before the shooting started, Nunnally could take stock, and she liked what she saw.

Their spy had been right on the money, as the defenders might have had far more in the way of…well, everything, but the location, this being deep within the core region, made them sloppy. A planet like this would have had dozens of starfighters just on patrol 24/7, not much considering the attacking force. Still, it would slow down any attacker, buying time for the bulk to suit up, take off, and handle them.

But they didn't, they had only had 2, maybe 3 dozen star fighters on patrol, and they had exited hyperspace when all of those were returning to their starships to refuel. 'Then again, not like they'll have reason to have suspected such,' Nunnally giggled, her hands tight on her control columns.

This was one thing she was mighty grateful to Grievous and other CIS commanders for, as so few made consistent use of their starfighters for anything more than defensive measures, rather than as an active part of an assault like this. Thus, the Republic sure as hell wasn't expecting it.

Utter shame, mother would scoff and scold…after she encouraged Nunnally to slaughter them, and Nunnally was going to make her mom’s spirit proud.

"We're closing in, counting 20 starfighters coming in; more are bound to be on the way." Kallen, piloting a fiery red Belbullab-22, which had been extensively modified, called out.

Nunnally was jittery as she replied. “Who cares about so few, squads 2 through 6, you handle them. The rest of you, on Commander and me, we’re going to soften them up.”

“You got it!” One of their pilots, operating a Rouge-Class Star Fighter, called out.

"Hell, this was what I signed up for…" Same as the other, as they flew right into the incoming Republic Torrent Interceptors. Once they got within range, both sides started firing. Kallen didn't think; she rarely did in battle. Instead, she trusted her skills, experience, and her force-enhanced instincts to make snap decisions.

She weaved through the storm of red and blue blaster bolts and laser fire, her hand on the engine thrust shifting it up and down without warning, rapidly increasing and slowing her speed which combined with how she jerked her controls in what seemed like random directions, practically saw her dancing through the battle, twirling, spinning and lunging around the place, all while she would pick out targets and fire on them, most of the time she hit her marks.

"That's my 8th kill," Kallen called out as she used a more…forceful approach, taking advantage of her starfighter's heavier frame, and the reinforcements added to it. She rammed into a Republic starfighter and fired point-blank, tearing it in two.

"On my 6th, these guys are slippery, but it's better than those slow pokes on Geonosis," Nunnally replied, as she wasn't pulling back, but slicing through the swarm of republic fighters, all struggling to hit her because of her fighter's small size, in its small compact cockpit, the lights of the many screens lit up her toothy smile.

“I got a big one on my tail!” One of the pilots called out, and Nunnally glanced towards her screens, spotting that he had a pretty big tail giving chase.

“Can’t help you, I’m dealing with some interceptors over here.” Another called out as the melee grew more intense; the only reason the droids weren't crashing into one another or getting cases of friendly fire was that they were all hooked to the same control and command system and could keep a constant track of where each other was.

Nunnally liked to think she and Kallen were just different, and that would come into play now.

“I’ll swing around and handle it, squads 8 and 11, continue the push, we can’t afford to screw up phase one.” Nunnally pulled back on the stick, her Tri-fighter almost breaking the laws of momentum as she swung around and gunned it for the at-risk pilot. Droids she could lose, she didn’t even have time to name them like Timmy, but people?

Those she wouldn’t just let get hurt.

“Should we call for more?” Kallen called out as she performed a corkscrew, evading the fire from 2 V-19s, and squeezed the trigger, reducing both to space debris as she zoomed past.

“Not till we’re cleared this lot. We need them to come to us.” Nunnally replied, her eye never far from the tactical screen, which showed dozens more fighters on their way, enough to match their numbers. Still, they'll probably keep back till the melee cleared, else they'll risk friendly fire, which bought them time.

“I can’t shake them!” The rogue class fighter pilot cried as she was desperately working to keep from letting the giant fighter get a bead on her, as she could spot those massive cannons. She didn't want to test if her shields could take a hit.

“You don’t have to.” Approaching from what would feel like the top to the enemy starfighter, a distinction which seemed meaningless in space, Nunnally lined up her shot, pulled the trigger, and fired all four of her laser cannons.

What she wasn't expecting was for the fighter to just tank the hit, shift, and allow its rear gunner the chance to try and return the favour. “What the-“ Nunnally pulled on the stick while pushing the power, evading the counterattack.

“Damn thing has shields.” She grunted, as those had to be some tough shields to take 3 hits from her heavy laser cannon and 6 a piece from all 3 of her light laser cannons. Looking at the screens, now that she knew their shape, she could tell that most of their losses were from unis just like that.

With the pilot she was trying to save, they took a hit to the side, which overpowered shields, leaving them damaged and almost easy pickings for the hunter chasing them. “I’m screwed.”

“Dive to squad 9, squad 4, you’re up, spray that damned thing till it’s space debris.” Nunnally ordered as brother wouldn't step in here, this was her show, and she would be damned if she let these damned Republic Dogs embarrass her.

“The fleet’s within range, opening fire, all starfighters to clear the line of fire.” A transmission came through from the fleet, as much slower than the starfighters, which had taken time to close the distance. Moments later, it was the blue blaster turbo laser fire from the Republic's lighter cruisers that let up space, the smaller vessels acting as anti-starfighter weapons platforms, which were slowly cutting down their numbers.

As their own ships started to return fire before their starfighters were cut down, Kallen came on the communication as well. "I'm seeing more of them. Who the heck built these damn things? They soak up laser fire like it's nothing." She complained as she struggled to kill one. “Nunnally, you take 2 thirds our forces and push ahead, we’ll handle these and keep them from giving chase.”

"You got it," Nunnally replied, trusting her older friend would handle things just fine.

After all, while chaotic, things were still going according to plan.

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Lelouch walked into his transport ship, the hangar of the Providence-class around him a buzz with activity as more Vulture Droids were waiting for their time to fly off, so too were the Hyena bombers, but their target was still out of reach, but not for long. “Doesn’t look good, Lelouch.” Catherine pointed out, as she watched the tactical screen projection, that it was identical to his.

"Thank you for the commentary," Lelouch replied as he took a seat next to her. Along with them was a squad of Commando droids and 2 squads of Super battle droids.

“I know, what would you do without me?” Catherine teased, but, like a switch had been flipped, when she put on her helmet, her picklocks poking out, she addressed the bigger issue. "Those are new, I didn't think they'd have something like that."

"A failing on our parts, but they're clearly not made for dogfights," Lelouch replied as they were dangerous, armoured, and well protected, but slow in speed and lacking agility. It would be a pain, but they could trade 4-8 Vulture droids to neutralise those flying tanks.

"Commandant, the battle is proceeding within the parameters you've established." The tactical droid contacted them.

Lelouch allowed just the smallest of smug grins to form. "Based on that, how long till the Republic dedicates additional starfighters to try and break through and reach our ships?"

The tactical droid, one he had gone to great pains to modify to overcome that ego all its units seemed programmed with, responded in only seconds. “I calculate a range of 240 and 390 seconds.”

Lelouch shared a glance with Catherine before he turned back to the projector. "Follow the plans, in 180 seconds, order the Insurgent forward, along with the Frigate 2 and 4, one of our Recuscant classes shall form the spearpoint."

“Roger Roger.”

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The defenders have been hard at work for around 15 minutes now. They've taken losses, and the enemy fleet has closed the distance. Still, their lines were holding strong, especially as they've handled 3 of the Separatist frigates, while other ships were showing visible signs of damage.

But despite that, whoever was commanding them didn't pull back, but ordered them to press forward even if that meant taking more damage to deal their own. “Intensify deflector shields.” The Admiral ordered as Saesee pondered this.

"It's an odd attack." He mused that, as aggressive as this seemed, it was already failing. Suppose they had such a limited number of strike craft. Why go with such a bold and aggressive assault, trading several droids for just a single one of their more effective fighters?

He knew that a DH-O could carry much more than this, but it seemed that they were shaping up for a planetary siege, but…why? Was it to strip the shipyard of equipment?

The old Admiral didn't think much of it, scoffing at his observation. “The Separatists are fools; they surely banked on us not protecting this place while they assaulted Kamino.”

“Admiral, we’ve downed approximately 40% of the enemy fighters.” One of the clone bridge crew reported that the Jedi Master and Admiral were looking out at the dogfight, which was slowly ending as the Seppies lacked the numbers and were now pulling back to their carriers, probably to replenish.

Well, the Admiral wasn’t about to let them have the chance. “Have 4 of our Arquitens push the line, close the distance. Have the Judgement and Protector target their Providence classes; we can worry about the DH-O Support Vessel later.” The damn thing might be capable of carrying large freight, but as a warship, it was little more than a target.

Saesee wasn't as sure about this, but all signs seemed to be pointing in one direction, yet the force seemed to be trying to tell him, but what? He could only conclude that this assault had a particularly dangerous commander; it could be Grievous himself, as it would fit his cowardly nature to pretend to attack one place, only to appear at another. If that was the case…

He gave an additional order. “Send word to launch half our starfighters, they’re to push past the dogfight and assault the enemy line. Their ships, especially their Munificent, are terrible at handling starfighters. If we can crush them, we can push them out of the system.”

“Ideally, capture their commander and discover how they could pierce this deep into the core to begin with.” He nodded at the Admiral's reminder, as if they could use this commander to learn routes into Separatist space; it could be a game-changer that ends this war far sooner.

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“Nunnally, we’ve handled most of the big ones, but we got bad news, we’re gonna have another couple hundred more coming in.” Kallen looked out at the battle around them, the redhead having pulled back while others gave them cover. They had suffered plenty of losses; their Vulture droid numbers were down to just a third of what they had first been.

“Man, those light cruisers are getting a little too close.” Someone called out. Looking back further, she saw the Arquitens chasing them, their guns targeting their remaining star fighters as they seemed to be making for their carriers.

“Phrase one is complete,” Nunnally giggled, Kallen at times wondering just what was with the girl, but not this time. Because she was just as happy. "Timmy, send out our reinforcements."

As if the gates to hell had been thrown open and all manner of beasts poured out, at Nunnally's order, dozens, no, hundreds of Vulture droids poured out from their carriers and the DH-O Support Vessel, led by a couple dozen more Rouge-class fighters, fresh to the fight and eager to draw blood.

“What the-!” One Z-95 cried out, only to be blasted to pieces.

“More of them?” Another yelled as they were thrown into a frenzied evasion, they too had numbers, far more then the Separatists, but they ran into a new problem: They were too close, too packed as they couldn’t fire nearly as often as they wished without risking gunning own comrades, nor could they evade as the Droids started to encircling them, forcing them into a tight formation as they picked at them, while dozens more ignored them and made for their ships, following them were thousands of Hyena bombers.

“Focus, men, remember your-!” A pilot of an Arc-170 called out, but this time Nunnally was ready as she fired on him, hitting them several times before one engine blew up, throwing the massive vessel off course as he careened into the vastness of space. Seconds later, it exploded.

"Vulture squads 1 through 4, launch. You've cleared the path to their light cruisers. The rest of you, follow the plan and push them. Remember, we're not leaving till we've achieved our goal!" Nunnally loved it when her brother's plans worked, because that meant blood was in the water and the feeding frenzy could begin.

And it seemed like a familiar target made itself known to her. "Look at that, more Y-wings, oh, it's really not a good day for you."

“Rip them to pieces, don’t let a single one get close to the ships!” Nunnally yelled, and all their pilots roared back. Let Grievous have the clones; they'll ensure that the backbone of the Republic Navy dies here.

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“We’ve just lost another cruiser!” The Admiral glared at the sight of one of their cruisers going up in flames, its bridge ruthlessly attacked as another of those Tri-fighters zipped away from it.

“Y-wings are taking heavy losses.” Another reported.

“Pull back our ships, they’re out too far, we can’t support them.” Saesee tried to correct, as they were stretched too thin with their ships, and yet too bunched up with their fighters, who couldn't break from the melee and were being torn to pieces.

“It’s too late, they’re surrounded.” Someone called. As if they tried to turn around now, they'd be blown to pieces. The Separatist ships, despite their damage and some being in flames, hadn't stopped the attack, and she was pouring turbo laser fire on them.

"Incoming Separatist fighters, no, I'm seeing boarding ships as well!"  Both Jedi and Admiral looked and saw dozens of Separatist Boarding ships flying towards them, having passed by their overwhelmed cruisers.

“Shoot them down.” The Admiral ordered.

"We're trying, but the vulture droids are acting as shields; we can't get a clear shot off on them." True to form, Vultures would fly in front of them, and when one went down, another would quirk to take up its position. They were hitting some of the boarding ships, but it was a tiny fraction, and they could see they would make contact.

“All hands, prepare for a boarding.” The Admiral called out as seconds later, the boarding ships slammed into them, and 4 other venators, most having stuck close to, or into their hangar

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Within the hangars, they had been filled with activity as dozens of fighters were being prepped and moments away from launch, only for deck crews to run for cover when the boarding ships tore into the ships, creating holes from which droids came pouring out. “Super Droids!” Someone yelled as the large droids made themselves known. A curse for the clones and other armed crew as their blasters needed several shots for one to go down, and it seemed like the Separatists had managed to send dozens of them.

“Take it down, take her-!” Catherine jumped over an parked fighter, blasting both clones before they could respond, jumping off it and skating around the cramp space, taking advantage of the messy environment, and how…chaotic things looked as she spied some fuel barrels and without a moment’s pause, aimed and fired at them, blowing it up, and killing maybe 15 clones in the process.

Her fun was ruined when someone called her a commando droid again. "I swear, do you clones have eyes? I'm no droid." She would have pouted, but instead rushed their lines, evading their shots, and once she got close, she pressed a button on her blasters, which had vibro blades shoot out. Slashing through the cones, she smiled as they were slowly pushed back, more of the parked, ready-to-launch fighters going up in flames as the super droids advanced.

“Boys, why don't you show them what you can do?" She called out, as from the rafters, another sort of droid, one hated and feared by clones, dropped.

“Commando dro-!” The scattered defenders were picked off one at a time, so focused on the super droids and her that they completely missed the commandos who moved into the shadows.

It was impressive how fast they could clear out the place: not even 2 minutes in, the hangar was nothing but clone bodies, flames, and wrecks. “You planning on coming out?” She yelled towards the boarding ship she had used.

"I would have thought you'd want to have more fun," Lelouch replied as he jumped out, landing without issue as he walked towards her.

“I have more fun when I’m with you, you know that.” Catherine smiled as they walked, side by side, towards the main door, where super droids were already waiting for them.

“Really, because I believe you had a grand old time on Geonosis.” Lelouch joked as they opened the door and were immediately fired on by the Clones waiting on the other side. The corridor filled with them, though the battle droids didn't stand idle and returned fire, slowly moving deeper into the ship.

“Of course I did, Kallen’s someone I need to watch on with, I can’t let her win just because she’s got lightsabers.” Catherine seemed quite proud of that statement as the two continued to walk as if there wasn't an intense blaster battle or a growing number of dead or wounded clones around them. "Besides, I normally stick with you during boarding ops; we work well together."

“Just what is this!” Lelouch tuned his eyes away from Catherine to find that Clones had ceased their attack, the reason being obvious as every blaster bolt which would have hit him or Catherine had just frozen mid-air.

“Hmm?” Even the Super Battle droids had ceased their attack, recognising it wasn’t necessary. “Oh yes, we should finish this. We make for the bridge.” Lelouch, eyes glowing in the shadows of his hair, raised his hand as if he were to flick a bug. When he did, every blaster bolt was sent back, hitting the floor, the walls, the ceiling, and, most distressing for the defenders, them.

Clones didn’t stand a chance as shots from their own blasters were violently sent back at them, striking all of them down.

“CT-03456, respond, CT-03456, what is happening? Captain Hardhead, respond!” Lelouch glanced at what had been a clone captain, but was just another corpse. One whose communicator was still active.

Deciding to have a little fun, Lelouch reached out with the force and ripped the communicator off the man’s armour and held it to his lips to speak. "Greetings, your captain is dead, so is the rest of your men. We're making our way to you, presumably at your bridge. I hope the Jedi is there as well. I want to see the look on your face when you realize I've won."

Message delivered, he crushed I and turned back to Catherine and their complement of Super Battle Droids.

“Well, let’s get going. With any luck, this would make things interesting.”

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We're finally here, the last chapters for the year…for my regular stuff! Nah, I'm finishing the commissions, like this one, so I don't need to worry about them next year. This chapter was something of a return to some action, as some of you must have been eager for. It's something which I personally have been really eager to get to, and because of that, I spent a bit too much time on it to ensure it came out as clean as possible.