Chapter 33 - Future Imperfect (1/2)

Part 1

Industrial District ”Helios”

Coruscant

Darth Sidious prowled through one of his secret sanctuaries within the very heart of the Republic. It wasn't exactly a place what one would ȧssociate as the lair of the Dark Lord of the Sith. In fact, his current adobe was a luxury executive apartment on one of the highest floors of a building housing a droid ȧssembly plant. Officially he was visiting a wealthy Coruscanti magnate, who had few issues concerning the build up of the Republic army to bring up with an old friend.

Needless to say, the truth was a bit different. Said businessman was one of the many puppets of Palpatine, this one even helping him willingly and making a fortune from the war. Of course, the man, one George Kol, was unaware of the Chancellor's true identity and real plants for the future, though he might have approved.

It didn't matter. Kol had been under the Force induced influence of Sidious for a long time, making him little more than a puppet if the Sith Lord so wished. As it was, the magnate was providing Sidious with a fool proof alibi, while the Sith Lord was busy investigating how exactly his plans went awry. Again.

Palpatine had a data-pad in hand and was reading reports from two different sources about the attack on the Jedi Temple, which was executed the previous day. On the face of it, the raid went flawlessly. Almost too good to be true and it was.

He was looking at two documents in particular. One was the GAR preliminary report about the attack on the Jedi Temple and the other was the summary from the CIS agents who made it out after the attack. There were subtle, but critical differences.

On the face of it, the reports agreed. The CIS agents had infiltrated the building without too much trouble and by all accounts had achieved their primary objectives, despite suffering heavy casualties. The high points were the death of some Jedi, who's names were included in the GAR report, something that brought the Sith Lord a lot of pŀėȧsurė. Further, thanks to the successful break into the Jedi Temple's comm tower, his hands were untied. Now Sidious could provide ever better intelligence to the CIS in order to steer them against targets he needed eliminated, or straight into traps if he deemed it necessary.

Even better, that mercenary Bane managed to get his hands on more than one Jedi Holocron. With that fool Bolla Ropal captured and the crystal secured, it was only a matter of ”persuading” the Jedi Master or one of his brethren to unlock the data. That would give Sidious access to the most powerful Force sėnsɨtɨvė children the Order knew about. By retrieving or disposing of them, he would strike another blow to the Jedi, one aimed at their very future.

Not that the fools had any.

That was a stunning revelation. The Force didn't warn him about any danger. The only thing he felt was the Light side in the Temple weakening, which he thought was due to the raid being more successful than his wildest dreams.

Instead, he had come close to being blown up by something called a Nexus Bomb. Sidious didn't recall ever hearing about it, but he would make sure by checking up his Sith archives. It was supposedly some kind of area denial weapon from the Great war, which used the Force as an energy source to charge a massive explosion. Or so the GAR believed. What made that part of the report even more interesting, was that Veil had confirmed it.

Ah, the Rogue. That strange man was becoming more and more interesting. Sidious would need to move soon and contact him with a proposition to join his side. Or kill him for being so troublesome.

Either way, that self styled Sith was becoming too dangerous to be left on his own devises.

But he could wait a bit. What Sidious wanted to know right now, is how one of his CIS pawns knew about that bomb under the Jedi Temple. Whoever that person was who almost got him killed, wasn't working alone.

First he was wounded during the attack on the Senate and now he almost died again. This was no coincidence. Someone within the CIS was attempting to get rid of him. The questions remained, who was to blame and whether he or they knew his true identity. Provided that Dooku wasn't to blame.

Sidious grimaced. He had to clean up house before he could continue building the foundations for his Galactic Empire.

That was the bright spot. Thanks to the recent attacks, pushing through the necessary laws had become much easier.

Palpatine continued reading the reports until something unusual caught his attention. It was about the infiltrators. The fact that they were Force Adepts with somewhat decent training was something he knew. He was also aware of the artifacts they used to conceal themselves. By the Force, he was wearing one similar to what they used, which helped hide the fact that he was a Force Adept. However, in his case, it was a contingency in case that for some reason he was unable to maintain the technique hiding his true face.

Sidious snarled and drew a secure comm device from the folds of his midnight black robes. Someone was going to pay for this!

=RK=

Munificent Command Ship ”Invisible Blade”

Hyperspace

Count Dooku glared at one of his most trusted agents from his command chair. The Chiss woman had her eyes lowered in shame. She was kneeling on the metal floor of the bridge, while the droids manning the consoles around her and her master paid them no attention.

”This is unacceptable!” declared the Sith Lord. ”I expected much more from the leader of my Dark Acolytes,” Dooku's voice rumbled through the bridge. ”Sev'Rance, we didn't go to such lengths to fake your death, only for you to prove next to useless in this new role. You will explain this failure. NOW!” he snapped at the kneeling woman.

”My Lord, my investigation started after the first attacks on Coruscant... On the face of it, everything was simple. Or should have been so. In both cases, we got better information on the Republic military and security forces in the Capital System than the GAR itself. In hindsight it was too good to be true. As you know master, it was.”

”But not in a way that either of us would have expected,” muttered Dooku. Indeed, if the CIS forces attacking Coruscant had simply walked into a trap, he wouldn't have been so concerned. Minus the fact that in such a case he still would have been a prisoner to the Jedi.

”The plans for both attacks were altered while the forces were en route and sent to the commanders designated to execute the operations. The basics remained the same. Take the first series of attacks, the ones in which you were freed, Master.”

”Extrapolate.”

”The command staff in CIS Headquarters crafted the basic plan. An operation to capture the Chancellor and as many senators as possible. A spoiling attacks against few critical GAR bases, slowing down the enemy response. Finally, a direct action against the Jedi Temple in a secondary attempt to free you if Palpatine couldn't be persuaded to order your and Grievous' release.”

”It worked. More or less. But the release of Blue Shadow on Coruscant dealt a heavy blow on our credibility. That's before a nerve agent was used at the Senate. Even killing so many of the Republic leadership won't make up for what we lost,” growled Dooku.

”That's correct, master. The additions to the plan were added by parties unknown, using Council codes, though I was unable to confirm any treason on their parts. I scanned the minds of the suspects. They had no idea about any of this.”

That bit of information caught the Count's attention. He had expected that some Councilors were playing their own game. By the Force, he knew that they were plotting. But, this mess not being their fault was a concern. It implied that there was a faction within the CIS he knew nothing about. A competent and dangerous one at that.

”I had two avenues of investigation open. First, one of my tech experts was able to locate the network hub from which the order alternations originated. Second, perhaps a more important clue was the intelligence we received from sources within the GAR. The forces that were used in the first attack on the Jedi Temple was what caught our attention.”

Dooku gave her a grim nod.

”The Force using clones of my Dark Acolytes who spearheaded that ȧssault, allowing a commando team to release me. They were led by a clone of you. One that the new Republic General, Veil, defeated and now has as an apprentice.”

”This is correct, master. About which investigation should I speak first?”

”I want to know the origin of the altered orders.”

”I started my hunt in the heart of the CIS Military Headquarters...”

=RK=

General Valentra's office

GAR Headquarters (Location Classified)

Coruscant

”It is decided then,” declared Ivon Fell, the civilian head of ONI.

”We know it's a trap,” supplied Jack. The clone didn't relish sending his brethren in another meat-grinder, but sometimes it simply couldn't be helped.

”One we have to spring,” said Veil.

”Indeed. We are offered a tempting bait. Those new factories on Geonosis can't be allowed to come online,” added Director Yle. The new chief of SBI didn't like it any more than the rest of the people in the room.

The target was one that couldn't be left alone. Furthermore, the intelligence had come from a source within CIS none of the people present could confirm as one of their own. Yet the Chancellor considered the information to be gods' own gospel...

It made one think. The CIS Council had to see the writing on the wall. The Clone wars had become a conflict of survival. Simply put, the Separatists couldn't afford to lose, especially their leadership. All of them had a parsec long war crimes charges waiting for them in such a case. Both the surviving Senators and the masses wanted blood. So, why did one of Palpatine's friends feed the Republic this information, when if the CIS lost, even the Chancellor's growing influence might be unable to keep their necks off the chopping block?

After all, if it was the oldest motive, money and power, you needed to be alive and free to make use of them. Then again, it could be blackmail or something like that. Even someone who had a change of faith after the Spectre of the biological weaponry was released.

Nevertheless, Mark couldn't help but wonder. Something didn't feel right with that information. If he had to be fair to himself, there was something off with the whole war. He should know. He had access to more information about the conflict bar almost anyone in the galaxy. It was one of the questionable perks about his position as a Director of the SBI.

”Well, we'll be starting Angel Fall within the week,” declared Valentra.

Everyone gave him a slight nod. It would be bȧrėly enough time to organize things in the critical locations of their organizations across the galaxy. However, the simple truth was that they could scarcely afford to wait even that long. The Republic was leaking intelligence on all fronts like a busted dam. Which in turn was the Rancor no one was willing to talk about so far.

”Let's cut to the chase, shall we?” asked General Veil.

Valentra smirked. It was about time.

”So, you want us to discuss the obvious, eh boss?” quipped Jack. ”Finally...” he muttered.

It was Ivon who actually said it aloud.

”We all have some idea how badly the enemy agents had penetrated the Republic. That combined with the strategic advantage the CIS has until our economy is firmly on war footing and we can muster our clone armies with new recruits... We should have been military defeated in the first four to six months of the conflict.”

There was grim silence after her declaration. If there was anyone who knew how true her words were, it were the people ȧssembled in Valentra's office.

”The GAR and the Republic Navy, before it was folded under the army's umbrella for the duration of the conflict, simply didn't have the numbers to hold off the CIS. But some enemy's strategic decisions simply make no sense whatsoever, if they fought to win the war,” said Veil.

The intelligence chiefs looked at him grimly. They all had read highly classified reports saying the same thing. There were too many instances where the enemy had been making disastrous decisions. Even more concerning, a lot of the analysts who had created those reports had been either reassigned or had suffered fatal ”accidents”. Then there were other cases where Republic forces were either ambushed and annihilated or simply placed in a position, which would insure long and hard campaign.

”You've seen the pattern,” Yle deadpanned.

”Someone wants a protracted war,” Valentra whispered with a venom in his voice. It was his boys and girls who were paying the price.

It was a simple sentence. Yet, it would have repercussions no one in the meeting could have imagined. Isn't it interesting, how just a few words could be the pebble that would one day cause an avalanche changing the whole galaxy...

=RK=

Two Days earlier

Security Center

Jedi Temple

One of the Clone technicians monitoring the various sensor feeds from within the Jedi Temple stumbled upon something interesting. A small sphere shaped drone, one of the hundreds patrolling the corridors of the vast building, passed near a group of Jedi Masters. To the Clone's surprise, Mace Windu was one of them. That fact by itself would have been more than enough to get his undivided attention, even if he wasn't one of General Veil's special operatives.

The Clone, who was going by the name of Ink, which went with his face designation, listened carefully what the Jedi discussed. They would meditate, hoping that the Force would lead them to the most threatened Jedi children. That made sense to the agent. He was made aware by his contacts what have been the point of the Holocron theft that occurred days prior. The CIS, or at least Dooku's agents now had access to the means to read the information on the names and locations of the all Force sėnsɨtɨvė children across the galaxy that the Jedi knew about. Which was significant because the Order had lost contact with the Master who had that information on an encrypted crystal on his person.

Ink knew hot information when he stumbled upon it so he had redirected various sensors and security droids to rotate around and focus on the Jedi Masters in question. To his pleasant surprise, none of them thought that there was something wrong. So he was able to listen to them and find out the location of the kids that the CIS was likely to target from the Jedi's own lips. The agent wasted no time and at the first opportunity that presented itself, he transmitted the data to his superiors.

The information was in the hands of the General's special forces before the Jedi had made arrangements to go after the kids themselves.

=RK=

Black Fleet Carrier ”Dragon Claw”

High Orbit over Yavin IV

A second hand cruiser, which once belonged to the Republic Navy was hanging over a green moon, which in turn orbited a gas giant. That was the current flagship belonging to a clandestine military group answering to a certain Republic General.

On a deck outfitted as an intelligence gathering and processing section, a holocom message was received from a source on Coruscant. It was promptly scanned for any unwelcome surprises before being decrypted and read by an operative with sufficiently high clearance. Moments later, the Intel deck of the cruiser become a beehive of controlled chaos.

”Colonel, you need to see this!”

A man wearing gray uniform showing no sign of any insignia, looked up from a data pad from which he was reading. He was the Clone in charge of the steadily increasing, in both capacity and reach, black operations outfit created by his commanding officer.

”What is it, Operations?” he answered in a mellow voice, which was a bit unusual for one of the copies of Jango Fett.

”We have a confirmed Case Shallow Dream. We just got four locations. Glee Anselm, Rodia, Naboo and Onderon. The Jedi believed that the subject on Glee Anselm has been lost already.”

”Naboo and Rodia. We don't have ȧssets that can reach Onderon before the Jedi.”

”We have at two units as a part of the blockade over Naboo. One of our Q-Ships should be able to reach Rodia before the Jedi.”

”Good. Dispatch the teams. I want the colony below us to be up and running ASAP. It will be needed if we are able to get any of the kids. Is this all?”

”There is nothing else that can't wait for the briefing in three hours, Colonel.”

”Carry on then.”

=RK=

Part 2

Republic frigate ”Keen Blade”

High Orbit over Rodia

A heavy Republic frigate blinked into existence, finishing a short hyperspace jump. The ship was squeaking a current Navy IFF, designating it as a part of the Deep Core reserve fleet. That much was true. On paper. In reality, the frigate was one of the few dozen ”official” warships doing odd jobs for General Veil's black operations division.

”Keen Blade” had been returning from its latest mission, that of a glorified taxi for a bunch of clones testing some of the new toys cooked up by the R&D division, when she and her crew received new orders. They were to secure a couple of VIPs on Rodia, which was only a couple of short jumps from the frigate's current location.

A few hours later, the warship arrived over the Rodian homeworld and launched a heavy shuttle escorted by a quartet of upgraded Torrents. Just in case something went wrong, the transport was carrying nine heavily armed and armored clones.

=RK=

Republic Navy ”Nomad” flight

Rodia

Sergeant Soap glanced over his men, who were looking at the droid strapped near the shuttle's ċȯċkpit. The robot was plugged into a tactical console surfing the Rodian Civilian holonet while they all waited for the machine to find some more information about their targets besides names and general location.

The NCO in charge of the retrieval team made a final check of his men equipment. His heavy gunners, Tank and Grunt, were clad in full armor, turning them into two meter tall juggernauts made of shields and composites. They were carrying rotary cannons and backpacks full with ammo.

Next was the demo expert. A crazy bastard calling himself Drake. The fella was wearing the same medium armor as the rest of his troops, resembling what the commandos were equipped with at the start of the conflict. The main difference were the crimson flames painted on the man's helmet.

Drake was hugging his grenade launcher, even petting the damn thing. Soap was almost sure that his somewhat disturbing soldier was whispering sweet nothings to the gun. He really didn't want to know. Besides, Drake was fiendishly good with everything that made bang, which made up for his quirks. The backpack chock full with exploding goodies for every situation helped out too.

Next were the pair of a sniper and spotter: Reaper and Farsight. Those two could wreak havoc on an enemy from kilometers away. Plus, neither of them had any disturbing habits, making them Soap's favorites.

Finally, the three ”ordinary” grunts. First, Ghost, an infiltrator and close quarters combat specialist. He was a good man, but had the uncanny habit of stalking his teammates, ”to hone his skills”, or so he said. Ghost had nearly caused Soap a heart attack a few times.

There was Doc, the squad medic, who had a really morbid sense of humor, and last but not the least, Wes, an average grunt, who was still wondering how he ended up teamed up with those maniacs.

”Wee Dunn. Eleven months old Rodian. Lives with his single mother Mahtee Dunn in Kay-Tap square. Father deceased. No other living relatives on the planet.”

Holographic emitters built into the shuttle's troop compartment came to life, showing a 3D map of a domed city and zooming in until a single small house was visible. A window opened next to the map, showing a smiling Rodian woman proudly holding a toddler.

”Those two are the VIP's we're after!” declared Soap. ”The kid is the primary objective. We are to retrieve him, unharmed, at all costs. If practical, we should get the mother too. If by some miracle, this op goes without a hitch...” Soap waited for the chuckling to subside, ”we're to just go there and take them into protective custody.”

”Fat chance,” muttered Doc.

”Indeed. We are never that lucky,” deadpanned Tank.

Soap snorted. It was damn true. At least now they had some decent equipment at hand. For a moment he looked at the back of the shuttle remembering the banter of his men in the armory.

=RK=

Flashback

Armory

Republic Frigate ”Keen Blade”

Hyperspace

Gear hobbled after his squad mates. He was going to make a final check up on their armor and equipment, hoping to avoid an accident like the one which nearly crippled him on their last mission.

”Drake, we are know how much you love the new launchers and want to have a love child with them, however, if you shoot again one of the Ion grenades danger close, even the improved armor won't save you!”

”Hey! Your armor was fine! The discharge bȧrėly scorched it! How was I supposed to know that the Ion grenades you were carrying were defective and would go off at the slightest discharge near you?!” exclaimed the demo expert.

”Idiot! If I was wearing the standard armor, my nervous system would be fired right now!”

”Next time take one of these babies and it won't matter,” interjected Grunt, while gently patting the ċhėst plate of his heavy armor.

”I'm the damn tech, not a walking tank! What the hell is wrong with you all?”

”Oh, chill off already!” exclaimed Ghost.

The infiltrator was checking up his brand new carbine and its under-slung grenade launcher. The weapon was much better than the standard gear used by the clones ever since the war started. It was more accurate, had different fire modes and hard points for mounting additional equipment.

”Sweet, isn't it? I can't wait to see how well it takes apart Droids. And people,” muttered Doc.

”Who was the genius that made him a medic anyway?” Wes wondered aloud.

”I heard that kid.”

”Kriff it all.”

”Stow it soldiers. Doc, you won't be messing up with Wes, is that clear? And you, Drake! If you pull a stunt like that again you'll explaining to me why I shouldn't put your ȧss on report! Is. This. CLEAR?” Soap's voice silenced the banter of his maniacs.

'Why me?' wondered the NCO. What did he did to deserve serving with these lunatics under his command?

”Clear, sir! Though Grunt has a point. If we all wore the heavy armors, that incident wouldn't have hurt Gear. Those suits are sweet piece of work! They are shielded against Ion discharges! They even have motorized joints so we can carry even bigger guns and more ammo!” Tank spoke with a gleam in his eyes.

”That's right!” added Grunt. ”And look at this armor! It can stop at least a couple of heavy blaster bolts!” he patted the chess plate of his suit.

”Yeah. I can't wait! Soon enough all of our brothers will have such gear and then the kriffing droids are going straight to the scrap heap!”

”That's nothing! I heard from one of the eggheads that all equipment we are testing is merely a stop gap until the exo-skeletons and power armor finish development!” added Reaper.

”Rediscover them you mean,” said Gear. ”I'm fairly sure that power armor and light exo-skeletons were used during the Great War few thousand years ago. It's a pity the Republic had lost all that tech.”

”Show off,” muttered Farsight.

”What? The man loves studying history in his copious free time. What's wrong with that?” Wes wondered aloud.

Flashback End

=RK=

Jag-Wa City

Naboo

”Easy job, you said. Protect a little girl. What could possibly go wrong? You had to say it, didn't you, Fixer?” grumbled Scorch as he ducked under a burst of fire.

Around the members of Delta Squad of the Republic Commandos, a once pristine city street was promptly becoming a slice of hell.

”More shooting, deal with Fixer's big mouth later!” shouted Scorch a moment before throwing a pair of thermal detonators.

The deadly spheres flew through the window of a nearby house, the current fire-base of a group of mercenaries. Second later, those men ceased to exist, along with most of the building they used as a shelter.

”That was a bit much, Scorch,” chided their commander.

”No such thing as an overkill, Boss!” quipped the demo expert.

”Bloody jokers...” grunted a nearby clone wearing armor painted in black and gray.

The situation was FUBAR'd to hell and back. Three separate groups of Clones, sent to secure one little girl and her family until some Jedi arrived to retrieve them - it should have been a trivial exercise. Instead, the Republic troopers found themselves in a five sided running battle across the streets of Jag-Wa city.

First, the various Republic units coming for the kid. Second, some local resistance fighters who resented the blockade and partial occupation of Naboo, decided to throw a row. Then, the folks of a PMC, hired to boost security on the planet and relieve some of the pressure on the GAR ground forces, started shooting at everyone, hell bent on taking the kid too. And just to make everything even more fuċkėd up, it turned out that a local criminal cartel had moved their stash of illegal goods near the kid's home after the blockade came into effect, so the damn criminals decided to join the party too.

Finally, a squad clad in featureless advanced armor, was making a beeline towards Delta squad's position and the VIPs they were desperately trying to keep alive, while systematically gunning down everything in their way.

=RK=

Part 3

Kay-Tap Square City

Rodia

”Nomad” flight's Navy IFF cleared the ȧssault shuttle for landing reasonably close to their target's house. The clones disembarked and headed to their designated positions. Reaper and Farsight went to a nearby tower, which provided a good line of sight to the Dunn house. Ghost went ahead to scout, using the built in stealth features of his armor to vanish from sight.

A minute later, Soap led the rest of his team towards their target, creating a show for a few pedestrians, who stared at the Republic troopers. You can say many things for the heavy armored duo of the squad, but inconspicuous they certainly were not.

Soon enough, Soap was in front of the Dunn house, ringing the door bell, while Ghost was sneaking around the back in case of trouble. The sergeant could hear someone moving inside the house and coming closer. So the droid was right and the Dunn's were home.

He heard quiet beeping and the front door slid open. Soap's eyes widened when he saw a blaster pointing at his head. He had an instant to process the sight and throw his body into motion, before the gun fired...

A ruby colored bolt of energy flew true, straight at Soap's helmet. The sergeant saw a flash of light an instant before he hit the ground. His training kicked in and he rolled away, clearing the line of fire.

Wes wasted no time on being surprised that a civilian woman shot his commander without provocation. He took aim and pressed the trigger. The grenade launcher slung under the barrel of his carbine thumped quietly. The female Rodian was struck in the ċhėst by a stun round, neutralizing her by sending enough current into her body to knock her out twice over.

”Sweep the house and find the kid!” ordered Doc.

In the next moment, simultaneous explosions of multiple concussion grenades rattled the house. The clones moved in, sweeping for hostiles.

At the back Ghost was about to take out his slicing kit and start dealing with the locked door, when it slid open. A robed figure holding the toddler they were after was standing in the door frame.

”Contact back! I have eyes on the target!” Ghost sub-vocalized.

”Copy that.”

Bane glared at a slight shimmer in the air in front of him. He made a punching motion with his free arm activating the blaster built in his arm guard. A hail of crimson shots shredded the sleeve of his robe and swept the backyard. Two blaster bolts slammed into an invisible figure, dissipating the stealth field.

The bounty hunter snarled. The clone he shot should be dead! Instead, the man shrugged off the impacts, taking them on an until then invisible shield. Bane was sure that he would have died at that moment if it wasn't for the kid he was holding. The Rodian boy was the only reason the damn clone didn't drill him with a burst of blaster fire then and there.

Instead, the infiltrator took careful aim while Bane continued shooting at the soldier. He didn't have much choice; even more troopers were storming through the building behind him. The bounty hunter needed to take care of the man blocking his way fast and leg it while he still could.

The shield deflected four more bolts before shattering and leaving the clone vulnerable. Bane cursed and shot again a moment before Ghost pressed the trigger himself. Red energy splashed over the clone's armor, gorging the composite. He stumbled back, throwing off his aim. A burst of blue fire grazed Bane's right shoulder, instead of turning it into bloody mist. The bounty hunter hissed in pain, but didn't let the wound slow him down.