Vanguard

Chapter 45

"Ryloth"

[Slipspace, UNSC Vanguard]

[One day later]

Ahsoka stood silently aboard the lift that gradually ascended through the upper decks of the destroyer; she was alone in the elevator shaft while she waits to arrive at her destination. It's been quiet for the last several days since they entered slipspace, the occasional sparring matches have provided some entertainment but other than that it has been peaceful and relaxing. But despite the peace and serenity she could also feel the anxiety in the air, especially the anxiety surrounding the Spartans…

The lift slowly grinds to a halt as it nears its destination, once coming to a full stop the heavy interlocked doors in front of her slid open allowing her to walk into the corridor that led to another bulkhead not too far ahead. The second bulkhead unlocks and opens with a hiss revealing the bridge along with everyone else.

"Hope I'm not late" Tano remarked with sarcasm in her voice.

"Another moment later and I would've started the movie without you" the AI replied jokingly.

"Thanks Percy, nice to know you would've started without me."

A small grin grew on the two's faces but Jorge pushed "If we can get back to the matter at hand…"

James seconds that "I agree, we're coming up on the Ryloth System in a few minutes…"

"Alright" Ahsoka agreed "Did we find out where Cham sent his transmission from?"

Percival nodded "Yes" as he walks around the holotable while a holographic world built itself up and then zoomed in towards a rough region "It's a bit of a rough estimate but the transmission originated from somewhere in the northern hemisphere, specifically a region referred to as the Taluu Province. Once we arrive out of slipspace I'll have a better time pinpointing the origin."

"Assuming he's is still in the area, we'll need to establish contact with him as soon as possible" James adds.

"Then what? We help them fight an imperial occupation in a global war?" Lador insisted to ask "We all know fairly well the Empire will just strengthen their hold no matter how many troopers you kill."

"Our objective isn't to liberate Ryloth, this ship alone doesn't have the manpower or equipment to accomplish that. The only thing we can do is help train the natives to become more efficient fighters, from there they can teach the next generation of soldiers and the next. And if there's an opportunity to strengthen ourselves while damaging the Empire, we'll take our shot at it."

"Alright… I suppose this plan is… adequate. But the Twi'leks won't trust a couple of soldiers that dispatched some imperials, you'll need us to help improve relations. They know and trust Jedi."

"Agreed, you're more than welcome to accompany us on the surface."

Lador nodded with a very small smile but then he asks "May I suggest Komari to go with you on your mission?"

The Spartans and Ahsoka glanced to Cain, standing silently along the holotable across from Jorge and Tano, and Jorge wondered "Why?"

"Why not?" Mattis explains "Komari is well experienced in their culture and could be very helpful towards negotiations with Cham and his people."

James looks to the cerean and asks "Would you be willing to join us?"

"I would be…" the aged Jedi replied "But do not expect me to fight alongside you should we find ourselves against imperial forces."

"Just don't get yourself killed."

Eventually Lux joins in "I want to join you to the surface…"

This earned him the glares of everyone, especially those of the Spartans which seemed unnerving at first, until James replied "No" plain and simple.

"Why not? You'll need me on the ground with you…" Bonteri protests.

"You're too much of a valuable asset to be in a live combat zone. You're not going down on the first flight."

"I've had my fair share of firefights before, besides you'll need me when we make contact with Cham and his fighters."

"What good will a politician do in a warzone?"

"For negotiating purposes, and I'll do my best not to expose my identity to the Empire."

The group was silent for the moment, Jorge silently glanced towards his fellow brother waiting for a response. James looked around to see everyone else's face looking for any signs of an answer from any of them, Lador, Bayu, and Komari remained neutral on the matter whereas Ahsoka seemed to encourage the thought of bringing the senator along.

James eventually gave in "Fine… but you stay close to me, at all times, do you understand?"

"Yes, of course."

Then the droid commander approaches the holotable and reports "We're approaching the system now…"

Percival turned to the commander and issued "Good, upon dropping out I want a full thorough scan of the system, list out ships, celestial bodies, and anything else of note."

"Roger Roger."

The commander leaves to fulfill his duties as the slipspace tunnel begins to warp and distort signaling the arriving end of their travel across the galaxy.

[Border of the Ryloth System, Arquitens-Class Cruiser ISS Vigilante]

A small patrol fleet of three Arquitens light cruisers moving in a single file formation floated across the emptiness of space in search of any activity that may prove to be a threat to Imperial control in the system.

Leading the formation was the Vigilante commanded by Captain Viseer, a human female in her mid-thirties with striking features that made her appear as if she was in her mid to late twenties. She stood aboard the bridge of her cruiser silently staring out into the vacuum as her crew felt relaxed but working diligently at their stations. Her method of command was much less strict than of other captains and admirals of the navy but it also balanced out alert readiness without the stress of fear of failing to maintain high standards.

"Faraday, a report please?" she asks, her voice was calm and soothing showing no signs of anger or fear of anything.

The sensors array operator, Ensign Faraday, reports "Nothing on our scopes ma'am, same thing for the last few rotations…"

"Thank you Faraday, hopefully this patrol will be just as uneventful as the last-"

"Um ma'am!" the Ensign interrupts "Something just spiked on our sensors, some sort of radiation developing at our starboard aft at five hundred meters."

Viseer moves to Faraday's station and looks at his monitor, whatever he was picking up it was growing in size and intensity at a rapid and steady rate.

She then orders her comms officer "Tun, send word to the other ships, have all vessels make hard starboard and ready stations."

Tun nods in confirmation and begins to relay the orders, as requested all three light cruisers turned their hulls to face the growing anomaly. Viseer then moves to her post behind the two pilots and looks through the viewport to find a roaring storm of dense radiation and lightning shooting out in every direction within the immediate vicinity of the storm as it grew larger and larger.

Then without warning a massive rift in space opens revealing a gaping maw of pitch black emptiness and not a moment later a large arrowhead shaped starship comes crawling out of the blackness at combat speed.

"Ready weapon batteries…"

The twin turbo laser batteries of every cruiser whirred and trained themselves at the approaching object that dared not to slow down. In fact the starship proceeded forward unabated, lighting from storm stretched across the ship's hull without so much as leaving scratches along the plating as the mid-section of the bulky vessel comes out.

"Ma'am the ship is not slowing down…" Faraday warns wearily.

But Viseer was not wasting another second "All batteries fire! Fire!"

The turbolaser cannons let loose with a single barrage of highly concentrated energy, each bolt slammed into the ship's hull but only to moderate effect as the alloy plating withstood the damage it received. The vessel didn't slow down at the slightest and in moments the angled bow rams through and obliterates the middle cruiser sending fragments in every direction, Viseer had just lost one of her ships and the enemy hasn't fired their first shot.

The hostile vessel was now in between the two remaining cruisers with about a hundred meters in distance from each.

Faraday reports "Ma'am! Low level energy spiking from the hostile ship…"

The captain watched as several tubes littered along the hull slides open only for a flurry of missiles to stream out seconds later, she watched a particular few charge ahead full straight towards her cruiser "Brace!"

The anti-ship missiles collided and bored themselves deep into the durasteel frame before violently detonating from within blasting away virtually everything and crippling the ship entirely if not outright destroying it.

The blast from the missiles had sent everyone in the bridge onto the floor but Viseer manages to pick herself up and orders "Escape pods! Now!"

The bridge crew scurried out of the command bridge rushing themselves to the nearest set of pods they prayed were still functional. By now a steady barrage of explosive shells racked what remained of the vessel, one shell came into contact with the hull and blasts a hole through causing depressurization in the corridor the crew were using. Viseer and some crewmembers were thrown into the walls but unfortunately two members, including Tun, were pulled through the breach before the atmospheric shielding system could activate, the surviving crew only fell onto the floor as artificial gravity retained itself.

The captain glanced through the hole, finding two bodies drifting away from the ship, but she pressed herself to get back up and keep making her way to the pods with the rest of her crew. Several moments later and finally she and her crew had reached the closest pod bay where a squad of clone troopers were boarding the last pod, two of the three available pods had already launched.

The last trooper to board waves to the captain and her people "C'mon! C'mon!" he barks.

One by one the crewmen climbed aboard the pod and found their seats, Captain Viseer was the last to board as the clone climbs in behind her and shuts the hatch before the pilot flips a switch and jettisons the pod away from the crumbling cruiser still withering away under ballistic fire. The other cruiser was decimated by another volley of missiles shortly after, no pods were able to make it out.

"What… what just happened?" Faraday asked bewildered by what just transpired.

Viseer gazed at the ship itself, it completely dwarfed her ships in nearly every way, size, armament, armor, and it just effortlessly tore its way through all the three. The black coating and steep angling of the immense heavy armor was enough to defend against high-end energy weapons such as her turbolasers, the ship bristled with missile pods and twin turret gun batteries proving to be enough to destroy her fleet.

Then there were the letters in bold white across the fore-section: UNSC VANGUARD

The remaining cruiser was finally put down, but afterwards the crew notices the Vanguard's ventral launch bay slide open and send out an olive drab ship the size of a dropship, and it was heading right for them.

"Great now they're coming to finish the job…" one clone muttered.

"If they wanted to do that they could've used their guns…" the sergeant replied.

Viseer then suggested "We're likely being taken prisoners… pirate scum…"

The sergeant implied "No, nothing about this looks like pirates. That attack was too coordinated to be anything like that."

"Mm maybe you're right Sergeant…"

The dropship finally comes to a slow halt over the pod, angling its aft section onto the pod where it then magnetically latched onto the craft before they began moving again back to the parent ship.

"So what's the plan?" Faraday wondered.

"My squad won't be able to take on a whole ship…" the clone states.

"No, but maybe we can commandeer this dropship and get us back to the Yaktani Elevator…" the captain notes.

The dropship soon arrives at the hangar and slows itself to a calm landing, turning itself about where it faced the bay opening as the hangar doors slid themselves shut and the craft powers down. Through the front viewport they watched the craft's rear troop compartment hatch swing open revealing a massive eight foot armored yellow and brownish figure step out and proceed to walk around the pod.

"A droid? This is a droid ship?" Viseer wondered.

"Never seen a droid like that before" one trooper remarks.

Then they could hear talking from the other side, mostly calm voices. Then something began cutting through their hatch with a plasma torch.

"Get ready men…" the sergeant orders readying his DC-15S blaster on the door.

The clones moved themselves in front of the captain and unarmed crew and trained their weapons as well as the torch slowly encircled the hatch and eventually cut through. A moment later and the hatch was finally removed from its frame by a pair of hands before being dropped onto the hangar door, the clones fired off a quick flurry of bolts through the open hatchway but they did not receive a response for the next moment. In a quick second from an unseen source a grenade is thrown into the pod, clinking against the side paneling before coming to a stop on the floor.

"GRENA-"

A sudden and bright flash accompanied by a deafening crack of thunder filled the pod incapacitating everyone inside who felt blind and deaf, Viseer couldn't see or hear anything but a constant irritating ringing around her but she could feel. She could feel the men around her move in a panicked motion as they too were affected by the blast, then one by one she could no longer feel their presence until a pair of large gloved hands take hold of her and haul her out of the pod where she was then placed on her knees.

She hears a muffled voice, not belonging to her or her men, but she knew it was directed towards her.

The voice asks again this time more clearer "Can you hear me?"

Her sight slowly began to return to her and at first glance she was kneeling before a giant green blur that then kneeled down to her level.

The voice came again "I'm not going to ask you again, can you hear me?"

"Y-yes…" she replied but she could barely hear her own voice.

Her vision soon clears up and she looks up to see a figure donning heavy olive drab armor over a black bodysuit with a golden visor taking the place of his face on his helmet. She looks to her left and right to find her men kneeling as well with their weapons removed, she takes another glance around her and finds the hangar filled with Separatist battle droids and other figures she couldn't recognize.

"Good" the green figure in front of her spoke before he kneels down to her level.

Viseer then attempted to take control of the situation "I demand to know who you are and why you performed an unprovoked attack on my ships!" her voice filled with authority and determination.

"Our names are not important, but the attack was accidental I promise you…"

"Accidental!? You destroyed all three of my cruisers in a hostile act of aggression!"

The giant then sighed "We don't have time for this, I'll explain everything later" he then orders a squad of droids "Secure their weapons and place them in the brig."

The droid squad leader acknowledged "Roger Roger."

As ordered the droids picked up the prisoners and begins escorting them away while a few others secured their weapons to be taken to the armory.

Jorge then spoke "Right then, we should get back on with the briefing."

But Percival revoked that statement "We're now approaching Ryloth's gravitational well, and after some further scanning and triangulation I suggest you report to D-Deck."

James nodded to the recommendation and gestures Ahoska, Jorge, Lux, and Komari to follow meanwhile Bay tagged along unannounced.

They leave the hangar bay and traveled towards the pod bay which was conveniently on the same deck they were on, passing through the hydraulic lift shaft they now enter a long corridor where private quarters covered both sides of the hall.

Lux, having never been down in the particular part of the destroyer, he questions "Who did these quarters belong to?"

Tano answered "They belonged to the Vanguard's detachment of ODSTs before they died off."

"ODST?"

"Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, they were second only to the Spartans."

Disregarding the small talk James goes on with the briefing "What do you have Percival?"

"Scans show Cham's transmission came from an Imperial communications post in the Taluu Province, after some digging into the local security network it appears that Cham's forces performed a raid on that station just so he can send us his message and then abandoned it leaving it to the Empire to reclaim it."

"So that's where we're heading first. What do you have on the station?"

"The station is moderately guarded after Cham's attack, so much so as you will be dealing with at least a full company of troopers. The only thing of concern is a turbolaser emplacement that was installed after the attack, if you were to deploy via dropship you will most certainly be shot down. As for terrain, there is a small ridgeline to the west overlooking a majority of the outpost while the station itself is embedded into a mountainside, so expect heavy close-quarters when you go inside."

"Got it, we'll be dropping to avoid that gun and take the station by shock tactics."

They pass through a heavy set of bulk doors and enter into the drop bay, twelve SOEIV Drop Pods inhabited each side of the bay firmly locked in their launch tubes, out of the twelve only five had their hatches open.

James orders "Ahsoka, there's BDUs in the back lockers, I want you and Lux geared up."

"No problem, c'mon Lux."

As the two went to get dressed, the Spartan glanced at Komari "That means you too Cain."

"I will be quite fine thank you" he retorts in a gentle manner.

"Alright, Jorge will show you your pod."

Jorge lightly places his hand on the Jedi's shoulders prompting him to move towards his designated pod. Meanwhile James begins grabbing weapons and ammunition for everyone, loading the pods with ammunition for the entire team while loading Jorge's chaingun and ammunition pack into a separate pod altogether. It wasn't long after before Ahsoka and Lux returned, Tano dressed lightly with the only form of armor protecting her chest, forearms, and lower legs while Bonteri was fully dressed in black-clad ODST armor. Ahsoka already chose her weapon, a BR55 battle rifle in addition to her magnum and saber but Lux wasn't particularly familiar with UNSC weaponry just yet.

"You have a blaster somewhere?" the senator requests.

"Not in here" the Spartan replies as he grabs an MA37 and hands it to him.

Upon initial inspection of the assault rifle Lux protests "How do you aim with this? There's no sights."

Ahsoka reassures him "The rifle links up with your helmet's HUD, you'll see where it's aiming don't worry."

James then adds "Stay focus, keep your shots short and tight and stay close to me. You'll be fine. You'll be designated Vanguard-5."

Lux watches Tano slap a magazine into her rifle and push the charging bolt forward locking the first round into the chamber. He then follows her example and picks up his respective ammunition before sliding it into his rifle's magazine well and push the bolt forward. He looks up at the togruta to receive a nod of approval before she gestures him to come with her to their pods. Tano shows Lux his pod, the compartments inside were already prepped with ammunition and food rations. Reluctantly he climbs in, storing his rifle in place, and Tano begins strapping him in showing the senator how it's done, but she quickly came to realize that he wasn't watching her hands but was staring right into her blue eyes through his clear visor.

"Ahsoka I.. There's something I've been meaning to sa-"

"Save it Lux, now's not the time."

Bonteri fell silent as she finishes up and leaves to her own pod, he only gave a light sigh and notices James had just watched them but in the end he said nothing and carried on.

Ahsoka reports to her pod, finding ammunition and food as well, but what she wasn't expecting was to find an M41 SPNKR loaded into her pod to the left of her seat. She glances at James who was loading his sniper rifle into his pod along with ammunition before climbing in but she didn't question him, instead she latches her rifle into place and steps aboard to strap herself in.

A droid's voice echoes through the intercom system "Commencing countdown to drop…"

The hatches seal themselves locking the pods' passengers inside as the tubes prep for launch, Lux glances at the two video fed screens in front of him, to his left was James and to his right was Ahsoka, supposedly the two taking charge of the operation.

He hears the Spartan's voice crackle through his helmet "Comms-net link, check. Sound off."

"Ahsoka here…"

"052 reporting in."

"I am here Spartan…" Komari's voice replied.

Then lastly Lux "Uh.. I'm ready…"

Tano's voice questions "You alright Lux?"

"Oh yeah I-I'm perfectly fine… certainly not my first time dropping from high orbit inside a metal pod…" he responded with sarcasm.

"You'll be fine, Percival can help guide you in if it makes you feel better."

"That would be appreciated…"

Percival reports "We're approaching Ryloth's upper atmosphere, ten seconds to drop…"

He could feel vibration beneath him as the tube beneath him opens up to the world below, his heart was already racing out of his chest thinking it was simply madness to deploy like this.

"Bonteri."

The senator snapped out of his moment of paranoia and looks to James who then gave a word of encouragement "Time to act like a real ODST."

A light chiming sound counted down the last three seconds 'boop….boop….boop….BOOP'

Then almost immediately gravity had just left him as he felt the sudden rush of momentum take him by surprise, in his viewport he could see the tube moving before suddenly being ejected from the Vanguard's underbelly with the planet of Ryloth now in plain view beneath him. Looking around him he could see five other pods falling with him, some were in the right angle to allow him to see the passenger inside, notably Ahsoka and Jorge.

"Breaking into the upper atmosphere, standby for re-entry" James reports.

And like that Lux's pod began to shake steadily as it met air resistance and heat began to drastically build up beneath his vehicle. The pods commenced atmospheric re-entry and quickly began to burn up in mid-flight, interior temperature began to steadily climb as the exterior ceramic skin burns away keeping everyone from being cooked alive inside. The shaking soon turns violent as more resistance is being pressed against each individual pod and all the senator could see out his viewport was nothing but an orange blaze engulfing his own pod as it breached further into the atmosphere.

Then as if by cue, the blazes dies away spontaneously and now the planet's surface could be visibly seen through the clouds, all other pods were still accounted for. By automation, the top caps of each pod breaks off allowing a titanium ceramic drag chute to take form and slow the pods' momentum to the surface but they were still falling at an alarming rate.

Jorge's voice crackles through "One klick to AO."

Moments later the pods' breaking thrusters ignites beneath them and thus their speed is drastically reduced as they drew closer to the ground, by this point Lux could see the facility below him and could tell they were going to be landing right in the middle of an open supply pad.

Then James states "Establishing link with Vanguard-5 and 4, adjusting trajectory on my mark…. Three. Two. One. Mark."

With that his pod suddenly jerks away from its previous course and drifts from the base itself just moments before he crashes into the ground on the nearby ridge close to the installation. Automatically the pod hatch blows itself apart from the main body allowing the senator to stumble out with shaking legs and fall onto the ground on his hands and knees. He was breathing heavily and nearly laughed at himself for being utterly terrified during the entire trip, that was until he could hear footsteps approaching and prompts him to find James already leaping into action with his anti-materiel rifle loaded.

The Spartan drops himself onto the ground into the prone position just on the ledge of the ridge and sets his sights up on the base in front of him and the inhabitants inside. Jorge and Ahsoka's pods were right in the middle of the courtyard sparsely littered with cargo containers and other military necessities. Two squads of the base's garrisons had already surrounded themselves around the pods as four clones moved in to inspect the three pods that had suddenly landed in their base.

Bonteri lays himself down next to the sniper whispering "They're surrounded… so much for a brilliant entry plan…"

"On the contrary, we've got them right where we want them" James remarked before he taps into his comms "All units in position. Commence."

By order the pods inside the base blew their hatches open, one hatch slams into a clone's body sending him flat onto the ground either unconscious or dead, and immediately a firefight breaks out between the clones and Ahsoka whereas Jorge made his way to the third pod to retrieve his equipment.

Tano dashed for cover behind several crates as clone troopers closed in on her position pinning her down with blaster fire, James zeros in on one of the clones and pulls the trigger sending a high velocity armor-piercing round right through the man's armor and body like it was virtually nothing. He shifts his aim onto another trooper and sends another round downrange with similar devastating results. No longer pinned down by intense fire, Tano reveals herself bearing her rifle just moments before lining her sights and place three subsequent rounds into the closest trooper still firing upon her. The first target with a brief cry out in pain, but her mind was too focused to mind the man's agonizing wailing as she trains her weapon onto the second target and place three rounds into his chest sending him onto the ground without a sound.

Soon by this time Jorge has managed to retrieve his equipment and joins the fray gunning down a squad of troopers that were unfortunate to be caught in the open.

After a brief examination of the landing zone, Jorge calls out "Clear!"

But moments later a mechanical cranking sound echoed and soon a hum took its place, following the sound to its source, the group looked to find the lone turbolaser battery coming online and turning itself about to face the intruders. This prompts James to quickly stand and start making his descent down the ridge in order to join his teammates, Lux involuntarily follows suit but was quickly stopped when a hand grabbed his shoulder and held him there. He looks over his shoulder to find Cain holding him with one hand but reaching out with the Force with his other. The senator looks forward again to see the gun battery holding still despite not being on target, whatever Komari was doing he was holding the gun in place buying the others time to destroy it.

"Vanguard-2! The rocket!" Longarm called out as he sprinted onto the base perimeter.

Ahsoka glanced towards her pod, the M41 SPNKR still firmly locked in place, and without hesitation she charges right for it however a blue bolt of energy streaks out and nearly grazes her forcing her to look towards the origin of the shot and find more troopers coming out from a single entrance that led into the base interior.

"I got 'em!" Jorge states as he turns himself around and begin pinning them down under ballistic fire.

Tano resumes making her way towards her pod until she finally reached it and retrieves the launcher before taking several steps back to acquire a line of sight on the gun turret. Falling to a knee she lifts the weapon over her shoulder and takes aim, a small voice in her head told her to look back and check for anyone that might get caught in the back blast but she was clear, and pulls the trigger sending the first 102mm rocket-propelled shaped-charge missile screaming towards the battery until it impacted and let out a violently powerful blast shredding away the external durasteel armor and other components. Just for good measure she launches another missile and fully destroys the gun leaving it nothing more than a smoldering hulk of twisted burning metal. With the gun now out of commission she turns her attention over to the clones under heavy fire, she briefly hears footsteps behind her and turns to find James giving her a respectful nod as he holsters his rifle in exchange for his M6G magnum.

The clone reinforcements were cut down by a third under heavy machine gun fire coming from 052 and thus the CO calls for an immediate retreat back into the outpost "Troopers! Back inside NOW!"

As ordered the troopers fell back into the base, losing two more of their own, and sealed the entrance shut behind them denying the attackers access into the interior.

With a motion of his hand, 121 points towards the door control terminal "Vanguard-2 you're up, get us inside."

Tano obliges and moves herself over before setting down her rifle and begin working her way through the security systems via the Force while Jorge stacked up on the door ready for entry. Bonteri eventually catches up with the others and stood next to James watching Ahsoka go to work.

James then taps onto his comms "Vanguard-6, you got a good overview of the area?"

Komari responds in his usual mellow calm "Yes, I'll inform you of any reinforcements."

"That's all I need, we'll wrap this up quick."

Tano's voice then spoke out "Got it!"

Everyone could hear the maglocks unlatch themselves from within the entry door, prompting Jorge to prep himself.

"Alright everyone, stack up" Jorge requests.

121 positions himself on the other side of the door from Jorge, James motions Bonteri to fall in behind 052 and Tano placed herself behind James.

"On your go Vanguard-2…" James states.

Without a second thought and in a single motion of the Force, Ahsoka swings the door open cuing the Spartan sharpshooter to produce a grenade from one of his pouches, prime it, and then toss the explosive inside.

Almost immediately they could hear the men inside cry out "Grenade!" before the following explosion engulfed them and drowned out their voices.

One by one the team proceeds to move in, with Jorge taking the lead, then Ahsoka, Bonteri follows her in, and James taking up the rear. Passing through the wreckage and smoke the grenade left behind, 052 immediately comes under fire from clone resistance, several bolts fly past harmlessly but some found their mark smacking against the Spartan's shields as he engages with his machine gun mowing down those who were caught in the open and keeping the ones who were smart pinned down. The team were making their way down through a single corridor with only two intersections ahead of them before a lift at the far end of the hall, and there was about two or three squads of clone troops still willing to defend the base at any cost.

Using her companion as mobile cover, Ahsoka manages to take aim with her rifle and send round after round downrange increasing the amount of fire the troopers were taking. Despite their advance, Jorge's defenses were beginning to wear down under blaster fire and he begins to slow down.

Realizing the need to wipe out the rest of resistance before 052 succumbs to enemy fire, Ahsoka calls for 121 "James! You're with me!"

James made no question and moves up passing Bonteri till he was next to her, Tano then slaps the rifle onto her back and produces her lightsaber hilts from her waist belt.

"On three?" she asks as the Spartan pulls the charging bolt on his sniper rifle.

He answers "On three…"

"One…" she starts.

Jorge readies himself, already knowing what was about to happen next.

James adds "Two."

She finishes "Three."

052 skips out of the way into an adjacent hallway along with the Senator, Ahsoka ignites her sabers and begins deflecting rounds back at her targets while James takes aim and release fierce and heavy rounds upon the troopers with each high-velocity bullet shredding through their plastoid armor and bodies.

"It's a Jedi!" one of the troopers barked out in shock.

"Ready!?" Tano calls to her partner.

"Ready!" he replies.

The two then broke into a charge towards the staggering clone defenses, Ahsoka continues to effortlessly block incoming bolts while James holsters his rifle in exchange of his magnum.

"Here they come! Here they come!" another clone blurts out with a sense of fear swelling up behind his voice.

"Get ready!" a clone sergeant commands.

In moments the two were on top of them, Ahsoka slips right into their defensive lines and immediately begins slicing and carving out the troopers' weapons leaving them defenseless while James smashed through them with a mixture of quick-pace gunfire and heavy handed blows rendering the unarmed troopers either too injured to remain able or dead. In a manner of a few moments all remaining resistance was eliminated.

"Clear!" Ahsoka reports to the rest of the team, prompting Lux and Jorge to emerge from their cover and move up to meet them.

James already made his way towards the lift controls and started working into the system that has been locked down due to their intrusion, the others recover what little energy they can and waited for the Spartan to break through.

"That was a little easier than I hoped" Lux stated rather proudly as he reattaches his SMG to his rucksack in favor of a dropped DC-15S blaster near a dead clone who had suffered a gunshot wound to the upper chest and neck.

"Don't jinx it…" Jorge retorts.

Ahsoka came behind James for a quick glance at his progress working through the panel controls then came back to the others "Alright, when James gets through Lux, him, and I are going to take the control center" she then turns to Jorge "Jorge will stay down here and keep an eye out for possible enemy reinforcements."

"Sounds good ma'am" 052 obliged as he steps away to set up his position in the hall.

James' voice calls out "Got it."

Lux and Ahsoka turned to see the door hatch slide open and reveal the lift ready for use, tossing the panel aside James glances at the two and gestures to the lift "Let's get going."

The three stepped onto the lift one after the other and with a press of a switch the lift began to ascend to the command center.

The lift neared its destination prompting the three to ready up for breaching, Lux checked his blaster one last time, Tano got into position with her sabers, and James ensured his magnum was loaded. The lift soon grinded to a halt at a set of heavy blast resistant doors that began to unlock itself.

"Watch your corners.." 121 announced.

The blast doors gradually slid open allowing the three to look into the command center, the rectangular windowless room was littered with consoles and communications equipment across the walls and only a holotable and a glass tactical board inhabiting the center. The only souls remaining inside was the outpost commander, identified by his greyish officer uniform, and three troopers who had their weapons trained on the door.

Without thought one clone fires his weapon sending a bolt of plasma whistling into James' energy shielding, though the Spartan retaliates with two rapid gunshots with both rounds slamming into the clone's chest causing him to stagger and fall without much of a sound. The other two clones began to open fire but one was quickly put down from an energized shot fired by Bonteri before he bolts into the room and duck for cover behind the glass board. The final clone was effortlessly neutralized with a single gunshot to the head fired from James' magnum. The officer had drawn his pistol but he too was killed when Bonteri emerged from behind cover and placed a bolt into the imperial's chest, the man only gave a gruff sigh as he tried to breathe through his scorched lungs trying his best to stay upright but ultimately failed in the end collapsing onto the floor lifeless.

"Clear.." the Spartan reports.

Ahsoka walked into the room glancing at the bodies lying on the floor, men she once fought alongside killed without a moment's hesitation by her new allies. Despite the betrayal of the clones she still felt a gut wrenching feeling that made it feel wrong like she was the traitor, it then brought her back to the men she had killed too.

"Ahsoka.." a voice called to her snapping her out of thoughts.

She looks up to see James staring at her "Stay focus, don't let it get to you."

Hesitantly she nods "Right…" then turns to Bonteri "Lux give us your case.."

The senator takes off his backpack setting it on the floor and opening it revealing several charges of C-12 high-yield explosives, James steps over taking two charges from the pack and places the two on the floor next to one another. Lux couldn't help but look at the charges, nothing but small cubes four inches in all dimensions.

He had to question "What're those?"

"C-12 charges, this is enough to level this entire base" the Spartan replied.

"I didn't think we were going to destroy this place.."

"There's a good chance Cham is still in the area conducting local operations until our arrival, we'll use the station to contact him and once he arrives we'll destroy the base. No sense in leaving it just for it to be taken over by the Empire again for their use."

"I'll go ahead and get word out over the comms" Tano remarked as she started making her way towards a console.

Without warning Jorge's voice crackled through everyone's comms "I got multiple contacts outside.. can't confirm who.."

The three glanced at each other, James had to ask "Where's Komari?"

"I don't know, he's not answering on any frequency."

The Spartan only sighed briefly before he finishes wiring the C-12 for detonation, afterwards he stands stating "Alright hang tight, we're on our way down."

"Will do.."

"Let's go everyone."

Without hesitation the three returned to the lift and begun their way back down.

During their brief descent Ahsoka notes "You'd think Komari would've warned us.."

"Unless he was captured…" Lux adds.

"We'll know when we get out there" James remarked as the lift came to a halt at ground floor.

The hatch opens revealing S-052 still at his post with his weapon trained on the entrance.

The group formed up with Jorge stating "They hadn't bother trying to force their way in.."

Tano suggests "They're waiting to ambush us then."

James readies his magnum ordering "Alright Vanguard; form up on me.."

The four start to make their way towards the entrance, weapons raised and fingers on their triggers, they were ready to fight the second they stepped out of the base. Not wanting lower their guard for a moment, the four exited the base with weapons trained on now multiple figures who in response trained their weapons on the four. At first glance they were surrounded by fifteen unarmored personnel all featuring different colored skins and what looked like two long tails hanging from the back of their heads. Some were aiming their blasters from atop bipedal walking creatures used as mounts. It was then quickly revealed that Cain Komari was among the group, his arms were firmly crossed as he stood silently amongst the rebels.

One of the figures raised a hand relaying the order to the others to lower their weapons which they complied, then the figure looked to the four and asked "You're Vanguard I'm assuming?"

S-121 looked to the man, much like the others in appearance but had orange skin and eyes, and replied "Who's asking?"

The man grinned "Cham Syndulla, I was afraid you would never arrive."

James finally lowered his magnum and holsters it, prompting the others to stand down as well "We had to make some detours, I don't think you want the entire Imperial Navy following us.."

"That is appreciated… I also take it the base is cleared?"

"No one but us.."

"Good, then there will be no one to track us as we make way for home. We've already loaded your extra provisions and equipment with us, we need to leave before reinforcements arrive."

The Spartan gestures with his hand motioning Syndulla to lead the way "Let's not waste time then.."

The rebels mounted their creatures and begun to march out of the base perimeter with several fighters and the Vanguard Crew keeping up on foot. Eventually the group started to head west towards several rocky mountains beyond a large ridgeline.

As they reached the ridgeline some time later, James catches up to Cham and presents him with a small detonator, Syndulla grew a small smile as he courteously takes the device and press the trigger. The resulting roar of an explosion caused most of the group to turn back to find the imperial communications outpost erupt into a violent dust cloud nearly engulfing half of the mountain it resided inside of.

Cham's smile only grew wider, his people cheer for him as they witness the destruction of the base "This is our declaration of war to the Empire! For a free Ryloth!"

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