[b][i]Twenty minutes prior:[/i][/b] "Sir. We have intercepted secure Republic transmissions, sir! Republic forces are moving in to secure Skywalker's wreck." A B1 Droid chimed as he approached the Blackguard commander. "How much time do we have?" The Blackguard commander asked. "Around thirty minutes sir." The droid responded. "Any tanks have a shot on the wreck?" The Commander responded. "Negative sir." The B1 responded. "Every tank near the front is either destroyed or.." He continued. "Never mind." The Blackguard commander spoke as he grabbed ahold of the droid with the force and lifted him into the air. "If a tank advancing get's a shot, have him take it." He spoke in a cold tone. "If any of our ships above has a shot, have them take it." He said as he lowered the distraut B1 back down to the ground. The Blackguard commander quickly turned away from his command console, walked down a flight of stairs, and stopped when he stood amongst a group of Blackguard and Dark Jedi alike. "Ehissra, Torith" The Blackgaurd commander spoke as he pointed out the two Blackguard standing nearby. "Take as many Dark Jedi and commando droids as you need." Pausing as he pointed towards the frontlines of combat. "We have no shot on Skywalkers shuttle, get in there and kill the chosen one by any means nessecary." "As good as dead." Ehissra spoke in a harsh, quick voice. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The two Blackguard, five Dark Jedi as well as twenty Commando Droids silently crept through massive lines of battle droids. The B1's moved forward in an approach march, with B2 battle droids scatetred about in enough numbers to be considered a threat. They would hide behind a droid here, take cover near the wreck of a tank there, all the while the Blackguard and their presence hidden from the Jedi near the crashed Gunship. After twenty minutes they had made their way to within one hundred meters of the downed ship, and as they took cover behind a well placed tank carcass, they decided to plan their attack. "Torith." Ehissra spoke. "Take three of the Dark Jedi and all the commando droids over the top and engage the Jedi. Myself and the rest will follow in shortly behind and engage Skywalker." Her voice muffled slightly by her helmet. Torith grabbed his shield off his back, and with a press of a button, activated the energy field on the front. While this technology had long since been phased out in favor of using a saber to deflect projectiles, for those not as skilled in the force as others it made a world of difference if you could find a working unit. "Don't worry ma'am." He said as he activated his light spear, with only a few foot long blade but a long shaft made out of lightsaber resistant material. "Those Jedi are as good as dead. You two, stay close behind me." Torith dashed from cover in full view of everyone around the area. His tough, dark colored, Blackguard armor standing in stark contrast with the lightly armored Dark Jedi following him from behind. Numerous blaster bolts came flying in, but they caused no damage to his shield. The few that made it past were quickly deflected away by the luck of the Dark Jedi. Soon they reached the downed gunship but did not stop running. With loud, echoing footsteps, they ascended the ruined wings of the downed gunship before leaping into the air above their positions. Torith summoned the force as he slammed down into the ground, sending a few clones flying and causing the Jedi to brace their weapons. A clone trooper readied his weapon to fire but his chest was soon filled with the smouldering crater of a blaster strike as the commando droids were now ontop of the gunship, firing down. "Come, Master Jedi." Torith spoke as he blocked a few blaster shots with his shield while managing to deflect one more with his saber. -------------------------------------------------------- [color=lightgray]"Power generator's live!"[/color] A clone trooper shouted, kneeling next to a small box of power behind the rear of the gunship inside of the shallow pit formed by the crash, which was connected to their E-WeB set up right next to the nose of the craft. The clone manning the turret nodded as he adjusted the aim of the gun towards the droid lines. [color=lightgray]"General, gun's ready! Get clear!"[/color] He shouted at te Jedi standing directly in front of them. Bikarim jumped out of the way and the heavy blaster immediately started firing rapidly. [color=lightgray]"Eat hot plasma you clankers!"[/color] The gunner shouted as he mowed down a line of B2 Super Battledroids slowly advancing. After the row went down, two lines of B1's behind them immediately replaced them and started firing at the gunship position. The gunner continued holding down the trigger to cut down the replacement droids until the clone tending to the power box shouted at him. "Cool off! We're starting to reach the heat limit!" He announced. And when he did, the Jedi jumped back in front of the gun to defend it. Spotter on the other hand, maintained his position on the fallen ball turret just in front of the ship's nose, and shot blaster rounds at the droids to support the General, while Signal and two other clones shot from behind the ship's nose. They all held their DC's left handed so they could make full use of the current cover they had. Mech had climbed up on top of the gunship and was picking off targets with his sniper, while hiding behind the vertical wing for cover, next to one of the 501st Marksmen carrying a DC-15A. The rear end of the ship was being defended by Jovardo, Cockpit, and four other clone troopers along with Commander Appo, but without the support of the heavy turret. [color=a187be]"Sig, go get to the other side and give them a hand once our turret's ready to fire again. They could use the firepower."[/color] Spotter ordered. [color=0054a6]"Yes sir!"[/color] Signal replied as he poked out of cover to fire a quick burst of rounds. [color=lightgray]"We're live!"[/color] The gunner announced. As Bikarim jumped out of the way again and the turret cut down the droid lines. Signal ran off to support the other end of the gunship. The group had only held out for two minutes, but it felt like an hour with the constant enemy assault. Spotter was glad that allies were denying enemy reinforcements if the hostiles already here were giving them this much trouble. Another line of B1's were knocked down as the gunner stopped firing. [color=lightgray]"Sir! The enemy is pushing forward! They're moving faster than we can take them down. We'll have to start using explosives once they're halfway here!"[/color] The gunner reported. Spotter looked at the advancing line as he fired a couple more bursts. [color=a187be][i]"They're committing a lot of droids to this advance. They wouldn't use this many resources.... unless they've got an Ace up their sleeve."[/i][/color] Spotter thought. He then turned to Bikarim. [color=a187be]"General! They're going to hit us with more than just these droids!"[/color] Spotter said. [color=f26522]"What do you mean?"[/color] Bikarim asked in between blaster deflections. [color=a187be]"I don't know, sir. But they wouldn't have all of their forces advance at this slow of a pace if they didn't think they had something that can take us down. If they attack head-on with only what they have now, they'll be wiped out. They have to be preparing something!"[/color] Spotter answered. Bikarim brought up his communicator and spoke [color=f26522]"Everyone! Stay alert! Our enemy's planning some kind of attack before this droid advance is over!"[/color] He said loudly. The gunner resumed firing as the droids crept ever closer to their position. Then it happened. [color=lightgray]"Multiple droids and Saber contacts incoming!"[/color] The 501st marksman on top of the gunship shouted. Spotter turned to look and saw two Dark Jedi and around 20 BX-Commando droids running at full speed towards their position, being led by what appeared to be another Dark Jedi at first glance, but was carrying a heavier set of armor, and wielded a strange light spear of some sort along with a shield that seemed to have deflector systems. They appeared to have come from behind a wrecked AAT near the advancing droid line before they came into view. Spotter immediately focused fire upon them while a few clones on the other side did the same. The heavy gunner changed priorities and started firing at any of them he could get an angle on. Though most of the shots were deflected by the one in front with his shield while the Dark Jedi covered the flanks. The Saber and Spear wielders began to increase their speed as they climbed up the ruined wing of the ship. [color=f26522]"They're getting close, brace yourselves!"[/color] Bikarim shouted. In the midst of this, Spotter saw an opening and returned his attention to the Commando droids still making a run for the gunship, lagging behind the Saber-wielders, but getting dangerously close. [color=a187be]"Signal! Fry these commando droids with EMP! Cockpit, Mech, prepare Detonators!" [/color]Spotter ordered. Signal threw an Electrostatic grenade at the rushing group of commando droids, catching 5 in the front of the group, causing their bodies to temporarily malfunction as they sparked and twitched while exclaiming gibberish. [color=a187be]"THROW THEM NOW!"[/color] Spotter ordered as he clicked the trigger of his own explosive and threw it at the twitching droids. Mech and Cockpit did the same as three powerful explosions rocked the ground, eliminating around 7 of the commando droids at the same time that the Spear-wielder force jumped onto the ground, followed by the Dark Jedi as they sent some of troopers from Tide, Alpha, and the 501st to go flying, even out of the pit. A clone of the 501st immediately reacted and prepared to fire, but was cut down as a few of the remaining 13 commando droids jumped onto the gunship with incredible finesse and began firing at the clones with their [url=http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/E5_carbine]E-5 Carbines[/url], killing one of the troops of Tide squad and another soldier of the 501st who was already returning fire. [color=lightgray][b]"Take out those droids!"[/b][/color] Appo shouted, as he blasted his DC carbine at the Commando droids while backing away from the gunship to avoid their fire. The rest of the clones followed suit as the Jedi generals jumped into the pit to fight their new enemies. [color=c4df9b]"Kappa squad, 501st, keep the commando droids off of us. Alpha, Tide, hold back the droid infantry line. We'll deal with these!"[/color] Jovardo said as he jumped in the air to strike downwards in an Ataru manuever, causing him to lock blades with Torith the spear wielder. [color=lightgray]"Yes, sir!"[/color] The clones replied quickly as the heavy gunner and the plain white clones kept shooting at the advancing B1's, while the 501st exchanged blaster bolts with the commando droids with both teams in open view. Bikarim meanwhile opened up his communicator. [color=f26522]"We're going to need a double-time on that extraction. We're facing heavy opposition!"[/color] He said as he faced the Dark Jedi and assumed a Soresu stance by putting his open left hand forward to them with his right holding the saber just above his head and pointed at them Spotter glanced up towards the commando droids on the gunship. [color=a187be]"Mech, they see you! Watch out!"[/color] He said quickly into his comms. Mech and the Marksman on top engaged the droids. The Marksman rapidly fired his DC at the ones to the left while Mech quickly attacked the one close to him on the right side, driving his wrist-mounted vibroblade through the droid's left shoulder as he brought up his DC-17 in Sniper mode to jam it up the droid's neck and pulled the trigger, sending a sniper round piercing through its head. He then dropped the rifle as he pulled out his sidearm blaster and began firing at the commando droids on the right while using the corpse stuck to his blade as a shield. [color=a187be]"Kappas, take them out as they climb onto the gunship!"[/color] Spotter ordered as he started shooting the ones on top of the gunship while maintaining his cover from the B1 lines behind the ball turret, gunning down one of the commando droids at the left edge of the ship by unloading the last few rounds of his magazine. As he reloaded, he saw the heavy gunner get shot out of the corner of his vision, causing the box operator to pull them away and take control of the turret. The Marksman had taken down two of the commando droids that mounted the gunship, but more replaced them and the blue 501st soldier was shot through the chest. He raised his DC-15A up to fire a couple more shots while knocked down, finishing off a 3rd droid in front of him, but a 4th commando droid behind it quickly finished the job by blasting the downed trooper in the head. It then gave its attention to Mech who had already killed 1 of the commando droids and had just blasted a 2nd through the head (while a 3rd one behind it was taken down by Signal and Cockpit's fire). Mech noticed that his shield meter went down and realized he was being shot from behind. He holstered his sidearm, and kicked his DC-17 off the gunship while arming a Thermal Detonator which he attached to the dead BX droid he held, and threw it at the shooter, making them stumble as Mech jumped off to retrieve his gun, just as the Detonator exploded, causing some debris to fly off the gunship and killing one of the commando droids while another one jumped off, landing next to the fallen ball turret, and immediately gunning down the clone hiding behind the nose before anyone could could react, and the droid immediately snapped its head around to face Spotter. Spotter quickly fired a burst of rounds aimed at the droid's head as he tackled it and sent both of them falling into the pit, next to the E-WeB which was still being fired in bursts. He quickly stabbed the droid's neck with his vibroblade to make extra sure it stayed down. Not too far from them, the Jedi were locked in combat with their saber-wielding opponents. Jovardo parried a stab from the spearman, sparking the tip of the light-spear and sending it upwards before slashing horizontally to graze them with the tip of the sword, only for Torith to block with his shield before spinning around to horizontally slice Jovardo. An attack which the Jedi Master evaded by somersaulting backwards and steadied his stance before force-leaping forward again and aggressively assaulting Torith by first slashing at the side he held his spear. Torith blocked it by turning towards that side and moving his shield there to parry, then followed by Jovardo cartwheeling to the other side to attempt another quick slash. But Torith was quick on the draw and spun around again to deflect Jovardo's blue lightsaber using his spear's long hilt. Jovardo was constantly keeping Torith on the defense with his flurry of fast and acrobatic attacks, yet only making contact with the spear and shield due to Torith’s reflexes. Nearby, Bikarim stood before the two Dark Jedi who stood to his front left and front right, a hooded Togrutan and a human respectively, both male. They performed quick and simple yet forceful attacks by hacking away at him diagonally and horizontally. All of which Bikarim skillfully blocked and parried, his green lightsaber constantly clashing and sparking against their red ones with every attack they attempted, making only slight changes to his footing as he alternated blocking between both sides. [color=f26522]"You fight like padawans! What a waste of talent…”[/color] Bikarim taunted. This evoked an angry exclamation from the one to his right, who began attacking with greater speed and started becoming out of sync with his partner. The partner then tried to increase their pace with them. A fatal mistake on their part as it only made it easier for Bikarim to clash with their sabers defensively. Their sudden desynchronized offensive also left them with little defenses, an opening that a Soresu practitioner like Bikarim easily noticed. When the human made for a powerful overhead slash and the Togrutan prepared an attack as well, Bikarim performed a move similar to the "Reflecting Slash". He quickly grazed the human's stomach horizontally, melting the light armor he wore, and at the same time used his swing momentum for a force-assisted block against the Togrutan, sending both sparks and their blade flying upwards before following up with a fast diagonal slash in the opposite direction right across their chest. Both Dark Jedi lay dead at his feet. [color=f26522]“Such a shame… You could’ve learned so much…”[/color] Bikarim muttered before turning his attention to Torith, attacking them from behind as Jovardo assaulted the front, forcing the spear wielder to defend against two sides. Meanwhile, the last 4 remaining commando droids (one of which was the Captain) mounted the charred and smoking top of the gunship as they fired from high ground, focusing on the clones in the pit. Spotter and Mech fired blasters at the Commando droids on the gunship. Signal and Cockpit were firing from behind the aft of the gunship. The Commando Droid Captain turned to the 3 commando droids. "Spread out and occupy the clones. Keep them from stopping our droids' advance." It said in a deep monotone as it holstered its blaster and jumped down while drawing its vibrosword in mid-air to slash at Spotter, who jumped out of the way. The 3 remaining droids followed afterwards and began engaging what was left of troopers. One of the commando droids unloaded at the heavy gunner, causing them to cry in pain and fall over as they were shot in the leg and arm, before the droid was shot in the head with a burst of fire from Mech. The 501st Medic got up from his crouched firing position near Anakin and pulled the wounded gunner next to Skywalker against the gunship. Another droid then began to harass the remaining 501st troopers, shooting one of them before being blasted apart in the crossfire. The last droid jumped down to try and shoot Signal at close range. Signal on the other hand, took the hits with his shield as he punched the carbine out of the droid's hands before kicking them down unloading his ammo clip into the droid's chest and head. He then gave a thumbs up gesture to Cockpit who nodded in response and then both turned to fire at the B1 droids that continued to close the distance. They were a little over 20 meters out now. [color=a187be]"Squad! Focus on keeping the droids away from our position!"[/color] Spotter ordered as he sidestepped a vertical slash from the Captain. He aimed with his DC, but the droid swatted it out of his hands with a quick attack, causing Spotter to back away and pull out his sidearm. He fired a shot which the Captain dodged by ducking down and tried to slash upwards from their crouched position. Spotter sidestepped to the left and shot again, hitting the Captain in the back and making them horizontally slash at them. When Spotter dodged backwards again, the Captain drew their blaster carbine with one hand and pointed it at Spotter. But the gun was swiftly shot out of the droid's hand with a blue blaster bolt from the side. Spotter took advantage of the opportunity and rapidly fired into the Captain's face, ending them for good. He turned to look at where the shot came from and saw the wounded gunner leaning against the gunship, was holding up their blaster pistol with their left hand. They lowered it as he nodded at Spotter. [color=a187be]"Thanks, trooper."[/color] Spotter said as he retrieved his DC and prepared to assist Jovardo and Bikarim. [color=fff79a]"We got more sabers incoming!"[/color] Cockpit suddenly shouted. And before anyone could react, Ehissra along with 3 Dark Jedi leapt over the gunship wreckage. A Dark Jedi drove their lightsaber into a 501st trooper as they landed. Another one landed and immediately deflected a shot from another clone right back at them, killing the soldier. Ehissra and the third Dark Jedi engaged Jovardo and Bikarim, sandwiching them in the middle as Torith pulled away from Bikarim and helped the Dark Jedi focus down on Jovardo. Spotter retreated near the nose side of the gunship where Mech was firing upon the droids from behind. [color=a187be]"Change priorities! Focus on the sabers."[/color] Spotter ordered as the commandos turned around and started blasting at the Dark Jedi that were cutting down the clones. [color=a187be]"Advisor, where's our evac?!"[/color] Spotter asked frantically through the comms. [color=lightgray]"A few more minutes Kappa Squad! They're almost there."[/color] The advisor quickly answered. Spotter began doubting whether they would last that long. [color=lightgray]"Regroup at the ship, catch the sabers in a V-shaped crossfire!"[/color] Appo ordered as he shot at them. The 501st soldiers fell back while firing at them, but 4 more were cut down before they managed to get into formation at the ship. When they finally arrived, Spotter, Mech, the 501st medic, the wounded gunner (from Alpha), and one 501st trooper were firing from near the nose of the ship. Meanwhile, Signal, Cockpit, Appo, and two other clones troopers (one from the 501st and one from Tide) were firing from the aft. Jovardo was a blur of movement as he struck spinning blow after spinning blow against Torith, his saber humming loudly through the air. However, his latest jumping attack through the air was cut short by the Dark Jedi assisting Torith, attempting to hit Jovardo with an upward slash. The Rodian moved slightly to the right and force-landed on the ground as he adopted a more defensive stance as the Dark Jedi began a flurry of diagonal slashes with their glowing red saber that Jovardo had to rapidly block. Bikarim nearby had a frontal guard stance ready, holding his lightsaber diagonally in front of his body, as Ehissra stood before him, pointing her red lightsaber towards her opponent with one hand in what resembled a fencing stance. [b]"Fighting me will be the last mistake you make, Master Jedi."[/b] She said coldly. [color=f26522]"If it means doing my duty, then it wont be such an undesirable death."[/color] Bikarim responded, just before their blades hummed through the air and clashed into one another. Ehissra quickly pulled back her blade and lowered it to her chest before attempting to stab Bikarim, which the Jedi parried. But Ehissra expected that and attempted to use the momentum of the deflection to bring her blade back around to Bikarim's face. An attack that the Jedi master blocked as well before he attempted to follow up with a quick slash at the side of Ehissra that was not holding the saber. She however, reacted swiftly and adjusted her stance so that her shoulder would be facing opponent as she brought up her saber to block the attack by holding her blade vertically in front of her. Meanwhile, Jovardo jumped over a low sweeping attach by the Dark Jedi before attacking with a diagonal slash at the assailant and spinning 180 degrees to parry an attack from Torith. He then spun around again as he intercepted the Dark Jedi's attacks with his own swings coming from the opposite direction, and intending to harm them if they could simply make contact. He sensed Torith attempting another attack. He turned around to quickly intercept, but found himself bashed by the shield, sending him stumbling backwards. He felt a searing pain as the Dark Jedi diagonally cut his back. Jovardo cried in pain as he fell to his knees. Just before Torith finished him by running his spear through the Jedi's chest and their lightsaber clicked off. "Finish off the other Jedi!" Torith ordered the hooded Dark Jedi who assisted him. Torith then proceeded to turn towards Anakin Skywalker as Ehissra and a Dark Jedi forced Bikarim to constantly defend, while the 2 other Dark Jedi protected them from blaster fire. Torith ran towards the unconscious Jedi Master. Appo and Spotter took notice of this as they tried to converge on Anakin to defend him from Torith. Appo had just arrived by his side and was about to fire at the spearman as they prepared to run their weapon through Skywalker. Suddenly, the Blackguard was cut short by a blue lightsaber activating and slicing them across their lower chest. As they collapsed to the ground with their light spear shutting off, Anakin got up from a crouched position with his lightsaber drawn. [b]"This is a mess. What did I wake up to, Appo?"[/b]