Obi-Wan Kenobi POV
As the gunship flew towards the Banking Clan's main tower, I sat down against the ship's blast shield and sighed, I turned to the recently woken Arc Trooper Captain and asked "Are you alright?" Fordo held his hand to the side of his helmet, as if regaining his senses before he responded "Yes sir, I'm fine."
I nodded. saying "Good." Before falling silent. The fight was Y/N hadn't gone as I'd intended. I hadn't expected him to improve as much as he had. I wasn't out of the fight when the gunship arrived, I did have a trick up my sleeve, but I don't know how much longer a duel between us would have gone.
My thought process was cut off when the pilot's voice was heard informing us. "We're coming up on the tower now." I slowly got to my feet, turning to Fordo yet again and asking "Are you sure you're fit for this operation?"
The captain nodded before replying "Definitely." I stated "Right." Before turning to the other troopers in the gunship and saying "Let's do this. Remember, our target is the Banking Clan's chairman San Hill. We can expect him to be protected so be on your guard."
I'll admit, I was curious to see what else Hill had up his sleeve, between Y/N and that Bounty Hunter, he wasn't exactly pulling punches. All the troopers responded to be orders in unison as they exclaimed "Sir yes sir!"
At this point, the blast doors all opened up revealing the top of the large tower beneath us. Two more gunships joined us as I stared down at the ceiling of the building. After a moments pause, I gave the order. "Deploy ziplines!"
Each Clone did exactly as instructed and sent out lines that attached to the edges of the ceiling. One by one they slid down until each one had landed. From there they each began placing timed charges.
I leapt from the gunship and landed behind them. Fordo turned to me and told me "We're all set General." I stepped forward, placing my hand on his shoulder as I responded "Very well, let's end this battle Captain."
Within a few minutes each one exploded granting us a giant entry point looking directly into a large room. The troopers all opened fire, raining down blue blaster bolts onto the droids who barely had time to form a counter attack.
The troopers descended into the room and continued to blast the droids. They had no trouble dealing with the standard battle droids however things became slightly more complicated when I noticed several of those Droidekas roll into the room and open fire.
That was when I jumped in, igniting my saber once again, I dived down, dropping into the large room. Fortunately, they hadn't activated their shields yet so I managed to cut one, turning I did the same to a second, before pushing it back into a third.
A fourth fired at me however I swiftly blocked the rounds before hurling my saber towards it. The blue blade shot out and impaled the droid through its centre. I used the Force to pull it back to me causing the droid to explode. Just as I caught my saber, I heard Fordo addressing me "General."
Turning, I saw him stood with his hand placed firmly on the shoulder of San Hill. The Muun raised his hands in a cowardly, pleading gesture as he begged "Mercy, I beg you. I am merely a Banker."
This guy was the asset Y/N was protecting? It made sense, the Banking Clan likely supplied his Shipwright's Guild with the credits used to build their ships. And if I'm not mistaken, the Shipwright's Guild built the Banking Clan's own ships in return.
I couldn't help but smirk as I responded to Hill's plea. "That is entirely up to you. And your unconditional surrender." It was at this point I heard something, a whirring noise like that of a jetpack. Turning to its source, I ignited my lightsaber again just as a figure burst through.
Too my surprise, it was the Bounty Hunter from earlier! I thought I'd chopped him up, severing his torso and an arm! Yet here he was with no damage whatsoever!
Fordo and the Clones all opened fire on the Bounty Hunter, his jetpack short-circuited and exploded causing him to drop to the ground. The Clones continued firing on him though, causing smoke and dust to fly into the air. One Clone stepped forward firing a rocket that hit him point-blank causing another explosion!
As the smoke covered the body, I kept on my guard. Even as Fordo stated "Control room secure General." I replied "One can never be too sure. Captain." As the Troopers stepped closer, I was proven right when a giant grotesque limb shot out of the smoke and began striking at them, knocking several of the Troopers out!
The smoke cleared to reveal the Bounty Hunter still very much alive. Not unharmed mind-you. While his helmet and chunks of his armour remained intact, the majority of his body had become an amorphous mass of twitching and straining nerves, trying to reform.
Image of Durge regenerating:
I'll admit, I was caught off guard as the Bounty Hunter's twitching body emerged from the crater. It lanced one of its arms towards me, taking the form of a mass of tendrils. I side-stepped the blow though and cut right through it.
I leapt back onto the table with the Bounty Hunter close behind, it leapt after me and began flailing at me with its arms. I dodged a few attacks before dashing to the side as its fists collided with the holo-table, destroying it.
They slowly began to approach once more when several grapple lines were shot into its body! More troopers dropped from above, shooting rapidly as they descended. This didn't do any good though, the Bounty Hunter pulled its body together, causing the lines to snap, the clones all fell in the process.
What happened next wasn't what I expected in the slightest.
His attention turned back to me and it rushed forward. Before I could escape, it lunged forward and wrapped its body around me. I found myself being consumed under the mass of pulsing nerves. I even dropped my saber in the process! That ruled out that option of escape. But there was another.
His body was uneven, I even felt an electrical pulse run through it as Fordo attempted to stun him. This left me with an opportunity. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and extended my hands out either side of me. The Force was channelled outwards.
It was against the Jedi Code to kill. But what choice did I have? I didn't know how durable this creature was. I continued to channel the Force, the fleshy walls around me began pushing outwards further and further until finally, the pressure became too much and the Bounty Hunter's body burst completely!
I just stood for a moment, catching my breath as Fordo approached "General, are you alright?" He asked. I replied "I'm fine." I looked around at my surroundings, purple goo was littering the place. I joked "Seems I've made quite the mess now, haven't I?"
With that Bounty Hunter out of the way, I turned my attention back to the snivelling coward that was San Hill. Approaching I stood and stared down at him as I rhetorically asked. "Now, where were we?"
As he looked up at me, I smirked and finished "Ah yes, I believe you were surrendering." That caused Hill to just face-plant the ground in defeat. Giving me the answer I was after. Or one of them. Next I asked "Tell me though, why was Y/N L/N here? Where will he go now?"
Hill replied "We have a deal between us. I don't know where he'll go, possibly to another Banking Clan branch to ensure they don't cease that deal!" It wasn't a good reply, but it was clearly the best I was going to get.
That's when I noticed the helmet of that Bounty Hunter on the floor. I picked it up and stared at it in confusion. I'd heard of a warrior called 'Durge' a ruthless Bounty Hunter who was considered invincible, this one fit that description. Now though, it seemed he'd been dealt with. Or so I thought at this time.
I looked up to the hole in the ceiling. I'd been fortunate I'd not encountered Durge and Y/N at the same time, otherwise this definitely would have gone differently.
Where had Y/N gone anyway?
Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter. If my current idea is right, we only have one or two chapters left of this arc. It's a short one, because the 2003 Clone Wars was much shorter, the next arc will be one of my own design and will be equally short but then we're on to the Malevolence plot-line. This is also the last we'll see of San Hill in this BOOK. Not the trilogy, though, he'll definitely be in the third book and maybe the second, I'm still planning those out. We'll get more of the Banking Clan later in this book though. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always, thank you for reading.