"We must act now general, if we wish to keep the upper hand." clone Commander Stak told Jedi master Mace Windu as the bright day turned into a misty dusk.
The general did not reply. He kept staring at the holographic map that displayed the Velcana Ridge on the planet of Vardos.
The model of the ridge was composed of staticky blue light. It would flicker occasionally before coming back into a crisp focus. Windu had his arms crossed, going over the same three possible attack methods in his head.
The fact that not only Separatists have reportedly been seen coming to and from a cave in the southeast section of the ridge, but that Dooku himself had been seen there a number of times, was extremely concerning for the Republic. Vardos was a neutral system and, as a major piece of the Jinata System, was quite close to Coruscant. That could mean invasion and that was the last thing the Republic needed right now. They were still recovering from Kamino.
If the Inspector General of the Jinata Security Bureau, Garrick Versio, was to be believed, the government didn't have anything to do with Dooku's presence here. Apparently, they didn't even know he was here. Windu wasn't sure if this was true or not, but if it was, this could be the perfect time to sway the people of Vardos to the Republic after many years of declined offers to join the Senate. Not to mention that having a base here would certainly help protect the capital.
Regardless though, they still weren't sure why Dooku was here on Vardos in the first place. Perhaps it was a sabotage operation, interrupting shipments to the shipyard on the nearby planet of Xa Fel? That's where all the Republic star destroyers were pieced together. But wouldn't they have heard if something like that was happening?
Mace had sent Commander Tacks and a squadron of clones to do a thorough inspection of the shipyard, while they headed to Vardos. So far, nothing has been out of the ordinary. There was nothing special on Pillio, Athulla, or any other planets in the system. No, it had to be something here on Vardos. What could he want though? There weren't enough droids here for a planet wide invasion. Maybe they just wanted to take the capital city of Kestro?
"Sir?" Stak spoke, pulling Windu out of his thoughts. He mulled it over once more before making his decision. The general looked up for the first time in minutes, his neck happily obliging at the relief of tension. He squinted against the sun that was lowering below the horizon.
"We will use the rocks." he said finally, the stone structures barely visible against the blinding light.
"We will draw them out and lead them down the ridge to about here." Windu said, his finger grazing a spot on the map. The section turned red as he pulled his hand away. "We will set clones up behind the boulders," he explained, the stones turning yellow. "And attack them from above." Stak nodded in agreement.
"As they say, those with the high ground have more room to fly." the commander replied. "And farther to fall." Windu finished.
Once the sun had fully disappeared, turning the clouds from white and airy to dark and menacing, Windu and his platoon set out. The stars overhead were dulled from the light of Kestro, which was only a few clicks to the east. Sometimes Windu could spot it through a break in the trees.
They marched through the unfamiliar flora soundlessly. This was Windu's first time on Vardos. He had heard many stories though, of the beautiful architecture of Kestro, the strange fauna of flying creatures, its unique flowers and rock formations. It was ranked number eight on the galaxy's most beautiful planets, with Ithor taking first as usual and Naboo second. He understood why now.
They were slinking along the cliff side under a canopy of leaves. The trees up above were wispy, with long vines draping down towards the ground. Deep purple flowers with a strong fragrance bloomed from the stems. The grass was a greenish-blue color and was soft and silky. Even the rocks had a pinkish tinge to them and seemed to be buffed to a low shine.
Windu started, along with a number of clones, as movement caught his eye high above. It was only a winged creature, one Windu recognized as a Vardosian Firebird.
In the light of the three moons, its tail glinted red and orange. It had a wide wingspan which sent a large shadow gliding along the canyon floor.
According to Vardosian legend, the creature was believed to be immortal, as well as a sign of good fortune. Whether or not that was true, (he certainly hoped the good fortune half was) Windu wasn't sure, but he did know for a fact that it was Force-Sensitive. There were numerous documentations by researchers and journalists and if that wasn't enough to convince him, the connection he immediately felt with the creature sealed the deal.
The Firebird dove down towards the rocky canyon floor. It looked Windu directly in the eye as it did so. It gave a beautiful cry as it pulled up and flew off out of view. It was only then that Mace realized the convoy had stopped moving. They were all watching him expectantly.
He shook himself out of his daze and brusquely moved his troops forward. It was not like him to get so easily distracted. He had a feeling that the Vardosian Firebird had something to do with it. The second he laid eyes on it, it was like he was in a dream.
Windu was immediately on edge again as Stak stopped in front of him. He motioned silence with his hand. Windu's ears were primed, listening intently for anything out of the ordinary. The brush of foliage, a snap of a twig, the breeze of a speeder, something. There was nothing and then... something. It was soft and low, barely audible above the sweet smelling breeze. It was the chatter of a reconnaissance droid doing perimeter sweeps.
Blast it. Windu cursed to himself. He flicked his fingers downwards and all of his men ducked low beneath the knee high grass line. If he destroyed the droid, it wouldn't show up for its rendezvous and that could tip them off. So their best chance would be for the droid to pass by without seeing them, Force willing.
The strange digital speech of the droid got closer and closer. After a long few minutes, the general caught sight of its red sensors cutting through the blackness of the night.
The scarlet lights swiveled back and forth, like the eyes of a dark, evil creature. It moved left, then right, then back again. It focused straight ahead, staring at something on the opposite side of the canyon. It scanned the area for an excruciatingly long few seconds before it turned its sensors one hundred and eighty degrees and hovered off in the opposite direction. They stayed for a moment longer before stirring.
"Phew, that was close." All of the Republic soldiers, Windu included, jumped at the sound, aiming all of their weapons at the voice. A moment later, up popped the head of Cordelia.
"Fire Fang." Stak stated, relaxing. The clones had picked up on the nickname since she had joined the war effort.
"Wussup?" she joked. Windu sighed irritably. "I need you to stay focused, consult." he chided.
"Sorry." she said sheepishly. "I checked out the road ahead. No sentries or mines or anything of the like that I detected." she reported, all joking aside. "We should have a straight shot to the cave." Windu pushed himself up.
"Good. I'm ready to say hello to the Count."
---
Windu held his hand up, waiting. Everyone was in place. His eyes met Cordelia's. She was down below on the canyon floor with a squadron of clones, ready to draw the Separatists out of their hidey hole. He clenched his fingers into a fist. She nodded and signaled to her squad. They slipped inside.
Mace was impressed with the Gray, whether he wanted to admit it or not. He had been very hesitant about letting her join the war effort at all, but they came to a good few compromises.
One, she had to go through military training, which she was excelling at. She was still clinging onto her former training, so leading was a lingering difficulty for her, but Windu had a feeling she would get past that in time. She would advise and come up with plans, but Cordelia much preferred to have someone tell her what to do.
The second, which she had a tendency to get grumpy about, was that she was to be with a Jedi General on every mission. No solos, no leading troops, unless it was an emergency of course.
Cordelia wasn't the first Gray Jedi Windu had been partnered with. The first was a Gray Jedi named Rhome, who according to Cordelia, is an Elder of Bogun now. Or was anyway.
Regardless, Rhome was a dark side leaner. Many years ago, he and Windu were sent by Grandmaster Yoda and Palatial Elder Inan to investigate a disturbance in an old Jedi Temple on the planet of Giskina, right before the Invasion of Naboo. He and Rhome had encountered numerous dangers in the temple: creatures, Force Visions, old combat droids.
Rhome had been so savage and so violent, it shook the then Jedi Knight Windu to his core. He didn't simply kill a beast because it attacked him. He would seek them out, provoke them, then enjoy the slow, agonizing deaths he brought upon them. At the time, still young and inexperienced, Windu had been horrified. He remembered thinking to himself that Rhome must be what a Sith was like.
Rhome was not a Sith, as Windu would come to realize later on. No, Dooku and his unknown master were much worse. The memory stuck with him, however, after all these years.
Despite Cordelia's charm, compassion, and honesty, Windu still sensed the Dark Side behind that beautiful face and that darkness made her like Rhome. That meant she couldn't be trusted. Rhome couldn't be. He betrayed Windu's trust. In the heart of the temple, they found both Jedi and Sith holocrons. Rhome took the dark holocrons and made off with them, despite saying he wouldn't. They would have been helpful now during the time of the reemergence of the Sith.
Mace was pulled out of his memories by the distinctive clanking sound of Battle Droids echoing out of the cave. A few blaster bolts lasered through the mouth and into the night air. The clanking got louder as the general's comm link began to blink.
"Cordelia, what's going on?" he asked into his wrist. Two clones skimmed the edge of the cave and took up position against its rocky face. Windu watched as the rest of the clones followed suit, taking up position behind the nearby boulders. One was shot at last minute. He fell at the opening and didn't get up.
The last to exit was Cordelia. She back flipped and landed gracefully on her feet in the center of the clearing. Her silver and orange sabers cut through the darkness like a sun and moon.
"We got the droids to follow us out, but there's a problem." the consult said as she took up residence behind a rock. There were twenty, thirty battle droids marching into the clearing now. Windu motioned for the rest of his troops to start firing. Battle droids dropped like flies.
"Dooku's not here." she said. Irritation flared in his chest briefly.
"Blast it. Are you sure?" he replied, hoping she was mistaken. "Yes, I'm positive." Windu grumbled under his breath before leaping high into the air.
Dropping a few hundred feet, he landed unharmed next to the consult. He ignited his violet saber and slit a B1 Battledroid from shoulder to hip joint as he straightened.
"Welcome to the party." Cordelia drawled, defecting a few bolts. A rolling sound came from within the cave.
"I don't know what that is, but I have the feeling I'm not gonna like it." the Gray said as two Destroyer Droids wheeled into the battle. They stopped a few feet away from the two Force users, expanding into attack mode. Their bluish shields activated instantly and their blasters shot back in preparation with a click.
"Yup, I don't like them." she whined as she took up a defensive stance. The two Droidekas released a barrage of bolts at them. She and Windu drew their fire away from the clones.
The deflected blaster bolts dissolved into the shields, sending a ripple in the bubble like technology, not harming the machines within.
Windu force pushed the left droideka backwards. It curled up into a wheel and the general sliced it. Cordelia tried to do the same, but the droid flopped over instead, shields still up and still in attack position. Seeing her frustration, Windu dropped a nearby rock on the droid, crushing it. Sparks erupted from underneath the stone.
"You made that look deceptively easy." the consult said, trying to hide her embarrassment. "You'll get the hang of it. You just need practice." he replied with understanding.
The two of them along with the clones, sliced, blasted, and shot every single droid that came out of the rocky opening. Finally, the last one fell and they carefully moved into the Separatist base.
They traveled down the long tunnel in a pack, watching out for droids and booby traps alike. As the ceiling ascended, stalactites began to form, looking like rocky teeth. A few jitros swooped down at them halfway through, but didn't stick around.
Finally they entered the main vestibule. It was a large cavern with enough crates and boxes for a warehouse. Above them was a basic steel foundation to reinforce the ceiling. There was a few feet above between the metal and ceiling that was nothing but darkness.
There were deactivated battle droids, charging stations, and a control center off to the side of the room. Some stalagmites had been sawed off to make it easier to maneuver.
There was a communication relay in the corner and radar to protect the perimeter. The only sound was the occasional drip of water from the ceilings and the footsteps of the Republic forces. A few small, bug like creatures shied away from them, running off into small holes in the base of the floor. The Separatists had drilled lights into the walls of the cave, creating harsh shadows and highlights throughout the area.
"Dooku could still be here somewhere, but I don't sense him." Cordelia stated. She made a sour face beneath the cloth that hung on her nose. Windu sighed once again, this time with a bone aching tiredness that only three years of constant war could ingrain.
"This is an issue. Our scouts saw him enter before our attack." Windu said as Cordelia sat down on a box. She crossed her legs and closed her eyes.
"Which means someone tipped him off." Stak finished. He was kneeling down and examining a crate full of spare battle droid parts.
"No good sir. Sepys wiped the memory clean." called a clone technician at the control center.
"Any secret passages? Hangers? Vehicles?" the general asked, pulling his eyes away from the Gray. "I'm having Livewire scan the cave now sir." Stak said.
"Dooku is a slippery one. He always seems to be one step ahead of us." Mace stated dejectedly. He watched as the troopers skirted around the perimeter, looking under boxes or anything else that looked suspicious.
"Indeed he is sir. Capturing him will be no easy task." the commander replied from behind his brown striped visor. Windu was proud of Stak for being promoted. He was a good trooper. He followed orders, worked hard. He deserved it.
"I took a scan of the caves sir." a clone, presumably Livewire, said as he walked up to them, fiddling with a datapad. "There are no life forms except for us and some creatures. The caves go on for miles. There is an exit or two, but they would be hard to get to, if at all." he explained, showing Windu the map of the cave system.
"No use. I can't sense him anywhere nearby." Cordelia said, breaking her meditation. She slid off the box.
"Uhh, Master Windu?" Mace turned to her. She looked perplexed. "Yes?" "Didn't we enter with twenty two men?" she asked, concerned. Windu looked around. One, two, three, four... She was right. There were no longer twenty-two. There were now fourteen.
"Where are the rest of your men?" Windu demanded. "They're here general. I told them not to leave this room until we had completed our sweep." the commander replied, confused.
"He did sir! I heard him." Livewire chimed in. "Well we have less troopers than when we entered. Now go find them before-" Mace cut off as Cordelia screamed. He turned around and saw her face planted on the floor, pinned beneath the body of a trooper.
"Above us!" she yelled, trying to push the dead man off of her. As she did, another trooper fell from the ceiling, directly above Windu. He dodged just in time.
"What the hell?" Stak said, pulling his blaster up to his face. Livewire dropped the datapad on the floor and pulled out his twin pistols.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Windu spoke as he ignited his saber, turning floor purple. Cordelia pushed the body off of her and took up a defensive position. There was a distinctive metal clink before a dozen commando droids dropped from the ceiling. In unison, they all looked up and snapped out their vibroblades.
"Remember the destroyer droids?" Windu said as he went to duel the commando. "These are worse." Cordelia flipped over the droid and attempted to stab it from behind. It dodged and sliced at her arm with a high pitched whir. She yanked it away just in time.
"I see your point." she said, countering the commando's attacks with her sabers. Windu parried and slashed with his own enemy, managing to slice it from the left rib cage to neck. It dropped in two halves.
The clones were handling the commandos the best they could. Those clankers had tough armor. The remaining troopers grouped up together to take them down one at a time by battering them with blaster fire.
Cordelia was sparring one to his left while Windu was pinned in by two. He slashed and struck, his movements heightened by adrenaline. He spun and took out one. He raised his saber to finish the second one when an orange blade appeared through its chest. It dropped to reveal Cordelia. She had her silver blade up, blocking the vibroblade of her still activated commando droid.
"I saw an opening." she said simply as she took her orange saber and ended the final droid. They took a look around. Of the twenty-two men they had entered with, only six remained, including both Commander Stak and Livewire.
"Well if we weren't sure if Dooku was tipped off before, we certainly know now." Mace stated, attaching his saber to his belt. Cordelia walked to his side, hand on her chin.
"The question now is how. No one knew we were coming. We may have been spotted on our way here." she suggested. Windu crossed his arms.
"Your observations are only half true. Yes, we could have been spotted on the way here, but there was someone who did know we were on Vardos." he explained. Cordelia cocked her head. "Who?" Windu's mood darkened. "Garrick Versio."