Project Ares Gold Edition

Chapter 44 - Lock n' Load

Pillar of Autumn - Yavin 4

It had been a month since Blue Team went missing and despite the resitance's best efforts, they just couldn't postpone Palpatine's recruitment stations any longer. With the first couple opening only a few days ago. All hope seemed lost, but then a transmission from Coruscant came through. It was Fox, he had found out where the main training facility was for Project War Mantle and Project Orion. Yes, Chief would have prefered to take out this facility with Blue Team backing him up, but there was just no time. They had to strike now.

Fox also informed Chief that his spies had also gathered intel that Palpatine himself was going to visit the facility to inspect his new Spartans in a week along with most of his high ranking admirals and political advisors. Thanking the commander and telling him that it was time for them to join the fleet, Fox declined the offer, saying that if they all just left now, Palpatine would be suspicious and likely cancel his visit. Thanking Fox once more, Chief ended the transmission before relaying the information to the rest of the clone officers.

Once word got out that War Mantle and Orion had been located, the entire fleet went into high alert, just waiting for the green light to engage. But meanwhile down on the surface of the planet, the Jedi were in deep meditation. Darth Sidous needed to be taken out, that was a fact. But the Jedi Order needed to survive as well. And despite their concerns, everyone knew that Anakin was their best option to take out the Sith Lord.

Windu only recently came out of his coma and had not gotten used to his prosthetic hand yet, making him a massive liability in a duel. As for Yoda, it was the unopposed agreement that the Grandmaster of the Order was the best suited to continue the Jedi teachings should this mission fail. So it was decided, Anakin, Obi-wan, Ahsoka, Shaak Ti, Aayla and Plo Koon would join the assault and help the clones triumph over the Empire.

Yoda, Mace, Jocasta Nu, all the Temple Guards, and the younglings would remain on Yavin 4 along with Padme and the twins. Concluding their meeting, the Jedi watched as a shuttle approached the Temple. Touching down just outside on an open patch of grass, the door opened to reveal Master Chief, Rex, Cody, Thorn, Bly, Wolffe, Fordo, and Appo. Welcoming the soldiers into the ancient temple, the Jedi lead the men to a briefing room with a large hologram projector located in the middle.

As everyone sat down on the stone steps, Chief stepped into the middle to address the room, informing everyone that the information presented came from Commander Fox on Coruscant and was the best available data on the Imperial base. But they still had to take into account that given the Emperor's visit, a lot of extra security measures will likely be put in place that the intel doesn't account for. Agreeing with Chief input, Commander Cody stepped up and explained the plan that the clone commanders had brainstormed during their trip down from the fleet.

The plan was this, the 501st would take on the main facility located at the top of a massive mountain. There will be a lot of vertical fighting and the Imperials will likely have dozens of bunkers situated up the slope. As a result, the 501st would be taking most of the AT-TEs the fleet had to make sure they could get to the top.

Meanwhile, to the south, the 104th would take out a major airbase that would hold most of the Imperial's TIE fighter squadrons and other vehicles. The 104th would be coming in fast, with gunships and jet packs alongside starfighter support. Their main advantage will be the element of surprise and taking out the TIE fighters while still on the ground.

As for the 212th and any other clone forces, they would all be stationed onboard the fleet to halt any potential boarding action and to assist where needed around the warships. But there was one large problem that they hadn't figured out yet. To maintain the element of surprise, there was a specific target at each of the objectives along with a massive orbital cannon that needed to be taken out before the fleet arrived.