Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Emergence [The Red Sith, Part One]

Chapter 3- The Battle is Joined

Back on the bridge of the CIS frigate, the captain watched the battle play out with a small smile playing across his face. Not only was this going exactly as he planned, but those ships were part of the Open Circle Fleet under the command of Skywalker and Kenobi. The odds were that one of them was on board one of those ships. Hopefully not the one we just destroyed, he thought, because that would be a shame, to die so pitifully. As the battle progressed, he recalled how those ships charged into his trap so easily. So blinded they were to help the rest of their fleet, they ignored what was around them. It has to be Skywalker commanding these ships and Kenobi with the rest of the fleet. And with my plan, I’m bound to run into Skywalker. That thought gave the commander a grin as he stroked the weapons on his belt. Skywalker… the Chosen One. With such power he had the potential to be a great Sith if it weren’t for the Jedi. He paused as another thought crossed his mind. Perhaps he still can be.

RW-47 came over to him. “My lord, scans of the Republic’s comm channels have confirmed that General Skywalker is onboard the Republic ship.”

“Yes I know.” The captain said with impatience. “Why do you think they charged right into our trap? Skywalker is impulsive, reckless, but above all, he values the lives under his command. Not your typical Jedi to say the least about him.” He leaned back in his chair, the hood still covering his face. “General Skywalker is not your concern. Leave him to me.”

The frigate shook as a direct hit pierced part of their shields. The commander growled. CIS frigates were plentiful and great in large numbers, but a single ship cannot stand up to two Republic ships at once. He was taking a gamble, but he needed all of the ships in the sector to counter the Republic fleet at the shipyards, and with his strategies, the battle would soon turn in his favor. Then he could turn to other pressing agendas.

The Dauntless and the Adamant were trading fire with the lone CIS frigate. Now without the element of surprise, the battle was shifting in favor to the Republic as the Venator class ships proved their superior firepower against the Banking Clan frigate. More and more ARC fighters were surviving the fierce dogfight as the number of droid fighters began to diminish, the clones proving once again that they are superior pilots to droids. Ahsoka was hard at work relaying and listening to the comm chatter amongst the fight. Anakin was coordinating the battle, giving orders and making sure his ship stayed intact. Just then, the lights over on the Adamant flickered and the engines shut down. Ahsoka then received an emergency message from the captain of the Adamant.

“Master,” she called to Anakin, “the Adamant just lost power. Boarding parties have succeeded in cutting main power to the Adamant and now she’s operating on emergency battery power. They need a few minutes to repair their systems.”

“They might not have a few minutes.” Anakin said. “Look.” Outside, the CIS frigate had started to head to the Adamant, firing its prow turbolaser at it. The ship would not be able to take much more of the fire; already chunks of the Adamant’s armor were being blasted off. What saved it from the same fate as the Firebird was that their hanger doors were closed having launched all their fighters. But that would only protect them for so long. “Move us between the frigate and the Adamant.” Anakin ordered. “We should be able to draw its fire to protect the Adamant for now.” The Dauntless moved forward, continuously firing at the frigate. Strangely, the CIS frigate had not fired back, only targeting the Adamant and the fighters around both ships, completely ignoring the Dauntless.

By now the Dauntless had almost moved between the two ships, and a large portion of the Confederate fighters had been eliminated. “This battle is almost over.” He told Ahsoka as he moved next to her. “Keep trying to get in touch with Obi-wan. We need to warn him before he arrives in the trap.”

“I’ll say this, the Separatists seem to finally have a competent military leader.” Ahsoka smirked. “They used the same trick you did by hiding their ship and their fighters in the asteroids to avoid detection.”

“Yes, I know. Whoever he is must have read up on past battles and is a seasoned strategist.” Anakin admitted. “The commander is probably the one who has designed those victories for the Confederacy recently.”

The comm hissed and Ahsoka exclaimed, “I’ve got a signal! It’s weak though, so make it brief.”

Anakin turned to the holo projectors and a garbled picture of Kenobi appeared. “Obi-wan, the Confederate fleet is not orbiting the planet. They’re all protecting the shipyard. You’re flying into a trap!”

“Say again Anakin, your transm-… unclear.” Obi-wan said, interrupted by a burst of static.

“You’re flying into a trap, master!” Anakin shouted. Halfway through his sentence, the image of Kenobi disappeared entirely. Anakin looked up just as the entire bridge crew gasped in alarm. The CIS frigate, which was heading toward the Adamant, was suddenly extremely close to the Dauntless having performed an amazing ninety-degree turn in just a few seconds. Collision alarms sounded due to the close proximity of the frigate. Having pulled up next to the Dauntless, the frigate then extended its boarding port, cutting through the hull of the Republic ship. Collision alarms quickly changed tone as the intruder alarm sounded, and messages of droids onboard started flooding in.

Anakin turned and stared to run out of the bridge. “Come on Ahsoka!” He said as the doors parted and he ran through. Ahsoka was only too happy to oblige, running after her master to confront the droids.

RW-47 had moved down with the boarding parties to coordinate their attack. The goal was to kill every last Republic officer on both ships, starting with this one. They would then pilot the ships into the shipyard battle and obliterate the Republic fleet in a surprise attack. Since the frigate and the Republic ship were currently so close together, they could not fire on each other without risk of damaging themselves. This same reason was also what prevented the fighters from firing on either ship. Once takeover was complete, the captain would disembark and assume control over this Republic ship. The order would be given to the Republic fighters to dock in their home vessel, and then the droids awaiting them would slaughter them, preventing anyone from giving away the attack. Then they would destroy their own frigate to give the assumption that the Republic forces won the battle. Another attack force would take over the other Republic ship and they would head into the space battle.

As the boarding door opened, RW-47 noted the intense fire that greeted them. The first wave of droids and most of the second were wiped out. But the third and consecutive groups sustained less and less casualties as they forced the clones back. “Soon this ship will be ours.” RW said. The droids around it gave off identical “Rodger Rodger’s” which then proceeded to spread around like a wave among the other droids. RW gave off a passible vocalization of an organic sigh before marching on board the Republic ship.