Star Wars: The Clone Wars Elements

by Barrobroadcaster

Chapter 6: Explosive Exit

Anakin used his lightsaber to carve a hole in the wall of the Crystal Palace.

"Next time, EVERYONE will be part of the planning process for these rescue missions- INCLUDING the pilots."

"Uuuunnghh..."

"Agreed?"

"Agreed," the group said wearily. Even if they didn't agree with what Ahsoka was saying, none of them were in a position to say otherwise. She and Anakin helped pull the others through the hole. It was only thanks to Shining Armor and Cadence that they even survived the palace's collapse; the two ponies were able to make a shield with their magic to help cushion the impact.

"Dear... sweet heavens," Cadence said. "Our kingdom..."

"At least we evacuated," Shining remarked. The Crystal Palace lay broken, pieces of it having crushed entire blocks of the Crystal Empire's city. Shards of broken crystals, stones and rubble lay scattered everywhere. The CIS hadn't invaded to destroy the Crystal Empire and neither had the Republic. Despite this, the fighting had wrought untold devastation upon the once-beautiful capitol.

Before the palace collapsed, Shining Armor and Cadence explained to their rescuers what had happened and how they were captured. The Crystal Empire's citizens had been evacuated shortly before the Separatists' invasion. They fled on airships, pegasi flew on their own wings, unicorns teleported and everyone else left any way they could. Shining Armor and the royal family stayed behind to negotiate with the CIS.

Naturally, the Separatists' idea of negotiating was "get in this cell, sit down and shut up or get shot." Aggressive negotiations indeed. So, the dual purpose of staying behind was to stall for the Republic to send in a fleet to rescue them. Unfortunately, the Republic had been delayed; data about the Far Rim was limited and maps of the area were more of those that had mysteriously vanished from the Jedi Archives and Republic database. It was so remote they only had dial-up access to the Holonet. Truly, dark times indeed.

"The Republic and the Jedi will help you rebuild," Anakin said. "Once the Separatists are forced off the planet, our corps of engineers will help to restore your palace to its former glory. In its entirety."

"That, uh, might take a while," Rex commented.

"Yeah, we shouldn't promise anything too quickly-"

"In its entirety, Ahsoka," Skywalker responded. Another declaration nobody felt like disagreeing with at that moment.

Instead, Ahsoka asked, "Where's Master Krace?"

They turned back to the hole. "He was right behind us," Shining said. "Wasn't he?"

Anakin raised his commlink. "Master Krace, come in. We're outside the palace, where are you? Master Krace?" No answer. Not even static.

"We have to go back and look for him," Ahsoka said.

But Anakin shook his head immediately. "We have to get the prince and princess to safety. Master Krace is a Jedi; he can handle himself."

Shining and Cadence were still huddled close to each other, their baby foal strapped to Cadence's back. They were almost out, almost safe but until then, getting them out of danger was the first priority. Leaving another Jedi behind didn't sit well with any of them, but it was the reality of the Order and the military. The job came first, their lives came second. Even if it had been Obi-Wan or Anakin, the mission had to come first. On Raxus Prime, Anakin had been captured and taken to a remote moon orbiting Kashyyk and Obi-Wan had been forced to continue without him, as Anakin had been forced to continue fighting on Jabiim when Obi-Wan was presumed dead.

War is hell. The people that sacrifice their lives, risk their own safety and throw themselves into it willingly to protect others are soldiers. Getting the innocent out, people like Shining Armor and Cadence, that was what mattered.

"Skywalker to Extraction Team, come in. Is anyone there?"

"Copy you, general! This is Zeta-Four, we're en route to you now- ETA: one minute!"

"Thirty seconds?" Anakin repeated. He looked around overhead. "I can't see you- where are you? What are you flying, pilot?"

"Not flying, sir! We're driving up the side of the palace now, you should be able to see us! Because we see you!"

"Uh, general?" Rex pointed. "I think that's our ride."

"Oh, great."

"Is that the new tank they've been working on? I thought they were still testing it," Ahsoka said.

"They ARE still testing it," Anakin replied. He keyed his commlink again. "Zeta-Four, you've got to slow that thing down for us to get on!"

"Negative, sir! ETA: thirty seconds! Get ready!"

Anakin could already feel his muscles tensing. Ahsoka did the same, as did Rex. He couldn't feel the Force, but he could tell when his commanders were about to do something crazy. The Juggernaut tank came riding up the fallen Crystal Palace, racing towards them. The crystal structure splintered under its weight, further cracking as the heavy tank sped across its length.

"Your majesty, get ready to jump with us. Rex, get the rappel lines ready."

"Already on it, sir."

Anakin and Ahsoka gathered the Force within them, feeling the energy pool within their legs, feet and hands. The Force was capable of altering the physical properties of things, sometimes temporarily and sometimes permanently. Right now, they were about to use the Force to jump and propel themselves, Rex, Cadence and Shining Armor all onto the back of the tank, or latch onto it with the rappel lines if they missed. Both Jedi concentrated, blocking out all else.

Time slowed. The racing tank's wheels sped, racing towards them almost as fast as a speeder bike but to the Jedi, it was almost inching towards them. Gravity became weak, almost to the point of disappearing and their legs became as strong as those on a walker. The air beneath their hands, at the edge of their finger tips became something almost solid for them to press upward on, like the entire world around them was something they could just push off of and achieve escape velocity.

This was the Force: impossible yet real, moving yet still, changing and yet unchanging, ever-present, the energy of all things connected. It was nearly indescribable to someone who was not Force-Sensitive, like trying to explain color to the blind or a song to the deaf. Another thing, another entity entirely beyond normal perception but undeniably there, pulsing, humming and flowing. You didn't so much use it as you did connect to it and direct the flow towards your goals precisely.

If the Force was a river, a Jedi would use their hands to direct the flow, curve and direct the water. A Sith would grab hold and squeeze as tightly as they could, not caring if a few drops spilled. Often, more than a few drops spilled.

"Master?"

"Ten seconds!"

"Get ready to jump!"

"What part of the Juggernaut were they still testing?"

Rex answered for Anakin. "The brakes."

"JUMP!"

"Oh, GREAT!!"

They jumped.

---

The tank was moving too fast for them to land on. Anakin and Ahsoka both had to use the Force to assist Rex and Shining jump over the Juggernaut while Cadence just flew. This was where the rappel lines came in, because as the clone turbo tank lived up to its name, the team launched their rappel cables, latched onto the back of the tank and then went flying with it.

The rappels pulled them to the tank, but with gravity being a factor, it meant pulling them towards the wheels. Anakin was beginning to think he should've just rappelled off the fallen tower when he was blinded by a flash of light and suddenly found himself on the back of the tank.

"Aaahh!" Found himself on the back of the tank face-down skidding forward. "What the Force was that?!"

"Teleportation. It's limited, but we were close enough to the uh... this thing to use it," Shining said. It was risky enough teleporting a group that size when standing completely still, yet alone in midair, flying at breakneck speeds onto a moving vehicle.

"Great, uh... Rex, where's the top hatch on this thing?"

"What top hatch?"

Anakin looked forward. The Juggernaut wasn't stopping. He could use his lightsaber to cut a hole through the hull, but he might cut through something sensitive- electronics, hydraulics, the magazine, anything. With the speed and the way the tank was bouncing about, they couldn't climb down the sides safely enough to look for a side hatch. This left them with one option.

"Okay, Plan B!"

"What's Plan B?"

"Hang onto something!!"

"We are going to have a SERIOUS discussion about plans when we get back!" Ahsoka said.

They all got themselves as low as possible and clung to the massive machine. The rappel lines were still latched to their belts.

"Just hope the crew on this rig knows what they're doing! It's still a prototype!" Rex added.

"Don't worry, our tankers are the best the GAR has to offer!" Anakin proclaimed. "They know exactly what they're doing!"

---

Inside the Juggernaut...

"We have no idea what we're doing!"

"Stop touching that! What does that lever even do?!"

"I have no idea! Half of these controls don't seem to be connected to anything!"

*bing-boong* "In a quarter-mile, make a u-turn. You are currently forty-two miles from your destination." *bing-boong*

"What the hell was that?"

"Mash-!" Beans pointed out the window. "Look!"

They were nearing the base of the tower, meaning the part of the tower that was connected to the base. Now, it was connected to nothing and the space they were rapidly heading towards was empty air.

Until it wasn't. Two C-9979 Trade Federation Landers were dropping in at that exact moment, right in their path. They would be dropping reinforcements in right at the base of the palace- AATs, MTTs, HAGs or some horrible combination of all these things, more and worse. TF Landing Craft could carry a surprising amount of tanks and battle droids because of the fact their hulls were specifically designed to hold such craft and droids didn't require all the comfort and support organics did. So every droid dropship, freighter, vehicle carrier and lander presented a significant threat.

"What do we do?!"

Mash and Beans looked at each other for a long moment.

"Press everything and hold it down at the same time!!"

"General, you guys might wanna hold onto something!!"

"What do you think we've BEEN doing?!"

*bing-boong* "Assault mode has been engaged. In a quarter-mile, press the red button." *bing-boong*

"Oh. Well, that's helpful."

---

"Are these guys really doing what I think they're doing?" Shining Armor asked.

"I take it back- these tankers are crazy!" Ahsoka yelled.

"Hold onto something!!" Anakin ordered.

"Will you stop SAYING that?! This wasn't part of the pla-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

The Juggernaut jumped off the fallen Crystal Palace. At the apex of its jump, it fired a flurry of missiles from the deployed racks on the side of its command cabin at the front. The missiles slammed into the side of the second TF Lander, hitting it right in the center section that constituted its bridge and deployment bay.

The CF Lander's middle exploded, one of its four wings broke clean off and the rest of the craft plummeted to the ground in a heap. That left the first lander which had already almost landed. But before it could land, the Juggernaut landed on it.

Blaster cannons on the front of the Juggernaut opened up, peppering the lander's hull even as it sped across its wings. The missile pods on the Juggernaut rotated upward and fired again. The lasers from the Juggernaut ripped holes in the lander and pierced right through what little shielding it had at this close range. Then, the missiles came down.

The Juggernaut raced right off the wings of the C-9979 landing craft just as its missiles exploded. The second volley of missiles blasted through the dorsal hull of the ship and disabled its engines. The ship came crashing down, landed lopsided but might've been okay... if Archer Squadron hadn't targeted it. The Y-Wings, in formation, opened fire on the unshielded lander, their blue lasers ripping apart the ship.

The Juggernaut hit the ground and kept rolling.

"-AAAAAAAn. Jeez... I can't believe that actually worked!"

"Haha! We're alive!" Anakin exclaimed. "I told you we had it under control!"

"Oh yeah?" Ahsoka asked. "Then why aren't we stopping?"

Just then, the Juggernaut came to a screeching halt, slid and skidded on its wheels into the middle of the street. Anakin, Rex and Ahsoka were all thrown from the vehicle... but thankfully, their rappel lines were still attached, so they rebounded quickly. And slammed face-first into the side of the tank.

"You alright out there, general?" Static answered him. "General Skywalker? Commander Tano? Captain Rex? ...Anybody?"

Mash set the commlink down. "We should go check on them."

They left the driver's cabin, got to the side door and were about to open it when it opened for them. "General!"

"Next time, EVERYONE will be part of the planning process for these... these rescue missions. Including you tank drivers."

"And the pilots," Ahsoka added.

"And the pilots."

Author's Note:

Note: this is still just the intro to the story and what follows will be episodic.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

nice work still

[Xanderfox]

Great price of military advice "No Paln Survives Contact with the Enemy", no matter how well you plan it will never go 100% right.