Final Wars

by FourShadow

Chapter 1: Another Day, Another Fight

“What's the point of all this? I mean, why?"

"I don't know, sir. I don't think anybody knows. But I do know that someday this war is gonna end."

"Then what? We're soldiers. What happens to us then?”

-- CT-5555 and CT-7567, Season 4

Quiet. The eerie silence that was rarely around during these battles. It was so rare that it could send a man on the edge of paranoia and anxiety, as if they were anticipating something, waiting for danger to come around the corner and attack. And on the Venator class ship the Axiom, there was a complete reign of silence. For some, the silence was comforting and allowed them to enjoy some peace as they got some more sleep without worry, or catching up on less important matters in their free time. For others, not so much.

Onboard the Axiom, only a few crewmen were awake. Most were trying to wake up for the day as their ship was flying through hyperspace. The actual troopers were stumbling to get up as well, it was time for them to get up. After using the vac tubes and getting suited up, they walked their way to the mess hall to get breakfast, all sporting the Phase II armor that had been recently provided to every clone, catching up with the current times.

The clone commander had gotten dressed like the others, but there was someone he had to make sure was up as well. Not that she needed to be reminded, but he liked to check up on her every now and then, and that person was the Jedi Master who was leading the 197th Battalion.

The Jedi Master had already gotten up from her bed, and used the vac tubes, and gotten dressed. Gray skin and blond hair with a tan Jedi robe. Her legs were crossed, and her hands were sitting on her kneecaps. Her eyes remained closed, and the entirety of her room remained stone cold silent. Meditation was the key to clear her thoughts, her mind, she was told. This practice had proven effective as before every mission before they would set off for battle or on their next assignment, she would meditate...

The door to her quarters chimed.

"Come in."

The door slid open, with a man in shadows. But the shadows went away, and walking in was the commander of the clone battalion on board. With baby blue colored armor, a pauldron and kama strapped to his body, and his Phase II helmet blazed in blue and a pattern of bubbles, he marched inside, as quiet as he could be. He didn't say a word, but instead, he lowered himself and sat on the floor with her, sort of joining her in the mediation.

"Commander Bubbles," Derpy smiled, not opening her eyes.

"Good morning, General. How do you feel?"

The general's wall-eyes opened up, greeted with the smile of her clone commander. His eyes were mismatched like hers, only he had a cybernetic eye to replace the other after losing it in an accident. He had the same standard black haircut like all the clones, but the other detail that stood out, at least to Derpy was the soft little dotted tattoo on his other eye.

"Never better, Bubbles. What's up?"

"We have only an hour left until we arrive at Nevarro. Then after we're done with our mission, we should finally make our way to Arvala-7," Bubbles responded.

"Good to hear, Commander. Heading to the mess hall?"

"Just to get some coffee, then I'll come up to the bridge," Bubbles replied.

"Great! I'm coming with," Derpy said, getting up on her feet. "Come on."

The two walked down the mess hall, passing by some more clones who gave them soft waves and nods here and there. It had been a few years since Derpy was given the assignment to lead the clones. She started with a small group of thirteen, the Bakers Batch as they were called, consisting of thirteen troopers in total. Their first mission was a bit rocky, mostly with Derpy trying to learn how to be a good leader.

But now, she had more than thirteen troops to lead, and she was more than ready and confident to lead them. Now she was the leader of the 197th Battalion of the Grand Army of the Republic. All of their faces and suits may have looked the same, but she somehow never forgot a face, she just knew who was who. Her leading was a little more... casual, then most of the others. A bit casual with a mix of nervous and silly, but the troops were fine with that. She was still their ally, and she did her job.

"Morning Roadie, Vanders, Gozer. Annnd good morning Stripes!"

Bubbles chuckled. "I still don't understand how you're able to tell us all apart."

"I got to know all of you, silly," Derpy giggled.

The two walked into the mess hall, greeting a few other troopers who were getting their breakfast to start the day. Bubbles grabbed two cups and walked over to the coffee maker. But when he opened it up, Bubbles rolled his eyes. The filter needed to be changed for the cups they were going to have, and sadly no one else besides him or the Jedi knew how to change it. "Guess I'm the only person who knows how to change the coffee filter. Thanks, guys!" He snarked with some deadpan in his voice.

"I have more of the coffee beans," Derpy called out, reaching into one of the storage compartments. She pulled out a bag of coffee beans, waiting for Bubbles to change the filter. Once it was done, she poured in the beans and activated the machine to grind them up. After a moment or so, the coffee maker started to pour the fresh hot coffee into the mugs for the two leaders of the battalion.

Derpy pulled a mug out, passing it to Bubbles, and she took hers. In unison, the two drank from the mugs, enjoying the delicious flavor and burst of caffeine.

"Ah, that's a good cup of coffee," Derpy sighed.

"Good way to start another glorious day in the Grand Army," Bubbles said, looking at the troopers who were busy eating breakfast in the various tables.

The two of them sat silently, looking at the entire hall again. So many faces, so many clones that most citizens would find impossible to identify or figure out who was who. But not for Derpy.

"Oh, before I forget, some of the boys were kind of hoping after our mission is over, maybe we could have ourselves a celebration. I mean this mission could be our last one, right? Our last assignment should worthy of a celebration."

Derpy nodded. "It should be. And I would love to celebrate, but we have to win this battle," she took another sip of her coffee.

"That I know we can do," Bubbles finished the last of his coffee, sliding it over to the disposal system. "I'll be heading up to the bridge, see you there."

Derpy gave another nod, and just continued to sit quietly and enjoy the last bits of her caffeine. A lot had been on her mind recently. Some days, it felt like this war was never going to end. Both her side and the Storm Army kept winning and losing, and it never changed. She swore this war was going to go on until she was a frail old lady, and she would never get the chance to experience true freedom like the rest of those she called her family.

But more recently, her mind wandered to a more sad thought. More upset because she wasn't there to say or do anything. After the end of another mission, she had received word that one of her closest friends at the Jedi temple just... left. She wasn't told why she left, nor was she able to stop her from leaving, and it was pointless in the end because she couldn't do anything about it.

The last bits of her drink went down her throat, and she put her cup into the disposal. She thought some more, and without another thought, she left the mess hall. Time to go to the bridge. A few more clones passed on by, moving to where they needed to be, wherever they were ordered to go. Derpy's focus was just to get to the main command center and address her troops; the Baker's Batch.

Passing by some more doors which opened for her, she saw a clone standing guard and she waved to him politely.

"Morning General," the clone said.

Derpy smiled. "Morning ."

"Want to play sabacc later today?"

"Anytime," Derpy grinned.

"Sounds good. On your way to the bridge?"

"Mmmhmm. Once we arrive, you and the others can get yourselves prepared for the gunships," Derpy nodded.

"Alright then. Meet you down at the gunships," the trooper nodded, going off on his own way.

She smiled with a skip in her step as she walked down another hall, passing by some more clones and seeing two troops across from her, having a small conversation with each other.

"I heard we're arriving on Nevarro soon," the trooper said.

"I hope so. Beats another protection job at some boring Senate meeting," the other trooper replied.

Their attention was brought to the General who was walking around the corner. "Morning Tom, Crow. "

"Morning General," the two clones said in unison.

Derpy gave a small wave, stepping into an elevator with another clone trooper inside. The two of them were quiet, mainly because neither one had anything to say, but regardless Derpy still gave a warm smile that made the trooper smile back, and he saluted her as he got off the elevator to where he needed to be. The doors shut, and the Jedi stood quiet, humming to the sounds of the elevator music that was recently installed. Her feet rubbed against the floor, some small jitters escaping as she remembered who she was going to be talking to.

Once they were open, she walked out of the elevator with a confident pose and all eyes set on her.

"Attention, General on deck!"

All of the clones stood tall to give their respect, which Derpy acknowledged. "At ease men. Good morning everyone, glad to have you all here again. Now before we begin with the briefing, I want to give congratulations to troopers Mohawk and Patch for earning ARC trooper status, you two did really well during the Siege of Malastare, so great job you two."

The two promoted troops gave nods.

"Just doing our job, General," Patch acknowledged.

"You did much more than that, which is why I am proud of you both," Derpy smiled. "Now onto today's mission. This could be the biggest fight that we all have been waiting for. After three years of fighting and endless war, I think we have found the key Storm Army capital, located here in the Nevarro system."

A holoprojection of the planet appeared on the projector, which everyone looked gathered around to see.

"Surveillance indicates there are several transmissions coming from this sector, in a massive capital. Which is why all of us are going down to overtake the capital. We should expect the place to be armed to the teeth so watch out for every kind of mines, turrets, or battle droids."

"How will we be taking the capital?", trooper Tap asked.

Another projection appeared on the table. "We're going to land here, in these canyons for cover. We'll set up a camp here," Derpy pointed. "We need to take down most of their defenses before we can make the march. Take out the heavy weapons, shields, outer defenses. Once we have eliminated the outer protection, we can make our march inside and claim the capital. Everyone clear on the mission?"

"Sir yes sir!"

"Great," Derpy squeaked with an adorable smile. "Now come on, let's make ourselves ready to depart!"

With the meeting adjourned, the troopers left the briefing to go and make themselves ready. Only one trooper didn't leave--

"Um, General? May I speak with you?"

"Mmmhmm!" Derpy nodded. "Are you okay, Vargas?"

"I am, I just... are we really going to do this? I mean many have tried to do this mission, but no one has come even close to gaining victory over them," the trooper asked with some fear.

"I know it's an awful big risk, but we can't stop. This could be the key to victory for the Republic, and a chance to finally put the Storm King, Tempest, and all of the bad guys to stop," Derpy squeaked, eyes still looking in two opposite directions. "Also thanks to all of the reports from previous clone battalions, I believe we have just what we need to overcome it."

"I know, it's just... I'm sorry ma'am, I've just... I don't want this to be my last fight."

Derpy softly smiled. "It's okay Vargas. I understand. We're all in this together, okay? You got this." She raised her hand up for a high-five, and Vargas with a bit of a smile gave her a high-five in return. "We can do this!"

---

The Venator-class ship arrived at Nevarro, pulling right above the atmosphere of the planet. Slowly it would make it's descent down so the gunships could have better flight, and so the dropships could deploy their walkers and tanks.

In the locker hall, trooper Knight slid the ammunition round into one of the blasters, cocking it to make sure it worked and setting it to safety. He put the gun back on the rack with the other guns, walking past another trooper; Tap. He gripped his fingers on the rifle, sliding the ammo inside and cocking it so it was loaded. He stood in a few fighting stances, holding the gun up with two strong arms as if he was ready to fire. And over in another corner, Stinger was tuning the final adjustments onto his jetpack, while Knight was making sure his gatling gun was still working properly.

Within the hour, pilots started rushing to their ships, ready to take off and take their troops down below. Derpy made sure to get herself ready; her cloak was properly adjusted, she had some armor hidden as a backup to protect herself, her lightsaber was sturdy, she had everything. Though just in case, she did grab one thing out of her quarters, locked inside a trunk. She dragged it out of her room, amusing a few troopers who passed by, and even though they offered to help, Derpy just kept dragging it along.

She finally got it inside of the gunship she was gonna ride in, and awaited the arrival of the rest of her troopers. Most of them were already boarding the rest of the gunships, but she was eagerly waiting for her top troopers; The Baker's Batch.

The clones opened up their lockers, arming themselves to the teeth. Weapons were being locked and loaded, with plenty of ammunition at their hand. Grappling hooks, ration sticks, poppers, everything. A few troopers grabbed backpacks, filling them up with plenty of droid poppers and grenades to use on the battle droids.

"Alright troopers, we are a team, we fight as one, we are going to show these Stormies just what we're made of," Bubbles addressed, while the others were making final checks. "We win this battle, we could win this war. Now: Are you lean!?"

"YEAH!"

"Are you mean!?"

"YEAH!"

"What are you all!?"

"WE ARE LEAN AND MEAN!"

"Then let's get a move on! Double-time boys, come on!"

The Baker's Batch, now all equipped and ready to run, made a dash from the locker rooms and over to the main hangar bay. Derpy was seen waiting for them, and she smiled to see her brothers all prepped and ready to fight.

"You all look amazing! Now come on, let's win this battle!"

Everyone hopped onto the gunship, ready to take off. Noting they were ready, the pilot started the gunship and so it began to take flight. Everyone held onto the safety ropes hanging above, to keep them standing in case the ship kept rocking violently.

One by one, each of the gunships started to deploy out of the hangar, leaving as one massive group towards the surface. Alongside the gunships were several drop-ships, carrying walkers and tanks to be used for combat.

They flew in tight formation, keeping close together and never once breaking apart from the groups. Once they were deployed, the hangar doors on the Venator closed, and so the crews continued to get back to work.

"Welcome to Nevarro, everyone!" Derpy announced on the com systems. "Captain, make your way towards the surface!"

"Roger that, General!"

The gunships pushed through the clouds as they moved lower to the ground, all joined together as one massive force. But something undesirable was flying right towards them.

"Incoming Vultures!"

A squadron of Vulture droids opened fire, deploying several laser rounds towards the incoming gunships. Staying together, they moved out of the way to try and avoid the fire, but it was too late. One of the dropships was shot, sending it hurling towards the ground where it crashed straight into the ground with a massive explosion engulfing the ship.

Another dropship was shot as well, but in the nick of time, one of the gunships turned its blasters on the Vultures and managed to clean one of them out of the air.

"Nice shot!" The pilot shouted.

"We still got three more of those pests, we're not going to be able to land with them in the air!"

"Move us towards the canyon trenches, we can take cover there!"

And soon enough, another drop-ship was shot out of the sky, and was sent hurling to the ground and exploded upon impact. Quickly, everyone scrambled to make their way towards the canyon trenches to escape, but more fighters emerged from the skies to give chase.

"Ugh, hang on!" The pilot shouted, trying to keep Derpy and her crew safe.

The remaining gunships flew into the canyons with the Vultures still swooping after them. They opened fire, with unfortunately another gunship shot down and sent flying into the walls and exploding. The ships kept avoiding the fire, but one of them spun around, facing the vultures. Quickly, the captain helming the ship opened fire, and the two clones in the gunner seats opened fire as well. Two of them finally went down, but only one was left. The captain kept his fingers on the trigger buttons, praying that he'd finally take the last one out until

KABLAM!

A blast from another gunship took out the last Vulture droid, finally getting a break from attacks.

"No more of those Vultures are after us. We should be okay to land now," the pilot announced.

"Come on then, let's go!"

---

Once everyone was finally set down on the ground and had space from the battle, the troops started to set up camp within the canyons, taking some shelter under an edge of rock. It was big enough to take cover, and plenty of cover from any possible rain or hail-fire from above, at least temporarily.

It didn't help their situation since they had only two walkers still functioning, but they had to work with what they had left. Thankfully, they still had plenty of clone troopers at their disposal, more than enough to perform a siege on the capital. While troops were taking a quick moment to settle down and make their base prepared, Derpy sat on a little rock with a holoprojector in front of her to speak to the Jedi Council.

They had been informed of their rocky but successful landing, and now she was catching up on what everyone else had been up to. Their missions with the Storm Armies in other systems had been going smoothly, and they were doing alright for the most part. Right now, Rainbow Dash was going in excruciatingly long detail on how awesome she and her clone commander were for taking down an entire group of Stormtroopers by themselves. But something else had Derpy's attention. Sunset Shimmer sitting in the chair across from her, looking very anxious and concerned.

“Sunset?”

Her interruption got the rest of the Mane Council to look at her, even Sunset.

“Sunset, are you okay?”

“Hmm? Oh, I, uh. I uh…”

“Darling, you seem distracted. Are you alright?” Rarity asked.

“I dunno, it’s nothing really.”

“Sunset, what have we told you?” Applejack said, putting her hands on her hips.

“… To tell you all if something is wrong.”

“Exactly. So what’s buggin’ ya?”

Sunset, now having the attention of the entire Jedi Council, spoke. “I’m worried for Tw—I mean, Master Sparkle. She told me she was checking out a strange signal, and I haven’t seen her back in several days. This isn’t like her to just suddenly vanish without telling us.”

“Maybe she’s helping fight off an enemy and doesn’t have a way to call us back yet?”

“No, it can’t be. I don’t know why, but I’ve been having these… dreams, these visions. I feel like something bad is going to happen, and I don’t know what.”

The rest of the Mane Council looked concerned, exchanging various glances.

“Try calling her, see if you can get her to call you back. If not, we’ll try contacting her ourselves. I’m afraid I have an important assignment on Devaron.”

“And I still need to try and help deal with the Storm Army invasion back here on Ryloth.” Sunset agreed.

“Speaking of which, Derpy, how goes your siege?” Applejack asked.

“We’ve found their main base, and we’re getting ready for another attack.” Derpy tilted her head back, seeing Commander Bubbles and the rest of the Baker’s Batch waiting. “Oh, I got to go. See you all soon!”

Derpy closed the hologram, and saw that Commander Bubbles was waiting for her.

“Commander, you and the boys ready?”

“Yes we are, General,” Bubbles replied, waiting for Derpy to come and join him. She left the holoprojector, but her expression remained worried. “Are you alright?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes, I’m fine. Sorry, I’m a little worried right now. I was checking in with the council, and Master Sparkle hasn’t reported back in quite a while. She hasn’t been contacting the rest of the main Council for some time now, it’s completely unlike her.”

“Maybe she’s held up with a mission on her own? Or maybe she’s so far out that she has no communication, and is handling a situation on her own?”

“Maybe. I just hope she’s alright,” Derpy responded. "Anyways, do we have our divisions together?"

"Yes ma'am," Bubbles acknowledged. "Bolt is going to take a small squad to the west, patrolling for any energy foundries or any power plants, something to take out their power. We're hoping it will take out the shield protecting the capital, but if all else fails, we could always find a way to sneak in and just disarm it ourselves."

"Fair enough. And what about our division, how many are we taking with us?" Derpy asked.

"Mix, Coil, Roadie, Crow, Vargas, and Tap are coming with us. Mohawk and Patch are taking another division to the east, to search for any locals or possible slave camps."

"Good. If there are any innocents here, we don't want them hurt, we'll need to move them, if any," Derpy agreed.

"Just what I thought, ma'am."

One by one, the called clones got onto a set of bikes, ready to go. Once everyone was gathered, the clones sped off in the distance to search and patrol.

--

After a good while of driving, the gaggle of clones saw a small town just up ahead, and made their way towards it. With Derpy in the lead, she was the first to approach as she grinded her vehicle to a halt. She stepped off her bike, and made a few steps towards the town. Most of the townsfolk were minding their own business, just trucking along just fine. Although they didn't ignore the arrival of the woman in a cloak or the clone troopers.

Eventually, someone stepped forward to greet them; a man in blue skin and frost white hair with a curl up front.

"Welcome, visitor. My name is Royal Pin, welcome to our little village. How may we help you?"

"My name is Master Derpy Hooves, how are you?"

"I'm doing fine, thank you," the man said with a soft bow.

"Are there any Storm Army forces here, or battle droids of any kind?"

Royal let out a laugh. "Storm Army? Please. They never come around here..." and very disturbingly, he got up close and personal with her, and his face turned serious. "We're being held hostage. We cannot escape or leave the planet," Royal whispered.

"How many?" Derpy whispered back.

"Thousands of battle droids. They're in the capital, but they're monitoring all transmissions and sections of the atmosphere. They're watching us."

Derpy softly nodded and continued to whisper, "Tell your people to take shelter. We'll do our best to stop them."

Royal Pin nodded, and suavely walked away. He made a few hand signals to some of the villagers who immediately got the message, stopping whatever it was they were doing and moving straight inside their own individual homes, locking down the doors and windows.

"I guess we don't need to do anything then," Derpy said, rubbing the top of her head.

"General, come in," a voice said from the coms.

"Patch, what's wrong?" Derpy answered.

"We just received word from Bolt's scouting team; they've been ambushed, we're on our way!"

"Understood. Come on everyone!"

---

Derpy and her squad raced on the bikes throughout the valley, sending dust and rocks flying right behind them as they rode. Just up ahead, they could see some smoke billowing, but it wasn't smoke from any geyser or melting materials from the volcanic activity. This was more clearer and more gray than black. Grinding their bikes to a screeching halt, Derpy and the clones got off and stood in horror at the sight before them.

Destroyed bikes, scorch marks everywhere, and of course, dead clones. Dead soldiers scattered on the ground, hit in the arms, the chest, the back, the legs, everywhere. The only clones standing were Patch and his division of troopers, surveying the aftermath.

"Oh my God..." Bubbles gasped.

Derpy and the troops rushed over, looking at many of the downed clones.

"Jim is dead! So is Puck and Clash," Patch analyzed, looking at some of the bodies.

"General! There's one still alive!"

Derpy rushed over to where the trooper called, taking a knee down. The trooper was battered against the rock, holding into his wounds and trying not to pass out.

"Trooper, it's alright, we're here. Brawn, isn't it?" Derpy asked, getting a nod. Soon Patch came over and started to apply some bandages to his wounds. "What happened?"

The trooper coughed, trying not to choke on anything that went down the wrong pipe. "We found a power plant, shield generators, everything that's keeping the entire base protected," he coughed. "But the Stormies outflanked us. Storm Guards, the hairy beasts, they wiped us out. But they took Bolt!"

Derpy gasped. "Bolt? They took Bolt, why?"

"I don't know! I don't know why, but they just captured him and ran off with him!"

The wall-eyed Equestrian didn't understand what was going on. She diverted her eyes over to the main fortress, fearing the possibilities of what they could be doing.

"So... General. You said we were prepared for most contingencies. Did you have a scenario where one of us was intentionally captured?" Bubbles asked.

Derpy blanked with a terrified face. "I don't think I ever did."

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

This looks like a nice start to me for a Clone Wars story. Really getting the feeling that we're gonna be heading into the final, catastrophic moments of the war soon. Hoo boy... can't wait to see how this will play out, Four!