As the Clones continued to march through the forest, Kyris's ears began to twitch as they entered a rocky clearing near the mountainside. Holding up his fist, the Clones stopped instantly, and then took defensive stances as the Jedi Master took his lightsaber out and ignited it.

There was silence for several moments, and the Clones tightened their grip on their blasters. The men of the 389th knew to trust their General's senses when it came to stealth operations. After all, Lystraians were keen hunters.

Kyris's eyes narrowed, and in that moment, a single red blaster bolt came out of the treeline, aimed right at the head of Kyris Marchen. Kyris deflected the bolt with ease, and swung his lightsaber into a ready stance.

"Engage!" Kyris cried as the area descended into a storm of blasterfire, the Clones dive-rolling or sprinting into cover behind the boulders dotting the clearing. Soon, they began to return fire, blue-colored lasers now mixed in with the red. Gale spun up his Z6 and motioned for two Clones to take Kyris's left and right sides and open fire.

The two Clones nodded and did so, drawing their opponent's fire towards them and the General. Kyris continued to deflect one deadly laser bolt after another, making sure to angle the shots away from his men.

Then, the enemy pushed into the clearing. A handful of griffons, led by three Commando Droids, came into the open, and lined up their sights quickly and cleanly. Though the Clones flinched at seeing Battle Droids again, much less BX-Class ones, Gale's next words snapped them back into the battle.

"Clankers! Take 'em down quick!" Gale barked, and the Clones immediately focused fire, dropping one with repeated bodyshots, then a headshot. The other two droids rolled backwards, hiding behind a sturdy tree.

"Gale! Droid popper, now!" Kyris yelled. Gale replied with "Yes, sir!" and tossed an EMP Grenade. The grenade rolled towards the treeline and detonated, sending out a blast of pulse energy that stunned the Commando Droids. Two headshots from Patch and another Trooper dropped them both cleanly.

The Griffons, now either enraged or frightened, Kyris couldn't tell which, then split up their forces. Some continued to shoot from behind cover, others fled towards the mountain. However, the ones that stayed soon managed to forget a critical part of fighting with a blaster. Mainly, managing the heat buildup and checking the charge level of the built-in power cell.

Because at the same time, three of the Griffons' E5 Blasters coughed out a dull sound and stopped working, indicating they had overheated or their charge packs had run dry. Some began to shake them in an attempt to cool them faster, oblivious to the fact that the Clones had been waiting for this particular chance to move up.

These Griffons were soon flanked and blasted down, and the remaining Griffon in desperation continued to shoot from the hip.

Only this time, his power cell ran empty as Kyris approached. A single slice later, and the Griffons along with their droid supporters lay dead.

"Volt, get on one of those droids, and see what you can pull." Kyris ordered. The Clone Engineer nodded and pulled out a datapad, then plugged in a splicing cable into a downed Commando Droid's head.

After a few minutes, the Clone disconnected the cable with a sign of frustration.

"Sorry, sir." Volt said. "The data on this droid's completely corrupted. However, I did pull some location data fragments, that's likely where these came from."

"Good work." Kyris nodded. "What's their origin point?"

"This area here, towards the mountains." Volt pointed out on a map readout displayed on the datapad. "There's a small base somewhere in this vicinity."

"Then let's go." the Jedi Master motioned forward with his Lightsaber. "We don't have much time."

As the Clones headed back into the forest at a modest speed, they didn't notice one of the scrapped Commando Droids turn its head slightly, and send a video feed of the Clones' departure to an unknown destination before it shut down for good.

===

"So...they bested my machines." the Cloaked one sighed as he watched the feed from a monitor inside the cavern base.. "These "Clone Troopers" and their Jedi General are far better than I expected. My advance troops were no match for them, I will admit that much."

"However…" he smiled slightly as he brandished a datapad, and tapped a few more switches on the interface. "I have many more surprises in store for you, Jedi. Indeed, I wonder how you'll like the…"

"...enhanced versions I created some time ago. I can hardly wait to test their prowess."

The cloaked one gave a chuckle as a crate opened and the sound of mechanical footsteps could be heard marching once again.

"Enjoy." he laughed menacingly as these "enhanced versions" revealed themselves as they walked into the light, out of yet another container. They were once B2 Super Battle Droids, however, they had been significantly altered from their original forms.

A large blood-red crystal implanted in their chest was attached to cables on the arms, legs, and midsection, and this array was protected by a v-shaped plate of armor colored crimson red. Their legs were also bulked up with additional plating, and instead of one pair of twin blasters on its right arm arm…

Each now carried a J-10 dual blaster cannon in its place, clearly upgraded to reduce heat generation and increase the power of its rounds. They walked slowly and methodically towards their leader. As they approached and stood at attention, the Cloaked one, he merely waved his hoof to the cave's entrance. Then, the droids moved out, their twin rifles locked and loaded.

====

"Sir?" Gale asked as the Clones and Kyris stopped suddenly at hearing the telltale steps of approaching battle droids. "You hear that?"

"I do." Kyris replied, igniting his lightsaber again. "Defensive positions, now!"

As the Clones topped off their weapons and took cover, their blasters aimed at the treeline, Kyris felt a cold sensation run across his face. It was not as significant as the disturbance that signalled Order 66 some time ago, but it was there and noticeable.

As he stood ready, the altered Super Battle Droids came into the open, and gave off a loud roar, before their J-10 rifles opened up. The Clones dove down before beginning to return fire, and Kyris growled out a curse as he leaped behind a boulder.

A Clone Trooper then poked his head out and opened fire, though the bolts from his DC-15A carbine smacked harmlessly into the lead droid's armored chest. The Clone then ducked as another volley smacked dangerously close to his head. Had he been a few inches to the left, his head would've been poked full of holes.

"Sir! We can't punch through their armor!" Gale growled. "Any ideas?"

"If we can't hurt those droids from the front, then get behind them!" the Jedi Master replied. "I'll cover you!"

Gale and two Clones nodded, and as Kyris came out and began deflecting what bolts he could, the Troopers snuck around behind the droids. Seeing a large, exposed piece of circuitry on their backs, spewing electricity and some smoke, the three of them nodded…

...and opened fire. This time, the combined fire from a Z-6 and two DC-15 rifles was enough to punch through the droids' weakly armored rears, and three of the seven droids fell. The other four spun around and attempted to open fire, but their slow, heavily armored chassis was their downfall.

Kyris sliced two in half, and the Clones finished off the others. As Volt scanned the droids, Kyris could sense an air of shock from the engineer.

"These droids are like nothing I've seen." he mumbled. "Greatly increased power supply, armored chest and central processor...whoever built these knew how to work with droids."

"I think it wise to call for backup, and get some heavier firepower on our side." Kyris said, and Gale pulled out his commlink and relayed the General's request back to the base.

"We hear you sir, gunships en route." the Clone dispatcher replied. "ETA is one minute."

As the commlink image faded, Gale changed out the power cell on his Z6 and looked over his squad before calling out for a head count. As the Clones responded one by one, Kyris turned to the thicket that the droids came from.

The strange, cold feeling washed over him again as he did, and he shivered slightly. Focusing hard, he closed his eyes and tried to sense what lay ahead using the Force.

In his mind's eye, he could see a cave entrance, a barricade of Griffons, and a cloaked pony in black. As he looked at him, an overwhelming sensation of danger washed over him, and a pair of ghastly red eyes burned into his mind. In fright, he stumbled back, his eyes flaring open.

"General!" Gale called, catching him and helping the Jedi steady himself. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I think so," he replied. "Where's our reinforcements?"

"They just arrived." Volt said, as two Gunships flew over and began to hover above them. Two extra squads of Clones deployed in, and to Kyris and Gale's surprise, Celestia and Luna dove down, their lightsabers at the ready. They wore modified Jedi armor with robes over the plating, emblazoned respectively with the sun and moon.

"What are you doing here?" Gale asked.

"You forget, Commander, that we are former Jedi." Celestia said. "We have lived for over 1000 years, and have fought countless battles in our time. We are not strangers to warfare."

"Very well." Kyris replied. "Bravo Squad, you're with Princess Celestia. Charlie Squad, you're with Princess Luna. You're under their command for the remainder of this operation."

"Yessir!" the two Clone Sergeants of each squad replied. As several Troopers retrieved rocket launchers and Thermal detonators from the Gunships, Luna sighed and turned to Gale.

"We should expect stiff resistance." Luna said to the Commander.

"I agree, Princess." Gale replied. "All troopers, lock and load, and make every shot count. We're going in!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" the Clones replied. As they advanced into the dark thicket, the sky rumbled overhead, signalling an incoming storm.

Author's Note

Wow.

Just wow.

I don't think I've taken so long to update a story before. At least, one I haven't deleted. Anyway, I hope it was worth it.

Next time - The strike team meets the Hooded One, a battle ensues, and soon, Equestria must prepare for war.