Clone Wars: Zero Hour
Geonosis- Arena
Celestia stood tall in the gunship as it left the hanger, the other troopers of her unit stood with her despite the force of the gunship zooming through the upper atmosphere. Standing next to her, at about knee height, was none other than Jedi Grand Master Yoda. The little green life form arrived a few hours ago, coming to gather up all available units to attack the Separatist planet and rescue the Jedi already on the surface. The alicorn trooper readied her personal weapon, the Z-6 Rotary Cannon, as the light from the desert planet shined through the slits of the side doors.
Through her radio, she could hear the other pilots and commanders giving out orders. She didn't give them much heed. They were landing elsewhere, completing their own objectives. Her's was to rescue the Jedi, their future generals, and evac them from the arena. Seemed simple enough. After all, they were just fighting a bunch of droids. And if their simulations were to be believed, they were easy opponents.
The doors opened, revealing the orange skies of Geonosis. The troopers inside readied their weapons as the gunship lowered down. The transport then tilted to an angle where she could see the Jedi below. They were completely surrounded by droids, who did nothing to hinder the approaching gunships.
“Around the survivors, a perimeter create!” Master Yoda ordered in his strange version of Basic. The pilots did as ordered and flew into a circle around the surviving Jedi. That was the moment the droids opened fire, but their blasters proved ineffective at damaging the gunships. They landed quickly, giving the troopers a chance to get out and cover the Jedi. Celestia launched out onto the ground and hefted her weapon up. The barrels spun for a few milliseconds before unleashing a torrent of fire into the massive droid perimeter. It only took 12 seconds for a dozens droids to fall before her heavy blaster, and many more followed in the first minute.
A trooper to her right goes down, she quickly destroys the droid responsible. The fire was intense and chaotic, the droids had no idea what was going on. Another trooper fell, crying out as a bolt burns through his shoulder. Celestia used her magic to float the trooper back into the gunship. She watched the last jedi climb aboard, followed by her troopers. Celestia was the last one to board before the gunship took off, and joined the others in their escape.
Meanwhile, in another transport entering the arena, another pony trooper jumped out, her DC-15 blaster rifle leveled against her side. She unleashed a torrent of fire, ripping a Droideka to shreds before it’s shield could be raised. She watched as General Kenobi, Commander Skywalker, and Senator Amidala climbed aboard. One of her troopers went down, but he was quickly avenged. She and her troopers climbed aboard, and the gunship lifted off into the open air of Geonosis.
Once safe, the pony trooper looked at Obi-Wan, and gave a salute. “Good to see you again, General Kenobi.” The Jedi Master looked at her in surprise.
“Captain Cadence?” The pony removed her helmet, revealing that she was, in fact, Cadence. She met the Jedi during his investigation on Kamino, as his escort around the Cloning Facility. Kenobi smiled. “I’m glad to see you too, Captain. Thanks for the lift.”
Clone Wars: 00:02 Hour
Geonosis- Landing Zone Beta
Several gunships land on the barren desert area. The first to exit the transport was another alicorn trooper, the maroon stripes on her armor, marking her as a Captain. Her DC-15c carbine floated next to her as the troopers formed around her. The gunships quickly took off, weary of any possible attacks on the landing site.
The field grew silent, the distant booms of other engagements echoed through the dust clouds. The alicorn trooper activated her comlink.
“Command. This is PL-025, my company has landed, no hostiles at this time, how copy?”
“Solid copy, Captain. Secure the area for reinforcements. A detachment of AT-TE’s are on standby, over.”
“Roger that, Command, will report when complete, out.” With her new orders, she turned to the company. “Alright troopers! Let’s secure this site! I want a spread by platoon! Move!”
The clones charged forward, finding an abandoned bunker. A squad quickly cleared it for any possible traps. They found none, and therefore, allowed the alicorn to move inside. She took a small look around, and nodded.
“Perfect, this will be our Command Post. All platoon leads, gather round me. All troopers, scatter into squads and establish the perimeter.”
A chorus of “Yes ma’am!” sounded out before the troops went to do their jobs. The Lieutenants, marked with blue stripes, stood around her. A small holo-map appeared before her, displaying the area.
“Alright, we must work fast. I want an established landing site for all reinforcements and extractions. Lt. Dimm, your platoon will provide security and coordination of all inbound transports.” The holo-map generated a red square, marking the desired landing site.
“Lt. Lip, your troops will secure this hill to our northeast.” The hill in question was highlighted in green. “Expect resistance from there.”
“Lt. Dryl and Lt. By, your task is to push our frontline away from the landing site, the less fire on it, the better. Try to push past this bunker line, here. Keep the droids off of us at all costs. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am!” “Yes ma’am!”
She nodded and smirked. “Alright then, let’s smash some droids.” An explosion outside rocked the bunker. A trooper ran in, his once pristine armor now covered in dirt.
“Ma’am, the droids are launching an attack!”
The troopers gathered their guns. “Then let’s drive them back.” For Luna and her troopers, the Battle of Geonosis, and their war, had begun.
Master Yoda turned to one of the other Jedi, Master Windu if her memory was correct. “If Dooku escapes, rally more systems to his cause, he will.” Blaster fire from the ground forced the transports to bank right, flying around one of the many spires poking out of the planet.
A gunship to their right took a direct hit from a flak gun, annihilating the transport, and all inside.
“Pilot, land in that Assembly Area.” Master Windu ordered. The pilot complied and landed near a group of officers. Windu, Celestia, and several other Jedi exited the craft, and were met by one of the Battalion Commanders.
“Sir, I have five special commando units awaiting your orders, sir.” Windu simply pointed in the direction of the droid ships, and marched away. The Commander stood there in confusion, until Celestia stepped up.
“Have all aircraft and artillery prioritize the transport ships. Deny any of them the chance to escape. Order our commando squads to either kill or capture any and all Sep leaders they encounter. Count Dooku is a Priority One Target. All other forces are to assault the factories and hide-outs within our vicinity.”
“Yes Ma'am. Right away.” The two nodded and made their way to the frontline. Celestia passed the word through the command net, telling all Commanders to rely on their own tactics. The Jedi may be the ones in charge, but she would be damned before she allowed her brothers to be slaughtered because of their tactical incompetence. Yoda’s gunship took to the air once more, giving the old master an aerial view of the unfolding battle. Lines of clones and droids were about clash in the wide open plains of Geonosis, and the Jedi were about to lead the charge.
Above the carnage, Cadence’s gunship joined a wing that was providing air support, striking at armored targets and artillery positions. She could see some of the Separatists trying to escape. General Kenobi saw this as well.
“Attack those Federation Starships, quickly!” The gunship pilots obeyed, turning to face the ships as they were about to take off.
“Aim right above the fuel cells!” Several rockets were fired, landing just where Commander Skywalker ordered. They watched as the cells collapsed on top of droid infantry units trying to move toward the frontline.
“Good call, my young Padawan.” The transports flew past the ships, as their fuel cells ruptured, annihilating all droid units in the vicinity. Neither of them noticed the airborne starship falling toward a scene of combat.
At Landing Zone Beta, it was chaos. The sudden droid attack threw the company of clones off their original gameplan. They were pinned down by their Command Post, several of their troopers lay dead and wounded across the field. Luna dragged one of them inside, using her magic to keep him steady. His once bright white armor was now smeared in dirt, blaster burns, and blood. So much blood.
They never did prepare us for this. She thought solemnly.
“Incoming!” The pony was ripped from her thoughts by the panicked shouts of troopers. She looked out to see her company taking cover behind spires and in the massive pit on front of the bunker. The sound of something massive coming at her made her look up. To her shock, a massive Techno Union Starship was careening toward the ground, its fuel cells missing.
“Get down!” Troopers did their best to duck down into the bunker, covering the wounded as they did. Luna threw up a magical shield, hoping it would do some good. A few seconds passed before a massive impact rocked the entire sector. Dust kicked up, explosions sent debris everywhere, and the massive ship tore through the droid lines.
This lasted for what felt like minutes before Luna collapsed, her shield along with her. Two medics quickly ran to assist her. One medic in particular, felt like slapping his commanding officer for what she did.
“You idiot! You didn’t have to use that much magic!” He shouted at her as he gave her a stamina boost. Once the yellow substance emptied from the injector, Luna looked at him with a glare.
“What’s your name, trooper?”
The medic stared and answered. “Kix, ma’am.”
“Kix,” She began, “Thank You.” Kix nodded, and helped her stand. “You’re a damn good medic.”
Kix saluted. “Only doing my job, ma’am.”
“Good, now get back to it.” Kix didn’t need to asked twice, as there were still plenty of wounded to help. Luna looked out at the carnage, and saw the wreckage of the ship, the massive structure obscuring most of their position. She hummed to herself, then activated her comlink.
“By, send a squad to secure that wreck, I have an idea.”
Cadence’s gunship fired more of their rockets at the droid lines, causing massive amounts of damage on the enemy forces. She couldn’t help but feel the excitement. After years of training, breeding for battle, it was finally here, and they were smashing those clankers to pieces with ease.
“Look, over there!” General Kenobi pointed to two Geonosian fighters escorting a speeder away from the battle.
“That’s Count Dooku,” Commander Skywalker revealed, “shoot him down!”
“We’re out of rockets, sir.” The pilot informed them.
“Follow him.” Skywalker said, slightly defeated with the knowledge that it won’t be easy.
“We’re going to need some help.” Amidala pointed out. General Kenobi shook his head.
“There isn’t time, Anakin and I can handle this!” The two fighters suddenly turned around, flying past the gunship, when they turned again behind them, and engaged. The small blasts of the flak fire rocked the transport, the pilots swayed from side to side to avoid the fire. Unfortunately, the people inside were not prepared for the sudden movement, while most managed to grab the slings that hung over them, Senator Amidala, and a troopers, however, couldn’t, and they fell from the gunship to the sand dunes below. Cadence tried to catch them with her magic, but the explosions kept throwing off her focus.
“Padme!” Commander Skywalker shouted in horror. He watched as the Senator landed hard into the dune, rolling down the slope. He turned to the pilot. “Put the ship down!”
“No Anakin!” Kenobi intervened. The two began to argue back and forth, giving Cadence a chance to talk to the pilot.
“Follow that speeder!” She ordered. The pilot obeyed and stayed on target. With that, she turned toward the open side door, and jumped. The two Jedi stopped their argument to witness this scene, for a moment, they felt fear for what she was doing. Kenobi was about to use the Force to grab her, but stopped when her wings opened up, and she flew toward the fighters.
The Geonosian pilots watched this trooper flying toward them in surprise, aiming their guns at her as she approached. Cadence, with her smaller size and superior speed, dodged the bolts with ease. She aimed her blaster at the fighter on the left, pressing the trigger for a full auto burst. The burst of twelve rounds shattered the cockpit’s glass, tearing the pilot’s head into shreds. Before the second pilot had a chance to react, Cadence turned her attention to the second fighter, and charged forward. She landed on top of the cockpit, and pulled out her vibroblade. The blade slashed through the glass, and slicing through the pilot’s neck. The fighters went down in flames, leaving the gunship relatively safe.
Dooku watched in surprise as the alicorn flew back into the gunship. The Kaminoans never informed him of any clones that weren’t made by Jango Fett. Once he escaped, he would have to inform his master about this. He pressed a button on his speeder, signalling for more fighter escorts to get rid of that gunship, and that trooper.
Luna dove into the wreckage of the crashed starship turned CP. More troopers have arrived to secure the Landing Site, including the promised detachment of AT-TE’s. The slow, cumbersome walkers advanced toward the droid lines, blasting at the giant Spider Walkers that were approaching.
“Super Battle Droid, take it down!” A trooper shouted. The Super in question was immediately gunned down by three other troopers. Moments later, those three troopers were cut in half by the laser fire from one of the Spider Walkers. An AT-TE to her right fired its top turret at the walker, blowing off one of its legs. The massive machine came tumbling down, crushing a few droids below. Behind the AT-Te, Luna could see Lip’s platoon advancing up the steep slope of the hill. At this point, an equal amount of droids have also occupied the peak, and began firing down at them. Clone bodies rolled down the hill in droves, sending a shiver down the alicorn’s spine.
Her company was all but torn to pieces. It was time to change that. With her magic, she grabbed both her carbine and a dead trooper’s EMP launcher. Her wings spread open, and she took off toward the hill.
From their position, two B1’s could see her coming.
“Uh, sir?” One of them called out. “A flying trooper is approaching us!”
They watched as Luna aimed her launcher directly at them.
“Uh Oh.”
"Roger Roger.”
An instant later, the two were hit by the explosive pulse round, and blew to bits. Several other droids were hit by the EMP blast, and subsequently shut down. Those that weren’t met a worse fate from Luna’s carbine and vibroblade.
Below the fight, Lt. Lip could see the massacre, he turned to his troops. “Well, what are you waiting for troopers?!” He shouted. “Let’s move!” The platoon charged up the hill, getting very up close and personal with the droids.
Luna cut down another B1 with ease, and behind it was a droideka with its shield up. She quickly dove behind a rock formation just before it released a massive barrage with its twin blasters. A squad that was coming to her assistance was gunned down before they could even raise their weapons. Luna was pinned down.
On the open plains, the battle was not going well. There were simply too many droids. For every one Celestia cut down, three more replaced them. Not to mention the swarms of Geonosians that joined in the fray, controlling the skies above them. The only saving grace was the gunships. The nimble transports and their weaponry tore through droid armor with ease, and they were quick to scatter any bug attacks that came their way. The Jedi were no help, being extremely eager to rush into the fray with their lightsabers high.
Troopers to her left and right were dropping by the second. The AT-TE behind her was eliminated by a Hailfire droid rocket barrage.
There is no way this situation could get any worse. The moment she thought that statement, several anti-ship batteries opened fire on the Federation Starship above them. A few well placed shots disabled the massive ship, sending it tumbling to the ground. Right in front of the Clone Army.
The ship crashed with a mighty impact, sending a massive dust storm flying over the battlefield. Everything was obscured by sand. The only visible things were the red signal lights from the back of her brothers’ helmets, and the red and blue bolts of their blasters. The battle didn’t stop. Neither side was willing to back down and regroup. This was a fight to the finish, and would show the Galaxy who was the superior soldier. Celestia would make sure it was her, her sisters, and her brothers, who won the day.
“Forward!” She charged forward, her rotary cannon ripping apart whole squads of droids. Her troopers joined in, organizing into an advancing firing line. The droids began to back down.
The gunship landed on a small landing platform next to a secret hangar. The two Jedi, Cadence, and another trooper jumped out and ran toward the entrance. Just as the gunship took off, t=another fighter appeared. It destroyed the gunship, and killed the trooper. Cadence took aim with her blaster as it made another pass. She landed several shots on the engine of the fighter, forcing the pilot to back off. With the threat dealt with, Cadence activated her beacon, hoping for back up to find them, then joined the two Jedi inside.
Just as she entered the room, Commander Skywalker charged at Dooku, much to General Kenobi’s dismay.
“No Anakin, No!” A strike of Force Lightning sent the young padawan against the wall, incapacitating him.
Dooku calmly approached Kenobi, who had his lightsaber raised. “As you can see, my Jedi Powers are far beyond yours, now back down.” Dooku raised his hand to launch another attack. Cadence quickly threw up a shield to protect Obi-Wan. When the lightning reflected off the shield, both Jedi and Sith looked at her in surprise. Kenobi then turned back to Dooku and smirked.
“I don’t think so.” Dooku pulled out his lightsaber, and invited his opponent to attack. Kenobi obliged, and charged toward the older Sith. The two exchanged a quick blow of sabers before separating. The two circled each other as Cadence ran over to assist Commander Skywalker. Dooku and Kenobi continued to exchange blows, neither side being able to outmatch the other.
“Master Kenobi, you disappoint me.” Dooku taunted. “Yoda holds you in such high esteem.” Obi-Wan attacked again, and his attack was deflected by the Sith Lord. “Surely, you could do better.” The Jedi Master broke contact, and swung at him again.
The fight continued for several minutes until Dooku overpowered Kenobi, slicing his arm and leg with his lightsaber. He then Force Pushed the Jedi up against the wall next to his Padawan. Dooku was about to leave when he remembered something. Where was the four legged trooper?
His Senses warned him at the last second as Cadence dropped from the ceiling, vibroblade in her magic. Dooku blocked the attack, and sent the trooper back. Cadence quickly recovered, and went on the attack. The aggressive behavior of this trooper surprised him. They exchanged several blows, neither of them faltering. When they finally separated, Dooku spoke.
“I must say, trooper, you are very skilled with a blade.”
Cadence glared. “My Creators trained me for any opponent, including Fallen Jedi like you!” She charged at him again, but the Dark Lord was ready. He used the Force to throw off her attack, and before she could recover, he sent a slash across her face.
Luna ducked down as a barrage of blaster bolts kept her pinned down. For a moment, she thought this might be the end. An explosion changed her opinion. She peaked out from behind the rock to see the droideka was now only a crater in the dirt. She turned to see a rocket trooper give her a thumbs up. She returned with a nod, and got up.
“Nice shot trooper.” She turned to look at the battle below, the droids were now retreating back to their main hangar, the clones on their heels. “Now let’s finish this fight.” She was about to jump down to join the fight, when a voice came through on her comlink.
“To any Republic Units, this is CT-2349, requesting immediate assistance. I am currently escorting Senator Amidala, who is requesting support. Beacon has been activated. Message repeats.” Luna checked the signal strength, and marked down the coordinates of the beacon. It was close, just over the next ridge.
“Lieutenant, finish this, fight.” She turned to a clone sergeant. “Sergeant, your squad comes with me.”
“Yes ma’am.” “Right away.” Luna then activated her comlink.
“Command. This is PL-025, requesting a gunship to be relinquished to me immediately, how copy?”
A few seconds of white noise passed, followed by the sound of Command. “Solid Copy, a gunship has been dispatched to your location now. Out.”
“Troopers, with me!” She ordered. “We’ve got a Senator to collect!”
The dust storm began to clear, revealing a retreating droid army. The few that tried to stand and cover the retreat were quickly taken care of. Celestia stood in front of her troopers as their enemy retreated. She activated her comlink. “Inform Master Yoda that the Droid Army is in full retreat.” Finally, they had done it, the battle was ending. All that was left to do was mop up ay resistance, and attempt to capture any remaining Sep Leaders.
But something told the alicorn commander that it would not be as sweet a victory as they hoped.
The gunship landed on the platform, one of the troopers kneeled down to check the pulse of the downed trooper. When he felt none, he bowed his head in respect. That moment ended when a ship rocketed out of the hangar, every blaster opened up on the ship, but none found home on it. Dooku sat calmly inside as the clones attempted to shoot him down. When the ship disappeared, the troops and Senator moved inside. Inside was a scene of carnage. Jedi General Kenobi and Padawan Commander Skywalker were on the ground, Obi-Wan clutching his wounds, Anakin looking at the stub that was once his arm, and Yoda stood over the body of Cadence.
“Cadence!” Luna rushed over to her sister, her first instinct was to check her pulse. Thankfully, one still existed. The rest of her squad secured the hangar, while the Senator rushed over to Commander Skywalker.”
Cadence suddenly jolted, screaming in pain and terror. Luna did her best to keep the alicorn still. “Cadence!” She called. “Cadence, it’s Luna! Calm down!” Cadence stopped, and turned to face the blue alicorn. To the Captain’s horror, her eyes were burned around the rims, and her pupils were milk white.
“Luna… I… I can’t… see…” The wounded alicorn whimpered. “Luna, I can’t see!”
“It’ll be okay, Cady.” Luna said soothingly. “We can fix that, no problem. I promise.”
A trooper called for a medical transport, while Master Yoda sighed in despair. The war he had long feared, has begun.
Coruscant
Clone Wars - Day 28
Commander Celestia stood in front of her Battalion, the 187th, among many other Battalions standing in formation. She watched as any more were boarding onto their massive transport cruisers. In the skies above, dozens more hovered over the city, displaying the biggest military force the Republic ever fielded.
On board one of those cruisers, Captain Luna watched the formations march around below, slightly excited and fearful of the war to come.
In the Medical Bay of the same cruiser, Cadence sat up from her bed. The Medical Droid eased her into a proper sitting position, allowing her to see everything around her. Her new cybernetic eyes, gray in color, looked around the room, blinking every few seconds. Not out of necessity, of course, but more out of instinct.
“There you are, you should now be fit for duty.” The droid reported.
Perfect. Cadence thought. Now I have a chance at revenge.
On the Balcony above the parade grounds, Chancellor Palpatine, Elected Leader of the Republic, watched the massive Clone Army board their ships, a small satisfied smirk was on his face, not that any of the surrounding Senators noticed.
Excellent. Everything is going according to My Design. He watched, and rejoiced, as his plan fell into place. The Clone Wars have begun, and soon, his Empire will rise.
Author's Note
Begun, the Clone War has. Hope you all enjoyed this little May 4th treat.
And if you want more from our Alicorn troopers, let me know and I might just create a small series about this concept.
