Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 16 - Clash Between Two Locations (3k words, please continue reading)
HMS Renown displayed admirable tenacity; even without command, it continued its fierce battle against HMS Tranquility, like a warship brimming with indomitable spirit.

The ship's automatic turrets continuously unleashed plasma fire at the Jedi cruiser, determined to carry out the final orders received.

The timer in Rennes beeped, estimated arrival time: 1 standard minute.

The Resistance shot out of the abyss like a bullet and suddenly appeared directly below the Serenity, with its thrusters pointing forward and its side guns pointing upward.

Instantly, the situation descended into chaos.

Driven by a burning desire to avenge its sister ship, the frigate lunged at the cruiser's belly, melting and sealing off the hangar on its flank, and tearing off large chunks of Duonium alloy armor plating. The Tranquility was caught off guard, and its shields were unable to stop it in time.

A second wave of starfighters poured out of the cruiser's flight deck.

ARC-170 fighter jet.

They first flew upwards, then flew over the port wing of the Serenity like a fountain.

They then swooped down, their S-shaped wings unfolding as they moved into attack positions.

At that moment, Renn understood their intentions.

The Repulse was far away and unable to provide support, so they could only watch helplessly as the ARC-170 fighters launched proton torpedoes at the Resistance's thinly armored ventral side round after round.

The first volley of torpedoes was destroyed by concentrated shields.

The same applies to the second round.

The third wave of torpedoes, like a purple torrent, finally broke through the particle shield.

Then the Resistance was engulfed in flames.

The torpedo penetrated the ship's thin armor and blasted everything inside to smithereens.

The fuel tank ruptured, the gas pipeline broke, and a series of chain reactions tore the entire ship to pieces from the inside.

In the blink of an eye, the once-revolutionary "Resistance" was completely destroyed, leaving nothing behind.

For a moment, Rein thought they would soon follow suit, but the ARC-170 fighters did not press their advantage after completing their dive.

Instead, they formed a defensive formation around the mothership, while the mothership turned to retreat, clearly attempting to rendezvous with the already withdrawn "Cheerleader-class" troop transports.

“The Tranquility is retreating,” Stell said softly. “Should we pursue it?”

“…No,” Raine finally spoke after a long pause, “keep your distance and follow behind.”

Although Raine did not directly participate in the programming of these robots, he personally and meticulously trained every robot on the ship with command value.

He named them and gave them personalities.

Make sure to incorporate the ambition to succeed into them.

In this way, apart from one slight difference, there is not much difference between robot commanders and organic biological commanders.

Robots think only based on data.

From a cognitive standpoint, they wouldn't do anything more outrageous than programming Ryan.

The tactical maneuver completed by 3-1 was brilliant, and they even managed to successfully infiltrate beneath the enemy ship.

In a different situation, he might succeed.

Zinis's sacrifice allowed their transport planes and Vulture fighters to successfully break through enemy lines and support Ventress on the ground, but what about 3-1?

In other circumstances, Renn wouldn't let him take that risk.

"Report the damage to the Renown," Raine said.

“The power cell was hit,” Stell reported, “but the explosion was contained. The ship lost power due to the power supply being cut off. Once the crew activates the backup power, the Renown should be able to carry out limited operations.”

Ryan took a deep breath. "That's good. There are 100,000 inactive robots in the cargo hold. Activate them and get us above the Guarara. I'll only give them one chance to surrender."

"receive."

Raine leaned back and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Sir,” Tana’s flat voice was more irritating than usual, “the enemy interference has stopped, we have re-established contact with air command, and the airspace is in fierce fighting between our ‘Vulture’ fighters and enemy fighters, but all the transport planes have landed and the Jedi are retreating.”

“That’d better be it,” Ryan roared. “I’ve fucking lost two ships for this operation.”

……

“I’ve got the evidence, ma’am. I’ve done some simple splicing and editing to make the holographic camera footage look quite convincing. This time it was a bit harder than usual; these two didn’t leave much usable material.” 4A-7’s tone was clearly smug. “Oh, and the Jedi are now close to the main vault.”

“Well done,” Ventress said in a low voice. “Pass it on to Count Dooku and get that wrecked ship started.”

“No problem, Master,” the spy robot replied. “Also, madam, target the young one; she is their weakness.”

Overall, Ventress prefers robots to organic beings.

If programmed properly, they would be the most trustworthy and capable individuals she had ever worked with.

To her, 4A-7 was more like a real "person" than most of the organic creatures she dealt with.

When there's a task, it will do it, and it will do it very well.

For a subordinate and partner, this was all Ventress could ask for.

She rushed to the main vault, placed explosives at each exit, and then hid behind a pillar.

While waiting, Ventress set different detonation sequences for the explosives on the detonators.

As 4A-7 stated, footsteps were soon heard coming from the nearby corridor.

There were the light, gentle steps of the Jedi, and the hard, resonant sound of the clone soldiers' boots.

As soon as the rustling of his robes reached within sword's reach, Ventress burst forth like a red-jacketed beast from Ratatrak, his two lightsabers instantly illuminating.

Swish!

In the blink of an eye, before Jedi could react, she had slaughtered the accompanying squad of clone soldiers. Then she turned to face Jedi.

A lightsaber slashed down in a bloody arc, buzzing with urgent killing intent.

The red and green lightsabers clashed, and in that instant, she saw a look of fear and astonishment on the Jedi Practitioner's face.

Ventress grinned at the sight.

The apprentice fought back fiercely, and Ventress used this momentum to draw another lightsaber in an arc like lightning.

At the same time, she carefully controlled the angle of her lightsaber swing to avoid hurting the crying little Hutt hanging on her shoulder.

The apprentice quickly ducked her head; the lightsaber had almost sliced ​​off her head.

"Barris!"

Onduli cried out anxiously, and with a swift movement, lunged at Ventress.

"Humph!"

Ventress snorted coldly, spun around in place, parried with her lightsaber, and at the same time swung out another lightsaber to attack.

Lightsabers clashed, sparks flying.

While she fought Andoli, she kept an eye on the apprentice.

Paris.

Just then, hurried footsteps came from the dark corridor.

Cloned soldiers.

Ventress's face darkened, and he became anxious.

At that moment, Anduley shouted, "Vallis, take Rota away from here!"

"But Master—!"

As Ventress launched her powerful attack, the Jedi Master gritted his teeth and said, "Go!"

Paris hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to obey her master's orders.

That moment of hesitation cost her dearly.

Ventress concentrated her power, the Force surged, and she shoved Onduli backward. Then she leaped backward and pressed the detonator that she had prepared beforehand.

boom!
An explosion rang out in the corridor where the clone soldiers had arrived, dust and bricks flew everywhere, and the passage collapsed instantly.

With her retreat blocked, Baris had no choice but to charge at Ventress from behind again.

Ventress had to fend off attacks from two Jedi simultaneously.

After exchanging blows for dozens of rounds, she figured out the fighting techniques of the master and apprentice.

Luminara Unduly's movements were fluid and swift, each swing seamlessly connected until her lightsaber transformed into a dazzling green curtain of light.

With each parry, Andoli's attack rhythm became increasingly difficult to keep up with, but she maintained her offensive momentum thanks to her outstanding stamina.

Until Ventress found herself relying more on instinct and the Force than on her eyes to fend off her attacks.

Baris, on the other hand, used a fighting technique that was even cruder than Onduli's, like a kitten trying to imitate its mother but failing miserably.

The two of them worked together to force her against the wall.

Ventress roared, gathering all her anger, and used the Force to push them away, then slashed at them with all her power and fury.

It wasn't difficult to do; she only needed to imagine Ki's lifeless body lying in her arms, and that was enough to ignite in her the urge to destroy this unjust world in order to seek revenge.

“General Anduli,” the Jedi’s communicator crackled, “enemy reinforcements have arrived. Is Little Hutt safe? We must leave!”

Ventress launched a fierce attack while they were distracted, but because the apprentice was in the way, she was unable to find a weakness in Anduri's defense.

The longer this battle drags on, the less chance she has of winning.

Ventress could feel her arms growing weaker and her breathing becoming heavier as her attacks weakened.

She must end this battle as soon as possible.

The Jedi Master asked, "How is the situation?!"

"The separatists have ambushed the fleet, sir! The 'Guarara' is out of combat service, and the 'Tranquility' was also heavily damaged during the retreat. They've sent three robotic transport ships here. We can't hold out much longer!"

“Find my coordinates via communications,” Onduli said in a muffled voice while parrying. “We’re with the little Hutts. Send an evacuation ship and a medic over!”

"It looks like there's a landing platform to your south, sir!"

Almost comically, all three of them turned their heads to face the south exit of the room at the same time.

Ventress immediately retreated, intending to detonate the tunnel, but Onduli charged forward and slashed at her hand.

Ventress managed to block it, but the Jedi parried the lightsaber at a tricky angle, twisted it forcefully, and snatched it from his hand.

Barris reached out a hand and used the Force to rip the detonator off Ventress's wrist.

Ventress used the Force to recall her lightsaber back to her hand, but before she could retaliate, she sensed movement behind her.

She quickly turned around and raised her lightsaber to deflect a burst of energy.

The clone soldiers rushed toward the vault from the southern tunnel, which was in the direction of the landing platform.

The gunboats must have arrived by now.

While continuously deflecting the explosive energy beams, Ventress expanded his senses to assess the current situation.

(End of this chapter)