501st and 327th Star Corps
Anakin raised his wrist communicator. "Aayla, begin landing sequence. Get the troops and walkers on the ground."
As soon as Anakin transmitted the order, one of their gunship's port engines was blown apart by enemy fire, and the craft immediately began spiraling downward.
"Anakin, are you still flying?" Aayla's voice crackled through the static-filled communication.
"We're taking heavy fire, Aayla," Steve managed to shout over the chaos.
"Get your troops and walkers planetside now," Anakin ordered through gritted teeth.
"Prepare for emergency landing!" Captain Rex bellowed.
The LAAT gunship crashed hard into the rocky desert plains of Geonosis.
"Is everyone alright?" Steve called out, as the Jedi, clones, and one web-slinging New Yorker groaned their confirmations that they were alive, if battered and in pain.
"Move it!" Anakin shouted, forcing the damaged door open. "Get up! We're sitting ducks if we stay here."
Lightsabers ignited with their distinctive hums as Anakin leaped out alongside Steve, both men quickly scanning the area while the rest of the gunship's passengers extracted themselves from their crashed transport.
Several kilometers ahead lay their target—the massive droid factory—with other gunships successfully deploying the remainder of their forces and AT-TE walkers establishing defensive positions to support the assault.
"Incoming hostiles," Ahsoka reported, pointing toward the indistinct figure of Aayla Secura in the distance, where Natasha was already engaged in fierce combat with Geonosian warriors and battle droids.
"Light up those bugs!" Fives yelled, raising his DC-15 blaster rifle and opening fire on a formation of approaching Geonosian fighters.
"Whoa!" Peter exclaimed, instinctively raising his hands and rapidly firing web-lines to ensnare several Geonosians, pinning them to the ground.
"Nice work, kid!" Heavy said approvingly, giving the young hero an encouraging shoulder bump.
Steve hurled his shield with practiced precision, the vibranium disc bowling over a group of Geonosians before ricocheting back to his hand just in time for him to pivot and knock out a warrior that had gotten too close.
"Where the hell are all these bugs coming from?!" Echo shouted, firing in multiple directions as the Geonosians returned fire with their specialized sonic weapons while others simply flew in to attack with claws and mandibles.
"There are Geonosian hive complexes throughout the entire planet," Anakin explained, slicing through another attacker. "For all we know, we could be standing directly above a major nest."
"Then we can't hold this position," Rex stated, his twin DC-17 blaster pistols blazing as he engaged the aerial attackers. "We'll be swarmed by these insects."
"Alright, let's move out!" Ahsoka called.
"Everyone, we're advancing," Anakin commanded, breaking into a sprint. The rest of the group quickly followed behind him. "We're heading to the front lines to link up with Aayla and the main force."
At the Front Lines
Aayla Secura swung her brilliant blue lightsaber while standing atop the front armor plating of an advancing AT-TE walker.
Beside the massive vehicle were Commander Bly and Lightning Squad—consisting of Cameron, Flash, Lucky, and two other veteran clone troopers.
Most of the walkers had successfully reached the designated landing zone called "Point Rain"—a stretch of open, relatively flat terrain with minimal natural cover, which made deploying the heavy artillery their most critical first objective.
Two Dark Jedi were advancing steadily, their crimson lightsabers deflecting incoming Republic blaster fire as they pressed forward.
The enemy droids and Geonosians were charging straight toward them, supported by AAT hover tanks and spider droids.
"Looks like we're in for quite a fight," Natasha observed beside the Twi'lek Jedi, her dual DC-17 blaster pistols firing rapidly at the advancing wave of droids and insectoid warriors.
"Let's hope we can hold this position until Anakin and Steve arrive," Aayla replied, deflecting a blaster bolt back at the droid that had fired it.
So far, nearly twenty AT-TE walkers had been successfully deployed around their perimeter, though one had already been destroyed by a concentrated missile barrage from enemy hover tanks.
"All walkers!" Commander Bly shouted into his comm. "Focus mass driver cannons on those hover tanks!"
The AT-TE gunners immediately began targeting the advancing AAT tanks, their heavy cannons firing in coordinated volleys, systematically destroying the repulsorlift vehicles in rapid succession.
"Push forward!" Aayla commanded, leaping down and beginning to advance on foot, followed by both the 327th Star Corps and elements of the 501st Legion.
"Sergeant Appo," Natasha called to a blue-marked clone trooper. "Deploy those AT-RTs now!"
"Roger that," Appo acknowledged, activating his helmet comm. "We need scout walkers forward immediately to support the advance."
From the rear deployment bays of all the positioned AT-TE walkers, multiple platforms opened to reveal three AT-RT reconnaissance vehicles, each manned by ARF troopers.
The ARF troopers activated their walkers and directed them toward their advancing comrades, moving at full speed to support the frontal assault against the droids and Geonosians.
They sprinted forward at maximum velocity, their blaster cannons firing at every droid and warrior in their targeting range.
However, immediately after defeating this initial wave of enemies, they were quickly confronted by another full droid battalion being deployed from the factory complex that the 501st and 327th were determined to destroy.
"We can handle all the reinforcements they throw at us, but if we can't reach that factory and destroy it..." Before Natasha could complete her tactical assessment, she ducked under several blaster rounds aimed directly at her.
But her unfinished statement conveyed everything that needed to be understood by those within earshot, causing them to accelerate their advance as they engaged the next wave of droids and Geonosians.
Meanwhile...
Rhodes flew protective escort ahead of Obi-Wan and Luminara's gunship formations, finding the mission significantly more challenging than he had initially anticipated due to the intensity of Geonosian anti-aircraft fire.
It turned out the designated landing zone for the 212th Attack Battalion and 41st Elite Corps hadn't been nicknamed "Point Rain" without good reason. It was a veritable storm of defensive fire, and six gunships had already been shot down.
"Obi-Wan, Luminara," Rhodes called over the communications array as he maneuvered through an explosion directly in front of their formation. "You need to begin your landing sequence immediately. The bombardment up here is too intense."
"The landing zone conditions aren't much better, Colonel," Obi-Wan replied diplomatically, though he couldn't dispute the pilot's assessment.
"Even so, I agree with Colonel Rhodes," Luminara concurred. "Commander Gree, begin—"
"General?" Rhodes called out with obvious concern. "Luminara? Barriss?"
"Their gunship has been shot down," Obi-Wan reported grimly.
"Hope? Hope!" Rhodes called frantically as he executed a series of evasive maneuvers around a squadron of Geonosian Nantex fighters.
He heard a weak cough over the comm channel. "I'm here, Rhodey. Luminara's okay, so are Barriss and most of the clones. Not sure about the exact casualty count yet."
"This level of resistance exceeds our intelligence projections," Obi-Wan observed.
"And it's far more coordinated than we anticipated," Cody added, his expression grim beneath his helmet.
"What does that mean?" Scott asked over the comm.
"Battle droids aren't tactically sophisticated, even their T-series tactical droids have significant limitations," Cody explained rapidly as their gunship began its descent. "Even the Geonosians—their combat doctrine isn't this strategically complex. Which means..."
"Someone else is directing this defensive operation," Obi-Wan concluded thoughtfully.
As Obi-Wan and Cody had theorized, there was indeed someone orchestrating the battle.
Either an exceptionally advanced tactical droid... or perhaps a Dark Jedi.
On the ground, two Sith acolytes were directing battle droids and Geonosian forces to strategic positions as multiple Hailfire droid tanks rolled into formation.
The Dark Jedi Sora Bulq observed several downed gunships in the distance while her companion continued issuing tactical commands.
She was undoubtedly one of the more unique dark side Force users among Dooku's acolytes. With deep blue skin and crimson eyes, Sev'rance Tann was certainly a distinctive individual that Sora had been paired with for the defense of Geonosis.
Sev'rance Tann belonged to a rare species in galactic space—a Chiss military strategist of considerable reputation.
Sora and Sev'rance stood together, observing as multiple AT-TE walkers deployed in defensive square formations to establish a secure landing zone for Republic forces.
Then came a truly jarring and somewhat shocking development.
Additional AT-TE walkers appeared seemingly from nowhere, as if emerging from the ground itself.
"What in the galaxy is that?!" Sora demanded in surprise.
Sev'rance narrowed her glowing red eyes.
"If my assessment is correct, this is the handiwork of the Republic's newest allies," Sev'rance stated coldly.
"The Avengers," Sora said with a venomous glare.
"Concentrate all available firepower and forces on the northwestern sector," Sev'rance ordered a nearby Geonosian officer.
Behind the established perimeter of Point Rain, Hope was helping Luminara to her feet while Barriss attended to injured clone troopers as effectively as she could. She had prepared extensively before the battle, but she understood there were limits to what she could accomplish under these conditions.
"Commander Gree, what's our tactical situation?" Luminara asked, still catching her breath.
"Not too bad, General," Gree reported, pointing ahead. "I believe we're fortunate—we're not far from our objective."
"Barriss, are you uninjured?" Luminara called to her Padawan, who was focused on treating wounded clones.
"I'm fine, Master."
The Mirialan Jedi Master turned toward Hope.
"Then let's advance to the perimeter," Luminara decided, raising her wrist communicator. "Commander Cody, Master Kenobi, do you copy?"
"Luminara, what's your status?" Obi-Wan inquired.
"We're operational," Luminara confirmed, her breathing steadying. "We lost approximately half our transport personnel, but the survivors have successfully reached Point Rain."
"We'll dispatch reinforcements to provide escort to the perimeter, General," Cody promised. "We're encountering heavy resistance at our position."
Suddenly, there was a massive explosion audible over Obi-Wan's communication channel.
"We're taking heavy fire!" Obi-Wan shouted. "We're going down!"
"Scott!" Hope called out desperately.
In the distance above them, the group could see Obi-Wan and Scott's gunship crash-landing beyond the AT-TE perimeter.
"We need to reach them immediately," Barriss declared, helping a wounded clone to his feet.
"Move out, we need to act fast," Luminara commanded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~