18 Through Passion I gain strength 4 (1/2)
Republic Assault Ship Dauntless
near Rodia
Outer Rim
To my pleasant surprise Piett agreed to loan me couple of platoons and transports for my idea to go after Grievous who I felt was able to somehow reach the second Munificent. I was able to perceive his location in the last seconds before crashing on this ship but my mind was too busy at the time to consciously comprehend what I felt. But now, when I was not under the great strain needed to suspend the failing apart of my fighter I could feel the cyborg. His was a ghostly presence, not so different by the hundreds of droids manning the enemy frigates. Yet I could feel his general location. If my guess was right, the General had been on the Munificent that lost its aft section while I and most of CAP that came to our help were busy blunting the first fighter wave of the enemy reinforcements. Then, like the kriffing bugger he was, Grievous managed to get away from the crippled ship and fly to the one of the newly arrived frigates.
I wanted his metal hide nailed to the nearest conveniently placed flat surface so I came up with a plan to assault his new ship. Piett had agreed but refused to sent the LAAT's and the clones under his command until the enemy fighter strength was further reduced. As a result I was waiting with the two platoons which the ensign decided to loan me for the head clanker hunt.
I was with lieutenants CT-316 ”Cat” of 36th Platoon and SNP-159 ”Snape” of the 71st along with their senor NCOs. We were looking at a holographic image of Munificent projected by an emitter placed on a stake of crates. My plan was to disable the reactor of the frigate and thus prevent the ship from running into hyperspace or enacting a self-destruct. The fact that it would also cripple its shields and weapons was the icing of the cake. It also would mean that Piett would send additional forces to help secure the frigate. The Ensign was reluctant to deploy more of the forces he was responsible for before he was reasonably sure that the ship won't be able to either run or be blown away as a final act of spite. When you take into account that at the moment I was just a mercenary with no formal standing with the Republic I was glad that Piett had agreed to back the operation in the first place. After all as far as he was concerned I was an unknown variable. We were discussing what forces would be needed to achieve the secondary objective – capturing the bridge and Grievous if he did not come after us.
”Sir, unless we have more men or Jedi support, we won't be able to go after both targets. Not unless the Munificent is low on ground troops. Both platoons should aim to secure the reactors and only deal with Chief Clanker after additional troops are available.” said Cat.
”That's why I said that the bridge is a secondary objective. If Grievous comes after us I'll deal with him. If not, we'll take the reactor and I'll go after him while you hold the engineering section. ”I nodded. ”I want at least half of the men coming with us to be carrying heavy weapons...”
=RK=
I was relieved when I sensed the presence of Shaak Ti and Ahsoka coming from an escape pod which was brought on board by a pair of LAAT gunships. I ran to the escape pod before it had been placed on the deck, followed by a group of medics. The life boat was filled like a can of sardines. The only hale people were the Jedi Master, a single clone from Green company and couple of doctors. The rest were all wounded in one fashion or another, most of them critically.
Ahsoka, who had her leg splinted gave me a sad smile.
”Please tell me that the worm did not escape.” she pleaded.
”Gunray is toast.” I gave her reassuring nod. ”Master Ti, I plan to go and board the frigate on which Grievous took refuge. The commander of this ship agreed and will provide me with two platoons of clones of this operation. Do you care to accompany me?”
The older Togruta woman gave me a surprised look.
”How do you know that he is present?” she asked, clearly not convinced.
”I felt his presence before landing here. Taking him out will turn this debacle into a disaster for the Separatists. They already lost a lot of hardware for nothing. With Grievous disposed of the Republic will have a strategic advantage in this sector. It may even be enough to slow down or even outright break the current CIS offensive.”
”It's a bold plan.” Shaak frowned. ”But it has merit. You are correct in your assessment of the situation. You should know that the assassin Ventress was on the Tranquility but managed to escape. She might be able to make her way to Grievous.”
”Even better.” I grinned under my mask.
”Taking out both of them should be beneficial for the Republic.” she said after a long moment of silence.
While we were talking, the medics were busy transporting the wounded to the med bay. Tano was arguing with them but shut up when I turned my masked head at her.
”Ahsoka, go get that leg fixed. Right now you are not up to a space borne assault. Go.”
She grumbled quietly but complied, to Master Ti's amusement.
”She's a little handful, isn't she?” asked the older Togruta.
”Ahsoka is teenager. Nothing surprising there.” I shrugged.
”This is Ensign Piett. The enemy fighter number are sufficiently reduced to allow for your plan, Veil. You are free to deploy at your discretion. Don't get my men killed.”
”You heard the boss, boys. Let's go!” I shouted and ran to one of the waiting LAAT's.