I ended the transmission and left it on a loop, leaving it to broadcast locally and hopefully only being picked up by any Jedi comm links in the area. I could only hope that the person I was calling on to help still had his… and that his guilt was strong enough to push him to come to our rescue.
As for me… I went to SFO and bought a whole cluster of sonic grenades and a sonic rifle, 900 hundred credits cheap.
I might not be the combat monster that Rowv was, but dammit if I couldn't help in some other way! Maybe at least take off some of the blaster fire from her if nothing else.
So before I could talk myself out of it, I quickly flew to the site of the battle and prepared for combat. One we'd either win and escape from… or die trying.
"Trial by fire and all that…" I muttered to myself as I finally got a good look at the fight between Rowv and the Inquisitor, who… was that the guy from the Ahsoka show? Dammit! Why did I never get around to watching that and potentially knowing something about him that could help?!
Complain later, act now!
While Rowv was seemingly keeping up parity with the Inquisitor–an amazing feat in-and-of itself–the power couplings that kept her whip swords together could actually clash with his lightsaber, currently in its single blade form while troopers surrounded them both with their blasters raised, but not shooting. They most likely wanted to avoid potentially hitting the Inquisitor/their boss, but I'm sure if they saw an opening they would totally take it and blast Rowv full of holes. And while Rowv was good, and had killed many much more dangerous people before. Bad positioning was bad positioning.
There were a lot of troopers around, even if most of the shuttles I saw couldn't land on the unstable ground they had dropped off at least most of their payloads, and I knew said shuttles could carry at least 30 troopers at a time… which meant we were very much outnumbered as a whole on top of everything else.
Not to mention with the V-Wing flying overhead on patrol, getting away on a ship would not be easy either… but that was planning too far ahead as right now I needed to thin out the herd.
So with that in mind I activated my personal shield and gungan shield on my arm, primed a sonic grenade, flew near a large group of troopers while they were distracted by the fight, and then threw the grenade at them all, my throw assisted by my suit's enhanced strength. The sonic grenade flew true and exploded the second it made contact with a poor trooper's shoulder, exploding out in a ball of condensed sound that broke bones, pulped organs, and sent all the troopers nearby, at least half a dozen of them, flying and hitting the ground heavily injured if not instantly dead.
I didn't let up, firing my sonic rifle at anyone I could as I flew past, getting a few hits and glancing before finding some cover as my actions finally grabbed the troopers' attention and they focused on me.
"We've got a bogie!" A trooper called out as those that were watching the melee battle turned their focus at the person shooting and throwing grenades at them. "Take them down!"
Those words sent a veritable rain of blaster bolts my way, making me very glad that I had landed and found some cover among the trash rather than floating up in the air in one place. Most of the shots hit the trash around me, but a few did bounce off my gungan shield as I kept it forward and blaster with my sonic rifle from behind it. This older model wasn't the instant death giver that the geonosian modelwas, it was made for human hands for one thing, but it had more shots and better range while still being a deadly weapon that most armors weren't designed to defend against, to say nothing of lightsabers.
Of course, I couldn't even think about trying to shoot the Inquisitor as troopers focused on my position and tried to chase after me as they focused fire on where I was taking cover.
Thankfully the trash covered world did not make for easy traversal to where I was held up, especially if you didn't have a means to fly like I did, so most of the troopers had a very slow going trying to get close to me while climbing the unstable garbage. Still though, I couldn't stay there forever since they would make progress at some point, or at least keep me so pinned down I couldn't support Rowv, so I needed to change positions constantly to keep them on the back foot. It was a good thing I could fly and, as always, go invisible.
So it was with another thrown sonic grenade to force the troopers to take cover that I quickly activated my stealth field generator, flew back and around all the troopers, repeated my earlier attack from an unexpected angle, and then did it all over again.
It was not the most honorable tactic, but a death by a thousand cuts was classic for a reason.
Of course, given that these were clone troopers and not the later stormtroopers, they adapted quickly to my tactic; not staying too close in groups to be targeted for grenades, keeping their flanks covered as I moved around so they could spot me faster, and in general doing the best to try and pin me down, but my ability to zip around, occasionally turn invisible, and my shields made me a rather tough and annoying enemy to take down, especially over all this unstable terrain that wasn't easy to move around in.
I was just thankful that this force had no bigger firepower to try and throw my way, like rocket launchers or mortars.
Still there were a lot of troopers still around and they were doing the best they could to avoid dying, which also meant keeping me from backing up Rowv with her fight. I had wanted to deal with at least most of the troopers as fast as possible to focus on shooting the Inquisitor in the back or something, but that wasn't happening as quickly as I wanted.
However, while I was focused on my own fight I still could help the sound of a swinging lightsaber clashing with Rowv's own weapons and even caught glances of their fight from time to time as I moved around, idly noticing the Inquisitor had engaged his lightsaber's doublebladed mode and was going at Rowv rather aggressively.
Obviously, however, I couldn't focus on that for too long and just had to trust her fighting ability in general and just do the best I could to make sure she had as few distractions as possible until help arrived or a chance to escape came up. I had no idea how long the fighting had gone on for at this point, it felt way longer than the few minutes it actually likely was, but I knew we couldn't keep it up forever, especially not on our own.
Still, I like to think that given the circumstances we were doing pretty well all things-
"AHHHHHH!" Rowv suddenly roared in pain, distracting me from my current efforts as I turned and saw as she flew threw the air and was violently impaled on some rusty metal pikes sticking out of a trash pile, one going through her left shoulder and the other through her right thigh, and kept pinned there by by the Inquisitor's outstretched hand despite her visible efforts to free herself. Though I did notice she had kept her grip on her swords, even if currently she couldn't lift her limbs to use them.
Goddamitt! How could I forget about the fucking Force?!
As strong and skilled as Rowv was, she was no Force user to resist it, nor did she have the brutish machine strength of Grievous' cyborg body to help make up the difference and tank hits.
"Cease fire!" the Inquisitor shouted out, near instantly making the troopers stop firing, even if they kept their weapons focused on my position and I kept hidden behind the hunk of rusted metal I was currently hiding behind.
I had a decent idea of just why he had given the order, which I was not looking forward to, but it at least gave me the time to gather by breath, reload, check my shield energy levels and try to figure out some kind of plan.
"Show yourself, trash hiding among the trash!" the Inquisitor shouted out. "Surrender yourself to the Empire now, or are you too much of a coward to do so that you would prefer to let your comrade die?"
"AHHHH!" Rowv roared defiantly,alongside the sound of screaming metal as the Inquisitor no doubt applied more pressure with the Force pinning her down, but this didn't stop her from speaking up in dissent. "The only coward here stands before me, dar'jetii! My death means nothing, finish it if you dare!"
She likely had no idea how accurate her wording was at this moment, given how many Inquisitors in both Canon and Legends were former Jedi tortured and mindbroken into the Emperor's service.
"Your death will come, but on my terms," the Inquisitor told her before speaking up again. "And whether or not the one you call an ally is willing to hear you scream for mercy as I enact it, or is brave enough to give themselves up so that you might live just a little bit longer. After all, what is hope without believing desperately that something will deliver you from your suffering if you just are willing to hold on long enough."
"I guess you would know, Inquisitor! Or should I say former Jedi!" I finally yelled out, equal parts scared and pissed off about the whole situation as I subtly bought a spare communicator and linked it to my helmet before leaving it behind where I was hiding, turning invisible, and stealthy started flying around towards their location. "That's right, I know what you used to be! And I'm sure if your former self could see what they had become right now they would have killed themselves before ever letting it happen! How does it feel, to suppress the galaxy you once swore to protect the freedoms and rights of in the service of the Sith?! How long did you even last before you bent the knee?!"
I was taking a huge fucking risk right now, but while I was no Jedi the principles of Dun Möch were the same even for a normal person, use taunts and jeers to distract and throw others off their game. And it was more effective the more ammo you had to work with that hit the target close to home.
Judging by the few moments of silence my words brought it was certainly a surprise if nothing else, before coming back with explosive anger.
"How do you know about that?! Who are you, traitorous filth?!" The Inquisitor yelled out.
"The only traitor here is the one holding the red lightsaber!" I fired back through my communicator as I kept stealthy moving. "And the one who thinks if they do a good enough job their boss with the breathing problem will give them a pat on the head and keep them around like a good little akk dog! Seriously, was this truly the better option than becoming one with the Force?! Staying true to your ideals until the end while spitting in the Dark Side's eye?!"
"You know nothing about what I went through, nor the power of the Dark Side!" he growled.
"I know for a fact they keep you and all the other Inquisitors neutered and don't teach you anything but the bare minimum to function as the hunting hounds you are! Or are you gonna tell me you don't notice how weak you've become in other ways since drinking the Dark Side juice! All the Dark Side does is help make up for your weakness from losing access to the Light Side, and maybe give you an edge against the remaining Jedi who went into hiding, most of whom aren't even Knights!" I taunted him. "You aren't even a Sith, you are just an expendable tool they send out to hunt down the Jedi, the ones they consider the real threats. Not the tamed, beaten, whelp you've become."
I might have been leaking in more than a little of my own frustration that I have been keeping mostly within myself ever since I came to this universe, and it was honestly nice to let it out against one who deserved it.
Oh, sure, many Inquisitors were broken victims as the Sith as well, but right now I didn't really care about that as this one was currently torturing Rowv with his powers.
"If you truly believe I am so weak, come out here and best me–like your friend attempted," the Inquisitor baited me. "Learn first hand why I am called the First Brother among our order!"
"Oh, does that mean that you were the first to break and lick the Emperor and his own leashed attack dog's feet? Or the first they send out to do all the crap work?" I continued to taunt. "After all, I don't see any other Force users standing around in the middle of a mountain of trash! They must have thought you would blend right in here."
"Raaaaggghhhh!" the man roared before I heard Rowv scream in pain again. "I tire of this! Show yourself or I shall end this cat's life!"
"Awww, is baby upset that he is being bullied, and can't use his little laser sword to solve all of his problems?" I taunted some more as I found myself with a clear shot at the Inquisitor's side, still hidden from his sight while he focused on the direction of where my voice was coming from. "Go ahead! Unlike you, I'm not weak-willed enough to let some freak in a mask break me into doing what he wants. I ain't nobody's bitch!"
I primed a series of grenades, a cold feeling settling into my chest.
"Insolent pest!" the First Brother roared. "I will enjoy-"
He didn't get to say much more as I threw several sonic grenades his way, making him stop short and spin my way, most likely sensing the danger, and threw out both his hands to catch them in midair. Unfortunately for him, I had expected that and set these grenades to explode after a few seconds, which he quickly learned as they blew up in front of him and tossed him back a bit.
They weren't close enough to kill, but they most certainly rattled him as Rowv was no longer being pinned down and flew forward while blasting my sonic rifle at him.
Unfortunately, rather than attempting to block them with his lightsaber like he would blaster bolts, Inquisitor still had the sense of mind to quickly grab a chunk of metal with the Force and use it to cover my blasts, saving his life. I, however, kept blasting it to keep him pinned and quickly moved over to Rowv, who in a moment of pure badassery, had already pulled herself off the rusting metal spikes and despite her clearly bad injuries was still standing and ready to fight.
Which was good, cause by that point the troopers had noticed my actions and were reacting rather appropriately.
"Blast them!" a trooper ordered, which all of his brothers quickly followed as Rowv and I ducked behind some cover, my shield out and defending the slightly slowed down togorian.
This unfortunately also meant that the Inquisitor was no longer being pinned down and was being helped up by the troopers, which meant we were soon gonna be facing a very mad Dark Sider soon.
"You have my thanks for returning for me," Rowv stated as she deflected a few bolts with her spinning ship sword, only grunted a little at the pain for the action. "Know that if we die this day, I'm proud that it was by the side of one so honorable and brave despite your relatively limited fighting ability."
"Same here, but let's try to focus on not dying if at all possible!" I yelled back as I did what I could to fire into the approaching troopers while keeping us covered. "We need to get out of here!"
"I fear given my current injuries I would slow you down, and we are cut off from our means of escape" Rowv stated evenly. "It would have been wiser to leave me to my death and hide among the refuse of his world if your goal was survival."
"That can be my goal without leaving behind my only flesh and blood crewmember!" I pointed out between blaster shots. "And as your captain, it's my job to keep you alive to the best of my ability in exchange for you following my orders! So I order you to stay alive!"
"Hahaha! Yes, Captain!" Rowv roared in laughter as she stood by my side. "However, I am unsure how we shall, given the odds stacked against us."
She was right, of course, and I was thinking about dumping all of my money into the SFO for a hail mary as the troopers gained more and more ground when it happened.
The 'it' being from seemingly nowhere a bunch of junk droids, droids put together in a mismatch of parts from small crawlers, to humanoid, to huge rusty constructs seemed to burst out of the trash all around us and dove onto the troopers in savage abandon. They attacked with chipped and broken blades, barely functioning blasters, various tools and equipment of varying terrible quality, and even those own bodies and limbs of bludgeoning tools or even exposed wiring to shock them to death. Naturally this ambush caught the troopers completely off guard, finding enemies all around them and at least matching their number if not outnumbering them, forcing them to turn their fire towards their new enemies or risk being totally overwhelmed and killed.
However, despite how they looked, the junk droids could take a beating, especially the big hulking ones, even though by all accounts they were so mismatched and damaged-looking they shouldn't have been functioning at all! In fact, based on what my downloaded knowledge about droid maintenance told me, they really shouldn't be holding together nearly as well as they were. It was especially confusing what was powering them all since by all accounts, according to my helmet's scanners, they weren't being powered by anything.
But I knew for a fact that they were being powered, just not by traditional methods.
"Defend yourselves!" the First Brother, finally recovering from my sneak attack, roared as he cut down countess junk droids from the seemingly endless waves of them coming out all around them, his lightsaber spinning like a buzzsaw to destroy as many as possible as quickly as possible while at the same time defending himself from stray blaster fire. "What madness is this?!"
"No madness, only the Force!" a deep gravelly voice called out as from a large trash pile a small figure jumped into the fight, balanced on two mechanical limbs while two other ones held a yellow bladed lightsaber pike that the First Brother was nearly unable to intercept before the figure backed off. "You are not welcome here, Sith trash! And I will not allow you to hunt down any more of us!"
Standing before the First brother, balanced in between his mechanical limbs, was a tiny reptilian aleena Jedi Master wearing not robes, but rather in clothes that would be more fitting on a mechanic than a warrior monk; with a thick protective apron, a toolbelt, and a single magnification device on the fight side of his head, but there was no mistaking the his skill with his weapon nor the way his held out his hands to direct his junk droid forces.
Before us all stood none other than Jedi Master Kazdan Paratus.