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"I thought you said they wouldn't use orbital bombardment on the planet?" Wrex asked with a wide grin as the ground shook heavily. In the distance, they could hear another building collapsing.
"I said they couldn't just bombard the entire planet into submission. I never said they wouldn't at least target some of the fortified positions from orbit." Seraphiel countered. "It would be idiotic if they didn't utilize their orbital supremacy at all." The shaking had become a rather familiar feeling in the last few hours.
"At least they're not shooting at us. Anymore." Shepard commented.
One of the ships in orbit had taken a shot at the arena, whether by mistake or on purpose, but had immediately been brought down by one of the Champions present, and the other ships had not been stupid enough to try again.
"Out of curiosity. You implied yesterday when meeting with the Senator that you could deal with the fleet in orbit. How would you do it?" Wrex asked, brimming with curiosity. He was powerful as well, but his skills were more suited to direct combat, not as a strategic-level threat. "I know you punched a Reaper to death, but I don't think that's what you meant."
"Rip out chunks of the city and throw them at the ships in orbit with telekinesis," Seraphiel explained curtly. "Not a complicated tactic. A ten-ton piece of metal accelerated to near relativistic speeds is something very few ships can survive. Now, I couldn't manage those sorts of speeds against targets on the ground, but in orbit? That's a long way to accelerate an object."
They walked outside just in time to see several bulky ships landing, just to deploy large numbers of droids and even tanks before lifting off again for another trip. Not all of the ships landed or left intact, as some got shot down by ground-based assets, but enough did that the droids slowly but surely started pushing deeper into the city, while fighters flew overhead to target any positions shooting at the landing vessels.
"I hate droids," Yoruichi muttered. "They're not created to be used against Shinigami, but they still manage to circumvent most of our abilities." Many of the Shinigami abilities were based on their enemies having souls after all. That's what it meant to be a Soul Reaper. "Luckily they're kind of useless. I just hope droids don't become a common feature in armies."
"I doubt it," Shepard stated. "We used some droids in the past as well, but their inability to level makes them kind of useless against any moderately powerful foes. Even a normal infantryman can increase their power a lot after a hundred levels, and training to that level isn’t exactly hard. A bit time-consuming, but not hard."
More and more droid ships swooped down. As soon as they managed to clear a proper landing zone, the droids were followed by Jedi, who took control of the droid forces. They were mostly opposed by Republic security forces, law enforcement, and Jedi, as the Republic didn't have a standing army. The progress made by the Separatists was quick and efficient. While the Separatists were not targeting civilians or infrastructure on purpose, they weren't going out of their way to avoid collateral damage either. Some of the Separatist Jedi were attacked by those defending Coruscant, although the two different Force sects seemed somewhat unwilling to engage each other fully. Unlike with the Sith, even when on opposing sides and of differing philosophies, there were still too many bonds between the two groups of Jedi.
“Well, this is going to take a while, but I don’t think the result is in doubt.” Shepard voiced what they were all thinking.
As they were preparing to go back inside the arena complex, they noted a couple of the Separatist Jedi approaching them. One of them was a Human with long brown hair and beard, and somewhat advanced age, while the other one was quite a bit younger, although also sporting a beard and shorter hair of the same color. “May I request your time for a moment?” The older Jedi requested in a rather pleasant voice.
"You may," Shepard stated, taking the lead.
“Would I be addressing one of the Champions gathered for the event, and their retinue?” The Older Jedi asked, while the younger one looked at them with a searching, but not hostile gaze.
“I am Shepard, Champion of Athena.” Shepard nodded, before pointing at Seraphiel. “This is Seraphiel, Champion of Charlotte Richards.”
“Who?” The younger Jedi blurted out in obvious confusion, before catching his error. “My apologies. I am Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was disrespectful. I simply haven’t heard of a god by that name, and I think I might remember as it stands out a bit.”
The older Jedi smiled a bit. “My former Padawan is still a bit impulsive at times, but I must confess I share his dilemma. I am Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.”
“That’s alright. Charlotte is what you’d call new here.” Seraphiel grinned. “I’m quite sure you’ll hear more about her in the future. She’s not the type to hide for long. And apologies accepted.”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“My thanks for your graciousness.” Qui-Gon bowed a bit in thanks. “We approached you to apologize for the actions of the captain who fired on the arena. You already administered punishment, but they would’ve faced punishment from us if you had not. We are here to assure you that you are not in any danger from the Separatist forces, for as long as you do not participate in the battles to come.”
"I do not speak for all the Champions here, but I will personally happily remain neutral in the internal issues of this galaxy, for as long as we are not attacked," Shepard reassured the man. "However, I assume that for several Champions there likely exists a certain level of brutality that they can tolerate. We realize that the realities of war can be brutal at times, but I would advise against being too heavy-handed towards civilians."
Qui-Gon nodded. "Agreed. And we will try to limit the damage. We are not here to destroy the world or kill the inhabitants. Some of our forces are rather bitter due to the treatment they've suffered under the Republic and have already lashed out, but we are trying to curb their worst excesses.”
"I must ask. Are you here to simply strike at the leadership or actually taking over Coruscant?" Shepard lifted a hand to forestall Qui-Gon's answer. "I ask because if you are taking over, there is a matter you should be made aware of."
“I’m listening.” Qui-Gon prompted.
Shepard explained the issue with the Monstrum, and the fact that they’d been helping a Republic Senator deal with the problem.
"I see. This might turn out to be a serious issue. We will have to confirm what you've said, but assuming you're telling the truth, we will likely also request your help, and perhaps the help of other Champions for the same purpose." He looked thoughtful. "Perhaps, as a compensation for the event being canceled, we could organize an event and a competition of sorts to see who can eliminate more of these Monstrum, and reward the winners in a manner similar to winning the event."
"That could probably work," Shepard admitted.
"Something to keep in mind. I'll bring this up with our leadership. In the meantime, I ask you to keep to the arena and let us wage our war. We hope it'll be over quickly, but we also recognize that this is quite wishful thinking. This is Coruscant. Even the Republic can't maintain full control of the world. Invaders like us would face even more problems." Qui-Gon seemed quite realistic about the prospects. The two Jedi made a bow before making their exit.
“They were relatively handsome.” Yoruichi suddenly commented.
“Also Jedi.” Seraphiel shot that line of thought down straight away. “Just because they’re Grey, doesn’t mean I don’t dislike them, although they’re a bit less sanctimonious than their pure Light brethren. They also don’t exactly revel in emotions or pleasures.”
“Hey, just because you have a hateboner for them, that doesn’t mean I couldn’t have some fun.” Yoruichi countered with a cackle.
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The battles went on for several days. The Senate building and the Jedi Temple were among the first to be taken, though how many of their quarry they found at either location was not something publicly advertised. Considering the ease at which they had been taken, the group assumed most Senators and Jedi had chosen to hide instead of throwing their lives away in a futile gesture. Not that the Separatists necessarily needed or even wanted prisoners or public executions. The symbolic value of taking both buildings was already quite sufficient for their purposes. That didn't stop the Separatists from searching though.
Constant patrols went around the area, but even in the beating heart of Coruscant, the sheer number of levels made efficient patrolling quite difficult. As such, it wasn’t a huge surprise that some of the Jedi managed to sneak back in. What did come as a surprise, was that they’d come to the arena.
“I’d like to seek asylum and protection from the gathered Champions.” A young female senator from a planet called Naboo announced.
The other Champions, or at least two dozen of those at the arena, were also present as the senator made her appeal.
“When you say you’d like, you don’t mean just you though.” One of the Champions, a wizard of some sort judging by his equipment asked, looking at the large group of children and a handful of Jedi watching over them. There were also four more senators present. “You mean the whole group.”
"Non-combatants, all of us." The young senator stated in a reassuring voice. "The children are Younglings from the Jedi Temple, and those watching over them are caretakers, mostly those dedicated to raising the next generation, not frontline Jedi."
“The Younglings I can see counted as non-combatants and civilians, but senators and Jedi Knights? That’s another matter.” Another female warrior clad in rather scant leather armor pointed out. The woman seemed to be some sort of Half-Giant. “So far, the Separatists have assured us they’re going to respect our neutrality, but if we start harboring fugitives, things might change. Not that I’d mind caving in some robot skulls, but it could still be annoyingly tedious.”
"I like that one," Wrex muttered.
“Of course you do.” Shepard gave a sigh.
"I seriously doubt the Separatists are going to have an issue over those here. Even us Senators are all those who supported the reforms they wanted before the war. You could call us sympathetic to their cause." The young senator explained.
"And what exactly do you want? We're not going to stick around here to protect you forever., even if we were to agree to provide asylum for now." The original wizard pointed out.
"We would like to negotiate with the Separatists for safe passage off-world. We are even prepared to accept exile from this galaxy in trade. We'd simply like you to make sure we can have those negotiations without fear of reprisal." It wasn't that simple of course. By sheltering these fugitives, the Champions would be declaring they'd attack the Separatists if the Grey Jedi decided to come into the arena to apprehend the fugitives. They would also be hard-pressed to just abandon the fugitives if the negotiations didn't work. In that case, they'd most likely have to take them along and hope the Separatists didn't want to attack them, thus giving the fugitives the result they wanted anyway, no matter how the negotiations went.
Seraphiel noted that the group was rather tactically chosen as well. Aside from the Younglings, the Jedi and the senators were all young and female, notably also rather on the attractive side. They’d clearly been chosen to elicit a protective reaction in the Champions, who tended to be on the heroic side of the scales by their very nature. This was a political ploy as well. And judging from what she could see of the expressions of the Champions gathered here, it was working.
Shepard noted the same thing and glanced questioningly at Seraphiel. She lifted an eyebrow and nudged her head towards the Younglings, the implication clear. Shepard really didn't want to throw the kids to the wolves. Seraphiel knew the Grey Jedi would likely induct the Younglings as part of their order instead, but she couldn't be certain and wasn't exactly opposed. She was wholly neutral on the whole conflict, and this little issue seemed to be likely to blow up in the faces of the other Champions, not her. She knew karma would somehow pull her in as well, karma being a bitch like that, but she wasn't opposed. She knew they could always escape if necessary. They'd arrived here thanks to her powers. They could leave the same way.
She made a non-committal shrug, which was enough for Shepard.
As the other Champions negotiated about taking in these refugees, Seraphiel realized something. There was another dimension to this play. As the Republic didn’t have a standing army, they needed time to get one going. Time that could be bought by bringing in an army from the outside. And who better to negotiate with than the Champions? If the Separatists wanted to apprehend these people, they’d likely have cause. Not that the Champions would see it that way. It was an intelligent play, and she doubted it had been cooked up by the young senator leading the group. If it had been, the young woman was a lot more savvy and devious than she’d assumed. She’d have to keep an eye on this, who was it again? Padme Amidala?