The Weaving Force: Chapter 105 (Patreon)

Chapter 105:

Taylor:

The Council chambers were full to bursting. Not with just Council members, but nearly every single combat-capable and ready Master and Knight available to the Order.

The ones that couldn’t physically fit inside the room were gathered in various antechambers, watching and listening intently via holo plinths.

Well over four hundred Jedi.

All for a single war council. 

“Has this information been verified?”

“As much as we can with available instruments,” Obi-Wan answered Master Asuar with his signature calm confidence. 

It didn’t take my fellow Jedi long to pounce on the information Alexandria and Dennis had given me, once I reported it to them.

I kept my name out of it as much as I could, of course. I didn’t need the political enemies making things harder than it had to be.

But it seemed like I hadn’t needed to.

Everyone knew: we were losing this war. 

Everyone knew that we needed to hit a target that would cripple Federation industrial capacity enough for the Clone production to match and eventually surpass the CIS’s expendable droid numbers.

The Jedi were fighting a war for survival, and at least on some level, they knew it.

So they acted with a startling level of decisiveness here.

Within hours - not weeks or days, hours - probe droids, recon teams, spies, and informants had been contacted and findings returned.

The conclusion  was clear, and, as more and more evidence piled up, became indisputable: Geonosis wasn’t just a manufacturing plant. It was the largest military base the Republic had ever seen.

Conservative estimates placed the number of ships, weapons platforms, and satellite-fortresses in orbit in the hundreds. Amongst those were nothing less than ten super heavy capital ships and two dozen Lucrehulks converted into full on battlebarges. 

The troop projections, between estimated droid stockpiles and native Geonosian soldiers on the surface, numbered in the billions.

Probe droid scans indicated that there were no less than twenty massive fortresses on planet, each guarding either a titanic anti orbital cannon, the entrance to the underground hives, or the factories, or some combination of the above.

On top of that, the relative isolation of the system meant that there was only one hyperlane entrance.

Which meant the whole fleet would be dropping out of hyperpspace in one direction. Either bottlenecked or - more likely - giving their enemies hours or even a day’s advance warning by needing to drop out of hyperspace much further away so as to avoid the natural death trap.

Master Ausar looked grim, his eyes lowering once more to the dataslate as he read over it again.

“Do we have estimates,” Master Piell began, “of how many forces would be needed to even begin to take this world?”

“The droids are updating their calculations as new data come in,” Kenobi replied with professional calmness, “but our current projected force requirements are… greater than we’re comfortable with.”

“Out with it, Master Kenobi,” Sora Bulq cut in, a scowl on his wrinkled features. 

Obi-Wan sighed, bowing his head. 

“According to preliminary estimates, we would need to commit no less than fifteen percent of the entire Clone army, almost seventeen percent of the current Republic navy, and six to eight percent of the Jedi order’s battle strength.”

I could feel the congregation scattered across its various rooms go utterly cold. Vicky hissed at my side with a long, drawn-out ‘Fuuuuuck’ under her breath. Fear, anxiety, and dread formed a thick cocktail of stress around us. 

“That,” Master Plo Koon began with visible hesitation, “is not a level of force we can spare lightly… if at all.”

“It's just one planet,” Adi Gallia whispered, her voice horrified. “This… this can’t be accurate.”

“It’s an important planet,” Master Piell groused. “One that they’ve had months, if not years, to fortify and re-fortify, testing wargame after war game, until it’s become what we see here. It very much can be accurate, much as we might not like it.”

“The orbital war is where they will have the greatest advantage,” Master Tiin, the greatest fleetmaster of the Jedi observed, fingers brushing over his datapad. “Once we break through there, we should have the advantage on the ground.”

“If we can break through,” Master Koth said quickly. “These anti-orbital defenses are not for show. And their commander will likely be Sev’rance Taan. She is a prodigy in void warfare.”

“Even if we break through, our infantry and ground combat capabilities might be too compromised to launch a ground invasion,” Ki-Adi Mundi noted.

“We have no choice other than to attack,” Sora Bulq commented. “Regardless of how many losses we endure, if we do not strike at a droid plant, we’ll lose the war. Who knows how much longer it will be before we find another target of similar value. And it is all but guaranteed any we find will be similarly fortified.”

“If we attack with this many forces and fail, we’ll lose the war outright. The Jedi will be beyond crippled.” Master Billaba spoke up for the first time. “While Obi-Wan stated it would be seven percent of the Jedi order… it will be the most senior seven percent. The Masters, the Knights, Padawans on the cusp of Knighthood. We’ll be utterly decapitated.”

At long last, Master Yoda… moved.

The little green man leaned forward, and all eyes turning to him as he spoke. His steady, even voice calmed the other Masters and assembled Knights. 

“Hrm… A responsibility… neither the Jedi nor the clone army alone can bear, this attack is.” He nodded. “But, alone we are not. Allies, we have.”

“You mean the enclaves?” Master Mundi asked. “Their numbers will not turn the tide here, and many of those numbers are derived from our own stock in terms of their senior staff.”

Yoda shook his head. “No. Others. Invested in this war they have become. Corellia…” He paused. “Mandalore.”

Some shifted in clear surprise at the proposal.

“The Jedi are defenders.” Mace spoke up, looking at the Grandmaster. “Can we still claim to be that if we’re calling on other worlds to prevent us from suffering casualties? To make them suffer in our place.”

“The Jedi have never fought wars alone,” Obi-Wan pointed out, raising a single finger even as his arms remained on the armrests of his chair. “And while we are defenders, we no longer have the numbers to be what the galaxy needs. Not alone. If Corellia and Mandalore are willing to cooperate with us, whether to avenge the attack on Corronet, or to go after their Death Watch terrorists… Well, beyond stiff necked pride, I see no reason to discourage them.”

“Beyond Corellians and Mandalorians dying in droves, you mean,” Koth protested.

Master Poof turned his head towards the Zabrak. “The Clones are not ‘more expendable’ than either of those factions. Or are you suggesting otherwise?”

The rebuke made his fellow councilman wince, clearly realizing his error at the unwitting implication. 

“On that note,” Obi-Wan swept into the opening very quickly to point out, “the Corellians and Mandalorians have the luxury of volunteering. They would fully know the risks involved, and have the power to accept or shy away of said risks. But, tactically speaking, we cannot afford to turn away any form of help given the sheer scale of this operation and the manpower resources needed to undertake it effectively.”

Mace Windu breathed, pinching the bridge of his nose before he spoke up in a voice serrated with an edge of impatience. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. We haven’t even fully discussed what battle groups, legions, and reserve forces we ourselves can commit to this offensive. How many Jedi Masters and Knights are ready and willing to take either command or front line positions within it? This battle will easily dwarf any we’ve been involved in previously.”

All eyes turned to Rancisis and Poof, the ‘designated’ General and Logistician (respectively) for most large scale operations

“Currently, on Corruscant, we have eight fresh and fully-armed battle groups,” Poof reported. “Knight Skywalker’s 501rst, Master Kenobi’s 212th, Master Dallon’s 707th, Master Bulq’s 309th, Masters Tiin’s and Rancisis’s 219th and 408th. Additionally, there is the Corruscant defense force as an emergency reserve, but I imagine we would not wish to commit them. On Kamino, I’ve been informed by Master Ti that there are four additional legions prepared. They, however, lack any combat experience.”

“All combined, how many soldiers does that give us?” Ausar demanded. 

“As you know, many of the Legions have less-than-uniform numbers due to casualties, replacements, and unique battleforce compositions for various tasks and roles. But, all in all, we would have roughly thirty-seven point eight million Clones.

“Not nearly enough,” Piell sneered at his screen. “How many other Legions can we divert to add to this force?”

“The bulk of my command can be commited,” Master Windu offered. “Operations here are almost at a close. It’s not ideal, but I could roughly bring eighty percent of my available battleforce.”

“That would bring us to roughly forty million Clones,” Poof said, nodding as he received that reassurance, his large head on his long neck looking very stiff. “By our current data and estimates, one clone is worth upwards of twenty battledroids on average. Which would equate to roughly eight hundred million as a projected value. Not factoring in Jedi assistance.”

“It also assumes all clones will make it onto the planet.” Piel pointed out. “That’s not a guarantee; especially if Corellia doesn’t join us in sufficient numbers to act as the void war spearhead.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Master Halcyon cut in, one leg crossed over the other, fingers interlaced over his stomach. “I know my fellow Corellians. I expect they’ll exceed even your most generous estimates at a chance to avenge the attack on Coronet. 

“I’ll count those particular eggs once they’ve hatched,” Piell scowled.

Halcyon shrugged. “Fair enough. I can also pull a part of my forces away here to commit to this offensive. Fifty to sixty percent.”

“If we can scrape together even more reserves from the Enclave defense forces,” Master Billaba mused aloud, “and assuming Mandalore joins us as well, it might be possible to take this world. But we would need many Jedi bringing enough of their strength to bear directly on the battlefield to make up the difference in manpower and swing the tide in our favor.”

“Hey uhhhh… aren’t we forgetting something?”

It took a second to realize someone other than the Council members had spoken.

All eyes swiveled over towards-

“Anakin?” Obi-Wan called. 

The young knight bowed quickly, stepping forward. “Sorry, Masters. But… we’re discussing things as if droids are the only thing we might be facing here when… I think it's rather obvious that won’t be the case.”

He gestured behind him, towards Vicky. “Just recently, Master Dallon confronted a weapon possibly funded by the CIS as a means of killing her, specifically. We just ran a seminar on how to counter Jedi Hunter droids, with Cortosis armor. On Illum we confronted a dark Jedi and we’ve already pointed out how the Seps have had time to fortify this place to an absurd level. Who’s to say what other weapons and tricks they have that we haven’t seen. Not to mention whatever the Sith might be up to. We have a confirmed sighting of Vosa, recently, but we have no idea what’s been happening with C'baoth, much less the elusive Sith Master.”

“Get to the point, Skywalker,” Bulq said.

I could sense the annoyance in Anakin’s force presence, though he suppressed it quickly. “The point, Master, is that I don’t think this is a battleground where we can afford half measures and non commitments. As Master Billaba pointed out, if we lose here, we’ve lost. Period. So we have to commit everything. The Council members that have commands that are tied down elsewhere need to give command to a subordinate they trust and come here for this battle. All Knights and available Masters here in the temple need to be placed in Legions as quickly as possible and assigned command roles if possible. Jedi Task forces need to be made to hit valuable targets with Clone commandos. And yes, even the Coruscanti defense forces need to be committed as well. If the Chancellor or the Senate disagree with that last measure, that’s fine, but the effort and argument should still be made to them. We can’t assume that we’ll be facing the ‘same old droids’ as usual. Not with a target this valuable to the CIS war effort.”

“We are-”

“Correct, young Skywalker is,” Master Yaddle cut in, surprising the others.

It wasn’t often the most pacifist of the order advocated for what was effectively ‘Total war’ on this scale.

The small green woman breathed deep and slow. 

“Strong, the Dark Side has grown. Sense it, I do, that in direct conflict we will be upon this world, Geonosis.” She looked to Yoda, who nodded gravely in response, agreeing with her assessment.

“Present upon this world, I, too, believe the Sith to be.” the Grandmaster said. “Go there, the Council as a whole must. Contend with it. Defeat it we must. As many Masters and Knights can be found, march to battle they must. Agree with Knight Skywalker, I do.”

That shut up any protests pretty damn quick.

—

By the time the meeting was done - or, at least, done for the day, because I had no doubt the Council would be reconvening tomorrow and the next day and the next day and all the days and weeks it would take to finalize everything before we set out for Geonosis - the amount of Clones we’d roughly be committing to this attack was scraping the upper fiftys in terms of millions; the number of Jedi Masters was around two hundred, and Jedi Knights were almost a thousand. 

Corellia and Mandalore would be contacted. And, whatever they added, if they added anything, would be put on the scales before a battleplan would be drawn up, redrawn, discussed and redrawn again before finally being finalized.

Every single Jedi Council member would be committed to the battlefield barring four: Master Yaddle, Master Poof, Master Gallia, and Master Tsui Choi would remain behind. 

Just in case the worst happened, those four would be entrusted to lead the Jedi order through the harrowing times ahead.

A possibility and task that no one really wanted to contemplate. 

There was a disquiet now hanging like a pall over the temple. A dread and - yes - fear clouding everyone’s mind. The halls were choked with it like a thick miasma.

It was suffocating.

I couldn’t blame them. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t more than a little nervous myself.

My conscious mind couldn’t even really grasp the scale of what was about to happen. In just a few weeks, the entire surface of a single planet and the space surrounding it would be engulfed by wholesale war.

It brought to mind Scion. The Warrior. The flashes and fragmented shards of memory of my final battle with him. Where worlds burned and millions died to buy time and nothing more.

Needless to say… I wasn’t exactly in a better headspace right now than the Jedi at large.

I felt Vicky’s hand slip into mind, the touch hidden by the fold of our robes as others marched past us.

I turned, looking to her, and I wasn’t surprised to find that she was looking at me in concern. 

“You ok?” she whispered

I nodded… then hesitated. “Don’t know,” I answered honestly. “Think so. You?”

She took a long deep breath, pausing for a fair moment before she shook her head. “I don’t know, either,” she laughed. “This is… this is so much bigger all of a sudden, ya know?”

I did know. I did understand. 

I just… wasn’t really sure how to help. 

“Taylor. Victoria.”

We both turned, looking behind us to find Master Plo standing patiently behind us.

Vicky let my hand go. We owed Master Plo some discretion, if only nominally.

She turned, smiling. “Hey, Master. You good?”

“I was about to ask both of you the same,” he answered gently, gesturing for us to follow into a nearby balcony for some privacy.

We did.

As the Corruscanti sun kissed our faces, I saw Master Plo pause, his silence stretching on for a long, long while. Long enough that Vicky and I shared a look of concern. 

“Master?” Vicky called.

“I wish…” He paused. “The coming battle on Geonosis will be… dangerous. Chaotic. And it is inevitable, given your abilities, that the Council will request the two of you undertake immeasurable amounts of the fighting onto yourselves. Tactically, I’m already aware it’s not possible to keep the two of you in one location. You’re just too valuable.”

Vicky winced and the bugs around me began to hiss and snap in agitation.

I hadn’t considered that.

But he was right.

It made the most sense that, when we deployed, Vicky would be committed to one side of the battlefront, and I to another.

That’s how we usually did things.

Only, our “battlefronts” were usually measured in kilometers. Not planets. 

“I’m… not asking for the both of you to simply be careful… but to be wary.” He paused again, and this time I could sense the conflict within him. A personal war waging within himself . “Of the orders you receive.”

Vicky and I went stiff.

“W-wait a sec,” Vicky said hesitantly next to me. “Are you saying…?”

“You think someone in command will give us bad orders to get us killed? That they’d risk that? There? With the stakes being so high?” I demanded, a list of suspects shooting up to the forefront of my mind.

“I… cannot claim with certainty that they won’t,” he answered, somewhat dodging the question as he shook his head. “I sense… a darkness amidst the Council. Like the darkness in the galaxy, growing, devouring. I will discuss it with Masters Yoda, Windu, and Yaddle… but… just…” He sighed, turning to face us. “Be careful.”

Vicky nodded. “We will. We promise…” Then she shot out her finger, poking Master Plo in the chest. “But you gotta promise us something, too!” she demanded.

The Kel-Dor waited patiently. 

“If anything does happen to us, then you gotta take care of Karla and Iskt!” she demanded.

I didn’t like contemplating either of us dying. But the possibility, I knew, was all too real.

So, my own disquiet aside… I looked to Plo-Koon, nodding wordlessly.

There wasn’t anyone on or off the Council I’d trust more.

“You took on two students before, so clearly you’re the best qualified!” Vicky continued. “And you can teach Iskt to stop being so snarky.”

“I wasn’t able to manage that with you,” Plo joked, making a smile tug at my own lips.

“I am clever!” Vicky corrected, her hand going to her chest. “Not snarky.”

“Says the woman with a stylized V on her Lightsaber hilt,” I deadpanned. 

“See!” she gestured towards me with a cheeky grin. “Clever! He gets all his snark from her side of the family!”

Plo-Koon shook his head. He was still troubled. We all were. But I think he appreciated Vicky’s attempt at easing his mind. Distracting him.

Either that, or I was just projecting.

Geonosis - its implications and its dangers - still loomed very very large in all our minds… probably most of all in Vicky’s. 

(X)(X)(X)

I do love me my War Logistics :3

Next chapter we will be checking into the auxiliaries. Our Mandalores, our Corellias and others.

Geonosis is "The Great Battle of our time" as Gandalf would say and I am hyped to write it!