Star Wars: Rath (Shaak ti x oc)

Chapter nine hunt for Grievous

-Salucami-

Grievous and a handful of droids stepped out of their damaged escape pod. The General had received repairs to the damage his brother caused, though rudimentary it would have to do until he returned to Vasik, and his lair, <We must find a way off this planet before they find us.> Grievous said, he then heard the sound of large engines when looked to see an acclamator-class frigate fly over him, <Kenobi and Rath...we need to hurry and find an escape pod.> as the frigate landed Clone and Death Troopers exited, along with AT-TEs and speeder bikes, Rath and Obi-Wan were walking side-by-side, discussing their plan to capture Grievous, the Jedi received reassurance from Rath that he had no illusions about saving Grievous, Kenobi remembered what the kaleesh cyborg had said, (That's no longer my brother, he died inside his ship, what remains is merely a shell...) he then turned to Rath and explained the strategy to him, "Instead of splitting up our forces to look for the escape pods, we'll move all our forces to landing transport first." Obi-Wan said, Rath shook his head, "We'll split up, your men head to the giant foot, my men and I will search the pods, besides we can both agree that the slimeball has enough of a head start already." Rath countered, "Zero will go with your men, a small strike team can move in and find Grievous, without giving away their position, it's our best bet to find him." Obi-Wan nodded, his companion was right, Blackwatch was a relatively small unit, but they were skilled which more then made up for their small numbers, "Very well, where will we meet?" he asked, Rath activated a hologram of the planet surface, "We'll meet here, on this ridge, it's a good vantage point and can provide cover, for the walkers, rendezvous there at 2200, see you later general." Rath said, "Do try to leave some droids alive for us Rath." Obi-Wan said smirking, back with Grievous he was getting restless, <Contact the fleet.> he said, a droid holding a datapad replied to Grievous's request, [Sir our transmitter has been destroyed.] It said, as it looked at the pad again it noticed a ping on it, [There is only one escape pod that survived.] Grievous turned around and looked at the droid, <We must get there as quickly as possible.> he said, <Let's hope the transmitter is still intact.> he paused to take a breath, <Now find me some transportation.> Grievous ordered feeling lazy, back with Obi-Wan's squad they had stumbled upon what remained of Grievous's transport, "General Kenobi!" Rex shouted, stopping beside the Jedi's walker as Obi-Wan turned to look at the Clone, "Sir the cruiser's returned to orbit, any sign of Grievous?" He asked, Obi-Wan's gaze fell on the wreck as he answered the captain's question, "I think we just found Grievous's ship." he said, Rath and his Death Troopers were at the first escape pod and there were signs that Grievous was here, the tracks were obvious clues to that, "Grievous was definitely here, these tracks were made by droids...and what looks like some local wildlife, I think the good general's getting lazy... how typical." Rath said disgusted, "Maya get on the horn with general Kenobi and jam any offworld Separatist communications, the coward can't escape if he can't contact his fleet." <Yes sir, activate jamming signals and contact general Kenobi!> Maya ordered, the troopers followed her orders and jammed Separatist communications off planet, they were ready to close in on Grievous, and Rath was using his tracker skills to follow Grievous's trail,

-Two hours later-

[Power low...] [Shutting down...] [I can't go on...] these were pretty much all Grievous had been hearing for the past two hours, and it was annoying...well actually everything the droids did annoyed him, he rolled his eyes as one of the droids gave the general another status report, [Sir, we need to get our power cells recharged.] it said, Grievous threw his hand in the air he was beyond irritated now, <Not this again!> he snarled, <How could your power cells be so depleted?> [You would not let us ride on one of creatures with you sir.] the droid retorted acusingly, it was about to find out that complaining was a mistake, [if you would allow us to close down for a fe- OH MY GO-] it shouted as Grievous cut the droid in half, he turned to the other battle droids and growled at them, <Any more complaints?> he asked menacingly, [Ah no nope I don't think so.] They all said unanimously, <That's what I thought.> Grievous said satisfied as he put his lightsaber away, then he spurred the beast into moving, [Yikes...] one of the droids muttered, before it was blasted by Rath, he looked at Maya who began deciphering intel on where they were going, <We know where Grievous is going sir, 34 klicks dew north.> she said, Rath nodded, "Good work captain...hey look over there." Rath pointed out, they saw 11 Rancors looking at them with curious eyes, "Someone's tamed these Rancors, a very impressive feat...mount up we're riding the rest of the way." <Yes sir!> came the united reply, the Rancors were saddled already and looked like they were used to people hopping onto their backs, Rath to his surprise had mounted a Bull Rancor, this type of Rancor was extremely rare and were far more resilient then their normal counterparts, the kaleesh cyborg smiled under his mask, "I think I'll name you...Sauron, it fits you." Rath whispered to the Bull, who seemed to purr from hearing the new name, he liked it, turning to the other Rancors Rath could tell from the markings on the creatures, that they were from Dathomir at some point, Sauron's marking were a shade darker than the rest, and were a dull gray from scars,

-Ten hours later-

Obi-Wan was in the midst of a duel with Grievous and was pushing him back, the Jedi had disarmed Grievous of one lightsaber before he was kicked back, the general looked at the ship that was trying to get him offworld, but couldn't because of the walkers firing at it, <Forget trying to land!> he said as he climbed up the pod he had used to call the ship in the first place, a grappling hook extended from Grievous's right arm and embedded itself on the side of the ship, he then started laighing as clones fired at him, <Jedi scum!> he spat as he kept laighing, however that changed when the line that attached him to the ship was shot, causing him to plummet in front of the ONE person he had really hoped wasn't on Salucami right now, "Ready for round two Grievous?" Rath said coldly, Grievous responded by grabbing two lightsabers and igniting them, "That's a yes then, alright then bring it!" he shouted igniting his own sabers and the two charged each other, as both cyborgs clashed Rath started predicting where Grievous would strike as Grievous split his arms to four as two lightsabers, were employed against Rath, but Rath had a few tricks of his own as he split his arms and grabbed two more lightsabers behind his cape, igniting them he started spinning them like sawblades, Grievous went wide-eyed as did the Clones and their Jedi general, as Rath advanced his top lightsabers spinning and cutting the ground, Grievous struck but Rath blocked Grievous's four pronged strike as Rath began fighting more aggressively, using his brother's own agression against Grievous, as the two fought Rath kicked Grievous hard enough to bend his chestpiece nearly crushing his lungs as Grievous doubled over in pain before coughing hard, "You're done monster, any last words?" Rath asked, but he jumped out of the way when the ship fired at him and landed, a super battle droid grabbed Grievous and dragged him into the vessel, Rath turned to his and Obi-Wan's men, "Stop them!" he ordered, they fired but the ship was already out of range, "COWARD!!!!" Rath roared, Obi-Wan looked at Rath who bested Grievous at his own game, "Not bad, that's usually Grievous's trump card, and you managed to damage him." Kenobi said, it lightened Rath's mood a bit but not by much, "Yes but now we're back to square one..." the general said, "We failed to capture Grievous, Zero contact Shaak ti and tell her to set up the sparring ring!" <Yes sir!> Zero replied, "And tell the Endurance to send a ship to pick us up..." Rath finished, he knew that this wouldn't be the last time he saw Grievous though, he then looked at Sauron who was looking at Rath as if asking him if he could come with him, "Yeah you can come my friend." Rath said as a ship meant for carrying heavy things landed and the Rancors got in, "Are you sure about the Rancors Rath?" Obi-Wan asked hesitantly, Rath nodded, "These ones were raised on plant life, their herbivores." Rath replied, "Each Rancor eats differently from others, most Dathomir Rancors are omnivorous, while others are carnivorous or herbivorous." "Well thats reasurring." Obi- Wan said, "But I think they'll make an exception just for you, after all I think they like that beard of yours, heh think I can smell the cake now...'" Rath joked, causing every trooper to burst out laughing, as they left Salucami and returned to the war.

Done and done. Remember to rate comment and give advice so I can improve, next time Rath Jedi master Kit Fisto and Jedi knight Nahdar Vebb, stumble across Grievous's lair, see you then!

(Here's a trailer for the end of the story so you know what to expect.)

(Minus the Force crush but fighting Sith instead of Jedi, this also demonstrates Rath's ability to resist the Force.)