Missing leadership

Meanwhile, during your night out, Kota and his men finally found the enemy commander's location. Kota had been planning a direct attack on his location to bring a swift end to this battle on Atzerri. He knew the enemy movements were far superior to a mere tactical droid, someone smarter must have been behind this invasion. Whoever it was, from a trio of capital ships in orbit, his ship had been detected to be making a landing next to a huge nearby lake, just before sunset.

Kota: Finally, he shows his face! There must be an underwater Separatist base at that location, have it scanned and mapped, I need them yesterday!

Trooper: Will be done, general!

Kota: Alright men, secure section 57 and prepare my ship and the special commando unit, tell them to expect a night ****!

Trooper: Yes, general!

Kota: I'm going to put an end to this battle, right there!

As you are heading back to the base, you receive a transmission, it's from the RI (Republic Intelligence) agent, Agent G.

Lana: Agent G! It's been some time! Oh, you are here on Atzerri, aren't you? This channel is a short ranged one, what are you up to here?

Agent G: Hello Lana! Master Kota asked me to help him out here some time ago, sorry for not meeting you earlier, but had my hands full of Separatist encrypted message decoding. I wish the circumstances were different for this message but there's little time to talk... I have two concerning news for you. Master Kota has gone radio silent for half a rotation now. He asked me to send you and your friends this transmission, should anything like that happen.

Lana: Oh, what happened? Where is he?

Agent G: We don't have any confirmed information about him, only guesses. He left during the night to make a night attack on the supposed enemy command centre. However, their comms have been jammed the moment he landed with his men, we haven't heard from them ever since.

Lana: Do you think they were...?

Agent G: We can't say anything, only hope they are still alive.

Lana: Send me the coordinates, I'll be right over there!

Agent G: I'm sending it to you, Drek and Ranvi.

Lana: Why only the four of us? Why don't you send it to Lum... I mean Barriss too?

Agent G: That's the second bad news. Barriss's comm has also been jammed for several minutes now. I can't locate her.

Lana: Great... Tell the others the same, we'll go to Kota's last known location right away!

Agent G: Right, but you won't be going alone. I have already dispatched a battalion of soldiers to provide a distraction for you. We suspect there's a secret Separatist base there somewhere, we can't be too careful with this. If you meet heave resistance of any of the sorts, mission's cancelled, understood?

Lana: Sorry, but I'm a Jedi, you can't give me orders, I outrank you agent!

Agent G: You may outrank me, but these are General Kota's orders, he had a backup plan, should he not return. He's the commanding general of this battle, he outranks even you.

Lana (panel beeping for received coordinates): Touche. Send the men, I received the coordinates, I'm on my way!

Agent G: Good luck Lana, you are going to need it!

Lana: Jedi don't believe in things, such as luck! But thanks!

You end the transmission and head straight to the rendezvous point. You meet everybody behind a hill, which overlooks the lake, where Kota and his men landed. The marks of their ships are still visible on the flat terrain, but there are no signs of the ships themselves or any kind of fighting. First, you have to find the enemy's location before you could launch any kind of attack. Unknown to you, the enemy's scanners have already detected your movements.

Tactical droid: Admiral Trench, the Republic's second wave of **** is about to begin! We have detected a Jedi among the ranks of General Kota's militiamen.

Trench: Just as I have predicted. I love it when all goes according to plan. Prepare the signal jammer and the short range ion cannon. I'll welcome our guests myself, just like last time! When their weapons are disabled, send out the battle droids.

Tactical droid: Yes, admiral!

Meanwhile:

Drek (unpacking his new scanner): I have bought this shiny little thing just an hour ago, you can't believe what they are selling here on Atzerri! Not even the Republic's high tech stuff can match this little baby's capabilities!

Lana: What's that?

Drek: That's the new SE 160! It can trace, electromagnetism, cell level bio activity, etc! It's just great!

Lana: Riiight...

Ranvi (looking at you): That's why I stopped asking him about his stuff, just ask him what it does, rather than what it is.

Drek: In short, due to its sensitivity, it can detect anything, from life forms to droids, within a thousands of kilometers radius! Think of it as a long range portable scanner.

Lana: Why didn't you say that?!

Drek: I just did!

Lana: How much did it cost?

Ranvi: More than we could ever earn through a lifetime, doing an honest job...

Drek: Maybe, but if you consider its usefulness, the rarity of such high tech technology and of course, you'll have to add the black market standard fee of +500% of the original price...

Lana: Soo...?

Drek: Let's just say, buying a penthouse apartman on Coruscant's elite sector would have been cheaper than this!

Lana (astonished): What?!

Drek: Yeah, yeah, that's what Ranvi says, whenever I buy anything, but hey, I have the money for it, why not put it to good use? What good does a few cold metallic rods do to us anyway? They won't save our lives! This baby, might do just that!

Lana: Than get it to work, we have to find the enemy!

Ranvi (sensing something): I... I think they have already found us!

Lana: How do you know?

A transmission is coming in to your communicator. It's an open message, from the enemy.

Trench: Welcome, young Jedi and brave Republic soldiers! I hope you have not planned to **** my position today, because if so, I have to tell you, you are completely surrounded and disarmed. Not to mention, your communication has already been cut off. I offer you mercy, if you lay down your arms immediately. Remember, I hold General Kota and the other female Jedi, along with a few dozen troopers captive. Any acts of **** might cost them... Dearly! I would give you time to think through your options, but I do not want you to believe you have any realistic or overestimated chance of winning this battle. Therefore, surrender, or die fighting, I already have two Jedi captives, adding any more would not accomplish much more anyway. Though, I might spare the food to keep you alive for a time. If you accept my terms of your unconditional surrender, now is the time to say it!

Lana (sarcastically): Are you done talking yet Spidy? The sun is about to set!

Trench: Disrespectful Jedi scum! I will enjoy destroying you personally!

Lana: Just be careful, not to be the one getting destroyed!

Lana (after the transmission ends): Drek, could you find him yet?!

Drek (using his scanner): Working on it...! It has located some kind of passageway down underneath the lake, but the exact location is still being pinpointed!

Ranvi: Who was this spider face?

Lana: You don't know who Admiral Trench is?

Ranvi: Never heard of him.

Lana: He's said to be the best tactician of the entire Separatist alliance. They say he has barely ever lost a battle, save for two, that we know of.

Drek: So he did lose a few!

Lana: Yes, out of a hundred...

Drek: Oh... That makes him statistically quite... Good.

Lana: Yeah, real good...

Ranvi: But not invincible, right? He has already lost twice, what stops him from making a new mistake again?

Lana: That's what I'm counting on too!

Drek: Found it! It's right there, 900 meters towards northeast! A small entrance, by its design, it should be a kind of ventilation shaft. It's only big enough for personnel to use.

Ranvi: Great, we have our entrance, let's pay him a visit!

Soldier: General Ordo, our signals have been jammed simultaneously as the enemy transmission started. What are your orders?

Lana: Get ready to...

You notice a large light blue light glowing stronger and stronger at the middle of the lake. A second later, it gets out of the water, now you know what it is. A huge ion blast! It clashes into the flat plain in front of you, but the blast radius affects you all. It's harmless to every living being, but deactivates any electrical equipment for a very long time. Every soldier's blasters and rifles are useless, not to mention your weaponry, including your lightsaber. Before you realize, hundreds of battle droids are marching out of the water, right towards you. Without any weapons to speak of, you can't fight off so many enemies.

Drek (shaking his disabled and fried scanner): No! Not my new SE 160! I have just bought it!

Lana: Drek, we don't have time for that toy, let it go!

Ranvi (somewhat frightened): What now...?

Soldier: General...? My men are ready to die for the cause, but... I would prefear to give them at least a fighting chance!

Ranvi: We can't let them all die like this! Let them fall back!

Lana (thinking): What should I do now? We could try fighting through the many droids, but it seems hopeless... We should find something out within a minute, before they arrive... Or I could try to pull a fake surrender, I have seen others doing similar feats! It's a war crime, yes, but it could save many lives today. At any rate, time is up!