The Burning Earth

I do not own Star Wars the Clone Wars. It belongs to LucasFilm and The Walt Disney Company.

「Chapter 11 – Hammer Down」

PART 2

ACT I FINALE

War does not determine who is right – only who is left. ~ Bertrand Russell

Washington D.C.

DAY 2: Monday, July 22 – 4:20am

Sergeant Dawson peeked behind the corner of a building before signaling an all clear. The Rangers and remaining clones of the 501st were now coming up on the intersection of 18th and F Street, heading east towards the White House in the heavy rain.

"Man, the silence is killing me…" A Ranger whispered to his comrades.

"I'd rather have the Seppies shooting at me to this rain and silence." Hardcase added.

Lieutenant Appo shushed them. "We're coming up to the Eisenhower Building."

"This'll lead us right to Whiskey Hotel."

The two dozen men finally made it to 17th Street, directly across the street from the Eisenhower Building. The soldiers ducked behind cars, buildings, and ruble as they waited for the all-clear.

Tup brought up a pair of electrobinoculars and scanned the immediate vicinity.

"See anything?" A trooper asked anxiously.

"I—I think I see—" Before Tup could finish his statement, gunfire opened on their position, forcing him to take cover.

"Sh**!" Dawson cursed and ducked down. "Contacts! Open fire!"

The Rangers and the clones returned fire on the barely visible enemy Russians. The heavy rain made it hard to see, not to mention the fact that the streetlights were all out. Only the occasional burst of lightning illuminated the streets enough for the soldiers to generalize the position of the enemy.

Appo turned to three of his men and signaled for them to head up the left flank, while also directing two more to take the right.

Nodding, the clones did as they were ordered while the Rangers and remaining clones pushed forward, covering each other as they moved from cover to cover.

• • • • •

Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Rose Sapphire, along with Jedi Commander Alix, were already far deep into the tunnels and were coming up on their objective.

"The enemy used bunker bombs in the first wave, Generals." Clone Commander Cody said as the Jedi held up their hands to halt their soldiers.

U.S. General Alexander Smith caught up to them from behind. "Your commander is right, Generals. How do you plan on getting all these troops to the surface?"

"We were just getting to that, General." Obi-Wan said. "Where are we now in the tunnels?"

The General thought for a moment before answering. "We should be just below the South Lawn by now. At least beyond the fence."

Rose nodded. "Good. Step back."

The clones and U.S. General stepped back as the three Jedi extended their hands towards the ceiling. A short moment later and the hall began to shake. Parts of the ceiling began to crack and fragment, pieces of it chipping away. Eventually, the Jedi jerked their hands in a downward motion and the ceiling completely collapsed.

The U.S. General looked on in shock, along with the few Marines and Rangers nearby. "That was reinforced concrete…"

Alix shrugged. "It was."

Before them was now a pile of rubble and debris. Obi-Wan and Rose climbed onto the rubble and looked up. "It's stable enough to get our troops up here, but there's still some ways to go before we breach the surface. Luckily, it's mostly dirt, we can dig our way out."

The two Jedi Masters once again raised their hands and began shoving away dirt and stones, while Alix used the Force to keep the ground below clear, while also adding to the pile of rubble.

"That was incredible…" One of the U.S. soldiers nearby muttered to his comrades, receiving nods of agreement.

• • • • •

A pair of battledroids were on the roof of the White House, scanning the area around the complex. A team of commando droids and Russian snipers were with behind them.

"Hey, I think I see something…" One droid said, looking through his binoculars again. "Over there, the southern perimeter."

Just beyond the White House lawn, littered with both droid parts and dead human soldiers, the ground was bulging out. It moved up and down as if it were breathing.

Finally, the ground exploded outward. Dirt and debris rained down in a cloud of smoke for a short moment before all was quiet again.

"Uhh…" One of the droids scratched his head. "What was that?"

When the smoke cleared, a head popped out of the ground and looked around.

"I see someone. There, in that hole."

"Fire! Fire!"

• • • • •

"I'll check it out first, see where we are" Obi-Wan said as the smoke cleared. Using the debris, he climbed up and peeked into the darkness only to see. . . they were outside the White House fence. "Blast it all." He muttered and looked down to Master Sapphire. "We're just outside the fence."

"Seriously? Well that sucks. We could've started digging just a few meters away from here and we'd be so much closer."

Obi-Wan peeked out again. "Well, the White House definitely has power. The whole building is lit up."

"Good, we can contact central command. Where are the droids?"

Again, Obi-Wan peeked out, but quickly ducked just as red laserfire slammed into the dirt behind him. "Uh, everywhere?" He said, activating his lightsaber. "Snipers on the roof and tanks on the lawn."

Rose nodded and shouted down the tunnel below. "Get our troops ready!" Activating her own lightsaber, she and Kenobi leaped out of the hole they created and were immediately pelted with blasterfire from the White House. Skillfully deflecting the bolts of energy, the two leapt the fence.

The droids were already moving to meet them. Dozens began marching their way from different directions.

Behind them, Commander Cody and a handful of his men appeared, taking cover wherever they could find it. "I want rocket launchers up here, now!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" A clone called and ducked back into the tunnel.

Meanwhile, the Jedi continued to battle the droids. One after another, they cut down droids left and right.

A Russian BTR rolled towards them, getting ready to fire.

Quickly, Obi-Wan leaped onto the top of the tank, gripping the gunner with the Force and flinging him away. He then proceeded to cut his way into the tank and incapacitate the remaining crew. Once he rendered the tank unusable, he made his way over to the next tank and did the same thing.

• • • • •

Commander Cody watched as the General made short work of the tanks. Behind him, a clone appeared with his rocket launcher. Turning to the clone, Cody nodded and pointed at the fence.

A short moment later and a large hole was blown into the White House fence.

"Go! Go!" Cody shouted.

The clones rushed onto the White House lawn, and opened fire on the droids. Their boots kicking up mud as they stormed the breached fence.

And now the real fight can begin.

Eisenhower Building

4:31am

"All clear, sir." A clone reported to Lieutenant Appo. The street was finally clear of enemy Russians.

"Oz is down." One trooper said, crouched next to the body of another clone.

"So are Mark and Harvey." A Ranger reported, indicating the deceased American soldiers.

They were now down to 8 Rangers and 7 clones.

Sergeant Dawson sighed. "Come on, we still got a war to fight. Carry these men inside, let's get them out of the rain."

One of the clones lifted his dead brother and carried him on his shoulder while two Rangers gathered their own dead.

The team made their way into the Eisenhower Building, leaving their dead in the lobby to be picked up later. Cautiously, they made their way through the building, checking around every corner to make sure it's safe to move on.

"I hear someone on the other side of this door." A Ranger whispered.

The team took up positions on either side of the door while the Ranger took point and slowly opened the double doors. "Star?" He whispered into the room, waiting for a countersign.

In answer, shots rang out and the soldier was hit at least twice in the chest, killing him almost instantly.

"Sh**! We got contacts!" Dawson exclaimed, shooting out the door hinges and kicking the door down to give them better access.

Weapon raised, Appo led the charge into the large office space, diving behind a desk and opening fire at the entrenched enemy.

St. Clair County, Illinois

"We may not have much choice, sir." Secretary Callahan was saying to the Vice-president. He and several others were all in a command center of Scott Air Force Base.

"Are we seriously considering this?" Strong asked, looking around the room. "Do you understand what you're all suggesting?"

"Sir, the last surveillance we got from D.C., not to mention the last reports we received from our forces there, it all suggests that D.C. has fallen into enemy hands."

"But to bomb the entire city to hell?!" Strong said, incredulously. "The Pentagon, the Mall, the Capitol Building, the White House?! Bomb it all?"

One of the generals sighed. "Sir, we can't let the enemy have all the sensitive information within those targets. Last we saw they had the White House in their hands, there's thousands of sensitive materials there. We assume the building was cleared when President Chan evacuated, but there's also the possibility that we didn't get everything out or completely wipe our hard drives."

"Besides, this protocol was specifically designed to deny an enemy the satisfaction of holding our capital indefinitely. And it may slow the enemies advance, or at the very least cut their lines in half."

Everyone in the room nodded solemnly.

With a sigh Strong nodded as well, "fine, does this protocol at least have a fail-safe?"

Secretary Callahan spoke up. "A radio message will be broadcasted to all targets. If our boys are down there and they hear the message, they can set off flares to divert our bombers. If they do that, then we'll know they're still combat effective."

With another nod, Strong stood. "Very well then, let's hope this is the right course of action."

• • • • •

"We need more time to break their defensive screen, Admiral." Ahsoka was saying from the cockpit of her Y-wing bomber. She was observing the progress of the battle happening above the blue and green planet below, and the two sides were almost evenly matched. The Republic could break them, but they needed a little more time…

"We're out of time, Commander Tano." Admiral Tarkin responded. "We can't afford to waste any more time; our forces won't stand longer if we don't get down there. Concentrate your attacks on the Separatist destroyers in sector 4."

Ahsoka nodded to herself. "Yes, sir. Squadrons 2 and 4 follow me, it's time to make our run on the ships closer to the command vessel. Fighters cover our flank and keep those droids off us."

"We're with you, Commander."

• • • • •

"INCOMING!"

Anakin leaped from a parked SUV just as it exploded, diving behind another vehicle.

They had found the jamming tower, at the top of Hamilton Hotel on 14th Street. As expected there were hundreds of droids standing in their way. Beside him, one of his men, a clone lieutenant, crouched next to him. "We only have two rockets for the launcher, General!"

"We'll need to use both to take that jammer down!" Anakin responded, peaking up to get his bearings. Nodding to himself, he turned to look back at his men as they exchanged fire with the droids. "You two!" He shouted to a pair of US Rangers, one of which had a rocket launcher on his back. "You're with me! Lieutenant, provide cover fire!"

Igniting his lightsaber, Anakin rushed from across the street, deflecting blasterfire away from him and the two men close behind him. Once they had made it to the other side, pressed against the southern wall of the adjacent building.

"Stay here, I'll get you guys up there." Anakin said, stepping back and looking up at the top of the building.

The Rangers exchanged confused looks. "Sir, how are you going to—"

The Jedi was already leaping before they could finish their question and sailed easily up the ten-story building.

"Woah…"

• • • • •

"Keep moving, soldiers! They're gonna hit you hard when you surface, be ready!" A sergeant shouted as Privates Brick and Hayden followed the line of clones and Marines moving through the tunnels. The sounds of battle echoed off the concrete walls. Explosions and gunfire, screams of the injured and dying.

"We're up." Hayden said, holding his rifle close and at the ready.

"Here we go…" Brick muttered. They were moving up the makeshift ramp of concrete and debris, out into the open…

…It was intense.

Red bolts of energy went straight through two Marines as soon as they made it out of the tunnel, killed right in front of Brick.

More blasterfire struck the ground at their feet as he and the rest of his comrades rushed forward to duck behind a disabled BTR tank. He could see Sergeant Major Rachael nearby speaking with Clone Commander Cody.

"I have men pushing up the right flank as we speak, Sergeant. There's still power in the White House which means we can contact command, if we can take it. Now, get your soldiers moving up the left flank, move it!" Cody ordered, flinching as an explosion occurred nearby.

Brick automatically followed his leader as she led them around the damaged tank and into the intense suppressive fire being laid by the droids and Russian paratroopers. Across the White House lawn were bodies, both enemy and friend, laying motionless in the blood-stained grass. They were forced to step over them carefully or risk tripping, making them easy targets to be picked off.

The group of Marines eventually found themselves diving into a large crater in the middle of the lawn some meters away from the South entrance of the White House. The enemy has set up barricades along the front, preventing them from getting any closer to the entrance. In the upper levels of the building, droids manning heavy blaster cannons, and Russians with their automatic weapons and rocket launchers wrecked havoc on the Marines and clones below.

Hayden slumped against the ground beside him, peeking up to get some shots off at the building. Brick did the same until they caught the attention of the droids and were forced to drop down again as blasterfire pelted their position.

"Now what do we do?!" Hayden asked, looking to Rachael who was looking to the left flank.

"We're gonna have to make a run for it. The clones are gonna try and draw their fire for us to get there."

Brick turned to look behind him, seeing squads of clone troopers appearing, peeking over cover to fire at the droids inside the White House, managing to hit a handful of them.

"Move it, go!" A trooper ordered.

The Marines quickly sprinted across the lawn, towards the West Wing of the White House. Explosions and blaster rounds nipped at their heels. Again, Brick and Hayden slumped against a large slab of metal, a piece of a U.S. helicopter whose parts were scattered across the lawn. The West Wing was still recognizable, but it obviously took a heavy beating. Walls were caved in, windows were shattered, and the Oval Office was being used as a foxhole bunker for the Russians. Raising their weapons, the Marines opened fired, taking out enemies one after the other.

A Marine private, using his under slung M203 Grenade Launcher, arched a trajectory and fired a grenade towards the West Wing rooftop, the explosion killing the paratroopers there. He then aimed towards the doors and windows, the grenades blowing the Russians away and breaking their defenses.

"Keep that up, Private!" Rachael commanded, while the rest of them slowly moved up, ducking from cover to cover as they pushed the enemy back into the White House itself.

Eventually, they were all right against the White House walls, firing on the Russians inside the Oval Office. Hayden tossed a grenade through a broken window, killing and wounding the enemies inside. While the remaining paratroopers were disoriented, the Marines quickly stormed into the historic office. They made short work of any remaining resistance and secured the room.

"I can't believe we actually made it inside…" Brick said, reloading his weapon.

"Cut the chatter." Rachael ordered, putting her ear to the wall. "Do you hear that?"

Another Marine listened before pulling a painting off the wall, revealing a speaker behind it. A message was playing from the Air Force.

"IMMEDIATE ORDERS ISSUED BY THE ACTING-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ATTENTION All U.S. FORCES IN D.C., HAMMER DOWN IS IN EFFECT. REPEAT: HAMMER DOWN IS IN EFFECT.

All territories from Virginia to Maryland are to be immediately and promptly leveled to prevent enemy forces from invading the inner states and end their hold on our nation's capital.

If you are receiving this transmission, it means you are in a hardened, high-value structure; deploy green flares on the roof of this structure to indicate that you are combat effective. We will abort our mission on direct visual contact with this counter sign."

And the message repeats…

They knew the war was going bad right now, but obliterating the entire city?

"I thought the droids were jamming us?"

"Someone must have taken out their jamming station." Rachael said, then motioned to the door. "We gotta move. Hayden take point."

Nodding, Hayden went to a door and opened it up, immediately getting assaulted by a hailstorm of gunfire. A bullet tore straight through his shoulder. "FU**!"

Brick grabbed hold of Hayden as he fell in a screaming heap, pulling him back into the Oval Office as the rest of their team entered the hall and engaged the paratroopers.

"Hold on, buddy, we're gonna get you some help, ok?"

"Fu**, it hurts!"

"We got a man down on the left flank, Oval Office! We need a medic!" He shouted into his radio, but there were so much chatter and static he was doubtful that anyone heard. Laying Hayden on his back, Brick placed his hands over the wound, trying to keep pressure on it.

Just then, a group of clones, led by Commander Cody, stormed into the Oval Office.

"Hey, I need a medic here!" Brick shouted to them.

A clone medic came over to them and immediately got to work. "You need to keep pushing forward, soldier!" The medic ordered, "I've got him. Move it!"

Brick stood, grabbing his weapon. "You're gonna be okay, buddy, I'll come back for you." At that, he ran through the nearby door and into the chaos.

There were a handful of bodies in the hall, both Russian and American. He quickly moved down the hall, finding his fellow Marines firing into the brightly lit Press Briefing room.

"Move up! Don't stop!" Someone shouted above the gunshots.

Scrambling into the room, Brick slid behind a desk for cover. He peaked his head out and was surprised to see a tall, menacing looking droid standing in the corridor that led to the Press Corps Offices, watching them with his hands behind his back.

"Who is that?!" Brick asked one of the soldiers next to him.

Just then, Commander Cody and a handful of clones entered the room and momentarily froze upon seeing the tall droid. "Get him!" Cody commanded, the urgency evident in his voice.

The "droid" laughed and, quicker than you would assume possible, ignited a pair of blue and green lightsabers in his hands, the same weapons used by the Jedi. Spinning them around, he deflected the incoming blasterfire away from him, laughing and coughing the whole time.

Then, moving fast, the droid dashed forward, slashing clean through two clones. He spun around, beheading one of the Marines that tried to flank him on his right.

The room erupted in chaos again as the remaining Marines and clones attacked simultaneously. But the droid merely spun his blades in front of him with incredible, in-human speed, batting aside the laserfire while most of the Marine's ballistic rounds melted on impact, metal shrapnel bursting in front of him. The very few rounds that managed to slip through his wall were rendered useless by his duranium armor.

Another pair of Marines attempted to flank the beast but as they got closer behind him, he spun one of his blades out in retaliation slashing deeply through the chest of one soldier, while he grabbed hold of the second with his clawed foot.

"Hold your fire!" Someone shouted as the droid laughed manically, holding the Marine by the neck in front of him as a shield.

Brick, frozen by fear and nerves, shook himself to action, raising his weapon as more droids and Russian paratroopers entered the room. At the same time, Jedi Generals Kenobi and Sapphire appeared.

"Grievous!" Kenobi said, his lightsaber in a defensive stance.

"Kenobi." The droid, Grievous, said with a laugh. He then tightened his grip on the Marine in his talons, crushing his neck effortlessly with a sickening snap.

Everyone was silent, only for a moment. "You'll regret that." General Kenobi said before speeding towards Grievous, who met his lightsaber head-on with his own.

With that, both sides resumed the battle and opened fire.

• • • • •

With great difficulty, Sergeant Dawson, Lieutenant Appo, and their men made it through the Eisenhower Building. They could see and hear the battle clearly from here.

"We made it, men." Dawson said, "come on, we still got a war to win."

They dashed through the now light drizzle of rain, moving from cover to cover until they reached the western fence of the White House. A hole had been blown, allowing them to cross onto the grounds.

"Watch your steps, men." Dawson cautioned as they moved around the swimming pool. "The Oval Office should be just ahead, get ready."

There were bodies strung out across the lawn for as far as they could see. Clones, U.S. soldiers, Russians and of course the droids. The walls of the Oval Office still stood strong but there was a large whole blown into the side of it, allowing the men to enter. Inside were clone medics working on the wounded while nearby, more clones were shooting into a hallway.

"You men!" A clone shouted as he noticed them. "Push through this hall! The enemy is holding us in the Press Briefing Room! We need all the fire power we could get!"

Nodding to himself, Dawson and Appo wordlessly led their men into the mostly clear hall towards the sounds of screaming and explosions. The first thing Dawson noticed when he entered the large press room were the fast-moving blue and green lights in the corner. His eyes widened as he realized it was General Kenobi, General Sapphire and a menacing droid locking blades over and over. They were moving so fast he could barely keep up. The clones seemed to focus all their attention on the droids, not one moved to intervene with the fight. Taking that as a sign to do the same, Dawson quickly moved on towards the northern wall of the room that led outside the north lawn.

Droids and paratroopers lined the roof above them, raining bullets and blasterfire down on their heads.

"Somebody take them out, damnit!" A marine shouted before ducking again as a grenade went off nearby.

Appo peaked out from behind a planter before ducking again. "I can't get a clear shot!"

"Fuck we're in trouble…" Dawson muttered, a rocket exploding just a few feet away making him flinch. The enemy dominated the north lawn, they were being hit from the north and east from the rooftops. If they don't break through now, they'll be stuck indefinitely and will eventually have to pull back, allowing the enemy to take back ground.

Just then a loud crash sounded next to them. General Kenobi forcibly crashed through the nearby window with a pained grunt, slamming into another cement planter.

Dawson flinched as the Jedi groaned in pain.

"General, we can't advance any further!" Commander Cody shouted nearby. "We're out of rockets up here!"

"Already?! Never mind that, grenades ready!"

Cody and two other clones each grabbed a thermal detonator and tossed it up. Obi-Wan stretched his hand towards the detonators and pushed them onto the rooftop. Seconds later, the resulting explosion destroyed the droids and killed the paratroopers.

"Go, go, go!" Lieutenant Appo ordered, getting to his feet along with Dawson.

As the soldiers rushed forward, opening fire on the briefly off-guard enemy, another crash could be heard. Dawson looked up to see the menacing droid bursting through the roof above the Press Briefing Room. Jedi General Sapphire appeared through the hole he created, igniting her two lightsabers.

"What is that thing?!" Dawson asked out loud as he followed the rest of the soldiers towards the North Portico of the White House.

"The droids leader, General Grievous!" A clone nearby answered. "The Jedi will handle him, we gotta keep up our momentum!"

He glanced back again in time to see General Kenobi leap onto the roof in a single jump, joining his fellow Jedi against the Grievous who was spinning his blades blindingly fast.

Earth's Upper Atmosphere – Invisible Hand – General's Quarters

5:10am

At the top of the Invisible Hand's fin-like spire was the general's quarters, a fully equipped military command center full of tactical displays, briefing table, and a panoramic view of the space outside the massive vessel. At the very front of the room stood Count Dooku, observing the battle raging all around the ship. The Republic was obviously winning. Several Separatist ships were destroyed; a few were being pulled by Earth's gravity towards the planet, no telling where the debris would land. The Invisible Hand was being protected by a screen of droid fighters, destroyers and frigates. Behind the flagship were the five Lucrehulk-class battleships, sitting in a lower orbit above the planet with a second screen of droid fighters to prevent any Republic fighters getting through.

Hearing a chime go off behind him, Dooku walked over to the holoprojector nearby and pushed a button, dropping to one knee and bowing his head as the transmission came through. "Master."

"Lord Tyranus." Sidious said in greeting, his face shrouded in shadow. "What is the status of the battle?"

Dooku raised his head. "The space battle is lost, master. The Republic will soon break our blockade. On the surface, our forces are being pushed back across the western US." He said, using the Force to bring up an image of the continental USA. The areas in blue, representing the CIS and Russia, was giving way to the red, representing the US and Republic forces. "The southeast is lost as well, and we will very soon retreat from their capital city. We shall make our final stand in the city of New York and the rest of the northeast. I intend to let them have this victory."

"Tell me about Earth." Sidious said after a moment. "Do they pose any sort of threat at all?"

"The planet's military is primitive by the rest of the galaxies standards… but they can hurt us. The humans here are intelligent, prideful, and most importantly… arrogant. They do have the ability to back up this arrogance to a degree. The entire planet can field well over 100 million combat trained soldiers, not to mention the total population of over 7 billion people. In short, they are fully capable of fighting back. Winning is another matter, but regardless they can indeed fight."

"Hm, this is an unexpected development. A single planet with this much power is most distasteful. There is a great disturbance in the Force and it stems from Earth. The Jedi sense it as well."

Dooku nodded. "I suspected so, master. They are far more interested in this planet than would be expected." He thought for a moment before speaking more, "there is something else, master. I sense… a great darkness here. The dark side of the Force is strong on this world, strangely so."

"Explain."

"It could very well be the fact that the planet has a dark history of violence and terror, but this feels more than that. The same feeling that comes about when both you and I are in the same vicinity; a swirl of dark energy permeating the area only this covers the planet."

Sidious brought a hand to his chin. "Curious. I foresee there is much to discover about this world… only what? I do not know." He extended a hand towards Dooku. "Find out what secrets this planet holds, Tyranus. As for the war, we cannot allow a planet with this much power to continue its existence, they could prove to be a hindrance later."

He brought his fingertips together. "Cripple them."

"As you wish, my master."

• • • • •

Private Brick dived into a roll to get away from a grenade, ducking behind a collapsed marble pillar. The marines, Rangers, and clones had made it inside the grand foyer of the White House and were aggressively gaining more and more ground.

"7 MINUTES TO WEAPON RELEASE." A voice announces over the buildings PA.

"We need to move faster!" A clone lieutenant shouted over the gunfire.

To the right, following an explosion, more clones and US soldiers stormed into the foyer, led by Commander Blaze and Captain Rex. One of the clones with them had a rocket launcher.

"Finally, more firepower." A marine said as the clone fired the rocket right at the grand staircase across from them, killing the paratroopers in their way.

"Go!"

Brick and the rest of the marines rushed the staircase, stepping over the bodies of their opponents. He found himself being the first one up and immediately ran into a paratrooper. Without thinking about it, Brick raised his rifle and fired into the soldier. Without looking back, he continued up the stairs.

• • • • •

Grievous brought up his blades to block attacks from both Jedi. Turning his attention to Master Sapphire, he suddenly spun the lightsaber he had clashed with hers quickly, causing her own weapon to fly out of her hand. Undeterred, the Jedi swung the second blade in her left hand and Grievous merely caught this attack as well.

Kenobi disengaged from their blade-lock, jumping over Grievous and landing behind Sapphire, while she jumped back as well, putting some distance between them and calling her discarded lightsaber back to her hand.

Letting out a laugh, Grievous split both his biotic arms in two, grabbing his remaining blades. Now with four lightsabers, he spun the first two while moving menacingly towards the Jedi, relishing in the fact that they cautiously back away from him. "You must realize, Master Jedi: you are doomed to die here."

As he spoke, a small figure leaped incredibly high above the White House and landed between Grievous and his prey. It was Grand Master Yoda himself.

Before Grievous had time to react, the Master extend both hands and sent the Droid General flying backwards a great distance. He slammed hard into a wall, putting a sizable dent in it.

Growling in frustration, Grievous crawled away on all eight limbs, quickly climbing down the building towards the North Lawn.

"Thank you, Master." Rose said, nodding to the wizened Jedi. She brought her arm up to speak into her commlink. "Troopers, Grievous is attempting to flee the battle."

• • • • •

The Rangers gasped in both fright and amazement as they were lifted off the ground by an invisible force and pulled up the ten-story building by General Skywalker. Once at the top, he released them and the three moved to the edge of the rooftop, facing Hamilton Hotel.

"Ready the rocket." Skywalker ordered, "I'll cover you."

The first Ranger, Private Jack, aimed towards the hotels rooftop, using his weapon's scopes to get a closer look. "Aim at the jammer's supports and the whole thing should come down."

Nodding, the second Ranger, named Adam Davis, took aim with the rocket.

"Ready…" The General said, holding his hand up. Just then, blasterfire was directed towards them. The droids noticed their presence. Quickly, the Jedi stepped in front of the soldiers and began deflecting the incoming fire. "Try to get a lock!"

The Rangers moved around him, crawling along the rooftop away from Skywalker. Peeking up, Jack opened fire with his assault rifle. He managed to take out three droids before they noticed where he was. He screamed as a bolt hit him in the shoulder, but he was still standing. "Take the shot!"

Quickly, getting to on one knee, the soldier aimed for the bottom of the jamming tower and released the first rocket. Time slowed as it sailed towards its intended target… and missed. Only slightly off target, the rocket exploded just next to and behind the tower, managing to destroy droids caught in the blast and caused the tower to spark as the shock rocked the ground.

As he readied another shot, his last rocket, he heard a now familiar sound…

"Watch out!" General Skywalker shouted, too late as an explosion hit just below the rooftop the Rangers were on. The structure started to collapse and the two were now falling towards the street below. However, the two felt their descent slowed and looked up to see the Jedi, both hands stretched, holding them in place. This, however, didn't last as a blaster bolt caught Skywalker in his right arm, causing him to lose focus.

The two Rangers fell, crashing on the ground in a heap of debris. Private Adam managed to sit up, pain striking up his left leg. It was broken. He crawled backwards, his back against the wall of the building he was just standing on. He looked down the street to the north and found the cause of his predicament. A Separatist AAT, gliding towards them with a platoon of droids surrounding it. His friend Jack lay nearby, motionless. Grunting, Adam grabbed his rocket and looked up at the jamming station. This was his last shot. Readying the weapon, he took aim, took a deep breath and let the rocket fly.

• • • • •

"Lord Dooku." The super tactical droid said as the Count entered the Invisible Hand's bridge. "We are suffering heavy casualties."

"Are the core ships ready?" Dooku asked, taking a seat in the captain's chair.

"Yes, sir."

"Prepare to launch all of our invasion force."

"All of them, sir?"

Dooku nodded. "All of them. Have the fleet protect the ships on their way to the surface. I want every one of our droid fighters to prevent the Republic from destroying those vessels." He handed the droid a data pad. "Here are the coordinates. When that is done, prepare for our withdrawal."

"As you command, Lord Dooku."

• • • • •

Admiral Tarkin smiled to himself as he watched another Munificent-class frigate explode in the distance.

"I'm surprised they haven't retreated yet." Jedi General Quinlan Vos commented from behind him.

Tarkin nodded. "Curious, isn't it? They must have something planned—"

"Admiral, the Lucrehulk battleships are detaching their core ships!" An officer shouted in alarm.

In the distance, the core ships, able to attach themselves to the outer ring hull of the Lucrehulk battleships, were pulling away and descending rapidly towards the planet below. At least a dozen more C-9979 landing craft followed, with thousands of droid fighters and bombers escorting them. Each of those core ships held at least 218,000 battle droids and there were five of them. Not to mention the landing craft that could possibly hold another 4,300 droids each.

"Focus fire on those core ships!" Tarkin commanded. He realized how pointless it was as numerous Munificent-class frigates quite literally threw themselves in front of the Republic batteries, taking the hits to save the core ships. "All fighters, follow those ships!"

"Sir, they're retreating."

Tarkin turned to the remaining Separatist fleet as they all began to turn around, facing away from the Republic. Even in retreat, half the fleet trailed behind to guard the invasion force until they were out of enemy range.

• • • • •

Private Adam sighed in satisfaction as the jamming tower sparked and crumbled. His rocket met its target and now the whole structure was coming down. There was no way he could move; his leg was broken, and he felt the last of his strength leave him. As he resigned himself to being crushed by the tower, a hand gripped his arm and he was thrown over someone's shoulder.

"I've got you!" General Skywalker said, sprinting away right as the jamming tower collapsed where Adam was just seconds earlier.

"Thank you, General." He managed to barely whisper. The last thing he heard clearly was the sound of radios going off all around him before darkness took his vision.

• • • • •

"THREE MINUTES UNTIL WEAPONS RELEASE."

"Hurry!" A Marine shouted. They were now within the upper floors of the residence, fighting what remained of Russian and droid resistance.

Brick was among the soldiers fighting their way to the top. "I got the right flank." He informed his comrades. As he checked a room to the right, a paratrooper tackled him to the ground, forcing him to drop his weapon to grapple with him. Managing to push the Russian off, Brick rolled to his feet and took a fighting stance as the paratrooper attempted to rush him. He reflexively grabbed the troopers arm, spun around and drove his elbow into their face with an audible crack. He then twisted the arm he still held and flipped the paratrooper over his shoulder, sending him crashing towards the ground.

"ONE MINUTE TO WEAPON RELEASE. IF YOU ARE COMBAT EFFECTIVE DEPLOY GREEN FLARES NOW."

Removing a flare from his pack, Brick rushed down the halls, not bothering to pick up his weapon, and climbed over a wall of debris. He found more Marines and Rangers on the other side, each holding flares. The entire southern facing wall and ceiling had been blown out during the battle, providing them with a perfect view of Washington D.C. The rain had stopped but it was still mostly cloudy.

"Flares!" Brick shouted, he could hear the unmistakable sound of fighter jets closing in fast. He ignited the flare, along with the rest of the soldiers, and waved them up and down.

"COUNTERSIGN RECEIVED. COUNTERSIGN RECEIVED. ABORTING MISSION."

Brick found himself cheering alongside his brothers and sisters in arms as a squadron of F-22s flew overhead, passing harmlessly northbound. Before them, more green smoke rose into the sky at the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, and across National Mall. The nation's capital was alive and strong. As if a sign from the heavens, the clouds were clearing up, revealing the rising sun.

"We got our house back, boys!" Someone yelled, causing another round of cheering.

As he cheered, Brick heard a voice over the radio.

"This is Admiral Yularen to any allied forces able to hear this transmission. We have broken the blockade above the planet, the Separatist armada is in full retreat. Your reinforcements will be landing any moment."

Right on cue, the satisfying hum of Republic LAAT gunships reached their ears. Everyone looked up to see the transports and their fighter escorts flying in from the west. There were several hundred of them, coming in waves along the sky. It was a beautiful sight considering the hell they went through tonight.

"When do you think we're going to Moscow?" One of the soldiers asked.

Brick shook his head, sweeping his gaze across the city. "I don't know, man. But someone's gotta pay for this." Yes, they won the battle but from this vantage point he could see the immense destruction brought on their capital. The White House lawn was soaked with blood and the bodies of both Russians and Americans, buildings were either flatten or burning, tanks dotted the roads. It was a mess.

High above, dozens of Acclamator-class assault ships, Venator-class destroyers, and hundreds of starfighters descended on the planet, passing through the field of debris left behind from their battle…

END OF ACT I

Well, I'm back. So sorry this has taken two freaking years to complete. These past two years have been horrible for me, so I hadn't been in the mood to write at all. I've been back to it for a while now but I'm busy with school and such. Unfortunately, Fanfiction doesn't pay me to write so this must take a low priority.

But don't worry, none of my stories are dead.

That being said, I don't like how the last half of the White House battle turned out AT ALL so I'm probably going to end up rewriting it eventually.

To answer a few questions, yes, I will be talking about NATO and Americas other allies. I have mentioned them briefly in past chapters but now they're going to have more active/visible roles soon.

ANNOUNCMENT: I need a "military expert" or two to help me with this story going forward. I have the whole thing already outlined and it's getting very ambitious. So, I want to make a few things more "realistic" but I will be taking creative liberty because this is entertainment and not entirely based on reality. When I say military expert, I DON'T mean someone who "researched" a bunch of stuff on the internet and thinks they know a lot. I mean someone who actually knows what they're talking about. I just need things like how the reserves work (as you saw, military units lost a lot of soldiers so far), how battalions, regiments, etc work, and how the command structure really works, things like that.

Also, don't forget to check out the promo/trailer I made for this story on YouTube, link on my profile page.

Thank you for your patience everyone, don't forget to review. Next chapter will be a short one so it's coming very soon.

Next Chapter: Epilogue One