As eight Republic Gunships and six V19 Torrent fighters soared through the battle area, towards the Separatist Dreadnaught's exposed starboard hangar, Ahsoka held tight to a support strap as laser fire echoed all around. The Clones standing beside her, with Captain Rex among them, were stalwart as ever, but she could sense their anxiety.

Due to the element of surprise and their heavier armament, the Venators of the Republic Navy were able to quickly knock out the Munificent-class cruisers, and as if luck would have it, one collided into the Dreadnought's starboard hangar bay, exposing it to boarding attempts.

Anakin and Obi-Wan had taken the point gunships at the lead of the flight to clear a path, and Ahsoka brought up the middle on her own Gunship as their reinforcements.

"Pilot, what's our status?" she asked over the commlink.

"We're right in the thick of it, Commander!" the Pilot replied. "Those damn Vulture Droids are everywhere! Landing in the hangar's going to be hard in the middle of all this!"

"Good thing we've got a fighter escort." a Clone quipped in the back.

"Cut the chatter and get ready." Rex snapped as the Clones retrieved and loaded their weapons. "We're going in!"

As the Gunship flight breached the hangar bay's shields, the hangar doors immediately came forward to seal the breach. As the fighters broke off, all eight gunships made it in successfully. As the three Jedi ignited their lightsabers and led the charge to the bridge area, they didn't notice something else had followed them in...

XXX

Mason smirked under his brow as he expertly maneuvered around the Dreadnought's turret defenses, his mind wondering amusedly how they were missing so many of their shots. Their gunners weren't even leading their targets properly and were wasting ammo, according to Cephalon Cy's analysis of the battle.

"Tenno! Deploy Archwings on my mark!' Mason ordered, guiding the Railjack to a position where they could use the Slingshot launcher to board the vessel. As the other Tenno mounted up, Mason handed the Railjack's controls to Cy's autopilot functions, and stood with the group at the reach hatch. As the door opened, Mason and the other Tenno tensed up.

"Go!" Mason ordered once Cy reported they were in the clear, and the five Tenno launched into space for the Dreadnaught while Cy piloted the Railjack to safety. As they streaked towards the hangar deck, several claw-winged fighters broke off to engage them. These fighters seemed bulky and almost single-minded as they opened fire, the Tenno's shields easily absorbing the incoming lasers.

Mason maneuvered to the front, and as one approached, he easily sliced it in two using his Veritux Arch-Sword. As it flew past him, Mason raised an eyebrow at the sight of scrap metal flying off into the abyss.

"Let's go! Insert at the port side hangar!" he then ordered, and the Tenno blasted off at breakneck speed. A well-placed volley of shots from Emily's Phaedra Arch-Gun opened the energy shields protecting it, and they easily made it past the protective door's attempt to block them out. As they disengaged their Archwings, Sarah inserted her Parazon device into a downed robot's head for analysis. The robot was slim and lanky, with a upside-down V-shaped head.

"Hmm...this "Battle Droid" is more primitive than I thought at first." she mused out loud. "It possesses basic combat programming and limited independent thinking. It has no AI functions, and can't adapt to other forms of combat. Essentially, it follows orders and shoots things, nothing more."

"So what's your feeling?" Clarke asked, as he surveyed several more downed Battle Droids, his Sybaris Prime at the ready and loaded. "Whoever was here before us took them out primarily with headshots or repeated bodyshots. That shows discipline and tight teamwork."

"My feeling is that we're not the only ones here that came with business against the Corpus and this Tyranus figure." Mason growled, reading an arrow into his Paris Prime and motioning towards an open bulkhead door. "Let's go. If we find a computer terminal, slice in and steal as much information as you can."

"Right!" the Tenno replied as they followed their leader through the door, drawn to the sounds of persistent, rapid gunfire up ahead. Mason kept his bow at the ready, checking every corner as thoroughly as he could.

Everything was quiet...almost too quiet for the Tenno's liking. Through their many missions together, the Tenno knew that quiet meant an ambush, or a false sense of security. Then, a blast shook the ship, almost making the Tenno stumble in the process.

"What was that?" Mason asked Cephalon Cy. "Have we been compromised?"

"Negative." Cy replied. "It seems that whoever is operating the dagger-shaped ships has significantly better gunnery crew, targeting, or both, as they just hit the portside gun bay on the vessel you currently occupy. Significant damage is present, but there is no need to evacuate as of now. That may change given the course of the battle up here."

"Copy." Mason replied. "Keep us posted, Cy."

"Affirmative, Tenno."

XXX

As they advanced, the Tenno leaped into cover behind an open bulkhead door to view the battle before them. There were more of the Battle Droids, several others that seemed more bulky, and armored in a black shell, and a pair of four-legged walkers equipped with a long cannon.

But what made the Tenno pause were the eight squads of white-armored soldiers. Some of them featured blue or orange paint, and command ornaments in the case of two others. They were fighting the Droids alongside two humanoid figures wearing armored robes, and a female alien with two head-tails. The three leaders wielded energy swords with a straight blade, with two being blue and one being green, in the younger one's case.

The three of them were expertly deflecting the Battle Droids' incoming fire back at their attackers, though many of the Droids' shots were inaccurate to begin with. Mason did have to admit that their leaders were quite skilled with their weapons, and used them well.

The white-armored soldiers were standing shoulder to shoulder, wielding either a carbine or a long rifle, and one of them, likely a squad leader, was using twin pistols. Their shots were significantly more accurate, and more often than not, they were landing headshots on their foes.

However, the Droids seemed to have the advantage of numbers, as indicated by about five white-armored soldiers in the rear, who were either injured or dead.

"Interesting…" Emily whispered. "It seems we have a choice to make. Either support those droids, or aid the white-armored ones. And both options have unknown consequences."

"So what's the play, boss?" Clarke asked.

Mason merely sheathed his Bow and drew his Nikana Prime, before bullet-jumping into the air to engage the Droids. The other Tenno shrugged, knowing their leader's love of combat, and followed his lead, landing in front of the shocked soldiers and their leaders, who quickly ceased fire.

Jayce flipped in mid-air to dodge some incoming shots, and once he landed, grabbed one of the armored droids by the midsection. Due to the overpowering strength of the Rhino Prime Warframe, the droid was split in two. He hurled the scraps towards the Droids with a war cry, toppling them like bowling pins.

Sarah made her way to the back of the line of the white-armored soldiers, and performed Renewal upon several of their injured. They watched in shock as their injuries closed up and felt their stamina being replenished. Once they were all healed, they nodded in acknowledgement before grabbing their weapons. Sarah then noticed the three dead soldiers, and whispered a prayer in the Orokin language before returning to the front.

Emily decided for a more...direct approach, and unleashed several streams of electrical energy that made the droids combust from their internal circuitry overloading. As their metal chassis came open like popcorn, Emily didn't notice one of the blade-wielders gasp.

Clarke then drew the attention of one of the walkers, who opened fire at him. The Tenno easily deflected the blow with his Skana Prime, and drew back. As he drew upon the power of the wind, he created a Tornado beneath the walker. It fell into the air, and then smashed against the ground in a heap.

Mason then took the lead, his Nikana Prime slicing through heads and impaling chests, before he stopped in front of the last walker. It moved to fire at him, and Mason simply shoved his Nikana Prime's blade into the barrel. As the walker exploded, Mason swept the ash off of his sword as the Tenno turned to the stunned soldiers and blade-wielders. There was silence between both groups, before Mason spoke up.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in the Origin System?"