Chapter 2: Retake District Six

"Attention!" Captain Rex barked, and the Rebel and Panem Freedom Force troopers got up

from the ground, standing straight. Sweat ran off them like a waterfall after the physical exercises, and they were breathing heavily.

"We will now move to the firing range for weapons practice!" Captain Rex yelled, "Left face!"

he commanded, and the troops turned unanimously to the left. "Forward, march!" he shouted, and the Rebel and HGR troopers began marching.

Katniss stood on the sideline of the base's outside training grounds, watching the spectacle. She

had met Captain Rex only five days ago, since Ahsoka knew him. He was a Captain in the clone army 501st Legion, and wore blue-and-white armor, with twin blaster pistols at his sides. He had been very efficient in training their troops. Katniss just hoped that would be enough for their war against The Imperial Sith Shadow Empire.

It had been a month since the arrival of the Jedi Republic Union. The war had intensified and

spread like a forest fire, with an unquenchable hunger and thirst for blood. The Panem Freedom Force now had Jedi, clones, Rebel troopers, and many troops from this other galaxy to assist them...but so did President Snow. As Koin had predicted, the Imperial Sith Shadow Empire had formed an alliance with President Snow, and they had tightened their stranglehold of tyranny on the six Districts they controlled. The stalemate was now unacceptable. But as she and everyone else know, the lines had been drawn, there could be no retreat. Panem would either be liberated from darkness for eternity...or be bound in the chains of enslavement to evil forever.

............................

"Our Y-Wing bomber squadron can bomb the field in front of the wall with EMP bombs, and

malfunction the mines," Captain Rex said, pointing to the hologram, "Then, after a pre-invasion bombardment with artillery, we will drop our troops behind the city with the Star Wars Resistance transporters. We will then sweep through District Six, backed up by the Rebel Combat Speeders and

Alliance ARC-1 tanks," Rex continued on. "We will defeat the Peacekeepers but leave the broadcasting station untouched. Our artillery battery at the front, along with our diversionary attack garrison, will only shoot it with light EMP shells so they can't call for reinforcements. When we have secured the city, we can broadcast that message you've been wanting to send to the Peacekeeper-Occupied Districts." Captain Rex finished. He waited for an answer.

"And I assume because you fighters are more technologically advanced to ours, they won't have

a problem with the heavy anti-air defenses?" Koin asked Rex.

"Nope." Captain Rex replied, "They only have what you call machine guns...they would need

laser anti-air cannons to take our pilots down." Rex replied proudly.

Koin, Gale, Petta, Finick, Cody, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka all stood around the

holoprojector in the base's debriefing room. Koin had called them together to hear this mission, because they had been assigned to go on it. Katniss listened eagerly. A turning point? She hoped so.

Everyone else seemed to agree with her. "I think we should take this," Gale spoke up quickly,

"We've been stonewalled for too long. We need to try."

"Agreed," Petta said, "I'm tired of those Peacekeeper scumbags thinking they're winning." he

said through gritted teeth. Katniss knew what he meant.

"The civilian population will be at risk." Finick reminded them, with a concerned look on his

face. Unfortunately, they did not have a choice, as Anakin expressed.

"We have to be willing to do what it takes to win," Anakin replied, "I don't like it either, but we

have to have the courage to take the Peacekeepers and Sith head-on."

"I agree. Let's do this." Ahsoka piped up. Nobody argued this time...they knew her master was

right. They had to do this.

"It's decided then," Koin stated with authority, and gave the orders. "Cody and Rex, you will lead

the diversionary attack and bombardment on the front. Katniss, Gale, Finick and Petta, you will accompany our battalion that will land behind the district."

"Acknowledged, Koin." Cody and Rex said, saluting.

"Anakin, you, Ahsoka and I will lead the assault on the rear flank of District Six's defenders."

Obi-Wan said, "Under no circumstances will we harm any civilians. Is that understood?"

"Yes master." Anakin replied, "Ahsoka, get the fighter and bomber squadrons ready. Also, see

how many gunship squadrons are available to escort our troop transports."

"You got it, Master." she replied, and dashed off to do her job.

"Let's get ready, guys." Petta said, and they all dispersed from the room to do their tasks. Katniss

hoped this would work...or she didn't know what might happen.

............................

"Red Leader to Leviathan Gunship Squadron, we are closing in on the left walls of District

Six. Ready when you are." Gale heard him say over the republic gunship's radio. He stood in the troop bay of a gunship now, one of the gunships in the squadron of twelve escorting the eight SWR Troop Transporters. His face was serene, but inside, his adrenaline was racing like a waterfall. He knew there would be many casualties...and possibly he might even lose some of his friends. Petta...maybe Katniss or Finick...

He pushed those thoughts aside. He had his orders. He was a soldier. He had to do what had

been asked of him. He had dealt with Peacekeepers before.

The republic gunship's pilot acknowledged Red Leader. "Sir yes sir, we are closing in on our

objective now. They have not spotted us due to our high altitude. We will tell you when we've

met our objective."

"Roger, Leviathan Leader. Red Squadron out." Gale heard him say, and then there was silence.

He looked to Katniss, who was riding in the gunship with him. "You ready?" he asked.

"As I'll ever be. It's like the first games all over again, only a real battle this time." she answered.

Gale nodded and understood. Then he turned to the New Republic trooper squad in the gunship

gunship with them. They snapped to attention.

"Alright men, this is it!" he began, with an iron, no-nonsense tone of voice. "This is our objective:

We land with our legion. We attack. We breakthrough the walls and kill all Peacekeepers and other enemy troops on sight. If you see any civilians, do not harm them, set your gun to stun. We leave the broadcasting station in the center intact. Am I clear?" he finished.

"Yes sir!" they replied.

"Am I clear?!" he yelled with more emphasis.

"Yes sir!" they replied again and saluted.

"Anyone, and I mean anyone, who harms a civilian intentionally faces court-martial. Orders from General Koin." he finished. He then checked the ammo clip in his assault rifle.

Katniss looked at Gale as he gave the orders to the troops. He knew he meant well, but she was

uneasy, nonetheless. She knew a battle was never entirely under control. She heard an explosion and looked outside. The Y-Wing bomber squadron had disabled the minefield in front of District Six's gates. The AT-TE walkers and AV-7 Heavy Cannons were beginning their diversionary frontal assault, and the squadron of Rebel X-Wing fighters had executed their strafing attack on District Six's left wall. Alarms had begun to blare, and enemy fighter jets began to rise to oppose Red Squadron and the Y-Wings. She saw Cody and Rex leading the charge. She knew, even with Gale's orders, more lives would be lost. She didn't like it, and she was sure nobody else did. But she knew they had no choice, and she could only do one thing: her duty. She squeezed her bow, feeling reassured by the solidity of it in her hand.

Finally, the republic gunships and SWR Troop Transports landed behind District Six. Suddenly,

without warning, bullets pinged on the ground all around them.

"Everybody out, double-time! "Gale yelled. Nobody argued. The squads of Rebel and New

Republic Troopers, backed up by AT-RT's that deployed from the rear of the gunships, dispatched from the gunship troop bays. Immediately, they formed a line of defense for the landing SWR Troop Transports. Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka leaped from the gunship they had been riding, lightsabers blazing and spinning to deflect the Peacekeeper bullets.

"Go, go, go!" Obi-Wan cried.

The gunships left within seconds of their landing. Gale rolled to the right behind a rock, barely dodging a spray of bullets from a machine gun turret on the wall. He then looked out from his hiding spot. He saw Peacekeepers laying down suppressing fire. He took aim and fired back with his assault rifle, and with satisfaction, saw two of the Peacekeepers drop. But he was forced to duck down, due to fierce return fire. He heard the transports landing and looked back with relief. Within seconds, the eight troop transport doors opened, and squads of Galactic Alliance and Hunger Games Resistance soldiers charged out, pouring into the battlefield. He saw three of them fall dead, due to fire from the sniper towers on the walls. Three of the SWR transports deployed Rebel Combat Speeder and Alliance ARC-1 tanks from their bays to assist them. Soon after, the SWR Transports rose from the ground, but, to Gale's horror, three of the eight transports were struck down by rocket fire from behind. Even though the rest escaped, he was furious.

He rolled to the left, from out behind the rock, into the open. Thinking quickly, he pulled a

grenade from his belt and threw it to the wall. He then opened fire on the Peacekeepers, dispatching three more. Soon after, the grenade he had thrown exploded...and apparently his grenade had landed right next to a machine gun turret and destroyed it, dropping four more Peacekeepers as well. Before ducking back into his hiding spot, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Anakin and Ahsoka over to the far right on the wall, dispatching Peacekeepers and machine gun turrets effortlessly. Not only did they weaken the Peacekeeper's flanks...they had distracted the snipers in the towers as well.

"Great shot!" he heard someone say, and looked behind him to see Finick and Petta approaching,

with scores of troops at their back. Finick wielded a sniper rifle, with his weapon-of-choice trident slung over his back. Petta wielded dual submachine guns, with a combat knife at his side. They all joined him behind his hiding rock.

"Move up and give it to me, AT-RT's!" Petta yelled over the chaos of the battle. The AT-RT's

formed a triangle shape and did what they were told. Though four of them were cut down, the AT-RT pilots accomplished their goal: they flattened the back-wall defenses and broke down the back gate.

"Charge!" Finick shouted, and the troops roared in agreement, surging forward to the gate

eagerly, led by Obi-Wan, while Anakin and Ahsoka jumped down from the wall, and into District Six. Katniss reunited with Gale, Petta and Finick behind the rock.

"Where were you?" Gale asked. They had been temporarily separated at the start of the battle.

"Doing what you were doing, I was just giving a squad of our troops some covering fire over to

the left, that's all. "she told them.

"No matter, we got to lead our troops. Let's go!" Finick yelled, and they ran to the gate and

entered District Six. The Alliance ARC-1 tanks were left outside the wall to give their invading force covering fire with their missile racks, while the Rebel Combat Speeders and AT-RT's advanced with them into the city...the battle was on.

At first glance, Katniss saw the Peacekeepers were backed up by troops from the Droid Army.

She and the entire Hunger Games Resistance had been taught about the troops from the Star Wars armies as soon as the Jedi Republic Union had arrived. A grid of tan-colored battle droids advanced through the street, firing at them. Five Galactic Alliance and three Hunger Games Resistance soldiers had been shot down and were lying dead in the street. She loaded an explosive arrow into her bow, aimed, and fired. She saw it hit a battle droid in the second row, and then the arrow detonated, sending droid parts flying everywhere. The last four still standing were cut down by return fire from a squad of Hunger Games Resistance soldiers. Then, she ducked in an alley where Gale, Finick, Petasoi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka were hiding.

"We can't advance through the streets all together!" Obi-Wan yelled, "We need to split up to

lead our forces successfully!"

"I agree!" Anakin replied, "And I have an idea about that. Ahsoka, you and I will take a third of

our garrison through the left section of the city." he explained, "Likewise Obi-Wan, you can take another third through the right section. Gale, Finick, Petta, and Katniss, you can continue cutting your path through the center. We will all gather our forces to surround the Center Plaza, where we will have them trapped for Rex and Cody's heavy cannons to fire on them." he finished.

"I agree, let's do that and end this battle quickly." Katniss replied.

"Alright then, what are we waiting for?" Ahsoka said eagerly. "Let's go, Master!"

"You heard Obi-Wan troops, move it!" Finick shouted. Within just minutes, each group had them

division of troops, and Katniss and her group began their advance through the center streets, while

Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka swept with their divisions through the left and right of the city. Gale assigned twenty-four Galactic Alliance Jetpack soldiers to go onto the roofs to cover them with sniper fire, while Petta made the heavy-weapons soldiers go in the back so they wouldn't be killed easily. They advanced forward through the streets and were met with one obstacle after another.

"Super battle droids!" Gale shouted, and all four of them dove for cover on opposite sides of the

street. Two AT-RT's moved up, firing on the line of super battle droids. The super battle droids hulking gray figures toppled to the ground. But the victory was short-lived. Suddenly, heavy machine gun fire strafed the AT-RT's from above, and the pilots fell out of their positions with a loud cry. Finick peeked out and saw that two Peacekeeper Mounted Machine Guns had been positioned in two of the building upper-story windows, on both sides of the street. He took aim with his sniper rifle and shot one of the gunners through the head quickly before he could fire. He ducked to avoid return fire from the gunner on the right, but no matter: Katniss took him out of commission with another well-placed explosive arrow shot.

"Thanks!" he said, breathing with relief. Now the advance was clear.

"Just doing what I need to do." Katniss replied.

They and their troops continued their advance through the network of streets leading to the City

Center Plaza. Katniss saw no civilians...they had either been evacuated to the City Center Plaza, or they were all hiding in the closets and basements of their houses.

"Take cover!" she heard Petta shout, and she immediately ducked behind the wreckage of a

truck that had tipped over. She peeked out and knew what the trouble was: a platoon of battle droids was firing at them, and eight droidekas were rolling in to back them up. They unfurled, opened their three legs to walk, and deployed their shield bubbles. Then they began laying down swaths of relentless fire, halting their troops. She ducked behind the truck, and her adrenaline began to race she could hear the lasers whittling away the metal of the truck. She heard the screams of soldiers from their divisions falling to the ground, shot dead, and tried not to think about it.

Just then, three Rebel Combat Speeders hovered around the street corner, and began moving

toward her. Then, they turned to the right and left, maneuvering around the truck she was hiding behind. They moved to the front and blasted the droidekas squad with their twin front big guns and blowing them to bits with their rocket launchers. Katniss was right about to come out from hiding but peeked over the top just to be sure.

"Change your position!" she heard Gale yell and she saw why. An AAT, backed up by four

dwarf spider droids, advanced forward, and flattened the Rebel Combat Speeders. Now their division of troops was back to square one. She suddenly remembered the big gun turret on top of the AAT...and looked to the left and saw an alley she could duck into. Without thinking, she ran and somersaulted into the alley. Just in time too...right after she got into the alley, she heard the AAT's turret fire, and heard the truck she had been hiding behind just moments ago explode into pieces.

She looked to the left, and saw Gale quickly sprint from hiding over to her position. Gale accessed his wrist comlink. Katniss almost forgot they had those...the Star Wars armies had given a bunch of spare comlinks they had to the troops of the Hunger Games Resistance, to upgrade them.

"Gale to Alliance Arc-1 tank squadron, do you read me?" he inquired anxiously.

"Roger sir, we read you, what's the problem?" the pilot on the other end asked.

"We are having been continuously pressing up the city to the Plaza, but my division and I are currently pinned down by an AAT and four dwarf spider droids. We are at the coordinates X-20, Y-15." he informed them. "Can you assist us with a missile barrage, repeat, can you assist us with a missile barrage?"

"Copy that sir, hold on a sec." the pilot replied, and Gale turned off the comlink.

Seconds later, they heard the high-pitched sound of misses streaking in from above. The missile

barrage slammed into the AAT and dwarf spider droids, pulverizing them into oblivion.

"All clear!" Petta called out, and they continued their relentless advance.

Finally, after over an hour and a half of brutal, urban warfare, and mounting casualties, they

arrived at the South Gate of the City Center Plaza...surprisingly with no resistance from enemy troops, who had probably grouped inside the Plaza. Petta activated his wrist comlink.

"Obi-Wan, this is Petta. Our division has arrived at the objective, but its heavily sealed Permission to breach sir, or do you want us to wait?" Petta asked.

"It's alright Petta. As a matter of fact, my division and I are busy with some enemy armor

support, and it looks like we will be for quite a while. If you and your division could breach, that would be wonderful...you could distract them until we arrived." Obi-Wan said, with a mischievous tone in his voice. Petta couldn't help but give a coy smile.

"You got it, General." he replied eagerly, and switched off his comlink.

"We need two heavy troopers, up here now!" Finick instructed. Immediately, three Rebel

Vanguards moved into position a few feet away from the gate and aimed their rocket launchers.

"On my signal." Petta commanded and held up three fingers. "One...two...three!" he yelled, and

the Rebel troopers obeyed. The rockets slammed into the gate, blowing it down with ease. Instantly, machine gun fire from a Peacekeeper Armored jeep that had been behind the gate erupted towards them. No matter: The Rebel Vanguards simply fired again, decimating it.

"Watch out!" one of the vanguards exclaimed. Three droidekas rolled up the gate, uncurled, and

opened fire. Battle droids and super battle droids soon followed, coming behind the droidekas.

The three Rebel Vanguards were cut down, as well as several other troops. Thinking quickly,

Katniss loaded a smoke arrow into her bow and shot it right in front of the droids. The arrow blew, sending smoke in front of the droid's faces. Taking advantage of that, four New Republic soldiers threw EMP grenades, obliterating the droid squad with their shock wave.

"Don't wait, let's go!" Katniss yelled, and the troops didn't argue. They stormed into the gate,

ready for the end of the fight...but then stopped.

A multi-layered, thick circle of Peacekeepers and droids stood in front of them...all holding them

guns and blasters to the heads of the innocent District Six civilians.

"No wonder there were no civilians in the streets!" Katniss realized with horror. "They probably evacuated them to the Plaza as soon as the fighting started!"

Behind most of the enemy troops, in what looked like the center of the circle, Katniss saw a truck with a massive megaphone mounted on the back. She found out why it was there.

"To all of the listening Jedi Scum here to "defeat" us." Katniss heard a sinister voice began

to brag, "You have lost. At this moment, we have all the civilians as hostage at gunpoint. Call off your troops and surrender, or all these civilians...children and babies included...will die. The choice is yours, oh valiant troops of the Jedi Republic Union."

A great anger surged within Petta. No... he was not going to stand and let the filthy minions of

President Snow and his Sith allies mock them, thinking they had won. He was not going to let it end this way. The wheels in his head began to spin as he tried to think of something.

He didn't need to...out of nowhere, from the left side of the Plaza, two medium-sized bomb shells lobbed into view. Before the droids and Peacekeepers could react, the bombs flew into the middle of their circle and detonated. The first one was an EMP bomb, shorting out the droids...the next one was a flashbang, blinding and confusing the Peacekeepers.

Instantly, the East Gate of the Plaza exploded into shards, and Anakin and Ahsoka charged in,

the troops from their division spilling in behind them. They no longer waited. Katniss, Gale, Finick, Petta and their troops joined in, charging in and dispatching the Peacekeepers in hand-to-hand combat, freeing the hostages.

Finick ran up to a Peacekeeper and snapped his gun out his hand lightning quick. Finick then

finished him off by freeing the Peacekeeper's hostage, and roundhouse kicking the Peacekeeper in the face. But then, he heard a sizzling sound behind him, and turned.

A pair of droid Magnaguards, stood there, challenging him with the glow of their evil red eyes.

They spun their electro staffs and approached him. Finick pulled his Trident off his back and replaced it with his sniper rifle. He didn't use a Trident for nothing.

Without hesitation, he swung his Trident at one of the Magnaguards, who parried it quickly.

The other Magnaguard thrusted his electro staff at him, but Finick didn't scare easy. He dodged to the right, and cartwheeled. He followed up his defense with a series of blows and swings that they quickly blocked. But for a split second, he got an opening in one of the Magnaguard's defenses, and brought his knee to its stomach. The Magnaguard stumbled, and Finick thrust his Trident into its belly. The Magnaguard began to fall, but Finick didn't wait to see it. He kicked the one that had tried to come behind him in the stomach...but suddenly, the Magnaguard rose from the ground, as if a giant, invisible hand was gripping it. It flew backward...and Finick saw it get impaled by Ahsoka's emerald-green lightsaber blade. The Managua fell to the ground dead. Ahsoka smiled back at him.

"Taking on Magnaguards without a lightsaber is risky! Ahsoka called back, "Your welcome!"

"Yeah, guess I almost found that out the hard way." Finick called back.

Ten minutes later, they had won. The civilians had been freed, and only 25 civilians had perished in the battle. Obi-Wan's division had been able to arrive mere seconds after the start, and District Six had been retaken.

A gunship arrived in the Plaza, and Commander Cody and Captain Rex walked out. They met

up with Katniss, Gale, Finick, Petta, Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka to celebrate.

"Good work everybody!" Captain Rex said, clapping Obi-Wan on the back.

"We did it!" Commander Cody said.

"Hope is here." Finick said with a smile.

"A turning point." Petta added.

"That much closer to victory." Gale agreed

"Nice job with those Vanguards, Finick!" Ahsoka teased.

"Looks like you've remembered your training after all, Anakin." Obi-Wan smiled.

"Well, if you hadn't taught me to think ahead, I might never have had that idea of the EMP and

flashbang bomb. All thanks to you, Master." Anakin replied.

Katniss said nothing. She knew the celebration wouldn't last long... a new battle would soon

arrive to replace this one.