The moment Steve Rogers's feet touched the stone plaza of Lessu, he was already in motion. His enhanced reflexes kicked in as he landed shield-first, the vibranium disc absorbing the impact of his high-speed insertion while he rolled into a perfect combat stance. Without missing a beat, he hurled his shield with deadly precision into a cluster of battle droids that had been converging on the burning transport wreckage.
The shield cut through their ranks like a scythe through wheat, its aerodynamic design and Steve's perfect aim allowing it to slice through multiple B1 units before ricocheting off a B2 super battle droid's armor plating. As the shield spun back toward him, Steve was already moving, his fists connecting with droid chassis and his enhanced strength turning mechanical components into scrap metal.
A B1 droid swung its blaster rifle at Steve's head, but the Super Soldier ducked under the clumsy attack and drove his fist upward through the droid's torso, emerging from its back in a shower of sparks and lubricant fluid. He caught his returning shield without looking, using it to decapitate another droid that had been flanking him from the left.
Meanwhile, Pietro Maximoff had solved the problem of his high-velocity descent in his own unique way. As he plummeted toward the city plaza, he began spinning at incredible speed, his enhanced metabolism allowing him to control his rate of rotation with perfect precision. The whirlwind he created didn't just slow his fall—it became a weapon in its own right.
Battle droids caught in the vortex were lifted off their feet and hurled in all directions. Several unfortunate B1 units found themselves launched over the city's defensive walls, their panicked "Roger, roger!" cries echoing off the canyon walls as they fell into the abyss below. Pietro touched down in the center of the artificial tornado he'd created, grinning as droid parts rained down around him.
"Hope!" Steve's voice cut through the chaos of battle. "Get that bridge operational!"
The Wasp had already shrunk to microscopic size, her enhanced agility allowing her to navigate the chaotic battlefield without being detected by the confused droid forces. She streaked through the air toward the plasma bridge control station, a fortified bunker built into the cliff face that housed the critical infrastructure for Lessu's only connection to the outside world.
Growing to full size inside the cramped control room, Hope startled the droid operators who had been attempting to permanently disable the bridge systems.
"Halt! You are not authorized to be in this restricted area!" one of the B1 units announced in its typical monotone voice, raising its blaster rifle with mechanical precision.
"Here's my authorization," Hope replied with grim satisfaction.
She leaped forward with enhanced reflexes, her hands closing around the droid's weapon arm. Using her momentum and superior leverage, she swung the hapless machine into its companion with enough force to shatter both of their chassis. Sparks flew as mechanical components scattered across the control room floor.
More droids rushed into the chamber, but Hope was ready for them. Her bio-electric stingers crackled with energy as she fired precisely aimed blasts at each attacker. The electrical discharge overloaded their circuits instantly, leaving her surrounded by smoking mechanical corpses.
With the immediate threat neutralized, Hope turned her attention to the control console. The Separatist engineers had done their work well—the interface was complex, with dozens of switches, buttons, and monitoring displays arranged in what seemed like deliberate confusion.
"Now, how exactly do I reactivate this thing?" she muttered, her eyes scanning the various controls until they settled on a particularly large lever marked with Aurebesh characters she couldn't read.
Through the control room's transparisteel windows, she could see Republic forces massing on the far side of the canyon, clone troopers and Twi'lek resistance fighters waiting for their chance to cross into the city. Time was running out—every second the bridge remained offline meant more opportunity for Tambor's forces to organize an effective defense.
Hope grabbed the lever and yanked it upward with all her strength. Immediately, the plasma bridge hummed to life, its energy field stabilizing across the canyon gap. The familiar blue glow of the energy construct painted the canyon walls as Republic forces began their charge across the bridge.
"Perfect," Hope said with satisfaction. But as she turned to leave the control room, she saw more battle droids flooding into the chamber. "Of course there are reinforcements."
She raised her wrists and began firing again, her stingers lighting up the cramped space with bio-electric energy.
High above the plaza, Sam Wilson and James Rhodes had taken to the air, their flight capabilities allowing them to engage the droid forces positioned on Lessu's defensive walls and towers. Sam's wings cut through the air with predatory grace as he dove toward a cluster of B1 units manning an anti-aircraft emplacement.
His metallic wings folded at the last moment, transforming his flight into a devastating kinetic strike that sent battle droids tumbling from their elevated positions. As he pulled out of his dive, Sam's wings snapped open again, the reinforced edges slicing through another droid that had been attempting to target him with a rocket launcher.
Landing briefly on a stone parapet, Sam tucked into a combat roll that brought him face-to-face with a B2 super battle droid. The heavily armored unit was too slow to track his reflexes, and Sam's powerful legs drove both feet into its chest plate with enough force to send the massive droid crashing backward through a stone wall.
Rhodey took a more direct approach to the aerial battle. His suit's targeting systems painted multiple threats simultaneously as he opened fire with his full arsenal. Missiles streaked from his shoulder-mounted launchers while his repulsors carved through droid formations with surgical precision.
Spotting a particularly dense concentration of enemy forces, Rhodey descended into their midst like an armored meteor. His landing cratered the stone plaza as his suit's impact dampeners absorbed the tremendous kinetic energy. Before the disoriented droids could respond, every weapon system on the War Machine armor activated simultaneously.
The resulting destruction was both spectacular and efficient. Chain guns chewed through B1 units while larger ordnance eliminated the heavier B2 models. When a pair of droidekas rolled toward him, their shield generators activating, Rhodey simply grabbed a nearby battle droid and hurled it at them with enough force to shatter both the destroyer droids and their protective barriers.
As he prepared to take off again, Rhodey armed several micro-charges and scattered them across the plaza. The resulting explosions would deny the area to any droid reinforcements attempting to retake the position.
Back on the ground level, Steve had carved a path of destruction through the droid forces that seemed almost surgical in its precision. His shield work was poetry in motion—deflecting blaster bolts back at their sources, ricocheting between multiple targets, and serving as both defensive barrier and offensive weapon.
He caught a B1 droid by its skeletal neck, his enhanced strength allowing him to lift the machine with one hand before slamming it down onto the stone pavement hard enough to scatter its components across a ten-meter radius. The droid's head unit continued to function for a few seconds, its photoreceptors flickering as it tried to process what had happened to the rest of its body.
Steve picked up the severed head and used it as an improvised projectile, striking another approaching droid with enough force to cave in its chest plate. The vibranium shield spun from his other hand, cutting through a small formation of B1 units before returning to his grip like a loyal hound.
A group of destroyer droids had rolled into position and were attempting to establish a firing line, their shield generators creating overlapping fields of protection. Steve studied their formation for a split second, calculating angles and trajectories with the tactical acumen that had made him one of history's greatest military strategists.
His shield left his hand in a complex trajectory that seemed to defy physics, bouncing off the canyon wall at precisely the right angle to strike the destroyers from behind, where their shields couldn't protect them. The vibranium disc shattered their mechanical spines before ricocheting back to Steve's waiting hand.
Pietro had become a silver blur moving through the battlefield at speeds that made him nearly impossible to target. His enhanced reflexes allowed him to weave between blaster bolts that seemed frozen in the air, while his fists and feet struck with the accumulated force of his tremendous velocity.
B1 droids found themselves punched with enough kinetic energy to reduce them to component parts, while even the heavier B2 units couldn't withstand the repeated impacts of Pietro's speed-enhanced attacks. He moved like lightning given human form, appearing behind enemy positions before the droids could even register his presence.
Behind him, Republic clone troopers and Cham's resistance fighters followed in his wake, mopping up any droids that Pietro's passage had merely damaged rather than destroyed. The combination of superhuman speed and conventional military tactics was proving devastatingly effective.
Across the city, the larger battle was reaching its climax. Republic forces had established multiple beachheads within Lessu's defensive perimeter, while Jedi Masters Windu and Ima-Gun Di coordinated the systematic elimination of remaining droid strongpoints. Clone Commander Ponds's voice crackled over the communications network, coordinating artillery strikes and troop movements with military precision.
Suddenly, the distinctive whine of starship engines filled the air above the ancient capital. A Separatist transport was lifting off from one of the city's upper landing platforms, its hull scarred by the battle but its engines still functional.
"There!" Commander Ponds shouted into his communicator, pointing at the ascending vessel. "A ship is taking off from the upper city!"
Every head turned skyward as the transport climbed steadily above the canyon walls, clearly attempting to escape the battle zone entirely.
"Could that be Tambor?" someone called out.
"Has to be," another voice replied. "The coward is running before we can capture him!"
Steve activated his wrist communicator immediately. "Rhodey, Sam—can you intercept that transport? We need Tambor alive for interrogation."
Both Avengers pilots immediately broke off from their current engagements and rocketed skyward in pursuit of the fleeing vessel. The transport had a significant head start, but it was also heavily loaded and not designed for high-speed evasion.
"I've got bombers coming in from the left, Rhodey," Sam reported as his enhanced vision picked up additional Separatist aircraft joining the chase.
"Roger that, Sam. I'll handle the escorts while you go after the main target," Rhodey replied, his targeting systems already locking onto the bomber formation.
Sam pushed his flight systems to maximum power, the advanced propulsion technology allowing him to steadily close the distance to the transport. When he reached optimal firing range, he armed several micro-missiles and fired them in a carefully planned pattern.
The missiles struck the transport's engine assemblies with precision accuracy, disabling its propulsion systems without destroying the passenger compartments. Smoke trailing from its damaged engines, the vessel began a controlled descent back toward the city.
Flying alongside the crippled transport, Sam could see through the cockpit transparisteel to the pilot inside. His enhanced vision immediately identified the figure as a tactical droid rather than the Skakoan foreman they were hunting.
"Damn," Sam muttered, activating his communicator. "Tambor's not on the transport—it's just a tactical droid. He must still be somewhere in the city."
Steve's voice came back immediately. "Understood. Pietro, you're our best bet for a city-wide search. Find him."
"On it, Cap," Pietro replied with enthusiasm.
The speedster became a silver blur moving through Lessu's ancient streets and buildings. His enhanced metabolism allowed him to maintain his incredible pace while his sharp eyes scanned every doorway, window, and shadowed alcove for signs of the fleeing Separatist leader.
Building after building, district after district—Pietro systematically searched nearly the entire capital city in a matter of minutes. His speed allowed him to check locations that would have taken conventional forces hours to clear, but Tambor seemed to have vanished completely.
It wasn't until Pietro was descending from the city's highest tower that his enhanced vision caught sight of a familiar figure moving frantically through a narrow alley near Lessu's outer walls. The distinctive breathing apparatus and mechanical gait were unmistakable.
"Found him, team," Pietro announced with satisfaction, his voice carrying a note of predatory anticipation.
In the space between one heartbeat and the next, Pietro appeared directly in front of Wat Tambor, blocking the Separatist leader's escape route with casual ease. The Skakoan stumbled backward in shock, his mechanical breathing apparatus wheezing with panic.
"Going somewhere?" Pietro asked with mock politeness, his silver hair catching the afternoon light. "I'd be happy to give you a lift—though I should warn you, my taxi service tends to be a bit... rough on the passengers."
Tambor's voice carried the mechanical distortion typical of his species, but the anger was unmistakable. "You! You and your accursed friends have turned my conquest of this world into a complete disaster!"
Pietro's grin widened as he crossed his arms casually. "Aw, thank you! That's honestly one of the nicest compliments I've received all week."
Before Tambor could formulate a response, the distinctive hum of a lightsaber activating filled the narrow alley. The Separatist leader turned slowly to find Mace Windu standing behind him, the Jedi Master's purple blade held steady at throat level.
"Wat Tambor," Mace said with implacable authority, "you are under arrest for war crimes, crimes against sentient beings, and violation of the Galactic Conventions of War. Surrender now, and you may yet preserve your miserable life."
Tambor's mechanical breathing apparatus hissed as he tried to maintain some semblance of dignity despite his hopeless situation. "General Windu, surely we can reach some sort of... compromises? I have considerable resources at my disposal, information that could prove valuable to the Republic..."
Mace's expression remained stern, the purple lightsaber never wavering in its position. "The time for negotiation has passed, Tambor. Your choices are simple: surrender or die. Choose quickly."
The Skakoan leader seemed to consider his options for a moment before his mechanical voice took on a tone of smug satisfaction. "I'm afraid surrender may not be necessary, Jedi. You see, even as we speak, this entire city is about to be reduced to rubble for the greater glory of the Separatist Alliance."
The sound of approaching aircraft engines made both Pietro and Mace look skyward. A formation of Vulture droids was descending toward the capital, their weapon systems already warming up for what was clearly intended to be an orbital bombardment run.
Pietro felt his blood run cold as he realized the implications. Neither Rhodey nor Sam was in position to intercept the bombers in time, and the droid fighters were already beginning their attack runs on the most populated sections of the city.
But fate, it seemed, had other plans.
Two Jedi starfighters streaked across the sky like avenging angels, their twin laser cannons lighting up the afternoon air with deadly precision. Behind them flew a full squadron of V-19 Torrent starfighters, their Republic markings clearly visible as they engaged the Vulture droids in aerial combat.
Anakin Skywalker's voice crackled over the communications network, filled with the confidence of one of the galaxy's greatest pilots. "Sorry we're late to the party! Ahsoka and I brought some friends to help clean up the mess."
The aerial battle was brief but spectacular. The Jedi's superior piloting skills, combined with the disciplined tactics of the clone pilots, made short work of the Separatist bombers. Within minutes, the sky above Lessu was clear of enemy aircraft, their burning wreckage scattered across the canyon floor far below.
Pietro turned back to Tambor with an expression of exaggerated disappointment. "Gee, that's embarrassing. You were saying something about reducing the city to rubble?"
Within minutes, the narrow alley was filled with Republic forces, Twi'lek resistance fighters, and all six Avengers. Tambor found himself surrounded by the very people whose world he had tried to enslave and exploit.
Cham Syndulla pushed through the crowd, his weathered face bearing an expression of grim satisfaction as he raised his blaster and pointed it directly at Tambor's head. The Separatist leader's mechanical breathing apparatus wheezed with fear as he stared down the barrel of the weapon.
"Now then," Cham said with deadly calm, "let's discuss your terms of surrender."
Tambor's mechanical voice was barely a whisper. "Unconditional... unconditional surrender."
With the immediate threat neutralized, the atmosphere in the alley shifted from combat tension to something resembling celebration. Cham kept his weapon trained on Tambor, but his expression had softened as he turned to address Pietro and the other Avengers.
"Maximoff, my friend," Cham said, his voice thick with emotion, "I cannot adequately express my gratitude to you and your fellow Avengers. Your selfless courage has saved not just Ryloth, but countless lives throughout this system. Every Twi'lek in the galaxy owes you a debt that can never be repaid."
Pietro actually seemed embarrassed by the praise, his usual cockiness replaced by genuine humility. "Ah, Cham, you're going to make me blush. We just did what needed doing."
Scott appeared at Pietro's elbow, nudging him with obvious amusement. "Just another day saving the galaxy, right, Pietro?"
Pietro's grin returned in full force. "You know how it is, Scott. Someone's got to keep the universe from falling apart."
As word of the liberation spread throughout Lessu, the ancient city began to come alive with celebration. Twi'leks who had hidden in their homes during the occupation emerged into the streets, their faces reflecting amazement that their long nightmare was finally over. Clone troopers and resistance fighters found themselves swept up in impromptu parades as civilians poured into the city's main plaza.
The six Avengers stood somewhat apart from the initial celebrations, watching the joyous reunion of families and the return of hope to a world that had known nothing but oppression for too long. Steve's expression was one of quiet satisfaction—the look of a soldier who had accomplished his mission and protected innocent lives.
But their moment of quiet observation didn't last long. As more and more Twi'leks recognized Pietro and the other Avengers, the crowd began to surge toward them with expressions of gratitude and excitement. Children who had only heard whispered stories about the mysterious heroes now saw them in person, and their enthusiasm was infectious.
Before any of the Avengers could protest, they found themselves pulled into the growing celebration. Pietro was hoisted onto the shoulders of several clone troopers while children clustered around Steve, their small hands reaching out to touch his famous shield. Hope and Scott found themselves surrounded by Twi'lek families whose lives they had saved, while Sam and Rhodey were peppered with questions about their incredible flying abilities.
The cheers grew even louder when the crowd fully realized that all six of the legendary Avengers were present—the heroes who had helped turn the tide of the war, who had risked their lives for a world that wasn't even their own. In that moment, species barriers meant nothing. Human, Twi'lek, and clone trooper alike joined together in celebration of freedom restored and hope renewed.
As the sun began to set behind the canyon walls, painting the ancient city of Lessu in shades of gold and crimson, the celebration continued unabated. For the first time in over a year, the people of Ryloth could look to the future with hope instead of fear.
And at the center of it all, six heroes from another galaxy smiled and laughed with the people they had helped to save, knowing that sometimes the greatest victories were measured not in battles won, but in the joy of those who were finally free.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at p@treon.com/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~