Invader Syndrome Ch. 77 (Star Wars AU) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: The end of the line.

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“FORWARD!”

Even as Grievous roars out the order, he knows the situation is dire. His two remaining MagnaGuards surge forth, leading the charge as a beleaguered battalion of battle droids follows them. The charge is immediately blunted by the enemy’s defenses, however, massive ground-based turbo lasers strafing across the battlefield and instantly annihilating one MagnaGuard and half the battalion.

Tch… to think, he had once believed the Hutts to be easy prey. Hutt Space was a mere fraction the size of Republic Space after all, and Grievous had been able to work wonders as the Commander of the Separatist Forces during that war.

There was just one problem comparing that conflict to this one… Grievous wasn’t playing by the same rules anymore.

He had come to Hutt Space with his droid armies, not as a conqueror or even a killer, but as a liberator. He had come here after slaughtering the Separatist Council for their part in his enslavement in order to free more slaves like him. He had come here to Hutt Space to end slavery once and for all.

It was a nice thought, wasn’t it? Unfortunately, there was a world of difference between what he had done for Count Dooku and what he was trying to do now for himself. As General Grievous of the Separatist Movement, he had not held back whatsoever. Every underhanded tactic, every monstrous act one could imagine… he had been willing to do it. He had committed himself entirely to destroying the Republic and killing every last enemy combatant who got in his way… the Jedi most of all.

By comparison, Grievous was trying to save people here in Hutt Space. Every slave he could free, every sapient being whose shackled he could shatter, was like a balm on his wounded soul. For a long time, Grievous hadn’t thought he had much of a soul left, especially not after becoming mostly machine.

But Anakin Skywalker, or rather Darth Vader, had shown him otherwise. And Grievous… Grievous had foolishly taken his words and lessons to heart and attempted to apply them to his assault on the Hutt Clans.

Unfortunately for him, the Hutts did not play fair. His position was reversed. Now he was the ‘good guy’ and the Hutts were the ones who didn’t have to worry about the morality of their actions. For every slave Grievous and his armies managed to free, the Hutts happily killed a thousand for even the slightest gain on their end. For every world Grievous liberated, the Hutts made sure to destroy as much of his forces as they possibly could.

He was over a year into this campaign now and hadn’t made nearly the progress he wanted to… nor did it seem likely that he would be able to finish the job either, despite being so damn close. In fact… Grievous was beginning to think that he might just have to pull back soon in order to hold onto the planets he’d liberated and keep them from being retaken by the Hutts in the event that he fell in battle.

The truth was that his resources were finite. The droid factories that had once produced endless armies for the Separatists had been wound down as the credits from the Separatist Council he slaughtered had stopped flowing. And in turn, the Hutts had done everything they could to destroy as much of his armies and fleets as they possibly could.

The worst part? The Hutts were unbelievably petty… more so than Grievous himself, really. Early in the conflict they had done what they were prone to do and set a bounty. Grievous had expected as much, but he had thought the bounty would be on his head. He had even looked forward to killing the numerous bounty hunters who would try to collect.

… That was not what the Hutt Clans had done, however. Rather, the bounty they’d set… was on his lightsabers. His collection of Jedi Artifacts had become the target of every bounty hunter with a long range laser rifle. Initially, Grievous had taken to the field in every encounter, eager to fight and hunt down the Hutts and their more willing subordinates.

But then, snipers had started to take out his lightsabers at their hilts, shooting his collection right out of his hands. His armored carapace was such that they could not do much damage to him before he could escape to cover, but with precision shots they could reduce the hilt of a lightsaber to a slagged mess that dripped from his claws.

It was infuriating. It was humiliating. The bounty had achieved precisely what the Hutts intended for it to, forcing him back as he’d lost saber after saber, until he was bereft of the weapons that Count Dooku had trained him in altogether.

Now here he was, stuck in this quagmire on Nar Shaddaa. Just one moon away from Nal Hutta itself, but his fleet was taking a beating on the daily even as Grievous did everything he could to liberate the Smuggler’s Moon from Hutt rule.

One would think that it shouldn’t be this difficult and yet… and yet, Grievous was becoming more and more certain by the moment that he would have to pull back from Nar Shaddaa and use what remained of his droid armies to reinforce the planets he’d already liberated. Otherwise they would just fall back under Hutt rule after he’d spent himself failing to take the Smuggler’s Moon and the Hutt Homeworld.

He-

“Sir! Contacts have arrived from out of system!”

What? Grievous’ head whips around, his eyes narrowing as he stomps over to the comm droid who has called out to him.

“The Hutts have reinforcements? From where?”

Even if he was starting to feel pressed, Grievous didn’t think the Hutts should have enough for another fleet. Not unless they’d hired one from elsewhere… which was a distressing possibility.

“No sir, they aren’t Hutts. They’re… we’re receiving a transmission, sir!”

Grievous growls through his vocalizer.

“Accept the transmission.”

“Sir!”

A moment later and a familiar face appears on screen, one that has Grievous’ eyes widening in shock.

“General Grievous. Well met.”

Staring into the burning yellow eyes of one Obi-Wan Kenobi, Grievous pauses for a moment before inclining his head.

“General Kenobi… your arrival is unexpected.”

As they speak, Grievous glances down at the sensor readings coming in through the console in front of them, checking them over himself. It’s not just ‘contacts’… its an entire damn fleet, one larger than what he has left at this point.

“Darth Vocatus, actually.”

Grievous’ eyes snap back up at that correction, prompting Kenobi… or rather Vocatus to smirk.

“I’m told you’re in a spot of trouble and could use some help finishing the fight you started. The Galactic Empire sent me to assist you in ending the threat posed by the Hutts… permanently.”

It takes Grievous a moment to process that and accept it. Frankly, part of him wonders if he’s hallucinating or something. But no, this is really happening. Perhaps he should have expected as much. Deep down though, he had always assumed Vader had pointed him like a weapon and sent him into the heart of the Hutts with every intention of both parties dealing with one another.

For the Sith Lord to send reinforcements now, rather than waiting until Grievous was gone before mopping up what remained of the Hutts… it would seem he’d misjudged him once more.

In the end, he has no other choice. Dipping his head, Grievous lets out a rattling breath.

“Your assistance is… most appreciated Darth Vocatus. The Hutts have pinned me down on Nar Shaddaa. Your fleet will be instrumental if we are to break through to Nal Hutta.”

Vocatus smiles sharply at that.

“That’s the plan. But of course, before anything else I have a gift for you… from Darth Vader.”

Grievous watches as Vocatus lifts a hand off to the side and a moment four familiar cylinders float into view onscreen. He stares at the dark lightsaber hilts as Vocatus arrays them before him before activating them all simultaneously, bathing his features in the red of their plasma blades.

“The hilts are made of beskar and the crystals are synthetic, making them twice as powerful as organic crystals.”

Vocatus tilts his head to the side in amusement.

“You are much more dangerous properly armed, after all.”

Grievous stares at the floating sabers and then past them at the man who had once been his enemy… a man he finds himself thinking is far more dangerous now than he was as a Jedi.

“… You and Lord Vader have my thanks. We will meet on the surface below then.”

“Indeed we shall. Let us break the backs of these slavers once and for all. For the Empire.”

Grievous responds in the only way he possibly can to that. He is, after all, not loyal to their new Galactic Empire and he’s not sure he ever will be. However, there is one thing he is confident in, one thing he shares loyalty to with both Vocatus and Vader.

“For Freedom.”

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A/N: And that’s it. That’s how the story ends. It might feel a little weird that we didn’t get a Vader POV in the last two chapters, but I kind of like it better this way.

Hope everyone enjoyed the story! First chapter of its replacement will have gone up right after this post so feel free to go and read it!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YpHzK2_k2ycbyR4TAST7BgthsqAeGmN64-kLox5W8j0/edit?tab=t.0