16I need to kill what to get a time travel coupon? Chapter 5
AN: Welcome back everyone, I hope you all enjoyed the past few chapters because here is another one. A few things to note before we start, one this fic will probably get somewhat infrequent updates because I am also cowriting an actual book with the same guy who I brainstormed the idea of this story with (probably not a very good book, but it is an adventure novel that is fun to write so far, and since it's our own unlike this we might actually get some money out of that hobby unlike this), however the next update should be out fairly soon since we already have the structure for that one laid out.
In addition to that we've got an overall plan of where to go with this however the hard part so far is getting there fluently without things going either way too conveniently or way too horribly for Anakin, Ahsoka and the rest. So do stay tuned, once we get to a certain point updating should be somewhat more frequent and consistent.
The last thing of note is a disclaimer that I apparently forgot to put in some other chapters:
I hereby make it known that I do not own Game of Thrones or Star Wars, as I am neither George RR Martin nor the current head of the Disney corporation. My only holdings in either of those are a few shares in the Disney corporation, but even then those are so few to not matter in the grand scheme of things. As such this is a non-profit piece of entertainment, written for my enjoyment of writing and your enjoyment of reading my writing. Have a good day.
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A few minutes after the last chapter left off, still at the retreating army of Nykos
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The riders around Ymir are somewhat perplexed, having expected an immediate bombardment and losing dozens of men straight away at best, and for the flying devices to be the vanguard of an chasing army that would kill them to the last at worst, rather than a demand for negotiations while the flying objects hovered a distance away from them. Whispers start up of potentially hitting them first but Ymir quickly quiets those, knowing the vessels are far out of range for their crossbows and will probably stay out of said range until negotiations start.
''We will follow up on their demand for the location and go there for negotiations, if possible stretch for time and try to see what they wish to negotiate, and see if we cannot get favourable terms.'' His officers look at him as if he has lost his mind ''I did not mean 'favourable terms' in the sense of us coming out on top, I'm not insane enough to think that I can make that happen, I meant favourable terms in comparison to us all being ripped to pieces by blasts of liquid fire raining down on us from the sky.''
The men give tired grunts before their commander rides off towards the indicated area, half a dozen men following him, mostly trusted officers. As they near the discussed location, they can see a duo in dark robes standing there, surrounded by several of the white armoured soldiers they saw at the village. Upon them arriving, the taller man of the two robed figures +speaks up first ''Do any of you speak Westerosi common?''
Ymir nods and speaks up in return ''I do speak it, and I am Ymir, one of the council members of Nykos. Who are you people and what are your terms in case my army surrenders?'' The robed man looks him up and down for a moment and as he is doing so, the second robed figure speaks up, with Ymir quickly realizing it is both a woman and seemingly not human.
''I am Ahsoka Tano, and this is general Anakin Skywalker. Our terms are fairly simple. In exchange for us keeping you all alive to actually surrender and letting the majority of you continue back to your city after disarming you, we are keeping you and other high ranking officers as hostages for the negotiations with your city state. If you do not comply within six hours, we will assume the deal is off and attack you with our own forces, and considering you lost the majority of your army already to what was little more than a slightly overstrength town garrison, I think you can see that would not go well for you.''
Ymir looks at her for a moment, considering before turning back to Anakin as he nods his head ''So you plan to take me and my officers prisoner to use as leverage, but otherwise let our army trudge its way back to Nykos so long as you take our weapons?'' As he gets nods from the both of them again he grunts, going silent for some moments before speaking up again ''I will go to my remaining officers to discuss your terms, and will be back within two hours with the answer.'' As he mentions this the two nod, causing him to turn around his horse and order his men back to the group.
As they moved back, Ymir spoke up lowly ''Once we return to our men, inform all remaining officers that they are to throw off their rank insignia, while I myself and four volunteers will join this general Anakin Skywalker and his inhuman companion as their hostages.'' They move to protest but he holds up his hand ''While I find it galling as well, if we try anything now all we do is lose our entire army while at best killing a few of them in return. If we go with their terms meanwhile we can rebuild for a next conflict, this time with far better preparation and more knowledge of the situation at hand in addition to reserves and re-enforcements sent by Myr.''
As his men nod, he spends the next half an hour of organizing everything to get to the city on time and safely, he heads back to the flying ship together with four of his remaining officers, handing themselves over. However once they arrive there they see something that makes him and his men freeze in shock: a flare of wind had pushed back the hood on the female that called herself 'Ahsoka Tano', revealing an orange coloured face and strange appendages growing from her head with no sign of any form of hair anywhere.
A horrible feeling dawns on Ymir at this point 'All but these two that we've seen so far are fully clothed in armour with no visible skin to be seen, they have strange weapons and at least act as if they do not speak the local languages… my estimation of the threat level of these wonder weapons and the numbers in which they have them is going out the window immediately and we are probably not even dealing with humans anymore. Am I being punished by the gods for some great misdeeds I have committed?'
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An hour or so later, approaching Nykos
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While the captured soldiers of Nykos are off in a corner, looking around nervously, Anakin's face is still hidden by his hood as he stares at their passengers, anger in his eyes that he is trying to calm. Dealing with slaving scum in any way that did not lead to people losing limbs was never his strong suit. However for now he knows they cannot do so, they have far too few men that can be quickly transported close to the city and regardless of their skill if he tries to take on the entire city garrison with at most a few platoons of soldiers and two jedi the amount of collateral damage would be gigantic, likely killing hundreds if not thousands of the very slaves he is trying to save, and that is if they even win since with such numerical disparity against up to ten thousand while fighting inside narrow city streets they might lose from sheer exhaustion and fall in an ambush.
As he is stewing in his thoughts he gets roused from them by a short message from the pilot, causing him to straighten his look and seal away his anger like he was taught, if only for now. ''We're nearing the city, get ready. If you fail to convince them of the seriousness of the situation we will have a sizable army ready and invade your city before the end of the week, and you saw what less than a hundred of our men did to an entire army, wouldn't want to see what more than a thousand can do to your precious city, do you?''
Their leader, Ymir, can be seen steeling himself before he replies ''Threats do not help you, we saw with our own eyes what happened and will convince my fellow councillors of what happened and to treat this matter seriously.'' As they near the city and start slowing down drastically, the guards at the gate are panicking and shouting before a message comes from the speakers of the ship.
''This is general Anakin Skywalker, I am here in the name of the League of Golden Fields with one of your leaders as my captive to negotiate a ceasefire.'' The chaos at the gate temporarily stills before it ensues again, though now it is a more ordered chaos instead as messengers rush towards the city centre to get the message out towards their leaders. A bit over an hour later, Anakin, Ahsoka are seated with half a dozen clone troopers standing near them in a large chamber with the three leaders of the city sitting on the opposite side while a dozen guards are standing near, fearfully looking at the weapons of the newcomers after hearing Ymir talking to their other leaders about it.
''So General Skywalker, correct me if I am wrong but your demands are for us to cede the territory we control east of the Harayen river, to your League of the Golden Fields and hand over fifty slave families and the horses remaining with the defeated army as a gesture of goodwill, in exchange you will agree to a cease fire and not advance into our territory, correct?'' As the priestly magistrate summarizes the terms, Anakin nods ''We accept those terms, on the condition that the remnants of our army returns to this city unscathed and we can choose the fifty slave families.''
As Anakin nods and verbally agrees, both he and the priest look eachother in the eye, both knowing very well that this is not the last of these hostilities and already planning on how to best prepare for the next round of fighting, however both believing that they will be the one to have the upper hand and profit more from having a few months of peace to prepare for said next round of fighting.
On the large map laid down on the table one can quickly see that while the territory ceded is sizable, there is not much of note in the area besides a number of small farming communities near lakes in the area and one village at the eastern shores of the river itself. Altogether barely mroe than a thousand people live in the area, with the only real importance to it being that it lies in the path of any overland caravan between Nykos and a good chunck of the areas of the golden field controlled by the League.
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That same evening, in the command staff meeting room onboard their ship
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After Anakin and Ahsoka explained everything that happened in the negotiations and on the way there to Rex, he fills them in on the situation in the town itself ''Sadly enough we had to burn almost half of their crops, too many human corpses among them that could have caused a disease outbreak in short order. Luckily enough we were able to reroute some supplies from other villages that had spare thanks to our assistance in food preservation, however this does mean that we cannot afford another instance like this since we need most of that spare crop ourselves to supplement the goods we had on the ship to sustain the army until our own farms come online.''
The two others nod, before Ahsoka speaks up ''I would like to propose a potential solution to lessen the burden of sustaining the army on the other towns,'' as she pulls up the holographic map she points towards Braavos and then the Seven kingdoms ''Braavos with its nature as a maritime power will likely have a lot of fish, however they are diplomatically somewhat isolated in the region due to their anti-slavery stance, even with Pentos theoretically paying lip service to their 'overlord'. We can introduce ourselves as an ally in the region and negotiate to secure their trade routes nearby with our troops in exchange for some of said fish in addition to providing them with a new trading partner with easy access to a lot of wood, which their shipyards will always need.''
Both of the men nod while thinking before Anakin speaks up ''And then once they have worked enough with us for them to trust us more and vice versa we can also start selling some things like basic radio's to them, in addition to the personnel required to operate them, and win us over an ally in the region. After the initial negotiations we can then even go over to Westeros, under the guise of getting additional allies or at least trading partners, so that our initial plan of going there to asses the situation looks less suspicious.''
All three now have a smile on their face before Rex picks up ''Now we only have to convince the League to go along with it and convince Lawrence to join up with us so we have somebody that actually knows a thing or two about the locals to smoothen the various negotiations.'' With that both he and Ahsoka turn towards Anakin who now realizes what he set himself up for ''And as our ever gracious general with no fear, you wouldn't mind being the one that does so, do you sir?'' Anakin curses under his breath as Rex and Ahsoka both smile.
After a few moments however he sighs ''Fine, I set myself up for that one.'' Then he stands up however, goes over to them and gives first Rex then Ahsoka a strong hug ''Again, it is good to know that you were unharmed, I feared for the both of you when I heard the news.'' However as he turns to walk he stumbles and almost falls, needing Ahsoka to keep him upright as the exhaustion can be seen on him.
''And you very much need sleep now, and don't protest, I'm getting you to your quarters pronto.'' As she finishes saying this she turns towards Rex ''You'll be fine handling the preparations for such a journey and scheduling the build-up of troops in the area we just got ceded right?'' As Rex nods she sighs in relief and leaves the room, Anakin letting himself be dragged along with her as the exhaustion of the past few days fully hits him.
As they arrive at his bedroom and he takes off his upper clothing, boots and equipment again he sees that she is still standing near the door however as she turns to leave he finds his voice ''Please stay for a bit.'' She turns back to him and though blushing slightly easily goes along with it depositing her weapons on the desk before sitting on the bed next to him, where he takes her into a hug ''I was afraid that I'd lost you, that both of you died in a small skirmish in the middle of nowhere after surviving a full on galactic war. I know it might be asking too much but could you stay, like a few weeks ago…''
She sighs and though she is internally conflicted, she knows that if she didn't he likely wouldn't be able to sleep and she herself had the best sleep in months, if not years, the last time she did stay over. And so though she says ''Fine Skyguy, but don't think it's going to become a habit'' deep down she knows that she wouldn't mind much if it did become one. They fall asleep shortly afterwards, each holding the other with a soft smile on their face.
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A week later, launch platform at the Republic Expeditionary base
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Convincing the League to let them go on a diplomatic mission in the name of said league had been easy enough, and once they had done so convincing Lawrence was even easier, since as the official head of state of the League him being present at major diplomatic events in some form or the other was a necessity, and visiting his old homeland again, even if the only section he would physically visit being further north than he'd ever been there, only made sense. It wasn't because he was already getting a headache from having to hear even the smallest inter town issues the various members of the League were having and then having to figure out how to keep everyone at least somewhat happy with a compromise, most certainly not.
Or at least that was what the man had convinced himself of after he said 'Yes!' essentially the moment Anakin asked him and rushed home to prepare for leaving immediately. It was only a while later as he was packing that he realized he wasn't the only one that might want to see their home again at least once, and so asked his half-sister and her family if they would be interested, before sending the request to Anakin to bring them along.
After some discussion, it was agreed to bring them along for the negotiations in Westeros, though they were asked to remain home for those in Braavos since they would only be using one gunship for that trip and needed to bring along enough equipment and people to set up a small permanent radio outpost if negotiations succeeded. And so Lawrence, Anakin, Ahsoka and a quartet of troopers in addition to a pilot flew over.
Around four hours later, they started nearing Braavos, the first sight confirming it to be the right city being the sizable titan standing over the harbour. Though keeping silent, all of the off-worlders were at least somewhat impressed, hearing about megastructures built by a society that hadn't reached the industrial age yet was one thing, seeing them in front of you was another entirely. Lawrence smiles at them before speaking up ''Lady and gentlemen, welcome to Braavos, the only truly free of the free cities of Essos.''
Anakin gives the knight a smile ''If we have our way, soon enough they will not be the only one anymore my friend.'' As Ahsoka nods along and the troopers grunt confirmatively, Lawrence smiles at them for a moment before shaking his head and looking back out again, trying to imprint this birds eye view of a city into his mind. Anakin looks out ''By the way, where would be the best place to land, is there some kind of location that ambassadors from other powers normally go to first?''
Lawrence thinks for a moment before nodding ''If its possible it would be a good idea to go to the harbour and talk to the harbour master, he will most likely offer one of the piers normally given to high ranking foreign nobility to dock when they go to Braavos for business. He'll also be the easiest way to get a message to the cities leadership about us being here on official business.''
Anakin nods and opens his comms to the pilot ''If possible go to the harbour, if not just find an open field near one of the gates instead.'' Then he gestures for Lawrence ''Lawrence I'm giving you the comm so you can direct the pilot.'' Before handing it over, at which point Lawrence guides the man to the best of his memory to the correct pier. By the time they have made it there, a small crowd has gathered and Lawrence greets them ''Hello everyone, we'd like to meet the harbour master, as part of a diplomatic venture.''
A gruff voice can be heard from the crowd as people step out of the way to make place for a slightly shorter than average but very broadly built man with a few scars on his face ''If you're looking for the harbour master, here I am. What do you want?''
Lawrence smiles at him ''Well my good sir, I am Lawrence Rochefort, current head of the League of the Golden Fields, and we're here on a diplomatic mission to try and get support from the Free City Of Braavos as a fellow group in Essos that despises the existence of slavery.'' The man is looking at him as if he doesn't understand what is being said very well ''We're a collection of towns in the Golden Fields region that have taken a stance against Myr and just won our first battle with some outside assistance, we'd like to start up a friendly relations with Braavos to supply our army so that we can win the next one as well.''
The harbourmaster looks between the ship, the man in Westerosi half-plate armour without a helmet that had just spoken up and the various armoured figures inside the flying vehicle, before looking back at the fact of said vehicle actually being a flying one again and mutters ''Yes I can see how you won.''
Before shaking his head and turning slightly, shouting for one of his assistants while shouting for another to inform the palace. As the younger man arrives, looking shocked at the fact that there is a flying vehicle, he starts up again ''This young man will guide your vessel to the ambassadorial dock, if the diplomats would be willing to join me in my office until my messenger arrives at the palace of the Sealord.'' Upon Lawrences agreement, they leave the ship with the troopers staying on board while Anakin, Ahsoka and Lawrence follow the Harbourmaster.
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Slightly more than an hour and a half later
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The trio had been sitting there in the harbourmasters office, softly talking to each other in a last run through of their diplomatic strategy after having talked with the harbourmaster for the first hour or so about recent events in Westeros, learning about the end of the rebellion, how the Targaryans lost and that the Baratheons are now in charge when somebody knocks on the door. The harbourmaster opens it showing a middle aged man with extravagant clothes in multiple colours and a large hat ''I am Giovanni, head of the alchemists guild, welcome to our beautiful city. I will be the one to lead you to the Sealord's palace.''
The trio nods, says their goodbye's to the harbourmaster before following the guild leader to the palace with a small entourage of guards standing outside that join them. After a bit over thirty minutes of walking, they arrive at a large palatial looking building, presumably the Sealord's palace. As they walk in, they are met by a small welcoming committee before being brought to a room with a large table, one side filled with a number of people clothed in colourful, and probably fairly expensive, clothing, centred around a middle-aged man that stands up as they enter, causing the others to follow his example.
''Welcome travellers, I hear that you came here from the Golden Fields to negotiate our support of your independence movement against Myr, and have already won the first battle. That sounds very interesting, though if you had not brought a flying ship with you I would have likely doubted your word. Come, sit down please, though if its not a problem do please lower those hoods, I would like to know who I'm dealing with when it comes to major things like this.''
As they move forward and take the offered seats Anakin and Ahsoka exchange a glance before she shrugs, at which point he nods and both remove their hoods. The locals are shocked into silence as they take in the woman that looks far different from anyone they have ever met. Lawrence smiles and speaks up, taking advantage of this as planned in case it came up ''As I said, we won our first battle against the slavers, in large part due to the assistance of travellers from far away that are now stuck here, and these two are two of their commanders, General Anakin Skywalker and Commander Ahsoka Tano.''
The Sealord looks between them, still processing the information, before he starts smiling. ''So my new friends, what kind of support did you want in your stand against Myr? Because with that flying ship you have, and probably others of its kind, I'm assuming you are good on the equipment for directly fighting the Myrish armies.''
Lawrence nods and gestures for Anakin and Ahsoka to continue, since they have a clearer idea on what exactly was needed ''Our soldiers are more than able to fight the Myrish armies yes, with a force of less than two-hundred at a town near one of their vassal cities we beat back an army of over two thousand, however after the battle a large portion of the fields had to be burned which turned our already precarious food situation worse. As such we would like to buy food, primarily fish, from you to feed our troops.'' He pulls out a list and slides it over to the other side of the table ''These are the rough numbers of how much we would prefer to buy from you.''
The Sealord grabs the list and looks it over quickly, before handing it to one of his subordinates who looks it over and seems to be thinking it over for a bit, before he shouts for an assistant to grab him some other papers to check. As this is happening the Sealord turns back to his guests ''While I believe we have enough and are more than willing to start selling you the food, and are also willing to give you a friendlier price than we give to the other 'Free Cities','' the distaste he has for the indicated entities can almost be felt ''it doesn't change the fact that we do want something in return as we cannot afford to give away enough food to feed what seems to be almost five thousand people for long without suffering for it ourselves, since it would have to come out of the portion of catches we normally store for usage in case of crisis.''
At this point, Ahsoka moves forward slightly pulling attention back to her ''To calm your worries, the amount will become drastically lower in a few months, once we manage to get the first harvests out of our new fields. In exchange however we are willing to offer some of our troops to assist in guarding your ships, gift you radio installation and an operating crew to keep in contact with both those ships and ourselves. We are then willing to continue supplying troops to guard your ships at reduced prices after the supply intensive parts of the deal are over.''
Giovanni looks at her questioningly before he speaks up ''While cheap dependable guards are always a good thing, I do wish to ask how those 'radio' things work, is it your version of the Seven Kingdoms raven messenger system? If so, how do you get them to arrive at moving objects like ships?'' Ahsoka smiles at him before she continues.
''That is good to hear, and while I do not know how exactly the raven system of the Seven Kingdoms works, I can tell you our system doesn't use animals. They are electronical devices, that to simplify the process record a sound you use at one of them and send it over to the other members of the network that receive and can transmit back almost in real time, meaning that you can have a meeting between two people in different cities with at most a few seconds of delay between either side replying to the other.''
The locals all look intrigued by the idea, but slightly sceptical and Ahsoka pulls up her wrist. ''If you wish, I can demonstrate calling to the men we left back at our vehicle.'' The Sealord gives his consent at which point she taps in the commands ''This is commander Tano, sergeant Jason can you hear me.'' After a few seconds of waiting, a reply arrives.
''Commander Tano, this is sergeant Jason, I am hearing you loud and clear. Do you need anything?'' Upon hearing the voice coming from the other end of the line, the scepticism leaves the locals who are now instead very interested in the idea. They all look at each other silently contemplating their options as the servant they had sent for returns to the room, documents in hand.
''Negative sergeant Jason, I was just checking in and demonstrating the usage of our radio's, Commander Tano out.'' As she turns off the audio of the small holo-transmitter she had on her wrist, she looks back at the other negotiating party ''I believe that has sufficiently demonstrated the viability of our communication systems?'' The Sealord nods with a smile on his face.
''It has, it certainly has. However could you give us a few moments to discuss this?'' The trio nod, leaving the table and walk towards an indicated table in the corner were they are served wine by one of the servants as the Braavosi negotiators quietly discuss how much and what exactly they would want for the amount of food needed. After a few minutes the trio is called back to the table.
''We are willing to sell you the food, in exchange for as discussed guard service on the ships of the cities merchant marine and the installation and manning of a radio installation however we also have our own additions, we wish for the signing of a defensive treaty, in which either of our respective nations will respond if the other comes under attack and lastly we would like for you to send some of your engineers over to start teaching our people in how to operate and create devices like these radio's. For that last one we are willing to pay in gold once your food issues have been solved, as that would likely be more of a long term project.''
The three look at each-other, surprised by the additions but after a moment all realize that this would probably help both sides greatly and more than willing to accept, so Anakin and Ahsoka both nod confirmatively towards Lawrence, who turns towards the Braavosi ''In the name of the League of the Golden Fields, we accept this proposal. Shall we call over the ship to bring the radio equipment here while we draft the document to make this official?'' The Sealord thinks for a moment before nodding.
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An hour later, on the return journey towards Libertas while flying above a large and wide section of the river.
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As the trio sit in the aircraft, now being accompanied only by their pilot, sergeant Jason, who was temporarily resting while Anakin had taken over flying at the start of the return journey, to be relieved once they were halfway through, Ahsoka and Lawrence there in silence with their own thoughts, until said silence was broken by her ''I do question something though, why were they so easily willing to sign a defensive alliance with us when they very well knew Myr and its vassals will come back for a round two, its not as if we are that great of an option from the point of view of someone that doesn't truly understand how much game changing technology we possess.''
Lawrence smiles at her as he replies ''For you, it might seem so. However Braavos has for centuries been the only powerful state on the continent of Essos that takes a stance against slavery, which often leads it to be outnumbered and surrounded in wars, with their only allies being small towns, rebels or slave revolts or in some cases support sent over by sympathetic lords from Westeros or Westerosi mercenaries. In spite of that it has done well enough in a number of those wars that now Pentos is at the very least paying lip service to their terms and the others are afraid enough of a direct confrontation to keep away from Braavosi affairs for the most part.''
He takes a breath for a moment before he continues ''This doesn't change the fact however, that they do not have any serious allies that are situated near enough to actually contribute anything major in their inevitable next war whenever those cities get it in their heads that they will win. As such, any large faction, even if they are nowhere near Braavos's own strength theoretically, evening the scales of said inevitable conflict even somewhat would be a great thing in their books.''
Ahsoka nods ''Understandable enough. Now,'' she turns her voice from normal to shouting as she stumbles ''Skyguy why the hell are you swerving that much, you shouldn't be drunk enough to do this from just one cup of wine!'' Next to them the pilot had also awoken.
''Sorry Snips, but I am seeing a riverbarge flying the Braavosi flag sailing back into the direction of Braavos and its being chased and under attack by what looks to be pirates, I am going in for a gun run. Ready yourselves for combat.'' As she grabs her lightsaber, the pilot readies his rifle and Lawrence his sword they hold themselves to the supports as they hear the ships guns opening fire, with the doors starting to open.
As Anakin said, a ship could be seen chasing another one, with the one being chased flying the Braavosi flag. The ship it was chased by however was smaller than its prey, seemingly mainly pulled by rowers as Anakin only raked the steering area with fire before bringing the aircraft hovering along the back of the ship, allowing Ahsoka and Lawrence to board while supporting fire is provided by the blaster of sergeant Jason.
A duo of archers turns towards them to fire, only to get thrown clear off the ship by a force push before another man that rushed up with a short sword is beheaded by a slash while a fourth man with an axe is taken out by the earlier mentioned supporting fire and a fifth is run through by Lawrence. The last pirates are now looking worried, having lost more than half of their number from the combined aircraft fire and the follow up assault, but are rallied by one of their comrades roaring as he charges forth, the pirates that were intended to be a boarding party following him.
As said leader gets slammed into the deck however by virtue of a blaster shot hitting him square in the unarmoured forehead, and two more get picked up by an invisible force and slammed into the mast, said courage starts fleeing them, but it is too late by this point as Lawrence engages one and Ahsoka the last two. With Lawrence's opponent quickly losing his arm, followed by his head. The fight is down to Ahsoka and her two opponents, both of which are being driven back.
Seconds later, the next saber slash goes through the already damaged sword that was put up to block, following forward and slicing through the mans chest, at which point the last one throws his sword down and jumps overboard, only to be met by a duo of shots from Jason, one hitting him in the back the other on his arm, quickly sending him sinking down. The group looks around, ready in case somebody pops out for a surprise attack, but the only ones besides them on the ship left conscious are the ten rowing slaves looking at them shocked, but hopeful.
Ahsoka smiles reassuringly at them before she carefully starts cutting the chains keeping them on their rowing benches while Lawrence starts re-assuring them in low Valyrian that they're being freed and starts answering questions. As this is happening, Anakin guides the aircraft over to the barge and has Jason contact the crew only to quickly realize that none of them speak basic.
Anakin sighs as he opens up his comms ''Ahsoka, can you hear me?'' After getting confirmation he continues ''Please put Lawrence on the line, I'll connect him to the speakers, he needs to convince the Braavosi that we're allied with their city and need them to guide that slaves and boat back to Braavos.''
As Ahsoka put Lawrence on the line however he first spoke to Anakin ''While I am more than willing to talk to them, I want to first inform you that six of the slaves would prefer to come back with us rather than go to Braavos, since they originally lived in the golden fields area and would like to try finding their families and loved ones.''
Anakin shrugs to himself as he replies ''That is fine, we can always use more people though we need that explanation to these sailors now please.'' Lawrence easily agrees, and starts addressing the crew of the barge in low Valyrian to explain the situation. After said initial assurances, the barges captain and Lawrence have a short conversation after which the Captain slows his ship down gets two of his crew to head over to the other ship with the aircraft, joining the remaining four former slaves in crewing the ship.
Twenty minutes or so later, the aircraft is back on its way towards the golden fields, now with six additional passengers, as those sit there, staring around them, at least a few not sure on if they are dreaming or that this is all really happening as they quietly talk while eating and drinking some of the rations the plane had onboard in case of emergencies.
Several hours later they arrive back in the golden fields, first stopping at base, allowing them to get the former slaves into quarters and give them proper meals and rest, while also uploading the document into their systems and copying it down several times. The signing of the Treaty was then announced over the radio, with promises that all who attended the next gathering of representatives would be able to get a copy of one, to the jubilation in many towns as they realized that they now had the backing of a major player in the region and were taking a firm stance against slavery diplomatically and politically.
Those who had been at the previous gathering of representatives now also held far more faith in the chances of successful negotiations in Westeros in regards to the goals set for them. Those goals being, a set up communications network, a shared diplomatic stance against slavery and information sharing to work against slaver operations in addition to trade agreements for items and resources not found on either groups home continent.
Shortly after sharing the news, they went to get a meal themselves and a few hours of rest before heading out to the landing area where the Lawrence's family and a small group of troopers was gathered near a trio of gunships, all ready for take-off. Ahsoka and Anakin quickly smiled as she recognized several of the paint designs on the armour of those troopers, knowing that with their old friends joining them this would be an interesting journey to say the least.
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And that was it for this chapter, I'll answer the reviews down below but I hope you all enjoyed reading, and wait to see next time what kind of diplomacy is in the picture with the next stop, Westeros.
Reviews:
Guest: Really enjoying this story so far! Have been looking for a clone wars/ asoiaf crossover and am glad to have found this one! Can't wait for what's to come and am looking forward when or if Anakin and the others make contact with Westeros at some point and how that will potentially play out!
Reply: Thanks for the complement, and nice that you enjoy reading this. And you'll have to wait a bit longer, the next chapter will cover the journey to, arriving in and their first interactions with the people in Westeros. I'm hoping that since I have more free time now and less issues with my laptop and documents I should be able to update in a few weeks again instead of only after several months.
Stormzy: Writing isn't amazing but the plot may carry it. Just hoping you have them get to actual Westeros soon enough where they dominate some fights and throw around uppity people.
Reply: Thanks for the compliment on the plot, though if possible could you mention what you feel is lacking specifically on the writing either in your next review or in a direct message to me? I'm always looking to improve, and it is good to get the advice from others that have different perspectives, especially since the friend who I am writing this with is usually pretty bad at explaining what he feels is wrong when he says something doesn't read right or looks wrong. And for you as well, the next chapter we'll arrive in Westeros.
Gogos1003: arrow… breaking something that can stand re-entry from high atmosphere…
Reply: a few reasons why this happened, though it is slightly strange when looking at it. One, it wasn't one arrow, it was a barrage of arrows. Think of how a car window only gets a scratch if it gets hit with one small rock but if dozens slam into it there will be a weak point that can break. Secondly, I'm sorry but did we watch the same star wars movies, tv shows and cartoons/comics in which some characters break that same re-entry surviving material with their bare hands whenever they punch into it to grab the people inside or throw things like wooden planks and literal rocks at it with the force?
For some reason the material used in the cockpit of most smaller aircraft construction in star wars isn't that much tougher than glass whenever it isn't shielded, in spite of being able to survive atmospheric re-entry, which lead me to making that scene. To be fair, most other materials also don't seem as strong as their looks would indicate since they ram through tank armour with a swinging log to such a degree that the entire cockpit is ruined, but still. So while yes logically something that can resist that should be able to at least somewhat survive hits by arrows, but since in canon they break it by punching, I assumed that a barrage of arrows would also do some damage.
And those were the reviews, thanks everyone for writing those reviews, I always do like to see some form of reaction to my writing. Good luck and have a nice day. For those possibly interested in the book I'm writing, I'll see if I can't find an original stories category to post the prologue chapter of it in, reviews and comments on that would also be appreciated.