The Colonies, Quellor Sector
Cato Neimoidia
19 BBY
The Colonies, Quellor Sector
Cato Neimoidia
“ So this is how Cato Neimoidia looks like from up here,”, Kara Antra said to herself as she piloted a Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptor, commonly known as a Jedi starfighter as it was always used by the Jedi in missions like campaign assaults and reconnaissance missions like what she and her master were doing now. After a close but nevertheless successful battle in retaking the Neimoidian purse-world and Trade Federation stronghold from the Separatist Alliance, she and her master, together with a squad of Clone ARC-170 Starfighters now patrol the planet’s misty skies, maneuvering its tall and imposing rock arches which were shrouded by the mist, hoping to weed out any remaining Separatist fighters before officially claiming the strategic planet for the Republic. .
“Did you say something, my young padawan? ” Her master Plo Koon said through the ship’s comm-link. “ It’s nothing, master. I was just commenting on the environment of this planet,” Kara replied through the same channel her master had used to communicate with her. Being raised and brought up in the Jedi Temple for most of her life, Kara has rarely ventured beyond the tall walls of the Temple and when she was assigned to Master Plo, she was overjoyed,not only because she has chosen as a padawan to a senior member of the Jedi High Council, a privilege to but a very few, she had the chance to see the galaxy, albeit that meant taking part in the Clone Wars given that her Master is a renowned General in the Republic Military and lead his own battalion, the 104th Battalion, also popularly known as the Wolf-Pack battalion. Being a padawan to a Jedi Master during the war would have meant the apprentice being granted the rank of Commander in the military, a rank given to Kara despite her relative young age and her inexperience in warfare. Despite this, Kara is eager and determined to show that she is up to the task unfairly placed upon her by the existing circumstances. Situated just at the front of her pilot pod, rested her astromech droid R5-D7, issued to her when she first joined the war effort. Kara had found herself an unlikely ally with R5, an irony being that the Separatist War Machine is predominantly made up of battle droids. “ Beep, Boop, Beep” are the morse code-like noises that came out from R5’s internal systems. For someone who does not understand the binary language of a droid, this would seem like random beeps. Of course this is not the case for Kara who, thanks to her education, fluently understood not just binary but other commonly used languages in the galaxy other than Galactic Basic. She’s slightly annoyed by R5’s cynical advice to stay focused on the current mission instead of daydreaming.
“ You should perhaps listen to your droid sometimes,'' said Plo Koon in a mildly sarcastic but yet compassionate voice.“ I’ve not lost focus on the mission, master. As for my droid, I think his internal’s are a bit rusty,” Kara shot back with a not so subtle jab on her droid. “Our Scopes are clear so far. No sign of enemy fighters. We must have driven them off-world.” Captain Jag, the Clone starfighter captain, chipped in. The misty skies were indeed clear, save for a few venator-class destroyers. But from the experience from dealing with battle droids for the entirety of the war, Plo Koon knew better to not lower their guard down even for a second or risk having their entire squadron decimated by a surprise ambush attack. “We shouldn’t be complacent, Captain. In his desperation, Grievous may launch a rash and brutal counter attack in an effort to recoup his losses in this system. We must stay alert and be ready for anything thrown at us,” Plo Koon warned his wingman. “Copy that, General ”, Jag replied swiftly and clearly to his Commanding Officer’s advice . “ Kara, take three fighters under your command and conduct a sweep at these coordinates, while Captain Jag and I will patrol the airspace over the city” “ Copy that, Master Plo. We’ll regroup with your team after we’re done” Kara replied to her master’s instructions.as R5 provided the coordinates sent out by Master Plo and soon sent it to their wingmen under her command. “ Alright boys, You heard what the General said, follow my lead and we’ll get this done and over quickly”. “ We’re with you Commander Antra, ” responded the wingmen under Kara’s Command with full determination and unquestionable loyalty in their tone.
The team led by Kara then departed from the main squadron to conduct a sweep at the provided coordinates as ordered. Just as her team broke off, Captain Jag received a priority incoming transmission via the Clone Communication Channels in which Jedi Commanding Officers were strangely not a part of. “ General, we are receiving an incoming transmission from Coruscant, ” Jag informed the General about the incoming transmission. “ Maybe it's an update on Master Kenobi’s mission on Utapau,” Kara speculated in a reference to Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi’s special mission to destroy Separatist Military leader General Grievous which would bring a swift and victorious end to the war. However, her master did not feel the same optimism as her. Instead, he’s confused, or perhaps dwelled in his thoughts as to why as the transmission which originated from the Republic Capital, had not been routed to him, being the Commanding Officer of the battalion. Just then, He felt it. A great and powerful disturbance in the Force, the cries of countless in pain and agony, were suddenly silenced by blaster fire piercing through their bodies.
Even as a senior and well-experienced Jedi Master, Plo Koon was taken aback by the tremor or more accurately, the wave of pain and suffering that engulfed the Force. Kara too felt the ripples of pain and suffering from the Force . Like her master, she too has never felt this much agony suffered by many at the same time in her lifetime. “ Master, I just felt a great disturbance in the Force. I’ve never felt more pain and suffering like this. I don’t understand. What’s causing this ? ” Kara asked as she sought the wisdom of her master in hopes of finding out what’s causing this much pain and suffering. “ Something terrible has happened, I don’t know..” Plo Koon said as he trailed off to his thoughts. He too was trying to comprehend what he had just felt and for the first time, he could not provide a specific answer to his padawan other than something terrible had happened. Meanwhile, in the pod of his wingman Captain Jag, oblivious to the disturbance felt by his General, accepted the incoming transmission, to which a hologram of a cloaked severely disfigured man, whose cloak was used to cover his disfigured face appeared. The Captain had never seen this person before, but yet what came out from his mouth alone was enough to fall under his command. It was short, but yet clear as to what this cloaked figure had said and it only amounted to three words. “ Execute Order 66” to which he replied without question or thought, “ It will be done, My Lord”.
‘ Good Soldiers Follow Orders’ was the phrase that continuously echoed within the mind of Captain Jag as he trained the starfighter’s laser cannon’s towards his commanding officer’s starfighter ahead of him and started firing at it, without any hesitation and emotion. The other fighters soon followed suit and started firing on the Jedi Starfighter. Plo Koon certainly did not see it coming when the first shots from the Captain’s ship hit his fighter. A feeling of utter shock and bewilderment overwhelmed him as he did not sense the betrayal of his fellow soldiers. Men who he had fought together with since the first battle of Geonosis all these years ago. “ Master Plo Watch Out !!!!” Kara screamed in horror through the comms as she watched the clones fire on her master’s ship. “R5, turn the ship around, we need to help him !!” Kara said to her droid, who replied with a more erratic beeping, indicating his inability to process the unfolding situation. Nevertheless, as the ship’s co-pilot, he did as he was told and turned the starfighter towards the direction of Plo Koon’s fighter. “ Master, I’m coming for you.” Kara cried out to her master, who despite being overwhelmed with a sense of betrayal, attempted to evade the incoming fire by flying towards the opulent gilded bridge cities held by massive rock formations, to find cover from the blaster shots being directed towards him. But even then, Plo Koon knew his time had come. “ Kara, do not come back for me. You must leave now if you are to survive !”. This was his last message to his padawan as the Clone Captain and his men succeeded in shooting down his starfighter. Damaged beyond repair and heading towards imminent crash, the starfighter spiraled out of control upon being shot towards a staging area used by the Clone infantry ground unit. The ship then crashed into the staging area, exploding upon impact and sent out a burst of flames as it did so.[1]
“MASTER !!” Kara cried out loud upon witnessing her master shot down right infront of her own eyes. Before she could grieve, she found herself being fired upon by her own wingmen. R5, which detected the incoming blaster fire, quickly alerted Kara about them. “ I know, I know, there’s too many of them on us, ” Kara acknowledged her droid as she tried to maneuver the rock arches as she attempted to shake them off . For now, there was only one objective in Kara’s mind, which is to survive. Her piloting skills are modest at best, nowhere near her master but even then, her master did not make it. She would have to come up with an effective maneuver fast or she too will share the same fate as the Clone fighters were closing in on her. “ Beep, Boop Beep ?” R5 related to her which in basic translated to ‘what are we going to do’ . They can’t keep evading them forever, eventually they are gonna have to fire back. “ R5, cut the engines at my command,” Kara said to her droid. She was about to try a manouverve that she had learnt from her master which she hoped would work in their favor. “The Force is with me and I am one with the Force” she muttered to herself as she waited for the precise time to cut the engines,
“ And… Now !!!” She said out loud. With that, the astromech droid cut the starfighters turbo plasma engines. The ship, which has lost its forward thrust perpetrated by the engines, fell back, in the mercy of the speed of planetary gravity, falling behind the two Clone Fighters that were on her tail, taking the pilots in surprise as the ship, while spinning vertically, with the internal controls ringing beyond control, but that was what exactly Kara had intended to. “ Turn it on, now”, Kara gave the order to R5, to restart the engines as soon as the ship was behind the fighters. The engines turn back on and restores the forward thrust of the ship, turning the tables around and putting Kara behind their tails with a clear shot. “ I have you now,” Kara said as she started firing the ship’s lasers towards the fighters, sending one of them bursting in flames and damaging the other’s engines, sending it spiraling towards the city below before hitting one of the building structures and exploding on impact. Kara could not believe it, the trick worked. The Force must have been with her today, but there was no time to celebrate. There will be more fighters after her and she will be greatly outnumbered soon. “ That should buy us enough time to get the heck out of here, '' She intoned, to which her droid equally agreed. They would just have to calculate the jump to hyperspace, and they’ll be away from this shocking nightmare.
BOOM !! That was the sound she heard as soon as more Republic Fighters fired from behind, this time successfully damaging the ship’s wings, which soon started burning, releasing a trail of smoke. This sent the internal mechanisms haywire, something R5 tried to frantically point out to Kara. “ I can see that, buddy,” she said as she desperately attempted to control the ship which was failing as every second passed. It seems that the Force was no longer with her. The ship’s steering was failing, including its auxiliary power, firing mechanisms, and everything else which formed a part of it. If that wasn’t bad, the ship also appeared to be on a downward spiral towards the mist covering the planet’s surface, ranging from grasslands, forests or the planet’s infamous acidic oceans. Kara quickly thought of a way to get out of the current predicament, not intending to die from being dissolved by acid. “ Bring us over to that mountain plain over there !” Kara pointed out to R5 to a mountain located not far away for them with a flat enough land to make a desperate crash. R5 further pointed out that they were coming at it at high speed, but that is not of her concern right now. “ Just be ready when I tell you to eject !”. As the starfighter approached the mountain plain, Kara braced for a harsh impact and perhaps a life and death moment. The starfighter soon crashed onto the flat land at full speed. The impact was as rough as expected but wasn’t enough to break its momentum forward towards the clift. The window to eject was closing quickly and she knew she had to act now. “ NOW !!!” Kara took out her lightsaber and ignited it, emitting a blue energy sword from a metal cylinder to cut her pod open and jumped off from the ship, while her droid used its in-built rocket propulsion system and launched itself out of its pod. They both managed to jump out from the fighter just in time as if fell off the cliff to certain doom. However, their nightmare was far from over.
Over at the distance, Kara spotted a Low Altitude Assault Transport (LAAT), or commonly known as a Republic Gunship approaching their location. Kara sensed that they have, however, yet to have spotted them, but she wasn’t gonna wait around any longer for them to. “ We have to hide,” She said to her droid. But hiding space is something that was seriously lacking on a mountain plain. They finally decided to hide behind some large rocks, it wasn't an ideal spot, but with the gunship approaching, it will have to make do. The Gunship arrived at the scene of the crash and fortunately for Kara, none of the Clones disembarked from it for a thorough search of the plain. Kara managed to get a brief look at the Clones on the gunship. They bore phase II armor decorated with bright green markings and equipped with a standard military blaster. It wasn't the Wolfpack soldiers, recognisable from the wolf insignia on their helmet. These clones instead were from the 446th Siege Battalion, a battalion sent to assist her master and their garrison in retaking the system.
“ No sign of the Jedi starship, sir” Said one of the troopers who visually scanned the plain for the remains of Kara’s starfighter from the gunship. “The Sea’s have them now” Said one of the other troopers in a sarcastic reference to the acidic oceans below the mist. Their squad leader, however, with a green pad over his shoulder armor resembling one with a rank of Captain appeared unconvinced. “ Send a Probe to find its remains'', He ordered to his subordinates who followed without question, and from the gunship, launched a medium sized roundish droid with a red center bearing a Republic military insignia to the plain before the gunship itself left to rejoin the remaining forces at the Capital city. The Probe Droid did waste any more of its time on the plain, instead heading straight below the mists to find the supposed wreckage of the ship. With the scene clear, Kara and R5 came out from their hiding spot, and Kara felt slightly relieved. “ That was a close one. Even the 446th have turned on us” Kara sighed. R5, added in binary that all the Clone Comm Channels are issuing only a single directive in repeat, ‘Execute Order 66’. The astromech wondered whether this peculiar directive had something to do with the Clones mutiny. It was a directive which Kara had never heard of before. Indeed she wasn’t familiar with military language and protocol but how could a single directive have the Clones, men whom her master had fought side by side with for years and commanded great respect from, turn against him. “ None of this makes any sense,” Kara grumbled in a hopeless manner, “ Those men fought beside Master Plo throughout this war. He saved their lives countless times before and they just gunned him down like he was the enemy just because of some stupid directive ???” She pointed out to R5, feeling angry and at the same time lost. She just saw her master, and in some ways a parent figure was shot down.
She is now rudderless. Her head was filled with a flurry of emotions and questions. What is she going to do now without her master showing the way forward or giving a helping hand when she’s down ??? Kara was not at all prepared for this, despite her years of upbringing in the Temple. She felt like just collapsing to the ground and cry, and had a thought, though it passed like a fleeing shadow, that she turn herself over, even if it meant being executed like her master. It was at this moment, she remembered her training, that is to trust that the Force will always be with her, no matter how dark things may seem. Her master would not have wanted her to grieve for him, not now. Now, she had to figure out a way to escape and find out what happened. “ We won’t find any answers here. We need to get off this rock first”, Kara said to R5 who immediately pointed out the fact that they don’t have a ship. “ There must be some leftover ships over at the Impound that we could use to get off world.” Kara thought. It was a risky idea, but there wasn’t a better one either.
Going into the city was indeed a very bad and risky idea. With the battle over, the Clones were acting as police force, securing strategic places while at the same time, moving captured war prisoners, mostly Neimoidians, to designated camps. With a city crawling with former allies with the intent to shoot on sight, Kara and her droid were forced to move very quietly and slowly sneak past each patrol, checkpoint and air surveillance to avoid detection. It would greatly slowed them down, but it was better than having to outrun a city of Clones. While heading towards the impound where confiscated starships, ranging from Separatist fighters to luxurious Neimoidian -owned cruisers were kept, Kara came across a Clone briefing being held at the city center. The both of them hid behind a couple of crates within a safe distance away from where the briefing was being held. Over at the city square, lay two gunships, equipped with search lights and a couple of AT-TE walkers. The briefing was covered by 4 troopers while the briefing itself was mostly filled by infantry troops of both battalions. Kara recognised one of the troopers there to be the Captain earlier from the 446th battalion that was searching for her over the mountain plain earlier. They seemed to be discussing matters related to their victory in capturing Cato Neimoidia, a victory that would have not been possible if not for her master . Kara could not make out who it was that presided over the briefing, but he sounded familiar to her. Then again, all of them would, being genetically the same person. Finally the person who presided over the briefing revealed himself to be none other Commander Wolffe. Kara recognised his armor anywhere, being the only Clone officer senior to her in the military other than her master. He was also Plo Koon’s right hand man and second in command of the Wolfpack. She listened in on what else the briefing is about, hoping to get some answers.
“ Did you find the Jedi’s starfighters?” Wolffe asked the team of Clones listening to him. “ We found Plo Koon’s ship crashed over at the staging zone. He’s dead, Commander.”A clone trooper answered. “As for the padawan, the Probe Droid found her crashed ship near the seas but the cockpit was empty and there was no sign of her body. ” said the Clone Captain who was in charge of confirming Kara’s death. “It’s possible she could have survived,” Another clone added. “ I want all of you to pull every resource available in finding her if she indeed survived. Kara Antra has been marked for termination by Order 66. Under this directive, any and all Jedi Leadership must be executed for treason against the Republic. So find her, and do it fast. Our orders come from the Supreme Chancellor himself.” Wolffe ordered to which all of the clones present replied with a fanatical “Sir ! Yes Sir !” to their Commander’s orders, clearing intending to follow them through. The troopers then dispersed in groups bent on finding her. Meanwhile, from the safety of her hiding spot, Kara's heart had sunk in. She had for a brief moment hoped that Wolffe, being the second in command and her master’s most trusted officer, would not turn on the Jedi. But after hearing the briefing that had transpired below, all hopes were lost. Wolffe was like any under trooper now, bent on executing his orders. Kara did not have her questions answered but instead more questions were raised, and this too was echoed by R5, in his language of beeping. Nothing makes sense at all, she thought. One thing was clear, the disturbance she had felt earlier, It was the cries of every other Jedi across the galaxy before they too were coldly executed by their Clone troopers. Her thoughts were soon interrupted as she noticed some troopers getting into the gunships which then lifted up from the ground and turned on their searchlights to start an aerial sweep of the city for her. “ That’s not good”, she muttered.
Meanwhile,
Canterlot Royal Castle
Equestria
In Canterlot Castle, home to the regal ruler of the realm of Equestria, Princess Celestia, who had just finished attending to matters pertaining to the administration of her kingdom together with her advisers. It had been a long and tiring day for her, mediating disputes and keeping the harmony between the different races of ponies while at the same time being a mentor to the students of her school and most of all protecting her people from wild and dangerous magical beasts that are bent on the enslavement of her peaceful and harmonious people. After finalizing matters for the day, she was about to excuse herself to her sleeping quarters when she felt it. Pain, unimaginable pain and suffering. The cries of thousands screaming for help in agony were suddenly silenced. She had felt a shroud of darkness, one far more powerful and vengeful than anything she had ever felt before, rising from that agony and suffering to take. The disturbance was powerful and striking enough to cause the powerful alicorn, who was strong with the light side to collapse onto the floor. The wave of suffering and darkness had struck her to her very core.. A single drop of tear comes out from her eyes, as she places her right hoove on her chest, which had absorbed the shockwaves she had felt earlier. This is indeed something she had never in her lifetime had ever felt. Even the worst and most vile of Equestria’s beasts had never given out a feeling as powerful as the one she had felt. The two royal guards over at the other end of the throne room, both of them being earth ponies cladded with golden armor over their heads which extended down covered a part of their muzzle. Their armor extended over to their chest and the rest of their body with the exceptions being their hooves and tail. The two of them, having been tasked to stand guard over at the Throne room rushed towards the aid of their beloved Princess. The throne room was the unlikeliest place for something like this to happen, but still it was their duty to protect the Princess from any harm, be it mystical or physical.
“ Princess Celestia, are you alright ???” asked one of the guards with a concerned expression over his face while his colleague extends his hoove over to the Princess for her to bring herself up. “ I’m fine. Something horrifying has happened” Celestia whimpered as she slowly pulled herself up. She too was in the unknown on what she had felt, or what had caused it in the first place . “ Did something happen ?” the other guard asked. “ Yes, the dark side, it has never been this strong, ever. ” she replied. It was all she could provide for right now, or what she could comprehend so far. “ What could have caused it ?? Could it be Nightmare Moon ??” the guards asked, in reference to her estranged sister whom she had once ruled together side by side. But Celestia knew better. This could not be the work of her sister. Sure, her sister was consumed by bitterness and hate, but there was still some good in her. She knew it. Besides, even at the height of her wickedness, Luna as her sister was once called could not have caused shockwaves as powerful as this or had the power to do so. No.. this was the work of something far more powerful and deeply embedded in darkness, as if it was considered one of the darkness itself. “No, this is not the doing of my sister. This is something else, something far more powerful and sinister.” Celestia said to her guards, whose expressions changed upon hearing what she had said. The concerned expressions on their face further deepened and coupled with a sense of worry. “ What should we do then ?” they asked, knowing well that Celestia being the one of the most powerful alicorn that has ever lived, their savior and benevolent ruler would know how to deal with this darkness. But for the first time in her life, she could not give an answer they would be expecting from someone of her stature. She knew it, that from the shockwaves she had felt, there was no known way that she could counter it. The Elements of Harmony and the power they carry would be useless in countering this evil. This evil could consume her Kingdom and everything else in their world and the fact she could not do anything to stop it frustrated her greatly. Ponies of all races look up to her, and it would break them if they were to find out that she could not protect them. “ There’s nothing we can do, but only hope that this evil does not find its way here,” she replied, admitting that for the first time, she could not be their savior they expected her to be.[2]
