Ripper's Mission Log

Mission to Alderaan (part 1)

Mission log supplemental

The unit (composed of a civilian pilot, civilian law enforcement personnel, a diplomat, and my-self) first assembled in General Zey’s office where he appointed our Jedi commanding officer, General Maroo. It was sent secretly to Alderaan at the request of Senator Organa.

The jump to light speed was uneventful until our arrival in the late mid-day in the Alderaan system where a space battle against the invading separatists was raging. After a few invasive manoeuvres we managed to enter the planet’s protective shielding, followed by two Vulture droids in the planet’s atmosphere. We managed to destroy the two intruders with extensive damage to our transport. The ship was escorted to a landing platform South-East of Alder where emergency crews awaited our final approach.

Senator Organa invited General Maroo and the rest of the civilians as I was sent to “inspect” the security installations. It was a ruse to give us in secrecy the details of our first mission. Fearing for his wife’s well-being, Senator Organa arranged for the Queen to retire to her summer home. Our mission was simple; travel north undetected past the city of Vaur and into the canyon to the summer cottage sculpted into the rock face and secure the location. If the site has been compromised, eliminate the threat and find a new suitable site for the Queen until the danger has passed. The Senator left a Republic gunship at our disposal and a complete map of the Royal tower for our discrete exit, of which I intergraded to my armour’s memory bank.

Following the direction we manage to find the location just before sunset and landed a few kilometres away to prevent detection. We then climbed to the landing platform where we were welcomed by a droid commando disguised in clone trooper armour. A few blaster exchanges and swings of lightsaber managed to destroy our opponent, by now it is clear that the facilities were not secured. I took the memory chip from the clone armour for further analysis by army intelligence.

[...Recording Paused...]

____________________________________________________________________________
RC-2178
aka “Ripper”

Attaché of
Lieutenant Maroo

Mission to Alderaan (part 2)

[...Resume Recording...]

After scavenging what was left of the Clone armour and disposing of the commando droid’s debris, we were ready to secure the facilities. Unfortunately, in the blaster shots exchanged, the command console was damaged; Lt. Maroo had to cut an opening in the door so that we could gain access. On the other side of the door, four battle droids and one super battle droid was waiting for us. Security officer Kass successfully destroyed the battle droid with a single explosion of one grenade. The super battle droid nearly killed me before the rest of the team destroyed it. The rest of the summer house was empty except for the worker droids that were activated once the power was turned on.

I received medical assistance in the middle of the fire-fight from Akane' Alethans... she stuck her neck out for me, I owe her one, I just won’t tell her; Delta squad always repay their dept of honour... at least its last surviving member will. We received instructions from the Chancellor himself to re-deploy on Kessel, even if our mission is not finished. We then received news from senator Organa that as we were securing the Queen’s summer house, a riot was initiated in Alder in an attempt to reverse the government. It was suggested that finding the source of those riots and eliminate it would solve Alderaan’s problems. Since our craft was still being repaired from that incident at our arrival, it gave us time to proceed.

After getting back to Alder on a civilian landing pad, renting a speeder and getting some “clever” disguises, the team entered a bar in a disgusting state, the kind that would benefit from a cleaning droid. In there, they found out that there was two faction of organised crime in Alder with the name and meeting place for one of the two leaders. The unit was quickly analysed by the Chiss sitting at his desk, surrounded by armed guards. He gave the name and location of his Hutt rival that he believed was under the payroll of the CIS, hoping that once gone, everything would go back to its calm pace.

Once the meeting over, the team decided on a course of action. We located the exit that would probably be used by our target and we stood by as we called Vorass, chief of security at the Royal tower. He sent his men in 30 seconds after that call. As predicted the Hutt tried to flee with an escort, pursued by most of the team in the rented speeder and Lieutenant Maroo on a borrowed speeder bike. Thanks to Kass’ mechanical expertise and Kir Vantai’s crack piloting, we were able to stay with the faster model of speeder used by the Hutt criminal. A few well placed blaster shots and lightsaber incisions, the vehicle was destroyed and everyone onboard killed. The escort speeder stooped and its occupants surrendered.

Later, we encountered Vorass and he gave us a resume of the intervention they just performed on the Hutt’s facilities. They found a lot of incriminating data and merchandise, but also security videos. The one most peculiar was of a humanoid dressed in black, branding a red coloured lightsaber. Why would the Jedi be involved in overthrowing the Queen?

[...Recording Paused...]

____________________________________________________________________________
RC-2178
aka “Ripper”

Attaché of
Lieutenant Maroo

Kessel Run (part 1)

[...Resume Recording...]

Our first mission as a team was successful. Queen Breha Organa and Senator Bail Organa were pleased that we were able to put an end to the civil unrest on their planet. We were invited to a large breakfast presided by our hosts where the Queen offered one thousand credits to each member of the team as a mark of gratitude... including me. Why? I have no idea; I have no taste for luxuries and the GAR gives me all the equipment I need. Then the Senator told me that the day I’ll retired, I had a home on Alderaan, and Mr. Vantai said he would help me when the time comes. What do they mean retire? Retire from where? And as for a home, the Republic is my home, why would I need Alderaan? I definitely don’t understand civilians...

A new member joined the team; Sika Va’an. She’s another Ace pilot and she flies a fighter craft. It’s a good thing too, that little gun on Mr. Vantai’s ship is not a very powerful means of defence. Lt. Maroo gave me a name, “Ripper”... that’s name my brothers gave me... since their deaths I swore never to use it again. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of them. Damn Jedi and their powers; she must of read my mind, I know now why they are superior to us and I’m glad I’m on their side. That same morning I gave my 1k credits to her since we needed currency to acquire an astromech droid and I had no need for it. We then departed for Kessel, landing a couple of days later. We’ve met with the warden and his escort of 2 humanoid guards and a “roller”, what was worst is that he employed several of them. Our mission was to serve as guards until proper relief forces arrived.

We were started by a tour of the facility. First up was the holding pen; a large circular room with a footbridge that made the entire length of the wall and a last one crossing the room leading from the landing pad to the guard’s common room. There we have met a Mandalorian in full armour painted in gold. I remembered Sgt. Skirata speaking of the importance of colour for a soldier’s armour. In the case of Rook, the colours he was wearing indicated that he was looking for revenge. Later the warden offered us credits to find out who he was looking for. Rook seemed angry to see me in particular. He asked me if I liked being a slave... had no idea of what he was talking about; the Republic gave me life, it’s only normal that I serve it in its Great Army.

Then we were shown our quarters; small rooms, ten feet long by six feet wide, no window, a toilet, a sink and a bed that made the floor look inviting. Miss Alethans invited herself to my bunk; after the indecent proposals the other guards made. The door closed and locked. I took the first the first shift, letting her get some much needed sleep. I took off my helmet since the night vision doesn’t help in pitch black situations; the HUD in it gave a small glow that permitted me to see a little. I caught myself looking at Miss Alethans a few times, we were trained to expect different types of life forms... but she was different, event for her kind she was different just with the pigmentation of her skin. She is my total opposite; there was millions like me with the same face and she was unique. Why was I staring at her? Was it because the only females I met before are Kaminoan doctors and all they did were inspecting you for quality control?

The next morning, we went to the common room to get our food for the morning; a cup of brown liquid and a sticky greasy cylinder. Miss Alethans refused to eat it, I provided a ration cube. Personally I liked it, it had taste. We then assumed our duty, looking after the prisoners. Lt. Maroo realised that they were women, children and old people in there, no harden criminals. There was pure chaos and I emptied a clip and a half in stun shots to stop fights and rapes while the other guards did nothing. The Lt. looked very offended by what was going on and decided to report this to her superiors. For that, we had to make a run for it to the ships and escape with minimum damage; fortunately we now have a fighter escort. But after bypassing several security doors, there were two “rollers” standing guard in the launch bay, probably the warden expected us to try and escape. D5, Vantai’s astromech droid, dropped the fighter on one of the Droideka. I covered the group as the Lieutenant charged the remaining “roller”. I got it, nothing bad and the others are fine, there was no damage to the ships and we were able to lift off... but how far will we get?

[...Recording Paused...]

____________________________________________________________________________
RC-2178
Aka “Ripper”

Attaché of
Lieutenant Maroo

Kessel Run (part 2)

[...Resume Recording...]

On the last report, we were taking off from the landing pad on Kessel. Our fighter escort, Miss Va’an, was knocked out cold and helped onboard the transport while Miss Alethans replaced her in the fighter’s cockpit. As we left Kessel, we were greeted by three separatist cruisers. We were soon to be chased by one Tri-fighter and two Vulture class droids. Out manned and out gunned, our two pilots decided to make a tactical retreat while I fired the small double guns on the turret without any success... if we were on Kamino, I would have probably disappeared after this exercise and so would the rest of my batch! I managed to destroy the Tri-fighter just before we jumped to hyperspace, not without sustaining heavy damage.

After a faint in hyperspace, we headed to Mon Calamari. During our trip, the Lieutenant contacted General Zay on a secured channel. She explained what had happened on Kessel, about the slaves; the women and children. The General seemed tired, exhausted. He received some heat from the Chancellor; we had left our position without being ordered to and now Kessel belonged to the Separatists. Lieutenant Maroo explained the situation and enumerated the enemy resistance; we would have easily been overwhelmed and if it would not have been for the Lieutenant’s quick thinking, we would have been trapped. Fortunately tough, Mister Vatai had some spice in his cargo hold that he was carrying for “a friend”, which we hope relieved some of the tension pressed by the Chancellor... Now that I think of it, why did he send only us to defend Kessel? I’m not questioning the Chancellor’s judgement, but the only reasons I can come up with is either his intel was wrong about the forces deployed, or he miss judged our strength and abilities, or... and this pleases me the least, we did or know something that he doesn’t like and wants to get rid of us... to be that mad that we didn’t die out there... I lean towards the third scenario.

Mon Calamari, another water-world. I cleaned myself, my armour and my weapons and stood as straight as I could for the duration. I resemble too much of Kamino that it was a natural response; who knows what defect they would find in me. Well none of the repair and refuelling crew noticed my presence, meant no Kaminoans in the vicinity. Curious, even after almost a week sitting in a cockpit, Miss Alethans first reaction when she boarded the ship was to see that everyone was well. We were but she needed to make sure, which is fine with me; just wished it was in a more relaxed environment... at least for me. We then left for Alderaan to meet with mister Vantai’s contact while Miss Va’an returned to her unit with our thanks. On our way there, mister Vantai and Lieutenant Maroo negotiated with mister Noran for the price of the spice. They had him promise to sell most of the stuff to the Alderaan government at a reasonable price or else they would sell the entire lot themselves to the government for a low price. In the mean time, Miss Alethans received a personal communication; apparently her home world was under siege and her people enslaved.

Arrived at Alderaan, we conducted the deal and Mister Vantai gave me a credit chip. It’s only later that I realised the amount of credit on it. Good news, the assassination contract on the others was lifted thanks to Mister Noran. Finally, he showed us a holo-recording of some interest; the Separatist boss of the insect looking bastard on Kessel was not too pleased that we had managed to escape. I was kind of glad to see the cockroach’s head fall to the ground. But then, something else interesting happened; the Mandolarian Rook, the one in gold painted armour, chased down the dark figure with the red lightsaber, blocking his swings with a red lightsaber of his own! It left us perplexed... and I’m sure that if we ever cross his path again, the Lieutenant will ask him about this. To add to the excitement, Miss Alethans appeared all over the net to summon the Republic to Ryloth’s aid. First on Alderaan, then on every channel in the Republic! The influence amassed convinced the commanding officers of the GAR to send a division under the supervision of Generals Windu, Kenobi and Skywalker to relieve the Twi’lek people from the Separatist invaders.

We then set course for Coruscant where the Lieutenant had a meeting with General Zay. On this trip, I thanked Mister Vantai for the amount of credits he gave me... 25,000 Cr, what would I do with it??? Ok, I spent a few on a charger for our weapons and some more on a civilian scope that barely hangs on; next time I get close to a QM, I’ll exchange it for a military issue. Then the questions about vacations and planning for later arose. The Lieutenant was shocked to know that once the mission was over, I’d return to a cryogenic chamber... she got even more frustrated when I told her that the probability of my passing thirty years-old was slim and I wonder why. Rifles get replaced by more powerful and accurate weapons, ships get exchanged for better and fast vessels; I’m just a tool and I’ll be replaced by something better... one day I won’t be one of the best soldiers in the galaxy, it’s just a reality.

Arrived on Coruscant, the team was separated; the two females wondered off while Mister Vantai requested my help to pick new kits for the ship, which by the way, still has no name. We changed the double barrelled light guns on the rear turret by double barrelled medium guns; we also added a copy of this turret more to the front of the craft and under the fuselage. We added two proton torpedo launchers in the front arc with six torpedoes ready to fire per tube, another large amount of warhead neatly stored in the cargo bay. At last, but not least, we replace our shield generator by a more efficient model, almost tripling our shield rating. Hours later, we assembled in the ship where the common room was turned into a medical bay with functioning bacta tank and surgery equipment. The Lieutenant gave us our orders which were to meet with the Hammer of Justice, a Venator-class Star Destroyer currently in orbit around Felucia, and get our orders from General Kamas.

On route, Lieutenant Maroo took me aside and put three metal plates in my hand. She said that Kal said “Hi”, to take good care of the plates she gave me because he wanted them back when the time came. As she walked off, I looked down at what she gave me... I’m glad my helmet was on, I didn’t was the others to see this. I remember those pieces of metal; RC-5897, RC-3159 and RC-8702... Flash, Radar and Hawk-Eye... the former Delta squad. After spending almost nine years training, eating and sleeping together we were sent to Geonosis... only I came out alive. I pried those dog tags off their chest plates and gave them to my superiors never thinking of seeing them again... I tried to keep busy, not to think about them... stay strong. I failed them... they died and I lived! It hunted me. Suicide never was an option, neither was giving up. Having a part of them with me now is giving me the strength to go on, the resolve to avenge my brothers. I just wished I could have seen Sergeant Skirata before leaving... Took me the entire trip to Felucia to snap out of it; I didn’t it would affect me that much... all I will say is that the tinnies will pay, they’ll find out why my brothers called me Ripper.

We docked in the “Hammer of Justice” and met with General Camas. He immediately sent me to get prepared. I took a few kits that Mister Vantai suggested to take over the comms since they were still in briefing. I chose a missile launcher kit and a demo kit; I can use the missile launcher, but Mister Vantai will have to use the demo kit. While I was down there, I heard the troopers comment on our commander, General Camas. Apparently to him, we are simply meat for the grinder, human shield for our Jedi Generals. I told them I didn’t agree; I told them about our Lieutenant and how offended she was that we didn’t look forward to stuff. I think General Camas is either overwhelmed or tired like General Zay. We are soldiers, we are the best soldiers in this galaxy and although I know that death is inevitable, I’ll take as many clankers as I can.

[...Recording Paused...]

____________________________________________________________________________
RC-2178
Aka “Ripper”

Attaché of
Lieutenant Maroo

On to Felucia

[...Resume Recording...]

After sharing a chocolate cake ordered by Lieutenant Maroo, we went on with the mission. It’s the first time I tasted chocolate. Sergeant Skirata brings us something sweet once, but I can’t remember the name of it. We were to proceed to the planet-side in a TX-130 Sabre-Class tank carried by a LAAT/c, escorted by 2 star fighters. The LAAT/c was then to drop the Sabre off at the LZ before getting back to the Hammer of Justice. Miss Va’an was on escort with her fighter craft and M. Vantai was piloting Lieutenant Maroo’s Eta-2 Actis Interceptor. The rest of us took place in the belly of the tank, waiting completely vulnerable to enemy fire until the tracks hit the ground. Once landed, we left the fighters behind and started on our trek through the menacing jungle of Felucia.

Personally, I liked it. Besides the fact that I was sealed in my armour while the Lieutenant next to me was wearing those thin robes, it finally felt as if I was in my element; I don’t think it’s because of the jungle or that I was finally doing what I was conceived and trained for, but ever since my brothers died back on Geonosis I felt I was missing something, that I was incomplete... I think I finally have it back; I would get confirmation of it later in the mission.

The objective of the mission was to destroy the planetary shield generator at the coordinates given by recon. As secondary targets we were to investigate four blind spots created by dampening fields; they were laid out in a square around the generator. The Lieutenant decided that we would head to the nearest objective. I took point in front of the tank with her on my left as the three others manned the Sabre. Three days separated us from our designated target.

On the first day, we encountered a Clanker patrol. I saw the Lieutenant take a hard left through the jungle; I think she saw them first. I kept on advancing carefully and fired on sight, warning the tank. Don’t ask me how she did it, but I saw the Lieutenant barely in my LOS on my left one second, and in the middle of the enemy squad the next! Every time she amazes me, she confirms the reasons why Jedi are our superiors. The fight didn’t last long; as soon as the tank was in line of sight, it fired on the tinnies and pulverized them.

The Lieutenant was severely injured by the enemy fire. Since the others were in the tank and I was the closest, I had to administer first aid. I had to drop her to the ground to do it; I guess the Jedi don’t know you’re supposed to stay down when you get first aid, unless you’re bugging out of course.

We encountered a few squads during our 3 day trip. I collected as many power cell and power pack as I could, just in case. Arrived at our target, we discovered the source of the dampening field and its purpose; it was hiding an artillery vehicle armed with a heavy turbo laser capable of damaging ships in orbit. It had a retinue of one roller and a few squads of Clankers.

The plan was for the Lieutenant and M. Vantai capture the tank while the Sabre and I put up a diversion. So the duo crept at the back of that canon while we moved into position. I set up at the farthest possible without having my LOS blocked. As for the tank, I’m sure a few shots of the laser and composite beams will clear it a line of sight. The Lieutenant was in place and M. Vantai gave me the signal over the comm-link. I opened fire and soon after did the Sabre; that Roller never knew what hit him, two shots of auto-fire from my riffle followed by laser fire from the tank and all I had to do was calmly say “Droideka first...”

The rest of the attack was like a revelation: I started firing on the right side of the formation, almost instinctively, the main guns of our Sabre fired by Miss Va’an turned to shrapnel the Clankers on the left while Miss Alethans pulverised the middle formation before giving me a hand on the right. I felt like if... like the people in that tank were my fallen brothers! I didn’t need to tell them what I was going to do or at least barely; they completed my actions and covered me without a second thought. I knew now: I have found my place in that new squad.

Of course, Lieutenant Maroo and M. Vantai have accomplished their part of the plan and captured that big canon. Can you believe it could reach that shield generator? Let’s just say that M. Vantai knocked it out with a single shot! Once we were done, he jury rigged it to fire at a CIS ship in orbit. The laughs we got as it heavily damaged a Tinnie C-9979 Landing Craft... well, at least it did damage before the CIS starships destroyed it with orbital bombardment. Of course, we were on our way back to the LZ for extraction.

When we got back to the fighters, we made contact to with the Hammer of Justice. For no apparent, they ordered us to stand by for extraction. Soon, regiments of Clone Troopers landed and moments after they set up camp.

For five weeks, we watched as waves after waves of troopers assembled and were sent to their deaths. Everyone on the team attempted to help in any way they could. For myself, I’ve tried to train sergeants with some of the techniques taught to the Commandos. It helped to some degree... I must admit that in the fourth and fifth week, I waited until the Lieutenant was asleep and I went against orders; followed 3rd company on their deployment on hill 415. I was shooting from afar, calling shots to passing squads, firing a couple of missiles at the occasional vehicle. Trying to prolong their lives... Am I cruel? I’m actually making their torture last longer! Why are they sent to useless battle in that fashion???

I think Miss Alethans has reached her limit; she yelled at a sergeant for putting one of his men out of his misery... We were trained to do this; if a weapon is broken beyond repair, you discard it. She had to be sedated. M. Vantai is keeping busy, he hasn’t talked much tough. As for Miss Va’an, I barely saw her at all. I kept far from the Lieutenant tough; she might not think I’m wise about it, but I know she is pissed at something... or someone.

At the end of the fifth week, the order for extraction finally came in. I was so tired; I barely slept in the last 2 weeks. We got back to the Hammer of Justice and before I knew it, the Lieutenant ordered us off the ship to the closest Republic world: Mon Calamari. First thing I wanted to do when I got onboard was to take a hot shower. I waited for the others to make use of the facilities but no one showed up. Been a while since I had time to do this and it showed; looking in the mirror I could see that my hair was long and I had a 6 week old beard! So I cut my hair in the usual crew cut and I left a bit of the beard on my chin, I trimmed it of course.

I changed suit and noticed a layer of crud on my amour plates; that was next on my list of things to do. I noticed that Akane was crying every time I passed in front of her quarters. Her sensibility touches me in some ways, but I’m sure that a good night’s rest will calm her down. I took a brush and a pale of water and headed to the cargo bay. The combined actions of brushing and soaking peeled off small chunks of brown matter, which was odd since the soil of Felucia is not as dark as what was on there...

Took me a while to figure it out; it was blood. I spent hours to scrub all the plates, a small portion of the Clone blood spilled on Felucia. Then it all came back to me... all the images of those soldiers getting slaughtered pointlessly... those who hanged to me with their dying breath, trying to cling to their lives... The Lieutenant was furious; she might not show it but I could feel it... During that trip, I spent hours outside Akane’s door, she hasn’t stop crying yet; she spent the entire trip in her quarters. All those wounded she healed that got back in the action and never made it back, all the blood that she whipped off her as she switched patients... I failed her.

I told myself that I owed her one ever since Alderaan and when the time came, I didn’t come through. She might try to show us that she is tough, but deep down, she is no soldier. She is too sensitive; she cares too much to be one, to be exposed to that kind of atrocity. “I’ll make it up to you,” I whispered at her door before anyone could see and I left moments after.

Arrived at destination, I spent my useless credits on help for her; I think I her Kal call it “Post traumatic stress disorder” or something like that. The amount I paid secured a therapist on our way to Coruscant and treatment for all the squad. My armour was now its original shades of grey after all that brushing and my weapons were A1 clean; I was ready for inspection. Good thing too; we set foot on the platform and we were escorted to the Jedi Council chambers. There we stood in the middle of a circle of the highest and most respected Generals of the entire Republic, I tried to stand my straightest. They viewed Maroo’s holorecording, some of them looked perplexed, others outraged... General Skywalker even let out bursts of anger, adding to my own rage. After Maroo’s report, General Yoda asked me if I had anything to add and of course I declined. It was not the place to let the anger boiling in me blow up in the face of all those high brass. We were dismissed while the Council deliberate on the events.

On our way out, we crossed paths with Sergeant Skirata; my former master and father figure. He seemed pleased to see me and invited the group for a drink. He then informed us about peculiar events he had discovered, but I was too concentrated on Felucia... He then invited us to leave the Republic and rescue as many Clones as we could in the process; he had a secured and secret base on which we could all live the rest of our lives. I said that for now I’d stick with Maroo and the others; after all, they were my squad now, and it didn’t feel right to leave them... they wouldn’t leave me.

We were then asked to return to the Jedi Council Chamber where they announced us what they had decided. The actions of General Camas were declared criminal. Our mission is to escort General Aayala Secura to the Hammer of Justice, relieve General Camas of his functions and escort him back to the Council for trial... a trial... the Jedi are going to give him a slap on the wrist and put him in the rear with the gear as punishment. Back on Geonosis, the Jedi never had to use a large army like the GAR before and mistakes were made... costly mistakes. Camas had no excuse to repeat it on Felucia... I won’t let my brothers die in vain; he will pay for every drop of Clone blood he had spilled...

[...Recording Paused...]

____________________________________________________________________________

Ripper

Rise and Fall of a Butcher

[...Resume Recording...]

Everything was prepared; I received the weapons and ammo I requisitioned and I installed a weapon rack at the exit of the Santa-Maria’s bridge. One of the quarters finished its conversion as a brig, to store away Camas when we get him; that is, for as long as I would let him live. I warned the Lieutenant that we were ready for departure and prepared my gear for combat.

Soon after, I crossed paths with M. Vantai and a Kel Dor in Jedi robes. He was introduced as Winter and he was the new Padawan of Lieutenant Maroo! The Lieutenant had a Padawan learner??? She must have been promoted. I’d know about it the moment I’d see her robes; a Jedi’s robes changed with its rank. And soon enough, there she was. Brand new, pale robes; out with Lieutenant Maroo, in with General Maroo... and she had someone with her: a human child?! She had a second Padawan learner??? I thought Jedi’s could get only one Padawan at a time.

I talked to M. Vantai, putting him up to date with the modifications and new supplies introduced to the Santa-Maria. Seemed more or less pleased about them and requested that next time he be informed of any changes to the ship before they were made. In my anger to get Camas, I forgot that the Santa-Maria was now a civilian ship... M. Vantai got the upper hand on this one; all the military supplies I requisitioned at the quarter-master were now installed on his ship at no cost to him at all.

We received a huge crate at the attention of Ambassador Alethans, and now, we had 2 more passengers to settle in. Lieutenant Winter was given the brig and M. Vantai arranged to have a suitable atmosphere in it for him. The young human Mike however, was to bunk with me... and what of contents of the crate? Well seemed like Miss Alethans did some shopping and bought herself a combat droid. It seems as though she believes that she requires protection.

The Santa-Maria left Coruscant in direction of Felucia. General Maroo’s orders were to relieve General Camas of command and escort him back to the Jedi Council for trial. General Aayala Secura is to join up with us in mid way. During the trip, young Mike and Lieutenant Winter trained in cargo bay, the Ambassador helped herself to the instruction manual of her new toy... looks good, but I don’t trust any of them.

We’ve met with General Secura on Felutia. She gave General Maroo final instructions for the mission. There was an operation in progress, General Secura was to halt it while General Maroo and her escort was to arrest Camas. We marched to the center of the camp where we were told that Camas would be. Around stood no Clones but only human officers; Camas never trusted or cared for Clones anyway. Camas command tent was a canopy with a holomap generator under it that was monitoring the battle that started; there were a lot of our troops but their position was awkward... heavy losses were to be expected.

We approached Camas and he turned towards General Maroo. I had my finger on the trigger of my DLT-20, watching, waiting for him to make the mistake to touch his sabre, ready to deliver the revenge of thousands of souls. Maroo told him to get rid of his men, which he did. She then asked to close the holomap projector and he inquired on why. In the mean time, I contacted Commander Gree, senior Clone officer on the field, and requested his support to suppress any actions from the human officers, explaining the reason why. He laughed the laugh of the just, the one which would see the end of the slaughter.

General Maroo and Camas argued a little and the “cat” came out of the bag, General Maroo told Camas that he was relieved of functions until his trial on Coruscant. He refused to obey to the order and requested that a Jedi Master come to relieve him if the order was true. By this time, an ocean of white Clone armour surrounded us, Commander Gree’s men holding the human officers kneeling at gunpoint. After turning off the holo projector, insisting that the command came directly from the Jedi Council and that we were not leaving without him, Camas lit up his lightsaber... and the fight was on.

I don’t remember who shot first, but I do recall firing my first burst... I was angry but concentrated; as if my destiny was to put an end to his life. It hit him bad, like I’d hit him exactly at the right place. Then Camas used one of his Jedi powers, I’m sure he targeted Akane, but her droid was in front of her; he made the machine fall on her. That droid was made for combat, it had a lot of weapons and heavy armour plating, that’s without the fact that the power in question sent them both flying a few meters back, X1 landing on Akane. As the others fought, I watched as a squad of medics took care of her. Suddenly, my anger turned into rage and I fired my second burst into “the Butcher of Felucia”.

Camas tried to take a few swings at me, but barely scrapped my armour. Then Lieutenant Winter joined the lightsaber fight, followed by General Secura, who took Camas’ left arm, ending with a few blaster shots from my right and a nice disarm from General Maroo. Then, everything is a blur...

I felt it... I think I felt it... the last beats of Camas’ black heart; I knew he was almost done. Without waiting the order to cease fire, I dedicated his death to all my fallen brothers and fired my third three round burst that ended his life. He fell to his knees, and before thinking, I fired my last three round burst to confirm the kill. “Bloodbath Camas” was truly dead.

Needless to say that General Maroo wasn’t pleased at all by my actions, but I felt as if a metric ton was taken off my shoulders. As I stared aimlessly at my General as I was in the first row at my “chewing out”, I saw from the corner of my eye that Akane was getting up and she seemed fine... knowing that she was fine and that Iri Camas was dead, made this moment perfect. If General Secura were to strike me down for my actions, she could not remove the lightness of my heart.

It’s after I realised that Commander Gree and his unit executed all the remaining human officers, I understand why General Maroo was angry at me; they probably just followed my actions. Personally, I didn’t know I held that much influence amongst my brothers, it might be useful in the future.

Following that event, General Secura took Commander Gree aside and gave him her instructions. Soon after, she gave General Maroo hers. She announced that Maroo was in fact the first of two “Jedi Inquisitor”; the second being in training as Lieutenant Winter. She was given command of the Hammer of Justice with its complement of crew, marines and troopers.

General Secura assumed command of the troops on Felucia, and then General Maroo assumed command of the Hammer of Justice. I was promoted to the rank of Commander and put in charge of the marines while M. Vantai was given command of the bridge with a field commission of Captain. Miss Alethans, our resident medico and diplomat, was given by the government of Ryloth, the title of Ambassador and the duty to represent the Twi’lek people to the Jedi Council.

The moment we arrived onboard, we set a course for Coruscant to deliver the news of Camas’ demise to the Jedi Council. On our way there, a distress signal was received; Coruscant was under attack by a CIS fleet! Needless to say that the ship was put on alert and battle stations were manned, to defend the central planet of the Republic and to protect democracy.

As we entered the battle, we received orders from the Jedi Council to target and destroy the two cruisers. The Invisible Hand was harbouring Chancelor Palpatine against his will and the Jedi were on an operation to rescue him. Captain Vantai took command of the bridge as General Maroo and Lieutenant Winter headed for the planet. We started by launching all fighters to take care of the Vulture, Scarabs and Tri-fighters tinnies. The main guns and torpedo launchers were aimed at one of the two battleships, firing as moved behind the other. By the time we were hidden, our first target was destroyed and we were in close range for the other, which was quickly destroyed. As we turned our last enemy into space-trash, we moved away of the planet to prevent the Invisible Hand from making a hyperspace jump. Out of nowhere, the planetary shields were activated and the Invisible Hand, General Grievous’ flag ship, was cut in half!

Later, General Maroo told us that the shield generator was simply turned off; as if someone from the inside left it off... and later, I heard the Clone garrison on Coruscant talk about Kamino, an arid desert planet in the middle of nowhere. Knowing that Kamino is a water-world... something odd is going on down there. I’ll inform the General on our way to “my home-world”.

[...Recording Paused...]

____________________________________________________________________________

Commander Ripper
Chief Tactical Officer
Hammer of Justice

This Is The End...

[...Resume Recording...]

The senior staff meeting I held was successful. I believe the officers will follow Maroo without question and with confidence. I had the non-Kamino clones isolate and watched; their origin, the sand covered “Kamino”, is curious and disturbing... why would they lie to those clones and the planet where they were created? They won’t make a mess on my ship; I’d sacrifice those 200 lives for the rest of the 5,000 soldiers.

We arrived at Kamino, the real one, a week after our departure from Coruscant. Before leaving the Hammer of Justice, they asked us details about our delegation; like how many ships we were sending and how many people would be walking the station. At first, we were supposed to be only the six of us, but Commander Voss suggested we take a fighter escort; we later found out it was Captain Rolland’s advice, the CO of Red Legion. We had to wait fifteen minutes before the long necks were prepared for our added two fighters.

We landed on a platform and of course, it’s raining. It always rains on Kamino... I hate that blue ball. As we stepped inside, a hologram of the secretary greeted us. There were some discussions about who we should talk to start General Maroo’s investigation. She wanted to talk to a geneticist, while Akane wanted to speak with the custodian suggested by the secretary. Sick of waiting I suppose, Akane left in a decided pace in the corridor with Lieutenant Winter on her heels.

Moments later, we received a last transmission from Winter; he said: “The droids are here”. Imagine our surprise; I tried to reach the Hammer, but our transmissions were jammed. I blasted the door open with a few bursts of my DLT-20. At our surprise, our escorts were still there! Comms didn’t work and they seemed to be struggling. We then realised that they were under the effects of a tractor beam that tried to push them below the sea level. Kir used his jump-pack and rigged one of the emitters while I covered him. On the other side, Maroo and young Mike struggled with the Force to keep the craft away from the waves. As soon as Kir was done, I signalled the freed pilot to go get reinforcements and he left at maximum burn. Arrived on the other side, Kir barely had to fiddle with it; the counter action from the two Jedi almost burned out the system. When the tractor beam was released, they had to put the craft down on the station since its engines burned out working against the emitter. Young Mike quickly rescued the pilot from the cabin with a swift move of his lightsaber.

We then headed out to rescue Winter and Akane... don’t know who is the di’kut that dared take her, but he’d live just enough to regret it. The General took point; Captain Rolland and I covered the rear with Captain Vantai in the middle, Mike stayed with the ship.

As we headed out to a bridge, we were greeted by the welcoming committee: one roller on each side of the door plus fifteen battle droids on a balcony on the building across the bridge. Kir hit the balcony with auto-fire, destroying 3 enemy units in the process before taking cover on the right side of the door. I ordered Rolland to take cover on the left side of the door and I ran out, past Maroo and almost made it to the other side under a couple of blaster fire. Out of the blue, a few droids on the balcony tripped and fell... Rolland hit the roller on right, barely scratching the shields, and then Maroo pushed that roller right under the Kaminoan waves.

I finished my run, dropped my rifle and grabbed my portable concussion launcher. I barely had time to aim and fired; there was nothing left of that tinnie before its shields got down, just to tell you how fast it was... then popped Winter, right behind that roller. If he would have been a few seconds early, the Lieutenant would be in a million pieces! Next thing I know, the General charges me, she gets as close to me to make fog on my visor with her breath... I admit it, I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second and she was gone.

Now it was Kir, Rolland and Winter’s turn to run towards my position with guns blazing. I used a droid popper on the roof and saw Maroo at the last second, throwing it at her opposite corner of the balcony. The remaining forces lasted only a few seconds more.

As we headed inside, we encountered two more rollers. I threw a popper but missed terribly almost landing it at my feet. Winter and Kir took them out almost easy. Then, look who was walking down the corridor: Akane... with Rook??? That Mandalorian we met on Kessel... let’s just say we had a few questions for him! But it had to wait, since we were soon surrounded by a few squads of clones, not more than 14 year-old kids armed with DC-17 rifles. Accessing a computer station on a neighbouring wall, Captain Vantai managed to reach the Kaminoans and stay our execution after our identification and purpose were confirmed.

We were escorted by the tiny soldiers to a Kaminoan traditional white room with tear-drop like chairs dangling from the ceiling. After the others took their seats, Mr. Rook started telling his story. I of course kept an eye and my rifle on the door; never trusted the “long-necks” and if one of them enters this room with an examination kit, it won’t leave it alive.

Rook started telling his story, I admit that I more or less listened; my concentration was on the door. What he said is that there was a good reason why the Jedi kept a close check on their emotions. His father was a Jedi; he fell in love and deserted. Had two kids with the girl; one had what it took to be a Jedi, the other no. Long story short; the brother named Rekken killed the father and Rook is after him to avenge his death... as I mentioned before, my attention was more on the door. Now Rook told us that we pissed off his brother’s master, a certain Darth Sidious, who ever that is.

In the mean time, the Hammer of Justice contacted me and confirmed that reinforcements were under way. Then a small man entered the room with a tray full of food, and for some reason, I just noticed that Lieutenant Winter wasn’t in the room; I noticed something was odd, too quiet... While I listen to the chatter on the comm-link, they spoke of the children who escorted us here, about 10 000 clones, 7 years in their growth, what was left before the Republic terminated their contract with the Kaminoans.

The small man then led us to the finance department where some dealing was supposed to take place for the clones that were left. Surprising enough, Winter was already there, he had already started the negotiations for the price of the clones. Then Akane and Winter argued on who should conduct that dealing... it was kind of eerie I admit. Was it like that when the contract to conceive me was issued?

As they were putting on the finishing touches, I heard something on the comms that chilled my blood solid. “Execute Order 66”... I confirmed 3 times... It confirmed 3 times... I looked over at Captain Rolland on the other side of the room and I pointed my DLT-20 in his direction. Any threat to Maroo and Winter and he’d be a red splat on the wall behind him... and I guess he thought the same of me.

Realising that we were on the same side, Rolland confirmed that Red Legion was on our side. We then assumed defensive positions at the entrance of the room. I contacted Commander Voss. He confirmed that the marines and the soldiers were with us, but most of the naval personnel weren’t. He suggested we stay inside the city as the main guns of the Hammer of Justice were not under friendly control yet. We headed towards the ship anyway with me and Rolland opening the way; young Mike was on the Santa-Maria unprotected. I rushed inside to see the kid was fine... my heart started beating again. Of all the things I seen, this I wouldn’t have been the worst.

It took 36 hours before we could dock at one of the emergency airlocks and join with Commander Voss. The rest of the clones executing Order 66 were barricaded in the hangar, pointing the cannons of the tanks on the doors... took another 12 hours to take total control of the ship. Out of 5 000 clones, only more or less 1 000 navy, 1 500 marines and soldiers loyal to Maroo were left... it was a bloodbath... The General asked us what happened, she seemed a bit off, but then again, who wouldn’t. I told her about Order 66... About that it declared all Jedi and Force Adepts traitors to be executed at once... was the last time I saw her in a few days...

On Holo News 1, Senator Palpatine made a touching speech about his near demise... what a crock... I know I saw that deformed face before... the security footage on Alderaan... That son of a Gamorrean slut was that Sith all along! Oh, and apparently now I was a fugitive with a bounty on my head. I gave my ‘tag and helmet to Captain Vantai who will turn it in for a good price. He gave us the coordinates of a safe place to hide for a while and with the amount of crew we have, we can barely make it there on our own... Captain Vantai is to meet us later; he took the Santa-Maria and Akane to get the bounty amongst other things. Akane had to confirm the deaths of Maroo, Winter and Mike...

As for myself, we’ve been on our way for 2 days now and I think Maroo should get out of her room. I took off my armour and I managed to get the ball that was left in the hangar. I hate that damn game she makes us play, but I know she likes it... maybe it will cheer her up...

Later, I’ll think of a new name for myself since my unattached head is with Kir now and I’m supposed to be dead... I’ll also have to plan my revenge; we were the heroes of the Republic, the hand of salvation that the oppressed hoped to see. That bastard tuned all my brothers who follow him blindly into the oppressor, and all the people we thought we liberated... we only put on them a different set of chains... They will all be freed, they will all be avenged...

[...Recording Paused...]

____________________________________________________________________________

Commander Who?
Hammer of Justice

The Essence of Existence

[Personal log supplemental...]

It’s been over a year now since the birth of the Galactic Empire... 1 year since my existence lost all meaning... Since then, we have founded a base on a jungle planet owned by Mr. Vantai and we became friends with the locals; well if we call it like that, they basically gave us their blessing to stay instead of coming after us it their spears. Dealing with natives... all those skills, all that talent, all that money spent on my creation and I’m down to escorting my Jedi commander with her retinue as they went for a stroll in the forest.

We entered an ancient temple build by the Sith; the sworn enemy of my master. The temple was uninteresting... that dark corridor... not even the night vision function on my helmet or my light stick could pierce through that darkness. In there I felt... I saw my dead brothers; all of them. The image of every clone trooper ever massacred on Felucia flowed through my head, it took all my discipline to get over it and get concentrated again.

Since that day, my morale has been low. I said nothing to the General and I have kept my mind busy when in presence of a Jedi. As for Commander Voss, Commander Rolland and the rest of the troops, I kept an ironclad demeanour of determination and discipline.

We received the information that the Empire was going to attack Kamino. Within minutes, all the troopers were onboard and the procedures to lift off were under way. Once in flight, we determined that the Hammer of Justice was to stay in a secured location and we would ferry our cargo from Kamino with the Santa-Maria. As the cargo ship approached the planet, we saw the blockade; it seemed like a hundred ships surrounded the planet and thousands of fighters patrolled the system.

I stayed focussed on the objective; rescue as many clones as we could. On our last trip, the fighters and bombers in atmo almost disappeared at once. There were only 2 reasons why they would of left; the first would be that a bigger and stronger fleet was attacking the Emperor’s ships. The second was that the capitol ships around the planet were about to start their orbital bombardment.

I managed on capturing a Lambda class shuttle that the Imperial troops (now dead) used to assault the city, we packed as many as there was room to stand... I... I stayed on the ramp as long as I could... I saw those small soldiers all dressed white stand there; staring at me... giving me one last salute as they knew that their short lives would soon be over... As the ship slowly left the ground, I stared at them, saluting back, helpless... It took me a few seconds to snap out of it. The only reassuring thing I could say is that they were soldiers; I ordered them to the lower levels of the city as fast as possible... I ordered them to survive, even though I knew that they would not. In our operation, several Kaminoan scientists, their equipment and less than 4,000 of the 10,000 clones were rescued.

Not a day passes that I don’t picture that scene... that I don’t think about what I could have done different to save them... that I wish I would of stacked 2 or 3 more... that I would of stayed there and guide those who were left behind into their final hour...

Arrived at the Hammer of Justice with the shuttle, I ordered its transponder deactivated and a full scan executed to be sure that the Empire would not follow us. We travelled in hyperspace to the bogus coordinates before changing for Yavin when we were dragged out in normal space by 2 Imperial vessels. The larger of the two ships launched fighters and bombers at the Hammer of Justice while the other simply stayed there. We figured out that the smaller of the two ships was simply there to prevent us from jumping to hyperspace.

After taking care of the smaller crafts while our Venator pounded the Interdictor, all fighters concentrated their fire on helping the Hammer of Justice to get out of here. After disabling the target, we decided to rendezvous in the Triian system. Then, the Hammer was jumping to light-speed as the Imperial Destroyer fire its batteries; hitting our ship right in the engines!

Arrived at destination, we were escorted by the rangers to a small moon where we waited over a week before having news of the Hammer of Justice. In the mean time, I worked on a training program for our new recruits, including play time that will probably be supervised by the General herself. It kept my mind busy, not thinking of what had happened to the ship and all the brothers I have left onboard. Every morning I managed to wake up, get dressed and grabbed my rifle. I looked at myself in the mirror, and every time I did, I saw the ones I left behind... and now those who were on the ship in certain danger; I swore to them and those others that were lost in the GAR that if the Hammer was destroyed with me safely away, that I would join my brothers, even if I had to do the honours myself.

It finally arrived; they had to make a stop at Gamor to repair the engines. Miss Alethans kept on rushing us to go at her meeting on Alderaan. They disguised me as a Triian ranger, ok a child-size ranger. We got to Alderaan, Akane got to her meeting on time with an ugly Twi’lek (turned out it was her father) and we met with Noran next. He gave us work on this planet that could help our friend Senator Organa. He also offered me an alternate identity... offer that I took since the General will not leave me behind anyway.

P.S.: Since I am no longer part of an army, I will not be making any battle reports. However, since I do not want to worry my superiors and reduce the morale of my colleagues and subordinates I have created this personal log to purge myself of my thoughts and feelings. This personal log is to be delivered to General Maroo in the case where my life to end, it will probably answer a lot of her questions.
____________________________________________________________________________

Ripper
aka
Striker

Contract On Alderaan

[Personal log supplemental]

I’m currently in a Lambda class shuttle, waiting for the General and Miss Alethans to get in here so we can get on our way. It all started a few days ago...

Miss Alethans’ date with Moff “Whats’isface” was delayed for over a week. In the mean time, we received our false IDs from Noran and I found and purchased Mandorallian personal armour. Miss Alethans was finally invited to deliver her gift, escorted by guess what? A Triian slave, a small boy and a soldier... We could have just presented ourselves as the Jedi, her apprentice and the traitor, it would have been less obvious and probably the Moff would have been less insulted that we took him for an idiot.

Long story short, we got captured; young Mike got away faking to go pee and took out a guard, warning me that they knew about us, Maroo was to get executed, Alethans was going to get tortured by the Sith apprentice and I’m sure I was going to get beaten bad by the Stormtroopers for choosing the Republic over the Emperor... and it looked just like that when 2 of my guards took me aside in a small room.

When I thought it was it, one of the guards started stripping, telling me to do the same; it was one of the Red Legion boys, undercover and gathering info for us... I never thought I’d be that glad to see a friendly face... thinking about it now makes me want to go to Voss, Rolland and the others back on the Hammer of justice. We switched armours and we part ways as I escorted Alethans to the transport. In the mean time, Mike had crashed the vehicle in which Maroo was being carried around and liberated her; that little guy has a lot of talent... I just hope he has good judgement. We took out the guard that wasn’t Red Legion, grabbed Mike and Maroo on the way and headed for the Nina, now to be impounded. Cleared with the control tower that I was going to move the vessel to the impound yard, having the group discreetly get in the ship in the same time. Once in the air we started planning to kidnap the Moff.

The vessel landed on a rarely used platform on the border of the city. I commandeered a speeder and headed for the Moff’s tower. Around his office is a balcony where 2 groups of guards are constantly patrolling. We parked the speeder and got off blasting as the first patrol charged us. Told the General to capture the package; I was going to take care of the clones myself. After cutting a hole in the blast window, she and Akane got in the office, to get out later with and unconscious man in a grey suit in her arms. After eliminating the last Stormtrooper, we headed out in the speeder and disposed of it in a backstreet, one block away from the ship.

Once at the Nina, we contacted Noran and he gave us a rendezvous point to drop our garbage. We were met by a laundry transport. We received our new identities and payment from the hand of Noran’s agent. After her departure, we met with Red Legion on a moon in orbit where they gave us some info and my armour back as I gave them theirs. Apparently, we had a computer virus that transmitted our communications and our position to the Empire. We had the Nina cleaned of by the astromech droids, but first we decided to use the virus to ambush the Sith that has been following us.

We lured him to the Queen’s summer house at the south-east of Alder; the stage of our first mission over a year ago. We send a false transmission on Akane’s communicator saying that she and Mike should hide there while we met a rendezvous off-world... that we would be back in a few days. We hid the Nina further away in the canyon as we set up the ambush in the cottage. The summer house is built right in the rock face; 1 way in, 1 way out. Mike built 2 battle droids out off all the debris of droids we had left behind the last time. We made a barricade out of the couch and dining table in the entrance, providing cover for me and directing the Sith to Maroo.

Mike was in the Nina, soon to be the Pinta, concentrated at hiding his aura while Maroo, was camouflaging hers to resemble Mike fooling the Sith. He landed in a Lambda class shuttle with an escort of 6 troopers. They proceeded, Stormtroopers in front, in the main corridor, queue for the 2 battle droids to open fire; of which they never had time to do since the soldier destroyed them on sight. I popped them my last 2 frag grenades, forcing the Sith to hurry to “Mike”, finding at his surprise Maroo in his stead.

In the mean time, I opened fire on the soldiers killing the first four already injured by the grenades with my first hail of auto-fire. The remaining 2 managed to hit me once before I shot down the one holding the light repeating blaster. Then I saw the damn column to my right which separated the hallway from the living room where Maroo and the Sith were fighting, rip off from under the ceiling and drop to the floor. After another 3 round burst, I saw it come back towards me and almost crush me.

I fired one last 3 round burst at the remaining trooper before leaping over the makeshift barricade, now half crushed by the column. I killed the last clone has he was dropping his rifle, then I charged out to capture the shuttle when I was literally pulled back in the hallway... to the far end of the corridor to be more precise. It was the General! She had stopped my action and was pinning me to the wall with her Jedi powers!!! Why was she doing that?!? I had no means to move! The worst thing was when she swung her lightsaber at me... I thought that was it... she did it to destroy my weapon... Why would she destroy one of her own soldier’s weapons?!? She said the guy was surrendering... Yeah right, he would surrender about as much as I would... in other words; never.

One day, I’ll have to explain the soldier ways to her and probably as I’m at it, the rules of war because it seems she doesn’t know them... but I won’t do like she did to me on Felucia and yell at her in front of the others; we’ll be one-on-one and if she goes berserk again and tries to kill me again, this time, I’ll defend myself...

____________________________________________________________________________
RC-2178 “Ripper”
Aka
Bishop

Where are we?

[Personal log supplemental]

Wow, its been so long since I have opened these logs... so long since all of this started...

I was a soldier back then, one of the best trained soldiers in the home that was the GAR. Now, me and a hand full of people are all that is left of the Old Republic... and I sure miss it. Back then we were heroes, there is not a place in the civilized galaxy that would not welcome us with open arms, not a city where we had to hide from "fear" of being captured. The "Hammer of Justice" survived with a few thousand clone on board; for their security, I will not divulge their location in case this recording is... compromised. Most of those who were our brothers have decided to stay in the "Galactic Empire", now they are all retired or dead as their rapid aging has not been stopped like ours. I pity them in some way; they fought the rest of their lives for a government that doesn't care for its people yet its soldiers, and they are perceived like monsters and terrorists rather than the heroes that they were. One day, a new "Republic" will rise on the ruins of the mighty "Empire" and it will be known that the ones responsible for starting the fall of that giant are the clone troopers of the GAR... that thought is the first one I have every morning... my only reason not to lean on my rifle and fire one last time...

Sometime, our glory days seems so far back and I can't see the end of the dark days still ahead...

Soon, it will be the beginning of the end... Soon, the GAR will strike its first blow for a better tomorrow, for a "New Republic".

____________________________________________________________________________

Ripper
aka
Bishop