Black sand blew with the winds of the night. Firewood crackled as CT-2795 poked the blue fire with the stick he found some time earlier. Listening to his companion and his general, he sat quiet and didn’t have much to say.
“We do not have enough soldiers. How are we ever going to infiltrate the facility?”, CT-2672 said to Laar. He had gotten weary of the sands of Rakomir a long time ago. The thought of the final stand against the droid army was both encouraging and despairing at the same time. The three were against an army of hundreds but this was their final chance of escaping the planet.
“Battles are not won by numbers, Hem, but by wits. If the plan goes right, we might be able to sneak into the port. Once we link one of your comms with the starfighters, we might just be able to contact with the Jedi Council and escape this desert planet,” said Laar ensuring this was their best shot for the same.
CT-2795 or Lek, as named by his comrades, listened to the Jedi and his fellow clone. But he kept his silence. He stared at the blue fire they had lit for the night, with his arms wrapped around his knees and his chin resting at the middle. He wanted to leave the planet as much as the other two, but he was unsure if the lot was enough to get in the facility without raising an alarm.
An anonymous tip had brought the Jedi and a handful of clones to the desolate planet of Rakomir, at the end of the outer rim of the galaxy, far away from Coruscant. The tip stated of a newfound resource called Black Spice, on a unknown planet, which was much more valuable than the spice they would find on Tatooine. Though unconfirmed, the council had to investigate into the issue.
They were accompanied by Jedi Master Cho Min. Halfway across the galaxy, they received a call from the Chancellor, ordering the Jedis to return to the capital. He assured the clones were enough for the job and that the Jedis are more valuable and required at the capital. Master Min returned but she ordered her fellow Jedi Knight Seez Laar, who was once her padawan, to stay and complete the mission along with the clones.
Laar, even though already knighted by Yoda himself, was still loyal to his master and could not deny. He and the clones flew to the far ends of the outer rim, searching from planet to planet, with little to no luck of confirming the information.
Upon reaching the red skies of Rakomir, they were shot down by a droid army gun. They crash landed into the planet’s sand and their ship was damaged beyond repair. As soon as they landed, a battalion of droids open fired on them.
The battle enraged, with the clones and the Jedi being outnumbered. But they held their ground. It lasted for a few days and only 3 of them were remained. The droid army carried back the scrap metal from the fallen droids and took it back with them every time they started losing. Next day, they would come back with their numbers back to same as the previous battle.
With this, the Jedi and the clones had figured out that there must be an installment or a facility somewhere in the planet where the droids took back the metal parts and fixed them to produce more droids.
The three did not sleep that night. For a few days, they had been following the droids back to where they came from. They had found the droid facility and were planning to infiltrate it that night. Hem and Lek were not sure if the plan would work but they were ready to follow Laar. So, they had made up their minds to go along with it.
As they were discussing the plan, the facility started producing loud sound. Droids were starting to get fixed. Laar knew that this would be the perfect time to sneak in. The sound would distract the droids, leaving them an opening to get in the facility.
So, they did. They wrapped up, killed the fire, and started moving towards the facility as quiet as possible. As soon as they entered the facility, Laar stopped for a second.
“What’s wrong, sir?” — Hem asks.
“I feel a presence. Someone else is here that is not a droid.” Laar collects his thoughts back and says, “Let us get to the port quickly.”
They moved on and reached the port. Laar thought it was too easy. They had not encountered even a single droid on their way to the port. Also, the presence Laar felt earlier was growing stronger. Upon reaching the port, he noticed it was empty with no droid in sight.
“IT’S A TRAP.” — he exclaimed. Hem and Lek stood frozen. “What do you mean, sir?” — Lek asked.
“Well done, Jedi.” A figure stood on the platform above them. “As expected from someone of your worth.” With that, the figure ignited a red lightsaber and jumped off the platform to their level. A handful of droids marched and stood behind him.
“A Sith lord, I presume?”, Laar said, igniting his blue lightsaber as well.
“Surprised to see one?”
“At a place like this? Not really. Since your kind are supposed to be extinct a long time ago.”
“The Sith were never extinct. We only waited for the time to get our revenge against the Jedi.”
“By we, I assume you are not alone, are you?”
“Scared, Jedi? Do not worry. My master is not here. Although he will be pleased to hear the news of a Jedi fallen through my hands.”
“Who are you and who is this master you speak of?”
“I am Darth Rees, and my master is of no concern to you since you won’t be leaving this place alive.”
With this, Rees attacks Laar. The clone troopers also engage in a gunfight with the droids.
Laar, while blocking Rees’ consecutive attacks, commands his troopers, “Get on the ship. We cannot afford to fall here. We need to alert the council of this threat.”
“Go to the ship, Lek. I will hold them back.” — Hem says, while blasting his gun at the droids.
Lek rushes in and starts activating the droid ship.
Rees kept attacking Laar while Laar waited for an opening to counterattack. Laar stepped aback and force pushed Rees. “Not bad with the force, I see.”, Rees says. “My turn.”
Using the force, he scraps off large pieces of metal from the port and hurls them towards Laar. Laar dodges each of them while closing the gap between him and his enemy.
“Why won’t you JUST DIE?”, Rees shouts in anger and then starts hammering his lightsaber at Laar. Finding the opening he was waiting for, Laar dodges Rees’ attack, scurries behind him and stabs Rees from behind.
“Perhaps your master has not taught you all.”, Laar says to Rees, turns off his lightsaber. Rees falls on his knees.
“You fool. You are all dead anyway. I am but a humble sacrifice for my master.”
Rees falls to the ground. Laar wonders what he might be talking about, but he snaps out as Hem nudges him from behind. “We have defeated them, sir. But more droids are heading this way. We must hurry.”
“Right.”, Laar says and runs towards the droid ship with Hem. Lek had already started up the engines and was waiting for his companions to jump in. Laar gets in the pilot seat and grabs the controls. Soon, they fly away while dodging droid gunshots and leave the planet.
“We did it, sir. We have finally left the planet with more information than we came for.” — says Hem.
“And fallen brothers.”, says Lek.
The trio falls silent. Laar starts wondering about the words of the Sith once again. What could he have mean?
“Our comms is back as well. We need to relay our findings to the council now. They can put an investigation tea — -.” As Hem grins on their victory and escape, their comms is intercepted by an unusual, recorded voice message.
“EXECUTE ORDER 66” — says the voice.
“Yes, my lord.” — Hem and Lek say in unison. Barrage of shots are fired before Laar could reach the lightsaber on his waist.
