A year into the Clone Wars, in one of the most violent periods of the war the Free Systems of O Fortuna, Gloria, and Bastion stands defiant against the oppressive Galactic Republic regime. A moderately wealthy Mid Rim state, that is populated by Echani with a minority of humans, it sits on the edge of the Outer Rim. Unbeknownst to the citizens of this system the Republic is moving towards them to "reclaim" these lost systems. On the anniversary of the declaration of independence from the Republic, the guards of Speculator listening outpost sitting on the edge of Bastion System on a small moon celebrate their freedom.

"On this today in the year 3255 our great system broke off from the chains of the Galactic Republic and joined the great Confederation of Independent Systems to protect our sovereignty from Republic aggression!" The Lord Protector of Augustus boomed. "Our great allies in our most righteous cause have proven worthy of our alliance by presenting us with not only reinforcements in the form of droids, but great victories worthy of our cause!"

I shuttered as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Kinsaris." The voice whispered.

I turned around to see my friend Yusanis staring at me. Like other Echani, he had white hair, chalk skin, with silver eyes not unlike my own face.

"What?" I whispered back.

"Let's get out of here, the expedition legion has come back. They are going on tour through the systems and we are their first stop!" He whispered excitedly.

I nodded back to him and followed him out.

Yusanis was smiling and walked with a skip in his step. He began to babble enthusiastically about seeing the troops.

"While the rest of the Separatists Alliance use those useless droids, we use real soldiers! Use Echani do our own fighting! Our guys can take one enemy, force I heard they beat the 501st and I'll get to ask my brother all about it!."

I sighed, "You're lucky to have a brother who got into the expedition force. I wish I'd been able to join."

He looked back at me, "Oh ya, you're an only child. Ah well I'm sure we will see some live action eventually. Next year we will be 18 and then we can sign up for the expedition legion, but for now we just gotta deal with this post."

We watched as the first ships started touching down in the hanger. The first members of the expedition force started unloading their equipment.

I noticed some strange equipment being unloaded, it took me a moment to figure out what it was.

I looked closer and nudged my friend, "Are those the battle droids the Trade Federation promised?"

"I think so." He pointed to some brown ones. "See, those brown ones? I think those are the B1 battle droids. And those. He pointed to some bigger gray ones. "And those are super battle droids."

I frowned at the all the droids being uploaded. "Do we really need all these droids? Unlike those useless Neimoidians, we can hold our own ground."

Yusanis laughed, "Is this that noble pride I've heard so much about?"

"It's not pride!" I shot back. "You were just bragging about how much better we are than droids. I'm an Echani and I'm not gonna hide behind some lifeless machines!" I pouted "And I'm only a minor noble anyway."

He laughed back, "Relax, it's just a joke. Besides we need the manpower seeing how the Republic basically does the same thing with those clones. Now let's stop arguing this, it looks like they are almost done."

Another few minutes passed before all the droids were unloaded and the members of the legion dispersed throughout the base.

Yusanis stood up, "Come on, they're all coming out. Let's go find my brother!"

While looking for Yusanis' brother we passed a propaganda poster, it read.

"Resist the Jedi imperialists!" And pictured an Echani warrior holding back a Jedi holding lightsaber with his vibroblade.

Yusanis snorted, "Do we really need these posters? Everyone is willing to fight."

"Remember that traitor Senator Anvic and his so called 'loyalists' still has some supporters left."

"Pfft" He responded back. "Their such a minority, besides you think a poster will convince them to change sides."

I shrugged back, "I don't know, maybe they are supposed to be inspiring or something. Shouldn't ask the question if you don't want the answer."

After a few minutes of searching, we found Yusanis' brother next to the training room. Many other species say all Echani look the same, this goes extra for siblings. Besides for being a bit taller, as Yusanis' brother was three years older they were indistinguishable.

"Mikael!" Yusanis shouted.

Mikael looked up at his brother, "Yusanis!"

They embraced and began conversing. Yusanis was giddy to be talking to his brother after over a year apart.

"What's the front like! Did you see a Jedi!? Are they really as fighters as they are said to be?"

I looked down at Mikael's vibroblade, I noticed the handle had been changed from its usual gray color to gold.

"Did you get promoted?" I asked curiously.

Mikael looked confused for a second before looking down at his vibroblade.

"Oh yea, I was going to tell you that." Mikeal responded. "So listen to this. I was part of a small infiltration squad. We were sent to destroy some Republic artillery that was preventing the main droid army to march towards the main enemy line. We killed the guards and placed the explosives on the artillery, so we began to go back to our line. A little more than halfway back to our base a Jedi with five clones came out of nowhere. The clones suppressed us while the Jedi jumped 10 feet in the air and cut the head of the officer in charge, the second in command was critically injured by the clones not long after. So I took my pistol and blasted the clones closest to the Jedi while the rest of the squad began taking down the rest of the clones. I engaged the Jedi while she was distracted and landed a hit on her arm. We began dueling while the blasters flew around us from the crossfire, she almost got the upper-hand and knocked my vibroblade out of my hand. She got over confident for a moment and began to gloat, so I took the opening and punched her in the nose, then I quickly pulled out my vibroknife and stabbed her in the neck. By that time the clones had been killed and only one more soldier on our team had been injured. When we got back they decided to promote me!"

Both of our jaws dropped, killing a Jedi is something only few could pull off.

Yusanis spoke up first, "How, how did you do that? A jedi? How?"

Mikael smirked at that and said confidently, "Don't believe everything you hear about the Jedi, their arrogance is unmatched. Just look at them, no military training yet they lead the Republic army."

We kept talking for another to Yusanis until he had to go to train with his squad. We joined the independence celebration before going back to the barracks to sleep.