STAR WARS: Republic Commando: Delta Squad:

Missing In Action

"A few still remain in his bloodline. The men dwell on the far-side of Dathomir. What if I could provide another of his kind?"

-Mother Talzin to Count Dooku on what would become Savage Opress

Republic Attack Shuttle, Three Hours after the Battle of Devaron, 21 BBY

"We have had no contact from the Jedi stationed on Devaron. We fear that they may have been casualties, but a lack of a distress signal leaves us uncertain." Boss leaned forward in his seat as General Kenobi continued. "That's why we're sending you in. You have three hours to get in and out of the Temple of Eedit before Separatist reinforcements arrive. If you can't get out in that amount of time, then we won't be able to send any ships to retrieve you without starting another battle."

"We understand, sir," Boss said, "Simple op, get in, get out, and then bang out. If those Jedi are alive, we'll find them." General Kenobi bowed as the hologram fizzled out. Scorch flipped his helmet around in his hands.

"Who was the commander in charge?" He asked. Fixer consulted his datapad.

"Some Advanced Recon Force trooper." Fixer tapped the datapad. "Says his name is Trauma."

"How do you think the poor guy got st-" Scorch was interrupted by the comlink in the ceiling.

"Delta, the T.O.T is four minutes. I suggest buckling up. We don't want another Raxus incident, do we Scorch?" Delta Squad put on their helmets as Sev burst into laughter.

"You fly across the cabin one time and they never let you forget it." Scorch put on his helmet and double-checked his lap restraints. The shuttle touched town on the brown, soggy ground of Devaron. Trees of different sizes and colors littered the ground. The ramp lowered to the ground as Delta filed out.

"Clear," Sev barked, "Let's get this show on the hyperlane." The shuttle lifted off the ground and took off. Fixer pulled out his datapad and clicked a button.

"According to the map, there should be a service hatch… here!" Fixer pulled on a pile of brush revealing a door. Boss hit the panel, opening the door. Scorch, in point position, ran through the door and turned on the light. The other three walked through the door and closed it. A clomping sound below them led the squad to peer over a railing. Down below them, two Trandoshan mercenaries walked through a service duct.

"Mine. All mine." Sev growled. Sev walked to the farthest edge of the catwalk and peered down. As the Trandoshans got directly below, Sev clipped his DC-17m blaster rifle to his leg plate and jumped down onto one of them clamping a gauntlet over his mouth before he could emit a cry of shock. Sev pulled out his DC-17 and fired into the second Trando. With one movement, Sev jerked his arm back, snapping the first Trando's neck. Sev jumped off his back as the dead Trando slumped to the floor. Up above on the catwalk, Scorch, Fixer, and Boss took out magnetic plates and strapped them to the catwalk. With a click, the Commando's clipped their rappelling lines to the plates and rappelled down the bottom of the room.

"Nice work Sev," Boss said. "Now, let's find those Jedi." The commandos stormed down a hallway that led into the entrance to the temple. They came to a door sealed with a magnetic lock. Boss studied the timer in his HUD. They had less than two hours to finish their objective.

"We're running out of time, boys. Let's make a hole here." Boss gestured to the door and signaled for it to be blown open.

"Aye, sir." Scorch responded. Sev and Fixer lined up on the left side of the door while Scorch got in the middle of the door and placed a magnetic disrupter charge. Scorch hit the activation button.

"Clear!" Scorch dove to the right side of the door as the charge destroyed the locking system and it quickly opened. Sev threw in a thermal detonator, destroying three Battle Droids. The squad stormed in blaster rifles flaring with plasma rounds. One after another the Battle Droids fell to the ground, their casings easily cracked by the high temperature plasma rounds. Sev surveyed the dead droids littering the floor.

"I think these are some of the droids that Null whack job Prudii messed up. I wish they all broke like that." The squad walked through the room and discovered they were in the Temple's trash room. Scorch tripped over a piece of white plastoid and stumbled. Scorch looked down at what he had stumbled over and turned it over with his foot.

"Boss, you might want to have a look at this." Scorch said with a hint of fear in his voice. Boss walked over to where Scorch was standing.

"So, what is so interesting that we-" Boss looked down at a shattered helmet of a Clone ARF Trooper. "Oh. Well, I guess we know why we didn't receive a distress signal."

"What's the plan now Boss?" Fixer asked. "Do we continue on with the mission as instructed, or do we search for survivors?"

"We continue on. If we find survivors then it's their lucky day. The Jedi are priority number one."

"So that's it? We just leave any comrades behind?" Sev said. "I hope I'm never stuck behind enemy lines, because I'm not so sure you all would come and rescue me."

"Do you have a point to make, Oh-Seven?" Fixer demanded.

"No, no point to make at all."

"Ok, both of you can shut it." Boss bellowed. "Let's just focus on the task at hand."

"Whatever you say, Three-Eight." Sev growled. The commandos moved through the room until they found a ladder. With Scorch covering them, they made their way up the ladder one-by-one. When they reached the top they found themselves in a large room with large white pillars made of granite and lined with large jewels. Mosaics of ancient Jedi masters lined the walls and made the light seem as if it was glowing. A staircase going up several stories stood in the center of the room. The bodies of two Jedi rested against one of the pillars. Fixer ran over and grabbed one of them by the shoulder, shaking him.

"Master Halsey? Master Halsey?" Fixer asked. Scorch ran up and put his fingers against Halsey's neck.

"I'm not getting a pulse, sir." Scorch said. "He's dead." Scorch turned to Boss. Fixer stood up and walked a few feet away. Boss took out a holocommunicater and pressed the power button.

"General Kenobi, do you copy? Jedi temple come in, do you copy?" Boss said to the holocomm.

"You will find that does not work on account of our signal jammer." A voice rang out through the room. The commandos turned toward the door leading into the room. A Zabrak with black and yellow skin and over-sized horns growing out of his head walked through the exit of the staircase, flanked by Super Battle Droids. Delta Squad turned their blasters on the newcomer.

"Identify yourself!" Boss barked through his helmet's vocal projector.

"Savage Opress," The monster answered. "But that's hardly going to matter in a few moments. Attack!" The Super Battle Droids raised the blasters attached to their right arms and fired at the commandos. The commandos dove to cover and returned fire as sniper bolts flew through the air and hit the SBD's. Boss, Fixer, and Scorch looked up to see Sev perched in a small corner of one of the mosaics with the sniper attachment on his DC-17. More Super Battle Droids spilled out of the doorway and joined the fray. The commandos took out the Supers, but for each one that went down, two more would take its place.

"Boss, we should get out of this shabla dar'yaim and bug out!" Scorch said between firing shots.

"No, we're bringing this Jedi home!" Boss responded.

"Hope you have plan, squad leader, because I'm running out of sniper shots!" Sev said from his perch as he scored a perfect headshot on a SBD.

"I'm working on it!" Boss said as he clipped the anti-armor attachment on his DC. Boss fired three shots at the incoming Super Battle Droids. The droids exploded in a wave of shrapnel. Even with those down, more droids continued to pour into the room. One of the SBD's had a rocket launcher attached to its arm. The droid raised the arm and fired at Boss. Boss dove to the side, but the blast sent him into a nearby wall where he lay unconscious. The other commandos noticed this but kept on fighting. After a few minutes of fighting Boss regained consciousness and tried to stand up, but fell back down. Sev noticed Boss's problem.

"Boss, try to hold onto your guts while I rip out theirs!" Sev said oh so reassuringly. A squad of Trandoshans ran in, blasters blazing. Sev used his last remaining shots to take them out, one by one. Eventually the droids stopped coming and only Opress was left standing in the room with the commandos. Opress took out a large spear that was attached to his vest. Savage twirled it around in his fingers and stood ready to face the commandos. With large thuds the ground started shaking as a shadow loomed over the room. Savage looked up at one of the mosaics. Fixer consulted a data reading in his HUD.

"Boss, we have a rather large life signal heading this way!" Fixer trained his rifle on the incoming shadow.

"It could be anything, stay ready Delta Squad." Boss switched powerpacks in his rifle.

"Sir, what about pointy back there?" Scorch asked, "Shouldn't we do something about him?"

"Forget about Opress. Focus on this new monster coming in." Boss said. A few moments later the wall and the mosaic broke into a thousand pieces as a rancor burst through, roaring.

"Fierfek, it's a bloody rancor!" Sev said as he started firing. The commandos all opened fire on the monstrosity that had just entered the room. Their shots bounced off his armored hide doing nothing but making the rancor angry. Savage took this opportunity to leave, but before he was out the door, a large slab of rubble landed in the doorway, blocking his exit. Savage turned around to see the rancor holding one more slab of debris in its right claw. Savage growled. It seemed to him that the only way he was going to leave alive was to work with the clones. The rancor raised his right claw ready to throw the slab at Scorch. The debris left the rancor's claw and sailed at Scorch. Scorch raised his arms in front of him trying to protect himself, when Savage threw himself at the slab and destroyed it using his pike. Scorch looked up, confused. He saw Savage standing in front of him.

"Why did you help me?" Scorch asked the Zabrak.

"I must regretfully work with you lot if any of us are to survive. Go help your leader, I will keep it busy." Savage, as quickly as he said it ran at the Rancor and started attacking it. Fixer healed Boss with some field bacta and Boss stood up.

"Do you really think we should work with this… thing?" Fixer asked as Savage was thrown across the room.

"Doesn't look like we have a choice, but I'm open to suggestions." Boss looked around the room at his team.

"So what now?" Sev asked, gesturing to the battle between the two monsters in the background. Boss looked at his surroundings as his HUD marked good vantage points for anti-armor fire and sniping.

"Scorch, I need you up there on anti-armor. Sev, you're there with sniper cover." Boss said as he pointed to two positions in the room.

"Enemy's go boom now, sir?" Scorch asked jokingly as he tossed Sev a clip of sniper ammo. As soon as Sev and Scorch were in position they started firing. Boss and Fixer aided in the attack with fire from their DC-17's as well. After twenty seconds of continuous fire, Boss and Fixer reloaded their DC's.

"We're not getting anywhere fast!" Fixer yelled over the battle. Savage was yet again thrown across the room. As Savage stood up, he noticed cracks in the pillars above the rancor.

"Clones!" He yelled, "Shoot at the pillars above the rancor!" Scorch looked at the pillars and aimed three precise shots at the columns. The pillars crumbled as the roof collapsed on the Rancor as it fell down three stories. Its roar faded away as it fell from floor, to floor, to floor beneath the temple. Everyone gathered around the hole and peered down as the sounds of crashing and breaking wood eventually got quieter. As they stood there Scorch shoved Savage in the back, sending him tumbling into the hole. The other three commandos looked at Scorch.

"Scorch?! What did you do that for? We needed him for questioning!" Boss roared.

"He saved our lives and with all the punishment he took from that rancor, falling twenty stories isn't going to hurt him." Boss shook his head and got his comlink.

"Four-two? This is Three-Eight. We need a lift."

The Republic Shuttle flew down low as it landed at the Jedi temple. Coruscant was experiencing an unusual rain, as the entire planet was climate controlled. The shuttle landed and Boss, Sev, and Scorch stepped off the ramp with the bodies of Master Halsey and his Padawan. Four Jedi Masters stood under the awning of the landing platform. Boss walked up the General Kenobi.

"There were no survivors on Devaron. Everyone was killed, including Master Halsey and his Padawan." Boss said.

"In the past, only Dooku's assassin was capable of such an effort, but she was presumed dead at the Battle of Sullust." Said Jedi Master Adi Gallia.

"Not everything is what it seems," said Plo Koon, "There may be a new threat. Someone or something has eluded us. Perhaps a newly appointed Sith Lord."

"This is not the work of a Sith Lord or a Jedi, but a reckless impulsive animal." Said Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Whatever it is, I just hope we don't come across it again thought Boss.

Count Dooku sat in his lair on his home world of Serenno and stroked his short white beard as he threw his brown leather cape over the end of his chair. A hologram of a recent battle hovered before him but was soon replaced by that of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Sidious wore a cloak that covered every inch of his body except for his hands and the lower half of his face. Dooku quickly stood up.

"What is thy bidding, my master?" Dooku said as he bowed.

"My spies in Republic space have said that someone interfered with the Battle of Devaron, and the Confederate forces were told to follow his orders. Is there something you want to tell me Tyranus?" Sidious leered. The only thing Dooku could tell from what skin he was able to see on Sidious, is that he was not happy, and with the use of his Sith name, Dooku knew that he was in trouble.

"My master, I know not of this. Perhaps it was something Gunray ordered. No matter what happened, we still took control of the system." Dooku suggested.

"Perhaps. Do not think I have forgotten about Ventress, Tyranus. If you try anything like that again, you will suffer the consequences." The hologram of Sidious faded as Dooku sat down in his chair. The door opened at the front end of Dooku's estate and Savage Opress walked in, bruised and battered from falling twenty stories.

"You must be more careful Savage," Dooku said to Savage as he walked in. "You should have not left those clones alive, but nonetheless, you have proven your resourcefulness and power. You shall be my apprentice, and together we shall rule the galaxy." Savage nodded, unaware of the events that were soon to follow.

THE END