A/N: This story is based off an idea I had for a Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak mod replacing the S'jets with clones, and the Gaalsien with droids. It'll follow the story pretty exactly, and I'll even include pirates! (Siidim, anyone?) Disclaimer: I don't own The Clone Wars, that belongs to Disney, (I'm glad they saved it, though!) and I don't own Homeworld, that's Gearbox Software.

It was a long time coming. The Jedi Archives had long told of the story of Tatooine's glassing by the mighty Rakatans for rebelling. Hells, corporations had latched onto the idea that the ancient tech would've been worth a fortune, if only they could get to it. But for centuries, no one had. That would all change that day. It would all start with a few clones onboard a lonely listening and observation post, cloaked so as not to attract suspicion…

Onboard this observation post, the clones were bored. It was a day like any other. The leader of the group was Sergeant Slinger, named for his impressive throwing arm, capable of hurling a droid popper an impressive 135 meters without any armor on. With armor on, that number dropped to 125 meters, which was still very impressive. No one in the entire army could throw something farther without use of the force. He was proud of this, though he took more pride in knowing that while the post he had might be boring, it was important. The Republic had stopped trying to actually take Geonosis from the Separatists. Instead, they placed a listening post on the closest planet to Geonosis: Tatooine. It also served double duty as a research station, combing the massive Dune Sea for signs of ancient artifacts like those hinted at through records from before the Republic's time, going all the way back to the Infinite Empire.
Corporal Frigid, Slinger's second in command, who hated the post (he had always preferred colder places) had spotted something on the scanners. "Uh sir, you might want to see this…" Slinger ran over to Frigid's station. "What is it?" Frigid, staring at the image, shrugged. "I don't know. It's not Republic, I can see that much." Slinger froze. "Not Republic? Is it Separatist?" Frigid shook his head. "No. It's too old for that, I'm sure of it." With that, he switched to a diagram showing the object's position beneath the shifting sand. Its depth? Nearly 25 meters. "Alright, I'm convinced. But how in the seven hells of Corellia did you find this thing?" Frigid couldn't answer. Instead, he asked, "Sir, should we contact the Republic? We'll need a team to investigate this… thing, whatever it is." Slinger nodded. "Excellent suggestion, corporal." Then, turning to their comms officer, Boombox, he gave the order: "Get a message to Coruscant. We've got something big here." At first, nothing happened, (Boombox had a habit of using his comms officer headphones for personal use) but after some shouting, Boombox got on it.

Meanwhile, onboard the Lucrehulk-class battleship Sajuuk, orbiting Geonosis…

Super tactical droid K'had was debating his options. After one of his subordinates reported they had intercepted a Republic transmission, he ordered them to decrypt it, which resulted in this message playing on the holotable: "This is an urgent message regarding Tatooine's surface. Scanners have revealed what appears to be a massive ancient ship buried in the middle of the Dune Sea. Requesting a team be sent to investigate this ASAP. Repeat-" at that point, the message looped, and K'had weighed his options. He very quickly decided that the best course of action would be to send a task force to claim the object by any means necessary. He knew such a strategy would alert the Republic, but what could they do? The object had been very clearly stuck in the middle of the Dune Sea. Highly inhospitable. There was the annoyance of sand getting into joints, but that was easily remedied by simply not using infantry and solely relying on armor to make it. But he would have to find it. And that would be hard.

Meanwhile, inside the Supreme Chancellor's office…

Palpatine had received the news of the massive objects. He too had weighed his options carefully. He had decided to send in as many troops as he could spare. After all, he wanted to make sure the technology was firmly in his hands. He had uses for it. And so he called a meeting with the Jedi. When they arrived, he greeted them. "Master Jedi. It has come to my attention that an ancient ship has been found in the Dune Sea. Have you heard of this?" The Jedi who were present, Yoda and Mace, nodded. "Perfect. I propose we send an expedition to find this object. Now, I fear the Separatists have intercepted the transmission that revealed this to me, so I propose that at minimum, a battalion is sent, if we can spare one. So, Master Jedi, can we?" Yoda thought about it, as did Mace, and finally, Yoda said, "Ahsoka, we shall send. Split, the 501st is. Her regiment, she will bring with her." Palpatine smiled. "Perfect. Brief her and order her immediate departure. The Separatists cannot be allowed to have this technology." With that, the two Jedi left the Chancellor's office, where they contacted Ahsoka.

Ahsoka was eager to be sent on a mission without Anakin, and she immediately accepted the offer to go. But it would be hard to manage such an operation, especially as the troops couldn't just be sent in. Geonosis was barely a parsec away from Tatooine, and an enemy force could easily set up right on top of the wreck, and completely annihilate them. And landing in the Dune Sea was equally bad, as without time to adjust to the sands, a large vehicle could easily sink. Also, since it was the Dune Sea they were traversing, all walkers, aside from the AT-RT and AT-AP, were out of the question. They would have to use the relatively untested UT-AT instead. Saber tanks would be invaluable, with their high maneuverability and decent armament, so they loaded those up too. Palpatine had also decided to test an interesting concept: a massive mobile command carrier, capable of producing extra vehicles as needed. There would likely be a fleet in orbit, and besides, all the vehicles used would be incompatible with LAATs anyway. That meant they'd have to start from scratch, as they couldn't spare enough Venators to combat the fleet likely to be in orbit, bombarding them. It was decided that while they prepared to deploy the ground-based carrier, as such a massive vehicle would take time to become battle-ready, the Acclamator they would bring with them would act as a base. And so it was that a few days later, Ahsoka, along with the 332nd regiment, launched from Coruscant, making one key stop before heading to Tatooine: Rothana.

A/N: And there you have it! Of course, in DoK, there is relatively solid ground in some areas, but most of it's going to be just loose sand, especially in the more important areas, like what is, in DoK, (Minor spoilers!) a frigate at the Kalash site. Now, what's this series of carrier going to be called? Find out next time!