Top of the morning to you ladies and gents', my name is Director K.W., and welcome to a whole brand new series! Yes, it is I, back after over 4 years of no activity on this site. Well, the only explanation I can give is life that gets in the way. I've had a lot of transitions of personal life stuff that required a lot of my attention, which only gave me so little writing to do over the years. But now, I can finally say that I am back and with a whole brand new crew to back me up on this new series that we wish to share with you all. So, rather than being just myself, I am now part of CGN (Cinematic Gaming Nerds) that includes myself, Galoctapon and Jet the Blue Sky. Together, we have all been working hard on creating an entire Star Wars series that have been in the talks for over 6 years now, perhaps even longer lol. So we hope you enjoy what we have to offer you all in this series.

This series takes place in, as you can see, The Clone Wars Era. In fact, it all begins at the start of the Clone Wars, first day of the war. It's definitely different from what you all may or just have read, or perhaps some of you have seen or read others like this before. But in all, this is a series that we will be continuing for a very long time, so again, we really hope you will all enjoy what we have to offer you.

That will do it for now, so thank you all of you who wish or are preparing to read this new series of ours, and as always, we hope you will all have a fan-tucking-tastic day/night! See ya' in the next one.

- Director K.W. & CGN Crew


A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS: RISE OF THE DARK MERCENARY


Planet: Geonosis

Location: Orbit

Date: 22 BBY

Time Lapse: First Day of the Grand Army of the Republic, and the start of the Clone Wars


Amongst the asteroid belt of the terrestrial, barren and rocky planet known as Geonosis, three short, triangular shaped Acclamator star cruisers had recently appeared from one of the hyperspace lanes and have stationed themselves outside the belt, awaiting for the signal of the battle that would soon commence below the planet's surface.

Inside the Ne'-Cross Acclamator-class cruiser, the main leading triangular star ship out of the three, a young, black haired seventeen year old Padawan stared and glazed through the many asteroids that orbited around the planet before him. He wore a traditional brown robe that covered his grey tunic underneath it, followed by a pair of long, baggy brown pants that ended tucked away within the confines of his black boots. He wasn't intentionally focused on the giant rocks or field belt that were all either twirling or swaying about, however. It seemed his attention was somewhere else, where his mind pondered very hard to somewhere else. But as his mind was focused on whatever he was thinking about, he didn't even sense the presence of another figure beside him appear, a long black shadow that created a faint dark smog around him.

"So, I guess this is really it, huh Kydan?"

The deep, hazy voice was loud enough to snap himself back into reality as he looked over his left shoulder to find the black figure standing next to him, gazing at him with rose red-budded colored eyes. The young padawan, Kydan Witress, gave an uncertain and sad smile to the figure.

"Yeah it is...," he replied back, a sigh escaping his lips. He turned his attention back to the large, black opened vast of space before him. "I just can't believe this is really happening. I thought I was prepared for this. But now...now I don't think I'm ready to fight in a war. Sure, I have fought in many small battles in the past during my missions, but I never fought in a war before. I have no clue on how to act in a war. I have no skill, I don't..."

Kydan closed his eyes, the thoughts that occupied in his mind began to surface as he gave a hesitant answer once more. "...I-I don't know Dark, maybe I'm just speaking this out of proportion. Not really sure."

"Yeah, maybe your right," the black figure, Dark, said to the confused padawan. His eyes lowered a bit and his mind went into one of contemplation, then looked back to Kydan with his red colored eyes as they gave a sympathetic look to them. "You might just be saying that...but your not the only one who thinks that. I can sense the vast, majority of other young, Jedi padawans and knights feeling the same way as you are right now. But I know one thing for sure; we will not be alone in this fight. We will have each other backs, now to the end."

Not feeling any of the bit of worry he just had no more, Kydan gave his friend a genuine smile of certainty and approval. Dark is the only few people that he knew who can give him the confidence and advice he always needed to move forward. He couldn't think about where he would be today without him or his other friend's help. He was happy that he had them in his life, and he could never ask for better friends than them.

Kydan chuckles softly, placing his hand on Dark's shoulder in appreciation. "Yeah, you got that right Dark. We're never alone..."

"Uh, who are you speaking to?"

Gasping silently, Kydan turns around in surprise as a young, blonde pony-tail hair woman who was around his age approached him, just stopping in the same spot where Dark had just recently stood before. She gave the young man a confusing look with her eyebrow raised, her green eyes staring at him with utter curiosity. He probably thought that she was thinking of him as a complete loon or something.

"Oh, uh...no one! J-Just talking to myself Rilicia!" He lied, rubbing the back of his short, black hair with an embarrassed chuckle. Hoping that it convinced her, which appeared it did, she gave him a gentle smile and chuckled softly herself.

"Well, you know, if you keep talking to yourself, people are gonna think and treat you like a lunatic. If that happens, I don't think I can help you from that."

"U-Uh, right!"

She giggled in response, causing his heart to skip a beat from the sweet noise that he adored very much. "So, are you ready for the upcoming battle down there?"

"Yes...and no. Yeah, I'm eager to help defeat Count Dooku and his droids once and for all, but I'm still not too sure about fighting in a war just yet. I still feel like I need more training in order to do something like this."

Rlicia nods in response. "Same here. But like it or not, were gonna have to fight them, no matter what the decisions we will make."

Kydan slowly nodded in response, somewhat understanding what she was saying. Still, he felt uneasy with all of this, let alone having the Jedi Council allowing him to even be out of the Temple of all things. But before he could even reply, an older man walked up to the two young Jedi, unaware of his presence at that moment. Much like the other officers on board, he wore a long sleeved, dark button up, dark grey shirt with a red and blue rectangular shaped badge on the left side of his breast, outlined with a gold colored scheme to it. He had a short, brown, bushy style mustache with brown hair that had a dark grey officer hat concealing it. Unlike the other crew members, his badge represented him as a higher classed official among them all; the ranking of a High Captain.

"Excuse me, commanders," the older man addressed to the two Jedi. The two turned to him, gaining their full attention. "We ready to go over the mission brief?"

"Yes, Captain Wolrien, we are," Rilicia replied to the captain, strolling up to the medium sized, metal circle table that was displaying a holographic image of the planet's surface. Kydan and Captain Wolrein circled around the table as well, each one taking their perspective spots across from each other.

The three huddled around closer to it as Wolrein pulled out a data pad from his belt, immediately typing in some syllables and numbers on the screen. Clicking the last button, the data from the pad linked together with the hologram table, projecting a blue, holographic image of a large, thin pointed tower surrounded by many obstacles that were surrounding it.

Clearing his throat with a small quick cough, Wolrein begins to explain the mission brief to them. "Once you arrive on the surface of Geonosis, your mission will be the Geonosian Research Tower, proximately three clicks away from the landing point. There, you'll find your main target; a Mandalorian assassin named Alurak Eclipse. Our intelligence indicates that he's been working on new designs for the Trade Federation and ally, Count Dooku. Apparently, from one of his recent projects, they had created a brand new set of droids, the BX-series Droid Commandos; elite class battle droids that are capable to survive against most dangerous hazards. Once we have Alurak in our custody, we can try to interrogate him and possibly gain the information to shut down these new droids."

The plan sounded all well and good, but one thing still plagued Kydan's mind. His expression turned to confusion as he looked for someone else, before turning his attention to the captain. "Captain, what of our masters? Aren't they meeting us down there too?"

Wolrein looked at Kydan with a dumbfounded face, as if the answer was obvious enough. "It was under the request of the generals, actually. They requested this mission for you two under their authority."

They're leaving me alone with Rilicia, without a Jedi Master watching over me? he thought to himself. The information was surprising, yet more confusing to him. Never has the council left him alone with another person that wasn't a master, even more than someone his age. It was a set rule by the masters that he would be on watch at all times around the clock. So what was going on? Were they testing him or something? Or was there something more going on that he just didn't know yet? Just trying to wrap his head around the whole thing was giving him a headache.

Sensing his disorientation, Rilicia tried to changed the mood, her lips turning into a small confident smirk and her hand clutched into a fist. "Well, no worries captain. We'll bring in this Mandalorian!"

The mood successfully changed as Kydan playfully rolled his brown eyes at her, a small grin itching at his lips. "As confident and reckless as me, Rilicia."

A mischievous smirk plagued her own lips. "Well, my confidence and recklessness hasn't failed me yet, has it? Besides, I've learned from the best."

"That's a bad habit to have," chuckled Kydan, ever so slightly.

"Says the boy who has done the same," a playful smirk forming, her gaze staring straight at him. She could never understand why, but it was always hard for her to pull away from his gentle brown eyes of his.

"Eh-hem!"

The two slightly jumped as their conversation suddenly ceased completely, turning their heads to Wolrein. He had the look of annoyance on his face, his gaze giving off a serious one at them. Frankly, he wasn't pleased from their little conversation.

Kydan chuckled awkwardly, a weary smile plagued on his lips. "Heh...uh, sorry, captain. Please, continue."

"As I was saying," he said, cautiously staring at them with a knowing look. "Once you have captured Alurak alive, you are to set the charges inside and destroy the research tower. When you have completed your tasks, contact us as soon as you finish rounding up the remaining droid forces in the vicinity. Until the area is cleared, we won't be able to give you air or ground support for the time being. Any questions concerning the mission?

Kydan raises his hand up slowly. "Just one; what teams are we taking down to the surface?"

The captain smirked a little at the young Jedi's question. He didn't know why, but he found that what he was going to say would be a bit amusing. "Ah yes, your squadrons. Both of you will take one team each down to the surface. Commander Kydan, you'll be taking Black Moon Squadron, under the command of Sergeant Rilos. You'll find him considerably...interesting. And Commander Rilicia, you'll be taking White Claw Squad, under the command of Lt. Flash. Just like Sergeant Rilos, you'll find this one...intriguing, to say the least."

She just rolled her eyes as Kydan snickered to her utter dismay. "Glad to know that."

"We'll be in the atmosphere in thirty-three minutes," Wolrein said, deactivating the holograms from the table in front of them. "I'll contact you both once when we are ready to make drop."

The two nodded in compliance to the captain's words as they retreated from him and the hologram table towards the elevator. They both entered the elevator and the doors closed in front of them, the shaft descending downwards below the command bridge.

"Well, this should be a lot of fun," Kydan sighed with a sarcastic tone. His nerves were reaching peek once again, the thoughts of his first mission alone drove him to feel doubt sprouting up.

Rilicia, sensing her friend's struggle, placed a delicate hand on his shoulder. Her soft smile was placed on her lips. "Hey, it'll be fine. Just remember the training that you received from the masters. Once we get to the tower, everything will be fine."

"Yeah, I guess your right," Kydan replied, a small smile beginning to form on his own lips. Seconds later, the doors to the elevator open, revealing multiple hallways where they saw dozens of soldiers and military officers walking about, continuing on with their duties. "Well, I'm gonna head down to the squad's quarters below and meet with my new squad."

"Same here. It'll be nice to get acquainted with my new troops," she said, walking out of the elevator and into the hallway. She turned around to face Kydan, a smile appearing on her face. "I'll see you later then?"

Kydan smirked and threw her a thumbs up in approval. "Definitely!"

Fifteen minutes past as Kydan strode through the cold, metallic floor, no doubt heading towards one of the clone quarters to meet and introduce himself to his new squadron.

While he paced across the hallways, his mind went back to one of his earlier questions; why did the Jedi Council allow authorization for him to be alone with only one Jedi? On top of that, a Jedi Knight that was his friend? It was very unusual for the Jedi to allow him to go freely and be command of his own team. Although he didn't mind the major change of things, he couldn't shake that something was up with all of this. He just kepting questioning himself the same thing over and over again; why? He just didn't know, couldn't even conjure up a good answer for it all.

So deep in mind with his questioning, he hadn't realized that he had reached the Black Moon Squad Quarters' door. He was a bit startled at first, but was able to keep his composure as he reached his hand to the control panel on the right, pushing the button to open the sliding doors before him. When the doors slid open with a hiss, he was immediately met with the officer himself, talking to a small hologram on his small, metal rounded device.

"Yes sir, Black Moon is prepped and ready for action," the Clone Sergeant said to the hologram. He wore a standard Phase I, white clone trooper armor. His shoulder and leg pads were both colored in black while his breastplate armor had the symbol of the moon pattern on it, also colored in black. "We are just awaiting for further orders."

'Very good, Sergeant Rilos,' the small hologram replied back to the clone sergeant. From a distance, Kydan could see that the hologram that was displaying from the clone's device was none other than Captain Wolrein, standing in an orderly fashion before Rilos, his hands placed behind his back. 'As for your new commanding officer, I placed you and your team under the command of Kydan Witress, a Jedi Padawan. I have already explained the details of the mission to both him and Commander Rilicia. He will brief you on your mission before you all reach the planet's surface.'

"Yes sir, thank you sir," Rilos responded back to the captain, saluting to him in approval. "Sergeant Rilos, out!"

As Rilos deactivates the comm and places it back into his white, plastic pouch, Kydan enters the room where the rest of Black Moon squad were stationed in. Far as he could tell, he could see that every clone soldier in the room were all preparing themselves with the mission that was yet to come. He didn't know if it was a clone DNA thing or just part of who they really were, he could tell, though, how formal, tidy and unified each one of them were. It actually impressed him somewhat.

He walks towards the sergeant himself, who was gazing at his squad from the side. "Sergeant Rilos?"

Rilos hears his name as he turns his head around to the source, seeing the young black haired Jedi padawan walking towards him with a friendly smile. The sergeant took a saluting stance with his arms by his sides and himself facing forward his new commanding officer.

"Commander Witress! We have been expecting you sir!"

"Already? I see that word travels fast for you guys, huh?"

"Captain Wolrein had just contacted me to alert me that you were on your way here, sir."

Kydan chuckled at the sergeant's reply, "Yeah, I'll admit I was a bit nervous, but also excited, to meet with you all. And please, you don't have to be all formal on me sergeant. I kinda like it when I'm around people who act like themselves."

Rilos looked at his commander with a surprise expression, though it wouldn't have been visible to the eye since he was wearing his 'T' shaped visor helmet on. Hesitantly, the sergeant loosened up a bit as his hand reached behind his neck, rubbing it back and forth in an embarrassing and uncomfortable state.

"Yes sir, apologies sir. I-I'll make sure to remember that for now on."

He just laughed a little at the clone's dismay. "No need for apologies, Rilos. I just figured you should know that ahead of time."

"U-Uh, right sir. May I introduce you to the rest of the team?"

"Of course! I'd love to meet the others!"

Taking the lead, Rilos guides Kydan to one of the members of the team.

"Black Moon Squad is one of the mid-top, elite squads in the Clone Army," Rilos said to his commander, strolling up to one of the troopers. "We have never had difficulties with our training, nor our test assignments back on Kamino. Due to our high skills in combat training, we were ranked up as one of the many elite squads."

Kydan smirked in response to the soldier, no doubt a bit impressed and intrigued with the information given to him. " I guess now's a good time to use those training skills on the front lines."

"Couldn't agree more sir."

Approaching the first trooper, they saw that he was practicing shooting at a metal targeting stance that was being used by the clone himself, noticing that he was testing out his new weapons. The trooper finally finishes with his testing, just placing the rifle and blaster he was using down on the bench next to him. Just as he placed them down, he glanced to the side to see his sergeant and a Jedi padawan heading towards him. He stood in place, putting his hands behind him as they approached.

"Let me introduce you to Bulk; our specialist for using the DC-17 Heavy Blasters. He is specifically good with his accuracy of throwing grenades in open and closed fields, let alone tanking against the larger forces when he is loaded with his rifles."

Kydan smiled at Bulk, extended his right hand out to the trooper. "Pleasure to meet you, Bulk."

Bulk reached for his hand, firmly grasping the padawan's hand and shook it. "Pleasure is ours, Commander. Can't wait to use that training to good use on some of those scrappies."

"No worries Bulk, you'll get a chance at them soon enough," Kydan said to the trooper with a chuckle. "I'll leave you back to your business."

Bulk saluted to his commander and sergeant as he went back to sorting out everything he needed for their journey down to the planet. The two leave the clone to be as they proceed to greet the next member of the team, who they saw was pacing back and forth, grabbing and placing some interesting equipment inside his backpack.

So focused on his own work, he lacked the capacity of noticing the officers coming closer to him. When he saw them both, he somewhat jumped in surprise, accidentally dropping whatever tools and what not on the floor. He stood at attention, his one arm saluting to them both. "S-Sirs! I-I didn't you two there!"

Sergeant Rilos laughed at his brother's embarrassment, "At ease, cadet. No need to be formal."

The trooper sighed in relief, "That's a relief!" But when his words escape his mouth, he immediately regretted it. "T-T-That's not what I meant, sir, I only meant-"

Rilos began to laugh a bit harder, while Kydan just chuckled at the trooper's embarrassment. He looked to the sergeant with a smile, "I'm gonna guess that he is one of our tech specialist?"

"You've got it, sir," Rilos nodded to him, introducing the embarrassed trooper to him. "This is Scanner, our tech specialist and our best tracker. He was one of our many cadets that reached the top of the tech training classes. In fact, his commanding officers recommended him as having the best strategic plannings out of the rest, even if he does have a stammering problem."

"Really?" Kydan asked curiously, looking at Scanner with a surprised, but intrigued look.

"N-No sir, really, I-I wasn't that great in my class! I-I was just an average like the rest o-of our b-brothers on Kamino!" Scanner stammered in a hurry, waving his hands back and forth at them. He was so glad that he was wearing his helmet right now, he couldn't even dare think what his face would be looking like.

"No need to be so bashful, Scanner. We already know all the details about your training," Rilos snickered, although he was honestly giving him a compliment.

"Y-Yes sir, sorry sirs," Scanner replied, his head lowered down as his embarrassment grew even more.

Kydan placed a hand on the cadet's left shoulder, causing him to look at the commander with a startled jump. "You don't have to apologize, Scanner. I'm glad to have met you, and to be part of this team."

As Kydan finished his words, Rilos gestured him to the other side of their quarters, leaving Scanner to ponder by himself. What they didn't realize was that Scanner, underneath his shiny coated, white helmet, he had a big smile on his face. Kydan's words rejuvenated him to feel better and more confident about himself. He didn't understand why, but he felt like he was going to like his new commander immediately.

Kydan and Rilos approached the second-to-last clone trooper of Black Moon Squad, who they notice was staring at the viewing window of their quarters. He seemed very calm and relaxed, not as a hurry like the others Kydan has met. In fact, resting beside his legs was his equipment, all packed and ready to go. Kydan took note that this soldier was someone who tends to finish his work quite early, no matter where or when it happens.

The soldier heard their footsteps getting closer to him, turning his head toward the source to see that his suspicions were true. He turned himself to his commanding officers, nodding his head in greeting. "Sergeant Rilos, pleasant to see you sir."

"Always a pleasure to see you, Hopper," Rilos replied with a friendly tone to his fellow brother. He grasped the trooper's hand in a handshake before turning to Kydan. "Commander, this is Hopper, our extremist for using the heavy duty DC-17 Repeater Gun. He is quite known for making and tweaking up our weapons before our training excercise back on Kamino. He's known for his...effectiveness, if you catch my drift."

Hopper rolled his eyes underneath his helmet, looking at Rilos with a shrug, "Hey, if it ain't broken, why fix it? It's been pretty handy when we have all trained."

"So, in a sense, you're a weapons specialist, right?" Kydan asked him curiously.

"In a matter of speaking...yes," Hopper replied with a nod.

Kydan smiled at his fellow trooper. "Well we're glad you're here then, Hopper. Looking forward to see how much firepower you've given the team, especially with that heavy gun there."

Hopper grinned with an evil chuckle, patting his long, six barreled gun that was resting next to his backpack. "Sir, you can count on that. Just point me at the target, and I'll mow them down."

Acknowledging him with a small chuckle, the two officers leave Hopper and move on to the final crew member of the squad.

"Our last squad mate is actually our newest recruit," Rilos said, trekking through the metal floor underneath their feet. "We had our sniper specialist on our team, his name was Line-Up. He was one of the most elite snipers in his class. Unfortunately, he was transferred to another squad a few weeks before we left Kamino."

"Sorry to hear that, Sergeant."

"It happens sir," Rilos said, looking up ahead to see the new recruit placing his equipment into his backpack. Unlike the other clones in his team, the recruit's Phase I armor didn't have any black markings that indicated his team's symbol.

As they got closer to him, Kydan silently studied the trooper with a close eye. Something about this clone seemed off, but not in a bad way. It was as if something was special about this one, much more than the other clones he had met so far. He didn't exactly know why, but just the presence of this recruit made him feel calm, just like his-

"Red Scar!" Rilos called out to the trooper. Somewhat startled from his superior's call, he immediately stood at attention.

"Red Scar, reporting for duty, sirs!" He saluted to them both. "I'm guessing your our new commander, sir?"

Kydan smiled and nodded in approval, "You're right, I am. I'm Kydan Witress, your new commanding officer. Pleasure to meet you R.S."

"Uh...R.S., sir?"

Not realizing what he said, Kydan chuckled in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand. "Oh, sorry about that! I thought it would easier to say rather than 'Red Scar' all the time. Sounded more fitting."

Red Scar and Rilos both looked at their commander with surprise looks, though he couldn't tell since they were wearing helmets. Although it was slightly weird for a few seconds, Red Scar thought about the name a bit more. He wasn't use to shortening out his name, let alone someone else call him by something else instead of his nickname or clone number. But the more he thought about it, the more he was starting to like it.

"R.S. huh?" Red Scar thought out loud, trying to make it slip off his tongue more easily as he kept repeating it more and more. After a few seconds of saying it, he looked back at his commander, a small smile appearing underneath his helmet. "You know what, I like it. It's actually easier to say!"

"Is that what you want, Scar?" Rilos asked in a questionable tone.

"Yes sir, I'm sure," R.S. replied back, his smile growing even more.

"Then I guess R.S. it is, then," Rilos said, shrugging a bit with a still confused body language.

Kydan laughed at Rilos' confusion, with R.S. joining in on the fun. With only a few more words back and forth, the two left R.S. to finishing up his preparations for the mission, making their way back to the exit doors.

"Thank you for introducing me to the squad, sergeant," Kydan said to Rilos, feeling less nervous than he had earlier when meeting his team.

"It was a pleasure, sir," Rilos replied, also feeling a bit more relaxed from the nerves he had when meeting his new officer, let alone a Jedi for the first time. "I'll admit, we were all nervous meeting you, Commander."

"Why's that?" Kydan asked with a surprised look. They were nervous to meet him? Did they know who he was or something?

"Honestly, we haven't met a Jedi before, so you would be the first,"Rilos admitted, albeit a bit embarrassed. "When we learned that we were going to have a Jedi padawan as our commander, we didn't really know what to think at first. Karabast, we didn't even know what you Jedi were like, so were all pretty nervous meeting you. When you gave Scar a new nickname like that, I was surprised that he actually liked it. In his eyes, your his friend sir."

Kydan couldn't believe what he was hearing from the clone sergeant. Never has anyone but Rilicia and his Master acknowledged or complimented him on anything, even the littlest of things! It made him feel welcome, relaxed; he felt like he belonged somewhere for the first time in his life. It was a great feeling...no, an amazing feeling. He just knew that Black Moon Squad would be-

'Attention, attention!' The speakers shouted throughout the entire Acclamator, booming all around them. 'This is Captain Wolrein of the Ne'-Cross speaking! We have just received orders to move the fleet into the planet's atmosphere! All personnel to their battle stations, and all troops to their designated gunships! Repeat; all personnel and troops to their designated areas! We will be reaching the atmosphere in 10 minutes!'

So much for having a fond moment, Kydan thought to himself, a bit annoyed as well. "Well, so much for preparations. Have you and your men meet me in the hangar bay, sergeant!"

"Yes sir, right away sir," Rilos replied, quickly saluting to his commander before rushing to the team and gathering them together.

Kydan, nodding back at the sergeant before leaving him, dashing out of his squad's quarters and making his way through the hallways, passing by multiple military personnel as they rushed to their stations, preparing for combat that would be quick to come. He didn't understand why, but somewhere deep inside him, whatever would happened down on the rocky, desert planet of Geonosis, he knew that his life would be altered from now on...