Chapter 1:
A hope for the future
Tipoca city was illuminated with bright white lights, and yet seemed deserted. Rain poured down hard on its docking bay as a lone republic star fighter landed softly and quietly on its surface. The sky was blackened by clouds of all times of the day, but now was certainly night time. A Large Togorian stepped from the ship as the cockpit hissed open. He resembled an upright standing tiger with humanoid features, and a rough build. He wore dark brown robes tattered from use and held a fear striking cylinder at his waist, his light saber.
As he strode forward he noticed someone had responded to his arrival; a Kaminoan being appeared in the facility door way with a look of concern. The Togorian stepped forward to greet the alien.
"Greetings" the alien spoke as the Togorian approached him, "we were not expecting any visitors today" he added nervously as he clasped his hands together. The Togorian smiled slightly and replied, "This is personal business, I am Caross" he offered his hand and the Kaminoan reluctantly extended his, unused to the gesture. "May I ask what your business here is?" the Kaminoan asked, Caross was unsure to if he should reveal his agenda "I am here to check on our progress… with the clones…" he lied.
The Kaminoan seemed to relax, "oh, yes, of course, right this way sir!" he said as he picked up his pace and moved down the hallway. The cloning facility was a work of art. Caross looked down through the observation window into a room filled with pods, each carrying a small being. He was amazed that what he heard had been true and that there truly was an army being constructed. An opportunity showed itself as the Kaminoan stepped out of the room.
Caross searched the consoles of the observation room for anything. He slipped a small holodisc from his pocket and attached it to the cloning mainframe, the screen clicked into life. He tapped quickly at the screen as his file popped up. A minute later the holodisc was uploading files into the entire cloning project. He felt dismay as the screen brought up a list of clone sub groups; he would have to manually upload the virus.
He glanced over his shoulder through the doorway to see it remained empty. He turned back and quickly selected the first file; Clone commandos. The holodisc made a soft hum as it began its process. Caross cracked a smile at his work but still remained nervous. He could sense several people coming his way, and fast. He grabbed his saber and glanced at the screen again to see the process was nowhere near finished. He needed the files to upload.
He held his saber hidden at his side as two Kaminoans appeared at the door accompanied by an Aqualish wielding a verpine shatter blaster. Caross brought his saber forward in defense, "what is this?" he demanded. The Aqualish pointed the blaster forward "you think you can hack into personal files and no one will notice jedi?" he shot back. Caross knew this would not end well. He just needed enough time to allow the virus to upload.
He held his light saber firm in front of him "That was Republic business mercenary, to point a weapon at me is to wage war against them" He hoped it would dissolve what little confidence the Aqualish had. The mercenary didn't seem to notice the comment and held his blaster high "this does not end well for you jedi. We cannot have your kind snooping around where you don't belong" he said as he squeezed the trigger.
Caross was familiar with the verpine's weaponry and there deadly precision. Even jedi masters were brought down by their incredible power. He swung with liquid speed as he move the blade to deflect the shot. The round was too fast and met its mark on Caross' left shoulder. He winced in pain as he shook of the attack. He could see that the supposed friendly Kaminoans had blasters in their hands now. He swung his saber forward cutting through the first Kaminoan and slicing off the others hands.
By now the Aqualish mercenary had fired another round from his blaster. Caross swung effectively and reflected the shot into a nearby wall. The mercenary backed away quickly as he fired off two more shots landing one in Caross' leg and the other one in his stomach. Caross felt the sharp pain of the shots but continued forward seemingly unaffected by the attack. He brought his saber high as the mercenary fired off the rest of his clip wildly.
The saber came down hard on the merc's shoulder and sliced downwards severing his arm and slicing half way through his torso. The Aqualish screamed in agony as he fell backwards into the hallway. Caross dropped to his knees and took a final look at the computer console; it was destroyed. One of the shots had fried the system. He dropped to the ground, defeated, as he felt the warmth of blood and watched the clean white floor become dark red.
He could only hope his efforts were not in vein as he slipped out of consciousness and fell completely to the ground, dead.
