Location: Churba System, Mid Rim, 39 days after Battle of Geonosis
"Did the captain survive?" asked General Skywalker to Captain Rex as he entered the Resolute's bridge. Rex turned from the conversation he was having with Admiral Yularen to address the General.
"Some of the survivors say he may have died with his ship, sir," replied Rex as he walked to the front of the ships bridge with the General. Their ship, the Resolute, had been called in to search for survivors from Tens, Right'eye, Jumps, and Riot's doomed attack cruiser. They found most of the crew and escape pods of the 442nd. The ship was only transporting two of the battalion's four companies back to Coruscant to regroup with the battalions other half. They were called out of Hyperspace along the way to check out this Republic Allied system for any signs of Separatist activity. That's when they were ambushed.
"Did any of the survivors see where the Separatist forces went? It's not like them to attack and then leave all these men alive. There has to be a reason," questioned Anakin. Rex signaled for them to go over to the ships Holo-projector. He had an officer bring up a 3D model of the doomed cruiser and played back the pieced together ambush.
"The surviving clones say that a Consular Cruiser fled the ship here just before it blew up," Rex replied pointing to the tiny holographic ship as it left the disintegrating cruiser. "The ship then went into Hyperspace. They said that the two Separatist Cruisers followed the cruiser into this sector of space only after a few minutes," finished Rex as he pointed to where the three ships had gone.
"Where there any diplomats on the ship that could have fled?" asked Anakin crossing his arms in thought.
"No sir, there were none. The clones believe that some surviving crew members, possibly the captain, used the cruiser to fool the seppies into chasing after the ship in hopes of capturing diplomats, thus saving the remaining survivors," finished Rex.
"That's uncharted space they've headed for. Do we know whether the captain was onboard or not?" asked Anakin looking back at Rex with his arms still folded.
Rex paused for a moment before replying, thinking over what had occurred thus far. "I think he could be aboard, sir. And even if he isn't, I think we owe it to those crew members to look for them," he replied, looking towards the still smoldering remnants of the attack cruiser.
"I agree," replied Anakin hesitantly, "However I don't think we will be able to aid directly in the search unless command Okay's it. What do you think Admiral?" finished Anakin looking back to Admiral Yularen.
"While I would normally say no General, this is the first Separatist forces we've come across in more than a week. And since one of our destroyers was destroyed, I see no reason why we shouldn't hunt them down. As long as command gives the all clear," finished Admiral Yularen.
Shortly there after, the Resolute received confirmation to go ahead with their hunt. They would also be joined by the 212th on the Negotiator, General Kenobi's flagship. The Negotiator was on course near that section of space so command decided to make it a joint mission, much to Anakin's chagrin. The Resolute, after one last sweep of the current star system, jumped to Hyperspace on their new mission.
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Location: Unknown Planet, far Outer Rim, 39 days after Battle of Geonosis
"Well, do any of you know what these two sorry excuses for an astromech do?" Riot asked the others. They had been looking over the two tinnies for quite some time.
"I believe they are drilling into the ice or doing some sort of sampling activity," replied Tens smartly, with nods of agreement coming from both Right'eye and Jumps. The only way they could tell was from the soft whirling sound and the slow rotation of a rod going into the ice.
"I think its drilling slower than even the slowest Hutt. Isn't that a record or something?" added Riot teasingly.
Ignoring their brother the other three continued their discussion. "I can't really make out what the markings on them say. Their definitely not from this planet," stated Right'eye. Then pointing to another craft only a hundred feet away between the two robots he said "That craft looks like it brought them here. You can see the tread tracks that go from it to where they're at now."
All four of them walked over to the landing craft. "Well, there are no usable parts or anything that might get us back. Do we have enough coolant left to get us off this planet to continue looking?" asked Tens, gazing back towards their ship. "Yes, but I don't think we should land again, eh, unless we actually find an intelligent species," replied Right'eye.
Disappointed, they headed back to their ship after looking around a bit more. Jumps and Riot wanted to blow up one of the robots with some extra det chord but Tens reminded them that they weren't trying to make enemies. Jumps satisfied himself, with no avail, to cleaning off all the red sand that statically clung on to his armor from his fall earlier.
For the first time since they fled the cruiser Tens was worried. Worried they might not find anyone. Worried he might not get his brothers back home. He worried that, even if they did find someone or something in this star system, that it might not be friendly and that disturbed him. He couldn't quite get over the sense that something bad was going to happen.
The clones lifted off, making their way to the next planet. Meanwhile, outside the star system, two Separatist Battle Cruisers came out of Hyperspace. Finding no major Republic starship activity in the sector, they prepared to head back. That's when they received a Republic distress signal coming from the nearby uncharted star system. It was decided that one ship would stay out of the system while the other hunted for the escaped Republic ship.
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Authors Note: Sorry it took so long to update. However, spring break for college is a lot busier than it should be. I finally get to write for some cannon characters. Hopefully I did them justice, if not please review. I am always looking to improve my writing, especially for character personalities.
Also, if it wasn't obvious, I do not own Star Wars, that privilege belongs to Lucasfilms. I do own my OC's though. (Updated 6-20-13)
