Shadow's Odyssey: A Star Wars Story

Rex stared down at the map, waiting for a planet to jump out and say, "This is a good place to hide!" The other high-ranking clones stared with him, most of them in hologram form as they had gotten on different ships when they fled Kamino.

"What about Hoth? No one lives out there."

"There's a good reason for that. The temperature is always below zero, and we don't have enough cold weather gear for everyone."

"What about the Hutts? They've had a good relationship with the Republic ever since we saved Jabba's son at the beginning of the war."

"Are you nuts? Those sleemo's will make us pay for protection and then hand us over to the Separatists anyway!"

"But Jabba hates Dooku and the Separatists!"

"Yeah well, the galaxy has changed a lot since then. They're not going to support the side they believe is going to lose."

"What about Endor?"

Rex turned around in surprise and saw Zatt.

"It's remote, has abundant wildlife, and the only known inhabitants are very primitive."

"We don't know very much about the place, but I think it's our best option." Cody said.

"Alright then. All ships set course for Endor." Rex ordered.

When the clones reached Endor, they loaded up four gunships to go explore the area below. Then the younglings approached them.

"Captain, we were talking, and we believe we should go with you." Katooni said to Rex.

"Really?"

"Yes. We figured you could use a Jedi's instincts out there."

"Alright then. We'll split you up among each squad. Gungi, you'll be with Wolffe's team. Ganodi, you'll be with Cody. Byph and Zatt, you'll be with Captain Falcon. Katooni, you're with me."

The four gunships departed and descended towards the moon below. They set down in a large clearing and took in the rich vegetation around them.

Rex addressed the group. "Alright, now we need a place where we can establish a real base around here, so we'll each explore in a different direction. Cody, you go east. Wolffe, you go west. Falcon, you south. And I'll head north."

The four teams headed into the forest. After walking a little less than two klicks uphill, Wollfe noticed Gungi staring off into the distance.

"Hey kid, you see something?"

The Wookie responded with a series of growling sounds.

Survivor translated. "I think he said he smells something."

Gungi was indeed taking deep inhales, his nose tilted up.

"it's probably just the local wildlife." Tank said dismissively.

"Let's keep moving." Wollfe decided. "We need to find a place to set up camp before it gets dark."

Cody's team trooped along with Boil on point. They found themselves trudging through a mud pit.

"Well, we're definitely not making camp here." Sparky commented.

"Why couldn't we find a nice tropical beach to hide at?" Eagle complained.

"At least we're not on the sandy armpit that is Tatooine." Road Kill pointed out.

They came across a dry patch of ground covered in leaves.

"At least there's one spot here that's not covered in mud." Boil said with relief. "Let's take a break here."

He looked hopefully at Cody, who nodded his approval. He really wanted to clean the mud out of his boots.

Boil took a few steps on to the leaves… and then fell into the ground.

The others hurried over to the edge of the revealed pit and peered down.

"Boil! You okay?" Cody called down.

"I think- Ahhhhh!"

He looked at the arm he tried to move and saw a sharp wooden stick pierced through his elbow. He looked at his legs to see another pierced through the top of his right thigh and another through his left knee.

"Nope! Definitely not okay!"

Cody turned to Ganodi. "Can you lift him out?"

"Uhhh, I think so."

She walked up to the edge of the hole and stretched out her hands. Boil screamed as he started to lift off the spikes. The sound startled Ganodi and she dropped him, causing him to scream again.

"Be careful!" Sparky snapped. "Dropping him makes the wounds worse!"

"Sorry!"

Ganodi tried again, this time maintaining her concentration through Boil's screams of agony. Sparky had the first aid kit out and set to work at once.

"Guys look!" Eagle pointed at multiple sets of tiny footprints on the opposite side of the pit. "I'm pretty sure this territory belongs to the natives."

"Well if they're living in this mud pit, I say they can have it." Road Kill said.

"Well, I hate to tell you this, but until we find a way to get Boil back to the gunships, we're stuck here." Sparky informed them.

Cody called the gunships back at the landing site, where the pilots stayed to keep an eye on them.

"Hey Crash, we have a man down and we need a stretcher to move him. We're about five clicks east."

"Say no more. We're coming."

"What about the natives?" Ganodi asked. "People who build spike traps usually aren't friendly."

"We'll have to keep watch. Hopefully they won't come by until after we're gone." Cody replied.

Falcon's group came upon a cave.

"This might a be nice place to hole up." Nightcrawler suggested.

Falcon peered into the cave. "Hey, there's light coming from inside! I think this place might already be claimed."

Byph spoke in his native language and hid behind Deck.

"He says he has a bad feeling about this cave." Zatt translated.

"Well we just have to check this out!" Wild Card declared and strode into the cave.

"Wild Card get back here!"

"There's no one in here, there's just a bunch of torches!"

"Whoever lit them might be coming back!"

"Well when they do, we'll them this cave is ours now because this place is perfect!"

"This is someone's home! We're not just going to barge in and take it from them!" Falcon was running out of patience. "Wild Card, I'm giving you a direct order to get out of that cave!"

There was no response.

"Wild Card!"

Complete silence.

The other clones became concerned. Wild Card never knew when to shut up. Why was he so quiet?

Falcon then marched into the cave to get him, but he didn't see him inside.

"Wild Card?"

His voice echoed through the cave, but there was still no response. On closer inspection of the cave floor, he saw a trail of blood. This set off alarm bells in Falcon's mind. He readied his blaster and followed the trail. He heard chittering coming from around a corner.

Falcon rounded the corner and found Wild Card. There was a gaping, bloody hole in his back and standing around him were what had to be the natives. There were three of them. They resembled small Wookies and they poked at Wild Card's body with crude spears.

Falcon opened fire at once. How dare they kill his brother!

He succeeded in killing two of them, but the third escaped deeper into the cave. Falcon picked up Wild Card's body and went back the way he came. The others gasped in shock when emerged from the cave.

"What happened in there?" Clutz asked.

"It was the natives. This cave isn't safe. Let's get out of here before more natives show up."

The sound of a horn being blown echoed through the trees.

"I don't like the sound of that." Nightcrawler commented.

A pouch flew out of the bushes and burst open on the ground. A cloud of brightly glowing insects emerged and started stinging the group. They left painful burns wherever they touched.

"What are these things?" Zatt yelled.

They scattered, trying to get away from the strange bugs.

"Everyone fall back! Fall back and regroup!" Falcon ordered.

One of the natives jumped out of the tress and onto Deck's back.

"Ahhh! Someone get this thing off me!"

Nightcrawler grabbed it and pulled it off of him. He then slammed the vicious mini-Wookie on the ground and shot it.

"Thanks brother."

"Don't mention-Agggh!"

Nightcrawler went down with an arrow in his throat.

"They're in the trees!" Zatt cried.

Rocks began to rain down from above.

"Everyone, retreat! Retreat!" Falcon shouted.

Everyone turned and pelted back the way they came. Clutz was ahead of everyone else, until he tripped over a rope and was crushed under a net full of boulders. Byph and Zatt kept running as Falcon and Deck tried to pull him out from under the pile. But more mini-Wookies charged out of the brush to attack.

Three of them ganged up on Deck and stabbed him to death with their spears. Falcon shot the two in front of him only for a third to stab him in the leg from behind. He fell to the ground. The creature tried to grab at his head, but Captain Falcon punched it away.

He tried to get up, but his wounded leg crumpled beneath him. Falcon shouted in pain as he fell again. He heard a twig snap and blindly fired in the direction of the sound. He fumbled for his comm and sent out a distress call.

"Can anyone hear me?"

Wolffe's group had stopped in a clearing for lunch.

"This might be a good spot for base." Mech commented.

Wolffe's commlink beeped as it received the distress signal.

"Can anyone hear me?"

"Falcon, this is Wolffe. I read you. What's going on?"

"My team encountered the natives! They are extremely hostile! They killed everybody! They messed up my leg, I can't run! I can hear them all around me! We've got to- Ahhhhhhh!"

"Falcon? Falcon do you read me? Break time's over men, we need to move!"

Gungi started freaking out and pointed frantically into the woods.

"What is it? What do you see?"

Wolffe didn't have to wait long for an answer as he heard the sound of a horn and dozens of small, furry creatures charged out of the forest.