Daily Entry 03: Clone Battalion Commander CC-4242: (155 Days ABG)
A lot has happened in the past couple of days, leaving me little time to write until now; Where should I begin?
The Carrick jumped into a trap. Mere minutes after we left hyperspace, Kali'sto warned me that danger was coming. I really wished I had listened once a Separatist destroyer with fifty escorting star fighters attacked us. Twelve Z-85 Headhunters, thirty-eight vultures. Against our miniscule medium cruiser.
Our starfighters were destroyed within minutes, the droids were relentless. Commendations to the late Captain Sal, the Carrick packed quite a punch, but once they took out the bridge, the ship was doomed. We were in Doan's orbit, which proved to be our salvation. I gave orders to use the damaged ship as cover, then to follow the cruiser's trail and land within the same canyon network.
From what I could tell before I abandoned ship, twenty percent of the crew and seventy-two-percent of my troops survived, escaping aboard our complement of gunships, landers, and escape pods. I made sure to wait until everyone else left before departing. Kali'sto surprised me by assisting with the evac: generally, the protocol states that the Jedi General should depart first. Instead, he helped me save every last trooper.
And myself. As I helped Squad Trill-Besh to their escape pod, the floor gave, and I almost fell. Kali'sto reached out and pulled me into a pod.
We've landed in one of the planet's vast caverns, with no communications available. Our pod landed on a fragile ledge, meaning that we had to climb up to reach a safe location. It was tricky, I advised Kali'sto to go first while I retrieved supplies from the pod, and sure enough, the pod started to slip and fell while I was in it. I'm only still alive because...well...Jango wasn't kidding when he described how powerful a Jedi truly is.
With the pod lost beneath the ledge, we have lost our tracking beacon and long-range transmitter. We are alone beneath the surface of Doan.
Per my estimations, we are roughly fifty clicks away from the downed cruiser. Between the two of us, we have three pistols, one rifle, three grapples, two comlinks, a lightsaber, one week's worth of rations and water, a small container of spices that Kali'sto keeps around for some reason, an updatable holomap, and my armor.
Kali'sto suggested that we might find allies on this planet, explaining that he had friends down here. I disagreed, believing that we should find my men, who are scattered about in enemy territory. Kali'sto only responded by saying, "Think about the wider picture. We don't know what's happening: perhaps the planet is being invaded. Our first move should be to understand our situation." I understand his logic, but all I could say was, "My men are in danger. I know that it might not be the best tactical decision, but they're my troops, they're my responsibility."
Kali'sto surprisingly agreed with me after I said this, and now we're hiking towards the cruiser. As I write this, I start to suspect that he is motivated by more than just the mission, a far cry from the tenet, "There is no emotion, there is peace."
We're slowly making our way towards the cruiser. The caverns are vast, ancient. Kali'sto told me that the inhabitants carved the planet down the core, that this mining trade left the planet wealthy, only for said wealth to dry up in recent decades as the planet began to lose its valuable ores. It feels like such a waste.
Now it's mainly useful for its strategic position in this sector. He felt...angry when he told me this. Recently, the planet has apparently begun an "ecological restoration movement" adapting techniques pioneered millennia ago on Telos in an attempt to restore some semblance of the planet's ecology. It'll take generations to have a significant impact, and the caverns aren't going away.
I couldn't help but ask if Kali'sto himself played a role within that process. He said that he and his master worked to force the nobility controlling this planet to listen to the demands of the majority of the planet's populace. The nobility is backed by the Republic, which would easily explain the presence of the destroyer in orbit. Based on my training, I might want to watch for a case of divided loyalty. I'm probably overreacting, but I hope that this doesn't turn into a worst-case scenario: the last thing I'd like to do is execute order 66.
We've encountered no patrols or signs of Separatist activity. Kali'sto suspects that we're not alone out here, though. I'll listen...tentatively.
Now, after a day and a half, things have settled down enough that I remembered to write this. The past few months since the war started have been incredibly tumultuous. I understand I'm not the only one to say this, but it's not at all like the simulations. The battlefield, the casualties, the war, and the Jedi. Most things in the war have proven to be different than what I was expecting. Especially now.
Even as an ARC cadet, I had my fellow cadets. I was tested on solo missions, but that training changed when my role changed. I was a commander. Infiltrating enemy planets, alone, gathering reconnaissance, the prospect of discreetly aiding or toppling regimes...this is the work of an ARC trooper. For the first time in my life, I'm without my brothers. For the first time in this war, I'm doing what I was originally bred to do.
