Chapter 1 – Never Forget Your First

Location: Toola, Outer Rim Territories
Time: 19 Years Before the Battle of Yavin

These things are the definition of uncomfortable. The LAAT gunships. Denley Kane had always heard that from the other Jedi back on Coruscant. Usually they were able to look past it, focus on meditation and such, ponder the universe, but being a Padawan, Denley didn't find it so easy. To be honest, he didn't even trust this thing's ability to maintain air pressure in the cabin, he figured any second the ship could give way and they'd all be ripped out into the vacuum of space. No amount of Jedi training could save him from that.

Maybe focusing on how much he hated this ship was one way to cope with where it was taking him. His first real combat mission. He wasn't sure how the other Jedi seemed so calm and stoic when facing something like this. Deafening explosions, body parts flying through the air, people screaming as they die, the diseases that stain the ground near the corpses, it was horrible to think about, yet his comrades seemed to always find their inner peace. The twenty two year old Padawan learner had excelled in his training on Coruscant, but nothing could truly prepare one for something like this.

"I sense your nervousness, Padawan." Master Hague said, concerned.

Master Hague, also a human, never shied away from reading into the emotions of his Padawan. Though at times it made Denley feel vulnerable, he knew it was for the betterment of his training, sometimes Hague was better at reading Denley than Denley could himself. His master was a much older man, early fifties if Denley remembered correctly, and with age came a strict adherence to the old Jedi traditions, following the sacred texts and code to a T.

"Calm your mind, it's practically screaming through the Force." Hague continued.

"Forgive me," Denley said, "I'm trying to concentrate, that's all."

"No," Hague said, "No need."

"What?" the Padawan replied, confused.

"War is a complicated matter..." the master said, "Focusing on one aspect of it takes away from the rest, leaving you vulnerable. There are so many moving parts, one cannot afford to ever turn their heads away from any one direction for too long, lest they forsake the upper hand and their lives."

"So, look at the bigger picture?" Denley asked, "Like a puzzle?"

"Like a puzzle." Hague answered with a smirk.

Denley wasn't completely certain he understood, but the gist of it made sense at least. The vehicle's other occupants, a squad of clone troopers, looked around at each other, probably taking away from the conversation just as much or as little as Denley had. From what he'd heard, these soldiers were the best of the best, bred for warfare, exactly for this type of thing. One of the soldiers in particular, one with purple markings to distinguish him as squad leader, was named Salem. He'd served alongside Master Hague since the start of the Clone Wars, Denley had heard too many stories about him to count.

"If it makes you feel any better, kid, just know that I got your back, I was born for this." Salem said.

"Thanks." Denley said with a smile.

Light from the outside world finally began to shine through the thin views in the LAAT's doors as it entered the atmosphere of the bitter, frigid world of Toola. The Republic had been tenacious in the last few months, pushing further and further into Separatist territory in the edges of the galaxy, striking at backwater worlds in an attempt to gain the foothold they needed to finally put an end to this costly war. For this theatre of the Outer Rim Sieges, at least for now, a massive strike wasn't necessary or practical. Instead, Denley and his team were shipped in by a lone cloaked cruiser and instructed to keep their handful of gunships high in the atmosphere, amongst the swirling winds and horrifically cold ice to hide themselves from the droid sensors.

At least the ship did a good job of keeping the cold out. After all, it was designed to keep out the vacuum of space. Turbulence rocked and slammed the ship brutally as it sped through the upper atmosphere of this bizarre world, but nobody else seemed phased by this. Denley felt that, at any moment, a massive chunk of ice would disable the ship and send them plummeting to an icy grave, or the droid sensors would pick them up and warm them up with a plasma mortar.

"One minute." one of the pilots barked over the intercom.

With that, everyone, clones and Jedi alike, prepared to disembark, sealing their armor and checking their gear as the ship gradually slowed down, and eventually came to a gentle halt at an undetermined altitude.

"Ten seconds." one of the pilots declared.

"Bay doors." the other pilot said.

It hit Denley immediately, the depressurizing of the cabin and the knife-like chill of Toola's air slicing through his armor like it didn't exist. This was it, all those years of training back on Coruscant, turning him into the ultimate warrior, it was about time to see if any of it paid off. The ship's ropes dropped, and everyone got into position, one at a time, rappelling down onto this alien world. It was impossible to see even a few inches below their feet as they lowered themselves through the thick cloud of snow and ice, but Denley calmed himself and used his training as best he could to see his surroundings, opening his mind up to everything around as to not close himself off to the nuances, as his master had instructed him.

Before he knew it, his feet touched the powdery, dusty snow which crumpled as he let go of the rope and adjusted to being on a terrestrial surface again. The massive thick mist of cold wasn't so bad here, and Denley could see his master had also just reached the ground, and nodded to his pupil. The last of the troops made landfall and checked their gear in anticipation for the fight to come.

"All clear." Salem said into his comlink.

"Teams Two and Three have successfully touched down," one of the pilots said, "Team 4 is still en route. We'll be on standby. Good hunting out there."

"Considering we're not being pulverized by STAPs, I'd say our stealthy approach paid off." Denley noted.

"Your Jedi senses told you all that?" Salem joked.

"We'd better get moving, the other teams will be waiting for us." one of the clones said.

As the Jedi and their loyal clones started off on their mission, the gunships took off just as stealthily as they had arrived.

"The cold," Hague said, "Does it bother you?"

"My equipment and training are more than a match for the temperature, master," Denley said, "I mean, for the most part."

"The heat of battle is all the warmth I need!" one of the clones said.

"In extremities such as this, one's senses can either be sharpened, or dulled. The choice is yours." Hague said.

"Well if we were fighting on a tropical island world, I don't think I'd even be tempted to complain." Denley joked.

More of Master Hague's on site training continued as the squad made their way up into a massive, rocky canyon that was covered in a thin layer of ice. As far as their intel was concerned, the electronic spikes seemed to suggest that the droids were camped out somewhere high up in this winding maze of canyons, and it was up to the four teams to form a perimeter around this camp to gather further, more hands on intel, and eventually neutralize the droid presence. The team kept close to the rough canyon wall, practically hugging it in case of snipers. There were certainly enough vantage points for the bastards, and given the fact the things weren't biological in nature made them that much harder to detect with the Force.

The unmistakable sound of a large ship rumbled over the sound of the wind. Hague and Salem stopped in place, as did the rest of the team, as everyone crouched down and tried to determine the source of the disturbance. There, just a couple hundred meters away in their air, a droid dropship hovered above the canyon, crossing perpendicular to the team, apparently not having seen them. The ship's engines changed in pitch, seeming to slow down out of sight.

"It's making a delivery to this canyon," Denley said, "Just one ship's worth of droids."

"Very good, my young Padawan." Hague said with a smile.

"So there's no factory here." Salem said, "Teams, there's a ship making a dropoff higher up in the canyon, this probably isn't where our droid factory is."

"We have eyes on the target site," one of the other teams reported, "They've got enough firepower here to knock out a couple blockade runners, at least in low orbit. It's certainly more than enough to take out our gunships."

"We'll have to take those out first, otherwise this ground missions is going nowhere." Hague said.

"I don't think the droids are just gonna let us walk up to their guns and disable them." the other team said, "Those guns are nestled behind a line of a hundred battle droids, we won't be able to get anywhere near them before they can sound the alarm and get us busted."

"Team 3 here," another clone said over the comlink, "No sign of any droids on our side, we might be able to get the drop on-"

The clone's report was abruptly cut short, followed by the screams of his comrades.

"We're compromised!" one of them shouted as audible blaster fire could be heard.

"Oh no," Denley said, "What do we do?"

"The droids are going to be on high alert now." Salem said.

"Should we just call for reinforcements?" Denley asked.

"The fleet is too preoccupied elsewhere," Hague rationalized, "the most the Republic will be able to send is a few ships at best, and if the droids are dug in too deep, we'll lose the element of surprise. We have to take out these encampments before the invasion begins, not after."

"Yeah, well, the second those droids pick up our heat signatures, we're done for." one of the clones said.

Everyone's thoughts were racing. What could they possibly do? The layout of these canyons seemed to work against them, especially considering the droids probably had it all mapped out and had most likely factored in all the best flanking positions. The comlinks buzzed a bit with the sounds of battle, it seemed all of the other teams had been spotted and engaged. It was only a matter of time before Denley's team had to make their move.

Somewhere down below, however, Denley could sense another living thing. Actually, a few more. Reaching out with his senses, he could tell that whatever these things were, they were a few levels down in one of the adjacent paths.

"What is it, Denley?" Hague asked.

"There's something else in this canyon..." Denley said, "Slow, big, lumbering... anything more than that, I don't know."

"Could be mastmots," Salem said, "They're one of the things that call this planet home."

"You think the droids know about them?" Denley asked.

"Probably." Salem said.

"Good. Then we can use them." Denley said as he started to walk in the direction he sensed the creatures.

"What? How?" one of the clones asked.

"I think I see what he's getting at." Hague said as he followed, clearly proud of his pupil.

In an effort to speed up their mission and save the remainder of their forces from certain death, the Jedi and their clone comrades wasted no time in clipping their grappling hooks to the ground and repelling down down the canyon wall to the section where the beasts were sensed. Denley found himself lagging behind the rest, for surely any moment he could lose his footing and tumble down to his death. The tough icy wall crumbled a little with each step, but eventually he was able to touch down with the rest of the team.

Denley reached out with his senses, sifting through the flakes of snow and chilly air, clearing a path to his objective. He wished his mind had a volume switch, but perhaps focusing on that too much was the problem in the first place. He let the force guide him, his instincts as well. He knew his team was putting their faith in him and he didn't want to let them down.

Within a few minutes, they had arrived. These mastmots in particular were large enough for perhaps three people to ride, and it looked like there were just enough in this herd to support the entire squad. The beasts were covered in a thick white fur, with several horns on their faces, and seemed curious about these strange offworlders. It was good, they didn't seem to consider the squad a threat.

"Alright, hear me out.." Denley began.

"You want us to hide under their fur and let them carry us into enemy territory." Salem guessed.

"You couldn't just let the kid have that one?" one of the other clones asked.

"You missed one part, thank you..." Denley said, "We can use the charges to blow holes in their defenses behind us. Bonus points if there are any bridges where they're at. It won't stop the droids but it'll slow them down for a while, buy us some more time."

"I like where your head's at, kid!" Salem said.

"As do I, very good, my apprentice." Hague said with a smile.

With that, the squad followed through with the plan. Some of the clones had a hard time getting the mastmots to cooperate, but eventually, every member of the team was able to secure a ride, two to each beast. Denley paired up with Salem, and off they went. Using their combined powers, Denley and Master Hague guided the creatures towards the enemy location. To the droid's sensors, it would appear to be nothing more than the heat signatures of a pack of native mastmots. Or so they hoped.

It didn't take as long as expected for them to arrive at the enemy perimeter. The droids were cold and lifeless, not easy to detect with the Force. Slowly and deliberately, however, the clones poked through the fur of their mastmots to get a better look. Radio silence was an absolute must, so each soldier relied on careful glances to each side to communicate. One by one, each soldier dropped a charge onto the ground, all along the enemy positions.

Denley could see a natural bridge up ahead, perfect. Now that the wind was calming, he could hear the clicking steps of the battle droids, there were a lot of them. Their monotone voices carried, it was disturbing to hear them for real, these killing machines whose only purpose in the galaxy was to butcher Jedi and Republic soldiers.

Soon enough, they were past this platoon of droids and halfway across the bridge, where Denley dropped a charge. Influencing the beasts to pick up the pace, they made great time and wound up in what they could only assume to be the droids' main position. Denley turned to Salem and nodded, tapping his lightsaber with his one free hand.

"Teams, prepare to attack on my mark." Salem said quietly into his comm.

Of course, this was not only a signal to the other teams, or to the men on the mastmots, but to the droids, and that was just what they wanted.

"Republic transmission in perimeter." a Super Battle Droid said.

"Alert, perimeter is breached, search for the clones." a Battle Droid Sergeant ordered.

"No need." Salem said out loud as he triggered his charges.

With that, everyone else triggered their charges, decimating an untold amount of droids. The thundering boom cut through the sound of the wind like a hot knife through butter, followed by the clattering of droid parts, pelting the ground like sleet. The team emerged from their mastmots and dove for whatever cover they could find, some using the beasts as cover. Aside from a few charging stations and some scattered boxes, it didn't appear the droids had done much to make themselves at home or made accommodations for any of their sentient superiors.

The droids were brutal in retaliating, blaster fire rained down on the team's position. Hunkered down as best they could manage, the Jedi and clones were delighted to hear the surviving teams join the fight as well, cutting down unsuspecting droids.

"Are you ready, Denley?" Hague asked.

This was it, true combat. He knew it was time, hell, they both did. Adrenaline surged through him, this was not a temple training exercise, one mistake would mean certain death for him and possibly his comrades. All of these thoughts hit him instantly, but it only took a fraction of that to know he was ready.

"Yes master." Denley said as he stood up first, lightsaber activated.

The brilliant light from his blade and its humming brought a grin to the young Jedi's face. Hague stood up from cover to join his apprentice in deflecting shots. Clones tossed thermal detonators from cover, adding to the carnage. The Jedi cautiously moved forward, little by little. While they couldn't read the minds of their enemies, their actions were predictable, telegraphed, it was just the amount of them that made things difficult.

When within range, Denley began to slice through the droids, his blade searing through their metal husks. The frail B1s were quite easy to cut through, very satisfying, but the B2s were a bit more problematic, more durable. A few of them swung their heavy arms at Denley in attempt to knock him out and leave him defenseless against their wrist cannons.

It seemed, however, that with each droid killed, there were three more on the way. The explosives earlier had helped, but there were still so many.

"Sir!" a clone from another team called out into the comm, "We have more explosives, let's fall back and lead them right into the blast!"

"Sounds good to me," Hague said, "Sound good to you?"

"Yep!" Denley said as he slowly stepped back, deflecting shots all the while.

The horrible shriek of a clone made Denley shudder more than the cold weather ever did. One of the clones had caught two bolts, one skimmed him in the head and the other slammed into his abdomen. At first, it seemed he was a goner for sure, but Denley could still sense some life left in him. Without hesitation, he made his way over to the soldier. Hague seemed to understand and provided cover for the young Padawan.

"I'm too banged up, kid..." the clone muttered painfully, "Fall back and blow those charges."

"We don't leave anyone behind." Denley said as he lifted the clone to his feet and supported him.

Together, the three of them successfully fell back with the rest of the team and the others. There were so many droids on their way, a steady stream of blaster bolts almost seemed like one continuous sound, a piercing shriek of war, interrupted only by another string of explosions. Effective, it seemed. Only a handful of droids remained now, and were easily dispatched by the clones' gunfire. As the last droid fell to the ground, everyone cheered and high-fived one another. They'd done the impossible, taking out such a well dug-in droid position even after being compromised.

"Looks like we caught the clankers in the middle of building up an invasion force or staging area on Toola." a clone said as he patched up the wounded clone.

"It's a good thing we took them out when we did. Good job everyone." Salem said.

"What intel were you able to gather?" Hague asked one of the clones from another team.

"These droids came from somewhere in the Quelli Sector, we're thinking Vinsoth or Dathomir."

That second planet, its name struck at something deep in Denley's memory. For some reason he vividly recalled learning about it during his time at the temple on Coruscant. Its name seemed to radiate with darkness as he pulled it from the depths of his past and tried to recall what he could about it.

"Dathomir?" Denley said, "isn't that the planet run by witches? What would the droids want with that place? Must be pretty important if that's where they are."

"It is a world clouded in the dark side of the force..." Hague said, "If that is indeed where they are coming from, then I fear they may be attempting to use the dark side to gain an advantage."

"I thought the dark side wasn't more powerful." Denley questioned.

"It isn't," Hague attempted to clarify, "I meant to imply that they may be attempting to learn what they can from the planet and its inhabitants to have the power of the force on their side as well."

"What if we went there and beat them to it?" Denley asked.

"Absolutely not!" Hague said, "We cannot expose ourselves to the corruption of those witches and their powers."

"But-"

"Enough questions, child." Hague said sternly.

Wow. Child? Denley pondered on his master's seemingly willful ignorance of these witches, the planet Dathomir, and his almost hostile treatment at the simple questioning of such things. Now that he thought about it, it didn't seem like the rest of the Jedi back at the temple were interested or even open to the idea of learning about these things, like they were above it. Well, they were above it, right? That's what Denley had been taught his whole life, the Jedi way was the only true way. Was it?