CHAPTER 15: QUINLAN VOS

Saleucami

It had to be Crab Droids, Quinlan Vos thought as he deflected a barrage of blasterfire from a quartet of chittering Techno Union LM-432s. The remnants of the platoon under his direct command, about twenty men of the 91st Recon Corps, engaged the droids from the flanks, blue blaster bolts hammering the armored machines as they closed.

One trooper, a veteran with custom-painted armor, leapt onto the back of one of the Crab Droids and fired his carbine into the weak-point behind its frontal armor, smoke billowing from the droid as it shut down.

With an approving smirk, Vos leapt forward and landed next to the second droid in line. First cleaving through the droid with his lightsaber, Quinlan Vos then flung the debris into the third droid with the force as it tried to spray a gout of mud from its forelegs at a pair of Clones in an attempt to blind them.

He snorted as the last droid went down to concentrated blasterfire, the Clones training their blasters on the downed machine until they were sure it was offline.

Well, at least it's only Crab Droids.

He turned to one of the Clones, Talco. "Alright Sergeant, let's get these refugees moving again before something else happens."

"Yes sir," Talco acknowledged before turning to the column of terrified locals and waved them forwards, "Alright, it's safe to proceed, hurry!"

Slowly, the mass of beings began to get moving again, many glancing at the downed crab droids as the Clones tended to their wounded, a few scanning the skies.

"GENERAL VOS!" One of the troopers shouted, pointing skywards.

Vos snapped his head in the direction the man was pointing and his eyes widened at the sight of a flaming Munificent-class cruiser falling from the sky. The shock cone formed by the vessel shook the evergreen Greater Cake Trees around them for kilometers in every direction, wiping the clouds clear from its path.

Vos sensed the growing panic of the refugees at the sight of the massive object as it passed overhead, then the cruiser disappeared from view behind a ridge, and for a second after its impact, there was nothing.

Then a light brighter than Saleucami's sun illuminated the valley as both of the vessel's main reactors detonated.

"Get down!" Vos yelled as loudly as he could.

The line of refugees halted. Hundreds of sentients of a dozen species dove to the ground, following his advice.

As Vos dove to the ground himself, the Clones hitting the dirt at the same time, a torrent of dust accompanied by a deafening thunder blew over everyone as the ground shook violently, sending branches, stones, and loose belongings flying. A Pantoran infant nearby began wailing as his mother covered his face in a cloak.

Once the shockwave passed, he peered his head out of cover to watch as a mushroom shaped column of fire rose into the sky from the star frigate's crash site, the sparse remnants of the cloud layer above completely blown away by the blast.

The people who refused to evacuate were still back that way… Vos realized morbidly.

There was nothing that could be done for them now.

"—ond! Master Vos, please respond!" A female voice called out from his comlink, providing a merciful distraction.

He sighed and keyed it. "I'm fine, Master Allie, as are the civilians with me. Nothing more than a few scrapes and minor bruises," he reported.

"Small miracles Master Vos," she sighed, filling the comm channel with static. "Commander Neyo is sending Lieutenant Razor and Lightning Squadron to meet with you and provide additional support."

"I'll be fine, you'll need them more on the frontline for recon and fire support with Aayla and Bly having re-deployed to Felucia," Vos replied as he glanced across the crowd, knowing the siege around Taleucema took precedence. "Besides, it'll be safer for us to move through the trees, rather than on a road, and the AT-RTs will stand out too much." There was no reply. After ten seconds of waiting, Vos held his wrist up to his mouth with deep uncertainty, adding a questioning "over? Stass, do you copy, over?"

"I copy," Stass Allie sighed with reluctance. "You're right. Move through the trees then, but watch for Nexus. They've been running rampant since the Geonosians let some loose."

The Kiffar grunted dismissively. "Yeah yeah, Vos out." He turned to the crowd. "All right, let's make for the trees. Stick together and behind me and the troopers. No need to get eaten by a Nexu."

"What's a Nexu?" a Rodian female gasped. Her purple skin was now coated in mud after taking cover from the shockwave.

Not wanting to panic anyone, Vos smiled. "Nothing me and my men can't handle."

He looked up in the air. The sky was mostly clear, with clouds at the edges of his vision now scattered in a halo. Oddly, however, one cloud seemed unaffected by the Separatist ship crash. It floated almost directly overhead.

That's strange...

o.o.o.o.o

Bendu

Floating overhead in the form of a cloud, Bendu reached out to the traveling group of sentients down below. Standing out especially among them, was the Kiffar Quinlan Vos.

Another angle from which to disrupt the Sith Lord's plans, Bendu thought to himself, now far more certain where his visions of the future would lead him.

Now, for the remaining challenge… How can I aid Quinlan Vos without the Jedi becoming aware of me?

Bendu floated gently between the glimmering sun and the procession below, enshrouding Quinlan Vos, the Clones accompanying him, and the refugees in a shadow.