Chapter 3: The Scourge of War

Star Wars viewing guide: Star Wars: The Clone Wars – S2:E17 "Bounty Hunters"

The next couple of weeks were difficult. My struggles in meditation continued, and my dreams were still haunted by the Martez sisters. When Master Luminara and I were sent back into battle, I almost welcomed the War.

The battle took us to Felucia. The world had already seen battle several times. Because of its location on a major hyperspace lane and its fertile biomes, Felucia was a system both sides desperately wanted. Initially held by a Separatist faction, the Commerce Guild. Then the Republic took over the planet. But it later fell to a Separatist counterattack. The Republic retreat was successful, but Ahsoka told me that she almost made a mistake that would have cost her many clone lives. Battles in other areas drew away the Separatist forces, allowing the Republic to take back the planet. They even established an orbital medical station. That station was destroyed, and the Separatists retook the planet with minimal effort. Both sides were unlikely to leave the system so lightly defended again.

Our surprise attack broke through the blockade. The fleets continued to battle, but the Republic ships had established an orbital position. A stalemate in orbit was likely to follow. Now the battle would be on the ground, and Master Luminara and I found our way down in gunships.

Master Luminara was in the first wave. The battle was fierce. The droids were firing from amidst the fungal trees. Our clone troopers found it hard to secure the landing zone, but secure it they did. Soon more and more clones were arriving. I arrived in the third wave, per Luminara's instructions. I met her and Commander Gree at the holographic tactical table.

"The LZ is secure, General," reported Gree, sporting as usual his unique duel mohawk, with the rest of his head shaved. "However, the droids are continually taking pot shots at us."

"But there isn't a major counterattack?" asked Luminara.

"Not yet," answered Gree.

"It will probably come soon," I said.

"Possibly," replied Luminara as she brought her hand to her chin in a thoughtful pose. "Or the droid commander is merely waiting for our next move." She expanded the holographic landscape which was focused on the landing zone. Now, it displayed more of the area, including a large butte. "Our objective is to take this butte and establish a base on the fortified position. Our enemy knows this as well. A direct assault would cost us many lives."

"It is fortunate that we have another plan," I replied.

"Not fortune, Padawan. Planning and preparation," said Luminara. I knew that she would say that. In fact, I had purposely set her up for the comment. "Barriss, go through the plan again."

"Yes, Master." I walked closer to the holographic map. "Master Luminara, Commander Gree, and most of the legion will attack along this path, which is the most logical course for taking the butte by force. The butte will be defended by several heavy weapon emplacements on these elevated shelves. They will decimate our tanks and kill many of our infantry clones. The battle would be too costly. However, I will lead a strike team through the forest and assault the butte at this point. The rock face there is too steep and unstable for infantry vehicles. We will have to use ascension cables to climb it. At this point we will arrive at a shoulder ledge. Traveling along this ledge, we can detonate a few explosives. This will cause a landslide, disrupting or destroying their heavy weapons, allowing our tanks to enter in and provide our troopers with cover."

"Very good, Barriss. Any thoughts, Commander?"

"None, General," said Gree. "Just to make sure you don't take too long, Commander. Our boys will be taking a beating until you take out those big guns."

"I understand," I said.

"Good. Now, ready your team. You are due to disembark within the hour."

"Yes, Master."

"May the Force be with you, Padawan," said Luminara.

"And good luck, Commander," added Gree.

I left the clone commander and the Jedi, and I sought out my strike team. May the Force be with me? There was nothing wrong with the Force. But I was struggling still. Hopefully, it wouldn't affect me in battle. Maybe the need to rely only on the Force, which so often happened in battle, would help me to overcome this slump I was in.

"Attention!" shouted a clone. The strike team stood at attention.

"At ease," I said. "Lieutenant Shamrock, is the team ready."

"Ready and raring to go, Commander," said the team leader. Like many others in the 41st Elite Corps, he had a green paint scheme to his armor. On his chest plate and on the face of his helmet was a four-part leaf that apparently belonged to a field plant of some sort on a planet I've never heard of. I was told the four-leaf variety was supposed to be lucky.

"Then let's get moving," I said. "We have to cover a lot of ground quickly, and there will be little time for rest. I hope you're all ready for a run."

"Couldn't we use walkers, Commander?" asked Corporal Moss, who had an asymmetric green paint scheme.

"That would be too noticeable. If the droids find us, then our mission may very well fail."

"The strike team will not fail," said Lieutenant Shamrock. "We never fail."

I allowed a smile to rise on my face. While it wasn't official, this strike team was more or less my team. While they certainly saw Master Luminara as their general and overall commander, I was the one who worked with them most closely. They were handpicked for this team for their ability to learn and carry out complex battle plans. The whole team lived by Master Luminara's modo of always being prepared.

Yes, I believed this mission like many before would be a success.

"Sir, the clones are attacking in a frontal assault, as I predicted," said the tactical droid.

"It that so?" asked the new and bolder supertactical droid. "You still believe that the Republic forces will continue this frontal assault?"

"According to my calculations, this would be their most likely strategy."

"Thankfully, our creators had given me greater calculating abilities than you," said the supertactical droid with much arrogance. "The clones attacking us are part of the 41st Elite Corps. Their commander is Jedi General Luminara Unduli. General Unduli is known for her ambitious plans, which are made possible by precise planning. She is also known to entrust vital missions to her padawan, Commander Barriss Offee. I calculate a 79% chance that Commander Offee and a strike team will be attacking here." He pointed to a steep edge of the butte near a clearing.

"I calculate differently," said the old T-series tactical droid. "The cliff edge is too steep for Republic heavy weaponry, and a strike team would not inflict enough damage to aid the rest of the attack."

"All they have to do is disrupt our heavy cannons, and we would become vulnerable," said the supertactical droid. "However, they would be vulnerable too." He activated a commlink, and a holographic image of a commando droid appear.

"Yes, Sir," reported the Commando droid.

"Hid in the trees on the west end of the clearing. The enemy will have to come out from behind cover to approach our stronghold. I want my ambush there. Use the element of surprise. B Unit will be positioned at the far end of the clearing for cleanup. I want the strike team and especially their Jedi commander dead!"

I ran through the undergrowth of the fungal forest. The Force assisted me. It was like the obstacle courses we had in the Jedi Temple. But this time wasn't for fun or even just exercise. This was war. And time lost equaled lives lost.

However, I had to check my speed. My clone strike team was following behind me. Between the near perfect parameters of the clones' genetic donor and their excellent conditioning training, they were almost superhuman in their speed and endurance. However, they couldn't keep up with a well-trained Jedi. I had to slow down.

Nevertheless, we made good time on our path through the forest. We arrived several hundred meters from the butte. Between us and the butte was a clearing. There was no way around it. We had to run for it, but first I gave the strike team a rest. I took a quick swallow of water from my canteen and waited for my breathing to naturally calm down.

I turned to Shamrock. "Status, Lieutenant?"

"We all made it, Commander," said the team leader. "A little winded, but in a few moments we'll be ready."

"Ready for the climb?" I asked.

"Yes, Sir. Once we start the climb, we'll get our second wind. Even more so if we're fired upon. Battle has a way of waking one up."

"That it does, Lieutenant," I said with a small smile. Often, I would indulge the clone troopers love for battle, even if I didn't share it. But this time I was looking forward to it. As Shamrock said, battle has a way of waking one up, and I needed to awaken from the nightmare of the Martez sisters.

After a moment of rest, I ordered the team forward. We would have to run across the clearing, up to the side of the butte. From there we would have to use our accession cables to climb the sheer wall. All this without being seen.

We were just about to enter the clearing when I sensed something was wrong. Before I could figure it out, I heard one of the clones shouting. "Droids!"

I turned around to see droids leaping down at us from the tall fungal plants above. And these weren't regular battle droids. They were commando droids! There was no way such expensive and valuable droids were just on a lucky patrol. They were here specifically for me and my team. The droid commander must have predicted our strike!

"Hold up!" I shouted. "Defend yourselves!" There was no point in trying to make a run for it with these advanced droids at our back. We had to clear them out before we could complete our mission.

The droids were jumping around and firing their blasters. It was an annoying feature of commando droids. They just kept moving, making it hard for the clones to shoot them. It made it hard for me as well. One of the droids landed behind me, while I was distracted by its partner shooting at me from a distance. I stepped to the side to dodge the one's blaster fire, while inverting my lightsaber and thrusting behind me to impale the other one. By the time I returned my focus to the one firing at me, it was gone, jumping about somewhere else in the fray.

A quick glance told me that things were not going well. I saw two clones get gunned down. Another clone was in a wrestling match with one of the droids. I didn't think that would end well. I tried to intervene, but two more droids engaged me. I blocked their blaster bolts with my lightsaber, and I slashed at one which was trying to get close to me, but it jumped back out of the range of my lightsaber. I ducked as another droid tried to decapitate me with a vibrosword. This one didn't get away from me. I spun low and took out its legs and finished it with slash through its head and torso.

Then I got jumped by three commando droids. The first one landed on top of me. I impaled it with my lightsaber, but its weight still caused me to fall over. I rolled on the ground to avoid the vibrosword of the second droid. I rolled to a crouch and slashed through its sword. The third open fired with its blaster. The first bolt cut into my shoulder. It hurt, but I knew it wasn't a serious wound. I blocked the next three bolts and sent the fourth into its chest and the fifth through its head.

But I have forgotten about the second droid. I had severed its weapon, but it was still dangerous. I felt the droid's arm smash against the back of my head. Dazed, I stumbled and fell on my knees. The next blow hit my hand which I had raised instinctively in self-defense. My hand went numb, and my lightsaber went flying off into the clearing somewhere. I looked up and saw the droid's blaster aimed at my face.

The droid took three blaster bolts, two to the torso and one to the head, then it collapsed in a heap. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay, Commander?" said Shamrock who approached me.

"I'm fine. A little dizzy, but fine," I said. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

"Just doing my job, Commander."

"Incoming!" shouted one of the other clones.

I turned towards the clearing, and my heart stopped. There, unrolling from their ball mode on to their tripod legs, were a half dozen destroyer droids. Even as I watched, their shields power up. I moved my hands into a defensive position, only to realize my hands were empty. Where was my lightsaber? Where had it fallen? I searched with the Force, hoping to sense the kyber crystal. But it was too late. The destroyers were set up and were aiming for me. Any second now and I would be dead!

The droids opened fire. I closed my eyes. But I heard a shout, "Commander!" I felt something hit me, not the burn of a blaster bolt, but something solid. I fell on the ground and whatever hit me was now covering me over. By now I knew it was the armored body of a clone trooper. One of my men was attempting to save my life.

The body lifted off of me suddenly. I turned to look at it, expecting to see a clone trooper scrambling to his feet. Instead, I saw the unmoving body of a trooper with a smoldering hole in his side armor. Not only had he knocked me safely to the ground, but he had taken a blaster bolt for me. On his head was the four-leaf design.

It was Shamrock! He had sacrificed himself for me! And the droids had killed him!

I got up to my feet. It was a stupid thing to do, but at the moment, I didn't care. Two destroyer droids were facing me. I didn't bother to find my lightsaber. Instead, I reached out in the Force, with my hands outstretched and open, and I grabbed a hold of the droids. Their shields couldn't block me from using the Force against them. I held them still for a moment, then I clenched my fists close. The droids crumbled in on themselves, until they were just twisted balls of metal.

The four remaining droids noticed and turned to me. I picked up the two closest to me with the Force and threw them into the other two. Their shields fought each other until they failed. Then I crushed the two I was holding and violently shoved the last two into the segmented truck of a tree. Then I grabbed the tree with the Force and with all my anger pulled it down on top of the last two droids.

When I finished, my fists were clenched, and my heart was pounding. My breath was racing. I hadn't really given much thought to what I had done. I just did it. And I didn't let the Force guide me. I just lashed out. I bent the Force to do my will. I had used my anger to destroy!

"Commander," came a voice that shook me out of my trance. "Commander, the Lieutenant is dead, as is nearly all of our men." I looked out. I saw two clone troopers on their feet standing over three wounded troopers. Before me was Corporal Moss. He was holding his blaster in his left hand, his right arm hung limp at his side. Everyone else was dead.

"Commander, we are in no condition to complete this mission," continued Corporal Moss. "We have to break comm silence and inform General Unduli that the mission is a failure."

"No," I said.

"Commander?"

"I said, 'No,' Corporal. You will not break comm silence. And this mission has not yet failed."

"With all due respect, Commander, we cannot complete this mission."

"You can't. But I can." There was no way I was going to let these men die in vain. I reached out my hand and summoned my lightsaber. "Carry the wounded into the trees, take a defensive position, and wait for the rest of the legion. I will complete the mission myself."

"Yes, Sir," said Moss. I turned to leave him, but he called out to me. "Commander, the explosives?"

I turned back. "They will only slow me down," I said. "I will find another way." Then I ran across the clearing towards the butte. This time I didn't slow down for anyone.

One of the tanks blew up after taking a direct hit from one of the droid guns. Its flaming husk falling between its legs. Another major blast hit near Commander Gree. He rolled away from it and came back to General Unduli. "General, I haven't heard any explosions yet," he said to the Jedi general. "Nor seen any rockslides."

"Patience, Commander," said the Jedi. "My padawan will come through. If she had failed, she or one of her team would have called us on the comms."

"Unless the entire team was taken out," said Gree.

"I do not imagine that is possible," answered Unduli. "I think I would have sensed if my padawan had died."

"That's good news. But the Commander had better hurry. I'm losing a lot of good men here."

"Agreed," said General Unduli. "Move the tanks towards the right flank. There is better tree cover there."

"Yes, Sir."

After climbing the cliff edge using an ascension cable, I slipped around on the shoulder of the butte. As Master Luminara predicted, there were very few droids up here. None of them suspected an attack from this direction. But someone had suspected enough to lay a trap for me and my men. But whoever that was must have thought the trap was enough and didn't heighten security here. But there were bound to be at least a few droids here.

Sure enough, I came around a blind turn and found two B1 battle droids. They turned towards me.

"Hey! How'd you get here?"

I didn't answer. I grabbed them in the Force and pulled them towards me. I took them both out with a single swing of my lightsaber. I waited for a moment to see if any others had noticed. But apparently, they were too focused on Master Luminara and the rest of the approaching forces. I looked at the arsenal before me. The enemy artillery was made up of several AAT tanks, NR-N99 droid tanks, and dwarf spider droids. They were all perched on the butte's shelves, just like me. A few were on a shelf above me, some more on my same shelf, but many more were below me.

How was I going to take them out without the explosives? I looked around. Master Luminara said the butte wasn't very sturdy. Maybe if I could just get one shelf to give way, the rest would follow.

I reached out with the Force and tried to break apart the rocks on the top shelf. It didn't budge. I tried again. Still nothing. I looked around. Perhaps I could commandeer one of those AAT tanks and use its cannon to fire on the ledge above. That would be just like what Ashoka and I did to the weapons factory on Geonosis.

The tanks and droids kept firing. I followed one of the energy shells with my eyes, and I saw it hit a Republic walker. Clones were killed in that blast, clones just like the ones in my team. They were dying to provide me with a distraction. They were giving their lives for me, just as Lieutenant Shamrock had given his life for mine. Anger returned to me. I would not let these clones die in vain. I would avenge them. And commandeering a droid tank would take too long.

I reached out again with the Force and grabbed the rock shelf above me. Images entered my mind. The wounded Corporal Moss. The dead body of Lieutenant Shamrock. The two crying orphan sisters in the Coruscant underworld. Anger entered into my mind. Fueled by it, I pushed hard with the Force, then I pulled with the Force. I continued to alternate between pushing and pulling on the rock shelf with the Force.

The rock shelf broke apart and fell. Droids and tanks fell with it. The debris landed on the next shelf. It too broke apart and fell onto the next shelf and the next shelf. The landslide was most impressive. I looked down at it with satisfaction.

"Alright!" shouted Commander Gree. "I didn't see the explosion, but that landslide is a beauty to behold. Shall we proceed, General."

"Yes, Commander," said Luminara Unduli in a subdued voice.

"All units! Move forward!" shouted Gree into his helmet commlink. And the clone army moved towards the butte.

But what Luminara Unduli had sensed had disturbed her.

"Sir, without the heavy armor units I calculate that this position will be overrun by Republic troops very soon," said the T-series tactical droid.

"Agreed," said the supertactical droid. "Order all remaining droids to retake defensive positions."

"But this battle cannot be won."

"That much is clear," replied the supertactical droid to his outmoded counterpart. "But I want this victory to be as costly as possible for the clones. The remaining droid forces are irrelevant to the overall battle. I calculate their sacrifice to be of low cost to us."

The supertactical droid continued. "You and I, however, are more valuable. The Separatist forces will need our calculations and leadership programming to continue the fight. I have called for a pair of vulture droids to pick us up and take us out of here."

"I agree," said the old tactical droid. "I will secure any valuable data before we leave."

"Agreed," said the supertactical droid. He too made final preparations to leave. Just as he was finishing, he turned back to his older counterpart just in time to see a blue spinning blade slice through the T-series tactical droid. The spinning blade returned to small female figure in black clothes and a patterned hood over her face. The supertactical droid pointed at her and ordered his remaining droids. "Kill the Jedi!"

It was, of course, useless. The supertactical droid calculated only a 1.5% chance that his four B1 battle droids would be able to kill a Jedi padawan. Sure enough, the Jedi easily deflected the blaster bolts back as the droids with her blue lightsaber. She then approached the supertactical droid.

"Did you order the ambush on my squad?!" she shouted.

This was a surprise. The Jedi were not supposed to get angry. "I am not programmed to answer Jedi questions."

The Jedi girl reached out her empty hand. The supertactical droid's tactile sensors registered some sort of grip around his entire body, and he was lifted off the ground. The Jedi girl walked up to him with her arm still raised towards him. "You will pay for what you've done."

Luminara Unduli approached the Separatist command center on the top of the butte. The fight had still been hard fought. The droids neither retreated nor surrendered. But eventually they fought their way to the top.

Barriss and her team had been ordered into comm silence for the duration of the mission. Once the landslide had occurred, Corporal Moss reported in. He and a few surviving members of the strike team were wounded and awaiting evacuation. He also reported that Barriss had proceeded alone. And Barriss had yet to report in. Luminara was a bit worried. Barriss and Padawan Tano had once sacrificed themselves to destroy a droid factory. By the Force, they were rescued that time. Had Barriss once again sacrificed herself?

When Luminara entered the command center, she saw that was not true. But perhaps what she did see was worse. Six destroyed droids were in the command center: four B1's destroyed by deflected blaster bolts, one tactical droid cut in half by a lightsaber, and one supertactical droid that had been…crushed!

There in front of the supertactical droid, resting on her knees with her face buried in her hands, was Barriss Offee. As Luminara approached, she could see that her padawan was crying. "Barriss?"

"Master," was all Barriss could say at first. Then finally she spoke. "I have failed, Master. I have failed."

"If this is what you call failure, I would love to see what you call success," said Commander Gree.

But Luminara knew that Barriss wasn't referring to the mission. She bent down to Barriss' level. She could sense all the conflict in Barriss' mind. The anger, the hatred, the shame, and the fear. She had not sensed these things from Barriss before. "Come, Padawan. Let us leave this place," she said. Barriss accepted Luminara's hand and stood up. "Commander, I trust you can handle it from here."

"Yes, General," replied the clone commander.

Then Luminara took Barriss away from the battlefield.