Author's Note: I decided that I'll combine the episodes that are connected. Therefore, this chapter will only have one episode in it. This chapter will be about when Master Yoda and I go to negotiate with King Katuunko of the Toydaria. You'll notice that I always refer to Yoda as Master Yoda. That's out of respect for him as my old Jedi Master. Dooku does the very same thing in case you didn't realize it.

Chapter 5: Great Leaders are Great Teachers

The Hutts' allegiance gave us the advantage over Dooku we were hoping for. However, recent events had shown us that if we didn't get the allegiance of other neutral systems. Dooku would get to them first in one way or the other, whether he convinced them to join the Separatists willing or through force. We recently received a transmission from King Katuunko of Toydaria, saying he wanted to meet with Master Yoda to discuss a possible alliance between his system and the Republic. We had been desperate to build a supply base in the system of Toydaria because it was just beyond the Hutts' Territories. It'd be the perfect place to have a supply line from the core Republic systems and the Outer Rim. Master Yoda knew I had Toydarian friends and that I knew a few things about them, so he asked me to join him on the mission. It was just like old times when I was his Padawan. We would provide the Toydarians with protection from Separatist invasion in exchange for allowing us to build the base. We arranged to meet with King Katuunko on the remote moon of Rugosa in neutral territory. The moon, as I understood it, was once covered in oceans until it dried up. Though the moon was supposed to be beautiful regardless. Master Yoda and I took a Consular-Class Republic Cruiser. As we approached the moon, I was on the bridge with Captain Kirk. He was trying to contact the Toydarian delegation on the moon. "Toydarian Royal Delegation, this is the Republic Envoy. We are on approach," he said. We received no reply from them. "Try again, Captain," I asked. "Yes, sir," he said. "Toydarian Royal Delegation, this is the Republic Envoy. Please respond." Again, we got nothing. Master Yoda came onto the bridge. "General, the Toydarians' beacon is active on the moon, but all our transmissions are being jammed," Kirk said. "I suppose that means the Separatists are here to interfere with our mission," I said. At that moment, a Munificent-Class Separatist Cruiser came out of hyperspace almost right on top of us. "Shields up now," I ordered. We got our shields up in time for them to fire down on us. Our ship did have some weapons, but they were hardly strong enough to battle a Separatist frigate effectively. Though we still did our best to fight back. Just then, a second frigate appeared right behind us. Two Munificent-Class frigates against one Consular-Class Republic Cruiser. Not exactly what you would call a fair fight. "We're losing our shields," Kirk said. "Too late it is. Sprung is the trap," Master Yoda said. We maneuvered as well as we could, but the Separatist frigates surrounded us.

"I must get you to safety, Generals," Kirk said. "Retreat, you must," said Master Yoda. "On the moon below is our mission. There we must go." "As you say, you Master," I said. "Get us over the moon." We flew straight for the moon. Once we were above the moon, Master Yoda said, "Quickly now. Reach the planet's surface we must." Master Yoda and I began to walk toward the escape pods with three clone troopers. "In an escape, sir?" Kirk asked. "The enemy will fire at anything we launch." "Then launch all of them you will, hmm," Master Yoda said. Kirk couldn't argue with that. We got into an escape pod and were launched. Because all the other escape pods were launched. The droids didn't know which one we were in, so they destroyed empty pods. Plus, the droids were terrible shots anyway. Clone Trooper Rys flew us through the thick of the enemy fire. "That was a close one," he said. "Generals, I think we're out of range," Lieutenant Thire said. "I agree. But entering another trap we are," Master Yoda said. "Are you sure," asked Clone Trooper Jek. "A disturbance in the Force there is," said Master Yoda. "I feel it also, Master," I said. I did indeed feel a disturbance in the Force, a sense of danger. I could feel that Dooku had sent Asajj Ventress to try and stop us from making a treaty with King Katuunko. We had a bit of a crash landing in the escape pod, but we were all, all right. When we got out of the pod, I pulled out my holocommunicator. I called King Katuunko. Fortunately, it wasn't long until he answered. "This is King Katuunko. Speak," he said. "This is Master Jones, Your Majesty, General of the Grand Army of the Republic and member of the Jedi High Council," I said. "My master, Master Yoda, wishes to talk with you." I turned to my master and kneeled down so he could speak with the king. "A pleasure it is to hear your voice, Your Highness," Master Yoda said. "Master Yoda of the Jedi Council, this is." "Master Jedi," Katuunko said, bowing slightly. "I thought perhaps Count Dooku had frightened you off." "Delayed have we been," said my master. "But not too far away are we now. Unaware we were that Count Dooku was invited to our meeting." "The Count invited himself," Katuunko assured us. "He assures me that in this time of war, his droids can offer my world greater security than your Jedi." "Hmm, a matter of debate, that is," Master Yoda pointed out. "Your Majesty might prefer more than words," I heard Ventress say. The holocommunicator shifted to show Ventress accompanied by two battle droids.

"What do you have in mind?" Katuunko asked her. "If Yoda and Jones are indeed the Jedi Warriors you believe they are, let them prove it," Ventress said. "Allow me to send my best troops to capture them. If they escape, join the Republic. But should my droids defeat the Jedi, consider an alliance with the Separatists." "I did not request the Jedi's presence here to test them in battle," Katuunko objected. Though both Master Yoda and I were thinking the same thing. "Accept the challenge we do, Your Highness," Master Yoda said. "Arrive by nightfall; we will." I closed the transmission at that moment, and we prepared to move out. We had some weapons and ammunition in the pod with us. We had DC-17 hand blasters, DC-15 rifles, DC-15A blasters, a PLX-2 missile launcher, and a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon or minigun. The last two are heavy weapons that can make a difference in a battle with many droids and few clones, like at this particular time. Master Yoda, in his normal way, took the time to admire the beautiful scenery. That was one of the first things that Master Yoda taught me. "Beautiful the galaxy is," he said to me. "But take the time to admire it you must, or miss it, you will." He was standing with Lieutenant Thire and me looking at the beautiful coral-like forests. "Beautiful this moon is, hmm," he said. "Amazing the universe is." "Yes, Master, very much so," I agreed. Just then, a droid drop ship flew over our heads. "There got to be a full battalion in there," said Rys. "Probably packing armor, too." "We'll have something for 'em," Jek said, bringing out the minigun. "Carry only what you need," Master Yoda said. "Too much weight, slow you down it will. Destroy Ventress your weapons will not." He started to walk in one direction, and I followed. "Come, come, Lieutenant. Hurry, we must," he said. "I'm right behind you, Master," I said. "Sirs, the rendezvous point is that way," Thire said, pointing in an opposite direction. "As our enemy. To reach our goal, a straight path we will not follow," Master Yoda responded. "I'd go with it if I were you, Lieutenant," I said. "I know it may seem strange, but my old master always has a method to his madness." I walked after my master. "Let's move it, boys," Thire said.

We took up position deep in the coral trees. The AAT tanks fired, but they weren't anywhere close to hitting us. Though the enemy fire made the clone nervous. "At ease, be my friends. Within range, we are not," Master Yoda said. Thire using the polarized macrobinoculars on his helmet could see that the tanks couldn't get through the trees. "Those tanks are too big to follow," he said. "See, see? Size is not everything, hmm?" Master Yoda said, using his most famous line. Everyone in the Jedi Order had heard that quote from Master Yoda "size matters not." "Smaller in number are we, but larger in mind," Master Yoda finished and ran off giggling. "Do you have any idea what the general is talking about?" Jek asked. "How should I know?" Rys replied. "There's no figuring a Jedi Master." "Especially that one," I said. "Even those of us in the Jedi Order that were his Padawans still can't figure him out. Come on, boys. We better keep up with him." Thire turned around to see if we were being followed. "Sirs, there are two patrols coming in on foot," he said. "Now is the time to face the enemy, Lieutenant," Master Yoda said. "Ambush them; we will!" As the battle droids came, Master Yoda hid in the north, and the clones hid in the south. I myself hid just in front of the droids' path. Once they were close enough, I popped out from my hiding place. "Boo," I said, activating my lightsaber. Just then, the clones fired on them. "What was that?" I heard one of them ask. "Blast them." They fired on the clones and me. I deflected their fire on them. Master Yoda then jumped in front of them and distracted the droids while the rest of us had time to hide again. The droids split up, as did we. I managed to stay with Master Yoda as we prepared to ambush the droid squad that followed us.

"They're around here somewhere," said one battle droid. "Closer than you think, clankers," I whispered to myself. I drew my saber and jumped them. I slashed down two droids with one swing and stood my ground with the rest. I knew Master Yoda would come in soon, which indeed he did. He jumped on top of one of the battle droids. "Hey, get off of me," the droid said. "Don't move," said another. Master Yoda jumped around and had the droid shoot each other. I laughed as Master Yoda jumped down in front of me. "Clever, Master, very clever," I said. "Now rejoin our men we must, Ammon," he said. We both could sense where the clones had gotten to. Super battle droids were pursuing them, and it seems like Thire had been injured. We jumped over the super battle droids, and both activated our lightsabers. Master Yoda covered the clones as I counter-attacked the droids. I sliced up a few before I saw there were more coming. I fell back to rejoin the others behind some rocks. As the clone continued to return fire and I deflected fire back, we were pinned down. "What are we gonna do, sir?" Thire asked. Master Yoda deactivated his lightsaber, closed his eyes, and sat in a meditation fashion facing us. "What's the General doing?" Jek asked. "Keep blasting," Rys replied. I deactivated my lightsaber, knowing what my master was doing. I carefully sat next to him and followed his example. We both reached out with the Force and grabbed a super battle droid, and turned them against the other droids. We used the battle droids to shoot down the others until some battle droids shot up the ones we had. Master Yoda then used the Force to push and destroy the rest of the droids. "Ha! You found us just in time, sirs," Thire said. "Left behind, no one will be," Master Yoda said. "We're all in this together, Lieutenant," I added. At that moment, we heard a sound, and some droidekas came rolling down at us. "Rollies, inbound!" Rys said. There were three of them, and they activated their shields. Master Yoda and I jumped up and deflected their fire. "Retreat! Cover you we will!" Master Yoda said. As the clones ran, Master Yoda jumped onto Jek's back, and I followed. Both Master Yoda and I deflected a shot to a towering tree, and it fell on top of the droidekas. Destroyer droids' shields can't withstand immense weight coming down on top of them. As we made our retreat, we got a call from King Katuunko. I held it up to Master Yoda. "Master Yoda, I hear you're having trouble with the droid army," he said. "Trouble? I know nothing of this trouble," Master Yoda said. "Look forward to our meeting soon; I do." We almost immediately lost the transmission. I tried to call him back, but I couldn't get a signal. "Ventress must have destroyed the king's transmitter," I said. "More droids coming for us, I sense," Master Yoda said. Once we were far enough away. We began to walk and looked for a place to rest. We came to a canyon with caves. Master Yoda led us toward one of the caves. Rys was supporting Thire as he limped. "Are you sure we should go in there, Generals?" Thire asked. "There's no way out." "Now rest we must," Master Yoda said. "Plus, there is no way the droids will look for us in there," I pointed out. We walked into the cave and settled down. Rys took out a glow lamb and turned it on. "We're low on ammo, sirs," Jek said. "Only two grenades and one rocket for the launcher." "Against a battalion?" Rys scoffed. "Forget it. We've lost." "So certain of defeat are you, hmm?" Master Yoda said. He cut up Thire's DC-15 rifle with his lightsaber. "With respect General, maybe you should go on," Thire said. "Let us slow 'em down." Master Yoda used his lightsaber to fuse the two parts together in a different way than they were before and made a crutch for Thire. "All around us is that which we need to prevail. Yes. Hmm," Master Yoda said. He handed the crutch to Thire, who immediately tried it out. "Come sit. Your helmets, remove them. Your faces I wish to see," Master Yoda said. I sat down next to him as the clones did as my master asked.

"There's not much to look at here sir. We all share the same face," Thire said. "Deceive you, eyes can," said Master Yoda. "In the Force, very different each one of you are." He got up and walked toward our men. "Rys, always focused on the enemy are you. For inspiration, look to yourself and those besides you. Jek. Concerned about weapons you are. Weapons do not win battles." He closed the pack of weapons next to Jek. "Your mind, powerful it is. Hmm. Outthink the droids you can. Thire rush not into fights. Long is the war. Only by surviving it will you prevail. Yes. Hmm." He came back and sat next to me. "Clones you may be. But the Force resides in all life-forms. Use it you can, to quiet your mind." "See boys, you clones are no less a part of the Force than we are. Quiet your mind and you can hear its whispers as we do," I said. I could sense the clones were touched by Master Yoda's lesson. Though we didn't have any more time to rest. We heard a low rumbling outside. We all walked out of the cave to see what was going on. Jek and Rys went up ahead of us while I supported Thire with his crutch. Master Yoda was in the middle. We could see at the bottom of canyon three tanks with several squads of battle droid surrounding them. "Tanks," Rys said. "Is that the best they can throw at us?" "Yeah, but I've only got one shot left," Jek pointed out. "Greet them, Ammon and I will," Master Yoda said. "Generals, you don't plan to take that whole column by yourselves?" Thire asked. Master Yoda giggled. "Have you three we do we do! Outnumbered are they," he said. "Know the time to help us you will." Master Yoda jumped down toward the droid column and after I made sure Thire was alright, I jumped down after my old master. We jumped right in front of the column and sat down in a mediation fashion. "It's the Jedi," I heard the droid commander say. "Block their escape! Prepare to fire." I felt the commander call Ventress. "Supreme Leader, we've found the Jedi," he said. "Excellent. Where are they?" I heard Ventress on the other end of the transmission. "They're just sitting here in front of our tanks," said the droid commander. "Shoot them! Shoot them now!" Ventress said. Both Master Yoda and I felt that through the Force and got ready to jump out of the way. "Quickly! Ready, aim, fire!" said the commander. "Fire!" he said after his troops didn't fire immediately. As the droids fired everything they had as us, they were two seconds too slow. Master Yoda jumped to the left and I jumped to the right. We both activated our lightsabers and rushed the droids. I started cutting up droids left and right as I watch my master do the same as he went under the commander's tank. They couldn't deal with him under there for two reasons. One it was a small space that they couldn't follow him under there and two because I also kept them busy. I could sense that Master Yoda cut his way into the tank and cut up the droids inside. "Oh, no!" said the commander. Some droids opened the bottom hatch. "Run for it!" they said. They tried to run but, Master Yoda used the Force to pull them right into his lightsaber. The commander was pulled into even though he tried in vain to avoid it. "But I just got promoted!" he whined. I laughed inside and jumped onto another tank. I cut a hole in the top hatch and jumped inside slashing up everything in sight. I jumped out the top to watch Master Yoda slash a droid answering a call from Ventress.

I could sense she was mad now. King Katuunko would more assuredly join the Republic after this. As Master Yoda and I dealt with the last tank and droids together we stopped just in time to see some droidekas had arrived. They were in battle stance with their shields up. They fire at us, and we deflected. We both knew that he would be stalemate if something didn't happen to change things. Just then, we saw a rocket fly from the clones' position and hit a ledge on the other side of the canyon. It caused an avalanche of rocks that destroyed the destroyer droids. Master Yoda jumped on top of the pile of rocks. He sat down and was greeted by some baby neebrays. Rugosa was a nesting ground for these space birds. They can fly through space holding their breath until they can find some gases to breathe and feed on. One neebray landed on Master Yoda's hand. Another landed on his left ear. The clones climbed down and joined us. Learned something today, have you, Lieutenant, hmm?" Master Yoda asked. "I think we all did, General," Thire said. "You're never too old to learn, right Master?" I said. Master Yoda nodded and politely shooed the neebrays away. He jumped down from the pile. "Come. Behind schedule are we," he said. "Not polite to be late." We walked in the direction of the rendezvous with King Katuunko. We arrived to see Ventress with two battle droids with King Katuunko and two Toydarian guards. We saw the Toydarian Shuttle on a higher level, and Ventress' solar sailor behind her. They called Count Dooku. I would have like to jump in right away, but Master Yoda wanted to watch what happened for a moment. "You were right, Count Dooku. One Jedi is not worth a hundred battle droids, more like a thousand," King Katuunko said. Dooku's face turned from smug to concerned. "I'm sorry, but I'll be joining the Republic," King Katuunko finished. "I urge you to reconsider, wise king," Dooku tried. "I promise you won't regret it." "Your agent also promised me the Jedi would get a fair fight," the king said. "I will not deal with those who break their words." I was happy that Katuunko was a man of morals. Which is more than I could say for Count Dooku. "So be it. Perhaps our negotiations will be more fruitful with your successor," said the Count. "Ventress kill him." The Toydarian guards tried to protect their king with their royal guard blaster rifles, but Ventress just deflected their fire and Force Pushed them to the ground. We made our way out from our hiding spot to prevent Ventress from finishing Katuunko. Just before she could strike Katuunko, Master Yoda grabbed Ventress with the Force and stop her lightsabers just inches from the king. Ventress struggled against Master Yoda's Force grip. Her droids turn to fire on us, but Rys and Jek were faster. They shot both the droids with one shot each. "Jedi Masters Yoda and Jones, I am very please to meet you both at last," King Katuunko said. "Share the feeling we do, King Katuunko," Master Yoda said and push Ventress away from the king.

"Ventress has failed you once again, Count," I said. "I don't fear you, Jedi," Ventress said. "Strong you are with the Dark side, young one," Master Yoda said. "But not that strong." To prove his point, Master Yoda used the Force to pull her lightsabers out of her hands. He caught them and looked them over. "Still much to learn you have," he said and threw Ventress her lightsabers. "Surrender you should." "Or would you like a rematch with me from last time?" I asked drawing my lightsaber. Ventress put her lightsabers away, but I only lowered my weapon. I could sense she had something up her shelve. I was proven right but it wasn't what I thought. Ventress quickly pulled out a detonator and pressed the button. The Toydarian shuttle exploded, and it caused an avalanche of rocks to come down on us. Master Yoda and I used the Force to keep the rocks from falling on us. We moved them away from us just in time to watch Ventress escape on her solar sailor. "In the end, cowards are those who follow the Dark Side," Master Yoda said. "It's a pity I wasn't there in person my old master," Count Dooku said. "A pity indeed, my fallen apprentice," Master Yoda said. At that moment, Dooku ended the transmission. I walked over and picked up the holocommunicator. I thought we could use it to track down Dooku. "Perhaps now, begin negotiations we can," said Master Yoda turning to King Katuunko. "That is not necessary, my friend," the king said drawing his sword. "You have my faith. Toydaria would be honored to host a Republic bas. My people are at your service." As he spoke, he held his sword up to his face in a respectful manner. He then sheathed it and handed it to Master Yoda. "Your Majesty, fail you we will not," Master Yoda said as he accepted the sword. We heard some engines and saw some Republic Gunships coming down from a Venator Cruiser. Clearly Kirk let the Republic know what happen and they came to help us. Thankfully that meant we could give the Toydarians a ride home. We got onto the gunships, and we were taken to the cruiser. We stopped off at Toydaria to drop off Katuunko and his guards. Then Master Yoda and I returned to Coruscant to let the council and the senate know of our success.

Author's Note: That's what happened on Rugosa. Next time, we'll face down a new superweapon of Dooku and the Separatists. What is that superweapon and how will I even the odds against it? Stay tuned and found out.