Before the dark times - Wounded
[Play Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) OST Main Title (Original) 0:00 - 0:15]
Being aware of your weakness is one's biggest strength.
[Play Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) OST Recap 0:00 - 0:58]
Stranded!
After being taken by a formidable warrior group known as the Jin'ha, Padawans Orion Dusk and Serra Keto were able to escape from their imprisonment and crash onto the swamp planet of Obredaan, the mining grounds of the Jin'ha!
After making their way to the crash site of their ship and gaining a better grasp of their situation, the two young Jedi have devised a plan to contact the Republic using a nearby mining outpost, whilst also disabling an anti air base that would pose a threat to their chances of escape!
Electing to split up and deal with each task individually, Serra Keto makes her way towards the anti air base, while Orion Dusk prepares to infiltrate the mining facility to send the distress signal, and fulfill his mission!
[Play Star Wars The Phantom Menace OST Stealing Food 1:10 - 1:25]
Orion Dusk was crouching in the middle of a dense tree line, using the taken off sniper scope of a Jin'ha blaster to look ahead and see many heat signatures. Most of which looked like people, but he also noticed what could be primed engines from ships coming up on the thermal view, as well as a few heat signatures disappearing after walking into or away from a certain spot. He could put two and two together and guessed that the mining base he was looking for was now in front of him.
[Silence]
He sighed before talking to himself. "Great, Coruscant construction site all over again, except this time I'm actually on my own, and against even more threatening folk." He then tried to contact his fellow Padawan. "Serra, I think I've reached the mining base." There was static. "Right. Dense weather. Well, I guess we'll know if we both succeeded in our parts of the plan if whatever Republic reinforcements I call for don't get shot out of the sky." Orion then maneuvered his way out of the treeline and began to approach the mining base, keeping an eye in the scope to see how many guards, loaders and crew members he'd have to deal with, so far only counting six outside. Two at the door, and a pair each at the two ships that were close by.
[Play Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga OST Utapau Pau City 0:00 - 1:59]
Dusk then slowly made his way towards the one that was closest to him, making sure to keep himself out of the Jin'ha guard's eyerange. Once he was a few yards away, he felt his shoulder graze something, as he made contact with a cliffside. Seeing that he had limited space to work with, he kept to the cliffside and slowly shifted himself over to where the guard was, noticing that he was guarding a massive door that entered the cliffside. He stopped a few feet behind the Jin'ha, then quickly got his arm around the guard's neck and pulled him back, choking the Jin'ha until he passed out from a lack of airflow.
Orion then looked to see where the second guard was at, and could see him about half a dozen yards away, on the other end of this large door that was here. Staying close to the door, but not close enough to trigger it to open, he reached the guard who was currently looking upwards, seeming bored of his assignment. Taking advantage of this, Dusk grabbed the Jin'ha by the throat and pressed him against the cliffside, choking him until he passed out.
The Padawan noticed the other four Jin'ha had failed to notice him and took advantage of these guards' apparent incompetence. He then used the force and focused on a landing gear on the further of the two ships, using his power to snap it off, making the ship tilt and fall over to its side, startling the pair of guards who were at that ship and catching the attention of the guards who were at the other ship. As those four Jin'ha all were focused on the sudden toppling of one of their ships, Orion grabbed the body of the guard he just knocked out and dragged him with him through the door, just in case he needed some type of clearance to get into the facility.
After Dusk entered through the door and waited for it to close, he was immediately greeted with another problem. There was a ray shield that prevented him from moving any further, and there were no controls for him to use to shut it down on the side he was on. "Ray shields. Of course." As Orion began to think of a way past this, he then remembered how he dealt with a similar problem back on the ship that took him to this planet. He then grabbed the body of the guard he dragged in here, held it close in front of him, then used it to push himself through the ray shield and inside the facility. Seeing that there was no alarm triggered, it seemed that this was how these people would normally get through that. As the boy silently admired that bit of creativity, he noticed a door ahead of him begin to open. Acting fast, he moved himself and the body he used to get in behind a large crate, as multiple Jin'ha ran by, passing through the ray shield the same way he did and exiting the facility, most likely to check on what just happened outside.
Three stayed behind and turned to go through another door that led to a set of stairs that would take them upwards to somewhere. Dusk decided to go to the door that those Jin'ha had just come from, passing by multiple crates of smoldering metal along the way, son reaching and letting that door open in front of him then close behind him. He saw a set of stairs that lead downwards towards a long hallway. Seeing no other route to take, he began his descent further into the facility.
[Play KOTOR OST Hrakert Station 0:00 - 1:29]
As Orion reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked down the hallway to see at least three Jin'ha walking through them at the moment. Dusk made his way to another large crate close by to avoid being seen by them, but when he was close to it, another Jin'ha appeared, walking around the crate and bumping into the boy. Before he could alert the other Jin'ha, Dusk grabbed him and pulled him behind the crate, before palm striking the red armored man in the helmet hard enough to knock him out.
The Padawan then peeked his head out to see if the others noticed him or not. Thankfully, they didn't, but they also stopped moving, choosing to stay where they were at for however long they pleased. This was not an ideal situation for the boy, as he didn't have the option to turn back, lest he risk getting found by the people he avoided earlier, who would no doubt come back this way eventually. Seeing no other option, he tapped into the force and focused on a small crate that was far ahead of him and the three Jin'ha. Once the small crate was lifted off the ground, Orion flung it towards the group and it struck one of them in the head, knocking him out.
The other two quickly turned to face the direction that the crate came from, both pulling out blasters and aiming it towards that direction. The only thing they saw was another large crate next to a few small crates. Both of them slowly made their way towards that area, failing to notice a person closely following behind them. One of the two took point and reached the corner of the crate, leaning his back on it, before rolling around the corner, pointing his blaster in front of him. He was confused, as nobody was there, but as he turned around to go back, he saw the body of the Jin'ha he was with fly past him, startling him, and making him turn the corner with his blaster in front of him and his finger on the trigger.
Dusk ran towards the last Jin'ha, using the force to pull the blaster out of the man's hands. As the Padawan reached the Jin'ha, he quickly kneeled and punched the red armored man in the gut as hard as possible, knocking the wind out of him and making him topple down, the attack incapacitating him. Orion then grabbed the body and dragged it behind the crate, as well as the body he sent flying earlier and the two other Jin'ha that he knocked out before that, piling them on top of one another before moving on further down the hallway, turning a corner and seeing another door ahead of him, as well as two Jin'ha about halfway across the hall walking over to it.
[Play Lego Star Wars III The Clone Wars OST Rookies (Part 1 Calm) 0:00 - 2:12]
Dusk made sure to move quickly, but also quietly, making his way towards the two Jin'ha in an attempt to sneak into the room where they were headed by using them to open the door for him. Orion kept himself a fair distance away from the Jin'ha, until he found a large crate that was close enough to the door for him to hide behind. He peeked his head out to watch the two he was trailing reach the door. When it opened up for them and they walked through, anyone who was in that room would be focused on them at this point. Dusk then saw a bunch of crates stacked together in the room that was close enough for him to get to if he was quick about it. Then the door began to close. Knowing that it was now or never, he tapped into the force and very quickly ran through the closing door.
In a blur, he reached the crates he was headed for and stopped himself there, crouching down and hiding behind them. He took in as much as he could, in spite of his limited view, but he could tell that this operation was a lot bigger than he originally thought. There were multiple crates of varying sizes, some that carried weapons, and others that had supplies and armor. Some just had slabs of the red metal that was used to make the armor and weapons, and some had blasters and munitions. This was starting to look more like a military manufacturing outpost than a mining complex. Seeing all that he could see, he looked to find a way out of this room, but he was in a rather unfortunate position, as while there were at least a dozen Jin'ha in the room, they were all keeping themselves busy in here. Only one of them chose to leave the room, but it was via one of four elevator platforms in the corners of this room that descended further down.
Orion looked to the corner closest to him and saw that the elevator platform on that end was not there, meaning that it was already on the lower level. Even if it wasn't he couldn't take it without being spotted, he didn't need to look down the corner opening to know that there were more Jin'ha down below. At this point, whenever he leapt over a few hurdles, another dozen would show up in front of him. Dusk weighed his options and decided to try something. After checking and confirming that nobody was looking in his general direction, he quietly moved out of his cover and peeked through the corner opening he was closest to, looking at the ceiling panels and spotting some pipes and a few moving platforms that were holding more crates.
Acting fast he grabbed the edge of the corner opening and suspended himself under the edge of the corner opening, before swinging his body forward and back to give himself enough momentum to let go of the edge and reach the pipes he saw before, grabbing them and dangling from there. After making certain that he wouldn't fall, he then swung his left arm in front of his right, moving himself forward. He then did it again with his right moving in front of his left. He kept repeating this motion until he reached when he was aiming to go, right above a moving platform that was about halfway down.
Orion let go of the bar he was dangling from and landed on the platform. From there he peeked below him to see a few large crates stacked upwards, along with a few more crates stacked next to them. Close to those was a door that was currently shut, but a few Jin'ha were appearing to head towards it. Seeing this as an opportunity, Dusk pounced off the platform he was on and landed on top of the stacked crates, before grabbing the edge of the top crate and then suspended himself on that edge, before letting go and landing on the floor, behind the second stack of crates.
The door he was aiming to go through had opened and the Padawan peeked out of his cover to see another large crate on the other side that he could hide behind, should he be fast enough. He watched for his moment and once the Jin'ha that were walking through the door had passed and it began to close, he tapped into the force once more and dashed through the closing door, then got behind the crate that was in the hallway. From there, he could see more Jin'ha and multiple intersections of hallways. He very quietly sighed. "I hope Serra is having an easier time than me right now."
[Silence]
Elsewhere on Obredaan, Keto had just made her way through the murky swamplands and now found herself at her destination. She could see a large structure with multiple heavy duty gun emplacements on it. Even though it was obscured from her angle, she could still tell that this anti air outpost was well armed, and fortified.
[Play Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) OST Skydive to the Station 0:00 - 0:56]
Luckily for her though, she found herself in what would be the least guarded section of the outpost. One of the outlying fuel line entrances, with only three Jin'ha guards, all using melee weapons, as using a blaster would risk blowing up the fuel line.
Serra smirked before using the force to lift a large rock that was near her, then lob it towards the three Jin'ha. One of the three noticed the large rock flying towards them and dived out of the way, but the other two weren't so fortunate as they were struck in the backs by the rock and immobilized. The last Jin'ha standing looked in the direction of where the rock came from, and saw a female running towards him. He was about to turn on his wrist comm, but he felt himself get pulled towards the girl and flew in her direction, then got struck in the head by her boots as she drop kicked him in the face plate.
Moving fast, Keto propped up the bodies and had them lean on the fuel line to make them look like they were resting on it, before jumping on top and moving along the fuel line until she found a hatch for her to open and enter inside. She covered her nose to help deal with the not so pleasant stench of the fuel she was going to be breathing in for a bit and moved as fast as she could through the fuel line, knowing that there wouldn't be guards inside the pipe itself, so she could afford to make a little noise, as long as it wasn't too loud.
After a while of moving forward, and occasionally upwards whenever the pipe would ascend to a higher level, Serra slowed down when she heard a hatch open up ahead and saw two Jin'ha climb down and look around. Keto got down and laid prone, letting the hot vapors of the fuel cloak her to the Jin'ha guards' eyes and their scopes' thermal vision.
After the two guards ultimately decided that it was clear, they climbed back up the hatch they came out of and closed it. Keto waited a moment before going to the hatch they came from and quietly opening it by a small amount. She looked through the small opening and could tell that she wasn't outside anymore.
[Play Star Wars The Phantom Menace OST Queen Amidala 0:00 - 0:40]
From what she could see, she had managed to make her way into a maintenance area of some sort, judging by the various amounts of pipes and valves. There wasn't any place to hide in there, and there were a few more Jin'ha there than the guards from before. Still, this was probably the only place she could enter and maybe keep a low profile.
She opened the hatch fully and climbed out, before slowly closing it and looking around to see if anyone had noticed her yet. Seeing that nobody was looking in her direction or sounding alarmed, it was safe to assume that they were all preoccupied with whatever they were working on. Seeing an opportunity, Serra decided to use the force to rotate a few hand wheels that were close to the Jin'ha workers, tampering with their work and distracting them for a moment.
Thanks to the various creaks and gas blowing noises, the rearmost workers failed to hear Keto sneak up behind them, while the workers in front of them didn't hear her dispatch them. By the time that one of the Jin'ha had finally figured out what was tampered with and fixed it, he was the last one left. When he turned to see his fellow workers all knocked out, he was grabbed by Serra and got his head smashed on the closest pipe, instantly knocking him out. Serra then redid what he just undid before finding the exit to this fuel maintenance room.
[Play Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga OST Capital Ship Executor/Steadfast/Trade Federation Battleship 0:00 - 1:56]
When she left that area, she entered a much more open room, with dozens of Jin'ha walking around and working on something or other. Quickly finding a place to hide, Keto tapped into the force and dashed behind a few large stacked crates. Realizing that she was in not the best of situations, she began to weigh her options. She could either somehow get back into the fuel area she just dashed away from, go back into the pipe she wandered through and find another hatch that leads inside another room. Or she could keep going from here and find a way to somehow get past this room full of lightsaber resistant armor wearing arms dealers. After taking the moment to weigh her options, she opted for the latter, but how she would do that, she was uncertain.
The force was on her side however, as thanks to the tampering she did earlier, a muffled boom was heard before the door that she came out of was blown off and an explosion of fire bursted out from the room she had left. A subsequent series of muffled explosions were heard after that and that commotion had caught the attention of every Jin'ha in the room, prompting them to either go towards where the commotion was, or vacate the room in order to notify others of what just happened.
Knowing that this was her chance, she stayed near the edges of the room as she made her way across and let the distracted Jin'ha focus on their sudden 'accident' in front of them. However, instead of taking the door to the next room, she found a ventilation shaft that was high up. After using the force to remove the panel that prevented people from entering it, she tapped into the force again, jumped up there and grabbed the edge of the shaft, before climbing in and crawling her way through. "Geez this is cramped." She commented before continuing forward.
Back with Orion, he had finally made his way through the various hallways, and found himself in another room. This one seemed to be a processing area of sorts, with a large amount of a molten red substance flowing between him and the opposite side of the room and rows of turbines above them that were sucking up particles from the substance, with a small section of ground above the molten substance in the center of the room. There were only two Jin'ha in the room at the moment, but they were both standing at terminals on opposite ends of the room, staying focused on those.
Dusk hid himself behind a large fuel tank and took in what was happening in front of him, while simultaneously wondering how the heck he was going to get across. Knocking out the two Jin'ha weren't going to be a problem, but getting to the other side of the room without falling into the molten substance was the real problem. There had to be a way across, otherwise he would have to go back and find a way around this room, which would be a serious issue, considering how difficult it was to get here in the first place.
As he was contemplating what to do, a pair of Jin'ha came into the room from the other side and approached the one that was managing the console on their end. Dusk watched from behind his cover as the three briefly discussed something before the Jin'ha fiddled with his terminal for a moment and extended out a bridge that connected to the center platform. The Jin'ha on his end heard the bridge on the other side start moving, then types something out on his terminal, before a bridge started extending out from his side reaching the center platform a moment later.
[Play KOTOR OST The Guard Encounter 0:00 - 0:34]
This was Orion's chance, and he decided to take it. He tapped into the force and dashed over to the Jin'ha on his end of the room, ramming into him and knocking the wind out of him, while also catching the attention of the other three Jin'ha in the room. As the terminal operator began to drop to the ground, Dusk had already sprinted across the first bridge, and met the two Jin'ha who the bridges had been for on the center platform. One had a hatchet while the other had a baton. The one with the baton rushed towards the Padawan, but the boy quickly crouched down and leg sweeped the Jin'ha tripping him and making him fall off the platform. He grabbed the ledge, but was stuck hanging there.
The Jin'ha with the hatchet took aim and with most of his strength, threw his weapon towards the Padawan. Orion saw the attack coming and quickly sidestepped the attack, before using the force to grip the Jin'ha and throw his body towards the second terminal operator, crashing his body into the man and knocking them both out. Dusk then used the force to grip the hanging Jin'ha and pull him up and away from the ledge, before throwing his body into a wall and knocking that man out as well.
[Silence]
Orion then walked across the second bridge that was connected to the center platform and through the door that those Jin'ha had come through. He looked ahead and saw a hallway that led in one direction with a door at the end of it. There were no other Jin'ha in sight and this slightly unsettled the boy, but he continued forward nonetheless.
[Play KOTOR OST Taris Sewers 0:00 - 0:40]
Once he reached the door at the end of the hall and opened it up, he had a relieved smile on his face, as he could tell that he had finally found a communications area of some sort. There were only two Jin'ha in the area, and before the pair could see who came into the room, Dusk had used the force to slam their heads together, knocking them both out. Orion then walked towards the terminals that the two unconscious men were at and then ran into his next road block. He didn't know what scramble set that the Grand Army of the Republic was using in this sector. That would mean that he would have to make an open frequency transmission and hope that he could get a Republic contact.
Dusk sighed. "Well, I've already gone this deep. Might as well dive all the way down." He patched into the comm line through the terminal and sent out a single transmission. "Emergency Code Twelve Nineteen."
Back with Serra, she was still making her way through the ventilation system when her wrist comm beep and she heard Orion's voice come out of it. "Emergency Code Twelve Nineteen."
"Uh oh." Keto said, realizing that she was now going to be on a time limit.
"Emergency what?" A Jin'ha outside of the vent that she was crawling through has spoken up. "Who sent that?"
"Oh no." Serra muttered, realizing that Dusk sent that out on an open frequency.
[Play Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) OST The Republic Fleet 0:00 - 0:34]
Elsewhere, in the Mid Rim, on the planet of Ord Mantell, a Republic Fleet was in position in the planet's orbit, with a human female Jedi Master with blonde hair on the bridge of one of the Venators. She was looking at a holomap of nearby star systems on the holotable when a clone naval officer approached her. "General Tachi."
"Yes, trooper?" She replied, still looking at the holomap she had in front of her.
"We just received a transmission on an open frequency." The naval officer stated.
"From?" She asked.
"We don't know." The naval officer answered. "But it didn't look like it came from Separatists."
"Hm." Tachi thought for a moment before turning to the naval officer. "Put it through."
"Yes, General." The clone had the transmission play on the holotable.
There was no visual, but they could hear it loud and clear. "Emergency Code Twelve Nineteen."
"Twelve Nineteen?" Tachi repeated, looking concerned.
"Forgive me for asking, General, but what does that mean?" The naval officer asked.
"It's a Jedi emergency code." She responded. "This one in particular means that a Padawan was kidnapped and is transmitting from a hostile environment. Where did this transmission get sent from?"
"Unknown. We only have the direction that it came from." The clone said.
[Play Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) OST Anakin Redeployed 0:00 - 0:40]
"Put it on the holomap." The Jedi Master ordered. After the naval officer did so, she observed it. "Along the Entralla Route. And it stops before the Outer Rim. There's only two planets that are at the edge of the Mid rim."
"Are we going to respond to the signal?" The naval officer questioned.
"Already on top of that." Taichi said before recording just audio and typing on the holotable a series of dots and dashes in a specific order. She then sent the reply out in that direction, before turning to the Naval officer. "That code should be enough to tell the Padawan that we're on our way. Inform the rest of the fleet to remain here and set course for Obredaan. We'll start there and look through the two planets there until we find the Padawan."
"Yes, General." The clone replied before leaving to do as he was ordered.
The Jedi Master then went back to her holomap, but was now focused on the Entralla Route, and had a determined look on her face.
[Silence]
Back in the mining outpost on Obredaan, Dusk had gotten a response. I was a series of dots and dashes that he managed to make out. "That's code." He realized. "Republic...response...Jedi rescue." He translated. "Oh thank the Force."
"A Jedi!?" Orion heard someone behind him say. The boy turned to see the Jin'ha who spotted him over at the entrance of the room.
[Play Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) OST Running For a Ship 1:12 - 1:59]
Before the Padawan could do anything, the Jin'ha had reached a control panel and activated a pair of ray shields, locking the boy inside the section he was in. The second ray shield activated in front of the first one, adding a second layer of security. The Jin'ha then took off for the exit and had spoken into his wrist comm. "Jedi Intruder in communications block twenty zero one! Repeat...!"
"Oh scrag." Dusk knew he was in serious trouble now.
Back over with Serra, as she was continuing her crawl through the vents, she heard lots of footsteps below her, and then heard a Jin'ha speak up over a communicator. "...Jedi Intruder in communications block twenty zero one!"
Another Jin'ha spoke up. "Sound the alarm. Call the elite squad."
As Keto heard those orders, she kept crawling through the vents, moving as fast as she could, and forsaking the need to be quiet about it once the alarm inside the anti air base went off. She knew that her partner was in a very dire situation.
Back with Orion, he grabbed one of the two unconscious Jin'ha bodies that was on his side of the ray shields and held it close in front of him, before running straight towards the shield. He got through the first layer, but when he was about to reach the second layer, the first layer began to close up behind him. Thinking fast, he used the force and pulled the body of the second unconscious Jin'ha to him and held it close behind him. He then continued to push himself through until he finally made it past the second ray shield. He didn't have time to appreciate the ingenuity that these guys had for their security measures, as he now had to get out of this facility as fast as possible.
Seeing the only way out being the way he came in before, he activated his lightsaber and prepared to fight his way out of this place, in spite of how difficult it was going to be.
[Play Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) OST Entering the Chambers 0:05 - 0:52]
Just outside of Obredaan's atmosphere, a Venator Class Republic Cruiser had come out of hyperspace and was holding position there. Inside the Venator, The Jedi Master was in the hangar bay with multiple squads of clone troopers, who were getting into LAAT gunships. The Jedi had entered her starfighter and had contacted the bridge crew. "Lieutenant, are you picking up anything on the planet's surface?"
"There's something, General Tachi, but whatever it is, it's unclear." A clone replied on the comm line. "There's interference coming from the planet."
"Obredaan is a swamp planet." Tachi noted. "It would be a good place to hide something. Open the hangar doors, I'll go on my own for now."
"Yes, General." The lieutenant complied with the order and had the hangar bay doors open. The Jedi Master then took off in her starfighter and began flying towards the planet on her own, entering the atmosphere. As she did, she began to transmit on an open frequency. "This is Jedi Master Siri Tachi. Padawan, do you read me?"
Back on Obredaan, Serra kept crawling through the ventilation system until she heard her wrist comm. "This is Jedi Master Siri Tachi. Padawan, do you read me?"
Keto immediately got on the comm line. "Master. Do not enter the planet's atmosphere."
"Who is this?" Siri questioned, not recognizing this voice.
"This is Padawan, Serra Keto." The Padawan replied. "Master Tachi, I repeat, you must not enter the planet's atmosphere. There is an anti-air outpost that will shoot you out of the sky if you..."
[Play KOTOR 2 OST Mercenary Troubles 0:00 - 1:43]
Before she could continue with her warning, multiple blaster shots blitzed through the vent in front of and behind her. When she realized what was happening, it was too late, as the vent she was in fell with her in it and landed hard on the floor below. She let out a yelp from the sudden slam to the floor, but she quickly recovered when more blaster bolts started coming her way.
Serra rolled out of the detached vent and activated her lightsaber, deflecting away multiple blaster bolts back towards the Jin'ha that were shooting at her. "Kill the Jedi!" A Jin'ha in modified armor and a jetpack said, before pulling out two blaster pistols and shooting at the intruder.
Back in the skies above Obredaan, Siri could hear the sounds of blaster fire and lightsaber deflections on the comm line, before a clone's voice was heard. "General! Scans are picking up a large energy surge west of your location!" Tachi saw multiple large orange laser bolts come towards her ship. Thinking fast, she did a barrel roll to maneuver around the multiple blasts, before executing an aileron roll to narrowly dodge more incoming fire.
"Looks like the anti air outpost spotted me." The Jedi Master commented. "Lieutenant, launch the gunships and tell the troops to prepare for a rough landing. I'll keep the anti air defenses focused on me."
"Yes, General!" The clone said before moving to do what he was ordered to do.
Tachi then continued to avoid the anti air cannons that were shooting at her, as she slowly made her way over towards the direction that the blasts were coming from.
Inside the mining outpost, Orion was running down a hallway with his lightsaber on, swinging it in front of him as he deflected blaster bolts away from him. Two Jin'ha with blasters were shooting at him from across the hall, while a third Jin'ha with a mace stood behind them, ready to attack if he got close to them. Dusk ran towards the three and continued to block the blaster bolts until he was just a few yards in front of them. The Jin'ha with the mace ran past the two with blasters and went to swing at the boy, but the attack was blocked by the lightsaber and Orion force pushed the mace user into one of the blaster wielders, knocking them both down. As the last of the three standing went to shoot at the boy, Dusk used the force to pull the blaster out of his hands, before closing the distance between the two and kneeing the Jin'ha in the gut hard enough to knock the wind out of him.
Dusk then reached the room with the two bridges from before, only to see that the bridges were retracted, the terminals were smashed, and a Jin'ha with a sniper on the other side of the room, who was already shooting at him repeatedly and forcing the Padawan to find cover. Orion dove behind a large crate and assessed his situation, knowing that he was not going to be able to get the bridges to extend, due to the terminals that controlled them being smashed. He then had an idea and while he knew that it would be risky, he'd take that risk, considering the circumstances.
The Padawan left his cover and defended himself from the sniper's repeated blasts until the shooter ran out of ammo in its clip. As the sniper began to reload his weapon, Dusk executed his plan. He jumped forward, but made certain to jump where the turbines were above, letting the wind from their suction give him the necessary boost in height to reach the center platform. Once he landed, he used the force to pull the sniper rifle out of the hands of the Jin'ha, before doing the same trick again to reach the armored man's position and tackle him to the ground.
After knocking out that Jin'ha Orion went through the door that led through the series of hallways from before, but he made sure to remember which direction he came from and began running down the hallway, knowing where to go.
[Play KOTOR 2 OST A Wretched Hive 0:00 - 0:53]
Keto meanwhile was backed into a narrow hallway, with the Jin'ha in modified armor and three other Jin'ha continuously shooting at her with their blasters. She kept getting pushed back until she had dove behind a large crate and took cover there. The blaster fire ceased and the young Jedi could hear footsteps that were getting louder at a fast pace. She then heard the activation of a jetpack and quickly dashed ahead, avoiding blaster fire from above as the Jin'ha with modified armor flew over the crate. Serra, knowing that the other three Jin'ha wouldn't be far behind, used the force and pushed the crate she had used as cover in the direction of those three. One of them ducked under the now airborne crate, but the other two weren't quick enough and the crate slammed into them, taking them out of the fight.
The Padawan didn't have time to catch her breath, as the Jin'ha with the jetpack had closed the distance and shoulder bashed her in the stomach, knocking her down. He attempted to shoot her with his blaster pistols, but she used the force to push him back. He lessened the distance he was pushed back by using his jetpack to push against her force push while bracing his body. As he skidded to a halt and the other Jin'ha had caught up to him, Keto was already back on her feet and running towards the end of the hall. "Don't let her get into the turret control room!" He ordered as he gave chase and resumed to shoot at her with his blaster pistols.
As the Jedi were struggling on the planet, the Venator had opened its hangar doors again and out of it came at least two dozen gunships, all filled with clone troopers who were prepared to launch an assault. "Platoon one will land near the anti air outpost and commence disabling maneuvers when they have reached the outpost. Platoon two will land near the second structure, siege and capture it. Both platoons. Be on the lookout for Jedi. The Jedi could be in either one of those structures."
"Sir yes sir!" The clones in the gunships all said in unison as they readied their weapons. The gunships began their descent into the planet's atmosphere.
[Play KOTOR 2 OST Binary Opposition 0:00 - 1:26]
Elsewhere in the air, Siri Tachi had continued to employ evasive maneuvers to avoid the multitude of blaster bolts that were being shot at and around her. In spite of being a Jedi Master, she was still struggling to keep herself from getting shot out of the sky, and the closer she got to the anti air outpost, the more intense the volley became. Nevertheless, she persisted and continued to make her way towards the anti air outpost. "Padawan Keto, what is your location?" She spoke on the comm line.
Inside the anti air outpost, Serra had reached the end of the hall and opened the door on the end of it, while blocking the blaster bolts coming her way. "Inside the anti air base!" She answered, as she looked at the room she entered and had a good guess where she was. "I just reached the turret control room."
The Jin'ha inside the turret control room had immediately spotted her and a few ran at her with their batons and maces, while others stayed at their terminals to continue shooting at the bogey in the sky, before seeing more enemy ships come up on their scanners. "Multiple more enemy ships approaching. Adjusting fire."
"Padawan, you must disable the turret controls and get out of there." Siri said on the comm line.
"I'm on it!" Keto replied as she swatted away an attack that came in her direction, then blocked another, before kicking the Jin'ha that was swinging at her. She used the force to push a nearby fuel cell towards one of the controls and the collision along with the volatile sparks from the terminal getting smashed caused an explosion that took out multiple adjacent terminals and knocked a few Jin'ha down.
"We lost some of the turrets." One Jin'ha realized. "The enemy ships are getting closer."
Back at the mining facility, Orion had reached the room where the elevator platforms were, and was in a scuffle with a Jin'ha with a sword. After blocking and parrying multiple strikes from the warrior, Dusk had managed to find an opening and swiped his blade at the exposed stomach area, taking out the Jin'ha. He couldn't rest though, as the three doors that he didn't come from had opened and a lot more Jin'ha had come out of them. One of them with modified armor and a jetpack. "There he is!" That particular Jin'ha spoke up. "Trap him!"
The boy acted fast and tapped into the force, jumping to the top of multiple stacked crates, then onto a floating platform that was higher up, before jumping to the pipes on the ceiling, standing on them and balancing on them, before moving as fast as he could to reach the closest corner opening he was at, all while avoiding and occasionally deflecting blaster fire. The Jin'ha troops on the ground had split into four groups and gotten onto the four corner elevators that were all on their level, before sending them up in an attempt to cut him off, but the Jedi reached the opening first and managed to climb up to the next level. He quickly messed with the terminal of the elevator that was on his side and reversed it, before running through the door that he knew would lead him back to the entrance. However, out of the opening that he crawled out of, the Jin'ha with the jetpack had flown through it and quickly pursued him.
[Play Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) OST Massive Attack 1:49 - 3:48]
As Orion ran through the halls, blocking the blaster bolts that were being shot at from behind him, he used the force to throw a large crate towards the Jin'ha that was chasing him, but was surprised to see the Jin'ha slide under the airborne crate and continue shooting at him like it was not a challenge. Dusk soon made it to the room where the door that led outside was, seeing that it was still ray shielded. He knew that he was going to have to move fast. He saw that the Jin'ha guard he used to get in earlier was gone, so that meant that he would have to use the body of the Jin'ha that was chasing him to get through. He turned around and saw the Jin'ha in question enter the room and immediately open fire on him.
In the skies of Obredaan, the Republic gunships had managed to land their troops and deploy them. The clones had quickly made their way through the foggy treelines of the swamps and had visual of their targets, but were immediately forced to a stop by incoming fire from the Jin'ha. The clones returned fire, but had quickly realized that the opposition they were fighting against had armor that was resilient to their blasters, as the Jin'ha who got hit by their blaster bolts had only staggered, but were otherwise unaffected by the attacks. The enemy forces continued to close the distance, forsaking cover, as they didn't need it to protect themselves from the clones.
Back inside the anti air outpost, Serra had thrown another fuel cell at another set of terminals, blowing up another section of the turret control room. The door to the hall she came from opened up and the Jin'ha with the jetpack had come through, holding a dagger in his hand as he charged at the Padawan, using his jetpack to blitz over to her and shoulder bash her to a nearby window. He pulled out one of his blaster pistols and shot at her multiple times, but she deflected the bolts away and over to the other fuel cells that were stacked together, causing a chain reaction of explosions that were quickly engulfing the entire turret control room. The Jin'ha with the jetpack quickly tackled her through the window, getting himself out as the turret control room exploded behind him. He continuously punched Keto in the face as they both fell down towards the trees below, until the girl had managed to kick him off of her. She had used the force to soften her fall, but still had a rough landing as she fell through the tree line and into the swampy floor.
She pushed herself to her feet, but quickly took cover when multiple blaster bolts were being shot at in her direction. A couple dozen Jin'ha were shooting in her general direction, but then she noticed blue colored blaster bolts coming from the opposite direction. She looked ahead of her and could see what looked like clone troopers that were engaged in a firefight with the Jin'ha behind her. She quickly activated her lightsaber and waved it in front of her, revealing her location to the clones. One of them spotted her "Check your fire!" He then got on a secure comm line. "Jedi located. Just outside of the anti air outpost. She's being pursued by multiple hostiles."
"Retrieve her and pull out." Tachi said on the comm line. "Our forces at the other structure are having trouble sieging the area."
Keto soon reached the clones' position and spoke into that clone's comm line. "There's one more Padawan, in that structure you're talking about! Orion Dusk! He sent the emergency code! Master Tachi, you must rescue him!"
"Understood, Padawan Keto." Siri replied on the comm line. "I'm on my way to assist in the siege. Get yourself out of there."
"Aim for the stomach area!" Serra informed on the comm line. "Their armor is able to absorb blaster shots and lightsaber strikes, but they don't cover their stomachs!"
"That information is appreciated!" A clone replied on the comm line.
Over outside the mining outpost, the clones did what was suggested, and began targeting the Jin'ha troopers' stomach areas, blasting through some of them, before the other Jin'ha units were realizing what was happening and using one arm to semi cover that area. It didn't stop them from getting blasted there, but it lowered their chances of getting killed, just enough for the rest to close the distance and start engaging in close quarters combat with the clones.
As the clones were starting to turn the tide of battle in their favor, Siri Tachi had changed course and quickly reached the mining outpost, jumping out of her Jedi starfighter mid-flight and landing in the middle of the group of Jin'ha that were engaged with her clone troopers. She slashed at their blasters and disarmed a few, before precisely deflecting multiple blaster shots at other Jin'ha troopers' stomachs, greatly thinning out the enemy forces. When she knew that the clones could handle it from here, she ran towards the entrance to the mining outpost, taking out whatever guards that stood in her way.
[Play Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) OST The Mandalorians of Death Watch 0:00 - 1:04]
Inside the mining outpost, Dusk had continued to deflect bolt after bolt from the Jin'ha elite's blaster pistols, until eventually deflecting them back to the pistols themselves, disabling them. The Jin'ha elite quickly drew a sword out and jetpack blitzed to Orion, clashing blades and pushing the Padawan back towards the ray shield. The boy pushed the Jin'ha off of him and swung his lightsaber at the elite, but the attack was blocked by the sword. The two of them continuously exchanged attacks, clashing blade repeatedly until the Jin'ha had managed to headbutt Dusk and make the boy stagger. He went for a thrust, but the boy dodged the attack and countered with a kick of his own, before putting away his lightsaber and running for the entrance.
The Jin'ha used his jetpack to give chase and quickly closed the distance. He swung at the boy, but the Padawan ducked under and let the elite fly over him. As the elite stopped himself, Orion dashed forward and swatted the sword out of the Jin'ha elite's hands, before pushing him towards the ray shield and pushing both of them through it. Realizing what was happening, the Jin'ha acted fast.
The elite shifted his body and adjusted himself, grabbing the right arm of the boy and using his jetpack to pull himself back to the other side of the ray shield, pulling Dusk with him, however the ray shield had closed up as the base of the boy's arm was at the shield, and it had severed the arm there. As Orion backed up, unable to speak or scream due to the shock of what just happened, the door to the entrance opened up and Siri had come through. "Padawan." She could see him, but immediately noticed his missing arm, then saw the severed arm on the other side of the shield, with the Jin'ha elite holding it.
The Jin'ha elite dropped the arm and dashed through the shield to attack this new Jedi foe, but was woefully underprepared for her as she quickly swatted his armored arms away from her and immediately stabbed him through the stomach, finishing him off with little effort. She immediately rushed over to the injured Padawan and held him. "Padawan Dusk."
"Augh...ha...ha...gah...I can't...I can't feel my right arm." Orion struggled to speak. "I don't..."
Tachi got him to his feet and walked him out of the mining outpost. Thankfully the battle had ended outside on her end, and she got on the comm line. "Get a medical unit ready, immediately. We have wounded that need immediate treatment."
[Silence]
Flash Forward to the Present Day
Orion sat next to Obi-Wan on a separate crate, letting his new master take in what he heard. Kenobi then spoke up. "Goodness, that story was rather eventful."
"Indeed." Dusk agreed. "After that, I had gotten a standard prosthetic in one of the recently set up medical stations."
"I assume that you weren't comfortable with that arm, seeing as that your cortosis plated one looks more advanced than a standard model." Obi-Wan guessed.
"Well...I was trying to get used to it, but I didn't have it for very long." Orion stated.
"What happened to that one?" Kenobi wondered.
[Play Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) OST Hope Prevails 0:00 - 0:15]
Before Dusk could answer that, an announcement was made "We are approaching Coruscant."
The Padawan then had an idea. "Well, seeing as we're about to reach Coruscant, I could show you where I got it, before we get redeployed."
"Will it take long?" The Jedi Master asked.
"No it will not." Orion said.
"I don't suppose why not then." Obi-Wan was fine with this idea, and the two of them got to their feet and were ready to continue their Clone Wars adventures as Master and Apprentice.
[Play Star Wars The Clone Wars (2008) OST End Credits 0:00 - 0:52]
And thus ends the Origin of Orion Ark. At least, the part where he explained how he lost his arm. Now with this semi original story ark done. I can start implementing Dusk into the Clone Wars story that we all know and love, while also adding in the comics and other canon clone wars media. I might just wait until The Tales of the Jedi Order comes out though, as there are early Clone Wars scenes in there that could be implemented in this story if I see them. Anyway, now you guys know how Orion lost his arm, and I hopefully wrote out the execution as to how he lost it well. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and until I decide to upload again. :)
P.S. And before anyone asks how Orion could tell the parts of the story he wasn't there for, he didn't tell those parts to Obi-Wan. He only said his parts of the story to Kenobi. I just wanted to tell the whole story and let you guys see the whole spectrum.