Chapter 1: Attack of the Clones

Clone Wars Journal Entry 3 – Location: Geonosis

“My first day as a member of the 501st... it was hot, it was sandy, chaotic. Nothing at all like the simulations on Kamino. Of course that's pretty much the way it was for all of us, wasn't it? All that breeding, all those years of training... it doesn't really prepare you for all the screaming or the blood, does it? Frankly I'm still amazed we ever made it through the first hour, never-mind the first day.”

The Republic Cruisers come out of hyperspace and orbits Geonosis’s atmosphere. The clone troopers immediately board the gunships, preparing for their first mission in the field. Among them were the members of Orion Squad, led by Commander Fang. Ghost looked around as he watched many clones board their gunships and take off, heading down to the planet’s surface.

“Isn’t this exciting, Ghost!” Boomstick says as he elbows him, “Our first official mission as proud members of the 501st Legion.”

“Indeed.” Apex added, “What do you expect we’ll encounter down there?”

“From what I heard about Geonosis. It’s populated by giant bug creatures. Bugs who have sided with the Separatists, meaning they’re our enemy too.” Ghost replied. He and his squad mates finally reach their gunship and board it without hesitation.

The gunship takes off and joins the many others that are heading down to the planet’s surface. Ghost looks away as he was temporarily blinded by Geonosis’s sun. Once his vision has cleared, he could see the entirety of the planet bellow. Everywhere he looked he could see deserts of red sand that stretched as far as the eye could see. He could also see some strange rocky structures towering into the sky.

“You doing alright, Ghost?” Daxter asked.

“This is the first time we’ve been to another planet. It’s nice to see a world of sand and rock instead of water and rain for a change.” Ghost says as he continues to stare out the window.

“While I can understand your curiosity. Don’t forget the reason we’re here, Ghost.” Commander Fang added. “This planet is enemy territory, meaning we have a small disadvantage over the seps here. We came here to rescue the Jedi and if possible, capture the leader of the Confederacy, Count Dooku.”

“Forgive me for speaking out of line, Commander. “ Thunder began, gulping as he hesitantly continued on. “While I do wish the galaxy to be free. A part of me can’t help but hope we fail in capturing Dooku, only so we clones have a proper chance to fight in the war.”

The other clones all stare at Thunder as he speaks his mind. Thunder was sweating, fearing he hit a nerve with his words. To his surprise though, Commander Fang started laughing. Ghost and the other clones all turned their head to their commanding officer, curious as to what he found funny about this.

“I completely understand your feelings, Thunder. In fact, I sympathise with you. We clones were bred to fight against the CIS. It is something we all trained for. If the war ends just as quickly as it begins, then what purpose do we have? Farming? Guard Duty?… No! We are soldiers, fighting is all we know.” The clones listen carefully to Fangs words. All of them thinking the same thing. If there was no war, what would the purpose for existing be? And also…What would become of them once the Clone Wars was over?

All thoughts were suddenly silenced as the gunship was nearing a temporary Republic outpost. X-Ray turns to his fellow squad members. “What do you think our first mission will be?”

“Hopefully we’ll be assisting in the rescue of the Jedi. Blow up some Clankers, put all we’ve learned to the test. Right sir?” Boomstick asked excitedly.

Unfortunately for Boomstick, he and his fellow squad member got the most boring of first assignments. Guard duty. Boomstick sat in the command centre, resting his head on his left hand, grunting in boredom.

“So much for blowing up Clankers.” X-Ray spoke up.

“This is soooo boring!” Boomstick vented in frustration. All the other clone squads went on ahead to the Geonosion arena to rescue the Jedi. While Orion Squad and a detachment of 501st clones were ordered to stay behind and guard their outpost, and keep an eye out for a separatist attack.

Daxter was using his fusion cutter to repair healing and ammo droid that were dented and full of sand, due to prolonged exposure to Geonosis’s atmosphere. Apex was using his sniper scope to try and spot any approaching droids in the area, but the layout was quiet. Until suddenly spots a hallfire droid in the distance.

“Commander, I see something in the distance!”

Commander Fang grabbed his binoculars and spots the tank. He then notices that two engineer B1 Battle Droids were making repairs to it. They were also accompanied by a B2 Super Battle Droid acting as their guard.

“Droid scouts have been detected in the area. We must take them out before they can report our position.” Fang says. He then order all the troops to line up, including the members of Orion Squad. Fang paces the floor as he speaks to them.

“Listen up men. You’re simulation days are over, troopers. This is a real battle. And if you mess up you’ll really end up in a world of pain. As Apex pointed out, some droid activity has been reported in the area. I’m gonna need a volunteer to get out there and secure the area. Anyone?” Fang asked.

Ghost was the first to raise his hand. “I will do it, sir!”

“Good man. Scout out the area and take out those droids. The rest of us will join you as soon as the other squads return with the Jedi” Fang concluded.

Ghost grabs his rifle and heads out into the rocky desert. He makes his way over to the area where the droid scouts are. They are stationed near a downed Techno Union ship. Ghost hides behind some rocks as he spies on the droids.

“So these are the famous Trade Federation Battle Droids I’ve heard so much about. They don’t look so tough. Then again, that Super Battle Droid may prove to be much of a challenge given how there’s little I know of what these Droids are capable of. I better take him out first before going after the B1’s.” Ghost thought to himself as he came up with a plan of attack. He then overhears the droids talking to one another as they were repairing the tank.

“Did you hear about the jedi fighting in the arena?” The first Engineer asks the second one.

“Yeah. I heard there were 212 of them, all to rescue 1. Seems pretty flawed sending that many Jedi here to save one” Engineer two replied.

The Super Battle Droid then speaks up, causing both engineer droids to look up at him. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the Jedi went extinct because of their rash decisions.”

“Good point.” Engineer one added. “The Jedi will never win this war, because there’s very few of them and an infinite number of us.”

“Unless they have an army of infinite numbers of their own.” Engineer two added.

“Impossible.” The Super Battle Droid spoke up. “The odds of them acquiring an army of that magnitude in less than a day are three hundred million to one.”

“Never tell me the odds!” Ghost spoke up as he came out of cover and shot down one of the Engineer droids. “Damn, I missed. I was aiming for the big one!”

“Unidentified enemy detected! Blast him! The Super Battle Droid ordered.

“Roger roger.” The engineer replied as he pulled out his shotgun and started shooting at Ghost.

The Super Battle Droid activated it’s wrist mounted blasters and open fired on him. Ghost ducted behind cover again and started shooting back. He then guns down the Super Battle Droid with little effort. “Huh? Guess they weren’t so tough after all.”

The engineer droid quickly pulled out a commlink and attempted to contact his superiors. “mayday, mayday! We are under attack by a-“ The droid sentence was cut off by Ghost who blasted the droids head off. Once the brief exchange of blaster fire was over, Ghost contacted Fang using a built in communicator in his helmet.

“Commander Fang, the droid scouts have been destroyed.”

“Nice work, Ghost. Let’s hope those scouts didn’t get word back to their army. Now, finish off that damaged hallfire droid, using your thermal detonators.” Fang ordered and hung up.

Ghost complied and pulled out a couple grenades. He throws them at the hallfire droid and blows it up. Fang and the others see the explosion from their outpost. Fang however spots an army of droids approaching from a distance with his binoculars.

“We’ve got company! The Droid Army is heading this way. We’ve gotta hold down the fort until reinforcements-.”

He was then cut off by the sounds of over a dozen gunships flying over them to meet the approaching Droid army. Already there’s a huge barrage of blaster fire from both sides. Some gunships were dropping off AT-TE Walkers for the clones to use against the Droids Spider Walkers. Fang was at a loss for words over the convenient timing of the reinforcements. “…Arrive?” That was all he could say in response.

“Change of plan, troopers. We must assist the others against the Droids. This is it men, our first battle. Let’s show the Jedi that we clones are the finest soldiers in the galaxy. Let’s move em out!” He orders with a shout.

All the clones leave their outpost and all head towards the direction of the downed Techno Union ship. Ghost re-joins the rest of his squad as the rest of the clones all charge into battle.

“You did great out there, Ghost. How’s it feel to kill your first Clanker?” Daxter Apex asked him.

“It felt great.” Ghost replied. “But it looks like the rest of you will be getting your shot soon.”

Commander Fang then approaches them. “That’s putting it mildly. Listen up boys, I have a couple of tasks for you all to do. Daxter, I need you to use deploy your ammo dispenser unit to any troops who are running low. X-Ray, your job is to provide medical attention to any injured clones.”

“Yes Sir!” Daxter and X-Ray replied and ran off to do their assigned tasks. Fang then noticed a couple of Spider Walkers approaching their position.

“The CIS have sent in a column of Spider Walkers. Boomstick, take your rocket launcher and give one of those spiders a taste of some heavy fire.” Fag orders as he points at the approaching spider walkers.

“With pleasure, sir. Finally I get to blow something up!” Boomstick picks up his rocket launcher and charges towards the approaching walkers.

“Wait don’t- Idiot didn’t let me finish my sentence. Ghost, can you drive an AT-TE?” He asks him.

“Only during simulations, sir. But I think I have the controls down.” Ghost replied.

“Good. Get into the AT-TE and help Boomstick take one of those walkers down, before they do some serious damage.”

Ghost salutes Fang and heads in the direction of the nearest AT-TE Walker. Ghost enters the cockpit and begins controlling it. “Ok Ghost, remember your training. Don’t put too much pressure on the throttle, otherwise the legs will give way and fall over… And this trigger is to fire the cannons.” He thought to himself as he slowly approaches the nearest Spider Walker. He then fires it’s cannons at it, causing serious damage to the walker. The walker then begins firing its top and bottom lasers at him, damaging the AT-TE. “Boomstick where are you?! I’m taking a lot of hits here!”

“Hang in there, brother. I’ve got your back!” Boomstick replied as he approaches the damaged Spider Walker. He lines up his rocket launcher and aims for its eye. “Eat this you mechanised arachnid!” He then fires his rocket launcher at the walkers eye. That blast finishes it off for good as it explodes on impact. It’s legs fall to the ground, crushing any droids standing underneath it.

“Nice work boys.” Fang complimented. 

“We got bugs!” Thunder warned and pointed upwards. He was then suddenly getting shot at by a Geonosian flying above him. It was holding what looked like a Sith Holocron. Fang then pulls out the minigun attached to his back and aims at the Geonosian. The Geonosian panics and attempts to fly away. Fang however manages to shoot it down, causing it to drop the holocron it was carrying on top of the Techno Union ship.

“Cool gun you got there, Commander.” Apex commented.

“Thanks… Thunder, use your jetpack to fly up there and acquire that holocron.”

Thunder nods and activates his jetpack. He flies to the top of the Techno Union ship and grabs the holocron. He then proceeds to fly back down to Commander Fang.

“Good job.” He takes the holocron from Thunder and hands it to Apex. “Bring this back to Checkpoint Alpha. Try and find what you can on it, who knows what secrets it might hold.” Apex salutes to him and heads back to the outpost. Fang then approaches Thunder again and points over to a cliff bunker on the battlefield. “I’ve got another task for you, Thunder. Some Droids are holed up in that cliff bunker. Get up there and take over their post. It’ll give us a strong vantage point on the battlefield.”

“Yes sir.” Thunder then takes his leave and rushes towards the cliff bunker. He once again activates his jetpack and flies up to the top of it.

Thunder reaches the top of the droids cliff bunker. He lands on the roof of the building and peers in through the open skylight. He sees a bunch of droids hanging out inside. One of the B1’s had yellow patterns on his body. He was ordering the other droids around, giving Thunder the impression that he was in charge. Thunder then pulls out an EMP grenade and throws it up and catches it a couple times.

“Let’s see those Clankers handle this!” he thinks to himself and tosses the grenade into the building. The droids look down at it with a look of confusion. (Or at least they would if they had facial expressions)

“What’s that?” The Droid commander asks. But the realisation kicks in as he sees the grenade beeping, implying that it’ll go off soon. “Uh oh” Was all he had time to muster as the EMP went off, frying their circuits, causing them to shut down and collapse on the floor. Thunder then drops down and starts going through the droids computer systems. He then contacts Fang on his communicator.

“Commander Fang, the cliff bunker is now under Republic control.” He says with pride in his voice.

“Nice work, Thunder. Stay put for now and makes sure the droids don’t retake it. We need you to buy us time until we can find a way to push the droid forces back.” He replied though his voice had a hint of static in it due to how high and far he was from Fang.

“So just sit around here and wait for a better opportunity?” He asked.

“Just until Apex finishes deciphering that holocron. We need you to-“ Fang was suddenly cut off as Thunder turns around in shock at the sound of something rolling towards him. He was then shocked to see that the sound came from a Droideka that just entered the bunker. It then changed out of its ball form and stood before him.

“Oh great, a Droideka. I was hoping I wouldn’t run into one of them alone.” He then quickly pulls out his blaster pistol and starts shooting it. The Droideka however activates it’s forcefield to protect itself. In then proceeds to fire its rapid fire lasers at him. Thunder quickly ignites his jetpack and flies out the skylight.

He catches his breath as he lands on the roof. “Shield generators. Why did they give them shield generators?” He then peeks back inside again expecting the Droideka to still be there, except it was gone. “What the? Where’d it go?” His answers were suddenly answered as he heard the Droideka firing at some clones on the edge of the cliff. “Those men are in trouble. I’ve gotta help them!”

The clones fire everything they’ve got at the Droideka, but all their blaster bolts bounce off its forcefield. It then manages to gun down some of the clones leaving only a few remaining. As the Droideka was about to finish them off, Thunder swoops in from above and fires his EMP launcher at it. The blast hits the shield causing the Droideka to short circuit and disable its shield.

“Hey Ugly, come and get some!” He shouts out as he swoops in and kicks the Droideka, causing it to roll off the side of the cliff and fall to its destruction. Thunder then proceeds to help up the clone lying on the floor. “You ok, brother?”

“Yeah. Thanks for the assist, Jet Trooper” The clone replied as he stood back up.

“The names Thunder, and you’re welcome.” Listen, I need you lot to help me defend this post, Commanders orders.”

“That’s actually why we came, sir. The Commander figured you could use some back up.” The clone on his right said in response.

“I see. Well then let’s get back to it men”

“Yes sir!” They said in unison and headed inside the bunker. Thunder then approaches the dead clones laying on the ground and hangs his head.

“ Keep it together, Thunder. In wars like this you need to get used to seeing your brothers die like this. I just pray I never see the day any of my brothers get cut down by blaster fire.” He then gets up and walks back to the bunker to join the other clones already inside.

Back on the battlefield. The clone forces start exponentially growing, causing the droids numbers to drop significantly faster. Ghost was on the field shooting as many droids as he could. Daxter was with him too, repairing the damage dealt to the AT-TE. X-Ray was taking care of injured clones in the wreckage of the Techno Union ship. Apex was on top of the ship sniping droids. And Boomstick was blowing up more spider walkers with his rocket launcher.

“Things seem to be going well for us, don’t you think?” Daxter asks his brothers over through their communicators.

“Apart from the occasional casualties we’ve sustained, I guess so.” X-Ray replies as he’s still tending to the wounded. Spraying them with his bacta gun.

“Commander Fang, have you formulated a plan on pushing back the droids yet?” Ghost asks as he’s still shooting the droids.

“Affirmative. We have to push the CIS back by taking over their bunker to the north of here.”

Ghost and the other Orion Squad members look north and see a big stronghold in the distance. They were unsettles at the large number of droids coming out of it.

“But sir, there’s way too many droids for me and my squad to handle alone. We need reinforcements if we’re able to pull off something this big.” Ghost pointed out. He then sees a missile heading towards Apex’s location and panics. “APEX, WATCH OUT!”

Apex quickly jumps out the way but ends up falling off the Techno Union ship. He hits the ground hard with a deafening thud and cries out in pain as his legs had shattered upon impact.

“Ahhhhh! My legs, I think they’re broken!” It took all of his strength to muster those words ads he clings to his broken legs.

“X-Ray! We got a man down!” Ghost called out to his brother.

“I’ll get him!” Boomstick shouts out as he charges towards Apex. A bunch of B1 Battle Droids stand in hi way, but Boomstick take them out by smacking them with his rocket launcher. He then grabs Apex and proceeds to drag him back to the Techno Union ship. Boomstick however suddenly gets shot at by three Super Battle Droids closing in on him.

“Boomstick, get outta there!” Ghost cried out. Boomstick was about to pull out his blaster pistol and shoot them. But he was shocked to see that all three super battle droids has been cut in half by something hot. As if something rapidly cut through them like a blowtorch.

Ghost and the others then see that it was the work of a purple lightsaber that came out of nowhere. The lightsaber then started flying backwards. They look behind them and were shocked to see that the lightsaber was thrown by the Jedi Master, Mace Windu. Commander Fang was shocked by this and immediately stood at attention in his presence.

“General Windu. We are most grateful for your help sir” Fang says as he salutes him. Ghost and the others were shocked to see an actual Jedi with their own eyes standing before them.

“So that’s a Jedi… Well, their reputation as warriors certainly proceeds them.” Ghost thought to himself.

“Indeed Commander. We appreciate you clones support at the arena.” Mace says as he looks over at Boomstick who was carrying Apex to where X-Ray was. “What’s the situation here?”

“The additional reinforcements you brough here have been a big help in driving of the seps. But in order for us to drive them off planet completely, we have to take over their stronghold to the north.” Fang points out.

“I understand. I will take a squad of clones and deal with that myself. You make sure your men are safe.”

Ghost, Boomstick and Daxter approach Fang and Mace. Not soon afterwards, Thunder lands beside them and stands before the Master Jedi.

“Cliff Bunker is secure, Sir” thunder tells Fang. He then see’s Mace Window and immediately stands at attention. “General Windu!”

“At ease, soldier.” Mace says as he raises his hand.

“General Windu, allow me to introduce you to the members of my Orion Squad. This is Ghost, my second in command. Daxter is our engineer. Boomstick is our demolitions expert. Thunder is our Jet Trooper. The trooper you saved was Apex, he’s our marksman and scout. And the trooper reviving him is X-Ray, our medical officer and scientist.” The clones all salute him as their names were being called out. “I suggest you take them with you. You won’t find a more loyal and highly skilled squad of troopers anywhere.”

Mace Windu looks each of them over and was intrigued by them as  they stood out from the regular clones. “Good to hear that. Very well Orion Squad, let us move out at once, we’ve got a battle to win here.” Mace instructed.

“Sir, yes sir!” The clones replied with another salute. Ghost then turns and looks at Apex currently undergoing medical care by X-Ray. “Will Apex be alright, Commander?”

“He’s your brother, Ghost. He won’t go down that easily, not when there’s so much more out there for you lot to see. Now stop your worrying and follow General Windu’s orders.” Fang instructed.

Ghost nods and he, Daxter, Boomstick and Thunder go with Mace Windu to the north bunker.

Mace Windu leads Orion Squad to the droid stronghold. Ghost watches in amassment as Mace cuts down so many battle droids without breaking a sweat. Ghost has to admit, the Jedi are very impressive, Mace in particular. From what he heard about the Jedi Council members; Mace is considered one of the most highly skilled. This then causes him to think back on what one of the clones meaning the AT-TE with him said. Telling him that Mace Windu was the one who killed Jango Fett, beheading him with his lightsaber. Ghost was hesitant to bring up the subject with the Jedi Master. But eventually curiosity got the better of him and he spoke up.

“General Windu. Forgive me for bringing this up when we’re in the middle of a mission… But, is it true that you killed Jango Fett?” Ghost asked.

This causes Mace and the other clones to halt their assault. They all stared at Ghost in shock, while Mace simply closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Yes… I did.” Was all Mace said in response. After a long pause he looks back at Ghost. “I understand some of you may have mixed opinions on the matter. But do not forget the mission, taking over this stronghold is our top priority. Keep moving.” Mace then continues onwards towards the stronghold.

The members of Orion Squad all look at each other for a brief moment. But they shook it off and followed their Jedi general. Ghost followed but kept thinking in the back of his mind if Mace even cared. Did Mace kill Jango in self-defence? Or did he do it simply because he can? Ghost couldn’t help but feel divided about the Jedi upon learning this news. Were all Jedi like this, or was it only Windu? He decided to worry about that later and focus on the mission instead.

Mace Windu and Orion Squad finally arrive at the droid stronghold. Mace signals the clones to follow his lead as they stealthily infiltrated the droid base. They snuck past a couple Geonosion guards and went through the first door on the left. Once through They were surprised to see a droid factory underneath their feet through an observation deck.

“Holy smokes! That’s a lotta Clankers.” Boomstick commented.

“Well no wonder there were so many Droids in the area all of a sudden. They’re being manufactured underground right here.” Thunder added.

“If they finish building these Droids, they’ll overwhelm us with their ever growing numbers… We have to destroy this factory.” Mace says. He then turns to Daxter. “Daxter, do you have any suggestions?” He asked.

“Well, we could blow up the factory with the detpacks I brought with me. But I only have five of them. And to destroy this factory I’ll need three times that many…Unless.” Daxter then starts going through the computer on the side, looking through the factory schematics.

“You got something?” Ghost asks.

“According to these schematics, this underground factory is being held together by those four giant pillars.” He points to the pillars in the corners of the factory. The pillars were holding up the roof above them. “We blow those pillars; the roof will cave in and the whole factory will be buried.”

“That sounds like a good plan. The only problem is the factory is crawling with Battle Droids and Geonosions. The moment we head down there, they’ll be on us like moths to a flame.” Ghost points out.

“I will handle the Droids. You four just focus on setting the charges for those pillars.” Mace suggested. Ghost and the other clones briefly look at each other and nod in agreement. Mace then takes this as a sign and leaps out the decks window, igniting his lightsaber in mid-air.

“Wow, I wish I could jump like that.” Boomstick says to himself.

Daxter then begins handing out detpacks, one for each of his teammates. “Once you set the charge, push the blue button. That will connect it to my detonator. Once were all out safely, I will detonate the bombs and the whole factory will be buried.”

“What happens if we push the red button?” Thunder asks.

“Then the detpacks will detonate in 10 seconds, and that’s nowhere near enough time for us to bail. So whatever you do, don’t push the red button.” Daxter warned.

“Got it.” Ghost says as he takes the last detpack. He then turns to Boomstick and Thunder. “Good luck boys. Let’s make it back to Apex, X-Ray and the Commander in one piece, alright.” The other clones nod and all leave the observation deck to carry out their missions.

“Remember guys. It’s the BLUE button, NOT the red one!” Daxter shouts out to them.

Thunder has no problem getting to the far left pillar. He just simply ignited his jetpack and flew over all the conveyor belts bellow. This wasn’t so hard, he thought to himself. Then suddenly karma manages to keep up with him, as his jetpack begins to run out of fuel. Causing him to start plummeting to one of the massive cauldrons on molten metal below him.

“No, no, no, NOOOOO!” Thunder screamed as he tried to reignite his jetpack, but with no luck. He then closes his eyes as he drew closer to the cauldron.

However he suddenly stopped in mid-air inches away from his gruesome demise. He opens his eyes in confusion, wondering how he is still alive. He looks over at his jetpack but was surprised to see that it was still out of fuel. He then starts slowly moving away from the cauldron and is gently placed down on one of the railings in the factory. Thunder slowly gets up and looks back to see what that was. He then sees that he was saved by Mace Windu who moved him to safety using the force. Thunder gives him a salute as a way of saying thank you. Mace salutes him back and leaps over to another part of the factory, cutting up Droids and Geonosians.

Thunder regained his composure and ran over to the pillar. Once he made it he noticed that these pillars were no ordinary pillars. It had a sign on it that read “Danger, Rhydonium fuel cylinders” on it.

“Rhydonium! That’s not good.” He then quickly contacts his brothers. “Ghost, Dax, Boomstick, do you copy?”

He hears a faint static which was soon followed by the voice of Ghost. “We copy, Thunder. What’s wrong? He asked.

“These pillars we’re blowing up aren’t pillars. The giant Rhydonium fuel cells!” He warns them.

“Rhydonium?! Isn’t that the kind of fuel used to power hyperdrive generators?” Boomstick asked shocked and confused.

“It is. A whole barrel of that stuff can charge a star cruiser for 10 thousand lightyears. If we blow those cylinders, we’ll not only destroy the factory. We’ll probably annihilate this entire area! This complicates the plan” Daxter replied.

“This changes nothing. Even if the fireball will be way bigger than expected, we cannot allow the CIS to mass produce more Battle Droids. We have to see this mission through to the end.” Ghost insisted.

They then cut the connection. Thunder shakes it off and places the detpack on the pillar. He presses the blue button, remotely connecting it to Daxter’s detonator.  He then pulls out an extra fuel bottle from his utility belt and pours it into his jetpack.

Boomstick has no problem reaching the far right pillar and places the detpack like it was nothing. The real problem however was the welcoming committee heading towards him.

“Great, more bugs.” He groaned. He pulls out his blaster pistol and begins open firing on the approaching Geonosians. One Geonosion lands behind him and grabs him from behind. “Hey, get you gross hands off of my armour. I just had this thing cleaned”. He then elbows the Geonosion in the stomach, causing it to stumble backwards and fall backwards off the railing and into the cauldrons.

“Yikes. I’m not in the mood for roasted bug” He joked to himself. Only to realise that he was by himself. “Nobody’s here when I’m funny.

He then turns his attention to the detpack and presses the blue button, linking his to Daxter too.

“Done and done. Now let’s get outta here before this place blows.” He says to himself once again. He then quickly makes a break for the observation deck.

Ghost and Daxter were the only ones who hadn’t set their detpacks yet. Both their pillars were closer to their way out. They decide to take a shortcut on one of the conveyor belts, trying their hardest not to get killed by the machinery. In the distance Ghost could see Mace Windu on the higher levels, carving through row after row of Geonosians and Battle Droids, drawing them all to him.

Ghost regained focus as he was nearing a row of huge axe blades chopping up pieces of metal. He quickly jumps onto the next conveyor and the one after it until he reaches the pillar. He sets the detpack and pushes the blue button.

Daxter does the same on the opposite end. However he suddenly gets shot at by a pair of B1 Battle droids. “Hey, watch where you’re shooting. Do you wanna blow us all to smithereens?!” He shouts at them. The two Battle Droids look at each other in confusion, trying to process what he just said. Daxter then blasts them with his shotgun, before pressing the blue button on his charge. “That was rhetorical. Dumb Clankers” he says as he shakes his head.

All four clones meet up at the observation deck. Daxter then pulls out his detonator and readies himself to blow the place. Ghost however looks back at Mace Windu who was still preoccupied with the Geonosians and Droids.

“Ok all set. Once we all get out of here, I’ll blow this place-“ He then sees Ghost rushing back into the factory. “Ghost wait! Where you going?”

“The Generals still inside. We can’t leave him. Cover me!” He orders as he makes his way over to where Mace was.

Mace Windu was fighting a huge gathering of Super Battle Droids and Geonosians single handed. While his free hand was mostly used for blasting them backwards with the force. Ghost was amazed by Windu’s performance in battle. The way he swings his lightsaber, deflecting blaster bolts back at the droids with such speed and precision. The way he carves through a row of droids like it was nothing, and then forcing them at other droids. His skills both impressed and frightened Ghost. It’s a good thing he was on their side.

A Super Battle Droid then manages to shoot Mace’s lightsaber out of his hand, leaving him defenceless. Or so they thought. Without hesitation, Mace lashes out with the force, sending the Super Battle Droids off the railing and plummeting to their doom. Though he was not quick enough to defend himself from an approaching miniature crab droid.

As Mace was about to attack it with the force. He sees Ghost leaping onto the droids back. The crab droid tries to shake him off, but Ghost held a firm grip. He then pulls out Mace’s discarded lightsaber that he picked up, ignites it and thrusts the blade into the droids back, killing it for good. Once the droid was down, Ghost stood face to face with Mace and returns his lightsaber.

“A lightsaber sure comes in handy against these Droids. But this belongs to you, General.” Ghost says as he hands it back to him. Mace takes back his lightsaber and smiles at him.

“Thank you. You fought valiantly, soldier. Very impressive skills you got there. I guess Fang wasn’t exaggerating over you and your squads skills.” He says as he places his lightsaber back in his belt. “What’s the situation with the explosive charges?” He asked.

“Explosives are primed and ready to go sir. But, we’ve learned that these pillars are actually fuel cells full of Rhydonium.” Ghost replied.

“I see… Then we have to make sure the troops are evacuated before we detonate them. Let us focus on getting out of here first.” Mace says and leaps towards the exit. Ghost complies and heads for the exit as well.

Once Mace and Orion Squad exit the factory, they make their way back to Checkpoint Alpha where all the remaining clones are stationed. Ghost looked around and sees that many clones have been injured from the battle as a whole. Apex was lying in a bed with X-Ray watching over him. He had metal crutches attached to his legs to keep them stable as he’s resting. Commander Fang sees them approaching and immediately stands up to address them.

“Welcome back General, Orion Squad. Did you do it?” He asks.

“There’s gonna be a change in plans, Commander.” Mace replies. “Have all troopers prepare to evacuate Geonosis immediately.”

“Yes sir! You heard him men, let’s get moving.” Fang orders. The men obey and prepare to leave the planet.

As the men were prepping to leave. Mace walked over to where Ghost and his team were. They were sitting with Apex and X-Ray. As soon as they see him, the clones stand up and salute him.

“At ease soldiers… I just wanted to say thank you for the assist back in the factory. You troopers have great potential, and the Republic could use more clones like you.” He then turns to Ghost. “Earlier you asked me about the Bounty Hunter, Jango Fett. The one I killed… I understand that he may be important to you, given he is the reason for you clones existence. I don’t know what you were told about him, but Jango Fett was in league with Count Dooku, the leader of the CIS. Fett may’ve helped train you, but in the end he was a Bounty Hunter, someone who only helps those who pay him the most credits. You men are nothing like him. You are born different. When I saw you fight out there, You had the skills of Jango Fett… But the heart of a Jedi, And that is why I believe with your help, this war is as good as ours.” He tells each of them directly.

Ghost and the others listened closely to Windu’s explanation on killing the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter. Some of them had mixed feeling on this. But Ghost had a somewhat understanding on why he did it. He chose not to hold a grudge against the Jedi for his actions, given how he hardly knew about Jango as the only time he ever saw him was during their simulation on Kamino.

Mace then takes his leave and boards one of the gunships. Eventually Ghost and the others board a gunship with Fang and leave Geonosis. Once they were far enough Ghost turned to Daxter and nods to him, telling him to detonate the bombs. Daxter nods back and hits the button.

All the clones were shocked at the massive explosion that erupted underneath the droid stronghold. The explosion was no ordinary one. Flames of a variety of different colours, like an rainbow explosion. The mixed colours then began to merge forming a bright blinding light. The light quickly shrunk away, only to unleash a massive shockwave of rainbow lights. The shockwave causes some of the gunships to lose altitude for a moment, but all gunships were just out of rang of the blast radius.

“Well. Now we know what over a megaton of Rhydonium exploding looks like” Daxter commented.

“Whoa! Now that’s an explosion” Boomstick added.

“As dangerous as it is, you can’t deny how pretty it looks with all those colours. “Ghost said as he looks back on the explosion. The result of which have left a huge crater with an artificial aurora borealis in the skies above it.

“I once heard a rumour that the beginning of our universe was created with an explosion like this one. Except it was a hundred times bigger.” X-Ray commented.

“Ha, yeah right. Explosions destroy things, not create things. Get your facts right, X-Ray.” Boomstick boasted leaving X-Ray annoyed.

“There’s still one thing I don’t get though.” Ghost interrupted, drawing the attention of his brothers. “What was all that Rhydonium for? It can’t be to power the Battle Droids.”

“Maybe it was fuel for their star ships?” Thunder added.

“No, There was way too much of it for even a fleet of star ships. With that much fuel they could power a planet sized space station for decades on end.” Ghost replied in a serious tone.

Commander Fang then approaches the Orion Squad and interrupts their discussion. “Whatever it was I doubt it’s your space station theory. There’s no way the CIS who only just emerged would have something like that without our notice.”

“Good point, sir. Apex added. As he moves he lets out a small grunt of pain, forgetting that both his legs were broken.

“Stay still, Apex. Your still in recovery.” X-Ray says while holding him down.

“We’ll have Apex back in fighting shape once we reach Coruscant. They have medical technology that’ll heal those legs in only a few days… As for the rest of you. Great work out there on the battlefield. For a bunch of rookies, you fought like Commando’s.” Fang complimented. “Keep in mind though that this is only the beginning of the Clone Wars. There will be many more battles like this one. Some may be more dangerous than others… Some of you may not even survive all the way to the end. But I have faith in this squad, in the Jedi, and in the Republic. So when the going gets tough, can the Republic count on your help?” He asks his squad members.

Ghost then stands up and Salutes him. “The Galaxy can count on us, sir.”

Fang then removes his helmet and reveals his face to the other for the first time. Like all clones he shared the same face. The only difference was that he had heterochronic eyes. His left eye blue while his right was red. He also had short red hair and a wolf tattoo over his face. It lined up with his eye perfectly, making it look like his eye is also the wolfs eye. Fang smiles at Ghost and salutes him back.

Months have passed since the battle of Geonosis. The Clone Wars raged on through the galaxy. The Orion Squad were sent on many missions for the republic. From the liberation of Ryloth, to the invasion of Umbara. Ghost and his squad fought through every mission with every ounce of determination in them.

In every mission they went on, they were always led by a Jedi General. Working alongside famous Jedi such as Anakin Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, Ashoka Tano, Plo Koon and many more. While some missions ended in success, others would end in failure, forcing him and his brothers to retreat. But even in failure they always came out unscathed. (aside from some occasional injuries, but nothing X-Ray can’t fix)

As The Clone Wars was entering its second year. Orion Squad and every other clone in the Grand Army of the Republic gained new weapons, new ships and new sets of gen 2 clone armour.

The members of Orion Squad were currently hanging out in their barracks. They were still wearing their old Gen 1 armour. Ghost was writing down in his journal. Daxter was modifying his backpack. X-Ray and Thunder were helping Apex adjust to his newly healed legs. Boomstick was sitting in his chair polishing his rocket launcher. This is also the first time since Kamino we see them without their helmets on. As the months passed, the clones have altered their appearance to make them stand out amongst their millions of brothers.

Ghost, Daxter and X-Ray still had the same short hair. (Though Daxter dyed his blond), while the other changed theirs. Boomstick was completely bald. Thunder’s was tied back in a small ponytail. And Apex had a bit of a mohawk.

They also had different facial features. Ghost had a small goatee beard. Apex had a little bullseye tattoo on his forehead. Boomstick had a full on beard. Thunder. The rest of them had no facial features whatsoever.

The clones were then interrupted by a voice over an intercom announcing that they report to the new armour fitting centre at once. They were all excited to get their new improved phase 2 armour. All except Ghost who was too focussed on writing in his journal.

“Alright boys, it’s finally time to get our new armour.” Thunder announced.

“Remind me. Are we allowed to customise it anyway we choose?” Boomstick asked.

“Of course we are.” X-Ray answered without hesitation. “It’s part of a new rule the Jedi orchestrated. They say it’s because they want us to embrace individuality instead of thinking in lockstep.” He added.

“I gotta hand it to the Jedi. Some of them actually treat us as actual people, and not as a bunch of disposable clones. They are great leaders to follow behind.” Daxter added.

“Not every Jedi sees as individuals. Like that ruthless Jedi, Pong Krell for example. He only views us as fodder bred in a laboratory… We need to be careful on which Jedi we can trust, and which we cannot.” Ghost says without even looking up from his journal.

The other clones were sceptical over what he said. But they decided not to worry too much about it and they all started making their way to the armour fitting centre. This time it was Apex who stopped and looked back at Ghost who was still writing in his journal.

“Come on Ghost, your always falling behind. Let’s go while those new armours are still shiny.” He calls back to him.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll catch up. Just gotta finish this entry and I’m done.” He says while still writing.

“What are you writing in there anyway?” Apex asked.

“I’ve been documenting out entire journey ever since we left Kamino. I wanted to record every battle we’ve had as a team in this journal. So that one day when we’re all long gone, the whole galaxy will remember what we’ve done for them.” Ghost says as he looks back up at his brother.

Apex nods and leaves the barracks; all the while Ghost continues to write into his Journal.

Clone Wars Journal Entry 4 – Location: Coruscant

“Incredibly, the 501st survived the crucible of Geonosis, emerging battle-hardened, and ready for whatever the war would throw at us.”

To Be Continued