Arran Slarglide

"Motivation is a strong thing that can move even the most weak creatures. In order to motivate we must find motivators. Death, fear, pain, are all motivators. Yet the best motivators are the better things in life. Sometimes that is hard to understand."

-Arran Slarglide

Early Years
Arran Slarglide was a human who grew up on the Coruscant streets when he was a kid. His parents were killed in a speeder accident when he was 12. He later learned from a mobster that they were killed by a car bomb when they were driving to an upper class party. Arran never knew why his parents were killed. The mobster took him in and Arran learned his name to be "Icepick." Arran grew up with Icepick and learned business tricks and how to negotiate.

Arran also learned a bit about weapons and security. Icepick soon taught Arran how to forge I.D. and the tricks of the mob trade. However, Icepick was usually busy with clients or business and barely spent any time with Arran. Arran didn't  have any friends and usually just drew or played with boardgames his mother and father had bought him before he met Icepick. Arran soon got very bored with his games and wandered about the block where he lived daily.

He usually collected bottles that were laying around alleys. Arran kept the older ones but sold the new ones to a man who recycled them. He often made 10 credits a day. Arran soon explained what he was doing to Icepick and Icepick was surprised. Icepick thought it was a fair idea to let Arran make his own money. One day Arran was wandering about with his small pack for collecting bottles. He usually carried a pocketknife and a snack or two around with him. Arran saw a man in front of him withdraw his blaster and aimed it over Arran's head. It fired but Arran ducked and it hit the man behind him that the gunman was aiming for.

Arran found the man dead and ran back to Icepick to report it to him. Icepick concluded it was most likely gang violence. Icepick felt sorry for Arran being traumatized by this event and considered sending him off to live with one of his distant relatives. After consulting Arran he changed his mind. Arran was collecting bottles one day and went home after finding nothing. He waited about 5 hours until getting distressed since Icepick hadn't come home. He contemplated Icepick becoming intoxicated but couldn't imagine that.

Arran woke up the next morning and feared the worst, he packed up his older bottles, some food, water, and some clothing. He walked over to the nighclub Icepick said he had business at and found it crossed off by policetape. He asked an officer what had happened and found that Icepick had been shot and the meeting was a setup by a rival mob family.

Arran lived on the streets for 4 years by selling and trading. When he was old enough he decided to join the Republic. He joined what he believed was a recruitement booth. He would later learn that this was a set up by a man named Ward Fearwave to trick people into joining a false Republic that was mean't to overthrow the real one. Arran quickly became chief of security.

Joining The "Republic"
His first assignment was to track down terrorists who made multiple attempts on a temple Ward owned. He tracked down various leads ranging from restaurants to apartments but could find nothing. Arran proceeded in his hunt with a four man team he had been assigned.

They came across a lead to go take a look at a mandalorian apartement and followed it with great thansk towards the clone who gave it to them. They approached the house with great caution and knocked on the door many times. Eventually they went in, one man triggered a mine and was killed instantly. Another was gravely wounded and died shortly after. Now only one man of the team remained and they continued through the house. Nothing was found in the house.

Arran was in his office the next day when he heard shots below. Four armed men were attacking representatives downstairs. One representative had been shot from behind. Arran's one remaining man ran into the fire and took out two of the men. He was quickly shot but got into cover. Arran contacted backup and shock troopers arrived relatively quickly. Arran later started to get to know the only surviving man of his squad well now. His name was Peter.

Arran began to learn very much about Peter's loyalty towards him and found that he would protect Arran at any cost. Peter and Arran often talked in the Security Office and had very much in common. Peter actually took a shot for Arran on one occasion when an assailant attempted to enter and kill him. The assailant fled and his identity was never revealed. Ward mistook Arran for a brainless servant often and this angered Arran greatly.

Arran confronted Ward once and Ward had him seized and his powers withdrawn for one week. Arran wrote letters about Ward to Jedi to complain of him often but mean't no harm. Arran accidently sparked an uprising in one of his letters and was called to deal with it ironicly. Arran put it to an end very quickly and lied and told them he had accidently miswritten his words.

Ward forgave Arran. However Arran did not and secretly plotted in a secret hall in his house behind a bookcase. An uprising happened a week later and Arran was called on to control it. This time it was at the Senate. The Senate was taken over within a half an hour and most all of Arran's men died. A grenade was tossed up into a booth Arran was standing in and exploding, putting a large piece of shrapnel into his head and putting him in a coma for one week. Arran was found by the enemy and brought to a hospital controlled by them.

They promised him no harm but he heard someone mention torture. He tricked a guard at night to bring him to the messhall. Arran then killed the guard and jumped out a window. He then got on a speeder and was shot multiple times. Arran made it all the way to the Senate building and reported everything to riot troops. He was then taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at an unknown hospital.

Peter quickly came to pick up Arran a few days later. Arran and Peter were at their office when a large blast was heard downstairs. Peter rushed down first and was shot in the arm by a rioter. It seemed the rioters had broken the gate of the temple in hopes to torture and kill Arran. Arran hid until they found his and tortured him. Arran recalled "They had Peter, that wasn't my concern though to be honest.  I was hoping to get out alive.  If I died I would die a terrible and useless death." So Arran secretly messages Ward and he brought shock troops.

The rioters cleared the building and Arran was unharmed. Arran went on to attempt to arrest Shira Validwar but failed miserablly and was almost killed. Shira got away but surprised him the day after by throwing a grenade into his office when he was away. The grenade was no big issue but he was afraid if Shira didn't get him she would get someone else he knew. Arran recieved no trouble from Shira beyond that point. Although he did have a run in with her at a minor skirmish, nothing major happened.

Arran began to doubt Ward again for the second time over the period of half a year. Ward was now turning to execution to keep second time criminals from creating more chaos. He became more and more upset. The last straw came when Ward executed his own soldier for talking back. Arran then organized a protest against this by bringing a dozen of Ward's soldiers to talk to him. Ward met them all with a hailstorm of fire. It seemed Peter had told Ward what was about to happen and Peter referred to it as a "riot." Arran then created a full out war.

Civil War
Arran created a resistance against Ward and on multiple occasions released spies on Ward's temples to spread propaganda against him. Arran had rumors spread and many uprisings were caused by this. Even a supreme military force turned on Ward and attempted to set him temple to blazes and propel grenades into his home. Arran created all this chaos with only a dozen soldiers. Arran began to be a master of deception and war. Arran was offered a chance to meet with the "Astennu Empire" to talk of an alliance to destroy Ward's empire.

On the way to the conference, Arran was mugged and beaten by soldiers and mercenaries hired by Ward. Arran was brought to the center of Felucia and left for dead. He quickly fashion a spear and survived for a day by hiding in the trees. He figured that Ward had replaced Arran at the conference and had already convnced the Astennu Empire that it was an unworthy cause to fight for. So Arran continued to live in the trees with only a spear for two more days. He was eventually helped by a mercenary looking for some target practice.

Arran returned to his home to find that Ward had rigged it with dynamite and explosives. When he opened the door his whole house was blown up with a blast of 13 pounds of dynamite. Arran was put in a coma for half a year and was almost killed for the mercy of it.

The Nova Wars
When Arran awoke it was very dark. In his own words, "It felt like I was dead.  In my mind the explosion happened only a second ago.  I wandered around the hospital for ten minutes until someone started yelling." The nurse who saw him was so surprised she got all staff members. Arran found out quickly all about the Nova Wars and Alexandra Nova. He immediately joined her squad. He was transferred to the small intel force consisting of only half a dozen people.

Arran was extremely bored, so he would write strategies once and a while just to keep his mind sharp. Arran would normally send them to commanders and generals in hopes that they would pay attention to him and get him out of his tiny cubicle. Arran quickly recieved a letter back from General Kessler. He wished to meet him at a tower Alexandra Nova constructed. Arran met Kessler and was told he could be payed large sums of money for his plans. Arran agreed to doing so.

After a month Arran had enough money to start living in a largely famous casino and enjoy all he wanted. He made a large sum of fortune by playing cards. Arran continued to work for Nebula for two months and altogether made 80,000 to 100,000 credits. He began to start his own chain of casinos and restaurants. He began building large hotels and was highly sucessful. His hotel was highly sucessful and began to attract high rollers at card games and betting. He built more and more at exotic locations and he soon put 20,000 credits into a disco nightclub that he named "Studio 54" after a famous club that came before.

He lived a good life for about half a year until multiple assasination attempts were made on his life for creating plans. Slarglide wished to flee into exile but was told not to do so. Alexandra Nova visited Studio 54 one night and asked Arran if he wanted double his money if he would go help plan on the front lines. She said one of his plans had been unsucessful and that he may need to experience combat to understand how to correctly plan. Arran agreed to do so as long as Nova paid a staff to maintain his business.

Arran made it to an invasion a day later equipped with only a small pistol to defend himself. He was terrified for his life and wished to turn back at that point. When he got to the battlefield it was a blur of colors and explosions. The wealthy pioneer in business could do nothing except stand near a fountain surrounded by grenades and blood. He snapped out of whatever he was doing when a soldier shoved him onto the pavement to protect him from gunfire.

He hid in an alley and was forced to stay in cover for half an hour. He found that it was clear to go out afterwards. A soldier escorted him into the heart of the city that was being invaded. Arran was running along the cobbelstone walkway when the soldier guiding him was shot and he fell down. Arran turned around and fired off rounds randomly. His targeted was a teenager with blond hair. He hit the teenager eventually and he fell on the ground. Arran paused to stare for a moment but then continued onwards.

An elite unit eventually found Arran wandering down a street behind enemy lines and guided him towards a bunker that  the militia group in the city was trying to protect. Arran watched as they brutally slaughtered the guards using heavy firing automatic weapons. One militia man came out armed with a cheap rifle and was shot immediately. The military units advanced and left Arran a safe distance away. He watched them throw grenades in the bunker. He heard muffled noises and an explosion.

The elite soldiers motioned for him to come over. He peered in and saw a mess of dead civilians about the bunker. He was disturbed by this and told the soldiers he wished to stay in the bunker. They were puzzled, but left him. Arran bent down and checked to see if anyone survived. He found nobody and went back to the secured part of the city. He met Alexandra Nova and tried to shoot her after witnessing what his plans were being used for. He was secured by a ground of half a dozen men and brought to a room in a tower that Nova had constructed.

They put him in "therapy" (torture) and he was hit over and over again. They demanded he sign papers not to abandon Nebula or make any attempts on anyones life in Nebula. He finally signed the papers. An older soldier guarding the area stood up and attacked the man with the papers. He ripped them in half but was shot instantly. Arran bolted for the door and shot a guard in the chest. He made it down all the stairs and jumped out a lower window. He drove all the way back to Studio 54 and hired some protection.

Working for the Mob
Arran hired a man named "Doc" for protection, in exchange for protection Arran would supply Doc's men with rooms and secret tunnels in the casinos and nightclubs Arran owned. Arran had a large list of coded songs he would play if someone were coming near the area who wasn't wanted. Doc often broke the arms of the person and at times held them by the shoes off the top of the building. Only on rare occasions would he kill the people. Arran was extremely satisfied by the job Doc was doing and often rewarded him by free games of cards.

Doc was shot at one point and had to hide in a secret tunnel under the casino while his men gave him food and water three times a day. Many law enforcement agencies were interested in Slarglide and often came to interrogate him. He lied through his teeth to get them away and it worked every time. Once Doc was around and walking Arran had to hide him more often. Doc's men once accidently gave himself away by standing outside the casino during a Secret Service investigation.

Restaurants
Arran eventually created a restaurant on the second floor of Studio 54 named, "Rick's Oven" operated by a gentleman named Rick. Rick's place grew in popularity and many people came to visit. Shira Validwar, Commander Shox, and even Adam Heart came to visit. Arran took this to his advantage and often had stand-up at Rick's Oven. Rick made a great deal of money and had a great amount of business from the restaurant.



Only one secret tunnel was put in Rick's Oven and often served as a room for stand-up comedians rather than for Doc. Doc and his men always went to Rick's Oven after a long day. Rick's Oven was famous mostly for pizza, breadsticks, chicken, and fries. Alexandra Nova heard the rumors of how sucessful Arran had become and how much Studio 54 had grown and sent a letter to Arran to request a private meeting. Doc and his men surrounded Arran the whole time while he talked to Nova. Nova agreed to stop sending men to bother Arran as long as her men were allowed at Rick's Oven.

And so Arran and Rick had a great deal of business for half a year. Arran went on many travels and met many people. He was known for throwing private parties at Rick's place and having a wide variety of arcade games installed. Studio 54 grew into a city rather than just a nightclub. The size of the hotel on the third floor had to be doubled every two months. Often fights started at Studio 54 but doc would break them up relatively easily.

A gunfight broke out one in a hotel room that was apparently being used as a meeting place between to rivaling coruscant street gangs. Doc lost one man trying to get in. Three casualties were reported on the gangs side. The incident was quickly forgotten. However a month later Studio 54 was blasted with outrageous reviews from the gangs causing business to plummet instantly. Studio 54 never quite recovered. It seemed the only reason people came now was for business meetings and for food. Arran lost the fame he had before and was deeply upset.

Arran and Rick decided to plan to go on an exploration to colonize the Felucia area and make a secure settlement there. Rick would take care of Studio 54 while Arran controlled the settlement. The idea was that Arran would become famed in the papers and Studio 54 would go up in popularity. This idea seemed excellent to Arran and Rick.

The Colony
Arran hired half a dozen leaders and men to protect the colony from droids and animals and a dozen normal people just to populate and start the area off. They group got off on the wrong foot immediately when a guard was insulted by a colonist and the colonists nose was almost broken by a punch the guard threw at him. The colonists were very slow on the way across Felucia and the guards were very rough. Arran continued onwards even after two colonists desserted.

The group went on and on until they found a disturbing site, the two desserters from earlier blasted to pieces by a heavy weapon and chewed by an animal. The group took this as a warning and moved to camp up on a high tree. A guard went down to take watch duty but failed to come back at night. now only 16 people remained out of the 19 that had originally started. Many talked of turning back, but Arran promised to get the group to a safe cleared area. One colonist was tired on the second way and had to be constantly carried.

Arran began to regret his choice to do this. It seemed the guards he hired were silent and were the cloak and dagger sort. The colonists finally made it to the land on the third day and found it was occupied by a small band of pirates. Arran and two guards immediately charged and destroyed and chased off the half a dozen pirates. The group then began to set up defensive positions and schedules as well as jobs. Arran and two guards would patrol the area in the morning and three other guards would patrol in the night. The colonists would chop down trees and create houses.

Everything was going well when two colonists died from a giant rancor attack. Entrenchements were then ordered to be put up all around the settlement. When at five houses and one meeting hall were made everyone stayed inside for most of the week. Only a few tents were put up around the perimeter and the guards would live in those. Soon food was short and hunting parties were organized. The guards created spears for the colonists to defend themselves with while they hunted. All that could be eaten would be rancor meat. It was suprisingly good tasting to the colonists and they enjoyed it with salt.

Arran found one colonist a useful doctor and everything went well for two more weeks. Arran set up a radio and made contact with a nearby base. It seemed it was itself running low on supplies and men to guard it. They could not risk men to deliver supplies to the colony. Arran made this announcement and all the colonists began to worry. Their worries were no more when machinegun nests and a tower were built over the span of three days.

Arran and his most trusted guard (Raven) recieved a complaint from the doctor. It seemed his neighbor hadn't come out of his house for two days. Arran and Raven went in with caution and found the colonist dead. It was a disturbing site. Raven and Arran then recieved a complaint from another colonist. His nephew had gone missing. Arran and Raven searched all around but found nothing. When Arran and Raven went patroling the next day they found him picking berries. It seemed that he had wandered a little to far and there was no foul play.

Arran and Raven made a list of suspects for the murder of the colonist and suspected that the guards did it. They confronted them but couldn't get anything out of them. They were stumped and kept a watchful eye on the colony. Arran and Raven were enjoying some berries picked when a scream was heard in the meeting hall. The colonist who angered the guard earlier as well as two others were standing with rifles next to a dead colonist and guard. Raven shot off some rounds at them but they dove behind some seats. Arran and Raven hit one but were overwhelmed. A fire grenade was thrown and caused the room to explode. The colony was soon on fire.

It seemed the colonists were pirates and an attempt to take over was made. The colony fell in a matter of minutes. Raven was killed by gunfire and only four colonists made it out. Arran and the four colonists sent a distress signal and were picked up by a ship owned by traders nearby. The colony failed and brought no business to Studio 54.

Coming Back
When Arran returned back to Studio 54 he was hated very much by the public. Not only because the colony failed, but because many lives were lost with it. Rick gambled off lots of the clubs money and a shooting had happened when he was gone. Arran talked to Rick to straighten things out but found that he left. Rick simply left a list of ingredients and instructions for making pizza. It seemed when he gambled off the money he was afraid that Doc might have broken his arms. So Rick fled to an unknown location. Doc's men left and Doc moved to a house where he could visit his grandchildren when he wanted.

Arran decided to close the doors of the most legendary nightclub that had lasted for two complete years and had endured conflict after conflict in history. Arran was out of work, out of money, and could only live in the back room of the nightclub. He opened the Studio 54 museum as a tourist attraction a week later. He generated very much interest by putting chairs that famous people sat in out for public display. He also had a small restaurant where Rick's Oven had been. It was in commemoration of how hard Rick worked.

Rick came back a month later with all the money he had taken and returned it to Arran. Arran only accepted half of the money and wished for Rick to open his restaurant again. Rick refused this offer very honestly and apologized to Arran about the gambling issue once again. Rick decided to move once again to an unknown location and Arran never saw Rick again. The Studio 54 nighclub museum was open one night for one day only to recreate the nostalgia that was created a year before.

Arran was in his office when a man stormed in with a gun and pointed it to his face. He demanded he come with him or he would blow his head off. Arran obeyed and went with him. There were four men outside and they blindfolded him. About an hour later they were at an abandoned warehouse. They wanted Arran to give them the plans he had designed during the Nova Wars. Arran recognized them at that moment as soldiers from "War Eagle" apparently Nebula was still using the tactics and they wanted to crack them.

Arran gave them false information and being true to their word, set him free. He wandered back to the museum and had some chicken. He contacted Alexandra Nova as soon as he saw her. The conversation was long and detailed. Nova told Arran of what War Eagle was planning and why they wanted the plans. As she put it, they were lauching a major attack on Dark Nebula Town and wanted to gather all they knew about Nebula for defense. Alexandra then told Arran that she wished for him to work back in Nebula.

Working As a Spy
Arran was dropped off near a large hosue belonging to Adam Heart, the head of War Eagle. Two guards found Arran and Arran admitted full surrender. He said he wished for political asylum. They left him talk to Adam over tea. It was a long interesting conversation.

"You are well aware that you caused us more troops that I can count during the Nova Wars?" Said Adam,

"I should execute you."

"I would prefer it if you wouldn't. I have some rather important things to tell you."

"I'll listen..."

"I just sold Nebula a plan for 10,000 credits, I want to sell it to you for only half price."

"I have no such money."

"These are rather expensive tea cups, what planet were they imported from?"

"I can only pay you 2,000 for the plans."

"Deal, and I wish to work for you as well.  Negotiations went sour with Nebula and I know some things I shouldn't."

"Thats great for me."

"Never state your thoughts out loud, it damages your reputation."

"I'll keep that in mind, Mr.Slarglide. Your room will be given to you, and join our squad."

"I appreciate it."

And with that Arran left the room. He was escorted to an unusually barren room. Arran heard no footsteps of the guard who brought him hear. So he had to assume he was guarding him. Arran coughed and hacked as realistically as he could. Finally the guard came in. He asked if Arran needed any coughdrops. Arran replied, "Yes, I would appreciate it." And the gentleman left. Arran wandered out of his room and over to a room that was labeled for meetings. He heard nothing. He knocked on the door.

Adam opened it. Arran told him he was having a hard time sleeping and he would like to present his plans at the moment. Adam agreed.

"Good evening to all of you, I'm glad I could finally meet the great Heart family." Arran said.

"Indeed.  It is a pleasure to meet you. We admire your tactics. It is a tragedy you did not come to us first instead of that witch." Said Adam's sister.

"Yes, Mr.Slarglide is a proper gentleman as you can see from his appearance. I once visited your nightclub when you were not there." Said Adam.

"Interesting, nice to meet you, I can see your Raptor Heart." Arran shook Raptor's hand.

"Yes, I am."

"Now lets get to talking, what do you have to say?" Adam said in a dull tone.

"Well, I ask you this, why should Nebula only have one squad?"

The Hearts looked at each other.

"Why not have, oh, I don't know, some Marines?"

They gasped, "How is that possible!" Said Katy, "They're already huge!"

"Don't worry, it's just a bunch of randomly picked soldiers."

"They already have fifty in training right now. They're brainwashed soldiers, they don't think.  You should probably build up your army before making any move against them."

"But then the Marines would get stronger!" Raptor said.

"I don't know anything else except for the location of the training camp. I need to get to my room now, thank you."

Arran left and heard nothing from the Hearts. He knew he was a terrible actor and felt that the Hearts were the dumbest most gullible people he had ever met. He found his guard had been searching all over for him. Arran told him that he couldn't sleep and he was hungry. The guard let him in his room again and Arran stayed up communicating with Nebula commanders and agents for most of the night. Obviously the information he had given to them was fake.

The next day the Hearts wished to know the location of the Marine camp. Arran said he may need a quick minute to gear up and he suggested they take only two or three men. Arran then contacted Nebula and told them prepare the trap for the Hearts. The Hearts ported after Arran to the location and were ambushed by a dozen Nebula soldier with heavy weapons. The Hearts were easily chased off.

Arran repeated these actions on a few occasions. He quickly gained the trust of many squad and was promoted to commander often. He recived many squad plans and stransferred them back to Nebula.

Working for Nebula Again
Arran recieved an offer to be head of security at Dark Nebula Town. He agreed and was satisfied with his job. He caught many assasins but it was no particular challenge to catch them. Arrans main objective was to catch Czar Hawkins. Czar Hawkins was labeled as a spy and a trespasser and Arran often admired the job he did. One of Arran's men caught him eventually and he was locked up. Czar Hawkin screamed at Arran for a little under half an hour until Arrans shift for guard was over.

Czar took the next man to his advantage and escaped. Czar was then caught one time after another and was rather good at escaping. Arran was almost fired on numerous occasions for letting him go. Alexandra Nova wanted to know, "Out of the whole time I've known you, this is your issue?" Arran found it tricky to keep up with Hawk and eventually quit.

Arran went back to his museum to find that with its lack of operation it had been forgotten. He closed Studio 54 and decided to try to write a history of the Nova Wars. He made about two books about the subject and put many soldiers stories in great detail.

Becoming a Mercenary
Arran found that the demand for a mercenary was high in many squads and that there weren't enough mercenaries to fufill the number wanted. Arran decided that he would like to get into the job of being a mercenary. He went to Nova first and was denied the job fully. He searched in a number of squads and finally came across one willing to accept him. Apparently "Night Phoenix" wanted Arran to make an attempt on an enemies life. Althought there was an issue, they didn't know what this person looked like, they only knew his first name, Raven, and he was a blonde man.

Arran searched through all the people named Raven in all databases. He found three men named Raven. Only two were Blonde. Arran tracked down the first one and told him he wanted to talk to him. He told him that he wished to talk to him about Night Phoenix. The gentleman told him he knew barely anything about Night Phoenix. Arran figured that he wasn't the one he was looking for.

Arran went to the next man but was unsucessful with him as well. He told him he knew plenty of Night Phoenix and that he knew a member of Night Phoenix. Arran asked him what his feelings were on Night Phoenix, he told him he didn't like the squad and he had fought against them a month ago. Arran found the man very polite and interesting. Arran told him what he knew (honestly) about Night Phoenix and how they hired him to kill him.

Raven was surprised and thought very deeply. Arran suggested that Raven reversely hire him to kill someone in Night Phoenix. He agreed to pay Arran to do it and said he wished to come along as well. Arran went to a Night Phoenix meeting armed with a pistol and two automatic weapons in his suite. Raven was waiting outside with an automatic weapon as well and would come in on Arran's signal. Arran made it to the meeting and as soon as everyone was tired he told Raven to come in.

Arran pulled out both weapons and started to fire randomly. Raven came in and gunned three men down. Arran took out two more and then fired off a few more rounds to be safe. All the China and bottles on the table had been broken and nobody remained standing. A guard came into the room and Arran and Raven shot him in a second. The whole room was a mess of broken objects and dead people. Raven and Arran left and Raven paid Arran 500 credits.



Arran soon had a few more jobs for protection and killing afterwards. He gained a small reputation and created an office in now abandoned Studio 54. Arran was hired by Nova a few days later. They wanted him to kill off Adam Heart. Arran got three armed men to follow him into Adam's mansion. Arran and the three men killed four guards and shot a guest of Adam's. They advanced in further and stormed into Adam's room with guns blazing.

Adam ran out to his balcony, avoiding automatic firing weapons. His bed was now only a mess of fluff and the dresser next to it splinters. Adam was shot and fell off his balcony. He landed on a larger balcony below. He ran off and the four men ran downstairs to follow. Adam's mansion was now riddled with bullet holes on two floors. Adam got away but was shot in his arm. Nova didn't pay Arran but gave him 200 credits for killing off the guards. Arran now had more then enough money to create Studio 54 again.

Creating Studio 54 Again
Arran created Studio 54 again and famous members from the past flocked back to come in on the grand reopening. Alexandra Nova was the first to enter and was giving a luxury room. Arran came in contact with Rick and convinced him to reopen his restaurant. Rick agreed and had tons of business. Arran greeted everyone who was there and had two security guards guard the area. Arran choose a mix of classic disco that had been loved previously by members a year before. Among the songs chosen to be played were "Everybody Dance" "Night Fever" and "Popcorn (remix 3)" all were enjoyed by the members.

The dance floor stayed on all night and rooms were available for only 20 credits. Luxury ones were reserved for free for current members. Studio 54 was loved very much. It reached its highest point in popularity in a year. Arran wished Doc was still there and showed some famous members the secret tunnels and told them the stories of them. Alexandra Nova had most of her squad brought. Some War Eagle members attempted to get in but were rejected by the guards.

Eventually it became that only more elegant of fancy members could get in. People booked more and more stays at the hotel and nobody was denied at that point. 600 credits rolled in within 10 minutes. Arran recieved many gifts such as Mandalorian aquariums and even a set of stools for his bar. He thanked the gifters with free rooms and food at Rick's Oven. Eventually violence sparked outside at midnight and the guards were forced to break up two fights between enemy squads. Altogether everything went well. Everyone was tired the next day and the party was well enjoyed by everyone. Many members had to stay the rest of the day because they were in no condition to drive. Alexandra Nova and her men left and thanked Arran (not very common for Nebula.)  Arran raked in 12,000 credits of gifts by the end of the day and 600 credits as payment in gifts. Studio 54 was sucessful for the next 3 months and usually brought in 1,200 dollars a day.

Arran and Rick were very happy, as a result Rick stayed with Arran and worked at and operated Rick's Oven. Eventually Arran and Rick as well as the staff made enough money to retire and did so. Studio 54 was closed after 5 months and was hailed as a historical place the last day. A huge party was thrown and rooms were open for free. Studio 54 still remains today as an emblem of the better things in life. Nothing has ever been touched since the day of closing.

Investing in Stocks
Arran spent his money in Stocks and quickly added 40,000 credits to his large fortune within a month. Arran had barely any competition in stocks and invested 50,000 credits of his money in it. The stock market dropped largely and Arran lost large sums of money. He was also swindled by a scam made by an unoffical stockbroker and recieved 60 fake bonds. Each bond was non exchangable and had 300 credits invested in it. Arran revealed this swindle to the GSS and an attempt was made to take his life since he knew so much about the stockbroker.

Arran altogether lost one fourth of his money in stocks and false bonds but still had enough to support his small writings. He found that his historical investments made his name recognizable in the stock market but not enough to put him in any big sort of history book. It was unusual for Arran to quit on something but he recieved a draft letter from the republic itself.

The Battle of Khyber Ridge
Arran had no large rank among the soldiers he met, he had no desire to talk to them during his quick week of training. Commander Richards commanded the camp and told Arran it normally took four weeks for offical training but Arran was already experienced enough. Khyber pass was located on the heavily fortified jungle of Kabule. Kabule was occupied by a militia group of hundreds of men and was to be swiftly taken and destroyed. If the area were taken all ant-aircraft fire would cease upon ships flying low into the city.

Arran was in the hangar of the republic ship, "Kroatia" a day later. As the ship approached the jungle he ate a sandwich he had made earlier with supplies brought from home. He was staring out into space, minutes from leaving when something whipped by. And then another, and another. He noticed they were militia ships. He heard explosions later and loud gunfire. He dropped his sandwich, whipped on his pack and helmet and got in his gunship. When the gunship left the hangar of the ship the noise was louder than it had been inside.

Static went through his helmet. He was looking through a crack in the gunship when he saw a transport next to him get hit by a missile. It blew into flames and he heard over his communicator a yell. Then only silence came through it. He had no idea how large the space battle was, but he believed he wouldn't want to be one of the men piloting one of the ships in the battle. The explosions got louder as the transport whizzed by an allied enemy ship. Gunfire almost blinded him from outside when the doors opened. They were still in space.



Arran saw the pressure level drop in his helmet as they neared the surface. Anti-aircraft whizzed by as he gripped his weapon. He heard more and more static through his helmet. The light above him turned red. He let go of the hook above him and gripped his weapon. The ship slowed over the jungle, there was no room to land over the forest. The man next to him jumped, he felt a shove on his back and followed.

He found himself shaken but got up. He looked up to see lasers fire above him and transports all around. Five men still remained in the transport above him, he stood back and watched them get a running start. Then a missile hit it and it was blown into large chunks or twisted metal. The man who was about to jump was thrown into the air like a rag doll and hit the ground so hard Arran heard a snap in the back of his armor. Arran ran over to the wreck and found all the men buried under debris or turned to pieces.

He got his pack and set out towards enemy lines. He saw some gunships head that way. Along the way he spotted the soldier who jumped before him laying next to a tree with multiple black marks from a sniper rifle in him. Sniper fire than rang out all around Arran, he hid behind a tree but encountered fire there as well. He scattered back and forth. He then spotted where it was coming from, a large tree near him. He threw a grenade under the tree. It caused it to explode and fall sideways slowly. A militia sniper fell out and Arran shot him.

Arran then went onwards avoiding small pits fiilled with sharp poison covered sticks the militia had put out. He took one and put it in his pack as a souvenir. He went onwards and once and a while looked up to spectate the battle raging above him. He then heard footsteps. He hid behind a tree and watched as two militia men armed with light one shot hunting rifles stopped right in front of him. He grabbed his rifle but closely watched them before shooting them.

Two more came next to them, Arran knew it was a bad decision to shoot now. His mind raced to decided what to do. He made sure he still had his pistol. He waited one more second as the men spoke in their foreign language. He then ran out and blasted three of the men easily, the next fired a round at Arran and then pulled out a large machete. He swung at Arran left and right abandoning his rifle. Arran pulled out his pistol and shot the man.

Arran kept on wandering until he came across a wire, was it Republic or Militia? He followed the wire until someone jumped onto him and cuffed their hand over his mouth. A Republic trooper showed himself to Arran and asked, "What gunship are you with?" Arran was stunned for a moment, it seemed to be Commander Richards. "I'm Arran Slarglide, im with the D.C. gunship."

"Good to see you Arran, I'm glad you made it, my gunship was overwhelmed with fire and now only I remain.  We need to make it to line B, that is, if it still remains."

"Line B?" said Arran, "I thought they canceled that."

"They did, but since line A was destroyed we had to result to using the lower Khyber pass."

"Thats the most open area there can be!"

"It is, but line A was rigged with mines, they knew we would try to set up an offense there."

"Let's get going then," said Arran, "We have no time to lose."

Arran and Commander Richards set out to line B, Arran and Richards recieved no resistance on the two hour hike they went on to get there. They neared the sound of gunfire and ran that way, they saw small trenches being bombed to bits and Republic troops hiding behind trees and scattered in an unorganized manner. Arran and Richards ran towards the trench. A soldier with an unusual helmet greeted them, it had blue starts on the sides, and a red target on the front. "We though you were dead Commander!" he yelled loudly.

"I'm fine, but these troops don't seem like it." At that moment a rocket came down from the road nearby and hit a small entrenchement causing a medic to leap out of the trench and run to it.

"As you can see were not.  The mortar and rocket fire has progressed, only 900 out of 2,000 made it here."

Arran stood next to Richards, "With respect, why not try a side approach as a distraction?"

"What's your name?" Said the soldier.

"Arran Slarglide."

"Well Mr.Slarglide, your sure as heck lucky to be alive with thinking like that.  If we tried that strategy we would be destroyed by machine gun emplacements and a tank right over there."

"How are you so sure?" Arran asked, "It might be possible."

"Why don't you risk being blown to bits genius?"

Arran stood there silent. The trooper then turned back to Commander Richards.

"We should try for a frontal approach, thats the only choice we have."

"Without any suppressive fire from behind?"

Arran noticed that Commander Richards take his helmet off and let his white teeth flash in the moonlight. This obviously was an intimidation tactic he used once and a while.

"Who would command the snipers?"

"I would, I'm qualified to do so." Said Commander Richards.

"Who would lead the attack then?"

"You would, and Mr.Slarglide here is a Corporal so he would take the left flank while you assigned Jennings to the right, if hes still alive."

The soldier contemplated this for a moment. Arran stared into the cold blackness of the visor area of his helmet.

He nodded. "You better organize the snipers then, sir."

Arran stood by the soldier. He took out a pair of binoculars and surveyed the battlefield. He put them down after a minute. "Can''t see a darn thing!" Arran started to talk but was stopped quickly. "All I want you to do is overpower the machinegun nests, and take out that long line of militia men armed with rifles.  They're shooting the heck out of our men in the trench over there." He pointed to his left, "Got it?" Arran nodded.''

Arran had to jump out of the trench and run 10 feet, and jump into another nearby. He clutched his rifle close, and then when the fire stopped for a split second he ran, fire rang out and hit the plants and dirt around him, a machine gun plowed a field of bulletholes past his feet. Arran dove into the trench and landed in it, almost crushing a troop next to him. He announced he would be leading the left forward attack on the Khyber pass. The men accepted him gratefully and all got ready.

Arran was waiting patiently for the flare to go up and had his rifle equipped. His men had arranged footholes in the sides of the trenches to exit from. A hissing sound came overhead immediately. A loud explosion immediately followed and Arran charged over the top. Fire plowed the men around him down and yells were heard. A mortar went off nearby and then a shot was fired that came close to his foot. A blur of color went in front of him but he kept running, a loud blast knocked the hearing out of his right ear. He kept running until he could see Khyber pass.

He fired his weapon into the defenses and his men jumped over the defenses destroying the militia men, a machine gun was pointed towards his men and plowed down many, now the middle group joined them and they found in the bloody battle with huge effort. Arran shot a commander with his rifle and tackled a rifleman and fought with him for two minutes. Arran eventually saw someone shoot him from behind. Arran ordered for an advance on the machine gun and soon it was overtaken and the men around it dead.

Republic soldiers swarmed around Khyber pass and took it over completely within five minutes. Arran and two men ran to the center of the road to see two men running away. They targeted and shot both. Arran then retreated back to the captured area. He found that Commander Richards was dead and the other soldier he had met earlier as well. Arran was then was relieved of his duty a day later and was thanked for helping the attack.

Archaeology and History
After being dismissed from the Republic Arran became facinated with The galaxys history and the many secrets it held. He wrote two books on the subject and quickly made a trip to Simocadia. Simocadia had currently been occupied by the droid army but the Republic had chased it away for drilling. According to local myths giant robots were used to destroy cultures and wreck worlds about a 1000 years ago on the planet. One giant stone robot was found a week before Arran's arrival. He went to spectate it and took and speeder to the site where it was unearthed. The military immediately halted Arran and made him turn back.

While driving away Arran heard a rumble and turned back immediately, now no guards remained at the post and he could hear a great rumble. He noticed then a tradeship that was flying away. Arran thought it was odd. He then looked to his left and saw a giant stone robot moving about crushing the guards around it. The stone robot killed all the men in one stomp and climbed out of its pit. Arran turned his speeder around and got the heck out of there. Clones advanced towards the site, dozens and dozens at a time.

The clones were crushed easily. Arran wasn't foolish and rushed to the capital city to find it had been secured and guards were running about. The Ardana Shadex was getting closer and closer. Grenades and small lasers did nothing to the indestructable beast. Arran saw a capital ship fly over it and a man drop out. The robot had now torn down the capital wall and was advancing inside. Arran stayed to watch. The Ardana Shadex stopped, it seemed to stand still. Then a screech was heard inside and fire exploded from its inside.

It collased backwards. The defenders of the capital advanced on it with caution and secured it. Arran later found out that the beast had been woken by Prince Yojan of Simodcadia and was mean't to be used as a defender. Prince Yojan then fled in a tradeship from the site when it was accidently activated. Prince Yojan made the brave decision to dive into it to shut it down easily, by doing so he killed himself.

Arran attended Prince Yojan's funeral and watched as all his loyal subjects gathered to mourn him. Arran found himself upset that such an accident could happen and decided to cancel his third book. He instead went to Coruscant to relax a bit at his house and think things over. He came to the conclusion that power must be harnessed and mistakes should not even have a chance to be made.



Engineering
Arran was hired by Nebula again for the construction of a wall of defenses along a remote area owned by Alexandra Nova. Arran had very little experience when it came to engineering but he did know how to create entrenchements to protects areas. Arran also knew how to securely create concrete bunkers and stabilize barbwire into correct positions. Arran suggested a large concrete entrencement that resemble somewhat like the Berlin Wall. Alexandra Nova was unsatisfied and asked for something different.

After studying a variety of different engineering techniques, structures, and military engineers themselves. Arran came up with a plan for a concrete wall to resemble the "Maginot Line" that was used during the Second World War, Arran sent the picture below to Alexandra Nova, although Nova never constructed such a structure she was impressed by the design of it.



Creating Zemsta IV
Arran was losing his money rather quickly in the stock market once again and in a last ditch attempt to keep his stocks afloat he tried to create a company that would specialize in investigation. He failed miserablly and was left with a gianormous lot of land. He tore down the company building and decided to creat a giant fortress with an unknown purpose. He named it Zemsta IV and constructed it in two days. Zemsta IV was highly impressive and couldn't be broken into.

Zemsta IV became one of Arran's most prized accomplishments and has been through numerous meetings and has seen many different people come visit it or work in it.

Fighting For The Republic
To Arran's amazement one day he met a friend of Icepicks at a business meeting that had to do with stocks. His name was Ponds and Ponds remembered Arran very well and was surprised to see him too. He told Arran that when he went missing the whole mob was searching for him. They suspected he had fallen into a canal or had been kidnapped and gave up the search. Arran explained everything about the fake republic and Studio 54 and everything he could.

Ponds asked if Arran was had ever Joined the true Republic and Arran replied with a no. Ponds encouraged Arran to still join and that they may need a strategist or just plainly out a soldier. Arran explained to Ponds that he must not know very much about the war since they only fought with clones. Ponds told Arran to enroll in a special program that could help him join even if he was human. Arran thanked Ponds and remained in contact with him.

Arran still thought Ponds was mistaken but when he looked up the program it was very interesting to Arran. Arran joined the division by using his computer, he quickly filled out the forms sent to his home and recieved a ticket to a shuttle leaving for Kamino. Arran packed up his knifes, blasters, and any sort of tool that he many need. He even brought a journal with him. Arran boarded the large worn down shuttle to Kamino. They took all his bags and searched them well. They were shocked to find so many weapons and knifes. He immediately gained a reputation at that point even though all his weapons were confinscated. He was still allowed his knifes.

Arran found that shuttle grey and white with ugly black seats made out of a sort of plastic. The soldiers around him seemed to be around their 30s or 40s. The youngest person he could find was a tall quiet teenager with slicked back black hair. His teeth were absolutely perfect and Arran guessed he had been forced to come by his relatives or something of that manner. Arran wrote in his journal about it,

All the people around me seem ready for combat, or at least more ready than I am. They seem to be armed with frying pans and transistor radios. It was ridiculous of me to think that this journal and a few pocket knifes would be enough to amuse me. I'll have to carve something out of some wood, although I doubt they'll have any at Kamino. I'm getting a bit hungry, I think I'll take out an energy bar. The lads around me seem to be rather bored. They just finished escorting people on the transport. My seat is really rather uncomfortable. It feels like some sort of test seat they would use for mechanized dummies to test speeders. Time to put this aside, I guess the shuttle it taking off. The shuttle departed quickly and there was no talk among the soldiers. When the soldiers were free to move around the cabin non did so. Arran took out a chewy bar and ate it quickly. The kid with the black hair next to him asked, "You wouldn't happen to have any of those to spare?" Everyone in the room stared at Arran anxiously waiting for an answer. Arran replied, "Yes, but just one." That was obviously a lie, he had about a dozen in his pack. He reached in and gave one to the kid.

After that the room exploded with voices, it seemed that the kid asking for the snack had broken the ice. The kid smiled knowing he had done that and showed off his white teeth again. "So whats your name?" Asked Arran.

"It's Tobin."

"Tobin doesn't quite fit you, how about Toby?"

"I dissagree with that name but if it makes you feel better you can call me it." Toby shrugged.

"I'm sorry if I offended you."

"It's not a big deal, I get worst stuff then that where I live."

"And where would that be?"

"Lower Coruscant."

Arran eyebrown shot up. "I lived around lower Coruscant."

"Really?"

"Of course, quite a few people live there.  My name is Arran."

"Nice to meet you Arran."

"So what makes you want to join the military, Toby?"

"My parents, my father wanted me to make some extra money." Toby looked at the floor.

"Trust your father, if you get a good job in the military you can make quite a bit."

"Really?" Toby asked Arran,  "Your not just lieing?"

"I swear, thats how I got my nightclub started."

Toby smiled a bit. "And how did you get involved in this?"

Arran replied, "I always wanted to fight for the Republic but never got around to it, now seemed like a great time."

Toby sighed, "I'm afraid you could not be more wrong, the rate of clone deaths has gone up hugely just this month."

"True, but thats just why were needed, clones may be able to cooperate well, but they all think alike.  They don't even closely resemble a true army."

"I suppose your right.  I think I'll be taking a nap until we reach Kamino.  Wake me up when were close."

Toby fell asleep and hours passed soon. Arran had failed to mention to Toby that the trip to Kamino would be two days. Eventually everyone fell asleep except for Arran who was reading a book he brought with him. Arran was bored from reading the book, it seemed that it was continuing at a rather steady and boring pace and just talked of some random mans believes about the war.

Arran opened his windown to reveal a scattered array of space debris. He was amazed about this since one of the pieces of debris was half of an old partially wooden ship. He guessed it to be thousands of years old, he took out his pocket computer and marked the quordinates. He looked at the ship until it was out of view. A few minutes later Arran fell asleep.

When he woke up he noticed that everyone around him had a chewy bar. He looked into his pack and found they were all gone. He stared at everyone. Toby cracked up in laughter. Arran yelled until his throat got soar and he was exhausted. Then he sat down. Toby wasn't at all upset about Arran yelling at him, it seemed he told everyone on the shuttle that Arran had told Toby to pass them out.

Arran forgave Toby and fell asleep of exhaustion. Arran woke up to see everyone exiting the shuttle. He grabbed his pack and almost tripped on the exit ramp. The men were greeted by an ARC trooper. Arran couldn't make out what he said since he was so tired. Then everyone followed the trooper into the building and was given a full tour. The ARC trooper could obviously see Arran was tired.

When Arran paused for a minute to yawn the ARC trooper took advantage of it. He stormed right past the men to the back of the line. He seemed a bit taller than all the other clones he had seen. "Is this boring to you?"

"No... sir." Arran held in a yawn.

"Are you tired?" The ARC asked in a sharp tone.

"Yes, a little..."

"Then you made a dumb decision to either stay up on the transport or to sleep too long.  Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir." Arran straightened up a bit.

The ARC slapped him and Arran put his hand up to rub his face. The ARC continued the tour for two hours. Arran was constantly rubbing his face, he felt like Kamino was going to be like a huge unstable mountain that he would have to climb. He already had a reputation on the first day.

Training on Kamino
Arran and the men with him made up Charles Squadron. Charles Squadron commemorated a gentleman who was a human and had been with the Republic a month before and took out quite a few droids until a bomb got stuck on him. Arran found the name of the squadron as a creepy reminder that he someday would die, combat or not. Arran learned that Charles Squadron had 8 members, Vassilar, Shade, Toby, Moscive, Rycar, Arran, Demo, and Craig. Arran and Craig immediately started talking since Craig had been a law enforcement agent before he joined.

Arran also talked to Vassilar and found out that he was pretty much just a regular guy who decided to join for some action. The rest were busy unpacking. Arran wrote in his journal,

Vassilar is an absolute genius when it comes to strategic experience. He can also pick just about any lock since he worked at an arcade and the machines always got jammed. Craig says hes good with a blaster and can shoot bottles off trash cans from about 100 yards. Hes a good artist too. I heard the other chaps talking and some of them have never even touched a gun. I wonder how long they would last in combat.

The next day Arran woke up to the sound of an ARC Trooper barking his head off. "Non of you will last a darn minute if your that slow!" Arran got down from his bed.

"All of you are required to pick a weapon and be trained with the weapon, if you fail with that weapon your given another and another and so on until you get the correct weapon.  Luckily there are only four weapons."

"You," he pointed to Vassilar, "Come on!"

Vassilar returned back with a DC-15 Rifle. ARC Trooper Colt gestured for Toby to come back. Tody came back with a DC-15 Rifle as well. Shade came back with a DC-15 Carbine. Arran waited patiently until him and Craig were the only ones left. "You," Colt pointed a gloved finger towards Arran, "Come with me."

As Arran and Colt walked down a long glass hallway Colt turned to Arran. "All you friends got the cheap weapons." Arran nodded. "I certainly hope you get something good." Colt led Arran to a long room. "No target practice today I'm afraid," he pointed to a chair. "You will be taking a test." Arran sat down and, a question popped up.

1. How do you spend your spare time?

A. Talking and joking

B. Strategizing

C. Practicing

D. Exploring

Arran contemplated all of them, he then chose B.

2. What do you prefer?

A. Accurate but not quite portable

B. Light, quick, and deadly

C. Heavy and Destructive

D. Light and manueverable

Arran picked B.

3. Who are you?

A. A leader

B. A troublemaker

C. A writer

D. A pilot

Arran picked A. Then the computer processed the information, then said,

CLICK FOR LAST STEP

Arran clicked it. He saw eight names come up, each in Charles Squadron. He picked his. The computer said,

PROCESSING FILE

DETERMINING WEAPON



LOADING...

DC-17S BLASTER PISTOLS CHOSEN, CONGRATULATIONS

ARC Trooper Colt looked at the screen, "You picked all the questions exactly as I thought you would.  And your file checked out perfectly.  Your going to be admired by the others in your group." He went over to a table and handed Arran the pistols. They both had silencers on them. "Thank you." Arran said, "I appreciate it." Arran and Colt walked back to the Charles Squadron barrack area.

All the men of Charles Squadron stared at Arran. Arran felt rather akward in such a position. He put his pistols in his bag. Colt watched the whole thing until he seemed to remember why he was there. "You," he finally pointed to Craig, "Come on." When Craig left Arran wrote in his journal,

"The DC-17s is usually used by leaders, I feel ridiculous with the weapon since I haven't even been in training.  I suppose it makes me look like a leader right off the bat.  Everyone is staring at me while I write.  Shade is giving me the creeps since I guess he's jealous.  This is really freaking me out big time."

Arran sat there and wrote in his journal until Craig returned with an empty bag and a DC Rifle. He went and sat by Arran. "I want all of you to look up to those gentlemen over there, it seems that Arran recieved the pistols, which are a symbol of leadership.  Craig recieved demolitions expert.  Someday your life will depend on them." Craig tensed up. "I'll be leaving you gentlemen alone now.  Training starts in two hours."

Arran walked out with his pistols, he walked down a long hallway passing by clones. Arran felt like the cooridoors led on forever. He finally entered into a large room. He assumed it was target practice. A blue screen was projected in front of him.

WELCOME RA-798045

READY TO START SIMULATION?

Arran had no idea who RA-798045 was but he clicked start anyways. The room started to resemble a close sketch of a city. Arran watched it become more real. The building were smeared with charcoal and a droid bomber flew over him. He took out his blasters.

EQUIP VIRTUAL ARMOR

Arran saw a phase 2 set of armor appear before him. He equipped it.

MISSION: Q SQUADRON IS BROKEN BY DROID FIRE, ALL ARE DEAD EXCEPT YOU. SURVIVE. IF YOU CONTINUE MAKE IT TO HEART OF CITY. CLICK START.

Arran clicked start, the screen evaporated. Then he slowly heard the clank of droids. He readied a grenade and pulled a sheet of metal in front of him. The droids rounded the corner. B2s. They fired lasers at him. He hid under the metal. He knew it wouldn't deflect bullets. He jumped up and shots rounds randomly at the droids. He remembered the battle in the Nova Wars. He hit three out of six. One propelled a rocket towards him. He threw back a grenade in retalliation.

He ran into a burned building and saw the rocket continue down the street until an explosion was heard. He jumped out again and fired five shots. They all landed on one droid. It hit it once, twice, then three times and then twice more. It fell down head first. Then the last two rained fire on him. The then shot at a sign hanging overhead one, it slammed against the droid propelling it into a metal pole. Arran fired multiple shots at the last one.

He went over and kicked one, it was a very realistic simulation. He heard unusual noises behind him. He turned to see something dash down a street. He fired shots at it, all missed. He reloaded his pistols quickly and shot again at it. Then something grabbed his neck, he whipped himself forward throwing whatever was attacking him onto the street. He shot it with his pistol in the head. Then he was attacked from the side. He recognized it then as a commando droid.

The droid had a long steel saber and thrust it towards Arran's head. He moved his head left and right. He grabbed the droids arm on the eighth try. He twisted it and it made a screeching noise. He then grabbed his pistol that had fallen about a foot from him and shot it in the chest twice. He threw it off him and ran into an abandoned building. He waited to hear droids. After five minutes he heard nothing.

He studied his surroundings, it seemed that in the simulation a battle had taken place before he arrived, he saw scattered clones. One clutched his chest in an uncomfortable position. He had a saber sticking out of him that a commando droid would carry. Arran also saw a clone on a speeder that had crashed into a wall. The clone was now slouched on his seat. And there were about two dozen others who were just normally lieing on the ground. Arran grabbed a rifle from one of the dead trooper and took his ammo.

He walked down the ruined street. He saw two droids standing near a blown up store. He fired a shot but was distracted by a wizzing noise. He looked up to see bombs falling down. Arran saw a huge blinding light and then blackness.

MISSION FAILED

PROCESSING INTEL...

80 PERCENT ACCURACY

WELL DONE

SIMULATION COMPLETE

Arran went out of the room and saw Commander Colt staring at him. It was hard to tell what he was thinking through his black visor. Arran was plainly out never good at reading expressions anyway, why start now? "You did a fair job." Colt stared at him. "Did you know that simulation is off limits to everyone except for ARC troopers?" Arran tried to seem extremely surprised but couldn't force that expression. "No." Colt sighed, "Well at least now I know I can send you out to combat early. You don't need any training according to the score you got. Thats as good as a low ranking ARC would get."

"Really?" Arran said. "Really." replied Colt, "Get your stuff packed, you may be leaving in two days." Arran's emotions were very jumbled up. What if he got killed? Is his score a good thing? Will he be an ARC? Would he leave in two days? Colt turned around as he was leaving, "You missed training. Charles Squadron did terrible." Arran just smiled.

Leaving for Combat
Arran packed all of his stuff and anxiously told everyone what happened. Nobody believed him except for Craig and Toby. Craig congratulated Arran. Toby did the same. Arran told them he may be leaving in two days.

"Aren't you worried about the possibility of you being killed?" Craig asked, "It's dangerous fighting against droids."

Arran sighed. "I thought that, but if the simulator was correct its relatively easy."

"Only for you though." said Toby, "I haven't shot a single weapon in my life."

"You'll pick up on it soon." replied Arran, "It doesn't take too long."

"I'm going to go eat, I'll see you guys later." Said Craig standing up.

"Same here, I'm hungry."

Arran stayed at the squadron barracks. He ate a chewy bar he had forgotten he had put in his pocket. He looked around for his journal but couldn't find it. Arran then crawled up to his bed and took a nap. He woke up the next morning to discover that everyone else had left. Colt stared at him. Arran immediately recognized that he used that as an intimidation tactic. "Come down, I have something to give to you." Arran climbed down from his bed. Colt reluctantly handed him a small envelope.

"I also have your gear and some paint if you want it." Arran took the gear. "Thank you, do you want me to return the paints?" Colt thought about what Arran had said. "No, your helmet might need repainting when your in rough combat. Plus its good to keep tally marks on it for each week or whatever you want to keep track of." Arran nodded and sat at his seat and painted the the helmet. He thought about something that would resemble him. He painted two crossing swords on it and a lions head in the middle. He painted two red triangles on the sides of it and then a flaming 19 on it.

He then painted a red stripe again on the small uprise on his helmet. He felt finished and packed the paints in his pack. Colt walked behind Arran, "Thats an interesting helmet." Arran nodded. "Oh by the way," he pulled out a knife, "you left this on the transport. I would want mine back if I were you." Arran took the knife, "I appreciate it, this is my favorite one." Colt nodded. "A man always needs his knifes, I have a backpack full or 'em." Colt smiled, "My favorites are the souvenirs I get from the enemies." Colt paused a minute, "But don't tell anyone that, all the commando droid weapons are suppose to be recycled." Arran laughed, "Who would I tell?" Colt laughed, "I'll see you on your shuttle tomorrow."

Arran had a restless sleep that night. He made sure he had all of his pocket knifes twice. But no matter how hard he looked he couldn't find his journal. Then Arran remembered the letter and pulled it out. It only had a few sentences on it.

Departure: 0500 hours

Destination: Neimodia

Objective: Destroy Capital and Banking District

Trooper,



You have been chosen to participate in a top secret strike on the higher area of Cato Neimodia. You will operate stealthily and without hesitation. Kill anyone who gets in your way. Take no hostages. And under all circumstances COMPLETE THE MISSION.

Arran finished the letter but continued to stare at it. He hated the idea of attacking Cato Neimodia under cloak and dagger circumstances. Arran wondered what Cato Neimodia looked like in person. He knew it was constructed of bridges and sky cities and knew that the high class could make the lower classes miserable with a snap of their fingers. Cato Neimodia's Banking District supplied the Seperatists with all its money. Arran put the letter away, he decided to paint his helmet more, he added a knife on the side and some dark red on the lower area.

Arran fell asleep and woke up to the sound of yelling. Colt was below his bed. "Come on darn it!" Arran grabbed his gear and quickly put it on. He rushed down the halls with Colt. "This must have fallen out of you pocket during the training simulation." he handed Arran his journal, "Thank me later." He said. Arran and Colt finally entered into the Kamino hangar. A shuttle waited with five other men in it. "Good luck!" Yelled Colt as Arran ran into the shuttle. Arran yelled thank you to Colt but Colt probably couldn't hear it since the shuttle door was closing.

Arran buckled into his seat and wrote in his journal,

Now here I am. Who would have thought I would be in a shuttle with a couple of commandos and three ARCs. Only four days on Kamino. Let alone I'm the only human on the shuttle. It's an odd feeling. All the clones around me are ignoring me. One just asked me why the heck theres a "Coruscant Journalist" on the shuttle. I guess this is going to be a hard mission. I wonder if I'll see that wooden space wreck on the voyage. I did some looking up on that and it's not recorded at all. I want to learn more about that. Well, I think I'll be eating a chewy bar now. It's a long road ahead.

Arran pulled out his chewy bar, he ate it quietly. "You really are a misfit aren't you?" said a commando. "Aren't we all?" Arran responded. The commando next to him cracked up in laughter. "He has a point." All the ARCs looked at Arran. One sighed took his helmet off. Arran saw that he had a very interesting hair style. He had a combover, very uncommon for clones. Arran wanting to break the ice said, "You have a taste when it comes to hair styling." The room got very silent. "You may not know this, so I'm letting you know it now. You will NEVER adress my hair or I will break your arms and legs and use you for target practice."

Arran stayed quite the whole trip after that. He ate another chewy bar and thought things over, why would someone get so mad about hair? Arran decided to let the question go and check the stocks. He pulled out his computer and started typing. The lead commando "Fili" grabbed it from him in seconds. "No computers, they could be used as tracking devices." "Will I get it back?" asked Arran, "Because I really need that." Fili stared at him. "No it's being ejected into space." Fili ran over to the small ejection chamber and shoved the computer in it. "NO STOP! I NEED THAT FOR RESEARCH!" Fili hit the eject button and Arran's computer went into space never to be seen again.

Arriving at Station VML
Arran heard a slight ping after about an hour, that mean't an announcement was being made from the cockpit. "We would like to advise all of you gentlemen to take off you helmets as well as plug your ears.  Were going to be arriving at Station VML in exactly 10 seconds." Arran was confused. "Whats station VML?" He noticed everyone had plugged their ears. All of a sudden a surge of electricity went through Arran's ears and they were filled with lound dots and dashes and screams and explosions. He fell out of his seat onto the ground filled with pain. It all ended with a loud ringing noise that seemed to go on for an eternity.

When it ended Fili got up and kicked Arran when he was on the floor. "Get up, you sure as heck have a lot to learn." Arran got up still stunned from the explosions and noises. "My gosh that was terrible!" Fili laughed. "How come nobody told me about that!?" "Probably because only ARCs and Commandos are allowed that info and its highly classified." All the other ARCs and Commandos smiled at Arran. "Well what the heck was it?" Fili sighed, "Electric pulsing sonar, radar, and defense system. It shouldn't take you very long to figure out that all of those were stray radio signals."

Arran sat down in his seat. "Were going to be approaching Station VML in just a few seconds, if you loved that little treat you'll love the place itself." An ARC laughed at that. Arran didn't find it very funny and still had a severe headache. Arran felt the shuttle pass through a ray shield. Then he felt it land. A ping was heard over the announcements, "Welcome to Station VML, please make sure all luggage is taken with you off the shuttle." Arran then saw a huge base with the biggest radio tower he had ever seen on it. "My gosh!" He said, "Thats huge!" Fili sighed, "Your the only person I've seen get excited over that, you should see the inside."

Arran followed everyone inside, after passing through the giant concrete and iron walls they all entered an elevator. "Only 34 floors to go..." said Fili, "One floor a second." Arran knew Fili was just saying that to make Station VML seem all the more amazing but Arran couldn't help wonder if it were true. After 34 seconds they all got off. "Welcome gentlemen," Said a man wearing a fleet commander uniform, "If you could follow me I would be glad to escort you to the briefing room.

Arran and the others entered a pitch black room. Then a blue screen appeared. A man wearing a navy uniform was projected onto a screen. "Welcome to Station VML. One of the most secure bases and radio transmitting stations in the galaxy. The Republic has had VML in service for 180 years now and it has remained hidden from public eye ever since. An estimate it that only 700 people know about VML and we wish for that to stay as it is." Fili smiled and looked at Arran. The man continued, "VML specializes in recovering failed ships and testing carbon powered or prototype weapons. What you heard on your way here was our greatest weapon. The E.P.S.R.D.S. you will not be told anything about this weapon and nor will you tell anyone about it.  Currently we have been working on extreme weapons developement and you men will be testing some of our most extreme weapons on the planet of Cato Neimodia."

A picture of a test city appeared on to screen. "Watch carefully," The man said. A clone trooper in extreme padding came out with a large gun with a leather strap around it and a wide barrell. He fired the gun and a laser came out of it. The laser went directly towards the city and caused the destruction of three makeshift fake wooden test buildings. "You gentlemen won't be using that weapon but test lasers, these are more accurate than ever and include a bayonet that comes out in the front and a rations bar that can be removed in case of starvation."

"It also come with the scatter bomb effect where you can deploy three small grenades that are about 1 inch big. You can blow up a house with these." The man smiled and held up the weapon to the screen. "You all will be given this weapon and will use it in training twice a day." The screen went away and almost nobody except Arran was interested in this. The man in the navy uniform who had escorted them there turned on the lights and told them to come with him. Arran and the ARCs and Commandos followed the man until they reached a barrack room. "Enjoy your stay gentlemen."

The man left and everyone got comfortable. Arran got out his knifes and counted them while everyone else pulled out funny looking devices. Fili had an explosive charge that had just about 20 red wires hanging out of the side of it and 20 blue wires hanging out the other side. He pulled a timer out of his pack and started attaching it to the wires. Arran watched this in interest and wanted to ask him what it was for but kept on counting and sharpening his knifes. Arran got hungry and noticed a box with the words directions on it. He opened the box and took out a map.

He followed the map until he got to a room labeled "Mess Hall" he went in and found that no food was being served. He noticed a vending machine in the corner of the room and inserted 5 credits into it. The machine wouldn't give him his money back nor a chewy bar. He punched the machine until a small crack was put it in. He decided to take out his knife and pry the door off. "Hey you!"

A Navy officer approached Arran, "What the heck are you doing?" Arran put away his knife. "The machine took my money so I punched it multiple times and then tried to pry the door off with a knife." Arran showed the officer his knife. "Well I have to be honest, I was expecting an execuse. I really can't get after you about anything except for destruction of military property." Arran thought for a minute. "How much would it cost to repair the machine?" Arran asked, "All I have is 50 credits." The officer thought for a minute. "Do you have anything I can buy from you?" Arran took out an extra military surplus knife. "I can sell you this for 50 credits, would that be enough to pay for the machine?"

The officer took the knife and looked at it. "You kept this in very good condition, I'm guessing this is pretty old." Arran laughed, "Only about 80 years old." The officer agreed to buy it and took Arran's knife and money. Arran watched the officer walk away. "Hey wait!" said Arran, "Could you get me my 5 chewy bars!?" The officer laughed and went over to the machine, unlocked it, and gave Arran five chewy bars. Arran came back to the base and gave Fili and the others each a chewy bar, he explained the trouble he went through. Fili and the others laughed. Arran then went to sleep in his new barracks.

Training
"This is what a Neimoidian looks like." said Officer Williams, "Rather cowardly creatures, but don't let them decieve you. They'll do anything to survive. Kill you, trick you, and hold you hostage." Arran stared at the screen Officer Williams was pointing to and sighed in a bored tone. Officer Williams wasn't skilled at teaching how to fight Neimoidians. In a matter of fact this was sounding more like propaganda than anything. Fili seemed bored out of his mind as well. When Officer Williams pointed towards a table in the corner of the room with prototype blasters on it everyone payed better attention.

"These are DC-17M sniper blasters. You've already been shown the purposes but now you actually get one, these have no am



mo in them, just a rations bar. No bombs." Officer Williams clicked the blue screen, "All of you will be going through this training course. It's similar to Cato Neimoidia but only has droids. All of you are going into it right now. All of you can come up and grab your weapon right now, sniper mode is optional." Arran went up first and grabbed his weapon, it had an unusual feel to it and felt like something a commando should use.

Once everyone had a rifle Officer Williams told everyone to follow him. Everyone walked down the white narrow hallway and Officer Williams soon came to a white door. Officer Williams told everyone to be quiet and go in. Arran saw a hallway filled with clone training armor, he also saw a door at the end of the hallway. "Everyone get ready, were beginning a surprise training exercise."

Arran saw Fili shrug and a clone named Blighton next to him smile. They got the training armor on immediately and lined up by the door. Officer Williams sighed, "All of you are going to get shot at one point without a doubt, so make sure your ready for it. It feels like a sting from a wasp with a surge of electric." Arran got ready. "Ready, set..."

Arran ran out the door and droid fire rained on him, Fili followed and took the lead. Blighter scaled a wall and shot a B2 in the chest and shot two B1 droids. Arran concentrated his fire on a machine gunner droid in a tower but didn't knock him out. The droids hit an ARC behind Arran and he went down without making a sound. Arran hid behind a wall nearby and kept on trying to snipe the droid up there out. He knocked out the droids gun. The droid was defenseless and Arran shot it in its head. Arran turned to see a B1 approaching near Fili. He shot it.

Arran ran over to the open area where Fili was and helped him defend himself. Arran ran towards a wall for cover and saw Fili go down. Arran got his sniper barrel off and went rapid fire on the half a dozen droids who took out Fili, he suceeded until an ARC came up behind him. The ARC scared Arran. Arran almost shot him. The ARC was explaining how to make it up to the flag area when he was shot from behind. Arran saw only three men remained. Arran ran out to the open area of the field to order the men to regroup.

They all came to Arran, Arran ran behind some cover and the men followed. Arran told them to go try to get the flag while he covered them. Both were knocked out by droid machine gun fire. Arran shot at the droid until he hit it. Only two dozen droids remained. He ran out of his cover and a hail of lasers were around him. One hit him in his Arm and temporarily paralyzed it. He kept on running and didn't fire back, he made his way up the defenses of the flag and made his way to the top, he was shot in his leg and was inches away from the flag, then a droid shot him in his other leg. He reacted in a split second a rolled to his left to avoid more fire.

He grabbed the flag and it turned from red to green. Officer Williams ran out of the area where Arran had equipped his armor and scaled the bunker. All the droids had shut down and Arran could clearly see that Officer Williams thought he had done a good job. Officer Williams smiled and sat, "I have NEVER, ever seen anything like that!" Arran smiled and tried to speak, "That was an amazing first try!" Arran tried to speak a bit more, "And it was excellent team work too!" Arran finally sighed very loudly. "What is it?" Arran frowned, "Could you please take me to the infirmary, my legs are still paralyzed."

Arran and his friends were congratulated over and over again by Officer Williams, they trained twice a day everyday and the rounds got harder and harder. Sometimes Arran got the flags but most of the time it was Fili or an ARC named Crouch. Arran began to write more and more in his journal,

I feel as if we were to invade Cato Neimoidia only a few of us would make it out. I was knocked out in trainging today for the first time. Officer Williams was wrong it felt like a 1000 stings. I woke up in the infirmary. The training round in the afternoon was terrible. We tried a tactic where we would jump over the cover and advance in a straight line, we were all plowed down within seconds.

Specially modified stun grenades were given to us right after the training. There modified only to knock out droids, although they will hurt you eyes if you stare into the blast. I've got to get to the mess hall now. I'll be writing again tomorrow.

Preparing For The Attack
Officer Williams stood by the computer and readied it to project images upon the white, clean screen. A picture of a floating city appeared. "This is Cato Neimodia gentlemen." Officer Williams changed the picture. A marble building appeared with three guards patrolling around the area appeared. "This is the main bank in the Banking District. Your job is to not only blow this up, but blow the whole district up. It's exactly 4 by 17 miles all around." Fili smiled, "And how much dynamite would it take to blow the place up?"

Officer Williams sighed, "19 pounds of it." Arran wondered how many people would be in the Banking District when it blew up. Arran guessed it would blow a few fuses if some of the rich and wealthy of Cato Neimoidia were killed. Officer Williams continued on for about an hour. He explained that Fili and Crouch would snipe out the guards outside the bank and then the rest of the squadron would go in, Arran would stand guard while the two ARCs planted the explosives inside the vault.

Arran would also round up the Cato Neimoidian bank tellers and keep them in one corner of the bank to make sure they didn't sound off the alarm. Then they would exit the city causing as much chaos as possible, if everything went well the Banking District would explode and the bridge cables would snap and it would fall onto a small shipyard below. Arran thought about this long and hard while Officer Williams finished his presentation.

When it was done with he announced the attack would be in one day. He told everyone to get their weapons ready, he advised everyone to take pistols with them incase the prototypes failed. The prototypes failing had never occured to Arran and scared him quite a bit. He went back to the barracks and sharpened his knifes. He tested his bayonet on his gun and made sure it worked well. He was given a pack full of dynamite.

He couldn't take everything he wanted with him to Neimoidia so he just took his journal, knifes, a deck of cards and a book titled, "The Military Strategists Guide" then he shoved them all into the corners of his pack, he had a little bit of room so he put a flask filled with lemon juice in it.

Arran got into his bed after checking all his knifes, writing in his journal, and putting a yearly supply of pens in his pack as well. Arran had never really gotten to talk to Crouch. He always thought his armor was interesting ang tried to talk to him about it but didn't get a response. He hoped Crouch was a good sniper because his life depended on it for sure. He fell asleep after that.

The Attack on Cato Neimoidia
Arran and the others didn't have to be reminded to get up, Crouch was actually rather happy about going, Arran heard him speak for the first time, "Sniping Neimoidians is going to be easier that sniping droids." Arran laughed at that and so did everyone else. Once everyone had their armor on and everything was equipped, they left for their exiting shuttle. Arran made sure he had his sniper and his pistols, he took the sniping barrell off. He knew he might need rapid fire for the mission.

When the shuttle door closed everyone took their helmets off, this time Arran knew to plug his ears. It seemed like nothing had happened after a minute, Arran finally saw Fili nudge him to signal it was over. Arran saw a Republic Supply-class cruiser that they were approaching. The shuttle docked in it and the squad got out. They were greeted by Navy officers and some pilots, "Attention!" Arran fell into line in front of an officer. "You gentlemen have been chosen to take out a vital resource to the Separatists. If the Banking District in Cato Neimoidia falls the funds to the Seperatists will get smaller and less planets will join them." The Officer smiled, "We wish you men the best of luck. Please board the gunship to you left down that hall over there."

Arran and the ARCs and Commandos went down a hall and saw a huge camouflage gunship. "Wait a minute, we need to gian hyperspeed, for now you can wait on those benches over there." A Navy officer pointed towards black padded benches. They sat there for half an hour until the officer told them to get in the gunship. Arran took a drink of lemon juice and the gunship doors closed. The gunship left the hangar and Arran put away his flask, he loaded his weapon. "Now all of you troops know what free fall is correct!?" A clone practically yelled it, "Well a change of plans, thats what you'll be doing, but were giving all of you small gliders!" The man pointed to a box, he opened it and attached a glider to everyones armor.

"When that light turns red you jump, ok?!" He yelled again moving his hands and nodding his head as if everyone in the gunship were deaf. The doors opened and a second later the light turned red. "GO GO GO!" Fili jumped first, then Arran, then Crouch, then the ARCs. Arrans glider seemed to carry him towards the Banking District, he had never been in a glider before and found it extremely hard to steer. He saw Fili's glider take a dive downwards and then come back up in front of his. An ARC soared past him and seemed to be out of control, his glider whizzed past Fili's and went faster and faster towards the Banking Distrtict. Arran saw the ARC hit a wall.

When everyone landed Crouch ran over to the ARC. He checked for vital signs. "He broke his neck, it seems like only Grub and Arran will be going into the bank." Arran looked at Grub. Grub had gray slick armor and a had certainly seen combat before. "Grub, show Arran the way into the city. Fili and I will be going to that tower over there, make sure we meet back here when the job is done. Grub gestured for Arran to follow. Arran and Grub ran through the city streets until a group of two guards was seen going down the street. Arran grabbed his silenced pistols and handed one to Grub. They took aim, Grub his his in the head and Arran hit his in the neck.

The guards fell down without making a sound, Arran and Grub pulled them into an alley and continued. They spotted more guards but just avoided them by ducking into alleys. Grub and Arran finally made it to the main bank. Grub put his gun on automatic fire, Arran did the same, they waited 10 minutes. Finally a flash came from the tower above and Grub nodded to Arran. Arran got ready. Then sniper fire killed the four guards patrolling the cobbelstone streets. Arran and Grub decided not to pick either up and just entered the bank. A Neimoidian guard immediately aimed his rifle at Grub. Grub turned and blasted the Neimoidian with a few rapid fire laser shots.

Arran pointed his weapon to two Neimoidian droids and blasted them quickly, Arran motioned for the three rich Neimoidians to get in the corner, one complained they muttered things such as, "This is poposturous," or "You will not get away with his!" Arran jabbed one Neimoidian with his gun and he was quiet immediately. Arran opened his backpack and tossed the explosives to Grub one charge at a time. Grub finished and set the timer for 10 minutes. "What the heck do we do with them?" Arran said pointing his gun. Grub thought for a second, "Shoot em." Arran hesitated. "Please don't!" A Neimoidian said, "We will not disarm the explosives!" A heavy rain of fire came from beside Arran and killed all three Neimoidians in a volent way. "They were going to die anyway," Grub shrugged, "Come on!" Arran and Grub ran to the meeting area and met up with Fili and Crouch. "Wheres the gunship we need to get out of here!" Fili said, "How much time do we have?" Grub checked his timer, "54 seconds!"

Arran and the other anxiously waited, "It's not coming!" Said Fili, just then an explosion range out and Arran could see flames shoot up over the Banking District. "Grab hold of something, fast!" yelled Arran, "The bridge is splitting!" The bridge split in half and everything started falling downwards, the iron split in half and the bridge was slanting fast, Arran grabbed onto an iron lightpost. The ARC who had hit the wall fell downwards like a rag doll. "I'm losing my grip!" yelled Grub, "Somebody..." He fell right then and hit a building, Arran heard a loud crack when he hit it and imagined Grub's neck breaking in half. Grub then slid off the building and fell downwards. The bridge underneath the Banking District was immediately hit by the bridge and it's bridge itself fell apart.

Arran glanced upwards and saw a Neimoidian on fire falling towards the ground screaming, he hit a lightpost and Arran saw more follow. Fili and Crouch held onto a metal vent. Arran saw Neimoidians screaming below as their city caught on fire and snapped in half. A Neimoidian guard fell but caught a grip on the same lightpost as Arran. He aimed his pistol at Arran with his one hand, Arran grabbed his gun and shot the Neimoidians several times. Then the suspencions on the bridge snapped and now they were freefalling, the city below them was in flames and as the humongous piece of concrete crushed Neimoidians below and flames drew closer to Arran he spotted a gunship. Arran saw it pull as close as it could to Fili and a clone reach for his hand. Fili got in the gunship. Then a massive explosion from a gas pipe came from below and Arran almost lost his grip, he climbed to the top of the lamppost and jumped. Crouch did the same and they got away just in time.

Arran and Fili as well as Crouch saw both cities collide and everyone in both be killed in a massive explosion, the concrete went plummeting to earth quickly. The doors of the gunship closed and Arran grabbed his flask, he took his helmet off and drank some lemon juice.

Founding Commando Squad 19


Arran was congratulated and made a commander, he was asked if he wished to be a commando but Arran denied this. He didn't wish to be an ARC trooper either. He decided he would found a squadron for Commandos though. He named it Squadron 19. He decided to ask Crouch and Fili if they wanted to join first. Arran soon gained a commando named "Sparks" as well and was soon promoted to Captain of the squadron. Arran had everyone stencil the squad symbol on their helmet or arm of their armor. Arran was satisfied with the end result of the insignia.

Squad 19 was often granted permission to train at Station VML and teach new clones techniques. Commando squad 19 was assigned a mission to the city of Dracae. Dracae had strategic importance to the Seperatists and was a supplier of ammunition and arms. The only way in Dracae was a sewer system, once Squad 19 was in the sewer system they would make it into the city and plant explosives inside it, the explosives would have a two hour timer on it, then they would go into the Dracae Command Center and kill all Dracae Officers and soldiers.

Dracae had a very little amount of droids, the city was protected by Dracaeans. They had highly dangerous weapons and would destroy anyone without hesitation. Arran was glad to find some harder targets to shoot at. He made sure his bayonet was ready. Now he wasn't dealing in droids. Arran helped Squad 19 review all manuevers and practice the plan. They would stay together as a a group and split up when they were in the Command Center. The Command Center only had two floors so it would be very easy to get in and get out and destroy the place. They would then exit in the sewers.

Attack On Dracae
DRACAE COMMAND CENTER 0500 HOURS

Captain Cherbanorzki looked at the computer, he saw a Republic Gunship near the outskirts of the city, "Zumbatz chebanarksi grotten!" He cried out in disbelieve. "Grotten Zundapp Republiq?" A Lieutenant asked if he could fire rockets on the gunship. The Captain thought for a minute, "Vinder Republiq zundapp kombatten!" The Captain ordered 5 missiles to be fired. He hoped that was enough, if there was only one Republic gunship it mean't trouble. "Kriegen Zundapp Grotten highur!" The Lieutenant pointed at the screen. The gunship was deploying missiles to hit the others. "Gorde schultz! Gorde schultz auch vinderheindlick!" All 2 dozen missiles were fired.

Captain Cherbanorski watched at the gunship went down and crashed near a pile of dud shells for droid guns. "Snell kombatten clune truupers?" The Captain asked if any clone troopers remained. "Krogen." The Lieutenant said non. "Sneden truupens krieo strombatten." He wanted a squad of soldiers to check for survivors just in case.

OUTSKIRTS OF DRACAE 0500 HOURS

The four clones were stained in soot when they one by one exited the burning twisted wreck. Arran looked to see if any pilots survived. He couldn't see anything. "Go check that out Fili." Fili looked into the broken glass, "There long gone sir. We couldn't have saved them if we tried our hardest." Arran checked to see if his his weapon was of. "Nobody ever told me the outskirts of Dracae was a scrap pile of shells and destroyed war machines." said Sparks, "This place looks like it's been through quite a bit." Crouch nodded. "Well, we mine as well get to the sewers." Arran said, "I heard its a better vacation spot than this." Arran and Squad 19 continued for half an hour until they heard voices. Arran told them to get down behind a burned out droid tank.

They saw a half dozen Dracae soldiers armed with dark metal blasters. One had some sort of pipe sticking out of it. Arran knew those were well made weapons. They had unusual pipes running across their sides. Arran got out his bayonet, he signaled for the men to follow him. When they were directly behind the soldiers Arran ordered the men to charge. Arran fired multiple shots and hit one man, he then tried to bayonet another. Fili bayoneted one and then bayoneted another. The Dracae soldiers fired their weapons, they shot very straight but the Commandos were too quick. Crouch started sniping them off at close range, he shot one in the head, then another in the chest.

When they were all dead Arran looked around. He saw a camera droid hovering on a hill nearby. He pointed his finger at it. Crouch saw it and got an aim, he sniped it out of the air.

DRACAE COMMAND CENTER 0600 HOURS

Captain Cherbanorzki stared at the screen. He just witnessed a group of Republic Commandos slaughter his troops. "Zundapp..." he muttered, "Zat gundoren auren gundel?" He asked the Lieutenant if he could zoom the picture of the Commandos in. The Lieutenant zoomed in, a laser flew directly towards the screen. Captain Cherbanorzki saw static. He heard the door open up behind him, a red faced colonel was behind him. He turned to adress him. "Grotten auf sneidel steigen verdun deutych gramer stroyken!!!" Captain Cherbanorski heard the colonel say that they were out of camera droids. "Ralexan, clune truppens gret yuch vernor chanze." The colonel smiled. Captain Cherbanorski told him that night was soon approaching, and the monsters outside of the city were more dangerous than the troops on the inside.

OUTKIRTS OF DRACAE 0900 HOURS

"We've been at this for hours," Fili said, "we need to take set up camp!" Arran sighed and looked around, he saw a small shellhole and pointed towards it, "Let's set up over there." Arran and his troops trudged over to the shellhole, Crouch and Sparks set up tents and dragged jagged pieces of metal around it to camouflage it. "Thats a job well done!" said Sparks, "A Dracae soldier wouldn't even recognize that!" Fili took out his razor sharp shovel. He dug a small trench big enough for a man to sit down in. "A fair defense." Arran said. "It's not a defense, its for storage."

Arran decided not to put his supplies in the hole, he stood behind a chunk of iron, listening. He heard a loud cry and the sound of what seemed to him to be a thousand bottles being crushed. Arran saw a large green snake rise out of the trash and lunge, it sunk its teeth in a piece

of metal next to Arran. Arran yelled and shot multiple rounds into the snake. "Get up!" Arran yelled as he shot at the beast. Spark ran out and shot rounds at it, he hit it's eye. The Snake hissed. It lunged at Spark. Spark ran from the snake firing lasers at it. Arran yelled, "The only way were going to get the heck out of here is by running!" Fili and Crouch didn't even both to grab the supplies, they just grabbed the bag of charges and ran. Spark yelled, "I'll hold the snake off!" Arran yelled at him to follow but he ignored him.

Arran ran to try to pull Sparks away but was too late, the snake lunged at Sparks. However, Sparks threw a thermal detonator into the snakes mouth right in time to see the snake pause. Sparks waited. He could hear one last beep and the snake's head imploded and the blast knocked Sparks back. Soon Arran heard more hissing, he guessed there were more snakes, Sparks and him ran to Fili and Crouch. Fili, Crouch, Spark, and Arran ran as fast as they could, soon a giant iron pipe came into view.

They all ran in the iron pipe and ran until they were lost beyond their account. Arran leaned against the tunnel. "New plans, this now offically turned into a night mission." Fili checked the charges. "This pipe is 1B so 4B must be up ahead, come on." They ran down the pipes until they came to 4B. Arran could hear machines above the sewer cover. He popped the sewer cover off. The sound was very loud but nobody came to stop him, he guessed the machines were programmed, not human operated.

"All clear." Arran said, "Come on." Fili and Crouch scouted around the area while Spark installed the explosives. "This place is massive!" Said Fili, "If we blow this up the droid army will never fight again!" Crouch replied, "Don't be too sure of that, they have quite a few factories like this." Fili and Crouch kept on scouting. "Are you done with those explosives yet?" asked Arran. "At the moment, just let me set the timer." Arran waited, then Sparks got up.

"We need to operate quietly, that means no civilians get hurt. We take alleys only. Clear?" Everyone nodded after Arran said that. They exited the factory and procedded as planned to the Command Center.

DRACAE COMMAND CENTER 0900 HOURS

Captain Cherbanorzki yawned, he hadn't had slept for two days. He all of a sudden heard gunshots downstairs, guards ran to the door to blockade it closed. Captain Cherbanorzki grabbed his pistol and stood at ready position. He head a thump on the door. "Zundapp kriegstabots!" He yelled for his soldiers to stay ready. They held onto their blasters. The door exploded and splinters of wood were forced into the Captain's face knocking him down. "Zundapp..." he breathed heavily.

He saw a blurry figure lean over him. "Zundapp clune truppens..." He recognized the number 19 on the mans helmet. "Zundapp..." The man took off his helmet. "I'm no clone." He aimed his blaster at Cherbanorzki and pulled the trigger.

DRACAE STREET OUTSIDE COMMAND CENTER 0900 HOURS

The commandos ran down the streets, it started to rain and alarms went off across the city. They heard a large explosion behind them and the sound of guards running after them. A guard appeared from inside an alleyway and shot at them, Arran blasted the guard in his chest. After running for 5 minutes they approached the gate to exit the city. A blockade of guards was in front of it. They fired a hail of bullets on the commandos. Arran threw a detonator and it landed behind the gate. It exploded.

Arran saw a gunship approach. The doors opened and the commandos got in. They left just in time to see the shell factory in flames with guards running franticly. Arran sighed as the door on the shuttle closed.

Battle of Raxus Prime
Arran got off the gunship as soon as it arrived in the cruiser. A Navy Commander stared at his squad. "Hello gentlemen." Arran nodded,"Hello Commander." The Commander sighed, "I hate to do this to you gentlemen but Raxus Prime has just been taken over by the Seperatists, we had a small line of defense against them. We lost 2,062 soldiers in the battle. Were sending you gentlemen as well as the 221st over to Raxus Prime." Arran took a drink out of his flask, when he finished he paused for a second, "Whats our mission?" The Commander shrugged. "Your just normal soldiers for now, you do whatever the leaders want." The Commander walked away. Crouch took off his helmet and went to sit on a crate.

Fili sighed and walked away as well. Arran saw Sparks walk away too. Arran took out his pistol and cleaned it by sticking a pen with a rag on it in. After repeating that quite a few times Arran took out his cards, he counted to make sure it was a fair deck and then went over to Fili, "Would you mind playing a game of Poker?" Fili shook his head, "I'm busy cleaning my gun, plus I decided to get a journal like yours." "That cool, thanks anyway." Arran walked over to Sparks, "Hey Sparks, would you be willing to play a game of Poker?" Sparks shrugged, "What can you offer me?" Arran took his pack off and looked inside, "I got a souvenir medal from a Captain on Dracae, 7 credits, some knifes, and an empty ammo clip, some pens, and my flask." Sparks laughed, "Is that seriously what you carry around in there?"

Arran sighed, he only had one last option, Crouch. Quiet, deadly, msyterious Crouch. Arran sighed and walked over to him, "Would you be interested in a round of poker?" Crouch looked at him, "All I have is a radio." Arran shrugged, "Thats better than nothing." Arran layed out two knifes and some credits as his first betting chips, Crouch put two things up, his radio. And an ammunition clip that he engraved a fish into. "Thats very interesting." Crouch stared at Arran. "I would like my cards."

After Arran and Crouch played for half an hour, Arran won Crouch's radio. Crouch seemed upset but eventually won all of Arrans credits and his pocket knife. "Fair game, thanks for the radio." Crouch nodded and left. Arran thought the radio might come in handy, he wondered if there were any radio stations on Raxus Prime. All of a sudden an alarm went off. Arran heard and explosion and a missile went flying into the hangar. the missile flew to the back of the hangar and hit the back wall. It exploded and some clones went flying like ragdolls.

Crouch was already running towards a gunship, everyone else was, droid fighters were outside and Arran could heard the sound of bombs hitting the cruiser. "Evactuate the cruiser! Repeat: evacuate the cruiser!" A clone yelled over the intercom system on the ship. "Code red! Were..." A loud explosion was heard and the ship began to go downwards. Arran ran into the gunship. The doors closed, Fili, Crouch, and Sparks were in it as well as two troopers from the 221st, there armor was brown.

The ship left the hangar and the heat from the explosions was blazing, it felt like the gunship was near a sun. "Welcome aboard gentlemen!" An obviously distracted clone announced on the speaker, "Todays stop, the number 1 vacation spot in the galaxy! Raxus Prime!" The gunship made a sharp turn and Arran had to reach for one of the handles above him. "Watch out for flying debris while your staying there!" A loud explosion was heard outside the gunship. Arran saw a droid fighter pass by the gunship by looking out a small crack in the door.

"We are now making our approach towards the planet, please keep all blasters with you and make sure to not get killed, good luck!" The gunships doors opened, the gunship hovered over the ground slightly, Arran covered the others while they jumped. He then jumped and ran for cover, lasers were flying at them like rain. Arran hit between some junk to avoid getting killed. He saw crouch jump over the top, he followed. He spotted a droid with heavy blaster and shot him on the third try. Arran ran into a trench the droids occupied and ran through them on a rampage, more men joined him, he saw a clone in front of him get shot.

Arran was on rapid firing clearing the trench of droids, he shot a B1 and then a B2, he chucked a detonator into an intersection the droids were using to their advantage, it blew up and Arran kept on going, he saw other clones storming the trenches, he got out and then went toward a bunker, the bunker opened fire on him and he ducked behind some trash, he threw a detonator near the bunker and it blew half of it off. He saw a clone race behind him, then a dozen more, they went into the bunker and fired shots. A flare went up, he turned around to look at it. A flare mean't an area was secure or help was needed, either way he ran back.

When he made it to the area where the flare went off, men were firing blasters like crazy, they were standing on boxes trying to get a shot over the trench towards the droids. Arran grabbed a detonator and threw it, it landed inbetween the trenches and exploded causing both sides to be temporarily blinded, he saw Crouch run over the top. Arran decided to give him some cover, he ran over the top. He fired into near the droid trench and yelled for the clones in that trench to follow, soon dozens and dozens flooded over the top and fired and charged yelling and cursing as much as they could.

Arran looked down in the droid trench and saw Crouch had taken out almost all of the defenders, he fired down on the remaining then jumped in the trench, a shell just then went off a few feet from where Arran was standing and knocked him unconcious. He woke up on a stretcher. He could still hear shells exploding but they were distant. He saw a clone from the 221st with a red cross on his helmet. "Glad to see your awake, you were lucky," The medic nodded, "You could have had you head blown off if that other commando hadn't saved you." Arran smiled at that. "Do you have my pack?" The walked over to a chest near a corner. He pulled out his pack and gave it to him.

"Where are we?" The medic laughed, "The front lines, were in a wider part of the trench though. Arran saw two men carrying a stretcher. "What was the casualty amount?" The medic looked grim, "There still counting, they've reached 1,200 at the moment." "Holy smokes!" The medic nodded, "I've got more patients to take care of, heres a chewy bar." "I love these things." The medic smiled, "Hard to get em out here, save it." Arran watched as the medic left.

Arran was in condition to get up, he just felt a little dizzy. He got up, as soon as he did half a dozen troopers ran right past him. He heard a nearer shell explosion. Then he heard some screams, some medics ran past him. For the first time since Icepick was shot, Arran was scared. He feared that Crouch or Fili might be dead. Sparks might have even been taken captive. Arran saw more troops rush past him. He decided to grab some pieces of iron around him. He took out his sharpest knife and decided to engraved a tree into a piece.

When Arran was done he thought it was a fine piece of work, he might keep it. He then took another piece of metal and engraved the squad symbol on it. He thought how hard it was to get wood or metal on Kamino, he decided to take some copper wire with him and a little bit of metal, he found an older bronze coin sifting through some metal on the ground, he decided to keep it. Altogether he had some copper wire, 4 pieces of metal, and an older coin, as well as a plate of brass. He decided to lie down and take a nap.

Arran was in space, he only had his armor and his pistol. He saw the wreck he had seen on his way to Kamino. This time he knew that someone was in it. Arran saw a very pale man, as he got closed he recognized it as Icepick. It turned from Icepick to Grub. Grub pointed an accusing finger at Arran. Arran knew Grub was accusing him of his death, Arran could have saved him. Then Grub turned into the Dracae Captain he aimed a blaster at Arran.

Arran woke up, it seemed like it was morning at first, but soon Arran recognized the red lights as shells exploding and fire. He got up and saw the medic from earlier looking over the top of the trench holding a carbine. Arran watched him for a minute, "Are you ok?" The medic turned around, "I'm fine, you should be better by now." Arran nodded, "I am, do you know where the commandos are?" The medic nodded, "Just go down the left trech, take a right and then keep on going."

Arran went down the trench for quite a while. At one point some junk from a shell exploding almost landed on him. He kept on going, he passed stretchers and soldiers and tables and strategists. He was amazed how many men from the 221st were there. He eventually came to Crouch. "I hear you saved me." Crouch nodded, "I needed to win my radio back from you." Arran laughed, "If I died you couldn\'ve taken it from me." Crouch shrugged. Arran saw Fili come back with his weapon, he was caked in mud. "Good to see you again." Arran said, "I was worried about you guys." Fili nodded, "You had good reason, Sparks was almost killed." Arran kept a straight face, "What happened?" Fili sighed, "Piece of shrapnel from a shell hit him in his armor. His back is a little hurt but he'll be fine."

Arran sat on an ammunitions box next to Crouch, he pulled out the piece of metal with the tree on it. Crouch nodded. "You did a good job." Arran felt good about that considering that he had never heard Crouch compliment anyone before. All of a sudden the shelling started to become more intense. "Artillery barrage!!!" yelled Fili, "Take cover!!!" Arran rolled behind some empty boxes. Fili dove behind some as well. Crouch went next to the wall and pulled a piece of wood in front of him for protection. Other troops weren't luck, pieces of trash and debris went flying all about, it seemed constant.

Arran saw a piece of steel be driven into a clone by the sheer force of an explosion. Soon a shell blew up directly in the trench, dirt and debris went flying once again. Arran kept his hands on his neck. When the shelling returned to normal Arran heard Fili yell, "All clear..." Arran wiped the dirt and small fragments of junk off the boxes and dead soldiers. He saw a clone in the corner with his rifle. He tapped him on the shoulder. "It's ok now, it's over." The soldier got up and sutmbled around for a minute. The trench wa sin absolute ruin.

Fili stood up, "This guys wounded pretty bad." Crouch nodded at Arran. "I'll go get a medic." Arran ran down the trench climbing over the dead as well as debris, it seemed the same scene had been repeated all across the battlefield. Arran finally came to the medical area. He alerted one immediately to bring two stretchers to the commandos. Arran ran back to the commandos. "There on their way."

Fili sighed and got up, "We can expect an attack very..." At that moment the advance of droids and tanks could be heard. "Get to the defense!!!" yelled Arran, "Hold the line!" All the remaining troops rushed to the defense of the trenches. Arran grabbed his radio and sent a distress signal. Lasers went flying over the trench, Reoublic forces fired back and took out some droids. Tanks fired upon the trenches and caused panic. "Hold the line!" yelled Arran, "Retreat on the last man!" Lasers flew back and forth from both sides.

Arran got on a box and pulled out his weapon, he set it on rapid fire and plowed down some droids. A laser hit the ground before his face, a piece of metal flew upwards and hit his helmet. Arran ignored it and kept on shooting. He aimed for a tank but his fire did nothing. "Focus on the tank!" Arran yelled as he shot, "Throw your detonators!" Fili threw a dentonator and it landed next to the tank and blew up. It did nothing. "Focus your fire on the tank! Don't stop firing!" The droids were getting closer, "Scratch that! Shoot the droids!" They were withing 10 feet by now.

Arran withdrew his pistols and started shooting. "Get ready in case of a retreat!" The droids rained fire on the Republic trenches now, Arran jumped out of the trench and started shooting them, "Charge!" Arran shot one up close and his troops followed his actions. He ran towards the tank ignoring the B1's around him. He got a thermal detonator ready and chucked it under the tank. He kept on fighting the droids with his pistols. His men put their weapons on rapid fire and shot them as fast as they could. The tank then exploded into fragments knocking down droids to its sides.

The droids shot two clone troopers, they noticed the commandos started to slow down. "Retreat! Abandon the trenches!" Gunships began to approach over the trenches. It seemed that the retreat signal spread across all 7 miles of trenches, everyone jumped over the trenches and avoided taking supplies or even fighting any more. The droids took the trenches in seconds. Fili tried to shoot some droids down before jumping the trench. "Leave em will ya?!" A clone said. Fili jumped over the trench and followed the others. Arran and the others ran, they met up with other men in the 221st and they quickly evacuated on gunships. The gunships lifted off, Arran looked down. He saw hundreds of droids overwhelming the trenches.

He also saw dead clones. Clones that would probably just rot into the ground. Clones that would never be recognized. Republic bombers swooped in Arc 170s bombed the area. The trenches and droids all were buried in junk within seconds. Arran looked next to him and noticed an exhausted medic. He reached in his pack and gave him a chewy bar, that always helped him. At least he had his lemon juice.

Visit To Kahndahar
Arran sat in his small room in the Republic Cruiser. It had been given to him after the battle of Raxus Prime. Arran stared at a small screen on his computer generator. He was watching the city of Kahndahar. Two commando squads had been sent to Kahndahar. Their objective was to wipe out the Kahndahar Revolutionary Group (KRG) who wished to overthrow the government. Both teams failed. Now the KRG was rounding them all up for execution.

A man wearing a black beret came out. Arran couldn't get any audio. Surveillance droids could only do a certain amount of things at one time. He saw the man wave around his pistol. A crowd was in front of him. They cheered. The man had the prisoners secured and they were on there knees. He took his pistol, he pointed it in a commandos head. One down. He repeated this again. Two down. He continued until on the fifth commando (the leader) he kicked him. He then insulted the commando, (Arran assumed) and then, from the front, shot him. He continued this action six more times.

Arran shutdown his computer, this was a bit too much for him. He had met some of those commandos. How could such a tiny amount of people capture them? Let alone alive. Commandos are suppose to fight until the last drop of blood is spilled. Arran wondered if a more negotiable tactic should be used. Arran sat there, no clones could go undercover in the KRG headquarters. But he could.

Arran sent a message to the Jedi Council that he do so. He explained his plan but didn't recieve an answer. After a month he recieved a response. It had been taken into consideration, but altogether denied. Arran decided to take this matter into his own hands. He packed some chewy bars and his nicest clothing. He grew out his mustache to seem less like he was in the military and combed his hair to look diplomatic. He got his knifes, flask and best pistols ready. He planned and planned, he would arrange a meeting in the KRG headquarters and set off a massive explosion in his room.

He would travel to Kahndahar by using a stolen Republic shuttle. Arran finally put his plan into action. He slipped out of Station VML and ran towards the shuttle. He got in, he hadn't much experience with flying a shuttle, he handled it very carefully. He pulled the shuttle stick upwards and he took off. He put the shuttle on auto pilots, he was confident on this mission.

When Arran woke up it was to the sound of a beeping noise. "Approaching Kahndahar." Said a voice. Arran figured it was the computer. He made an approach on the planet. He thought it was odd that nobody was present at the landing pad. He immediately got out of the ship, he saw two men with green berets approaching him. "Mr.Grunden?" one man asked, "Is that you?" Arran nodded, "Yes im Mr.Grunden."

"Our leader has been expecting you, hes willing to pay big money for the Republic shuttle you have there." The man smiled, "Follow me." Arran followed the man into a large palace made of glass and metal. He felt it was odd that such a palace existed, let alone that it belonged to a revolutionary group that had only been around for a year. Arran followed the man, he passed priceless paintings and stoneware. Arran finally came to a large room with a mural painted on the ceiling. At the end of a marble dining table sat the leader of the revolutionaries.

"Welcome, I am glad to see you made it!" He said in an odd accent. "Oh yes, I'm glad to finally meet the great leader of the KRG. Mr.Argano is it?" The man laughed, "Yes that is me, I am the leader here. The food will be arriving shortly. I hear you have a stockpile of Republic weapons and some older starships?" Arran went along with it, "Yes I do, I have a Y-wing bomber that I bought from some pirates and two Mon Calamari ships. One is one fourth the size of a Republic cruiser." Argano leaned towards Arran over the table. "Shall we negotiate this now or later?" Arran yawned, "Later, I can negotiate better when I'm awake. Now wheres that food."

Argano laughed. "I love a man who puts food in front of business!" Arran laughed along. Two servants carried out dishes filled with unusual foods. Arran grabbed some berries and meat. "You see, I recently came across a large sum of money," said Argano shoving food in his mouth and pausing, "from the Seperatists. They gave me this whole palace in a guarantee that they would occupy the oil supply." He shoved more food in his mouth. "But if I get those ships I can chase them away from the planet!"

Arran nodded, he figured out that this man was obviously insane. After a long time of hearing very broing over dramatized war stories Arran told him he needed to go to his room. Arran had a guard escort him to his room. Arran got out his thermal detonators as soon as the guard left, he knew all the detonators would be enough to blow up half of his palace. He finished the wiring and set the alarm for one hour. He took his pack of knifes and go out his weapon. He walked down the halway cautiously. A guard came around the corner and Arran blasted him with his silenced pistol before he could even say anything.

Arran kept on going until he saw the exit to the landing pad. He saw four guards with weapons guarding the shuttle. Arran took assembled his rifle and ran out shooting wildly at them. They were caught off guard, one was shot and fell on the concrete. The others made attempts to shoot Arran. Arran shot back and his two. The last one grabbed a communicator out of his pocket. He must have clicked something because an alarm went off. Arran shot the guard and ran into the shuttle.

He closed the door and lifted off. Arran saw soldiers pour out of the door and shoot rounds at him over and over again. Arran activated the weapons system and lasers flew out of the ships defenses. The soldiers were plowed down within seconds. Arran lifted off and wasn't pursued. He figured he mine as well do some damage while he had a little time. An anti-aircraft gun was mounted on top of the palace. Arran flew over it and tried his best to avoid it. He readied his bombs on the shuttle. He aimed for the middle of the palace. He saw Argano go out on his balcony. Now! Arran thought.

He released his bombs on the palace and saw it explode. Only ten more minutes until the full explosion. He had completed his mission and more. He flew around some more, ten more minutes to be exact. He found it fun to try to make the feeble minded soldiers shoot him down. One minute. Arran flew around one more time and took off. He heard a loud explosion behind him. Arran exited the planet and made his way back to Station VML.

Punishment
When Arran made it back to the base four naval officers arrested him. He was put in a prison cell in Station VML and kept there for a day. Finally a navy officer unlocked the door. "Follow me." Arran followed the officer. He was led into a white room. He sat down at a table, about a dozen officers were around the table. "Arran Slarglide," said one, "we looked at the footage captured from the shuttle. You did a good job destroying the palace. You did what two squads of clones couldn't." Arran tried to keep a straight face. "However we must keep you at Station VML for a week, and reject your leadership abilities." Arran stood up, "What the heck are you talking about!" He stood up and pointed a finger at the officer. "I blow up a whole palace and you take away my squad from me and put me in this hole for a week?!"

The officer sighed, "Yes, thats exactly what were doing." Arran slammed his fist on the table. "Well it doesn't make a darn piece of sense!" The officer rubbed his eyes. "We would like to transfer you to marines instead." "Marines!?" Arran yelled, "What the heck am I going to do with a bunch of marines?!" The officer stopped him, "Will you please just shut up?" Arran sat down, "You'll start from the bottom." He said. Arran laughed, "I'm sorry but this is just too ridiculous." The officer sighed, "We would have to detain you for good since you know about Station VML. It's your choice, Marines or detainement."

The Marines
Arran was on a shuttle to take him to the Marine HQ the very next day. His prototype weapon was taken, but he got to keep everything else. Luckily he never had commando armor so he could still keep his old armor. When Arran got off his shuttle the gates to the Marine HQ were sturdy and he felt unwelcomed. Arran sighed as they opened up. He was greeted in a grim fashion by a Major named Derek. Arran was told the Marine HQ was only temporary and that he would be spending more time at the main United Forces base.

Arran found himself talking to a soldier by the name of Coros. Coros was an interesting and very reliable soldier and Arran asked him if he wanted to play some cards. Coros agreed, they didn't play for anything. In the end Coros beat Arran. Arran and Coros talked for quite a while until an officer named Shade told them to get to an obstacle course. Arran found the obstacle course fairly hard but he eventually got through it. Arran was glad to know that he wouldn't be considered a fool on the first day.

Shade dismissed the Marines. Arran and Coros talked for a little while when they were at the United Forces barracks. Arran learned that Coros was a Corporal. They didn't have a ton in common besides the Marines. Arran decided to just take write in his journal. He pulled out his pack, he felt around but couldn't find it. He searched his other pack, nothing. Arran sighed. He had kept all of his battles and travels recorded in that journal. He felt as if he didn't need it but he still missed it.

Arran woke up the next day to yelling, Derek ordered the Marines to do some target practice and dueling. Arran suceeded fairly well when he dueled Coros and then a Private. Arran then dueled Derek and failed terribly. Arran was assigned into the Military Police after he met with Derek afterwards. MP was an important job. However Arran was assigned to guard duty. Arran spent most of his days training or being guard at the United Forces base gate. Arran didn't encounter any action for quite a bit.

Battle of Umbara
"It's rather funny how little things like this happen, but this is just war I suppose. He's dead, I'm wounded, and your lost. Thats always how it is in a battle."

- Arran on Umbara

By his second month in the Marines Arran had been promoted to Lance Corporal. A rather unimportant roll, but he was proud to be promoted. Arran was by now familiar with all the leaders and officers of the Marines. He got along rather well with all of them and considered them in a way a family. Arran was engraving the image of a campfire into a piece of bronze one day while sitting on his lower bunk in the United Forces HQ. He thought he may be able to trade it to someone for some credits.

Arran heard footsteps and looked up to see Gunnery Seargent Hawk walk in. Everyone looked up from what they were doing as well and the room went quiet. Hawk stood straight as he could. "Now, I understand that some of you will find this more exciting than others." He paused for a moment, "But either way non of you have a choice if you like it or not. This is a very important matter and it's to be taken seriously." Hawk looked around and paused again, "We're going to participate in the invasion of Umbara. General just informed me. You'll all move out tomorrow, we'll board the cruiser Endurance."

Hawk left the room and everyone started talking. Coros climbed down from the bunk on top of Arran. "Finally some action!" Coros said.

"Yeah, have you ever seen any?" Arran asked.

"Sure have, Geonosian conflict." Coros Replied.

"Thats neat." Arran said, "Any tips?"

"Yeah, stay alive."

........................

Next thing Arran knew, he was on a gunship with Lieutenant Hunter and a few Marines. They were heading for the cruiser Endurance and Arran was looking forward to the briefing they were going to get from General Vasco. Finally they arrived and Arran stepped off and saw a sea of troops moving back and forth, delivering supplies, and getting on and off ships. "Come on! Don't get lost in the crowd, your Marines!" Said Lieutenant Hunter. Arran and the Marines walked down a maze of hallways until they made it to a room filled with seats and a large screen in front of it.

Arran sat down and took off his helmet and backpack. He saw General Gomez walk in front of the screen after a little while, accompanied by Major Derek. "Evening troops!" He announced, "As you may know, the invasion of Umbara is tomorrow. It's my job to make sure that all of you know the plan." He nodded to General Derek.

"At the moment our plan is for eight teams to be created for the invasion. Each team is to be made of Marines and Army members." Derek said, "Each team will have an officer to lead it. If that officer is to be wounded or killed there will be a Lance Corporal or a Corporal will be given to each team. If no Corporal or Lance Corporal is given, you'll recieve a higher ranked soldier. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" The men responded in unison.

General Vasco interrupted, "I want it clear that you will obey all officers! This is a major battle. We've been out of combat for a little while, but we've trained long and hard." Vasco paused, "Our objective is to crush all Umbaran resistance in our way! We will then proceed to an Umbaran fortress! This would usually take three days but our objective is two! Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Lists of the soldiers in your groups will be given to you in a moment! Dismissed!" Said the General.

Arran saw Endurance crew members with lists. He walked over to one member along with many other troops. After a minute or two Arran was next to get a list. After he had recieved his list he looked it over. Finally he found his name, his group was to be commanded by Gunnery Seargent Hawkins. He was the second highest ranking in the group. But that didn't bother him, Hawk was tough as nails as far as he was concerned. Arran followed a group of troops until they made it to barracks. Arran sat down and took a nap.

.............................

Arran woke up to the sound of alarms. His vision was blurred, but he jumped up and got his stuff immediately. He followed the other Marines and Army members down the halls to the gunships. "All men, to your groups!" Major Derek yelled. Arran found Hawk immediately. He found all the other troops around him to be Army soldiers. "Glad to see we have one Marine." Said Hawk, "Come on!" Arran and the group followed Hawk into a gunship. Arran grabbed a hook on the ceiling and the ship quickly took off.

Arran saw lasers rip past the gunship and Umbaran ships soar past. All of this reminded Arran of Khyber pass. Arran saw a gunship fly next to the one he was on. He noticed the ship held two Marines guarding medical supplies. All of a sudden a laser whipped out of nowhere and blew the ship up. Arran looked towards Hawk. He just nodded back.

Arran heard Hawk's communicator buzz. He couldn't hear what was being said. "Get ready, drop zone ahead!" Hawk said to the men. Arran grabbed his rifle and made sure his pistols were in the holsters. The ship hovered to the ground. "Go!" Hawk yelled. The men dropped out of the ship and were met with a hail of lasers. Two army Privates were hit in a matter of seconds. A barrage of artillery suddenly came from above and knocked the dirt up all around Arran. "Get down!" Hawk yelled.

Arran lost sight of him. He decided to just fire back through the dust and clouds. He saw fire return to him immediately. Arran ran into the clouds while he had some cover and saw bodies scattered about. When the smoke cleared the lasers rained. Arran saw Hawk run past him and dozens of troops follow. Apparently the other gunships had made it. "Give 'em laser!" Yelled a Marine before getting hit in his chest. Arran ran past the Army troops and caught up to Hawk. He recognized a few troops.

"Move in on the defenses!" Hawk yelled. The Umbarans had set up positions behind vegetation and the troops were approaching it. Arran saw a troop get hit next to him but kept running. He fired lasers into the vegetation and about a dozen came back at him for every laser he fired. Arran finally made it near the defenses and heard yelling from Umbarans. Him and other troops jumped over the vegetation and fired on the retreating soldiers. "Give it to 'em!" He heard. Arran saw an Umbaran Commander fire at him but miss. Arran saw him fire again, but the next time Arran shot him in the head.

"Nice shot!" A troop said. Arran felt a bit of pride after doing that. Soon the Umbaran defenders had retreated. "Well, come on!" A voice Arran recognized to be Hawk said. The troops continued faster this time. They charged and charged but couldn't find any Umbarans. Finally they saw heavy fire rain from a foggy hill and kill some Army troops instantly. "Hit the dirt! Take cover!" Arran figured that had to have been Lieutenant Hunter. Arran dropped down in front of some vegetation and started firing back. He saw the Lieutenant next to him. "It's no use, use your detonators! Those are tanks!" The Lieutenant yelled. Arran grabbed a detonator and threw it as hard as he could.

Soon detonator explosions could be heard all about. "Charge!" Ordered Hawk. Umbarans layed down suppresive fire on the troops but they fired back bravely. Arran saw Umbarans fall and some dive into trenches. Arran made it to the trench along with the others and they fired into it without mercy. The trench was secured in a few moments and all troops safely in it. The troops were almost ready to charge over the top when Hawk recieved a transmission. "Hold it!" He ordered. After a minute of nodding and agreeing Hawk turned to the men. "Hold the attack!" Hawk said, "All the other groups are stuck under heavy fire! Were the only two to make it through! We need to wait."

The men all sighed and either sat down or walked to other parts of the trench. Arran decided to keep watch for Umbaran soldiers. He could hear plenty of gunfire from the enemy and occasionally it went over the trench. Arran stayed at his post for an hour and eventually hear some footsteps behind him. "You can come down Corporal." Hawk said, "I'll be having Private Night here replace you." Arran nodded and stepped away from the trench edge. As soon as Private Night stepped away an artillery fragment hit him in his helmet. He fell down and Hawk and Arran scrambled beside him. Hawk checked him for vital signs.

"Is he going to be ok?" Arran asked. Hawk sighed, "He's been knocked out. Nothing serious, just a slight injury. You'll have to take his place..." Arran laughed. "Marine helmets are better for deflecting shrapnel." Hawk nodded to him and Arran stepped back to his post. After another hour Arran was a bit tired and had drank half his flask of lemon juice. All of a sudden two Umbaran ships zoomed overhead and dropped bombs on the trenches and the area around it. Arran took cover and was ok. Non of the bombs hit close to him. Hawk ran towards Arran. "Bad news..." Hawk started, "Your the only one whos not a Private besides Bala and I." Arran nodded. "Who was it?"

Hawk sighed, "Cold..." Arran understood very well that Cold was an important Marine. Arran nodded. All of a sudden Lieutenant Hunter ran up from behind him. "We lost three." She said.

"A shame, anything else?" Hawk asked.

"All groups have the expected perimeter secured. We can move forward now." She responded with a nod.

"Corporal, tell the men to get ready." Hawk ordered.

Arran nodded and ran about the trenches relaying the order to the men. As he was running he saw four stretchers, each with someone on it under a white cloth. He shivered to think of the horror those men felt when the bombs fell. Finally he had relayed the message fully. He ran back to Hawk and found him and all the troops ready to charge. "Good to see you could join us Corporal, we were afraid you'd been hit by some shrapnel." Arran laughed and got his rifle ready. "Ok, GO!" The men scrambled over the top and the Umbarans opened fire. The bullets caused clods of soil to fly up in front of the men. They retaliated by firing about at the Umbarans.

Arran saw Army men fall next to him. They finally made it near the Umbaran lines and all Umbaran fury was unleashed. An Umbaran MHC came out of nowhere and fired into the charging men, knocking them down and killing them. Arran avoided the fire and saw a row of fire hit the ground in front of him. The men fired uslessly at it. Lieutenant Hunter valiantly threw detonator under it. It exploded but the MHC kept coming. It had killed half a dozen men by now and only a dozen remained. "Aim for the glass!" Arran yelled.

The men obeyed and fired a storm of bullets at the glass and the Umbaran controlling it was killed instantly. "Toss in a detonator!" Yelled Hawk. Arran ran near it and tossed a grenade in. He ran further and took cover. It exploded and the MHC collapsed to the ground as if it were jsut a shell of something that had once been living. "Regroup!" Lieutenant Hunter yelled, "Regroup by the MHC!" The remaining troops ran over. She counted them and sighed. Hawk interrupted.

"We'll have to avoid the Umbarans." He said.

Hunter nodded.

"How about the lower east forest?" Arran said.

Hawk looked at Arran with a surprised look, "You weren't at the officers meeting, how do you know about that?"

Arran laughed. "I do some research."

"Well, the lower east is our best option." Lieutenant Hunter said.

"Well, It's agreed them." Hawk said, "Column formation!"

The troops marched through the treacherous forest with caution. There was only silence. Arran saw nothing in this forest but blackness. He figured the Umbarans had never quite enjoyed the area. "This mission is ill-fated." Remarked a soldier. Hawk whipped around. "You think anyone wants to hear that Burner!?" He pointed a finger at him. "I'll remind you that I could ring your neck any moment I want! Don't be surprised if that happens if you keep that talk up!" He said.

Hawk turned around and the long treck continued. Arran saw something shining on the ground. "Hold it..." He said. "What is it?" Hawk said. Arran bent down and uncovered some plants and dirt. He found a shell of a helmet with broken glass surrounding it. "That things old as heck!" Hawk said. "That fellow that owned it came to quite a death, this has claw marks on it." Arran said. Hawk nodded. He bent over as well and uncovered some vegetation. "Well, I might have just found the guy." Hawk said.

Arran looked down and saw the skeleton of a pilot who was obviously foreign from Umbara. "We should leave this stuff where we found it." Hawk and Arran covered the remains up and continued on the long hike. After an hour they heard footsteps. Arran immediately drew his rifle along with Lieutenant Hunter, Hawk, and a few others. "Heck am I glad to see you!" A voice said. Arran looked up to see Fieldmarine Shade.

"I'm glad to see you too Shade." Said Hawk, "Do you have any idea where we can meet up with General and Major?"

Shade nodded, "Major is with us, hes in the back of the column with Coros viewing some maps. As for General, I don't know."

"Is Coros navigator?" Hawk asked.

"Yes he is, hes gotten us lost two darn times!" Shade said.

Arran interrupted, "Maybe I can take a look at the map."

"You go ahead, but you might have a had time figuring out which is up or down. It's a real complicated map." Shade said, "Coros! Get up here!"

Coros came up with a map in his hand. "Yes sir?"

Shade nodded, "Lance Corporal Slarglide wants to take a look at that map."

Coros nodded and handed it over. Arran squinted at it and guided his fingers along different passages and routes. "This is all in infared. We can tell where we are judging by the large accumulation of heat signals in the forest. So were here." Arran said, "And the fortress is about 10 klicks away to the west."

Shade smiled. "Well, we best get on our way. How many men do you have?" Asked Shade.

Hawk looked at Lieutenant Hunter. "I counted a dozen." Said Lieutenant Hunter.

Shade nodded, "Same here. Those guns took lots of our men out, but in the end those Umbarans bit the dust."

Major Derek approached, "Good to see you Hawk!" He said, "Did we end out navigation issues?"

Hawk smiled, "Turns out its an infared map. Lance Corporal Slarglide figured it out."

"Thats good, which way are we going?" Major Derek asked.

"West sir." Arran said in response.

"West we shall go then. Column formation!" Ordered the Major.

They marched for three hours until they were near the fort. Major Derek sent Coros and another Marine forward to patrol. Major Derek set up camp in a highly vegitated area and the men stayed on watch the whole time. "Lance Corporal Slarglide, get over here!" Hawk ordered. Arran got up from his post and went towards Hawk and Derek. "What is it sir?"

"We want you to go with Shade to try to find General." Derek said.

"Yes sir, any leads?" Arran asked.

"Yeah, try the North area." Derek said nodding.

"Come on Corporal!" Shade said.

Arran and Shade walked North for 4 Clicks until they were near the area General was suppose to be in. "I can't understand why we haven't found him." Shade said, "He couldn't have gotten killed, he had two of the biggest groups." Arran sighed. "I can't understand it either!" Arran said in frustration. All of a sudden blaster fire rained and Shade shoved Arran down. Shade hit the dirt and started yelling.

"Is that you Shade?!" Said a voice.

"Yes sir!" Shade responded, "Lance Corporal Arran and I!"

General appeared in charred armor along with two marines. "Well, wheres the rest of you?"

"Were at camp, where are your men sir?" Shade asked.

"Dead, now lets move it Staff Seargent. You too!" he pointed toward Arran who was still on the ground.

Arran, Shade, and the General ran back to the camp and were greeted by Derek and Lieutenant Hunter.

"Good to see you sir!" Said Lieutenant Hunter with a salute.

"You as well Hunter." Said General in response.

"Derek, get the men ready for a full charge! I want everything set up immediately!" General said, "Hunter, you lead the left side, Shade to the right. Get Hawk and tell him to accompany Derek. Slarglide, I want you to run as fast as you can and make it to the wall before everyone else. It's a motivational tactic! Now move it! Coros you follow Arran and you both get explosives planted!" General said quickly. He handed Coros a bag of explosives and Arran and him got to the charging point.

Coros counted down. "We charge half a minute before everyone." He paused, "That would be... NOW!" Coros and Arran barrelled over the vegetation into the open and made their way towards the fortress walls. Laser fire rained on them. It was a long run to the wall but they could make it. All of a sudden a deep pain was in Arran shoulder. He felt like passing out but knew he had to keep running. Coros and him were almost at the wall when he got a pain in his leg. Arran fell down. Coros tried to grab him but Arran gestured for him to go. Arran finally passed out to the sound of men running towards the fortress.

Arran woke up in a flaming mess of bodies and ruined forest. Arran saw the wall had been blown on the fortress. He heard laser fire and guessed that United Forces was winning. That was good. Finally Arran heard footsteps. He looked up to see a fuzzy looking marine. Then of course everything was fuzzy. "Thought I was dead?" The marine said, "Did you really think a Lance Corporal could replace Fieldmarine Cold?" Arran laughed. Cold propped him up by some dead vegetation. Arran saw an army troop laying lifeless nearby. "It's rather funny how little things like this happen, but this is just war I suppose. He's dead, I'm wounded, and your lost. Thats always how it is in a battle..." Arran said before trailing off and passing out.

Arran woke up after two days in a bacta tank. He was a bit better but confined to a wheelchair. Both legs had been hit by lasers. He was proud to have played such a role in the battle of Umbara. Altogether the Umbarans took 1,568 casualties from United Forces and United Forces only took 102 from Umbarans. Arran reviewed these facts often, how he was one of the lucky 30 or so who survived. It was indeed a lucky day.

Getting Ready for Combat
Arran quickly joined the 78th Engineering Corps. The 798h Engineering Corps specialized in building bridges, outposts, bases, and much more. Arran was given a set of engineering equipement to use and met a commander name Gulch. Arran thought it was ironic because Gulch was a landform issue many engineers had to often build bridges over or destroy. Commander Gulch told Arran he would be staying at the 78th Engineering Corps barracks until told otherwise.

Arran spent his first night in the barracks trying to build a house out of cards. He failed terribly since the rain on Kamino was so strong. He gave up and decided to go out to the landing pad. Arran put his cards away and walked out to the landing pad. The rain was so heavy that it felt like someone was throwing pebbles at his helmet. Yet he felt interested in the storm. He heard a crack and the landing pad rumble. Arran didn't hear this because of the rain and his deep thought of course. When the pad started shaking he finally took notice. He ran towards the door put the landing pad snapped and fell towards the ocean.

Arran tried to cling to the pad but it was sinking too fast. The incident had already been noted, Arran saw some bright lights when he resurfaced. He went under and felt his armor begin to fill with water, it was sucking him down. Arran swam upwards again and saw a gunship hovering above him. The water drew him downwards again and he couldn't breath. He took off his helmet and threw it to the side. Arran saw a round yellow preservation device be thrown from the gunship. He tried to grab it but was sucked downwards once again. He finally gripped it and pulled himself upwards.

Arran gripped the preserver as it was hoisted into the gunship. Security clones grabbed him and put him up against the closed door. Everything was blurred and soon Arran passed out. Arran woke up in the infirmary with a medical droid in front of him. "You are very lucky you are a good swimmer. If not you would have drown." The droid said, "You may leave whenever you feel like it." The medical droid left and Arran was left alone. He figured he would get a glass of water. He drank it although it made him feel a bit sick to think it had almost killed him.

"Sit up Corporal!" Arran turned to see Commander Gulch enter the room. "We don't have any time for recovery! Felucias defenses are under heavy attack! Tomorrow your shipping out!" Arran tried to say something but Gulch turned to exit. Arran sat there for a moment. He decided to get ready.

Order 66
Arran arrived at Felucia after a short journey. The base was bustling with clones, they all seemed grim and the mood was dim. They weren't like clones he had met before. Arran followed directions to the briefing room of the base. He passed countless troops, Felucia was obviously a massive operation. When he arrived there were engineers like him in the room. He took a seat and waited a minute until a trooper came out.

"Welcome to Felucia!" He started.

"As you can see we are preparing for a full out strike on the Separatist defenses! Once we do so we wish to set up small posts along the areas we have secured to make sure no attempts are made to pull us back!" He paused for a minute.

"You gentlemen will be following the attack until further notice,  you will proceed with the convoy until we make a breakthrough! Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" Replied the clones.

The man left. Arran thought this was the shortest briefing he had ever been to. Confused he left the room. "All men get ready for convoy lauch!" said a voice over the base intercom, "Five minutes!" Arran sighed, that was probably why the briefing was so short. He got up and hurried to see AT walkers and Turbo tanks getting ready to leave. The clones weren't in any specific order. Arran just stood by a random troop and waited for the all clear. "All units have the go ahead for convoy launch!"

Arran saw all vehicles and soldiers bolt out of the base and onto the rocky territory. They left slowly, Arran felt some excitement though. They marched further and further into the jungle, the tanks in front destroyed any vegitation, the walkers and men found this suitable but were often stopped by giant roots. After some hours the men began to grow tired. Arran got out his flask and took a few drinks. It boosted his energy hugely.

Soon night was upon the convoy, they kept on pushing but with no light. Arran tried his best to stay inbetween the tracks of the tanks but often got sidetracked. He felt as if his feet could carry him no longer. Somehow he kept on going though. Arran heard a click behind him, then a bit of light and a whir. "Take cover!" yelled a troop, "Missile!" Arran dove into the brush and watched the tank in front of him get hit and burst into flames. More rockets and gunfire followed from the woods and Arran quickly got back on the trail.

He drew his pistols and fired into the woods. A rain of fire came back and splattered mud on his armor. He fired back over and over while bullets rained like hail and men started panicking around him. Some fired back but some were concerned about the wounded from the firefight. Arran saw a Commander run in front of him but get shot and fly backwards. He landed next to Arran and his wound sizzled for a minute.

Arran tried not to think about how sickening that was and shoot at the enemy. He finally ran out of ammo and resulted to throwing his grenades. He tossed three in different directions and took cover. They exploded and dirt clods and vegetation stained his armor. The clones around him took advantage of the cover and fired into it. Arran heard the sound of metal and then finally got up. It seemed all AT walkers were ok and that the Turbo tank was the only vehicle that had taken any fire. The casualty rate was firm.

Arran watched patrols take the wounded into the walkers. It could have been worse but the clones were experienced in jungle warfare. Arran proceeded on the long trip with the other clones for hours. They stopped for nothing and after a day Arran noticed a change of pace, the clones were slowing down. The vehicles were beginning to get stuck in mud. Finally a stop was ordered.

Arran wandered towards the nearest tank and climbed in, he was met with the flashes of computers and clones at monitors. The ticking of machines was constant until he spotted who he was looking for.

"Captain Bly?"

The Captain turned around. "What is it?"

"I'm Corporal Arran of the 78th Engineering. I was wondering when we would be reaching the Separatist defenses?"

"I can't be sure but I think theres a possibility today."

"Is that why the men are resting?"

Bly nodded.

"Thank you, sir." Arran said leaving.

Arran exited the tank and saw that the Felucia troops were patroling rather than resting. He saw a jedi walking past him, it was the first time he had ever seen one of importance. He recognized her as Aayla Secura. He figured he mine as well tag along. He followed her as she ordered her troops different tasks. "You," she pointed a finger at Arran, "whats your rank?" Arran replied, "Corporal, ma'am."

"Go tell that squad over there to patrol the perimeter."

Arran nodded and went towards the squad. "General wishes for you to patrol the perimeter." he said, "Immediately." They looked up from their card game. Arran thought they might knock him off his feet but they just did as he said. Arran figured out he couldn't get any excitement and just sat on an empty stretcher drinking lemon juice.

All of a sudden troops started packing up and moving out. Arran got up immediately and started walking to get a head start. The convoy leaped into action as quick as he did. It moved like a slow rope being pulled forward. All was one. Arran noticed that the convoy stopped after about half an hour. The troops stopped with little interest. But Arran wanted to know what was wrong. He dashed ahead and saw General Secura and her officers.

"I'm telling you General, this area is too rough. We couldn't get the tanks through here if we tried our best!" declared one, "It's usless!" Aayla sighed. "We need to continue on foot, but bring the ATs." Aayla replied. The officer ran back and the ATs went around the tanks. Arran followed the group into the woods for quite a while. Arran fell behind quickly after trying to get his flask out of his pack but failing. He went forward to discover General Aayla Secura dead with her officer still shooting her.

Arran was stunned and backed up. He decided something was terribly wrong and that he should most likely correctly handle the situation. He walked his way back to a Turbo tank, nobody was around luckily and he decided to abandon the clones. He stole a speeder and made his way back to the base as fast as he could. When he arrived at the main base he was panicking and was met by two clones.

"Whats the issue here?" Asked one.

"Theres been a killing of Aayla Secura in the forest! I suggest this is reported to the Jedi immediately!" Arran replied. The troopers held up their carbine weapons and fired them on Arran. They hit his speeder and it immediately exploded. Arran was thrown out of it and landed on the iron floor. He drew his pistols and shot both troopers easily. Others troopers fired at him now after witnessing the shooting. One hit Arran's arm while another came close to his leg.

Arran fled towards a shuttle and defended it fiercely. He hit the auto-pilot and fired back until the door closed. He limped over to a seat and bandaged his leg up. It seemed that it was sizzling the same way the Commanders wound had at the Felucia skirmish. There would be no more skirmishes anymore...

Star Hopping
"Yaltuk grut Slarglide!" Said a middle aged man with a wooden carved blaster as Arran got off the shuttle. Arran stepped out to see a tundra of ice and snow and a large village a little ways walk from him and the man. "Hello, I'm glad to see your village recieved my landing transmission." The man nodded. Arran saw his fur hat bob up and down with his head. "Water?" The man asked. Arran nodded and the man led him into the village. "This is a fine place, very warm compared to other villages." The man next to him nodded. "Good defenses! Lots of meat for winter!" The man said. "I see." Responded Arran.

Arran and the man arrived at a wooden structure that seemed to be a tavern with a giant iron door. "Cherbor candazwatt?" said the man knocking, "Slarglide, travelur!" Arran heard laughs and a loud noise. The door slowly opened and a few men similarly dressed to the man sat inside. One sharpened hatchets while another ate some meat. "Yaltuk traveler!" said the one eating meat, "Can we help you?" Arran nodded. "If it isn't too much to ask would there be a room here I could rent and a decent meal?"

The man laughed. "Of course. What can you trade us?" Arran hadn't thought about trade. "I have some scrap metal and some knives." The man nodded with a smile on his face. "If it won't be too much trouble we would appreciate one of your finer knifes in payement, and you are welcome to stay for a week if you wish." Arran was surprised. "Please! Sit down and dine with me, we do not get company often!" Arran sat down and put his pack on the floor. "So, do you wish to know anything?" The stranger asked.

"What do you mean?" Arran said puzzled. "News!" He said in a thick accent. "The Jedi are being hunted out of existance according to some rumors I heard from space smugglers!" The man finished and ate some meat. Arran was stunned. "Being hunted by who?" Arran asked, "The Republic?" The man finished his meat and responded, "It is an Empire now boy..." Arran could see the sadness in the mans face. "Do you have any of that meat you have there to spare?" Arran said changing the subject. "Yes!" The mans face lit up.

After being stuffed full of meat and water and some milk Arran went to his room to discover some new clothes on his bed. He figured they thought maybe his armor may be a bad sign to other locals. He changed into the comfortable fitting clothing but felt something was missing. He grabbed a bandolier he had got from a Marine Major named Derek and wore it. It had a perfect pistol holder. He looked excellent. His mustache and hair were good and his outfit was brown with slightly gold buttons.

He wore a leather aviators jacket over all of this as well. Arran went downstairs and saw two clones in winter gear. Arran immediately ran back upstairs but stayed to the point where he could hear what they were saying. "And your sure you haven't seen him?" Said one, "The shuttle was definately stolen." Arran heard the man sigh. "Yah, he came in here and then went about to the outskirts." The soldier coughed. Arran knew it was a signal to the other that the man was lieing. "And how did he make it to the outskirts?" The man sighed, "I told you, he walked out of the place and I have know idea where he went to be goin." He said in a thicker accent.

The clones gave up and decided to leave. Once a few minuted passed Arran heard a yell. "You can be coming down now, yah?" Arran went down the stairs and saw the man with a rifle. "You better be leavin. The clothes are free, no payin for the room." Arran nodded. "How am I going to leave?" The man smiled crazily and thrust his rifle towards Arran. "Thats insane!" Arran said, "It contradicts the clones weapons by nothing!" The man frowned, "This rifle took out 7 Baxanian attackers during the battle this village saw years ago! Now you use it on those no good troops!" Arran sighed and took the weapon. The man handed him ammo as well.

Soon Arran found himself slipping out a back door and going through an alley towards his ship. He didn't hear anything as he went close beside the buildings until he neared the shuttle. He ran for the cover of a snowy hill. When he made it to the hill he counted out a half dozen troopers armed with carbines. They were all extremely cold as he could tell. They must have been a patrol. Arran took out the rifle and took aim. His plan was to take out one in front as a distraction causing the men to shoot into the town. He would then run and fight in hand to hand combat. He steadied his shot.

When Arran pulled the triggers the soldiers barely reacted. He ran down the hill randomly firing shots, when he finally reached the shuttle he had taken out half of them. The remaining fired shots back quickly and almost hit Arran. He pulled out his pistol and shot on in the chest as he avoided fire. He ran and tackled another and shot him as well in the midst of fighting him on the ground. The last took a good shot as Arran but he rolled out of the line of fire. Arran aimed and shot the man twice. He walked into his ship then and took off.

And so Arran repeated this with many villages and cities and stars and systems. He eventually bought his own ship and named it Dreadnaught 7 and had it mounted with as many missiles he could get. The ship was a home to him and served him a good transport.

Trade
Soon the Empire began outlawing certain weapons and goods from being shipped and provided throughout the galaxy. Like many others Arran took advantage of this and began searching for spices, weapons, and much more to sell and trade. Arran started with spices and hid them in a small hidden space in Dreadnaught 7. Arran worked for a few different suppliers and was paid small amounts of money at first. But when the empire started striking down more traders and setting up blockades the pay got better. At one point Arran was asked to transport hundreds of thermal detonators from Selucami to a small star.

Arran accepted although he couldn't hide them all in Dreadnaught 7. Arran got past the Imperial blockade around the planet of Selucami and went about his delivery for hours. Arran avoided using hyperspeed since it may interfere with the thermal detonators electric force and cause them to explode. All of a sudden Arran's ship paused and began to descend upwards. "Tractor beam..." He mumbled. He knew he was caught, it was most likely Imperials. Arran grabbed his blaster and ran towards a secret room he had.

The room was specifically mean't for cargo but Arran always kept it empty just in case. Arran heard some sirens and then the ship finally settle onto a sturdy surface. Arran heard an explosion and then feet stomp all around the ship. He readied his weapon just in case. "Detonators!" he heard someone exclaim, "Without a doubt mean't for the Rebel Alliance! Come on, we need to find the scum whos doing this." He heard the footsteps trail off. He waited a little bit of time and figured it had to be all clear.

He raised the roof off the compartment and he grabbed some detonators. He put them in his bag and looked around the ship cautiously. He then made it to the exit and saw a dozen guards in front of the exit. He decided to take the ship detachement exit and sneak out. Once he was off the ship he made a dash towards a door that he knew was to safety. Arran got to the door and was met face to face with a stormtrooper. "Hey, you!" He said. Arran pulled out his pistol and blasted the trooper. The troopers guarding the ship ran towards Arran firing weapons.

Arran dodged lasers and ran into the hallway running down it madly. It felt like one of the most stupid things he had ever done. More blaster fire riddled the walls next to him and flew over his head. Arran ran faster and saw an Imperial officer with a pistol appear in front of him and fir eit at him. Arran fired back and hit the officer. He ran past the fallen officer quickly. Arran finally came to a closed door and immediately opened it. A dozen troops were waiting for him on the other side of the door.

"Freeze rebel scum!" Said one trooper pointing his blaster at Arran. Arran threw down his rifle and pack. "If your going to take me prisoner, will I at least be allowed my flask?" The trooper punched him hard. "Come on filth!" The trooper escorted Arran into an elevator a few halls away and they soon arrived at a detention block. Arran was thrown into a cell. "Give me my flask! What the heck sort of a ship is being run here?!" Arran yelled after the door closed. Arran sat against the wall. He soon drifted to sleep.

When Arran awoke two guards stood in his cell. "Come on!" Said one pointing a blaster at him. He obeyed sleepily and followed the down hallways and once again into an elevator. The elevator opened and they led him down a hallway. At the end was a large pair of oak doors. Very unusual for Imperial ships or let alone anything Imperial. The doors opened and an officer wearing a grey uniform sat in front of a giant desk with a red velvet chair in front of it.

"Take a seat." He said in an odd tone. Arran went to the chair and sat in it. The doors behind him closed. "I am Commanding General Korboff of the Imperial Navy."

"Well, why am I in front of you "Commanding General." Asked Arran.

"Your rather sarcastic. I could kill you if I wished. Do you know how much I would enjoy jettisoning you into space in an escape pod and watching the air run out? I would love it." He laughed.

"Well, you obviously have a large amount of patience then, because Imperial escape pods have an air supply of two days. As well as a ration supply for the same amount. I could also mauever the pod." Arran said.

He frowned. "Did you pay attention to the rest of what I said?"

"No. I was too busy staring at that huge red banister behind you with your face on it." Arran said with a straight face. And there was a huge red banister with his face on it. Arran thought it was very ugly.

"I'll have to take that down, your not the first to be distracted by it." He sighed.

"So, back to the point. Why am I here?" Arran asked.

"Because, I want to know all the locations of the rebel bases." He said standing up.

"I don't know anything about rebels. I'm a trader. Just selling my goods." Arran said.

"Illegal goods you scum! I should personally rip you to pieces for attempting such a thing! I am Grundan Korboff and I am feared! I am hated! All starships and citizens of the Empire would be crushed for disloyalty if they acted like the scum you are! I will make sure you die a painful death! I will guarantee it!" He leaned forward and yelled these words at Arran.

Arran sighed, "This is rather awkward, could you sit down?"

"Will you tell me the Rebel base locations?" He said raising an eyebrow.

"I suppose..." Arran said. He reached into his pocket and grasped a thermal detonator the Stormtroopers had failed to take from his grasp. He clicked the activation button. Arran coughed until there was three seconds left on the detonator. He leaped up and threw the grenade at General Korboff. The general was startled and tried to pick it up and throw it back but Arran was already at the door. It exploded and Arran saw the banner above the General flutter as a reaction after it exploded.

The desk was reduced to splinters and Korboff was turned into pieces. Arran closed the door just in time to see all of this happen. He saw a Stormtrooper facing him blankly. "Are you suppose to..." Arran grabbed his helmet and threw the trooper against a wall and started to punch him rapidly. The Stormtrooper surprisingly didn't fight back. Arran gave him a good punch to the head and he was knocked out instantly. Arran grabbed his weapon and ran down the hall. Before he escaped he had to get his pack.

He made it to the cell block floor finally without being spotted and was greeted by two guards with black slick helmets on. "You there, freeze!" Said one. Arran blasted him and he fell backwards. The other fell just as easily. Arran reached behind the cellblock commanders desk nearby and retrieved his items. All but his rifle. He figured he mine as well snatch an Imperial pistol off one of the guards. He then made his way down the halls again.

He finally reached his destination: the ships power converter. He planted all the explosives he had around it and set a timer on it for 10 minutes. Arran then exited and made his way to a hangar. All of a sudden alarms started going off. "The prisoner has escaped! All Stormtroopers to positions! Be on patrol! He has assasinated Commanding General Korboff!" Arran head Stormtroopers marching back and forth the halls. He had to be careful for sure. Once he reached the hangar it was too late.

An explosion rang out and the ship became unsturdy. It shook and the Stormtroopers in the hangar Arran was watching from a distance fell. He seized his chance and ran on the shaking ship. "All crew evacuate! Evacuate! Take all available craft! The ship is splitting... ACK!" Arran heard this over the intercom of the ship as he was running towards his ship. He saw a Stormtrooper shoot at him and almost hit him. He got into his ship and made his way into the cockpit. His ship began to slid downwards but got it in the air in time.

He punched the ship into forwards gear and it soared out of the hangar. Arran made his ship do a quick flyby of the cruiser and saw it split in half and certain parts burst into flames. The front dipped downwards and then exploded completely. The other half was intact but the lights flickered off. Arran finally drove his ship away from the ship and made his delivery to Yavin. This mission completed his occupation as a smuggler.

Trip to Neimoidia
Arran knew the Imperials were on his tail after the cruiser incident. Two troopers had recently followed him out of a cantina and shot at him once he was in a fair position. They missed Arran and he fled the scene. Figuring that this scene may be repeated, he decided to go to Cato Neimoidia. Cato Neimoidia was still rebuilding from the Clone Wars and was under Imperial Occupation but the Stormtroopers there were untrained and mostly were meant for aid work.

Arran guided his ship towards the planet. Last time he had been at Cato Neimoidia he was sent to destroy it. Now he wished to find new allies. He docked his ship near a barren area of the planet. The war had not been kind on the area. He saw soot stains and ruined buildings that would have at a time been breath taking. Arran walked down a street and passed small children and old women. He passed a few Stormtroopers as well but they ignored him. They seemed to just be chatting. Arran came to a giant cobblestone area where many traders selling goods offered him good deals.

He saw an Imperial troop buy some fruit. Odd, since Imperial troops were restricted from buying goods for personal use. Arran liked the feeling around this area. Non of the Imperials seemed to take their job serious and all the locals were friendly. All of a sudden people started to disseapear from the square, booths shut, the Stormtroopers seemed to take refuge in a store. All the buyers ran for houses and stores as well. Arran followed one Neimoidian into a droid store.

The Neimoidian ducked into cover and gestured for him to do the same. Arran peeked out of a window and saw an Imperial officer leading a dozen stormtroopers into the square. They were carrying a huge box. The officer said something and they started to set up banners and posters all about the square. A traders stand was knocked down and the fruit in it smashed. They used the space from it to put up a banner. Finally the Stormtroopers were finished and went back into formation and marched away.

Arran got up and went out fo the store and saw others do the same. A man was sobbing over the loss of his stand. He figured that it was all he had. Arran stared at a poster and saw this:

​EXECUTION NOTICE FOR ALL NEIMOIDIAN CITIZENS

ALL TRAITORS TOWARDS THE EMPIRE ARE TO BE EXECUTED AT 0900 HOURS TOMORROW. ALL NEIMOIDIAN CITIZENS ARE ADVISED TO COME TO THIS PUBLIC EXECUTION. THERE WILL BE REBELS AND VANDALS AMONG THOSE BEING EXECUTED. IT WILL BE AT THE NEWLY BUILT IMPERIAL ARMY DISTRICT.

-IMPERIAL TROOP OFFICE

Arran stared at this for a minute. He thought Neimoidia was just a normal planet that wasn't under Imperial control. Just a planet aid was being supplied to. Arran thought this was typical of Imperials. He had to save those rebels though, and the vandals as well. He went back to his ship and got a rifle he had at hand ready. It wasn't a normal rifle, it was a stolen Imperial prototype and it could hit a target from half a mile away. Arran took his small blaster too.

He spent the night in his ship and slept until the time was right. He took off towards the Imperial Army District. He saw banners everywhere he went and passed pictures of the Empire and Stormtroopers. The city was terrifying in the morning. The dark gloomy buildings were soot stained. Arran made his way to the Imperial Army District. Arran saw a large wall with a stormtrooper getting his heavy blaster ready. Imperials marched in and out of buildings getting ready for the crowds.

Arran found a ladder that led to the top of a building overlooking the execution area. Finally an hour later a crowd had gathered. Stormtroopers stood in front of the crowd to make sure they were under control. Finally a squadron of Stormtroopers escorted Neimoidians and humans alike towards the wall they were to be executed at. Arran recognized one of the prisoners as a rebel. He wore a tattered brown vest and had obviously been interrogated before this. They were lined up against a wall and Arran got his rifle ready. He aimed for the Stormtrooper who was in charge of the heavy blaster.

Arran fired and the Stormtrooper fell on top of the gun. The crowd control troops panicked as the prisoner gained control of the weapon and opened fire on them. The civilians scattered and ran left and right. Arran saw some of the prisoners grab weapons and fight off the Stormtroopers. A few civilians joined in on the uprising and grabbed ammo from Stormtroopers. Arran sniped off as amny as he could until he noticed riot troops arrive and take out some citizens. He sniped some out but they noticed what he was doing and took cover. Blaster fire rained around the area from both sides.

Arran figured it was his time to leave and he couldn't do anything more. He got off the building and saw two riot troopers waiting for him in an alley below. He jumped down and blasted one. The other thrust a shock spear towards him but he dodged it. He shot the riot trooper and he collapsed. Arran ran to where his ship was. His visit to Cato Neimoidia was short, but it was worth every minute of it. While running through the streets he ran into someone and fell on the stone walkway. He aimed his blaster and saw one aimed right back at him.

It was the Rebel officer he had seen earlier. Up close he looked soot stained. "Come on!" Arran said as soon as he got up. The officer obeyed and followed Arran to his ship. When they finally saw it riot troopers had surrounded it. Arran and the officer engaged them in combat and fired countless rounds of ammo at them. They fired back using highly deadly weapons that were obviously Imperial for Special Operations. Arran finally decided to take a chance and threw a thermal detonator near the troops. He hoped that his ship would be ok.

He heard an explosion and signaled for the officer to follow him. He was astonished to find that all the riot troopers had been knocked out by the detonator. His ship was stained but ok. "What a heck of an explosion!" Remarked the officer. Arran opened the ship and ran in. The officer followed. "Are you with the Alliance?" He asked as soon as they were in the ship. "I'm sure as heck not!" Arran replied. "Well execuse me! Your sure not Imperial!" He said loudly. Arran saw more troopers come into the desserted hangar and fire at his ship. He got his ship to move upwards and took off.

Arran was almost off the planet when a TIE fighter blast hit the side of his ship. "Darn it!" He said loudly. The officer stood up. "Should I man the guns?" Arran piloted the ship for a minute. "Do whatever the heck you need!" He said. This officer got on Arran's nerves and annoyed him quite a bit. Arran saw a TIE roar in front of him again. He launched three tracker missiles and saw one heat signal disseapear off the sonar on his control panel. Then two other heat signals disseapeared. Arran put the ship into light speed and sped off.

Lieutenant Viziar
Arran saw the officer return into the cabin. "Rather clever of you using those missiles." He said. "Well, no progress was being made on your behalf." Arran said. The officer sighed. "Will you be returning me Alderaan?" He asked.

Arran sighed, "How long did those Imperials have you in custody?"

"Only a year. By the way, I am Lieutenant Viziar of the Rebel Alliance. I am rather..." He said but Arran cut him off.

"Alderaan was obliterated by an Imperial superweapons." Arran said blankly.

The officer stared at Arran. "I refuse to believe such a thing. Alderaan would never fall."

Arran sighed, "It's true, but the superweapon was destroyed."

"Where shall I be going then?" He asked after staring at the floor for a few minutes.

"I have not the slightest idea. But the sooner the better." Arran said.

"Fair enough, send me to Hoth." He said, "Hoth is where the rebels are most likely at."

Arran nodded. He set a route to Hoth and they arrived there in a few hours. They flew over the planet for quite a while and spotted nothing. Finally when they were about to give up searching when static began to eminate from a communicator on the ships control panel. "CW-67..." There was static, "Rebel C-78 responding..." There was static again. "Ship approaching base, shoot it down." Arran picked up the communicator. "This is Arran Slarglide, I have Lieutenant Viziar with me! Do not fire! We wish to land!" There was static for a moment. "Lieutenant Viziar is dead, however you will be allowed in the base." Arran then saw a huge power generator appear.

Arran saw a landing area and prepared his ship to land. "Going to be good to see the lads again!" Viziar said, "They must have missed me!" Arran opened up the lower door and Viziar and him walked out. They were greeted by a lot of troops with guns aimed. A general with a pistol aimed lowered it. "My gosh, it that you Viziar?" Viziar laughed and walked towards him. "General McQuarrie!" He shook the General's hand. The troops lowered their weapons and watched.

Viziar talked to McQuarrie for quite a while. He went on to explain how he had been captured and how Arran had saved him. "And here he is, in the flesh." Arran nodded as General McQuarrie faced him. "You should be rewarded for your heroism, son."

"Thank you, sir. But I'll be on my way." Arran responded.

"I'm sorry, but we have no way of trusting you to keep the location of this base secret." Said General McQuarrie.

"Well, your not going to keep me here are you?!" Asked Arran.

"Can you prove your loyalty?" McQuarrie asked.

"Sure, I'm Arran Slarglide. I blew up that Imperial Cruiser last month." He said.

McQuarrie's face lit up in disbelieve. "That was you? How did you do that?" McQuarrie asked. All the troops around him were shocked too.

"I set some detonators and explosives up in the power generator and timed it." Arran responded.

"Well, your loyalty is proven. Your free to go but if you ever want to join the rebels let me know. We pay well, son." McQuarrie said.

"I'll join another time..." Arran walked up back into his starfighter. "You make sure to fight a good war!" Arran said as the entrance to his ship closed. Arran got into his cockpit and left the planet of Hoth. He would be lucky if he ever found a good planet to live on for even a day.

The Hole
Arran piloted his ship over an uncharted star that was according to a trader he met, "millions of years old." Arran came in hopes of learning about the unusual ancient civilizations that may have inhabited the planet. When he approached the star he had seen an unusual spacestation called centerpoint station. It was rumored to be able to destroy stars and realign galaxies. Although nobody in the galaxy had any knowledge of how to use it, ancient records told of how it worked. It had supposedly been built using the force by a race called the Celestial.

Arran was very interested in Centerpoint station, but archaeologists were guarding it and it was off limit to anyone else. Arran approached the planets surface and saw a jungle with ruins of the past. He approached a village made of wood and stone. He landed in a field, packed his things, and left for the village. He passed by hunters and gatherers with baskets of berries and weapons. He stopped to talk to a hunter and asked him who would know the most about the planets history. "Shaman Kindu." He replied with a nod. Arran thanked him and headed for a Shaman hut ahead.

He entered and saw the Shaman on a red rug surrounded by bottles of medicine and unusual herbs and spices. "Hello Mr.Slarglide."

Arran eyed him suspiciously, "How do you know my name?"

He laughed in an unusual way. "I know many names and places. I can see slivers of the future."

Arran nodded, "Well, why am I here then?"

He laughed again and smiled widely. "I do not control the future. These slivers come at random moments. Now why have you come?"

"I wish to learn of the Celestial. Could you explain them to me?" Arran asked.

He sighed, "I understand the Celestial only through the future slivers. It is very hard to understand for mortals. I am lucky, but I cannot explain it."

Arran frowned, "Is there anything else I can do to try to learn about them?"

"The hole." Replied the Shaman with wide eyes.

"What?" Arran asked.

"You go to the hole. You go and may not come back. You will learn. Is this a chance you wish to take?" Asked the Shaman.

"I would be willing to." Responded Arran.

The Shaman called to someone and a skinny man came out armed with a belt with a knife on it, and a small wooden blaster. They chattered for a few minutes in an odd language and after a large debate the skinny man gave up and agreed. "Kurdo will take you to the hole, be careful." Arran nodded. Arran and Kurdo left the hut and entered the jungle. Kurdo moved quickly and Arran often tripped and had to be helped up. Finally after an hour Kurdo stopped at a large stone shrine and took out his weapon. "You go on from here." He said trembling.

Arran nodded and proceeded through the jungle until he came to a giant stone temple gate with the doors missing. He walked in the gate and saw a huge hole in the floor of the temple. There was a small wooden hoist attatched to the ceiling. Arran looked around the temple and saw carvings placed about the walls. Arran saw a  story describing a superior society from above. War engulfed the society and they were forced away. Arran couldn't read the rest, it seemed to be stained by coal and soot from years and years of wear and fire.

Arran sat on the hoist and lowered himself into the deep hole. He had a flashlight with him and saw layers of fossils and skeletons and stone temple remains. It began clear this was not man made. Arran began to fear that someone of something was dwelling down in the hole. He started seeing gateways in the walls. Arran began seeing skeletons in the gateways. Soon the gateways got older and larger. Arran heard a crack in the rope holding him up. He was alarmed and soon it snapped. He went tumbling down and down. After a minute of falling everything went black.

Arran woke up in a puddle, or at least he thought it was a puddle. He couldn't see anything at all. He reached in his pack and dug around for a flashlight. Finally he found his extra flashlight. He turned it on, and to his interest found himself at the bottom of the hole, it had a large cobblestone floor and there were four cobblestone doorways on all sides of him. He saw the layers above were similarly crafted with cobblestone to support the millions of pouds of dirt above. Arran looked to his left and to his terror spotted a clone trooper. He was slumped over with his blaster to his side.

Arran looked and saw another clone, this time an officer. This time with no helmet and just a skeleton head peaking out of white aged armor. Arran looked closer at him and noticed he was a phase one clone. Curiously enough, his armor had crush marks on it. It seemed a great struggle had endured. Arran knew now that somebody, or something was living in these cavelike dwellings. Arran wondered which passage to take. He tried to think about the celestials. West was a sacred way to them. But which tunnel was west?

Arran saw faded gems above each doorway. Red was for West. He remembered that all of a sudden. Arran felt the air go cold and knew something was wrong. He scrambled into the tunnel. "You better hurry!" Arran was stunned and recognized this voice to be of a clone. He looked back to see the officer, this time very much alive. The officer nodded to Arran. Arran ran and didn't look back. As he ran faster, the tunnel got wider and wider, the stones got older, he passed doorways, all of them with marks on them or purple gems to tell they were unlucky. "Don't go in the doorways!" He heard someone yell.

Arran looked in front of him to see an anciently dressed starpilot staring at him from a doorway. "Run!" He said, "Run faster!" Arran heard more voices and saw more people standing in the doorways, aliens and humans alike. As he went further they vanished from his sight, there were less doorways. The hall got narrower and narrower until Arran had to slip through a crack. Arran saw many tunnels and skeletons with spears shoved in them. He passed them and procceded down the corridor for quite a while. He saw chests, and chairs, and closed doors. He decided to open one of these doors and found a torture chamber in it. Another was a wine cellar.

Arran found this area fascinating and explored it for hours. He paused for a snack and pulled out some fruit and some lemon juice. He ate this in an empty bedroom he had found. He noticed a drawer and decided to open it. It was filled with notes and some ancient, ancient coins. He read the notes,

"We are trapped in the tunnels. We stand no chance anymore. The foolish idea of our ancestors to build the million mile tunnels is put to no use. In the year of 500090 I declare that whoever reading this, should get out while they can. We have survived in this area for hundreds of years and now is when it ends. When mining we accidently awoke a terrible creature. It killed off most of the miners and now only five hundred of us strong remain. The armory is low, we only have electro staffs and our electro bows. They shoot straight and are killing the mysterious enemy but there are too many of them. Altogether we have lost 7,000 men and many more have gone missing. I hear them. They come quickly. The door will not hold. We retreat now. Help us."

Arran was terrified by this account and picked up his food. He passed more and more skeletons as he followed the passage. They were ancient, from the struggle 5 million years before. Arran finally came to what he thought was an enemy skeleton. It had a terrifying skull. It was slightly longer in the front where the chin was. It had cracks and bangs from the battle and was holding a brutal iron weapon. Arran imagined how terrifying the enemy would have been in the flesh. Arran continued down passing more men armed with electrostaffs. Finally he made it to an area where the door had been blown to pieces and skeletons lay all about.

The defenders were obviously making a last ditch effort. One may lay with a book on the floor. Arran guessed he be the man who wrote the paper. Arran propped him up in respect of the dead. Arran looked around and saw empty bottles, and only one exit besides the broken door. He looked in the exit and saw a narrow hall. It was securely built and led to a small area that had caved in, there was an area that Arran could avoid the bricks by squeezing through.

Arran squeezed through the exit and popped out on the other side. This side was filled with burned out torches. Arran saw skeletons riddle the floor and figured them to be ancient.Arran saw a throne with a man sitting on it. He was long dead. A staff had been thrust into him. He was eternally stuck in this position. Forever ruling his subterranian land. Arran looked around at this giant room, there were doors all about. Arran saw an unusual site, a trap door. He would recognize it anywhere.

Arran grabbed it and lifted it up in the floor. A small electronic box was underneath the hatch. Arran saw two switched. He hit both and the torches turned on. Arran saw secret doors open all about. Arran faced the king, "Mighty advanced weren't you?" Arran thought he saw the boney face grin. Arran walked through the biggest secret door and saw a room that seemed to lead only to a black circle made of metal, only one switch was on it.

"We have let you go for long enough." Arran heard from behind him, "The chance you survived the fall was a billion to one. The chance you would survive the Kriegen monster was a million to one. I thought the fake ghosts may break you down but they didn't stop you. The chances you would make it past the bug in you mind is astronomical. Now you must die." Arran saw turned around and saw it. It was a celestial. "Are you the last of them?" Arran asked.

"Not hardly, many exist. They have left, they live in another time, another galaxy. I am a million years old. And I command this planet and the few stars around it. My people started giving away technology to other kingdoms and mortals. Soon many of our secrets had been revealed. Many aliens lived about these great underground caverns. It served as a sort of embassy between the two sides. After thousands of years the societies crumbled and more brutal ones formed. This was a million years ago, and a so called "Great Society" made it's way in here and killed off almost all the celestials. This happened quickly, but the kriegenmonsters hunted them. Soon the Great Society's soldiers were all dead, many had been killed by us, and many by mysterious beings elsewhere in the tunnels. You see, we did not make these tunnels. We found them. So there are still great mysteries." The Celestial said.

"Like this room?" Arran said.

"Yes, I figure them to be the builders of the tunnels. A very advanced society. They were equal in technology to what we have now. They had very useless weapons though. Now before I am forced to exterminate you, are there any more questions?" The Celestial said.

"Yes, why did the others leave?"

"Lack of air, lack of freedom, fear of invasion, and fear of discovery." He replied casually.

"And why must I die?" Arran asked.

"Because you know too much, you may bring others here. And this knowledge was never mean't to be explored. Especially by man. There are terrible things..."

Arran seized him talking as an advantage and flipped the switch. "Schuldenvultz!" The celestial yelled, a spear appeared in his hand. He tossed it at Arran as he ran towards the black circle. An unusual blue light appeared. Arran decided to take a chance and jump through it. "Do not think this is the end of..." Arran heard the Celestial say as he threw his spear. It was too late and Arran had jumped in the portal. He arrived back at the village and everyone was staring at him strangely.

He saw the shaman come out. "I knew that you would come back." He said, "Did you learn about the Celestials, or perhaps more than just history?"