The Kavak Plot

A Clone Wars Story

2006 short story by James Brodovsky

Mouth piloted his fighter into range of the enemy fighter. He primed his lasers and had a lock, when suddenly the warning light on the HUD flashed. He swerved to get out of the way of the missile as it zoomed by and hit the craft he was following instead.

   “Nice move 38.” Commander Martile said over the comm.

   “Thank you, sir.” Mouth replied.

Mouth flipped through his targeting computer for another target. He found another and took off. Unfortunately while he was talking over the comm, the fighter behind him primed and fired another missile. This time he didn’t miss.

After exiting the simulation chamber Mouth went to the view screen were he watched the other clones in his wing be systematically taken down by the SO 1 squad.

   “Who shot me this time?” Mouth asked Commander Martile who was also standing by the view screen.

   “I think it was SO-5644 this time.” The commander replied, “Why do you ask?”

   “He always gets me.”

   “He tends to go in phases of who he likes to kill.”

Mouth watched on as the rest of the clones were ‘killed’ in the virtual space fight. He heaved a sigh of despair. When the battle ended the chronometer on the view screen read ten minutes.

   “So how fast did we beat you this time” said a voice behind Mouth.

   “Looks like ten minutes Zero!” said another voice.

   “Oh don’t rub it in Boom.” Mouth yelled at one of the clones that just arrived.

The clones from SO 1 left the room in a fit of laughs.

   “Yeah, why don’t you just come back down here and we’ll fight you again!” Mouth retorted.

   “Don’t let them get to you Mouth.” Said a clone designated EX-0339. “That’s what they’re trying to do.”

   “Yeah I know Peewee, but sometimes I just can’t help it.”

“I know, why do you think we call you Mouth?”

Later, in the mess hall of the Republic assault ship Hydra, Mouth approached the clones called collectively as Special Operations squad 1. Individually they were: SO-5700 aka Zero, SO-5740 aka Klank, SO-5644 aka Ghost, SO-5902 aka Boom and SO-6066 a.k.a. Six.

   “Hey guys, can I sit here?” Mouth asked.

   “Sure Mouth,” replied Ghost “just don’t bawl over today’s loss.”

   “I wasn’t,” Mouth replied defensively “and I wouldn’t need to if you would just let me join SO 1.”

   “I’ve told you a thousand times Mouth,” Zero told Mouth, “We aren’t recruiting right now.”

   “Fine, it’s your loss.” Mouth retorted as he walked away.

Zero’s comm chirped.

   “Yes? SO-5700 here.”

   “5700 please come to the bridge. Commander Martile has a new assignment for you.”

  “Right away.”

On the bridge, Commander Martile stood waiting by a display board of their current sector of the galaxy. One quadrant had been highlighted in red and had multiple hyperspace routes coming from the multiple systems in the area.

   “Commander Martile,” Zero said as he approached the commander. “You called for me?”

   “Yes, captain,” the commander, responded. “You have received new orders from Courscant. A Jedi Knight has been captured and is in the relative area, so we were ‘requested’ to rescue him.”

   “Where’s the planet that he is supposed to be on?” asked Six.

   “He is supposedly on Hgyt. But that is a rather unusual place if I may say so.”

   “Why do you say that sir?”

   “The native Hgytins have a cultural aversion to the Jedi. None of them have ever had a Force Sensitive and none want to be.”

   “So when do we move out?” asked Ghost.

   “We’ll be entering hyperspace in thirty standard minutes.”

Upon reverting to realspace, the Hydra received an orbit corridor from Hgyt Air-Space Control and sent SO-1 out to investigate. As they prepared for launch, Commander Martile gave some final directions:

   “The Jedi was reportedly captured by Separatist troops. Don’t be surprised if you run into some. They must be keeping quiet or they wouldn’t allow us to send a lander. The Jedi was apparently investigating rumors of Separatists, kind of ironic don’t you think?”

   “Yes sir,” Ghost replied.

   “May I ask who this Jedi is?” asked Clank.

   “Yes, his name is Valdar Tyre. Mid-thirties, brown hair, blue eyes, yellow lightsaber, and a long scar from his left eye to the right corner of his mouth. He’s a tough fellow, so don’t be afraid to push him.” Replied the commander.

   “Was all that in the description?” Six asked.

   “Only most of it. He is actually a close friend of mine.”

   “Well we’ll bring him back sir,” cut in Boom.

   “Thank you 02 that would be much appreciated. Good luck!”

   “We’re ready for departure sir,” Six informed Zero.

   “All right, let’s go find us a Jedi,” said Zero.

As the engines of the CR20 troop transport flared to life and the clones coasted out of the docking bay, they received a breathtaking view of the planet below. Somewhat of a cross between jungle and craggy desert, the surface of Hygt was unique indeed. The surface covered in jungles with red spires of rock that when the wind hit just right during the summer storm season, made a beautifully eerie sound. The clones continued down their decent lane and came across Ca’yt’r, the capital of Hygt. The city was designed to resemble the jungle with landing platforms trailing fuel lines in attempt to make them look like vines. Towering buildings had solar panels on their sides giving them the appearance enormous trees. Upon arriving in the atmosphere above Ca’yt’r the clones were given a landing pad and they got off and were hit with a nauseating odor.

   “What is that stink?” Ghost complained.

   “It smells like a cross between burning Geonosians and Mon Calamari seaweed,” Boom reported.

   “That’s actually the mating aroma released by male Hgytians,” Ghost said matter-of-factly.      “Don’t you ever read planetary briefings?”

   “Cut the chatter,” Zero cut in. “We’re moving out now. Grab the speeders from the hold.”

The humid air whipping through their filters, the clones raced along in a wedge formation. A bulge towered over the rest of the jungle landscape and Zero called for a halt.

   “Circle around then report back,” he ordered Ghost and Six.

Five minutes later the two clones were back.

   “There’s no sign of any activity in the base,” Ghost reported.

   “Though I’m picking up a faint com signal, like a homing beacon,” Six said. “Though its heavily encrypted and I’ve never heard of an encrypted homing beacon before.”

   “That’s odd,” Boom thought aloud. “Like someone wants to tell you to do something, but only if you’re smart enough to decrypt it.”

   “Odd indeed,” Zero replied. “Pack it up we’re going in. Six, guard the speeders.”

After an hour’s search the team was finally able to locate the beacon. It was a small transmitter neatly tucked away in the regular communications array.

   “So, what’s it saying?” Boom asked.

   “Give me a couple of minutes,” Klank replied, agitated. “We just found this thing.”

Sure enough, Klank cracked the encryption and played the message through the console.

   “Attention supply shuttle AA-T89, there has been a change in plans,” the rough metallic voice of a Separatist droid said. “You are to deliver the next shipment to the Ca’catile system. There you will find us waiting.”

   “That’s it!” Boom said in annoyance. “I was expecting something good!”

   “This is good. We now know were our missing Jedi went.” Ghost stated.

   “Thank you for pointing that out to our slow witted friend here,” said Klank mocking Boom.

   “Alright knock if off you three,” Zero cut in. “Six?” he called on the comm. “Warm up the speeders, we’ll be out shortly.”

With air again wiping past them SO 1 moved back toward Ca’yt’r. The local sun setting behind them, Six asked,

   “What did you find in there?”

   “A message to a supply transport to go to the Ca’catile system,” Zero replied.

   “Ca’catile? Never heard of it.”

   “Great, so it’s not just me,” Boom said, then mockingly. “Our pilot doesn’t even know where it is.”

   “Just because I’ve never heard of a place doesn’t mean I can’t find it.”

   “Cut the chatter you two,” Zero abruptly cut in.

Back on board the Hydra, Zero debriefed Commander Martile on the situation.

   “It appears we need to go to the Ca’catile system sir. Six ran a check on it and there’s no major civilization, so I was planning to take another team along with SO 1. An assault ship in an uncivilized and tactically devoid area just doesn’t seem right and would defiantly alarm the Separatists already there.”

   “I agree captain,” Commander Martile said briskly, as though he wished he had thought up the same thing. “Take squad EX 52, units: EX-0339, TK-421, RT-65 UI-990 and EX-0338. I believe you’ve met the last one. Goes by the name ‘Mouth.’”

   “Oh I know Mouth all right.”

The next day both squads suited up and loaded their gear into the Multi-Squad Space Transport or MS-ST Tracker. Six and EX-0339 initiated the launch sequence and cleared the hanger. After clearing the hanger Zero opened a channel back to the Hydra’s bridge.

   “Commander Martile we’ll check in when we revert to real space in about two days. Until then watch out for your selves, and save some targets for us.” And with that the line closed and the MS-ST entered hyperspace.

Two days later, the Tracker immerged from hyperspace into the Ca’catile system. The planet below them was a rust colored dust ball of dry desert and rock, like a red Tatooine. Ghost initiated a scan of the planet.

   “Sir,’ Ghost started. “An anomaly in the planet’s atmosphere is detected. Uploading coordinates to the nav computer.”

   “Good,” Zero replied, then to Six and Peewee, he said: “Put us down just out of sensor range from the base,” then to the rest of the crew: “Prep the speeders. We’ll be going in as soon as we set down.”

An hour and a half later the nine troopers were mounted on their air speeders and en route to the Separatist base. The dry desert air howled throughout the rocky desert creating an eerie noise: sad, forlorn and foreboding at the same time. The nine troopers raced quickly along the surface towards an unnatural formation in the surface.

   “Reminds me of Geonosis,” TK-421 said. “Except there’s no dead Geonosians.”

   “That was a day to remember,” Ghost replied fondly.

They continued across the surface until they reached the security perimeter of the structure. They dismounted and prepared to enter. They calculated the area and found the spot that was least surveyed, a small stretch of wall against the northwestern side. Boom mounted a cutting rifle to the wall and switched it on. It hummed loudly as the beam spilt the durasteel.

   “How long do you think it’ll take to cut through?” asked Mouth.

   “I’m not sure but it should be done just…about…now,” Boom replied.

   “Alright clones, lets go!” Zero shouted out.

The clones fanned out into the room. It appeared that they were in a large storage closet. TK tried the door. It opened, into a hall buzzing with droids. The droids turned around.

   “Clones!” the nearest one said in its metallic voice.

   “Open fire!” called Zero.

The clones dived for cover. Blaster bolts whipped through the air, leaving the stench of ozone and liquefied metal in the clones re-breathers. They composed themselves and moved down the hall towards another door. EX-0339 keyed the door. It hissed open.

   “Peewee, move through and cover, TK follow though.” Mouth said to his squad.

Peewee and TK moved through followed by Six and Ghost. The rest of the clones followed through.

   “Sirs, I found a computer uplink,“ UI-990 said. “Permission to hack.”

   “Granted,” Zero said. “See if you can download a map.”

990 searched through the database enough to find out where their missing Jedi was and also managed to find an armory close by.

   “Does it have any grenades or LEDs?” asked Boom.

   “It has grenades but what in space is an LED?” UI replied.

   “Large Explosive Devices,” Boom replied.

   “Oh well there’s a few Class 6 Ter-Con Demolition packs, and 2 fully equipped Merr-Sonn rocket launchers.”

   “I’m beginning to like this mission.” Boom said enthusiastically.

After the half hour it took to transverse the base the clones found themselves in a dilemma. A grenade that had been used in a brief skirmish with a few droids had knocked out the controls for a turbo lift they needed to get to the detention block where their Jedi was being held.

   “Boom blow us a hole,” Zero ordered.

   “With pleasure sir,” Boom replied enthusiastically.

   “That’s what scares me.”

   “Ok move back and take cover,” Boom said.

   “Really far back,” Klank added.

Boom began a count down. “Five…four…three…two…one…Clear!”

The hallway resonated with the shockwave. The clones stood skaily.

   “Zero, never let him use Class 6 explosives indoors again,” Klank said dazed.

   “Into the shaft clones,” said Zero returning the cold efficiency to the squad. “Grappling guns ready, fire!” The ropes shot out of their barrels and stuck to the upper end of the shaft. The clones each gave a tentative tug at their rope and began to reel it back to ascend the shaft. When the reached the top they swung over to the landing of the detention level.

   “He should be in cell S-2,” UI said.

   “Klank could hot wire the door, it needs a keycard.” Six said.

   “Give me a second,” Klank said popping some tools off his belt. “Lets see, single feed, triple digit, switch blue, trip green and…” The door opened. “…There you go.”

   “What do you want now Kavak?” said the occupant of the cell.

   “I take it your Valdar Tyre?” Zero said.

   “Yes, it’s about time some rescue showed up,” said Valdar. He picked himself up hesitantly, afraid his beaten and bruised body would break under the strain. “Did you kill Kavak?”

   “No sir we didn’t run into anyone other then droids here. He must have left.”

   “Well that would explain why rations stopped coming,” Valdar mumbled. “We need to get back to what ever ship you have. Kavak is a Separatist strategist. They’re planning to kidnap the chancellor and soon!”