Resurgence of the Knight

Darius' Escape

Darius Kymeri, then a Jedi Padawan, remembered that fateful day in Cato Neimoidia. The day when the Jedi were accused of treason and had to be hunted down.

He was on his starfighter striking down several Separatist Vulture droids. Together with his Master, Plo Koon, they led the Wolfpack fighter squadron into an airstrike.

Suddenly, amidst the battle, he felt a disturbance in the Force. Troubled, Darius turned to his master, who flew his fighter beside his. "Master, did you feel that?" He asked, glancing out the transparisteel windscreen of his cockpit.

The Kel Dor Jedi Master's head was visible. He couldn't see the expression on his face due to his goggles and breathing mask on, but he knew that he had felt it too.

"Darius, be on guard." Plo Koon said. "Something's about to happen." He warned.

"Copy that, Master," Darius replied.

Right on cue, the squadron fighters following them started firing.

"Darius—" Plo called in an urgent tone. He never finished his sentence.

A torpedo caused an explosion and Plo Koon's fighter went down, splintering into pieces.

"Master Plo!" Darius yelled.

With his master down, the clone pilots turned to him and started firing. He wanted to go to his master's aid, but he had to maneuver the fighter to evade the torpedoes.

"Pilot, stand down!" He ordered.

"This is Captain Jag." The clone pilot Jag said through the radio comm. "Fire at the Jedi Starfighter."

"What?" Darius shrieked. "Captain, this is Commander Kymeri, hold your fire." He ordered.

The clone red leader Jag never responded, he kept telling the others to shoot Darius' fighter.

"Jag—" Darius started to say, but unfortunately a torpedo hit his right engine and his fighter went spiraling down to a woody area of one of the hanging Neimoidian cities.

The fighter hit the ground hard. Luckily, Darius was awake when it crashed. He was still dazed but he forced himself to stand. "What in the universe is going on?" He complained and noticed that his right jaw hurt. He became aware that the crash left a gash on his right jaw. Darius ignored the pain as he broke off the burnt transparisteel windscreen and ran before clones could find him.

Darius donned his brown Jedi robe and pulled the hood down to cover his face. He didn't understand why the clones suddenly had the nerve to kill Jedi. They succeeded in killing Plo Koon and are trying to kill him, so he decided to find out more. He found himself in a hiding spot not far from his crashed fighter. He knew better than to hide where the clones can easily find him.

As expected, the clones checked the wreckage. They approached the fighter, which was still smoking, half-buried in the mossy terrain and with the windscreen of the cockpit wide open. The clones advanced with their blasters ready. Any sign of movement and they'll shoot without hesitation.

"Hold it!" A clone yelled as he ran towards the clones surrounding the fighter. Darius recognized him immediately with his slightly different armor and helmet. It was Wolffe, his master's Clone Commander. "Blasters down." He said as he pushed down the blaster of the nearest trooper. "What are you doing, Comet?"

"He might still be alive, sir." The clone corporal, Comet responded.

Wolffe scanned the wreckage, then turned back to Comet. "If he's still alive, he wouldn't just sit there." He said. "Of course, he would run!"