The planet Fest was freezing cold and quiet. Snow constantly fell from the ice planet's atmosphere and covered it from pole to pole. Usually the bustling city life in the valley echoed through the mountain ranges, but at night, everything was peaceful. The city of Ralock's only sounds were people hanging out in bars and vehicles flying home.
Little six year old Cassian Andor huddled in his oversized blue coat as he lay on the snow. His mid-length brown hair whipped around against the howling winds. Chills ran down his frail body, and he wished to be inside his warm home. His parents tried to drill the idea of rebellion into his brain, but he didn't quite understand. The city was safe. No one was harmed. After much arguing, his parents always said he would come to find out what that meant on his own. He shuddered against the cold and his dark eyes focused on his mother.
Xyrias Andor peered through macrobinoculars. Her raven black hair was pulled up into a high ponytail to keep her hair from getting in her green eyes. She lay in the snow in her dark brown outfit, which was covered in snow flakes. She hadn't moved a muscle since they got there. She must've been freezing, but she showed no signs of it.
Cassian's father, Kylath Andor, patted Cassian on the back softly. He sent his son a comforting smile, one that made Cassian return the gesture happily. This was Cassian's first real act in a rebellion. From throwing cans and bottles at Clone troopers, to infiltrating a facility to blow it up. Kylath couldn't express how proud he was. He adjusted himself and his black uniform in the freezing snow. The wind hit his bald head and made it feel as if it were frozen. His brown eyes wandered over to the facility, then back at his wife.
They had been monitoring the Galactic Republic's military assembly plant for quite some time, yet no one knew what was actually being produced there. Now was the right moment to execute the plan.
The plan to make the Republic military leave the planet once and for all.
A Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS) research center had popped up within the first few days of the Clone Wars. The purpose was to make the phrik supermetal to aid the rebels fighting for equality. Cassian's parents were part of the few who stood up against the Republic, but no one expected special forces. The facility ended in a bloodbath. Every scientist and worker taken out in mere minutes. The Omega Squad raided and destroyed the facility ten months into the war.
If they could do that, then with some planning, the rebels could overcome this Republic facility. Many of the military droids had been pulled to different planets across the star system by General Grievous, leaving many of the smaller planets defenseless.
They had no help now from the CIS.
Xyrias motioned to her family and the other Ralock rebels. She set down the macrobinoculars and nodded in the direction of the facility. "There doesn't seem to be a patrol. It must be too cold out here for the clones."
Someone spoke up from the far end of the line of rebels, "So what do we do now?"
Kylath looked over at him and held up a bomb. "Stick with the plan. We'll split up." He stood up and held his small blaster pistol with his free hand. He handed the bomb to Cassian and his eyes flickered amongst the other rebels. His deep voice rang in their ears, "Make ten men feel like a hundred."
Cassian stared at the little flat bomb in his hand as he got up from the cold, compacted snow. Everyone stood up around him and started to split up into groups. Xyrias took the lead, while Kylath walked side-by-side with Cassian. One group of four headed to the back of the facility, while the other group followed behind Cassian's family.
Cassian stared up at the tall, dark facility that loomed overhead. Against the black, cloudy sky, the facility blended in with the mountains. The cold atmosphere seemed to disappear the closer they got. Heat radiated off of the building like a ready to use cooker. He held on to his small blaster pistol carefully as they approached the doors.
Kylath motioned to one of the rebels. The man stepped forward and placed the only electromagnetic pulse charge they had on the door. He twisted the top of the round bomb until it locked into place and started flashing red. "Here's to hoping it works," the man declared before taking a step back. The door's control panel fried once the EMP went off, causing the door to unlock. Kylath helped the man pry the door open and let everyone inside.
It was unlike anything Cassian had ever seen.
Tiers of assembly line machinery stacked on top of each other, the dark colored belts twisting and turning with every floor it went up. The ceiling was incredibly high, and had a mechanical belt of finished droids moving from one end of the huge room to the other. Electronics whirred and zapped the droids as they assembled them. Unfinished droid parts lay at the bottom of the belt, leading to the top where they were completely assembled. The smoke from the machinery rose to the top of the room and got sucked into the ventilation system. Loud gears shifted every second, and the weight on the belt put a huge pressure on the machinery, causing a deep vibration to shake the floor.
A wall of deactivated dark droids hung in resting position on their right, waiting for orders to be given. Their lanky limbs shook at any vibration caused by the machinery on the other side of the room. Their heads nearly resembled that of a clone trooper. All held their metal hands clenched, revealing their aggressive programming had a complete handle on their minds.
Cassian glanced over all of the machinery and the droids being carried at the top. He wondered how they were like in battle. Did they shoot really cool rockets from their wrists? Did bullets fly from their hands? Could they blast battle droids away with laser beams from their eyes? His mind wandered as he followed his parents' lead and set the explosives on the machinery. He turned the top of the bombs to change it to waiting position.
"Hey, you!" A thin clone trooper yelled out. He put his gun up and aimed to shoot, but one of the men shot him down. The clone clanked when he hit the ground.
The rebels glanced at each other nervously, and somehow, Xyrias remained fierce. The Republic created droids, but for what? To fight their battles for them? What about the clones? Have they finally realized that their cloning facilities were wrong on morally high levels? None of the rebels knew what these droids were capable of. They could be overpowered.
Maybe even capable of slaughtering the rebels in record time.
A Clone Heavy Trooper turned the corner of a hallway and peered down at the ground. He saw the group in the corner of his eye, and spun to face them. "Stop right there!" He fired a rocket towards the group.
Xyrias shoved Cassian down to the ground and did the same. "Get down!"
The only other woman in their group attempted to dodge the rocket, but her reflexes were too slow. Her right arm and whole right side got hit in the blast. She cried out in excruciating pain before taking her last breath. Six more clones rounded the corner and joined in the fight.
Blood sprayed everywhere and scared one of the men. His blue eyes widened in fear as he watched the body fall to the ground. He dragged his free hand down his cheek, wiping off the blood in the process. He bit the inside of his lip before firing at the group of robots. His hand began to shake, and he couldn't steady it.
He took down the heavy trooper and a single clone. The man ducked behind the conveyer belt and rolled a little ways down until he got close enough to fire point blank. The clones all turned on him and fired, burning a few dozen holes in his chest before he could react.
Kylath gestured to the camera in the far corner, "Xyrias, the camera!" Xyrias peered down her sniper scope and disabled the camera quickly. If there were any clones in the security chamber, they wouldn't be able to see anything. She hoped they would assume their fellow clones killed them.
Cassian peered over the machine he was behind and rested the bottom of his gun on it. He steadied his breath and closed one eye to get better perception. He let out a deep breath. Cassian's finger hit the trigger, shooting straight at one of the clones. Target hit. Kill confirmed. He cheered and grinned widely at his parents, "I got one!"
Xyrias acknowledged her son with a smile, "Good work, Cassian." She fired at the clones and managed to hit one in the side of the head. When he fell, he distracted one of the others, giving Kylath enough time to shoot him dead.
One of the men got hit by enemy fire in the arm and yelped in pain. The other man covered him and took down the remaining two clones before they could wound anyone else. The wounded rebel touched his arm slightly, only to wince at the movement of sensitive skin. Blood dripped down to the end of his arm and started to soak into his clothing. The injured man waved off the pain and motioned for them to keep going. They had a mission to do.
Kylath's lips formed a tight line as he counted how many bombs were placed. There were enough to blow the facility...maybe. There was a big chance the whole chain of bombs would fail and only cause a minor setback for the Republic. He furrowed his brow for a moment and stated, "We're done here. Let's go see where the others are on the security cameras. If there are other clones, we can inform them before another firefight breaks out."
The injured man hissed at the pain rising from his wound and managed to ask through gritted teeth, "We're safe now, right?"
"Never assume we're safe until we're out," Xyrias declared. She lead the way down a hall, her gun positioned and ready to shoot at whatever was thrown their way.
Kylath agreed with his wife with a nod. "Anything can go wrong."
The group headed down another hall stealthily. Kylath pointed with his gun to one of the doors on their right. Xyrias shot him a look of confusion. She wasn't entirely sure if he was right, but the reassuring expression that soon covered her husband's face changed her mind. Kylath and the other two men stayed on one side of the door. She motioned Cassian to lean close to the wall next to her as she opened the door with the side panel. She held her gun near her chest and waited patiently.
"H-hello?" A clone trooper called out, his voice shaky. He got up from his seat at the security desk and grasped his blaster in his hands. His feet clanked against the floor. Sometimes, the way he dragged his feet would screech against it, causing Cassian to flinch at the wretched sound.
Once the clone came around the corner, Xyrias shot him point blank. The blast blew a big hole in the middle of its head. The clone fell to the ground lifeless, allowing the blood to spill out onto the floor.
"Who's out there?" A deeper voiced clone piped up.
Kylath tensed a bit. He shook his head at Xyrias slightly, and eyed her. He mouthed the words, I have this one. This next clone was trouble, and he wasn't going to give it the chance to harm his family. He leaned into the doorway and caught sight of where it was.
The heavy clone trooper was aimed and ready, firing a rocket at Kylath once he came into view. Kylath quickly backed out of the room and covered his face to cover himself from any debris. He set his finger on the trigger of his small blaster before diving into the room. He fired a few shots at the white and blue clone, but the heavy armor didn't let any of the shots through. He dodged the next few blasts the clone threw at him. Kylath rolled and got close enough to bash his head with his gun and shoot him multiple times. The clone hit the ground hard.
"Show off," Xyrias shot at Kylath playfully. He simply shrugged and smirked at his wife. She looked around the room and searched through one of the terminals. She skimmed through the schematics until she came up with the right one. Xyrias' eyes narrowed and the hate dripped from her tongue, "The Galactic Republic needs to die. They made that squadron come in, slaughter our people, and destroy that facility. Only to what? Make another facility and use our new metal to make Dark Trooper droids that will kill us?"
Kylath set a hand on Xyrias' shoulder in a calming gesture. "The time will come, mi amor." Xyrias balled up a fist and almost slammed it down onto the terminal, but resisted and turned away from it.
When the coast was clear, the other two men joined them in the room to look over the map of the area. They took notice of the only other exit and attempted to communicate with the other group on the communicator. Their response was full of screaming and incoherent yelling, while blasters fired in the background. The group tensed up at the thought of how many clones were there attacking them.
Cassian eyed the security monitor and furrowed his eyebrows. Aurebesh letters scrawled at the top of the green-tinted monitor. Four little screens popped up, showing the camera view from each room. The screens cycled through all of the different rooms, slowly but surely. Multiple things moved quickly along the floor in one of the rooms and disappeared out of view. He tilted his head to get a better angle, but he couldn't figure out what he was looking at. The camera panned to another room, and there the things were again. He pointed at the screen and questioned, "What's that moving?"
The four adults turned to the monitor and watched it curiously. The objects sprinted at great speeds, and seemed to be heading in their direction. One of the men whispered so quietly that it almost wasn't audible, "What are these things?"
Xyrias watched the screen with uncertainty in her eyes. She hung her head for a moment and responded, "One of the clones must've activated some of the droids."
"I thought these were just rumors to scare the civilians," Kylath remembered. Many people that hung out in the bars were smugglers or people attempting to lay low. They were the ones who spread the rumors, but he never thought they were true. Droids that could travel at that speed? He thought they were just drunks trying to get a laugh.
Xyrias murmured under her breath, "Guess not."
The other man spoke up, "How do we kill them?" He held onto his gun tightly, making the skin on his hands turn a ghostly white.
Kylath answered him without hesitation, "Shoot until they stop." Kylath handed Xyrias the small detonator and allowed her to forge ahead towards the exit with Cassian. He stayed behind them with two other men, who glimpsed back warily from time-to-time. Beads of sweat fell from their skin, and their muscles screamed for rest. They had to keep going. The Dark Troopers were catching up at an alarming rate.
The moment the droids caught up, they stopped and shifted into defensive position to fire at the rebels. Blast shields on their right arms formed around them, allowing their left hands to lift and fire blaster bolts at the rebels.
Kylath turned to shoot while still running. The wounded rebel fell to the ground in agony as scorch marks from the blasters molded into his clothes. Blood drained from his wounds, which caused goose bumps to form on Kylath's arms. The other man ran with him, looking back at the rolling Dark Troopers every few seconds. Sweat dripped down Kylath's brow, and he quickly wiped it away. He fired more shots at the droids, but the Dark Troopers stopped running and got into defensive position. The blue protective shields went up in bubbles around them. The droids fired their blasters; the red lasers headed straight towards Kylath and the other man.
Kylath dodged as much as he could, but he still got hit in the side. He screamed out for a short second and shot back. He rapidly hit the trigger of his gun to the point where one of the shields went down, and he and the other rebel were able to annihilate the droid.
One down, two to go.
Kylath clutched his burning wound. He noticed how much blood fell and formed a puddle in his hand. He grimaced and kept running. The other two troopers fired for a moment, before their slow ascent into sprinting in their direction. Kylath's running had slowed down, for his wound ached and burned with the intensity of a fire. He noticed his wife and son far ahead of him. There was no way he'd be able to keep up. The rebel next to him was in the same state.
A sad realization struck Kylath's mind, and his breath hitched. He was too sluggish. The Dark Troopers were too quick. The droids would catch up to them before they left the facility safely.
All of them.
Gunned down before the mission could be completed... That wasn't going to happen. Kylath peered ahead at his wife and son.
Cassian stopped running first and turned around. Xyrias did the same once she couldn't hear the pounding of feet on the hard ground. Her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion and her mouth dropped at the sight of her husband. She shook her head and begged, "Kylath, please don't do this."
Kylath leaned his hand on the wall and winced at the pain from his wound. This mission was a success. His mission now was to get his family out safe, and that's exactly what he was going to do. Nothing was going to hold him back from saving them. He called out to them, his voice wavering as he did, "Go, m-my loves."
"Papa!" Cassian started to run as fast as he could towards the door. His feet hit the ground hard and he moved his arms back and forth to gain more speed.
Kylath shut the electronic door, then shot the control panel. The door sealed shut and wouldn't budge when Cassian got near it. Blaster shots fired rapidly on Kylath's side, one after the other. Droid noises whirred and malfunctioned. Shrieks of pain echoed into Cassian's ears, causing him to flinch. His brown eyes widened and he cried out for his father once more in a broken voice, "Pap-pa!"
Xyrias sprinted back towards her son and grabbed his hand. She blinked back the fresh tears in her emerald eyes and tugged in the other direction. "We must go, little one."
Cassian didn't want to leave his father. He was on the other side of that door, fighting off the Dark Troopers. He's going to live. He has to. He has to come home. Cass thought as tears formed in his eyes. His hand slid down the heavy metal door; his little heart ached so much. It pounded against his rib cage, and for a moment, he thought it would break out. Cassian dropped his hand to his side and reluctantly followed his mother outside of the factory.
Only two other rebels stood outside at the rendezvous point. Xyrias frowned and nodded to them solemnly. They returned the gesture and faced the factory, waiting for the next move. Many were lost in there, but this cause was worth it. They were going to have their planet back. The clones would finally be gone. Xyrias glimpsed down at the small detonator in her hand. She whispered under her breath, "This is for you, Kylath."
Xyrias pushed the button, causing the factory to rumble. Booms erupted from the inside, and blew some of the walls apart. Debris flew all around the building, revealing the fires inside. Smoke rose from the top of the wrecked walls and spilled out into the chilly air. Cassian slowly clenched his fist together. Tears streamed down his face like a river, raining onto the cold snow beneath him. He watched as the flames engulfed the factory in booming explosions that rocked the land.
He learned what it meant to stand up for others and what he believed. This would benefit the planet. Help it thrive more than it already was. The natives shouldn't have to live in fear on their own land. Rebelling sent that message. It showed the natives could handle their own, and they wouldn't allow their land to be used for something so devious. Rebellions fight against the evil in the world. If only Cassian could have seen that sooner. His dad could have told him he was proud of him. But now, he'll never get to hear those words.
This was only the beginning.
AN: What did you guys think of the this chapter? This is the first SW story I've written, so I'm hoping I can get into the groove of things. Thank you for giving this book a chance!