Terror (Novel)

Terror is a Horror themed fan-fiction novel set during the Clone Wars. It follows the crew of an Acclamator I-class assault ship as they struggle to survive a dangerous entity after their ship is damaged.

Prologue
A Neimoidian officer and a T-series tactical droid are attempting to flee while on board their Providence-class carrier/destroyer. The tactical droid mentions that the battle droids they left behind will not hold of their followers for long, but the Neimoidian is confident that they can reach the escape pod bay before their assailants can catch up. Suddenly, the tactical droid suffers a slash wound across its torso from an unseen force and collapses. The Neimodian backs away, pleading for his life, before the entity disembowels him.

Distress signal
Aboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer, the Conqueror, an officer picks up a faint distress signal. The captain of the ship orders one of its frigates, an Acclamator I-class assault ship, named the Royalty to investigate the signal, while the other ships in the fleet go ahead to to bolster its defences. The Royalty discovers a heavily damaged Providence-class carrier/destroyer. The captain of the ship, Ayzi Mart, orders a platoon of clone troopers and a Jedi investigate the ship. The Bith Jedi, Poe Needles, and his Padawan, Narsi Tolls volunteer to lead the clones in the search party. When they arrive on the ship, they note that there are numerous claw marks in the hull of the ship. Travelling further, they encounter numerous battle droids, all of them ripped to shreds. Poe and Narsi split up to investigate the ship. Poe discovers the corpse of a Neimodian officer and the damaged, but still functioning TA-75. Poe questions the droid on what happened, only to receive vague responses about the ship coming under attack by invisible soldiers. Clone lieutenant Zed disregards the droid's responses as a malfunction down to its damage, but Poe is sceptical. Poe and his forces hear blaster fire coming from another section of the ship and rush to investigate. Upon arrival, they find a barely living Narsi surrounded by vivisected clone troopers. Before dying, Narsi tells them that they never saw their attackers, the clones just started getting ripped to shreds one by one. Disturbed, Zed attempts to persuade Poe to leave, but Poe insists on searching the bridge. Once there, they discover TA-75 has dragged himself to the controls and has activated the ships self-destruct, repeatedly saying "Surrender is not an option." A stunned Poe is killed, along with his soldiers moments later when the ship is destroyed.

Stranded
The Royalty is heavily damaged in the resulting explosion and a number of functions on the ship are too heavily damaged to remain functioning, including the engines and communications. The hangar bay is also damaged, resulting in the destruction of all ships. Mart believes that they will be stranded there until the Conqueror notices their extended absence. In the cargo hold, an ensign is checking the food stocks aboard the ship, with two clones with him. He hears something, but puts it down to paranoia, and continues counting. However, when he hears it again, he sends one of the clone troopers to investigate. When he orders the clone to return, he receives no answer, and decides to investigate with the remaining clone. However, while they are searching, the second clone is stabbed from behind by an unseen creature. The ensign panics and attempts to flee, only to have his leg badly cut, causing him to fall. He attempts to drag himself away, only to be killed moments later.

Hunted
Later, Mart begins to become suspicious when the ensign doesn't report back, so he sends his first officer (Dorian Trayk) and second officer (Vrell) to investigate, along with two squads of clone troopers. Accompanying them is Jedi Knight Hevi Terris. They reach the cargo hold and discover the bodies of one of the clone troopers and the ensign. Disturbed, Hevi leaves to investigate other areas of the ship, but warns Vrell and Dorian not to separate. Going against orders, Vrell takes his squad of clone troopers to investigate the cargo hold, while Dorian searches elsewhere. Only minutes after separating, Vrell encounters the same mysterious force that killed the Separatist and the clones. Vrell is slaughtered while his clone troopers vainly attempt to defend themselves from the invisible menace. Dorian and Hevi return to the cargo hold after hearing screaming and blaster fire. They discover that following their absence, a blood bath has occurred, finding blood splattered across the walls. Now horrified, Hevi, Dorian and the clones return to the bridge, only to find that whatever killed the clones has also killed the entire bridge crew, save a clone naval officer, Mac, who is badly injured but still alive. They escort him to the medical centre and leave him in the care of a. Hevi decides to alert the crew of the danger and gathers them in the mess hall. Hevi informs them of the mysterious deaths and warns them that they must be alert and cautious at all times. He organises squad to look for whatever is causing the deaths and has them scout the ships. While following a squad, Hevi finally witnesses the creatures that are slaughtering the crew. He watches on helplessly as his clones are killed, before he himself is attacked. The being reveals itself to him as a. Knowing that one alone could not have killed so many in such a short space of time, Hevi concludes that there are multiple aboard and must have come from the Separatist ship. One by one, Hevi loses contact with the search squads and orders the survivors to return to the mess hall.

Final resort
Hevi, Dorian, a recuperated Mac and the other survivors return, but the clones and crew are beginning to panic. Knowing that the Conqueror will eventually come looking for them and pick up the Starweirds, Hevi opts to destroy the ship so that the Conqueror does not share the same fate as the Royalty. Dorian reluctantly agrees, but is unwilling to tell the plan to the others. Hevi reveals the plan to the crew. While the clone troopers agree to follow through with it, the remaining crew members refuse to go through with it. A fight ensues where most of the non-clone crewmembers are killed by the clone troopers in self-defence. The remaining few are disarmed and locked away. Hevi, Dorian and Mac collect all the explosives on the ship and attempt to take them to the ship's reactor. However, along the way, they are attacked by more Starweirds. Mac and a few clone troopers stay behind in order to allow the others to plant the explosives. In order to buy more time, Dorian orders the clones to spread out through the ship, much to Hevi's disturbance at using clones as bait. However, the clones are cut down much quicker than Dorian expected, and soon the few remaining soldiers pull back to the reactor. Hevi is forced to work quickly in setting up the explosives while the clones are cut down around him. As he is doing so, a Starweird appears behind him and impales him. However, before his death, Hevi managed to activate the detonator, destroying the ship and killing everyone on board.

Epilogue
The Conqueror and another Acclamator enter the system where the distress signal was found, only to discover the wreckages of the Separatist ship and the Royalty. The captain decided to search for any escape pods that may have jettisoned. However, after several hours of searching, no life forms are found. Two clone troopers wonder what might have happened to the Royalty, before hearing a piercing scream that leaves them both unable to move, implying that the Starweirds are now aboard the Conqueror.