The Clone Wars: Shadows of Darkness/Prologue

The winds howled as CC-1211, nicknamed Boomdodger by his comrades in arms, slowly limped his way through the Felucian jungles, in an attempt to get away from the group of battle droids that were giving chase. Far away in the background he could hear the sounds of blaster fire as the ongoing battle at Fort Halonn raged on. While running from the battle felt almost like desertion, Boomdodger knew he had no other choice, and he planned on living to fight another day. For the Republic, at least.

Boomdodger tried to push himself onward, but the weight that his wounded leg carried weighed him down, and whenever he tried to move faster, he ended up only stopping and grunting in pain as the sounds of droids sounded in his ears, ever so nearer with every second. He knew that in little time, they would overcome him, and he would be either killed, or taken captive. He hoped for death over captivity.

When he heard the sounds of droids very close to him, he finally lunged himself forward towards one of the nearest plants, and began to crawl into a set of bushes. Although they did not provide much cover, he had no other choice as the group of battle droids giving chase walked into the clearing he had once been in, looking around desperately in an attempt to find the clone commander. Boomdodger slowly and silently crawled backwards beneath the leaves, doing his best to conceal himself from the droids' sight.

Suddenly, one of the battle droids, a B1 variant, spoke up among the sounds of wind, "Looks like he isn't here. But the commander told us not to stray too far from the battle. We should turn back before they start wondering where we are." Boomdodger examined the battle droid, he was a captain, by the looks of it.

After a moment, something coming from the droid beeped. He placed his robotic hand to his side and took the holoprojector that was hanging there, then held it in front of him, pressing a button on its side. A moment later, a blue, holographic image of what appeared to be one of those new tactical droids - the super tactical droid - appeared. "Captain, report."

The battle droid captain replied hastily, as if nervous. "Commander, we were unable to find the clone trooper, but--"

"You what?" the super tactical droid snapped at the captain, making him jump into the air, letting go of the holoprojector. As the battle droid captain tried to calm himself, and firmly take hold of the holoprojector, the droid commander continued to talk, clearly not caring for the captain's stupidity. "Captain, I told you to find that clone commander, no matter the cost. He was even wounded, how could you possibly lose him?"

Finally, the captain managed to take hold of the holoprojector firmly, and replied with a clear voice, "Well, you see, commander...we think he may have turned around on us without our knowing. We also decided not to walk too far from the battle in case we got lost..." Around him, some of the other battle droids, B1s and B2s alike, nodded in agreement, "...but we are going to turn back now. We'll find him, sir! Don't worry."

"The only thing I worry about is you, captain," the super tactical droid commander said, quite menacingly at that, and the transmission ended. The battle droid captain put the holoprojector to his side again, and then slumped a bit, as if relieved.

"Well, let's get going. I don't like the jungle," the captain said. The battle droids began to turn back, and Boomdodger waited until he could hear the sounds of battle droids no more. Once he did, he crawled out of the bushes and lied on the ground a moment.

Then, Boomdodger rolled onto his back and stared up at the dark, Felucia sky. Rain started to slowly fall, and his vision blurred as droplets of water fell onto his helmet's visor. He tried to sit up, but his leg suddenly exploded in pain, and blood slowly began to pour onto the ground, through parts of his plastoid amror.

A moment later, his vision began to blur, and the last thing he could think of was whether or not he would ever make it back to the Republic.