Debts of Wobegon - An Avian Hunt novel

Debts of Wobegon - An Avian Hunt novel is a short story written by C3PO the Dragon Slayer detailing the events of the Battle of Wobegon. It serves as a background for the characters of Sa'Madhi Tatthya, Jin Alfirun, Ian Dermac, Reli Qos, and CC-0949. Though it is told from different points of view, it is written in first-person when the perspective shifts to Sa'Madhi Tatthya.

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 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: Greetings, Master Yoda. You have summoned me?
 * Yoda: Yes. Observed your classes with your Clone Troopers, I have.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: Yes. What do you think of them?
 * Yoda: Hmm. Difficult is the life of a Clone. Uncomfortable I was, to use them as the soldiers of the Republic. Your devotion to your troops, uplifting it is.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: When you've had training such as mine, you can't help but be sympathetic.
 * Yoda: Taught you much, your years on Ennth have. Of servitude, humility, patience... the very core of a Jedi. Proud, I am, that you have come so far.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: Thank you, Master Yoda.
 * Yoda: But something different, I sense in your Clones. Surely, you have sensed it. I ask of you to tell me what it is.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: Why? Because you don't know?
 * Yoda: Because if you are to remain a true Jedi, know you must. If the role of a leader, you misunderstand, the dark side creeps in.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: The role of a leader? True leadership is servitude. I put myself beneath my subordinates in order to raise them up. Hence my classes with the Clones. I spend as much time with them as I do with my apprentice.
 * Yoda: Yes. Not to the detriment of young Jin, I hope.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: I doubt it has an adverse affect on him. He participates in the classes too. He was brilliant in our last campaign; I'm sure he'll become a great Jedi.
 * Yoda: But the Clones, the Clones.. What makes them different, you must tell me.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: What do you think I'm trying to do with the classes? They're more than an expression of devotion. I teach them history, philosophy, and literature for more practical reasons.
 * Yoda: Good, good. Tell me the reasons.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: On Kamino, the Clone Troopers were trained to fight as mindless war machines. Years of training, of knowing nothing but life as a soldier, is a bit like a Jedi Knight, but the Jedi have something the Clones don't have.
 * Yoda: Say 'the Force', you better not.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: No. When I was an apprentice, working on Ennth, we provided humanitarian aid to the disaster-struck people and fought disease and poverty. We spent eight whole years on Ennth, just helping the people there. That gave me something that I want to give to the Clones. I knew what life was like as a citizen, an ordinary person.
 * Yoda: Ordinary citizens, you are making your troops? Is it not the reason that we use Clones that ordinary citizens avoid violence?
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: I know you're just testing me, Master, but the reason we use Clones is that they were available and prove to be effective. They will obey orders without question, not knowing the long-term consequences of their actions. I think that's like the dark side.
 * Yoda: Ignorance, the dark side is not. Selfishness, it is. The dark side, we call it, not because one can't see, but because too preoccupied with himself to bother seeing, a dark one is.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: But that's just it. The Clones think of things in terms of their own duty. Their duty is everything to them, so to accept orders and not think of the consequences is selfish. But I'm teaching them to harness a power greater than blind allegiance. I'm teaching them to care for the cause they're fighting for.
 * Yoda: To preoccupy oneself with the things of this world, unhealthy it is. Though you teach the Clones to care for the cause, not the self, a great risk you have made.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: It is true that I care for them deeply, and I do not like putting their lives at risk.
 * Yoda: Bond with your troops, you do. Both the love of a cause and the love a commander, refine a soldier they can. Worry about your troops, I do not. But dispassionate, a Jedi is. Care, you must not, if the time of a soldier has come. On the Force, set your mind. The battles of the universe, superfluous they are. The coming and going of life, ineffectual they are. In all and with all, the Force is.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: Life and death do not matter? What about the deaths on Geonosis? Did you not mourn for the Jedi who fell there?
 * Yoda: For the Jedi, for the Clones, for the Geonosians. But mourn them, I did, not because they were important to me, but because unique in the Force, they were. For the will of the Force, not your own, you must serve. The will of the Force, I am sure it is, that you may teach the Clones how to be more than weapons. But be mindful... of your mind. The will of the Force, it is not, for a Jedi to decide what is wrong and what is right.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: I will be mindful, Master. But... if the only ones who can hear the Force are not to judge what is good or bad, who is?
 * Yoda: The Force, young one. Made, the Force it is not. The Force is. The beginning with no cause, the existence that always was, the giver of life, the source of all power. Our duty it is, only to glorify it. The light side, that is. To do this, celebrate, we must, the gifts of life, compassion, redemption. Every being, unique in the Force he is. Yes! Even the Clones, same in body, same in past, different they are! Wars we fight, not to destroy the enemies of the Force, for no enemies the Force can have. A warrior, a Jedi must be, when the dark side claims the unique luminous beings, disturbs the natural order of light.
 * Sa'Madhi Tatthya: You are wise beyond your years, Yoda. I'm about a thirtieth your age. I seek to discover the true essence of the light side. But in the Force, everyone still exists as they are in flesh-and-bone. Don't think I'm defying you, Master, or the Force, but I will continue to do as I have been doing, open to learning more. My time will surely come before I understand everything.
 * Yoda: As will mine. My young friend, hopeful your career is. That you will inspire many in your footsteps, I pray.

Chapter 1: You Must Unlearn
I am Sa'Madhi Tatthya, Jedi Knight. Unlike other Jedi Knights, I was not a Jedi General, or even a Jedi Commander. At least, unofficially I wasn't. Though I'm sure the records stored in the Republic's bureaucratic offices listed somewhere that I was a General, I operated with my apprentice on a lower level in the command structure. I had a very good reason for that.

I found the Clone Army to be a regressive idea. Not only were the circumstances behind the creation of the army very suspicious, but the very idea of sending soldiers who have seen no life but the military was fatally flawed. The Republic isn't a region of space or a document or even the people that make it up. The Republic is an idea, and when you defend the Republic, you ought to be defending the idea. Clone troopers knew nothing of the ideas of the Republic. They had lived their lives knowing only the structured, harsh hierarchical command system of the military, and yet they were expected to fight and die for a Republic that was built on the principles of democracy, opportunity, and freedom.

While other Jedi, like Master Kenobi, Master Koon, and Master Windu were off fighting for the region of space that was the Republic, my apprentice and I fought for the idea that was the Republic. There were many methods I used to accomplish this. Though the Jedi Council gave me orders that I had to follow, we had a mutual respect that allowed me to negotiate terms of my missions. First off, instead of commanding an entire legion or even a regiment of clones, my apprentice and I only worked with one battalion each. 576 clones - a miniscule number compared to the hundreds of thousands of troops that a Jedi High General might command. But unlike the Jedi Generals, Jin and I knew every single one of our men by name.

Most people would look at the clone army and decide that everyone in it was alike. Though everyone had the same genetic structure, and had almost identical backgrounds being raised on Kamino, there were little differences among them that grew gradually, but surely. The Jedi all encouraged their troops to take on personalities, and so clones would often have custom-painted markings on their armor or different haircuts. Though my troops were similar to theirs in this regard, I could recognize my troops in a much more personal way: I could sense their unique auras in the Force.

In commanding a small number of troops, I was able to connect much more closely with my clones. When we weren't fighting, I'd be training them my own way. Not through drills and exercises, but by telling stories. Stories of the history of the Republic and of the Jedi. I think my men were very reluctant to go through with this at first. They were not only forced for their entire lives to serve blindly, answering orders without question, but they truly believed that was a good thing. To try to make them into ordinary people was like redeeming a Sith Lord by asking nicely.

But I had a new weapon for the war of ideas that would catch them off guard. My apprentice and I did not fight the glorious flashy battles that the citizens of the Republic see on the sensationalist news broadcasts. We fought long, months-long campaigns using minimal forces, and instead of confronting the enemy all-out, we'd recruit local resistance forces on Separatist-occupied worlds. With this technique, we could turn the will of the people against the Confederacy, which gave us the de facto high ground. It would provide us with extra troops to fight the enemy with. But perhaps most importantly, it gave the clones experience. It showed them what a soldier could be when he cared for the cause he was fighting for. Slowly, over the years, I have seen them progress from the blunt, close-minded tools that they thought themselves to be to the beautiful, complex beings that I knew they really were.

By the time we got to Wobegon, Query, the clone commander who acted as my second-in-command, had learned a lot. Query earned his nickname because early on, he questioned my orders. It was originally an insult to his character by the clone troopers, who were ridiculing my ideas, namely the one about freedom of speech. I told them that when you question authority, authority couldn't get away with evil. An oversimplification, of course, but as true a generalization as any. Query, who had learned a bit about humor by then, had proceeded to question me about the value of questioning authority. I thought it was very quaint of him, but the clones didn't see the irony right away and felt betrayed. After a while, though, it seems that some of Query's captains understood the humor, and in turned questioned Query in an affectionate way. This dripped slowly down the ranks, with lower officers learning to make fun of their superiors, until finally it became common practice among the privates to make jokes about superior officers and make their own queries. If it had started with the privates and rose through the ranks, I suspect it would have generated hostility between the officers and the enlisted. However, since it started at the top, it instead created bonds between the ranks. Their making fun of their superiors not only showed that they learned something about my ideas, but they now trusted one another. Now that they didn't have to blindly follow orders, they followed them better, with the knowledge that their commanders, including me, were just like them.

Some time after this milestone, we were assigned to Wobegon. Wobegon was a remote world, a considerable distance from the Core, populated almost exclusively by humans, and deep in Confederate territory. It was originally neutral territory, though that hardly meant that the population was apathetic about the Clone Wars. Rather, the humans were split almost 50-50 between supporters of the Republic and the CIS. The Separatist occupiers of the planet took the world without firing a shot, as they were well-received by the half that supported the CIS. Because the CIS had enough force to intimidate the other half, and the fact that the population of the planet was spread out so that most people lived in tiny towns containing a thousand or less people, no organized resistance had been made. Our mission was to change that.

Wobegon was a critical world in many respects. It was not near any major hyperspace lanes, but it did have access to a number of Confederate worlds that, at the moment, were ill-defended because they were so deep in CIS territory. Any attempt the Republic made to reach these worlds could lead to ambush at any point along the way. If Wobegon was ours, these worlds would be easy targets. Another reason was simply the social implications. On Coruscant, Wobegon represented an independent world, forced to choose either the Republic or the Confederacy. If they chose the Republic, it could demoralize the enemy leadership. The Republic needed someone to take the planet and rally enough of the citizens to decisively put the people on our side. Because of my battalion's background rallying resistance forces and fighting long campaigns, we fit the bill perfectly.

Our forces were small, as always. Between my apprentice and I, we had half a regiment, all stuffed in two Republic frigates. But this mission would be a bit different, because we would have help. Reli Qos and his apprentice were in command of the Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser Clawclam III. The ship was small next to the behemoth Star Destroyers the Republic was using on the front lines, but was nevertheless crew-intensive, with thousands of personnel onboard, and firepower directly proportional to its crew size.

We had reached the rendezvous point. All that was left was to get past the blockade and blind their satellites so we could land. It was hardly a very impressive blockade: two Banking Clan frigates, one cone-shaped Techno Union Hardcell-class transport. They weren't expecting Republic forces here, either. Anything the size of a Venator, like the ones that Skywalker and Kenobi used, would have been unable to get past Yarron. With our relatively small ships, we were able to sneak past. I then thought to myself how ironic it was that we called starships like the Republic frigate and even the mighty Dreadnaught "small". They were each several hundred meters long, large enough to carry thousands of people. It was only because the shipyards at Kuat and Rothana had produced craft so much larger that the word "small" even came to mind when looking at the starships.

I contacted Master Qos. "It's about time you arrive, Master. Those frigates won't go away by themselves."

Qos's holographic form appeared in our ship's transceiver. "You don't have to call me Master, Sa'Madhi. If you ask me, you're ten times the Jedi I ever was."

I suppressed a smile. Reli Qos was a great Jedi, but he took the part of the Code that concerned humility a bit too far. "I never asked you, Reli," I replied.

"Probably a good thing, since I'm not the wisest voice to ask for such opinions." Before I could ask what he meant, he added, "I looked at your record after my team was briefed. If only for what you are trying to do with you clone troopers, you have proven to be more Jedi than any of us. Your background in humanitarian aid seems to have put you in touch with what the Jedi are really about."

I thought back to my years on Ennth. I spent eight whole years on the planet, which went through a cycle of disasters in that period. During that time, we spend four years helping the people prepare for the disaster, and another four cleaning up and rebuilding after it struck. She had seen very little combat during her apprenticeship, but her years on Ennth taught her much about the galaxy and the Force. It was true that I believed that the Jedi have strayed from their purpose in the Clone Wars, fighting for the territory instead of the values and ideas. For a Jedi such as Reli Qos, a master of casual, lighthearted self-deprecation, to point that out, made me feel as though I had been arrogant to think I knew better than the Jedi. Of course the Clone Wars had to be won. But the war of ideas also had to be won too, and in my heart I feared that one could only be won at the cost of losing the other.

"Let's get this party started," said Ian Dermac, Qos's apprentice. The Dreadnaught turned to come in formation with our frigates. Altogether, it was a small fleet. Until the ARC-170s materialized out of hyperspace.

"This is Hydra Leader. Awaiting orders."

"Hydra Leader, this is Reli Qos," said the Jedi Master. "Keep in formation with the Dreadnaught. Kraken and Scylla Squadrons, back up the frigates. We'll break formation when we get to the enemy frigates. Our frigates will go on either side between the enemy ships, and then our Dreadnaught will go between them."

We approached the enemy, which soon picked us up and sent a wave of three squadrons of droid starfighters. "Scylla Squadron, break formation and head aft," I ordered. "We'll have our frigate fire a few rounds and take out what we can. As soon as you looped around, continue your attack." The clone pilot acknowledged, and I saw the ARC-170 icons on the tactical display split off and head to the rear of my ship.

"All batteries fire!", ordered Jin, my apprentice, startling me more than it should have. It was part of the plan, for the batteries to fire, but Jin was a quiet boy, in his mid-teens, and he tended to remain behind the scenes. Hearing his confident voice so abruptly threw me back. It didn't seem to phase the gunners, however, as they immediately started firing a tangled web of lancing blue lasers in the direction of the enemy droid starfighters. One, two, three hits. The first two exploded, but the third regained control of itself, despite having lost half a wing. The remaining nine droids fired several laser blasts and concussion missiles, but our frigate's point-defense system and shields withstood the attack. I was skeptical about the shields holding for the second pass, though.

The ARC-170s that had hid behind our frigate now swooped in on the enemy squadron, firing like their lives depended on it. I then noticed their distress in the Force, and realized that their lives really did depend on it. While the frigate was busy firing at the enemy droids, one of the Banking Clan vessels had launched a salvo of buzz droid discord missiles, which had targeted Scylla Squadron and threatened to tear the vessels apart. Though the missiles were not explosive, like proton torpedoes, they carried a large number of buzz droids, little pests which would cling onto a ship, drill through its armor, and sabotage the vessel. They were a particular nuisance to ARC-170 pilots, as there were several exposed points on the craft which could be exploited by buzz droids.

Instead of following my orders word for word, the squad leader had given the order to fire at the missiles, which would buy them enough time to turn around again, allowing their rear turrets to attempt to snipe the remaining missiles off their backs. This was exactly the kind of thing I wanted from an officer: to be creative interpreting orders when the situation changes. It was this ability that set organic beings apart from droids.

"Ma'am, missiles are incoming," reported Scylla leader. I had figured that out a second before he said so, but I also knew that he had given his squad orders to deal with them even before that.

"Copy that, Scylla leader. Continue what you're doing. Jin, get the point-defense laser to take out as many of the missiles as possible."

The situation was still uncertain. There was no guarantee that the point-defense laser could intercept all of the missiles, and it was certain that the ARC-170 pilots wouldn't stop the missiles themselves, even if their gunners were the most skilled in the galaxy. And beside all that, there were still ten Vulture droids, which were beginning to turn back toward the Republic fighters.

The missiles were now uncomfortably close, but the point-defense laser destroyed the first few. Still, countless more closed in, going for Scylla Squadron. I was not nearly the Jedi Master Qos thought I was, since I overreacted when the first missile hit one of the Scylla fighters.

"Master, patience! They'll last a while longer!" snapped Jin, who apparently sensed my distress over the chaos that was ensuing. He was right. Though buzz droids were a very real threat against starfighters, it took them a while to fully sabotage an ARC-170. The pilots weren't dead yet. If we could just destroy the enemy quickly, we could rescue any of the pilots left stranded in their disabled fighters right after the battle.

The point-defense laser was firing as rapidly as I'd ever seen, hitting some more of the missiles. I then wondered to myself where the missiles had come from; they were not standard armament aboard a Munificent-class frigate like the ones in the blockade. They were either a modification, or...

I suddenly realized what was going on when another volley of missiles was caught on the tactical display. The missiles were coming from behind the ships. The Separatists had an anti-orbital cannon installed on the surface below, launching the missiles from the ground all the way into space, where the battle was taking place. I pointed that out to Jin. He nodded. "That would explain why they're using buzz droids and not the more destructive concussion missiles. They can't trust their aim when firing from the ground, so if they accidentally hit one of their own ships, the buzz droids will recognize a friendly and refrain from disabling it."

The droid starfighters were now on the ARC-170s, exchanging laser blasts with the clone pilots. Scylla leader, once again, had made the order to engage the fighters without my permission. I had taught him well. Even though more than half of the ARC-170s now had at least one buzz droid on them, they were, for the moment, capable of flying until the little pests disabled a critical system. But time was running out. It would be much harder to destroy the enemy frigates without Scylla Squadron's torpedoes.

The droid starfighters had to be destroyed. I had one more trick up my sleeve. I sat back down, closing my eyes. Stretching out with the Force, I touched the minds of Scylla Squadron, inviting them to join mine. My battle meditation could extend my presence to the minds of others, but unlike a Jedi mind trick, I could not control them. I could, however, boost their morale and synchronize their thoughts, which would make them much more effective in combat. I was generally reluctant to use this power, for a number of reasons. One was that there was a risk behind the battle meditation, which can, in some cases, lead to the damaging of the minds involved in the meld. Another was that both I and my men had qualms about robbing them of their individuality, however temporarily. The clone pilots invited me into their heads. I assured them, planted confidence and ideas into them, and they received the message. The communication was only one-way; they could not actively send messages or feelings to me, but I could read their emotions if I concentrated. However, doing this with thirty-six separate individuals, three per fighter, at the same time was rather difficult. The ancient Jedi stories told of Jedi Generals who could connect with entire armies, regardless of distance. I knew it was possible, but because they didn't formally teach this power anymore, I was not as adept as these Old Republic heroes. I was learning, however, and at this point I could send out thoughts very quickly.

The ARC-170 pilots were now sure of victory, even if I secretly wasn't. With confidence came effectiveness, and with their newly-tuned reflexes, three more Vulture droids exploded in the dogfight. Just as things began looking better, the buzz droids on Scylla Five disabled both engines on the ARC-170 simultaneously, sending it careening straight at our ship. The impact resulting impact would, at best, damage the frigate very severely.

I looked at Jin, sending him a mental message. He nodded, and we both reached out, drawing on one another's power. With our combined strength, we were able to nudge the incoming fighter a few degrees off its path, and instead of crashing full-force into the frigate's engines, it barely scraped the hull, leaving little more than a dent in the frigate's armor.

More buzz droid missiles struck all around. Another ARC-170 was left disabled, and one of the remaining droid fighters destroyed it right after the pilots ejected. "Scylla Squadron, move toward the enemy frigate on the right. Keep close to the ship's hull and skim the surface." They knew what I was planning. Keeping close to the enemy frigate would keep the vessel from accurately aiming at them, while also blocking the buzz droid missiles that continued to be launched from the ground. The only remaining problem was the droid starfighters. There were three more from the first squadron, and the second had finished launching and was about to arrive. The Republic frigate could only take on so many at a time.

Still, it had to be tried. It was the only way. The ARC-170s dived in a remarkable formation, still under the influence of my battle meditation, straight towards the surface of the Banking Clan frigate. Some fired torpedoes, again, not part of my orders, but it probably helped. Jin instructed the gunners to concentrate fire on the droid starfighters. Now that they were in a predictable flight pattern for a short time, it was possible to target the droid starfighters without risking hitting the ARC-170s. The gunners were swift and effective. The last three fighters of the first droid squadron burst into a large amount of atomic particles, the variety referred to as "smithereens." The next squadron also suffered losses, leaving the number of droid starfighters about the same as the number of ARC-170s.

The ARC-170s, however, were more distracted than the Vulture droids, since they had to concentrate on flying close to the Banking Clan frigate. The Vulture droids did not have to worry about such things; all they had to do was strafe the ARC-170s from above. And they were about to do so when all of a sudden, they exploded in quick succession.

Ian Dermac, Qos's Padawan, had arrived in his Eta-2 interceptor. If there was one area in which Ian excelled, it was in the cockpit of a starfighter, especially an Eta-2.

"You're not doing that bad, are you?" Ian joked. I didn't think it was a laughing matter. Some of her pilots could have died if not for his intervention. Though because of that, I did owe him thanks, which I offered to him promptly.

"We already destroyed the first frigate with the Clawclam III," Ian reported casually. "It's time to finish the job."

The battle didn't last much longer. With three squadrons of ARC-170s converging on the frigate, positioned above the ship to keep cover from the buzz droid missiles, and our own frigates firing on their remaining droid starfighters, the CIS orbital forces were swiftly destroyed. Several ARC-170s had been shot down - Scylla Squadron was almost entirely destroyed, but all but four pilots made it back to the Dreadnaught safe. Once we reached the surface, I would plan a proper funeral for the dead pilots. I never let myself become detached from the loss of life that was ubiquitous in war. Master Yoda had instructed me to be dispassionate, yes, but more than becoming too impassioned, I feared reaching the point where a soldier killed in battle would be just another number on a datapad.