Willam Forlon
Rogue General
The world of Kashyyyk had been the scene of the recent battle for its freedom and as of yet was still a turbulent world where forces of the Galactic Republic endeavored to maintain the peace. Many of the indigenous Wookiee looked upon the Republic and saw nothing but a new master to rule it. Most of the population were making the transition to republic rule easily but a few of the smaller wookiee settlements felt uneasy with the Republic's presence on the world and had been less than co-operative. The settlement to the west of the main Republic encampment had been the most staunch opponent to their presence and while they had not threatened the forces left behind by the Republic they still had not let the republics representatives meet with them. Today was to be the day they allowed the small group of Republic soldiers who had been camped outside their territory and the representative in for talks. Indeed the months since the Republic arrived had proven they meant the population of Kashyyyk no harm and the chief of the wookiee settlement now trusted them enough to see what the humans had to say.
"Colonel, Are we ready to move out?" asked Representative Jesti of the Republic colonel. The man turned to face the man sent to lead the peace talks. Mike Tamdir had not liked the man from the second they had met. He was a true bureaucrat and had no place in the jungle. He wore a suit Mike thought would be better suited for a civilized world of pavement and buildings. Here in the mud and trees he looked as out of place as Mike expected he felt. The man did not complain but Mike knew he was very unhappy with his assignment. Jesti stood motionless waiting for mike to respond and began growing impatient as Mike smiled and said nothing. Mike waited a moment more then decided to answer before the man quested him again.
"We are sir, My men have already moved into the territory and begun clearing us a path through the underbrush. I thought you would appreciate not having to hack your way through three kilometers of jungle" said Mike as he walked towards the edge of the encampment. He turned to make sure Jesti was following then walked out past the edge of the camp and into the jungle. The path cleared by the Republic soldiers was cleared well and Jesti had no issue traversing it in his black tip shoes. The colonel had suggested he wear a pair of boots supplied to him but Jesti would never be caught dead in anything so mundane and martial. He just did his best to deal with any uncomfort he was experiencing and do the job he had been sent to do. The group had traveled nearly two of the three kilometers to the wookiee settlement when one of Colonel Tamdir's troopers spoke to him from behind.
"Colonel sir, We have a problem." said the trooper as he walked past Jesti and took up a position beside Mike. Mike held up a hand meaning for the group to stop. All but Jesti got the message and while the troopers all squatted down and stopped awaiting orders Jesti took three steps forward and nearly fell over MIke and the trooper. Mike rolled his eyes at the man nd motioned for him to squat down next to him. Mike waited till Jesti was kneeling down and nodded for the soldier to continue.
"Dodson and his team have made it to the camp and cleared our path. they say no one is there." said the trooper. Mike paused then spoke
"what do you mean they said no one is there? The Wookiee's are not there?" mike asked as he tried to wrap his mind around what he had been told.
"Dodson says the entire settlement is empty. and from his description there has been one hell of a fight there." said the trooper. Mike cursed then stood again. He looked around then down the path towards the Wookiee Settlement. IN the trees above large birds flew from tree to tree. Rodent's scurried across the path in the distance. All seemed like nothing was out of place. The jungle had appeared the same as it did every other day Mike had been on the world, with the exception of the local Wookiee population was no longer there.
"A fight you say? No bodies?" asked Mike. The trooper nodded a negative nod and returned to his nervous scanning of the jungle. Something was wrong and both the trooper and mike knew it. So far Jesti had remained silent taking in the conversation. Mike thought for a moment that the man was calm for a civilian on the face of what may be some type of trap.
"Lets move up." Mike said and began to walk the last kilometer to the settlement. Once there he looked out upon a scene of what had to have been a hard fought battle. Blood splashes littered the trees from the ground all the way up as far as Mike could see. There had been a fight here. One that could not have happened without some sort of casualty. But where were the Wookiees, or whoever had attacked them. It made no sense. It was as if someone had gone out of their way to clean the settlement and collect all of the injured or killed. Mike walked up a ramp to a walkway forty meters off the ground to get a better look at the settlement. He stopped as something to the left caught his attention. Behind him Jesti walked up and began to speak. He had been patient and remained silent but he had grown tired of it and wanted answers.
"Colonel, What happened h..." Jesti fell silent as his head exploded. His body remained upright for a moment before falling to the walkway. Mike watched the man's body slump over and fall. To him it seemed like it all happened in slow motion. His instincts kicked in and he slammed his body down against the floor and moved to take cover. He saw his men below on the jungle floor cut down in a hail of fire. Three of his men had made it to cover and began returning fire into the thick canopy and undergrowth of the jungle. He brought his rifle up and scanned the trees around him through his scope. A rustle of brush and limbs one hundred meters to his left caught his eye and he panned his weapon that direction. HE saw something in the canopy and squeezed off a shot. Something fell from the trees to the jungle floor in the distance but Mike could not make out just what it was or where it had fallen. HE scanned the jungle in the distance finding nothing and took a glance down at where his men had taken up firing positions. One man had fallen and the last two were now laying down fire. Mike's brain screamed at him as his eyes were blinded by a flash. when his vision returned his men lay dead and afire on the ground. He was the only one left and he could only think of one thing to do. HE turned on his back digging out his comm device. He hit record and began talking.
"This is Colonel MIke Tamidir of the 187th Republic pathfinders. My force has fallen under attack by unknown forces near grid co-ordinates five four six seven five. All indigenous Wookiee population have disappeared and all of my men are gone. I will attempt to egress under cover and make it to rally point tempest. I will transmit again once I have made it to tempest. Approach with caution as opposition number and makeup is unknown." Mike said as he looked out at the jungle and whoever was there. he pressed transmit then rolled back to his stomach and moved to find a way to get down to the floor of the jungle and safety.
Fifteen minutes later Commander Markus Prid sat listening to a transmission his communications officer had intercepted. He looked at the officer half in shock, then back to the communications console. Prid turned and walked to his ship's command chair and sat. What was going on down there he thought to himself. It was then he nearly jumped from his seat when the warning klaxons screamed out. From behind him he heard an officer say.
"Sir, Contact bearing six one by one fifty-eight by fourteen. Its a cruiser sir, some class I have never seen before." said the officer sitting at the tactical station. Markus cursed and punched in a set of commands setting the ship to condition red.
"Bring up the shields lieutenant, move us to intercept" said Markus as he watched the ship move up and over the planet's horizon. It was a large ship but resembled nothing Prid had ever seen Prid looked at the ship closing and opened a channel.
"Unidentified contact, please identify yourself and prepare to be boarded" said Markus. The ships reply came in the form of a barrage of missiles. the shields of Markus' ship shuttered under the volley and then he watched as lances of energy struck out at his corvette. His last moments were filled with horror and then darkness as the heavy turbolaser barrage ripped the corvettes bridge apart as the shield bucked. the smaller Republic ship decompressed as the hull was opened to space and then exploded in a fireball as what was left of the oxygen ignited then was extinguished by the vacuum of space.
in a matter of less than a minute, the Corvette and all aboard it were gone. The ship broke up and listed off until it was caught in the world's gravity and pulled down into the atmosphere. The mysterious ship moved past the now descending hulk that once was a Republic warship. It paused as it neared the edge of the world's gravity well then disappeared into hyperspace.
Seventeen hours later word had made its way to Supreme Commander Forlon. He read over the report which had been transmitted by the garrison commander on Kashyyyk. His report covered the transmission from Colonel Tamdir and his own comments on what he had found when he had made it to the Wookiee Settelment. The bodies of the Republic Soldiers were gone. The camp was in shambles and fire had begun to burn down the tree houses. He had gone on to report that a Republic ship had been destroyed in orbit by something no one seemed to have any idea about what it was. The Commander had mentioned it had been a fairly large contact but gave no detail about what he meant by it. Willam turned off the transmission and thought about what he had just listened to. Something odd was going on on Kashyyyk. The disappearance of any bodies had particularly troubled him. He pressed a button then spoke to his aid.
"Colonel, Get Admiral Holt on the line"
