The Hunt on Tatooine

Clone High Marshal Commander Jed walked off his ARCSOT and down onto the sand of Tatooine. He continued over to the training camp near by, its appearance showed that it was set up quickly and was sloppy; Jed didn't like that, even if the camp would be gone in four days. He continued on ahead of his platoon, they were still unloading the supplies needed for the exercise. He stopped once he found the three men he was looking for, the training sergeants, their leading sergeant went over to greet their boss, "Ah Commander, its good to see you."

"Same here, I am looking forward to seeing your men in action, they do, after all, have a future in the 346th Sand Corps." He paused for a second then continued, "Now sergeants, you should know how to teach these men how to set up a proper camp, shouldn't you."

"Yes sir, sorry for any issues you may have with the camp. I'll have them redo it after their practice."

"Very good then, now show me to the men." The sergeants followed his orders and lead him to the company. They were sitting on the ground in a semicircle waiting for their teacher to arrive. He stopped in front of them, and took off his helmet in hopes of putting some of the cadets at ease. He had dyed dirty blonde hair, which seamed to interest some of the clones that were still developing their own identities.

"Hello cadets. You all should know who I am; I am Commander Jed, the Commanding Officer of the 346th Sand Corps, and your future CO as well. You all know why you're here right?"

He stopped until the chorus of "Sir, yes sir's." ended.

"Alright troopers, that makes my job a lot easier. Now for the most part, you have never been on repulsorskates before. Well today that's going to change." He paused and turned around to see the veteran platoon walking towards him with the equipment in hand. He turned back to the cadets, "As you are all aware, repulsorskate combat is something your future unit, my 346th Sand Corps is famous for. The men you see behind me are some of the most skilled in this kind of combat. They will be helping in teaching you the basics of repulsorskates use and combat. Now split up into groups and you will each go with one of them, while the cadet sergeants come with me? Oh, and remember the skills you learn here today, you'll take back to Kamino and teach to your other brothers."

The clones split up into their various groups and began the lecture. Meanwhile the cadet sergeants came over to Jed. There were a surprising number of them in the group Ah so that's how they decided to do it, get most of the leaders to learn it first and spread it around the group. "Now then, you are about to learn how to ride on the repulsorskates we brought along." He opened up the crate and pulled out a set of repulsorskates. "Now these are repulsorskates, they are your friend and you should treat them as such. The model I am currently holding is top of the line. These skates will allow you to hover off the ground, much like a repulsorcraft. The small nozzles are much like a jetpack, and they will alloy you to move at high speed while hovering. Now you each take a pair and attach them to the back of your legs, on the back of your shins, like I do." He pointed down to the back of his legs at his own repulsorskates, they were painted with a desert camouflage, unlike the new ones the cadets had, those still needed to be painted.

He went through his lecture and continued on to the second part of the lesson. "Alright, now." The troopers listened. "Since you already know how to fire a blaster, I'll show you how to do it on skates, while moving. The next thing I am going to show you is the blade we use." Jed reached over his shoulder and pulled out his saber. A long curved blade for slashing began to leave its scabbard as the blade came out, it glistened in the sunlight. Its hilt shimmered of a brass-plated finish.

"This is the standard blade you will carry into combat. Its primary purpose is to slash, but it can be used to stab as well. The technique we employ is jetting at high speed while using blasters to shoot, and swords to slash. The standard sword is a special mix of durasteel with a phrik alloy plating. Mine here is special issue, and is made out of beskar. Now you see those targets I had the officers make you put up earlier?" The troopers nodded. "Good now watch me," Jed's skates began floating, then he shot forward at high speed he slashed down the first 6 targets then he darted to the right shooting 3 more with a blaster pistol. He finished it off by jetting back towards the clones, cutting down 7 more targets before stopping in front of the cadets. They were awe struck.

The company continued training for the next 2 days under the guidance of the staff. Then at midday, One of Jed's lieutenants came up to him. "Commander sir, its time, they've been spotted."

"Good, Rally the men and make sure our reinforcements will land soon."

"Yes sir." The trooper ran off to follow his commander's orders.

After the clones gathered up, Jed walked in front of them, he looked around. "Now that you have begun your training, you should continue learning, and take those skills back to Kamino to and teach your brothers them. Now my unit and me have to get going, there's an important job we've been given. I'll have our attack filmed for you and you can watch it, see how we fight for real." With that the commander walked back to the ARCSOT.

The hum from the engines of incoming LAATs soon became more apparent. The five gunships landed next to ARCSOT. The doors opened and the and Jed's platoon filed inside the various ships, next to their comrades waiting for them. Jed made his way into the lead LAAT, a desert camouflaged with a brown stripe down its front to mark it for the Sand Cops. "All right boys you know why we're here. We are hunting Visga the Hutt, him and his gang have been giving this sector some trouble, so we are here to put an end to it." The men in the ship stomped their feet in uniform, a form of cheering they do. "They've been sighted attacking a settlement 100 miles west of Mos Eisley. They have attacked woman and children, so no mercy, these bastards WILL die. No prisoners." They stomped again. "Also," Jed paused for a minute, "Jack said we can keep the bounty on the gang members' heads." They stomped again.

"Commander, approaching destination."

"Good, land two miles away, better if its behind a sand dune or rock."

"Yes sir." A minute later the gunships landed behind a mass of rock that jetted out of the sands of Tatooine. "We've made it, 2.4 miles from target, prepare to disembark."

"Very good, Ducky, get us when I call."

"Sir." Ducky responded.

"Men! Lets move out." He jumped off the ship. Pulled out him M-9 assault rifle and allowed the rest of his men to gather outside. As they all amassed outside, they began walking to the other side of the rock, they turned on their repulsorskates, "Stop a mile form their camp," and began jetting forward until they reached their stopping point.

Jed moved in front of them, "Hex1 formation," The clones positioned themselves, "and if everyone survives this battle, drinks on me back at Keldabe." The men cheered. Jed reached over his shoulder and pulled out his saber. "346th! Charge!" The rest of the men pulled out their swords, and jetted forward with their commander.

They reached the camp catching their enemies by surprise, cutting them to pieces, and shooting full of holes. Their blades shined as they flew around scattering blood across the sand of Tatooine. Visga's gang was being cut to pieces.

The platoon from the 346th moved around at lightning speed, doing their deadly dance, spinning around, taking one bandit's life after another.

One man cut off a Nautolan's led, and before he hit the ground, another clone sliced his chest open. A Zabrak charged at two other clones clones, one cut him high, and the other cut him low, slashing the Zabrak into three pieces. Another clone bolted into Trandoshan, thrusting his saber down to its hilt. The Trandoshan gasped as the clone pulled his blade out him, and fell down, bleeding out as the blood pooled around him and sank into the sand.

As the attack wore on, a Weequay with a lightsaber, "Ah a rouge Jedi, stopped Jed? This is gonna be fun." Jed bolter forward as the Jedi forced sand up hoping to distort the commanders view, it didn't work, he just bolted threw the sand blocking the Jedi's lightsaber. After a brief duel, Jed bested the jedi, taking his head off. He walked over to the body and picked up the lightsaber, "Well that was a big letdown."

Jed moved on to find Visga; the Hutt was cowering behind a speeder. As he moved towards the Hutt, a Twi'lek pounced on Jed but was thrown off, the commander stepped on the bandit's chest, and shot him in the head.

He moved back to the Hutt, "You'll pay for your crimes now Hutt," Jed bolted forward slashing him once, then he moved around to cut him again, the Hutt was still alive, screaming in agony. Jed planted his feet on the sand and walked towards Visga, pulling off his rifle, he shot the Hutt in the head. The Hutt slumped over dead, the commander kicked sand into the Hutt's face in disgust, and the murderous monster of Tatooine was dead.

He turned around and headed back into the center of camp, while he was walking, began wiping the blood off his saber as he continued towards his men, they were doing the same. "Anyone dead?" The men shook their heads, "Good, drinks on me!" the clones stomped their feet cheering. "Hey Ducky!"

"Sir!"

"Come get us. Contact the local Bounty Exchange Station so we can collect our credits. Then we're heading back to Keldabe, I've got some drinks to buy."