Krest | A Star Wars Story

Chapter 1: The Crystal Planet

" Anything that can go wrong will."

-"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" Season 3: Episode: 9

0300 hours, 21 BBY

Lookout Tower, Christophsis Capitol city, Planet Christophsis

It was early in the morning. The pitch black of the night sky was beginning to fade away to the reddish-orange hue of the sunrise as it crept up over the horizon. Captain Krest stood alone, silently gazing out upon the skyscrapers built into the massive blue crystal formations that lined the skyline of Christophsis. During the day the sun would gleam through the crystalline towers creating a colourful display of blue and green-tinged light. The nighttime however concealed most of their beauty turning the glistening blue structures into looming, dark, sentinels watching over the battlefield that Krest and his men have been fighting bitterly over for months. Months of nonstop blaster and artillery fire leaving hundreds--to thousands dead. Krest's eyes slowly drew over to a row of artillery, then to the multitude of heavy cannon emplacements, tanks concealed by rubble, and entire infantry platoons dug in just outside of the capital city of Christophsis. The planet had been a major battlefield between the Republic and the Separatists ever since the Battle of Geonosis. Despite the territories and cities shifting hands several times the Republic had been on the backfoot and stumbling back for a while. Now the capitol was the last stronghold of Republic forces on Christophsis. Defensive formations and sieges were Krest's specialty and he had confidence in the identical defense schemes he had drawn up for the nearby installations, after all he set them up himself. Suddenly his holo-projector beeped, signalling an incoming call. Krest retrieved it from his belt, a blue holographic image of General Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared.

"General Kenobi, is there a problem on the front?" Krest greeted the projection with a salute.

"Indeed there is Captain, we've uncovered a troubling truth. It seems a turncoat in our midst has been feeding intelligence to the Separatists. Fortunately for us, we captured him but he managed to destroy our weapons depot along with most of our heavy weaponry and armor. We were forced to retreat. We've loaded up our men and what's left of the weapons depot and are headed to your position!" Kenobi shouted over the roar of gunship engines.

"A turncoat?" Krest asked. He was shocked by the news. Certainly no clone would betray the Republic, let alone a Jedi. "So who was the turncoat?"

"It seems that one of our troopers has sold us out to the enemy." Kenobi continued. "We need to hold the line there at the Capitol or we lose the planet, Captain!"

"No need to worry, my defenses are airtight, General! we'll be ready for them." Krest said proudly.

"Good to hear it, Captain, we'll meet you when we arrive," Kenobi replied before the communication cut out. Krest then promptly grabbed his helmet and ran over into the next room where several other troopers were lounging around.

"Good soldiers follow orders, Shaman," said Ct-2222 better known by his clone brothers as "Deuce". He shared the same face as his brothers save for the goatee that he kept well-groomed. He was originally a sharpshooter for the scout corps. He was eventually folded into the 76th Defense and Siege Corps, the battalion under Krest after flunking out of the corps. Despite his training as a sharpshooter, he's the first to charge into a fight and always loves teasing Shaman due to the amount of times Shaman has had to patch him up.

"Is that what you think? Or is that what you were engineered to think?" grinned Shaman, as he tapped a gloved finger against his temple. Ct-1245 or "Shaman" was one of the medics assigned to the 76th. To distinguish himself Shaman shaved his head save for a short mohawk and tattooed the words "Take care of your medic and he'll take care of you."