Kameron sat alone in the passenger's seating room in the small spacecraft that was carrying him, some other troopers, and three Jedi back to Coruscant from a fierce battle on Ryloth. Kam was a trooper fresh from the training grounds of the cloning facility, having only just finished training with his squad, and this was his first battle. He'd expected it to be pretty tough, but he had NEVER figured on ANYTHING like this. It was insane. Pure madness.

The screams, the sounds of gunfire screeching overhead, the deafening explosions.. It was all too much. In fact, he had even once been petrified in shock despite his vigorous training and had been saved by one of the Jedi. He still needed to thank her for it... As if on cue, the sliding doors to the cockpit of the ship opened up and Ahsoka walked in. She smiled at the dirty disgruntled trooper, knowing how hard those first battles always were.

"You alright?" She asked, coming over to sit beside him. He looked up at her from his slouched position and forced himself to smile weakly.

"No, but I will be." He murmured softly. Ahsoka leaned back and crossed her arms, trying to relax.

"You were brave, especially since it's your first time out there." She commented quietly, looking at him out of the corner of her eyes. He glanced back at her and tried to sound confident as he replied,

"It doesn't matter, I'd still be dead if you hadn't rescued me.. The words 'thank you' just don't seem to be enough." He failed to sound confident, but Ahsoka didn't seem to care. She looked at him and smiled softly, opening her mouth to say something but was interrupted when the ship jolted very sharply, then suddenly did what seemed to them to be a barrel roll. Ahsoka's eyes were wide with surprise as the two of them both fell from their seats and tumbled across the floor of the room to hit the wall on the other side. Kameron landed upside down, his head and shoulders on the floor and his back against the wall, and Ahsoka fell on her side. Neither were hurt too badly since Ahsoka had kept her wits about her enough to cushion their falls with the Force rather sloppily. For a few moments they just lay there and stared at eachother with blank looks, breathing heavily. Then Ahsoka struggled to her feet and helped Kam up from his awkward position before running to the doors to the cockpit. Kameron followed her, arriving shortly after to a chaotic scene. The two Troopers that were driving the ship were frantically trying to get the vehicle under control. Outside the front window was complete chaos; two other small ships with the Seperatist symbol painted onto them were coming at them, shooting repeatedly at the wings and engine. Kameron gripped the side of the doorway and shut his mouth tight for fear that he might lose the contents of his stomach as the ship suddenly veered off right very sharply. All of this was making him feel ill.

"Rex! The hyperdrive!" Anakin yelled over the commotion, and Captain Rex, who was behind the controls, snapped a sharp reply,

"Forget that! We're going down, the engine is fried! We have to crash land somewhere." The warning siren began to go off as a small explosion in the engiene rocked the ship. Obi-wan was bracing himself between the wall and one of the chairs, but was able to shout over the noise,

"Then veer toward that planet!" He pointed out of the window quickly. Sure enough there was a beautiful green and cerulean planet very close by. They were hovering nearly right over it. Rex did as he had been told and, not without difficulty, the ship began to lower itself slowly.

"Easy does it, if we go too fast the whole thing'll fall apart in the shift." Rex warned the other trooper helping him as the ship finally broke into the atmosphere, but little good it did when a final shot from the enemy blew the engine to smithereens. Everyone let out a small scream as the ship plummeted downward, smoke beginning to fly from the engine. Space grew farther away and the thick jungle trees of the planet grew closer rapidly. Soon the leaves were even distiguishable, swaying and fluttering about as the ship's speed ruffled the wind.

"Pull up! Pull up!" Anakin shouted to the two Troopers, but Rex was already pulling back on the steering mechanism as far as he could, trying to get the ship to at least tilt a bit and hit the ground a little at a time.

"I... Can't!" He cried, his arms beginning to shake. "Everyone get strapped in and keep your fingers crossed, we're going to hit the ground hard!" He finished and Kameron held a hand out to Ahsoka to help her back into the passengers' quarters, then Anakin, and finally Obi-wan. Kameron was only just able to get buckled in before the ship was jolted violently as it made first contact with the ground. The thudding noises on either side of them as the ship sped through the trees, grazing them as it went was simply deafening. Then it happened. The ship went thundering to the ground with an earth shattering crash, and snapped in half, seperating the cockpit from the rest of the vehicle. The second half hit last, hitting the ground equally hard and rolling a few times. Kameron held on to his safety belts tightly, trying to surpress a scream that was welling up in his gut. He did not hesitate to let it out, however, when one of his saftey belts snapped and he tumbled across the room and out the open gap where the cockpit had once been. Everything around him spun violently, his world blurring and spinning until he finally hit the ground on his back. He lay there, stunned, blankly watching the rest of the ship bounce and skid across the ground, missing him by only feet. It kept going until it hit a rather large tree and was brought to a stop. Kameron shook his head to quell the dizziness, but suddenly felt a sharp wrench in his belly and rolled over just in time, vomiting on the ground. For a moment he crouched there, shaking, but knew he was going to pass out, so he forced himself onto his back and promptly did.

Obi-wan was the first to emerge from the smouldering wreckage of the ship's remains. He coughed a few times as he hopped down dizzily. Ahsoka and Anakin followed, equally as dizzy, but all three were quick to shake it off. Ahsoka, however, was the first one to actually look around and was in awe for a breif moment at the majesty of the enourmous trees and fern-like plants growig in the undergrowth. Huge grey green fungi, oozing a clear, luminous liquid grew at the bases and on the trunks of some of the trees, and a blanket of lush green tentacle like grass covered the ground, the only exception being where the ship had landed and skidded. The smashed grass seemed to be regrowing already though, and all of it moved with a life all its own, swaying despite the fact that there was no breeze, and curling up where the Jedi stepped, moving out of the way of their feet.

"Where in the Galaxy are we...?" Anakin suddenly spoke, looking around in confused wonder. "I've never seen a planet like this.." Ahsoka's gaze roamed across the strangely animated grass, but soon fell upon Kameron, still lying on his back. The grass around him was curled up and parted.

"Master, over there!" She immediately started toward him, kneeling down beside the Trooper... She was careful not to touch the mess he'd left in the process.

"Anakin, go look for Captain Rex and his partner, I will help Ahsoka." Obi-wan said, and Anakin nodded, running off toward where the other piece of the ship had landed. Obi-wan then knelt down beside Ahsoka and checked the unconcious Kameron over for injuries.

"It's amazing he's even still alive after that..." He commented under his breath, and Ahsoka let herself smile a bit in releif. It happened all too often that she would create some kind of a friendship with one of the Troopers, and they would get killed. She found herself thinking that even if that hadn't killed him, it was only a matter of time. All Troopers were made for was to die anyway.. She was brought out of her thoughts when Kameron started to wake up, opening one eye slightly and groaning.

"Nnhhh... What happened..?" He asked, trying to sit up, not without effort. "Where are we?" He asked again, less weakly.

"Welcome back." Obi-wan said a little wryly, and sat back in the grass, crossing his legs. "Well, our ship crashed and now we're in the middle of nowhere." His joke was dry, mostly since even he was having a hard time finding humor in this situation. It was about as bleak as a Tatooine landscape. Ahsoka helped Kam sit up straight and sighed.

"Well, we have to make the best of it, I guess, until someone finds us.."

Anakin trudged through the thick grass and undergrowth, his hand on his lightsaber at all times, just in case. He kept walking until he reached the small crater amidst the trees where the cockpit had landed. It was nearly blown to smithereens, with pieces of the engine and the outer metal of the ship broken off and lying about. Anakin spotted Rex almost instantly though, trapped underneath a stray piece of the ship.

"Rex! Are you alright?" He called, trotting down the sharp slope of the crater and over to the Trooper. Rex was just barely able to turn his head, still concealed by his helmet, toward Anakin. The Jedi could tell immediately that he wasn't in good shape. He crouched down by the Trooper's side and examined how badly he'd been crushed by the metal debris.

The damage was bad. Among the minor injuries such as sprained joints, and small cuts and bruises that were to be expected, the worst was a huge open wound on his thigh. A sharp part had broken off and bent inward, gouging into his upper thigh and coming out of the other side; The full weight of the metal was resting on his hips, threatening to crush them if it wasn't removed soon. The cut was terrible, and Anakin could see crimson blood seeping through the cracked white armor.

"General... Skywalker.." His voice sounded heavy and thick with agony. Anakin grimaced, feeling a burning concern in his stomach.

"Damn it..." He managed to mumble, wiping his forehead with the back of one gloved hand. "It's.. It's going to be okay, just hold still. I'm going to get you out of there." He then moved over farther to the metal piece and concentrated his Force energy on it. He shut his eyes tightly, his hands held up toward it, silently willing it to move upward. When it started to move slowly, Rex let out a wail of agony. The sound wrenched Anakin's innards.

"It's almost over, I've got it!" He tried to reassure the writhing Trooper. Rex didn't seem comforted at all, clawing the ground and gritting his teeth. Anakin tried not to look, knowing

that the sight of his friend and subordinate in such pain would distract him. Finally the sharp part of the ship slipped out of the gash and Anakin was able to send the chunk flying off in a different direction. The Trooper's ragged breathing was very fast and heavy, and even now he was still clawing at the ground. Anakin moved back up toward his head, pulling the helmet off to let him breathe easier.

"It's alright, just relax." He mumbled. Rex glanced at him, trying to slow his breathing, and pointed over to the partially intact cockpit.

"Just let me be for a minute.. I'm okay... Th-the other Trooper's still in there." Anakin looked up and darted over to the rest of the cockpit. He was able to pry open the partially broken doors and get inside, but from one glance he knew he was too late. The trooper hadn't made it. Anakin examined the body, finding the neck broken completely. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment.

"You did good.." He murmured, knowing that his words were going unheard. Somehow, it made him feel better though. "Thank you." He said finally, after a long pause and put a hand on the dead trooper's shoulder for a minute before turning and prying the doors open again, stepping back out into the grass. Rex was lying where Anakin had left him, and had passed out from shock. Anakin ran over to him and kneeled down, brushing the pieces of shattered armor off of Rex's leg and ripping a piece off of the bottom of his own tunic to tie around the trooper's leg. Once he was satisfied with his work, sure that the bloodflow had been stopped, Anakin pulled Rex up and put one of his limp arms over his shoulders to hold him up, then made his way back to where Obi-wan and Ahsoka were. Obi-wan got up to help Ankin with the unconcious trooper when he came back through the undergrowth, and Kameron would have too, if Ahsoka had not snatched his arm and told him to take it easy.

"Where's the other one?" Ahsoka asked her master as he and Obi-wan layed Rex down in the grass. Anakin merely gave her a look and she bowed her head.

"I see.." She mumbled softly. Kameron swallowed hard, feeling a little sick again. Anakin and Obi-wan both sat down simultaneously, and for a very long time, everyone was silent, each with their own thoughts on the current situation.

Ahsoka wished she could cry about this being so unfair and pound her fists on the ground like a young child but she knew very well she was far too old for that. She held back her emotions, banishing them from clouding her thoughts, and wondered how long it would take for the Republic to find them... If they ever did. Kameron felt near the same way, folding his arms over his stomach as he began to feel qualms of sickness again. Silently he swallowed the lump in his throat and forbade his gut to misbehave.

Obi-wan tried to still his frayed nerves, somehow keeping calm, but even though his Jedi ideals and training were enough to keep him serene, he was nervous. This planet was like none other he'd ever read about or seen, and as such had no idea what they might have to be up against in the time they would spend here. As for Anakin, he had his arms crossed tightly, thinking only about their attackers and whether or not they might follow them down onto the planet's surface to ensure they were dead. They would stand no chance against the enemy if they had no ship to attack back with.

All of them thought deeply, excepting Rex who was totally zonked. It was only a few minutes later when the bright sun of the planet's system began to sink below the trees that anyone said anything.

"We can't stay here." Obi-wan suddenly said. Anakin glanced at him and mumbled,

"He's right, they might come looking for us.. They would spot us immediately out here in the open. We have a better chance of survival if we abandon the crash site.. Let's go see if we can salavge anything from the ship that we might need before we go into the forest." He pushed himself up from his sitting position and stood slowly, dusting himself off, heading back toward the large broken remains of the ship. Obi-wan watched him for a minute, then lowered his gaze to the ground. Ahsoka glanced up at him as she stood.

"What's wrong, master?" She asked. He was quiet for a moment, and stood up as well, then replied,

"Well, there is a great chance that this planet is not uninhabited. There may indeed be natives; If they turn out to be hostile that won't be good for us." As he walked with Ahsoka toward the ship, where Anakin was already climbing in. Ahsoka glanced at the thick surrounding trees with newfound interest, thinking deeply. Kameron sat beside Rex for a minute, then got up, following them loyally. They hadn't been much more than a couple of yards form the wreckage, he would be fine in the grass for a minute. When Kameron arrived at the broken piece of the ship which Anakin had long disppeared into, he suddenly heard the Jedi shout,

"Hey Kam, think fast!" Something then came flying out of the open end of the ship, and Kameron caught it a little clumsily. It was his helmet. Anakin stood in the tilted open gap and smiled.

"Just thought you might want that back." Kameron looked up at him and smiled back.

"Thank you sir." He muttered, putting it back on since he didn't have anywhere else to put it. He reached up, clasping his hands onto the wall of the ship and pulled himself inside. The inner part of the ship seemed perfectly intact, albeit a bit dented and warped from such a rough landing. Anakin was checking small compartments under the seats for anything that might be useful, and Kameron wandered in farther.. The whole ship was tilted to the right, leaning on the tree, so he had to balance himself between the floor and the wall, mostly standing on the left wall as opposed to the floor. He santered into the ship, heading toward the back where the storage should be. He'd not even taken more than a few steps before there was a sudden, loud cracking groaning noise and the wall gave out beneath him, falling open and sending him tumbling out of the side of the ship.

"WwwaaAAH!" He shouted as he did something reminiscent of a very ungraceful cartwheel and ended up back in the grass, on his back once again. Anakin and Ahsoka, who were inside of the ship rushed to the open hole to see if he was okay. Obi-wan was still outside of the ship so he came round the side to help Kameron up. Kameron, however, could barely breathe; His whole body shook with silent laughter. As Obi-wan helped him up, he let out a loud stream of chuckles, dusting himself off and shaking his head.

"You know, I'm starting to feel like this thing doesn't like me.." He muttered between giggles. Ahsoka laughed softly as well, and Anakin grinned.

"Well now we know to be careful." He replied and gingerly stepped over the hole, careful of where he was stepping. Obi-wan looked up at the sky, a little concerned with the position of the sun and the small dots that were appearing in the bright blueness.

"We need to hurry. Either those little specks up there are either very large birds or our pursuers.. And if we're to set up camp, we need to do it before the sun sets.." He climbed into the ship through the hole Kameron had made, and went with the other two to search the cargo hold for useful items. After his little incident, Kameron decided to go back and sit with Rex.

The captain had come back to reality by that time and was partially sitting up, leaning back on his elbows in the grass. Kam trudged through the grass, and it parted for him as he sat down again, crosslegged, next to the other clone.

"You okay..?" He asked softly. Rex looked at him without turning his head and replied,

"Yeah, it'll take a lot more to really get me... But now I think I might just end up being a hinderance to you and the Jedi." He shut his mouth tightly, lips forming a straight line. Kameron smiled.

"Nah, we won't be here very long, I'm sure.. You just rest and we'll take care of everything." He murmured. Suddenly Anakin called out,

"You two, we're ready, let's get out of here!" Kam got up.

"Alright, take my hand." He said, holding his hand down to Rex who grasped it and Kameron pulled him up off the ground. Doing as Anakin had before, he placed Rex's arm around his shoulders and the captain used his good leg to balance himself on the ground enough to be albe to move forward if he limped.

The two came to join the three Jedi just as the noise of the ships became prominent.

"Let's get out of here, there's not much time left.." Ahsoka said and pushed the large ferns aside to get through into the trees; She held the ferns out of the way for the others to pass through as well, and soon enough all of them were trekking through the dense jungle at a pretty good pace. In the trees there was barely any sunlight, but the luminous fungi lit the darkness considerably. The air was denser as well, very humid but not stifling; almost like walking through thick, invisible fog. The grass now gave way on the ground for mossy roots of trees, only sticking up in small patches where dirt still was.

Although it seemed they were alone, the cries of wild animals, buzzing and chirping of bugs, and twittering of birds told them that they were not; This planet most obviously had a very full ecosystem.

None of them forgot their circumstances though, and looked up at the thick canopy of leaves occasionally as if worrying that those over them would be able to see through when the noise of the ships passed over them. The ships seemed to circle the crash site about four times, and then went in a wider circle. Finally they returned to the crash site and the noise began to die down... Not in a way that seemed like they were leaving, but more like a sound of landing.

"Master.." Ahsoka said uneasily, but Anakin just kept going.

"Easy Snips, just geep going.. They won't venture out too far.." He reassured her and they continued to make their way through the trees. Ahsoka's sensitive montrals continued to pick up sounds that did NOT seem to be in their favor though, and when the loud clanking sound of battle droids being unloaded on the surface of the planet reached them, she looked at Anakin with a very anxious look.

"Master!" She said more urgently. He looked at her with an expression that clearly stated, "I get it, just be quiet". She shut her mouth tightly and found herself growing even more anxious as the sound of droids walking forward began to get closer. Kameron now looked at Ahsoka, equally nervous. Finally Anakin and Obi-wan exchanged a look.

"We can't fight back, that will give us away.. " Obi-wan murmured, and Anakin sighed heavily.

"We should hide.. They won't hang around forever." Obi-wan nodded in agreement and motioned for Kameron and Rex to follow him. Ahsoka nad Anakin ran off together and started to climb a tree. Obi-wan led the two troopers off to the side, and almost fell right into a well concealed indent made by roots. Upon further inspection it seemed the huge crevice lead to a hollow beneath the tree. He crawled in, checking it out to be sure it was safe enough, then motioned for the other two to come in. Kameron helped Rex get down into the hole, and half climbed half fell into it himself.

Anakin and Ahsoka were high up in the tree, so far that the branches below them covered them from sight if anyone on the ground were to look up.

All five of them held their breath as the stark, imposing figures of the battle droids made their way through the forest, crushing the grass beneath their mechanical feet and making a noise like a herd of huge beasts. The tension was killer- Kameron was biting his lip so hard he nearly drew blood. But they were hidden safely away and the battle droids, with their little intelligence, didn't find them.

When the battle droids began to move on, a loud clicking sound suddenly filled the air. Ahsoka's skin prickled from the sound, and her pupils dialated. She looked over at her master who was sitting on a branch close to her. He obviously felt it too; some kind of ripple in the Force as if something very angry with a lot of Force energy was approaching. Obi-wan let out a deep breath, sensing it as well. The clicking grew louder and suddenly ended in a snapping hiss, as if some great animal was clacking it's jaws as it hissed. Obi-wan let out his held breath very slowly, waiting for something else to happen. The clanking of the droids hadn't gotten too far before an earsplitting feline roar erupted and the sound of blasters shooting started up. All five of them waited tensely, hearing another roar and the sudden sound of metal bending and snapping, clanking together and being ripped apart. Some battle droids were shouting desperate orders and trying to retreat, but soon it went silent, all except for a soft hissing/clicking, and after a few minutes that too faded away.

Anakin and Ahsoka were breathing heavily, and they exchanged a look akin to being apalled.

"Good call Snips.." Anakin murmured very softly, referring to her having taken notice of the droids. She wanted to smile, but found herself unable to make the expression.

Obi-wan, Rex and Kameron were all three huddled together, both troopers nearly scared out of their wits. The Jedi had a bad feeling deep in his gut about whatever had destroyed those droids.. He hoped against hope that it was gone far away now and that they wouldn't find themselves up against it. Kameron was tempted to just stay in the hollow rather than go back out there, but knew that they'd eventually have to. After about 10 minutes they started to emerge from their hiding places, Anakin climbing down from his perch and Obi-wan poking his head out of the hole before climbing out and helping Rex get out. Ahsoka jumped from branch to branch until she reached the bottom, and Kameron finally sighed and crawled out of the hole. Wordlessly they made their way through a tall patch of grass, avoiding the now brightly glowing fungi and stopped at the site of the battle. There were no droids left intact.

"Whatever that thing was, let's hope that it doesn't come back.." Anakin murmured.