As the Clone Wars raged on throughout the Galaxy, the Jedi Generals of the Republic were being spread thinner and thinner as the separatists began to attack more worlds. Because of this, Jedi Masters and their apprentices were sometimes forced to be separated and lead their own clone troopers in battle, including Ahsoka Tano. Because of this, Ahsoka was forced to serve as the Jedi commander of a small squad of Clone Tropers from the 501st in an intense battle on the Jungle world of Zeenada, where some of her men had absolutely no faith in the young apprentice. So, lets find out why these Clone Troopers absolutely despised Ahsoka Tano and her leadership.
So the story begins on the damp, Jungle planet of Zeenada, where Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano is leading a small detachment of the 501st on a mission against the droid army. Ahsoka and her men are heavily outnumbered and certainly outgunned bythe Battle droid forces, but they have been given direct Orders to circle behind the enemy forces and distract them with a rear assault.
Unfortunately, as they set out on their seemingly simple mission, they unfortunately stumble across a large droid patrol, and Captain rex calls out to his Commander, urging her to fall back.
Ahsoka however is not going to take this advice from Rex, and instead tell him that a Jedi doesn’t run away from her problems, but rather she confronts them head on. Following this, Ahsoka surges forward, directly into the droid attack force, slicing and dicing B-2 super battle droids as she rushes ahead.
With the help of her small squad, Ahsoka does manage to eliminate all of the battle droids from the patrol, but tragically, she loses many, many men while doing so, leaving only herself, Captain Rex, Trooper Sarge, and Trooper Gunner.
And for those of you who have been following these comics very closely, Gunner is actually the same trooper who fought with Obi-Wan and the 212th at the battle of Bogoa, where they encountered Coppertop, the B-1 battle droid fought alongside the 212th, until tragically killing himself because he did not want to cause any more pain or suffering to anybody.
Following this, Rex is saddened that the B-1 battle droid forces caught the sequad off guard and wiped out most of his brothers, bringing him to near tears. Honestly you can’t blame Rex for feeling pain at the loss of many of the men he’d served alongside for quite some time.
As Ahsoka and Rex continue talking however, the other two surviving Clones, Sarge and Gunner, begin talking down about Ahsoka behind her back, with Sarge sarcastically asking “Hey, Gunner — did someone award her a field promotion while my back was turned… She was only a Padawan when we left camp. Gunner then responds to this by saying, Guess she’s only good for a few dozen droids, Sarge.”…
Following this, Ahsoka ignites her lightsabers and Order her men to follow her further into the dense Jungles of the planet, while telling them “we just need to have faith in the force, it will point the way to victory”.
After hearing this, Sarge and Gunner roll their eyes under their helmets, obviously having no faith in the force at all, but Rex quickly moves them back into action, ordering them to get moving immediately
While this is happening, Anakin is on the other side of the Jungle, and his men spot a large horde of B-1 and B-2 clankers marching towards their location. The trooper, using his macro-binoculars tells his General “I hope your plan works, General Skywalker”, and Anakin responds to this by saying “So do I! We only need ahsoka and her team to divert the separatists attention…
After that, Anakin’s forces will add to their confusion by hitting them from the front and crushing them like an insect caught between a child’s palm and a duracrete wall… Yeah I don’t know what type of sayings Obi-Wan has been teaching him…
As Anakin is preparing to execute his part of the mission, Ahsoka warns her men to Listen carefully, because the Jungle they are trekking through is quiet… too quiet. Ahsoka can almost sense a dangerous predator in the area.
Only moments later, her senses are proven right, and a massive predator leaps from the branches, making Ahsoka hate that she was right.
As the beast lunges forward, the Clone Troopers of the 501st raise their weapons, and Rex shouts out to Ahsoka that she can hold still as he and his brothers have her covered.
Sarge however continues voicing his distaste for Ahsoka, saying “Yeah… we’d hate to lose our only Jedi knight”.
Being left as sitting Ducks, the Clone Troopers once again begin to bad mouth the young Jedi, with Sarge saying “seems our Knight could u use an assist” and gunner very quickly adds to the insults, by saying “and a lot more force-push training.
While the two continue insulting Ahsoka, something very strange happens. The ground beneath them suddenly begins to shake violently, as the loud roar of the beasts begins to get louder, and louder.