Chapter 1: Waking Up (Revised)

Sparks, that was the only audible thing within the dark confined room. Sparks and the worrisome groaning of metal struggling against itself.

A set of brown eyelids slowly lifted up, exposing brown irises below it. Those brown irises went back and forth, looking around the dark room. The set of eyes belonged to a man who was wearing a black bodysuit that had several pieces of white armor covering most of his body. The man tried to get up, only to feel a hot strike of pain rocket through his back. The man sat back down and lifted up his left arm. A small silver device blinked green as he activated it.

"Hello? This is Clone Trooper Strider of strike team Indigo, does anyone copy?" Strider asked into the device. When his only reply from it was static, he muttered something under his breath, before turning the com link off.

Strider once again tried to get up, this time ignoring the throbbing pain from his left leg. As he rose to his feet, he spotted an outline of what looked like another trooper. Strider limped over towards his fellow brother, happy to see that he wasn't the only trooper left after the crash. However, his happiness faded instantly when he realized that the trooper wasn't moving at all.

Strider bent down and checked the trooper for a pulse, but nothing came. Then, Strider's eyes fully adjusted to the darkness within the Gunship. He identified the entire squadron he had been deployed with dead, sprawled across the area.

"The crash... " Strider said out loud, the realization hitting him like a punch from a Super Battle Droid. He went around the area, checking each body to see if anyone had survived. But he had been correct the first time in assuming that the rest of the crew hadn't survived the landing. That was, until he heard movement from outside the Gunship.

It had been faint, but it was all the trooper needed to hear for him to get his hopes up. He took another look around the Gunship, managing to quickly pinpoint one of the two automatic doors that would open upon reaching a planet or star ships surface.

Strider ignored the pain coming from his injured leg as he limped over to the door, ready to get out of the ruined mode of transportation. He tried using a nearby panel to open the door manually, but of course, nothing happened.

"Powers out, gonna have to do it the old fashioned way." Strider exclaimed to himself as he began moving his hands across the door in an attempt to find any sort of opening.

After a few seconds of nothing but feeling for any type of crack, Strider found one and anchored his fingers into it, before pulling on it with all his might. Slowly, the door began moving outwards, before swishing over to the side and allowing light to quickly vanquish the darkness from inside the ship.

Strider instinctively rose one of his hands up in front of his face to shield his eyes from the piercing light of the nearest star. He waited a few more seconds for his eyes to adjust, before removing his hand to allow himself to see where he had landed.

The area surrounding the crash sight was filled with trees and bushes, dark green leaves blowing in a calm breeze. Their were faint rustles from some bushes, quickly followed by a group of animals who dashed back into the underbrush at the sight of the massive ship.

Strider took a step out of the ships hold, his white boots making contact with the grass covered ground below. He used the side of the gunship to help him move along its side, making his way over to where the twin cockpits were that the pilots should be in. Although, to the trooper's surprise, both cockpits were devoid of the pilots.

Using the dents and outstretched pieces of bent metal, Strider climbed his way up the side of the ship and into one of the cockpits. He glanced over all the instrument panels in front of him, grateful that most of them seemed to be in tact. He booted up one of the monitors and punched in a set of digests, before waiting for the machine to do its thing.

"Alright, let's see where I..." The trooper trailed off when the monitor displayed something he wasn't expecting. "That's strange, every planet that has been discovered has been inputted into the nav computer. Yet there's nothing in the data banks about where i've crashed."

Strider tried again, wondering if it had simply been a result of the crash which could of scrambled the machine, but it came back with the same results. ERROR! UNKNOWN COORDINATES AND LOCATION. He was about to try again, but stopped when he heard another rustle from the underbrush. But this time, a feeling of uncertainty washed over him, like something was watching him.

Strider stared at the spot where the rustling had been coming from, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Still, if he truly was on an unknown planet, he would feel a lot safer with a weapon. As quietly as he could, he got out of the cockpit and back onto the planet's surface, making sure to keep his eyes locked on the bush as he returned to the ships transportation bay.

Only after he was back inside did he rotate his gaze away from the forest and into the bay in search for a weapon. He spotted a nearby DC-15A resting on the ground and picked it up, examining it to see if it was in a stable condition. Once he was sure it was, he grabbed the only helmet that wasn't on one of his brothers and put it on, completing his armor.

After a quick check to see if a power pack was in place on the weapon, Strider stepped back into the outside world and began walking. He needed to find the pilots as well as exit the forest, and he wasn't gonna simply lie in the rubble of a ship until they returned, if they returned. Who knows what could be lurking in that forest, waiting for him to enter their domain.

Even with his limp, Strider was still able to make some considerable distance from the Gunship, his eyes peeled for any movement or noise. So far, he hadn't run into any sort of wildlife or either of the pilots. No tracks, no path, and more importantly, no blood trails.

After awhile, the trooper ran across a shallow trench, which he carefully went through in an attempt to keep his already wounded leg from drowning him in another pool of pain. Once he crossed the trench, he spotted a set of white armored legs sticking out of a bush, clearly one of the pilots.

"Pilot? You alright?" Strider questioned as he limped over to the bush the pilot was in.

When the pilot gave no response, Strider pushed twigs and leaves out of the way until he spotted their helmet. He rolled the pilot out of the bush and waved a hand above their helmet's visor, still no response. He checked for a pulse, which sealed the deal for the pilot.

Strider mentally grieved for the loss of one of his brothers, before something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. His gaze quickly locked onto a part of the pilot's chest piece, which had what looked like claw marks across the right side of it.

"Great force, these claw marks are massive!" Strider mentally emphasized, tracing one of the marks with his pointer finger. What kind of creature could of done this to the poor pilot?

As if the force had read his thoughts, an audible snapping noise caught Strider's attention. Slowly, he poked his head out of the bush, DC-15A primed and ready as he advanced towards the source. He took cover behind a large dark-wood tree, and peaked around the trunk into a semi open clearing.

What greeted his eyes was a haunting sight that he wouldn't be forgetting any time soon.

A large creature that resembled a loth-wolf except it was made out of wood appeared to be chewing on something. Strider narrowed his eyes, trying to see what the wolf was chomping down on, only to realize that it was the helmet of the other pilot.

Strider felt what was left of his last meal try and resurface, but he fought the urge to vomit. The wolf bit into the helmet again, this time with enough force that caused it to shatter in its mouth. Strider tried to look for a body nearby, but no signs of the pilot were anywhere else.

"Did that wolf eat the pilot!?" Strider questioned in his mind, taking aim at the wolf.

Before he could pull the trigger, two more wooden wolves emerged from the trees, yellow eyes scanning the area in search for something else to eat. Strider lowered the blaster at the sudden change in numbers against him, and quickly rushed off as fast as he could away from the pack.

The trooper swung below low hanging branches and over bushes, trying to find his way back to the Gunship. He stopped and frantically looked around, trying to identify anything that could show a sign towards the crashed ship. But everything looked the same. He was lost, alone, in a forest full of creatures he had no idea how to fight. Then, right when he thought things couldn't get worse, he saw the forest grow darker and darker. Striker looked up to see a single moon rise into the air, followed by howls from the wolves he had seen.

Night had fallen...