Prologue: The Beginnings of Crystal Squad
(Kappa is the narrator.)
War is something that may be complicated, but it is something that will be remembered throughout the history of the galaxy. And out of all the wars, the Clone Wars has to be the biggest one by far.
After the supposed defeat of the Sith Lord Darth Maul by Jedi Qui-Gon-Jin and Obi-Wan-Kenobi, and after the separatist's defeat during the battle of Naboo. The members of the Galactic Republic realized that normal soldiers wouldn't be enough to defeat the Separatist's ever-expanding droid army.
They needed an army of their own, one that wouldn't end an attack with just a platoon of soldiers. And they needed soldiers who would obey their orders without question or any thoughts of treachery.
That's when they found word of a top-secret project that was being made on the planet Kamino. The Republic sent Obi-Wan Kenobi to investigate this top-secret project. Upon his findings, he discovered that the Kaminoan's were making an army of clones, all made from the template of a Bounty Hunter named Jango-Fett.
As a result of this Clone Army, the Republic was successful during the battle of Geonosis, and even though the Sith Lord Count Dooku escaped and Jango-Fett had perished, this proved to the Republic that the Clone Army may be the edge they need in order to claim victory in the war.
However, this isn't their story.
This is where we come in.
It was a few weeks after the Battle of Geonosis, and the expansion of the Clone Army was already underway. That's when a cloaked figure arrived on Kamino. The Kaminoans never knew who he was; he never even spoke his name. All he did was give them seven DNA samples, and then he left without a trace or even speaking a word. The Kaminoans never knew where the DNA came from, as their origins remained a mystery, even to this day.
The Kaminoan's thought that they could use the DNA samples as new clone templates, just in case the Jango Fett template ran stale. However, only one of each was made, and it wasn't like anything the Kaminoan's had expected.
This is our story. This is the story of Clone Batalion: Crystal Squad.
(Meanwhile, on the Clone Trooper Military Education Complex on Kamino).
Clone Trooper in training CT-1020, nicknamed Kappa, was getting his lunch meal for the day.
"Hey 1020," another Clone asked. "Why don't you give me your lunch tray, and I promise to go easy on you?"
"Nuh, uh, uh, you didn't say please," Kappa said. "Oh, and the name is Kappa."
"Umm, I'm sorry, what was that?" The Clone said. "Do you want me to slap you a new one?"
"Oh, believe me, I’d slap you, but I don’t want to make your face look any better," Kappa said with a smirk.
Kappa's remark made three other clones start quietly laughing behind the aggressive clone's back.
"THAT'S IT!" The Clone roared as he threw Kappa's food to the floor.
"Wow, you are more disappointing than an unsalted pretzel," Kappa remarked.
"I'M GONNA SHUT THAT STUPID MOUTH OF YOURS," the aggressive clone said.
Just then, two guards burst in to break up the fight as they pinned the aggressive to the ground.
"Alright, Vex, we warned you." One of the clone guards said:. "If you can't keep your attitude in check, you're going to the hull."
"You're going to regret messing with me 1020," Vex said.
"Kappa, the name is Kappa, man, grammerless pleb," Kappa said as he returned to his seat.
Then, two of the Clone's that were laughing behind Vex sat next to Kappa. Both Clones were girls', with one with glasses and a long ponytail and the other with short blue hair.
"Oh, hello, I didn't see you there," Kappa said to the two female clones.
"Where did you get those hilarious comebacks?" The Short-Haird Clone said.
"Oh, let's just say I'm a walking one-liner," Kappa said. "The name's Kappa; what's yours?"
"Oh, my designation number is CT-1573, but most people call me Gamma (Indigo Zap)," Gamma said with a happy smirk.
"My designation number is CT-1111, but my friends call me Sigma (Sci-Twi)," Sigma said with a shy smile.
"Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Sigma," Kappa said with a wink of his eye, making Sigma blush a little.
"Well, it's nice to meet you both," Kappa said. "You have any company with you."
"Yes, we do," Gamma said as four other clones came in and sat next to Gamma and Sigma.
One Clone with Green Hair said. "My designation number is CT-1275, but you can call me Giga (Lemon Zest)," Giga said with a smile. "I'm quite the jokester."
Another Clone with white hair in two ponytails said, "My designation number is CT 1347, but call me Beta (Sugarcoat). It's nice to meet you, Kappa."
"My designation number is CT-1853, but call me Delta (Sunny Flare)," Delta said with a voice of pure elegance.
The last trooper didn't say anything, as she gave Kappa an angry glare.
"Your friends have introduced themselves; how about you do an introduction to them?" Kappa said.
"I'll give you an introduction...when I'm dead," the Feisty clone said.
"You know, how about you give a polite and proper introduction, or I'll start calling you Short-Fuse from now on?" Kappa said as she got even angrier.
"FINE, it's CT-1744; call me Zeta (Sour Sweet); there happy now," Zeta sneered.
"Geez, this one's a real fireball, ain't she?" Kappa said, making Giga, Delta, and Sigma chuckle a little.
"Yeah, her temper may be explosive, but she is a very capable trooper, capable enough to be one of us," Gamma said.
"Well, it's good to meet you all," Kappa said. "I think that we're all going to be great friends as well as great soldiers out there, once we pass."
Over time, these seven clones would get to know each other very well, and by order of their Kaminoan Creators, they were all assigned into a squad together, as they called themselves, "Shadow Squad."
The Clone Troopers of Shadow Squad went through many training exercises.
First was getting to know your allies and enemies, as they went through textbooks and learned about the many Clone Trooper and Droid army variants.
Gamma was hyped about being a Clone Jet-Trooper due to her love of flying.
They also learned about the B1-Battle Droid's, the B2-Super Battle Droids, and the BX-Commando Droids.
Next was blaster training; Kappa, Sigma, Gamma, and Beta were excellent at firing their blasters and handling the recoil. Giga, Delta, and Zeta—not so much the first time, but they were working on it.
Next was melee combat training; they were given vibrostaffs, like the one's Magna-guards used. They would all fight each other, but only three could win.
They were all excellent in their battle styles, but eventually Kappa, Sigma, and Gamma were victorious.
Next was Ranged Combat Training, where they all performed excellently in the training course; all were good at following orders, except for Zeta, who would often than not refuse to follow orders from Kappa, Sigma, or Gamma. And as a result, I failed it the first time.
All of the Shadow Squad were mad at Zeta for making them fail the training session, and Kappa let her know it.
"Oh, hello Zeta, we have a bone to pick with you," Kappa said. "YOU BETTER LISTEN GOOD, WHEN I TELL YOU TO DO SOMETHING, YOU BETTER DO IT, YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"
"WHATEVER, I WORK ALONE; I DON'T NEED ALL OF YOU TO BABYSIT ME," Zeta roared in anger.
"You are a part of this squad, and because of it, you need to look out for your fellow men," Gamma said in a stern tone of voice.
"Yeah, we could've passed the training exercise if you didn't decide to perform some cocky bravado," Sigma snapped.
"Let me give some advice, Zeta; you can either listen to orders or you can leave," Kappa said.
"FINE," Zeta roared as they stormed off of their leisure brigg.
"Hey, Zeta, wait," Sigma said.
"No, let her go," Gamma said. "What she needs is some time to herself. It's like surrounding a caged animal; all she needs is some space to think."
After a while, Kappa, thinking that he had been too harsh on Zeta, decided to go and speak to her.
"Hey Zeta, are you out here?" Kappa said.
"What do you want?" Zeta murmured. "Do you just want to yell at me again?"
"No, look, I may have been a bit harsh when we were all having that argument about the combat exercise," Kappa said. "I just like to say that I'm sorry that I flew off the handle at you."
"No, I should be the one apologizing," Zeta said. "It's my fault that we failed the training exercise; I let my arrogance cloud my judgement. I'm sorry."
"It's ok, don't worry," Kappa said. "We all have tough days in our lives, but that doesn't mean that we need to take it out on our own, nor does it mean that we hold any grudges against you."
"What matters is that we live and act as soldiers, and it is our duty to defend the Republic," Kappa said. "And as soldiers, we need to learn to stick together. As Rule #1 says, no one leaves anyone behind."
"Thank you," Zeta said as she gave out a small smile.
"Ah hah, there's the smile I was waiting for," Kappa said enthusiastically. "Now, c'mon, let's meet up with the rest and sleep well tonight, because the finals are tomorrow.
And finally, the day finally came when it was time to take their final combat exercise, where they would have to use everything they learned in order to pass.
As Crystal Squad was heading towards the training area, Kappa suddenly saw Vex walking towards him.
"Oh, hello Vex, got some more food to toss at me," Kappa asked.
"I just wanted to give you this. It may give you the edge you need for the final," Vex said.
"Ok, who are you, and what have you done with Vex?" Kappa said as he took the round device.
"Ok, thanks; what is it?" Kappa said.
"It's a stun mine; it will emit an electromagnetic pulse that will incapacitate the droids when they come into contact with it," Vex said.
"Ok, thanks," Kappa said awkwardly as he and the others went to the arena.
"Don't mention it," Vex said with a devilish smile.
"It'll help you reject so much; you'll just blow up," Vex quietly said as he went to one of the spectator seats.
At the signal of ARC Trooper Vazo, their final exercise had begun.
"Alright, Beta, Giga, go to my left," Kappa ordered. "Delta, Zeta, go to my right. Sigma, Gamma, you're with me.
"SIR, YES, SIR," the others bellowed as they marched onward.
On Beta and Giga's sides, they were soon met with wall-turrets that were quickly firing at them. But thanks to Beta's quick thinking, they were easily able to overcome these obstacles.
On Delta and Zeta's side of the battlefield, they were met with destroyer droids and more wall turrets, but thanks to Delta's agility and Zeta's experience with explosives, they were easily able to overcome these as well.
Now on Kappa, Sigma, and Gamma's sides, they were overcome with battle-droid's and volt cannons.
"Eat my dust, metalheads!" Gamma shouted as they kept firing at the enemy droids.
"Hah, you couldn't even shoot a can-opener, you Clankers," Kappa said with a voice of sarcasm.
"Hmm, they seem to be cooperating very well," one of the mentors said. "They are also very coordinated."
"Don't give up your hopes yet; it's just the beginning; let's see how well they do as it goes on," Jedi Plo-Koon said as the exercise progressed.
"Alright everyone, we're almost there; we just have to get to that beacon up there, and we pass," Kappa said.
"Alright, I think we're going to actually do this," Sigma said.
"Alright, deploy grappling hooks," Kappa said as they all got out and fired their grappling guns.
The grappling hooks got to the top of the beacon citadel.
"Alright, let's get up to the top of that pyramid and pass this test," Kappa said as Sigma and Gamma went to the top.
Then Kappa, Sigma, and Gamma got to the top of the pyramid, only to see that the beacon was protected by an energy shield.
"Sigma, see if you can hack into the energy shield's generator," Kappa said.
"Alrighty on that, Kappa," Sigma replied as she threw a tiny ball, only to reveal a reprogrammed separatist Buzz Droid.
"Alright, Garble, work your magic," Sigma said as Garble nodded and went to using its many blades and saw blades to slice the generator to pieces.
Then the shield was deactivated.
Then Kappa saw that Beta and Giga were having trouble with oncoming droids.
"Don't worry, I'll assist you," Kappa said as he then got out the supposed stun-mine.
But just as he took it off of standby, he noticed that when he tried to throw it, it wasn't coming out of his hand.
"Agh, what's wrong with this thing? It won't come off," Kappa said as he was trying to pry it off.
"Oh no, IT'S A GLUE BOMB!" Gamma shouted as the bomb was counting down to zero.
Just as Vex was in the other room, he heard an explosion go off.
"HA HAHAHAHAHAHA, REST IN PIECES REJECTS!" Vex said as he went back into the exam arena.
"Oh no, what was that explosion?" Vex said as he walked in, only to see that everything was well and as if nothing even happened.
Then Vex saw that the bomb had not detonated.
"What? Nothing's destroyed, but the bomb should have," Vex said just as Garble exited the bomb with cut wires in its claws. "No, that's impossible; even a Buzz Droid couldn't have gotten there in time."
"Yes," Sigma said. "A normal Buzz Droid wouldn't have gotten there in time, but how about a Buzz Droid with built-in rocket boosters?"
"But I heard an explosion," Vex said in confusion.
"Oh, that's just an actual stun-mine," Zeta said as he saw that all the practice droids were in a deactivated state. "I had to keep you fooled so you wouldn't accuse us of trying to destroy the whole complex."
Just as Vex heard this, he tried to flee but was stopped by the same Clone Guards that apprehended him before.
"Hello, Vexy, old friend," one of the guards said as they put him in laser cuffs. "You are under arrest for treason against the Republic and against the rest of your Clone brethren."
"Oh, cmon, I did this for all of you," Vex ranted. "Tried to open your eyes to how the Republic made us into slaves."
"I didn’t think it was possible to give me more reasons to hate you until today," Kappa remarked. "It doesn't matter what your motives are. The Clone Army is a unified force of individuals made to defend the republic, and you have just betrayed every one of us. I hope you're happy with what you've done, because you're going to be rotting in a cell for a very long time."
"Take that traitorous piece of trash away," ARC Trooper Nazo angrily said as they took the treacherous Vex to his cell.
Not even the members of Vex's own squad could look at him.
"Don't worry, Kappa, I got the beacon," Gamma said as she had the beacon in her hand.
"Well, that means that you all pass," Nazo said as Kappa and the rest of the Shadow Squad cheered in victory.
"Alright, next stop, Jet-Trooper," Gamma said.
"Hold on, let's wait till we've seen some action first," Sigma said as they were heading off.
As they had left, Nazo then reported to Captain Rex, Commander Cody, and Commander Stone.
"Well, Crystal Squad just finished their final, passed with flying colors, and stopped one of our own who turned traitor on us," Nazo said with a smirk.
"Excellent news, Nazo," Cody said. "There may be a lot of high hopes for this squad of Shines.
"I think so too," Nazo said as he saw Shadow Squad getting and putting on their Phase 1 Clone Trooper Armors.
And so this is the story of the Crystal Squad, but this is only the beginning. What battles and examples of heroes will they put up next? Only time will tell.
(Will continue in Chapter 1: Attack on the Dead Moon of Antar, Droid Infiltration.).
Author's Note
