Mission to Fest (Clone Wars)

"I've got visual on the factory, and you're not going to like it."

- Clone pilot

The Mission to Fest was a strike by the Galactic Republic against a Confederacy of Independent Systems phrik refining factory on the Outer Rim Territories planet Fest that was discovered by a Null-class Advanced Recon Commando in 21 BBY, ten months after the Battle of Geonosis started the Clone Wars. Omega Squad, a group of four Republic commandos in new black "stealth" armor, was dispatched to the snow planet and, fighting their way through droid defenders, successfully completed their mission with no casualties; the clone RC-8015 recorded the success in his journal.

Prelude
A single Null-class Advanced Recon Commando&mdash;one of only a dozen such troopers bred by Kaminoan cloners and utilized for the Grand Army of the Republic's Clone Intelligence&mdash;discovered a Confederacy of Independent Systems factory on the planet Fest, located in the Atrivis sector of the Outer Rim Territories. Ten months after the Battle of Geonosis, which started the Clone Wars between the CIS and Republic, the Republic chose the commando unit Omega Squad to destroy the facility, despite having just issued them stealth Katarn-class commando armor; while being extra tough, the armor was colored black, making it inopportune for an arctic mission. Composed of four Republic clones, each the sole survivors of other, decimated squads, the unit was led by RC-1309. Omega Squad's mission was to destroy the Separatist facility, which was developing a new supermetal known as phrik. The mission was considered simple by the clones themselves: they planned to infiltrate the facility, lay charges in its processing plant and foundry, and then escape the plant before detonating the explosives.

The battle
The four clones were dropped planetside in a gunship, in the lee of an outcrop overlooking the facility. After brief reconnaissance, Omega Squad commando RC-8015 used a PLX-1 portable missile launcher to attack the droids, while his companions, RC-3222 and RC-1136, worked their way up to higher ground to infiltrate the factory. The clones continued with their mission, eventually completing it with no casualties. The clone RC-8015 later recorded the mission in his private journal.

Aftermath
The Galactic Empire&mdash;the post-Clone Wars successor to the Republic&mdash;later restarted phrik testing and refining on Fest as part of their Dark Trooper Project. Their Weapons Research Facility was infiltrated by a Rebel Alliance operative named Kyle Katarn, and later destroyed by the Alliance's Rogue Squadron in a separate engagement.

Behind the scenes
The mission to Fest appeared in Republic Commando: Triple Zero, a Clone Wars novel written by Karen Traviss in 2006. While not directly appearing in the novel, the beginnings of the incident were related as the private journal of RC-8015, included as the prologue of the novel.

Appearances

 * Republic Commando: Triple Zero