Skirmish at Saleucami town

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Skirmish at Saleucami Town

Date

19 BBY^[3]

Place

Saleucami Town^[4]

Outcome

Clone Force 99 escapes with their damaged shuttle^[4]
The Lawquanes successfully board a passenger shuttle offworld^[4]

Factions
Clone Force 99^[4]	Galactic Empire^[4]

Commanders
Hunter^[4]

Participants
CT-1409 "Echo"^[4] Hunter^[4] Tech^[4] Wrecker^[4] Omega^[4] 1 Omicron-class attack shuttle^[4] Havoc Marauder^[4]	Clone troopers^[4] 1 astromech droid^[4]

Casualties
	Several clone troopers^[4] The astromech droid^[4]

Warning: This infobox is missing the following parameters: unit1, unit2, unit4, unit3

"If we get tied up in a blaster fight, they're gonna lock down the whole port!"

―Echo^[src]

Shortly after the formation of the Galactic Empire, a skirmish took place at a spaceport town on Saleucami between the fugitive clone commandos Clone Force 99 and Imperial clone troopers. Bad Batch members Tech and Echo had infiltrated an Imperial base by reporting the group's shuttle, the Havoc Marauder, as an abandoned starship so it would be taken in and impounded, with the intent of forging chain codes for the Lawquanes, a family the squad knew who were attempting to leave the planet. The Lawquanes could not register for the codes themselves because Cut Lawquane was a clone who had deserted from the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. The process of stealing the equipment needed to create the forged identification went smoothly, but the presence of the child clone Omega onboard the shuttle, the attempt to deliver the ID to the Lawquanes before their transport would leave, and Echo and Tech being discovered at the spaceport resulted in a firefight. The fighting had the effect of distracting the clone security such that the Lawquanes could leave undetected, and the Havoc Marauder was able to escape Saleucami shortly thereafter.

Prelude

Clone trooper Cut Lawquane deserted the Grand Army of the Republic early in the Clone Wars after being the sole survivor of a Separatist attack on his unit's troop transport. He later met and married the Twi'lek Suu Lawquane,^[5] becoming the adoptive father^[6] to her two children, Shaeeah and Jek. They settled on a farmstead on Saleucami.^[5]

During the Battle of Saleucami^[5] in 21 BBY,^[7] Cut made the acquaintance of Clone Captain Rex of the 501st Legion after Rex was injured on a patrol and taken to the Lawquanes' farm by his men while Cut was away. Although feelings were initially tense, as Rex considered Cut a coward for deserting, the two came to an understanding after fighting off commando droids which attacked the farm in the night, and Rex made the decision not to report Cut before returning to the Republic Military.^[5]

Later in the Clone Wars, Cut and Suu met and befriended the irregular clone commando unit Clone Force 99 – the "Bad Batch" – the members of which, having a tendency to disregard orders, did not report Cut either.^[4] In 19 BBY,^[8] the Clone Wars ended with the issuing of Order 66, a secret Sith-designed command^[9] engineered into the clones through their implanted behavioral modification biochips^[10] which branded all Jedi as traitors to the Galactic Republic and brainwashed almost all of the GAR into mindless obedience to Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine^[1] – who was secretly Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith.^[9] Among the very few clones who escaped the mind control were most of the Bad Batch^[1] and Captain Rex, who had his inhibitor chip removed with the assistance of Ahsoka Tano.^[11] Not long afterwards, Sidious proclaimed himself Emperor of the new Galactic Empire, while his new apprentice shut down the Separatist Droid Army, officially ending the war.^[9]

After parting ways with Tano to better avoid the Empire's notice,^[12] Rex travelled to Saleucami to check up on the Lawquanes. He told them about the chips and how they had made the clones turn on the Jedi, and also warned them about the dangers of the coming Empire. Rex did not stay long, and Cut and Suu did not ask him where he planned to go next. Concerned about the growing Imperial presence on Saleucami, Cut and Suu decided to leave the planet with their children and move somewhere more remote.^[4] During the same time, the members of the Bad Batch had defected from the Empire themselves after Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin had sent them on a mission to test their loyalty where he had intended that they kill civilian refugees. They had, however, lost their sniper Crosshair, who had been the only member of the unit whose mutations did not render him immune to Order 66. They had also gained the child clone Omega, a mysterious creation of the Kaminoans who had assisted their escape. Former Clone Sergeant Hunter decided to visit Cut for advice about what to do next.^[1]

Upon arriving at the Lawquane farm, the Batch was greeted by Cut and Suu. Hunter only told them that the situation was complicated when they asked after Crosshair's whereabouts, and introduced them to Omega and Echo,^[4] a "reg" clone who had joined the squad after being captured during the war and experimented on by the Techno Union, with extensive cybernetics including a scomp link arm.^[1] Cut and Suu told the Batch about Rex's visit and their plans to leave Saleucami. Hunter offered to take the Lawquanes offworld in the Havoc Marauder, the Batch's shuttle, but Cut declined as, since Clone Force 99 were wanted men, he was concerned that travelling on their starship would place him and his family in unnecessary danger.^[4]

Accompanied by Hunter, Cut went to a nearby spaceport town to purchase passage offworld, but discovered that his Republic credits were now useless as the Empire had just devalued them in favour of a new currency. In addition, only Imperial citizens who had been registered with a new official chain code could exchange their old credits or book passage offworld, and Cut's status as a deserter made it impossible for him to register. The two returned to the farm, with Hunter offering the assistance of the Batch. Team specialist Tech was confident that he could forge the Lawquanes chain codes in time for the departure of the next offworld shuttle in several hours' time. Privately, Hunter asked Cut and Suu to take Omega with them as he felt she would be in danger if she continued to stay with the Bad Batch.^[4]

The skirmish

Onboard the landed Havoc Marauder, Echo and Tech discussed how they were going to forge the Lawquanes' identification, as they needed Imperial identification cards to put the chain codes on. Noting that Cut had told them the Imperials had been seizing starships for nearly a week and locking them up at an impound dock at the spaceport, Tech hit upon the idea of gaining access to the spaceport by reporting the Marauder to Imperial authorities, whereupon it would be transported to the lot and behind security lines. Echo was hesitant, but agreed, suggesting that it would work if they made the shuttle look abandoned, and the two carried out their plan. However, unbeknownst to either of them, Omega had been hiding onboard the shuttle, upset after an earlier run-in with a nexu.^[4]

The Empire sent a clone impound vessel to collect the "abandoned" shuttle, at the same time that Tech and Echo informed Hunter of their plan via comlink. Hunter was furious, as he believed that likely having to fight their way out was not a "simple" plan, and also because Omega was on board. Only then did Omega, who had been sitting in the rear gunner seat, reveal herself to Echo and Tech, telling them that she thought their plan was actually quite good. Echo quipped that the plan was no longer simple.^[4]

The Marauder was taken to the impound lot, where a boot was fitted on it, and it was added to a list for later identification of its signature. Two clone troopers boarded the vessel and inspected it, finding it messy and apparently abandoned. After they had disembarked, Echo, Tech and Omega exited the ceiling compartment they had been hiding in. Omega asked how she could help, but Echo told her that she had had enough action for the day and would be staying onboard the ship. With instructions from Tech, Echo snuck off the shuttle and made his way stealthily to a security booth. The trooper on duty shortly exited the booth, allowing Echo to enter. Using his scomp link, Echo downloaded information on the chain codes, before opening the locker where the identity disks were kept, taking one box of disks and a card reader. He exited the booth and snuck back to the Marauder. Tech used the reader to create five identity disks.^[4]

Meanwhile, the Lawquanes, accompanied by Hunter and Wrecker disguised in civilian clothing, arrived at the spaceport town. They joined the line of people wanting to travel offworld. Tech intended to run the codes past security, but a sudden increase of troopers on guard led him to rethink whether his plan had been a good idea. Echo noted that the Empire might lock down the entire spaceport if they got into a firefight. While they were discussing this, Omega decided to take the codes herself, sneaking off the Marauder with the disks. Echo noticed she was missing when he went back to get the disks, and Tech saw her outside through a window, contacting Hunter to tell him that Omega was taking the codes. Wrecker immediately ran off to make sure she was okay, and Suu reassured Hunter that children tended to find trouble.^[4]

Echo went outside to try and remove the boot, plugging in with his socket arm. He was having difficulties when he was spotted by a clone trooper, who demanded to know what he was doing there, and Echo unconvincingly claimed that he was performing maintenance. The trooper was able to report a situation before Tech stunned him from behind, leading to a gunfight as Tech fired at the attacking clones while Echo continued working on the boot.^[4]

Omega managed to avoid the notice of the clone troopers, but encountered an astromech droid which sounded an alarm as she tried to persuade it to stop. However, Wrecker arrived and took out the droid with a blow to its head-dome, before seeing Omega over the wall and out of the impound lot, contacting Hunter to let him know that she was on her way. Immediately thereafter, Wrecker was confronted by three troopers who demanded to see his identification. He made a show of looking for his chain code before knocking the trio unconscious by slamming their heads together. Several more troopers showed up immediately afterwards, and Wrecker threw a large box at them before moving to assist Echo and Tech.^[4]

As the line moved forward, Cut became increasingly uneasy about whether Omega was going to make it in time. Just as he was about to get out of the line, Omega finally arrived with the chain codes, prompting Shaeeah to cheer her on. Omega noted that Tech had accidentally made five codes, leading Cut to express surprise that Hunter had not told her about his plan. As the Lawquanes moved off, Hunter told Omega that he wanted her to go with them for her own safety. She did not want to go, but eventually followed the Lawquanes into the security line. Meanwhile, multiple clones stationed at the civilian port had departed to reinforce their comrades fighting the "locals with blasters" at the impound lot.^[4]

Echo continued to work on the boot as Tech and Wrecker held off the Imperial troopers, and Tech called Hunter to suggest that he get over there as they were about to leave. Hunter ran off to the impound lot, arriving just after Wrecker had thrown a large crate at three clones. One trooper had been taken out by the box, but Hunter quickly took out the other two with hand-to-hand combat and a blaster taken from one of them. He got into cover and joined the firefight.^[4]

With Cut using a wide-brimmed hat and a large box to hide his face as best he could, the Lawquanes reached the security booth and presented their forged chain codes for inspection. Their identification was cleared, and the family moved on, offloading their luggage onto a waiting cart. Suu asked Omega if she was ready to leave, but she hesitated before refusing and heading back to the impound lot to go with the Bad Batch. While boarding the Star Commuter 2000 shuttle, Cut was nearly recognized by a clone trooper, but the soldier let him pass after another trooper informed him that reinforcements were required at the impound lot, leaving to join the fight.^[4]

Wrecker eventually asked what was taking so long with the boot, and moved to disable it through brute force, which proved effective. As the Batch boarded the shuttle to escape, he realized that Omega was missing and asked where she was, but just as Hunter was about to explain, Omega arrived in the area and called out. She ran towards the Marauder, but her foot was grabbed by a clone trooper who had been knocked down earlier. Hunter rescued her, killing the clone and providing cover as she escaped onto the ship. The Havoc Marauder flew away from the impound lot, although it was hit by several rounds of blaster fire.^[4]

Aftermath

Omega told Hunter that she knew she had made a mistake, but she had left Kamino with the Batch and wanted to remain there. He accepted her choice and told her that if this was where she wanted to stay, she could.^[4]

The Havoc Marauder sustained damage from the blaster fire it had taken on Saleucami which knocked out its capacitor, forcing it out of hyperspace and causing it to crash-land on the Ordo Moon. The process of installing the spare capacitor was complicated by an energy-feeding Ordo Moon Dragon resident to the moon which stole the device, forcing Hunter and Omega to track down the creature and retrieve it.^[2]