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The nighttime forest was beautiful. Stars shone through the gaps in the leaves. Gently swaying foliage surrounded them.  A light breeze blew through the woods, cooling the weary travelers. All was peaceful…

Rookie grunted as a branch slapped his visor.

“You couldn’t have been a little more careful?” Rookie asked Murk, the offender.

“Nope,” Murk chuckled. Rookie playfully shoved him, and Murk retaliated with a slightly less playful kick to the shin. The scuffling attracted the attention of Goane, who was a few paces ahead of them.

“Keep it down back there. We don’t want any scouts to hear us,” Goane said in a low voice.

“But we’re too far from the city for scouts, right?” Rookie asked, edging away from an irritated Murk.

“You’d be surprised,” Skipper, who was just ahead of Rookie, murmured.

“You never know what the Separatists might do. Stay on alert, men,” Zeinli called back from her place at the head of the party.

“She can hear us all the way up there?” Rookie whispered to Skipper.

“Yes,” Zeinli said with a smile. Rookie stiffened and Skipper chuckled at his friend’s discomfort.

A canine howl echoed through the woods. It was followed by another, then a pause. Strange, frenzied yapping began after the moment of silence. Zeinli held out a hand, halting the party. The clones reached for their weapons as the yapping grew louder, closer… and then stopped altogether.

All Rookie could hear was his own breath and heartbeat.

A twig snapped not two meters away.

Zeinli’s white blade crackled to life and lit the area with a cool light.

“We know you’re there,” she said softly.

“Don’t hurt me, I want to help!” A young humanoid boy, maybe thirteen or fourteen, emerged from the bushes. He appeared to have almost wolf-like features.  He held his hands up and squinted at Zeinli past her lightsaber blade. “We’re on your side. We can help you rescue the king!”