Republic Commando : Hard Contact Republic Commando : Hard Contact is a 293 - page tie - in novel to the video game " " and the first novel in the " Republic Commando " series . The book , written by Karen Traviss and published by Del Rey on October 26 , 2004 , is set in 22 BBY during the Rise of the Empire era . It tells the story of a squad of clone commandos on a mission to destroy a Separatist bioweapon s lab on the world of Qiilura . The commandos ( Niner , Fi , Atin , and Darman ) are aided by the Gurlanin s Jinart and Valaqil , along with an inexperienced Padawan named Etain Tur - Mukan . Plot Summary . Publisher ' s summary . As the Clone Wars rage , victory or defeat lies in the hands of elite squads that take on the toughest assignments in the galaxy — stone - cold soldiers who go where no one else would , to do what no one else could … . " On a mission to sabotage a nanovirus research facility on a Separatist - held planet , four clone troopers operate under the very noses of their enemies . The commandos are outnumbered and outgunned , deep behind enemy lines with no backup — and working with strangers instead of trusted teammates . Matters don ' t improve when Darman , the squad ' s demolitions expert , gets cut off from the others during planetfall . Even Darman ' s apparent good luck in meeting a Jedi Padawan vanishes once she admits to her woeful inexperience . " " For the isolated clone commandos and stranded Jedi , a long , dangerous journey lies ahead , through hostile territory brimming with Trandoshan slavers , Separatists , and suspicious natives . A single misstep could mean discovery … and death . It ' s a virtual suicide mission for anyone — anyone except Republic Commandos . " Plot summary . Four clone commandos ; Niner , Darman , Fi and Atin ; are united for the first time to form Omega Squad after the rest of their old squads were killed early in the Clone Wars . Meanwhile on Qiilura , Jedi Padawan Etain Tur - Mukan hides from the local warlord Ghez Hokan ' s militia after her master Kast Fulier was killed . Omega learns their mission is to destroy a clone - killing nanovirus being developed by the Separatists on Qiilura and abduct the project ' s head scientist , Ovolot Qail Uthan . Darman is injured and separated from the squad on insertion after attempting to salvage extra equipment from the crashing vehicle , and slowly moves toward the rendezvous point , killing several of Hokan ' s men on the way . Re - grouping is hindered as the ruling Neimoidians control all the planet ' s communications , leaving Omega only a 10 - meter comm - range . Concerned by the Republic infiltration , Dr . Uthan commissions Hokan as a Separatist officer and reinforces the area with 100 battle droids and extra officers including the very adept Lieutenant Hurati . With the assistance of two Gurlanin s named Jinart and Valaqil , Darman meets up with Etain and the two move on to a safehouse . After being sold out by the locals , they move on to rendezvous with the rest of Omega . Darman teaches Etain much about combat and leadership and the two begin to develop a bond . The rest of Omega Squad steal a large quantity of charges from a nearby gem mine and Niner commandeers an excavation droid to transport the charges to the ground station supporting the Neimoidians ' communications and destroy it . While taking the explosives Omega also captures a Weequay named Guta - Nay who used to work for Hokan and they learn much about the facility . Free to communicate , Omega Squad , Etain and Jinart meet and prepare their attack on the facility . Jinart places a detonator in the cellar of Lik Ankkit ' s mansion where most of the droids are garrisoned , leaving the nanovirus facility with little defense . The squad moves to the facility , where Niner , Fi and Etain set up an E - Web heavy repeating blaster for covering fire . Jinart helps Darman and Atin infiltrate the heavily armored facility through the surrounding gdan burrows . The two commandos blow their way into the facility initiating a lockdown and trapping Hokan and his officers , place implosion devices to destroy the virus and capture Uthan , leaving through the burrows . Hurati manages to override the lockdown and he escapes with Hokan . As Darman , Atin and Etain head towards the LAAT / i for extraction , Hurati shoots Atin with a Verpine shatter gun seriously wounding him and Uthan , but Darman kills Hurati by shooting him in the head . Niner and Fi meet Hokan , and Niner lures him by pretending to be injured . Etain sees Hokan and kills him while searching for the two commandos by decapitating him with her lightsaber ; and with that , she collects her dead master ' s lightsaber from Hokan ' s headless corpse , who happened to have the lightsaber . Unfortunately , Etain realized that she is getting attached to the Omega squad , because she never wanted to hear their screams again . Omega Squad are extracted , and Etain decides to stay on Qiilura with Master Arligan Zey , primarily to prevent the attachment she is developing toward Darman . Continuity . There are several inconsistencies between " Hard Contact " and later novels . Dha Werda Verda is mistranslated as " the warrior ' s shadow " . ACP array guns are incorrectly referred to as " APC array guns / blasters " . Also , Darman is said to pull out his sidearm , but Jinart notes that it is a DC - 17 . Since all later novels state that the commandos ' sidearms are DC - 15s , it is assumed this is an error , and either Darman had a DC - 15 , or the term " sidearm " was misused .