781st Legion

The 781st Legion was a unit that served in the Grand Army of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars, and was commissioned by the Jedi Order's Council of First Knowledge at the urging of a particular Jedi Shadow and Jedi Investigator, Yurgarok.

The unit consisted of mixed enlisted volunteer soldiers and clone troopers who were trained extensively in the usage of CQC tactics involving shields and swordplay, with the goal of creating a legion of troopers who could combat dark side Force-sensitives like the Sith.

The end result was precisely what was intended: an anti-Sith, and eventually, anti-Jedi unit.

The 781st was rarely deployed in large scale and public battles during its lifespan serving in the Grand Army. However, there were key instances wherein it gained public attention.

## **History**

### **Clone Wars**

#### **Training**

During the legion's early days, it's ground force officers were trained in-person by the Jedi Shadow who initially requested the unit's founding. Six months after it's creation, leadership of the unit was handed over to the newly-knighted Jedi General Fera.

#### **Geonosis Skirmish**

Fera led the 781st Legion into it's first publicly known battle in the beginning of the Second Geonosis Campaign, when she effectively employed her Force powers in the form of a barrier  that protected a large portion of her troopers on the ground against incoming artillery fire.

With their superior ground tactics and armour support, the army marched through Separatist and Geonosian fire largely unaffected, and their campaign was considered successful. They suffered minimal casualties.

#### **Two Crash Landings**

On a Republic planet, the seven-eighty first were practising combat drills. A platoon led by Lieutenant Vannk was sparring against itself, each trooper testing their mettle against another, seeking to strike their assigned plastoid-clad sparring partners.

Jedi Padawan Shang-Chi arrived nearby in a starship. The hatch opened and they stepped out. A volunteer trooper motioned to the Jedi with her shield hand, prompting the lieutenant to look over at Shang-Chi as she watched the troops train. Vannk spoke with commander Shang-Chi, who seemed a very casual officer.

An old ship approached the planet. It was in desperate need of repairs that it never received, and it made a crash landing within one of that world's towns. Vannk reported that he heard these goings-on over comms, and wordlessly the platoon drew their blastswords and entered a checkered square formation, each trooper standing two feet apart from the others. The Republic garrison was keeping an eye out for them.

Shang-Chi and a second Jedi were dutifully informed that Vannk's platoon was going to make first contact with the crashed starship. As they moved in on that location, the 781st troopers noticed that sirens came from several streets and a number were barricaded off. Police were keeping people off the streets, which appeared deserted. The particular area that contained the crash site was sealed off by four police speeders, one of which swerved away. The respectful police delivered salutes and permitted the sword-bearing warriors to move on through. Vannk ordered the platoon to ready blastswords.

A Jedi who went with them decided to go it alone. Vannk wished him good luck, a volunteer warned the Jedi should not go alone, and the troops kept moving. Separating into fireteams, the squads went searching. The lieutenant kept two troops on his immediate position. Shang-Chi entered the area shortly after. Vannk's team moved through a chokepoint area between buildings, three troopers abreast. One of the fireteams located the crash survivor near a bridge into town, by one of the cantinas. They noted the survivor was a clone in a foreign armour set. Chi decided to hold the rear with some of the platoon while Vannk took his fireteam up to go see.

The female volunteer and two other 781st, along with the Jedi from earlier, were soon joined by Vannk's fireteam. Commander Chi was informed of their precise location and the troopers spread out to cordon off a much smaller portion of the area now that the crash survivor was found. The crash survivor nervously raised his pistol. The Jedi activated a green lightsaber and ordered him to put it down. The female volunteer held her shield to cover her torso while her free hand rested over a holstered DC17b and she warned she was going to have to restrain the survivor. The female trooper sassed the Jedi for drawing his blade, sarcastically remarking how pacifistic that mood was. The Jedi shrugged and said the clone didn't look like he was surrendering anytime soon.

They brought the crash survivor to the police station while the other Jedi noted there was a new ship in the sky. He felt the Force was tipping him off. Vannk told Shang-Chi they would be well-prepared for whatever it was, and then recommended that the Jedi follow them to the police station. Once inside, the female volunteer put down her captive and unslung her shield. The clone, having been knocked unconscious or sedated, woke up confused. Vannk's troops split up to defend the door and window areas without over-exposing themselves. And a squad of police officers remained on duty.

Shang-Chi received a headache when he learned a second ship was on arrival, and felt a disturbance in the Force. He cleared his mind and steadied himself by meditating, getting into a cross-legged position and closing his eyes inside the police station. A Mandalorian warrior wearing silver armour approached the police station and stepped in, before he was met by 781st troopers with blastswords ready, and police with their pistols out. Simultaneously, Shang-Chi questioned the crash survivor on what his reason was for running from place to place. The clone spoke slowly, stating he was betrayed. Shang-Chi took notes before he asked what else the clone could remember.

That Mandalorian explained he had crash landed nearby with his own starship and wished to know what GAR personnel were doing in the area. Vannk explained they were on a sanctioned assignment in conjunction with local police. Assistance was offered, as there were proper starship mechanics elsewhere in the town. The Mandalorian stated his ship was crashed by an individual claiming to be Sith. And then the clone crash survivor stated he remembered an emblem, a dark sun. Two-trooper patrols kept moving throughout the police station to ensure no-one infiltrated it, and Vannk appreciated the Mandalorian's warning regarding a possible Sith cultist or adherent.

A group of men in hoodies, armed with blaster rifles, broke into the police station. Vannk and three troopers approached and noticed the intruders wore beaked masks. The intruders spoke in an unknown language and Vannk demanded that they state their business. It turned out they were after a local politician and, despite having trespassed and committed breaking and entering, they were allowed a temporary truce in the sense that the police gave them all a headstart before hunting them down. Vannk gave a sergeant temporary command over the platoon as he spent a moment reporting the entire incident to the Republic. Shortly after, the clone crash survivor was transferred onto a transport ship and sent to parts unknown. His nickname was Destiny.

#### **Skirmish on Sloan V**

When the CIS general and cyborg Grievous arrived on the urban planet of Sloan V and began hunting for something undisclosed, personnel from the 781st Legion were dispatched to apprehend him due to the amount of damage that he was causing. The 781st troopers heavily damaged Grievous and forced him to flee aboard his personal starfighter. It only took twenty troopers to send Grievous into a retreat.

#### **Second Geonosis Skirmish**

Following a deployment to Geonosis to save a trapped unit of the 93rd Legion, the 781st's General Fera was forced to step down, with Commander Ent temporarily taking her place. The Legion's morale hit an all-time low, even among the officers. A concerned trooper from the 93rd Legion's Robuck's Raiders unit conversing with a retired Jedi named Justin Bri'den resulted in the Jedi Shadow's reappointment to General, but even that did not fix their morale problem.

#### **Third Battle of Christophsis**

Jedi General Taxok's presence was requested on Christophsis, where a Grand Army attack force required leadership in order to secure a data disk from a heavily defended Separatist research centre. Accepting his tasking from Republic High Command and the Jedi High Council, Taxok assembled a unit of willing volunteers from the 781st Legion who proved instrumental in turning a slogging defense and last stand into an effective assault which secured the data disk and defeated the Separatists on Christophsis yet again.

#### **Siege on Kashyyyk**

A brief siege on Kashyyyk during the Republic's final year saw the 781st taking part in a combined force campaign containing the 12th Legion under General Taxok and the 902nd Legion under General Topra and Commander Khagnoy. General Taxok's exemplary service found him being promoted to general of the 781st later.

#### **Mission to Bogo Rai System**

The 781st Legion also deployed en masse to the Bogo Rai system in the last months of the Galactic Republic's existence, briefly, for reasons which remained unknown, even during the rule of the Galactic Empire.

#### **Operation Knightfall & Civil War**

During the execution of Operation Knightfall, the 781st Legion found itself in civil war. The volunteers amongst the Legion barely outnumbered the clones, and a battle in the Rago system ensued. A splinter group consisting of a Venator-class Star Destroyer, the newly renamed "*Pariah*" Acclamator-class Assault Ship, and several support vessels fled to Codia, escaping from Commander Ent and the rest of the 781st Legion.

##### Taxok's Last Stand

General Taxok and the crew of a single Acclamator (henceforth recorded as "*Pariah's Wake")* remained behind to cover the escape. The vessel and her crew made their last stand on the surface of Rago, where after ramming the bridge off of a Venator, the Acclamator was crippled and crashed onto the planet's surface. There, the remaining survivors quickly rallied under Taxok's command, and began to fortify positions in and around the crashed vessel.

The clone forces of the 781st Legion began to scour the area and quickly located the crashed Acclamator, and began to deploy in positions surrounding the site. The forces steadily moved in, bombing and shelling the position, but the crash afforded the remnants a great deal of protection. The remnants held their ground inside the wreckage, repulsing several charges inside by the clone trooper forces, although their numbers steadily dwindled. Towards the end, General Taxok lead a charge outwards, in which he managed to leap to and take down an LAAT and a confirmed thirty of his former soldiers, before finally being overwhelmed.

By the time the volunteer forces had been pacified, the *Pariah's Wake's* reactor had been breached, resulting in a spectacular explosion wiping out the majority of the forces in the area.

The incident was recorded as one of the, literally, bloodiest battles of Operation: Knightfall.

## Personnel Roster

Trooper "Jinx"

Sergeant CT-2114 "Bor"

First Sergeant VT-3111 Damon “Nerd” Xallie

Sergeant-Major CT-1142 "Stile"

Lieutenant Vannk

CC-655 "Crusher"

Senior Commander CC-2401 "Ent"

Jedi General Fera [Exiled]

Jedi General Vanni

Jedi General Taxok [Briefly]