CT-8745 Rhyden

Rhyden (right) with MSGT 7265 McLovin

The Saleucami Reek

CT-8745 Rhyden, was among one of the first batch of successful Clone troopers to be cloned from the Jango Fett DNA on Kamino. Because of this he was able to get more advanced and in depth training, which was a luxury not a lot of clones could say they had, when the clone wars already was raging. He also didn't age as quickly, considering he was cloned before the clone wars. However he also had to deal with the horrors that would follow in the first battle of Geonosis.

### **The First Battle Of Geonosis**

During the first battle of geonosis a lot of troopers lost their lives due to flawed tactics and bad troop placement, those who didn't die left the battle with scars, both physically and mentally

CT-8745 Rhyden was one of the lucky few to survive the battle, however the battle haunted him for the rest of his life. When he and his platoon of fellow troopers landed on geonosis the were to set up a forward operating post for the republic, to make it easier to push geonosis.

The platoon however got rushed with droids and was quickly reduced to just a mere squad of troopers, thanks to hellfire droids. The squad frantically tried to defend the place where the outpost was supposed to be set up, but with their heavy weaponry destroyed and with waves and waves of B2s flooding in towards their position the situation seemed hopeless. Until an unknown jedi swung in, with a platoon of troopers to take out the B2s and secure the outpost.

Friendly laats came down to pick up the almost devastated squad of troopers, Rhyden had survived the battle but had lost a lot of brothers and near friends. After laying behind a dead B2 battle droid, defending his injured brothers from the incoming waves of droids, CT-8745 Rhyden decided to pick up the shield, so that he would always be able to defend his brothers. However he also decided to pick up the bad habit of collecting droid parts after every battle, he carried them in his backpack and hid them in his bunks and told noone that he had them.

#### **The 327th**

After the battle of geonosis CT-8745 Rhyden got inserted into a new platoon, that he did a few missions with, acting as the shield of the battalion, managing to protect many of his brothers in close quarter hallways with his shield. It was because of his handiwork with the shield that he was picked up by Commander Bly and the 327th star corp.

They were looking for new recruits to bolster their defensive attributes, within their platoon of troopers who specialised in shield combat. CT-8745 Rhyden fitted in perfectly with the tactics of the 327th shield platoon. This was also the reason for him to follow them onto the Valkyrie Venator where the 327th shield platoon would be stationed. It was also on the Valkyrie that CT-8745 Rhyden would spend most of his time in during the clone wars. With the short exceptions of a few missions to felucia, to help the 327th to hunt down CIS hired bounty hunters and take down CIS FOBs on the planet.

CT-8745 Rhyden rose quickly through the ranks of the 327th and soon found himself to be responsible of training the new batch of shield troopers for the 327th. However after a while the Valkyrie Venator decided to equip heavy blasters to the 327th instead of the shields, and instead the shield troopers got replaced with juggernauts and combat engineers. CT-8745 Rhyden decided to take up the job as a combat engineer, he took up the job of fixing and welding stuff together and used the shotgun and his barricades as a deadly combo.

### **Order 66**

During one of his missions to Felucia, CT-8745 Rhyden and his squad was hunting a bounty hunter that had been hired by the CIS to weaken the Clone armies numbers on Felucia, in the chase the Bounty hunter had turned around and shot against one of his fellow brothers. CT-8745 Rhyden had flung himself in front of the trooper and the blaster bolts. He managed to deflect most of them with his shield but one of the blaserbolts scraped the shield and flew straight through his helmet. CT-8745 Rhyden miraculously didn't die, but the blaster bolt had hit him so that the inhibitor chip in his head had been damaged. After a long while of recovering, CT-8745 Rhyden was finally fit for duty again.

This event is the reason to why CT-8745 Rhyden was one of the few clone troopers who did not commit order 66 when it was ordered to the 327th on Felucia. He got confused when all he heard in his comms were his brothers repeating the same phrase over and over again, "good soldiers follow orders". There was also the hint of the phrase "Kill the jedi" popping up from now and then. This made CT-8745 mostly confused and a bit angry to why his brothers almost in trance were saying stuff that could get them court martialed if the Commander heard them.

Then a few clicks away CT-8745 Rhyden heard a barrage of blaster fire, from his commanders position, and assumed that Bly and General Secura had engaged the enemy. However the blaster barrage was cut short for a battle and after that he heard his commander say one thing that he would always remember, "The Traitorous Jedi Aayla Secura has been dealt with".

CT-8745 Rhyden didn't believe his ears and rushed over to where his commanders position and when he arrived he was met with a terrifying vision. His Jedi general lay dead on the ground, dozens of blastermarks on her back indicated that she had been shot from behind with a lot of blasterfire.

"What have you done?" Exclaimed Rhyden in shock, commander Bly turned to him and with a deathly silence in his voice said, "Good soldiers follow orders". He then made a quick hand movement and all of the other troopers aimed their guns towards CT-8745 Rhyden.

Without a second thought CT-8745 Rhyden turned around and ran for the dense jungle of Felucia, he could hear the stun bolts whistling towards him, his shield on his back took the once that hit him. He layed low for a few days, using the built in comms in his helmet to stay away from any patrols. One day he managed to sneak onto one republic patrol ship that was patrolling through the outer rim, when he got discovered, the ship had just passed Saleucami and he used an escape pod to get down to the planet.

### **Saleucami**

After his crash landing CT-8745 Rhyden settled in on one of Saleucami few cities, after a few months he started a small faction in the city that was supposed to cause havoc for the imperials and their troops. At their peak the fraction consisted of 50+ members. CT-8745 Rhyden however started to feel his rapid aging getting to him and knew that he needed to do something. It was at this time one of his faction members had heard of a certain mandalorian that had managed to find a cure for the rapid aging cell. It was at this time that Rhyden came into contact with Kal Skirata, he had only met him once before on the Valkyrie Venator, when omega squad had been stationed there. They only exchanged a few words and Skirata handed over some of the anti aging cure to Rhyden, then they went their separate ways.

The faction lasted a few years more with Rhyden at the helm, but one day the Imperial forces found their hideout and the massacre began, Only a small squad of 5-10 people, of the faction, survived the skirmish. CT-8745 Thyden had again lost a lot of brothers and sisters in battle. They now were compromised and had to act quickly.

The squad managed to steal an Imperial raider class corvette that was stationed in the port, they snuck up on the guards at night and dealt with the guards quickly and flew away, they passed the imperial blockade by giving them the codes that were plugged into the ships computer when it landed on the planet.

They decided to name the ship The Saleucami Reek after the brave people that they lost fighting the empire on Saleucami. The Saleucami Reek and its crew got infamous in the empire for causing all sorts of trouble for the empire on numerous planets.

### **Epilogue**

Not much is known about The Saleucami Reek and its crew, after the battle of Endor, some say that the crew lives happily in the new Republic, others tell of a raider class corvette dropping off an enormous battle droid, killing hundreds of imperial troops, people also tell of a young man running around in dusty, old clone trooper armor during the battle of Jakku and others just say that The Saleucami Reek Just disappeared into hyperspace after the battle of endor.