The Clone Wars: Crash Course is the second issue in a series of digest-sized Clone Wars graphic novellas.
Publisher's summary
In the latest galaxy-spanning Clone Wars adventure, Anakin Skywalker and his young Padawan Ahsoka Tano go undercover in the cutthroat world of Podracing in hopes of crushing a diabolical Separatist spy ring. Watch out, Jedi -- speed kills!
Plot summary
Around 22 BBY, during the early stages of the Clone Wars—the conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems—Confederate General Grievous had ambushed and defeated Republic forces on multiple worlds in the Mid Rim. The Jedi High Council concluded that a spy was giving the Separatists information. The Council dispatched High General Ki-Adi-Mundi to investigate. Mundi identified a traitor within the Galactic Senate leadership on Coruscant. Meanwhile, the traitorous senator revealed to his aide, Messo, that he pledged his support to Confederate Head of State Count Dooku. The senator smuggled a secret recording of the Jedi's strategic plans and logs of the Republic offensive formations. Dooku's Dark Acolyte apprentice, Asajj Ventress, landed on Coruscant to collect the datadisk from the senator's aide. Before Messo could give Ventress the disk, Mundi and his squad of clone troopers attacked the Dark Acolyte. Ventress betrayed and sliced the senator through the torso, while his aide ran away from the area with the datadisk. A LAAT/i gunship approached the scene and covered Mundi's attack. However, Ventress Force jumped to the gunship and killed a few stationed clone troopers. As she continued to destroy the ship, Mundi confronted her but she escaped. The gunship crashed onto the platform were the injured senator was. Before he died, the senator told Mundi that his aide would rendezvous with the Confederate spies on Mon Gazza and deliver the datadisk to them.
Ki-Adi-Mundi returns to the Jedi Temple, where he investigates the matter further and meets with Yoda and the Supreme Chancellor, who tell him that events must continue as planned, even though operational details have been compromised. Mundi objects, saying that this will cause the death of many Jedi and clones, but the Chancellor insists, saying that he will not let Republic occupied space be split in two.
Meanwhile, the Galactic Republic struggled to liberate the planet of Queel from the Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker led a group of Republic Infantry Support Platforms in an engagement with several Confederate Single Trooper Aerial Platforms, blasterfire flying in all directions and combatants from both sides getting shot down.
At the same time, Skywalker's Padawan, Ahsoka Tano—riding a large native aquatic creature—was conducting her own mission. Together with Clone Captain CT-7567—nicknamed "Rex"—and several other clone troopers, Tano attacked the Separatists' artillery position that was preventing the Republic from a direct assault on the planet's droid command base. Using his two blaster pistols, Rex destroyed several B1-Series battle droids that were operating one of the artillery guns, while Tano destroyed the gun itself and a DSD1 dwarf spider droid with her lightsaber. Tano then used the Force to throw one of the artillery shells at the remaining guns, and Rex placed a blaster shot on the shell, triggering an explosion that destroyed the entire artillery position. With her objective complete, Tano regrouped with Skywalker and Kenobi.
The destruction of the artillery battery cleared the path for an attack on the Confederate command center. However, before any attack could be made, Skywalker and Kenobi were contacted by Clone Commander CC-2224, who informed them of an urgent message from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The Jedi and Rex returned to their forward command post and received the transmission inside one of the HAVw A6 Juggernauts. Jedi Masters Yoda and Ki-Adi-Mundi informed them that a Separatist agent had stolen a data file containing information vital to the Republic and was going to hand it over to the Confederacy on the planet Mon Gazza. To this end, Yoda and Mundi ordered Skywalker to go to Mon Gazza and retrieve the data file. Soon Skywalker, Tano, Rex, and Skywalker's astromech droid, R2-D2, set off for Mon Gazza, leaving Kenobi to continue the fight on Queel.
The Twilight landed in Miner's Town, the capital of Mon Gazza. Skywalker conferred with Tano and Rex about Mon Gazza's reputation of being a former spice mining world. Skywalker soon departed the freighter and told Tano to get the Twilight stowed. Rex and her will rendezvous with him in the downtown district of the city. Upon docking the ship, Rex took off his customized phase I armor and disguised himself to fit with the crowd, and like Skywalker, Tano wore a poncho over her Jedi apparel. The two soon left the Twilight with astromech droid R2-D2. Meanwhile, Skywalker used the Jedi mind trick on two guards blocking a podracing hangar. He entered only to find podracers preparing their pods. Tano contacted him via comlink and asked if he found Messo and the datadisk. Skywalker noticed Messo walking up a flight of stairs. He chased the senator's former aide up the stairs and onto a balcony overlooking the city. Messo took out a blaster and began to fire on Skywalker, though the Jedi Knight used his lightsaber to deflect the blaster bolts back at him. One of the bolts hit Messo which caused him to fall over the edge of the balcony to his death.
After the brawl, Tano and Rex met Skywalker, who was watching a podrace. The group noticed a Twi'lek, named Kidd Kareen, won the race, which was brought to Tano's attention. However, she reminded herself of the datadisk and asked Skywalker once more. Skywalker told his apprentice that Messo was dead and did not have the datadisk with him. He concluded that Messo must have gave it to the Separatist spy, who could be a podracer. Prior to the race, Skywalker entered his apprentice for the next podrace because he wanted them to go undercover to find the spy. After Skywalker told her that he entered her, Tano was shocked about his decision without consulting her first. Skywalker took Tano and Rex to the podracer that he found eariler. Skywalker revealed that Jedi intelligence reported that the enemy was in the same system they are on. Kareen was Skywalker's first suspect, and soon he told Tano that she must get closer to him to find information about the disk. The young Twi'lek son approached them and bragged about his latest victory to Tano.
As Kareen and his team left, Tano became imitated by the Twi'lek's arrogance and wanted to hurt him through the Force, though Skywalker dismissed her. He reminded Tano that she must get closer to him and behave, though she mustn't get too attached because her judgment will be clouded. Tano agreed and soon walked over to Kareen, who was near his podracer. The young Togruta told Kareen that she was wrong about him and it would be appreciated if he showed her around the track. Meanwhile, Skywalker told Rex to watch after Kareen's crew while he searched for evidence. Skywalker found a Separatist comlink in San Maxus's, who was close friend of Kareen, toolbox. Though Maxus returned, only to find Skywalker snooping around Kareen's pit. Outside, Kareen took Tano on a tour around the city. He brought her to a old bridge where he wanted to race her. Tano accepted and used the Force to speed through the bridge, beating Kareen.
The Twi'lek was impressed by Tano's speed and began to develop feelings for her. The two sat down at the edge of the bridge while Kareen discussed about the Mon Gazza Maze, the amateur podrace track where Tano would soon race Kareen. The two discussed about the Clone Wars and how it affected Kareen. The Twi'lek soon dejected the Jedi by claiming that they enforced the war. However, Tano—who is undercover as a podracer—defended the Jedi, but not enough to reveal her true identity. Soon after the two departed the area and returned to the podrace hangar. Skywalker engaged Maxus in a hand-to-hand brawl and soon Rex intervened. Kareen and Tano witnessed the fight, though it was broken up by Kareen. Maxus revealed to Kareen that Skywalker was caught snooping around their pit. Unwillingly, Kareen blamed Tano for the matter and thought she only wanted to be friends to sabotage his crew. But, Tao defended herself by saying it was a misunderstanding. Skywalker, Tano and Rex soon returned to Tano's pod and prepared for the next race. Maxus told Kareen that he doesn't like them and Tano wasn't a podracer.
On the track, Skywalker went over the basics of podracing. He told Tano to concentrate and feel, don't think. Kareen helped Maxus assemble his pod on the track and awaited the single to begin the first lap. Skywalker and Rex watched Tano's progress by the crowd bleachers. Soon the first lap began and Tano raced up towards first place. Maxus, who was in first, saw the Togruta approach him and blocked off her advance. Another podracer crashed into Tano, which caused her pod to spin out of control. She saved her pod and continued to race up towards Maxus, who remained in first. However, Tano soon crashed when another podracer rear-ended her pod. Skywalker and Rex ran towards Tano and her wrecked podracer. While Rex helped her up, Kareen approached her. Though she crashed, Tano finished in tenth place, which earned her a spot on the Mon Gazza Maze race. Kareen told Tano that she can borrow one of his spare pods for the next race. Maxus confronted Kareen and was angered when his friend let Tano borrow one of their pods. Kareen defended Tano, though Maxus was unsatisfied with Kareen's behavior.
After the race, Skywalker and Rex tracked Maxus into a cantina, in Miner's town. Maxus contacted Dooku via hologram and told him about the suspicious new racer. Dooku sent Maxus a holovid recording of Skywalker and Tano, which revealed them to be Jedi. Meanwhile back at the hangar, Kareen showed Tano the controls to her new podracer. Kareen wanted to know more about Tano, though denied. Before the two kissed, Skywalker and Rex intervened. Before the Twi'lek left, he kissed Tano on the cheek for luck. Skywalker did not hesitate to tell Tano their discovering in the cantina. He revealed to her that Maxus contacted Dooku, and that Kareen maybe apart of the scheme. Tano remained hurt for a while though soon told Skywalker that they will bring Maxus and Kareen to justice in the next race.
Preparing his pod, Maxus showed Kareen the recording that Dooku sent him. Revealing that Tano is actually a Jedi, Kareen was hurt because Tano lied to him. He told Maxus that he needs to stop being a spy, however the Devaronian told Kareen that no one would believe him if he told anyone about Maxus's connection with Dooku. Later on, the Mon Gazza Maze race had began. Tano raced up towards Kareen, who was racing against Maxus. Soon, Maxus stopped near his pit stop. Tano questioned the situation to Skywalker and saw that Maxus is delivering the datadisk to a Rodian. Skywalker and Rex soon ran towards them, however, Maxus jumped back into his podracer and took off. Skywalker and Rex confronted the Rodian, who was part of Kareen's crew.
On the track, Kareen told Maxus to stop with spying and end his affiliation with the war. However, soon Tano drove up behind Kareen and shouted him to stop. Maxus soon bumped into Tano's pod, which alerted Skywalker and Rex. Tano felt that both Kareen and Maxus would kill her, but soon Kareen defended Tano by bumping into Maxus's pod. Unbeknownst to Tano, Maxus sabotaged her new pod before the race which caused it to malfunction. Kareen told her to jump onto his pod before her pod crashed. Back at the hangar, Skywalker departed on a speeder bike to save his struggling padawan.Confronting the racers, Ventress soon appeared on the track and jumped on Maxus's podracer. Noticing Ventress, Tano Force jumped onto Maxus's pod and engaged her in a duel. Though, Ventress Force pushed Tano which caused the Togruta to lose her balance. While the group thought Maxus gave the data file to a Rodian, he actually kept the disk.
Before handing it to Ventress, Tano prepared to grab the file but the Dark Acolyte grabbed it from Maxus. Before she stored the disk, Skywalker raced towards the pod on a speederbike and Force crushed the disk, destroying it. Ventress soon dismissed the broken data disk and escaped from the scene. Before jumping onto Kareen's pod, Tano used her lightsaber to destroy Maxus's pod, which caused it to crash. Skywalker met up with Kareen and Tano near the hangar. Before Skywalker, Tano, and Rex departed Mon Gazza on the Twilight, Kareen apologized to Tano. He kissed Tano's hand before she boarded the freighter and promised Kareen that they would return after the war was over. After their successful mission, Kenobi contacted Skywalker. Telling his former master that he destroyed the data file, the Republic is safe. The Jedi Knight then directed his attention to Tano and explained her behavior she displayed during her part of the mission. However, the Togruta dismissed her master by saying she can handle any situation he gives her.
Continuity
Wan Sandage is sometimes misrepresented as appearing in Crash Course, though it was Raido who appeared, not Sandage.
Media
Cover gallery
Appearances
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| Organizations and titles | Sentient species | Vehicles and vessels | Weapons and technology | Miscellanea |
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Organisms
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Droid models
Events
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Locations
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Organizations and titles
Sentient species
Vehicles and vessels
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Weapons and technology
Miscellanea
Notes and references
External links