Honor bound

Honor Bound is a story from Star Wars Tales 22 that was an official tie-in to the game Star Wars: Republic Commando, released shortly after the comic was published. It was collected in Star Wars Tales Volume 6.

Plot summary
Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu summoned clone commando sergeant RC-2088 to give a detailed account of his latest assignment, a seemingly routine escort mission which turned into an all out combat operation. The clone gave the following account of the operation:

The commandos were tasked with protecting major weapons manufacturer Lorca Oviedo during a conference on Aviles Prime. While the journey from Coruscant to Aviles Prime was uneventful, the industrialist's Republic Cruiser reported a life support system failure during the return trip. They decided to drop out of hyperspace by the nearest world, the abandoned moon of Asturias, in order to repair. As they did so, all hell broke loose: a droid control ship appeared out of nowhere and attacked the convoy. Both Oviedo's cruiser and the commandos' escort ship were damaged and had to crash land on Asturias.

Only seven commandos out of the escort ship's eighteen-man crew survived. The commandos immediately decided to carry on with their original mission: find Oviedo and bring him back to Coruscant, no matter the cost. They managed to reach the cruiser's landing site and made shocking discoveries: the ship itself was intact, but the crew had been summarily executed. Oviedo himself was missing but the commandos found the footsteps of B1 battle droids and those of a human leading away from the ship.

Following the tracks, they found Oviedo conversing with Techno Union leader Wat Tambor via Holonet. The Separatists' ambush was a set up, designed to make Oviedo appear loyal to the Republic and to help him gain weapons manufacturing contracts. In fact, the industrialist had been in league with the Confederacy of Independent Systems all along and planned to provide Tambor with insider knowledge on troop strengths and deployment patterns, tipping the scales in Count Dooku's favor.

Having the advantage of surprise, the commandos attacked Tambor's droids and managed to capture Oviedo. They then had to run through a gauntlet of battle droids, super battle droids, droidekas and Vulture droids to reach the Republic cruiser and escape, with their prisoner in tow. In the end, only RC sergeant Theta twenty-eight-eight and Lorca Oviedo managed to reach Coruscant alive. The commandos had fulfilled their mission. Unfortunately, the traitorous industrialist died of asphyxia while in custody, before he could reveal anything to the Republic. The exact cause of death remained unknown...

Satisfied with the report, Mace Windu dismissed the sergeant and assured him that his men's sacrifice would not go unnoticed. While he praised the commandos for their willingness to uphold the Republic, Yoda was more reserved. The clones were indeed obedient and loyal, for now. But he wasn't sure where their allegiance would lie in the future...

Appearances
Das Band der Ehre