In 22bby Asha was made a Jedi Knight. But while the Jedi and new clone army, including Tiin, his old master, were embroiled in the first battle of Geonosis - Asha was studying on one of Pantora’s tundra moons.
However, with the start of the clone wars, Asha was quickly contacted and called into service in the New Grand Army of the Republic. Early in the war, 4 months after the first battle of Geonosis, he was called to join Obi Wan Kenobi’s forces in their attack on Muunilist, rather than return to Coruscant.
Aboard Kenobi’s destroyer he equipped himself with spare clone armour.
It was a hurried expedition. There were few Jedi available after Geonosis. Alongside Kenobi he took command of a large contingent of this new and hastily assembled army.
Bundling into the gunships of this massed force, they rapidly descended on the plains outside Harnaidan, the capital of Muunilist, and engaged with the droid defenders!
The fighting on Muunilist was heavy.
The clone army was particularly badly plagued by Separatist Commander Durge and his IG lancer droids.
They were only stopped in their path of destruction by a speedily assembled and experimental force of clone bikers. These were the first clones to be deployed on bikes.
Asha joined them and under the command of General Kenobi they beat back the droid lancers.
As Kenobi pursued Durge into the city, Asha took over
command of the bikers, using these new units to break the bloody deadlock in
the city’s outskirts.
This was Asha’s
first taste of the battlefield. It was an incredibly brutal and costly
engagement, with many lessons learned by the Jedi. Particularly Asha was struck
by the versatility offered by the adaptable clones. Clones could
be deployed and trained in new ways where droids couldn’t. Yet he was also struck
by the humanity of the clones, witnessing their brutal suffering, in this
urban and close contact fighting.
It was Captain
Fordo and the Muunilist 10 that most distinguished themselves at the battle of
Muunilist. Taking a lone gunship, this intrepid squad of ARC troopers struck
out into the quiet backstreets of the besieged city. There they knocked out
communications and gun placements, before aiding General Kenobi in capturing
the Muun command and facing down Durge. Theirs were remarkable feats for
simple clones, and again stood testimony to the incredible things that
could be achieved by such versatile and adaptable, yet impeccably disciplined
troops.
With the city
fallen, Captain Fordo and the ARCs shot off to Hypori where they famously
rescued Ki Adi Mundi, Shaak Ti and a number of other Jedi, and stood down
General Grevious.
Having escorted the wounded Jedi back to Coruscant, Fordo and his men returned to Kenobi’s army as it finished mopping up Separatist droid forces on Muunilist.
In both the
planning and execution of the attack on Muunilist, Fordo and Asha cooperated
closely.
The foundation of Sando Battalion.
Like the first
battle of Geonosis and other early engagements of the Clone Wars, there
was little command structure within the Republic army on Muunilist. A small
number of Jedi lead a huge force of clones. General Kenobi and Asha led
wherever they were on the battlefield. The clone forces organised
themselves based on numbers, there was little feeling of unit distinction yet.
They were just Clones. But as the combat developed, this changed.
A battalion of Clones gained new combat experience as bikers, while Fordo’s ARC’s greatly distinguished themselves.
Following the
battle Republican forces set about reorganising themselves, developing
permanent units with specialist training, and formalising the roles of the
Jedi. With more Jedi deploying from Coruscant, the Jedi would rarely again each
command so many clones.
In this reorganisation, Asha was given command of a battalion. It was the bikers from Muunilist who became the first members of Sando battalion. Captain Fordo also joined Asha with his ARCs in command.
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