Near the ruins of a Poggle's temple, a squad of clone troopers was taking some well-deserved rest. After the grueling battle on Geonosis, the soldiers were eager for a brief respite before their next assignment.
Some distance away from the main group, a lone brain worm egg began to crack open. The parasite that emerged immediately started searching for warmth and a suitable host. It spotted a clone trooper napping against some rubble, completely vulnerable. Seeing its opportunity, the creature slithered across the trooper's armor and quickly burrowed into his nostril.
A short time later, a clone lieutenant arrived at the rest area. He drew his blaster, aimed it skyward, and fired a single shot. The sound echoed across the battlefield, causing the sleeping clones to jolt awake and grab their weapons, assuming they were under attack. However, they quickly realized it was just their commanding officer approaching with a slight grin.
"Sorry, boys. Hope I didn't interrupt any pleasant dreams."
"Do we have new orders, sir?" one of the troopers asked.
"That's right," the lieutenant confirmed. "We need to deliver medical supplies to Ord Cestus."
A clone named Pulsar groaned in frustration. "We were bred for combat, not running supply missions."
The lieutenant walked directly up to the complaining soldier. "Hey! We were bred to follow orders, Pulsar. Do you have a problem with that?"
Pulsar immediately straightened to attention. "No sir. No problem at all."
"I thought so. Move out," the lieutenant commanded.
As the others gathered their equipment, Pulsar noticed that Scythe was still lying motionless. When his brother didn't respond to the commotion, Pulsar gently shook him awake. "Come on, Scythe, wake up. We're moving out."
Scythe stirred but remained still after opening his eyes. Pulsar had already turned away and continued preparing to leave. If he had watched his brother for just a moment longer, he would have seen Scythe convulsing briefly before standing up with unnaturally rigid movements.
Hearing movement behind him, Pulsar glanced back and saw that Scythe had finally gotten up. "About time, Scythe."
Scythe simply nodded and began packing his gear, but before departing, he collected several additional items native to Geonosis, his actions seeming oddly mechanical and purposeful.
...
"Hey, are you sure it's not there? I mean, it has to be somewhere around here."
"Look, you might be getting yourself worked up over nothing."
Dallas flicked some strange, sticky substance off his fingers as he surveyed his surroundings nervously.
"Dallas, are you certain there's no movement? I mean, the readings are right there. It's got to be close."
The marine raised his pulse rifle and sent a burst of automatic fire down the dark corridor ahead of him, just to be absolutely sure.
Nothing moved.
"Dallas?" He heard his captain's voice crackling over the comm.
He mumbled something incoherent for a moment. "Copy."
Suddenly, his teammates watching the motion tracker saw a second blip begin moving rapidly toward Dallas's position.
"Oh God, it's heading straight for you!"
Dallas looked up toward the ceiling and saw nothing in the shadows. He hesitated, uncertain.
"Move! Get out of there now!"
Without needing further encouragement, he began climbing the maintenance ladder as fast as he could while his friends continued shouting with increasing panic and terror.
"Move, Dallas, move! Get out of there!"
As he scrambled up the ladder, he could barely hear his teammate's frantic warnings.
"Oh no! Not that way—the other way, Dallas!"
He turned his flashlight upward, and then—
"AHHHHH!"
The collective screams of the entire clone squad, along with the startled cries of two Padawans, echoed throughout the medical frigate's mess hall. It was quite an entertaining sight for Peter to witness.
Peter burst out laughing and deliberately paused the movie as the clones and Jedi recovered from their latest jump scare.
"Now I understand why you made so many references back on Geonosis," Barriss said breathlessly, holding her hands to her chest to calm her racing heart.
"Kriff!" Clone Trooper Trap exclaimed loudly, shaking his head in disbelief. "What's wrong with you Earthlings? Why do you do this to yourselves?"
"Yeah, why do you keep trying to scare yourselves like this?" another clone added shakily. "That chestburster scene was bad enough."
"Now I never want to return to Geonosis, especially if what General Kenobi said about those brain worms is true," another clone joked nervously.
"Well, Master Skywalker did mention that Colonel Rhodes made similar references in the hive," Ahsoka pointed out. "My goodness, Peter, your planet has such a twisted imagination."
Havoc asked with obvious hesitation, "I'm starting to regret accepting this bet."
"I should have gone to sleep with Scythe," Havoc lamented. "Just gone to sleep."
"Hey, come on, don't tell me you're actually scared?" Peter teased with a playful grin. "I thought clone troopers were supposed to be fearless."
"We are fearless," Trap insisted defensively.
"Are you sure about that, Lieutenant?" Havoc asked in a mocking tone. "You screamed pretty loud just now."
"Says the guy who was hiding behind Commander Offee when that thing burst out of that poor bastard's chest," Trap shot back.
Peter laughed harder. "We still have time to—"
"Forget it. I'm out of here."
"Don't you want to see how the crew deals with the xenomorph in the end?"
"I don't care!" Trap declared, standing up from his seat and heading for the exit.
"Hey, come on, we're already halfway through!"
"No way!" Trap waved his arms dramatically. "I'm going to have nightmares for weeks."
"Trap, if you walk out now, you lose the bet," Havoc called after him.
"I'll take the loss and clean everyone's armor for a week," Trap announced miserably. He knew he was getting the worse end of the deal, but at this point he didn't care.
The rest of the clones burst into laughter at their brother's reaction, while the teenagers joined in the amusement.
"Alright then," Peter announced. "Should we continue?"
The collective groans from his audience only made the Earth native smile wider.
"Fine. Let's see this through to the end."
"Force, don't make it sound like we're marching into battle," Peter said with an amused grin.
Resuming the film, the clones and Padawans watched as Ripley took control of the dire situation and continued finding ways to combat the deadly alien. It was clear that the clones really admired Ripley—her no-nonsense attitude and unwavering principles resonated strongly with their military mindset.
The audience was shocked to discover that Ash was actually an android, a revelation that hit particularly hard for natives of this galaxy where droids were commonplace.
Honestly, Peter was grateful he had discovered the photo and video recording capabilities in his suit's systems.
By the film's climax, the clones cheered enthusiastically as Ripley outlasted the xenomorph and blasted it into space with the ship's engines. Even Ahsoka pumped her fist in triumph, and Barriss wore a satisfied smile despite being noticeably pale from the experience.