Hard Contact
Republic Commando Series
by Karen Traviss
Del-Rey (2004)

Hard Contact is the first book of Karen Traviss's Republic Commando series. This work is a tie-in with the 2004 video game, Republic Commando. However, you don't need to have played it to follow the story. A newly formed squad (four soldiers) of Republic Commandos is formed and thrust into their first mission since the inaugural Battle of Geonosis. They must land on an agricultural planet dominated by the Trade Federation and capture a Separatist scientist who is developing a nanovirus capable of wiping out the entire clone army. Meanwhile a young female padawan is separated from her Jedi Master, alone on a hostile planet.

What I really enjoyed about this book is seeing the EU through a clone trooper's eyes. These guys are not drones. They have human emotions and intelligence, despite the conditioning and genetic manipulation of the cloners. The Kaminoans seem more malevolent than they were portrayed in Episode II. You can see the commandos wrestling with their first real (not simulated) experiences: coping with being the only survivor of a squad, the complexities of dealing with civilians in a war zone, being cut off from the rest of your squad, learning how to rely on unfamiliar others for your survival. It is not difficult to imagine that the challenges confronted in the book are timeless for any soldier or warrior in our real world.

Consider also that this book does not contain any of the main characters of the Star Wars saga. There is no Obi-Wan, Anakin, Dooku, Grevious or Palpatine. Even Nute Gunray is omitted from the story in favor of a more local Neimodian. This is a good thing as it shows the EU is much larger than the story threads of these epic characters. There is also a level of tension because you don't know who, if anyone, will survive to the end of the book! This book may not be for everyone. While there is plenty of action, the story is one big chess match of the commandos against the Mandalorian warrior Ghez Hokan who is in charge of the Separatist forces. I thoroughly enjoyed it!