Order 66-Part 3

~from Ahsoka Tano

If she stopped Rex could she stop the others? She had hard evidence now that it wan’t their fault. They were being controlled! Her mind was working furiously trying to come up with a solution. There was Maul too, he was still loose on the ship wreaking havoc no doubt…How could this happen? Did nobody know? Why didn’t the Jedi ever listen? She was filled with rage towards them once again. Fives was right, he’d known about this years ago and the Jedi ignored him. They were so wrapped up in this “war with the separatists” and “saving the Republic” that they became blind. And where did that lead them…?

She couldn’t bare the thought. And her vision of Anakin…she felt it…the cold, the darkness, the death…could it be…could Maul be right…?

No! Snap out of it! Maul was manipulating her. The Sith were manipulating the force. That’s how they plotted all this in the first place. She had to get back to Coruscant and find out the truth. If she could lay low for a bit this ship would be taking her there anyway. And as for the clones…she’d have to speak with Rex. They’re still his brothers, he wouldn’t like to fight them.

She walked over to his bed and he spoke before she could even call his name. “I…know, how you’re feeling…”, he said. “I can’t believe it myself, and I uh…I honestly don’t know what to do either…There’s no way we can subdue these many clones and take out all their control chips. There’s too many of them. But I don’t wanna hurt them…” Ahsoka thought for a moment before responding, “I was lucky to get you out of there…I agree, there’s definitely too many to save…I’m sorry Rex, I wish…I wish I could do more. I think we’ll have to lay low until we reach Coruscant and then find a way off this ship. The rest of the Clones will still be hunting me but it’ll be easier to lose them once we’re on the surface. I’ve got the all clear signal from the Jedi temple so if we can get there it’ll be the safest. And…if you come with me, you know they’ll be hunting you too right?”

Rex smiled the way he had the first time he heard her call Anakin Skyguy and she took that as a yes. “What about Maul”, he said suddenly, the smile vanishing from his face. “The Chancellor wants him dead…”

She grimaced and said slowly, “I think we might have to let him go Rex…he’s unarmed but he’s enraged. And a Sith with a powerful grudge like him can be very dangerous. And besides, he’s the least of our worries right now…I…I don’t think the Council exists anymore…and I believe the Republic is under the control of this elusive Darth Sidious…”

She turned away from rex as she pondered these words. Was it…possible…?

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Photo Credits: Star Wars The Clone Wars

Order 66-Part 2

~from Jedi Master Luminara Unduli

Smoke billowed around her. Flames licked the bodies of fallen soldiers and droids, dancing in front of her eyes as though they were waiting to engulf her too. She called on the force to haul herself onto a nearby catwalk, narrowly escaping that fate.

She looked upon the scene before her, the manifestation of all her worst fears. War. Blood. Death. Destruction. She’d become everything she’d sworn to condemn forever. And then a startling realisation came over her; the flames had already engulfed her…years ago when the war began.

Had Barris been right?, she wondered…She’d been heartbroken when her padawan had attacked the temple, an act unthinkable in itself, but then she framed her dearest friend for it. Her anger and resentment had metamorphosed into hate and consumed her, and then they’d spread through the ranks of the Jedi like wildfire. Enhancing an already present fear which had controlled them for decades…only now did she sense the irony of it all…

Barris had seen that, she’d called them out…but in such a brutal way…she wondered where her young padawan had learned that, and prayed that it wasn’t from her. She imagined it was the war taking its toll on all of them. The young were always the first too see it. Ahsoka had realised the Jedi were doomed too, and no longer what we were meant to be…Ahsoka made a choice, but these clones here today, they did not. She just knew it. Their minds were clouded, they didn’t hear her scream. They were not in control and didn’t deserve this fate…yet they’d unleashed so much death and pain. She’d felt it in a flash across the galaxy. As though hundreds of voices had cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. Like an eternal, fighting light had finally been snuffed out. If that bunker hadn’t exploded she would have been snuffed out too…

She shuddered despite the heat of the flames and in that instant she knew the galaxy was doomed. The balance was finally destroyed, and they’d played a part in its destruction for decades. The light was gone. And she needed to go too. She was not safe here, or anywhere anymore…she thought perhaps she could try the emergency comm link, but she had little faith that it would work.

She staggered on…submitting her fate to the will of the force. She ignited her lightsaber, one last time, and lost herself in the flames.

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Photo Credits: Star Wars The Clone Wars

Order 66

~from Clone Commander Wolffe

It was like they flipped a switch inside our heads that we didn’t even know was there, and suddenly everything went blank. And only one single thought remained. Dangling in front of my eyes, ringing in my ears. Repeating itself over and over like a broken protocol droid—kill the Jedi.

As soon as I heard those fatal words, “Execute Order 66” My mind went into overdrive, no longer functioning. My arms and legs took over, like they weren’t in my control, but I let them anyway. And I didn’t feel like I needed to stop it. It felt so right, like this was how it was always meant to be—like in our nightmares…

The ones which haunted us in our Barracks late at night as cadets on Kamino. The nightmare of The Evil Jedi. It was so unimaginable that we never, ever thought it was even remotely real. We’d laughed about it as we got older, all our brothers had…but now that is was real, I couldn’t even begin to comprehend it. Before I even registered what was happening, it was over.

And after it was over, after I watched General Plo fall fall from the sky—The man who’d once told me he’d seen something special in me, who’d told me he trusted me with his life, who’d said he cared about me like I was more than some expendable machine—I didn’t know what to do.

I landed beside the wreckage, hoping it was just another nightmare. My mind was at war with itself, 2 sides fighting over control over my body–the man and the death machine. I stumbled over to the crashed ship, one second aghast by what I’d just witnessed and done, the next second feeling like I should walk away and move on to the next one. I raised my blaster as I approached. For the first time in my life, there was no one by my side as I did, and I couldn’t trust anyone…

When I saw his face I was paralysed, by grief, anger, confusion, fear. My arms raised the blaster, ready to finish him off, the Jedi who’d betrayed me, who’d…who’d…what!? Who’d NOTHING!! This was all wrong, so wrong, but so right!! My head was bursting, I wanted to ram it into a wall. I wanted to wring my own neck to shake myself out of this madness. What did this make me? I thought wildly. A seppie plotter? A murderer? But weren’t the Jedi the murderers!?

I bolted. I threw myself back into the ship and flew off. I wasn’t safe. I was definitely not safe. As I flipped the consoles to jump out of there I remembered a story. More of a rumour…whispers from the 501st. I’d always thought it was a myth, just like our nightmares…but I guess now it all made sense. They’d said one of the clones found a control chip inside our heads that we’d had from birth (which made it a plot by the Kaminoans). The chip was supposed to make us turn on the Jedi and kill them wherever we were, no matter what we were doing. Some of the men had even said they saw one of the clones lose control and kill one of the Jedi in front of their eyes. I hadn’t believed one word of it…until I’d just become it. Nobody had believed that clone…not even the Jedi, so he shot himself in the head. Ah how it all made sense now, but no sense at all….AAAAH! I almost screamed out loud. My mind was reeling again. Did that mean the Kaminoans were seppies? And would that make all the clones SEPPIES!? Oh what in the galaxy…I almost collapsed. I set course for Coruscant when I got an incoming signal…from Rex. I hesitated before I answered…this could be a trap, or any number of unsuspected things. But then an instinct I didn’t know if I should trust, opened the channel.

“Hey Brother”, he said solemnly as the hologram flickered to life. “Did you get the order? Did it happen to you too?” he paused. “Like in our nightmares?”. I was so taken aback I didn’t respond for at least 30 seconds. “You mean…it wasn’t just me?…You’re not about to arrest me? You’re not calling me to take me in?” I said warily…then…did I hear him, chuckle? It was a sad chuckle, like he took pity on me. “I’m holding a camp, refugee sort, off the radar. Where it’s safe for us. I promise you. You’re not alone Wolffe, and you never will be. We’re brothers…remember?…always.

“Sending coordinates…”

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Photo Credits: Star Wars The Clone Wars