Yes
By Kudzu
"We live for the One, we die for the One"
The Rangers, Babylon 5
"General Kcaj!"
Through his T-shaped helmet visor, A-75 could see the Ongree Jedi Master look up from his careful scrutiny of the Geonosian corpse sprawled, blood-spattered, across the ground. Despite the cave's darkness, General Kcaj seemed unhindered in his situational awareness, and A-75 knew the physical properties of Ongree: infrared vision was not one of them. More Jedi tricks, then.
"Yes, trooper?" the Jedi Master called, his oddly accented voice echoing weirdly around the cavern. Kcaj strode towards the clone trooper pointing off into the darkness.
"Some sort of plant or fungus species we haven't encountered yet, sir," the clone trooper said. He paused and took a cautious step towards it. "Should we collect a sample or just blast it?"
A-75 shook his head. The war was nearing an end. Dooku was dead, the Separatists were in retreat, and General Kenobi himself had been dispatched to lead the 212th Attack Battalion in a surprise attack on General Grievous's forces in the Utapau system. Commander Kaleb's 93rd Ground Division had been dispatched here, to Hypori, and A-75's team had been entrusted with searching a particularly threatening labyrinth of cave tunnels near the location of an evacuated Confederacy base.
And yet all his troops could do was worry about obtaining botanical samples? The Ithorians and the Ho'Din could get samples themselves; certainly they hadn't much concerned themselves with actually fighting. The pacifism annoyed him. The Republic was in danger and its citizens were dying, and all that some people could do was stay stubbornly neutral and speak out against acts that increased the security of the Republic and military campaigns that would save countless lives in the long run.
Clone troopers were expendable. And A-75 had absolutely no problem with that fact.
He glanced back to General Kcaj, who was regarding the trooper (even though surely the Jedi Master couldn't actually see him) evenly. Judging by the expression on the General's face, he was actually considering the courses of action that could be taken to deal with this simple cave mold. A-75 couldn't quite suppress his disgust.
"Take a quick sample then, CT-Six Five-Eight-Two," Kcaj said finally. A-75 boggled behind his anonymous grey helmet. What are you thinking, General? The clone veteran decided that he wouldn't be surprised at all if his Jedi General's rapt attention to such trivial, useless matters got them all killed.
A-75 had served under General Kcaj for almost a full year now. He had fought with distinction in the Battles of Kamino, Taloraan, Dalanessh, Baroonda, and a dozen others. Kcaj had saved his life a number of times (four, if A-75's recollections were accurate, and they rarely were not), putting his own, much more valuable life in danger for the lives of him and his squad on more than one occasion. A-75 had attempted to confront the Jedi Master about this disturbing tendency once, but Kcaj had cut him off with some patient explanation about the Jedi being selfless and having the utmost respect for life and all that.
The Jedi may be selfless and have the utmost respect for life, A-75 thought grimly, but they better start realizing that our lives aren't important. That we were bred to die for the Republic, and that we were bred to die for them.
"A-Seven-Five?" Kcaj's distinctively accented Basic recaptured his attention, and he looked up.
"Yes, General Kcaj?" He took care to reply after a brief pause, just to accentuate the differences between A-75 and the other clone units, as he liked to do - maybe more to remind himself of those differences than to remind anyone else of them. Any other clone trooper in the group would have replied almost instantly, as their genetic coding and conditioning demanded that they do. A-75 took pride in his independence from these almost droid-like traits.
Kcaj tapped his two-toed foot on the ground. "You've been awful quiet. Have you been communicating with Commander Kaleb?"
A bitter, mirthless smile appeared on A-75's face, hidden by the visor and by the darkness. Somehow, he still got the eerie feeling that Coleman Kcaj could see it quite plainly. He shook it off. He just needed to stop acting so predictably. "No, General," he answered, deliberately abandoning his characteristically arrogant hesitation before speaking.
"Considering our next move, then?"
A-75 decided to lie. "Yes, General." He saw CT-6/562 straighten, filled sampling cylinder in hand, behind the Ongree Master and turn back towards him. "It is my opinion," he continued, "that we should proceed deeper into the caves immediately, staying alert to any possible Separatist activity. If the caves go all the way through, then the Separatists will have, I suspect, simply used them to evacuate their personnel and equipment through the mountains. If they do not, we will almost undoubtedly find them holed up in a makeshift bunker somewhere inside here."
"An interesting analysis, Seven-Five." Kcaj scratched the top of his pointy head thoughtfully; the Ongree equivalent of the Human behavior of stroking one's chin when absorbed in thought. Or picking one's nose, A-75 thought, thinking ruefully of Commander Kaleb's rather deviant (and very unsanitary) habit. Although, of course, he was a fine one to call anything "deviant".
"General?" A-75's visor identified the speaker; he was displeased to see that it was CT-6/562, the squad's resident fungus-lover. "General," CT-6/562 repeated almost childishly, "I've collected the sample. My thoughts are that -"
The "incoming communication" indicator chimed suddenly, cutting the clone trooper off. He must also be receiving the communication, A-75 thought with some measure of surprise, and then dread. What could be happening?
The trooper used his tongue to deftly flip the comlink on to receive the communication, and also (just for good measure) to open his own channel in case he should need to respond to it.
"Execute Order Sixty-Six," a voice croaked. A-75's HUD visor display indicated that the message was transmitted from Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's office.
He knew what Order 66 was. He knew what it was quite well.
It was the emergency code identifying the Jedi as traitors and enemies of the state, and demanding their on-the-spot execution, not simply their capture. Order 65 would have required their capture, if possible, but apparently the situation was bad enough that the Jedi needed to be terminated immediately; that they were now considered to be highly dangerous.
And A-75 was facing a dilemma.
He was not stupid, nor was he blindly loyal. He was an ARC trooper, his Jango Fett genetic code not tampered with at all save to accelerate his growth and development. He had received much different conditioning than his rank-and-file comrades here in this cave. He had been taught by Jango Fett, the man himself, and his training had placed emphasis on independence and on the ARC trooper's use of his own good judgment in situations where his orders didn't quite feel right.
But Order 66 had been given. The Supreme Chancellor, the champion of freedom and liberty in the Galactic Republic, had told them all with that little phrase that the Jedi had betrayed the Republic. Yet somehow, A-75 wasn't quite sure.
He flashed through everything that Coleman Kcaj had ever told him, his thoughts a blur, accelerated and yet coherent as his rigorous mental training had given him the capacity for. Two seconds since the Chancellor had given him Order 66. He saw the clones around him reaching for the rifles slung across their backs as if in slow motion.
Jedi were selfless. Were they really? More selfless than he, A-75, who accepted point-blank that he might die at any second for his Republic and would go to this fate with gladness in his heart that his last actions were to exist in its service? More selfless than a man, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who had survived several assassination attempts and risked everything he had simply out of love for the ideals of democracy and freedom: the ideals of the Republic? Who had forsaken raising a family, living without his stresses, having a quiet and happy life to serve the organization that he held so dear? Certainly the Jedi weren't as selfless as Palpatine, or as selfless as A-75 the ARC trooper, the clone who was just like ninety-nine others.
Jedi had the utmost respect for life. Was that why they led battalions of men born to die into battle against other sentient beings? Was that why they cut down some of those sentient beings themselves, whether with their glowing lightsaber or their mystical Force powers? Was that why they had betrayed the Republic - betrayed the Chancellor - because they had the utmost respect for life?
Who was lying to him? The selfless Jedi, or the selfless Chancellor?
What did Chancellor Palpatine have to gain by ordering the extinguishment of his best warriors, the very symbols of the Republic, the bastions of justice and light in these dark times? Why would he, unless they had truly become dangerous, or had been dangerous all along?
He stared hard at Kcaj. Another second had slipped by. Kcaj was reaching for his lightsaber, his expression alarmed. Guilty conscience, General?
The betrayal of the Republic, the Chancellor, A-75's own trust…how long had it been planned? How long had Kcaj lied through his pointed teeth to him? How long had they been manipulated, pawns of these tale-spinning wizards with their glowing swords?
Would it be part of his service to the Republic to strike down General Kcaj, and would this be done with the cold sense of satisfaction in duty that came to him whenever he slew any other enemies of the Republic? Would it?
"Yes," A-75 said softly, "my Lord."
He grabbed his quad blaster cannon and pulled it free of the clip holding it to his back, bringing it to firing position just as the clone troopers around him raised their DC-15 rifles to point at the traitor Kcaj. The Ongree Jedi ignited his lightsaber.
Before A-75 knew what was happening, blue bolts were whizzing every which way. The cave thundered with the sound of tumultuous blasterfire. A glowing orange slash preceded by a sweep of green light crossed the chestplate of the trooper closest to Kcaj, and the unfortunate clone yelled in pain as he fell backwards, mortally wounded, dead within fractions of a second.
Kcaj whirled his glowing blade with deadly precision, blocking every bolt. Something held A-75 back from opening fire just yet….
Another trooper let out a cry as the Jedi Master thrust his blade through his heart, bringing it back up just in time to parry more bolts. Three clones already lay dead from deflected shots. The squad of fifteen had dropped to a mere ten.
Despite himself, A-75 could not help but feel a measure of victory when CT-6/562 was the next victim of Kcaj's blade; the clone trooper, whose personal liking for their General ran probably deeper than any of the other clones in the squad, had been effectively reprogrammed by Order 66; he hadn't made a decision like A-75 had made to follow the Chancellor's command, he had simply acted out of instinct. Out of necessity for what needed to be done.
What wasn't happening.
The squad fell to eight, then seven, six and five. The thunder of blasters discharging fell away as every clone trooper fell in turn. Just before the last one was hurled into the wall by a Force shove, a bolt caught the lightsaber handle gripped in Kcaj's alien hand. As the final clone trooper in the squad save for him, A-75, fell forward onto the ground, Kcaj finally seemed to see him. He gazed deep into the visor that he could not even see, and yet A-75 still felt as if the darkness and the helmet might not have been there at all.
"A-75," the Jedi Master said softly, his voice sounding strange after all this carnage. He looked oddly vulnerable, standing there alone, clutching a searing-hot pulverized piece of metal that had once been his handcrafted weapon. "Friend. Do you remain loyal?"
Coleman Kcaj did not even make a sound as the force of the bolts whumping into him threw him back into the wall of the cave, and although A-75 recognized the look of sadness on that face which would never bear expression again as he slid to the ground, it did not move him. He stared down at the blasted body of the Jedi Council Member for several long moments.
Why did you do it, General?
Kcaj didn't answer. He couldn't.
He was dead.
A-75 felt neither sadness nor grief. Quite the contrary. He was satisfied that he had carried out his duty and that he had obeyed the Supreme Chancellor's most important directive. He still wondered, though, why it had been this way: why the Jedi turned.
In the end, perhaps it did not really matter. What mattered was that Kcaj was dead; that A-75 was triumphant; that the Republic was triumphant. The Jedi had been thwarted - A-75 knew it! He could feel it! And to know that the Republic was safe brought him…not joy, perhaps…but satisfaction. He had performed, and he had performed admirably.
Kcaj's last words floated back to him. A-75 saw the irony in those words now.
Do you remain loyal?
For one last time, A-75 answered his old General, even though the Ongree whose eyes now were dimmed in death could not hear him now or ever again.
"Yes."